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.1 


^ 


FOLK-LORE 

A   QUARTERLY  REVIEW 
MYTH,  TRADITION.  INSTITUTION,  &•  CUSTC 

The  Traksactions  of  the  Folk-Lore  Society 

And  itKorporating  The  ARCHiCOLOGiCAL  Review  and 
The  Folk-Lore  Journal 

.j,  VOL.   XIL— igoi. 


DAVID    NUTT,     55—57,     LONG     ACRE 
1901. 

[XLvm.] 


PRnrTBD  BT  J.  B.  NIOHOLS  AND  BONK, 

PARLIAMBKT  MANSIONS, 

OBCHABD  ST.,  YIOTORIA  ST.,  ^W. 


»,     ^  * 


,  •    •    •       • 


* 


i  54933 


CONTENTS. 


I. — (March,  1901.) 


PAGE 


Minutes  of  Meetings  :  Wednesday,  November  28th,  1900  .         i 

Minutes  of  Meetings :  Wednesday,  December  19th,  1900  3 

Minutes  of  Meetings  :  Wednesday,  January  1 6th,  1 90 1    .  .         3 

Annual  Report  of  the  Council       .           .            .            .  .5 

Presidential  Address.     E.  Sidney  Hartland       .            .  -15 

Old  Irish  Tabus  or  Geasa.    Eleanor  Hull       «            .  •41 


II. — (June,  1901.) 

Minutes  of  Meetings  :  Wednesday,  February  20th,  1901 .  .129 

Minutes  of  Meetings :  Wednesday,  March  20th,  1901      .  .     131 

Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana.     Everard  F.  im  Thurn  132 

The  Folklore  of  Lincolnshire.    Mabel  Peacock            .  .161 


III. — (September,  1901.) 

Minutes  of  Meetings :  Wednesday,  April  17th,  190 1  '257 

Minutes  of  Meetings  :  Wednesday,  May  isth,  1901         .  .     259 

Minutes  of  Meetings  :  Wednesday,  June  19th,  1901         .  .260 

Persian  Folklore.     Ella  C.  Sykes          .            .            .  .261 

The  Ancient  and  Modem  Game  of  Astragals.     E.  Lovett  .     280 

The  Paganism  of  the  Ancient  Prussians.     F.  C.  Conybeare  .     293 

IV. — (December,  1901.) 

Notes  and  Queries  on  Totemism .....     385 

Garland  Day  at  Castleton.     S.  O.  Addy             .            .  .     394 

The  Silver  Bough  in  Irish  L^end     Eleanor  Hull      .  -431 

Collectanea  : — 

A  Buddhist  Wheel  of  Life  from  Japan.     N.  W.  Thomas  67 

Stray  Notes  on  Japanese  Folklore.     N.  W.  Thomas     .  .      69 


iv  Contents. 

.1 


Folklore  Notes  from  South-west  Wilts.    John 
Folktales  from  the  iEgean,  XV.-XVII.     W.  R. 
Cropping  Animals'  Ears.     N.  W.  Thomas 
Stories  and  other  Notes  from  the  Upper  Congo. 
Animal  Superstitions.     N.  W.  Thomas 
Vine-graftirtg  in  Southern  France.     Catharine 
Folk-tales  from  the  JEgezn,  XVIII.-XXII.     W. 
Cropping  Animals'  Ears.     N.  W.  Thomas,  W.  1 
A  Hertfordshire  St.  George.     W.  B.  Gerish     . 
"  Grateful  Fr^jus."    Evelyn  M.  Jones 
Midsummer  in  the  Pyrenees.     Jean  C.  G.  Spea 
Folktales  from  the  ^gean,  XXIII.-XXV.     W.  ] 
The  Kraal  Family  System  among  the  Amandebek 
Stories  from  Upper  Egypt.     C.  S.  Myers 
Rhymes,  English  and  Hindu.     Kate  Lee,  Ma 

S.  O.  Addy,  M.  N.  Venkataswami   . 
The  Fire  Walk  Ceremony  in  Tahiti.     S.  P.  Lan 
A  Survival  of  Tree-worship.     Mary  Lovett  Cai 
Rice  Harvest  in  Ceylon.     R.  J.  Drummond 
Stories  and  other  Notes  from  the  Upper  Conj 

TV  lULlvd  •  *  •  •  • 

Supernatural  Changes  of  Sites.     Edward  Peaco< 

Correspondence  : — 

Weathercocks.    J.  P.  Emslie    . 

Alphabet  used  in  Consecrating  a  Church.     A.  Ni 

Husband  and  Wife.     W.  R.  Paton 

Head  of  Corpse  between  the  Thighs.     S.  O.  Add 

The  Divining  Rod  in  U.  S.  A.     A.  R.  Wright 

The  Bumble-bee  in  Magic.     Edith  F.  Carey  . 

Customs  in  the  Building  Trade.     W.  Henry  Jew 

Irish  Burial  Custom.    John  Cooke 

Sacrifice  to  avert  Shipwreck.     W.  H.  D.  Rouse 

Spectral  Light  in  Corsica.    Edward  Peacock 

StoneK:atching  Game.    £.  Lemke 

Primitive  Orientation.     W.  H.  R.  Rivers 

Husband  and  Wife  Story.     E.  Sidney  Hartland 

Japanese  Notes  :  Corrigenda  et  Addenda.     N.  W. 

Cutting  off  the  Head  of  a  Corpse.     Madi  Braitm 

Stone-catching  Games.     F.  A.  Milne  . 

A  Berwickshire  Kirn -Dolly.     Alice  B.  Gomme 

Sun  Charms.     N.  W.  Thomas 

Rain  Charm  in  Asia  Minor.     W.  R.  Paton 

Sacrifice  at  York,  1648.     Edward  Peacock 


Contents. 


PAOl 

Blacksmiths' Festival.    Charlotte  S.  Burne  .218 

The  Mill  of  the  Twelve  Apostles.     S.  O.  Addv  .  .218 

History,  Tradition,  and  Historic  Myths.     Alfred  Nutt         .     3.^6 
Customs  relating  to  Iron,     H.  Collev  March  .  .     340 

The  Transition  from  Totemism  to  Ancestor  Worship.     N.  W. 

Thomas        .......     343 

Spectral  Lights.    A.  Lang       .....     343 

Miss  Weston's  Guingamor.    A.  Nun  ....     344 

Blacksmiths'    Festival.       T.    W.    E.    Higgens,    W.    Percy 

Merrick      .......    344 

The  Golden  Bough  :  Moab  or  Edom  ?    Jessie  L.  Weston      .     347 
The  Luck  of  Mycenae.    W.  H.  D.  Rouse  .    347 

Horses'  Heads.    Florence  Grove     ....     348 

New  Year  Customs  in  Herefordshire.     J.  G.  Frazer  .  .     349 

Whitsuntide    Fate    and  Mock   Burials.      M.   F.  Johnston, 

Christabel  Coleridge,  Alice  A.  Kearv  .  .  •     351 

•     Border  Marriages.    F.  A.  Milne         .  -352 

The  Power  of  Speech.     M.  le  Dr.  Chervin   .  .  .     353 

History,  Tradition,  and  Historic  Myth.     W.  H  D.  Rouse      .     466 

The    Ethnological    Significance    of    Burial    and   Cremation. 

N.  W.  Thomas  .  .  .  .468 

Myths  of  Greece,     Geo.  St.  Clair        ....     469 
The  Transition  from  Totemism   to  Ancestor  Worship.     E. 

Sidney  Hartland   .  .  .  -471 

Customs  relating    to    Iron.     Mabel  Peacock,   Katherine 

Carson,  C.  S.  Burne  .  .  .  -472 

King  Solomon  and  the  Blacksmith.     M.  Gaster  -475 

Moab  or  Edom?    M.  Gaster.  ....     476 

Ship  Processions.     N.  W.  Thomas       ...    476 
A  "  Nabby  "  Colt.     M.  Peacock  -477 

Early-Rising  Jest.    W.  Henry  Jewitt  .  -477 

Dr.  Feilberg's  Seventieth  Birthday.    Marian  Roalfe   Cox, 

E.  W.  Brabrook      .  -477 

Rainbow  Magic.    Frederic  J.  Cheshire  .    479 

Bell-lore.     E.  Farrer  ......     480 

Reviews  : — 

Carl  Lumholtz's  Symbolism  of  the  Huichol  Indians,     E.  Sidney 
Hartland    .......     107 

Emile  Durkheim's  L Annie  Sociologique,  E.  Sidney  Hartland     no 
AndxG^f  IjSing^^  The  Making  of  Religion  .  .112 

John  Rhys's  Celtic  Folklorey  Welsh  and  Manx  .  .  .114 

Jessie  L.  Weston's   Guingamor^  Lanval^  Tyoltty  The  Werewolf 
Eleanor  Hull        .  .  .  .  .  .116 


Contents. 


PACK 

.ug.    Gitt^e's    Curiositks  de  la    Vie   Enfantine.      E.    Sidney 
Hartland    .  .  .  .120 

^opular  Studies  in  Mythology^  Romance^  and  Folklore^  Nos.  1-7.     121 
fan^  Nos.  i  and  2       .  .  .  .  .     122 

skar  Kallas's  Achtzig  Mdrchen  der  Ljutziner  JSsten.     W.-  F. 
KiRBY  .  .  .  .  .  .124 

.¥.  Abbott's  Songs  0/ Modem  Greece .  .  .  •     ^25 

G.  Frazer's  TAe  Golden  Bough,  E.  W.  Brabrook, 
G.  Laurence  Gomme,  M.  Gaster,  A.  C.  Haddon,  F.  B. 
Jevons,  Andrew  Lang,   Alfred    Nutt,   Charlotte  S. 

BURNE  .  .  .  .  .  .219 

;.  W.  de  Visser's  De  Grcecorum  diis  nan  referentibus  speciem 
humanum.    E.  Sidney  Hartland    ....     243 

.  H.  D.  Rouse's  The  Jdtaka,  E.  V.  Arnold's   The  Rig-Veda, 
S.  P.  Rice's  Occasional  Essays  on  Native  South  Indian  Life, 
W.  Crooke  .......     245 

K.  Cheyne  and  J.  Sutherland  Black's  Encyclopedia  Biblica, 
W.  Crooke  .  .  .  .  .  .     247 

seph  Wright's  The  English  Dialect  Dictionary  .248 

Ichele  Marchiano's  DOrigine  delta  Favola  Greca       .  250 

rginia  Frazer  Boyle's  Devil  Tales.    John  Abercromby        .     251 
.ul  S^billot's  Cuentos  Bretones,     E.  Sidney  Hartland         .     252 
idrew  Lang's  Magic  and  Religion.  354 

.  Ridgeway^s  The  Early  Age  of  Greece  .     360 

Jorge  St.  Clair's  Myths  of  Greece        ....     362 

A.    Wiedemann's    The  Realms  of  the  Egyptian  Dead. 
A.  H.  Sayce .......     364 

Lvid  Prescott  Barrows's  TTie  Ethno-Botany  of  the  Coahuilla 
Indians  of  Southern  California.     E.  Sidney  Hartland       .     366 
ice  C.  Fletcher's  Indian  Story  and  Song  from  North  America. 
E.  Sidney  Hartland  .....     368 

ul  S^billot's  Contes  des  Landes  et  des  Grives,  Les  Coquillages  de 
Mer,  and  Le  Folk-Lore  des  P^cheurs.     E.  Sidney  Hartland     370 
idolfo  Nenicci's  Tradizioni  Popolari  Pistoiesi,     E.  Sidney 
Hartland    .......    372 

H.  Maynadier's  The  Wife  of  BatlCs  Tale.    Jessie  L.  Weston     373 
tra  L.  Thompson  and  E.  E.  Speight's  The  Junior  Temple 
Reader  37*; 

sie  L.  Weston's  The  Romance  Cycle  of  Charlemagne  and  his 
eers  •  .  •  .  •  •'Itc 

fie  Durkheim's  LAnnke  Sociologigue^  1899- 1900.    E.  Sidney 

ARTLANVP        .  .  ...  .  ,      j^gj 

e  L.  IVeston's  The  Legend  of  Sir  Lancelot  du  Lac.  Walter 
Greg  ......  ^36 


Contents.  vii 

PAOB 

F,    Uoyd  Griffith's   Stories  of  the  High-Priests  of  Memphis. 

A.  H.  Sayce  ......     497 

Caspanis  Albers's  De  diis  in  lads  editis  cultis  apud  Gracos. 

E.  Sidney  Hartland  .....    500 

W.  Skeafs  Fables  and  Folk- tales  from  an  Eastern  Forest  .     502 

Ramaswami  Raju's  Indian  Fables  ....     503 

Records  of  Women^s  Conference  on  the  Home  Life  of  Chinese 

Women,    E.  Sidney  Hartland       ....     504 

Obituary  : — 

H.M.  Queen  Victoria.     E.  W.  Brabrook  .98 

Bibliography  .126,  253,  376,  506 

Index  .  -5^3 

Rules  and  List  of  Members. 

Index  of  ARCHiEOLOciCAL  Papers  published  1899.    v.s^cx.w'^  ^  ^^  <^ 

List  of  Plates  : — 

I.  A  Buddhist  Wheel  of  Life  from  Japan    .  Frontispiece 


2 o  face  page      99 

136 

137 
138 
138 
138 
258 


9) 


II.  Weathercocks 

III.  Macusi  Games    . 

IV.  Ibid. 
V.  Ibid. 

VI.  Ibid. 
VII.  Ibid. 
VIII.  Graveyard  at  Sahnck 

Showing  Pipes  on  Graves. 
IX.  Wedding  Dance  Mask,  County  Mayo  „  258 

X.  Tomb  in  Brent  Pelham  Church,  Herts, 

1901  ...  „  303 

XI.  Castleton  Church,  the  Garland  on  the 

Tower,  1901  ...  „  410 

XII.  The  Frame  of  the  Garland  „  412 

XIII.  The  King  and  Garland  .  „  413 

XIV.  The  Queen,  1901  „  414 
XV.  Papa-Ita  Performing   the  Fire  Walk  at 

Honolulu      ....  „  454 


viii  Contents. 


ERRATA. 


Page  127,  line  5  from  bottom,  for  1900  read  1901. 

Page  195,  line  7,  for  revee  read  rivee. 

Page  129,  line  25,  for  V allure  read  h  r allure. 

Page  195,  line  30,  for  la  sort  conduise  read  le  sort  y  conduise. 

Page  195,  note  4,  ^or  par  la,  xoaAparla, 

Page  196,  line  5,  for  Vaudrez-vaus  read  Voudriez-vaus. 

Page  196,  line  6,  insert  et  before  le  vin. 

Page  216,  last  line  but  one,  for  Myndus  read  Myndos. 

Page  236,  line  16,  for  Fraser  read  Frazer. 

Page  243,  title  of  review,  for  humanum  read  humanatn. 

Pages   254,  378,  for  Bureau  of  Ethnology  lead   Bureau  of 

American  Ethnology, 
Page  348,  line  8  from  bottom,  for  head  read  heads. 
Page  349,  line  3,  delete  comma  after  May, 
Page  378,  line  s»  for  2  read  2,  3. 
Page  380,  line  3,  for  Humanite  read  Humanite 
Page  381,  line  19,  for  Customs  read  Costumes* 


.t 


»  • 


« 

m 


JfolftsXore. 


TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  FOLKLORE  SOCIETY, 


Vol.  XII.]  MARCH,  1901.  [No.  I. 


WEDNESDAY,  NOVEMBER  28th,  1900. 
The  President  (Mr.  E.  Sidney  Hartland)  in  the  Chair. 

The  minutes  of  the  last  Meeting  were  read  and  confirmed. 

The  election  of  the  following  new  members  was 
announced :  Mrs.  M.  E.  Price,  Mr.  G.  O.  Howell,  Mr. 
A.  C.  Garrett,  Miss  M.  C.  B.  Howitt,  Dr.  H.  O.  Forbes, 
Mr.  R.  R.  Marett,  Mr.  T.  Lee,  Mr.  W.  H.  Tozer,  Mr, 
H.  Ling  Roth,  Mr.  Walter  W.  Skeat,  Mr.  C.  W.  Duncan, 
Miss  K.  Hamilton,  and  Mr.  W.  H.  P.  Gibson. 

Tiie  following  resignations  were  also  announced :  Mr. 
G.  H.  Kinahan,  Miss  Wardrop,  Mr.  G.  Simmons,  Mr. 
P.  H.  Emerson,  Mr.  Clive  Holland,  Miss  Schlesinger. 

Mr.  N.  W.  Thomas  exhibited  and  explained  (i)  a  photo- 
graph of  squeezes  of  moulds  for  cakes  which  it  is  the  custom 
to  make  in  certain  parts  of  Austria  on  St.  Nicholas  Day 
(December  6th),  one  mould  representing  a  deer,  the  other  a 
cock ;  and  (2)  a  Buddhist  Wheel  of  Life  from  Japan  [see 
Frontispiece  and  p.  67] ,  the  latter  of  which  he  presented  to 
the  Society. 

The  Secretary  exhibited  a  "  Reaping  Maiden  '*  from 
Argyllshire,  presented  to  the  Society  by  the  Rev.  Malcolm 
MacPhail,  and  read  a  descriptive  note  thereon. 

Votes  of  thanks  were  accorded  to  Mr.  Thomas  and 
Mr.  MacPhail  for  their  gifts. 

VOL.  xn.  B 


••  •  • 

•       •  • 


•    •  •, 


Minutes  of  Meeting. 


v.. 


Mr.'-Ofhomas  read  some    Notes   on   Jc 

[see^C'69],  upon  which  Mr.  Nutt  and  the 

soipe  observations. 

.••.^Rfiss  Eleanor  Hull  then  read  a  paper  on 

.'•vtBeasa)/'    [p- 41]    and  in  the  discussioi 

•••/•Mr.  Mescal,  Mr.  Nutt,  and  the  President  t 

The  Meeting  terminated  with  a  hearty 
Miss  Hull  for  her  paper. 

The  following  books,  which  had  been 
Society  since  the  last  Meeting,  were  lai( 
I.    Mieo    leh    vat    thon    thu    (collected 
Thamphunga,  Lushais),  by  Major  Shakesp 
the  Assam  Government.     2.   The  Americ 
vol.  xxii.,   presented   by  the  Smithsonia 
Madras  Government  Museum  Publicatio 
{Anthropology) y   presented    by   the    Mad 
4.  An  Old  Indian   Village^  by  Johan  Au 
sented  by  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 
logical  Reports,  1898  and  1899,  append 
of  the  Minister  of  Education,  Ontario,  by 
presented  by  the  Author.     7.   The  MSS 
Lambeth  Palace,  received  in  exchange 
Antiquarian  Society.      8.   The  Journa 
logical  Institute^  vol.  xxix.,  Nos  3  and  4, 
from  the  Anthropological  Institute.     9 
Mexican  Study  of  the  Native  Langui 
on   the  Ethnography  of  S.   Mexico 
Cochitiy  New  Mexico,  all  by  Profess 
the  Author.     12.  Lud^  Organ  Towan 
we  Lwowie,  vol.  vi..  Parts  2,  3,  4.     j 
BitanUi  by  John  H.  Weeks,  present 
An  Outline  Grammar  of  the  DaJ 
Hamilton,  presented  by  the  Govern 


Minutes  of  Meeting.  3 

WBDNE8DAT,  DBCEKBBB  19th,  1900. 

The  President  (Mr.  E.  Sidney  Hartland)  in  the  Chair. 

The  minutes  of  the  last  Meeting  were  read  and  con- 
firmed. 

The  election  of  Mrs.  Wallis  and  Miss  Riicker  as  members 
of  the  Society  was  announced. 

The  death  of  Mr.  S.  C.  Southam  was  also  announced. 

The  President  exhibited  (i)  a  photogfraph  of  magic 
stones  from  the  Manning  River  Tribe  in  New  South  Wales, 
presented  by  Mr,  Andrew  Lang  to  the  Society,  and  (2)  a 
pipe  from  the  gp'aveyard  at  Salruck  in  the  west  of  Ireland, 
sent  by  Mr.  J.  Cooke,  and  read  Mr.  Cooke's  note  thereon 
[p.  104].  Dr.  Gaster  exhibited  some  popular  illustrated 
broadsides  sent  him  from  Madrid,  and  known  as  Spanish 
Alleluias. 

The  Secretary  read  a  paper  entitled  "  Folk-Lore  Notes 
from  South- West  Wilts,"  by  Mr.  J.  U.  Powell  [p.  71]. 

Mrs.  von  Oelrichs  read  a  paper  entitled  "  Lincolnshire 
Folklore,"  by  Miss  Mabel  Peacock,  and  in  the  discussion 
which  followed  Miss  Burne,  Mr.  Gomme,  Mr.  Thomas, 
Mr.  Bowen,  Mr.  Kirby,  and  the  President  took  part. 

The  Meeting  terminated  with  hearty  votes  of  thanks  to 
those  who  had  sent  objects  for  exhibition,  to  Mr.  Powell 
and  Miss  Mabel  Peacock  for  their  papers,  and  to  Mrs.  von 
.Oelrichs  for  reading  Miss  Peacock's  paper  in  the  unavoid- 
able absence  of  the  writer. 


