852 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 102. 



collection wMch is exhibited in desk cases 

 which are so placed that the contents of 

 each case supplement the contents of the 

 pavilion cases. 



The collections from the North Pacific 

 coast fill the whole east side of the Ethno- 

 logical Hall. On the west side we find col- 

 lections from the interior of British Colum- 

 bia, from Arctic Alaska, the Peary collec- 

 tion from ISTorth Greenland, the Lumholtz 

 collections from northern Mexico and that 

 part of the Sturgis collection which illus- 

 trates the culture of the Melanesians. So far 

 as possible, these collections are arranged 

 on the same principle as the preceding one. 

 The collection from the interior of British 

 Columbia is a recent acquisition of the Mu- 

 seum. It illustrates the culture of the 

 Thompson Eiver Indians, and was made by 

 Mr. James Teit. The material is very valu- 

 able, since it is the only existing representa- 

 tion of a culture which has almost entirely 

 disappeared, as the Indians during the last 

 twenty years have rapidly adopted customs 

 and costumes of the whites.. 



The importance of the Peary collection, 

 a gift of Mr. Morris K. Jesup, President 

 of the Museum, lies in the fact that the 

 tribe whose culture it represents has had 

 very little contact with the whites, so that 

 it is more primitive than most material that 

 has recently found its way into museums. 

 The costumes, industries and utensils of 

 this tribe are represented exhaustively. 



The value of Dr. Lumholtz's collection 

 from northern Mexico can hardly be over- 

 estimated. Here we have for the first time 

 a fullness of material, bringing before us 

 the ideas and products of the inhabitants 

 of the mountain fastnesses of northern 

 Mexico. The people appear hardly influ- 

 enced by ideas of the whites. Their offer- 

 ings to their gods, their altars, and their 

 gods show us a culture that reminds us 

 forcibly of the tribes of the Southwest as 

 well as of the ancient Mexicans. It is to 



be hoped that the results of Dr. Lumholtz's 

 observations, who undertook his explora- 

 tions in behalf of the Museum of Natural 

 History, will yield rich information on this 

 interesting region. 



The Sturgis collection has been familiar 

 to visitors of the Museum for a long time. 

 Its chief merit lies not so much in a full 

 and systematic representation of the cul- 

 ture of the natives of the South Sea Islands 

 as in the number of beautiful old pieces 

 that it contains. On account of lack of 

 space only part of the collection is exhibited 

 at present. 



A number of miscellaneous collections, 

 among which one from the Indians of 

 Guatemala deserves special mention, are 

 temporarily arranged in the gallery of the 

 east wing of the Museum. After the com- 

 pletion of the west wing of the building, 

 which is now in process of construction, 

 these will be removed to the ground floor of 

 the new wing, which adjoins the present 

 Ethnological Hall. Approximately one-half 

 of the ethnological collections of the Museum 

 will remain in storage until the new Hall 

 will become available. After its completion 

 the present Hall will be devoted to North 

 American ethnology exclusively, while 

 other collections will find their home in 

 the new Hall. 



A portion of the archaeological collection 

 is exhibited in the upper hall of the main 

 building pending the completion of the new 

 west wing. During the past few years these 

 collections have grown rapidly, one of the 

 most noteworthy additions being that from 

 Peru , the result of the explorations made by 

 A. F. Bandelier, under the auspices of Mr. 

 Henry Villard, and later under the Museum. 

 Mr. Bandelier's explorations have given us 

 one of the most complete archaeological col- 

 lections from Peru and Bolivia to be found 

 in any museum in the world. The collec- 

 tion of pre-historic textile fabrics is exceed- 

 inglj- interesting and valuable. 



