Long Branch was considered a very successful one, both for the character of the papers read and the interesting discussion which they aroused. COREA BY NATIVE ARTISTS. THE testimony of recent explorers in Corea is to the effect that we have there a human exemplification of the survival of whole genera of industries and customs, while in surrounding regions these have been swept away or transformed. Half-a-dozen charming books on Corea, notably those of Griffis and Lowell, have lately portrayed portions of the inner life of a land hitherto closed to our gaze. No small curiosity has been manifested to ascertain how far these gentlemen have told the truth, whether they have faithfully interpreted what they narrate, and whether they are dealing with normal life or with monstrosities. Ensign Bernadou, U. S. N., has just sent to the national museum a small but wisely chosen collection of art products to illustrate social and industrial life in Corea. Among his specimens is a series of old screens painted in oil on silk, and depicting the paying of tribute by surrounding nations to the emperor of China. An outer court is filled with attendants, beasts of burden, palanquins, and gifts in endless variety from every part of eastern Asia. Coreans, of course, hold a prominent place. A long procession of ambassadors from these various countries marches through massive gateways, along narrow courts, and over elevated bridges to the throne. There sit the reigning sovereign and his family, guarded by soldiers and attended by nobles. In front of the throne kneel the tribute-bearers with their gifts. The faces, costumes, and postures are accurately drawn, but the perspective is thoroughly Chinese in the method of taking advantage of the whole space. This work of art introduces us to the high life of Corea; but Ensign Bernadou has also had the good fortune to obtain nearly a hundred old watercolor sketches by native artists, portraying industrial life and natural scenery. Eight of these paintings are presented in the accompanying plates. They are rather studies in real life than finished paintings, the latter usually partaking of the grotesqueness characteristic of both Chinese and Japanese. being effected by means of clubs. When the garment is restored, the seams are pressed close with a very narrow smoothing-iron. House-builders at work (fig. 2). —Mr. Lowell also describes minutely the work of the joiner and the tiler. Hod-carriers are unknown, and unnecessary, because the attendant can easily throw his tiles to the workman while the balls of mud are passed up in netting. The chalk line' is blackened with ink. Plane, saw, square, and adze are of the most primitive type. The presence of the all-seeing eye' also seems necessary. Spinning and weaving (fig. 3). The textile practices of Corea exhibit the most primitive types of Chinese weaving. The loom for matting is very rude, although the work is excellent. The warp is held in place by a stone tied to the end of each thread. Half of these rest on one side, and half on the other side, of the upper beam. After the insertion of a weft straw, each of these stones is shifted to the opposite side. Shoeing a refractory horse (fig. 4). — The blacksmiths and other metal-workers of Corea are quite clever. Some of their silver and copper inlaying done on jewelry boxes and furniture contrasts favorably with similar work by their neighbors. The bellows consists of a square box, in which a plunger of wood packed with paper passes up and down. A lesson in archery (fig. 5). — Archery is still a favorite amusement among the Coreans, and their soldiers are obliged to compete in yearly practice for prizes. Men of straw are set up in boats as marks. Great care is bestowed both on bows and arrows, and the junior members of the corps are carefully instructed in the precedents of practice. Bonzes selling charms (fig. 6). — Mr. Lowell characterizes Corea as a land devoid of religion, Confucianism swaying the upper classes, and old superstitions the lower. Sorcerers and fortunetellers sell their charms to men and women, often parading them in public, and announcing their presence with rude music. Mr. Griffis's man of straw' plays an important part, even now being sold and kicked to pieces as a scape-goat for the man's former self. In the drawing of the sorcerer is exhibited the quaint custom among Corean women of wearing on the top of the head a garment which they may draw over the face on the appearance of a man. face on meeting a man, is characteristic, as well as the court dress and robe of the groom. Pedlers on the road (fig. 8). - Pedlers are common throughout Corea. In our sketch are represented the methods of carrying loads and children, and the costume, hat, and shoes of the lower classes. Each one of the paintings is as graphic and instructive as those presented. It is very difficult to impress upon the mind of ordinary travellers that it is just the information conveyed in such pictures that the anthropologists need. To write the life-history of our practical arts, it is absolutely necessary