Report of the President. 1 1 



to the student of Mexican and Central American Archaeology 

 unrivalled opportunities for the study of the sculptures and 

 hieroglyphic writings of the ancient peoples of these portions of 

 America. 



The investigation of the glacial deposits in the Delaware 

 Valley, near Trenton, has been continued for more than a year 

 under the patronage of Dr. Frederick E. Hyde and has resulted 

 in the addition of very important material to the Department of 

 Anthropology. 



Dr. Franz Boas, assistant curator in charge of the ethnological 

 collections, visited Europe during the summer, the expense being 

 defrayed by the Trustees. The object of Dr. Boas's trip was to 

 examine the collections in the various museums and to make ar- 

 rangements for an exchange of specimens with the ethnological 

 Museums of Berlin and Dresden. These exchanges have proved 

 of value to our Museum in filling a number of gaps, and the result 

 shows that our duplicate American material can be largely used in 

 making judicious exchanges with foreign museums. 



Through the liberality of Mr. Jacob H. Schiff, Dr. Boas pur- 

 chased a collection illustrating the manufacture and use of iron by 

 the natives of Africa, and also a collection illustrative of the use of 

 the cocoa palm by the natives of Melanesia. These collections 

 will be utilized in the preparation of ethnic groups illustrating 

 the use of the various natural products of different peoples. 



A large quantity of archaeological material has been received 

 through the exploration carried on by the brothers B. T. B. Hyde 

 and F. E. Hyde, Jr., among the ruins of the prehistoric 

 Pueblo Bonito, in New Mexico, which was supplemented by their 

 purchase of a collection of great scientific importance from the 

 cliff houses and caves of the Grand Gulch region of southern 

 Utah. The work conducted under the auspices of the Messrs. 

 Hyde is more fully dwelt upon under the report of expeditions. 



Through the efforts of Mr. Francis C. Nicholas, general manager 

 of the South American Exploration Company, a large number of 

 important archaeological objects have been given by his associates 

 in this corporation, to which due reference is made in the detailed 

 list of donations to the department. 



An extensive collection of Ainu objects from the Island of 

 Yezo, Japan, was secured by Mr. Arthur Curtiss James, while in 



