14 REPOET OF THE SECRETARY. 



Doctor Fewkes visited several large ruins in the neighborhood of 

 Xalapa, one of which, near Xicochimalco, he has identified as the 

 remains of the pneblo of Sochimatl, mentioned by Bernal Diaz del 

 Castillo, historian of the conquest. By this jdentification new light 

 is shed on the hitherto obscurely known route of the conquerors from 

 Cempoalan over the mountains to the plateau of Mexico. 



The extensive group of large earth mounds, some of wdiich are 

 remains of pyramidal temples, situated at Texolo, near Xico, w^erc 

 also visited, and important material was gatliered from them bear- 

 ing on their prehistoric inhabitants. The numerous ridns in the 

 vicinity of Tampico were found to l)e extensive, and objects from 

 them revealed evidences of a high development of culture. Of the 

 large Huaxtec pueblo called Chila, subdued by Cortes, nothing now 

 remains but a group of mounds in an almost impenetrable forest a 

 few miles from Tamos. Many sites of prehistoric pueblos were 

 found on the banks of the Panuco; some of these were once temples, 

 others' mortuary hillocks containing pottery offerings and bones of 

 the dead. Numerous shell heaps occur in this region, some of which 

 were visited and examined. About a mile from Tampico, Doctor 

 Fewkes reports, he found a cluster of large earth mounds of con- 

 siderable extent, up to within a few years concealed by a dense jungle. 

 The most notable ruins m this region lie on the banks of the Cham- 

 payan lagoon, at the Rancho de San Francisco and Cebadella. In the 

 Sierra de Palma there is a pja'amid having a cut-stone facing and 

 stairways similar to those in the Totonac region. 



THE SMITHSONIAN ALASKAN EXPEDITION. 



An expedition to Alaska and adjacent territory was made during 

 the summer of 1904 by Mr. A. G. Maddren, under the direction of 

 the Smithsonian Institution, for an examination of the Pleistocene 

 deposits of northern Alaska, in which most of the mammoth and 

 other vertebrate remains occur. His report treats of these forma- 

 tions and the criteria by which they are to be distinguished from 

 the more recent ice and alluvial deposits which have been variously 

 noticed and discussed by travelers and w^riters. He saj^s: 



The problems of geogi\aphic distribution of the animal and vegetable life 

 of North America in Pleistocene time with the disturbance of faunas and 

 floras caused by the widespread glaciation during that period and their sub- 

 sequent readjustment over the glaciated area all combine to form a complex 

 arrangement, to solve which will require large collections of specimens from 

 the Pleistocene deposits of the unglaciated area of Alaska and the adjacent 

 Canadian territory- At present our knowledge of this fauna and flora is 

 very limited. As far as we know, only one species of elephant (Elephas primi- 

 {/enhis), the mammoth, inhabited Alaska and Siberia during Pleistocene time. 



The longest mammoth tusk so far reported from Alaska is one 12 feet 10 

 inches long, measured on the outside of the curve. Remains of the rhinoceros 



