OF THE BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY. XH 
cult problems relating to the classification and affinities of a very large 
number of tribes, and his account of their habits and customs is of 
much interest. 
In the volume with his paper will be found a number of vocabularies 
collected by himself, Mr. George Gibbs, General George Crook, U.S. 
A., General W. B. Hazen, U.S. A., Lieut. Edward Ross, U.S. A., As- 
sistant Surgeon Thomas F. Azpell, U. S. A., Mr. Ezra Williams, Mr. J. 
R. Bartlett, Gov. J. Furujelm, Prof. F. L. O. Roehrig, Dr. William A. 
Gabb, Mr. H. B. Brown, Mr. Israel S. Diehl, Dr. Oscar Loew, Mr. Al- 
bert S. Gatschet, Mr. Livingston Stone, Mr. Adam Johnson, Mr. Buck- 
ingham Smith, Padre Aroyo, Rev. Father Gregory Mengarini, Padre 
Juan Comelias, Hon. Horatio Hale, Mr. Alexander 8. Taylor, Rev. An- 
tonio Timmeno, and Father Bonaventuré Sitjar. 
The volume is accompanied by a map of the State of California, com- 
piled from the latest official sources and colored to show the distribution 
of linguistic stocks. 
The Rev. J. Owen Dorsey, of Maryland, has been engaged for more 
than a year in the preparation of a grammar and dictionary of the Ponka 
language. His residence among these Indians as a missionary has fur- 
nished him favorable opportunity for the necessary studies, and he has 
pushed ferward the work with zeal and ability, his only hope of reward 
being a desire to make a contribution to science. 
Prof. Otis T. Mason, of Columbian College, has for the past year ren- 
dered the office much assistance in the study of the history and statistics 
of Indian tribes. 
On June 13, Brevet Lieut. Col. Garrick Mallery, U. 8. A., at the re- 
quest of the Secretary of the Interior, joined my corps under orders from 
the honorable Secretary of War, and since that time has been engaged 
in the study of the statistics and history of the Indians of the western 
portion of the United States. 
In April last, Mr. A. S. Gatschet was employed as a philologist to as- 
sist in the ethnographic work of this Survey. He had previously been 
engaged in the study of the languages of various North American tribes. 
In June last at the request of this office he was employed by the Bureau 
of Indian Affairs to collect certain statistics relating to the Indians of 
Oregon and Washington Territory, and is now in the field. His scien- 
tific reports have since that time been forwarded through the honorable 
Commissioner of Indian Affairs to this office. His work will be included 
in a volume now in course of preparation. 
Dr. H. C. Yarrow, U.S. A., now on duty at the Army Medical Museum, 
in Washington, has been engaged during the past year in the collection 
of material for a monograph on the customs and rites of sepulture. To 
aid him in this work circulars of inquiry have been widely circulated 
among ethnologists and other scholars throughout North America, and 
much material has been obtained which will Greatly supplement his own 
extended observations and researches. 
