NOTES 45 I 



of weight. This treatment has not been previously described. Some- 

 times bands of rattan are passed across the faces of the shield and 

 held in place by a cross-sewing through holes. On the upper pro- 

 jection of the shield, the midrib, and the edges, thin wedge-shaped 

 pieces of iron have been inserted as a protection against cutting 

 weapons. The Nias shield shows plainly the development of this 

 defensive weapon from the club, and it is evidently still mainly 

 used for parrying, though it has widened out under the influence 

 of the spear and of cut-and-thrust weapons. The solid projecting 

 ends and the midrib preserve the vestiges of the club, from which 

 it has been derived. The average Nias shield measures 41 inches 

 in length and 9^4 inches in width. 



Walter Hough. 



Earthquake in Peru 



The Department of State has courteously sent to the Smithsonian 

 Institution the following despatch from United States Consul A. 

 L. M. Gottschalk, dated Callao, Peru, March 5, 1904: 



" I have the honor to report that an earthquake-shock of much 

 severity was felt in Lima and Callao on Friday, March 4, at about 

 5 :2o A.M. Oscillation was from southwest to northeast ; duration 

 variously estimated at from 30 to 50 seconds. Considerable dam- 

 age of the minor sort was done to public edifices, churches chiefly, 

 in Lima and Callao, in the way of broken statues, fallen cornices, 

 etc. One of the towers of the cathedral of Lima is said to be badly 

 cracked and may have to be torn down. During the vibrations 

 church bells were tolled and for a few moments general consterna- 

 tion prevailed. I believe that only one life was lost, though a num- 

 ber of persons were more or less injured by falling plaster, etc. No 

 house is without broken crockery and bric-a-brac, and at the Con- 

 sulate at Callao all the furniture, including an iron safe, was shifted 

 about an inch. The shock was preceded, at 12 m., by a seismic 

 movement so slight as to be barely perceptible. 



" At Callao greater damage was done owing to the ramshackle 

 nature of buildings, a number of which (small dwellings) collapsed. 

 There was no appreciable damage to wharves or shipping. Pas- 

 sengers aboard the S. S. Mexico entering port state that the shock 

 was felt by them ' as if the ship had suddenly struck a rock.' 



" At Chorrillos, a fashionable coast resort near by, some damage 

 was done to houses and to the sea wall. President Candamo's villa 

 there was in part destroyed during the family's occupancy. 



