SEPTEMBER 18, 1913] 
NATURE 83 
fourths of the population sought escape from the 
eruption of Mount Vesuvius, hoping that the Roman 
fleet would be able to remove them into safety. After 
various try-pits had been sunk he discovered plaster 
and concrete, and finally a road leading to the sea 
showing signs of the passage of wheels. The 
masonry-work of a harbour was then unearthed with 
the marks left by the waves. 
just been discovered is at a distance of about 1309 
yards from the existing seashore and about 7oo yards 
from the ruined city. It is covered with a layer about 
23 ft. deep, consisting of earth, lava, ashes, and lapilli. 
Further excavations will, it is thought, bring to light 
the skeletons of the majority of the population of 
Pompeii as well as treasures of gold and works of art. 
A LarGE Etruscan necropolis, containing several 
skeletons, as well as vases and terra-cottas, dating 
from the seventh century B.c., has been dis- 
covered near Civita Vecchia in Italy, on the coast of 
Latium. 
A curious story comes from Ireland that Mr. E. S. 
Dodgson, of Jesus College, Oxford, has discovered at 
Killult, Falcurragh, Donegal, a stone said to contain 
an Ogham inscription giving a clue to a great treasure 
concealed in the neighbourhood by an ancient Irish 
chieftain. The stone is being examined by Mr. R. 
Macalister. We wish the discoverer success in un- 
earthing the treasure, but until he succeeds, or some 
other interpretation of the supposed inscription is sug- 
gested, it may be well to reserve opinion on the 
matter. 
A RECENT message from San Francisco stated that 
the Falcon and Hope Islands of the Tonga group had 
disappeared. The information was brought by Capt. 
Trask of the steamship Sonoma, from Sydney, who is 
reported to have said :—‘ One of the regular trading 
steamships between Sydney and the Tonga group 
reported the sinking of the islands. The vessel 
steamed to where Falcon Island should have been, but 
it was nowhere in sight. Just before this the instru- 
ments at Sydney naval station showed that several 
violent earthquake shocks had taken place about 2000 
miles north-east of Sydney.’’ With reference to the 
foregoing message, Mr. Basil A. Thomson (who 
acted for a time as Prime Minister of Tonga), wrote 
to The Times on September 14 that the news should 
be received with reserve for the reasons, ‘‘ first, that 
Falcon had already ceased to exist as an island 
fourteen years ago; and, second, that Hope Island, 
better known by its native name of Niuafo’ou (‘ New 
Niua’), is reported to have disappeared whenever a 
serious volcanic disturbance shakes the nerves of the 
white residents of Tongatabu.”’ 
TuHeE Museum Journal of the University of Penn- 
sylvania announces in its March issue the despatch 
of an expedition, under charge of Dr. Farabee, to 
explore the primitive tribes of the Amazon forests. 
The Brazilian Government promises active assistance 
to Dr. Farabee and his staff. From Para they will 
proceed to Manaos, and from thence ascend the Rio 
Negro, the largest tributary of the Amazon from the 
north-west. The examination of this region will 
NO. 2290, VOL. 92] 
The port which has 
occupy the attention of the expedition for six. months 
or perhaps a year. The collections to be made will 
consist of weapons, utensils, and all objects relating 
to the arts of life procurable among the various tribes 
to be visited. They are destined to supply material 
for future research, and especially to enable the 
museum to reproduce the actual life of some of the 
most interesting native tribes, soon destined to dis- 
appear. 
In No. 2, vol. xxiv., of Folk-lore we have the final, 
but unhappily fragmentary, dissertation by the late 
Mr. Andrew Lang, in which he develops his theory of 
the origin of exogamy and totemism. Following Dar- 
win, he assigns the beginnings of exogamy to the 
expulsion by the sires of the group of the younger 
males. He assumes that the establishment of totemic 
groups and practices cannot have been sudden; men 
cannot have, all in a moment, conceived that each 
group possessed a protective and sacred animal or 
other object. But if each group woke to the con- 
sciousness that it bore the name of a plant or animal, 
and did not know how it came to bear that name, no 
more was needed to establish a belief in the essential 
and valuable connection of the group with certain 
animals, birds, or other objects. These names, he 
thinks, originated in sobriquets given by one group 
to another. In this exposition he is in general agree- 
ment with the views of Dr. A. C. Haddon in his 
address delivered before the British Association at the 
Belfast meeting in 1902. 
In Man for September Mr. W. J. Lewis Abbott 
describes a collection of pygmy flint implements made 
by Mr. J. M. Bain from the base of the sand-dunes 
at Fishook, Cape Colony. They closely resemble the 
series presented by Miss Nina Layard to the Ipswich 
Museum. Mr. Abbott believes that this is the result 
of culture-transmission. ‘‘It is obvious,’’ he believes, 
“that the prototypes of these shapes could not have 
arisen in a country where the native material did not 
lend itself to their manufacture; but in one where 
a homogeneous silica, such as flint, was the common 
indigenous material; and in following up the search 
for these interesting little objects, we shall be getting 
together the material to show the migrations of this 
old race over the face of the earth, and perhaps be 
able to trace it to its cradle.” 
In the Philadelphia Museum Journal for June Dr. 
Arno Poebel, of Johns Hopkins University, announces 
an important discovery among the collection of clay 
tablets obtained at Nippur during the years 1888-1900, 
which are now being arranged for exhibition. One 
tablet, unfortunately imperfect, gives a version of the 
Creation story, in which the origin of the first human 
beings is attributed to the gods Enlil and Enki, and 
the goddess Ninharsagga—a question which has led 
to much speculation among Assyrian and _ biblical 
scholars. In the present version, when Enlil, the 
creator of heaven and earth, wished to people the 
world with human beings, the god Enki, the deity of 
wisdom and knowledge, devised the image of man 
after the image of the gods, and the goddess Ninhar- 
sagga moulded it in clay, while the blood of Enlil 
