POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



711 



themselves, and at the same time differed 

 from those of the older or full-grown tree. 

 Induced by this discovery to examine the 

 foliage of the mature tree, he found that 

 there was a certain regularity of variation, 

 depending upon the position of the different 

 forms of leaves. It is well known that a 

 great variation exists among the leaves of 

 our recent Liriodcndron, on the same tree, 

 and even on the same branch. There are 

 also great differences in the forms of the 

 leaves of fossil species, which many palaeo- 

 botanists, including Prof. Newberry, regard 

 as being significant of specific distinctions. 

 Mr. Holm believes, and undertakes to show 

 in his paper, that the differences in the fo- 

 liage between many of the extinct species of 

 Liriodendron are not greater than between 

 a series of leaves from a very young tree or 

 from a branch of an older one of our recent 

 species. 



Navajo Burials. Four methods of dis- 

 posing of the dead are described by Dr. R. 

 W. Shufeldt as practiced by the Navajo In- 

 dians. The commonest method is " cliff -bur- 

 ial," in which the body is removed from the 

 lodge or hogan where the death took place, 

 and is carried to a canon, deposited in some 

 of the rents or fissures in its sides, and is 

 covered and walled in with pieces of rock 

 and smaller stones. The body is often 

 dressed in the clothes that the person may 

 have possessed and valued during life. A 

 second method is " brush-burial," and is re- 

 sorted to in cases where illness has been long 

 and no hope of recovery is entertained. 

 The patient is carried to some secluded spot 

 near the camp, surrounded with brush-cut- 

 tings as a protection against wild animals, 

 and is either abandoned or fed from time 

 to time by relatives until death comes. A 

 third method is deposition in a grave ; and 

 the fourth is " tree-burial." This is ex- 

 tremely rare, so that only one case has come 

 under the author's observation. The body 

 was wrapped in a blanket and carried up 

 into a large pinon tree to a horizontal limb 

 about fifteen feet above the ground. At 

 that point a rude platform had been con- 

 structed of dead and broken limbs, the whole 

 so arranged as to support the body firmly 

 in a horizontal position. The burials arc all 

 without ceremonies. The hogan is aban- 



doned or burned immediately after the occur- 

 rence of a death within it, and is not in any 

 event occupied by any of the tribe again. 

 The Navajos have a notion that the devil 

 long haunts the locality where death has 

 taken place, and they all shun it. After a 

 burial the party thoroughly wash themselves 

 and make a complete change of clothing. 

 They believe that an evil spirit is at the bot- 

 tom of everything that has to do with death, 

 and rarely speak of their dead for fear of 

 offending him ; and it has been said that one 

 of these Indians will freeze to death rather 

 than build a fire for himself out of the logs 

 of a hogan in which one of their number 

 has died. They are very jealous of any des- 

 ecration of their dead ; and Dr. Shufeldt 

 was exposed to much danger in trying to get 

 some of their skulls for scientific purposes. 



Dances of tbe Passamaquoddy Indians. 



In the snake dance of the Passamaquoddy 

 Indians, as described by J. Walter Fewkes, 

 in his paper on the folk lore of the tribe, 

 the leader or singer begins by moving about 

 the room in a stooping posture, shaking in 

 his hand a rattle made of horn, beating the 

 ground with one foot. He peers into every 

 corner of the room, either seeking the snake 

 or inciting the onlookers to take part, mean- 

 while singing the first part of the song. 

 Then he goes to the middle of the room, 

 and, calling out one after another of the 

 auditors, seizes his hands. The two par- 

 ticipants dance round the room together. 

 Then another person grasps the hands of 

 the first, and others join, uutil tbere is a 

 continuous line of men and women, alternate 

 members of the chain facing in opposite di- 

 rections, and all grasping each other's hands. 

 The chain then coils back and forth and 

 round the room, and at last forms a closely 

 pressed spiral, tightly coiled together, with 

 the leader in the middle. At first the dan- 

 cers have their bodies bent over in a stoop- 

 ing attitude, but, as the dance goes on and 

 the excitement increases, they rise to an 

 erect posture, especially as near the end they 

 coil around the leader with the horn rattles, 

 who is concealed from sight by the dancers. 

 They call on the spectators to follow them, 

 with loud calls mingled with the music ; 

 these cries now become louder and more 

 boisterous, and the coil rapidly unwinds, 