WEDNESDAY,  JANUARY  16th,  1901. 
The  23rd  Annual  Meeting. 

The  President  (Mr.  E.  Sidney  Hartland)  in  the  Chair. 

The  minutes  of  the  last  Annual  Meeting  were  read  and 
confirmed. 

The  Annual  Report,  Statement  of  Accounts,  and  Balance 
Sheet  for  the  year  1900  were  duly  presented,  and  upon  the 

B  2 


4  Minutes  of  Meeting. 

motion  of  Mr.  Brabrook,  seconded  by  Mr.  Nutt,  it  was 
resolved  that  the  same  be  received  and  adopted. 

Balloting  papers  for  the  election  of  President,  Vice- 
Presidents,  Council,  and  Officers  for  the  year  1901  having 
been  distributed,  Mr.  Kirby  and  the  Secretary  were,  on  the 
motion  of  Mr.  Nutt,  seconded  by  Mr.  Ordish,  appointed 
scrutineers  for  the  ballot. 

The  President  delivered  his  Presidential  Address,  the 
subject  being  "  Some  Problems  of  Early  Religion  in  the 
light  of  South  African  Folklore." 

The  result  of  the  ballot  was  then,  at  the  request  of  the 
President,  announced  by  the  Secretary,  and  the  following 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  who  had  been  nominated  by  the 
Council,  were  declared  to  have  been  duly  elected,  viz. : 

As  President :    Mr.  E.  W.  Brabrook. 

As  Vice-Presidents :  The  Hon.  J.  Abercromby,  the 
Right  Hon.  Lord  Avebury,  Miss  C.  S.  Bume,  Mr.  Edward 
Clodd,  Mr.  G.  Laurence  Gomme.  Mr.  E.  Sidney  Hartland, 
Mr.  Andrew  Lang,  Mr.  Alfred  Nutt,  Professor  F.  York 
Powell,  Professor  J.  Rhys,  the  Rev.  Professor  A.  H.  Sayce, 
and  Professor  E.  B.  Tylor. 

As  Members  of  Council:  Mr.  H.  Courthope  Bowen, 
Miss  Lucy  Broadwood,  Mr.  E.  K.  Chambers,  Mr.  F.  C. 
Conybeare,  Mr.  J.  E.  Crombie,  Mr.  F.  T.  Elworthy,  Dr.  J.  G. 
Frazer,  Dr.  Gaster,  Miss  Florence  Grove,  Professor  A.  C. 
Haddon,  Miss  Eleanor  Hull,  Mr.  E.  im  Thum,  Mr.  Albany 
F.  Major,  Mr.  R.  R.  Marett,  Mr.  J.  L.  Myres,  Mr.  S.  E. 
Bouverie-Pusey,  Mr.  T.  F.  Ordish,  Mr.  C.  G.  Seligmann, 
Professor  B.  C.  A.  Windle,  and  Mr.  A.  R.  Wright. 

As  Hon.  Treasurer  :  Mr.  Edward  Clodd. 

As  Hon.  Auditors  :  Mr.  F.  G.  Green  and  Mr.  N.  W. 
Thomas. 

As  Secretary  :  Mr.  F.  A.  Milne. 

Upon  the  declaration  of  the  resnk  of  the  ballot  Mr. 


Annual  Report  of  the  Council.  5 

Hartland  vacated  the  chair,  which  was  thereupon  taken 
by  Mr.  Brabrook  who  briefly  returned  thanks  for  his 
election. 

Upon  the  motion  of  Professor  York  Powell,  seconded  by 
Mr.  Gomme,  a  vote  of  thanks  was  accorded  to  the  outgoing 
President  for  his  Address,  and  upon  the  motion  of  Mr. 
Gomme,  seconded  by  Mr.  Nutt,  a  further  vote  of  thanks  was 
accorded  to  him  for  the  invaluable  work  he  had  done  for 
the  Society  during  his  term  of  office. 

On  the  motion  of  Mr.  Ordish,  seconded  by  Mr.  Nutt,  it 
was  resolved  that  a  vote  of  thanks  be  accorded  to  the  out- 
going Members  of  the  Council,  viz. :  Mr.  W.  Crooke,  Mr. 
T.  Gowland,  Mr.  T.  W.  E.  Higgens,  Dr.  F.  B.  Jevons, 
Professor  W.  P.  Ker,  and  Mr.  W.  H.  D.  Rouse. 


TWENTY-THIRD  ANNUAL  REPORT  OF  THE 

COUNCIL. 

1 6th  January,  1901. 

During  the  past  year  there  has  been  no  event  of  striking 
importance  to  chronicle,  such  as  the  visit  of  Professor 
Starr  to  England  in  the  summer  of  1899,  but  the  general 
interest  in  the  Society  has  been  well  sustained,  and  the 
Council  has  been  gratified  by  the  accession  to  the  roll 
of  members  of  more  than  one  anthropologist,  whose  contri- 
butions to  knowledge  are  highly  esteemed  wherever  folk- 
lore and  the  kindred  science  of  ethnography  are  studied. 
Their  adhesion  is  a  testimony  to  the  growing  recognition 
both  of  the  importance  of  the  study  of  folklore  and  of  the 
value  of  the  Society  as  an  organisation  for  that  purpose. 

There  are  now  382  enrolled  members  as  against  386  at 
the  end  of  1899  ;  a  state  of  affairs  which,  although  it  affords 


Annual  Report  of  the  Council. 


little  room  for  congratulation,  is  by  no  means  unsatisfactory, 
considering  the  many  urgent  calls  on  public  attention  and 
on  the  individual  purse  during  the  past  year. 

In  the  death  of  Lieut, -Gen.  Pitt-Rivers,  one  of  its  Vice- 
Presidents,  the  Society  has  shared  in  a  special  manner  a 
national  loss.  His  services  to  archasology  have  been  duly 
recorded  in  the  pages  of  Folk-Lore.  Although  he  never 
made  any  communication  to  the  Society,  every  folklore 
student  owes  a  deep  debt  of  gratitude  to  his  labours,  and  to 
the  collections  at  Oxford  and  at  Farnham  which  he  founded. 

Miss    Mary    H.    Kingsley    was    never   a  member  of    the 
Society.      But  she  rendered   invaluable  assistance  to  it  by 
writing  the  introduction  to  Mr.  Dennett's  Folklore  of  the 
Fjort,and  by  contributing  to  the  pages  of  Folk-Lore  a.  most 
interesting  and  suggestive  paper  on    The  Fetish    View  of 
the  Human   Soul.     Her  keen  and   wisely-balanced   sym- 
pathies  with   the   native    races   of  West   Africa,  and   her 
whole-souled  and  statesmanlike   efforts  to  secure   at   t> 
hands  of  their  white  rulers  a  stable  administration  bas 
upon  a  thorough  comprehension  of  African  traditions  a 
polity,  render  her  premature  death  a  calamity  alike  to  Afr 
and  the  empire. 

During  the  earlier  part  of  the  session  the  attendar 
the  evening  meetings  was  not  so  good  as  usual.     Tb 
due  no  doubt  in  a  great  measure  to  the  general  dep 
and  anxiety  caused  by  the  war  in  South  Africa, 
special  personal  anxieties  and  sorrow  from  the  sa 
of   many   members   and  friends   of   the   Society, 
spring  advanced,  however,  the  meetings  became  ; 
attended,  and  the  concluding  meeting  of  the   ' 
which  Professor  Sayce  read  his  paper  on  Cairer 
was  specially  well  attended.     The  Council  has 
reports  reminded  members  that  any  friends  the 
with  them  to  the  meetings  would  be  welcoff 
now  venture  to  urge  that  one  of  the  best  wa 
and  deepening  the  interest  taken  in  the  So' 


Annual  Report  of  the  Council.  7 

of  extending  its  usefulness  is  by  bringing  to  its  meetings 
all  who  are  in  any  way  attracted  to  the  many  subjects  com- 
prised under  the  general  name  of  folklore. 

The  following  papers  were  read  ki  the  course  of  the  year 
190O1  viz. : — 


Feb,  21. 
March  21. 


Jan,  17.     The  President's  Address:    "Totembm  and  some  Recent  Dis- 
coveries." 
"  Toys  and  Games  of  Papuan  Children."    By  Professor  Haddon. 
*•  The  Feast  of  Fools."    By  Mr.  E.  K.  Chambers. 
"  Notes  on  Korean  Folklore."    By  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Gale. 
"  The  Bumble-bee  in  Folklore."    By  Miss  M.  Peacock. 
"  A  Note  on  the  Japanese  Legend  of  Ama  Terasu."    By  Miss 
L.  Kennedy. 
April ^^,     "Animal    Superstitions    and    Totemism."      By    Mr.    N.    W. 

Thomas. 
"  Horses'  Heads,  Weathercocks,  &c."    By  Mr.  N.  W.  Thomas. 
May  16.     "  The  Ancient  Teutonic  Priesthood."    By  Mr.  H.  M.  Chad  wick. 
"  Guernsey  Folklore    and    Superstitions,"    By    Mrs.   Murray- 

Aynsley. 
"  Folklore  from  Wilts."    By  Miss  Law. 
June  20.     "  Cairene  Folklore."    By  the  Rev.  Professor  Sayce. 
Nov.  28.     <*  Old  Irish  Tabus  (Geasa)."    By  Miss  Eleanor  Hull. 

"  Note  on  Japanese  Folklore."    By  Mr.  N.  W.  Thomas. 
Dec,  19.     "  Lincolnshire  Folklore."    By  Miss  M.  Peacock. 

"  Folklore  from  South-west  Wilts."    By  Mr.  J.  U.  Powell. 

The  meeting  held  on  February  21st  was  enlivened  by 
lantern  slides  and  an  exhibition  of  string  puzzles  and  string 
tricks  as  practised  by  the  Papuans,  kindly  given  by  Dr. 
W.  H.  R.  Rivers  and  Mr.  Sidney  H.  Ray. 

The  following  objects  haVe  been  exhibited  at  the  meetings, 


VIZ.  :• 


(i)  Dentalium  shells  from  the  N.-W.  coast  of  America  used  by  the 
tribes  of  British  Columbia  for  currency  and  ornament.  By  Mr.  W. 
Comer.  (2)  Photograph  of  a  bas-relief  at  Welton  Farmhouse, 
Blairgowrie.  By  Mr.  E.  K.  Pearce.  (3)  Engraving  by  Woollett 
representing  a  dance  of  native  Australians.  By  Mr.  J.  P.  Emslie. 
(4)  Photograph  of  Bacchanalian  dances  on  sarcophagi  at  Rome. 
By  Miss  F.  Grove.  (5)  Totems,  fetishes,  and  toys  of  the  Hop! 
tribe  of  the  North  American  Indians.  By  Mr.  Lundgren.  (6) 
Photograph  representing  a  harvest  scene  at  Ssetersdal  in  Southern 


8  Annual  Report  of  the  Council. 

Norway.  By  Mr.  N.  W.  Thomas.  (7)  Three  Japanese  fishinp 
flies.  By  Major  C.  S.  Cumberland.  (8)  Medieval  prints  contain- 
ing woodcut  initials  representing  children's  games.  By  Dr.  Gaster. 
(9)  Photograph  of  moulds  in  which  cakes  are  baked  on  St. 
Nicholas*  Day  in  South  Austria.  By  Mr.  N.  W.  Thomas.  (10) 
"Reaping  Maiden"  from  Argyllshire.  By  the  Rev.  Malcolm 
MacPhail.  (11)  Japanese  picture  of  the  Buddhist  Wheel  of  Life.  By 
Mr.  N.  W.  Thomas.  (12)  Photograph  of  two  Gibber  stones  from 
New  South  Wales.  By  Mr.  A.  Lang.  (13)  Irish  pipe  from  a  box 
beside  a  grave  in  the  old  grave>'ard  at  Salruck,  Connemara.  By 
Mr.  J.  Cooke. 

Several  of  these  objects  have  been  presented  by  the 
exhibitors  to  the  Society  and  placed  in  the  Museum  of 
Archaeology  and  Ethnology  at  Cambridge.  The  thanks  of 
the  Society  have  been  given  to  the  respective  donors,  and 
also  to  the  authorities  of  the  museum  for  their  courtesy  in 
allowing  the  objects  to  find  a  home  there. 

The  exhibition  of  objects  of  folklore  interest  adds  greatly 
to  the  pleasure  and  instruction  of  the  meetings ;  and  when 
such  objects  are  suitable  and  the  owners  are  willing  the 
Council  is  always  glad  to  have  them  photographed  for 
reproduction  in  the  pages  of  the  transactions.  This 
enhances  the  value  of  the  transactions  by  preserving  a 
record  of  objects  which  may  often  be  of  a  perishable 
nature. 

The  collection  of  Musquakie  beadwork  and  ceremonial 
instruments,  so  generously  presented  to  the  Society  by 
Miss  Mary  A.  Owen,  will  shortly  arrive  in  England,  and 
arrangements  are  being  made  for  its  exhibition  at  a  joint 
meeting  of  the  Society  and  the  Anthropological  Institute. 
The  collection  is  a  very  valuable  one,  and  will  add  greatly 
to  the  interest  of  the  Society's  exhibits  at  the  Museum  of 
Archaeology  and  Ethnology  at  Cambridge. 

The  number  of  volumes  in  the  library  is  increasing,  some 
thirty-five  books  and  pamphlets  having  been  presented  to 
the  Society  or  received  in  exchange  during  the  year. 

The  Lecture  Committee  continues  the  excellent  work 
commenced  last  session.     The  meetings  arranged  to  take 


Annual  Report  of  the  Council.  9 

place  at  Chelsea  and  Battersea  at  the  beginning  of  the  year, 
which  were  alluded  to  in  the  last  annual  report,  were  well 
attended,  and  Mr.  Crooke's  lectures  were  much  appreciated. 
In  November  a  series  of  three  lectures  was  delivered  at  the 
South  Western  Polytechnic,  Chelsea,  by  Mr.  Clodd,  Mr. 
Nmt,  and  the  President.  The  attendance  at  each  of  these 
lectures  was  large.  The  lectures  themselves  were  listened 
to  with  attention  and  interest,  and  it  is  hoped  that  they 
will  be  the  means  of  attracting  some  of  the  audience  to  the 
serious  study  of  the  subject.  A  lecture  was  also  delivered 
in  November  by  Mr.  Nutt  before  the  Dulwich  Literary  and 
Scientific  Institution  at  Dulwich,  the  arrangements  for  the 
lecture  having  been  very  kindly  made  by  Mr.  A.  R.  Wright. 
The  success  of  these  lectures  has  been  due  to  a  very  great 
extent  to  the  untiring  efforts  of  Miss  Grove,  the  honorary 
secretary  of  the  committee,  and  the  Council  desires  to 
express  their  special  thanks  to  her  for  her  tact  and  energy. 
The  Society  has  issued  during  the  year  the  eleventh 
volume  of  the  new  aeries  of  its  transactions,  Folk-Lore, 
which  the  Council  ventures  to  think  has  been  well  kept  up 
to  its  general  level  of  excellence.  The  Society  is  indebted 
to  Mr.  A,  R.  Wright  for  the  index  to  this  volume.  The 
President  having  been  reluctantly  compelled  to  give  up  the 
editorship,  by  the  pressure  of  his  many  other  engagements, 
the  Council  has  appointed  Miss  C.  S.  Burne  as  his  successor, 
the  President  retaining  the  chairmanship  of  the  Publications 
Committee. 

In  its  last  report  the  Council  announced  that  the  extra 
volume  for  1899  would  be  a  further  instalment  of  County 
Folklore,  but  that  the  order  of  publishing  the  three  collec- 
tions, which  had  then  been  completed,  had  not  yet  been 
determined.      The   Council   has  since    resolved   that  Mrs. 
f  Gutch's  collection  of  Folklore  from  the  North   Riding  of 
I  Yorkshire  shall  be  printed  first,  and  it  estimates  that  this 
will   fill  a  volume-     The  collection   is  now  in  the  hands 
I  of  the  printers,  and  it  is  hoped  that  it  will  be  issued  to 


10 


Annual  Report  of  the  OmncH. 


members  early  in  the  year.     The  delay  (which  the  Council 
much  regrets)  has  been  unavoidable.     Happily  it  will  not 
entail  similar  delay  in  the  issue  of  extra  volumes  for  1900 
and  1901.     The  former  will  be  a  collection  of  Argyllshire 
Pastimes,  by  Dr.  R.  C.  Maclagan,  which  is  now  in  the  press, 
and  will  in  all  probability  be  ready  for  publication  about 
the  same  time  as  the   volume    for    1899.     The  Society  is 
indebted  to  Dr.  Maclagan  for  a  liberal  contribution  towards 
the  cost  of  this  volume.     The  extra  volume  for  1901  will   1 
be  a  further   instalment   of    County    Folklore,   consisting 
of    Mr.   G,    F.    Black's   Orkney  and   Shetland   collection. 
The  MS,  is  ready  for  the   press,  and   will  be  printed  as 
soon  as  the  arrangements  are  completed.     These  volumes, 
together  with  the  Transactions  and  the  ordinary  expenses 
of  the  Society,  will   practically  pledge  the  income  of  the 
Society  during  the  year  now  opening  as  well  as  exhaust  the 
accumulations  of  the  last  two  years.    The  Council  believes,  J 
however,  that  the  intrinsic  interest  of  the  volumes  will  fully 
repay  the  outlay;  and  it  is  hoped  that  they  may  indirectl 
be   the   means   of   widening   the    circle    of    students 
awakening  to  the  importance  of  folklore  more  of  that  I? 
class  whose  attention  is  mainly  or  primarily  occupied 
local  matters.  j 

Early  in  September  an   International   Folklore  Co^f 
was    held    in    Paris    in    connection    with     the    Exhi' 
Owing  to  the  simultaneous  meeting  of  the  British  j* 
tion  at  Bradford  and  other  circumstances,  the  Counci' 
that  few  members  of  the  Society  were  able  to  tat 
it.      Mr.    Abercromby   and    Mr,    Andrews,    how 
attended,  were  the  delegates  of  the  Society,  an- 
by  Mr.  Abercromby  has   already  been    printed 
Lore.     The  Council,  entertaining  a   warm  reg 
French  colleagues,  is  pleased  to  be  able  to  ' 
them  on  the  success  of  the  congress,  to  thank  t' 
hospitality  to  British  visitors,  and  to  express 
the  value  of  these  congresses  may  be  incre 
ciated  by  students  on  this  side  of  the  channr 


Anuual  Report  of  the  Council.  ii 

The  Society  was  represented  at  the  British  Association 
meeting    in    Bradford    by    its    president,    Professor    Rhys, 
_  Dr.  Haddon,  Messrs.  Crooke  and  Brabrook. 

During  the  year  the  Council   has,  in  conjunction  with 
Bthe  Council  of  the  Anthropological   Institute,  presented  a 
I  memorial  to  the  Colonial  Secretary  praying  for  the  appoint- 
ment  of   a   Commission  to  inquire   into  the  customs  and 
institutions  of  the  native  races  of  the  Transvaal  and  Orange 
River  Colony.     The  suggestions  contained  in  the  memorial 
I  have  been  approved   by  a  large  number  of  scientific  men, 
1  and  a  reply  has  already  been  received  by  the  memorialists 
from  the  Colonial  Office  intimating  that  their  suggestions 
will  not  be  lost  sight  of  when  the  proper  time  arrives.    The 
memorial  approaches  the  subject  from  the  scientific  side. 
I  The  Council  believes  it  is  only  by  an  accurate  knowledge  of 
rthe  customs,  institutions,  and  superstitions  of  the  natives 
rthat  the  extremely  difficult   problem   of  dealing  with  the 
native  races  can  be  satisfactorily  solved,  while  the  scientific 
;  of  the  record  which  would  be  obtained  by  such  a 
Commission  as  is  suggested,  would  be  hardly  less  than  its 
[administrative  value. 

The  Council   has  also  co-operated  with  the  Anthropo- 

'  logical  Institute  in  a  scheme  for  providing  lantern  slides 

representing  scenes  and  objects  of  scientific  interest.     The 

i  provides  for  the  appointment  of  a  joint  Committee 

of  Management,  and  the  Society  is  very  ably  represented  on 

ithis  committee  by  Miss  Grove.     The  slides  are  kept  at  the 

reoms  of  the  Anthropological   institute,  and  are  available 

e  by  the  members  of  the  Society.     They  have  proved 

Ilndispensable  to  the  Lecture  Committee  for  the  work  they 

Fbave  in  hand.     At  present  the  slides  are  comparatively  few 

1  number.  For  them  the  Society  is  indebted  to  Dr.  Haddon, 

.  Oscar  W.  Clark,  Mr.  W.  H.  D.  Rouse,  and  the  Pre- 

ent.     It  is  hoped  that   in  the  course  of  the  next  few 

years,  by  the  kindness   of  individual  members,  and  with 

judicious  expenditure,  such  a  number  will  be  accumulated 

as  will   be  available   for   the   formation  of  several  repre- 


12  Annual  Report  of  the  Council. 

sentative  sets  for  lectures.  With  the  view  of  securing 
this  object  the  Council  has  lately  made  a  small  conditional 
grant  which  it  has  little  doubt  will  be  met  by  a  gfrant  of 
like  amount  from  the  funds  of  the  Institute.  The  Council 
will  be  very  glad  to  receive  contributions  either  of  money 
or  of  slides. 

