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261 Greene St New York April 16th 1863
My Dear Kennicott
I have two unanswered note[s?][torn page] from you, but have been too busy to wri[te?] [page torn] When I tell you that I too have lost [page torn] the best part of a week in running after those d-d Indians, you will appreciate the cause - I did not suc ceed in getting any thing from them after all, but Smith swears by all that is righteous he will fill me on the vocabularies I want when he gets back - & says he wants to do something for the Smithsonian him self. I am particularly glad abou[t?] [page torn] the Yute vocabulary, as there has been no good of one of that language yet. What band of Yutes is it of - Did you succeed in getting any accoun[t?] [page torn] of the number of tribes who go under t[he?] [page torn] designation.
I shall try and see Major [illegible] a [page torn]
[page turned] taken up some new sole & intends to give his name to families genera
[page turned] & species of all other mundane, aerial and aesthetic objects & ideas - Is this true?
Geo[?] Gibbs[?]
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a matter of course.
Ross spent some days here and I showed him such attention as I could - He has left some interesting papers with me to retract from - I am very glad that Prof. Henry has enlisted him in the cause so thorough
I dont wonder that you men have been sick. The Smithsonian building, from its situation & construction was the deliberate & intentional trap to kill off the new breed of naturalists. I absolutely refused to sleep a night in it. Such a rattletrap, with a prohibition of smoking tobacco, & without the regular issue of quinine cocktails in the morning & of bourbon whiskey at noon & bedtime, will ultimately be fatal to all except supernaturals & you none of you have gone further than preternaturalism. By the way I understand that Gill, having utterly exhausted the fish, has
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I will send you on some extra vocabularies in a few days. The d-d printers humbug so that one can do nothing with them I used to think the d-dest hair in creation was a mountaineer, but I am satisfied it is a printer - Bonaparte has been immortalized for executing a bookseller - He ought to have gone to the foundation of the evil & killed the printer him self.
Smith tells me that a very fine set of photographs of his Indians was got in Washington - Will you find out by whom & what way is the cost of a set?