36 KEPOKT OF THE SECRETARY. 



he stopped over a day in New Mexico to visit some ancient ruins near the village of 

 Cuchilla. On returning from Mexico Mr. McGee suffered from a fever which pre- 

 vented active work for a period of about three months. 



In July, August, and September, Dr. J. Walter Fewkes was occupied in the prepa- 

 ration of the text and illustrations of an account of a reconnoissance made in Porto 

 Rico during May and June of the previous fiscal year. This report, which was 

 intended to be a resume of what is known of the prehistoric inhabitants of Porto 

 Rico, was finished in October and placed in the hands of the Acting Director, who 

 transmitted it to the Public Printer as Bulletin 28. Considerable time in these 

 months was likewise given by Doctor Fewkes to correcting proofs and arranging the 

 plates of his memoir on a series of native pictures of Hopi katcinas, or ancestor-gods, 

 for the Twenty-first Annual Report of the Bureau. Doctor Fewkes left Washington 

 for a second expedition to the West Indies in the middle of November, remaining 

 there over five months and visiting the islands of Porto Rico and Santo Domingo. 

 The collection of prehistoric objects maile on this trip numbers over 1,000 specimens, 

 110 of which were obtained by purchase in Santo Domingo, the remainder by explo- 

 ration and purchase in Porto Rico. Not only is this collection numerically the 

 largest which has been brought to the Smithsonian Institution from Porto Rico and 

 Santo Domingo at any one time, but it is also one of the most significant on account 

 of its wealth in typical forms previously unrepresented in the Museum. 



Doctor Fewkes was able to determine l)y excavations that the inclosures surrounded 

 by aligned stones and called by the natives "juegos de bola" were made by the 

 aborigines of the island for ceremonial dance places, and that neighboring mounds 

 are prehistoric cemeteries. The determination of the burial places of the prehistoric 

 Porto Ricans and their discovery in numbers are believed to be the most important 

 results of Doctor Fewkes's field work in Porto Rico. With this information to guide 

 him, the archaeologist will have little difficulty in the future in adding to existing 

 collections of prehistoric objects from Porto Rico and in placing them in their 

 proper categories. 



Doctor Fewkes maae excavations in a cave called "Cueva de las Golondrinas," situ- 

 ated near the town of Manatf, and found large quantities of Indian pottery and a few 

 other objects of aboriginal manufacture. All the evidence collected indicates that 

 while the aborigines had frequented this cave for a long time, the culture of the 

 earlier and later occupants was practically identical. After his return to Washington 

 in May, Doctor Fewkes was occupied in cataloguing the objects collected during the 

 winter and in preparing a preliminary report on them. He was permitted to with- 

 draw the account of his previous year's explorations, which had been transmitted 

 to the Public Printer as a bulletin with a view of incorporating with it the new mate- 

 rial obtained on this second visit to the island. The valuable results of the two 

 years' work will thus appear in monographic form in a forthcoming annual report. 



The researches of Doctor Fewkes furnish much material of value bearing upon ques- 

 tions of science and history. Of first importance is the decided advance made toward 

 identifying and rehabilitating the unfortunate peoples of the West Indies, swept 

 almost without record from the islands during the early years of Spanish coloniza- 

 tion. Considerable information regarding their physical characters and manner 

 of life has been gained, and various branches of culture are illustrated by the col- 

 lections, while definite notions of the origin, burial customs, and arts and industries 

 of the island peoples are for the first time conveyed to the world of science. Doctor 

 Fewkes has thus shed light on a significant and important chapter of aboriginal 

 American history. 



The months of July to November, inclusive, were spent by Mrs. M. C. Stevenson 

 in researches among the Zufii Indians, the special objects being a comparative study 

 of the peoples of the Southwest and a collection of the ethnoflora of Zuni. Some 

 years ago Mrs. Stevenson observed that the prayers of one of the Zufii rain priests 



