the coexistence of man and the extinct mammals, whose remains have been found in the same gravels, is entirely distinct, and may reasonabty be left open." Mr. Dall's recollections form an interesting contribution to the literature of this muchcontroverted subject.

In an extended study entitled "Preliminary Revision of the Evidence Relating to Auriferous Gravel Man in California," which appeared in the American Anthropologist for January (pp. 107-121) and October, 1889 (pp. 614-645), Prof. W. H. Holmes discusses the evidence in detail, concluding that "the so-called Calaveras skull exhibits nothing in its character, condition, or associated phenomena incompatible with the theory of recent origin, and very much that may be justly construed as favoring that theory "(p. 640). From Prof. Holmes' article. we learn that Prof. F. W. Putnam "has now in view the publication of a paper giving his views and an exhaustive chemical and comparative study of the skull." If the Calaveras skull is only that of a Digger Indian, it has created a great excitement in the world of science.

DYEING IN COSTA RICA. In the Verh. der Berliner Ges. f. Anthropologie for 1898, E. von Martens describes the process. of cotton-dyeing in use among the Indians of Costa Rica, a device apparently pre-Columbian, for it is mentioned by very early authorities, and traces of its use have been found all over the Caribbean region. The dye-substance is the material excreted, upon irritation, by the Purpura patula, common in the Antilles, varieties of which are also found on the Pacific. One method of dyeing in use in Central America seems to have been simply to pass the fabric through the opening of the shell of this mollusk; another way was to gather the shell-fish in a bowl and collect the liquid excreted, which was applied to the cotton. This liquid is at first greenish-yellow, but changes in drying to purple. A bluish dye was also produced by a different treatment of the same liquid. The purple robes of the Zapotec women in Southern Mexico, and certain fabrics from ancient Peruvian graves appear to have been dyed in the way here described.

[Correction: On page 46, line 19, read weights.-Ed.]

NOTABLE PAPYRI.

BY REV. W. C. WINSLOW.

Among the papyri recently deciphered are two which I will briefly describe. The first relates to the victors in the Olympian games, and the other concerns the date of the birth of Christ.

The papyrus contains a detailed list of the winners in all the thirteen events which formed the Olympian games for a series of about seven years. We know how carefully such a list was kept at Olympia for reference and to perpetuate the names of the victorious athletes. Even an Aristotle valued such data. We have various dates of the victors through the scholiasts of Pindar and of Pausanias, the topographer, to the latter of whom the excavators at the site of Olympia owe much for his exact details. But the chief value or interest in the papyrus is that no complete list of all the events for even a single Olympiad has hitherto turned up.

This papyrus, too, covers the time when Pindar and Bacchylides were composing odes, yet extant, in honor of the Olympian victors. Thus we have independent testimony for assigning accurate dates to these famous compositions. To illustrate the point: Odes ix., x., xi. of Pindar are now shown to have had, commonly wrong dates. As for Bacchylides, some twenty of whose poems from a unique papyrus were edited in 1897 by Dr. Kenyon, Mr. Cotton writes that "the poetical activity of Bacchylides is given an extension of no less than sixteen years" by this papyrus. On the whole, however, our list in question confirms the record of the scholiasts.

This papyrus affords a bit of evidence for the history of Greek plastic art of that period. Near the end of our second century, according to Pausanias, many statues of Olympia bore the names of victors and sculptors; and the German explorers at that site confirmed his statement. Our papyrus fixes the year of a victory and, consequently, of the sculptor whose plastic art commemorated it. Thus, Polycleitus, the Argive, is now shown to have been living in the middle of the fifth century B. C., and to have flourished only a little later than Phidias. Pythagoras, a celebrated statuary, can be shown to have continued his work down to about the same period in that century.

The other papyrus throws light upon the disputed point of the year of the birth of Christ, St. Luke states "that there went out a decree that all the world should be taxed" (enolled); that Joseph and the Virgin Mary went to Bethlehem to be en-rolled, and that "while they were there" Christ was born. Did such enrolments occur, and were there any enrolments under Cæsar Augustus and in the reign of Herod the Great?

Historical evidence of enrolments earlier than A. D. 63 under Nero have been wanting. The papyrus shows that such an enrolment occurred in A. D. 20, and also under Cæsar Augustus B. C. 9-10. We have, therefore, now, for the first time, proved that enrolments took place when Augustus was emperor and Herod reigned. Hence we have evidence relating to the assertion of St. Luke that a decree for enrolment was made, and also to that of St. Matthew, that "Jesus was born in the days of Herod the king."

EGYPTOLOGICAL NOTES.

EGYPTIAN HISTORY AND THE ISRAELITES. It was in the infancy of Israel that it was called out of Egypt. The Egyptians were only very remotely connected by race with the Hebrews. The Egyptians made very inaccurate historical records. We receive more information and confirmation about the Bible from Babylonia and Assyria, than from Egypt, and naturally so, because Israel was on an equality in those countries; but was in captivity in Egypt. [See article by Prof. J. F. McCosky in Homiletic Review for November. ]

PLUMES IN EGYPT. Prof. Hommel, of Munich, has written an article on the plumes represented on the head of the God Bes and the Goddess Anuket. He shows that there are several Babylonian cylinders in existence in which an Arab, who fights a lion, is represented with a crown of feathers on his head exactly similar to those worn by Bes and Anuket. He, therefore, considers them as an Arab head-dress, and he deduces from this that the worship of both Bes and Anuket was imported into Egypt from Arabia.

