94 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVI. No. 393 



be carried. Wlien the snow is soft, the dogs are shod with seal- 

 skin shoes. 



The Eskimo's powers of endurance are wonderful. Buring the 

 winter of 1885-86 many of those about me were reduced to mere 

 skeletons through starvation, and, although they were helped as 

 much as possible, several, it is to be feared, died not far from us. 

 Some had eaten the skin covering of then- bed, and were only 

 saved by an occasional seal being killed and by the few lemmings 

 they could catch under the snow. In one instance a case of what 

 appeared to be economic hibernating was noted. Some distance 

 from the Observatory a woman and her son were found closely 

 huddled together in a house completely closed and not much larger 

 than themselves. They said they had not had any food for some 

 time, but expected friends in a few days. Leaving what food we 

 had, we returned to the station, and extremely bad weather com- 

 ing on some days afterwards, we had almost forgotten these people. 

 Two weeks later we were reminded of them by an Eskimo having 

 passed that way who said he had not seen thera. Fearing they 

 were dead, we went over with provisions, and much to our sur- 

 prise found them, though little more than parcels of bones, per- 

 fectly well, and they declared they had lain there ever since. 

 These people, with others, were soon stout and hearty when food 

 became more plentiful. 



In many of the narrow gravelly passes in the rocky hills, low 

 walls were often noticed that had undoubtedly been built many 

 years ago. These were in a straight line from one hill to another, 

 and were usually nothing more than single stones about a foot 

 high placed close to each other. Many conjectures as to their use 

 were made, and, taking Ugaluk to one of these walls one day, he 

 informed me that many years ago, when large numbers of Eskimo 

 lived here, and wood was extremely scarce, some would bind 

 sharp stones to their feet, and lying upon their backs behind these 

 walls, others would drive the deer, which were then very numer- 

 ous, and as the deer passed over the walls the hidden hunters 

 would strike with their stone-tipped feet and would often kill 

 many of them in this way. Regarding the scarcity of wood, it 

 maybe added that even now many Eskimo have not harpoons 

 because they cannot procure a piece of wood large enough for a 

 handle. 



Having often heard of the dislike the Eskimo is believed to have 

 to a white man exploring the graves of their dead, we determined 

 to test this, and purposely went with several Eskimo, passing near 

 where a number were buried. Here I stopped at one grave which 

 had evidently long ago been visited by wolves or dogs, for the 

 covering of stones had been dragged away and the bones were 

 scattered in every direction. To my surprise the Eskimo looked 

 on quite unconcernedly as I turned the skull and bones over with 

 my stick, and, if anything, they seemed rather amused than other- 

 wise. Suddenly I feigned an expression of fear, and while the}' 

 looked at me made a bound forward, screaming as I fled. In a 

 moment they were after me, screaming apparently in greatest ter- 

 ror. Soon stopping, however, I burst into laughter, and was imme- 

 diately followed by all excepting the children, who evidently could 

 not see the joke, nor would they return to the giave. During the 

 remainder of my stay here we often examined other graves, but 

 from a warm attachment for the dead, as well as for the living, 

 not a bone was ever removed. F. F. Payne. 



Meteoroogical OiHce, Toronto, Ont. 



Movement of the Higher Atmosphere. 



If this question had been discussed previous to August 27, 1883, 

 there would have been but one view expressed, and that would 

 have been unanimous; namely, that the higher atmospheric lay- 

 ers have very little velocity, and if there is any motion it must 

 necessarily be from the west toward the east. As it is universally 

 admitted, even now, that the upper atmosphere has such a motion 

 everywhere except in the equatorial regions, we need to give here 

 some of the proofs that this law holds good for the latter region 

 also. 



