March 20, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



237 



THE MOUNTAINEERS OF TONKIN. 



Father Pinabel's " Notes sur quelques peuplades 

 sauvages dependant du Tong King ' ' is timely. He de- 

 scribes the mountaineers of the valleys of the Maa 

 and Chou rivers, who are called Phou-Tays or Tays, 

 but are commonly known to the Annamites as ' sav- 

 ages.' They reside in villages, are divided into tribes, 

 each having a chief to wbom great respect and obedi- 

 ence are accorded. Although, since 1834, Annamite 

 mandarins have been appointed to each tribe, yet the 

 Tays refer all disputes among themselves to their own 

 chiefs, whose authority they recognize as superior to 

 that of the mandarins. Medicine as an art is un- 

 known: each family, however, has some recipe whose 

 preparation is a jealously guarded secret. 



The houses are made of bamboo, with roofs covered 

 with palm-leaves ; the whole raised upon piles to four 

 feet above the ground. Below is the poultry-yard, 

 where, if the owner is rich, pigs, oxen, and buffalo 

 are kept with the fowl. The square fireplace is 

 made of boards covered with earth. There is no 

 chimney. Upon the hearth are three large stones, 

 arranged as a tripod, on which, if nearly meal-time, 

 rests a pot of boiling water, which supports a bamboo 

 tube containing rice. This tube is pierced so as to 

 permit the steam to pass through the rice, by which 

 it is delicately cooked. The women stay about the 

 cooking-fire, while the men resort to another fire- 

 place at a lower level. If any one wishes to build a 

 house, all the inhabitants of the village come to help, 

 for no other remuneration than the customary feast 

 when the house is finished. To celebrate this event, 

 the head of the family kills a pig or a beef, and offers 

 wine. The wine is made from rice and bran, and left 

 to ferment for about a month in a jar hermetically 

 sealed. When it is opened, water is added, and the 

 guests seat themselves around it, and suck up the 

 liquor through long reeds. The wine, which is sour 

 but agreeable, contains so little alcohol that it is ex- 

 tremely rare to see a person stupidly drunk. After 

 taking the wine, they gather in groups of four about 

 little tables, and eat. This is followed by drinking 

 tea and smoking. 



Although amiable and conciliatory, these people 

 are somewhat careless and apathetic, without solici- 

 tude for the morrow. Rising with the dawn, they 

 smoke, fritter away some time in the house, start out 

 fasting, and work until ten or twelve, when they re- 

 turn to dine. This repast over, they rest, take a 

 siesta in summer, and in the afternoon return to the 

 mountain fields for a few hours, or fish, hunt, or look 

 for bamboos to make palisades about the fields lest 

 the buffalo eat the newly planted rice. The evening 

 is passed quietly in the corner of the hearth, and 

 about eight o'clock supper is served. There are but 

 two meals a day. The women's duties are more ar- 

 duous than the men's, since, besides those within the 

 house, it is theirs to pick, transport, and store the rice, 

 and to fetch firewood from the mountains. 



After death, they bathe the body, clothe it, and en- 

 velop it in a coverlid and a mat. Sugar-cane, rice, 

 and salt are put into the mouth, — the sugar-cane to 



request the manes of the dead to be favorable, the 

 salt to beg the deceased to preserve a good heart to- 

 wards his parents. A rude coffin is made by felling 

 a tree, cutting out of the trunk a piece of sufficient 

 length, which is split and each half hollowed out. 

 The day and hour of placing the body in the coffin 

 are carefully chosen, for fear of evil consequences to 

 the survivors if an unfortunate choice should be 

 made. Before closing the coffin, the body is uncov- 

 ered, the eyes opened that he may see the heavens, 

 and then the coffin carefully closed. If the means 

 are not at hand to defray the expense of burial, the 

 coffin is preserved in the house, in some cases even 

 for months. 



On the day of the final ceremony, if the family is 

 rich, a buffalo is killed, which is offered to the par- 

 ents and inhabitants of the village, so that they 

 may make charcoal. This charcoal is intended to 

 put into the grave to preserve the coffin from damp- 

 ness. Another buffalo is killed, so that the assist- 

 ants may prepare a little hut to be placed over the 

 tomb. A third buffalo is killed for those who inter 

 the body. The site of the tomb is chosen in the for- 

 est, where it is forbidden to cut trees, or whatever may 

 grow there, for fear the manes of the dead may avenge 

 the outrage. At the end of the ceremony the parents 

 seek the mountain stream. There a diviner has set 

 up two reeds to form a pointed arch, beneath which 

 each parent should pass. They are sprinkled with 

 the water in which the rice was washed, and, after 

 washing their garments, return to the house. At 

 the foot of the ladder, before entering, they tear their 

 hair. The bereaved eat rice from a sort of basket, 

 and leave every thing in the house in disorder to wit- 

 ness to their grief. To the diviner, who reproaches 

 them, they answer, " Our father is dead, and we no 

 more know what to say or do." The diviner then 

 restores the house to order, and sprinkles it with 

 various herbs to chase away evil spirits, that in the 

 future the house may enjoy peace and happiness. 



THE WORK OF THE SIGNAL-OFFICE 

 UNDER GENERAL HAZEN. 



The recent examination by the joint commission 

 of General Hazen and other witnesses, as to the effi- 

 ciency and economy of the present administration of 

 the signal-office, is said to have brought out several 

 statements as to the character of the work done by 

 the weather-bureau, and the progress made by it dur- 

 ing the last few years. The following is a brief sum- 

 mary of these, and especially of Professor Abbe's 

 statement showing the status, and work being pur- 

 sued, during the present fiscal year: — 



The signal-service employs one chief, fourteen 

 second lieutenants, and five hundred enlisted men, of 

 whom one hundred and fifty are sergeants, thirty are 

 corporals, and two hundred and twenty are privates, 

 but all generally known as signal-service observers. 

 These five hundred and fifteen persons constitute the 

 signal-corps proper: but six officers detailed from the 



