484 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of stone foresters a curiosity in Nature of which the world offers 

 but few duplicates. Imbedded hard within the trunk, and held 

 by it fast as in a vise, are the blades of two gang saws, the wreck 

 of a barbaric effort to section the tree and remove it in parts to 

 the World's Columbian Exposition. It is stated that this effort at 

 desecration was only abandoned after it had involved the expendi- 

 ture of some three thousand to four thousand dollars. 



Near by is a stump whose surface measures eleven feet in 

 diameter, and it may well be. that excavation nearer to the roots 

 would disclose a size fully equal to that of its more "costly" 

 neighbor. All in all, the trees in this region are much larger 

 than those of the " petrified forest " of Arizona, and their com- 

 parative antiquity gives them a special claim upon the attention 

 of the geologist. In the more southerly tract they rarely attain a 

 diameter of four or at most five feet, and more generally two 

 and three feet give the full measure. Most of the fragments lie 

 prostrate an indication that there was a subversion of the forest 

 before petrifaction set in, and it is difficult to find pieces of more 

 than four feet continuous length. The trees, so far as botanical 

 study has determined them, were pines, and not the more stately 

 Sequoias of the north. And yet, even with such forms, a giant 

 stature was not exactly absent, for only a short time back a pros- 

 trate shattered trunk was measured over a length of about a 

 hundred and fifty feet. It is, by way of contrast, a little remark- 

 able that at Florissant so many (perhaps most) of the trees still 

 retain an upright position, a condition that suggests peaceful de- 

 cay, or at least one that was not associated with any cataclysm of 

 the land surface. In whatever way overwhelmed to death and 

 the falling ash would itself be quite competent to effect this it 

 seems not unlikely that silicification proceeded to a level pre- 

 scribed by the surface of the heated waters of the lake, above 

 which the trees fell. It would be a satisfaction, certainly, to 

 have excavations conducted here ; but whether carried out or not, 

 the region is one that stands with its own interest, and to which 

 the tourist can safely be recommended to carry his explorations 

 in search of Nature's wonderland. 



Some remarkable sculptures in ivory described as being executed with 

 marvelous art and great vigor and accuracy have been discovered in a 

 cave at Brassempouy, near Pau, France. They are assigned to the begin- 

 ning of what the French archaeologists call the Magdalenian period or the 

 end of the Mousterian. One of them exhibits the features of prominent 

 haunches and pendant breasts which are often seen among the Hottentots 

 and other African tribes ; another, a head, presents a Basque physiognomy, 

 and bears a coiffure carefully arranged in parallel braids so as to resemble 

 an ancient Egyptian headdress. 



