the influence of civilization. On the east side of the Mamore, from Exaltacion as far north as the mouth of the River Guapore, or Itenez, are the wild Houbarayos, and opposite them the Chacobos. The Cangaparangas are near the head of steamboat navigation on the Madeira. On the River Beni, between 11° and 12° south, is the small tribe of Pacaváras. Their skin is almost white. The Araunas, who are to be found on the banks of the Madre de Dios, are no doubt cannibals. The civilized Tacanas live in the village of Tumupasa, on the River Beni, and eighteen miles north-west of them, in the village of Ysiamas, the uncivilized members of the same tribe. In the little town of Reyes, opposite to them, on the Beni River, are the Marópas, related to the Tacanas. Forty miles up the Beni is the mission of Muchanes; beyond that, Santa Ana; and, farther on, Covendo; in all of which are the Moseténa Indians. In the description of these tribes, Dr. E. R. Heath gives the Smithsonian vocabulary for the Canichána, Cayuába, Mobíma, Marópa, Moseténa, Pacavára, and Tacana.- (Kansas city rev., April.) J. W. P. [960

(Folk-lore.)

Folk-lore in Europe. - A noteworthy activity in the field of folk-lore is shown throughout Europe at present. The annual proceedings of the Portuguese folk-lore society have been recently issued at Oporto, edited by De Vasconcellos, author of Tradicoes populares de Portugal, and of a considerable number of folk-tales published within recent years.

Italy has done much for folk-lore since 1869, having furnished nearly one thousand folk-tales, and such important works as those of De Gubernatis. Palermo now gives us a folk-lore journal, the Archivio per lo studio delle tradizioni populari, edited by L. PedoneLauriel.

In France much is done, both in collecting and publishing. Maisonneuve & Co. are issuing a series of works on the folk-lore of all nations. Among the most important that have appeared are Sebillot's Littérature orale de la Haute-Bretagne; Traditions et superstitions populaires de la Haute-Bretagne; and Luzel's Légendes chrétiennes de la Basse-Bretagne. The same house publishes a folk-lore almanac, the second volume of which has appeared. Besides other interesting matter, this almanac contains the addresses of continental and English folk-lorists, and a carefully compiled folk-lore bibliography of the year.

In Germany and the Slav countries the work of collecting and publishing folk-lore is continually carried on with more or less activity.-J. W. P. [961

The folk-lore society of London. - The Folklore journal, now in its first year, was established by the Folk-lore society of London to satisfy a want felt for some time. Folk-lore, in the comprehensive sense of the term as now used, is growing in the world's esteem every year, and will continue to grow in proportion as its real scope and value become known. The establishment of this monthly journal was therefore most opportune, and will be welcomed by students of the mental history of mankind. Each number consists of thirty-two pages, octavo, containing generally four articles, and concluding with notes, queries, notices and news, all relating to folk-lore. To this may be added three pages of book advertisements and criticisms printed on the cover. subjects treated in the first four numbers are: The oratory, songs, legends, and folk-tales of the Malagasy; Babylonian folk-lore; A building superstition; Stories of fairies from Scotland; Folk-tale analysis; Irish folk-tales; Bibliography of folk-lore publications in English; The hare in folk-lore; Anthropology and the Vedas; Index to the folk-lore of Horace; Some

The

Folk-lore. The Folk-lore society of London has undertaken an analysis and classification of the folktales of all nations. This very important and difficult task has been intrusted to a committee, which has entered upon its labors, aided by several members of the society, who have volunteered their assistance. It is believed that a thorough analysis will reveal the root-stories and their derivatives in the various cycles of folk-tales throughout the world. When these root-stories are discovered, they are to be classified in a satisfactory system, and their derivative stories ranged under them. At a later period, myths, god and hero tales, may be treated in a like manner. A good classification of the folk-tales and myths of mankind would be a monumental work of usefulness. The efforts of the society will be watched with interest. -J. W. P. *[963 Brazilian folk-lore. — Though no efforts are made in South America to collect the languages or lore of the aborigines, a volume of Brazilian folk-lore is announced for early publication in Lisbon, under the title of Contos populares do Brazil, by Theophile Braga. Though called Brazilian, this collection will, of course, be essentially Portuguese in character.

