Evening Star Newspaper, March 21, 1926, Page 90

T HE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, MARCH 2 1926—PART 5. Explorer Undertakes Task of Tracking Treachery in the Desert Action Is Taken After Emptying of Reserve Water Tanks in Sands of “Devil’'s Sea"—What the Footprints Revealed—A Sudanese Terror—The Story of Deception—Mirage Dances in the Heat Haze—Qway's Perplexity. What Befell the Guide. With the intention of traversing the Libyan desert to the border of ¥rench Soudan, Harding King set out with a small caravan, guided Dy one Qway Hassan Qway, an Arab who had never failed him pre- viously. Before progressing far, as t week, the English ex- me suspicious of his ssocfation Senussi, vlorer zulde with especial Qway also s engaging of another dulla, & Sudani. Soon his evil na- ture manitested itself in a wayv that caused the ubandonment of the journey. Harding King had sent the Arab and Abdulls ahead to estahlish o depot with supplies of water and food. After this the 1o were to seps reconnoiter, nd return to the depot. When the explorer, with other members of the carav: Abd er Rahman, chief camel driver Tbrahim, his brother, and Dahab, the cook—urrived at the depot, they found all the water tanks had en emptied—and footprints in the sand showed Qway to be the culprit. bec be the BY W. J. HARDING KING. TR position gave cause for anxiety. As for Qway, the perfidious guide, I was quite capable of looking after himself. 1 did not inclined to bother about him. The culty was Abdull From his racks it was clear that he had no nd in emptying the tanks, and I ry much doubted whether he knew auything at all about it. Abd er Rahman's explanation of what had occurred was, I felt sure, the correct one. H that Ab- a, though ‘‘very s in the at. was rather feeble in the head,” and that Qway had managed to get rid of him on some excuse and had stayed behind to empty the tanks. Abdulla, counting on me to bring him water and provisions, had gone off for & six days’ journey, relying on meeting us at end of that time. After going as far as he could to the south, he to cut across on to way's track and then to ride back along it to meet us. ‘The man had served me well, and in case I did not feel at all inclined to leave him to die of thirst, as he certainly would, if we did not go out to meet him. Obviously, we shouid have to follow up Qw track to re- lieve him—a course which also held out the alluring prospect of being able to get hold of Qway himself. But our water wa enable the whole caravan to go on together, and it was urgently neces- sary to send back to Dakhla for a fur- ther supply. The gifficulty was to krow whom to send. There was al- ways the risk that Qway might wheel around on us and try to get at our line of depots; and unfortunately he carried a Martini-Henri rifle I had lent him. Abd er Rahman, of course, could have found his way back quite easi but, though he c: a_Martini- Henri carbine, a vile shot, even at close range, as he funked the kick: moreover, he stood in such awe of Qway that I was afraid, if they met, he would come off second best in the event of a row, even with Dahab to back him up. brahim, however, cared no more for Qway than he did for an afrit (evil spirit) that threw clods, or for any one else. The next morning he set out with Dahab and the two worst camels, carrying all the empty tanks. His in- structions were to get back as fast as possible to Mut, refill the tanks, and to beg, borrow or steal all the tanks and waterskins he could get hold of in 1he oasis, and to bring them all back filed with water. Having seen them off from the depot on the way back to Mut, T set out with Abd er Rahman 10 follow up Qway's tracks and to re- lieve Abdulls Abd er hman was an excellent tracker. There had been mo wind to speak of since Qway had left the de- pot, and the footprints on the sandy soll were as sharp and distinct as when they were first made. We followed his footprints for three felt he | Usual noise, insufficient to | | greatest assist: | rather i at the foot of one of which we campea. that he did in that time that was not revealed by his tracks—Abd er Rah- man even pointed out one place where Qway had spat on the ground while riding on his camel! We could see where he had walked and led his mount, and where he had | mounted again and ridden. We could | see where he walked her and where he trotted; where he had curled himself the ground beside her and slept t, and all along his track at s were the places where he had stopped to pray—the prints of his open hands where he bowed to the ground, and even the mark where he had pressed his forehead on the sand in_prostration were clearly v The Moslem praye tted hours tremely regular in his prayerful habit of hi; 10 us, as L he had p the time at whic] point. We continued following his trail | until