T^OVKMIIKI! Ill, IS*!.] 



SCIENCE. 



660 



avian, in no wise mannnallan, lliougli poorly devcl- 

 opeil. Prof. TTiixley considers Ihem to show a fun- 

 damental resemblance to those of crocodiles The 

 introduction of so many new terms is to bo rei;ret- 

 ted. — (Proc. zo'ol. soc. Loml, ISS2. r>m.) .1. A. .1. 



[376 

 ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 Indian courtship. — Mrs. H. S. Haird recites a 

 bit of her own observation respecting Indian court- 

 ship half a century ago in Wisconsin. When a youth 

 falls in love, he places himself a little way from the 

 maiden's wigwam, wearing one blue and one red leg- 

 ging. He then plays in a minor strain an air upon 

 the flute, pib-pi-gwan. If he is permitted to proceed, 

 "he knows that there are no objections to his address- 

 ing the loved one. If the parents have objections 

 to him, he is informed that he is too noisy, etc. 

 In the latter case he discontinues his serenades: in 

 the former the flute-playing gives place to visits, the 

 father saluting, and s.iying, 'Come in, friend: there 

 is room for you;' upon which all the family give 

 :a sort of hitch up, to make room for one more around 

 the fire. The young man seats himself by the door, 

 and next to the daughter; as the eldest son and 

 daughli'r always sit nearest the door, on each side of 

 it. The lover then produces a few small pine sticks, 

 one of which he lights at the fire, and hands to tlie 

 maiden. .If she takes it, be is accepted : if she does 

 not, but lets him hold it nnlil it goes out, he is re- 

 jected. When the lime arrives for them to be united, 

 the parents of the young man bring valuable presents, 

 such as furs, while the parents of the bride bring 

 ornamental work. These are distributed among the 

 friends. The bride is dressed by her sister-in-law. 

 and conducted to her place in llie wigwam to await 

 alone the coming of her husband. In other cases, 

 when father-right jirevails, she goes to his home. A 

 roan can have as many wives as may be required to 

 dress his game and carry it home. — ( TRsc. hist, soc, 

 ix. 311.) .1. w. r. [377 



The mounds of 'Wisconsin. — If one wishes to 

 keep himself informed npon archeology, he must not 

 neglect the volumes of the state historical societies. 

 The Rev. Stephen D. Peet has done a good service, 

 with reference to the emblematical mounds in Wis- 

 consin, by jiri'senting in a condensed form not only 

 the description of the structures, but also liie names 

 of the most important works in which references to 

 them may be foinul. Sir. Peet is well acquainted with 

 the effigy mounds, and therefore adds many original 

 observations, which are in the main extremely cau- 

 tious. Ayention is directed to the difficulty of de- 

 termining the shape of the mounds, by reason of 

 deformations due to the plough, the tramjjing of cat- 

 tle, the wear of the elements, the avarice of relic- 

 hunters, and the encroachments of the modern 

 architect. Again: many of the animals once com- 

 mon have departed from this region, such as the 

 buffalo, moose, elk, antelope, bear, lynx, and wild 

 turkey. If the mounds represented in shape the 

 badges, weapons, and symbols of the natives, they, 

 also, are unfamiliar. 

 The author ascribes to all these mounds a religious 



significance, in which opinion he is not warranted by 

 what is known. His reflections npon the cross-sym- 

 bol, however, are very just. As to the shapes of 

 these structures, we have the mace, double bow, 

 groups of cones, triangular enclosures, besides every 

 variety of animal supposed to have lived in this re- 

 gion. Air. Peet dismisses the ' elephant mound ' with 

 a modest introduction to its sponsor. — (ll'i.tc. hist, 

 coll., ix. 40.) J. w. p. [378 



Chinese not homogeneous. — Mr. E. Colborne 

 Baber, secretary to H. M. legation, Peking, makes the 

 following interesting statement: " The population of 

 China is far from being so homogeneous as is generally 

 supposed. I have often heard English people assert 

 their inability to distinguish one Chinaman from an- 

 other; but it may surprise you to hear that a China- 

 man, on first coming into contact with Europeans, 

 makes precisely the same remark of ourselves. At 

 first they have some difficulty in even distinguishing a 

 woman from a man. In spite of a general persist- 

 ence of type, there is at least as much variation among 

 the natives of the eighteen provinces as there is 

 among the inhabitants of Europe. A thousand years 

 before Christ the Chinese nation occupied a mere 

 fraction of the territory which they now possess. 

 Even then they were not homogeneous in manners or 

 speech, and they were environed by many non-Chi- 

 nese indigenous peoples. Since then the Chinese 

 have spread, not by ousting or exterminating their 

 neighbors, but by a process of absorption : in 

 other words, they migrated among them, and in- 

 termarried with them ; and their superior energy 

 and comparative civilization gradually effaced the 

 national characteristics of the surrounding tribes. 

 The same process is going on in Tibet, in Burma, in 

 the Shan country, in Tonquin, and in the Straits 

 Settlements. The Chinese blood has been mingled 

 with suchdiverse stocks as the Tatar, Turki, Tibetan, 

 Burmese, Mon-annan, Tai, and Polynesian." The 

 discussion of this paper by Sir Rutherford Alcock, 

 Sir Thomas Wade, Col. Yule, and Mr. Colquhoun, 

 is a valuable contribution to Chinese sociology. — 

 (Pi-oc. (jemir. .10c. Land., Aug.) J. w. p. [379 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



TnE Maryland oyster commission, which has in 

 view the invention of some plan which should check 

 the depreciation of beds belonging to the state with- 

 out unduly interfering with trade, met in Baltimore 

 recently. It was suggested that dredging be restricted 

 in various ways, and the available grounds increased 

 by sowing the bottom with dead oyster-shells where 

 none now exist. In 1870 Lieut. Winslow foimd the 

 average in Tangier Sound to be one oyster to 2.4 

 square yards. In their recent ex.amination of the 

 oyster area of the state, the commission found that 

 the average of sixty-one beds examined was one liv- 

 ing oyster to each 3.7 square y.irds, showing a rapid 

 and important decrease since 1879. The commission 

 finds, as the result of the examination of forty-six 

 oyster-beds, that there are only 1.35 living oysters to 

 every bushel of dredged shells. Wliile the oysters are 



