Report of the Curator of the Pitt Rivers Museum, 1916

Considerable progress was made with the rearrangement of the Prehistoric series in the Upper Gallery, the west end of which was nearly completed, though much remains to be done in connexion with the reserve collections in the cabinets. A further section of the weapons was arranged in the new wall-cases, and the labelling of the specimens was improved. Part of the series of bows was rearranged, and a better system of exhibiting the collections of bolas and lassoes was adopted. An alteration in the mechanism of the ventilators in the Upper Gallery has increased the wall-space usefully. In the Lower Gallery several small series have been arranged, and an interesting and large collection of native spoons has been placed on exhibition in new cases. In the Court some secondhand wall-cases were erected over the existing wall-cases, and have been used for exhibition of specimens. The iron building to the south of the main Museum has proved exceedingly useful, and has been furnished with sets of drawers, &c., purchased secondhand. A large number of phonograph records, chiefly of native music, have been arranged in this room.

The card-catalogue has been continued by Miss W. S. Blackman, and the series of spoons, of ornaments involving artificial deformation, and of lighting appliances, were added to those already catalogued. A very large collection of lighting appliances which will be given to the Museum shortly vas also card-catalogued. The existing catalogues have been completed to date.
 
The usual courses of lectures on Prehistoric Archaeology and Comparative Technology were given by me to the Diploma students.
 
The winter work in the Museum was considerably hampered by the police regulations as to lighting, which have rendered the work of the department both difficult and trying
 
The suggestion that the Pitt Rivers Museum should be taken over by the Royal Flying Corps was fortunately not adopted. Had it been carried out, it would have entailed enormous loss, and would certainly have resulted in extensive and irreparable damage, in addition to undoing completely the work of thirty years.
 
Many noteworthy accessions have been added to the Museum. Mr. W. Scoresby Routledge has generously given a large proportion of the collection made by him during his very successful voyage in the yacht Mana to Easter and pitcairn Islands, and the specimens acquired through him are of great scientific value. The large collection of objects from Southern Nigeria collected and presented by Mr. P.A. Talbot is also very noteworthy; many of the ceremonial objects have hitherto been unprocurable and are of a high interest, acquired under very exceptional circumstance. Mr. J.H. Hutton has continued his previous generosity to the Museum, and has sent from the Naga Hills numerous specimens of much scientific importance. Special attention may also be drawn to the interesting contributions made by the Rev. John Roscoe, Mr Woodthorpe, the Rev. R.H. Codrington, and Mrs. Braithwaite Batty. A full list of accessions is appended.

