A necessary complement to this foregoing table is one of the mean temperature of each sea

son, and of the year, of most of these places, and of others which Dr. Foster also furnishes:

Dr. Foster has considered at some length the mounds scattered over almost all portions of the Mississippi Valley, and in an essay of great beauty sums up the conclusions to which explorers have been led by their examinations in regard to the race which reared these vast structures. From various data he concludes that they must have been built at least a thousand years ago, and by a race of different physical characteristics, and a very much higher civilization, than any of the tribes of roving Indians now found in the United States. Their implements, and the substances found in some of the mounds, indicate that they were an agricultural and horticultural people, yet they could not have had the assistance of any of the domestic animals in their agriculture. The horse, the ox, the goat, and the llama, were alike unknown to them, and the buffalo, or bison, which, with all the appliances of modern times, has never been domesticated, was not more submissive to them. They had implements of stone and of copper, but, lacking tin, they could not make bronze, and consequently could not make the copper (which they do not seem to have smelted, but only hammered) in

to cutting-instruments. They were familiar with the plastic arts, and had even made some progress in the manufacture of fictile ornaments, and in sculpture. Their clothing was not made of skins, but was woven by hand in a slow and painful way, from a textile fibre analogous to hemp, and they had perforated gauges of chlorite slate or soapstone, to determine the size of the threads which they spun. Their principal food was maize, with perhaps the occasional addition of the flesh of wild animals, and fish; but of the maize they made a variety of dishes, among others a thin and wafer-like bread, of which the Indian tribes of our time have no knowledge. In selecting sites for their mounds and structures, they showed an intelligent and cultivated taste, the localities being in almost every case those which our own people have chosen as most advantageous for the planting of large towns. Cincinnati, St. Louis, Marietta, Circleville, Chillicothe, Newark (Ohio), Chattanooga, Beloit, and other large towns and cities, are all built where the moundbuilders had previously reared their structures.

The following table, for which we are indebted to Colton's Journal of Geography, fur

4. IN MEXICO. -The volcano of Colima, near the southwest coast, 12,000 feet in height, which had been quiet since 1818, gave indications, on the 13th of June, 1869, of renewed activity. There were rumblings, mutterings, quick detonations, and a cloud of light-colored smoke, rising from the top of the mountain. These premonitory symptoms were followed, on the 15th of June, by an eruption of flame, ashes, molten stone and metal, estimated at 275 feet in height, and the crater was about

three miles in circumference. The eruption continued throughout June, and the column of flame and scoria maintained an altitude of 80 or 90 feet, and by the last of that month had made a river of lava down the slope of the mountain about nine miles in length.

5. IN CENTRAL AMERICA.-M. Paul Levy, an enterprising French naturalist, explored, in the summer of 1869, the west coast, from Panama to Managua, the present capital of the republic of Nicaragua, and in a journey of thirty-two days on horseback passed over much territory which is new to Europeans, or to citizens of the United States. He traversed Chiriqui, and, though the Indians were not very friendly, he was not annoyed by them. He speaks of the country as remarkably beautiful in its scenery, and as capable of sustaining a large population.

6. THE WEST INDIES.-There have been no changes in the physical geography of these islands during 1869, and no earthquakes of importance. An ocean-cable has been ordered to connect Havana with Honduras, but in the present state of anarchy in Cuba it is doubtful whether it will be laid at present. The political changes and revolutions, not all as yet complete, will greatly influence the future of these islands. Cuba is yet in a state of revolution, and the end of the domination of Spain over the island cannot be far off. Hayti has passed through another revolution, has dethroned and executed its late President, Salnave, and installed the successful leader of the revolution, Nissage Saget, in his stead. The President of San Domingo-the other, and formerly Spanish, moiety of the island-has been endeavoring to negotiate a treaty of annexation to the United States, but the ratification of the treaty by the United States Senate is hardly probable. Our Government has leased the Bay of Samana for fifty years at $150,000 a year, and this lease may be confirmed. The treaty for the purchase of St. Thomas has been rejected by the United States.

7. IN SOUTH AMERICA.-Passing across the Caribbean Sea, we find several items of interest. The Orinoco gold-fields, or rather those of Caratal, on the Yuruari, an affluent of the Orinoco, were visited in the autumn and winter of 1868-'69 by Mr. C. Le Neve Foster, an English geologist and mining engineer, and very thoroughly explored. The region is Raleigh's "El Dorado," and there is unquestionably an abundance of gold there in quartz lodes, and considerable yet remaining in placers. The processes used in extracting it are, except in the case of an American company which had recently established itself there, the rudest and least effective possible. Almost the whole extraction was done by hand, pounding the goldbearing quartz in a wooden mortar with an iron pestle, washing it in a bowl, amalgamating it by stirring up the powdered stone with water and quicksilver with a stick, squeezing it out, and then volatilizing the quicksilver by the heat of a fire of sticks. In this rude

way somewhat more than a half million dollars' worth of gold was extracted in a year. Gambling, drunkenness, and lawlessness, were common, as in all gold-mining regions, and human life was not remarkably safe.

