March i6, 1893J 



NATURE 



475 



Lieutenant Peary's expedition to Greenland has brought back a 

 valuable collection from the little known tribe of Eskimo at 

 Whale Sound, including their summer houses of skins, their boats, 

 sledges, weapons, implements, utensils, ornaments ; full sets of 

 garments and carvings in ivory, as well as several hundred pho- 

 tographs of individuals of ihe tribe and of scenes illustrating 

 their daily life ; also several crania, and a complete census of the 

 tribe with a full set of anthropometrical measurements and 

 observations. In Labrador, the Skiles expedition (upon which 

 I obtained positions for two Harvard students, one as a naturalist 

 and the other as astronomer) has brought back 57 of the Labrador 

 Eskimo, — men, women, and children with all their belongings, 

 — making an Eskimo village now on the Fair grounds in Chicago, 

 where it will remain until the Fair is over. On the Pacific side 

 Dr. Sheldon Jackson has made ethnological collections in Alaska, 

 and also among the coast tribes of Siberia. Mr. Cherry has 

 collected from ihe tribes of Yucon valley ; and by seven other 

 assistants a systematic collection has been made on the north- 

 west coast, between the Columbia River and Alaska, particu- 

 larly from northern Vancouver and the Queen Charlotte Islands. 

 On the Saskatchawan Mr. Cowie has made a complete collection 

 to illustrate the life and customs of the tribes of the valley. 



Arrangements have been made with the Canadian Com- 

 missioner of Indian affairs by which the interior tribes of Canada 

 will be represented living on the Fair grounds ; and by the 

 cooperation of the Canadian Government World's Fair Com- 

 mission a representation of the archasology of Canada has been 

 secured. In the eastern portion of Canada Mr. Tisdale and Mr. 

 Fenollosa, both Harvard students, have collected anthropological 

 data, and much of ethnological importance. Nearly all the 

 Indian tribes of the United States have been visited by students 

 from Harvard and other universities for the purpose of obtaining 

 anthropological data relating to the physical characteristic of the 

 various tribes and of collectmg ethnological material. . . . 



The Slate of New York through its World's Fair Commission 

 has also been brought into this work. The Commissioners are 

 earnestly cooperating with me in securing a large archaeological 

 collection, and also a thorough representation of the Iroquis 

 tribes. Families from these tribes will be living on the Exposition 

 grounds in bark houses such as were in use when this powerful 

 nation first came in contact with our race. 



South of the United States, the Bureau of Latin-American 

 Republics in connection with the State Department has been 

 working with the Ethnological Department of the Exposition, of 

 which its forms a section, and a number of officers of the army 

 and navy were detailed to visit the various republics and arouse 

 an interest in the Exposition, and also to make collections in 

 ethnology and archaeology under instructions which I furnished 

 for their guidance. These gentlemen have accomplished much 

 ethnological importance, and have secured several collections 

 from the native peoples of Central and South America. Mr. 

 Frederic Ober was sent to the West Indies and made a special 

 research among the Caribs. 



In relation to Mexican archaeology, Mrs, Zelia Nuttal, acting 

 in her double capacity as honorary assistant in the Museum and in 

 the Ethnological Department of the Exposition, has been engaged 

 in a search for objects in Europe, brought there at the time of 

 the Spanish conquest, and has found several interesting things, 

 connected with ttie period of Cortez, of which she has had fac- 

 similes made both for the Exposition and for the Museum. 



Further South in Mexico, Consul E. H. Thompson has con- 

 tinued the work in connection with his explorations for the 

 Museum among the ancient ruins of Yucatan. During this time 

 he has made about 10,000 square feet of moulds of portions of 

 the ruined buildings, showing the fa9ades, parts of corners of 

 structures, doorways, and the great recess with its pointed arch 

 of the so-named " House of the Governor " at Uxmal. He has 

 also moulded both sides of the famous Portal at Labna. Casts 

 are to be made from these moulds in Chicago, and there 

 will be seen on the Exposition grounds facsimiles of these 

 elaborately carved stone structures of Yucatan, over and around 

 which will be the tropical plants native to the region of the 

 ruins. As this work by Mr. Thompson was in connection with 

 his explorations for the museum, we can secure such casts from 

 the moulds as we may desire at the cost of making the casts, 

 which, however, will be several thousand dollars. 



The Museum Expedition to Honduras, which is an important 

 part of the work of the year, will be specially mentioned further 

 on, but as it forms a link in the chain of explorations it is referred 

 to in this geographical review. Farther south, Mr. G. A. 



