418 MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE. 



obtained thirty-six prehistoric crania, some two or three hundred bone and 

 stone implements, remains of mummies from burial-caves, and two large 

 cases of wooden carvings, masks, &c., deposited with the dead. I will 

 write more fully as to the'circumstances under which they were found at a 

 future time. The boxes, which will be shipped as freight in a few days, 

 have contents as follows : 



Kegs 1 and 3 contain fish and miscellaneous alcoholic specimens. 



Keg 2 contains skull and skin of an unknown species of seal, and an 

 enormous crab from Adakh Island. 



Box 1 contains dry sponges from Unalashka. 



Box 2 contains sponges from Attoo. 



Box 6 contains bones of whales, stone lamps, and other heavy pre- 

 historic remains and rocks. 



Box 8 contains prehistoric crania from caves on Atka Island. 



Box 9 contains porpoise skeleton and one box of stone implements. 



Boxes 11 and 12 contain crania from Amchitka, Adakh, Unalashka, 

 Unga, &c. 



Boxes 13 and 14 contain wooden carvings from caves, Unga. 



Of these boxes, 1, 2, and 9 I should like to have kept intact (except 

 taking out the prehistoric specimens from box 9) until my retutn. I 

 should like to have the alcoholic specimens, not vertebrates, in the three 

 kegs also taken care of until I may be able to overhaul them myself. 

 It would be better to have them placed in some receptacle less liable to 

 evaporation than the kegs until then. The other specimens will be 

 sent as soon as they can be repacked. 



Our collection of natural history is very valuable. It contains more 

 material for the determination of geographical distribution and specific 

 development than has ever been sent from the west coast before. I am 

 consequently anxious that none of it should be lost to science. Our 

 plants I sent direct to Professor Gray, as they would not bear delay. 



I trust you will be pleased with the ethnological material, which excels 

 in quantity and variety all collections yet made in that region. 



I have before me one more season's work, in which I hope to supply 

 many deficiencies and enlarge the boundaries of the region investigated. 

 In the spring of lo7o, under Providence, I hope to return to Washing- 

 ton, and settle quietly down to study, as I think that seven years of 

 one's life are quite enough to be devoted to field-work in such an inac- 

 cessible region. 



San Francisco, CaL, November 28, 1873. 