Mr. A. Goering, an English artist and geographer, has explored Venezuela very thoroughly in 1868 and 1869, and gives some interesting details of the Guajiro Indians who occupy the borders of the lake or laguna of Maracaibo. These Indians seem to be the existing representatives of the extinct lake-dwellers of Switzerland and Northern Italy. They build their dwellings with considerable art and intelligence, on piles, driven into the shallow flats of the laguna, raising them on platforms fifteen or twenty feet above the surface of the water. These dwellings are in groups, connected by bridges, and have pent roofs, each house consisting of two apartments, the front a kitchen and living-room, and the rear their place for sleeping. They sleep in hammocks, and live mostly on fish and mollusks, but are, unlike most of the Indian tribes, scrupulously neat and cleanly. They are athletic, finely formed, rather fond of dress and ornaments, their finery being, however, worn usually only on holidays and special occasions. They come occasionally to the small Venezuelan towns on the shores of the lake, but seldom allow visitors to their villages. They are sharp on a bargain, and have a habit of selling their children to the whites, for education and service, while they are too young to have much remembrance of their homes.

Brazil has not been able, from the great expense of her protracted war with Paraguay, to make any geographical explorations by her citizens, but several of the European and American geographers have devoted much labor and time to the exploration of her, as yet, littleknown territory. The Abbé Durand, a French naturalist, visited and explored very thoroughly the Serra de Caraça, a vast iron mountain in the province of Minas Geraes, and has reported to the French Geographical Society on its mineral wealth, its vegetable and animal productions, and the facility with which it may be worked. Mr. Chandless, the indefatigable English explorer, has been pushing up the southern affluents of the Amazon, though his discoveries come more properly, perhaps, within the boundaries of Peru than those of Brazil; and our own countryman, Prof. James Orton, has been exploring the upper waters of the same great river. The Germans are still reenforcing their colonies in Southern Brazil, and it is not impossible that in the future they may be the means of raising the empire to a higher plane of intelligence and progress than it would ever have attained under the slothful, easy, and anti-progressive sway of the mixed races which as yet form the principal population of the country. From January, 1868, to April, 1869, 5,330 emigrants sailed from Hamburg for the four Brazilian colonies. Prof.

Orton's volume, "The Andes and the Amazon," appertains about equally to Ecuador and Brazil, but is replete with valuable information in regard to the navigation of the great river and its tributaries, the physical geography, the geology, fauna, flora, productions, climate, and healthfulness of the Amazonas basin, and the character and condition of the tribes and peoples which inhabit it. He has collected also some vocabularies of several of the Indian dialects. Prof. Orton believes most of the Indian tribes (the Quechnas included) of the Great Basin to have come hither from a point farther south, the region of the La Plata, perhaps, and not from the north, as is generally supposed. One of his discoveries, that of marine-fossil shells in situ, at Pebas on the Marafon or upper Amazon, effectually disposes of Agassiz's theory of the glacial origin of the Amazonas basin, and proves that, at no very distant geological period, Guiana was an island. The work is a very valuable addition to a geographical knowledge of South America.

Mr. Porter C. Bliss, an American who escaped from Lopez's oppression in Paraguay, in 1868, read a paper before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at its meeting in Salem, in August, 1869, on "A New Classification of the South American Indians, on the Basis of Philology." It has been stated that there were from 150 to 2,000 distinct though correlated languages spoken by the Indians of South America. Mr. Bliss denies this, and states, as the result of a careful study of the South American languages for many years, that there are not more than twelve or thirteen stock languages among the Indians of the continent, the rest being merely dialects. Of these, the Guarani and the Quechna are the principal and the most widely spoken. These two languages have a considerable vocabulary, while most of the others are meagre, containing not more than a thousand root words. Reduplication was a principle largely concerned in the formation of both the Quechna and Guarani languages. Mr. Bliss had found more than three hundred geographical names formed by this process, such as Mo-co-mo-co, Co-ro-co-ro, Titi-ca-ca, etc.

In Patagonia, and the Straits of Magellan, there have been two capable explorers the past year-Don Guillermo Cox, in Patagonia, and Captain R. C. Mayne, R. N., one of the Admiralty survey officers who was engaged from 1866 to May, 1869, in making an accurate and careful survey of the straits, a route which is now very generally preferred by both steamers and sailing-vessels, to the more tempestuous route outside the Horn. Captain Mayne states that the straits are 300 miles in length, and from 2 to 20 miles in width. At the entrance from the Atlantic, the land is a low prairie, and the skies are generally bright, but farther on the straits are narrow, shut in by high perpendicular mountains, and drenched by almost constant rains, snow, or hail. He saw much

of the Patagonians and Fuegans. The former, though of good height, averaging for both sexes 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet, were not such giants as they had been represented. The tallest man he had measured was 6 feet 10 inches, but his case was exceptional. The Fuegans were small, badly shaped, and illfeatured; but were temperate in their habits, except in their excessive use of tobacco, while the Patagonians were terrible drunkards. He confirms the statement made by other travellers, that the Patagonians kill their old people, to avoid having to provide for them.

