98 



and all the different nations of living things have their own 

 proper place in the world, and the world would be incomplete and 

 imperfect without them." 



I once asked an old Omaha what was the feeling of Indians 

 when they saw white men wantonly slaughtering the buffalo. 

 He dropped his head and was silent for a little while, seeming 

 to be overcome by a feeling of sadness. When he spoke again 

 it was in a low, sad tone, seeming filled with shame that such 

 a thing could be done by human beings. He said: "It seemed 

 to us a most wicked, awful thing." 



Again I was talking with an old man of the Omaha nation. 

 He, recalling the old days and comparing them with the pres- 

 ent time, said: "\\'hen I was a youth the country was very 

 beautiful. Along the rivers were belts of timberland, where 

 grew cottonwoods, maples, elms, ash, hickory and walnut trees, 

 and many other kinds. Also there were various kinds of vines 

 and shrubs. And under these grew many good herbs and 

 beautiful flowering plants. In both the woodland and the 

 prairie I could see the trails of many kinds of animals and hear 

 the cheerful songs of birds of many kinds. When I walked 

 abroad I could see many forms of life, beautiful living creatures 

 of many kinds which Wakanda had placed here; and these were 

 after their manner walking, flying, leaping, running, playing all 

 about. But now the face of all the land is changed and sad. 

 The living creatures are gone. I see the land desolate, and I 

 suffer an unspeakable sadness. Sometimes I wake in the night 

 and I feel as though I should suffocate from the pressure of this 

 awful feeling of loneliness." 



Museum of the American Indian, 

 October 7, 1927. 



THE FLORA OF SIBERIA* 



T. D. A. COCKERELL 



After we left Moscow on the Transiberian Railroad, we crossed 

 Russia by way of Vologda, Viatka and Perm, reaching the Sib- 



* The identification of plants mentioned are based on my knowledge of 

 the genera and some of the species, the notes from the literature I brought 

 with me, and identifications kindly made for me at the Baical Station of the 

 University of Irkutsk, by the botanists W. Jasnitsky and Nina A. Epoff. 