THE EARLIEST ABSOLUTE DATE IN HISTORY. A new find of papyri, now in the Berlin. Museum, which seems to have formed part of the archives of a temple and to include a sort of day book, in which the priests recorded events, has given us the earliest absolute date in history. In it is mentioned that in the seventh year of Usertesen III. the star Sothis (Sirius) was for the first time in the horizon at daybreak on the sixteenth day of the eighth month. Working back to this, Dr. Borchardt was able to announce that the seventh year of Usertesen III. must have fallen between the years 1876-1872 B. C., and this, he claims, as the earliest absolute date in history.

EDITORIAL.

IS IT CIVILIZATION OR EXTERMINATION?

One of the most serious questions has been brought up in connection with the events of the past year, especially by the two wars which have arisen in the extreme parts of the globe; no less a question than this: Is the progress of the civilized races destined to overcome and ultimately destroy the uncivilized? This seems to be the fear of uncivilized tribes in many cases, and the result is the desire for complete isolation. Isolation, however, is contrary to the spirit and progress of the age, and cannot be maintained. The preventative against the evil feared, must be sought in some other way. The problem is a difficult one and needs to be studied carefully by philanthropists and scientists...

There are some who maintain that the law of the survival of the fittest will inevitably result in the destruction of the lower races, and are inclined to uphold the law, as if it were one which is in accord with the Providence of God. There are professing Christians who are coldly arguing in this way in reference to the Philippines, and there are others who also talk in the same way about the Boers. It is a position which has been maintained in reference to the North American Indians for the last fifty years or more, and the common saying is "the only good Indian is the dead Indian." Just at present the sentiment has changed, and it has become quite a fad to picture out the wild Indian in all his accoutrements, and express admiration for the bold and manly forms, as though these were not the same Indians who, a few years ago, were not only treated as dangerous, but despised as degraded creatures. may be well, then, in view of this persistency of the thought in one case and the changes in the other, to review the history of the Indians in the past and see whether it is not better to take our lessons from peace, rather than from war, and make up our minds to civilize, rather than destroy. Christianity ought to reach as high a standard in this respect as paganism. The car of progress is not a mere machine which is traversing the earth, even if we imagine that war is the impelling force, for the hand of providence is directing and controlling the world, and will overthrow a civilization which is built up on a false basis, and lift up and preserve those who recognize his hand. If it is maintained that climate, soil, physical traits, and resources, are the only factors to be considered; that moral

It

influences, social life, and religious teachings are altogether in vain when compared with these, we should lose all hope; but the contrary was taught by our fathers, and we are not inclined to yield the point. There are a few lessons taught by our own history and the history of the Indians, as well as by that of the negroes. Neither of these races have been exterminated by the progress of our civilization. War, to be sure, has threatened to exterminate the Indians, but it has, on the other hand, freed the negroes. Ultimately we believe christianity and civilization will be able to overcome all difficulties and elevate the whole of the human race.

Let us consider the history of the Indians. Have they actually been injured by contact with civilization, and are they likely to become exterminated? It will be acknowledged that a great change has come over these wild tribes, and that the most of them have disappeared from their original haunts, and are now occupying very limited districts, compared with those which they claimed as their original possessions; but does this prove extermination? We claim that it was perfectly natural that the Indians should occupy a more limited territory than they did originally and it was right that they should, if civilization was to advance at all, for it would be impossible for civilization to extend when the people were as widely scattered as they were here at the time of the Discovery. There was a native civilization where the population was dense and where agriculture prevailed, but the wild tribes were actually exterminating them.

We may take the Iroquois as an illustration. These tribes situated in the state of New York, where everything was favorable to their progress and where they were isolated from other tribes, made considerable advancement toward civilization, but they soon proved to be the terror of all other tribes, and between the times of Cartier and Champlain made the region around them entirely desolate, so that the north shore of the St. Lawrence was uninhabitated and Ohio was called derelict country. The French and English maps show this.

A map published in 1750 has a legend placed over the state of Indiana and Illinois: "This is the region where the Iroquois hunt Boeuf' (buffalo)"; also, a legend stretching over the whole of Lower Canada: "This is the region where the Iroquois hunt beavers." The result was that the Algonquian tribes, which formerly occupied that region, were driven out, and all of the prairie region was left desolate. The state of Ohio was deserted.

The Hurons, also, who were of the same stock with the Iroquois, were driven from the north shore of the St. Lawrence river, first to the neighborhood of Georgian bay, next to the forests of Wisconsin; and all of Canada, from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to Lake Superior, was left desolate. These tribes claimed a very large amount of land which they never used, and certainly never improved. A single clan would