The  Council  of  the  Anthropological  Institute,  being  in 
search  of  a  new  habitation,  has  approached  this  Council 
with  a  suggestion  as  to  the  feasibility  of  securing  a  common 
home  for  the  two  societies.     The  want  of  a  local  habitation 
for  the  Society  makes  itself  felt  in  more  ways  than  one.    In 
its  library  the  Society  possesses  something  more  than  the 
nucleus  of  a  collection  of  books  which  might  be  of  much  ser- 
vice to  students.  To  develop  it  and  extend  its  utility  rooms 
are  required,  whither  members  might  come  to  look  up  sub- 
jects of  interest  without  feeling  that  they  were  trespassing 
upon  the  business  hours  and  engagements  of  the  Secretary. 
The  desirability  of  a  place  where,  objects  may  be  conveni- 
ently exhibited  and  temporarily  housed  was  illustrated  at  the 
time  of  Professor  Starr's  visit.     Although  the  Anthropr 
logical  Institute  has,  with  a  readiness  which  the  Counc 
cannot  but  gfratefully  acknowledge,  shown  itself  willing  1 
repeat  this  hospitality,  the  Council  feel  that  the  Socif 
ought  not  to  be  dependent  upon  acts  of  courtesy,  howf 
gracious,  which  it  is  not  in  a  position   to   return. 
Council  has  therefore  gladly  entertained  the  suggestio 
common  home,  and  a  joint  committee  has  been  apf 
to  consider  the  matter.     It  is  to  be  hoped  that  th 
mittee  may  during  the  year  see  its  way  to  some  prac 
recommendations. 

The  Council  submits  herewith  the  annual  acco 
balance  sheet  duly  audited,  and  the  balloting  li 
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PRESIDENTIAL  ADDRESS. 


Only  one  more  of  the  responsibilities  which  you  laid 
upon  me  when,  two  years  ago,  you  did  me  the  honour 
to  elect  me  your  President  yet  remains  to  be  discharged ; 
and  for  that  I  have  to  make  during  the  next  few  minutes 
what  I  hope  will  not  seem  an  undue  claim  upon  your 
indulgence.  The  past  year  has  been  a  sad  one  for  many 
of  us  in  our  personal  relations.  As  Members  of  this 
Society,  and  as  students  of  folklore,  it  has  been  not  less 
sad.  We  have  had  to  mourn  the  loss  of  some  who  have 
rendered  striking  service  to  the  cause  of  science,  and  of 
more  than  one  to  whom  we  and  the  world  at  large  owe 
much  of  the  pleasure  and  interest  which  give  zest  to  life. 

General  Pitt-Rivers  had  been  for  eleven  years  a  Vice- 
President  of  the  Society.  His  chief  work,  though  outside 
the  immediate  range  of  our  studies,  was  of  a  kind  which 
on  the  one  hand  illustrates  those  studies,  and  on  the  other 
hand  receives  from  them  illustration  and  confirmation. 
The  continuity  of  tradition  was  the  leading  thought  of  his 
scientific  life.  The  noble  museum  at  Oxford  which  bears 
his  name,  and  is  due  to  his  munificence,  grew  out  of  that 
thought ;  and  the  other  museum,  hardly  less  interesting,  on 
his  estate  at  Farnham  is  penetrated  with  the  same.  If 
genius  be  properly  defined  as  the  infinite  capacity  for 
taking  pains.  General  Pitt-Rivers  was  endowed  with  it  in 
ample  measure.  His  motto  in  everything  was  Thorough  ; 
and  it  will  be  of  evil  augury  for  British  archaeology  if  the 
example  he  set  shall  ever  be  lost  sight  of.  He  has  left  to 
his   country   and   to   anthropological    science   in   the   two 


1 6  Presidential  A  ddress. 

museums  and  in  his  writings,  not  simply  a  monument  to 
his  own  fame,  but  a  gfift  the  value  of  which  must  grow  with 
the  rolling  years  and  our  evolving  civilisation. 

There  is  another  loss  which  touches  us  in  some  respects 
even  more  directly,  that  of  Miss  Kingsley.  Among  all  the 
victims  of  the  war  against  the  Boer  states  there  has  been 
none  whose  life  was  so  precious  as  that  of  Mary  Kingsley. 
I  need  not  repeat  the  phrases  of  admiration  and  affection 
with  which  her  death  has  been  mourned  from  one  end  of 
the  country  to  the  other.  All  phrases  seem  cold  when  we 
think  of  her.  She  suffered  the  crowning  tragedy  of  so 
many  gracious  lives  in  dying  with  her  work  unaccom- 
plished. Her  insight  into  the  mind  of  the  West  African 
native,  and  her  bold  and  humorous  advocacy  of  careful 
study  of  and  rational  treatment  for  him,  had  hardly  begfun 
to  impress  the  powers  that  be  in  the  political  and  religious 
worlds.  A  band  of  friends  are  seeking  to  fulfil  that  task. 
To  do  so  will  be  to  perpetuate  in  the  worthiest  way,  the 
way  she  herself  would  most  have  wished,  the  memory  and 
the  aims  of  one  of  the  noblest  among  women. 

Unfortunately  General  Pitt-Rivers  and  Miss  Kingsley  do 
not  end  the  sad  list.  Ulrich  Jahn,  the  Pomeranian  collector 
of  folklore,  was  known  to  all  students.  Professor  Max 
Miiller,  insecure  and  unsatisfactory  as  his  mythological 
theories  were,  deserves  a  gjrateful  recognition  from  us  as 
the  first  to  popularise  by  his  charming  and  persuasive  style 
the  study  of  mythological  problems.  From  him  many  of 
us  drew  our  earliest  interest  in  the  subject.  Nor  may  we 
forget  the  name  of  that  distinguished  student  of  savage 
peoples,  Frank  Hamilton  Gushing.  Throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  North  America  his  premature  demise  has 
called  forth  the  most  touching  expressions  of  regret.  His 
constant  associates,  themselves  men  of  learning  and  judge- 
ment, speak  of  him  as  *'  a  man  of  genius,"  **  one  of  the 
most  original  minds  among  anthropologists  '* ;  and  Major 
Powell,  the  head  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  adds  :  *'  From 


Presidential  Address. 


ne  lime  that  we  first  went  together  to  Zuni  until  the  day 
f  his  death,  he  was  my  companion  and  friend,  and  I  loved 
bim  as  a  father  loves  his  son."  My  own  acquaintance  with 
Fhim  was  of  the  slightest;  but  what  I  had  the  privilege  of 
'  fleeing  assured  me  that  in  him  anthropology  possessed,  not 
merely  a  capable  and  devoted,  but  a  brilliant  disciple.  To 
English  readers  his  works  are  not  very  accessible,  being 
chiefly  embodied  in  official  reports.  No  one  who  studies 
them,  however,  can  resist  the  impression  that  their  writer 
was  endowed  with  all  the  qualities  and  experience  which 
go  to  make  an  ideal  investigator  of  archaic  civilisations. 

We  will  not  dwelt  on  the  losses  of  the  immediate  past. 
Deeply  though  we  may  feel  them,  their  noblest  use  is  to 
inspire  the  activities  of  the  present.  After  all,  the  shadows 
of  a  closing  age  are  but  the  reverse  side  of  the  hopes  of 
that  which  is  opening.  As  we  linger  on  the  threshold  of 
the  twentieth  century  we  are  tempted  rather  to  look  for- 
ward into  the  unknown,  and  to  wonder  what  new  fortunes, 
what  events,  what  discoveries  are  to  glorify  or  bedim,  at 
any  rate  to  signalise,  the  new  era.  Especially  with  regard 
to  anthropological  science,  whereof  folklore  is  so  important 
a  branch,  we  desire  to  forecast  the  future.  We  are  perhaps 
getting  a  little  tired  of  rhapsodies  on  the  progress  of  science 
during  the  nineteenth  century.  We  are  willing  to  take  it 
all  for  granted.  Yet  it  is  well  we  should  remember  how 
rapid  has  been  the  rise  of  folklore  as  a  serious  study.  A 
hundred  years  ago  Brand  was  apologising  for  his  investiga- 
tion of  the  causes  of  "  vulgar  rites  and  popular  opinions." 
"  If,"  he  says,  "they  shall  appear  to  any  to  be  so  frivolous 
as  not  to  have  deserved  the  pains  of  the  search,  the  humble 
labourer  [namely,  himself]  will  at  least  have  the  satisfac- 
tion of  avoiding  censure  by  incurring  contempt."  And  he 
thinks  it  necessary  to  appeal,  against  the  pride  which  would 
so  treat  him,  to  the  common  origin  of  mankind,  the  lowest 
as  well  as  the  highest.  "The  People,  of  whom  society  is 
chiefly  composed,  is,"  he  pleads,  "a  respectable  subject  to 
everyone  who  is  the  friend  of  man."      Before  these  words 

VOL   XII.  c 


1 8  Presidential  A  ddress. 

were  published,  a  greater  than  Brand  had  issued  the 
Minstrelsy  of  the  Scottish  Border ^  and  the  brothers  Grimm 
had  collected  and  given  to  the  world  the  first  volume  of 
their  famous  Kinder-  und  Hausmdrchen.  With  these  two 
works  and  Brand  and  Ellis'  Observations  on  Popular 
Antiquities,  the  foundations  of  the  science  of  folklore  were 
securely  laid.  Nearly  two  generations,  however,  were  to 
pass  away  before  Maine,  Maclennan,  Morgan,  and  Professor 
Tylor  began  to  build  upon  them. 

When  we  consider  the  remarkable  results  of  the  researches 
of  the  past  forty  years  initiated  by  these  distinguished  men, 
we  need  little  encouragement  to  anticipate  an  early  solution 
of  the  great  enigfmas  offered  by  human  civilisation  and  the 
history  of  religion.  They,  however,  who  know  the  com- 
plexity of  the  problem  will  be  the  least  sanguine.  They 
will  be  more  likely  to  sympathise  with  Brand's  modest 
estimate  of  possibilities.  "  The  prime  origin  of  the  super- 
stitious notions  and  ceremonies  of  the  people,"  he  assures 
us,  as  Dr.  Johnson  had  done  before  him,  '*  is  absolutely 
unattainable.  We  must  despair  of  ever  being  able  to 
reach  the  fountain-head  of  streams  which  have  been  running 
and  increasing  from  the  beginning  of  time."  Then,  with 
the  true  instinct  of  an  explorer  in  this  difficult  region,  he 
adds  :  "  All  that  we  can  aspire  to  do,  is  only  to  trace  their 
courses  backward,  as  far  as  possible,  on  those  charts  that 
now  remain  of  the  distant  countries  whence  they  were  first 
perceived  to  flow."  For  my  own  part,  after  the  experience 
of  what  has  already  been  discovered  in  this  way,  I  am 
content  to  believe  that  in  good  time  all  the  important  issues 
will  be  determined,  though  that  determination  will  have  to  be 
preceded  by  arduous  enquiry,  perhaps  in  directions  hitherto 
unthought  of. 

Dismissing  speculation,  let  us  turn  to  one  or  two  of  the 
questions   awaiting   solution.       Our   thoughts    have    bee 
during  the  past  year  directed  so   continuously  to   Sou 
Africa  that  I  shall  offer  no  apology  for  considering  su< 


I 


questions  in  Ihe  light  of  the  folklore  of  the  South  African 
tribes.  Among  the  subjects  that  have  at  various  times 
occupied  the  minds  of  the  foremost  thinkers  throughout  the 
world  is  that  of  the  beginnings  of  religion.  Its  attraction 
is  perennial.  But  not  until  our  own  time  has  it  been 
possible  so  much  as  to  enter  on  the  enquiry  in  a  scientific 
manner.  And  still,  like  the  visionary  Fountain  of  Youth  for 
which  the  Spaniards  sought  so  pertinaciously  in  the  New 
World,  the  further  we  penetrate  the  wilds  of  savage  thought 
and  savage  custom,  the  further  off  seems  the  abject  of  our 
search.  Has  the  search  then  been  in  vain?  By  no  means, 
Or.ly  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow  shall  man  eat  the  bread  of 
scientific  truth.  It  does  not  drop  like  manna  from  heaven. 
Its  clear  waters  will  not  well  forth  from  any  rock  in  the 
wilderness,  chance-smitten  by  any  rod.  He  who  essays  to 
reveal  it  must  not  shrink  from  long  and  painful  preparation, 
from  patient  and  heedful  observation.  It  must  be  won  by 
exhaustive  research,  by  the  careful  framing  and  conscien- 
tious testing  of  hypotheses,  and  by  their  rejection  or  modifi- 
cation as  the  facts,  and  the  facts  alone,  demand.  This  is  a 
process  of  which  we  have  already  been  witnesses  and  par- 
takers. Hypothesis  after  hypothesis  has  been  formulated, 
each  probably  embodying  some  aspect  of  the  truth.  Their 
destruction  by  criticism  has  been  as  inevitable  and  as 
essential  as  their  formation.  It  should  not  dishearten 
us :  nor  should  it  obscure  the  portions  of  truth  they  have 
severally  contained. 

One  of  the  latest  contributions  to  the  discussion  was 
furnished  a  year  or  two  ago  by  Mr,  Andrew  Lang  in  his 
book  on  TAe  Making  of  Religion.  The  phenomena  of 
hypnotism  and  the  High  Gods  of  low  races  were  there 
examined;  and  a  vigorous  polemic  was  instituted  against 
Huxley,  Dr.  Tylor,  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  Mr.  im  Thurn. 
and  others  who  denied  anything  like  a  Supreme  Being  to 
savages  on  a  low  plane  of  culture.  Hypnotism  is  beyond 
ken.     But  I  ventured,  as  you  will  remember,  to  urge  in 


20  Presidential  Address. 

the  pages  of  Folk-Lore  some  objections  against  Mr.  Lang's 
presentation  of  the  Australian  evidence  for  a  relatively 
supreme  and  moral  Being.  I  still  think  those  objections 
valid,  though  I  have  been  unable  to  convince  him.  I  do 
not  intend  now  to  return  to  the  charge.  Rather  I  would 
say  :  Be  Mr.  Lang's  conclusions  right  or  wrong,  he  has 
rendered  a  service  to  anthropology  in  drawing  attention  to 
evidence  which  has  been  too  much  overlooked. 

Since  The  Making  of  Religion  was  published,  another 
interpretation  of  much  of  the  evidence  concerning  savage 
religion  has  been  attempted  by  Mr.  Marett  in  a  paper 
printed  in  the  last  volume  of  Folk-Lore.  He  does  not 
claim  to  have  "  a  brand-new  theory  to  propound.'*  The 
phenomena  to  which  he  points  have  been  observed  by  pre- 
vious writers,  and  have  long  been  admittedly  an  element 
not  to  be  passed  over  in  the  solution  of  the  problem.  His 
merit  is  to  have  explained  those  phenomena  anew,  and  to 
have  recognised  that  they  have  a  greater  value  than  had 
been  assigned  to  them.  If  his  view  be  just,  they  must 
henceforth  occupy  not  a  subordinate,  but  a  principal — not 
necessarily  an  exclusive — place  in  our  explanations. 

Like  Mr.  Lang,  Mr.  Marett  seeks  to  go  behind  animism, 
and  to  resolve  into  its  elements  the  compound  of  emotion 
and  belief  which  we  call   religion.      He  is  struck  by  the 
attitude  of  the  savage  mind  in  relation  to  the  unfamiliar. 
That  attitude  he  identifies,  if  I  rightly  understand  him,  with 
the  attitude  of  the  primitive  savage  towards  the  world  and 
its  phenomena.     Missionaries  and  scientific  men  who  have 
endeavoured  to   sound  the  depths  of  savage  belief  have 
been  baffled  by  its  vagueness.     Accustomed  themselves  to 
the   sharply  defined  affirmations  of  the  Christian  creeds, 
they  have  been  perplexed  by  the   contradictions  and  the 
want  of   clear   and  self-consistent    ideas  with  which   the 
savage  on  the  theory  of  his  religion,  as  on  all  subjects  not 
immediately  practical,  is  content.      Therein  I  think  they 
have  shown  a  want  of  knowledge  of  human  nature.      If 


Presidential  Addre 


Tthey  had  recollected  what  many  of  them  must  have  bet'ii 

I  familiar  with — the  mental  condition  of  their  own  peasantry 

I  at  home — nay,  if  they  had  looked  into  their  own  minds  and 

I  asked  themselves  what  was  their  own  attitude  with  regard 

'erything    outside  a   certain    radius   of    subjects   with 

j  which  they  were  occupied  from  day  to  day,  or  which  they 

[  were  thoroughly  taught  in  earlier  life,    they  would   have 

1  found  the  very  same   condition,  the  very  same   attitude. 

These  contradictions,  this  want  of  clear  and  self-consistent 

ideas,   is  simply  ignorance.       Inasmuch,  however,  as  the 

unknown  all  around  the  savage  presses  upon  him  uninter- 

'   mittently,  it  is  regarded  with  a  feeling  best  described  as 

'e,  a  feeling  in  which  fear  sometimes  predominates,  and 

I   sometimes  wonder.      Portions  of   the    unknown  are  from 

time   to   time  conquered,  or   at   all  events  parcelled   out 

among  various  powers,  whom  the  savage  explains  in  the 

terms  of  his  own  consciousness,  and  names  as  beings  in 

actual  relation  with   himself.      This  explanation  is  called 

Animism,  and  the  beings   it   summons  into  existence  are 

spirits,  ghosts,  witches,  gods.     But  they  do  not  exhaust  the 

unknown.      Beyond  and   behind  them  the  Awful,  as  Mr. 

Marett  calls  it,  is  still  there,  infinite  as  night  and  filled 

with  possibilities  as  dreadful  as  death. 

Now  it  occurs  to  me  that  here  may  be  found  the  solution 
I   of  the  puzzle  Mr.  Lang  has  pointed  out.     I  do  not  wish  to 
dogmatise ;  nor  do  I  claim  credit  for  the  suggestion,  which 
is  explicitly  or  implicitly  Mr.  Marett's,     Mr.  Lang's  critics 
have  missed  his  meaning  so  often  that  1  tremble  to  repro- 
]  duce  his  theory,     Apparently,  however,  it  is  claimed  that 

j  the  belief  in  a  Supreme  Being  came,  in  some  way  only  to 

L  be  guessed  at,  first  in  order  of  evolution,  and  was  subse- 

^^^1  quently  obscured  and  overlaid  by  belief  in  ghosts  and  in  a 
^^^^  pantheon  of  lesser  divinities.  Animism  hrst,  and  then 
^^^B  polytheism,  supplanted  theism.  I  think  I  should  find  myself 
^^^H  within  measurable  distance  of  reconciliation,  if  for  theism  I 
^^^B  might  substitute  that  attitude  of  mind  for  which  Mr.  Marett 


^ 


2 2  Presidential  A ddress. 

has  invented  the  term  Teratism.  Defining  Teratism  as  the 
sense  of  awe  (of  which  "Fear,  Admiration,  Wonder,  and  the 
like"  are,  as  Mr.  Marett  puts  it,  "the  component  moments*'), 
I  could  not  of  course  assent  to  the  statement  that  it  was 
actually  supplanted  by  animism,  polytheism  and  so  forth. 
Rather,  it  was  the  soil  out  of  which  they  grew.  It  was 
the  dim  vast  background  on  which  they  were  manifested. 
The  soil  was  ever  fertile  of  new  growths.  The  sense  of 
the  Mysterious,  of  the  Awful,  might  concentrate  itself  on  a 
tree,  or  a  boulder,  on  an  amulet,  or  a  dead  man ;  but  this 
would  not  exhaust  it.  Other  shapes,  not  yet  fully  realised, 
would  loom  forth  now  and  again  from  the  background, 
some  to  become  defined,  to  receive  specific  acts  of  homage 
and  thus  enter  into  relations  with  humanity,  some  to  fade 
away  once  more  into  the  gloom.  At  one  time  this  process 
would  be  long,  at  another  time  it  would  be  short.  A 
striking  exhibition  of  power,  especially  from  some  visible 
object,  might  cause  an  immediate  concentration  of  awe 
and  its  precipitation  in  acts  of  worship.  The  multitude  at 
the  gates  of  Lystra  only  differed  from  many  another 
multitude  in  identifying  the  new  Powers  revealed  to  them 
with  the  old  ones.  On  the  other  hand,  a  power  only  ex- 
hibited occasionally,  not  proceeding  from  any  visible  object, 
and  not  traceable  in  savage  reasoning  to  any  known  centre 
of  Awe,  might  hover  for  generations  or  for  ages  in  the 
borderland  where  the  recognised  and  the  unrecognised,  the 
personal  and  the  impersonal,  meet. 

