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290 Chapter 15 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ A New Assignment J anuary 27th . After breakfast at the Riggs’, visited Major Powell—at theNationalGallery,thenewbuildingoftheSmithsonianInstitute. This is a magnificent structure, of the finest I have ever seen. Being a little bit too early, I whiled away the moments, preceding Major Powell’s arrival, in making a hurried examination of a number of the apartments and cases. I succeeded in walking through those devoted to the “seal family”, the “rattlesnakes” and “skunks” and was delighted beyond description, by the order and system of arrangement. Major Powell coming in received me very warmly and presented me to his assistants, Captain Garrick Mallery of the Army1 and another 1. Garrick Mallery (d. 1895) was a captain of the First Infantry, who first entered the army as a captain of Volunteers during the Civil War. He finished the war with brevets to colonel of Volunteers and lieutenant colonel of the Regular Army. Like Bourke, Mallery became interested in American Indian culture during service in the West. He pioneered research into Indian winter counts with The Dakota and Corbusier Winter Counts. He was placed on detached duty to work on the monumental Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, but soon abandoned it for his own field work in American Indian pictography and sign language; the Handbook was completed by Frederick Webb Hodge. Mallery’s twovolume Picture Writing of the American Indians, published in the Tenth Annual Report of the American Bureau of Ethnology in 1893, remains in print, as does his Sign Language Among North American Indians. Mallery was one of the founders of the American Anthropological Society, and served as its president for several years. Heitman, Historical Register, 1:686; Fletcher, “Colonel Garrick Mallery,” 79–80; http://www.accessgenealogy.com/ native/tribes/preface.htm A New Assignment 291 gentleman, Mr._______, whose name I did not catch, but who impressed me as a young man of decided ability (Mr. I. Pilling.). Our conversation naturally turned upon ethnology and in reply to Maj. Powell’s queries, I gave a succinct statement of my own efforts in that direction in Arizona in 1873. At that time, as I told Major Powell , I was still quite young in years and totally without knowledge of this most important branch of science, but I was impelled by a very sincere desire to learn and that is half the battle always. I prepared a long list of questions embracing a wide range of topics but based upon the idea of an Indian’s life, commencing with his birth, taking him through all the principal events of his history and ending with his death and mortuary services. Major Powell renewed his invitation for me to join his Expedition in May, and I again assured him that I would give the matter very earnest deliberation. I then passed over to the old building of the Smithsonian, and after glancing at the lordly Irish Elk and the German Aurochs, I entered the division of Anthropology, which I was most anxious to see. There is certainly a fair collection of Indian property, but it is only fair and is not well arranged. If the United States Government so desired the Bureau of Ethnology could get specimens enough to fill one half the Smithsonian Institute. The cases containing stone axes, hammers, “celts”, spears and daggers, make a good display and are so labelled as to give a good idea of the purposes for which their contents were intended. Returning to Nickerson’s Office, I stopped on the way at the Washington Monument , which I desired to ascend, but the elevator was under repair and the wooden stairway too slippery with the ice and snow—so I gave up the idea and entered the small frame building where are stored the stones presented by the various states, Territories, cities, towns and associations. At the Signal Office, Nickerson presented me to Captain Saldanha da Gama, of the Brazilian Navy, now on an official visit to this country. This officer is a direct descendant of Vasco da Gama, the great navigator of Portugal: Captain S. da Gama is a gentleman of unusually courteous manner, extended acquaintance with all quarters of the globe, keen powers of observation and, apparently, great range of reading. Professor Abbie invited me to visit the Instrument rooms of the Signal Service, which I did, and was shown through by Lt. [William Edward] Birkhimer, an esteemed friend of many years [3.17.154.171] Project MUSE (2024-04-25...

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