the sun began to set. when, as we did not want to overlook any | tracks in the dark, we halted for the night. We had got by that time into broken ground, cut up into ridges and hills about 20 feet high, It is curlous how easily, in the ab- colute calm of n desert night, the slightest sound is audible, and’ how uickly one wakes at the faintest un- AbBut midnight I started The distant sound of 2 trotting camel approaching the ¢ clearly audible, and the cumel was being ridden very fast \ Instantly I heard Abd er Rahman's sharp, threatening challenge and saw him_slinging his carbine forward in readiness for ar k. The ansy came back in a hoarse exhausted voice and was apparently satisfactory, for the camel man rode into the camp, his camel fell down on his knees, and the man got—or rvather fell—off on the | up. ut to Abd er Rahman to ask He called back that it and, after bending for a | few moments over his prostrate form came running across to where I lay. Abdulla and his hagin were, he said, extremely exhausted; but he had told him that there was no danger and that we could do nothing before day- light and had begun a long statement about Qway having turned back, in the middle of which he had fallen asleep. Abdulla, on the following morning, looked hollow-eyed, and if possible, thinner about the fact than ever; but beyond having obviously had a severe fright, he seemed to be little worse for his ride; the Sudanese have won- derful recuperative powers. His nerves, however, seemed to have been very badly shaken. 1ie spoke in a wild, incoherent way, very different from his usual slow, rather drawling speech. He rambled so much in his account of what had happened and tn troduced so many abusive epithets di- rected at Qway that at times it was rather difficult to follow him, and Al er Rahman had to help me out occu sionally by explaining his meaning. * ok ok K WAY, in the depot, had dawdled so over his preparations for leaving the camp that Abdulla, with his eye probably on the bakhshish I had protn- ised him, had me impatient at the delay. But Qway assured him that there was no immediate hurry, 1ld him that as soon as he-had filled his gurba, he would start, and suggested that he had better go on before him and that he would follow and catch him up. After he had gone some distance, Abdulla looked back and saw Qway hauling the tanks about, which struck him at the time as a rather unneces- sary performance; but as Qway es plained, when he overtook him, that he had only been rearranging the depot and placing the sacks of barley more effectually to shade the tanks, his suspicions had been lulled. For most of the first day after leav- ing Qway Abdulla kept turning things very slowly over in his “feeble head,” and, toward the end of the second day, it began to occur to him that Qway's long delay in the depot was rather suspicious; so before proceed- ing any farther along his route, he days, and there was mighty little|thought it advisable to ride across and “EVEN ON THE GRO CAMEL--AND EVEN THE M HAD PRESSED HI¢ IN PROSTRATION!" have look at the old track ke had made himself on his previous journey, to make sure that Qway was keeping to his sharve of the arrangement by following it toward Jebel Abdulla. On reaching his track he saw no sign of Qway having passed that way, 0 becoming seriously uneasy, he rode back along it hoping to meet him. At a distance of only about a day from Jebel el Bayed he found the place where Qway had turned back, which, as he had told him he intended to go for another two and a half days ther, convinced him that something serfously wrong. He then apparently became panis stricken and came tearing back aleng his tracks to make sure that we were | coming out to meet him and that the n_interfered with. It struck me that Qway's track lay to the west of cur camp, so I sent Abd er hmann off to see if he coula nd anything, while Abdulla and I packed up and loaded the camels. Aba er Rahman returned in great glee to announce that I had been right in my conjecture, and that he had found Qway's track; so we started out to follow it. As we continued to follow the tracks, presently it became evident that Qway had been considerably perplexed. S cral times he had halted to look around him from the top of some slight rise in the ground and had then ridden on again In the same direction, and re- peated the proces But that bit of desert might have been made especially for the purpose of confusing an erring guide. As far as could be seen in all directions stretched a practically level expanse of sandy soil, showing no landmark to guide him except where the great black bulk of Jebel el Bayed heaved Itself up from the monotonous surface, Qway at lust had evidently given up the problem. e had remounted his camel, ridden around a circle a hun- dred yards or so in diameter in a final attempt to pick up his bearings, and then had made off at a sharp trot to- ward the north. Abd er Rahman was in ecstasies. “Qway's lost, Qway's lost!” He turned grinning delightedly to me. “I to'd vou I was a better guide than he suddenly grew solemn. “QWAY'S LOST—QWAY'S LOST! HE WILL DIE— l’l; I'S CERTAIN HE WILL DIE! Much as he lm'(ed the overbearing Arab, he had worked with him for two seasons, and, as he had said, there is a bond of union between those who now the nijem.” “He will die,” declared Abd er Rah- man. “It is certain he will die. He had only five days’' water, and it is four days since he left the depot. He is not going where the water is, but he is making for the ‘Valley of the Rat.’ It is certain he will die of thirst. 2:! camel has had no water for four Y ‘We followed Qway’s footprints for a short distance. But he had been trav- eling very fast, and it was obvious that we should never catch him up, Ie Y R FOREHEAD ON THE POINTED OUT WHERE QWAY HAD SPAT JND WHILE RIDING ON HIS K _WHERE HE SAND was off ou 4 non-<top run to Mut, and as our own water supply was by no means plentiful, I thought we had better follow his example. * ok | (3] shed Mut it was eve- | ning. Soon after my arvival the u 1 boring deputation of government officials turned up to felicitate me in | conventional terms on my safe return. | After thanking them for the loan of the tanks I asked the mamur (judge) whether anything had been heard of professed to a total ignorance | on the subject, und wanted to have | full details of what he had been doing. gave him an account of Qway's con- duct as shown by his tracks and the sked that he be im- mediately ar ¢ The mamur hesitated for a noment then burst out with o passionate Qway is & gada” (sports man). I pointed out the gad: rate, walked off with a rifle cope of mine, and that I feit cel he had come into the oasls and was | | iding. The mamur did not think he was hiding, but that he would turn up as soon a8 he heard I had got back. And, anyway, he declined to send out men to look for him or to have him ar rested. I insisted that it was his duty both to find and ari him, and after a considerable amount of pressing he at length gave way to the extent of promising if Qway did not turn up to send & man to look for him *the day after tomorrow. A long discussion followed, and at last a solution of the difficulty oc curred to the ma r. He sald he could not arrest Q but he would send a policeman to bring back the rifle and cartridges. Did they satisfy me? It didn’t. I said I must have Qway as well. After a long discus- sion he at last agreed to send to fetch him if I would send a message by the policeman to_tell Qway that he was not to shoot him! The next day the mamur came around to see me, looking immensely relieved. He sald that the policeman had gone to Rashida to fetch Qwa; but found that he had left the village. So now there was nothing to be done. e evidently felt that he 1S Now clear of all responsibility the matter. I had thus lost track of Qway and began to despair of ever being able to get hold of him. I began to wonder what was the best thing to do next. This problem, however, solved it- self. I had just finished lunch when a timid knock came at the door and in walked Qway! He looked 10 years older. His eyes were bleary and bloodshot, his cheeks sunken, his lips parched and cracked, his beard untrimmed, and he had an unkempt, almost dirty, appearance. He lald the rifle and telescope on my bed, fumbled in his vguminous clothing and produced a handful of cartridges, took some more out of his pocket and laid them all on the table. “Count them, your excellency,” he sald. “They are all there.” I found that the tale of them was complete. I asked him what excuse he had to make for his conduct. Ie looked at me for a moment to see what line he had better take, and the one that he took was not particularly complimentary to my intelligence. “It was very hot, your excellency— very hot, indeed. And I was alone and an afrit climbed up on to my camel. There was an afrit, your excellency, that got up behind me on my camel and kept on telling me to go there and to do this, and T had to do it. Tt was not my fault the water was up- set. It was the afrit. I had to do what he told me.” Then, hearing a snort from Dahab, he added that there was not onl, afrit, but many, and that that part of the desert was full of them. 1 thought it time to stop him. I told him I had heard quite enough, and that he had to come around with me to the merkaz. WE met the mamur at the door of the merkaz, and Qway immeai- ately rushed forward to try and kiss his hand. The mamur, however, would have nothing to do with him. Like nearly all the felahin, he backed the winner, and I for the moment had come out on top “This man is a traitor, a regular { traftor,” said