Mat 18, 1SS3.] 



SCIENCE. 



435 



and the bearded men on the Pacific coast in the begin- 

 ning of the last century, Mr. A. M. F. Davis concedes 

 the probability of the journey, but doubts the meeting 

 witli the bearded men. Although this region was not 

 penetrated by e.xplorers until Lewis and Clark crossed 

 the continent in 1804, still the stories of the Indians 

 bore uniform testimony to the river and the ocean; 

 and there was more or less testimony tending to show 

 the visitations of white men in ships. Sucli sources 

 of information were open to Indian and Frencliman 

 alike ; and Mr. Davis attempts to show, that, upon 

 the siveleton of tlie story of actual travel furnished by 

 the Indian, Le Page du Pratz builds up the story, 

 which he publishes with its details, as to the bearded 

 men. He finds two endings to the story, — one pub- 

 lished in Duraont; the other, in Le Page's own book, 

 — both credited to Le Page. In the later publica- 

 tion of the two, Mr. Davis fancies that he can trace 

 in the changes evidence of knowledge derived from 

 the Bering's expedition, and from publications of 

 the period, which were giveti to the world about that 

 time. In conclusion, he hopes that no opportunity 

 will be lost to search oriental records, for upon them 

 we must ultimately rely for the permanent disposal of 

 such questions. — {Amer. antiq. soc. ; meetiny April 

 25.) [913 



Indians on the Beni River. — The Beni Kiver 

 has been explored from time to time: for instance, 

 by Palacios and by Bursa in 1846. by Lieut. Gibbon 

 in 18-52, by Prof. Orton and Ivon D. Heath in 1877, 

 and by the Cura Serabia in 1879. Dr. Heath gives 

 the following note on shirt-making: "Some of the 

 men took time, while stopping for breakfast, to 

 make new shirts. A young Brazilnut-tree of the 

 proper size being found, the bark is stripped off to a 

 height of eight to ten feet. This is taken to the river, 

 placed on a log or stone, and beaten with a stick. 

 When free from outer bark, the fibres are opened, 

 and form a good cloth. This is then folded in the 

 middle, a space left for the arms, the sides sewed 

 down to near the bottom, and a slit cut for the head. 

 When old, these shirts are as soft as old linen." In 

 the journey down the Beni Elver, Mr. Heath en- 

 countered the Tacanas, Cavinas, Pacavaras, Araunas, 

 and Mobimas. The most interesting result of Dr. 

 Heath's anthropological researches is the account of 

 a series of pictographs on the rocks at the falls and 

 rapids of the rivers Madeira and Mamore. Illustra- 

 tions of these carvings are given. — [Bull. Amer. 

 geogr. soc, 1882, no. .3.) j. w. p. [914 



Nomenclature of crime. — In a pamphlet by F. 

 H. and W. B. Wines upon the nomenclature of 

 crimes in the United States as an aid to the tabula- 

 tion of the statistics of crime, the authors have en- 

 deavored to collate all offences punishable in the 

 United States undei' any statute enacted either by 

 the national congress, or by the legislature of any 

 one of the states. Without a knowledge of the laws 

 under which commitments to prison are made in 

 the several states, the st.atistics of imprisonment are 

 valueless for all purposes of intelligent comparison. 

 The offences enumerated are divided into five classes, 

 as follows : — 



I. Offences against the government. 1. Against 

 the existence of the government; 2. Against the 

 operations of the government, — a. Currency, b. 

 Election laws, c. Postal laws, d. Revenue ; 3. Against 

 international comity. 



II. Offences against society. 1. Against public 

 health; 2. Against public justice; 8. Against public 

 morals; 4. Against public peace; 5. Against pub- 

 lic policy. 



III. Offences against the person. 



IV. Offences against property. 



V. Offences on the high seas. 



The index to this pamphlet covers 59 pages, and is 

 a necessary guide to the contents of the work. — 

 J. w. p. [915 



The archeology of the District of Columbia. 



■ — Dr. J. Meredith Toner, in 1874, founded a medal 

 in Georgetown college, D.C., " to encourage among 

 the students habits of inquiry, and the development 

 of the faculty of close and accurate observation, not 

 only of the rarer phenomena of nature, but of the 

 commonest things met with in daily life." At the 

 commencement in 1882, the successful candidate 

 was Louis A. Kengla, who prepared an essay, now 

 printed under the title of ' Contributions to the 

 archeology of the District of Columbia.' The young 

 author enters minutely into localities and classes 

 of implements, and has furnished a good map and 

 five full-page plates of illustrations. The work does 

 credit alike to the writer and to his generous patron. 

 — J. w. I'. [916 



Natives of Borneo. — Some addition to our knowl- 

 edge of the inhabitants of Borneo and the Sulu Islands 

 is made by Mr. W. B.- Preyer, the British North-Bor- 

 neo company's resident, at Elopura. The inhabitants 

 of the Sulu Islands are divided into Sulus (Malays, 

 with Arab and Chinese blood) and Bajaws, or sea- 

 gypsies. These are described at length, both as to 

 their physical and their moral characteristics. On 

 the coast-line of Borneo is an extraordinary mixture 

 of people, — Sun-Dyaks, Malays, Javanese, Sulus, 

 Bajaws, Bugis, Chinese, Arabs, Klings, and many 

 others; while of the Buludupies, the indigenous in- 

 habitants of the district, there are hardly any of pure 

 blood left. Allusions are made to slavery, religion, 

 marriage, head-hunting, ' summing-up,' and disease. 

 Mr. Preyer tells a very good story about marriage 

 among the Datos. When a Dato of any consequence 

 marries, he settles upon his bride a dowry of so many 

 slaves, male and female, so many pieces of T. cloth, 

 of silks, chintzes, and sarongs, etc. A house is built 

 for her, and she is settled comfortably. At the end 

 of a few months, the Dato goes off elsewhere, and 

 repeats the process. The abandoned wife goes to 

 work, with her capital and her slaves, to better her 

 condition. Some fine day the Dato sails back to find 

 in every port a house, a wife, and surroundings all 

 comfortable and ready. — (Proc. roy. geogr. soc., Feb. 

 7.) J. w. p. [917 



EGYPTOLOGY. 

 Serbonis. — In "The Hebrew migration from 

 Egypt, an historical account of the Exodus, based on 

 a critical examination of the Hebrew records and 

 traditions," by J. Baker Greene, second edition (Lon- 

 don, Triibner & Co., 1883), on p. 69, we are told, "In 

 ancient times, if we may trust the evidence of histo- 

 rians, a sheet of water existed on the south side of 

 Mount Casius, and separated by a well-defined but 

 narrow strip of land from the Mediterranean Sea. . . . 

 This was the Serbonian Lake. . . . This lake no 

 longer exists. It has been filled by the drifting sands 

 of the adjoining desert." In a work that makes so 

 much pretension to impartiality and search for truth, 

 egregious errors like this ought to be shunned. The 

 best map yet published of Egypt and the Isthmus 

 of Suez (that in Napoleon's Description de I'Egypte, 

 Paris, 1809-1828) gives the length of Serbonis as a 

 hundred kilometres, and its usual width as eight to 

 ten kilometres. Mr. Greville Chester, in the volume 

 of Special papers issued by the Palestine exploration 

 fund, 1881, has given a very full description of the 



