410 
NATURE 
[Marcu 24, 1923 

Research Items. 
THE PyRAMIDS OF MEROE AND THE CANDACES OF 
Eruioria.—A new chapter in the history of Egypt 
has been disclosed by the work of the Harvard-Boston 
Expedition in the Sudan, of which a summary is 
given by Prof. G. A. Reisner in Sudan Notes and 
Records, vol. v. No. 4. About goo B.c. a Libyan 
family occupied Napata and seized the roads from 
Egypt to the mines and the southern markets. 
Ethiopia was then a province of Egypt, and for the 
first time they made it an independent kingdom 
and Egypt one of its provinces. They were not 
negroes, but of a mixed brown race which had 
previously lived in Ethiopia. For about 80 years 
they ruled 3000 miles of the Nile valley, and they 
were finally driven back to Ethiopia, ruling at 
Napata and building their pyramids there. In the 
end the branch settled at Meroe became the more 
powerful, and this kingdom persisted uninterrupted 
for another 650 years. Thus it has fallen to the lot 
of the expedition to trace the history of this family 
through more than twelve centuries. 
HEAD-HUNTING IN Papua.—In the March issue 
of Man Mr. E. B. Riley gives an account of the 
method of preparing the heads of enemies practised 
at the village of Dorro in Papua. After the flesh 
and brains are removed a piece of rattan cane is 
fixed to the bottom of the mummified skull to take 
the place of the lower jaw and to act as a support 
for the packing of the neck. It was difficult to 
ascertain why the lower jaw is not replaced. The 
explanation seems to be that they prefer to hang 
this up in the house, and keep it as a mark or token 
of the owner’s prowess in war, when the mummified 
head is discarded on account of natural decay ; 
but the lower jaw is sometimes replaced, being tied 
to the zygomas, as in the case of the rattan cane 
above described. Finally, the head is dried, being 
fixed on a wooden framework over a fire lighted 
for that purpose, and the hair is pulled out on the 
second day as decomposition of the skin advances. 
Following this paper is a description by Dr. A. C. 
Haddon of stuffed human skulls from the Fly River 
District, Papua, two of which are preserved in the 
Cambridge and Manchester Museums. 
CRIMINAL TRIBES OF INDIA.—The problem of 
dealing with the nomadic, predatory tribes of India 
has been considered for many years by the Imperial 
Government. All sorts of repressive measures have 
been put in force; the tribes have been proclaimed 
and attempts have been made to segregate them in 
settlements under police control. This system has 
always broken down, and these people, including the 
Sansias of the Punjab, the Doms of the United 
Provinces and Bihar, the Yerukalas and Korachas 
of Madras, have continued to be a pest to the country, 
and much violent crime was committed by them. 
Some twenty years ago a proposal was made by the 
Salvation Army to take charge of these people, and 
the result of the experiment is described in a paper 
by Commissioner Booth Tucker, read before the 
Royal Society of Arts (vol. Ixxi. No. 3661). The 
Salvation Army has collected some of these people 
in settlements, each in charge of a European, where 
the more respectable members act as police, in- 
dustries are taught, and efforts made to raise their 
moral character. In the debate which followed the 
reading of this paper several experienced Indian 
administrators, including Sir E. A, Henry, Sir John 
Hewitt, and Lord Pentland, bore testimony to the 
success of the experiment, which may be said to 
have solved one of the most difficult problems of 
Indian administration. 
NO. 2786, VOL. 111] 
FatiGuE In LAUNDRY WorK.—Miss May Smith 
is to be congratulated upon her recent Report (No. 22) 
to the Industrial Fatigue Research Board (H.M. 
Stationery Office, price 2s. 6d¥), embodying “‘ Some 
Studies in the Laundry Trade.’’ Owing to the great 
variety of articles dealt with in laundries, the measure- 
ment of output, so as to serve as an index of the 
relations between working conditions and the human 
factor, proved unusually difficult. Nevertheless, she 
has been able to show that there is a reduction in 
efficiency in laundries towards the end of the day, 
which tends to be greater during a ten-hour than 
during a nine-hour day. These conclusions are 
strikingly corroborated by the data afforded by the 
interposition of “ dotting ’’ tests, which, in addition, 
reflect passing variations in the health and mental 
state of the worker. Miss Smith finds clear evidence 
of the beneficial effects on efficiency which occur after 
a fifteen minutes’ rest pause has been introduced into 
the morning spell, but the greatest influence on the 
laundresses’ output appears to be due to the vast 
individual differences in the workers’ efficiency. 
Apparently the atmospheric conditions of laundries 
compare very unfavourably with those in potters’ 
shops, boot and shoe factories, and cotton-weaving 
sheds. But when conducted under good conditions, 
Miss Smith believes that laundry work is not detri- 
mental to the health of the workers. The variations 
in health due to excessive standing, faulty movements, 
and improperly designed machinery receive attention, 
and recommendations are made in regard to super- 
visors, the provision of seating, unsuitable footwear, 
change of occupation, etc. 
Our OLDEST SETTLEMENT IN AFRICA.—Dr. Frank 
Dixey has followed up his physiographic description 
of the colony of Sierra Leone (see NATURE, vol. 105, 
p. 689, 1920) by a complete petrographic survey of 
the main promontory (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 
London, vol. 78, p. 299, December 1922). The 
peninsula forming the colony proper has been carved 
out of a remarkably uniform and unusually large 
stock of norite, the fine-grained character of which 
indicates that the present surface follows that of a 
dome of intrusion. Veins of coarser norite, and some 
of aplite, cut this mass, which is regarded as post- 
Cambrian, but of ancient date. The only strata on 
its surface are post-Pliocene gravels. This extensive 
occurrence of basic igneous rock furnishes further 
evidence of the existence of a West African petro- 
graphic province of strongly magnesian character. 
SURVEYS OF THE SAHARA.—A new map of the 
western Sahara, between the Atlas to the north, and 
the Senegal and Niger to the south, and the meridian 
of Paris on the east, is published in La Geographie 
for January. The map, which is on a scale of 
I: 2,000,000 is based on information collected by 
the French military posts in the Algerian Sahara, 
Mauretania, and the Sudan, and particularly the 
explorations of Capt. Augiéras who, in addition 
to various journeys in the Sahara between 1913 
and 1917, crossed the desert with a small column 
in 1919-20 from Algeria to Senegal. This crossing, 
which is briefly described in an article accompanying 
the map, was from the French outpost of Tabelbala, 
south of Colomb Bechar, in a south-westerly direction 
to the outpost of Atar, whence by a circuitous route 
Bogue on the Senegal was reached. This entailed, 
from post to post, a total march by camel of some 
1500 miles, which was accomplished, excluding rests, 
in 78 days. In such a survey there must obviously 
be inaccuracies and Capt. Augiéras regrets his in- 
| ability to get more satisfactory longitudes, but the 

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