30 ANNUAL REPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



The Handbook of American Indians, completed by the bureau 

 a few years ago, has increased the popular interest in our aborigines 

 to such an extent that the bureau is considering the. feasibility of 

 issuing a series of treatises devoted to the Indians of the respective 

 States, and as a beginning for such a series there is in preparation a 

 Handbook of the Indians of California. 



Among the publications issued during the year may be mentioned 

 the Twenty-eighth Annual Report; a reprint of the Handbook of 

 American Indians North of Mexico, ordered by resolution of Con- 

 gress; a bulletin on Early Man in South America; portions of Part 

 2 of the Handbook of American Indian Languages ; and a bulletin on 

 Chippewa Music. 



The scope of the work undertaken by the bureau is necessarily 

 limited by the funds available. Among investigations that are 

 specially desirable to extend may be mentioned the exploration and 

 preservation of antiquities, including the cliff dwellings in the arid 

 region ; ethnological researches in Alaska ; the extension of ethnologi- 

 cal investigations among the tribes of the Mississippi drainage; and 

 excavation and study of archeological remains in the South and West. 



INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES. 



The work of the International Exchange Service shows a steady 

 gain from year to year. During the last 15 years the weight of 

 matter handled has increased from 317,883 pounds in 1898 to 593,969 

 pounds in 1913, and the total number of packages has increased dur- 

 ing that period from 84,208 in 1898 to 338,621 in 1913. As compared 

 with the year 1908, 66 per cent more packages were handled in 1913 

 and 678 more boxes were dispatched, but by practicing various econ- 

 omies and improving methods the increased work has been accom- 

 plished without an increase in the annual appropriation. 



In addition to the international exchange of publications between 

 Governments and institutions of learning, the service has from time 

 to time been called upon by foreign Governments and societies to se- 

 cure information on particular subjects. To answer such inquiries 

 has sometimes required much correspondence. Thus, in a recent in- 

 stance, the minister of public works and mines in a distant country 

 sought information through the Department of State on laws and 

 regulations with respect to the boring, mining, and storage of petro- 

 leum in the United States, a class of data which the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution was able to obtain only by writing to the principal States 

 concerned in that industry. 



In order to simplify the shipment of exchanges to the Union of 

 South Africa arrangements have been made whereby packages are 

 now shipped in bulk to the Government Printing Works at Pretoria 

 for distribution instead of being sent to miscellaneous addresses in 



