February 6, 190S] 



NATURE 



329. 



greater differences of magnitude, are well shown in some 

 of the results, allhough in other cases magnitude appears 

 to have made no difference. Thus Admiral Smyth's results 

 show a probable error in angle of ±o"o3i below 3" and 

 + o"-o4<) above 3", but it is not certain whether the magni- 

 tudes have anv influence; there is no evidence of systematic 

 error in the distances, but an average constant error of 

 + o"-o73 's indicated. I'rof. Doberck states that these 

 observations are of very great value. In the case of 

 H. Struve the magnitude coefficient is probably consider- 

 able. 



FoRTV-o.vE Xew X'akiable Stars. — Circulars No. 134 

 and No. 135 of the Harvard College Observatory announce 

 the discovery of forty-one variable stars. Of the sixteen 

 announced in the former, two show remarkably large 

 variations. One of these, D.M.— 30°.2883, situated in 

 Columba, decreases from magnitude 104 to below magni- 

 tude 15-0, whilst the other, D.M. -40°. 14688, situated in 

 Phieni.x, ranges from 85 to less than the twelfth magni- 

 tude. The variations of a number of stars announced in 

 Circular No. 129 have been confirmed visually, and of 

 these TT Aquils is especially interesting on account of 

 its brightness and probable colour changes. The second 

 circular gives particulars of twenty-five newly discovered 

 variables found in regions Nos. 24, 36, and 42 of the 

 Harvard map. In this research the number of variables 

 found to be of the .Algol type has been a remarkable 

 feature, and of the twenty-five now published, eight are 

 probably of this, or of the /3 Lyrae, class. The large 

 number of variables found in map 42 appears to be 

 significant, and should be taken into account in any dis- 

 cussion of the region, which includes a large portion of 

 the constellation Scorpio and the nebulous region in 

 Ophiuchus. 



AMERlCAli ETHNOLOGY. 



'X'HE ."imerican Bureau of Ethnology, with its usual 

 energy, has lost no time in extending its operations 

 over the new colonial possessions, the Philippines, and 

 some West Indian islands. The most important contribu- 

 tion to the twenty-fifth volume of its reports, for 190(1-7, 

 is an account of a preliminary survey of Porto Rico and 

 the neighbouring islands, conducted by Dr. J. \V. Fewkes. 



Porto Rico, the smallest of the Greater .Antilles, is 

 naturally linked with N'enezuela by the chain of the Lesser 

 .Antilles, which stretch southwards to the mouth of the 

 Orinoco. It lies within a region of volcanic disturbance, 

 and it is possible that when it was first occupied by man 

 it may have formed part of an isthmus connected with the 

 South .American coast. .A temperate climate and a pro- 

 ductive soil naturally invited colonisation. The fauna and 

 flora are of the South .American type, and manv considera- 

 tions support the conclusion that Porto Rico and the 

 adjoining islands were peopled from the valley of the 

 Orinoco. Thus the houses of the people of both these 

 regions are similar in type, and we find no traces of 

 stone buildings which would naturally have been erected 

 by emigrants from the .Maya or other Yucatan tribes. The 

 use of cassava, a South .American product, and the care 

 which the primitive inhabitants of Porto Rico, like those 

 of the Orinoco, devoted to the preservation of the skeletons 

 of their dead, are facts pointing in the same direction. 



Except in the interior of the island, few traces of the 

 aborigines survive. The inhabitants were massacred by 

 the Spaniards, who re-peopled the island with slaves from 

 the Bahamas and negroes from Africa. From the inter- 

 course of these people with their rulers a half-caste 

 population sprang up. Thus the island at present is 

 occupied by a mixed race, and the absence of a collection 

 of the skulls of the aborigines renders it difficult to decide 

 what their race character may have been. The accounts 

 of their physique and character given by the early Spanish 

 writers do not, however, conflict with the theory of their 

 South .American origin. 



'I he relics of this forgotten race are to be found in the 

 dancing plazas, shell-mounds, and caves scattered over the 

 island. The character of their stone carvings and pottery 

 indicates that they had reached a high grade of culture. 

 The plazas were stone enclosures in which ceremonial 



dances were performed with the object of securii 

 abundant rain and plenteous harvests, success in war, t 

 cure of the sick, for commemoration rites of the dea 

 initiation and other ceremonies. Thev often conta 



); length 3 inches. 



water-worn stones, which Dr. Fcwkes supposes to havf 

 been emblematic of flowing water, and to have been usetl 

 in some form of mimetic magic to control the rain. Their 

 religion was of the animistic and shamanistic type, anti 

 its ritual largely consisted in the 

 worship of Zernis, a term which 

 included their gods, symbols of 

 deities, idols, bones, skulls of the 

 dead — in short, anything sup- 

 posed to possess magical power. 



The most remarkable idols 

 were those of the " three- 

 pointed " anthropomorphic type 

 (Fig. i). The interpretation of 

 these objects is obscure, and 

 many theories of their origin 

 have been suggested. D r. 

 Fewkcs regards thern as cl.in 

 idols or tutelary totems, the 

 difference in their form denoting 

 different conceptions of the Ze ni 

 in the various clans. Equally _ .' 

 curious are the zoomorphic or '. ^■ 

 anthropomorphic pestles (Fig. 2), -• ^ 

 which were employed with ;^- 



mortars in the preparation of 



food, and the stone collars. Fig. =.-tiu ^^ ^^^^^j^^^ 

 which, according to one theory, " " ' 



were used in association with 



the " three-pointed " images, and with them formed :r 

 snake idol. This explanation Dr. Fewkes rejects; but, 

 except that they must have been used for some religious 

 or ceremonial purpose, their meaning is still uncertain. 





NO. 1 997. VOL. 77] 