ACCESSIONS BY DONATION.
Collection of specimens from the Naga tribes, Naga Hills, Assam, viz.: 3 human skull trophies, Sema; basketry flask and bamboo flask, Ao; Chang hoe and wooden dao; Angami rake for paddy; Ao gourd ladle; necklet of porcupine quills, Phom; Angami bamboo hammer used in haircutting ; Konyak spindle; creeper used for dye-making; dao from unexplored country F. of Naga Hills; carved snake for hanging in the morung house, Phom; Konyak opium-box; Ao spindle-whorl; set of Lhota cupping instruments; 4 Lhota cloth garments; Sema and Angami women's garments; cloth worn by Rengma men who have performed social gennas; copies of carved teak posts in a ruined Ao morung; Chang symbolic message conveying a challenge; knotted tally string, Sema fishing-nooses; Sangtam spindle-whorl; objects which a Sema medicine-woman pretended to extract from a rheumatic man, by way of curing the complaint Angami necklet of cane and orchid bark; heavy pendant of turbinella shell, Angami; pendant of shell and a copy of the same in brass, Konyak; 7 ground stone adzes from Tichipami, Sema country; Sangtam and Chang jews' harps; 2 small black pebbles which are valued as having magic properties, Sema. Presented by J. H. Hutton, I.C.S. Set of basket-maker's tools, Oxford; 7 greenstone adzes, British New Guinea; stone adze, New Britain; 3 imitation flint arrowheads, Brandon; ancient Roman pigments, Pompeii; 6 bronze mirrors, Manchuria; Ethiopian parchment charm roll written in A mharic characters and illuminated, Abyssinia; damascened battle-axe, N. India; Matabili battle-axe of peculiar form, S. Africa; axe, L. Nyassa; axe-club with carved head, ? Dahomey, W. Africa; 4 carved wooden spoons, Norway; 3 ditto, Mt. Athos, Turkey; spoon with hinged handle, Bosnia; slung-shot used by European sealers for killing seals; 4 Khond war-axes, Ganjam; ceremonial axe, elaborately forged in iron, with copper handle, Kasai, Congo State; 2 old English ring dials; wooden sun-clock, Basque, Pyrenees; rare form of primitive wooden sun-clock, dated 1625, Dalecarlia, Sweden; a number of old lace-making bobbins, &c., Buckinghamshire; ivory lever for twisting the sinew-backing of bows, Western Eskimo; woorali poison, British Guiana; 4 Manchu snuff-bottles, Mukden; calved wooden pipe, Brittany; 4 worked chert flakes from the oldest Madelainean stratum, Champs Blancs, Dordogne; neolithic flint scraper, Iffley, Oxon.; natural flint used as a charm against gout; naturally perforated flint with ground edges, used as a charm, Oxford; very small neolithic flint blade, Icklingham; set of 3 postage stamps specially issued for use as currency during a dearth of metallic coin, Russia, 19I5; 4 locally issued notes of 50 centimes value, issued during the war, 1915, France; 2 large rosaries, Manchuria; a number of flint implements from various localities in England; 3 models of whip-slings and darts, Switzerland, New Zealand, and Siberia; 2 examples of Chinese tao or "knife-money"; a quantity of plain and decorated potsherds, stone implements, &c., from megalithic temples in Malta (Hal Tarxien, Hagia Kim, and Mnaidra); &c. Presented by Mr. Henry Balfour M.A.  Carib celt of shell, Barbados. Presented by the Rev. The Principal of Hertford College, D.D., Oxford.  Toy bow and arrow and friction-drum, Norwich; shade for lamp, Norwich. Presented by Miss W.S. Blackman.  Globular flute of strychnos fruit-shell, Ba-Thonga, Portuguese E. Africa. Presented by Baron A. von Hugel, M.A.  Chinese raincoat of fibre. Presented by Mrs. H.T. Gillett. Large pottery vessel, Tesuque, New Mexico. Presented by Miss B. Freire Marreco.  Old iron links formerly used for repairing chains, South Newington. Presented by Mr. A.M. Bell, M.A. Four samples of cloth, XII to XVIII dynasties, Meir, Upper Egypt. Presented by Mr. A.M. Blackman, M.A. Specimens collected by the late Colonel R. G. Woodthorpe, viz.: palm-leaf belts and armlets, Andaman Islands; bamboo quiver and dao, Assam; 2 mouth-organs, Burmese and Laotian types; tinder-pouch, Central-Asia; 12, tobacco pipes of various types; Shan hat, Burma; 2 puppet figures, Burma; 3 native saddles and several specimens of harness, ?Assam; &c. Presented by Mr. J.D. Woodthorpe.  Models of obsolete type of fishhook made from pandanus leaf, Delena, British New Guinea. Presented by Mr. H.G. Beasley.  