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1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 1271 
interior plateau, In the mountains, at an elevation of over 5000 
feet, it sometimes sinks to 11.5° C. The nomads of the steppes 
never cultivate the soil, are incurably lazy, wear only a piece of 
skin or simple cloth for clothing, and suffer greatly from phthisis 
and rheumatism, brought about by the action of the sudden 
changes of temperature on their undefended bodies. The other 
maladies most common among the Comalis are ophthalmia, cu- 
taneous affections and scrofula. They have learned from the 
Arabs the use of a few herbs, but the universal remedies are 
bleeding and cauterization. Almost every native is tatooed all 
Over with burns and scarifications. 
€ principal interest of this journey is ethnographic. The 
oldest human vestiges consist of heaps of shells mixed with 
Dones of fishes and turtles, and strewn with flint implements of 
various kinds and remains of rude pottery. M. Revoil concludes 
that these remains must antedate 1700 B. C., and bases this opin- 
ion upon the fact that the Egyptian paintings of the tomb of 
Beikmara and those of the temple of Deir-el-Bahari show the 
inhabitants of Poum, that is, the Comalis, in the possession of 
tals. M. Revoil believes these mounds to be the work of the 
Ichthyophagi and Troglodytes of the old historians; while the 
more recent mounds of Hais, with their green and blue enameled 
pottery, are pronounced of the Ptolomean era; and the red pot- 
tery, amphoras, glass, etc., especially those found at Olok, seem 
to be of Roman age. M. Revoil believes that contact with the 
r Roman more than Arab, The men wear still the sagum ar- 
sinveticum, while the women are attired in the degou, which is 
fastened at the shoulder, and resembles the peplum of the Greeks. 
a wedding or a marriage they carry the dazrabad or censer, 1n 
Which they consume a resinous gum which gives out an odor 
like that of Russia leather. 
GEOLOGY AND PALAIONTOLOGY. : 
M. JuLes Marcou on THE GEOLOGY OF CALIFORNIA.—~if a 
recent issue of the Bulletin of the French Geological Society, M. 
Marcou reviews the work done by American pieces and adds 
