174 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. X. No. 244 



L^on des Avancher's discovery of the dwarfish Wa Berikomo, who 

 are said to be only four and one-half feet high, and by D'Abbadie's 

 visit to the Maze-MoUea, who live a little farther to the north. 



Herodotus tells of a dwarfish black people on the banks of the 

 Niger. His description of the land still holds good ; but, instead of 

 negroes, Berbers and Tuareg inhabit those regions. At the present 

 time the most northern place in West Africa which is inhabited by 

 dwarfs is Tenda-Maje, where they were met with by MoUien m 

 1818. 



Pliny mentions, besides the dwarfs on the sources of the Nile, 

 others living in what is now south-eastern Belutchistan, where the 

 Brahui, a people of Dravida lineage, are found. Ktesias speaks of 

 pygmies who inhabited Central India. Mr. Rousselet found in that 

 region the dwarfish Bandra-Lok, who live in the Vindhias Moun- 

 tains. 



De Ouatretages considers all Asiatic dwarfish tribes as one group, 

 which he calls Negrito, while the African ones are called Negrillo. 

 His researches lead him to the conclusion that the traces of this race 

 are found from India to the eastern extremity of New Guinea, and 

 from Ceylon throughout India, Farther India, the Philippines, to 

 Japan. In most regions they are mixed with other races. He con- 

 siders the Dravida one of the most characteristic results of this 

 mixture. It is only on the Andaman Islands and a few other iso- 

 lated points that the pure race is still in existence. The author 

 shows that individuals of Negrito type occur among the Pariahs of 

 India, and that isolated communities in many parts of south-eastern 

 Asia have retained the anthropological character of this dwarfish 

 race. 



De Ouatrefages considers the Negrito of all these widely sepa- 

 rated regions one race, which originated in southern Asia. When 

 the yellow race migrated southward and the white race eastward, 

 they were compelled to take refuge on the islands, and to migrate 

 to more southerly countries. Thus they populated the Eastern 

 Archipelago, and crossed to Africa. 



CoELHO ON Romanic Dialects. — A recent number of 

 the Boletim da Sociedade de Geographia de Lisboa contains a third 

 article by Adolpho Coelho on Romanic dialects of Africa, Asia, and 

 America. The principal object of these researches is a study of 

 the development of languages by isolation and admixture of foreign 

 elements, and much new and interesting material has been collected 

 by the author. There is a wide field for researches of this kind in 

 North America. Coelho gives some examples of the French of 

 Louisiana, and a brief bibliography of jargons based on English and 

 other Teutonic tongues, many of which are spoken on our conti- 

 nent. The study of these would be an important goal for an 

 American dialect society, the organization of which was lately pro- 

 posed. 



Metlakahtla. — The American Magazine for July contains 

 a paper by Z. L. White on Metlakahtla, the famous missionary 

 station on the north-west coast of America, which contains some 

 interesting information on the Indians of that mission. The same 

 subject is treated in the recently published book, ' The Story of 

 Metlakahtla,' by S. Wellcome. Though the purpose of both publica- 

 tions is to extol the work of Mr. A. Duncan, the missionary of the 

 village, and to support him in a bitter contest against the Canadian 

 Government, some valuable ethnological information is contained 

 in them. The horrible cannibal ceremonies of the Tsimpshian, 

 the inhabitants of Metlakahtla, are described according to Mr. 

 Duncan's statements. The initiation of young men who are to 

 become members of this order takes place as follows : Early in the 

 morning the novices would be out on the beach, or on the rocks, in 

 a state of nudity. Each had a place in front of his own gens. 

 After he had crept about, jerking his head and screaming for some 

 time, a party of men would rush out, and, surrounding him, would 

 begin singing. There are three orders among the Tsimpshian and 

 their neighbors, — the cannibals, the dog-eaters, and the dancers. 

 The dog-eating order occasionally carried a dead dog to their 

 novice, who forthwith began to tear it in the most dog-like manner. 