Dorsey, a graduate student in this department of the University,, 

 working as a special assistant for the Exposition, has male 

 extensive and important explorations on the Island of La Plata, 

 Ecuador, and in Peru and Bolivia, where he collected a large 

 amount of material. Lieutenants Safford and Welles have 

 secured series of garments, weapons, and other objects illustrating 

 the tribes of portions of the interior of South America. O.her 

 officers sent out by the Latin- American Bureau have been farther 

 south, and Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego have been drawn 

 upon for representations of their ethnology. 



Returning to the United States, archaeological work has 

 been carried on in Ohio by Dr. Metz, Mr. Saville, Mr. Moor- 

 head, Mr. H. I. Smith and Mr. Allan Cook. In the Delaware 

 valley, Mr. Ernest Volk, who in previous years was in the field 

 with me, has been engaged in making a careful exploration of 

 several ancient village sites, burial places, and workshops or 

 quarries, where stone implements were made. Mr. Allan Cook 

 of the University also made a brief study of a small burial-place 

 on Cape Cod. Mr. M. H. Saville, a student assistant in the 

 Museum, examined an ancient soapstone quarry in Connecticut 

 from which interesting specimens were obtained both for the 

 Museum and Exposition ; and several gentlemen, particularly 

 Dr. F. H. Williams, Mr. Wm. C. Richards and Mr. James 

 Shepard, who showed him much courtesy, gave to the Museum 

 i a number of stone implements found on and near the old quarry. 

 ! In Maine, Mr. C. C. Willoughby working entirely for the 

 I Museum, explored two singular burial-places in the Androscoggin 

 I valley in which the graves were so old that the skeletons had 

 I entirely disappeared, leaving in the graves only masses of red 

 ochre and numerous implements and other objects of stone. 

 This exploration was conducted in a careful manner and the 

 , notes, drawings, and photographs of the objects in place show_ 

 how thoroughly the work was done, A fine lot of implements 

 in perfect condition was found by Mr. Willoughby, and several 

 others obtained in former years from the same place were given 

 to the Museum by Mr. Elijah Emerson of Bucksport. This 

 remarkable collection will be exhibited in Chicago as part of 

 the Peabody Museum exhibit and will afterwards be arranged in 

 the Museum. At the request of Mr. T. H. B. Pierce of Dexter, 

 Me., Mr. Willoughby also made a partial examination of a 

 mound near Dexter which may be a burial mound. Further 

 exploration should be made, for if it prove to be a burial mound 

 it would be the only one known in New England. 



Important researches in physical anthropology have also been 

 carried on. These were in part based on the observations made 

 by the assistants among the native tribes, and in part upon 

 collections. In this CDnnection Dr. Franz Boas, aided by Dr. 

 G. M. West and two clerical assistants, has been engaged in 

 the museum in classifying the anthropological data and in pre- 

 paring charts, tables, and diagrams to illustrate this subject at 

 the Exposition. Thus for the first time there is being prepared 

 a presentation of the physical characteristics of the native 

 American peoples. Measurements have also been taken, and 

 observations made, on more than fifty thousand children in the 

 public schools in different parts of the United States and Canada, 

 as well as on those in the Indian schools, and on many negro 

 children. In this connection we have secured the cooperation 

 of the authorities of the Japanese schools, and of those of the 

 Hawaiian Islands. We shall thus have the measurenients of a 

 number of Japanese and Kanaka children for comparison. To 

 this series of physical measurements has been added a series of 

 tests relating to the mental development of children. These 

 observations and deductions will not only furnish data of import- 

 ance to educators, but there is reason to believe, from what has 

 already been accomplished in this direction, that they will also 

 give the basis upon which decided reforms in certain directions 

 will be established. It is almost needless to say that the details 

 of this part of the work are entrusted to Dr. Franz Boas, who is 

 my earnest collaborator in connection with the Exposition. 



This brief review of the work of about 100 assistants shows 

 how much has been done during the year ; and as the Peabody 

 Museum is the place from which it has all been directed, and as 

 much of the work has been done by my regular assistants and 

 students, it is eminently propei to refer to it in this report as 

 showing the relation of the Museum to anthropological research 

 in America. It must also be remembered that the directors of 

 the World's Columbian Exposition have not only given to nje 

 this grand opportunity for research, but that it has been largely 

 paid for by the funds subscribed by the citizens of Chicago. 

 Never before has there been a year when so much money has^ 



NO. 1220, VOL. 47] 



