208 



NATUEAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



Songs and dances entered largely 

 into the ceremonies of this occas- 

 ion, which were closed by the fa- 

 mous Succotash Dance. The pipe 

 of peace was usually smoked by 

 tne bead men or each nation. 



The fourth was .given in honor 

 of the corn harvest. Three days 

 were allotted to each of the pre- 

 ceding festivals. 



The last and most important fes- 

 tival of the year was held in Jan- 

 uary or February in honor of the 

 return of the hunters laden with 

 meat and skins, aud was celebrat- 

 ed with great pomp and ceremony. 

 This festival lasted many days, ac- 

 cording to the opinion of the man- 

 agers. 



The men wore upon their shoul- 

 ders a robe of deer or bear skin 

 with the fur next their bodies, the 

 outside being covered with a vari- 

 ety of painted designs. They as 

 well as the women adorned their 

 necks and arms with beads and or- 

 naments of exquisite workmanship. 

 Around villages was a stockade of 

 palisades, from ten to fifteen feet 

 high, to protect them from ene- 

 mies. Considering the tools they 

 had with which to build these 

 stockades, they would almost com- 

 pare with the pyramids of Egypt. 

 Traces of them may be seen to this 

 day, in the shape of a deep trench 

 inside of which relics are found. 



When an Indian died, they plac- 

 ed the body in its grave, wrapped 

 in all the blankets and skins poss- 

 essed by the dead while living. 

 Beside the body was placed a ket- 

 tle of trinkets, some food, a pipe 

 and some weapons. The burial 

 grounds of their forefathers were 

 guarded with reverential awe, and 

 were defended with vain determin- 

 ation. 



The names of their months are 

 these: Cuerano, Weerhemska, 

 Heemskan, Onertacka, Onertack, 

 Hagarert, Jakouveratta, Hatter- 

 honagat, Genhendasta, Digoien- 

 jattha. Of January and December 

 they take no note, being of no use 

 to them. 



They believed that the spirits of 

 the dead visited their neighbor- 

 hood during the hours of darkness, 

 and that they could distinguish 

 their voices in the sighing of the 

 wind in the forest, or in the cry of 

 wild beasts as they stealthily ap- 

 proached the village in search of 

 food. When a panther's shriek 

 was heard, they recognized the 

 voice of a departed relative, full 

 of warning and weird omens: when 

 the gentle sobbing of the wind in 

 the pine trees was heard, they rec- 

 ognized the voice of a departed 



chief, full of upbraiding and re- 

 proach. In the merry singing of 

 the birds they heard the voices of 

 thchappy dead, telling them not to 

 weep for .those who rested amid 

 the beautiful flowers of the Spirit 

 Land. 



Alas, Alas! the Indian is gone, 



A mortal of the past is he; 

 He never will couie to reclaim his own 



From the mountain to the sea. 



— Bert C. Ames. 



Gold Beneath the Lava. 



The great lava flow covers a sec- 

 tion of country in Idaho 400 miles 

 in length by forty to sixty miles in 

 width. Its lies in the southeast- 

 ern part of the State, on and along 

 the course of the Snake River, and 

 mostly on the north side of that 

 stream. 



After flooding the great plain ly- 

 ing to the southward, the lava turned 

 and flowed backward to the north. 

 There it flowed into the mouths of 

 the valleys lying between the foot 

 hills, filling all the streams that 

 flowed out toward the south. The 

 streams thus checked and dammed 

 presently found passages beneath 

 the porous lava, and now flowun- 

 der it from thirty to fifty miles, to 

 reappear as large springs or to 

 burst forth in cascades and tumble 

 down the walls of basalt that bor- 

 der Snake River. On the line of 

 the back flow, up toward the north- 

 ern foot hills, lies the most ragged 

 and forbidding portion of the great 

 lava plain. 



These lava flows covered rivers, 

 creeks, canyons, valleys, and even 

 basin regions filled with low hills. 

 Many of the streams, gulches, flats 

 and basins in the country surround- 

 ing the lava-covered section on all 

 sides have been wonderfully rich in 

 gold, wherefore it is reasonable to 

 suppose that many of those cover- 

 ed by the lava are also rich in the 

 same way. 



The Snake or Shoshone forms 

 the great center of the Idaho river 

 system. It has a course of 850 

 miles within the State, and, with 

 its branches, drains nearly the 

 whole country. The Clearwater, 

 the Salmon, the Weiser, the Fay- 

 ette, the Boise, the Lemhi, the 

 Ow3'hee, and other rivers, tribu- 

 tary to the Snake, were wonder- 

 fully rich in gold. The Yankee 

 fork of the Salmon and many oth- 



er creeks were exceeding rich in 

 the yellow metal. Rich placiers 

 were found in the streams that 

 formed the Boise River in 1862; 

 in the year following in the tribu- 

 taries of the Owyhee and many 

 other places. The valleys of the 

 Weiser and Fayette, constituting 

 what was known as the "Boise 

 Basin," was one of the richest 

 placer regions ever found. 



What are called basins in Idaho 

 are not bowl-shaped depressions, 

 as many suppose, but are sections 

 of low country surrounded by 

 large mountains. Within the ba- 

 sins are many hills and creeks. 

 The Florence Basin was astonish- 

 ingly rich and many others were 

 little behind it as producers. Prior 

 to 1868 these basins and other sur- 

 face diggings in little flats and on 

 gulches produced $45,000,000. Up 

 to 1873, by which time most of the 

 famous placers had been worked, 

 the yield from the surface diggings 

 amounted to $75,000,000. Then 

 began the rich discoveries in 

 quartz, but placier mining is still 

 continued and occasionally rich 

 finds are made. 



From what has been said of the 

 rich deposits of gold in the basins, 

 valleys, gulches, flats and streams 

 of Idaho, it is reasonable to sup- 

 pose that under the great lava flow 

 covering an immense area — not 

 less than 20,000 square miles — in 

 the heart of the auriferous region, 

 must lie many exceeding rich de- 

 deposits of gold. 



The gold places of both Califor- 

 nia and Idaho are countless ages 

 older than the lava flows. In Cal- 

 ifornia the channels of the ancient 

 rivers beneath the lava are much 

 richer than those of the modern riv- 

 ers and places. This is because 

 the channels of the ancient rivers 

 had served as bedrock sluices for 

 untold ages before the disturbing 

 lava flows began. The present 

 rivers of California received the 

 greater part of their gold by their 

 cutting across and carrying away 

 great sections of the rich channels 

 of the ancient rivers. — Dan De 

 Quille in the Engineering and Mill- 

 ing Journal. 



