August 7, 1884] 



NA TURE 



54 1 



this valley, the uppermost extending far up the Bow 

 Pass. In many districts on the plains the flies are so 

 abundant as to interfere with surveying operations, 

 alighting on the object-glasses in such numbers as to 

 obscure the view. In all the houses the black flies 

 literally cover everything. Earthworms do not occur in 

 the north-west. To the botanist the plains are most 

 attractive, there being an almost endless variety of 

 grasses and pretty little flowers ; many of our ordinary 

 garden annuals growing wild over the plains. 



To one who crosses the plains by the usual railroad 

 route, the Rocky Mountains are first seen from near 

 Crowfoot Creek, at the distance of about 150 miles. 

 They appear as a serrated ridge on the south-western 

 horizon, and numerous patches of snow can very soon be 

 distinguished on them. The entrance to the Bow Pass, 

 by which the mountains are entered, cannot be detected 

 till one is close to the range. It is a comparatively broad 

 winding valley, the direction of the bends being either south- 

 west, across the strike of the strata, or north-west along 

 that strike. The mountains rise precipitously on each side, 

 but the valley itself presents a flat bottom, through which 

 the river winds. This wide level plain, as a rule, is well 

 timbered, the woods extending to a considerable altitude 

 on the mountain sides ; but forest fires have reduced the 

 amount of available timber considerably. The trees are 

 mostly either spruce or red fir, and, over the burnt areas, 

 cotton-wood. Along the valley frequent large open 1111- 

 timbered spaces, locally called " parks," bear good pas- 

 turage. The removal of the timber from their surface 

 was evidently effected by recurrent fires. 



The strata which compose the mountains are regularly 

 disposed, striking north-west and south-east, and having 

 a regular dip to the south-west, which at the outskirts of 

 the range is moderate, but gradually increases till the 

 beds are almost vertical about Castle Mountain. West- 

 wards, in the main divide, they lie more flat. The chief 

 rocks are crystalline magnesian limestones, with cal- 

 careous slate, and locally, peculiar siliceous rocks contain- 

 ing opal ; amongst the upper beds of the series there are 

 quartzites, grits, and conglomerates. 



Near Cascade Mountain an outlier of coal of the same 

 age as the beds on the plains, but much more indurated, 

 rests unconformablv on the older rocks, showing that in 

 all probability these Secondary or Tertiary rocks formerly 

 covered most of this Palaeozoic area. The older rocks 

 which compose this part of the range are probably of 

 Devonian or Carboniferous age ; along the edge of the 

 plains they are cut off by a large fault having a down- 

 throw to the east, which brings the Cretaceous or Tertiary 

 rocks into juxtaposition with them, while to the west they 

 pass under newer strata. River terraces occur along the 

 valley, and near Cascade Park there is a large accumula- 

 tion of drift, apparently of glacial origin. 



Many geologists will probably be disappointed in the 

 Rocky Mountains of the Bow Pass section, for they hardly 

 equal the familiar descriptions of the ranges further south. 

 To the mineralogist, too, they promise but a poor field ; 

 the small amount of plication in the strata, and the 

 absence of crystalline rocks, being unfavourable for the 

 development of good mineral specimens. As to the 

 industrial minerals, the resources of the valley have not 

 yet been determined, but it appears that at least one 

 metalliferous belt passes through the highly inclined 

 rocks in the vicinity of Silver City : it bears copper pyrites 

 and glance in veins running transversely to the general 

 direction of the belt. Whether these veins are sufficiently 

 rich, or whether there are large bunches of ore in the 

 belt, has not yet been proved. Argentiferous galena is 

 also known to occur in the grits and quartzites. 



The climate of these mountains is very enjoyable in 

 summer-time. During the day it is sometimes ra'ther hot 

 in the valleys, and the flies prove verv troublesome, while 

 at night there are often severe frosts. On the hills the 



temperature is much more equable, there being usually a 

 cool breeze during the day, and at night the air feels warm 

 and balmy. The timber line here is about 6000 feet above 

 sea-level, and although it is only the highest peaks that 

 rise above the line of perpetual snow, yet there are large 

 accumulations of snow on the northern slopes and in 

 many of the valleys, extending some distance below the 

 timber line. On warm days snow-slides may be con- 

 stantly heard descending with a loud roar. Glacial lakes 

 occur in several of the valleys and cooms. 



Fish abound, but they are difficult to catch except in 

 the small rivers and lakes, where, however, they are 

 small. 



To the botanist the mountains would probably prove 

 even more attractive than the plains, as there is such 

 variety in the flora according to the altitude. Above the 

 present timber limit vegetation rapidly diminishes, only 

 scattered individuals occurring at a distance above it, 

 one of the most remarkable of these being the forget-me- 

 not, bright blue patches of it not uncommonly occur right 

 up alongside the snow banks. 



Gerrard A. Kinahan 



NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE AND 

 ETHNOL'jGY^ 



/^~\UR apology for grouping together so many valuable 

 ^-' works on native American literature must be the 

 extraordinary rapidity with which such productions are 

 accumulating. Unless dealt with in this somewhat sum- 

 mary way, ihey run the risk of not being noticed at all. 

 The great activity recently displayed in this department 

 is largely due to the personal efforts of Dr. Brinton, whose 

 spirited attempt to form a " Library of Aboriginal-Ameri- 

 can Literature " has already made some progress towards 

 realisation. The first book on our list is practically a 

 reply to those who may be sceptical as to the existence of 

 sufficient materials to warrant such an enterprise. Based, 

 on a paper laid before the Congress of Americanists at 

 Copenhagen last year, it takes a summary but compre- 

 hensive survey of all the still extant monuments of native 

 literature in the various branches of history, legend, ritual, 

 oratory, poetry, and the drama. In some of these 

 branches the quantity of available matter is considerable. 

 Hundreds of native tales and legends have been com- 

 mitted to writing by the Christian Eskimo of Greenland, 

 and Dr. Heinrich Rink's manuscript collection of their 

 historical traditions fills over two thousand pages. But 

 the quantity of folk-lore and tribal myths floating about 

 in the oral state amongst the Dakotahs, Athabascans, 

 Algonquins, and other North American nations is alone 

 sufficient to supply abundant materials for Dr. Brinton's 

 undertaking. These, however, cannot be properly utilised 

 until the natives have been educated and taught to write 

 their own language, as, for instance, some of the Eskimo, 

 Cherokees, and Iroquois have already learnt to do. 



A brilliant result of such education is the " Iroquois 

 Book of Rites,'' second on our list, which is now printed 

 for the first time from native manuscripts recently brought 

 to light by the editor, Mr. Horatio Hale. In the intro- 

 duction a curious account is given of these manuscripts, 

 of which there are three extant, two in the Canienga dia- 

 lect procured at the Iroquois Reserve near Brantford, and 

 one in the Onondaga dialect found at the Reservation 

 near Syracuse, New York. The former are duplicate 

 copies of the " Book of Rites" proper, and one of them 

 appears to be traceable to an original, composed during 

 the latter part of the last century, probably by the 



1 "Aboriginal American Authors." By Daniel G. Brinton, M.D. (Phila- 

 delphia. 1 



'■The Iroquois Book of Rites." Edited by Horatio Hale, M.A. (Phila- 

 delphia, 1883.) 



" The Guegiience : A Comedy 1 uatl-Spanish Dialect of 



' Edited by D. G. Brinton (Philadelphia., I 



Sixteenth and Seventeenth Annual Reports of the Peahody .Museum of 

 — Archaeology and Ethnology." (Cambridge, 1884.) 



