LITERARY NOTICES. 



273 



scribed admirably. Among some of the 

 more striking and interesting may be men- 

 tioned handsome headdresses of feathers, 

 ear decorations of tortoiseshell, boar- tusk 

 and red-bean breastplates, stone pounders 

 for sago, paddles, drums, spears barbed along 

 both edges, narrow shields elaborately deco- 

 rated with carving and color, quaint carved 

 figures, and wooden headrests or pillows. 

 Two plates are devoted to portraits showing 

 hairdressing, tattooing, and face ornaments. 

 The coloring of the plates is done in Trap's 

 best style. The second part of the work is a 

 study in geographical distribution of the ob- 

 jects. A brief ethnographic sketch of New 

 Guinea (based on Serrurier's classification) is 

 presented. Four tables are then given in 

 which the distribution of each type of ob- 

 jects is shown, and the fact is made plain 

 that there are distinct areas of culture in the 

 great island. A study of some ten pages 

 follows upon the relationships shown by the 

 ornamentation of the various objects. In 

 1884 Van Rye prepared a complete bibli- 

 ography of New Guinea ; in Part HI of this 

 work Dr. Schmeltz completes this to the 

 present date. 



Messrs. de Clercq and Schmeltz are to be 

 congratulated upon their work. The Nether- 

 lands Government is also to be greatly com- 

 mended for the encouragement and aid 

 which it has given to its publication. Pub- 

 he interest in ethnography is keen and intel- 

 ligent in Holland. 



Geological Survey of Missouri. Vol. II : 

 A Report on the Iron Ores of Missouri. 

 Pp. 365. By Frank L. Nason, Assistant 

 Geologist. Also Vol. Ill : A Report on 

 the Mineral Waters of Missouri. Pp. 256. 

 By Paul Schweitzer, Assistant Geologist. 

 Published by the Geological Survey, 

 Jefferson City, 1892. 



These volumes, which are issued by 

 Arthur Winslow, State Geologist, are ex- 

 haustive treatises upon the subjects of their 

 titles. Mr. Nason complains in his preface 

 that the lack of railroads and good public 

 roads made the survey difficult ; but, never- 

 theless, his patient work, assisted by the co- 

 operation of the intelligent citizens of the 

 iron-ore districts, enabled him to compile a 

 most interesting as well as valuable report. 



In Chapter X of the Report on the Min- 

 eral Waters of Missouri Prof. Schweitzer 

 vol. xliii. — 19 



makes some very interesting comparisons 

 between the domestic waters and the mineral 

 waters of Europe, which will be read with 

 profit by those engaged in the merchandising 

 of the Missouri waters. In these compari- 

 sons, the author was largely assisted by the 

 observations of Prof. Arthur Winslow. Both 

 volumes are elaborately illustrated. Em- 

 bodied with Vol. Ill is a very useful ap- 

 pendix, containing a bibliography of mineral 

 waters, chronologically arranged. 



The Mound-Builders: their Works and 

 Relics. By Rev. Stephen D. Peet, Ph. D. 

 Vol. I, illustrated. Chicago: Office of 

 the American Antiquarian. Pp. 3*70. 



Dr. Peet claims that man's first appear- 

 ance on the American continent was not con- 

 temporaneous with but toward the close of 

 the Glacial period — about ten thousand years 

 ago. As to the appearance of this prehis- 

 toric individual he quotes other students of 

 the subject to prove that the great French 

 archaeologist is in error when he claims that 

 man, immediately after the Glacial period, 

 was "of great stature." His research en- 

 ables him to corroborate Dr. Thomas Wil- 

 son's summing up of the characteristics of 

 palaeolithic man, viz., "He was of short 

 stature and strong of limb." 



The author says, in his first chapter, that 

 " In Great Britain ... we go back of the 

 Celts and Saxons to find the Britons and the 

 Basques, who were comparatively modern." 

 This is an error. Authentic records prove 

 that not only were the Celts pre-Briton, but 

 that the nomenclature of England was de- 

 rived from the Celts of Ireland and Scotland, 

 and was, at that time, precisely similar. 



The chapter entitled The Stone Grave 

 People is of important interest. In this the 

 author devotes several pages to an analysis 

 of the mound-building theory as it applies to 

 America ; and from the specimens of pottery 

 that have been taken from the stone graves 

 he builds a probable and interesting pre- 

 sumption of the facial characteristics of the 

 prehistoric dwellers on this continent. In 

 another chapter he seems to recede from his 

 contention that the first appearance of man 

 in America was after the Glacial period; 

 for he accounts for the scarcity of images, 

 etc., in the South by the assumption that 

 during the dissolution of the glacial forma- 



