able to 

 iveraents 

 rden on 

 aducated 



of local 

 gli repu- 

 with the 

 tion, and 

 3d States 

 I matitifr 

 t service- 

 I sufrgest 

 i a sketch 

 Inion, ha? 

 int scien- 

 rhicli it is 

 Montreal. 



PINARD. 



iLE. 



mmunities 

 carried on 

 the region 

 urrency in 

 ids, in the 

 filly strnug 

 jy tlie first 

 ent in the 

 al currency 

 tlie natives 

 )eriv"inldes, 

 fuahany, or 

 purple, the 

 as valuable 

 id from the 

 ■ova. bullion. 

 I iu making 

 AH impor- 

 ipum in the 

 vere usually 

 beads on a 

 were rude 

 cters. Tho 

 ces. 



the ancient 

 t that they 



TKANSACTIOXS OF SECTION If. 



911 



Im 



r 



were used by the builders of those mounds in the same manner and to the .^ame 

 extent a-s by the modern Indians. 



West of the Rocky Mmmtains the shell-money was in use amon^' the Indians 

 down almost to our own times. It was made chiefly in the form of' lisks, which 

 were perforated and strung on strings. Jn their tnifhc these were rated son'ietimes 

 by the number of beads, and sometimes ))y the length of tlie string. 'I'here was a 

 larger kind, made in oblong strips, with tw'o holes at one end fov'^stringinf them. 

 The shell-money was much used by the C'alifornians in their funeral ceremonies 

 and their sacrifices. 



Oontinuing in a westerly course, we come, in the Northern Pacific, to the 

 island groups of jMicronesia. Tn these groups the .shell-monev is found in use, very 

 raucli as among tho Nortli American Indi.ans. In some islaiids it is made of disks 

 of sea-shell and coeoanut-shell, strung alternately white and black, and (hsposed of 

 in lengths. In others it is formed of tortoise-shell dislcs, strun? and used in the 

 same manner. 



In the Loo Choo Islands, which are midway between Micronesia and ('hina or 

 .Japan, the Chinese money is in use. This consists of small circular copper coins, 

 known to Europeans as 'cash.' They liave a hole in tlie centre, are struno-oii 

 .strings, and usually disposed of in lengths. According to the (Chinese authorities, 

 the money anciently used in that empire, before metallic coins were known, was of 

 tortoise-shell. Tlie earliest (^^hinese copper coins of which specimens are known 

 are of various shapes, ]U'obably fashioned after tlie shapes of tiiis tortoise-shell 

 money. Most of them are round, with a liole in the centre, l)iit some are oblong, 

 and perforated at one end for stringing, like tho Californian shell-slips. Tiie 

 Chinese have 'mock-money,' made of tinfoil and paper, which is burnt in their 

 sacrifices. This is regarded as evidence that their current money was originally 

 made of some combustible material. 



The natural inference from these facts is that the knowledge and use of the 

 Chinese shell-money were probably carried in early times from Eastern Asia, or 

 from Micronesia, to this continent. Tho manner in which this may have occurred 

 is shown by the fact that many Japanese junks have been wrecked during the 

 present century on the west coast of North America. The Micronesians also have 

 liirge and weli-rigged vessels, in wliicii they are accustomed to make long voyages, 

 and one of which may easily have drifted to that coast. 



The use of this currency as a medium of exchange in the Pacific Islands and in 

 North America, whether it is regarded as of indigenous origin or as introduced 

 from abroad, must in either case be deemed an evidence of good intellectual 

 powers in the people who employ it. 



4. Marna(je Laws of the North American Tribes. By Major J. W. Powell. 



A definition of the term law that will hold good under all circumstances 

 must be divested of the many theories of its origin, the source of its authority, 

 and its ethic characteristics, which are expressed or implied in customary defini- 

 tions, and laws must be considered as objective facts. The following definition 

 will perhaps do under all circumstances : A law />• a rule of conduct vhick orgatiised 

 s^ocieh/ endeavours to enforce. 



In civilisation law is theoretically founded on justice, but iu savagery principles 

 of justice have little consideration. There are two fundamental iirinciple.s at tho 

 basis of primitive law, viz. : first, controversy should be prevented ; second, con- 

 troversy should be terminated. A third is derivative from them, namely: infrac- 

 tion of "law should be punished. These principles enter into primitire law in many 

 curious wayg. 



It was customary among the tribes of North America for individuals to mark 

 their arrows, in order that the stricken game might fiiU to the man by whuse 

 arrow it had been dispatched. 



A war party of Sioux surprised a squad of sleeping soldiers, who were all kdled 

 at the first ToUey from the Indians. Their arms, blankets, and other property 





' Hl'i ' 