Ceremonial club with stone head and doll of deerskin, New Mexico. Presented by Mr. R.B. Townshend, M.A.  Tanged stone blade, Wavertree, Sevenoaks, Kent; part of antler of red-deer partly shaped in palaeolithic times, from cavern at Gargas, Haute Pyrenees. Presented by Dr. R.R. Marett, D.Sc.  Tuda, imitation of the wooden support of a shaman's drum, which now takes the place of the drum itself, which is forbidden by the Russian authorities, Minusinsk Tatars, Abakan R., Siberia. Presented by the Committee for Anthropology. [Collected by Miss Czaplicka.]  Twenty three stone celts, stone pestle, 2 perforated round stones, 6 stone shapes which may be natural, a large number of spheroidal stones, some of which have been used as pounders and rubbers, slender, curved piece of stone whose resemblance to a snake has been accentuated artificially, Nimkada R., N. Nigeria. Presented by Mr. J. Scott and Mr. H.F. Mathews.  Spalls, flakes, &c., of stone found in Moustierian deposits in the Cotte de la Chevre, Jersey. Presented by Mrs. Holland and Miss R. Moss.  Ten flint scrapers, Windmill Hill, Wiltshire; 5 roughly worked flints, Laverstock; rough discoidal palaeolith from gravels, Hatfield Park, Herts; quartzite flake, partly worked, Wolvercote, Oxon.; glazed palaeolith, Knowle Farm pit, Wilts; glazed and pitted flint flake, Booby Bay, Cornwall. Presented by the Rev. H.G.O. Kendall, M.A. Finely inlaid ear-disk of wood, Florida Island, Solomon Islands. Presented by Mr. T. Codrington. Greenstone celt, Florida, Solomon Islands; adze of tridacna shell, Torres Islands; coconut scraper of shell, nautilus-shell spoon and coconut-shell cup, Solomon Islands; kava cup and wooden bowl, Banks Islands; engraved lime-box, Ysabel, Solomon Islands; fishing-trimmer, Santa Cruz Islands; fish hooks of shell and turtle-shell, Solomon Islands; stone which is buried in gardens to ensure a good crop, Mota, Banks Islands; engraved nut-shell, Ysabel Island; tridacna shell armlet and nasal stud, Solomon Islands; string of very minute shell beads, Banks Islands; bamboo comb, Torres Islands; ornamented palm-wood comb, Malanta, Solomon Islands; dance-ornament worn on the leg, Santa Cruz Islands; string of red and white feathers worn as a sign of social status, Santa Maria, Banks Islands; shells from which money is made, Banks Islands; painted wooden board used to cover coils of feather money, Santa Cruz Islands; syrinx, Florida Island and Banks Islands; palm-leaf girdle, Banks Islands; stringwork bag, Solomon Islands; palm-leaf basket, Torres Islands; lure of cypraea shell for catching cuttle-fish, Solomon Islands. Presented by the Rev. R.H. Codrington, D.D. Two hoe-blades, 2 axe-blades, 2 chisels, sword and dagger blades, 2 lance heads and hanging lamp, all of iron, from ancient cemetery at Adichanullur, Madras Presidency; 2 rollers and 2 pounders of stone, from ancient cemetery at Perumbair, Madras Presidency. Presented by the Government Museum, Madras. Set of thorn fishhooks mounted on line, coast of Essex. Presented by Sir Hugh Beevor. Specimens collected in E. Africa, viz.: 4 hunting bows and 2 armlets of rhinoceros horn, Akamba, Usagara; 5 bows, quiver, war-club, sword, 2 wooden choppers used for lopping branches, wooden hoe-blade, snuff-box, and 2 wooden earplugs, Wamegi, Usagara; bark-cloth mallet, small bag of very fine string-work, straining-tube, chiefs decorated tooth-stick, notched flute, pair of wooden bells used in exorcising, priest's wand, clay " medicine " holder, sacred knife placed in the tombs of the kings, sacred bundle containing the umbilical cord of a king of Uganda, girl's waist-belt, woman's necklet, monitor skin armlets, bracelets of wire-work and ivory armlets. Presented by the Rev. J. Roscoe. Series of palaeolithic implements from deposits referable to. the Moustierian sub-period, from La Cotte de St. Brelade, Jersey. Presented by the Societe Jersiaise Carved wooden bowl and carved drum, New Guinea (probably from Huon Gulf). Presented by Mr. G. Carline. Carved and painted wooden emblem of the Omara totem, Purari Ddta, British New Guinea. Presented by Dr. A.C. Haddon, D.Sc., F.R.S. Copper water-clock, Palar Valley, Madras Presidency; 4 silver jaw-locks worn by those who are under a vow, Tirupati, Madras; silver jaw-lock and ornamental silver pins for sticking into various parts of the body, used by devotees, from a shrine of Mariamman, Negapatam, Madras. Presented by