Jan., 191 5. Annual Report of the Director. 387 



out the dijfferent collections from other parts of Melanesia already in 

 the Museum, many of which had not been catalogued. This cataloguing 

 is now being pushed on with energy, and approximately 900 specimens 

 of the Parkinson collection, as well as a few other small collections, have 

 been entered and numbered. 



In the Asiatic Section installation has progressed steadily. Two 

 large special cases designed for the Chinese stage-scenes were delivered 

 in January, and all material and labels relating to these exhibits 

 having been fully prepared in advance, their installation was achieved 

 without delay. This completed the exhibits of Hall 53, which is now 

 entirely devoted to a display of Chinese theatricals. Moreover, two 

 new Halls have been added this year to the existing six, referred to and 

 described in preceding Reports, and made accessible to the public. 

 The Tibetan collection secured under the auspices of the Mrs. Black- 

 stone Fund has received a further extension in Hall 50, which consists 

 of 12 cases illustrating the domestic, social, and religious life of the 

 Tibetan people in the following phases: objects used in the household; 

 consumption of food, including articles of food, as well as the utensils 

 serving for their preparation; constimption of tea; consimiption of 

 spirits and tobacco; basketry; ceremonial silk scarves exchanged by 

 people in social intercourse; writing and printing; charms and domestic 

 art; musical instruments, censers and other objects, and paraphernalia 

 employed in the temples for religious worship. The case illustrating 

 the process in the production of paper and books is of great culture- 

 historical interest; it forms a counterpart of the case arranged two years 

 ago and displaying the arts of printing and engraving in China and 

 Japan. It contains exquisite specimens of Tibetan manuscript work 

 written in gold and silver on black-lacquered paper, manuscripts illu- 

 minated by colored miniatures, in which the Lama scholars excelled as 

 successfully as the mediaeval monks, and fine samples of Tibetan and 

 Mongol prints; especially notable are some books printed in vermilion 

 in the Imperial Palace of Peking (so-called palace editions), and one of 

 the largest and heaviest books ever turned out (93^^ pounds in weight; 

 pages measuring 2 feet io}4 inches in length and 14^^ inches in width). 

 The case, further, contains an interesting autograph written in vermilion 

 ink by the Dalai Lama with his own hand and transmitted by him to 

 Mr. Laufer for presentation to the Field Museum when he had an 

 interview with him at Peking in 1908; there is also on view an attractive 

 series of seals with wax reproductions of their inscriptions, writing- 

 utensils, and appliances of the printer. Hall 49, which had served 

 during the last years as a storage-house for the East-Asiatic material 

 and as the basis of operation to prepare and catalogue it, has been 



