^34 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XI. No. 267 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



*^* Correspondents are requested to i 



^ brief as possible. The 



nication will be furnished 

 vith the character of 



r required as proof 0/ good faith. 



Twenty copies of the number containing hi 

 yree to any correspondent on request. 



The editor luill be ^lad to publisli any qicer^ 

 the journal. 



Effect of Pressure on Ice. 



An instance of hexagonal figures resulting from pressure seems 

 to be furnished by the ice-masses which were observed in a cross- 

 channel connecting the Pleisse and the Elster at Leipzig. The ice, 

 which was partially dissolved by thawing weather, had been stopped 

 by a beam held by chains across the outlet of the cross-channel. 



This beam was in constant vibration, being influenced by the cur- 

 rents of both streams, that of the Elster being the more active. 

 Hence the ice was constantly subject to gentle shocks as it was 

 pushed up stream by the beam, and as it came back again against 

 it. The ice next to the beam, along the walls, which were of cut 

 ■stone, and farthest from the beam, was of a slushy consistency, but 

 the central portion appeared as roughly shaped hexagons. 



The Elster channel is about twenty feet wide, the other about 

 twelve. C. H. L. 



Leipzig, Feb. iS. 



Vermin-Eaters. 



In re the article on vermin-eaters (Science, March 2) see B.4N- 

 ■CROFT, Native Races of the Pacific States, ii. p. 234 ; i. pp. 431, 

 188 ; ' The voyage of Johannes de Piano Carpini unto the North- 

 •east parts of the world in the yere of our Lord, 1246,' in R. Hak- 

 LUYT, The Principal Navigatio}is, etc. (London, 1599-1600), i. p. 

 59; E.Bryant, What I Saw in California (New York, 1849), 

 p. 154; James Cook, Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, etc., in the 

 Years 1776-80 (London, 1784), ii. p. 305 ; Annual Report of the 

 Sntithsoma7i Institietio?i for 1Z66, \>. ■^06; 'The Eastern Tinneh 

 from a MS. by Bernard R. Ross, Esq.,' in GEORGE Gibbs, Notes on 

 -the Tinneh or Cliepewyan Indians of British a7id Russian Ameri- 

 ca : The Travels of Girolamo Bensoni in America, in 1542-56, 

 translated and edited by A\lmiral W. H. Smyth, 1858 {Publications 

 of the Hakluyt Society, xxi.), p. 9 ; J. J. LABILLARDlicRE, Rela- 

 tion du Voyage a la Recherche de La Pirouse fait par ordre de 

 r AssembUe Constittee?tte, Pe?zda?it les Annees 1791, iy<)2,et Pendant 

 la lire et la ide An?ih de la Rdpublique Fra?i(oise (Paris, 1799), 

 ii. p. 50; W. KlRBY^and W. SpenCE, An Introduction to Ento- 

 )nology, or Elements of the Natural History of Insects (Philadel- 

 phia, 1846), p. 136 ; A. D. Richardson, Beyond the Mississippi 

 (Hartford, 1867), p. 190 ; Andersson, Lake Ngami, p. 17. 



E. Lewis Sturtevant. 



South Framingham, Mass., March 3. 



Landing Eskimo Boats. 



I HAVE just heard from Mr. Henry Elliot of a device invented by 

 the Eskimo for the purpose of landing the skin boat called ' oomi- 

 ak.' It is probably the most primitive form of 'gridiron' or 

 ' way ' known in the world. The Eskimo float is the skin of a seal 

 taken off entire, and arranged so as to be inflated, and fastened to 

 the end of a harpoon-line. This use of the float is well known. 



Mr. Elliot informs me that a party of Eskimo travelling in the 

 oomiaktake along several of these floats, and when the boat is to be 

 landed upon a rough beach, in order to avoid abrasion by the peb- 

 bles, two or three of the floats are inflated, or filled with water; 

 and when the oomiak is about to land, one of these floats is placed 

 under the bow of the boat on the beach. As the oomiak is drawn 

 ashore, other floats are placed along in front of No. i ; so that a 

 series of them acts like a set of rollers, or crib, on which the bottom 

 of the oomiak rests. It is to be understood that these open boats 

 carry frequently a great deal of freight in addition to the passen- 

 gers : therefore, after the men and women have gotten out, the 

 boat, with its freight, would have considerable weight. If there 

 were no means of easing the bottom over the pebbly beach, con- 

 siderable damage would be done by friction. 



In the study of inventions, this is a very important link in the 

 evolution of those processes which have resulted in the modern dry- 

 dock. While speaking of the float and its functions, it may be of 

 interest to state that one or two of them raised on the top of a pole 

 or harpoon-shaft is a signal that the inmates of the boat are anxious 

 to traffic. This I have also from Mr. Elliot. O. T. M. 



Washington, D.C., March 7. 



Dried Heads among the Jivaros. 



In the National Museum are two shrunken heads, with nearly per- 

 fect features, long, glossy hair, and having the mouth closed by 

 means of a long fringe of cords. There is a doubled braided cord 

 fastened to the vertex for suspension, and others hanging down- 

 ward for the attachment of colored feathers. 



There seems to be some confusion in literature about these heads, 

 and I write this note partly to state what I have learned, and partly 

 to ask for light. 



Dried heads are preserved by many South American tribes- 

 Fletcher and Kidder {Brazil, 473, illustr.) say, — 



" The Tamoyos dwelt formerly in the provinces of Rio Janeiro 

 and Minas Geraes, but, being harassed by colonists, were persuaded 

 by the eloquence of Chief Jappy Assu to emigrate north. They 

 migrated more than three thousand miles to the mouth of the Ma- 

 deira. Their descendants are now between the Tapajoz and the 

 Madeira, among the lakes and channels of the Tupinambas. They 

 are now called the Mundrucus, the most warlike Indians in South 

 America. They live in villages, in each of which is a fortress where 

 the men sleep at night. This building is adorned within by the 

 dried heads of their enemies decked with feathers." 



But the Jivaros, who dwell on the Napo River in Ecuador, do 

 more than dry the heads. They remove all the bones, and shrink 

 the heads until they are no larger than a lady's fist, and are as hard 

 and glossy as polished ebony. 



There is an account which says that these people, when they had 

 killed a brave enemy, cut off his head, pounded it with clubs until 

 all the bones within were beaten to a jelly, then removed the bones, 

 and smoked the head until it shrunk to its present proportions. 

 This has always seemed unreasonable, because the pounding would 

 also destroy the skin. 



Mr. Charles H. Knight, an American citizen, went to the Napo 

 country, one hundred and eighty miles east from Quito, in 1 87 1, and 

 spent five years there in business. He procured one of these dried 

 heads, which is now in the United States National Museum, from 

 the Achualas, a band of Jivaros, through an old Indian who had 

 seen the preparation. The heads thus treated are always trophies 

 taken from a slain enemy. An incision is made quite through the 

 skin around the neck, well down toward the shoulders. The skin 

 is then drawn off over the head, just as one would do in flaying an 

 animal, cuttings being made whenever muscular adhesion made it 

 necessary. The features are thus left intact. The skin is then 

 soaked in an infusion of some kind of herb, which Mr. Knight did 

 not procure. The second step consists in filling the skin with hot 

 pebbles and sand, over and over, until it is quite shrunken and dry. 

 The soaking in the decoction, and the shrinking and drying, are 

 alternately practised until the trophy is reduced to the desired pro- 

 portions. The mouth is then sewed up, a cord is passed through 

 the top of the head, and the specimen is hung up in the smoke. 



O. T. Mason. 



Washington, D.C., March g. 