the judge, who had not yet tried him and who had previously told me he was a sportsman. But I had got the best of the deal, and, moreover, was shortly returning to Egypt and might report on him to one of the inspectors. So he determined to show me how an Egyptian official can do justice when he takes off his coat for the job. He bustled in to the office and began arranging papers fussilly on his table. Having got things to his satisfaction, the mamur ordered the prisoner to be brought in. He arrived between two 1 wooden-looking policeman. ““Well, traitor, what have you got to say for yourself? Mr. Harden Keen says you upset some water. What do you_say to it? Yes, 1 upset the water. But I eould not help it. It was a very hot * ok % * said the mamur. 2" said Qway, rather taken aback. “I said liar,” shouted the namur, thumping the table. Qway, who was a high-spirited fellow, found this more than he could stand, and began to get nettled. ; “As I said, Effendim, it was a hot day—very hot, and I am an old man and perhaps it was the sun. I don't “know what it was, but an afrit—>" | of an east side second-hand store may “Allah!” said the mamur, spreading out his hands, “an afrit?” Qway began | to get a bit flurried. I “Yes, Effendiu, an afrit “Liar,” repeated the mamur. id you were a liar.” o5 84l { :his work had been A7 | Qway broke down, stammered, and | generally got into a terrible mess. At |1ast the mamur, having elicited from him in turn the fact that there was one afrit, that there were two, that i there had been a crowd of them, and ifinally that there were none at all, |went on to the next stage and asked what had happened afterward. Qway explained that after leaving the depot he had ridden for two days to the southwest, and then had turned back and circled round Jebel el Bayed {and finally ridden off to the east. | “The east?” said the mamur. *I { thought Dakhla lay to the north |~ “The rortheast, Effendim,” correct- ed Qway. '‘Rather north of mnorth- east.” "Then why did you go to the east? Were you lost?"” Qway stammered worse than ever. Two tegrs began to roll down Qway's cheeks and his great gnarled hand went up to hide his twitching lips. “Yes,” he said, with a great effort. “I was lost.” “But you are a guide, lost!"" “Yes,” stammered Qway. te own to a mere fellah that he, the {great desert guide, had lost his way, {must have been most intensely hu- { miliating. | No Ej {such a cl And you got To have yptian could have nce. resisted The mamur began to | question Qway minutely as to where, thow and when he had got lost, ana to the exact degree of lostness at each stage of the proceedings; and Qway, to | his credit be it aid, answered quite | truthtully. ‘When he could rub it in no further. the mamur began to question him to the remainder of his journey. Qway | described how he had had to go two | days without water and had almost jridden his camel to death in order to | get back to our tracks, and how he and his camel had eventually man- aged to get back to Dakhla more dead than alive. The mamur put a few more questions to him, then told him again that he was a traitor and that “like pitc “TER lLearing Abdulla’s story, the mamur concluded that Le haa heard enough evidence. “I find that Qway is a traitor,” he said. “His work has been like pitch. my consumption. do you want me to do him?’ I suggested, as delicately as I could, that that was a question to be decided by the court, and not by the accuser After a whispered conversation with the police ofticer across the table, the mamur announced that he intended to put him in prison and send him, when the camel-postman went, in abouf. & week's time. to Assiut to be tried. The attitude of the men toward Qway changed completely after his trial. There was no longer any need to be afraid of him. Their resentment. at his conduct in the desert had had time to cool down. He had been bullied by a fellah ma mur, been forced to confess in public that he had disgraced himself bv getting lost in the desert, had bee: arrested by a Sudani and publicl: paraded through the casis dressed 98 a_fellah. His humiliation was com- plete and could scarcely have been more thorough. The Ledawin instinc* for revenge had been amply satisfied 8o far as I was concerned, I was feeling rather sorry for my erring guide, to whom I had taken a str liking from the start, for he had o been made a tool by the Senussi, v were the real culprits. So having o got him convicted, I told the mamur did not want him to be severely pu ished, provided that “the quality mercy was not strained Dahab told me Qway was confined irons and being fed only on bread water. So I sent him egome tea ar sugar, with a message to the police that they might take the frons of and that T would “see them” before {left the 1sis. Duahab asked for wmoney to buy =~ quite unnecessary number of eggs ¢ I never inquire: what become of them ali: but ti same evening he usked for leave 80 to the doctor's house, and starte oft with bulging pockets in the dire tion of the merkagz. 