DEPARTMENT OF ETHNOLOGY. 89 



only id the order in which they are considered and the prominence given 

 to each. 



It will be readily understood that the order in which these concepts 

 are taken decides the appearance of a museum. Each one of the first 

 three — race, material, structure and function — may be and in fact is the 

 ruling concept in some museums. To illustrate the methods pursued 

 in these various institutions, and the lessons which they teach, several 

 series are now being arranged, and will be on exhibition as below de- 

 scribed. Indeed, some of them are now exposed to the public, but not 

 completely installed or labeled. 



As an example of what may be done on the ethnical basis, all of the 

 objects belonging to Eskimo art have been gathered in the East Hall 

 and laid out according to the following concepts in the order named : 

 function or use, location, evolution and varieties. Fourteen quite well- 

 marked, areas have been noted among the Eskimo : Greenland, Labra- 

 dor and Ungava, Baffin Land, Northern Canada, Northern Alaska, 

 Kotzebue Sound, Bering Strait, St. Lawrence Island and the main-land 

 on either side ; Cape Nome, Norton Sound and Yukon Delta (a mixed 

 area) ; Nunivak and the contiguous main-land, Kuskokvim delta, Bristol 

 Bay, Kadiak and vicinity ; and for the Aleuts, the Aleutian chain. 



It must be distinctly understood that these areas are wholly second- 

 ary to types and material. 



In order to ascertain the deficiencies as well as the riches of the Mu- 

 seum, each implement, ornament, etc., is traced through the fifteen 

 areas by means of a set of boxes, one for each area. All the objects in 

 the Eskimo collection being placed in their appropriate boxes, the va- 

 cancies will be at once apparent, and proclaim either that the people 

 of that area do not use this device or that the National Museum has not 

 the good fortune to possess an example. In this work the curator has 

 been greatly aided by Lieut. T. Dix Bolles, V . S. Navy, and Mr. E. B. 

 Webster, paymaster, U. S. Navy. 



The curator will in the future be able to follow a similar scheme for 

 several other peoples, but thinks that when the material in hand does 

 not fairly picture the total life history of a tribe or race, the best ad- 

 ministration to make of the material is to show the elaboration of the 

 various human arts, with a view ultimately to exhibit the progress in 

 culture of the whole race. In this line he has commenced to prepare 

 the following series : 



(1) Sets of arrow-makers 7 tools from all available sources. 



(2) The shops, implements, and productions of the potter, with models 

 and pictures of his furnace, processes, etc. 



(3) The sets of apparatus used by North American tribes for gam- 

 bling, arranged typically and ethnically. 



(4) Outfits of narcotic indulgence, such as smoking opium and to- 

 bacco, betel chewing, etc. 



