NATURE 



[August 19, 1909 



jective effect, to which the varying intensities of the water- 

 vapour lines in the normal Fraunhofer spectrum is a 

 ■contributory cause. Mr. Mitchell suggests that very fine 

 measures of the displacement of spot lines, caused by the 

 sun's rotation, might settle the question as to the solar 

 ■ origin of the apparent intensification, and concludes that, 

 as yet, the evidence adduced by various observers in favour 

 of the presence of water vapour is by no means satis- 

 factory. 



The P.alisa and Wolf Celestial Charts. — Dr. Palisa 

 announces that the second series of Celestial Charts, pre- 

 pared by Dr. Wolf and himself, is now ready, the price, 

 if ordered from him, being 305. ; the bookseller's price is 

 ^55. After the end of November this series will cost the 

 purchaser 405., wherever purchased. Dr. Palisa's address 

 is " The Observatory, \"ienna, Austria." 



THE PIMA AND TLINGIT INDIANS.' 



■"T'HE introduction to the twenty-si.xth annual report of 



-*■ the Bureau of American Ethnology (1904-5), 1908, 



by the chief of the Bureau, Prof. W. H. Holmes, indicates 



that the staff are zealously carrying on the work of the 



■department. The report itself contains two excellent 



IIlKi \\ulll.-it 



making potlery ; supporting vessel on 

 loose sand. 



memoirs, one on "The Pima Indians," by Frank Russell, 

 and the other on "Social Condition, Beliefs, and Lin- 

 guistic Relationship of the Tlingit Indians," by John R. 



■ Swanton. 



As Mr. Russell's memoir is a monograph of the Pima, 

 he naturally pays a good deal of attention to the arts and 



■ crafts and food supply of the people, his account being 

 fully illustrated. The Pima keep an annual mnemonic 



-record of events by means of notched sticks. " The vear 

 notches are exactly alike. . . . Dots or shallow circular 

 pits and short notches are the most common symbols on 

 the sticks. These have no distinctive meaning', and are 

 used for recording a great variety of events," but thev 

 never make a mistake. One man who lost his stick con- 

 tinued his history with pencil and paper, and this " intro- 

 duced a tendency to use pictorial symbols rather than 

 merely mnemonic characters, such as are most easily 

 incised on the surface of a stick." 



With all their surplus energies expended in warfare, the 

 young Pima men formerly lived exemplary lives as com- 

 pared with the youths of the last generation. Before the 

 Pimas came in contact with " civUisation " chastity was 



^ Twenty-sixth .\nnual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, to 

 5w ^^'^''^^^'"y °f t^ie Smithsonian Institution. Pp. xxxi-t-5i2 ; 5S plates. 

 ■(Washington: Government Printing Office, 190S.) 



NO. 2077, VOL. Si] 



the rule among the young women. On reaching puberty 

 there were several taboos, and there was " danger " in 

 the girl that must be breathed out by songs ere she, the 

 members of her family, and the community as a whole 

 were exempt from the hazard of the lightning stroke and 

 other perils. The youths marry "early and often." In 

 the majority of cases the choice is made by the girl, who 

 seeks to avoid an alliance with a lazy man. Polygyny 

 was practised to some extent, but the division of labour 

 was such that no great economic advantage resulted. 

 There were no groups within' the tribe between which 

 marriage was prohibited. Divorce was easily effected. 

 They often had large families, and twins were received 

 with general rejoicing. Male children were preferred, 

 because " they would grow up to fight the .Apaches." So 

 strong was the feeling of the Pimas against the abnormal 

 that they tried in recent years to kill a grown man who 

 had six toes. Under the head of " Baptism " we find the 

 following information : — at child-naming the child was 

 held aloft to receive the first rays of the rising sun. 

 Beads were formerly held up to receive the first rays of 

 sunlight, and were then placed about the child's neck. 



Descent is traced in the male line, and there are five 

 groups that may be called gentes, though they exert nb 

 influence upon marriage laws, nor do they manifest any 

 evidences of organisation so far as ascertained. The 



Fig. 2. — A Piman holdin.^ a Calendar Stick. 



Pimas are governed by a head chief and by a chief for 

 each village. These men are assisted by village councils, 

 which do not, Mr. Russell believes, appoint any repre- 

 sentatives to the tribal councils. The head chief is elected 

 by the village chiefs. The tribe acted as a unit against 

 the dreaded .\paches. The slaves taken by the Pimas 

 were chiefly from the ranks of the .•\pachcs or their allies ; 

 they were well treated. The Pimas held possession of the 

 best agricultural land in their section of the south-west, 

 and were compelled to fight for the privilege. There was 

 no law among them observed with greater strictness than 

 that which required purification and expiation for the deed 

 that was at the same time the most lauded — the killing of 

 an enemy. Numbers of myths and songs are cited. The 

 Pimas are far less given than their pueblo neighbours to 

 the outward show of religion. The sun was appealed to. 

 .\t the present time two deities are recognised. Earth 

 Magician and Elder Brother. They live in the east, dividing 

 the control of the universe between them. The stars are 

 living beings. Some declared that at death the soul 

 passed into the body of an owl, others that after death it 

 went to the land of the dead in the cast, .'\gain, souls 

 are supposed to hang about and perform unpleasant pranks 

 with the living. 



There are fourteen geographical groups or tribes of the 

 Tlingit or Koluschan, each of which had at least one 

 winter village and a section of coast where they camped 