1o came back again with the empty shortly afterward. saying tha he had been told that VAY WaS 1 signed und very prayerful. Sudanese, as T afterward heard, se him some cheese and lentils, to wh Abdulla added a handful of onions, = altogether Qway must have rather e Joyed himself in pi n. (Copyright. 1028.) Treasure Hunting, as a Modern Pursuit, Gives Thrills to Admirers of Antiques BY ANNABEL P HAT is there about an- tique hunting that lures? What makes it as thrilling as horse trading or th” XTON. roulette wheel? is a game that any of us can play. Because the field is almost unlimited. And because the stakes are large in personal satisfaction and often in hard cash. The half-forgotten tuble in the attic of an ancient New England farmhouse may turn out to have a value well along in the hundreds of dollars. Dust-colored engraving in a corner Becaus he worth close to their weight in gold. The game of discovering these gems, bringing them into the light, selling them for 10 times or 100 times what they cost, has all the thrills for your dyed-in-the-wool antique hunter, ama- teur or professional. that backing a winning hundred-to-one shot has for the turf follower; or that cornering the market has for the wheat spec- ulator. One amateur devotee of this new and ever popular sport, Mme. Jutta Bell-Ranske, a teacher of voice culture by profession, declares the continued suspense of antique hunting explains its attraction for her. ‘One never knows what s going t happen next,” she declares. 1y most exciting adventure of the sort started in Ven! I had gone Into a little shop to buy some postcards and drawing: As the shopkeeper was wrapping up any purchases, v\'hh‘l\. were to cost me several hundred lire, | T noticed a little modern colored en- | graving lying on the counter.” “Don’t you think you might throw this in?” 1 asked. “*Surely the lady is not in earnest,’ he exclaimed with a shrug. ‘That en- graving is valued at 30 lire, and how can the lady expect me to make my business pay if T give my customers presents of such value? But,’ he added apologetically, turning to the shelf behind him, ‘I have here an en- graving which I had intended to us for wrapping paper. To this the lady is welcome.” And he included it in my package. “T gave no further thought to the plece of ‘wrapping paper’ until after my return to London, where I was then making my headquarters. One day I took the package, just as it had been done up by my Venetian friend, to an art shop, where I intended hav- ing the drawings framed. As the wrappings fell away, the clerk who was waiting on me glanced with sur- prise at the engraving which had been thrown in. 1 noticed her interest and inquired, ‘What is that thing?" “The clerk took the vellowed paper to the rear of the shop, where she con- sulted with the proprietor. In a mo- ment she returned, accompanied by the latter. “ ‘That thing, madam, unless we are very much mistaken, is a first proof of a Lawrence engraving, and worth a great deal of money,’ she said. And so it turned out. The paper which the Venetian stationer had planned to use for wrapping purposes brought me £300, or almost enough to pay for my rather extended trip through Ttaly.” _ The collecting of antlques, like other o v ] “ISNT THERE ANOTHER ONE OF THESE CANDLESTICKS?” sports, has its amusing and ironic episodes. Mme. Bell-Ranske tells the story of the suddenly wealthy Ameri- can who, having heard sung the praises of the Winged Victory, ordered a marble replica of the famous statue sent to his Western home, intending to decorate his entrance hall with a piece of known artistic worth. The Victory arrived in due time, duly minus head and arms, whereupon the angry art patron promptly sued the express company for breakage— and was indemnified to the extent of $1,000, which sum he refunded some- what later, when his art education had progressed. To the elements raging in storm and flood down the Ohio River valley Elizabeth Shackleton, one of America’ one of her v “I got i chance,” she tells luable finds. the flooded area by “and was amazed at the vast stretches of land which had | been fnundated; at the numbers of houses, barns and fences which had been carried away. “More as a sightseer than as a searcher for antiques, I was walking about the little island of Blennerhas- set, gulded by a man who had lived in the neighborhood for years. He told me how he had been driven from the island Ly the recent flood, and how he had watched the steadily ris- ing waters draw closer and closer to his home. Finally darkness put an end to his vigil. The following morn- ing he was relieved to see that the river had fallen