Two Accessions for Peabody Museum

The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology has recently received two interesting and valuable accessions. One, by the gift of Dr. Alexander Agassiz '55, director of the University Museum, consists of a valuable collection of war implements, household utensils and trinkets, collected by Dr. Agassiz during his visit to Africa last winter. The collection comprises more than 200 specimens, obtained from the Bantu, Nandi, Lumbwa and Masai tribes of negroes, in the vicinity of Lake Victoria, British Uganda Protectorate, and British East Africa. These tribes are from three separate African stocks and speak three different languages. There are also some specimens from the Somali negroes, of Northeast Africa, and from the Mombasa region of South British Africa. The collection consists of spears, clubs, shields, war-knives, clothing, musical instruments, dishes, gourd vessels, spoons, corn-mills and other household utensils, pipes, adzes, and necklaces made of iron, seeds, and from the shells of ostrich eggs. All of the objects are interesting as illustrating the customs of the tribes from which they came.

The other accession, from the gift of Dr. John Bryant '03, of Cohassett, Mass a valuable collection of soapstone lamps, cooking pots and various other articles taken from the graves of Eskimos of the North Labrador peninsula. The collection, which was made by Dr. Bryant during a visit to the Labrador coast last summer, will be on exhibition the latter part of this month. A miniature group, illustrating the houses of the Eskimos of Baffin Land, has recently been set up and is now on exhibition on the second floor of the museum.