Jan., 1920. Annual Report of the Director. 



313 



ingbeen made in 1896111 the Arsenal of Tientsin; such jingals were carried 

 by two soldiers on their shoulders and fired by a third man standing 

 behind. Mr. G. L. Fitz- William, chemical and mining engineer of 

 Hammond, Indiana, presented the Museum with an important ethno- 

 graphical collection from the San Bias Indians, whom he had visited 

 and studied. At the donor's request, this collection is to be named, 

 in honor of his son, the William Fitz- William Collection." The 

 material is an excellent and representative collection from a very 

 interesting tribe on the Isthmus of Panama. While not far removed 

 from contact with civilization, this people preserves its aboriginality 

 and particularly its purity of blood tenaciously. While they have been 

 much brought into the light of publicity of late, the San Bias are sel- 

 dom visited, and their specimens are rarely seen in museums. The most 

 interesting part of the collection consists of women's garments, which 

 are composed of many layers of bright colored cloths cut out in char- 

 acteristic designs. Mr. G. F. Vivian contributed seven bows and thirty- 

 six arrows from the Arawak of British Guiana, South America, collected 

 by Dr. Geo. D. B. Dods; this is good and representative material, and 

 there are several new types of arrows not heretofore in the Museum 

 collection. Assistant C\u*ator Mason presented eighteen ethnological and 

 archaeological objects from the Papago in Arizona, where he spent several 

 weeks in the beginning of the year under a special leave of absence 

 granted by the Institution. Mr. Joseph R. Morris of Deerfield, Illinois, 

 donated twenty-three objects relating to Indian ethnology, collected at 

 Fort Peck, Montana, in 1876. Among the prominent specimens in the 

 lot are two choice blanket stripes, a buckskin gun-case, two splendid 

 pouches, four knife-cases, and a netted wheel. Mr. Alfred R. Brown, 

 Director of Education, Tonga, South Pacific, from whom the Musetmi 

 purchased an Andaman Island collection in 19 10, presented this year a 

 small collection from the same group, which, while adding nothing new 

 to the material on exhibition in the Musetmi, is of considerable scientific 

 value. The technical culture of the aborigines of the Andaman Islands 

 is not very rich, and at best yields a few weapons — chiefly bows and 

 arrows, — some basketry, crude pottery, and scanty garments which are 

 decorative and commemorative rather than for protection. AU these 

 are represented in this collection, and in addition a few modem imita- 

 tions of the ancient bone-tipped arrows used in hunting and warfare. 

 Included in the gift are two wood-carved images from the Nicobar 

 Islands. One of these, the figure of a woman, is an excellent piece of 

 native carving, and is a distinct addition to the exhibition collections. 

 Such figiures are believed to drive sickness and evil influences away 

 from a house or village. While in Manokwari, Dutch New Guinea, in 



