July 21, 1893.J 



SCIENCE. 



SI 



are apparent, as in Fig. 6, but they differ slightly in their position 

 when compared with Catherwood (Fig. 3). 



Stephens mentions that, at times, those engaged in commercial 

 ventures have reached Santo Domingo del Palenque, and pro- 

 ceeded thence to the ancient Maya ruins, called, for want of a 

 better name, Palenque, after the village near which they stand. 



We have repreaented in Fig. 5 a sketch made by Mr. William 

 Robert Thompson, who visited the ruins of Palenque in December, 

 1853, and again at a later date. Engaged in commercial pursuits 

 in northern Chiapas and other parts of Mexico and Guatemala, 

 Mr. Thompson has examined many of the old Maya cities, es- 

 pecially Qurigia and Palenque, sketching, in leisure moments, such 

 details as he found interesting, preserving them for his own grati- 

 fication. In looking over his portfolio some years ago I was 

 struck with the resemblance of his drawing (Fig. 5) to that of 

 Waldeok (Fig. 2). Mr. Thompson having retm-ned to Mexico, I 

 wrote to him in 1882 requesting a copy of his sketch, and, with 

 all due courtesy, he presented me with the original, accompanying 

 it with an autograph letter. The letter and sketch I shall for- 

 ward to the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, so 

 that they can be preserved for future examination. 



Comparing the Thompson sketch with that of Mr. Waldeck, it 

 will be seen that the latter has omitted the small incised circles 

 which are present in the former, on the bar of the cross and at 

 its top and sides, n hich Mr. Thompson's letter especially mentions 

 as present. Waldeck, in the cross-like glyph, to the right, gives 



"ielOUo 





fscSKuUnist^ 



two small circles as its components, and Thompson gives three, 

 which Charnay also indicates in Fig. 5, while both he and Cather- 

 wood omit the small round glyph with the inci.=ed circle, which 

 is shown at the lower riuht-hand side in the Urbino photograph 

 (Fig. 6), also in the sketches of Waldeck and Thompson. It is 

 not surprising that so careful a draftsman as Catherwood should 

 have omitted details in drawing this glyph, ill as he was with 

 fever and subjected to annoyances which only those who have 

 encountered them can appreciate. 



All of the drawings of this (Fig. 6) glyph differ more or less; 

 those of Waldeck and Thompson have four of the s-mall glyphs 

 represented with a fair degree cf exactitude, accepting the photo- 

 graph as our standard ; Catherwood and Chainay have three de- 

 tails of the compound glyph which are, in a measure, correct. 

 The fact that Messrs. Waldeck and Thompson both give a symbol 

 resembling the symbol of the cardinal points as a component of 

 the glyph which we are considering, suggests a probability that it 

 existed and has been effaced. The surface of the glyph at present 

 being so mutilated it would be best to examine the original 

 tablet with care before deciding the matter, which I hope some- 

 one interested in pateograpby vtill have the opportunity of doing 

 in the near future. The position of the three small circles in Fig. 

 6 correspond with the Thompson sketch (Fig. 5), even if the cross 

 is absent, and. as Thompson gives an incised circle to either side 

 of the cross at the top, it is not improbable that a series of dotted 

 lines, or circles, at one time ran completely around the glyph, as 

 we see a slight suggestion of this in Charnay's sketch (Fig. 4), and 

 also in Catherwood's Fig. 3. Mr. Thompson asserts, positively, in 

 his letter, that a cross did exist, and that the three incised circles 



were present on its perpendicular and parallel bars. He has, in a 

 recent conversation upon the subject, expressed the belief that 

 this symbol of the winds has been mutilated intentionally, and 

 that the two circles at the sides of the perpendicular bar are quite 

 recent additions, made by someone trying to alter the glyph into 

 the semblance of a face. Tvvo small circles on either side suggest 

 the eyes, and the upper portion of the perpendicular upright 

 above being mutilated across, just beyond its point of junction 

 with the parallel bar, thus produces a semblance to a nose, the 

 parallel bar assuming somewhat the appearance of a mouth. 

 This seems to be the case in the small Urbino photograph, but in 

 the enlarged copy the mutilation of the glyph is more apparent, 

 yet, as we have suggested, these matters can only be decided upon 

 by a careful study of the original tablet. 



A realistic drawing of the upper-centi'e component of this hiero- 

 glyph would be of great value for comparison with the photo- 

 graph, as there are some details which the camera does not repro- 

 duce. If some of our artists visiting the Museo Nacional, at the 

 City of Mexico, would make a careful drawing of the Casa No. 2 

 tablet, it would be of great value to those engaged in the study of 

 Maya palaeography, and no doubt determine the question whether 

 a cross and its dots (Fig. 5) are to be accepted as the true com- 

 ponents of the glyph, or the details given in Fig. 6 of the plate ac- 

 companying this article. Until these doubts be settled, attempts 

 at its interpretation are useless. 



THE OSAGE KIVER AND ITS MEANDERS. 



BT ARTHUR WIN SLOW, OFFICE OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, JEFFER- 

 SON CITY, MO. 



In the remarks upon the Osage River in Missouri, which form 

 part of his admirable notice of the topographic maps of the U. S. 

 Geological Survey, published in Science of April 28, 1893, Pro- 

 fessor Davis has, with great acumen, hit upon one of the most 

 noticeable features of the drainage of the State, or, at least, of the 

 southern part. The peculiar meandering of the det-ply lienched 

 Osage Valley around spurs of high upland country, as referred 

 to by us in a recent report of the Geological Survey," is a feature 

 shared by nearly all of the principal streams of the Ozark region. 

 The Meramec and the Gasconade Rivers, the Big Piney and the 

 Bourbeuse Creeks of the northern slope have the same swinging 

 course ; as have also their tributaries and those of the Osage itself. 

 White River, on the southern slope, in Missouri and Arkansas, is 

 characterized by similar convolutions. The courses of Big River 

 and of the St. Francois River in the southeast have a like aspect. 

 In strong contrast to this are the streams of that portion of the 

 State lying north of the Missouri River — the drift-covered area. 

 Here the courses are, in a general way, straight, often parallel in 

 groups, the meanders of the streams confined to their present 

 flood plains; their channels apparently having originated in the 

 mantle of glacial drift. They are comparatively of recent origin, 

 the older drainage system which lies masked beneath the drift 

 may have been more tortuous. 



The suggestive explanation which Professor Davis offers for the 

 sunken curved course of the Osage, i e., that it has been developed, 

 through elevation and corrosion, from the flood- plain meanders 

 of the stream, originating during an earlier base-leveled conditioii 

 of the country, seems a natural explanation and is in many re- 

 spects satisfactory. Still we hesitate to accept it in the present 

 stage of our knowledge on mere a priori grounds. We see that 

 it calls for a previous base-leveling of the whole Missouri-Ozark 

 region, it not of the contiguous or even remoter Arkansas terri- 

 tory. Further, the hypothesis has so intimate a bearing upon 

 the problems of recent geologic history of this country, over and 

 above its relation to the development of the topography, that we 

 wish to see full test made of its suflSciency before we adopt it as 

 an axiom. 



According to the best light we have at present, we recognize 

 that the Ozark area was uplifted in late Cattibrian times and re- 

 mained above water level, in part at least, probably until the 

 carboniferous period ; that, if entirely submerged during the 

 Mississippian epcch, it was so only long enough to receive but a. 

 ' " Report on Iron Ore8," vol. ii, p. 89. 