to understand the minutiae of industry in every stage. O. T. MASON. BIRD-DESTRUCTION. IN December, 1885, the American ornithologists' union committee on bird - protection began its work in behalf of the birds. After one or two conferences the committee became convinced that nothing would tend more to check the lamentable wholesale slaughter of our birds for millinery and other purposes than the proper enlightenment of the public respecting the extent of the annual sacrifice of bird-life, its causes, and its effects; that the almost universal use of birds for decorative purposes was due to thoughtlessness, and to ignorance of its baneful results; that in order to stem the tide of destruction it was simply necessary to make known the facts in the case, and thus create an intelligent public sentiment in favor of the birds. Accordingly the committee prepared a series of articles on the subject, which was published as a sixteen-page supplement to Science, in the issue of Feb. 26, 1886. This supplement was subsequently republished in pamphlet form as Bulletin No. 1' of the committee, and sent broadcast throughout the country. The result far exceeded the most sanguine hopes of the committee: the press of the country took up the subject vigorously, there being scarcely a newspaper, magazine, or journal of any sort, technical, literary, educational, religious, or scientific, that did not publish copious extracts from the Science supplement, usually with editorial comment highly favorable to the movement thus started. This was often followed by letters from correspondents in further support of the cause, while not a few of the leading newspapers became earnest champions of the birds. At the same time various societies of natural history, in Canada as well as in the United States, appointed committees on the subject of bird-protection, which presented reports to their respective societies, embodying further evidence regarding the extent of the destruction of birds for millinery and other reprehensible purposes, frequently accompanied by resolutions indorsing most fully the conclusions and recommendations of the American ornithologists' union committee, and urging the most energetic measures possible to check the destruction of bird-life. The Audubon society was speedily organized in New York City, under the auspices of the Forest and stream newspaper, for the express purpose of co-operating with the American ornithologists' union committee in its work of protecting the birds. Branches of this society have sprung up in various and widely distant parts of the country, till the membership already exceeds ten thousand. Anti-bird wearing leagues and juvenile bands of mercy' were formed in many towns and cities throughout the land, having the same objects in view, the members of which respectively pledge themselves not to use birds for decorative purposes, and not only not to destroy birds or their nests or eggs, but to exercise all their influence in checking their needless destruction. Until recently the only discordant notes heard from any quarter were the subdued mutterings of a few reprehensible taxidermists, caterers of the milliners, whose pockets were affected by the movement in favor of the birds. Many of the dealers in birds for decorative purposes, particularly for hat ornamentation, expressed themselves as heartily in sympathy with the movement, as have the better class of taxidermists,- those legitimately entitled to the name, who are often men of scientific tastes, and too high-principled to lend themselves to the indiscriminate slaughter of birds simply for purposes of gain. It was left, therefore, for a single ornithologist of some supposed standing as a man of sense and culture to make the first and thus far the only public protest against the movement, which he is pleased to term 'sentimental bosh.' Whatever his object, whether a freak of the moment, an attempt to see what could be said on the other side,' a strike for notoriety, or the result of personal pique, his statements were of a sufficiently sensational character to be eagerly seized upon by newspaper editors ignorant of or indifferent to the facts in the case, or unscrupulous in regard to what they put in their papers, provided it is interesting' or 'startling;' and the address' of the 'learned doctor' has consequently received more or less attention; and extracts from it, or editorials based upon it, have been published in two of the New York dailies, and possibly elsewhere, in addition to the paper in which it originally appeared. The person who has thus attained unenviable notoriety is Dr. J. W. Langdon of Cincinnati, and his address' originated in the following manner : Some time since, the Cincinnati society of natural history appointed a committee of three of its ornithological members "to investigate and report on the destruction of native birds." This committee duly made its report, in the form of a series of papers, prepared by the different members of the committee, in which were summarized most of the facts and statements given in the Science