NOTES. 



863 



fore, I rest in the most entire and complete 

 confidence that, if this should happen to be 

 a blunder of mine, some day or other it will 

 be carefully exposed by somebody ! But 

 pray let me remind you, whether all this 

 story about Bathybius be right or wrong 

 makes not the smallest difference to the 

 general argument of the remarkable address 

 put before you to-night. All the statements 

 your President has made are just as true, as 

 profoundly true, as if this little, eccentric 

 Bathybius did not exist at all. I congratu- 

 late you upon having had the opportunity 

 of listening to an address so profound, so 

 exhaustive in all respects, and so remark- 

 able, and I ask you to join in the vote of 

 thanks which has just been proposed." 



A Specimen of African Civilization. At 



the recent meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion, Commander Cameron gave the follow- 

 ing interesting particulars concerning the 

 manners and customs of the people of Urua, 

 a country in Central Africa bounded on the 

 east by Lake Tanganyika, on the north by 

 independent tribes in Manguema, on the west 

 by Ulunda, and on the south by mountains 

 south of Lake Bangueolo. The Uruans are 

 probably the most civilized race in Central 

 Africa. Their late supreme chief, Kasongo, 

 claimed divine honors. On his death all 

 his wives save one were slaughtered at the 

 grave ; the exempted wife passed to his suc- 

 cessor, into whom also migrated the spirit 

 of the dead Kasongo. The central object 

 of the people's religious homage is an idol 

 set up in the midst of a dense jungle ; this 

 idol has for wife one of the sisters of the 

 reigning chief. Caste is very clearly defined. 

 Authority is maintained by mutilation : 

 hands, feet, ears, noses, are mutilated, and 

 the people do not seem to mind it much. 

 Fire is obtained by friction from a fire- 

 block, and in one case a chief used the shin- 

 bone of a conquered rebel to produce fire 

 from the block ! The dress of the people 

 consists simply of an apron. The coiffure 

 is curious. In some cases the hair is 

 worked up into four ring plaits crossed at 

 the top of the head like a crown, and sur- 

 rounded at the bottom with a band of cow- 

 ries or other shells. The people are not a 

 hairy race, but they manage to grow their 

 beards long and plaited like a Chinaman's 



pigtail. The women are tattooed. Com- 

 mander Cameron saw a wedding, which was 

 very curious. The festivities continued sev- 

 eral days. A ring was formed of the natives, 

 two men with big drums being in the mid- 

 dle. The drums were played and the people 

 round danced. The bride was brought out, 

 dressed in feathers and other finery, on the 

 shoulders of two or three women ; she was 

 taken into the middle of the ring and was 

 jumped up and down on the shoulders of 

 the women. The bride threw shells and 

 beads about, for which there was a scram- 

 ble, as the possession of them was sup- 

 posed to confer luck. Ultimately the hus- 

 band came into the ring and putting the 

 bride under his arm carried her off. The 

 means of communication is by drum-signals. 

 They have a call on the drum for every- 

 body's name, and they can ask questions 

 and convey intelligence over hundreds of 

 miles and receive answers almost immedi- 

 ately. In war, messages are constantly 

 sent enormous distances to bring up rein- 

 forcements or to stop their coming. The 

 mass of the people live in huts on dry 

 land, but there are one or two exceptions to 

 this. Commander Cameron saw two lakes 

 on which people were living in huts. In 

 one case the people had covered over the 

 long grass growing in the water with earth, 

 and on that had built their huts ; in the 

 other the huts were built on piles. 



NOTES. 



Next year the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science will hold 

 its meetings in Boston, commencing on the 

 last Wednesday of August. The officers 

 are : President, L. H. Morgan, of Roches- 

 ter ; Vice-President, Section A, Asaph Hall, 

 of Washington ; Vice-President, Section 

 B, Alexander Agassiz, of Cambridge, Mas- 

 sachusetts; Permanent Secretary, F. W. 

 Putnam, of Cambridge, Massachusetts ; 

 General Secretary, John K. Rees, of St. 

 Louis ; Secretary of Section A, Henry B. 

 Nason, of Trov, New York ; Secretary of 

 Section B, C. V. Riley, of St. Louis ; Trea- 

 surer, William S. Vaux, of Philadelphia. 



TnE French Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science has just commenced 

 the ninth year of its existence. From the 

 beginning it has enjoyed the largest mea- 

 sure of prosperity, anil its meetings in sun- 



