Harper's Round Table, July 30, 1895 Part 11

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A Good Natural History Morsel.

Vacation and moth-time come hand in hand the first week in July.

The boys of the neighborhood come yelling from school to eat supper and go to bed to be up at six o'clock. At six o'clock around comes a man with a leather pouch filled with carbon sticks.

One by one the boys, some on bicycles, some on foot, begin to follow him. Let us suppose we have joined the procession. We come to an electric light. As the light is let down the boys begin to jump up and down, yell, push, etc., to get first pick.

The man takes a fine brush and quickly cleans the globe. As the insects fall to the ground there is a general scramble. We are lucky enough to get a fine specimen of a Luna, and start for home to save us from getting mobbed. One of the most common of the large moths found in the globes is the Luna (_Attacus luna_). The spread of the wings is from three to four inches. The general color is a beautiful tint of green. The edges of the fore wings are brown, the streak crossing the body. There are four eye spots, one on each wing. A white furry body and light golden antennae complete the colors of this beautiful, delicate moth.

Another of the beautiful moths is the Cecropia (_Attacus cecropia_). The general color is a beautiful brown, and the usual eye spots are prevalent. The Io (_Saturnia Io_) is a rival of the Luna in beauty. It is of a deep yellow with purplish-red markings and the usual eye spots. The Attacus Prometheus and Polyphemous moths are occasionally found in the globe. The most common victims are the Sphinx moths, who have a very long name, _Macroscla quinquemaculata_.

ALBERT W. At.w.a.tER, R.T.K.

SPRINGFIELD, Ma.s.s.

Facts About Alaskan Indians

Some time since, Sir Knight James F. Rodgers, of Tiffin, Ohio, wrote us: "A man gave an ill.u.s.trated lecture on Alaska at our school-house. He said, 'That when a girl arrives at the age of fourteen she is taken to the mountains and confined in a house for one year; when a girl arrives at the age of eighteen her parents put a wooden b.u.t.ton in her lower lip; that the people wors.h.i.+p the white crow.' Are these statements true?"

In reply, Mr. O. T. Mason, Curator of the Department of Ethnology in the National Museum, Was.h.i.+ngton, very kindly says: "I take special pleasure in answering the inquiries of James F. Rodgers, of Tiffin, Ohio. He may have misunderstood the lecturer somewhat, and, therefore, without characterizing it, say, first, that among all savage tribes in the world there is a custom of separating young women when they come to be of marriageable age. These customs differ from tribe to tribe, and the length of time of their separation varies. There are no high mountains in Alaska, and one year seems to be rather a long period, yet the general fact remains; secondly, a b.u.t.ton of wood, or ivory, or stone, called a labret, is placed in the lower lip of girls, in some tribes of boys, in other of both. Among the Eskimo and the Indians of Alaska, as the child grows older and the orifice becomes enlarged, a stone or block of wood of greater and greater size is inserted, until I have seen a block at least 2-1/2 inches in diameter taken from the lip of an old woman. The Botocudos of South America, on the Amazon, are especially curious in this regard, for they not only insert enormous blocks in their lips, but also in the lobe of the ear, until it falls upon the shoulder; thirdly, as to the wors.h.i.+p of the Alaskan natives, it should be said that there are two kinds of natives in Alaska--Eskimo and Indians. The Eskimo have one sort of primitive religion, the Indians quite another sort. It does not convey exactly the right idea to us that the natives wors.h.i.+p anything, certainly it is very far from the truth to say that anybody in Alaska wors.h.i.+ps the white crow.

"The Indians of Alaska, like the other Indians of America, are divided up in their tribal relations into bands or clans called 'Totems,' and these are generally named after some prominent animal of the region.

Great respect is paid to these animals, and frequently the clan refrains from eating the whole or a portion of the totemic animal. It is a very interesting study. I cannot find out that the Eskimos have any definite names for the objects of which they stand in awe. They have among them a cla.s.s of men called 'Shammans,' who believe in spirits and practise certain rules for the influencing and controlling these spirits. The same wors.h.i.+p is common all over Siberia and northern Europe. None of these people have an organized form of wors.h.i.+p. Such a thing would be impossible in a country so forlorn and cold."

Kinks.

No. 90.--BEN BOLT. (_A NEW VERSION._)

THIRTY PROPER NAMES CONCEALED.

O don't you remember old Sally, Ben Bolt, Old Sally whose hair was so red, Her matutinal cry of "Buy any shad?"

Racked our ears till we wished we were dead.

In a small back yard off the alley, Ben Bolt, The miserly fish-wife of yore Sits nursing her hord, while she counts once again The same sheckles she counted before.

O don't you remember the streamlet, Ben Bolt, Where the boys that played hookey from school Sat snug on the banks eating taffy and pie, Or bathed in the clear crystal pool.

But next day, perhaps, you remember, Ben Bolt, We would fain for a bed negotiate, Our respective papas had the evening before Plied the rod at so lively a rate.

O don't you remember our teacher, Ben Bolt, The man so averse to all fun?

No ham bone or sparerib sent up to our rooms But he sniffed it and took it away.

Near the church round the corner they've laid him at last, Where the willows 'n sympathy wave, And the mocking-bird, chorister meet for a Czar, Gently warbles a dirge o'er his grave.

No. 91.--PECULIAR WORD SQUARE.

1 10 11 2 4 * * 3 5 * * 6 8 9 12 7

1 to 2 is exalted reputation.

3 to 4 is one of the surfaces of a solid.

5 to 6 is a strain sung by a single voice.

7 to 8 is to repose or recline from labor.

1 to 8 is a snug abode.

9 to 10 is a summer drink extensively used.

11 to 12 is equivalent to 320 rods.

7 to 2 is a well-known and beautiful flower.

M. BEEMAN STOUT.

LYONS.

Answers to Kinks.

No. 89.

1. "Elm."--Holmes.

2. "Chestnut."--Holmes.

3. "Norway pines; larches."--Phebe Cary.

4. "Chestnuts."--Holmes.

5. "Spice-trees."--Holmes.

6. "Pine-tree."--Whittier.

7. "Pines."--Paul Hamilton Hayne.

8. "Pine-trees; oaks."--J. T. Trowbridge.

9. "Willow."--Holmes.

10. "Pine; elm."--Holmes.

11. "Hemlock."--Holmes.

12. "Hemlock-tree; hemlock-tree."--Longfellow.