72 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 155 



Lethaios, was discovered by M. Thenon, and 

 afterwards transferred to the Louvre. Its mean- 

 ing was deciphered by M. Breal in 1878. In 1884, 

 Halbherr, a pupil of Comparetti, discovered on 

 the same site four columns, with additional parts 

 of the inscription. A few months later eight 

 more columns were disclosed by Fabricius. Dr. 

 Halbherr returned again last summer to his task, 

 but no additional inscriptions were found. The 

 text thus gradually brought out is now printed 

 with a translation, and with critical comments, 

 by Professor Merriam, who comes to the con- 

 clusion that the inscription is probably of the 

 period of Solon. Our space will not permit a 

 fuller account of this wonderful monument, in- 

 teresting not only to archeologists, but to students 

 of historical law and the history of civilization. 

 Professor Merriarn is to continue his discussion 

 in the following number of the journal. 



S. Reinach, lately in the French school at 

 Athens, describes a beautiful statue of Artemis, 

 lately discovered, and now in the Tchinley-Kiosk 

 museum in Constantinople. The editor, Dr. 

 Frothingham, has an illustrated article on the 

 revival of sculpture in Europe in the thirteenth 

 century, and begins a series of notes on Christian 

 mosaics. The other main article is by Mr. W. H. 

 Holmes, on the monoliths of San Juan Teoti'iua- 

 can, Mex. Our notice would be incomplete if 

 it did not include a reference to a second article 

 by Reinach on the base of an archaic bronze 

 statue from Mount Ptous, which has an interest- 

 ing and enigmatical inscription. Babelon's ar- 

 ticle, running through fifteen pages, on Greek 

 and Roman numismatics, is also full of interest. 

 But, valuable as are all these special papers, many 

 readers will find still greater advantage in having 

 at command, in a single number of this journal, 

 forty-three pages of archeological news from all 

 parts of the world, including fresh intelligence 

 even from Cambodia and Hindustan. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



Color sense of the Fijians. — Schwarzbach 

 writes from Sydney in regard to the color-sense 

 of the Fijians, which he has been investigating. 

 They have no abstract word for color, but merely 

 color-names. They have one name for black, 

 wind) also includes Fhades of blue, one for red 

 and reddish tints, for white, for green, and for 

 yellow. When asked to define more exactly some 

 intermediate tint, they use some such phrase as 

 * it is like a bird.' Having examined over two 

 thousand Hottentots, Malays, Melanesians, Austra- 

 lians, Maoris, and Polynesians for color-blindness, 

 not a single instance was found ; and the writer 



believes it to be confined to the white race, and a 

 defect due to influences connected with civilized 

 life. 



Some local dialects. — Pinart states that the use 

 of the Aino tongue on the Kurile Islands, already 

 affected by the Aleut population brought there by 

 the Russian fur company, has become practically 

 extinct except on Iterup and Urup, the two prin- 

 cipal islands. Since the cession of the group by 

 Russia to Japan, the influx of Japanese has been 

 such as to greatly dilute the already sparse popu- 

 lation ; and it is also said that on the island of 

 Yesso the use of the Aino tongue is rapidly de- 

 clining, while mixture of blood by marriage with 

 the Japanese is on the increase. The same au- 

 thority announces that in the midst of the moun- 

 tains of the Sierra Tutotepec, in Mexico, especially 

 at the village of Huehuetta, is a tribe known as 

 the Tepehuas, or mountaineers, but who call them- 

 selves Ulmeca. These people, M. Pinart believes, 

 speak a dialect essentially similar to the Totonak, 

 and are probably the last remnant of the Olmek 

 people referred to by early writers. There are 

 about four thousand of them, and their manners 

 and customs are peculiar in many respects. 



Slavery in Madagascar. — In connection with 

 a discussion of the condition of society in Madagas- 

 car, some interesting details have recently been 

 made public in regard to slavery on that island. 

 It appears that somewhat more than half of the 

 population of four millions are in a state of servi- 

 tude. Though the slave-trade has been prohibited, 

 and the individuals brought from Mozambique for 

 sale have been freed by royal edict, there is still 

 in the outlying districts a surreptitious trade in 

 slaves, supposed to amount to several thousand 

 per annum. Of the people recognized as slaves 

 there are two classes, — those of the Hova race, 

 who have become so by the action of law, which 

 prescribes slavery as a punishment for various 

 misdemeanors and for bankruptcy ; and the An- 

 dovos, who are prisoners of war taken in the con- 

 flicts between the Hovas and other indigenes. 

 There are no plantations, and field-work as a 

 regular labor is almost unknown. The free Hovas 

 are not permitted to marry slaves ; and, on the 

 other hand, those of the slaves who have become 

 so on account of debt, etc., are not permitted to 

 marry among the Andovos, who are regarded by 

 them as much their inferiors. Slavery with the 

 Hovas takes mostly the patriarchal form. Apart, 

 from those employed as workmen or domestic 

 servants, many are practically free, only being 

 required to pay tribute, as of a fagot, for instance, 

 on the Hova New-Year. Those who live with 

 their masters eat at the same board, converse 

 Freely with them, and frequently use such terms 