South  Africa  does  not  bulk  very  largely  in  Mr.  Lang's 
argument,  probably  because   of   the   extreme  difficulty  in 
extracting  from  the  conflicting  testimony  any  sane  or  self- 
consistent  interpretation.     The  largest  body  of  evidence  in 
regard   to  any  one  of    the  South  African  peoples  is  that 
collected  by  Dr.  Callaway  in  The  Religious  System  of  th 
Amazulu,     As  Mr.  Lang  says,  it  is  "  honest  but  confused.' 
Confused !   precisely.     But  it  is  more  than  confused  ;    it 
contradictory.     I  invite  your   attention    to    this    confus« 


Presidential  Address. 


23 


this   contradictory   character   of    the    evidence.       It   may 

I  perhaps  be  said  that  tradition  often  is  confused  and  con- 

I  tradictory.     So  it  is ;  but  the  evidence  as  to  the  traditional 

I  religious  beliefs  of  the  South  African  races  is,  whatever  be 

'  the  cause,  more  than  usually  confused  and  contradictory. 

Oni;   of   Bishop   Callaway's   informants   told    him:    "The 

primitive  faith  of  our  fathers  was  this,  they  said,  '  There  is 

Unkulunkulu,  who  is  a  man,  who  is  of   the  earth.'     And 

they  used  to  say,  '  There  is  a  lord  in  heaven.'  "     Another 

fiatly  contradicted  him :  "  The  ancients  did  not  say  there 

is  a  lord  in  heaven  (inkosi  pezulu).     As  for  Unkulunkulu, 

we  do  not   know  that  he  left   any   word    (or   man.     We 

worship  the   Amatongo  [the  spirits  of  the  dead]."^     On 

one  thing,   however,   all    were  agreed.     If  there  was  any 

lord  in  heaven,  he  was  not  the  Creator.      In  fact,  so  far 

as  can  be  gathered,  the  very  idea  of  creation  was  foreign 

to  their  minds,     Unkulunkulu,  or  whatever  was  the  name 

of  the  great  father  who  gave  being  to  man,  was  regarded 

as  a  man,     The  way  he  gave  being  to  man  is  told  differently 

I  by  different  informants.     He  begat  them,  he  dug  them  up. 

I  he  split  them  out  of  a  stone,  he  made  them  out  of  a  reed, 

I  Anyhow,  "  the-  earth  was  in  existence  first,  before  Unkulun- 

I  kulu  as  yet  existed.'" 

If  we  turn  to  the  Bechuana,  we  find  Moffat,  after  twenty- 
■  three  years'  service  as  a  missionary,  chiefly  among  them, 
emphatic  as  to  their  want  of  belief  in  a  god,  "  No  frag- 
ments remain,"  he  tells  us,  "of  former  days,  as  mementoes 
to  the  present  generation,  that  their  ancestors  ever  loved, 
served,  or  reverenced  a  being  greater  than  man.  A  pro- 
\  found  silence  reigns  on  this  awful  subject."* 

Unfortunately  no  missionaries  to  any  of  the  numerous 
k  Bechuana  tribes  have  ever  thought  it  worth  while  to  collect 
I  their  religious  traditions  as  Callaway  did  from  the  Zulus. 


'  CalUway,  AVi  .S>j/.,  pp.  56,  44. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  41. 

'  MolTat,  Misthnary  Labgun  and  Stti 


n  Southern  Africa  (1841),  p.  243. 


24  Presidential  Address. 

We  have,  therefore,  to  draw  our  conclusions  from  incidental 
notices.  There  is,  however,  one  word,  common  in  some 
form  to  most  of  the  Bechuana  dialects,  which  has  been  much 
discussed  :  the  word  Morimo^  plural  Barimo.  In  the 
singular  it  has  been  adopted  by  the  missionaries  to  trans- 
late God.  Yet  Moffat  tells  us  expressly  that  it  did  not 
convey  to  the  minds  of  those  who  heard  it  the  idea  of  God, 
though  Morimo  is  never  called  man.  Morimo,  as  well  as 
man  and  all  the  different  species  of  animals,  came  out  of  a 
cave  or  hole  in  the  Bakone  country,  where  their  footmarks 
are  still  to  be  seen.  He  appears  as  a  malignant  being — 
something  cunning  or  spiteful — able  to  injure  men  and 
cattle,  and  to  cause  death.  When  hail  damaged  the  crops, 
or  rain  fell  unseasonably,  Morimo  would  be  cursed  in  the 
vilest  language.  "  Would  that  I  could  catch  it  [t.^., 
Morimo] ,  I  would  transfix  it  with  my  spear ! "  exclaimed  a 
chief,  whose  judgement  on  other  subjects,  we  are  told, 
would  command  attention.  However,  for  good  or  ill  the 
missionaries  had  adopted  the  word  to  translate  their  con- 
ception of  God;  and  one  day  Moffat  was  addressing  a 
chief,  when  the  latter  called  some  of  his  men :  "  There  is 
Ra-Mary  "  [Mary's  Father,  the  name  by  which  Moffat  was 
known],  said  he,  "who  tells  me  that  the  heavens  were 
made,  the  earth  also,  by  a  beginner,  whom  he'calls  Morimo. 
Have  you  ever  heard  anything  to  be  compared  with  this  ?  " 
And  he  added  other  expressions  which  rendered  it  evident 
that  neither  he  nor  they  had  ever  before  heard  of  Morimo, 
or  if  they  had,  it  was  certainly  not  in  the  capacity  of 
Creator  or  Preserver  of  the  world.  His  words  were  received 
with  a  burst  of  deafening  laughter,  and  he  begged  Moffat 
to  say  no  more  on  such  trifles,  lest  the  people  should  think 
him  mad.i 

Morimo  is  an  uncanny  word.      It  is  said  to  be  derived 
from  gorimo^  above,  with  the  singular  personal  prefix  mo. 

'  MofTai,  chap.  i6. 


Presidential  Address.  25 

It  would  thus  signify  Him  who  is  above.  The  plural  Barimo, 
seems  to  mean  the  spirits  of  the  dead.  The  phrase  "  Going 
to  Barimo,"  means  dying.  ■'  I(  a  person  were  talking 
foolishly,  or  ivandering  in  his  intellect,  were  delirious,  or 
in  a  fit,"  Moffat  tells  us  he  would  be  called  Barimo,  which 
we  may  best  render  by  "  Possessed." '  Mackenzie,  also  a 
missionary  of  considerable  experience,  gives  another  plural, 
Merimo,  having  the  sense  of  "gods."^  This  is  puzzling, 
because,  properly  speaking,  the  Bechuana  have  no  gods. 
They  invoke  their  ancestors,  or  the  ancestors  of  their 
chiefs,  if  not  too  remote,  and  when  they  offer  sacrifice  it  is 
to  the  spirits  of  the  dead.  Light  is  perhaps  thrown  upon 
the  matter  by  Casalis,  who,  speaking  of  the  Basuto,  says 
that,  "every  being,  to  whom  the  natives  render  adoration,  is 
called  Molimo,"  a  dialectic  variation  of  Morimo.  When  a 
Mosuto  falls  sick,  the  first  thing  the  medicine-man  does  is 
to  divine  "  under  the  influence  of  what  Molimo  the  patient 
is  supposed  to  be.  Is  it  an  ancestor  on  the  father's  side  or 
the  mother's?  According  as  fate  decides,  the  paternal  or 
maternal  uncle  will  offer  the  purifying  sacrifice."  Here 
the  word  Molimo  is  obviously  used  to  designate  a  ghost,  or 
disembodied  spirit,  and  nothing  else.  In  fact,  Casalis  tells 
us  plainly,  and  includes  other  Bechuana  tribes  in  the 
remark :  '■  Each  family  is  supposed  to  be  under  the  direct 
influence  and  protection  of  its  ancestors ;  but  the  tribe, 
taken  as  a  whole,  acknowledges  for  its  national  gods  the 
ancestors  of  the  reigning  sovereign,"*  Mackenzie  declares 
Barimo  to  be  a  plural  without  a  singular.  And  Moffat 
admits  that,  though  in  form  it  is  the  plural  of  Morimo,  it  is 
never  so  used ;  but  apparently  he  knows  nothing  of  the 
other  plural,  Merimo. 

What  are   we  to   make   of   all  this  confusion  and  un- 
certainty?    I  am  inclined  to  regard  Morimo  not  as  a  once 

'  MolTal,  p|i.  z6o,  361. 

'  Mackenzie,  Ten  Years  Nerlh  of  the  OraHj^e  Kiver  1 1S71),  p.  J94. 

'  Casalis,  Tkt  Bmulos  {1B61),  pp.  248,  249- 


26  Presidential  Address. 

supreme  divinity  fading  away,  but  as  a  god  in  process  of 
becoming.  It  is  I  think  more  in  harmony  with  all  that  we 
know  of  savage  thought  and  of  human  evolution  to  suppose 
that  out  of  the  vague  background  of  the  unknown  there 
was  being  slowly  shaped  the  figure  of  a  powerful  being,  or 
god,  than  to  attribute  the  ambiguities  and  difficulties  to 
forgetfulness.  It  is  true  that  Mackenzie  represents  the 
Bechuana  as  saying:  "Our  forefathers,  no  doubt,  knew 
more  about  Morimo  than  we  do;  but  they  did  not  persevere 
in  speaking  of  him  to  their  children.'*  The  very  form, 
however,  of  this  assertion  shows  that  the  speakers  were 
merely  guessing.  They  were  trying  to  explain  to  the 
missionary  why  they  knew  so  little  about  Morimo.  A 
quick-witted  race,  they  accounted  for  their  ignorance  as 
they  thought  the  missionary  thought  it  ought  to  be  ac- 
counted for.     And  they  were  successful. 

The  same  interpretation  must  be  put  on  the  Zulu 
evidence.  Bishop  Callaway  gave  it  piecemeal  as  he 
received  it;  and  it  perplexed  Mr.  Lang,  as  it  evidently 
had  perplexed  the  bishop  himself.  The  latest  enquirer  is 
M.  Junod,  whose  book  on  the  Baronga  is  well  worth  a 
careful  study.  The  Baronga  are  a  Zulu  tribe.  The  very 
word  Zulu  means  heaven.  In  the  dialect  of  the  Baronga 
it  is  Tito ;  and  concerning  Tilo  M.  Junod  has  much  to  say. 
It  is  a  place.  It  is,  moreover,  a  power  which  manifests 
itself  in  various  ways.  As  such,  it  is  sometimes  called  hosi^ 
the  same  word  as  inkosiy  translated  by  Bishop  Callaway  as 
lord  or  chief.  But  it  is  a  power,  says  M.  Junod,  "  en- 
visaged for  the  most  part  as  essentially  impersonal."  Rain, 
tempest,  strange  diseases,  infantile  convulsions,  are  attri- 
buted to  it ;  above  all,  the  mysterious  visitation  of  twins. 
I  must  refer  you  to  the  book  itself  for  the  details  of  the  Ronga 
ideas  concerning  Tilo,  and  for  the  curious  rites  with  which 
those  ideas  are  connected.^     I  can  only  say  that  the  ideas 

'  Junod,  Les  Baronga  (Neuchatel,  1898),  pp.  408,  sqq. 


Presidential  Address. 


27 


I  are  as  confused,  as  vague,  as  contradictory  as  those  of  the 
lus.     In  fact,  a  careful  comparison  shows  that  they  are 
substantially  identical.      Bishop  Callaway  himself  in  the 
end  sums  up  to  the  same  effect  as  M.  Junod.     "  it  appears, 
therefore,"  he   says,  "that    iii    the    native   mind  there  is 
scarcely  any  notion  of  Deity,  if  any  at  all,  wrapt  up  in  their 
sayings  about  a  heavenly  chief.     When  it  [i.e.,  the  name 
inkosi  pezulu,  heavenly  chief  or  lord  in  heaven]  is  applied 
to  God,  it  is  simply  the  result  of  leaching.     Among  them- 
selves he  is  not  regarded  as  the  Creator,  nor  the  Preserver 
of  Men  ;  but  as  a  power."     And  he  adds  by  way  of  a  con- 
jecture :  "  it  may  be  nothing  more  than  an  earthly  chief, 
still  celebrated  by  name, — -a  relic  of  the  king-worship  of  the 
.Egyptians;    another   form    merely  of   ancestor-worship."' 
I  Accepting    the    Bishop's   judgement,  we  may  discard  the 
I  conjecture  as  no  more  than  an  obiter  dictum.      Tilo,  or 
I  inkosi  pesulu,  thus,  tike  the  Ngai  of  the  Masai,  like  the 
[  Malagasy  Andria-manitra,  like  the  Siouan    Wakanda,  is 
I  found  to  be  theoplasm,  god-stuff,  not  a  god  fully  formed 
I  and  finally  evolved.     It  is  a  god,  or  gods,  in  the  making, 
I  not  a  god  with  one  foot  in  the  grave. 

The  Zulus  and  the  Bechuana  then  appear  to  confirm  the 

'  suggestion  with  which  we  started.     The  evidence  gathered 

from  other  South  African  peoples  is  more  fragmentary  still 

than  that  from  Ihe  Bechuana.      So  far  as  1  can  interpret  it, 

the  effect  is  the  same.     But  the  discussion  would  be  tedious, 

and  I  want  to  come  back  to  Bishop  Callaway's  obiter  dictum. 

It  is  a  guess  founded  on  the  deeply-rooted  cult  of  the  dead 

which  forms  the  very  core  of  Zulu  religion.     The  worship 

of  the   dead,  as  it  prevails   among  the   Zulus,   cannot   be 

deemed  in  any  sense  of  the  word  a  primitive  institution. 

.  The  Zulus  themselves  are  not  a  primitive  people.     One  of 

I  the  most  advanced  offshoots  of  the  Bantu  stock,  they  have 

I  long  since,  like  all  their  congeners,  taken  that  step,  which, 

I  according   to    Mr.   Payne's   canon,  divides  savagery  from 

'  CalUwiiy,  p.  124. 


2  8  Presidential  A d dress. 

barbarism.  Their  social  state  no  longer  rests  on  a  natural 
basis  of  subsistence.  The  Bushmen,  living  upon  the  pro- 
ceeds of  hunting  and  upon  such  roots  and  other  edible 
vegetables  as  they  may  chance  to  find,  are  savages.  Agri- 
culture and  cattle,  on  the  other  hand,  afford  the  mainstay 
of  Zulu  economy.  In  other  words,  the  Amazulu  are  no 
longer  savages.  They  live  a  comparatively  settled  life  in 
kraals  under  chiefs,  and  have  developed  a  highly  organised 
government.  The  development  of  their  religion  corresponds 
with  that  of  their  social  economy ;  and  traces  of  an  earlier 
stage  are  few  and  indistinct,  so  far  as  our  information 
extends.  Yet  they  must  have  passed  through  the  savage 
phases  of  religion  usually  accompanying  the  uncertain  and 
wandering  lives  of  hunters  and  root-diggers. 

Other  tribes  belonging  to  the  same  stock  retain  traces 
of  that  earlier  condition.  The  Bantu  are  an  intrusive  race. 
They  occupied  South  Africa  in  successive  immigrations. 
Wherever  the  original  habitat  whence  they  started  for 
their  conquests  may  have  been,  it  was  a  country  where  they 
had  already  domesticated  the  ox  and  learned  the  rudiments 
of  agriculture.  They  have  now  been  living  for  ages  in  an 
intermediate  state  between  a  nomadic  and  a  definitely  settled 
life.  The  climate  and  meteorological  conditions  of  South 
Africa  have  retarded  the  evolution  of  true  civilisation. 
Tribes  are  compelled  to  remove  by  disappearance  of  wood 
by  want  of  water  and  pasture,  exhaustion  of  soil  and  other 
causes.  Hence,  a  powerful  incentive  to  peaceful  changes 
of  settlement  within  a  limited  area,  but  also  to  wars  of 
conquest  and  wholesale  movements  of  armed  populations. 
In  the  face  of  recent  criticism,  I  hesitate  to  assert  that 
mother-right  (or  kinship  traced  only  through  women)  and 
totemism  are  invariable  notes  of  savagery.  There  can 
however,  be  no  question  that  these  institutions  tend  to 
disappear  with  the  higher  organisation  of  agricultural  and 
pastoral  life.  The  accumulation  of  property,  in  the  shape 
of  cattle  and  other  food  stores,  the  preservation  intact  of 


Presidential  Address. 


29 


jiie  cultivated  land,  and  its  increase  in  proportion  to  the 
Increase  of  the  population,  involve  continuous  and  elaborate 
preparations  for  defence  and  for  attack.  The  inevitable 
t  is  to  unite  the  whole  community  round  a  permanent 
aider  or  chief,  and  to  efface  mother-right  (where  it 
lubsists),  and  usually  to  change  it  into  Agnation,  or  the 
reckoning  of  kinship  through  the  father  only. 

Accordingly,  we  find  the  Bantu  everywhere  under  a 
patriarchal  rule,  sometimes  more,  sometimes  less,  despotic 
in  its  character.  The  position  of  women  is  proportionately 
depressed.  Though  not  slaves,  they  are  held  in  perpetual 
tutelage,  like  the  women  of  old  Rome,  where  in  prehistoric 
times  a  similar  condition  of  society  and  civilisation  gave 
birth  to  the  race  that  conquered  the  world.  Women, 
mong  the  Bechuana.  are  degraded  to  field-  and  househotd- 
■udges,  whose  purpose  in  life  is  to  rear  children  and  till 
J  fields. 

it  remains  of  a  different  state  of  things,  in  which  mother- 
ight  prevailed,  are  not  wanting.       The  influence  of  the 
laternal  uncle  is  usually  regarded  as  an  index  of  mother- 
light.     Among  the  Basuto  this  is  well  marked.     The  eldest 
Waternal   uncle   enjoys    special    rights   over    the   sister's 
liildren.     His  duties  towards  them  commence  with  their 
,  and  it  is  he  who  presides  at  their  funeral  ceremonies. 
He  IS  entitled  in  return  to  a  share  of  the  spoil  taken  by  his 
lephews  in  war,  as  well  as  of  the  game  they  kill.      The 
price  of  a  bride  is  usually  paid  in  cattle.     A  portion  of  this 
feattle  goes  to  the  eldest  maternal  uncle;  and  he  is  expected 
I  take  care  of  the  bride  and  her  children,  and  to   sup- 
^  her  with  anything  she  may  require.'      The  Ovaherer6 
[  Damara-land.  now  German  territory,  more  backward  in 
Fgeneral  culture  than  their  eastern  brethren,  are  distinguished 
rfor  the  consideration  paid  to   their  women.     Descent  is 
■.reckoned,  for  most  purposes,  through  the  mother.      The 

^  Cssslii,   Les  Btusautas,   p.   i90(Ei^.  ed.  p.  180).     Cape  of  Geed  ffeft. 
%ip.ef  tktGavernmenlCemm.enNaiivtLavisaHdCu!tomi(\f&^),  App.  p.  23. 


30  Presidential  Address. 

children  belong  to  her  eanda^  or  gens,  and  derive  their 
right  to  property  through  her.^  A  man's  sister's  children, 
therefore,  not  his  own,  inherit  from  him.  So,  among  the 
Bayeye  of  Lake  Ngami,  who  like  the  Ovaherer6  have  an  infu- 
sion of  Hottentot  blood,  no  chief  is  succeeded  by  his  son,  but 
by  his  sister's  son.*  The  Hottentots  proper  appear  to  re- 
present the  vanguard  of  the  Bantu  invasion.  Both  in  their 
physical  traits  and  in  their  language  Bushman  influence 
is  apparent.  They  were,  as  might  be  expected,  on  a  lower 
step  of  culture  than  the  Bantu  peoples  strictly  so  called. 
Contact  with  civilisation,  however,  has  greatly  changed 
them,  and  our  information  as  to  their  primitive  condition  is 
very  fragmentary.  As  far  as  we  can  trace,  their  women 
have  hardly  entered  upon  that  long  martyrdom  in  the  cause 
of  civilisation  which  has  been  so  sad  a  necessity  of  progress. 
In  every  Hottentot's  house  the  wife  is  supreme.  Her 
husband,  poor  fellow !  though  he  may  wield  wide  power 
and  influence  out  of  doors,  at  home  dare  not  even  take  a 
mouthful  of  sour  milk  out  of  the  household  vat  without  her 
leave.  Nor  is  a  woman's  realm  limited  to  her  husband. 
There  seems  a  special  relationship  between  brother  and 
sister.  The  highest  oath  a  man  can  take  is  to  swear  by  his 
eldest  sister;  and  if  he  abuse  this  name  he  forfeits  to  her 
his  finest  cows  and  sheep.*  Women  having  this  position, 
we  might  anticipate  other  remains  of  mother-right  in 
Hottentot  custom.  There  are  indeed  traces  of  it,  both 
in  their  jurisprudence  and  language;  but,  whether  from 
our  imperfect  knowledge,  or  from  any  other  cause,  those 
traces  are  too  few  and  uncertain  to  lead  to  any  definite 

result. 