Don Guillermo Cox, a Chilian naturalist, has made several visits to Patagonia, and studied very thoroughly the country and its people. He made reports of his explorations, in the "Annals of the University of Chili," where he was a professor, the last being dated in 1863. He states that Patagonia and the islands south of it are occupied by five distinct Indian tribes. 1. The Pehuenches, subdivided into northern and southern Pehuenches, whose district is for the most part north of the Limay, an affluent of the Rio Negro. 2. The Pampas, or Tehuelches of the north, from the Limay to the Cheoput. 3. The Tehuelches of the south, who occupy the southern portion of the peninsula, and differ very little from those of the north. (These two are the Patagonians most generally known, of large stature and intemperate habits.) 4. The Huaicurus, a mixed race, part Tehuelche, and part Fuegan, occupying the northern shores of the Straits of Magellan, and 5. The Fuegans or inhabitants of the island of Terra del Fuego. Of these tribes, the Pehuenches are the only ones who have fixed habitations, the others being nomadic and those on the coast plundering shipwrecked vessels. Don G. Cox confirms the statements of Captain Mayne in regard to the stature of the Tehuelches, who are, he says, the largest of the Patagonian tribes. All these tribes live exclusively upon flesh and fat, rejecting all vegetable food. They use the bolas, or lasso with two or three balls attached, to capture animals in hunting. They are polygamists, but adultery is very rare. Owing to their wretched life, abortion is very common, and their numbers are not increasing. The Tehuelches do not exceed 6,000.

Considerable interest has attached for some years past to two lakes in Southern Chili, lying in a pass of the Andes, through which it is believed with slight labor an available route for small steamboats might be found across the narrow prolongation of the continent. Dr. Edward Geisse, a Chilian geographer, has within the past year explored more fully the region in which these lakes (Llanquihue and Puyehue) lie. Finding their waters warmer than the atmosphere or the other streams near, he traced the streams which supply them up to their sources, and found that they flowed from very extensive hot springs about 240 feet higher in the mountains. The source of Puyehue, where it leaves the spring, has a tempera

ture of about 149° Fahr., and that of Llanquihue varies from 100° to 122° Fahr.

Proceeding northward, we find little to notice in Paraguay except the continuance of the struggle which, though marked by great persistence on the part of the allies, and the most heroic endurance and bravery on the part of the Paraguayans, can only result in the almost complete depopulation of this naturally rich and beautiful country. The contest still continues, though it has recently taken a guerrilla character. The indomitable Lopez and his followers have betaken themselves to the mountains, and, though pursued, do not seem to be conquered or captured.

In Bolivia a new gold-field with very rich placers was discovered a few years since, but was not very fully developed until 1868-'69. It is situated in the Quelrada or district of Santa Rosa, lying between latitude 15° and 16° S., and between longitude 64° and 65° W. from Paris. In 1867 only about 50 lbs. of gold (about $11,000) were taken out, but in October, 1868, about 700 men were employed, and the yield had reached $5,500 per day. Since that time it has still further increased; and, as the earth for a depth of about 15 feet seems to be heavily charged with gold, there is a probability of still greater results even with the rude and imperfect processes adopted.

From Peru we have accounts more full than heretofore of the exploration of the Ucayali, the Juruá, and the Napo, the latter explored through most of its course by our countryman Prof. Orton and his company. It is about 800 miles in length, and navigable from Napo for boats for 580 miles, and for steamers from Santa Rosa (about 500 miles). Mr. Chandless, whose explorations of the Juruá was mentioned in the AMERICAN ANNUAL CYCLOPÆDIA for 1868, returned to England, in January, 1870, having, it would seem, again attempted the ascent of the Juruá, but was checked by the wars between the savage tribes which were still in progress. The highest point reached was above the mouth of the river Mú, in latitude 7° 11′ 45′′ S., and longitude 72° 1′ 30′′ W., 982 miles above the entrance of the Juruá into the Marañon.

Careful observations made by Nicholas Whitley, C. E., and Admiral Irminger, of the Danish navy, as well as by officers of the Cunard steamships sailing between Liverpool and New York, prosecuted for a series of years, give some interesting facts respecting the existence and course of warm currents in the northern portion of the ATLANTIC OCEAN. It seems from these observations that a cold current of water flows over the banks of Newfoundland, having a mean temperature of 39° 2′ Fahr., and during the three winter months falling to 32°, 31°, 30°, rising in September to 52°, its maximum. On or near the meridian of 40° W. from Greenwich in the steamship route, the mean temperature of the year is 57° 2′ Fahr., the lowest 54° in February and March, and the