1. A careful and elaborate theoretical discussion has shown the 

 universality of the law. The merest outline of this discussion is 

 as follows. The sun heats up the equatorial region more than the 



circles of latitude on either side, and this causes a bulging, so to 

 speak, of the atmosphere over this region. These air particles 

 will have a tendency to flow off toward the north and south; but 

 a particle going from the equator continually reaches a region 

 that is revolving less rapidly, so that its course will be deflected 

 toward the east. This discussion loses a good deal of its force, 

 however, when we consider how exceedingly tenuous the atmos- 

 phere must be at a height of twenty miles. The barometric 

 pressure would be less than one inch, and any motion of air particles 

 in such a space due to their gravity must be exceedinglj' slow, if 

 they move at all. If we should inquire as to the probable amount 

 of heaping up in the air from the increased heat at the equator, 

 we would see that it must be exceedingly slight. Above the 

 height of seven or eight miles the changes in the temperature 

 would be nothing, as the sun's influence is entirely dissipated 

 there; moreover, the difference in temperature between the equa- 

 tor and a point at 30'^ north latitude would be so slight that this 

 heaping up would be highly problematical. 



3. We find these theoretical computations and views amply 

 borne out by a study of the motion and velocity of the highest 

 clouds. For days at a time no motion at all can be perceived in 

 these clouds at the equator, and whenever it is noted it is always 

 toward the east and very slow. Mr. Abercromby seems to have 

 observed a motion of clouds toward the west, but this must have 

 been seen in clouds at a lower level, which would move westward 

 in the lower trade- wind. The evidence regarding the motion of 

 these highest cirrus clouds comes by special correspondence with 

 physicists at Batavia, Mauritius, the West Indies, and the Philip- 

 pines, and is conclusive as regards this question. 



3. In many cases volcanoes have projected ashes to enormous 

 heights in the atmosphere, both in the West Indies and in Java. 

 Some of these ashes have been carried a comparatively short dis- 

 tance toward the west by the lower trade current, but others have 

 also been borne many hundreds of miles farther eastward by the 

 upper current. A good example of this is given in an eruption of 

 Krakatoa in May, 18b3, in which ashes were carried twelve hun- 

 dred miles to the eastward. 



4 One of the best proofs that can possibly be had of the direc- 

 tion and velocity of the higher atmospheric strata would be seen 

 in the cloud left by a meteor in its passage through the sky. In 

 a recent meteor that fell in Iowa, in a perfectly clear sky, there 

 was a most excellent opportunity of studying this question. This 

 meteor left a beautiful whitish cloud, which was carefully 

 watched by at least two observers. One of them saw it perfectly 

 stationary, a little to the east of the zenith, for more than an 

 hour. The other saw it over two hours, and it appeared to gradu- 

 ally diffuse itself in the atmosphere. It is easy to see that any 

 appreciable motion would have made itself plainly manifest in the 

 long time during which this cloud was visible. 



We see that both theory and observation give no uncertain 

 sound on this question, and up to Aug. 27, 1883, this may have 

 been regarded one of the best ascertained and established facts of 

 meteorology. On this date there occurred one of the fiercest vol- 

 canic outbursts ever known, at Krakatoa in Java. On Aug. 38 

 and succeeding dates there were seen most beautiful sky colorings 

 at various points on the equator to the westward of Krakatoa, 

 each appearance being at a later date the farther west one went. 

 An enthusiastic astronomer at once suggested that a current of 

 eighty miles per hour had borne the ashes of Krakatoa westward, 

 and that the sky- glows were caused by diffraction and reflection 

 from these mechanically distributed ashes. This seems to have 

 been an unfortunate invasion of an unknown field, and must re- 

 sult in disaster. Every effort has been put forth by astronomer 

 and j)hysicist to force such a current, but with two or three ex- 

 ceptions no meteorologist has accepted this view. We have al- 

 ready seen how untenable it must be. There are other insupera- 

 ble objections to this hypothesis, but these against the velocity 

 and direction of the current are the most serious. 



The Krakatoaists have hailed with delight a certain theoretical 

 computation advanced quite recently by Professor Ferrel, and it 

 will be well to pass upon it at some length. Professor Ferrel first 

 shows conclusively that the tendency of the upper layers must be 

 toward the east, and then, referring to the sky-glows, he tries to 



