728 
horizontal strata of basalt. From these 
mountains northward towards Spokane 
River the surface is nearly level with a 
deep soil cover ; but itis here and there cut 
by deep canyons, on whose sides the lava 
beds form dark cliff belts. The Snake 
River crosses the Blue Mountain uplift in 
a canyon 4,000 feet deep and fifteen miles 
broad. The Grande Ronde, rising in many 
branches in the same mountains, has ex- 
cavated an intricate series of branching 
canyons. Here the spaces between the 
streams are no longer flat-topped remnants 
of the original plateau, but sharp-edged 
ridges, diversified with spires and pinnacles. 
This river has cut a meandering trench in 
the floor of a flat canyon three miles wide, 
indicating two partial cycles of erosion. 
Many special features suggest interesting 
physiographic problems: the gravel ter- 
races of Snake River, that once enclosed 
lakes in tributary streams ; the falls of the 
Palouse, apparently the result of recent di- 
version of the river to a new and shorter 
‘course to Snake River; the wandering be- 
havior of the Walla Walla on an aggraded 
floor, calling for special legislation regard- 
ing its use in irrigating canals ; the deep 
fine soil on the lava plains, here and there 
heaped in hills, like dunes, and everywhere 
producing great crops of wheat in an ap- 
parently desert region. Nothing is more 
remarkable than the remnants of the pre- 
lava topography, whether seen in such emi- 
nences as Steptoe butte, risimg over the 
lavas and never buried, or revealed in 
Snake River canyon, where a magnificent 
‘shut in’”* occurs as the river cuts its 
superposed course through a deep-buried 
mountain of schist. Several excellent illus- 
trations accompany the report. 
HANDBOOK OF CANADA. 
A Hanpsook or CanapA, published for 
the British Association meeting at Toronto 
*See SCIENCE, III., 1896, 661. 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Vou. VI. No. 150. 
last summer by the Local Committee, con- 
tains an account of the physical features of 
the Dominion by G. M. Dawson, conven- 
iently condensed for ready reference. Thus 
the interior plateau of the Cordilleran re- 
gion, occupying an area of 100 by 500 miles 
between the Gold range on the east and the 
Canadian Coast range on the west, is de- 
scribed as a peneplain of Tertiary denuda- 
tion, greatly modified by Miocene volcanic 
accumulations and by the excavation of 
valleys after elevation. Its true character 
as a table-land cannot be appreciated until 
rising high enough for the eye to range 
along its even sky lines. Unlike the for- 
ested mountains east and west, this plateau 
has a drier climate, and includes wide 
stretches of grass-covered hills and valleys, 
forming excellent cattle ranges. It appears 
to be be correlated with the basin areas of 
Cordilleran region within the United States. 
W. B. Dawson describes the Canadian 
survey of tides and currents; stating, 
among other things, that the current in 
Belle Isle strait is tidal, with a flow nearly 
equal in each direction. The accepted 
theory of a constant inward cold current is 
thus proved to be unfounded and mislead- 
ing. 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
W. M. Davis. 
CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. 
THE ANCIENT MURMEX. 
In Scrence, April 16th, and later in No. 
1, of the Bulletin of the Museum of the 
University of Pennsylvania, I announced 
the identification of the classical object us- 
ually called a ‘bow-puller’ with the Mur- 
mea, fastened to the fist in pugilistic con- 
tests. This identification met with general 
acceptance, but a few authorities of great - 
weight, such as Sir John Evans and Pro- 
fessor H. S. Morse, offered against it the 
cogent objection that if the implement was 
so used, it could scarcely fail to be repre- 
