REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 39 



tained. The present work contains lists of more than twelve hundred 

 native words; with remarks on the genius of the language, and an ac- 

 count of roots, terminals, derivations, comparisons, &c. In the report 

 of one of our collaborators, Mr. George Gibbs, to whom this memoir 

 was referred, it is stated: 



"The Nootka language is an exceedingly interesting one, not only 

 as the earliest of those of Northwestern America with which we 

 had any acquaintance, and which enters largely as an element into 

 the 'jargon' of the coast, but also because the people who speak it in 

 its various dialects form one of five great northern tribes of the Pa- 

 cific, whose intelligence, courage, and ingenuity have rendered them 

 conspicuous, and whose industrial arts and physiognomy have fur- 

 nished an argument with many in favor of their Asiatic origin. The 

 existing vocabularies of that language are very imperfect and mea- 

 gre, and the more extended one of Mr. Knipe will be of great value 

 to comparative philologists." 



We had decided to put this production to press, when the author 

 unexpectedly informed us that he was obliged to leave the country 

 for England, and could not, therefore, give his personal attention to 

 the work as it was passing through the press. As this was consid- 

 ered essential, it was thought better that he should withdraw his 

 manuscript, and endeavor to procure its publication through some 

 society in England. If he should fail in this, the Institution would 

 at some future time undertake its publication, since it is intimately 

 connected with other works of a similar character already given to 

 the world through the agency of the bequest. 



Another paper presented to the Institution for publication is by Mr. 

 James G. Swan, upon the manners and customs of the Makah Indians 

 of Washington Territory, a tribe belonging to the Takwaht or 

 Nootka Sound family, illustrated with many drawings and accom- 

 panied by a vocabulary of their language. The size and cost of 

 publication of this work has prevented us from considering its adop- 

 tion at present as one of our series. 



Miscellaneous Collections. — Under the class of publications called 

 " Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections," previous to the war, a series 

 of manuals, intended to facilitate the study of different branches of 

 natural history, were projected and a number of them actually com- 

 menced; but the subsequent diminution of our income, and the ad- 

 vance in the cost of materials and workmanship in the line of print- 

 ing, has greatly interfered with the rapid completion of this enter- 

 prise. Of the works of this series as given in the report for 1860, 



