Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/221

 Moqiii Icdiaus. It. ia a faBciDating book, both to the Bcientiflc and general reader. With a graphic pen he carries jou with him on a long trip replete with thrilling incidents, over re- giona seldom visited. The book savors rather of a congiome ration of detnched notes, than a compilation. Perhaps too much was attempted in trying to give a popular account of hia trip, written on the spot, which is so valuable for scientific purposes. lie seems also to have fallen into the mistake of 8up[x»sing his rea<i- ers to be cut off from books, as he unfortu- nately was, and has filled the larger part of three chapters (pp. 106-225) with quotations which it would have been sufficient to give by refer- ence. The minuteness of detail with which he deaciibes everj' circumstance seems unne- cessary while his travels were in not unknown regions; but they become invaluable when he describes the snake-dance, and his visits to the various Woqui villages. The book consists of an account of a dance in one of the pueblos on the Rio Grande, which is curious IVom its mixture of old heathen ceremonies with the Roman forma introiluceii by the Spanish priests; then of his trip through a corner of the Navajo reservation to the Moqui village of Ilualpi ( pronoun ced Wolpi), where the snake- dance was witnessed; and then of visits to the other pueblos of the Moquis. These Moquia occupy several isolated meaas in north-eastern Arizona, and are by far the most |irimili(e of all the Pneblo tribes. They were not atTected even by the Spanish civilization, as were all the other tribes, including the closely related ZuSis, and are to-day almost what they were four hundred or more yeare ago. Their life, habits, costumea, aud indnstrii's are described with an accuracy aud minut«n wb h ders the book invaluable to th thn 1 gi t a d ^'et so entertainingly that no an f 1 to be inter-
 * uid yet preserve the flavor of the note-book

ested. The snake-dan to b the last

remnant of what was o a Im t miversal worship among the t b f N th \merica. Owing to fortunate ciuumstanies and his own coolness and untiring perseverance, Capt. Bourke was able to see even the secret ceremo- nies of this dance, which no white man has seen lii'fore, or will be likely to see so thoroughly again.

The plates accompanying the work are ad- mirable reproductions of the artist's paintings. It is sufticietit to say that the paintings arc by Moran, and arc accurate in color and drawing, as well as spirited and realistic. — a quality generally absent in illustrations of Indians. They alone are worth the cost of the book.

��NOTES AND NEWS.

Tut iimI«oraloBlcaI observatory at Tokio bsa recordecl »46 Japanese earthquakes in the ten years ending Dec, 10, ISS4. Of these, 334 (or fifty-atx |>«r cent) hare occurred during the six collier months, and 212 (or tkirty-flve per cent) during the bIh wanner months, of the year. Professor Milan's ciimpllation oC \!&1 eartliqtiakes obsen'ed in nortliern Japan in the two years ending October, 1883, however, shows a, stilt greater proportion for the winter months; the percentages being seventy-two for the months from October to Marcli iiiciuslve, anil twenty-eight from Aprli to September.

— Prof. J. P. O'lteilly has receiilly ptibtished in the Transactiuiis of the Koyal Irish academy a map of Great Britain and Ireiand in which lie lias at- tempted to grapliicaily represent the earthquakes of the United Kingdom relative to their frequency. It would appear that Ireland has been less subject to shocks than Great Britain; that the points of more fcequent action in Ireland lie near or on the coast; and that the south coast of England presents a num- lier of points of activity situated approximately on the same line, in all probability connected with a system of Jointing corresponding to the genera! direc- tion of the coast.

— Dr. M. Eschenhagen writes to Nature ifaU the enrthquake shock of Dec. i") last was registered by the mognetograph at the inipei'ial marine observatory at Wiihelmghaven; the Lloyd'a magnetic balance, the instrument for vertical intensity, being set In oscil- lation first at 9.'i2 I'.M,, local time.

— The earthquake wave of Jan. 22 last in Englanil appeared to llie vicar of Bampton to pass directly under his house. A letter from Mr. Edward Parfitt In Naturt slates that It occurred at S.42 i-.k. In the drawing-room at the vicar^eitappearedastf aheavy traction-engine ■ua.t passing close to the window; the window faces eastward. In the kitchen the servants were greatly alarmed by a rumbling noise and a shak- ing under the flour. Some of the vicar's neighbors say they heard a report; and huu sea with cellars under them, and higher, felt the shaking more. Some per- sons who were up stairs, thinking that it woa some ex- plosion, rushed down stairs and out of doors. The effects were also felt nt Shilllngford, two miles dis- tant; and also at Comheheod. one and a half miles distant. The porters at the station de»cril>e it as like a tieavliy-laden mineral-tralu passing. The only damage done at Bampton was that a piece of wall was thrown down,

— It is sii^esteil by the Seismolnglcal society of Japan that the system of telegraph-stations around Tokio and Yokohama may be utilized in warning the Inhabitants of cither city of the appraoch uf an cortli. quake. This might be accumplisheil by causing such a shock, [eit at any of these stations, to complete an electric circuit which could be made to fire a gun almost inslantaneouily. The inhabitants would re- i-eive from two to ai\ minutes' warning, which would give them sufflcleut time to eictiugulah their fires,

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