Mr. F.J Richards, I.C.S. Three pottery lamps from Phenician rock-cut tombs, Malta neolithic potsherds, Mnaidra; potsherds, flint implements, &c. Hagiar Kim (neolithic); neolithic potsherds, Cordin; pot. sherds, small stone celts, bone beads and sling-stone from the Hypogeum, Hal-Saflieni; potsherds and spinde-whorl, l; bead of shark's vertebra, bone beads, ornament of bird's bone, ochreous pigment, and seeds of i corn, Hal-Tarxien, Malta. Presented by Professor T. Zammit, C M.G. Specimens collected in Southern Nigeria, viz.: rough stone implement with ground edge, Degema; iron lamp, Etche Ibo, Degema; 8 spoons of gourd, wood, and iron, Ikwerri Ibo, Degema; wooden food-bowl, Southern Ibo; carved wooden chair, Ikwerri Ibo; heavy wooden yam-planter, Mbolli tribe, Degema; bronze currency manilla; Kalabari shield of bark, Buguma; 4-pronged spear, Okrika; 3 small bows and varieties of arrows, Ikwerri Ibo; gourd powder-flask, &c., Ibibio, Eket; percussion-cap holder; full-sized dugout canoe, 1 'Ndonni Ibo, Orashi R.; 2 baskets, Etche Ibo; 5 pottery vessels, Ikwerri Ibo; 5 ditto, Etche Ibo; red-ware urn, Ibo, Oguta; large urn, Ekkpahia Ibo, Idu; heavy spiral brass leg ornament, Ikwerri Ibo; heavy copper armlet; 2 wooden combs, Ikwerri Ibo; 2 woven palm-leaf cloths worn by widows Etche Ibo; nut.shell top, Ekoi, Oban; 2 wicker rattles, Ikwerri Ibo; 1 ditto, Degema; wooden hollow-gong, Ikwerri Ibo; 2 sheet-iron gongs, Ibibio; bronze bell, Northern Ibo; wooden bell, Ikwerri Ibo; ditto, Southern Ibo; 2 musical instruments of sansa type, Ibibio and Ibo; carved wooden drum, Etche Ibo; carved drum of the Obukere Club, Ikwerri Ibo; carved and painted hollow wooden gong of the Snake-priestess, Kalabari, Abonnema; 2 small drums, Ikwerri Ibo; small drum of the Kalabali Snake-priestess, Abonnema; 3 pottery vessels used as pulsatile musical instruments, Ikwerri Ibo, Omonelu Ibo and Kalabari; wooden trumpet, Ibo; 2 ivory trumpets, Ibo and Kalabari; musical-bow, Degema; 3 headdresses with carved figures of fish, Obukere Club, Kalabari; wooden mask representing the hippopotamus water-spirit, ditto with carved goat's head and 5 carved human heads, from ceremonial headdresses, Kalabari; carved wooden puppet used in symbolic plays, Ibibio; carving of 4 prognathous human heads, Kalabari; carved fetish of the Obukere Club, Ikwerri Ibo; 2 carved fetishes, Etche Ibo; 4 ikenga charm figures, Etche Ibo; carved figure representing a soul in a canoe, offered to the dead, Ibibio; figures of man, woman, and dog used in divination, Etche Ibo; bird-human fetish and figure of a goat given to those offering a goat for sacrifice, Northern Ibo; symbolic axe upon which oaths are taken, and magical pointer which is believed to guide to a desired spot, Etche Ibo; iron staple used as a demonifuge, Ikwerri Ibo; juju dagger, Etche Ibo; symbolic spear, Ibibio; 2 iron rattle-staves which are set up before shrines, Etche Ibo; copper emblem of the Thunder-god, Ikwerri Ibo; tortoise shell containing leaves, set up before a shrine; votive wooden tablet offered to an ancestor as a means of bringing prosperity, Ikwerri Ibo; emblem of and votive offering to Offor, Etche Ibo; 5 heavy torques of copper and iron which are placed before ancestor shrines, Kalabari; copper torque from the site of a shrine where oracles were received from the Tree-spirit, Okkun-Ekkpo, Eket; copper spearhead found in a yam patch near Jamestown, Eket (probably a charm for fertility); 5 pottery vessels used for magical purposes, Ibo and Kalabari; 3 small pots in which the personal goddess, Chi, is supposed to dwell, Southern Ibo; 2 pottery vessels representing ancestors, Etche Ibo and Okrikan; carved wooden stool, Ikwerri Ibo; carved ikenga stool, Ekkpahia Ibo; 3 carved wooden stools representing ancestors, Kalabari; carved stool believed to be the abode of the spirit Alose, Etche Ibo; carved and painted panel from the Obukere Clubhouse at Ikodu; large carved symbolic paddle belonging to the cult of Amanin-giu, the Serpent spirit, the only existing relic of this once-famous juju Kalabari; carved wooden figure of Awome-ka-so, Kalabari; 2 wooden altars and 3 symbolic posts, carved and painted, used by the Snake-priestess, Kalabari; 15 ceremonial carved and painted wands used by the Snake-priestess, Kalabari; 2 nduen-fobara, elaborate screens with carved representations of ancestors, supporters, &c., erected in the ancestral shrines, Kalabari; &c. The following specimens are from other part of West Africa: axe with horseshoe shaped blade from Pagan tribe, S. of Nafada, N. Nigeria; axe with engrave blade, Gurkaua tribe, Murchison Range, N. Nigeria; fly whisk and boomerang, Baghirmi, Tchekna, French Cent Africa. Presented by Mr. P. A. Talbot.
