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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII. No. 1119 



dual division of the Foxes have been definitely as- 

 certained. That the dual division among the Foxes 

 is ceremonial and not merely for athletic purposes 

 has been amply confirmed. 



The ritualistic myths on the origin of sacred 

 packs, especially those belonging to entire gentes, 

 are aU of one and the same type. They were 

 doubtless invented in the remote past to account 

 for existing ceremonies. 



Le Verbe dans les Adjectifs et les Adverbes Tor- 



teurs: A. G. Morice. 



In the Carrier (Porteur) dialect of the Dene 

 language there is scarcely any regular adjective in 

 our sense of the word. Practically all the quali- 

 ficative adjectives are regular verbs, which may 

 be divided into primary and secondary. The 

 former have several forms that change not only 

 according to the nature of the nouns they qualify, 

 but also when they imply some comparison. Be- 

 sides those two categories, the Carrier language 

 contains also a third class of verbal adjectives, 

 which may be called composite adjectives, and are 

 distinguishable by their being made up of an im- 

 personal verb and a pronominal prefix. A few ad- 

 verbs are likewise occasionally conjugated. 

 Terms of Selatwiship and the Levirate: E. Sapir. 



Evidence has recently been adduced from Mela- 

 nesia and other parts of the world to show that 

 specific features of relationship systems are fre- 

 quently explainable as due to definite types of 

 marriage. Evidence here presented from aborig- 

 inal America shows that in some systems certain 

 relationship terms imply the custom of the levi- 

 rate, that is, the marrying of the deceased wife's 

 sister, and its correlate, the marrying of the de- 

 ceased husband's brother. 

 The North Building of the Great Ball Court, 



Chichen Itza, Yucatan: Adela Breton. 



The detached building (called Chamber C in Dr. 

 A. P. Maudslay's survey) at the northern end of 

 the great Ball Court had a single long, narrow 

 chamber, the inner walls covered with sculptured 

 human figures in relief. These are of great inter- 

 est and appear much older than those of Chamber 

 E, below Temple A (the Temple of the Tigers). 

 Although part of the vaulted roof remains, and 

 though hardest limestone was used, it is so weath- 

 ered that prolonged study is needed to see the de- 

 tails. The stones are not large and appear to 

 have been removed from some other building and 

 re-erected. Instead of the regular rows of armed 

 warriors that cover all three walls in Chamber E, 

 there are here two principal groups and a number 



of detached figures conversing, in twos and threes, 

 whose relation to the whole is dif&cult to under- 

 stand. At the base of the walls is a flowery 

 border, separated by a blue band from the figures, 

 and the colors were still visible in this border in 

 1902. The recumbent personage of the paintings 

 in Temple A occupies the center. Above, there ?s 

 first a sort of altar with an animal laid on it and 

 five chiefs standing on either side. The next set 

 higher has a seated chief with the feathered 

 rattlesnake. Facing him stands a being in a gar- 

 ment of scales and surrounded by flames or 

 tongues. Five chiefs on either side, seated on 

 round stools and carrying atlatls, complete this 

 group. The sculptures on the two round columns 

 which divide the entrance are particularly fine. 



Excavation in the center of the chamber floor 

 exposed a massive round stone cist with heavy 

 cover finely wrought. 



Pocomchi Notes: Adela Breton. 



The Berendt manuscript collection in the library 

 of the University Museum of Philadelphia con- 

 tains three ' ' Doctrinas ' ' in Pocomchi, a volume 

 of sermons at Tactic, 1818-20, with Spanish trans- 

 lations, a confesionario of 1814, and a fragmen- 

 tary original vocabulary. The "Doctrinas" can 

 be studied only by making a parallel copy of the 

 three, so that the varieties of misspelling may ba 

 compared. One is dated 1741, by H. AguUera, 

 Cura of Tactic, but is a poor copy. Another is a 

 copy from a manuscript at Tactic of 1810. The 

 third is evidently taken from that, and is in Villa- 

 corta's "Doctrina en lengua Castellana Quekehi y 

 Pocomchi," made at Coban, 1875. The ignorance 

 of the copyists is well shown in these. 



Thomas Gage, the Dominican who was in Guate- 

 mala for several years about 1680, was advised to> 

 study Pocomchi as it was most spoken about there 

 and in Vera Paz, Salvador. He calls it Pocomchi 

 or Pocoman and most elegant. In three months 

 he learned enough to be able to preach. The rudi- 

 ments given in his work served Dr. Stoll in his 

 study of the modern language, but this differs 

 much from the vocabulary. Gage was intimate 

 with Moran, who may have written the vocabulary. 

 This consists of 290 closely written pages, portions 

 of original volumes many times larger. The writer 

 was living at San Cristobal Cahcoh, near Coban, 

 and introduces much information as to the charac- 

 ter and habits of the people. Knowledge of an- 

 cient customs was disappearing. They no longer 

 used stone axes nor trumpets made from cala- 

 bashes, and only a few remember the name Poytan 