during the night, but astonished to observe a house strand- ed close to what was his barnyard in normal times. “With a companion he rowed out to inspect the bullding that had been so unceremoniously planted on his land. The house, naturally, was deserted, but fts furnishings were intact, just as the owners had left them in their flight. “My guide and his friend salvaged what they could from the stranded | building, “which was carried away when the river rose again that same night. Among the various household turnishings he had taken was a pair THE “WINGED VICTORY” ARRIVED, which I knew would exact order of long standing from one of !my New York customers. My guide set no particular store by his plunder, and was glad to give me the andirons In exchange for a hammock which I bought at the neighboring village for a few dollars.” How articles of value to the collector of antiques hide in the most unexpect- ed corners is {llustrated by another of Mrs. Shackleton's experiences. In a cabin in the South she found a brass candlestick of rare workmanship. DULY !toremost dealers in rare antiques, owes of acorn-top andirons, choice pieces ! fill an |the place” | “Isn‘t there another of th she inquired of th colored woman who, in the absence « her parents, was acting hoste “Yas'm,” replied the girl, in the pickle barrel ‘ou mean?” queried Mrs somewhat mystifled a: this seemingly irrelevant reply. “No, not lost,” was the answer. “but gran'ma’s a pow'ful hand at makin’ pickles; but they ain’t nobod: makes 'em as green.” Then, in a tone which indicated she was divulg- ing a secret of state, “she greens 'e keepin’ the candlesticks in among em.” ince Americans have succumbed increasing numbers to the epell of t chase for art rarities, the govern- ments of several European countries, notably Spain and Italy, have taken steps to prohibit the exportation of the works of the old master painters and craftsmen. Without these precautions most of the privately owned European pictures, marbles and bronzes of torfc value might soon be on this side of the Atlantic. But, as the American prohibition experiment has proved legal obstacles lend only to increa the interest in a pursuit, and the art bootlegger is becoming a more and more familiar figure here and abroad. < ut it's S MINUS THE HEAD AND ARMS. SO THE AMATEUR ART PATRON SUED THE EXPRESS COMPANY FOR BREAKAGE—AND GOT THE MONEY! Indians Had Implement Shops Here (Continued from Third Page.) and achievement. For many years he has urged that the Piney Branch site, which is of o much importance to students of early American history and marks an epoch in scientific thought, should be set aslde as a pub- lic park. It has been suggested that the Smithsonian Institution should undertake this work for future gen- erations of Americans, or that it be taken up by the Carnegie Institution or the Archeological Society of Wash- ington. ¢But Dr. Holmes does not believe it is their responsibility. Nor does he think it should be done, except as a last resort, by the patriotic women of the country or the citizens of the City of Washington. Rather, in his opin- ion, the Federal Government, which selected this site for its magnificent Capltal City, which is fast burying the anclent landmarks with modern struc- tures, should take effective steps to preserve the spot and erect upon it @ tribute to the memory of the plun- gered race that once had its home ere. De Lancey Gill of the Smithsonian Institution ~first discovered worked stones on the site of the quarry about 1880, when he was engaged in sketch- ing the valley and looking for evi dences of anclent Indian art and in- dustry. Later he found beds of quarry-shop refuse in the second ra- vine west of Fourteenth street. Six- teenth street had not then been ex- tended across Piney Branch. not until about ten years later that Dr. Holmes began his excavations on the site. A treatise by Dr. Holmes describing the results of this investigation and entitled “‘Stone Implements of the Potomac-Chesapeake Tidewater Provinces,” published in the fifteenth annual report of the Bureau of Ameri- can Ethnology, won for the author the coveted Loubat quinquennial prize of $1,000 for 1898 for the most valuable work published on American arche- ology. For many years it was not suspect- ed that the Potomac Valley and the whole region of Chesapeake Bay were so rich in ancient remains. The arts and industries of the historic aborig- ines were extremely simple. No strik- ing monuments of any kind have been found to tell of these vanished peo- ples. But careful exploration by Dr. Holmes and other scientists of the Smithsonian Institution has developed evidence of an intelligence and enter- prise hardly to be expected of these **Prehistoric man in this reglon used region u: stone only for implements and uten- sils, but their knowledge