Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-07-23


expectedly rich in ethnological and
archaeological material bearing on his
search.
Ancient Burial Mounds.
There are thousands of "kourgans,"
or burial mounds, that date back
through the development Of the native
race to the period when they were in
the stone age and no metal implements
were known.
All the measurements. both facial and
physical. of the natives tend to con-
firm the theory that they are the origi-
mails of the American Indian stock, and
some OF the photographs of the living
natives are SO strikingly like the pres
ent-day Indians that it would be i'm
possible to tell them apart. In this
connection he says:
Among all these people there are
visible many and unmistakable traces
or admixture or persistence Of what
appears to have been the older popula-
ton OF these regions. pre-Mongolian
and especially pre-Chinese, and those
best representing these vestiges resem-
bic to the point of identity the Ameri-
can Indian.
Features Similar.
These men. women and children are
brown in color. have black straight
hair. dark brown eyes and facial as
well as bodily features which remind
one most forcibly of the native Ameri-
cans. Many of them, especially the
women and children, if introduced
among the Indians and dressed to cor
respond could by no means at the
disposal of the anthropologist he dis
tinguished apart. The similarities eX-
tend to the mental makeup Of the peo-
pie. and even to numerous habits and
customs which new contacts and re-
ligiOns have not as yet been able to
efface.
LAS a result of what he saw, DR..
Hrdlicka expresses the belief that there
exist today over large parts of eastern
Siberia and in Mongolia, Tibet and
numerous remains Of an ancient popu-
lation (related in origin perhaps with
the latest paleolithic European) which
was physically Identical with and in all
probability gave rise to the American
Indian"
Other Exploring Expeditions.
The Smithsonian Institution has just is-
sued an illustrated pamphlet dealing with
the many scientific expeditions conducted
under it's direction, or in which it's repre-
sentatives participated. The pamphlet
describes the work of about twenty diff
includes certain portions of British East
Africa, Abyssinia, Algeria, eastern ST.
IBERIA and Mongolia, the Altai mountains,
Borneo. st. Lawrence Island. Alaska.
British Columbia, Alberta, Newfound
land, Labrador, the Panama Canal Zone
and the Bahama Islands and many sec
lions of the United States.
The institution was represented b. .wo
small parties in Borneo, those of H. c.
Raven, who has been collecting mammals
BOrneo for the past two years. and Daniel
D Streeter Of Brooklyn, N. Y. who has
served collaboration for the Nationa.
Museum in the collecting Of mammals ii
a trip through Sarawak and Dutch
Borneo. Much valuable material was Sc
cured. which will be turned over to the
National Museum for study and exhibit
ton.
DR.. w l.. Abbott. who financed the
Dutch East Borneo expedition under Mr..
Raven, and who has presented many
large collections to the National Museum,
has been carrying on a personal investi-
cation in Cashmere. where he has been
trapping and studying the smaller man.
mails of that country, specimens of which
have been sent to the museum.
Explored Altai Mountains.
Through the invitation of DIR. Theodore
Lyman of Harvard University, the insti-
tuition was enabled to cooperate with the
Museum of Comparative Zoology in an
expedition to the Altai mountains Of ST.
IBERIA and Mongolia. N. HOLSTER repre-
his assistant Conrad Kahn of Vienna the
celebrated Alpine guide. Leaving Ameri-
ca in May. 1912, the party spent nearly
five months in the field, returning to the
United States in September. with fine
series Of mammals and birds from this
little known part Of Central Asia. OF
especial interest in the series of big
game are four rams of the largest
known Of the wild sheep, as we'll as
specimens of two forms of ibex, and a
gazelle. out Of a total of about $50 man.
mails in the collection, eleven forms are
new to science, and some twenty were
not previously represented in the mu-
scum.
George Mixter. another collaboration of
the museum, also visited Siberia, where
he secured certain mammals from the
region about Lake Baikal, among them
bear and seal.
More Than 5000 Specimens.
]. Rainey in British East Africa, in
which the institution was represented
by Edmund Heller. was terminated in
December, 1911. and since then the col
lection has been received at the Ma
tional Museum. Altogether the trip
was a remarkably successful one;
nearly 1000 mammals, 1000 reptiles
and 400 birds were obtained. as well
as many land shells and botanical
specimens. From the collection, which
supplements that of the Smithsonian
African expedition to an important de-
gree, there have been as MANY as forty
new species and twelve new genera
described.
The astrophysical observatory of the
Smithsonian Institution again sent an
expedition to Bassour. Algeria, for the
continuation of the observations rela-
tive to the heat Of the sun, an inves-
tigation on which the observatory has
been working for the past seven years.
with observing stations on Mount Will
son. California. and during two sea-
sons in Algeria. Mr.. Abbot. the di-
.ector of the observatory. states that
he observations Of the past year prove