252 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



velously rich in every South American prod- 

 uct of value. Its eastern and central parts, 

 the Bolivian provinces of Cordillera, Chiqui- 

 tos, and Beni, were first settled by the Jes- 

 uits, who penetrated northward from their 

 settlements in the valley of the Rio de la 

 Plata, and organized numerous " reduc- 

 tions " of the native tribes, and founded 

 many prosperous towns. These, however, 

 were always either on the banks of navi- 

 gable streams, or within easy reach of them. 

 In the extreme eastern part of the Madeira 

 Valley is the Brazilian province of Matto 

 Grosso, abounding in valuable agricultural 

 products, and gold and diamond washings. 

 Owing to its inaccessibility, it is very thin- 

 ly populated, but no doubt, in the future, 

 will be one of the most prosperous states 

 of the Brazilian Empire. At present, it is 

 one of the most unprotected frontiers of 

 that country, being almost at the mercy of 

 the states of the La Plata Valley in case of 

 war. 



Ascending the upper central and west- 

 ern rivers of the Madeira Valley, we come to 

 the richest of all the slopes of the Andes, 

 well populated by the Spanish race, mixed 

 with Quichua and Aymara Indians, the In- 

 dian element being probably the best on 

 the American Continent. The Bolivian 

 part of the valley contains about 2,500,000 

 people, the Indian blood slightly predomi- 

 nating. At the date of Bolivian indepen- 

 dence, 1825, the population was under 

 1,000,000. The country in which they live 

 is, without exception, the richest on the 

 globe, in every thing that Nature gives to 

 man. Its mineral wealth cannot be matched 

 within an equal area on the Western Con- 

 tinent. The number of silver-mines opened 

 there during Spanish rule might appear 

 fabulous, were they not registered in the 

 archives of the state : they exceed 10,000 ! 

 From the banks of the little streams which 

 feed the Beni branch of the Madeira, gold 

 may be washed almost anywhere. In fact, 

 the whole slope of the Andes, in an immense 

 sweep of 1,000 miles, extending from Cuzco 

 to Matto Grosso, is a vast gold-placer. 



A Rare Species of Rabbit. In Prof. Hay- 

 den's " Report of the Geological Survey of 

 the Territories " for 1872, Mr. C. H. Merriam 

 describes a very rare species of rabbit 



I (Lepus Bairdii) inhabiting the pine-regions 

 about the head-waters of the Wind and Yel- 

 lowstone Rivers, in Wyoming. Mr. Merriam 

 secured five specimens of this animal, which, 

 with the exception of one placed in the Smith- 

 sonian collection by Prof. Hayden, in 1860, 

 are the first individuals of the species that 

 have been brought before the scientific 

 world. One very curious fact relating to 

 Baird's rabbit is, that all the males have 

 teats, and take part in suckling the young ! 

 Four out of the five specimens were adult 

 males, and they all had large teats full of 

 milk ; and the hair around the nipple was 

 wet, and stuck to it, showing that, when 

 taken, they had just been engaged in nurs- 

 ing their young. As no females were found, 

 Mr. Merriam thought this might be an her- 

 maphrodite form ; so he and Dr. Josiah 

 Curtis dissected a large male, which was 

 found to contain the usual male genital or- 

 gans, but no uterus, ovaries, or other female 

 organs. Another old male was dissected, 

 with the same result. 



Steel Bars for Bells. An item has long 

 been on its travels both in England and this 

 country, announcing steel bars as a cheap 

 and efficient substitute for bells in churches, 

 factories, etc. To numerous letters of in- 

 quiry on the subject, we have been obliged 

 to reply that we knew nothing of the kind 

 either here or abroad. The London Builder, 

 having been similarly questioned, has lately 

 taken the trouble to examine the matter, 

 and the following is the only foundation for 

 the statement it has been able to discover : 



On the 28th of July, 1873, a provisional 

 specification only was granted by the Eng- 

 lish Patent-Office to Ferdinand Rahles and 

 James Dixon Mackenzie, for new or im- 

 proved bells, or bar-bells and apparatus con- 

 nected therewith. This invention consists 

 of sounding instruments made from bars 

 of steel, or other metal compositions, of a 

 straight or curved form, producing musical 

 notes or sounds. These bars are made of 

 any suitable weight or dimensions, accord- 

 ing to the power of sound desired. They 

 are intended to be a substitute for ordinary 

 cast bells, for use in churches or other 

 places, and are suspended and carried in or 

 on frames perpendicularly or otherwise, the 

 sounds being produced from them by con- 





