34 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



service can be done in the way of advancing knowledge with the 

 small appropriation which could be devoted to this purpose than by- 

 publishing the manuscripts, as was first intended, as a part of the 

 Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. In accordance with this view, 

 the grammar of the Mutsun language, mentioned in the last report, 

 has been presented to Mr. Shea, and has been published by him as 

 one of his series, full credit being given to the Institution in the title 

 page, and in a separate advertisement. 



The Mutsun Indians inhabited the country northwest of Monterey, 

 California, comprising a district, according to Mr. Taylor, of 170 miles 

 long by 80 broad, and are the most northerly tribe known of whose 

 language the Spanish missionaries compiled a grammar. Their village 

 lay in the centre of a valley which abounded in rich land, and as late 

 as 1831 numbered twelve hundred souls. For the purpose of com- 

 parison this work therefore possesses great value. The late W. W. 

 Turner says that this language is clearly the same as the Rumsen or 

 Rumsien, one of the two spoken at the mission of San Carlos, and at 

 the mission of La Soledad, further to the south. It also bears a con- 

 siderable degree of resemblance to the language of the Costanos on 

 the bay of San Francisco, and also a fainter one to other languages 

 further north. The grammar is printed in superior style, on excellent 

 paper, by J. Munsell, of Albany, and forms Part IV of the linguistic 

 series above mentioned, the following being the titles of the three 

 previous parts, viz : 



1. A French Onondaga dictionary, from a manuscript of the 17th 

 century. 



2. A Selish or Flathead grammar, by Rev. Gregory Mengarini. 



3. A grammatical sketch of the Heve language, spoken in the mid- 

 dle of the last century in Sonora; translated from an unpublished 

 manuscript by Buckingham Smith. 



Besides the fourth number, the other works which have been placed 

 in the hands of Mr. Shea for publication are the Mutsun vocabulary, 

 the Yakama grammar, and the Sextapay vocabulary. The paper 

 on the languages of the western coast mentioned in the last report as 

 in preparation by Mr. George Gibbs is still in progress. He has 

 received several valuable additions of materials for comparison of 

 the different languages under investigation. 



The publication in the last report of the general views on arche- 

 ology, by Morlot, of Switzerland, has awakened a new interest in the 

 remains of Indian art found in all parts of the United States, and 



