57 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



From the definite character of the myths, 

 together with the internal evidence afforded 

 by the language itself, it would seem that 

 the Gaelic occupancy of Ireland dates from 

 a very remote antiquity going back, in 

 fact, to the period of the earliest wave of 

 migration from the primitive home of the 

 Aryans. 



Cariosities of African Custom. Yet new 

 phases of African life and custom are de- 

 scribed in the diary of a journey from Bihe 

 to the Bakuba country of the eminent Port- 

 uguese trader, Silva Porto. The Kiboko or 

 Kashoko, when their chief dies, either re- 

 turn to their relatives or build themselves a 

 new village. The new chief also builds a 

 new village, and receives a man or a woman 

 from each of his sub-chiefs as a contribution 

 toward peopling it. The lukatio, or brace- 

 let, bestowed as a symbol of power upon one 

 of the chiefs by his superior for faithful 

 service, is made of brass or copper, inter- 

 woven with the sinews of a human being 

 who has been sacrificed on some specially 

 solemn occasion. It is covered with the 

 skin of an antelope, and has charms attached 

 to it. If the holder of this emblem loses 

 the favor of his feudal lord, a messenger, 

 bearing a similar bracelet, but of smaller 

 size, and a two-edged knife, is sent to him, 

 and the disgraced chief and his brothers 

 and wives usually with him quietly submits 

 to decapitation. A curious custom, called 

 slnkai/andando, is observed by the Bakuba 

 in concluding a bargain. An offer having 

 been made and accepted, the vender plucks 

 a leaf and presents it to the intending pur- 

 chaser, who taking hold of it cuts it asunder, 

 when the two pieces are thrown behind. If 

 this mode of confirming a bargain is neg- 

 lected, the vender can claim double the value 

 of the merchandise in question. 



Preservation of Mummies. A supposi- 

 tion that the mummies of the Egyptian 

 kings in the Archaeological Museum at 

 Gbizeh had begun to decay since they were 

 unrolled and deprived of their bituminous 

 coverings was suggested by the appearance 

 of a white efflorescence on certain parts of 

 the mummy of Seti I. In order to ascertain 

 whether this was true, Dr. Fouquet, a person 

 having special qualifications for the work. 



was invited by M. Grebaut to examine the 

 mummies and the efflorescence, and deter- 

 mine whether signs of decay had been de- 

 veloped since the unrolling; whether the 

 efflorescence was the result of damp, and 

 whether the mummies were threatened with 

 destruction. Dr. Fouquet reported that he 

 had observed the efflorescence on the mum- 

 my of Seti I at the time it was unbandaged, 

 June 16, 1886; that a specimen of it ex- 

 amined microscopically was found to be 

 composed of scales and prisms of crystallized 

 salts, with the origin of which dampness 

 had nothing to do, and that in it were 

 neither mycites nor spores ; and that efforts 

 to propagate mold on pieces of mummy and 

 mummy-cloth exposed to damp resulted only 

 in sterility. The efflorescence is, in fact, 

 simply an extrusion of the salts employed in 

 the embalming of the mummy, and of the 

 repairs to the same when it was removed, 

 about twenty-three hundred years ago, from 

 its original resting-place to Dahr-el-Bahari. 

 Hence, the mummies are supposed to be safe 

 from atmospheric deterioration. 



The Fijians. In a lecture on the Fiji 

 Islands, delivered at Hokitika, New Zealand, 

 the Rev. S. J. Gibson said that the native 

 population was about a hundred thousand, 

 while the Europeans numbered three hun- 

 dred thousand. All the natives have em- 

 braced Christianity ; churches and schools 

 are found in every village, and crime is al- 

 most unknown. In the construction of the 

 native houses, chimneys and partitions are 

 not appreciated. The sleeping-place is di- 

 vided off by mosquito-curtains only. The 

 men are powerful, well developed, with cop- 

 per-colored skins, and some of the women 

 are of prepossessing appearance. European 

 clothing is used by some of the natives, and 

 gives them occasionally a grotesque appear- 

 ance. Oiling the body and liming the hair 

 are customary. A dress consisting of a 

 white shirt, a length of white sheeting round 

 the waist, and a sash of native cloth is be- 

 coming. Young girls wear a waist - cloth 

 and a sort of pinafore, without either head- 

 covering or boots. The language is musi- 

 cal, but difficult to master ; and it is, indeed, 

 almost impossible for a white man to learn 

 it thoroughly. A kind of bread is made by 

 burying fruit with some substance to make 



