ApraLl4, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



539 



1S98, however, we met with better success, 

 obtaining a number of complete skeletons. 



Several burial-mounds were formerly 

 located along the lower Fraser River, be- 

 tween Hatzic and Port Hammond. The 

 remains in them are usually much de- 

 cayed, and but little is known about them. 

 The one which we found intact was ex- 

 plored bj' us, and its contents were seen to 

 be much decayed. 



It remains to find material upon which 

 to reconstruct a knowledge of the builders 

 of the burial-mounds of the lower Fraser 

 River. The map showing the distribution 

 of cairns should be completed. The marked 

 difference between the shell-heaps explored 

 along the salt water, and those investigated 

 in the delta of the Fraser River, demands 

 that inquiry be continued to determine 

 whether this difference is correlated to 

 salt- and fresh-water shell-heaps, to heaps 

 of certain geographical areas, or is due 

 to change in customs. The determination 

 of the distribution of shell-heaps of both 

 varieties is also necessary. Many of the 

 specimens discovered in this work are 

 known to be of considerable antiquity, 

 and, on the whole, the culture shown by 

 the archceological finds is similar to that 

 of the present Indians. It is consequently 

 known that this cultui-e has continued 

 practically unchanged during recent times. 

 This being settled, it is desirable to learn 

 of its development, for which it is impera- 

 tive to search out older deposits. These 

 may possibly be found in shell-heaps, under 

 cave-floors, or in post-glacial gravels. 



Harlan I. Smith. 

 American Museusi of 

 Natural History, New Yore. 



archieological investigations on the 



amoor river. 

 The Amoor River, below Khabarovsk, 

 flows through a succession of former lakes 

 and the rocky barriers which separated 



them. There are extensive level tracts, 

 the bottoms of drained lakes alternating 

 with passes between hills or mountains. 

 Nearly all the flats are subject to overflow. 

 They are covered with coarse grass from 

 four to seven feet high, and intersected in 

 all directions by sloughs and bayous. At 

 no point is the river less than a mile wide ; 

 in floods there are many places where no 

 land is visible for ten miles or more ; and 

 at one locality it is fully twenty miles 

 across. At such times the current in some 

 parts of the channel flows from twelve to 

 fifteen miles an hour. The shores are free 

 from silt or mud. One may walk for miles 

 on the beach, immediately after a heavy 

 rain, without soiling his shoes. An impor- 

 tant result of this, to primitive people, is 

 that shell-fish are almost entirely lacking. 

 A few periwinkles and occasionally a mus- 

 sel are found, but there is not the slightest 

 evidence that such were ever used as food. 

 The water seems comparatively free from 

 lime. 



There is no fiint from which arrow- or 

 spear-heads could be made, and very little 

 stone, except bowlders and pebbles on the 

 shores, suitable for the manufacture of 

 axes. None of the former, and very few 

 of the latter, were found. "Wood, bone 

 and antler seem to have been about the 

 only material for weapons and implements. 



The winters are long and severe. A 

 temperature of 67° below zero (Fahr.) has 

 been recorded at Nikolaievsk, and a skim 

 of ice was formed there in August (1898). 



There are no roads. Navigation is pos- 

 sible for only four months, sledge travel 

 on the river, another four, while for two 

 months in spring and two in autumn all 

 travel is suspended. 



The hills are steep, rugged, and covered 

 with fallen timber, brush and vines. Only 

 hunters and prospectors ever go among 

 them. In most places primitive wilderness 

 is reached within a few hundred yards of 