In the United States we have never made a collection of European-American folk-lore. But trained scholars are now making for the Bureau of ethnology a collection of the folk-lore of the North-American Indians, which, beyond doubt, will be one of the most interesting contributions offered to science for many years. -J. C. [964

Folk-lore dinners. — In 1882 a series of dinners was arranged in Paris to enable folk-lorists to meet in a social and informal manner. During the year four of these symposia were held, presided over by Messrs. Gaston Paris and Loys Bruyère. The same number will be given this year. They are called the dinners of Ma Mère l'Oye' (Mother Goose dinners), and, judging by the accounts, are a decided It is suggested to the London society, by one of its members, to follow the example of the French. -J. C. [965

success.

EGYPTOLOGY.

Bibliography.-The intellectual activity engaged, and the progress made, in oriental studies during the year 1882, is strikingly exhibited in the "Bibliotheca orientalis, or a complete list of books, papers, serials, and essays, published in 1882 in England and the colonies, Germany and France, on the history, languages, religions, antiquities, and literature of the east, compiled by Ch. Frederici, Leipzig, London, Paris, New York," 79 p. 8°. The whole number of titles given is 1,284, but, allowing for titles repeated, there still remain between 1,100 and 1,200 publications in 1882 on the east. Of these, 120 were devoted specially to Egypt, and include the weighty names and important works of Leemans, Birch, Brugsch, Chabas, Dümichen, Ebers, Erman, Golenischeff, Lefébure, Lepsius, Mariette, Maspero, Naville, Perrot, Piehl, Pierret, Renouf, Revillout, Schiaparelli, Stern, et al. In some schools of Semitic philology it is the fashion to speak contemptuously of Egyptology; but it would not appear to be the part of wisdom to pit pure philology against innumerable stone monuments with legible inscriptions plus a philology represented by an array of scholars the equals in all respects of their detractors. Semitic scholars, with other scholars of antiquity, must accept the well-founded results of cautious study of the monuments of Babylonia and Egypt, or they will find the flood upon them. -H. O.

[966

GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS.

National museum.

A new sperm-whale. The Smithsonian institution has recently received from Life-saving service No. 84, at Spring Lake, New Jersey, a very valuable specimen of a pygmy sperm-whale of the genus Kogia. This is apparently the first instance of the discovery of a cetacean of this genus in the North Atlantic. Five species have been hitherto described, three from the Australian waters, one from the Cape of Good Hope, and one from the Gulf of California. The recently acquired specimen differs from Kogia Floweri, apparently the most closely allied species, in having less incurved teeth, longer pectorals, a higher dorsal, and the symphysis of the lower jaw more convex below. It may be denominated Kogia Goodei.

The specimen has been photographed and cast, and the viscera have also been preserved. The animal proved to be with young, the foetus measuring about three feet in length. F. W. TRUE.

Bureau of ethnology.

Mr.

Prehistoric remains in North Carolina. John P. Rogan and Dr. J. Mason Spainhour have made some important finds of antiquities in North Carolina. In one mound they found there had been sixteen persons buried, ten of them in stone graves or cists, not of the usual form, but built up in a conical shape of small stones, arched over, and closed at the top. In nine of these the skeletons were sitting upright. It appears, that before the burial the ground, to the full size of the mound, had been excavated to the depth of about three feet; the bodies were then placed in a sitting-posture, and the stone tombs built over them. At the centre, a small round hole had been dug some three feet deeper, a body had been placed therein in a standing-posture, and the tomb built up around it so as to cover the head; the capstone being a large piece of steatite. Immediately under this, on top of the head, were several plates of cut mica. At one point in this mound was found an oblong structure, 24 inches long, 18 inches wide, and 18 inches high, built up solidly of river-stones. No implements or other articles, except a few broken pipes, were found in this mound.

A short distauce north of this was discovered a triangular enclosure filled with graves, some of them incased with stone, others not. In some of these graves there were two skeletons, one placed above the other; the lower one in each case being of small stature, with very heavy flat stones placed on the arms and legs.

