806 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 751 



remains in these caves has been interpreted to 

 mean that the Indians now living in the region 

 practise cave burial, or did practise it until 

 recent times. This is an error. The Indians 

 of this region, the Mewuk, burned their dead, 

 and never under any circumstances put them 

 in caves. These Indians believe the caves to 

 be inhabited by a stone giant, whom they call 

 Chehalumche, who sallies forth at night in 

 search of food. He preys, by preference, on 

 people, but when he can not get people, takes 

 deer or other animals. He never eats his vic- 

 tims in the open but carries them into the 

 caves and there devours them. Members of 

 several subtribes of the Mewuk have told me 

 this, and have looked with horror on the sug- 

 gestion that they or their ancestors might ever 

 have put their dead in caves. They say: 

 " Would you put your mother, or your wife, or 

 your child, or any one you love, in a cave to 

 "be eaten by a horrible giant ? " The idea is so 

 abhorrent to them that the theory of cave 

 iburial must be abandoned as preposterous. 

 The Mewuk feel that the finding of human 

 bones in these caves must convince us of the 

 truth of their belief in the occupancy of the 

 caves by Chehalumche, the bones being those 

 of the victims he has carried there. 



The mythology of the Mewuk does not admit 

 of any migration but describes the creation 

 of the people in the area they still inhabit. 

 This, in connection with the fact that these 

 Indians speak a language wholly different from 

 any known in any other part of the world, 

 proves that the Mewuk have occupied the lands 

 they now occupy for a very long period — a 

 period which in my judgment should be meas- 

 ured by thousands of years. 



This argues a great antiquity for the cave 

 remains, for they must be those of a people 

 who inhabited the region before the Mewuk 

 came — and this takes us back a very long way 

 into the past. 



C. Hart Merriam 



Greenland commerce; and known aU over the 

 world for his valuable contributions to the 

 ethnology of the natives of Greenland and the 

 Eskimo people generally. Fru Eink survived 

 her husband many years, and was the author 

 of several little books and other writings on 

 the tales, home life and traditions of a people 

 with whom she had a partial connection by 

 blood. Probably no one in Europe had a more 

 intimate knowledge of their character, though 

 it was with difficulty she could be persuaded 

 to the publicity of authorship. Personally she 

 was of a most kindly, hospitable and vivacious 

 disposition, and her death will leave sorrow in 

 many hearts. A daughter resident in Kris- 

 tiania survives her. W. H. Dall 



FRU SIQNE RINK 



We regret to announce the death, April 19, 



in Kristiania, Norway, of Fru Signe Eink, 



widow of the late H. Kink, formerly Danish 



governor of Greenland and supervisor of the 



EXHIBIT OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



AT THE ALASKA-YUKON-PACIFIC 



EXPOSITION 



The plans of the National Bureau of Edu- 

 cation for an exhibit at the Alaska-Yukon 

 Exposition have been formed with special ref- 

 erence to the interests of teachers and officers 

 of education. 



In the section assigned to the bureau in the 

 government building, a conference room has 

 been fitted up where visiting educators will 

 find ready welcome. Here they may consult 

 publications pertaining to current movements 

 in education, and a select reference library 

 for teachers. The classified catalogue of this 

 library will be furnished upon request. Ar- 

 rangements for professional conferences in 

 this room at stated hours may be made if de- 

 sired. 



The space surrounding the conference room 

 is given up to exhibits pertaining to move- 

 ments for the uplift and extension of rural 

 education. These exhibits illustrate what is 

 actually being done for the improvement of 

 rural schools in the more progressive com- 

 munities, and thus by concrete examples sug- 

 gest the means of meeting needs which are 

 felt in every part of the country. The sepa- 

 rate exhibits have been prepared under the 

 direction of a committee of the bureau ap- 

 pointed by the Commissioner of Education, 

 assisted by expert collaborators in different 

 sections of the country. 



