274 



NATURE 



[July 23, 1896 



(31) Thai it is desirable that the Royal Society should be in- 

 formed, at a date not later than January i, 1898, what steps (if 

 any) are being taken, or are likely to be taken, in the countries 

 whose C.overnnients are represented at the Conference, towards 

 establishing organisations for the purpose of securing the end 

 had in view in Resolution 16. 



Qu'il est desirable que la Societe Royale receive communica- 

 tion, au plus tard le I" Janvier, 1898, des demarches qui ont ete 

 prises ou seront prises par les gouvernements des pays repre- 

 sentcs a la Conference pour 1' execution de la resolution 16. 



Es ist wiinschenswerth, dass die Royal Society nicht spater 

 als bis zum I. Januar 1S98, dariiber verstiindigt werde, welche 

 Schritte von Seiten der Lander welche Delegirte 'zur Versamm- 

 lung gesendet haben gethan oder in Aussicht genommen sind, 

 um Einrichtungen zu treffen welche die Durchfiihrung des 

 Beschlusses 16 ermoglichen. 



(32) That the Delegates, in reporting to their respective 

 • Governments the Proceedings of the Conference, should call im- 

 mediate attention to Resolutions 16 and 31. 



Que les delegues sont invites en faisant rapport i leurs 

 gouvernements a attirer specialement I'attention sur les resolu- 

 tions 16 et 31. 



Die Delegirten woUen in den Berichten an ihren Regierungen 

 liber den Verlauf der Versammlung, die besondere Aufmerksam- 

 keit auf die Beschliisse 16 und 31 lenken. 



(33) That January i, 1900, be fixed as the date of the begin- 

 ning of the catalogue. 



Que le diibut du catalogue soit fixe au 1" Janvier, 1900. 

 Es soil der i. Januar 1900 als Datum fur den Anfang des 

 Cataloges festgesetzt werden. 



(34) That the Royal Society be requested to undertake the 

 editing, publication, and distribution of a verbatim report of the 

 Proceedings of the Conference. 



La Societe Royale est prie de se charger de la confection, de 

 la publication, et de la distribution d'un compte rendu textuel 

 des travaux de la Conference. 



Die Royal Society wird ersucht, die Abfassung, Verofifentli- 

 ■ chung und Versendung eines wbrtlichen Berichtes der Verhand- 

 lungen der Conferenz zu iibernehmen. 



(35) That the prods verbal of the Conference be signed by 

 the President and Secretaries. 



(36) That this Conference requests the Royal Society to 

 express to the Lord Mayor of London and to Dr. L. Mond 

 their grateful, hearty appreciation of the hospitality shown by 

 them to the Delegates. 



(37) On the motion of I\L Darboux, a vote of thanks to Sir 

 John Gorst, for presiding over the Conference and his conduct 

 in the chair, was passed by acclamation. 



(38) On the motion of Prof. Weiss, a vote of thanks to the 

 Royal Society, for their cordial reception of the Delegates, was 

 unanimously carried. 



E. Gorst, President. 

 >;ry E. Armstrong 

 I Wai.ther Dyck [-Secretaries. 



Signed - 



fjOHN 



I Henr 



F. A. FOREL 



ARCHMOLOGICAL STUDIES IN MEXICO. 

 TV/r R. WILLIAM H. HOLMES, who has been so long 

 ^^^ and favourably known in connection with the 

 Smithsonian Institute at Washington, has lately been 

 placed in charge of the Department of Anthropology at 

 the Field Columbian Museum at Chicago, and has now 

 issued from his department the first \'olume of what 

 promises to be a most interesting series of anthropo- 

 logical publications. 



Soon after Mr. Holmes had moved to his new post, 

 Mr. Alison Armour, of Chicago, who takes a keen interest 

 in archffiological studies, invited '(to quote from Mr. 

 Holmes's preface) a number of " gentlemen representing 

 different branches of scientific research to accompany 

 him in his steam yacht Iluna on a voyage to Mexico. 