In one large grave were found ten skeletons, the principal one with the face downwards. Under his head was a large engraved shell; around his neck, the remains of a necklace of large-sized beads; at each ear, pieces of copper; around each wrist, bracelets composed of copper and shell beads; on his breast, a piece of copper; at his right hand, two implements of hammered iron; under his left hand, an engraved shell filled with beads of various sizes. The other nine skeletons were arranged around this one, extending in all directions; under two of them were also found engraved shells. Scattered over the area were found a number of stone axes, polished celts, descoidal and rubbing stones; a number of steatite pipes highly polished, with bowl and stem of one piece; also copper arrow-heads, plates of mica, graphite, etc.

These articles have all been received by the bureau. The same parties have since opened another mound, in which were found fifty-five skeletons, four or five engraved shells, copper beads, a piece of hammered iron, pots, cups, one tomahawk, a number of stone implements, about a dozen pipes, mica, galena, etc. Department of agriculture.

Artesian wells. - The work under the department for the sinking of artesian wells in the arid lands of the west, is going steadily on. A recent report from artesian well No. 1, at Akron, Col., gives the following state of affairs, - Feb. 23, a depth of 925 feet had been reached with 1,063 feet of casing in, as follows: 100 feet of 10-inch, 293 feet of 8-inch, and 670 feet of 6-inch. The character of the formations has been, 10 feet clay and gravel, 10 feet gravel, 10 feet, of a chalky deposit, 50 feet conglomerate (sand and gravel), 8 feet hard sand rock, 20 feet chalky rock 12 feet gravel and clay, 92 feet dry black clay, 10 feet sandstone, 113 feet blue slaty shale, 570 feet shale. At 50 feet a small amount of water was found, at 100 feet the water rose 15 feet, at 128 feet it rose again slightly, at 355 feet there was a rise of 80 feet, and at 540 feet the water rose again 305 feet.

STATE INSTITUTIONS.

Ohio meteorological bureau, Columbus.

Weather report for March. -The atmospheric pressure was generally less than for any month yet reported by this bureau. The maximum barometric height (30.619 inches), the mean (30.060 inches), and the minimum (29.424 inches), are all less than the corresponding figures for previous months. Both the maximum and minimum are reported from the lake region, the former having been observed at Oberlin, and the latter at Sandusky.

The remarkable feature of the weather for the month was the extremes of temperature that were recorded, and the unusually low mean for the whole month over the whole state. This mean was 32.4°. In a series of temperature observations extending over periods of from six to twelve years, and fairly well distributed over the state, the mean temperature for the month of March is found to be about 38°, so that the past month must be regarded as unusually cold. The extremes of temperature are even more remarkable. A maximum of 75° is reported from Ironton on the 18th, and a minimum of 17.4° below zero at Wauseon on the 20th. This makes a range for the state of 92.4°, which is above any previously reported, and one not likely to be reached again during the year. The fall of temperature about the 18th, 19th, and 20th, was extraordinary. Wauseon reports the maximum daily range, which was 55.2° on the 18th. This station has continuously reported the lowest temperatures. During the past four months the lowest points reached have been as follows:

reached on March 20 was only one-tenth of a degree higher than the lowest for the season. It is hardly to be expected that Wauseon will continue furnishing such records as this. The mean daily range of temperature over the whole state was 19.2°, which is also unusually great.

The amount of precipitation during the month was less than is usual for March. The mean depth of rain or melted snow was 2.18 inches, while the mean of observations extending over several years is 3.17 inches for the month of March. Rain or snow fell, on an average over the whole state, on twelve days in the month. A thunder-storm of considerable violence, and covering a considerable area, occurred on the evening of the 14th. Westerly winds prevailed.

Missouri weather-service, St. Louis.

