Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/150

138 specimen of hornblende-biotite-granite, about five feet long and three feet wide. It is also called "Waukau," or a mystery. "The hunting-ground of the clan claiming the altar was upon the St.Croix River; and invariably before starting on an expedition they would visit Eyah Shah and leave an offering of gayly painted feathers, or a duck, or a goose, or a haunch of venison, and after a few simple ceremonies they would go on their way. But twice a year the clan would meet more formally, in order to paint the stone, which they did with vermilion, or, as some say, occasionally with the blood of their enemies which had been saved up for the purpose. When the painting was done they would trim the bowlder with feathers, flowers, and other ornaments, and dance about it before sunrise, with chants and prayers for successes from the mysterious spirit of the rock. The rock was last known to have been visited in 1862, just before the massacre, although the stripes have been renewed, possibly by the white men, "By the compass, Eyah Shah lies exactly north and south. It is located just twelve paces from the present river-bank. The north end is ornamented by a design representing the sun—a rudely drawn face surrounded by fifteen rays. These markings are interesting, because, if not actually made in their present condition by the Indians, they were evidently meant to reproduce their original work."

The Order of Children's Studies.—In a paper on this subject read before the Education Society, Mrs.Bryant says that the order of studies should depend both on the order of the development of faculty and the order of logical dependence in knowledge. Subjects become interesting to a child as his intellect develops a capacity for dealing with them; hence, the order of interest in studies for children should be taken as a clew to the natural order of studies for them. Children are interested in the superficial aspects of Nature. Nature-knowledge should be one of their first studies, developing gradually into natural science as intellect ripens and the age of reason draws near. Children are also interested in social objects so far as these appeal to their rudimentary faculties of emotion and imagination. History and literature of the elementary kind should find a place among their studies, and thus preparation may be made for a scientific study of the same subjects later on. The mother-tongue is profoundly interesting to children, and they are, to some extent, interested in foreign languages, the acquisition of which is at the most quite possible to them. Hence the study of the English and of a foreign language may take an early place in the curriculum. The increasing complexity and the increasing inwardness which characterize mental development throughout bring about at last that capacity for and impulse in search of general knowledge which distinguish the adult from the childish mind. Then the order of studies is dominated by the logical sequence of sciences.

Prehistoric Monuments in Southeastern Africa.—A feature of the region of Eastern Africa south of the Zambesi, which has hitherto escaped the attention it deserves, is the evidence that is cropping out day by day, in the shape of extensive ruins, of the existence of a prehistoric civilization and an ancient flourishing state in the country. The ruins are of such a character as to indicate the former existence, not merely of one or two cities, but of a considerable dominion. Ruins of cities have been discovered which have stood, if the difference in climate be considered, nearly as well as the most enduring monuments of Egypt, and better perhaps than those of Assyria, the wear and tear of time. In the imperfect state of our knowledge of the country, it is impossible to fix upon any particular mass of ruins and say that it was the chief city of the ancient state. The ruins of Zimbabye are of great extent, and most remarkable for the strange shapes they present as well as for their enduring structure. Walls twelve feet thick at the base, and tapering upward to a height, even now, of thirty feet, constructed wholly of small hewed blocks of granite, put together without mortar, and in which are imbedded blocks of stone eighteen and twenty feet in length, apparently to support a gallery, sufficiently testify to the ingenuity and industry of their builders. North of these, about Manica, many ruins are to be found, and no less than three