XXXIV BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 
erto remained without adequate explanation. During the pres- 
ent fiscal year he returned to Washington from a prolonged 
absence, chiefly in Mexico, and at once undertook the com- 
pletion of the long-delayed report. Through the courtesy of 
Museum officials the collection was brought together for 
renewed study and the preparation of necessary illustrations. 
Mr Nelson’s original manuscripts were placed in his hands 
and, before leaving the city in April, he had practically com- 
pleted a general paper with illustrations of typical objects rep- 
resenting the handicraft of the hyperborean tribes with whom 
he came in contact during his sojourn about the Arctic border. 
The memoir is particularly valuable in its full description and 
illustration of the decorative designs characterizing Eskimo 
art. The Eskimo are distinctive in many respects, but in none 
more strongly than in their artistic development; they are 
clever draftsmen and fairly deft carvers of wood, bone, and 
ivory; many of their implements, weapons, and utensils are 
graved with artistic devices or sculptured in artistic forms, and 
the graving and carving apparently represent a highly conven- 
tionized symbolism. Mr Nelson’s motive is accurate descrip- 
tion and faithful illustration of objects rather than analysis and 
synthetic arrangement of designs; yet his memoir is a rich 
repository of material from which the course of development 
represented by Eskimo art may be traced. It is appended to 
this report. 
Work 1n TECHNOLOGY 
While in contact with the Passamaquoddy Indians on the 
coast of Maine, the Director and Mr Cushing had opportunity 
for studying certain primitive industries yet retained by this 
partially accultured people. Conspicuous among these were 
the industries connected with the building and furnishing of 
domicils. The long persistence of domiciliary industries 
among these Indians may be explained, at least in part, by the 
fact that the birch-bark wigwams are remarkably serviceable 
and economical, so that they were only slowly displacéd by 
the little more commodious and much more expensive houses 
of civilization. At the same time, there are strong indications 
of ceremonial observances in connection with the erection of 