Weather report for April. - The average temperature of April has been 56.7° at St. Louis, which is about half a degree above the normal of Engelmann's series. Since 1837 the mean April temperature has once reached 66.8° (in 1844), and in 1857 it fell to 44.1°, a range of 22.7°. The extremes during the last month have been 32.2° (on the 24th) and 85.6° (on the 14th), which are very ordinary temperatures. In April, 1857, the lowest daily minimum was 18°; while in the years 1838, 1843, and 1855, the highest maximum reached was 93°. In the state the maximum temperature has been the highest in the central part, Glasgow reporting 93°, Miami 92°; while at Cairo, Ill., the highest temperature reached was 84.5°, that at Keokuk being 85°. The lowest minimum reported was 22°, at Centreville; and twelve stations out of twenty-one reported the minimum as 32° or below.

The rainfall at the central station has been 2.62 inches, the normal rainfall being 3.70 inches. At the St. Louis water-works, however, the rainfall has been 3.87 inches. The rainfall has been heaviest, or more than 5 inches, in the extreme south-eastern part of the state. In the central-western part, and in a narrow belt extending therefrom to Macon and Shelbina, the fall has been less than 1 inch, while in the north the fall has been over 2 inches. At four P.M. on the 14th a severe local storm, which was apparently an incipient tornado, did considerable dainage at Hannibal. Its track was about three hundred feet wide. Similar storms, with hail, were observed seven miles west and ten miles north of Mexico. A small tornado having a width of fifty to seventy feet, passed through the western part of Pleasant Hill between half-past seven and eight A.M. A portion of a rail fence was carried eight feet, and set down without materially changing the relative positions of the rails.

In the dry area of the past month, where ice-crust did damage to the wheat during the winter, additional damage has been done by the drought and high winds of the past month. At Savannah not over one-tenth of a crop is left, and farmers are planting the ground in corn. Meadow is also light. In the south-eastern part, however, the plentiful rains have repaired to some extent the damage done to wheat, and it is turning out better than was expected. Thus far the fruitcrop has not been materially injured by frost, the cool and uniform temperature having been very favorable.

State university of Kansas, Lawrence.

Weather report for April. — During this month the temperature was high, the rainfall was a full twothirds of the normal quantity, and the cloudiness, wind-velocity, and humidity were each considerably below the averages. The only frost was a harmless

hoar-frost on the 24th. All kinds of fruit-trees were in blossom from the 10th to 30th.

Mean temperature, 57.18°, which is 3.17° above the average April temperature of the fifteen preceding years. Highest temperature, 89.5°, on 13th; lowest, 35°, on 24th; monthly range, 54.5°: mean at 7 A.M., 51.02°; at 2 P.M., 67.7°; at 9 P.M., 55°.

Rainfall, 2.12 inches, which is 0.92 inch below the April average. Rain fell on nine days. There was no snow. There were two thunder-showers. The entire rainfall for the four months of 1883 now completed has been 6.44 inches, which is 1.31 inches below the average for the same period in the past fifteen years.

Mean cloudiness, 40.11 % of the sky, the month being 8.80% clearer than the average. Number of clear days (less than one-third cloudy), 16; entirely clear, 6; half-clear (from one to two thirds cloudy), 9; cloudy (more than two-thirds), 5; entirely cloudy, 2: mean cloudiness at 7 A.M., 45.67 %; at 2 P.M., 43.33 %; at 9 P.M., 31.33%.

Wind: S.W., 22 times; S.E., 20 times; N.W., 17 times; S., 13 times; E., 3 times; W., 3 times; N.E., 12 times. The entire distance travelled by the wind was 12,936 miles, which is 1,248 miles below the April average. This gives a mean daily velocity of 431 miles, and a mean hourly velocity of 17.96 miles. The highest velocity was 50 miles an hour, on the 14th. Mean velocity at 7 A.M., 15.60 miles; at 2 P.M., 22.40 miles; at 9 P.M., 15 miles.

Mean height of barometer, 28.957 inches; at 7 A.M., 28.969 inches; at 2 P.M., 28.917 inches; at 9 P.M., 28.984 inches; maximum, 29.473 inches, on 24th; minimum, 28.289 inches, on 22d; monthly range, 1.184 inches.

Relative humidity: mean for month, 53.33; at 7 A.M., 64.7; at 2 P.M., 36.7; at 9 P.M., 58.6; greatest, 100, on 5th; least, 10.5, on 17th and 24th. There were two fogs.

