THIRTY-THIRD REGULAR MEETING, February 1, 1881.

The President, Major J. W. Powell, delivered his annual address ON LIMITATIONS TO THE USE OF SOME ANTHROPOLOGIC DATA.1

THIRTY-FOURTH REGULAR MEETING, February 15, 1881.

Mr. IIenry L. Thomas read a paper ON SOME PECULIARITIES IN THE USE OF MOODS IN THE PRINCIPAL NEO-Latin Languages. The following is an abstract:

The object of the paper was to illustrate various points of comparison existing in the use of the moods in the principal Neo-Latin languages. Mr. Thomas referred, in the first place, to the meagre degree of attention which has been given to the subject of the accurate use of the moods by the Italian grammarians, and the devotion with which almost all of them continue to regard the usage of Boccaccio and the writers of that period. He next called attention to the service rendered to the Italian language of the present day by Giuseppe Rigutini, a citizen of Florence, who has done much for the promotion of stylistic purity by the publication of his Vocabulary of the Spoken Language, a work which marks an epoch in Italian lexicography, inasmuch as the author, boldly striking out into a new path, has had the courage to disregard the usage of Petrarch and Boccaccio, and to accord a scientific treatment to the language of to-day.

Many examples were adduced with a view to presenting a kind of parallel view of the use of the moods (principally the subjunctive) in French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. A few examples of the use of the French subjunctive, as exhibited in writings a little more than two hundred years old, were given to show that this mood was then used (or that its use was at least allowable) in connection with verbs of thinking and believing, in affirmative sentences, and the fact was adverted to that that practice no longer

1 Loc. cit., pp. 113-136; also in “Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology," 1879-'80, pp. 71-86.

prevails in any of the languages under consideration, with the exception of Italian.

Reference was incidentally made to deviations by classic writers and reputable modern Latinists from the rule that "dependent clauses, containing an indirect question, take the subjunctive." It was shown that, while such deviations were frequent in Plautus and Terence, they were of by no means rare occurrence in the writings* of many Latin poets, of Seneca, and even of Cicero, although, in the instances in which the last-named writer deviates from this rule, modern editors have made him conform to it.

Attention was called, in conclusion, to certain points connected with the use of the tenses of the Portuguese subjunctive, in reference to which modern grammarians continue to advocate a usage which is really, at the present day, practically obsolete.

The paper was discussed by Prof. Fay, Dr. Antisell, Dr. Welling, Mr. Ward, and Prof. Mason.

Prof. Fay expressed his gratification at listening to so learned a production, and regarded it as confirmatory of the views he had previously presented to the Society.1

He regretted that it was not possible to systematize the data in more exact chronological order.

Dr. Antisell remarked upon the tendency of languages to dispense more and more with the subjunctive mood as to a great extent a useless appendage.

Dr. Welling also noted the progress made in sloughing off redundant forms, and thought it quite possible that this process might go too far. He said that there was a very perceptible difference in the meaning conveyed by the English subjunctive and indicative, which it would be a pity to lose the power of expressing.

Mr. Ward was interested in the cases adduced in Latin of the dependent interrogative with the indicative, which appears to be chiefly used in colloquialisms, showing that the common people were disposed to eliminate unnecessary grammatical formalities.

1 See p. 26, supra.

He also alluded to the complicated character of savage and barbaric languages, and regarded this tendency towards simplification as constituting a true progress towards practical economy in speech.

Dr. Elmer R. Reynolds read a paper giving a description of an ABORIGINAL BURIAL-CAVE IN THE VALLEY OF THE SOUTH SHEN

ANDOAH.

The cave in question is situated in Limestone Hill, an eastern spur of the Massannutton Mountain, nine miles northwest of Luray, Va. The hill lies on the southern bank of the river, from which it is separated by a narrow valley a few hundred yards wide. An old village lies about a fourth of a mile west of the cave, and nearer by is, or rather was, an extensive cemetery. The entrance to the cave itself is situated about forty feet above the valley, on a steep and thickly wooded hillside. The opening is oblong, six feet east and west by two feet north and south. The descent is vertical for

six feet, and from thence slopes very steeply down in a southwesterly direction. This room, or passage, is about twenty-five feet long by twelve or fifteen feet high; the floor is covered with large boulders and slabs of limestone intermixed with human bones and debris washed down from the hillside above the opening.

