48 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



Of the fresh-water and land shells, all the collections were placed in 

 charge of Dr. James Lewis for arrangement, and occasion was taken 

 to issue a special circular, asking contributions to this department. 

 Many responses were made to this invitation, and the collection thereby 

 greatly increased. 



Other invertebrates were secured by the efforts of the United States 

 Fish Commission, and through correspondents. 



The department of ethnology has been especially enriched in conse- 

 quence of the desire to render the Centennial display a success. In this 

 the co-operation of the Indian Bureau of the Department of the Interior 

 has been of the greatest importance. Among the most valuable 

 acquisitions in this department have been the collections of Mr. Paul 

 Schumacher and his party on the mainlauds and the islands adjacent to 

 Santa Barbara, as also those of Bev. Stephen Bowers in the same 

 neighborhood. Collections of less magnitude were also made by Mr. 

 Schumacher in Oregon. The Alaska Commercial Company presented 

 a series of nine mummies from Kagaymil Island of the Aleutian group, 

 and one from Prince William's Sound, all of much ethnological inter- 

 est, being the first specimens of the kind ever received from Alaska; 



The traditions respecting the Aleutian mummies indicate that they 

 are at least one hundred aud fifty years old, antedating the discovery 

 of the islands by the Russians. One of the bodies in a sitting posture 

 was encased in a rude casket of raw-hide, lashed in a netting of sinews, 

 all parts in an excellent state of preservation. Another body is With- 

 out covering. Of these valuable ethnological specimens, three have 

 been presented to other establishments, viz, the Peabody Ethnological 

 Museum, Cambridge, Mass.; Yale College, New Haven, Conn., and the 

 American Museum, New York City. 



Col. William F. Amy has supplied a series of dresses and utensils of 

 the Navajo Indians, and Map J. W. Powell an extensive series of similar 

 objects from the Shoshone, the Bannock, and other tribes. Mr. James 

 G. Swan, in the course of a special exploration for the Centennial, has 

 furnished a vast number of interesting ethnological objects from Sitka, 

 Queen Charlotte's Islands, British Columbia, and Puget Sound. 



Mr. Stephen Powers visited Nevada and California, with the special 

 object of obtaining collections for the Centeunial, the results of which 

 are of very great magnitude. A very valuable collection of prehistoric 

 implements from New England was obtained from Mr. J. II. Clark, of 

 New York, and a great number of contributions of a similar character, 

 in small numbers, have been received, for which reference must be 

 made to the appended list. From points outside of the United States 

 the most important contribution is that of objects of stone and earthen 

 ware, gathered by the late George Latimer in the island of Porto 

 Pico, where, for many years a resident, he devoted himself to bringing 

 together everything of antiquarian interest. This gentleman died in 

 Paris in November, 1874, aud bequeathed this collection to the Smith- 



