April 11, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



565 



as to witness a Maricopa medicine dance. 

 The shaman is in doubt as to the nature of 

 the disease; lie must consult the dead for 

 guidance in treatment of it. Followed by 

 his awe stricken friends he approaches a 

 grave, but not too closely, and calls to the 

 resident spirit. Out of the darkness of 

 the night come ghostly whispers in reply. 

 The medicine man grows more confident 

 and emphatic ; his followers shrink farther 

 back. To them the dialogue is conclusive 

 evidence of the power of the shaman. To 

 the observer it presents an opportunity for 

 the detection of fraud. Is he clever enough 

 to discover the identity of the confederate 1 

 Can he see withoiit seeming to do so ? 



The nature-quickened keenness of obser- 

 vation of those whom the field investigator 

 studies afllords him an example wherefrom 

 he must needs profit. In no other science 

 is the object of research at once an example 

 and also laboratory material. Again and 

 again I have been impressed by the degree 

 of perfection in observation manifested by 

 Indian hunters in all parts of America. 

 Old Peter, the Assiniboine, for example, 

 with whom I hunted big horn in British 

 Columbia, taught me as much aboiit ob- 

 serving as any college professor ever did. 

 Of course I appreciated the fact that his 

 livelihood depended upon the cultivation 

 of this trait, and it was not surprising that 

 he should manifest proficiency in that one 

 line Avhen practically all others were ex- 

 cluded. Peter led the way into the moun- 

 tains through passes yet choked with the 

 late snows of winter, riding an old cayuse 

 Avhose speed was not in the least accel- 

 erated by the tattoo of Peter's heels on 

 its ribs. A band of green mosquito netting 

 kept Peter's hat-rim against his ears on 

 cold days, and served to protect his eyes 

 on bright ones. But my attention Avas soon 

 drawn from his attire to the skill with 

 which he read the half obliterated signs. 

 I could see the tracks as well as he, but I 



could not follow a single one through a 

 maze as complicated, apparently, as the 

 crowded street through which the dog trails 

 his master with unerring swiftness. 



Contrast with Peter's keenness the lack 

 of it exhibited by the Gila freighter, who 

 had made a dozen trips to Tempe, and yet 

 wagered his team that the butte that over- 

 looks the town was on the left as one ap- 

 proaches the place. There are no hills to 

 confiise one's memory within twenty miles 

 along that road, so that he had no excuse 

 to offer, no word to say, when he found 

 the butte on his right as he entered Tempe. 

 lie simply left the team and wagon to his 

 more observing companion and walked 

 home. 



Incidentally, field research enables the 

 student to travel, and thus add to his re- 

 sources for happiness throughout life. For 

 it is not alone the viewing of new scenes 

 and new peoples that gives him pleasure, 

 but there is the more lasting enjoyment re- 

 sulting from the addition of new territory 

 to his literary domain. For example, it is 

 well known that he who visits the realm of 

 arctic frost is ever tempted to return. He 

 also finds the keenest pleasure in reading 

 of the experiences of others in that region 

 of infinite vastness. After the lapse of ten 

 years I feel as deep an interest in that 

 ' Land of Desolation and Death ' as when I 

 left it. Again, those who know the great 

 arid Southwest find in its tragic history 

 and in the writings of its pioneer anthro- 

 pologists a source of perennial pleasure. 

 He who has felt the spell of the desert has 

 added a priceless treasure to his experi- 

 ence. He can sympathize v/ith the belief 

 of the desert dwellers that the wraith-like 

 remolinos sending their columns of sand 

 toAvard the bluest of heavens are not minia- 

 ture whirlwinds, but spirits of air ; that the 

 pillars and other strangely eroded forms 

 of sandstone are the figures of men trans- 

 fixed there in the early twilight of time ; he 



