502 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. i 



(p. 23). Ill-founded likewise are the legends 

 from California and the northwest Pacific coast. 

 Incidentally, Friederici points out that the ac- 

 count attributed generally to Orellana, belongs 

 really to Carvajal, and that the river of the 

 " Amazons " received its name from the valor of 

 the Indian women met with by the Spanish 

 explorers. 



The Uran: A Neio South American Linguistic 

 Stock: Professor Alexander F. Chambeblain. 

 In 1891 Brinton recognized ' in the region of 

 Lake Titicaea a Puquina linguistic stock, ob- 

 serving at the same time that " the Puquinas 

 are also known under the names of Urus or Uros, 

 Hunos and Oehozomas." In this he was followed 

 by R. de la Grasserie, in his " Langue Puquina " 

 (1896), and others since then. In 1895-96, Dr. 

 Max Uhle collected from the Urus of Iruitu, etc.,'' 

 a vocabulary of some 600 words, many sentences, 

 etc., all of which material seems to be as yet 

 unpublished. In 1897, J. T. Polo visited the 

 Urus of Nazacara and obtained a vocabulary of 

 some 350 words, 33 phrases, etc. This material 

 did not appear in print till 190 P and constitutes 

 the published linguistic data concerning the Uran 

 stock. The author presented in English alpha- 

 betic arrangement a considerable portion of Polo's 

 vocabulary, with grammatical notes, etc. Polo's 

 work seems to have been practically unknown to 

 ethnologists, Roman* being about the only one to 

 recognize its importance and to see that the Uran 

 and Puquinan must be unrelated. Careful ex- 

 amination by the author of this paper of the 

 Uran linguistic material and comparison with 

 Atacameuan, Puquinan, etc., prove beyond a doubt 

 that the language of the Urus of Bolivia consti- 

 tutes an independent family of speech. The few 

 descendants of the ancient Urus, and the fewer 

 still who keep their mother-tongue (many having 

 adopted Aymara) are to be found scattered along 

 the Rio Desaguadero between Lake Titicaea and 

 Lake AuUagas or Poopo, particularly at Iruitu, 

 Sojapata, Aneoaqui, Ahuallamaya, Nazacara, etc. 

 In the past they evidently occupied a much wider 

 area between these two lakes. 



It is worth noting that the confusion of the 

 Urus with the Puquinas began with Hervas, 

 Garcilaso de la Vega, e. g., among the older 

 authorities distinctly separating the two lan- 



* " American Race," p. 221. 



'Globus, Vol. 69, 1896, p. 19. 



' Bol. de la Soc. Geogr. de Lima, Vol. X. 



*"Antiq. de la R6g. Andine," Vol. I., 1908. 



guages. This separation of the Uran and Puqui- 

 nan stocks clears up somewhat the linguistic 

 difficulties of this region of South America, but 

 leaves the Puquinas, their origin and the extent 

 of their language-area, perhaps as much of a 

 problem as ever. 



The Age-societies of the Plains Indians: Dr. R. 



H. LowiE. 



Age-societies have been ascribed by ethnologists 

 to a large number of Plains tribes. A sharp defi- 

 nition of the age-factor results in limiting the 

 number to the Blackfoot, Village tribes, Arapaho 

 and Gros Ventre (Atsina). The question arises 

 whether in these cases the age-factor is a basic 

 or derivative feature. Investigation proves that 

 the age-element is a subordinate feature, the col- 

 lective purchase of ceremonial regalia, songs and 

 dances being apparently the dominant motive. 



Some Aspects of New Jersey Archeology: Dr. 



Charles Peabody. 



Slides were shown illustrating the three cele- 

 brated strata at Trenton, N. J., on the glacial 

 terrace above the Delaware River, viz., the black 

 soil, the yellow loam, probably of immediate post- 

 glacial deposition and the true " Trenton " gravels 

 underlying the yellow soil. 



Attention was called to certain discoveries made 

 during the season's work of 1910 by Mr. Ernest 

 Volk, who has spent large portions of the last 

 twenty-two years in exploration and observation 

 of the region. 



1. The Bison Bone. On June 22, 1910,' in the 

 sand pit of Mr. Ahrendt on the terrace was found 

 an artificial pit; the cross section was: at the 

 top six inches of black soil, under this one foot 

 of yellow loam, and under this a red clay band 

 one inch thick. In the pit were found the femur 

 of a bison and accompanying it fine particles of 

 charcoal. In the red band on one side of the pit 

 lay a chipped water-worn pebble of argillite, and 

 in the same red band to the left, a water-worn 

 pebble of argillite, not chipped. 



2. The Artificial Pit. On August 23, 1910, in 

 the sand pit of Mr. Ahrendt, on the terrace was 

 found another artificial pit; the cross section: 

 at the top, six inches of black soil; under this 

 yellow loam (with thin red bands) three feet 

 six inches thick; and under this, overlying the 

 pit, three or four incnes of brown sand and char- 

 coal. Nothing but charcoal of human provenance 

 was found in the pit. 



3. The Natural Pit. In the same sand pit, 

 seven feet down under a somewhat similar series 



