SECOND REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 1905 51 



will be presently submitted for publication. Dr Beauchamp's 

 contribution to the literature of Indian history and customs in 

 New York made through the avenue of these publications has 

 been most meritorious and useful ; no better gage of its apprecia- 

 tive reception by the public can be cited than the unfailing demand 

 for copies of these works. 



The archeologic collections of the Museum, enriched by the 

 archives of the Six Nations formally transferred to the State 

 in 1898, and by the Morgan, Converse and Maxwell collec- 

 tions together with constant occasional additions, are of superior 

 and in large measure unique value. It has seemed, however, that 

 a more sustained and persistent effort should be made by actual 

 exploitation to acquire and conserve the fast disappearing remnant 

 of these relics still reposing in the soil. The search for and col- 

 lection of Indian relics by individuals has gone on in every part of 

 the State and very extensive private collections have resulted from 

 this search. Such collections are frequently offered for sale to 

 the State but it is not always or often within our means to avail 

 ourselves of these proposals. It is better that we should make 

 our own collections by active search. It is in some degree a mis- 

 fortune that in the private search for relics little account has been 

 taken of the sites from which they are derived and that but few 

 searchers have stopped to record the nature of the Indian earth- 

 works and village sites, of the mode of interment in burial sites 

 and all the accessory data which would give clews to the mode 

 of life or the tribal relations of these aboriginal inhabitants. 



Leases of Indian sites. In the endeavor to acquire and record 

 facts of this kind it has seemed wise to enter the field with the 

 purpose of making detailed surveys and excavations of such 

 ancient sites. To carry out such a plan it became necessary to 

 negotiate leases of such sites where practicable, insuring the 

 privilege of excavation within a period of five years. The interest- 

 ing group of sites in the valley of the Cattaraugus creek and the 

 southwestern portion of Chautauqua county were decided on as 

 the most inviting field for immediate operations and Mr Arthur 

 C. Parker, commissioned as assistant in this division, was author- 

 ized to negotiate a limited number of options of selected sites. 

 Obstacles of many kinds arose in such procedure, the presence of 

 crops and timber and where locations were desirable on the Indian 

 reservations, the superstitions of the Indian owners. Four such 

 leases however were effected as follows: 



