HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM 



the Andaman Islands, the Philippine Islands, and the islands of the 

 Pacific Ocean. 



Expedition 

 to Colombia, 

 1899-1901. 



Schmidt- 

 Weiss First 

 Collection, 

 $3,000. 



Schmidt- 

 Weiss 

 Second 

 Collection. 



SOUTH AMERICA 



The collections from South America are particularly rich in material 

 illustrating the culture of the prehistoric peoples of Peru and Bolivia. 

 The recent acquisition of a collection from the Indians of the Amazon 

 River region greatly increased our representation of the modern 

 tribes, so that now our collections illustrate, to some degree at least 

 South American ethnology from Colombia to Terra del Fuego. 



The collections from Colombia include a general exhibition series 

 arranged to show the life and industries, and a large collection of 

 objects in pottery, stone, and shell, a great part of which was collected 

 by Dr. Francis C. Nicholas on an expedition maintained by Mr. Morris 

 K. Jesup in 1899-1901. A large number of archaeological specimens 

 from ancient tombs in Santa Marta, and interesting material from the 

 Goajira Indians were in the collection made by Dr. Nicholas. 



The entire collection made by Mr. Hermann Schmidt and Mr. 

 Louis Weiss among the Tukano Indians along the Rio Caiary-Uaupes, 

 the most important tributary of the Rio Negro, was secured for the 

 Museum by Mr. Jesup in 1907. The collection contains five hundred 

 ethnological specimens, an extensive vocabulary of the languages, 

 drawings of the painted figures found on rocks, and a number of folk 

 tales. In the collection are about 300 pieces of feather work, such 

 as head dresses, waistbands, ornaments for the legs and arms, and 

 plumes to be carried in the hand. There are also spears, shields, 

 bows, arrows, blow -guns with their poisoned arrows, fishtraps of 

 basket^, and a variety of baskets and pottery vessels, together with 

 various musical instruments. 



The representation of the modern tribes of Colombia was vera 

 recently increased by the purchase of the second Schmidt-Weiss col- 

 lection. It was gathered among the Indians of the Isana River region, 

 and numbers almost 300 pieces. 



The archaeological series was greatly enlarged in 1908 by an ex- 



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