=128 



NA TURE 



[April 9, 1885 



a living model placed against the wall, and coloured to a depth 

 of 6 inches all around it. The native chiefs who accompanied 

 the Resident said that the remains of the Hill-Papuans had 

 formerly been deposited here, but were now interred with Ma- 

 hommedan rites ; there were indications, however, that some 

 prahus had been recently lodged on the platform. 



Though the most astonishing part of Mr. Leon's report, viz. 

 the difficulty of drawing the figures on the rock at a consider- 

 able height above the sea, is not encountered by Mr. van 

 Braam Morris's experience, it is not proved that the latter ex- 

 plored exactly the same place as Mr. Leon. But just this point 

 (the considerable rising of the islands) is most plainly stated 

 with regard to the Ke Islands by Messrs. Alliol, Mol, van 

 Slooten, Meijboom, and Deijl, of H.N. M.S. Samaraug, which 

 at the time of their visit lay off Tual (5 37' 30" S. lat. 132 44' 

 E. lat.), island of Little Ke. These gentlemen were invited by 

 Mr. Langen, the head of the English settlement there, to visit 

 with him the north-western part of the island ; after having 

 steamed for three-quarters of an hour they dropped anchor vis-a- 

 vis Kalumit, a village at the base of a hill, about 200 metres 

 high. They went to the top to see there some idols situated in 

 a small settlement. I pass over this part of the narrative, and 

 take it up after they had descended from the edge of the rock, 

 where they had found a burial-place belonging to the kampong, 

 which is on the top. A tolerably well-made flight of ironwood 

 steps allowed the visitors to descend easily ; after about half an 

 hour's walk they came to the " necropolis." 



On the rock near it they discovered representations in red of 

 various figures — human hands, with the lingers spread out ; 

 imitations of human heads ; a fight between men armed with 

 klewangs ( = cutlass), and other figures which they took to be 

 representations of the evil spirits, outlines of ships, &c. Though 

 the heads were rudely drawn, the hands, which were fewer in 

 number, were remarkably well done. The place where the 

 drawings are seem to be quite inaccessible to human beings. In 

 the rock are also caverns which are rather difficult to approach. 

 In one of them two gongs and some pieces of bamboo were 

 found ; at the entry fragments of broken glass had been spread, 

 probably to prevent visitors from entering. It must be men- 

 tioned that the rock, from the base to the top, was covered with 

 sea-shells. Attention is repeatedly drawn in the report to the 

 circumstance that it seems incomprehensible how the pictures 

 could have been drawn on the rock, which overhangs. 



The natives connect the rock-pictures with the burial-place on 

 the top of the cliff. Near the edge of the steep descent stand 

 two houses, which serve as mortuaries, one being close to the 

 dwellings of the natives, which are surrounded with a stone 

 wall. These two houses are built of ironwood ; on the roofs 

 there are two pieces of wood, the one in the shape of a prow, 

 the other in the shape of a keel. On the latter are two figures, 

 a dog and a bird ; a stick bearing a piece of white cloth is stuck 

 into the bird's body. The walls are 4 and 3 metres, and in the 

 shorter, which faces the sea, there are two doors, through which 

 the coffin is carried ; inside this hut they saw two coffins with 

 fruits and a bottle of oil which had been left for the spirits. 



The natives, who called themselves Hindoos or heathens, a 

 name which of course has no ethnographical significance, but is 

 merely used to distinguish them from their Mahommedan neigh- 

 bours, said that when a dead body was placed in the hut the 

 spirit was conducted by the bird or the dog on the roof to the 

 caverns where it is to abide. In token of its arrival the animal 

 draws a figure on the rock. The natives who accompanied the 

 explorers durst not set foot within the caves. 



It was also said that the bird and the dog were merely symbols. 

 The soul of the deceased, on leaving the body, flies as a bird 

 through the air or runs as a dog over the earth, till it reaches 

 the abodes of the spirits — the caverns — unseen by living men. 

 Every soul that reaches this haven draws a figure on the face of 

 the cliff. In explanation of the contest between human beings 

 and evil spirits in the pictures, they said that the latter try to 

 prevent the souls from reaching the eternal dwellings ; but they 

 cannot hinder those who have led good and honest lives, though 

 those who have done wickedly are carried off by the evil spirits. 



