REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 9 



sonian Institution, however, is the archaeology of this region, and it is 

 to this that Mr. Williams has been requested to chiefly direct his atten- 

 tion. It is his intention to visit El Kutel, one of the most striking 

 monolithic remains in Northern Africa, and other ruins of equal inter- 

 est. Photographs and measurements will be obtained, for which pur- 

 pose a photographic outfit has been furnished to Mr. Williams, who is 

 thoroughly competent to conduct investigations of this kind. The 

 Smithsonian Institution has also provided an outfit of instruments for 

 taking observations of temperatures and altitudes, arid he has been 

 r equested to obtain musical instruments of all kinds, as far as the lim- 

 ited sum of money placed at his disposal from the Museum fund will 

 enable him to purchase them. 



News has already been received of Mr. Williams's arrival in Africa. 

 He has secured a complete series of musical instruments, from the rudest 

 whistle to stringed instruments of skillful manufacture. In each in- 

 stance the native names and names of the parts have been ascertained, 

 the proper pitch of each string taken, and a native melody, as played 

 on each kind of instrument, has been noted in our musical notation. 

 He has also succeeded in obtaining a varied collection of objects illus- 

 trating the domestic life of the people. 



Mr. W. W. Bockhill, of the German legation of Pekin, has for several 

 years made himself familiar with the customs of the natives of Thibet, 

 and having recently undertaken a journey through that country, will 

 make a special study of the ethnology of the region. He has been 

 supplied by the institution with a barometer and other instruments 

 desired by him for his journey. His previous investigations have re- 

 sulted in an exceedingly valuable collection of objects illustrating the- 

 religious practices, occupations, and amusements of various peoples in 

 different parts of China, Thibet, Turkestan. 



Dr. James Grant Bey, who some years ago established a sanitarium 

 in Cairo, Egypt, and attended the International Medical Congress held 

 in Washington in 1887, became much interested in the work of the 

 National Museum, and has since his return to Egypt devoted his leisure 

 time to special studies of the arts of the ancient Egyptians. Several 

 valuable collections have already been received from him. 



During the summer, the Bureau of Ethnology decided to send Mr. 

 Jeremiah Curtin to Hoopa Beservation in California for the purpose of 

 studying the languages and mythology of the tribes of Indians inhabit- 

 ing the reservation. The Smithsonian Institution was fortunately en- 

 abled to secure the assistance of Mr. Curtin in investigating their arts 

 and industries also, and a small sum of money was placed in his hands 

 for the purchase of objects of Indian manufacture. 



Dr. John M. Crawford, U. S. consul-general at St. Petersburg, has 

 kindly offered to allow the National Museum to participate in the results 

 of his ethnological researches in Bussia and Finland. Dr. Crawford is 

 well known in the United States as a philologist and a student of Scan- 



