G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 241 



the Coppermine, have been exterminated by measles ; and in 

 a settlement of 500 half-breeds, near Fort Edmonton, on the 

 Saskatchewan, 180 have already died of the small-pox, the dis- 

 ease being still in full activity. 



ANCIENT PAINTINGS BY BUSHMEN. 



Mr. Rupert Jones has lately published extracts from a let- 

 ter written by a friend in South Africa, containing a reference 

 to certain old paintings found upon the walls of caves, and 

 made by the Bushmen. These pictures are said to be very 

 varied, and to constitute a faithful representation of the man- 

 ners, customs, modes of warfare, weapons, etc., of the race 

 mentioned. Three different series of paintings were met with, 

 one over the other ; and as the most recent were believed to 

 be upward of fifty years old, it was inferred that the under- 

 most were very ancient. The colors are permanent, being de- 

 rived from the ochreous concretions abounding in some of 

 the sandstones of the interior of Africa, which, when broken 

 open, are found to contain various shades of yellows, browns, 

 reds, etc., the broken concretions themselves serving as paint- 

 pots. The importance of copying these paintings, and ren- 

 dering them available for ethnological investigations, is urged 

 on account of the fact that the Caffres are constantly destroy- 

 ing them, so that in the course of a few years they will prol> 

 ably become entirely obliterated. 12 A^ Dec. 8,1870,101. 



ANCIENT CITY IN NEW MEXICO. 



An examination has recently been made by an officer of 

 the United States Army of an old pueblo situated about twen- 

 ty-five miles from the town of Socorro, on the Rio Grande. 

 The walls of the buildings of this pueblo are composed of 

 thin sandstone, heaped one layer upon another, without mor- 

 tar, and without any traces of beams or timber of any kind. 

 The edifices seem to have been but one story high, and to have 

 consisted of four separate buildings, arranged so as to form 

 a hollow square, with a fifth a little outside of these. The 

 longest range was over two hundred feet in length, and the 

 whole five contained about two hundred rooms. Near the 

 pueblo extensive silver mines have recently been discovered, 

 and a town is to be laid out during the present year, the ma- 

 terial for the houses to be derived from the ruins. There are 



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