March 9, 18S3.] 



SCIENCE. 



153 



building is completed, the number of persons enter- 

 ing the doors will undoubtedly be the same as the 

 number entering the museum building. The aver- 

 age daily attendance upon the museum at present is 

 about 1,200. 



Fisheries exhibit. — A preliminary display of the 

 fisheries exhibit to be sent to London took place in 

 the halls of the museum on the evenings of the 26th 

 and 27th insts. About five thousand invitations were 

 distributed by the commissioner of fisheries for the 

 first evening, and were universally responded to. On 

 the second occasion the general public was admitted 

 without reserve. The exhibit may be pronounced re- 

 markably comprehensive in scope, and complete in 

 detail. The mounting of the various objects has 

 been done in a very careful and artistic manner. 

 Packing will begin at once. 



&eological survey. 



Division of mininr/ statistics and technology. — Ac- 

 cording to an act of Congress passed at the last 

 session, the survey is cliarged with the duty of col- 

 lecting and publishing statistics of the mineral in- 

 dustries of the country (other than gold and silver 

 mining). The plan also includes technical discussions 

 and industrial notes ; the general aim being to furnish 

 matter of a practical character, thus correlating the 

 purely geological work of the survey. The reports 

 are to be issued as semi-annual bulletins, in octavo, 

 the first of the series bearing date of July 1, 1883. 



The scope of this work embraces a wide range of 

 topics, among which are coal, iron, petroleum, cop- 

 per, lead, ziiic, quicksilver, nickel, tin, manganese, 

 antimony, bismuth, salt, graphite, phosphates, barytes, 

 asbestos, borax, gypsum, sulphur, mica, felspar, and 

 many other substances ; together with lists of localities 

 of the useful minerals, statistics of mine accidents, 

 etc. 



Although mining statistics have been for many 

 years published as government reports in Great Brit- 

 ain, France, Belgium, Holland, Russia, Germany, 

 Austria, Sweden and Norway, Victoria, New South 

 Wales, Queensland, Nova Scotia, and other countries 

 and colonies, the United States have been hitherto 

 without accounts of their mineral products, excepting 

 such as are included in the reports of mining com- 

 missioners for the precious metals, state mineralo- 

 gists, state geological surveys, and in census returns 

 and the commercial reports of the bureau of statistics. 

 While much creditable work has been done, and valu- 

 able information imparted, in a desultory way, hoth 

 have been limited by local restrictions, or have wanted 

 continuity. The general government has never before 

 attempted systematic effort in this direction. 



Bnreatr of ethnology. 



Explorations of the pueblos of Tusayan. — During 

 the earlier part of the past field-season, one of the 

 parties of the bureau, under the charge of Mr. Vic- 

 tor MersdelefE, has been at work among the pueblos of 

 the ancient province of Tusayan, making such meas- 

 urements, drawings, and plans, as will enable him to 

 prepare models of the seven Moqui towns, on a scale 

 sufficiently large to exhibit not only the architectu- 

 ral details of the villages themselves, hut also the es- 

 sential features of the high, precipitous mesas upon 

 which they stand. 



The party first visited the towns of Te-wa, Se- 

 chum-o-vi, and Wol-pi, — all built, in the order 

 named, on one mesa promontory. 



It is an interesting fact that the inhabitants of 

 Tg-wa, although in such close proximity to the other 

 towns, have preserved their own customs and insti- 



tutions in many respects entirely distinct from their 

 neighbors. They manufacture a certain quality of 

 undecorated pottery, which is not found at any other 

 of the Moqui towns. It will be well represented in 

 the collections from this region. 



Wol-pi is remarkable for the position it occupies 

 on the extreme point of the mesa peninsula, the 

 neck connecting it with the main body of the mesa 

 being not more than twelve feet wide. It is the 

 largest of the three villages; and the small, rocky 

 promontory on which it is built is well crowded with 

 clusters of dwellings. In many cases, a back wall is 

 built within a few inches of the edge of the vertical 

 precipice; and the weathering and undermining of 

 the rock has, in some instances, disturbed the founda- 

 tions of the homes, compelling their abandonment. 

 The trails from these villages to the plains below are 

 very steep and rugged, in some cases descending by 

 means of rude steps in crevices between the rocky 

 wall of the mesa, and detached slabs of rock that 

 have fallen from above. 



The next field studied was the town of 0-rai-be, 

 which is by far the largest of the entire group, and 

 the most isolated, maintaining very little intercourse 

 with strangers. This pueblo is arranged with much 

 regularity, considering the extent of ground it covers. 

 The vast, irregular, hive-like cluster of houses usu- 

 ally seen in other pueblos is not found here. The 

 buildings are arranged approximately in rows, and 

 never exceed four stories in height. The fact that 

 several additions to houses were being built during 

 our short stay would seem to indicate that these 

 people are increasing. 



The three towns of the ' middle mesa ' were the 

 last group visited. Two of them — Me-shong-i-ni-vi 

 and Shi-pau-a-lu-vi — are quite close together; while 

 Shong-a-pa-vi, the third, is on a spur of the same 

 mesa, three miles to the westward. The latter is the 

 most regularly planned of all the towns. Entrance 

 from the roof — a conspicuous feature in the archi- 

 tecture of more exposed pueblos — is here found only 

 on the first mesa, and then only occasionally, many 

 houses being unprovided with them. The natural 

 inaccessibility of these villages would seem to render 

 this precaution unnecessary. It is a noteworthy fact, 

 that, in almost every instance, the terraced side of 

 the houses, with all the doors and windows, face east- 

 ward; the back of each row usually being a vertical 

 wall without receding stories, and with very few open- 

 ings. Even when parallel rows occur, they occupy 

 the position stated above, instead of being built 

 facing each other. 



Incidentally to the work among these pueblos, the 

 party visited and surveyed the ruins of a very exten- 

 sive ancient pueblo, situated ten miles east of the 

 first Moqui mesa, and known by the Navajo name of 

 ' Talla Hogan.' From the data collected, models can 

 be made which will be accurate as to the relative po- 

 sition and size of minor features; such as doors, 

 chimneys, ladders, etc. 



Upon the completion of the surveying-work, Mr. 

 Frank H. Gushing joined the party, and a collect- 

 ing expedition was organized to work among these 

 Indians. In addition to a very full and complete 

 collection of the modern pottery, baskets, and dance- 

 paraj)hernalia, there were secured many pieces of 

 ancient ware of rare form and decoration, and in a 

 perfect state of preservation. The Moquis stated 

 that some of these had been dug up on the sites of 

 ancient pueblos; and, indeed, many of them bear 

 evidence of recent exhumation. A few, however, 

 seemed to be considered as heirlooms. Some of the 

 villages appear to entertain reverence for certain ruin 



