280 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



for glimpses of Niagara. I could see that 

 the movement for open spaces for public re- 

 sort has vital relations to civilization, and 

 has been instituted in response to a pressing 

 need." In view of the changes in industrial 

 conditions that are likely to take place under 

 these circumstances, Mr. Harrison finds one 

 resource which has received comparatively 

 little attention of late the soil, which in 

 most of the shore towns appears to be much 

 better than the popular estimate of it. " It 

 has greater capabilities than are yet recog- 

 nized. This is especially true of the Cape 

 Cod country. The soil there is better than 

 that of southern New Jersey ; and I have 

 seen many Massachusetts men in Dakota, 

 Montana, and Idaho, trying, in great priva- 

 tion, to make a living in regions more forlorn 

 and hopeless than any part of the shore 

 country of the Old Bay State. ... I think 

 these towns might yet support a great popu- 

 lation by a highly developed agriculture and 

 horticulture, and that owners of the land 

 might wisely keep it and cultivate it." 



Snow Effects in the Pamirs. The region 

 of the Pamirs, or the roof of the world, in 

 central Asia, where the empires of Russia, 

 India, and China corner upon one another, 

 consists of a succession of long, broad, open 

 valleys, running approximately parallel to 

 each other in a general direction from north- 

 east to southwest, and separated by low (for 

 that region) ranges of mountains. The cli- 

 mate is very severe. The lowest point of the 

 Pamirs is 10,300 feet above sea-level, and 

 their usual average is from 13,000 to 14,000 

 feet. Hence the cold must be very intense. 

 Captain Younghusband, while he had no ex- 

 perience of the winter weather, found tem- 

 peratures at the end of October and begin- 

 ning of November of 18 Fahr. below zero. 

 Some interesting snow phenomena were wit- 

 nessed by this explorer. He has looked at a 

 mountain-peak, and then, a few moments 

 later, seen it gradually disappear ; and only 

 by closer observation could he make out that 

 it had been overshadowed by an impercepti- 

 ble snow-storm. " The snow, indeed, in these 

 mountains was often very fine, and almost 

 like dust ; and a very beautiful effect is, that 

 it nearly always falls in perfect little hex- 

 agonal flakes, like little stars of lacework, 

 each one quite distinct, and remaining intact 



until it reaches the ground ; then, as it has 

 fallen, the snow of course remains white on 

 the surface, but, digging into it, appears of 

 a beautiful delicate pale-blue color. Anoth- 

 er effect of the snow is seen at the mount- 

 ain-tops, when the peaks seem to be fading 

 away, and vanishing off like clouds of whit- 

 ened smoke. It is produced by the high 

 wind blowing away the fine dust-like snow at 

 the summits. Again, another almost similar 

 phenomenon on the mountain-tops is that of 

 long, level clouds, like streamers, flowing 

 away from the peaks. The moisture-laden 

 air from the plains of India has been con- 

 densed on the icy mountain summits, and 

 the wind has blown the mist away in a long, 

 thin streamer." Another effect of snow-parti- 

 cles glittering in the air in clear sunlight is 

 also common among us on very cold winter 

 days. 



The " Down-below People." The Have- 

 su-Pai, otherwise known as the Koxoninos, 

 or Cochnichnos, are a dying race of Indians, 

 their numbers being estimated at less than 

 two hundred souls, who were visited a few 

 years ago by Mr. Benjamin Wittick. Dr. R. 

 W. Shufeldt, seeking for information about 

 them, has found that very little is known 

 concerning them, but was able to obtain 

 two photographs taken by Mr. Wittick, il- 

 lustrating their general appearance and the 

 style of their huts. They exist in one of the 

 grandest canons in Arizona, living along the 

 banks of the stream that passes through it. 

 Their name, which is given them by the 

 Yumas, means the " down-below people," or 

 a tribe or race that live down in the canon. 

 They call themselves the " Ah-Supai." The 

 canon in which they dwell is that of Cata- 

 ract Creek, is forty-five hundred feet deep, 

 and the stream tumbles by a series of cas- 

 cades into the Grand Canon of the Colorado, 

 fifteen hundred feet deeper. The Indians 

 raise, according to Captain John G. Bourke, 

 fine peaches and good corn and melons, and 

 weave fine and beautiful baskets. They are 

 great hunters, and live by trading off buck- 

 skins and sometimes mountain-lion pelts to 

 the Moquis, Navajos, and Apaches. Mr. 

 Frank H. Cushing describes their home as 

 in a green, moist plain of sandy soil, nearly 

 two miles long by half a mile at its greatest 

 width, of which he could catch only occa- 



