ETHNOLOGY. 449 



been washed from neighboring beds by water following a depression 

 leading to the river. 



3d. That the intimate mixture of the products of vegetation with the 

 clay, shows that the burial of those products was coincident with the 

 formation of the bed. 



4:th. That the mallet, having been found partly imbedded in the clay, 

 and having presented characteristic marks of condition identical with 

 those of other associated wood similarly placed, its burial was coinci- 

 dent with that of the other wood. 



5th. That the clay-bed, and its contents, are an older formation than 

 the loam, but not so old as the unmixed clay in the neighboring hills. 



6th. That the extremely low point in the present valley, at which this 

 clay-imbedded vegetation now lies, indicates that the ancient Connecti- 

 cut Valley was here somewhat deeper than the present, and that the 

 river has been slowly elevated by soil washed from the highlands and 

 distributed along its course. 



7th. That the clay -bed is a landmark, the existence of which proves 

 that the river, however it may have meandered in past ages, has never 

 before run over the locality described since the loam period. 



With regard to the preservation of wood, secluded from atmospheric 

 changes in permanently wet soil, the fact that wood so placed will en- 

 dure indefinitely is too well known and attested to need elucidation 

 in this place. 



CENTENNIAL MISSION TO THE INDIANS OF WESTERN NEVADA AND CAIIFORNIA. 



By Stephen Powers. 

 ITINERARY. 



Under dateof August 21, 1875,1 was appointed by the Honorable Secre- 

 tary of the Interior a " special commissioner to make a collection of 

 Indian manufactures, &c., illustrative of Indian life, character, and 

 habits on the eastern slope of the Sierras, and also in California, for the 

 Centennial Exhibition of 1876." 



Proceeding on my mission as soon as possible, I arrived at Pyramid 

 Lake Indian reservation, Nevada, September 29, 1875, and remained 

 there four days. This reservation is in charge of the Rev. C. A. Bateman, 

 of the Baptist Church, and contains about 700 Indians, most of whom 

 were absent, by permission, collecting articles of aboriginal food, prin- 

 cipally pine-nuts. The reservation, aside from desert wastes, contains 

 about 1,500 acres of irrigable land at the head of the lake. The soil is 

 of a light, sandy character, and is difficult of irrigation, on account of 

 the length of the ditch required, and the consequent evaporation and 

 seepage of the water. 



The Indians on this reservation belong to the nation commonly known 

 as the Piutes, (they pronounce it in three syllables, Pi-titesj) but in their 

 s 29 