Turning  now  to  the  question  of  totemism,  let  me  first 
observe  that,  whether  or  not  it  be  an   invariable  note  of 

>  South  African  Folk-Lore  Journal,  vol.  i.,  p.  40.     Cape  Comm.  Rep,,  App. 

p.  401. 

«  South  African  Folk- Lore  Jounial,  vol.  ii.,  p.  37. 

'  Hahn,  Tsuni-^^M,  pp.  I9»  21. 


Presidential  A  ddress.  3 1 

savagery,  totemism  is  a  purely  savage  institution.  Accord- 
ingly, we  must  not  expect  to  find  it  in  full  force  among  the 
Bantu.  All  we  can  expect  to  discover  are  better  or  worse 
preserved  survivals.  The  well-known  passage  in  Living- 
stone's  first  book  tells  us  that  "  the   different  Bechuana 

tribes  are  named  after  certain  animals, The  term 

Bakatia  means  *  they  of  the  monkey  ; '  Bakuena,  *  they  of 
the  alligator ; '  Batlapi,  *  they  of  the  fish  ; '  each  tribe  having 
a  superstitious  dread  of  the  animal  after  which  it  is  called. 
They  also  use  the  word  *  bina,'  to  dance,  in  reference  to' 
the  custom  of  thus  naming  themselves,  so  that,  when  you 
wish  to  ascertain  what  tribe  they  belong  to,  you  say, 
*  What  do  you  dance  ?  *  It  would  seem  as  if  that  had  been 
part  of  the  worship  of  old.  A  tribe  never  eats  the  animal 
which  is  its  namesake,  using  the  term  *  ila,'  hate  or  dread, 
in  reference  to  killing  it.  We  find  traces  of  many  ancient 
tribes  in  the  country  in  individual  members  of  those  now 
extinct,  as  the  Batau,  *  they  of  the  lion  ; '  the  Banoga,  *  they 
of  the  serpent ; '  though  no  such  tribes  now  exist."  ^  But 
the  evidence  does  not  stop  here.  Casalis,  after  giving 
additional  designations — Banare,  they  of  the  buffalo ; 
Batlou,  they  of  the  elephant ;  Banuku,  they  of  the  porcupine  ; 
Bamorara,  they  of  the  wild  vine — adds  by  way  of  illustra- 
tion :  '*  The  Bakuena  call  the  crocodile  their  father ;  they 
celebrate  it  in  their  festivals,  they  swear  by  it,  and  make  an 
incision  resembling  the  mouth  of  this  animal  in  the  ears  of 
their  cattle,  by  which  they  distinguish  them  from  others. 
The  head  of  the  family,  which  ranks  first  in  the  tribe, 
receives  the  title  of  Great  Man  of  the  Crocodile.  No  one 
dares  eat  the  flesh  or  clothe  himself  with  the  skin  of  the 
animal,  the  name  of  which  he  bears.  If  this  animal  is 
hurtful,  as  the  lion  for  instance,  it  may  not  be  killed  with- 
out grreat  apologies  being  made  to  it,  and  its  pardon  being 
asked.     Purification  is  necessary  after  the  commission  of 

'  Livingstone,  Missionary  Trcn'elSy  p.  13. 


II  III 


32  Presidential  Address. 


such  a  sacrilege."'  Additional  particulars  are  given  by 
Arbousset  and  Daumas.  The  Baperi  are  commonly  called 
Banoku,  they  of  the  porcupine.  "  Their  great  oath  is 
that  of  ka  nokuy  by  the  porcupine,  because  the  majority 
of  them  singi  to  use  the  consecrated  phrase,  intimating 
that  they  feast,  worship,  or  revere  that  animal.  .  .  .  When 
they  see  anyone  maltreat  that  animal,  they  afflict  them- 
selves, grieve,  collect  with  religious  care  the  quills,  if  it 
has  been  killed,  spit  upon  them,  and  rub  their  eyebrows 
with  them,  saying,  *  They  have  slain  our  brother,  our 
master,  one  of  ours,  him  whom  we  sing.'  They  fear  that 
they  will  die  if  they  eat  the  flesh  of  one."' 

In  this  passage  I  daresay  you  will  have  noticed  that  not 
all  the  Baperi,  but  only  the  majority  of  them,  are  Banoku. 
This  throws  light  on  the  loose  phraseology  of  the  mis- 
sionaries to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  our  information. 
The  last-quoted  authors  on  a  later  page  explicitly  define 
their  use  of  the  word  tribe  to  mean  family ^  illustrating  it 
by  reference  to  these  totemistic  superstitions.*  Accord- 
ingly, the  Baperi  did  not  all  belong  to  the  gens  or  clan,  as 
we  should  say,  of  the  porcupine ;  it  only  predominated  in 
their  organisation  and  territory.  I  have  not  noticed  in  the 
authorities  I  have  hitherto  quoted  any  reference  to  mar- 
riage-prohibitions. Mr.  Lionel  Decle,  however,  in  de- 
scribing the  totemism  of  a  more  northerly  people  of  the 
Bantu  stock,  the  Waganda,  says  expressly  that  "  no  man 
can  marry  in  his  own  clan."  *  Among  all  these  peoples 
A  the  clan  would  appear  to  descend  from  father  to  son.     The 

.».  *  Casalis,  The  Basutos  (Eng.  edit.),  p.  211.     I  cannot  at  this  moment  refer 

^  to  the  original  French,  but  possibly  we  should  read  :  **  Even  if  this  animal  is 

hurtful,"  &c. 

*  Arbousset  and  Daumas,  Narrative  of  an  Exploratory  Tour  to  the  North- 
east of  the  Colony  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hofe^  translated  by  Brown  (Cape  Town, 

,  .  ;  1846),  p.  176.     Other  particulars  follow,  which  I  have  not  thought  necessary  to 

quote. 

*  Thid.y  p.  213.     Cf.  p.  169. 

*  Decle,  Three  Years  in  Savage  South  Africa^  p.  443. 


t 

1  rai 

thi 

L H- 


Presidential  Address. 


less  cultured  Ovahererfi,  as  we  have  seen,  trace  descent  of 
the  eanda  through  the  mother.  It  remains  to  be  added 
that,  so  far  as  can  be  gathered  from  the  very  meagre 
reports  we  possess,  the  eanda  is  exogamic  and  bears  the 
name  of  a  totem,  each  eanda  having  "  its  peculiar  rites  and 
superstitions." ' 

In  fact,  the  only  branches  of  the  Bantu  race  among 
which  no  certain  traces  of  totemism  and  but  few  of  mother- 
right  are  found,  are  the  Amazulu  and  their  allied  tribes ; 
and  they  are  precisely  the  most  advanced  of  all  the  Bantu 
peoples.  The  Bechuana  yield  very  substantial  remnants  of 
totemism,  and  side  by  side,  though  not  organically  con- 
nected, with  them  traces  of  mother-right.  While  in  the  less 
advanced  branches  of  the  race  mother-right  is  still  strong 
and  unsubdued  by  the  patriarchal  economy,  and  it  is 
organically  connected  with  totemism.  Thus  the  Bantu 
present  a  graduated  series  of  social  stages.  On  the  lowest 
of  them,  though  the  totem-sacrifice  has  not  been  reported, 
totemism  is  yet  flourishing,  and  patriarchal  and  pastoral 
institutions  are  struggling  with  it.  On  the  highest  it  has 
disappeared  with  almost  all  its  characteristic  accompani- 
ments. There  can  therefore  be  little  doubt  that  the  Bantu 
race  has  emerged  from  a  nomadic  savagery  organised  on 
the  basis  of  totemism  and  mother-right.  The  question  is. 
How,  if  so,  has  ancestor-worship  developed  and  supplanted 
totemism  ? 

I  answer  that  it  is  entirely  dependent  upon  the  growth 
the  patriarchal  system.  The  more  highly  the  patriarchal 
system  is  organised — the  more  absolute  becomes  the  power 
of  the  head  of  the  nation,  and  under  him  of  the  subordinate 
chiefs  and  the  heads  of  families — the  more  the  original 
totemistic  superstitions  tend  to  disappear,  until  they  are 
altogether  lost  and  forgotten.  The  Bushmen  appear  to 
believe  in  the  continued  existence  of  the  dead,  though  even 

'  Anderson,  Laic  NsaiHt,  p.  221.  Cf.  South  African  Fotk^Lort  Jaumul, 
vol.  i.,  pp.  40,  4S, 

VOL.  XU.  D 


34  Presidential  Address. 

on  the  most  liberal  construction  of  the  word  worship  they 
can  hardly  be  said  to  worship  them.  This  belief,  arising 
in  savagery,  gains  in  strength  with  favouring  circumstances. 
It  does  not  literally  involve  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  for 
the  dead  are  gradually  forgotten.  Campbell,  who  early  in 
the  last  century  took  pains  to  obtain  from  the  memories  of 
the  people  lists  of  chiefs  of  various  Bechuana  tribes, 
succeeded  in  one  case  only  in  getting  the  names  of  as  many 
as  ten  deceased  chiefs ;  and  these  would  probably  not 
extend  to  more  than  five  or  six  generations. '  It  is  a  com- 
mon experience  of  enquirers  that  peoples  in  the  lower 
culture  when  questioned  on  the  fate  of  their  forgotten 
dead,  affirm  that  their  existence  has  been  finally  terminated. 
But  in  fact  very  few  trouble  themselves  about  the  fate  of 
their  forgotten  dead ;  and  the  vagfueness  characteristic  of 
their  other  opinions  on  the  subject  of  the  supernatural 
attaches  to  this  also.  The  recently  dead  is  alone  remem- 
bered vividly  and  worshipped  earnestly.  "  Black  people," 
said  one  of  Callaway's  Zulu  friends,  "  do  not  worship  all 
Amatongo  indifferently,  that  is,  all  the  dead  of  their  tribe. 
Speaking  generally,  the  head  of  each  house  is  worshipped 
by  the  children  of  that  house ;  for  they  do  not  know  the 
ancients  who  are  dead,  nor  their  laud-giving  names,  nor 
[any  of]  their  names.  But  their  father  whom  they  knew  is 
the  head  by  whom  they  begin  and  end  in  their  prayer, .... 
So  it  is  then,  although  they  worship  the  many  Amatongo 
of  their  tribe,  [thus]  making  a  great  fence  around  them- 
[selves]  for  their  protection  ;  yet  their  father  is  far  before 
all  others  when  they  worship  the  Amatongo."  *^  Behind 
their  father  stand  the  figures  of  a  few  others  whom  they 
remember ;  behind  them,  all  is  chaos.  They  would  not 
think  of  \yorshipping  a  father  in  his  lifetime.      Then  they 

*  Campbell,  Trccveh  in  Sottth  AfricOy  3rd  edit.,  18 1 5,  p.  206.  Ibid.,  Secoftd 
Journey y  1822,  vol.  i.,  pp.  179,  242. 

^  Callaway,  op.  cit.^  p.  144.  The  words  in  brackets  are  my  interpretation, 
not  Bishop  Callaway's. 


Presidential  Address. 


35 


Fcan  hear  him,   see  him,   they  know   his   ways,    they   can 
I  tske  his  commands  from  his  own  tips,  and  whether  he  be 

■  pleased  or  displeased  the  mood  is  manifested  directly. 
But   when   death   has   conferred    mystery   upon   him,  the 

^rence  for  a  father  rises  into  worship.      The  chief  of  a 

tribe  is  but  a  father  on  a  larger  scale.      He  gives  his  name 

to  the  tribe,  and  the  tribesmen  are  in  a  sense  his  children. 

Hence,  when  a  chief  takes-on  the  mystery  of  death,  the 

Iwhole  tribe    which  has  lately  quailed  before  his   rage   or 

I  rejoiced  in  his  pleasure  and  his  might,  believing  that  his 

f  anger  and  his  power  are  not  less  than  before  but  all  the 

greater,  because  manifested  by  methods  terrifying  in  that 

they  come  not  under  observation  and  their  results — drought, 

sickness,  defeat  in  battle,  and  the  like — are  only  to  be  inter- 

_  preted  by  the  witch-doctor,  render  to  him  the  heightened 

\  service  of  worship.     He  becomes  part  of  the  tribal  religion, 

I  for  the  moment,  perhaps,  the  most  prominent  part,  until 

I  another  dead  chief,  or  some  more  striking  personage,  real 

I  or  imaginary,  supplants  him, 

Patriarchy,  or  government  by  the  father  or  the  eldest 
I  male  of  the  family,  is  not  identical  with  father-right,  or  the 
Precognition  of  blood  on  the  father's  side  only.  But  the  two 
I'institutions  tend  to  coincide.  Patriarchal  government 
I  loosens  the  ties  of  mother-right,  and  eventually  succeeds  in 

■  effacing  them.  It  does  not  always  succeed  in  substituting 
father-right,  though  the  paternal  blood  always  becomes  the 
more  potent  bond.  This  process,  as  I  pointed  out  last  year, 
tends  to  collect  the  kin  and  consolidate  it  with  the  local 
group.  When  we  have  a  totemic  clan  thus  consolidated 
with  the  local  group  and  under  patriarchal  rule,  we  have  the 
conditions    for    the   evolution    of    totemism    into  ancestor- 

l  worship.     It    only    remains   to   ask   by  what   avenue   the 
I  passage  from  one  to  the  other  may  be  accomplished. 

A  belief  in  transformation  and  impermanence  of  form  is 
one  of  the  elements  of  totemism  ;  and  it  is  found  in  strong 
force  among  the  Bantu.     They  commonly  hold  that  men — 


36  Presidential  Address. 

some  men  at  all  events — can  change  their  shapes  at  will. 
It  is  their  universal  belief  that  the  dead  come  back  in  brute- 
form,  and  in  that  form  their  departed  friends  receive 
reverence  and  offerings. 

The  head  of  the  clan  bears  the  clan  name  in  an  emphatic 
shape.     The  Bataung,  as  you  will  remember,  are  the  Lion- 
clan.     Accordingly  their  chief  is  the  Lion-man  (Motaung, 
he  of  the  lion).^     He  represents,  as  it  were,  the  lion.     The 
Bakwena  are  the  Crocodile-clan.     Their  chief  is  the  Great 
Man  of  the   Crocodile.     We  are  expressly  told  that  the 
crocodile  is  called  by  the  Bakwena  ''one  of  them,  their 
master,  their  Father ;  "  '  and  that  the  Baperi  speak  of  the 
porcupine  in  similar  terms.    The  same  is  doubtless  true  of 
the  totem-animal  of  the  Bataung  and  other  tribes.     This  is 
precisely  the  way  in  which  the  chief  would  be  regarded. 
He  too  is  "  one  of  them,  their  master,  their  father."     After 
death   the   chief  appears  in  the   form  of  some   powerful 
animal.     For  example,  among  the  Barotse  he  takes  the  form 
of  a  hippopotamus.  ^     I  have  not  indeed  met  with  the  state- 
ment that  a  chief  comes  back  in  the  form  of  the  totem-animal. 
Perhaps  the  dissolution  of  Bantu  society  and  religion  has 
now  proceeded  too  far  for  us  to  recover  any  such  belief,  if 
it  ever  existed.     It  was  the  belief  of  some  at  all  events  of 
the  North  American   tribes  that  a  clansman  after  death 
assumed  the  form  of  the  totem-animal.  ^     And  although  we 
may  not  be  able  to  put  our  fingers  on  any  similar  evidence 
in  respect  to  the  Bantu,  I  venture  to  suggest  that  this  was 
the   link,    now   snapped   asunder,  between   totemism  and 
ancestor-worship  in  South  Africa.     Once  totemism  began 
to  fall  into  the  background,  the  posthumous  assumption  of 
totem-form  would  tend  to  be  confined  first  of  all  to  the  chief. 

»  Arbousset,  p.  213.    The  Lion-dan  existed  as  a  political  unit  in  the  time 
of  Arbousset  and  Daumas,  though  it  had  disappeared  by  Livingstone's  day. 
*  Arbousset,  loc.  di. 

»  Dede,  Tlurm  Ymn  m  Stamgt  Afritm^  ^  74. 
«  FiaMT,  T^inmirmt  p.  56^  dting  seveial  anthonties. 


Presidential  Address. 


37 


I  In  other  words,  he  who  was  in  his  lifetime  emphatically 
the  Lion-man,  the  Crocodile-man,  the  Porcupine-man,  the 
Elephant-man,  the  Hippopotamus-man,  would  longest  pre- 
serve the  totem-form  after  death,  especially  in  the  cases 
where  the  totem  was  a  beast  to  be  dreaded  for  its  size, 
physical  powers,  and  propensities  to  mischief.  Ultimately 
this  appropriation  would  be  dropped,  and  a  dead  man,  be 
he  chief  or  another,  would  reappear  in  any  suitable  form  as 
1  conceived  by  the  survivors. 

This  of  course  is  a  mere  hypothesis.     But  it  has  seemed 

I  worth  while,  in  view  of  recent  discussions,  to  try  to  show 

\  how   totemism    might   conceivably,   by   the   change    from 

I  mother-right  to  father-right,  or  at  least  to  patriarchy,  and 

the  consequent  identification  of  the  local  organisation  with 

the   clan,    pass    into    something    like   a   tribal   cult,  and 

ultimately    into  ancestor-worship.     I    took  up  so  much  of 

your   time  last   year   in   discussing   questions   relating  to 

totemism  that  I  did  not  intend  to  bore  you  with  the  subject 

to-night,     i  hope  you  will  not   think  that  it  is  like  King 

Charles's  head,  and  cannot  be  kept  out  of  my  lucubrations. 

In  any  case  I  offer  the  most  humble  apologies.     Happily, 

'  by  the  constitutional  practice  of  the  Society,  you  will  not 

run  the  risk  of  being  troubled  with  it  again. 

I  owe  you  these  apologies  all  the  more  because  I  do  not 

pretend  to  have  solved  any  of  the  problems  1  have  touched. 

That  is  a  task  far  beyond  what  I  set  myself  to  do,  probably 

far    beyond    our    present    knowledge,   and   in   any   case 

demanding  the  collation  of  evidence  from  all  parts  of  the 

world.     What  I  have  tried  to  do  is  to  suggest  some  ways 

in  which   the  folklore  of  South  Africa  may  contribute  to 

their  solution.     Most  of  my  illustrations  have  been  taken 

,  from  tribes  in   British  territory.     The   vast  extent  of   our 

;  African    possessions    embraces   peoples    in    almost   every 

■  stage  of  culture.     On  that  continent  alone,  the  opening  of 

the  twentieth  century  thus  finds  us  in  a  position  which  is 

unique  in  its  opportunities  for  the  advancement  of  anthro- 


38  Presidential  Address. 

pological  science.  As  you  will  have  read  in  the  Council's 
Annual  Report,  the  Anthropological  Institute  and  the  Folk- 
Lore  Society  have  joined  to  urge  upon  the  Government  the 
importance  of  seizing  those  opportunities  in  the  countries 
we  have  lately  added  to  the  empire.  We  must  not  think 
that  already  we  know  enough  about  the  coloured  peoples 
of  South  Africa,  On  the  contrary,  our  information  is  of  a 
very  fragmentary  and  often  uncertain  character.  The 
great  blanks  must  be  filled ;  it  must  be  systematised  and 
rendered  intelligible.  For  such  purposes  a  careful  and  com- 
prehensive enquiry  is  needed.  The  first  consideration  we 
have  put  forward  in  the  memorial  we  have  presented  to  the 
Colonial  Secretary  is  the  proper  government  and  well-being 
of  the  native  tribes  beneath  our  swav.  This  is  the  prime 
consideration  to  a  statesman ;  and  we  believe  that  by  no 
means  as  effectual  as  the  methodical  study  of  the  people 
and  their  customs  and  beliefs  can  their  proper  government 
be  secured.  No  ruler  who  does  not  understand  his  subjects 
can  govern  them  for  the  best  advantage,  either  theirs  or 
his.  Surely  the  time  has  come  to  abandon  our  old  igno- 
rant, unsympathetic,  though  often  well-meaning,  fashion 
of  muddling  along.  It  has  led  in  the  past  to  innumerable 
difficulties,  to  endless  waste  of  blood  and  treasure.  With 
the  new  century  let  us  turn  over  a  new  leaf  in  the  history 
of  our  dealings  with  savage  and  half-civilised  nations,  and 
write  on  an  unstained  page  our  resolution  to  seek  a  more 
excellent  way. 

But  we  have  ventured  to  urge  another  consideration — 
the  interests  of  anthropological  science,  interests  only  to 
be  subordinated  to  those  of  actual  government.  For  when 
in  all  directions  the  speculative  science  of  to-day  becomes 
the  practical  and  applied  science  of  to-morrow,  who  shall 
venture  to  deny  such  a  possibility  to  anthropology  ?  I  read 
in  the  newspapers  that  the  German  government,  clearer'in 
perception  and  more  prompt  in  execution  than  ours,  spent 
in  the  year  1898  upon  anthropological  explorations  no  less 


Presidential  Address. 


