Navigator's Chart
date: label: Accession Date
content: 17 Apr 1900
label: Collection Date
content: 1899 to 1900
name: label: Collector
content: Charles H. Townsend
label: Collector
content: H. F. Moore
label: Donor Name
content: U.S. Commission of Fish & Fisheries
label: Expedition
content: Albatross Expedition / U.S. Fish Commission
label: Vessel
content: U.S. Fish Commission Steamer "Albatross"
notes: label: Notes
content: From catalog card: "Thin narrow stips of midrib of palm leaf held together by sennit. [H. F. Moore quote:] "Made to order. Probably influenced by knowledge gained from the whites" [sic: evidence?]. Illus. in Smithsonian Rept, 1899; Pl. 11; p. 500."
label: Notes
content: Thin narrow strips of midrib of palm leaf held together with sennit in a lattice-like configuration. Cowrie shells are attached at several, though not all, joins of the lattice work with brown pigmented thread. Design is roughly rectangular, with most of the lath pieces straight. Two, however, are curved forming a fish-shaped ellipse with a straight line down the center. According to an article about these charts in Smithsonian Report, 1899, that appears around pages 493-505, these charts are essentially topographical maps of surface water patterns in the archipelago. They would be used only when sailing during the day in very calm seas without strong trade winds, that is between July and October. Two curved lines, such as the ones on this chart, represent the strongest swells around an island, one being eastward and the other westward of the island. The other lines represent other surface conditions or the direction of trade winds (which would be at nearly right angles to the curved lines denoting swells around a known island). The cowrie shells sometimes depicted other surface markers, sometimes other islets or islands. These charts could depict a very limited area, an entire archipelago, or could be a training chart that didn't depict a specific place at all. Without being told by the person who made the chart, it is virtually impossible to know what the chart depicts.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 24 Feb 2023
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Jaluit Atoll, Ralik Chain, Marshall Islands, Micronesia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Micronesian
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 036365
label: USNM Number
content: E206189-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Navigation Chart
physicalDescription: label: Length
content: 119 cm