Report of the President. 1 9 



In the ethnological section the re-arrangement and installa- 

 tion of collections has gone on as rapidly as possible, and an 

 exceptionally large amount of installation has been com- 

 pleted. The arrangement of the north hall was completed in 

 its main features. Early in the year the north side of the 

 west hall, second floor, was cased, and the Chinese collections 

 made by Dr. Laufer under a grant given by Mr. Jacob H. 

 Schiff were exhibited temporarily. In the spring, work was 

 begun on the installation of the Siberian collections of the 

 Jesup North Pacific Expedition. The whole west corner hall 

 was set aside for the collections from Siberia. The arrange- 

 ment of the Chukchee collections and of the Koryak collec- 

 tions made by Mr. Bogoras has been completed. 



The Jesup North Pacific Expedition. — The work of the Jesup 

 North Pacific Expedition has progressed satisfactorily. Dur- 

 ing the past year, collections have been received from Mr. 

 George Hunt, Mr. Waldemar Bogoras and Mr. Waldemar 

 Jochelson. With the return of Messrs. Bogoras and Jochel- 

 son, the Siberian part of the expedition has been closed. The 

 results are most gratifying. 



The aim of the expedition to collect very full information 

 on all the tribes of the North Pacific coast has in the main 

 been accomplished, and it now remains to study the relation- 

 ship of these tribes by a detailed comparison of the material 

 collected. The whole district from Columbia River in America, 

 westward to the Lena in Siberia, has been covered fairly ex- 

 haustively; and it is already evident that the relationship be- 

 tween Asia and America is much closer than had hitherto been 

 supposed. In fact, a comparison of the customs and tradi- 

 tions of certain of the peoples of northeastern Asia and 

 northwestern America indicates that in culture at least they 

 must be regarded as one group, — a conclusion of great sig- 

 nificance for the wider problem of the origin and development 

 of the civilizations of the two continents. A number of 

 special questions have resulted from these studies, to which it 

 is desirable to give further attention. They are particularly 

 an investigation of the Salish tribes of Puget Sound, of the 



