418 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to legal practice in London, which, together 

 with lecturing and literary work, occupied his 

 energies for twelve years. In 1861 he pub- 

 lished his Ancient Law, which at once be- 

 came an authority and a text-book. The fol- 

 lowing year he accepted the Law Member- 

 ship in the Council of the Governor-General 

 of India. He held this position until 1869, 

 and during this period two hundred and nine 

 acts were passed. The speeches and minutes 

 that make up the body of the present vol- 

 ume relate to matters of East Indian legisla- 

 tion which demanded his attention during 

 these years. Some of these matters concern 

 the government of provinces i. e., Judicial 

 Taxation, The Bengal Legislature, and Over- 

 Legislation ; others, such as Divorce, Emigra- 

 tion, and Whipping, concern the daily life 

 of the people. In all may be seen Maine's 

 breadth of view and his temperate and con- 

 vincing style of argument. Besides their 

 biographical interest these documents have 

 also a sociological value from the glimpses 

 they give into the life and thought of the 

 East Indian peoples. Sir Grant Duff's mem- 

 oir tells much about Maine's university days, 

 his writing for the Saturday Review and 

 other journals, and recounts, also, the ap- 

 pointments and honors of his later life. 



In Volume III of the Journal of Ameri- 

 can Ethnology and Archceology, A. E. Ban- 

 delier gives a most interesting outline of the 

 documentary history of the Zuni tribe, which 

 will serve as an important link in the chain 

 of evidences of prehistoric civilization on the 

 northern portion of this continent. 



At no time in our history has there been 

 such an influx of speculative literature con- 

 cerning prehistoric man in America as is 

 now offered to ethnological students; con- 

 siderable discussion existing as to the condi- 

 tions of prehistoric man, his period of advent 

 here, and probable characteristics and civil- 

 ization. From among the many works upon 

 this interesting subject it is still difficult to 

 accept as satisfactory and conclusive evi- 

 dence the consequential conclusions of the 

 writers. Their researches are of decided 

 speculative value to science; but they ad- 

 vance their theories and make their conclu- 

 sions solely upon the vague probabilities of 

 certain conditions and appearances of archae- 

 ological discoveries. 



The material used in this monograph is ex- 

 clusively derived from Spanish documents, 

 which the author was enabled to study in the 

 archives of the Mexican Republic, and of the 

 Indies, at Seville, Spain, and chiefly concerns 

 the discoveries of certain Spanish monks be- 

 tween 1538 A. D. and the end of the seven- 

 teenth century. From these documents it 

 is evident that a high degree of civilization 

 existed among the Zuni people early hi the 

 fifteenth century, and must have existed 

 there for hundreds of years prior to the 

 discovery of the country by the Spaniards. 

 Here is an extract concerning the expedition 

 of Fray Marcos, of Nissa, in 1538 : "... About 

 a month and a half ago there came a monk, 

 lately arriving from some newly discov- 

 ered land which, they say, is five hundred 

 leagues from Mexico, . . . and toward the 

 north. Of this country it is said that it is 

 rich in gold and other valuable products, and 

 has large villages. The houses are of stone 

 and earth, the people use weights and meas- 

 ures, they are civilized, marry only once, 

 dress in woolen goods, and ride on certain 

 unknown animals." Another witness testi- 

 fies that " there were many cities and towns 

 well peopled; that the cities were walled 

 and the gates guarded ; that the people were 

 very wealthy ; that there were silversmiths ; 

 that the women wore jewels of gold, and 

 the men girdles of gold and white woolen 

 dresses ; that they had sheep, cows, and 

 quails, and that there were butchers and 

 smithies." It is therefore evident that the 

 Zuni Indians possessed a civilization long 

 prior to the advent of European explorers ; 

 and as the authenticity of these documents 

 is unquestioned, we have, in the researches 

 of Mr. Bandelier, some very important matter 

 upon which to build further and reliable in- 

 quiry into the prehistoric conditions of man 

 on this continent. Unfortunately, the almost 

 total destruction of the archives in New 

 Mexico by the Indians, in 1680, renders it 

 difficult to secure a complete history of the 

 past of New Mexico, and of the discoveries 

 in Arizona which were made by explorers 

 from New Spain in the early part of the six- 

 teenth century. Nevertheless, in this mono- 

 graph considerable light is thrown upon the 

 conditions, civilization, and characteristics of 

 the early dwellers of North America. 



In a report on the Relations of Soil to 