39 


I 


a  sum  than  £25,000.  The  Bureau  of  Ethnology  at 
Washington  costs  40,000  dollars  a  year ;  and  that  is  by  no 
means  all  that  the  government  of  the  United  States  is 
spending  upon  the  anthropology  of  a  single  race.  The 
government  of  India,  under  the  guidance  of  Mr.  H.  H. 
Risley,  and  thanks  to  the  statesmanlike  grasp  and  energy 
of  Lord  Curzon,  is  taking  measures  for  an  Ethnographical 
Survey  of  that  teeming  empire.  Among  our  self-ruling 
colonies.  Cape  Colony  and  Queensland  have  been  foremost 
in  recognising  the  political  necessity  of  an  accurate 
register  of  the  customs  and  institutions,  ay,  the  prejudices 
and  superstitions,  of  the  coloured  peoples  beneath  their 
sway.  And  there  are  signs  that  the  latter  and  more  than 
one  of  her  sister-states  of  the  Australian  Commonwealth 
are  prepared  to  go  further,  and  to  assist  in  gathering  such 
information  for  purely  scientific  purposes.  The  mother- 
country  in  her  turn  will  surr-lyshowajust  appreciation  of  the 
duties  of  a  civilised  nation.  We  are  helping  vigorously  to 
macadamise  the  world  for  the  benefit  of  modern  commerce. 
The  material  prosperity  of  ourselves  and  others — perad- 
venture,  higher  benefits  loo — will  follow  in  the  wake  of  the 
steam-roller.  It  will  certainly  destroy  much  that  can  never 
be  replaced,  much  thai  is  picturesque,  much  that  is  capable, 
rightly  construed,  of  yielding  instruction  as  to  the  past  of 
humanity.  In  the  "dark  backward  and  abysm  of  time  " 
before  the  dawn  of  history,  the  destiny  of  the  nations  was 
being  shaped  by  forces  which  it  is  the  endeavour  of 
anthropology  to  understand  and  account  for.  The  deter- 
mination and  the  measurement  of  those  forces  can  hardly 
fail  to  bring  forth  practical  results.  However  this  may  be, 
I  am  greatly  mistaken  unless  the  intelligent  curiosity  of 
mankind  will,  as  the  ages  roll  onward,  be  more  and  more 
drawn  to  questions  concerning  it  so  vitally  as  the  story  of 
its  own  early  struggles  with  nature  and  its  first  futile 
guesses  at  the  unsearchable  riddle  of  things.  To  have 
missed  an  opportunity  like  the  present  of  accumulating  a 


40  Presidential  A  ddress. 

large  body  of  evidence  within  and  beyond  (for  if  the 
movement  be  once  started  I  trust  it  will  not  stop  within  the 
Transvaal  and  the  Orange  River  Colony)  our  new  posses- 
sions, will  then  be  seen  to  have  incurred  a  responsibility  and 
a  reproach  which  we  are  seeking  to  spare  our  country  and 
our  government. 

Considerations  like  these,  moreover,  touch  in  appropriate 
degree  everyone  of  us.  The  unparalleled  changes  wrought 
by  the  nineteenth  century  have  swept  away  for  ever  much 
that  remained  to  us  of  the  ideas  and  the  practices  of  our 
remote  forefathers.  Whatever  the  twentieth  century  may 
do  over  the  rest  of  the  world,  it  will  in  Britain  at  least 
complete  the  work  of  the  nineteenth.  The  muse  of  folk- 
lore is  inexorable  as  the  sibyl.  Of  no  other  science  are  the 
materials  disappearing  so  rapidly.  That  for  which  we  will 
not  pay  the  price  to-day  will  become  fuel  for  the  devouring 
fire  of  civilisation,  and  to-morrow  we  shall  repent  in  vain 
our  refusal  or  neglect.  Of  the  two  tasks  before  us  at  the 
opening  of  the  twentieth  century,  there  can  be  no  question 
that  the  work  of  collection  is  the  more  pressing.  For  the 
framing  of  hypotheses  we  can  wait  the  leisure  of  a  later 
day.  We  cannot  wait  for  the  observation  of  phenomena 
which  are  rapidly  passing  out  of  existence.  A  single  new 
fact  carefully  observed  and  rigorously  reported  is  just  now 
more  than  ever  worth  a  hundred  of  the  most  brilliant 
hypotheses.  In  this  Society  we  rightly  insist  upon  the 
study  of  the  phenomena.  But  I  hope  we  shall  yet  more 
strenuously  urge  the  prior  duty  of  ascertaining  and  record- 
ing them,  whether  in  this  country  or  elsewhere,  and  the 
paramount  necessity  of  literal  exactness  in  so  doing.  Thus 
the  Folk-Lore  Society  will  fulfil  the  purpose  of  its  being 
with  more  abundant  success,  and  establish  a  lasting  claim 
upon  the  gratitude  of  all  serious  students  of  the  origin  and 
growth  of  human  institutions  and  culture. 

Prmdemi  1900. 


OLD  IRISH  TABUS,  OR  GEASA. 


{Read  at  Meeting  of  2%th  November,  igoo.) 

'  Though  a  great  deal  of  attention  has  been  given  during  the 
last  few  years  to  the  study  of  "  tabus,"  and  to  the  elucidation 
of  their  bearing  upon  primitive  ideas  of  morality  and  religion, 
and  though  nearly  every  nation  has  been  laid  under  con- 
tribution in  furnishing  examples  of  this  curious  survival 
of  primitive  custom,  the  literature  of  Ireland  and  the  pagan 
ideas  belonging  to  our  own  Gaelic  stock  have,  so  far  as  I  am 
aware,  not  yet  been  even  cursorily  examined  with  a  view  to 
finding  out  what  were  the  ideas  of  the  ancient  inhabitants 
of  our  own  islands  on  this  question.  In  the  very  able  books 
put  forth  by  Mr.  J.  G.  Frazer,  Mr.  Frank  Jevons,  and  Mr. 
Andrew  Lang,  the  entire  world  is  ransacked  for  data;  but 
I  do  not  think  that  the  tabus  of  Scotland,  Wales,  or  Ireland 
are  so  much  as  mentioned.  Yet  we  cannot  take  up  any 
ancient  Irish  romance  without  being  immediately  con- 
fronted by  tabus  of  the  most  pronounced  kind.  Their 
influence  pervades  almost  every  piece  of  ancient  Gaelic 
imaginative  literature;  their  mysterious  power  encircles 
the  life  of  every  notable  Gaelic  hero.  There  is,  perhaps,  no 
ancient  literature  in  which  they  play  so  conspicuous  a  part. 
Tribal,  ancestral,  or  personal  tabus  (called  in  Irish  litera- 
ture geasa)  hem  in  the  actions  of  all  the  chief  personages  of 
Irish  romance.  They  are  imposed  sometimes  at  or  even 
before  birth,  sometimes  at  critical  moments  in  the  career; 
in  either  case  the  breaking  of  them  portends  death  or 
disaster  to  the  individual.  In  some  instances  every  act 
from  the  moment  of  birth  to  death  is  determined  by  these 
solemn  harbingers  of  destiny;  whether  the  individual  is  or 
is  not  conscious  of  them,  he  cannot  escape  from  their 
doom. 


42  Old  Irish  Tabtis^  or  Geasa. 

Wc  must  not  disregard  the  evidence  as  to  the  existence 
of  a  complicated  system  of  tabus  in  the  social  and  political 
order  of  things  in  ancient  Ireland,  merely  on  the  ground 
that  our  knowledge  of  it  is  derived  largely  from  romance 
literature.  The  old  romance  of  Ireland  undoubtedly  pre- 
serves for  us  traditions  of  a  time  anterior  to  the  introduc- 
tion of  Christianity  into  these  islands,  and  one  of  its  chief 
claims  to  the  attention  of  students  is  derived  from  the  fact 
that  it  enshrines  for  us  many  of  the  pagan  beliefs,  modes  of 
life,  and  customs  of  the  early  Gael. 

In  these  romances  we  can  study  from  within  what  Roman 
conquerors  and  Christian  missionaries  could  only  study 
from  without ;  and,  moreover,  could  only  study  with  minds 
strongly  imbued  with  the  superiority  of  their  own  system  of 
life,  and  incapable  of  comprehending,  even  had  they  wished 
to  do  so,  the  ideas  and  customs  of  the  ''barbarians''  whom 
they  came  to  conquer  for  Caesar  or  for  Christ. 

If  we  would  correct  or  amplify  our  superficial  and  often 
misleading  ideas  drawn  from  Latin  sources,  as  to  the 
religious  belief  and  social  life  of  the  Celt,  it  is  largely  to 
Irish  literature  that  we  must  turn.  Elsewhere  the  pri- 
mitive lore  of  the  Western  Celt,  expressed  in  legend  and 
story,  has  to  a  large  extent  died  out  under  the  influx  of 
foreign  ideas  enforced  by  conquest  and  by  the  introduction 
of  a  more  solid  written  literature.  But  in  Ireland  we 
possess  a  great  body  of  material  that  has  come  down  to  us 
from  a  pre-Christian  condition  of  life,  and  that  places  us  in 
relation  to  a  system  of  things  dating  back  to  a  remote 
pagan  antiquity.  Roman  civilisation,  which  eventually 
transformed  the  social  and  political  standpoint  of  Gaul  and 
Britain,  made  itself  felt  only  in  a  minor  degree  in  Ireland. 
As  an  educational  and  religious  force  it  exercised  a  con- 
siderable influence  ;  as  a  political  and  social  force  its 
influence  was  almost  nil.  Ireland  retained  her  original 
tribal  laws  and  regulations,  and  her  ancient  system  of  rule 
mid  !•».*  ^^ver  die  larger  portion  of  the  country 


Old  Irish  Tabus,  or  Gcasa. 


43 


right  up  to  the  period  of  the  Tudors  ;    she  retains  even  to 
this  day  many  of  her  primitive  modes  of  thought. 

I  do  not  contend  that  Irish  pagan  romance  has,  in  all 
Cases,  come  down  to  us  unchanged  by  later  influences. 
Not  only  have  the  inevitable  variations  due  to  verbal  repeti- 
tion continued  over  a  long  space  of  time  to  be  taken  into 
account,  we  have  also  to  allow  for  alterations  and  omissions 
purposely  made  by  the  scribes  and  compilers,  who  were  in 
the  majority  of  cases  Christian  bishops,  saints,  or  lay- 
brothers,  working  within  the  walls  and  for  the  honour  of 
their  various  monasteries,  It  is,  however,  much  to  the 
credit  of  these  clerical  compilers  that,  except  in  a  few  cases 
in  which  doctrines  directly  antagonistic  to  Christianity  were 
conveyed  by  the  text,  these  changes  are  so  slight  that  they 
can  in  most  cases  be  detected  by  a  comparison  with  other 
versions  of  the  same  story.  On  the  whole,  we  cannot  too 
highly  praise  the  enlightenment  of  monks  who  apparently 
bestowed  the  same  care  upon  the  collection  and  transcrip- 
tion of  the  tales  and  legends  of  their  pagan  forefathers  as 
they  did  upon  the  religious  dissertations,  homilies,  and  lives 
of  saints,  which  make  up  the  larger  part  of  the  remaining 
tracts  belonging  to  the  oldest  stratum  of  Irish  literature. 

Now,  as  we  should  naturally  expect,  it  is  in  the  more 
archaic  romances  that  the  greatest  stress  is  laid  upon  geasa. 
Again,  comparing  together  the  two  chief  cycles  into  which 
the  heroic  romance  of  Ireland  falls,  the  Cuchulainn  or 
Conchobhar  cycle,  and  the  Finn  or  Ossianic  cycle,  we  find 
that  it  is  in  the  former  cycle  that  geasa  or  tabus  play  the 
more  prominent  part.  This  is  not  to  prejudge  the  question 
as  to  the  comparative  age  of  the  two  sagas,  which  does  not 
concern  us  here  ;  it  merely  serves  to  emphasise  the  conclu- 
sion that  we  should  have  drawn  from  other  indications,  that 
we  possess  the  tales  of  the  Cuchulainn  saga,  as  a  whole, 
more  nearly  in  their  original  form  than  the  tales  of  the 
'inn  saga.  The  Cuchulainn  stories  as  they  have  come 
[down  to  us  bear,  with  a  few  exceptions,  the  impress  of  hav- 


44  Old  Irish  Tabus^  or  Geasa. 

ing  been  formed  in  one  single  stratum  of  social  life,  whereas 
the  Finn  cycle  comes  to  us  diversified  by  the  variations 
impressed  upon  it  by  the  handling  of  different  epochs  with 
different  ways  of  thought.  In  the  "  Story  of  Diarmuid  and 
Grainne,"  the  longest  and  most  impressive  of  the  Ossianic 
tales^  tabus  are  frequent,  and  of  terrible  import ;  and  this 
story  is,  as  we  should  expect,  probably  one  of  ^he  most 
ancient  of  the  cycle.  Elsewhere  they  play  a  much  less  im- 
portant part  than  in  the  Cuchulainn  tales,  in  which  the 
principal  actors  are  caught  round  and  controlled  from  birth 
to  death  in  a  web  of  minute  observances,  the  omission  or 
commission  of  which  presaged  loss  of  honour  or  life,  either 
to  themselves  or  to  those  whom  they  were  bound  to  pro- 
tect. They  are  usually  spoken  of  as  "  solemn  druidical 
prohibitions  "  or  "  fearful  perilous  bonds  "  which  no  true 
hero  can  avoid. 

From  a  literary  point  of  view,  the  unconscious  infringe- 
ment of  geasa  is  the  motif  of  some  of  the  very  finest 
scenes  in  the  heroic  romances.  For  instance,  in  the 
Ossianic  story  of  "  The  Pursuit  of  Diarmuid  and  Grainne," 
to  which  we  have  alluded^  the  climax  of  the  tragedy  turns 
upon  an  unwitting  transgression  of  geasa.  The  death  of 
Diarmuid  is  caused  by  his  destruction  of  the  wild  boar  of 
Ben  Gulban,  in  which  was  the  soul  of  his  own  foster- 
brother,  unjustly  slain  by  Diarmuid's  father.  Now  a  pro- 
hibition had  been  laid  upon  Diarmuid  by  one  of  the  gods, 
Angus  of  the  Brugh,  his  special  protector,  that  he  was  never 
to  hunt  a  boar ;  but  this  tabu,  laid  upon  him  in  infancy,  is 
unknown  to  him.  Finn,  his  jealous  rival  and  sworn  foe,  is, 
however,  well  aware  of  it,  but  he  conceals  the  matter  until, 
by  cunning  wiles,  he  has  persuaded  Diarmuid  to  join  in  the 
hunt  of  Ben  Gulban.  It  is  then  too  late.  "  By  my  word, " 
quoth  Diarmuid,  **  it  is  to  slay  me  that  thou  hast  made  this 
hunt,  O  Finn  ;  and  if  it  be  here  that  I  am  fated  to  die,  I 
have  no  power  to  shun  it,  ^'  and  he  rushes  forward  to  kill 
the  boar  whose  fate  is  so  inextricably  bound  up  with  his 


Old  Irish  Tabus,  or  Geasa. 


45 


^^^in  th 


own,  that  the  death  of  the  one  means  also  the  death  of  the 
other.  As  the  boar  falls  beneath  the  sword  of  Diarmuid, 
the  pains  of  death  overtake  the  hero  and  he  expires  at  his 
side.  The  sense  of  fatality  expressed  in  Diarmuid's  speech 
is  an  undertone  running  through  the  whole  of  Irish 
romantic  literature,  and  it  remains  strongly  impressed  upon 
the  Irish  peasant  of  to-day.  "  It  was  to  happen  ; "  "  what 
is  to  happen,  must  happen,  "  is  his  belief  to-day.  "  It  is 
profitless  to  fly  from  death  ;  "  "  there  are  three  periods  of 
time  that  cannot  be  avoided  :  the  hour  of  death,  the  hour  of 
birth,  and  the  hour  of  conception,"  sang  his  forebears  a 
thousand  years  ago.  This  sense  of  an  irresistible  necessity 
determining  the  periods  of  life  and  death,  combined  with 
the  finality  involved  in  the  destruction  (conscious  or 
unconscious)  of  the  tabus  whose  observance  have  hedged 
life  round  with  safety,  imparts  to  the  tales  so  strong  a 
feeling  of  overmastering  fate  that,  were  we  to  find  geasa 
playing  an  important  part  only  in  romantic  literature,  we 
might  be  templed  to  think  that  they  were  introduced  solely 
with  a  dramatic  purpose.  But  this  is  not  so.  Geasa  seem 
to  have  controlled  the  lives,  not  of  imaginary  personages 
only,  but  of  actual  chiefs  and  rulers  of  Ireland,  and  this  for 
a  long  period  of  time,  stretching  down  from  the  unchronicled 
years  of  barbarism  into  a  late  historical  period. 

There  is  in  existence  a  valuable  tract  called  the  Leabhar 
nag-ceart,  or  "  Book  of  Rights,"'  which  contains  an  account 
of  the  rents  and  tributes  payable  to  the  kings  of  the  pro- 
vinces of  Ireland.  This  tract,  though  doubtless  added  to 
and  altered  as  necessity  arose,  probably  dates  back  in  its 
original  form  to  the  days  of  St.  Patrick.  It  claims  to  have 
been  part  of  a  notable  book  called  the  Saltair  Ckaisil,  said 
to  have  been  drawn  up  in  its  original  form  by  St.  Benan, 
the  friend  and  companion  of  St.  Patrick  and  his  successor 
in  the  primacy  of  Armagh.  Now  to  this  important  work  is 
elixed  a  shorter  tract  which  forms  a  sort  of  introduction 


'  Edited  tor  the  Celtic  Society  by  John  O'Donovan,  1847. 


46  Old  Irish  Tabus^  or  Geasa. 

to  the  other,  called  Oeasa  agus  Buadha  Riogh  ^ireann,  or 
the  *'  Restrictions  and  Prerogatives  of  the  Kings  of  fore," 
in  which  those  things  that  are  forbidden  to  the  kings  of 
the   several   provinces,  because  the  doing  of  them  would 
bring  ill  luck — their  "prohibitions,"  as  O' Donovan  translates 
the  word  Urghartha — are  laid  down  with  great  precision. 
This  most  curious  collection  of  kingly  tabus  is  ascribed  to 
Cuan  O'Lochain,  chief   poet   of   Malachi  II.,  monarch   of 
Ireland ;  and  regent  (after  the  death  of  the  king  in  1022) 
for  twenty  years,  during  part  of  that  troublous  period  that 
intervened  between  the  downfall  of  the  Danish  power  and 
the  Anglo-Norman  invasion.     The  larger  number  of  these 
tabus  are  not  only  quite  inexplicable  to  ourselves,  but  their 
meaning  appears  to  have  been  doubtful  even  at  the  time 
they  were  written  down,  though  they  were  probably  observed 
none  the  less  scrupulously  for  that.     They  evidently  reach 
back  into  far  anterior  times.     Dr.  O' Donovan,  the  editor, 
remarks  in  his  preface  lo  the  tract  that  the  reference  to  the 
King  of  Leinster  "  drinking  by  th^  light  of  wax  candles  in  the 
palace  of  Dinn  Riogh,"  shows  that  this  prohibition  dates  from 
a  remote  period  in  the  history  of  this  province,  Dinn  Riogh 
having  been  deserted  by  the  kings   of  Leinster  for   Nas 
(Naas)  long  before  the  introduction  ot  Christianity.     Again, 
the  prohibition   to  the  monarch  of  Ireland  "that  the  sun 
should  not  rise  upon  him  on  his  bed  at  Tara  "  clearly  refers 
to  the  period  when  Tara  was  still  a  royal  residence,  which 
it  ceased  to  be  about  the  year  565  A.D.     Yet  though  the 
meaning  of  many  of  the  tabus  had  probably  been  lost,  the 
importance  of  observing  them  does  not  seem  to  have  dimi- 
nished.    Their  observance  will,  it  is  promised,  make  the 
earth  fruitful  and  bring  victory  in  battle,  will  guard  against 
treachery  and   the  pollution  of  the  high  attributes  of  the 
king.      The  poet  ends  with  the  solemn  injunction  :  "  It  is 
certain  to  the  kings  of  £ire  that  if  they  avoid  their  geasa 
(restrictions)  and  obtain  their  buadha  (prerogatives),  they 
shall   meet    no  mischance  or  misfortune ;  no  epidemic  or 


Old  Irish  Tabus,  or  Geasa. 