NOTES AND NEWS.

The first meeting of the Ohio state forestry association was held in Cincinnati, April 25 and 26: Several papers upon tree-planting and forestry were read; the most elaborate, based upon the preliminary publications of the tenth census, being that of the United States commissioner of agriculture. The meeting, however, if we may judge from the meagre reports published in the Cincinnati papers, produced no new facts about forests or forest management, and quite failed to arouse any local enthusiasm.

It is difficult to decide how far these forestry conventions, of which several have been held during the past year or two in different parts of the country, serve the cause their promoters desire to foster. Forest preservation has become, from various points of view, a question of great national importance for the United States. Economists are properly alarmed at the prospect of a speedy exhaustion of some of our most valuable varieties of lumber, although the more serious dangers which threaten the country through the effects of improper forest destruction upon the flow of rivers and agricultural prosperity have hardly yet received proper attention.

Conventions of self-termed 'friends of the forest' have thus far failed to bring about any reform in the

management of the forests of the country, whether private, or situated on the public domain. But as such meetings serve to keep the general subject before the public, it would not be fair to say that they have not some value. Forest orators at these meetings invariably deplore the want of an American system of forestry, and declare that such a system must be provided at once. We are not sure that we exactly know what they mean by an American system of forestry (it would indeed be an elastic system which would be equally applicable to the forests of Florida and Michigan); but it is safe to predict, that, if our forests are ever managed under any sensible system which will secure the greatest benefit from them for the whole community, such a system will be reached through scientific investigation, quietly pursued along lines of definite research, and not by the teachings of enthusiasts who attend conventions, and find it easy to tell us all about forests, and what they do in Europe to preserve them.

- At the meeting of the Washington anthropological society, held May 1, Mr. Albert S. Gatschet gave an account of his recent journey to the Shetemacha Indians in southern Louisiana, near and on the Gulf coast. Once these people were very powerful in this region; but they are now reduced to a handful, very much mixed, the younger ones even refusing to learn the mother-tongue. Many of their old practices yet prevail; but the innovation of new ways and words upon the old gives a most instructive lesson upon the growth of civilization. At the same meeting, Professor Cyrus Thomas made a report upon a map of mound distribution which he is preparing under the direction of the Bureau of ethnology. The plan has been to collect and classify from every available source the mounds enumerated in each state where they exist. From these data the map has resulted.

- The mathematical section of the Washington philosophical society, April 26, heard the conclusion of Mr. Kummell's discussion of alignment curves, and Prof. A. Hall on The determination of the mass of a planet from the relative observation of two satellites. May 9 Mr. M. H. Doolittle read a paper on Infinitesimals and infinites, which gave rise to considerable discussion as to the true meaning of these terms. Mr. E. B. Elliott then explained the construction of perpetual calendars.

the English sparrow was brought up at the last meeting by Mr. Henry Melville, who urged the society to petition the Canadian government to furnish such material assistance as might enable the society to secure practical results.

- At a meeting of the Department of science and arts of the Ohio mechanics' institute, held May 10, Mr. George W. Bugbee read a paper on the Manufacture of small fire-arms, which was illustrated by models and blackboard drawings; and Dr. F. Roeder exhibited a method of purifying muddy water by means of dyalized iron.

At the meeting of the Biological society of Washington, May 11, communications were made by Prof. L. F. Ward, on some hitherto undescribed fossil plants from the lower Yellowstone, collected by Dr. C. A. White in 1882; by Mr. Frederick W. True, on a new pygmy sperm-whale from the New Jersey coast; and by Dr. Thomas Taylor, on Actinomykosis, a new infectious disease of man and the lower animals, with exhibition of a portion of the diseased viscera of a dog containing specimens of the fungus Actinomyces.

— The annual report of the North Carolina agricultural experiment station is very largely composed of the results of analyses of commercial fertilizers, and of amateur field-experiments on their use. Some of these have been previously published in the form of bulletins, and have been noticed in our columns. A few fodder-analyses are also given, among them some of the by-products of cotton-seed and rice, an account of which appears in another column; and a field-experiment with cotton is reported, giving the interesting result that too heavy manuring with nitrogen (on poor land) actually decreased the crop of cotton, presumably by unduly stimulating the growth of the vegetative organs.