 The party of attendants kept up a low, growling noise, or a whoop, 

 which was seconded by a screeching noise made by means of an 

 instrument which they believe to be the abode (or voice ?) of a 

 spirit. In a little time the naked youth would start up again, and 



proceed a few yards in a crouching posture, with his arm pushed 

 out behind him, and tossing his flowing black hair. All the while 

 he is earnestly watched by the groups around him ; and when he 

 pleases to sit down, they again surround him and begin singing. 

 This kind of performance goes on, with several little additions, for 

 some time. Before the novice finally retires, he takes a run into 

 every house belonging to his gens, and is followed by his train. 

 When this is done, in some cases he has a ramble on the tops of the 

 same houses, during which he is anxiously watched by his attend- 

 ants, as if they expected his flight. After a while he comes down, 

 and they then follow him to his den, which is signified by a rope 

 made of red-cedar bark being hung over the doorway, so as to pre- 

 vent any person from ignorantly intruding into its precincts. An- 

 other remarkable performance noticed by Duncan is the following : 

 At low tide an illuminated disk with the figure of a man upon it 

 was lit up at the water's edge. It represented the moon, and the 

 Indians suppose that the shamans are there holding converse with 

 the man in the moon. Metlakahtla is at the present time a thriving 

 village, with a saw-mill and canneries. It was founded in 1862 by 

 a party of Christian Indians, who were converted by Mr. Duncan, 

 and emigrated with him from Fort Simpson. In course of time 

 disagreements arose between Mr. Duncan and the Church Mission- 

 ary Society, to which he belonged. In behalf of his Indians, and 

 for developing the resources of his village, it was Duncan's policy 

 to keep new settlers out of the northern coast of British Columbia, 

 and his influence helped greatly to suppress the disastrous whiskey 

 trade. But, as the white population on the coast was increasing, 

 his policy proved detrimental to the interests of the new settlers, as 

 Duncan had practically attained a ruling power over the whole 

 country, from the boundary of Alaska to Vancouver Island. This 

 was the first reason for his disagreement with the Church Mission- 

 ary Society and with the Canadian Government. The outcome of 

 these disputes is the resolution of the Metlakahtlans to emigrate to 

 Alaska. 



BOOK -REVIEWS. 

 Die Culturvolker Alt-Amerika's. By Dr. GuSTAV Bruehl. 

 Cincinnati, Benziger Bros. 8°. 



Dr. Gustav Bruehl's recent work on the civilized nations of 

 ancient America is of great interest, as it is a comprehensive review 

 of the culture of the Mexicans, Maya, Chibcha, and Peruvians from 

 the point of view first expressed and developed by Morgan and 

 Bandelier. While the Spanish chroniclers considered the consti- 

 tution of these states as similar to those of Europe, Briihl endeavors 

 to show, by an enormous mass of testimony compiled from all 

 available sources, that there were no despots and no feudal institu- 

 tions, but that the gens was the sole basis of the social organiza- 

 tion of all American nations, even in the highest state of their civili- 

 zation. The first part of the work was printed as early as 1875 ; 

 but while it was in progress the views of the author were so much 

 modified, and the amount of new material added by his own exca- 

 vations and researches in Central America and furnished by other 

 writers on this subject grew to be so large, that the publication was 

 delayed for twelve years. The first part of the book deals with the 

 ruins of the Mississippi valley, of Mexico, Chiapas and Yucatan, 

 Central America, Colombia, and ancient Peru, and with those in 

 the region of the Rio Colorado and Rio Grande. As it was printed 

 in 1875, some of the statements made at this place must be modi- 

 fied ; but nevertheless it is an extremely valuable handbook on this 

 subject, on account of the clearness of the arrangement, and the 

 care the author has taken in giving the sources of his information. 

 A review of the methods of writing and of the calendar concludes 

 the first part. 



The second part is far more important, as here the author uses 

 his extensive knowledge of the subject for proving the theory that 

 the division into gentes was the foundation of the states of all 

 American nations. He discusses the separate centres of civiliza- 

 tion, and expresses his view that the heroes who first brought civili- 

 zation to the rude tribes became their deities. He discusses the 

 distribution of property, particularly that of land, the plan of the 

 towns and houses, the giving of names, the religious worship, and 

 finds his views confirmed in afl these phenomena. Therefore the 

 chapter on the social organization is by far the most important one 



