250 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



implements, for the memory of it lives in universal tradition 

 among them. At no very remote date a Tubal-Cain appeared, 

 and since his day the iron-headed hoe has found its way into the 

 remotest hamlet, and the national ingenuity has found exercise in 

 fashioning and ornamenting weapons of war. The improvements 

 made in the manufacture of implements of husbandry and tools 

 for the craftsman are insignificant compared with the advance in 

 the manufacture of spear and battle-axe. The iron they smelt 

 from its native ore by a primitive process of blast furnace, and 

 then work and temper it much as was done by our country smiths 

 two or three hundred years ago. I have seen spears of African 

 manufacture, made by Baralong smiths, tempered so finely that 

 it required a good Sheffield blade to turn their edge. This is, 

 however, exceptional, and the vast majority of articles made are 

 soft, and the iron coarse in texture when broken. In woodwork 

 their progress has been slower, and beyond polishing spear-han- 

 dles and the manufacture of musical instruments, pillows — a regu- 

 lar article of commerce — pipes, walking-sticks, and mallets, not 

 much is done, the manufacture of canoes, their greatest triumph, 

 being always excepted. — Journal of the Anthropological Institute. 



[Concluded.] 



THE BAY OF FUNDY TIDES AND MARSHES. 



By FKANK H. EATON. 



CONCERNING the Bay of Fundy the school-books generally 

 note the single fact that " here the tides rise higher than any- 

 where else in the world." But so meager a reference to what is in 

 itself an imposing exhibition of gravitational energy, helpful as it 

 may be in a mnemonic way to the learner of geographical cata- 

 logues, gives no hint either of the extraordinary series of physio- 

 graphical conditions which are the cause of this phenomenon or 

 of those which it creates. The Bay of Fundy is remarkable not 

 only for the grandeur of its tidal phenomena, but equally so for 

 the exquisitely picturesque sculpturing of its coast line, and the 

 diversity, range, and richness of geological evidence thereby re- 

 vealed ; for the unique character of the extensive alluvial tracts 

 that skirt its head waters, and for the wealth of legend, tradition, 

 and romantic incident embodied in the early history of the people 

 that dwell about it. 



What is the cause of the extraordinary height of the Bay of 

 Fundy tides ? What part have they played in the creation of the 

 Acadian marshes ? Whence have been derived the materials for 

 this enormous alluvial deposit ? And what is the source of its ex- 



