EEPOET OF THE SECRETARY. 35 



Indian vocabularies. — For a number of years the Institution has been 

 collecting, as a part of its work in the line of ethnology, Indian vocabu- 

 laries, and of these the number amounts to 670. They were placed in 

 the charge of J. H. Trumbull, LLD., of Hartford, Conn., for critical 

 examination and arrangement for the press. It was the intention of the 

 Institution to publish these vocabularies as a part of the volumes of 

 the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, and also in a separate 

 form for more general distribution to philologists actually engaged in 

 the comparative study of languages of savage tribes. An offer, how- 

 ever, was made by Maj. J. W. Powell, who had also collected a series of 

 Indian vocabularies, to adopt those of the Institution, and to publish 

 the whole in connection with his researches under Government in re- 

 gard to the ethnology of the Indian tribes inhabiting the country 

 watered by the tributaries of the Great Colorado of the West. In ac- 

 cordance with the general policy of the Institution in not expending its 

 funds on anything which can be as well done by other means, the prop- 

 osition of Major Powell was accepted, the only conditions exacted on 

 which the transfer was made being that full credit should be given in 

 the publication to the name of Smithson for collecting and arranging 

 the articles, and also that extra copies be furnished the Institution for 

 liberal distribution. 



In connection with these vocabularies the Institution has also trans- 

 ferred to Major Powell, for publication, a grammar of the Ponka lan- 

 guage, by Eev. J. Owen Dorsey, of Maryland, who resided for several 

 years as a missionary among the Ponka Indians. 



The Institution has also transferred to Dr. F. V. Hayden for publica- 

 tion, in connection with his explorations, the following articles, giving 

 an account of the result of ethnological explorations undertaken under 

 the auspices of the Institution : 



"Besearches in the Kjokkenmoddings and graves of a former popula- 

 tion of the coast of Oregon, the Santa Barbara Islands, and the adja- 

 cent mainland." By Paul Schumacher.* 



"The Twana Indians of the Kokomish reservation in Washington 

 Territory." By Eev. M. Eells.* 



These will also be published with due acknowledgment to the In- 

 stitution, and extra copies furnished for distribution to its ethnological 

 correspondents. 



Neiv edition of ethnological instructions. — In March, 1861, the Smith- 

 sonian Institution published a paper entitled " Instructions for Eesearch 

 relative to the Ethnology and Philology of America," prepared by Dr. 

 George Gibbs, an octavo pamphlet of 51 pages divided into two parts, 

 the first relating to ethnology, the second to philology. Under the first 

 head Dr. Gibbs treated of the facts that should be observed and the 



* Published in Bulletin of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of 

 the Territories. Vol. Ill, No. 1. April, 1877. 



