35^ The Smithsonian Institution 



collection by James G. Swan, from the North Pacific Coast 

 of America ; collection by Talcott Williams, from North 

 Africa; collection by Lieutenant E. H. Taunt, U. S. N., from 

 the Congo region ; collection of Doctor William M. Thomson, 

 U. S. N., from Easter Island ; collection of Honorable W. P. 

 Tisdell, from the Congo region ; collection of Lucien M. 

 Turner, from Labrador and North Sound ; collection of Cap- 

 tain G. M. Wheeler, U. S. A., from Southern California ; col- 

 lection of Captain A. W. Whipple, U. S. A., from Southwest ; 

 collection of Rouncevelle Wildman, from eastern China ; col- 

 lection of the Wilkes Exploring Expedition from Polynesia 

 to the west coast of America. 



" In addition to those already named should be mentioned 

 the various branches of the United States executive service, 

 the Department of State, the War Department, the Navy 

 Department, and the Department of the Interior." 



Of the Section of Oriental Antiquities and Religious Cere- 

 monials, Dr. Cyrus Adler writes : 



" This Section comprises a small collection, interesting, not 

 so much because of the intrinsic value of the objects as be- 

 cause of the relation in which they are shown. It may be 

 divided, according to religions and nations, into nine sections : 

 I, Biblico-Judaic ; 2, Christian; 3, Mohammedan; 4, Egyp- 

 tian; 5, Assyro- Babylonian ; 6, Hittite; 7, Graeco- Roman ; 8, 

 Brahman ; 9, Buddhist. 



" Of the Biblico-Judaic section, the collection of manu- 

 scripts and editions of the Bible and its versions (forty-one 

 in number) may be considered as the most important, having 

 both a literary and paleographic interest. Next to this may 

 be mentioned the collection of objects of Jewish ceremonials, 

 which, besides being a complete set of the objects used by the 

 Jews in their religious observances, is of much artistic and 

 historical value. 



*' In the Egyptian section the mummy with its cases and the 

 facsimile of the 'Book of the Dead' rank foremost. In the 

 Assyro- Babylonian section the most imposing objects are the 



