374 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Sept. 8, 1906. 
This bill provides for the punishment of any 
one who shall appropriate, excavate, injure or 
destroy any monuments or ruins situated on 
lands owned by the Government of the United 
States. It authorizes the President to declare 
historic and prehistoric structures and other ob¬ 
jects of scientific interest situated on Govern¬ 
ment lands, national monumckits, and to estab¬ 
lish about them national reservations. The Sec¬ 
retaries of the Departments under whose juris¬ 
diction these monuments may chance to come 
may, in their dircretion, issue permits for the 
examination of ruins to institutions. 
The relics that are thus protected by law con¬ 
sist of houses, or groups of houses, of cave 
dwellings, of cliff dwellings, of various images 
carved in the natural rock, together with a 
great quantity of movable things, such as imple¬ 
ments made of stone, clay, wood and fibre, and 
ceremonial objects, in great variety. Much of 
this material is pottery of many different sorts, 
and there are interesting forms of textiles. 
It was high time that action such as that taken 
by Congress should have been had, and it is 
hoped that this legislation may put an end to 
the vandalism which the rapid settlement of the 
southwest has made so common. 
One of the first questions likely to be asked 
by any one who sees these relics is as to the 
identity of the people who built these houses. It 
has long been believed that their builders were 
no other than the ancestors of the present 
Pueblo Indians who still inhabit many of them. 
But recent investigations seem to show that this 
is only partly true. There is a very wide dif¬ 
ference between the pottery made by the Pueblos 
of to-day and that excavated from the graves of 
the ancient people, or found about their dwell¬ 
ings. In form, in color, in mode of ornamenta¬ 
tion and in symbolism this pottery is very dif¬ 
ferent from that of the modern people. Differ¬ 
ences such as these might mean merely the 
change which might naturally enough take place 
from century to century, but there is other 
stronger proof of difference in the forms of the 
skulls of the two people. Of the living Pueblo 
the majority are short headed people-—brachy- 
cephalic, the books call it—that is to say, their 
heads are broad, while the ancient people of 
the cliffs and the early rock dwellings are almost 
all, so far as comparison has been made, long 
headed or dolicocephalic. 
The cliff dwellers and the Pueblo dwellers were 
undoubtedly the same people, and the cliff 
houses and the Pueblos were inhabited at the 
same time. It is believed that some of these 
Pueblos have been inhabited for from six to 
eight centuries. This approximation of the age 
of the ruins is reached by what we know of 
the history of the country since the Spanish 
conquest 400 years ago and by what the tradi¬ 
tions of the dwellers in this land tell of the dura¬ 
tion of residence there of their ancestors before 
the coming of the Spaniards. 
More Pigeons Reported. 
Saginaw, Mich., Aug. 27. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: I am just home this morning from the 
last fishing trip of the season. The trout will be 
past and gone, according to the Michigan 
statutes, by the first of September. We went to 
one of our old camping spots that I have not 
visited in several years; we drove in twenty-two 
miles, fixed up a splendid camp and had a fine 
time. We aimed to catch just fish enough to 
eat and bring home for our party of five, about 
forty fish for the folks at home. 
With this little introduction, I want to say 
that on my return I find the inclosed on my 
desk, a clipping from the Duluth News and 
Tribune of Aug 21, which reads: 
“Presumably driven from the north woods by 
the numerous forest fires and the scarcity of 
water, the millions of wild pigeons that recently 
returned to the Minnesota pineries after an ab¬ 
sence of thirty years, are again winging their 
way south, probably going back to the dense 
jungles of South America where they are sup¬ 
posed to have lived in recent years. Tbfe flights 
of these birds were watched yesterday by many 
residents of Duluth. Several who saw the 
pigeons were here thirty years ago before they 
went away and recall that the present flight was 
made in the same manner. Flock after flock 
of the pigeons went sailing by yesterday, ap¬ 
parently following the north shore until reach¬ 
ing Duluth, then winging their way southwest¬ 
erly across the bay until lost to view.” 
It almost takes one’s breath away. But do 
not forget for a minute that there was a time 
when we used to hear of the wonderful ap¬ 
pearance of the sea serpent first in one locality 
and then another, and the newspapers were full 
of the sea serpent. I am inclined to believe that 
there was as much basis for one report as the 
other. Understand, I do not contend, for one 
minute, that the reports of small flocks of wild 
pigeons, half a dozen or a dozen, are without 
foundation, for I myself believe that George 
King saw half a dozen wild pigeons a year ago 
in Northern Michigan; but I do not believe that 
these great big flights that are reported these 
days are accurate reports. I hope I am mistaken. 
I am glad to see Old Angler in print once 
more, for I always feel he knows what he is 
talking about. W. B. Mershon. 
Fluid Lenses. 
Of interest in connection with Mr. Ames’ letter 
about a lens made of ice which should serve as a 
burning glass, is the fact that a Hungarian chem¬ 
ist is reported to have succeeded in producing op¬ 
tical lenses by a simple and cheap process. 
These lenses are not only quite as good as the 
best massive glass lenses in use at present, but 
they can be manufactured of a size three times as 
great as the largest glass lense heretofore made. 
The largest glass lens for use in astronomical ob¬ 
servation that has been made from massive glass 
has a diameter of about five feet. Several years 
were required for its manufacture, while the 
cost was very great. It is said that, by the new 
process, such a lens can be manufactured at a 
cost of under one per cent, of the solid glass lens. 
