REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 37 



form of collections, became the joint property of the Bureau and the association, 

 to he divided after examination and use in the preparation of reports, and the 

 scientific results remain the property of the Bureau for publication. Under this 

 arrangement Mr. Cushing organized a party, including Mr. Wells M. Sawyer, of the 

 United States Geological Survey (furloughed for the purpose), as photographer and 

 artist; Mr. Carl F. W. Bergmann, formerly of the United States National Museum, 

 as an expert assistant in collecting; Mr. Irving Sayford as clerk; and a number of 

 workmen, who were engaged in excavation. Several localities were reconnoitered 

 and exploited with moderate success. During February the work was pushed into 

 the region of coral islands in the neighborhood of Punta Rassa, where traces of 

 extensive aboriginal handiwork were found on the islands, and especially in ancient 

 atolls and lagoons lined with bogs and saline marl. Here the works were of such 

 character as to indicate an extensive and well-organized primitive population, sub- 

 sisting on sea food, and cruising not only the lagoons and bays but also the open 

 gulf. Their island domiciles Avere protected by dikes built of large sea shells, evi- 

 dently collected for the purpose; their habitations, at least in part, were pile struc- 

 tures, ruins of which still remain. In some cases these structures were occupied so 

 lung that the kitchen refuse accumulated to form mounds (initiating in time the cus- 

 tom of erecting mounds as sites for domiciles), and within the refuse heaps, or 

 midden-mounds, extensive traces of handiwork of the people were found. 



The most extensive collections were, however, made from the bogs adjacent to the 

 habitations or beneath habitations occupied too briefly to permit extensive accumu- 

 lations of middens. In these bogs were preserved numerous artifacts, comprising 

 shell work in large variety ; wooden ware, including utensils, tools, weapons, masks 

 and other ceremonial objects, often elaborately carved and painted; textile fabrics 

 and basketry in abundance, though usually in such a state of decay as hardly to be 

 preservable; implements and other objects partly or wholly of teeth and bone of 

 sharks, land animals, etc. ; and a few stone implements of the usual aboriginal 

 character. The painting and carving are especially noteworthy, not only as indicat- 

 ing moderately advanced symbolic art of the native type, but as suggesting com- 

 munity of culture between the in^iritiine people of Florida and prehistoric peoples 

 of the western and southern shores of the Gulf of Mexico. The handiwork shows 

 no trace of accultural influence, and must therefore be regarded as pre-Columbian, 

 i 1m nigh the mode of life indicated by the relics is similar to that observed on the 

 Floridian peninsula by the earliest white explorers. The Avooden ware, textiles, etc., 

 preserved in the salt-Avater bogs commonly retained their aboriginal appearance 

 until exposed to the air, Avhen they rapidly disintegrated and fell to pieces, or else 

 shrunk or warped so greatly as to giA r e little indication of the original form. A 

 considerable part of the energies of the party were expended in efforts to preserve 

 these perishable articles by A r arious deA'ices and the use of such materials as could 

 lie obtained at points remote from civilized stores, while Mr. SaAvyer Avas constantly 

 employed in photographing or in drawing and painting in the original colors all the 

 more perishable objects; in this way the evidence concerning the prehistoric people 

 recorded in the better-preserved portions of the collection AA'as greatly amplified and 

 extended. 



In April the Director visited Mr. Cushing and remained Avith the party, personally 

 inspecting and directing the work, for several days. The operations in Florida were 

 brought ti> a dose in May, when the collections were carefully loaded in a car and 

 transported direct t<> Philadelphia, where the space and facilities for unpacking were 

 ample. Mr. Cushing returned to Washington, and on the arrival of the car proceeded 

 to Philadelphia, w here lie mi] lacked that portion of the collection required for imme- 

 diate study. 



Mr. Cnshing's Florida work threw hcav light on the shell mounds and other aborig- 

 inal works on the American coasts, and it Avas accordingly thought desirable to 

 review the earlier and more superficial examination of these Avorks at different points 

 along the coast. Carrying out this plan, the Director proceeded about the middle 



