In connection with the classification and arrangement of new material from Canyon de Chelly, a paper was prepared on the cliff ruins of that region.
Mr. [Cosmos Mindeleff] has been in charge of the modeling room during the last year. Upon his return from the field a series of models to illustrate the Chaco ruins, architecturally the most important in the Southwest, was commenced. Two of these, viz, the ruin of Wejegi and that of a small pueblo near Pueblo Alto, have been finished and duplicates have been deposited in the National Museum. The third, a large model of Peñasco Blanco, is still uncompleted. All of these models are made from entirely new surveys made in the summer of 1884. The scale used in the previous series—the inhabited pueblos and the cliff ruins—though larger than usually adopted for this class of work, has shown so much more detail and has proved generally so satisfactory, that it has been continued in the Chaco Ruin group, bringing the entire series of models made by the Bureau to a uniform scale of 1:60, or one inch to five feet. In addition to this the work of duplicating the existing models of the Bureau for purposes of exchange was commenced. Three of these have been completed, and two others are about half finished.
Mr. [E. W. Nelson] was engaged upon a report of his investigations among the Eskimo tribes of Alaska. A part of this report, consisting of an English-Eskimo dictionary, he has already forwarded.
As hereinafter explained, the year was principally devoted to the synonymy of the Indian tribes, the special studies of several officers of the Bureau being suspended so that their whole time might be employed in that direction. In the year 1885, however, and at subsequent intervals, their work was as follows:
Col. [Garrick Mallery], U.S. Army, continued the study, by researches and correspondence, of sign language and pictography. A comprehensive, though preliminary, paper on the latter subject has been printed, with copious illustrations, in the Fourth Annual Report.
Mr. [H. W. Henshaw] was engaged during the year in work upon the synonymy of Indian tribes, as specified below.
Mr. [Albert S. Gatschet] continued to revise and perfect his grammar and dictionary of the Klamath language, a large part of which work is in print. He also took down vocabularies from Indian delegates present in this city on tribal business, and thus succeeded in incorporating into the collections of the Bureau of Ethnology linguistic material from the Alibamu, Hitchiti, Muskoki, and Seneca languages.
Rev. [J. Owen Dorsey] pursued his work on the Ȼegiha language. Having the aid of a Winnebago Indian for some time he enlarged his vocabulary of that language and recorded grammatical notes. He also reported upon works submitted to his examination upon the Tuscarora, Micmac, and Cherokee languages.
Mr. [James Mooney], who had been officially connected with the Bureau since the early part of the fiscal year, was also engaged upon linguistic work.