758 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 674 



verized alum in all crevices where insects 

 migbt lodge or breed. Powdered alum, she 

 states, may be sprinkled upon carpets already 

 laid and then brushed or swept into their 

 meshes with no injury to the carpets and with 

 the certainty of banishment to many insect 

 pests including both moths and fleas. 



Sheets that have been soaked in alum water 

 and then dried may profitably enclose those that 

 are spread nearest to the sleeper. . . . From ten 

 to twenty cents' worth of alum judiciously used 

 in each room of the house will effect much good 

 in the prevention of dangerous insects. 



L. O. Howard 



U. S. Depaktment of Ageicultuee 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



THE NEHALEM WAX 



Early explorers of the Oregon coast found 

 bits of a waxlike substance on the Nehalem 

 beach near the mouth of the Nehalem River. 

 In time considerable deposits of the substance 

 were found buried in the beach sands. As 

 early as 1846 several tons of the wax were 

 shipped to the Hawaiian Islands and since 

 that time many tons have found their way into 

 the markets of the northwest. 



There has been much speculation concerning 

 the origin and nature of this wax and opin- 

 ions have been divided as to whether it is 

 beeswax or a mineral product, ozokerite. 



An Indian legend tells of the wreck of a 

 ship at the mouth of the Nehalem before the 

 coming of the white man. The crew landed 

 and cached the cargo as it drifted in. In 

 confirmation of the legend the hull of a 

 wrecked vessel was found there. It is further 

 cited that the Spanish ship San Jose sailed 

 from La Paz, Lower California, June 16, 1Y69, 

 loaded with supplies for the Catholic missions 

 to the northward, and was never afterwards 

 heard from. Her supplies would probably in- 

 clude wax for candles and tapers in the mis- 

 sions. 



The wax is found, mainly, in large rectan- 

 gular blocks, bleached on the surface through 

 exposure but of a yellowish cast within. The 

 honey-like aroma of beeswax is plainly notice- 

 able on a freshly cut sample. 



An examination of an authentic portion of 

 this wax was made in the Pacific University 

 laboratory, the data on a home-made sample of 

 beeswax being also determined for comparison. 

 The following table gives the results obtained, 

 the data for numbers 3 and 4 being taken 

 from Allen, Thorpe and Dana. 



1. Nehalem wax 



2. Oregon beeswax 



3. Beeswax (miscl. ) 



4. Ozokerite 



M.P. 



64° 

 66° 



63°-6o° 

 56°-63° 



Sp. Gr. 

 at 15° 



.960 

 .964 



.963-.969 

 .85-90 



Per cent. KOH 

 Required to 



Neut. 

 Free 

 Acid 



1.00 



1.30 



2.00 



.00 



Sapon- 

 ify 

 Esters 



7.80 



7.60 



7.50 



.00 



The properties of the Nehalem wax are thus 

 seen to approach those of beeswax very closely 

 and are not in accord with those of ozokerite. 



Dr. H. N. Stokes, of the Bureau of Stan- 

 dards, and Professor O. F. Stafford, of the 

 University of Oregon, have also pronounced 

 the material beeswax. 



C. E. Bradley ' 



CoEVALLis, Oregon, 

 August 22, 1907 



CONCERNING THE NAME " HAVASUPAI " 



A SMALL tribe of Amerinds living in a 

 secluded canyon in Arizona have been vari- 

 ously called, Havasupai, Supai, Cohonino, 

 Cosnino, etc., the full list being given in the 

 Bureau of Ethnology's handbook. Gibbs 

 wrote it Habasopi; Hodge, Agua Supai; 

 Bourke, Ah Supai; Gilbert, Akbasupai; Gat- 

 schet, Akusuepai and Avesupai, while the first 

 white visitor, Garces, in 1776, made it Jabesua, 

 the " J," of course, being pronounced in the 

 Spanish way. 



During a recent visit to this tribe I in- 

 quired particularly as to the composition and 

 pronunciation of the name. According to my 

 understanding it is derived from " aha " water, 

 "hasuga" blue, and "apa" people, and is 

 therefore Ahahasugapa, People of the Blue 

 Water. This refers to the color of the stream 

 along which they live. It is evident that, 

 rapidly spoken, the name would take on a 

 sound like " habasupa." The Spaniards would 