-A meeting of the United States naval institute was held at Annapolis on May 10, at which the prize essay of '83 was discussed, and Professor Charles E. Munroe read a paper on the Drying of gunpowder magazines.

- Dr. Tarleton H. Bean will go to London in June, to be present at the Fisheries exhibition, and to prosecute some important studies in ichthyology in cooperation with Professor Goode. He will probably visit the principal museums on the continent.

-The treasurer of the American committee of the Balfour memorial fund acknowledges the following subscriptions: Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, Philadelphia, $25; Roswell Fisher, M.A., Cantab, Montreal, $5; Dr. T. W. Mills, McGill college, Montreal, $2. Previously acknowledged, $488.2.

FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 1883.

TOO MUCH RED TAPE.

THE relief of the party now at the international polar station at Lady Franklin Bay is attracting the attention of those interested in arctic matters. In this connection, Dr. C. H. Merriam has written a pungent but timely letter, printed in the New York tribune of May 5. The expedition of 1882 was prevented by ice from reaching a latitude where any effective aid might have been rendered, a fact which made the alleged drunkenness and incompetency of the person in charge of the relief party of little practical consequence, except to his associates in the service. That they were not disturbed by it is evident from the fact that his despatch on similar service this summer has only been averted by remonstrances similar to and including Dr. Merriam's. Fortunately for the credit of the country and for Lieut. Greely's party, the plans have been changed, and it is probable that a person rendered competent for the position by experi ence and intelligence will be put in charge, and

possibly accompanied by one or two qualified arctic experts in an advisory capacity.

It is well known, that, within the limits of the United States, the possession of a naval or military commission and a congressional appropriation fully qualify the holder for any scientific, technical, or moral undertaking. Some, however, have been audacious enough to doubt whether this law holds good in any foreign jurisdiction, and whether the floes of Baffin's Bay are sufficiently under its influence to recoil more readily before brass than before horn buttons. One thing is certain, the service concerned will be held to a rigid responsibility by geographers and the public; and if military prepossessions result in the rejection of any practicable (if unmilitary) means of succor, physical or mental, the condemnation of any ensuing failure or disaster will fall where by common sense and military rules alike it belongs.

It is well known to those acquainted with the subject, that good arctic navigators, masters,

No. 17.-1883.

and seamen, good ships for encountering the ice, and every article necessary for equipping a properly fitted expedition, can, by paying for it, be got at St. Johns from the sealing-fleet and its equippers; that the bad ice-navigation of 1882, from all indications, is likely to be duplicated this season; that, to be more than a contemptible pretence, the relief-party must be composed, rank and file, of men who know their business, and have the grit to do it; that the advice and unbought assistance of all arctic investigators within reach may be had freely by the responsible head of the Signal-service.

Knowing this, and believing that officer willing and ready to do the best and most reasonable thing in the premises, we await final action in the confident belief that past mistakes are not to be repeated, and that the results of cutting red tape will be creditable alike to the service and to the country.

THE ALPHABET AND SPELLING

REFORM.

THE letters of the alphabet are so variously sounded in different countries that they could consistency, without altering the whole orthognot be internationally employed, with phonetic raphy of the different languages. French and English, for example, could not, by any adaptation of Roman letters, be made phonetically intelligible equally to French and English readers. Try to write such phrases as la langue française,' the English tongue,' so as to show the actual pronunciation of the words, and the utter hopelessness of the task will be apparent.

n is used merely as a sign that the preceding vowel is nasal, and the g has the second of its two regular 'soft' and 'hard' sounds. In the word English,' the n has a separate sound, which is not that normally associated with the letter, and the g has the same sound as in 'langue.' In the word 'tongue,' neither the n nor the g is separately pronounced; but the combination has a distinctive sound, which is not represented by any letter in the alphabet. This sound of the combined letters ng is the same as that of the n alone in the word English.' Inhanger' and 'anger,' ' longer'