Report of the President. 2 1 



the publication of Dr. Washington Matthews' important ac- 

 count of the Navaho ceremony known as the " Night Chant." 

 This is a valuable contribution to American ethnology, and is 

 the result of more than twenty years' work by the author. 

 Dr. Matthews' account will form an entire volume of our 

 Museum Memoirs, with several plates and text illustrations, 

 and will be issued early in 1902. 



Mexican Expedition. — -Mr. M. H. Saville spent the winter of 

 1900-1901 in continuing his explorations of the ruins of Mitla, 

 under the grant made for the purpose by the Duke of Loubat. 

 The scientific results of these explorations are important,- and 

 have led to the solution of several problems connected with 

 the architecture of the celebrated ruins in the vicinity of 

 Mitla. The expedition also succeeded in obtaining a pre- 

 Columbian map or " lienzo " on native cloth, which is aunique 

 example of this class of American codices, and a specimen of 

 Mexican painting on maguey paper, consisting of a map of 

 Teotihuacan. These maps have been framed and placed on 

 exhibition in the Mexican hall. The department furthermore 

 has received two reproductions of pre-Columbian codices from 

 the Duke of Loubat, the Tonalamatl Aubin and the Codex 

 Fejervary-Mayer, which add greatly to our exhibit of ancient 

 Mexican picture writings. 



The Duke of Loubat having provided for another expedition 

 to Mexico, Mr. Saville left New York about the middle of 

 December to complete the work at Mitla, and to carry on ex- 

 plorations in the Oaxaca valley. 



Expedition to China. — Through the generosity of a friend of 

 the Museum, who desires to have his name withheld, our 

 institution has been enabled to enter upon ethnological inves- 

 tigations in China. This work has been intrusted to Dr. 

 Berthold Laufer. Two collections are the result of the first 

 year's work of this expedition, one of which has been received 

 and the other is on its way to New York. The undertaking 

 is to continue for three years, and will furnish us with abun- 



