44 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



the literature relating to the Indians ; and he readily adopted the suggestion of the 

 Director to begin the preparation of a list of hooks and papers containing Indian 

 linguistics. In this study the industry and accuracy which characterized his steno- 

 graphic -work were constantly displayed, and ever-increasing confidence was reposed 

 in his trustworthiness. In connection with his stenographic and bibliographic work, 

 he was intrusted with the .supervision of the editorial work of the reports of the 

 Rocky Mountain survey and the newly instituted Bureau, and in addition consider- 

 able clerical work fell to him ; yet every duty was performed with alacrity, fidelity, 

 and wisdom. Despite the multiplication of duties, his literary and bibliographic 

 methods remained excellent, and even improved with time; and his conscientious 

 care was so invariably manifested in his bibliographic work that his rapidly growing 

 list came to be recognized as a standard from which it were bootless to appeal. It 

 was during these years, from 1875 to 1880, that the foundation for Pilling's character 

 as bibliographer was laid and securely established. 



In 1881 the Director of the Ethnologic Bureau was made Director also of the 

 United States Geological Survey, and Mr. Pilling was appointed chief clerk of the 

 Survey, and the customary administrative duties were devolved on him. These 

 duties were ever performed energetically yet judiciously, and withal so courteously 

 and impartially as to gain for him the confidence of every collaborator in that 

 rapidly growing Bureau. In this position he continued until June 30, 1892. During 

 this period he served also as chief clerk of the Ethnologic Bureau in an eminently 

 acceptable manner ; and although his administrative work as the second officer in 

 the two Bureaus might well have been regarded as sufficient to occupy all the ener- 

 gies of one man, he never forgot his bibliography, and so ordered his duties that 

 few days passed without some addition to his list of books on Indian linguistics. 

 Meantime his search for rare and little-known works brought him into correspond- 

 ence with dealers, bibliophiles, missionaries on the outposts of civilization, travel- 

 ers in Indian lands, and many others, and he frequently found it necessary to pur- 

 chase books in order that their contents might be examined and their titles noted ; 

 and in this way he gradually accumulated a unique library — one of the richest col- 

 lections of rare books relating to Indian tongues now in existence. In 1885 there 

 was issued for the use of collaborators and correspondents of the Bureau, in a small 

 edition, a quarto volume of nearly twelve hundred pages, entitled "Proof-sheets of 

 a Bibliography of the Languages of the North American Indians, by James Constan- 

 tino Pilling." This volume represented the results of Mr. Pilling's bibliographic 

 work up to that date, and served as a basis for the classification, on the part of the 

 Director, of the North American tribes by linguistic characters. The printing of this 

 volume served to deepen the interest of the bibliographer in his task, and within a 

 year or two the issue of a series of bibliographies relating to various Indian stocks 

 or families was begun. 



As time passed Mr. Pilling began to develop premonitory symptoms of locomotor 

 ataxia, and his duties were varied, so far as the legal conditions controlling govern- 

 mental bureaus permitted, iu the hope of bringing relief; but despite every effort 

 the malady increased. Iu 1892 he was relieved of his duties as chief clerk of the 

 Geological Survey and the Bureau of American Ethnology, and was transferred to 

 the latter Bureau and employed solely in continuing the bibliographic work. For 

 a time he benefited by the transfer, and his duty was performed with great energy 

 and continued skill and success, so that by the end of 1894 his bibliographies of the 

 Eskimo, Siouan, Iroquoian, Algonquian, Athapascan, Chinookan, Salishan, and Wak- 

 ashan languages were completed and printed. He was then engaged in the bibli- 

 ography of the Indian languages of Mexico, and this was carried forward during the 

 early months of 1895, even after its author had become practically helpless through 

 the insidious and uncontrollable advance of a hopeless disease. This work was not 

 finished. 



The series of bibliographies prepared by Mr. Pilling are a monument to his memory 



