IN the general plan of rearranging the American collections on the first floor of the Museum, the important South American ethnological material has been reinstalled in the lower hallway. With newly designed cases and an extended reorganization of the methods of display, the interesting collections, particularly these collected by the late Dr. Farabee among the Caribs and the Arawaks on the Museum’s Amazon Expedition of 1913, are shown to greater advantage from the point of view both of the student and the casual visitor. The wall cases, which can be seen on Plate XIII, contain chiefly feather ornaments shown according to the various tribes; the desk cases and wall cases illustrate the different crafts and occupation, customs, and manners of the natives of the area. Of particular interest is the group of objects, in the small alcove to the left, showing the implements and methods used in preparing the root of the cassava for food, the staple of the South American peoples. The splendid Apalaii headdress with its brilliant coloured feathers, the shrunken heads of the Jivero, the enormous pottery vessels of the Conebo, the attractively patterned head skirts of the Shipebo, these are all of unusual quality and worthy of close inspection.
It is felt that with this reinstallation the Museum’s outstanding position in this field will he better appreciated, and the beauty and interest of these South American ethnological collections will be more apparent.
