intercourse with the Europeans, so that in 1750 they were about half their former number. The league was probably formed about the middle of the sixteenth century, and in these two hundred years they reached their highest power and were on the wane. As it must have taken them some time to reach the point where they could form such a body as the league, they must have been a powerful and progressive people at least a hundred years before, so that their main existence as a progressive people probably covered a period of some three hundred years if not more. Had they not been wrecked by contact with Europeans, it is safe to assume that they would have advanced to double their power, at least, in another century. They destroyed the Siouan tribes of the East, held the Lenapé in subjection, and terrorised the Algonquins as far as the banks of the Mississippi. [Illustration: BLACK HAWK The great central figure in the Black Hawk War, 1832 George Catlin ] [Illustration: PORTION OF THE SO-CALLED “PALACE” OF LABNA, YUCATAN Construction: stone. Site: tropical forest. Abandoned in prehistoric times Saville says: “The entire surface of the country is covered with forests.... Immediately to the south and west no white man has ever penetrated beyond the first range of hills; and who can tell what gems of ancient architecture lie buried in the wilderness” Photographed by M. H. Saville, 1890 ] King Philip, Red Jacket, Pontiac, Black Hawk, and many other Amerinds distinguished themselves as men of wide capacity, and in our later day may be mentioned the famous Sitting Bull, whose sagacity, intelligence, and military skill were of an extremely high order. He gave us much trouble, to be sure, but if all is fair in war, Sitting Bull deserves great praise for his ability. In war the Amerinds were given to killing all they could, but as this is the business of war, and as white armies use weapons that are also meant to kill, and seem to try to do killing in battle, we cannot be too hard on the Amerind warrior if he did not always do his killing exactly in the way we do it. “Murder as a fine art” was not one of his studies. He killed and we kill; where is the difference? Wars may be necessary; I think they sometimes are; so did the Amerind. [Illustration: MUSICAL BOW OF THE SOUTHERN TEPEHUANES AND THE AZTECS, MEXICO The sounding-board is a gourd with a hole in it. The other end of the brace attached to the bow rests on a stone. The cord of the bow was struck by a stick to produce the desired noise. Found by Lumholtz in use. Length of bow, 1 metre 36.5 centimetres. See page 308; and also article on “Geographical Distribution of the Musical Bow” by O. T. Mason, _American Anthropologist_, November, 1897; _Natural History of the Musical Bow_, by Henry Balfour; and “Symbolism of the Huichol Indians,” by Carl Lumholtz, _Memoirs of the American Museum_, vol. iii, pages 206, 207 ]