miles, which, in the vicinity of the Peace River, on the fifty-sixth parallel, decreases to about forty miles. It is bounded on the east by the Great Plains, which break into a series of foot-hills along its bases, and on the west by a remarkably straight and definite valley occupied by the Columbia, Kootenay, and other rivers. Since the early part of the century the trade of the fur companies has traversed this range, chiefly by the Athabasca and Peace River Passes; but, till the explorations effected by the expedition under Captain Palliser in l858-'59, nothing was known in detail of the structure of the range. During the progress of the railway explorations a number of passes were examined, and in 1883 and 1884 that part of the range between the forty-ninth parallel and latitude 51° 30' was explored and mapped in some detail in connection with the work of the Canadian Geological Survey by the author and his assistants. Access to this, the southern portion of the Rocky Mountains within Canadian territory, being now readily obtained by the railway, its mineral and other resources are receiving attention, while the magnificent Alpine scenery that it affords is beginning to attract the notice of tourists and other travelers.
Dr. Le Plongeon's Researches in Yucatan.—Mrs. Alice D. Le Plongeon, who, with Dr. Le Plongeon, has been zealously engaged in exploring the ancient ruins of Yucatan, read a paper at one of the meetings of the New York Academy of Sciences, in 1886, on some of the results of their joint observations. It related principally to the cities of Uxmal and Chichen-Itza. The "Governor's House" at Uxmal is three hundred and eighteen feet long, and is divided into twenty rooms, the two largest of which are sixty feet long, with ceilings in the form of triangular arches. Outside, the cornice above the doorways supports a magnificent entablature, with designs which, according to the author's interpretation, represent the face of the mastodon, and embody facts concerning the foundation of the city, with statues of the founders. North of this building is a palace of one hundred and two rooms, the arching entrance to the court of which bears traces of paint, and various red hands. "Similar imprints are seen in several buildings, because it was customary for those who used or owned the edifice to dip their hands in red liquid and press the palm against the wall to invoke a divine blessing for the house and inmates, and also to denote ownership." All the facades of this building are elaborately ornamented, and each is different from the others. The prevalent ornament is that of the feathered serpent in different attitudes and designs. On one side, at each end of the façade, was a serpent's head, the tail of the other one drooping over it. They had seven rattles, and just above them was an urn-ornament, with a long plume dependent from it. The heads were crowned, and in the distended jaws of the one yet in place there is a bat's head, and in the bat's mouth the face of a woman. A distinction is made between these serpents and the Maya serpent-emblem of the spirit of the universe, which had not rattles, but a dart at the end of the tail, and not feathers, but wings, and here and there something like fins. In what is called a grand castle at Chichen-Itza are many sculptured pillars, and among the figures represented several men with faces in profile, having long beards. One of them was so like Dr. Le Plongeon that the Indians said it was himself who had lived in that place in ages long gone by! It seems that they believe in reincarnation. In another building is a series of mural paintings representing religious ceremonies, domestic scenes, and battles, the figures of which are said to "show a far more skillful hand than those portrayed in the paintings found in the tombs of Egypt." Near here was found what was regarded as a mausoleum, elaborately ornamented with sculptured macaws and leopards and a leopard-sphinx, in the interior of which, at twenty feet below the surface, were discovered a large statue and two urns containing the cremated remains of the prince, to whom the whole was a monument, with articles in jade, chalcedony, and greenstone. The statue was drawn out, but was afterward seized by the Mexicans and taken to the museum at the capital. In another mausoleum, besides the funerary urn, with the manes and talismans and the statue, were found one hundred and eighty-two conoidal pillars, some painted