The price of the very best German lenses, about 
ten inches in diameter, is now about $1,400, while 
the price of a similar lense made by the new 
process would be not far from $30. Lenses for 
use in photography, for opera glasses, reading 
glasses and so on, can be produced at a corres¬ 
pondingly small cost. 
The new lenses consist of a fluid inclosed be¬ 
tween two unusually hard glass surfaces similar 
to watch crystals. The combination of the glass 
and the fluid is such that the two unite to over¬ 
come the defects which are common in ordinary 
lenses. The fluid inclosed within the glass is, of 
course, .so protected that it cannot escape, and 
that no air can reach it. It does not evaporate 
and is not affected by time or by temperature. 
The lenses described are the outcome of years of 
experimentation, and are announced as in all 
respects successful. They are already manufac¬ 
tured in Austria and are attracting attention both 
on account of their utility and the small price 
at which they are sold. It is understood that they 
have been patented in other countries and will 
soon be introduced. 
Mr. Bryan and the Crows. 
Visitors are requested not to leave articles of jewelry, 
etc., on the dressing table, or near the open windows, as 
they are liable to be carried away by the crows. 
This notice posted in all the bedrooms of the 
Galle Face Hotel in Colombo, Ceylon, is quite 
important, as visitors soon discover. It is em¬ 
phasized by the groups of sable-hued monster 
crows visible from every window. 
It is related at the hotel that one woman guest 
lost a diamond ring, another a gold watch and 
chain, and a gold chain purse. The crows flew 
in and stole them right before the women’s eyes. 
The purse and watch were recovered, but the 
ring could not be found, although a tame crow, 
who acts as a sort of private detective for the 
hotel, searched the trees and the beach for days 
and put the most hardened crows through a 
severe cross-examination in Ceylon crowese. 
Now the clerk may or may not have mentioned 
these things to William Jennings Bryan when he 
stayed at the hotel. If they did, he omitted to 
mention to Mr. Bryan that another trick of the 
crows was to share the “Chota Hazin” early 
morning breakfast with the hotel guests. Mr. 
Bryan’s, breakfast went mostly to the crows, any¬ 
way. 
The Nebraskan statesman was sitting in his 
room garbed in heliotrope silk pajamas when the 
soft-footed native servant brought in breakfast. 
It consisted of tea, bananas, papeii and toast. 
Mr. Bryan, absorbed, forgot about the meal after 
the servant retired. 
Suddenly there was a loud flapping of wings, 
and a dusky object flew in at the window, seized 
a banana and got away. 
Before Mr. Bryan could recover from his 
astonishment, a second crow had got away with 
the toast, and four others sat on the broad win¬ 
dow ledge looking for a chance at the remainder 
of the fruit. When Mr. Bryan seized a malacca 
cane and made passes at them,' the birds flew 
to the tops of the neighboring palm trees, and 
said dreadful things in the crow tongue. 
While Mr. Bryan ate what was left the quartet 
and chorus sat in the trees and told each other 
their opinion of him.—New York Times. 
The Mongoose in Hawaii. 
Some years ago the mongoose was imported 
into the islands for the purpose of exterminating 
rats in the cane fields. Various methods were 
adopted to rid the fields of the vermin, but all 
signally failed until the little animals were 
brought from Jamaica. They are repeating in 
Hawaii what was done by them in the island of 
Jamaica. 
After destroying rats in the cane fields the 
mongoose have attacked birds and fowls, materi¬ 
ally decreasing their number by eating eggs and 
the young. As a consequence there are but few 
quail and turkey on the islands. Especially is 
this noticeable in Hawaii, in the vicinity of the 
volcano, where previous to the introduction of 
the mongoose species of this game were plenti¬ 
ful. The country in that locality is simply alive 
with the pests, for they have proven to be that. 
They attack as well young fowl and sucking 
pigs, and have been known to attempt to carry 
off grown animals, after first causing their death 
by strangulation. 
As the mongoose finds the rats, toads, and 
crabs disappearing, it attacks sitting fowls and 
carries off their eggs, and kills young pigs, kids, 
lambs, calves, pups, kittens, poultry and game 
birds, destroys fruits and vegetables, and is sus- || 
pected of sucking sugar cane, eats meat and salt 
provisions...and catches fish.—Pacific Commercial 
Advertiser. 
The Mad Barber. 
There were five of us hunting and fishing in 
the Queensland bush (says a traveler), when one 
rainy day a stranger appeared. He said he \Vas 
a tramp barber; and as none of us had been 
shaved for a fortnight, we gave him half-a-day's 
work. About four hours after he had left us 
a band of six men rode up, and the leader in¬ 
quired if we had' seen a tall, roughly dressed 
man pass that way. We told him of the barber, 
and he looked from man to man, and exclaimed : 
“Good gracious, but you are all freshly shaved!” 
“Yes, we gave the barber a job.” “And he 
shaved every one of you?” “He did, and did it 
well.” “Boys, do you hear that?” shouted the 
man, as he turned to his companions. “What 
of it?” asked one of our party. “Why, he went 
mad yesterday, and killed a man in a barber’s 
over at Unadilla; and we’re after him to put 
him in an asylum.” They rode away at a gallop, 
and next morning returned to our camp with the 
man, who had been captured after a hard fight, 
and was tied on his horse. He seemed to re¬ 
member us when he was given a drink of water; 
and as he handed the cup back, he quietly re¬ 
marked: “I say, gentlemen, please excuse me. 
I meant to finish off the last man I shaved, but 
I got thinking of something else, and it slipped 
my mind.”-—Public Opinion. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
any neivsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