supplement on bird-protection, with, in addition, much original matter of like character. This report was followed by a paper by Dr. Langdon, in which he ridiculed the idea that there had been any perceptible decrease of song-birds in consequence of their destruction for millinery purposes, or from any human influence whatever, while he furthermore claimed that it would be impossible for man to destroy enough small birds to make their absence appreciable. His conclusions were based, ostensibly at least, on an estimate of the bird population of America, and an assumed rate of natural increase, both mere guesses, and the latter and his conclusions therefrom palpably absurd. Like some of our astute congressmen, he took the precaution to revise' his paper before it was printed, removing many of its grossest absurdities; leaving, however, enough to disgust intelligent ornithologists throughout the country, yet presenting so plausible an aspect as to be misleading to the general reader, unable to detect the false premises, misstatements, and misrepresentations of which it is mainly composed. The better part of the paper was later given to the readers of a New York daily newspaper; and its main points are summarized in a recent number of Science (viii. No. 178), and therefore need not be dwelt upon here. To answer Dr. Langdon's paper in detail is not the purpose of this article. While it would be easy to refute its many absurd conclusions, and expose its misrepresentations, it would take much space to do so. For ornithologists no refutation is necessary; and it would not be entitled to serious consideration were it not so perniciously misleading to those who know little of the subject. It has, however, been already ably answered by the Cincinnati committee, at a meeting of the Cincinnati society of natural history held June 16, at which the consideration of Dr. Langdon's paper was made the special subject of the evening. As a sufficient answer in the present connection, I subjoin the final report of the committee of the Cincinnati society on the destruction of native birds, adopted by the society at its meeting held July 6, premising merely that it was adopted with only one dissenting vote, and that Dr. Langdon's. Your committee report as follows in the matter submitted to them, and state that they have fully investigated the subject of the destruction of our native birds, and several papers have been prepared and read at three meetings of the society. They find : First, That native birds of many species have greatly decreased in numbers over large areas of the country. This is particularly true of those water and game birds about which it is comparatively easy to obtain statistics. Second, That the chief cause of such decrease, in addition to climatic changes, natural enemies, clearing up the country, etc., are, (a) The direct destruction of birds for their skins and feathers for decorative and millinery uses; (b) The trapping of birds for cage purposes; (c) The destruction of eggs and nests by men and boys; (d) And the introduction of the European sparrows, which occupy the nesting-places of many native species. Three of these causes are preventable, and the evils resulting can be greatly lessened: First, If no birds be used for decoration. Second, If none of the song-birds and insectivorous species be used for food. Third, If the laws protecting certain species be backed by a much stronger public opinion, and more rigidly enforced. Fourth, If thoughtless men and boys could be shown the great economic value of birds, and taught the desirability of protecting them and their eggs. Your committee find that a wide-spread discussion of the bird question shows more interest in our feathered friends than they had hoped for; and they trust that Cuvier clubs, Audubon societies, and other clubs of like aims, will continue to flourish on all sides until public sentiment is entirely opposed to the destruction of our native birds. GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. Yucatan. The indefatigable Charnay, who has just closed another season of exploration in Yucatan, reports that he had been engaged only about six months. His object was to get moulds of the bas-reliefs on the walls of the ancient ruins. These sculptures proved to be much rarer than is generally supposed. Arrived at Izamal, he excavated the north side of the pyramid, which he hoped to find entire, but it proved to have been destroyed so that only about eight square metres of carving remained, which were not the less interesting on that account. However, in uncovering the base of the pyramid ancient mural paintings were revealed. A sort of chronic insurrection between the Indians of Maya stock and the SpanishAmericans has been going on for many years, and will probably end only with the extermination of one or the other party. In thirty years it is said 300,000 people have fallen victims to this conflict. A visite to Koba was prevented by a new incursion of the Mayas, and in taking a new direction Charnay came upon an old town, quite unknown, |