July 19, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



67 



less. The center of gravity of tlie popula- 

 tion of the earth tends more and more to 

 fix itself between the isothermals of 40° and 

 60°; we might even say 45° and 55°. 

 Neither tropic nor siib-artic countries offer 

 the prizes which the masses of the human 

 race now long for. 



THE PICTOGRAPHS OF LOWER CALIFORNIA. 



An important article on this subject bj^ 

 M. Leon Diguet in ' L' Anthropologie,' 1895, 

 No. 2, should attract the attention of Ameri- 

 can archfeologists. It gives a list of some 

 thirty engi'aved or painted designs on rocks 

 in Lower California between lat. 23° and 

 29°, and presents copies of a number of 

 them, with a satisfying discussion of their 

 character and origin. 



The paintings are in red, yellow, black 

 and white, and represent ideograms, persons 

 or animals, these latter at times associated 

 so as to form a group or scene; most of 

 them are on boulders in the vicinity of 

 springs or streams, or else in caves. The 

 petrogiyphs are often deeply and clearly cut 

 on the surface of hard rocks, and are of the 

 same general character as the paintings, 

 hence doubtless by the same people. 



The first missionaries to the natives of 

 the region observed and noted these curious 

 designs, and inquired of the existing tribes 

 their origin. The reply was that they were 

 the work of a race of giants, who in ancient 

 times came down the coast from the north. 

 This, of course, merely meant that they 

 knew nothing of the designers. The idea 

 of giants arose simply enough from the un- 

 common stature of some of the persons rep- 

 resented, about seven feet high. It is well 

 known that the tribes who occupied Lower 

 California when it was first explored were 

 extremely rude and devoid of arts. 



THE EARLIEST HUMAST OCCUPANTS OF THE 

 ATLANTIC WATERSHED. 



A FEW years ago ' advanced ' archaeolo- 

 gists entertained no doubt about the A^ast 



antiquity of the human occupation of the 

 Atlantic watershed. There were ' paleo- 

 lithic sites ' on the Potomac, tools from the 

 Trenton gravels, ' glacial hearths ' in New 

 York State, etc. 



Matters have changed. The ominous 

 word talus robs the Trenton gravels of their 

 fame; ' quarry rejects ' explain the j)aleo- 

 lithic sites; and so on with one supposed 

 l^roof and another. Then Mr. H. C. Mer- 

 cer turns ' the di-y light of science ' on the 

 darkness of the caves of the Alleghanies, 

 and finds nothing in them older than our 

 familiar friend, the red Indian. Finally, 

 Mr. Gerard Fowke, in a pamphlet just pub- 

 lished by the Bureau of Ethnology, gives 

 the results of his archjeologic investigations 

 in the valleys of the James and Potomac 

 Elvers, announcing the somewhat startling- 

 conclusion that not only did he find no 

 sign whatever of any other occupancy than 

 that of the red Indian, but even this he is 

 convinced could not have been of very long 

 duration, or what could really be called 

 ancient. 



Another publication bj^ the Bureau, by 

 Mr. James Moonej', entitled ' The Siouan 

 Tribes of the East,' shows bj' a large colla- 

 tion of authorities that the Dakota stock 

 at the time of the discovery occupied 

 most of the land east of the mountains, 

 between the Santee River and the Po- 

 tomac. Mr. Horatio Hale was the first to 

 call definite attention to this unexpected 

 fact. 



It is difificult to believe that the splendid 

 forests of the Atlantic slope and its fertile 

 river bottoms remained untrodden by man 

 until our familiar Sioux and Five Nations- 

 and Dela wares took possession of them, a 

 few centuries before Columbus. Such a 

 supposition involves puzzling anthropologic 

 corollaries ; but for the present we must 

 accept it as the actual result of investiga- 

 tion. 



D. G. Brinton. 



