98 Field Museum of Natural History — Reports, Vol. V. 



tions have been moved from Hall 72 into Hall 80, thus giving needed 

 floor space in the former for working purposes. One-fourth of the floor 

 space in Hall 7 1 has been cleared with the result that desired additional 

 room for installation work has been gained. The African collection was 

 carefully overhauled, and a large amount of material previously un- 

 identified was studied and placed in its proper grouping. This material 

 is now divided into three groups: the first, intended for exhibition; the 

 second, reserved for the study collection; the third, for exchange. The 

 exhibition collection has been installed in twenty-seven standard cases 

 fully labeled, and illustrated by maps and a considerable number of 

 photographs. The most notable exhibit in this series is presented by 

 the artistic cast bronze and ivory carvings from Benin, many of the 

 specimens being of unusual excellence and rarity. The balance of the 

 Northwest Coast of Africa, the Sudan, and the upper tributaries of 

 the Nile, are represented by five cases. Collections from Somali-land 

 and the Lake Region of Eastern Africa occupy 8 cases, illustrating 

 different types of culture like that of the Arabicised tribes, the war-like 

 Masai, and the nomadic Wandorobo. A very complete collection from 

 the Ovimbundu and Zulu gives an instructive view of the life and 

 industries of these most advanced tribes of southern Africa. Congo 

 material is displayed in 6 cases, showing the life of the Pigmies, as well 

 as of the metal-working Bantu stock. An interesting feature of the 

 last mentioned collection is a large group of fetish objects and other 

 articles relating to the highly developed ceremonial and religious life 

 of those peoples. In their present arrangement, the African collections, 

 though still far from being complete, give a vivid picture of the various 

 cultures of the continent, and likewise illustrate well the interrelations 

 of the different tribes. Fiu-ther progress has been made in the instal- 

 lation of the Joseph N. Field South Sea Islands collection, 44 cases 

 devoted to Melanesian ethnology having been completed. This mate- 

 rial covers the following regions. The two islands Buka and Bougain- 

 ville, belonging to the group of the Solomon Islands, are fully represented 

 by 8 cases. Especially noteworthy in this exhibit are wood carvings 

 including one large human statue ; the peculiar balloon-shaped hats worn 

 by the Matasese, the young men who are initiated into a secret society; 

 the huge coiled baskets, wooden platters, heavy stone nut-crackers, and 

 a complete series of stone implements, showing the different ways of 

 hafting the axes. The central Solomons are represented by objects 

 inlaid with pearl and by a large wooden bowl. Fourteen cases are 

 devoted to New Ireland, with a display of huge ancestral images of 

 wood and memorial carvings (from central New Ireland and the Gard- 

 ner Islands), ancestral figures of stone, and a great variety of masks, 



