423 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



like a basin, and fitting tightly over the rim 

 of the urn. They took off the covers and 

 emptied the vessels, when they were aston- 

 ished to find that the surface of the sand in 

 one of them was apparently covered with a 

 deep-black peruke, ornamented with pearls 

 of about the size of a pea. A more careful 

 examination showed them that this curi- 

 ously discovered " head-dress " was com- 

 posed of the fibrous roots of the horse-tail 

 rush, which grew abundantly on the top of 

 the hill in which the graves had been made. 

 The roots of the plant having penetrated the 

 soil to the depth of three feet and a half, had 

 made their way through the narrow crevices 

 between the stones of the grave, had found 

 the urns, had then pushed up perpendicu- 

 larly through the minute space between the 

 rim of the cover and the neck of the urn, 

 and had arranged themselves within the urn 

 into a regular network. After the forma- 

 tion had been dried, the course which the 

 principal root had taken could be traced. 

 The fibrous roots had branched out from it, 

 and covered the whole surface of the sand 

 in such a manner as to deceive the observ- 

 ers for a time with the resemblance to a 

 beautiful head-dress. The knats, which were 

 taken for pearls, were irregularly distributed, 

 and were manifestly thicker in places- in the 

 principal root. The formation affords an 

 interesting illustration of the faculty which 

 the roots of plants possess of seeking for 

 and reaching the most suitable nourishment. 

 The operation in the present instance in- 

 volved a reversal of the common direction 

 of the growth of roots, and that which re- 

 sembled an effort to reach hidden food. The 

 case furnishes a curious parallel to the one 

 which was described in this country a few 

 years ago, in which the root of an apple-tree, 

 which grew over the grave of Roger Wil- 

 liams, was found to have taken the place and 

 shape of the body buried below. 



Artesian Wells on onr Western Plains. 



A proposition to make an appropriation of 

 fifty thousand dollars for the purpose of 

 sinking experimental artesian wells in the 

 Western Plains, has been advocated in Con- 

 gress, and has been mentioned favorably 

 in the press. It is urged in behalf of the 

 scheme that of about nine hundred million 

 acres of arid lands in Arizona, Dakota, Ida- 



ho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, 

 Colorado, and Nevada, whiqh must remain 

 practically a desert unless some method is 

 found to supply them with water, about 

 five hundred million acres of plain and 

 valley lands would be susceptible of profit- 

 able cultivation if they could be watered. 

 Of this, not more than three per cent, can 

 be irrigated by the use of existing streams 

 and rivers. It has been demonstrated, 

 wherever settlement has been made and 

 irrigation applied, that the lands when 

 watered are as good as any ; and the opera- 

 tions of the French in Algeria, which are 

 still continued, give an encouraging promise 

 of what can be accomplished with artesian 

 wells. 



African Fetich-Worship and Witchcraft. 



Dr. Buchholz, a German entomologist, in 

 his account of his wanderings in west Af- 

 rica, notices many of the peculiar customs 

 of the negroes of Upper Guinea, particu- 

 larly those relating to fetich-worsbip and 

 witchcraft. While among the Akkra tribes 

 of the Gold Coast, he found that fetiches, 

 generally clay dolls representing a man and 

 a woman, had been laid at the foot of the 

 termite-hills which he was interested in ex- 

 amining, with offerings around them. The 

 fetich-processions are celebrated with con- 

 siderable pomp, in which the fetich-drum, 

 a stick provided with rings on which a little 

 hollow ball, a gourd-shell, is rapidly struck, 

 plays an important part. At the village of 

 Abreri, farther inland, the ceremonies were 

 held in a large, open place, at one end of 

 which silvered images of the gods, rude fig- 

 ures representing a bird, a turtle, an ear of 

 corn, and a figure holding different vessels, 

 were set up in an orderly manner on a pil- 

 lar, while the priest performed his ritual at 

 the other end. The music, of drums, bells, 

 and other instruments, including a drum of 

 bronze, was accompanied by the multitude 

 with a rhythmical hand-clapping. At the 

 feast of the new moon, in addition to the 

 music and the singing, each participant had 

 a white streak drawn over his face, and 

 the master of ceremonies, swinging a pe- 

 culiar brush and gesticulating frantically, 

 had his face painted all over white. The 

 Bakhniri believe, when any one dies or is 

 sick, that he has been bewitched ; or if 



