ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT 49 
by local archeologists. It is desirable, however, that the 
bureau take up archeological work in Samoa or some island 
nearer the center of distribution of the race which has 
occupied almost all the land in the Pacific Ocean. The 
imperfect facilities for transportation from one island to 
another and the loss of time in transit is a serious handicap 
in this work. 
A second line of research which promises even more to the 
scientific investigator and the tourist is a study of the 
material culture, especially the architecture, of the houses 
of the aborigines of Alaska. In the growth of the canning 
industry the Indians who formerly inhabited southern 
Alaska have been drawn away from their aboriginal villages, 
leaving them deserted and their totem poles and buildings 
to the mercy of fire and decay. The monuments are rapidly 
going to destruction, and it is very desirable that steps be 
immediately taken to preserve these buildings or a typical 
example of them before they are utterly destroyed. 
One of these settlements, Kasaan, has already been made 
a national monument. Steps should be taken to preserve 
others. 
Dr. T. T. Waterman was sent by the bureau to investigate 
the whole question—primarily to secure whatever vanishing 
ethnological data is still extant. He was instructed to gather 
information on the symbolism of the totem poles, the charac- 
ter of the houses, distribution of clans, and whatever scien- 
tific data can be obtained from those still living who once 
inhabited these villages. This line of investigation appeals 
very strongly to the chief from his knowledge of the growth 
in interest of the Mesa Verde National Park. In 1908, 
when he began work on this park, only 25 tourists visited 
the Mesa Verde; this year, 1922, the number will reach 
4,500. This shows a great growth of interest in the work 
being done there; and, as many tourists now seek Alaska 
in their summer vacation, one of these villages repaired would 
attract many visitors. It is proposed to continue this work 
next summer with an enlarged appropriation. 
The work of the bureau in other lines has gone on with 
customary vigor. The chief has repeatedly emphasized 
