EDWARD PALMER 345 



removing the skull and skin of the animal, allow her to proceed with 

 its body to her little ones. In this way he secured specimens of several 

 new rodents. He also gives an interesting account of a raid by a party 

 of Indians in the Indian Territory, who were about to destroy his col- 

 lections, but stopped short at the sight of snake-skins, evidently recog- 

 nizing them as the property of a medicine man with whom it was dan- 

 gerous to trifle. 



Dr. Palmer's reputation as a collector having been established, he 

 was sent by the commissioner of agriculture, in March, 1869, on a 

 mission to New Mexico and Arizona, to report on the agricultural 

 resources, the commercial products, the climate and fertility of the soil, 

 and the general habitable features of the various localities to be visited 

 by him. 



He proceeded to Fort Wingate, N. M., and across the border to 

 Fort Defiance, Ariz., whence he visited the Navajo Indians and the 

 Hopis, or Moquis, of northeastern Arizona. Dr. Palmer in his notes 

 describes the agriculture of the Hopis and gives an account of a feast 

 at which the principal articles of food were thin, scroll-like cakes of 

 blue corn-bread, which were used by the Indians for plates and spoons 

 as well as for food; syrup made from the roasted crowns of an agave; 

 peaches, which the Indians had begun to cultivate; and mutton from 

 their flocks. At the village of Oraibi a rabbit hunt was organized in 

 honor of his visit, and Dr. Palmer for the first time saw boomerangs 

 used as weapons of the chase. Specimens of these were secured for the 

 National Museum. Some of the cactaceae collected in this region were 

 described by Engelmann, and by Coulter in Vol. 3 of the Contributions 

 from the U. S. National Herbarium. 



After his return to Fort Wingate, Dr. Palmer was furnished with 

 an army escort for his journey to Fort Whipple, Ariz. On his way 

 thither he stopped to collect on the slope of San Francisco Mountain, 

 a locality which had never before been visited by a botanist. From 

 Fort Whipple he made various excursions to neighboring localities, 

 securing much botanical material and objects of ethnological interest 

 illustrating the habits and customs of the various tribes of Indians 

 inhabiting the territory of Arizona. This was forwarded to San Fran- 

 cisco, by way of the Colorado River and the Gulf of California. It was 

 shipped at San Francisco on the Golden City to go to New York by 

 way of the Isthmus of Panama ; but the vessel was lost, with everything 

 on board. Only a collector can realize what a blow this was to Dr. 

 Palmer. "When I heard of the disaster," said he, "every hardship 

 and risk I had endured came to my mind; one by one I recalled some 

 special object of beauty or of interest which I felt I could never replace." 



From Arizona he entered the Mexican state of Sonora and proceeded 

 southward to Guaymas, collecting on the way. After visiting the 



VOL. LXIVIII. — 24. 