47 


mortality  shall  occur  in  their  reigns,  and  they  shall  not  ex- 
P  perience   the  decay  of  age  for  the  space  of  ninety  years. 
I  The  poet  or  the  learned  historian  who  does  not  know  the 
\adha  ("prerogatives)  and  urghartha  (prohibitions)  of  these 
,  kings,  is  not  entitled  to  visitation  {Le.  free  hospitality)  orto 
(the)  sale  (of  his  own  compositions)."     These  tabus  seem  to 
have  been  hereditary,  and  binding  on  all  kings.     A  large 
number  are  evidently  precautionary,  as  is  indeed  implied  in 
the  words  "  if  he  observe  them,  it  will  guard  against  treachery 
in  battle  and  the  pollution  of  his  high  attributes."     They 
refer,  for  the    most   part,  to  the  danger  of  doing  certain 
things  on  certain  days  or  in  certain  seasons  of  the  year; 
such  as  the  caution  to  the  King  of  Eire  not  to  alight  on 
Wednesday   in    Magh    Breagh    {Bregia,    co.    Meath) ;    to 
traverse   Magh   Cuitlinn   after  sunset ;   to  go  on  Tuesday 
against  North  Teffia  (co.  Longford)  ;  to  go  in  a  ship  on  the 
water  the  Monday  after  Beltaine  (Mayday)  ;  to  leave  the 
1, track  of  his  army  upon  Ath  Maighne  (co,  Westmeath)  the 
I  Tuesday  after  Samhain  (Hallow-e'en) :  this  latter  being  no 
[doubt  a  reference  to  the  lateness  of  the  season  for  warfare. 
The  Irish,  like  all  superstitious  people,  had  a  great  belief 
Kin  lucky  and  unlucky  days,     The  origin  of  this  special  form 
[of  superstition  may  have  come  in  many  instances  from  the 
^experience  that  certain  fortunate  or  unfortunate  events  had 
P  occurred  on  such   days,  whence  arose  the  belief  that  all 
.  actions  performed  on  the  same  day  would  turn  out  in  the 
same  manner.      In  the  Battle  of  Magh  Lena,  an  early  semi- 
historical  epic,'  we  read  of  a  regular  horoscope  being  drawn 
■  before  a  certain  king  of  Munster,  Eoghan  taidhleach,  the 
I- Glorious,  marched  to  battle  with  all  good  omens.     "For 
lit  is  certain,"  says  the  writer,  "  that  the  calculations  of  the 
ftmoon  and  of  nature  said  that  it  was  a  lucky  conjuncture 

'   Tht  Battle  of  Magh   Ltna,  edited   for  the  Celtic  Sodely  by   Eugene 
VO'Ciuiy,   1855.      In    Mtita    Ulad   we    find    Cudmlainn    sending   out   his 
eer  lo  "  observe  ihc  stars  of  the  air,   and  ascertain  when   midnighl 
"  but  this  does  not  presuppose  much  acquaintnnoe  with  asttononiy. 


48  Old  Irish  Tabus^  or  Geasa. 

with  a  seventh,  and  that  it  was  counted  a  foot  in  advance 
towards  an  eighth,  and  that  it  was  a  strong  fifteenth  to- 
wards happiness  and  strength  for  him,  to  have  decided  on 
gaining  power  over  his  foes  at  that  particular  time."  In 
the  old  medical  treatises,  the  cross  or.  unlucky  days  of  the 
year  are  all  set  down  in  order,  but  many  of  these  may  be  of 
late  origin.  The  use  made  by  Christianity  of  these  super- 
stitions is  seen  in  a  marginal  note  to  one  such  book  bear- 
ing date  1733.^  "The  prohibited  Mondays  of  the  year. 
The  first  Monday  in  April,  on  which  day  Cain  was  born  and 
his  brother  slain.  The  second  Monday  in  August,  on  which 
day  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  were  destroyed.  The  thirteenth 
(the  third  Monday  of?)  December,  on  which  day  Judas 
was  born  that  betrayed  Christ."  The  addition  of  biblical 
events  to  the  days  of  pagan  observance  was  part  of  the 
regular  system  pursued  and  openly  acknowledged  by  the 
early  Christian  teachers. 

We  have  seen  in  the  tale  of  Diarmuid  and  Grainne  that 
at  Brugh  on  the  Boyne  the  foster-brother  of  Diarmuid  was 
transformed  into  a  wild  boar  by  the  power  of  Angus.  Though 
the  subject  of  such  transformations  does  not  lie  directly  in 
our  course,  it  bears  so  closely  upon  it  that  I  may,  perhaps, 
be  allowed  to  say  a  few  words  regarding  the  Irish  belief 
about  it.  In  Irish  legend  it  is  usually,  if  not  quite  always, 
the  higher  order  of  beings,  the  Tuatha  D6  Danann,  who 
are  capable  of  undergoing  transformation  into  birds  or 
beasts.  The  daughters  of  Lir  are  turned  into  swans  ;  when 
Fand  comes  to  beckon  Cuchulainn  into  Magh  Mell,  the 
Plain  of  Honey,  the  Paradise  of  Irish  paganism,  she  and 
her  companion  appear  to  him  swimming  on  the  lake  in  the 
same  disguise ;  so  do  Dervorgilla  and  her  maiden  in  that 
tale  which  is  so  close  a  parallel  to  the  classical  stories  of 
Perseus  and  Andromeda  and  of  Iphigenia  in  Aulis. 

Again,  in  the  tale  of  the  Origin  of  Cuchulainn,  his  mother 
disappears  with  fifty  of  her  maidens  for  three  years.     They 

'  Hodges  and  Smith  Collection,  Royal  Irish  Academy,  No.  65. 


Old  Irish  Tabus,  or  Geasa. 


49 


reappear  as   a  flock   of   beautiful  birds   who   attract   the 

Fattention  or  the  Uitonians  by  devastating  the  country  and 

eating  up  every  blade  of  grass,  until  they  induce  the  warriors 

to  come  out  in  strength  to  hunt  them,  when  they  fly  before 

them  to  the  mysterious  country  in  which  Ciichulainn  had 

birth.     The  birds,  as  in  Northern  legend,  are  usually  yoked 

together   with   golden   or   silver    chains;    when   they   are 

wounded  they  resume  their  natural  shape.     In  the  stories  of 

LCtual  re -incarnation  the  agency  of  certain  animalculae  is 

lesorted  to, 

We  must  guard  against  the  notion  that  the  transforma- 

■tion  into  bird  or  beast  necessarily  implies  to  the  primitive 

1  a  descent  Jn  the  scale  of  being.     There  exists  for  him 

Brno  such  line  of  demarcation   as  we  are  accustomed  to  draw 

■  between    the  larger  animal-world  and  mankind;    he  does 

I'Bot  doubt  their  power  of  intercommunication,  nor  does  he 

doubt  the  reasoning  faculty  of  the  beast,  or  its  close  interest 

in  human  affairs.     Remembering  this,  the  ancient  tales  of 

interchange  of  being  between  man  or  god  and  the  lower 

animals  lose  half  the  horror  with  which  we  are  inclined  to 

regard  them  :  they  regain  the  poetic  beauty  with  which  the 

savage  mind  invested  them.     They  are  no  longer  associated 

I  exclusively  with    the    idea  of    human  degradation  ;    rather 

nthey  are  the   expression  of  a   simple  and  beautiful  belief 

Kthat   the   whole    creation    is    linked    in    brotherhood   and 

Vgentle  fellowship.       In  Ireland  this  view  of  their  relation- 

■ship  is   emphasised  by  the  fact   that   it   is   rather   divine 

['than  human    beings  who  can  accomplish  the  transforma- 


There  is  one  example  of  what  appears  to  be  a  true  tote- 
I  mistic  idea  in  these  stories,  though,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  such 
examples  are  rare.  It  is  in  Cuchulainn's  prohibition  to  eat 
the  flesh  of  a  hound  because  it  was  his  namesake.  You  will 
remember  that  he  gained  his  name  of  Ciichulainn,  i.e.  the 
"  Hound  of  Culann,"  because  he  had  slain,  while  yet  a  child 
of  eight  years,  the  monstrous  watch-dog  belonging  to  the 


5©  Old  Irish  Tabus,  or  Geasa. 

smith,  which  barred  his  way.  He  is  frequently  called  simply 
Cu  or  the  Hound,  and  in  the  poems  detailing  his  (eats  he  is 
renowned  as  the  Hound  of  Combat.  When  he  is  going 
forth  to  bis  last  fight,  three  crones,  daughters  of  the  mist, 
sitting  by  the  wayside,  urge  him  to  partake  of  their  pro- 
vender. Now  one  of  the  things  that  Cuchulainn  was  bound 
not  to  do  was  to  go  to  a  cooking- hearth  and  consume 
food.  Another  thing  that  he  must  not  do  was  to  eat 
his  namesake's  flesh.  Now  the  crones,  bent  on  his 
destruction,  were  cooking  a  hound  with  poisons  and 
spells  on  spits  of  the  rowan-tree.  He  speeds  on  and 
is  about  to  pass  them,  when  they  upbraid  him  thus ; 
"  It  is  because  the  food  is  only  a  hound,"  quoth  they;  "  were 
this  a  great  cooking-hearth  thou  wouldst  come  more  readily. 
But  because  what  is  here  is  little  thou  condescendest  not. 
Unseemly  is  it  for  the  great  to  despise  the  small."  Touched 
in  his  tenderest  point,  an  appeal  to  his  chivalry,  Cuchulainn 
takes  a  shoulder-blade  and  eats  of  it  out  of  his  left  hand, 
putting  it  under  his  left  thigh.  The  hand  that  held  it  and 
the  thigh  under  which  be  put  it  were  stricken  from  trunk 
to  end,  so  that  they  had  no  strength  in  them  for  his  last 
fight. 

Of  that  earliest  form  of  belief  in  which  inanimate  nature 
as  well  as  animate  shares  in  sympathetic  fellowship  the  joys 
and  sorrows  of  man,  we  also  6nd  traces  in  the  more 
archaic  pieces  of  the  ancient  literature,  though  the  Irish 
theory  as  regards  inanimate  nature  had,  as  a  rule,  reached 
an  advanced  stage  before  we  meet  with  it;  and  we  find  the 
underworld  conceived  of  as  mapped  out  and  inhabited  by 
mythical  beings,  just  as  the  upper  world  was  peopled  by  man- 
kind. When,  after  the  mythical  fight  of  Tailltc,  the  Tuatha 
gods  entered  the  underground,  each  took  possession  of  his 
or  her  own  particular  domain  beneath  the  hills  and  vales  of 
£ire;  and  there  from  particular  centres,  generally  places 
where  tumuli  existed,  such  as  New  Grange  and  Knowth  on 
the  Boyne,  they  ruled  and  marshalled  their  invisible  hosts. 


MS 


Old  Irish  Tabus,  or  Geasa. 


51 


much  as  the  chieftains  of  the  upper  world  ruled  iheirs.^  We 
can  localise  a  large  number  of  these  Sidh  or  fairy  dwellings 
in  various  parts  of  Ireland.  Later,  the  belief  seems  to  have 
widened  until  every  hillock  was  conceived  of  as  peopled 
with  fairy  people,  the  modern  representatives  of  the  ancient 
and  powerful  race  of  gods.'  But  beyond  and  behind  this 
conception  we  seem  to  catch  traces  of  a  yet  more  primitive 
idea,  in  which  is  realised  a  belief  in  a  consciousness  in 
inanimate  nature  itself,  in  the  cognisance  of  nature  and 
its  sympathy  in  the  affairs  of  man.  For  instance,  there  is 
a  fine  poetic  passage  in  the  Second  Battle  of  Moytura,  a 
very  archaic  piece,  which  describes  the  mythical  battle  of 
the  Tuatha  De  Danann  and  the  Fomorians,  in  which  it  is 
said  that  afterthebattle'The  Morrigan, daughter  of  Ernmas 
(the  Irish  war-goddess),  proceeded  to  proclaim  the  battle 
and  the  mighty  victory  that  had  been  won  to  the  royal  heights 
of  Ireland  and  to  its  fairy  host  and  its  chief  rivers  and  river 
mouths."^  Here  she  addresses  nature  directly,  as  being 
interested  in  the  doings  of  mankind.  Of  a  similar  sort  is 
the  belief  in  talking  swords,  in  the  harp  which  sounded  forth 
melodiesattheDagda'scallandwhichmovedfrom  the  wall  to 
greet  him,  or  in  the  moaning  and  roaring  of  the  shield  of  King 
Conchobhar  when  its  master  was  in  danger.  As  it  cried,  all 
the  shields  of  the  warriors  of  Ulster  cried  out  likewise,  and 
the  weapons  hung  in  the  hall  of  Emain  Macha  fell  from 
their  racks.  Moreover,  the  three  sympathetic  waves  of  Erin, 
surging  up  upon  the  extreme  points  of  the  coast,  moaned  in 
unison,  as  was  their  custom  in  times  of  dire  distress,  "  As 
for  the  King"  (we  read  in  the  Battle  of  Rosnaree)  "a  hun- 
dred advanced  to  the  place  where  he  was,  and  they  battered 


'  See  the  lale  entitleJ  Ckafhur  in  Ha  mutnda,  Ici.sche  TexlB,  311;  Serie. 
Heft  I.,  pp.  230-378. 

'  See  for  example  Asallamh  na  Stnifrar^  or  T&e  Colloquy  ef  the  Ancienis, 
Silva  Gadclica,  edlled  hy  S.  H.  O'Grady,  vnl.  i.,  pp.  94-*33- 

'  The  SieendBaitli  of  Maf;h  Tnirtadk,  editcti  by  Dr.  Whiiley  Stokes,  Ra>. 
Cttl.   vol.  iz. 


52  .Old  Irish  Tabus ^  or  Geasa. 

his  shield  with  murder-strokes  until  the  shield,  the  Ochain, 
cried  and  roared  at  the  greatness  of  the  need  wherein  he 
lay.  And  all  the  shields  of  the  men  of  Ulster  fell  from 
their  shoulders  and  from  their  grasp  and  from  the  racks  in 
which  they  were  placed,  at  the  cry  of  the  Ochain  at  that 
hour.  Then  the  three  blue-flooded  surging  waves  of  fiire 
thundered  mightily  in  lament  for  the  unequal  fight  sustained 
by  Conchobhar,  to  wit,  the  rushing  ruddy  wave  of  Rury,  and 
the  freight-bearing  stormy  wave  of  Cleena,  and  the  swollen 
flood  of  the  wave  of  Tuadh  Inbhir."  ^  The  moaning  of 
these  three  sympathetic  waves  is  a  very  poetic  survival 
of  those  earlier  days  when  man  and  nature  were  but  one ; 
a  beautiful  conception  which  the  Christian  creed,  the  growth 
of  an  interest  in  man  apart  from  the  rest  of  the  universe, 
the  scientific  and  rationalising  spirit,  and  above  all  the 
removal  of  the  majority  of  mankind  from  those  habits  of 
pastoral  and  agricultural  life  which  fostered  an  intimate 
association  with  nature,  have  done  much  to  dispel.  It  is 
the  effort  of  the  most  far-seeing  of  our  nature-poets  some- 
what to  revive  it. 

Turning  now  to  the  tabus  or  geasa  of  the  Conchobhar 
and  Cuchulainn  cycle  of  tales,  you  will  excuse  me  if,  in 
order  to  make  my  meaning  clear,  I  remind  you  that  in 
general  terms,  many  of  the  tabus  of  savage  races  are  founded 
upon  the  idea  that  certain  men,  usually  kings,  have  a 
special  spiritual  influence  upon  their  fellow-men,  and  that 
the  well-being  of  these  persons  is  essential  to  the  well- 
being  of  the  entire  tribe.  It  becomes,  in  consequence,  a 
matter  of  the  first  importance  that  a  life  so  precious  to  the 
tribe  should  be  guarded  and  preserved.  Any  defect  or 
illness  of  the  king,  who,  in  some  early  states  of  society,  is 
regarded  as  a  divine  being,  is  believed  to  entail  similar 
suffering  on  his  people.  So  much  is  this  the  case  that 
any  serious  defect  is  still,  in  some  countries,  sufficient  to 

*  Cath  Ruis  na  Rig  Jor  BSinn,  edited  by  Rev.  E.  Hogan,  S.J.,  Todd 
Lecture  Series,  vol.  iv. 


53 

I  incapacitate  a  king  from  retaining  his  sovereignty.  The 
king  or  chief  has,  in  fact,  a  double  existence,  a  personal 
and  a  vicarious  one;  but  his  personal  life  has  to  give  way, 
as  it  were,  before  his  more  important  function  of  represen- 
tative of  his  people.  To  ensure  their  well-being,  his  per- 
r  sonal  life  is  submitted  to  control,  even  at  times  to  the  ex- 
I  tent  of  entire  loss  of  liberty  or  volition.  In  order  to  pre- 
serve him  in  perfect  health  and  safety,  his  existence  is 
compassed  about  with  a  number  of  minute  observances,  so 
much  so,  indeed,  that  in  some  cases  he  is  reduced  to  a  con- 
dition of  perpetual  confinement,  or  of  imbecility.  The  life  of 
the  king  or  divine-man  may  thus  become  an  existence  of 
vicarious  suffering  for  the  good  of  his  tribe.  The  regulations 
and  observances  which  are  more  or  less  binding  on  every 
member  of  the  society,  fall  with  exceptional  severity  on  the 
chief,  so  that,  as  has  been  said  of  a  chieftain  of  one  African 
tribe,  "  when  he  ascends  the  throne,  he  is  lost  in  an  ocean 
of  rites  and  tabus."  '  I  will  not  trouble  you  with  examples, 
which  are  probably  more  familiar  to  those  present  than 
they  are  to  myself.  An  immense  number  of  instances  are 
collected  in  that  book  of  great  research  and  extraordinary 
interest,  Mr.  Frazer's  Golden  Bough. 

Now  we  find  in  Irish  literature  that  the  chief  heroes  of 
I  the  Ultonian  or  Ulster  cycle  (the  cycle  which  comprehends 
the  deeds  of  Cuchulainn  and  his  compeers)  are,  from  birth 
to  death,  encircled  by  similar  tabus,  and  that  these  tabus  or 
geasa,  while  they  affect  more  or  less  all  the  heroes,  accumu- 
late, as  it  were,  upon  the  head  of  the  two  central  figures, 
■  King  Conchobhar  and  Cuchulainn.      There  is  in  the  Book 
'  of  Leinster,  in  the  tract  describing  the  glories  and  wisdom 
I  of  Conchobhar's  reign,  a  very  remarkable  passage,  which 
Jseems  to  bring  these  kingly  tabus  into  line  with  those  of 
lother  races.      The  passage  runs  thus:  " Sooth  to  say,  very 
*  great  was  the  reverence  that  Ulster  yielded  to  Conchobhar 

'  Dapper,  Dacriptiim  di  CAfrigtUy  p.  336,  quoted   Fraier,    Golden  Bough, 

itt  ed.,  vol.  i.,  p.  116. 


54  Old  Irish  TabuSj  or  Geasa. 

;  upon  earth  was  not  a  human  creature  wiser  than 

he.  [Yet]  never  did  he  pass  judgment,  for  to  do  so  was 
not  permitted  to  him  ;  which  was  to  ensure  that  never 
should  he  utter  a  false  judgment,  and  so  his  fruit  should 
not  be  any  the  worse.  On  the  earth,  moreover,  was  not  a 
hero  of  might  greater  than  his ;  yet  never  was  he  suffered 
to  encounter  danger ;  [this  was  done]  for  the  preservation 
of  the  king's  son.  In  battles  and  contests  heroes  and 
paladins  of  war  and  mighty  men  were  ever  in  front  of  him, 
that  he  should  not  be  imperilled."  ^ 

This  passage,  if  we  could  find  nothing  elsewhere  to  explain 
it,  would  be  mysterious  in  the  extreme.  We  have  a  king 
whose  wisdom,  in  the  opinion  of  his  subjects,  surpassed  that 
of  every  human  creature,  yet  who  was  never  permitted  to 
make  a  decision  lest  he  should  fail  when  put  to  the  test ;  * 
and  it  is,  in  fact,  always  Sencha,  Morann,  or  some  other 
adjudicator  who  decides  a  dispute  in  the  tales ;  never  the 
king,  in  spite  of  his  supposed  wisdom.  In  the  discussion 
about  the  bringing  up  of  Cuchulainn  the  king  alone  gives 
no  opinion  and  makes  no  claim.  The  matter  is  decided 
by  others. 

Again,  we  have  a  king  who  is  counted  the  bravest  upon 
earth,  yet  who  was  never  permitted  to  enter  battle  or 
encounter  danger,  and  though  the  tales  give  instances  in 
which  the  king  does  take  part  in  conflicts  of  importance,  ^ 
we  shall  see  that  this  was  not  frequently  the  case.  Clearly 
his  wisdom  and  courage  were  both  supposititious,  having 
never  been  tested  by  experience ;  and  we  have  the  curious 
spectacle  of  this  all-wise  and  valiant  chief  reduced  by  the 
unwritten  decree  of  his  people  to  a  condition  of  inactivity, 
perhaps  of  imbecility.  The  reason  given  for  this  condition 
of  things  is  equally  curious.  It  is  not  for  the  preservation 
of  the  king's  own  person  and  reputation,  but  for  a  vicarious 

'  Book  of  Leinster^  fac.  pp.  lo6a,  33- 107b,' i6. 

-  As  in  the  Battle  of  Rosnaree  and  the  Siefje  of  Howth,  in  both  of  which  ihc 
king  took  part. 