Leading from this chamber is a passage seventeen feet in length by fourteen inches in height and twelve inches in width. This passage, or gallery, ends in a room ten feet long, eight feet high, and from four to six feet wide. Beyond this chamber and approached through a narrow opening is a third chamber from four to six feet high, six feet long, and four feet wide, the length being transverse to the others. Another passage leads from this by two openings, one extending in a westerly direction on a line with the floor and the second situated about four feet above and partially closed by depending stalactites. This superior passage slopes downward, and joins the lower opening about three feet from the floor. The smaller of these stalactites was broken away, and an ineffectual effort made to force a passage beyond. The largest stalactite at this opening was from seven inches to a foot in diameter and about three feet long.

The floors in all the chambers and passages were composed of travertine with a soft tufaceous deposit above. The floors average from three-fourths of an inch to two or three inches in thickness, and, under ordinary circumstances, would require a considerable period of time in their formation.

Upon breaking through these floors with a pick-axe-which was not accomplished without some difficulty owing to the hardness of the material—a solid compact mass of ashes, coal, and sand, and a profusion of human bones were found. Only a few animal bones were found; among these were the bones of the squirrel and turtle. Several very finely preserved crania were also found firmly attached to the side of the third chamber below the floor. Only one of these was dislodged without injury, the others being thickly covered with tufa.

Two or three shafts were sunk down to a depth of about three feet. Human bones and ashes were found at all depths.

Both chambers (Nos. 3 and 4, not including the entrance, or long passage) were alike in character below the floor.

Notwithstanding the presence of charcoal and ashes, none of the bones showed any traces of cremation. The speaker felt confident, however, that upon cleaning out this cavern to a depth of ten feet, he would find abundant proof that this system of burial had been practiced at this place, although the process may have been, and probably was, carried on outside of the cave previous to final sepulture. He based this hypothesis upon the fact of finding unquestionable evidences of cremation in both primary and secondary burial mounds and ossuaries in the same valley.

This cave was examined with the assistance of Mr. Benton P. Stebbins, of Luray; Dr. Logan, of Cedar Point; Mr. Joseph Keyser, on whose estate the cave is situated, and also by Messrs. William Oothout and Joseph Williamson, both of whom are attached to the Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York City. These gentlemen came on from the east expressly to assist the speaker in his aboriginal research in the Shenandoah Valley.

To Messrs. Oothout and Williamson the speaker was deeply indebted for sketches, diagrams, and measurements of the mounds and other aboriginal remains subsequently explored by the party.

With reference to the age of the burial cave, as a place of sepulture, the explorer cautiously reserved his opinion until he should again visit the locality and complete his research by removing all the débris in the bottom to a depth of two or three yards. The present floor, he thought, is now near the former roof of the

cave.

Some of the stalagmites on the floor of the 'second chamber were four inches in diameter at the base and nearly a foot high; yet this feature could not safely be taken as an indication of the time since the cave had ceased to be used for burial purposes, as the free humidity of the overlying soil—or an absence of the same condition-would have a direct tendency very greatly to accelerate or retard the formation of both travertine and stalagmites.

THIRTY-FIFTH REGULAR MEETING, March 1, 1881.

Mr. Ivan Petroff read a paper entitled AMPHIBIOUS ABORIGINES OF ALASKA.

He described a peculiar tribe of Innuits who inhabit the lower Kuskoquim and the coast from Cape Newenham nearly to Bristol Bay, in Alaska, and who spend at least half of their time on or in the water. Their houses are built close to the sea-shore, and they spend a large part of their time in their skin-boats or "kiaks." The children go nearly naked, and are as much at home in their kiaks as on land. The people live chiefly on fish and seals, which they spear with great skill. They keep their weapons and boats scrupulously clean, this being essential to success in hunting, but pay no attention to the cleansing of their own bodies which are allowed to become extremely filthy. They eat their food for the most part uncooked. Storms and tides often inundate the swampy shore on which their partly subterranean dwellings are built, and