of the min- eral resources of the region was so extensive that no deposits of bowlders, no ledge of flekable stone, no deposit of avallable stone of any kind seems to have escaped their attention. Quarrying and manufacturing were extensive, and the distribution of the product extended in some instances for more than 100 miles beyond the source of supply. S 'HE Potomac Indians were traders. The ancient name of the tribe which Capt. John Smith found holding chief sway over the river was Pato- meck, written erroneously by Capt. Smith Patawomek.” The town of Patomeck, some 30 or 40 miles south of the site of Washington City, may have been the place where other tribes brought tribute, or it may have de- rived its name, as some scholars be- lieve, from the fact that these Indians were great traders, always bringing things up and down the river. Dr. Holmes believes that the stone blades which were quarried and roughly shaped on the site of Washington were among the principal articles of barter for this whole region. No one knows how long these Indians_had been living in the Po- tomac Valley when they were first found there by Capt. Smith. It may have been more than 500 years. They were mainly of the Algonquin lin- guistic stock, the stock of Powhatan and King Philip. By the art remains of their numerous villages Dr. Holmes .connects them with the great body ,of those anclent inhabitants whose Jomain extended from South Carolina to Nova Scotla. “The culture status indicated by the remains here brought to the attention of students,” says Dr. Holmes, “is precisely that of the historic inhabit. ants encountered by John Smith.” Dr. Holmes regards it as a striking circumstance that a large part of the varied phenomena considered in his studies of this ancient people are as- sembled within a few miles of the Capitol of the Nation, much of it be- ing within the Capital city itself. “When first visited by the English," says Dr. Holmes, “these Indians sub- sisted largely by hunting and fishing, and to some extent cultivated malze, or Indian corn. They were a vigor ous, valiant race, but had made but little progress in any of the arts save those of mere subsistence. While the study of their art remains throws much light on numerous episodes of their history, the story they tell of themselves and of the industrial strug- gles of primitive peoples in general is of profound interest. “A¢ indicated by the remains, art in stone—which is the leading art A l represented—was still almost wholly within the implement-making phase of the stone age, mythology and the esthetic forces not yet having lent their inspiration to the hand of the sculptor.” * ¥ %k % URING his exploration of the Piney Branch site Dr. Holmes ran trenches into the hills and uncovered the ancient quarries. He found beds ot quartzite bowlders yet unchipped. Ile found piles of partly chipped stones, the fallures of the aboriginal implement makers, and he found also many leaf-shaped blades that had been brought almost to the stage for carrying away to other places, where they would have bten finally shaped into knives, arrowlieads, scrapers or other implements. The quartzite worked by the Indians on this site is in the form of smoothed bowlders of varfous sizes. It was brought down in a past geologic age by the Potomac River from places whers it was broken from the rock of the Appalachian Mountains. At that time the Potomac River flowed into the sea at the site of Washington, and these bowlders—large rounded pebbles of brittle stone—were depos- ited on the ancient seashore at the river's mouth. Dr. Holmes satisfled himself as to the battering and flaking methods used by the ancient quarrymen and implement makers by striking the rounded quartzite bowlders with other stones and chipping them as the Indians had done; also by using bone points in the more delicate flaking operation by which the finer edges were put on the implements. “‘Of the implements made and used n this province,” says Dr. Holmes, ‘perhaps 90 per cent were shaped by fracture processes. These deal with all brittle stone, and the shaping fs attended by constant b and fallure, g0 that for each completed form several abortive forms are pro- duced more or less closely resembling some of the simpler varieties of flu- ished implements. “The work was carried on all ove: the large area furnishing the raw mu terial, and the articles made and used were everywhere intimately inter mingled with the repectage of manu (acture. So confusing were the co: ditions that no definite line could drawn between the two classes objects. “The discovery of the quarries in the hills, entirely isolated from the sites and phenomena of specializatior. and use, made the separation eas) and led to a correct understanding of what may well be called the morpho!- 0gy of flaked implemsuts.”