1885.] Condition of the Yellowstone National Park. 1037 
ficial stones of the Aztecs. I present this instance as at least a 
plausible case. 
The Texcocan monarch is said to have climbed the 500 steps 
that led to the summit to worship an idol that stood there, and 
it is said that this idol, hewn from the living rock, was the image 
of a coyote, the emblem of Nezahualcoyotl, the King. 
Since, however, human sacrifice is acknowledged to have been 
extensively practiced by these people, it strikes me that in no 
other locality could we more readily expect to find the material 
evidence of the existence of such a practice as on the summit of 
this wonderful hill, a point which overlooked the whole valley of 
Mexico, and which seems to have been almost wholly devoted to 
the service of the gods. 
ier n 
THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE YELLOWSTONE 
NATIONAL PARK. 
BY E. D: CQPE. 
iew has fully justified the enterprise of Dr. Hayden in 
urging upon Congress the project of the creation of the 
Yellowstone National Park; and the protection of this and other 
especially interesting Serta of our country by the arm of the 
National Government has met with almost unanimous approval. 
The function of the Yellowstone Park may be looked on as 
three-fold: first, as a place of permanent preservation of the gey- 
sers and hot springs and their deposits; second, as a place of 
protection of the game of the country; and third, as a place of 
recreation for tourists. The first of these uses has always been 
uppermost. The second has been more and more engaging the 
attention of Congress, and the NATURALIST published an editorial 
in its issue of July, 1884, pressing on public attention the ne- 
cessity of making it a more complete preserve for game than 
it had previously been. This article was reprinted; and later, 
Our contemporary, Science, took up the subject editorially. As 
a probable consequence of this agitation a bill was introduced 
into Congress, last winter, providing for a more complete super- 
Vision of the territory of the park. Ten men witha gamekeeper 
and the superintendent, constitute the present force. As this was 
manifestly insufficient to police a territory of such great extent, 
the new bill contemplated the addition of fifteen men to the num- 
