500 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 



It was Chief Melville's intention to bury the remains upon the bank where 

 they were found, but the natives assured him that in all probabiUty any tomb 

 would be washed away, as when the river broke up in the spring there would be 

 about four feet of water over the entire delta. He, therefore, had them all re- 

 moved to the top of a hill of solidrock about three hundred feet high, about 

 forty versts to the southwest, and there constructed a mausoleum of wood from 

 the wreck of the scow near where they were found. First a gigantic cross was 

 hewn out of a solid piece of driftwood and erected on the crest of the hill, and 

 around it was built a box six feet wide, two feet deep and twenty-two feet long, 

 placed exactly in the magnetic meridian. After the bodies had been placed' 

 therein the box was covered with timbers laid side by side and a ridge pole six- 

 teen feet long framed into the cross five feet above the lid of the coffin, the ends 

 supported by timbers having the same inward slant. Against this ridge pole were 

 placed timbers side by side until the whole formed a true pyramid, and then 

 stones were heaped upon the entire structure, so that it looks like a pyramidal 

 mound of stones surmounted by a cross. The cross itself is twenty-two feet high 

 from the surface of the rock, is one foot square, and the crossbeam is twelve feet 

 long by one foot square. 



Chief Melville has made arrangements to have the pyramid sodded this 

 spring, under the direction of the commander at *Bulun, in case he has finished 

 his search in time to escape before the breaking up of the rivers. The structure 

 is a very creditable affair and conspicuous from the river at a distance of twenty 

 versts. — Cor. N. Y. Herald. 



PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



FIFTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE KANSAS ACADEMY 



OF SCIENCES. 



The Kansas Academy of Science met at Topeka on Thursday, November 

 1 6th, and remained in session until the evening of Saturday, November 19th. 

 The preHminary meeting was held as usual at the office of Dr. A. H. Thorhpson, 

 Thursday afternoon, where only the ordinary routine business was taken up and 

 disposed of. 



The committee on the Mudge monument fund reported the monument com- 

 pleted, the grounds in good shape and a surplus left in their hands. It was de- 

 cided on motion to use this money to take care of the monument and grounds. 



The committee on a State geological survey made a preliminary report and 

 , further discussion and action upon the subject was postponed until Friday. 



A committee was appointed upon the nomination of officers to report 

 Friday. , 



