XxX BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 
the great collection of manuscripts in the Bureau vaults, 
and toward the close of the present year he was appointed 
custodian of manuscripts. In this capacity he has again 
taken up the work of identifying, classifying, and cata- 
loguing these documents, one of no little difficulty, 
requiring much time. 
Dr John R. Swanton was engaged for the greater part 
of the year in copying and translating texts obtained by 
him from the Haida Indians of Queen Charlotte islands, 
British Columbia, during the winter of 1900-1901. There 
are two series of these texts taken in the dialects of 
Skidegate and Masset, respectively. Of the Skidegate 
series there are 75 texts (one-third of which are war 
stories), covering about 360 typewritten pages, and of the 
Masset series about 90 texts, covering about the same 
number of pages. These texts will be ready for publica- 
tion early in the next fiscal year. 
Doctor Swanton has also been engaged in the prepara- 
tion of a grammatical study of the Haida language, which, 
while not exhaustive, will cover all essential points. He 
has also in hand a Haida dictionary. 
Doctor Swanton has assisted Mr Hodge in the compila- 
tion of the Handbook of Indian Tribes, for which he has 
revised, copied, and arranged all the descriptive matter 
relating to the Chimmesyan, Koluschan, Salishan, Skit- 
tagetan, Takilman, and Wakashan linguistic families. 
Dr Albert 8S. Gatschet has continued his linguistic 
work, giving his principal attention to the completion 
of a work on Algonquian texts, including the Peoria, 
Miami, and Wea dialects. He has also made some prog- 
ress in the preparation of a Peoria dictionary and gram- 
mar, and in addition has rendered substantial aid by 
furnishing linguistic data called for by correspondents of 
the Bureau. 
Dr Frank Russell, ethnologist, spent most of the pre- 
vious year among the Pima Indians of Arizona, and on 
the return journey paid a brief visit to the Fox tribe in 
lowa, reaching Washington in July. It is expected that 