The officers, judging from the many articles in gold and silver 

 which were found in the caverns, concluded that they must 

 formerly have been used by pirates as places of refuge and for 

 hiding their stores, and that they were then nearer to the level 

 of the water. On this view the drawings on the rocks would 

 answer a double purpose : theyj would keep the superstitious 

 from approaching the caves, and would also act as a landmark 



for the pirates themselves when returning from sea, and indicate 

 to them the places where their treasure was hidden. 



Without hazarding any opinion upon such incomplete ac- 

 counts, I wish to state, merely by way of summary' — 



(1) That Mr. Leon's evidence, combined with that of the 

 officers of the Samarang, would seem to indicate that the sur- 

 faces of certain islands in McCluer inlet and of the Ke group 

 have been considerably elevated. 



(2) That the rise has probably taken place at no distant date, 

 but how long since cannot be determined until (perhaps) after 

 close scientific examination. 



(3) That Mr. Morris's explorations, taken in conjunction with 

 the foregoing, suggest that the elevation is not a general one, 

 but, though observed at distant points, is limited to certain 

 islands of different groups, or even to particular sides of them. 



Stuttgart, March 18 Emil MliTZGER 



Mr. Lowne on the Morphology of Insects' Eyes § 



Prof. Lankester appears to me to be fighting too much 

 under cover. Fir,t he sends his lieutenant into the field, and 

 then he appears himself, in the guise of an independent ally. 

 But inasmuch as he has virtually accused the officers of the 

 Linnean Society of having published a paper unworthy of a 

 place in the Transactions of the Society, I feel fully justified in 

 bringing him out into the open. 



The anxiety expressed by Prof. Lankester on behalf of 

 the Fellows of the Linnean Society, as to whether my 

 paper was refused by the Royal Society, is manifestly in- 

 sincere : he knows as well as I do, that the paper was virtually 

 refused by the Royal Society. As Prof. Lankester is taking 

 undue advantage of the secrecy which attaches to the office of 

 referee, I shall state the facts with which I am personally ac- 

 quainted, and I doubt not these will place the whole matter 

 in a very different light from that which Prof. Lankester has 

 endeavoured to shed upon it. 



It is evident Prof. Lankester wishes to make it appear that 

 the rejection of my paper by the Royal Society confirms his 

 strictures and those of his lieutenant, and enables him safely to 

 attack the Linnean Society under cover of the Royal. Now, I 

 believe that every one wdio was concerned in the publication of 

 my paper knew perfectly well that Prof. Lankester was the first 

 referee to whom it was submitted by the Royal Society. Prof. 

 Lankester wrote to me himself, and stated that the paper had 

 been so referred. Although I then felt sure of its rejection, I 

 should not have had any reason to complain, if the rules of the 

 Royal Society had been carried out, and the paper had been 

 submitted to a second, entirely independent referee. Prof. 

 Huxley, in his opening address to the Royal Society on his 

 election as President, stated that every paper was considered by 

 two entirely independent referees. Now, in my case the second 

 referee was Prof. Schafer : I do not think it right to refer a 

 paper to two colleagues intimately associated in the same school ; 

 arid I am sure that no consultation should take place between 

 the referees pending their decision. Yet Prof. Schafer heard 

 Prof. Lankester's adverse opinions expressed in my presence 

 before he came to any decision himself — at any rate before 

 making any report ; and he confessed to me that he had no 

 special knowledge of the literature of the subject on which he 

 wis called upon to give an opinion. 



Under the circumstances I feel justified in stating that, if the 

 Royal Society had rejected my paper, it would have been a 

 rejection by Prof. Lankester ; and I feel sure that an indepen- 

 dent referee would have done exactly what was subsequently 

 done on behalf of the Linnean Society. 



Prof. Schafer recommended me to withdraw my paper ; I 

 petitioned the Council of the Royal Society to allow me to do 

 so, and the paper was returned to me. If this be a rejection, 

 my paper was rejected. 



I then presented it to the Linnean Society, and in so doing I 

 told the Zoological Secretary everything that had happened. The 

 result was that, after some delay, the paper was ordered to be 

 printed in the Linnean Transactions. 



I could hardly have conceived it possible that any scientific 

 man could have descended to such a device in confirmation of 

 his own views as to pretend that the Royal Society had formed 

 an independent judgment under such circumstances. Prof. 

 Lankester has succeeded admirably in rendering himself im- 

 personal as a representative of the Royal Society— a feat which 