 Three months were spent in that most interesting 

 country, mainly in the States of \'ucatan, Chiapas, and 

 Oaxaca. The writer (Mr. Holmes) was a member of the 



NO. 1395, VOL. 54] 



party, and, as Curator of Anthropology in the Field 

 Columbian Museum, was expected to examine and 

 describe such archjtologic remains as happened to be 

 encountered during the journey." 



Mr. Holmes made excellent use of his opportunities, 

 and we now have the first instalment of his Report, 

 intituled " Archreological Studies among the Ancient 

 Cities of Mexico," dealing particularly with the monu- 

 ments of Yucatan. 



After an introHuctory chapter (with excellent illustra- 

 tions), which treats of the materials and methods used in 

 construction of Maya buildings, Mr. Holmes describes in 

 turn the different groups of ruins which were visited, 

 beginning with those on the islands lying close to the 

 eastern coast of the peninsula, Mugeres, Cancun, and 

 Cozumel. An excellent reproduction of a photograph, 

 taken by Mr. E. H. Thompson, shows the very curious 

 portal of a small temple on the last-named island, with 

 one of the two supporting columns formed of a kneeling 

 human figure. 



On first opening Mr. Holines's report I turned over 

 the pages hastily to find an account of the ruins of 

 Tuloom, but was doomed to disappointment. On page 

 75 is the following paragraph: "The most important 

 group of ruins on the east coast of Yucatan, so far 

 as the remains have been reported, is that known as 

 Tuloom. It is situated on a high bluff overlooking the 

 sea, some twenty-five miles south-west of San Miguel, 

 the main settlement of the island of Cozuinel. It was 

 visited by Stephens in 1840, and he has given us the only 

 available account ' published up to date. This place 

 must have been an important stronghold of the ancient 

 Mayas, although it was not visited by the early Spaniards, 

 so far as our records show. It is a remarkable circum- 

 stance that this place is held to-day by a Maya tribe 

 which has never been permanently subdued by the 

 Spaniards or Mexicans, and which now holds it as an 

 outpost, being at war with the Mexican Government and 

 with all intruders, whatsoever their nationality. At 

 the time of our visit to Cozumel there were special 

 symptoms of hostility, and the sub-chief, to whom the 

 Tuloom district was entrusted by the principal chief, 

 whose headquarters are some distance inland, had recently 

 been summarily executed for permitting trade between 

 his people and the inhabitants of Cozumel. It was 

 natural, therefore, when the leading citizen of Cozumel, 

 Don Pedro Perez, assured us that we would certainly be 

 fired upon by the hostiles if we attempted to land, that 

 the project of studying this ruin was abandoned." 



I most fully sympathise with the travellers in their 

 disappointment in failing to examine this important site, 

 which, as far as I know, has never since the tin:e of 

 Stephens and Catherwood been visited by any one 

 capable of giving an adequate description of the ruins. 



The yacht then sailed round the north of the peninsula, 

 and the travellers were landed at Progreso, whence a 

 land journey was taken to visit the celebrated ruins of 

 Uxmal, Izamal, and Chichen ItzA. 



Uxmal is so easy of access, and has been so often 

 visited, photographed, and described, that Mr. Holmes 

 could not be expected during a short visit to discover 

 anything which would add to our prc\ious knowledge ; 

 but the admirably clear description which he gives of the 

 ruins is accompanied by a plan and by a most carefully 

 compiled panoramic view of the site, which will prove 

 of the greatest assistance to the reader. 



Plate vii. gives a photograph of an inscribed column 

 or stela discovered by Mr. Thompson, which is of the 

 utmost value, as so very few examples of carved hiero- 

 glyphic inscriptions have as yet been found in Yucatan, 

 and a comparison of the Yucatec inscriptions with the 

 numerous inscriptions found in Guatemala and Chiapas 



1 Stephens* " Incidents of Tr.ivel in Yucatan," vol. i. p. 390. 



