A New Exploration

The American Museum of Natural History is aoon to begin a systematic exploration of the coasts of Asia and North Ameriqa from the Amoor river in Asia to the Columbla river on our continent. The object is to study the various peoples inhabiting these regions in order to settle, i.f possible, the question whether Asiatics once crossed to America by way of Kamchatka and the Aleutïan Islands. Among the principal things studied will be the various languages now spoken in northcastern Asia and north western America, and some idea of the extent of this subject may be obbained from the alleged fact that "between the Columbia river and Bering Strait ten languages are found that are fundamentally distinct, and these languages have thirty-seven dialects, which are mutually unintelligible." On the Asiatic side, it appears, the confusión of tongues is not quite so great, although the number of distinct languages spoken there is seven, 'and the number of mutually unintelligible dialects ten. The explorations are to cover a period üf Bix years, and the money has been furnished by a wealthy New Yorker, Mr. Morris K.