 Collection of I23 rosaries from various countries, viz.: 47 Hindu and 13 probably Hindu, 6 Muhammadan, India; 1 Burma; 8 Buddhist, Tibet; 2 Sikkim; 3 Coptic and Muhammadan, Egypt; 12 Buddhist, Japan; 26 Christian; 5 unidentified; 4 rosary- and prayer-armlets, India. Also, 2 Kol women's bead necklets, Mirzapur; coscinopora globularis fossils from English river-gravels; charm necklet of cornelian, Syria; amulet of beads of metal, turquoise and coral worn by traders from Tibet to Garkwal; horn ring worn for curative purposes, Oudh; 2 strings of tulasi beads, Vaishnava sect, India; amulet of sections of grass~stems, N. India; Hindu amulet of wooden beads, N. India; amulet of seeds worn to cure headache, Partabgahr, Oudh; wooden bead on red string and string of lac beads, worn by Bhagats, Partabgahr; Hindu amulet of wooden beads, Khasa, Punjab. Presented by Sir E. B. Tylor, M.A., Hon. D.C.L., F.R.S. Models of kayak, wooden hut and snow hut, small woman's-knife and sealskin gauntlets, Eskimo; necklet of walrus-ivory, N. Canada; carved wooden ifa board palm-nuts used in divination, carved wood figure with bowl for divining-nuts, Yoruba, W. Africa; foot-rasp, India; inscribed palm-leaf from state document of King Thebaw, Burma; 2 bamboo cylinders containing gambling-sticks China; model of horse for burning at Chinese funerals; model of a Japanese house; scales and weights for weighing clipped coins, Madagascar; European bell-harp; engraved bone quiver, Oberammergau, Tyrol ; knife, fork, and steel in sheath, Tyrol; old Dutch ell-measuring rod; old English taper-stand; old English spectacles with tortoiseshell Mounts. Presented by Mrs. Braithwaite Batty. Specimens collected during the voyage of the yacht Mana to Easter Island, viz.: The following Fuegian articles collected in the Patagonian Channels: wooden handle of an adze, Port Charrua; 2 rushwork baskets, whalebone nooses for snaring geese, &c., and bone harpoon-head on rawhide line, Indian Reach; 2 bone spearheads, Port Charrua. Modern American decoy-duck found on Socorro Island, Revillagigedo Islands. 45 stone adzes, 4 chisels, triangular blade, 2 balls, 3 pounders, and 6 other stone implements, from Pitcairn Island South Pacific. The following from Easter Island (Rapanui): a number of implements, mataa, of obsidian, hammer-stones, 20 stone adzes, 2 unfinished adzes, 6 knife-llke stone implements with ground edges, stone pounder(?), grooved pebble, pieces of rough coral used for smoothing stone sculptures, 30 rough stone implements used for dressing stone, portions of 3 stone fishhooks, modern native iron fishhook, bone awl, piece of bone showing cutting, native string, gourd flask in which feathers are kept, 5 samples of native pigments, peat moss used for storing water on sea-journeys, 2 naturally perforated stones, block of lava artificially hollowed out, unfinished pearl-shell ornament, 5 plaques of thin turtle-shell for mounting in bark cloth, as ornaments, 38 old European glassbeads found with a skeleton, carved wooden club of modern make, modern dance-paddle, 2 modern carvings in wood of human figures, old wooden symbolic carving, portion of boulder with finely engraved designs, boulder engraved with figures of birds, small grotesque carving of human head in stone, large stone sculpture of human form found in a cave on Mutu Nui and believed to have been a boundary stone, 3 rounded pieces of white coral used for decorating the stone platforms, small shells from a cave, shells found in all Orongo houses, perforated stone bead (?), shell and flakes from an Orongo house, nut shells from a tree now extinct in the island, 2 modern stone carvings of human figures. Presented by Mr. W. Scoresby Routledge.

ACCESSIONS BY PURCHASE.
Two copper water-clocks, India; 2 blowguns and 2 spears, Kenyah, Borneo (Stevens). Two painted wooden topeng masks, Java; iron head of pole-axe dredged from R. Thames at Reading (Hope). Stone-bladed adze, Society Islands (Godfrey). Fine wooden club, Fiji Islands (Spencer Edge).

HENRY BALFOUR