1879. | Anthropology. 269 
that at least in the tribes near the Gulf of Mexico were preserved 
some of their customs and some of their lineage, all after the dis- 
covery of America.” 
On page 56, mention is made of trees on the mounds, six hun- 
dred years old, and this remark follows: “Some of the works, 
therefore, must have been abandoned six or eight hundred years 
ago. It is quite possible that they were abandoned earlier, for 
these surviving trees may not have been the first to spring up on 
the abandonment of the work.” f 
It is well to bear in mind the following facts before basing a 
chronological deduction upon trees: 1. The outer rings of a stump 
are very much narrower than the inner rings. Ifa section of the 
outer part of a stump decayed in the centre be counted, and the 
number of rings be multiplied by the ratio of the thickness of this 
section to the radius, it will give the age of the tree far greater 
than it really was. A ratio of increment could easily be obtained 
y examining a large number of stumps. Will not some one 
make the calculation for us? 2. Although the ground. from 
which oak forests are cut, springs up thickly with pines, yet any 
growth which now conceals them. 3. What evidence have we, 
that trees, especially nut-bearing trees, were not allowed to grow 
upon these works by the Mound-builders while they were still in 
possession of them? If this be true, all we can say is, that the 
mound or work was constructed (not abandoned) so many years 
ago. 
These slight queries must not be allowed to detract from the 
value of Judge Force’s highly meritorious work, especially with 
reference to the Eries and Shawnees, the latter of whom seems to 
have been the Gypsies of North America. 
r. J. D. Putnam, Secretary of the Davenport Academy, sends 
us photographs of two mound pipes, one of them representing an 
animal like a bear, the other (mirabile dictu !) an elephant. The 
former creates no surprise ; the latter is so like an elephant in body, 
limbs, head, trunk, all but tusks, that we have no hesitation in 
saying that the maker of it had seen an elephant, and tried to re- 
produce his likeness in this pipe. It was taken froma mound in 
