Jan. 31, 1884] 



NATURE 



3"^?'. 



their answers. Every now and then, through the mad 

 din, there was a sound, at first low and indistinct, and 

 then gathering in volume, as if some big winged thing 

 came from far toward the house, passed through the roof 

 and then settled heavily on the floor : and again, after an 

 interval, as if the same winged thing rose and passed 

 away as it had come. As each of these mysterious beings 

 came and went, the air, as if displaced by wings, was driven 

 over the patient's face. They were the kenaimas coming 

 and going. .As each came, his yells were first indistinctly 

 heard from far off, but grew louder and louder until, as he 

 alighted on the floor of the house, they reached their 

 height. The first thing each did was to lap up some of 

 the tobacco-water, with an ostentatious noise, from the 

 calabash on the floor. But while he lapped the peai-man 

 kept up the shouts, until the kenaima was ready to 

 ansvver. When each kenaima had given an account of 

 itself, and had promised not to trouble the sick man, it flew 

 rustling away. They came in the form of tigers, deer, 

 monkeys, birds, turtles, snakes, and of Ackawoi and 

 Arecuna Indians. Their voices were slightly different in 

 tone, and they all shouted in voices which were supposed 

 to be appropriate to their forms, but, oddly enough, all 

 hoarsel) . It was a clever piece of ventriloquism and 

 acting. The whole long terrific noise came from the 

 throat of the peai-man, or perhaps a little of it from his 

 wife. The only marvel was that the man could sustain 

 so tremendous a strain upon his voice and throat for si.x 

 long hours. The rustling of the wings of the kenaimas, 

 and the thud which was heard as each alighted on the 

 floor, were produced by the magician skilfully shaking the 

 leafy boughs brought in for the purpose, and then dashing 

 them suddenly against the ground. This Mr. Im Thurn 

 discovered by the boughs accidentally touching his face, 

 when he seized some of the leaves with his teeth. At 

 the crisis he seemed to feel a hand laid on his face. 

 The effect of all this upon him was very strange. Before 

 long he passed into a kind of fitful sleep or stupor, 

 probably akin to mesmeric trance. Incapable of voluntary 

 motion, he seemed to be suspended somewhere in a 

 ceaselessly surging din. Now and then when the noise 

 all but died away, and the peai-man was supposed to 

 have passed out through the roof and to be heard from a 

 great distance, he awoke to half-consciousness, but as the 

 magician came back and the noise grew again he fell back 

 into stupor. At last 'towards morning, when the noise 

 ended, he awoke thoroughly, and finding the entrance un- 

 barred, rushed out to find relief in the rain and storm. His 

 head was indeed anything but cured of its ache, but the 

 peai-man insisted that he must b; cured, and asked for 

 payment, producing a caterpillar, which he declared was 

 the kenaima which had caused the pain, and which he 

 had e.xtracted when he touched the patient's face. 

 .Accordingly he received a fourpenny looking-glass as 

 his fee, and was satisfied. 



These extracts will give an idea of the goodness of the 

 material contributed by Mr. Im Thurn to the study of the 

 lower phases of human thought. In conclusion, a few 

 words may be said as to his suggestions on the interesting 

 problem how an explorer may reach the plateau-top of the 

 precipice-walled Roraima, and settle the question what 

 ancient and modern animals and plants have survived and 

 ilevcloped there, and whether there may be any truth in 



fancies of strange human tribes dwelling there, cut off for 

 ages from their fellow-men. In the far west of Guiana or 

 over the Brazilian boundary, where the savannah, itself 

 rises 5000 feet above the sea, Roraima springs from it in 

 perpendicular sandstone cliffs 2000 feet high, topped by a 

 flat tableland apparently forest-covered, and wfeenCe 

 waterfalls pour down. Round the whole circumfetertce . 

 the cliff-wall is said to be perpendicular, but this is niere. 

 conjecture, for no traveller has ever been round it. The - 

 summit may prove accessible from the other side, and at 

 any rate enough is known of the fauna and flora of the 

 district tc make it certain that a naturalist whoghould- 

 accomplish the circuit would be well rewarded by. dis- 

 coveries, even if he failed to reach the top. There ■iA\a 

 way as yet untried, which Mr. Im Thurn is convinced 

 will prove more practicable than those by which Roraima 

 has been hitherto approached. He recommends going up 

 the Potaro as far as possible by boats, and thence stutkiog : 

 across the savannah on foot. The journey is one Of.diffi-'; 

 culty and privation, which Mr. Im Thurn warns jany 

 explorer against undertaking without fully weighing othe 

 difficulty and cost. Perhaps we may hear some day of 

 himself, as the leader of a well-equipped expedition,, 

 making the attempt. E. B. Tylor 



THE COLLECTION OF DEERS' HORNS AT 



THE ROYAL CASTLE OF MORITZBURG 



Die Hirscligeweih-samnilung im Konig/iche/i Schlosse zu 



Moritsburg bei Dresden, iiiit allerhochster Ge/tehmigung 



uitd Unterstiitzung Seiner Magestcit des Kbnigs Albert 



von Sachsen. Herausgegeben von Dr. Adolf Bernhard 



Meyer, K.S. Hofrath und Director des K. Zoologischen 



Museums zu Dresden. (Dresden ; Wilhelm Hoffmann, 



1883.) 



'n^HE King of Saxony's Hunting Lodge of Moritzbiirg 



J- lies some three hours' journey north from Dresden; 



it is built on an island in a little lake embowered amid ■ 



the Friedewald. It was built between the jears 1542 and 



1589, under the Electors Moriiz (1541-1553), August 



(1553-15S6), and Christian I. (1586-1591), after the plans- 



of the first of these Electors, apparently by the architect 



Hans von Dehn-Rothfelser, and it has been enlarged and 



renovated from time to time chiefly under the Electors. 



John George I. (1611-1656), and John George IV. (1691- 



1694), and August II. King of Poland (1694-1763). It 



contains some two hundred rooms and seven halls, in 



which latter are arranged the series of pictures relating to 



hunting, and a collection of horns of all sorts. For this 



latter the Castle may thank the celebrity which it has 



among all sporting characters and zoologists. The walls 



of the large Banqueting Hall, which is 2025 m. long, 



1050m. wide, and ii'6om. in height, are adorned with a 



collection of seventy-one noble horns of deer, of which 



none are under four-and-tweiUy points ; while in the 



Audience Hall is preserved a collection of forty-two more 



or less extraordinary or monstrous horns, amongst which 



is the celebrated pair with sixty-six points. 



It was a happy thought of Dr. A. B. Meyer, the inde- 

 fatigable Director of the Royal Zoological Museum at 

 Dresden, to publish an illustrated catalogue of this collec- 

 tion, which, with the gracious approval and assistance of 

 the present Kmg Albert of Sa.\ony, has assumed the ii.rni 