Old  Irish  Tabus^  or  Geasu.  55 

'purpose,  namely,  "the  preservation  of  the  king's  son."  and 
that  "his  fruit  should  not  be  the  worse."  It  is  difiicult  at 
first  sight  to  see  how  the  king's  son  could  be  imperiUed  by 
any  danger  undergone  by  his  father,  still  more  by  any  false 
judgment  that  he  might  utter.  It  seems  only  possible  to 
explain  it  by  comparison  with  such  similar  ideas  as  we  find 
holding  good  among  other  primitive  peoples,  in  which  the 
ruler  suffers  vicariously  for  his  tribe.  The  condition  of 
inactivity  in  which  the  king  usually  remained  is  accounted  for 
by  a  curious  incident,  in  which  it  is  stated  that  Cet,  one  of 
the  chiefs  of  Connaught,  the  hereditary  foes  of  Ulster,  had 
in  a  moment  of  jealousy  and  revenge  struck  the  king  in 
the  head  with  a  ball  compounded  out  of  the  brains  of 
Mesgegra,  the  slain  king  of  Leinster.  It  would  seem  to 
have  been  the  custom  of  the  warriors  to  harden  the  brains 
of  their  slain  foes  into  balls,  which  were  laid  up  in  one  of 
the  kingly  houses  as  trophies  of  valour.  This  ball,  which 
had  lodged  in  the  king's  head,  had  never  been  extracted, 
because  Fingen,  the  royal  leech,  had  assured  the  king  that 
to  take  it  out  of  his  head  would  cause  immediate  death, 
whereas  if  it  remained  he  could,  if  he  exercised  great  caution, 
still  live  for  many  years.  It  was  carefully  impressed  upon 
him  that  he  must  never  under  any  circumstances  whatever 
allow  himself  to  be  "  aroused  to  anger  or  to  passion,  or  to 
ride  on  horseback  or  to  run."  '  "  The  blemish,"  said  his 
people,  "  is  a  small  thing  for  us  compared  with  his  death." 
So  his  head  was  healed,  and  stitched  with  a  thread  of 
gold,  because  the  king  had  golden  hair.  "  So  long  as 
he  lived,  namely,  for  seven  years,  he  continued  in  that 
precarious    condition  ;     he   was    incapable    of    action    and 

i could  only  remain  sitting  still."  It  was  on  the  occasion 
on  which  he  received  the  tidings  of  the  death  of  Christ  at 
Ihe  hands  of  the  Jews  that,  being  aroused  from  his  lethargy 
tnto  sudden  and  furious  energy  by  his  desire  to  revenge 


'   L    L.,  fol.  79.  n 


56  Old  Irish  Tabus ^  or  Geasa. 

this  monstrous  act,  the  ball  fell  out  of  his  head  and  he 
died. 

The  mention  of  riding  on  horseback,  as  well  as  the 
Christian  denouement  of  this  story,  show  that  it  belongs,  in 
part  at  all  events,  to  a  later  age  ;  it  was  probably  an 
attempt  to  give  what  appeared  a  rational  explanation  of 
the  ces  noiden  Ulad  which,  in  all  the  oldest  tales,  is  the 
explanation  offered  for  the  inactivity  of  the  king  at  critical 
moments.     It  is  of  this  belief  that  we  have  now  to  speak. 

The  ces  noiden  Ulad  was  an  extraordinary  weakness  or 
prostration  which  at  certain  times,  and  especially  at  critical 
moments  for  the  province,  overtook  not  only  the  king,  but 
all  the  grown  warriors  of  Ulster.     The  only  exemptions  were 
women,  children,  and  Cuchulainn,  who  is  said,  according  to 
this  account,  not  to  have  been  born  in  the  province.     In 
times  of  great  emergency  the  whole  of  Ulster's  fighting  men 
are  represented  as  being  incapable  of  motion  or  activity  of 
any  kind.      No  appeal  or  necessity  could  arouse  them  from 
their  stupor.     This  "curse,"  as  it  is  forcibly  called,  was  sup- 
posed to   be  a  punishment  upon   the  king  for  an  act  of 
extreme  brutality  and  heartlessness  committed  upon  one  of 
the  ancient  goddesses  of  Eire,  who  in  mortal  form  had 
married  a  liegeman  of  the  province.     In  the  Great  Defeat 
of  the  Plain  of  Murthemne,  the  final  rout  in  which  Cuchu- 
lainn fell,  the  monarch  was  unable  to  lift  hand  or  foot  to  help 
him.    He  and  all  the  male  population  of  Ulster  were  lying 
in  their  several  palaces  "  in  the  Pains,"  and  none  could  go  to 
his  aid.    The  theme  of  the  great  epic  of  the  Tdin  b6  Cuailgne, 
the  Iliad  of  ancient  Ireland,  turns  upon  the  same  incapacity 
of  the  warriors  to  do  an)rthing  to  save  their  province  from 
invasion  at  the  moment  of  its  greatest  peril  from  the  allied 
forces  of  the  South  and  West.     Alone  and  unaided  we  find 
Cuchulainn  month  after  month  sustaining  single-handed  the 
unequal  conflict,  holding  at  bay  by  the  valour  of  his  single 
arm  the  deadly  foes  of  Ulster.      There  is  a  fine  passage  in 
the  beginning  of  the  Tdin,  in  which  Meave,  the  Amazonian 


Old  Irish  labus,  or  Geasa. 

Queen  of  Coonaught,  leader  of  the  allied  hosts,  goes  to 
consult  a  woman  seer  on  the  fortunes  of  the  war,  on  the  eve 
before  the  setting  forth  of  the  troops.  One  by  one  she  re- 
counts the  chiefs  and  leaders  of  the  Ulster  host,  whom  her 
heralds  have  reported  to  be  lying  helpless  and  prostrate  each 
within  the  security  of  his  own  fortress.  At  each  warning 
utteredby  the  prophetess,  who  foretells  the  rout  and  final  over- 
throw of  Meave's  great  host  ("I  see  red  on  thy  hosts,  I  see 
crimson,")  the  Queen's  anger  breaks  forth  anew,  and  she  cries 
triumphantly,"Nought  is  there  that  we  need  fear  from  Ulster." 
For  the  whole  of  the  winter  months,  from  November  to 
February,  in  Irish  reckoning  from  the  Monday  before  Sam- 
hain  (Hallowe'en)  to  the  Wednesday  after  Imbolc  (February 
ist),  the  weary  conflict  goes  on,  Cuchulainn  holding  back 
and  destroying  the  hosts  of  Meave,  until,  overcome  by 
weariness,  he  feels  his  strength  departing.  At  this  moment 
his  mortal  father,  Sualtach,  takes  it  upon  himself  to  arouse 
Ulster.  On  Cuchulainn's  grey  horse  he  pushes  his  way 
right  up  to  the  gates  of  Emain  Macha,  the  palace  built  on 
the  very  spot  on  which,  according  to  the  legend,  the  curse 
had  fallen,  and  named  after  the  goddess  who  had  called  it 
down.  A  silence  as  of  death  reigns  over  the  dwelling  of 
the  king. 

'"  In  Ulster,  men  are  slain,  women  carried  captive,  cattle 
driven  off :  '  "  Sualtach  cries ;  yet  from  Ulster  he  has  no 
answer.  Close  to  Emania's  rampart  he  pressed,  again 
repeating  his  warning:  "  Men  are  being  slain,  women 
carried  captive,  kine  driven ;  "  but  a  second  time  no  answer 
came.  Then  he  penetrated  even  to  the  Stone  of  Hostages 
and  again  gave  forth  his  cry.  "Who  are  taken,  and  who 
are  they  that  take?"  asked  the  Druid  Cathbad.  "  Ailell 
and  Meave  are  they  that  have  harried  and  banished  you," 
said  Sualtach;  "your  women,  your  little  boys,  and  your 
cattle,  and  your  horses  they  have  carried  away ;  in  the 
valleys  and  passes  of  Conaille-Muirthcmne,  Cuchulainn, 
alone   and   unaided,    delays   and  impedes  the    four  great 


58  Old  Irish  Tabus^  or  Geasa. 

• 

provinces  of  fiire,  all  which  unto  the  world's  utmost 
end  never  can  be  requited."  "  Death  and  destruction  fall 
upon  him  who  presumes  to  challenge  the  king/'  quoth 
Cathbad.  But  Conchobhar  said:  "The  word  is  true  that 
Sualtach  says."  '*  Ay,  true  indeed,"  all  Ulster  as  one  man 
made  answer.  Then  Conchobhar  awoke  from  his  lassitude, 
and  he  sent  a  messenger  of  his  household  to  number  and 
call  to  arms  the  warriors  of  Ulster ;  but  through  the  con- 
fusion of  mind  caused  by  his  recent  trance  and  pains  as  of 
child-birth,  the  king  enumerated  to  him  their  dead  as  well 
as  their  living.'  It  would  appear  that  the  length  of  the 
warrior's  trance  depended  upon  the  condition  of  the  king  ; 
for  when  the  messenger  goes  forth  with  the  royal  command, 
all  Ulster  springs,  as  one  man,  to  arms. 

From  a  mythological  point  of  view  this  long  trance,  ex- 
tending from  October  to  February  (i>.  throughout  the  winter 
season),  would  seem  to  suggest  the  decay  and  sleep  of 
nature  during  these  months;  while  the  solitary  conflict 
of  Cuchulainn  with  the  forces  of  Meave,  the  forces  of  death 
and  darkness,  may  symbolise  the  solitary  efforts  of  the  sun 
to  break  through  its  chains.  If  we  regard  Cuchulainn  as 
the  Irish  Sun-hero,  such  a  conception  would  be  in  all 
respects  a  natural  one.  Probably,  however,  there  is  some 
physical  origin  also  for  the  occurrence.  Old  romance 
writers  sought  to  explain  the  curious  phenomenon  of  the 
prostration  of  an  entire  province  at  moments  of  urgent 
need  for  activity  by  such  fine  imaginative  conceptions 
as  the  Tale  of  Macha ;  modern  theorists  have  ascribed  it  to 
a  custom  similar  to  that  known  as  the  couvade.^  There 
is,  however,  no  instance  on  record,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  of 
the  couvade  being  extended  to  a  whole  tribe  or  nation  ; 
nor  is  there  any  sign  in  Irish  literature  of  the  prostration  of 
the  Ultonians  having  originated  in  the  same  cause.     It  has 

*  Pennant  mentions  an  instance  of  the  couvade  in  his  Tour  in  Scotland,  vol. 
ii. .  p.  91  quoted,  by  Wm.  Mackenzie  in  his  Gaelic  IncantcUions^  Charms y  and 
Blessings  of  the  Hebrides. 


Old  Irish  Tabus^  or  Geasa.  59 

nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  concerns  of  a  particular 
family;  it  concerned  the  whole  grown  male  population, 
save,  by  special  exemption,  Ciichulainn;  and  it  lasted, 
according  to  the  tale  of  The  Debility  of  the  Ultonians 
for  five  days,  but  actually  (at  least  at  the  period  of  the  Tdin 
B6  Cuailgne)  for  about  four  months,  during  which  time 
Cuchulainn  sustained  the  combat  single-handed. 

There  is  in  Jevons's  Introduction  to  the  History  of 
Religion  a  passage  that  seems  to  throw  a  possible  light 
on  this  singular  matter.  In  speaking  of  Taboos  of  Time, 
he  gives  the  following  examples  of  inactivity  of  a  somewhat 
similar  sort  to  that  which  afflicted  Ulster.  "On  the  day  of  a 
chief's  death,  "  he  says,  quoting  from  Ellis's  Tshi-speaking 
Peoples,  "  work  of  all  kinds  is  tabooed ;  everything  done  on 
that  day  is  defiled.  The  Tshi-speaking  Negroes  celebrate  an 
annual  feast  for  the  dead,  generally  lasting  for  eight  days, 
and  the  whole  eight  days  are  termed  '  eight  seats, '  because 
it  is  a  period  of  rest  during  which  no  work  may  be  per- 
formed. "  Again  he  says,  quoting  from  Gage's  New  Survey 
of  the  West  Indies  :  "  In  the  New  World,  the  funeral 
ceremonies  lasted  five  days,  and  in  all  that  time  no  fire  was 
permitted  to  be  kindled  in  the  city,  except  in  the  kingfs 
house  and  temples;  nor  yet  was  any  corn  ground  nor 
market  kept,  nor  durst  any  go  out  of  his  house. "  So  on 
the  Gold  Coast,  ''on  a  day  sacred  and  set  apart  for  the 
offering  of  sacrifice  to  a  local  god,  the  inhabitants  abstain 
from  all  work,  smear  their  bodies  with  white  clay,  and  wear 
white  clothes  in  sign  of  mourning  ....  On  the  Slave  Coast 
every  tribal  and  local  god  has,  with  the  exception  of  Mawn, 
his  holy  day."  ^ 

It  is  apparently,  then,  a  common  practice  among  certain 
tribes  or  nations  to  keep  special  periods  of  time  with  rigid 
abstinence  from  work  or  activity  of  any  kind.  These 
periods  of  repose  are  attributable  to  one  of  two  causes :  the 

'  F.  B.  Jevons,  Introd,  to  the  History  of  Religion^  pp.  65,  66. 


6o  Old  Irish  Tabus^  or  Geasa. 

sacrifice  to  a  deity  or  the  funeral  solemnities  of  a  defunct 
chief.  Now  in  Ireland,  funeral  ceremonies  were  most  care- 
fully observed,  generally  for  several  days  at  a  time.  As 
in  Greece,  most  of  the  great  fairs  or  feasts  of  Eire,  in- 
cluding not  only  exchange  of  produce  but  games  and  races, 
as  well  as  the  promulgation  of  the  laws,  were  commemo- 
rative of  the  death  of  some  notable  person,  and  took  place 
in  connection  with  the  burial-mound.  They  were  attended 
by  all  married  men,  and  were  days  of  general  holiday  and 
festivity.  It  is  at  least  a  curious  coincidence  that  in  the 
tale  of  Macha  the  debility  of  the  Ultonians  should  be 
associated  with  one  of  these  great  assemblies  or  fairs,  at 
which  time  the  "  curse  "  was  said  to  have  originated.  The 
period  of  five  days  and  nights  there  assigned  as  the  dura- 
tion of  the  ces  noiden  Ulad  also  curiously  coincides  with 
the  term  of  days  over  which  the  rites  mentioned  by  Gage 
extended.  It  was  probably  the  real  length  of  the  Ultonian 
abstention  from  work  and  warfare,  but  exaggerated  in  the 
Tdin  for  mythologfical  reasons,  or  the  more  to  cover 
Cuchulainn  with  glory. 

If  in  the  northern  province,  there  were  in  fact  such 
regularly  recurring  periods  of  enforced  inactivity,  they  would 
naturally  become  known  throughout  fiire,  and  the  enemies 
of  Ulster  would  be  likely  to  choose  these  moments  as 
especially  propitious  for  warfare,  knowing  that  the  Ulster 
warriors  were  unable  to  break  through  their  geasa  and  enter 
the  field  against  them.  Macha,  it  is  true,  foretold  that  the 
**  curse  "  would  fall,  not  at  regular  intervals,  but  when  special 
danger  threatened  the  province  ;  but  it  is  equally  simple  to 
read  the  prophecy  the  other  way,  and  to  suppose  that  the 
enemies  of  Ulster  waited  until  the  moment  of  the  ces  noiden 
Ulad  to  begin  their  raids  and  cattle-lifting  on  the  borders. 
Some  such  cause  of  the  mysterious  inactivity  of  the 
Ultonians  seems  at  least  to  supply  a  more  adequate  explana- 
tion than  by  ascribing  it  to  the  couvade,  in  which  only 
one  special  family  could  have   been  involved,  and  which 


Old  Irish  Tabus,  or  Geasa. 


6i 


L 


therefore  in  no  way  accounts  for  the   prostration    of  the 
entire  male  population  of  the  province. 

As  is  but  natural,  the  tabus  of  the  Cuchulainn  cycle 
accumulate  around  the  head  of  the  two  chief  semi-divine 
personages,  Cuchulainn  and  Conchobhar.  Conall,  Fergus, 
Cormac  conhinges  (Conchobhar's  son),  and  other  chiefs  are 
all  more  or  less  affected  by  them,  but  not  to  the  same  de- 
gree. A  good  number  of  thes^  geasa  may  be  ascribed  to 
precaution,  another  series  to  early  ideas  of  morality,  and  a 
large  number  to  primitive  notions  of  honour.  They  formed, 
indeed,  a  traditional  code  of  chivalrous  practice.  Some, 
like  those  in  the  Book  of  Rights  were  evidently  hereditary, 
others  were  laid  upon  the  infant  before  or  after  birth,  others 
were  inspired  by  motives  of  revenge  or  the  desire  to  injure 
their  object.  They  were  generally,  especially  the  birth- 
tabus,  prescribed  by  Druids  ;  but  anyone  seems  to  have  had 
the  power  to  inflict  them,  and  they  appear  to  have  been 
equally  binding,  however  imposed.  They  often  resulted  in 
serious  evil,  as  the  prohibition  of  Fergus  to  refuse  a  feast, 
which  led  to  the  tragical  death  of  the  Sons  of  Usnach,  or 
the  strict  geasa  left  by  Cuchulain  n  with  Aife  for  the  guidance 
of  their  son  Conla,  which  resulted  in  the  death  of  the  youth 
at  the  hand  of  his  own  father.  A  tabu  of  special  interest  is 
the  Polluted  Stream  tabu,  common  among  many  nations ; 
o(  which  an  example  will  be  found  in  the  Tdin  B6  Cuailgne, 
where  Loch  mdr  refuses  to  do  combat  with  Cuchulainn  at 
the  ford  at  which  his  brother  had  fallen,  because  it  had  been 
polluted  by  his  death.  A  curious  tabu  which  appears  in  the 
Finn  saga  and  which  appears  explicable  by  a  comparison 
with  the  ideas  of  other  nations,  is  that  of  Diarmuid 
O'Duibhne's  prohibition  to  pass  through  a  wicket-gate. 
When  a  difficulty  arises  as  to  a  means  of  exit,  he 
deliberately  leaps  over  the  obstacle  rather  than  break  his 
geasa.  At  first  sight  this  seems  a  purely  inconsequent 
prohibition,  without  purpose  or  meaning,  yet  similar 
objections    to    passing    through    or    under  obstacles   are 


62  Old  Irish  Tabus^  or  Geasa. 

entertained  among  some  nations  at  the  present  day. 
The  head  being  regarded  among  primitive  peoples  as 
peculiarly  sacred,  as  the  seat  of  a  spirit  very  sensitive 
to  injury  or  disrespect,  the  danger  anticipated  is  that  any 
drop  of  water,  blood,  or  other  matter  falling  on  it  from 
above  should  pollute  it.  Mr.  Frazer  gives  a  great  number 
of  curious  examples  illustrating  the  wide  prevalence  of  the 
idea.  The  following  is  almost  an  exact  parallel  to  the  Irish 
case.  He  says  :  "  Gattanewa,  a  Marquesan  chief,  and  all 
his  fariiily,  scorned  to  pass  a  gateway  that  is  ever  closed, 
or  a  house  with  a  door ;  all  must  be  as  open  and  free  as  their 
unrestrained  manners.  Often  I  have  seen  him  walk  the 
whole  length  of  our  barriers  in  preference  to  passing  be- 
tween our  watercasks,  and  at  the  risk  of  his  life  scramble 
over  loose  stones  of  a  wall  rather  than  go  through  a  gate- 
way.*' ^  A  similar  idea  may  very  possibly  have  prevailed  in 
Ireland. 

The  geasa  of  Cuchulainn  form  the  substance  of  a  special 
tract.  Very  great  importance  is  attached  to  them,  and  thev 
exceed  in  strictness  and  multiplicity  those  of  any  other 
hero  of  the  cycle.  In  the  tract  which  forms  the  beginning 
of  a  piece  entitled,  "  The  Violent  Deaths  of  Goll  and  Garb," 
a  list  of  them  is  given.'  It  commences  thus :  "  The  tabus 
and  many  burdens  which  lay  on  Cuchulainn,  on  the  famous 
stripling  of  the  Red  Branch,  on  the  son  of  Conchobhar's 
sister,  on  the  bright-mantled  one  of  Line,  on  the 
guardian  of  the  Kine  of  Magh  Breagh.  These  were 
his  tabus :  to  name  himself  to  a  single  warrior ;  to 
swerve  a  foot  from  his  path  before  single  combat ;  to  refuse 
single  combat ;  to  enter  an  assembly  without  leave  ;  to  go 
with  a  single  warrior  to  an  assembly.'*  These  were 
evidently  honour-tabus.  Others  have  a  moral  purpose,  and 
one  seems  to  refer  to  his  excessive  activity  as  the  sun-hero. 

*  D.  VoxiQXy  Journal  of  a  Cruise  made  in  the  Pacific  Ocean^  ii.,  65,  quoted 
Frazer,  Golden  Bough,  1st  ed.,  i.,  190. 
'  T^.  L.  fac.  p.  107,  b.  22-3a 


"  A  tabu  of  his  was  that  the  sun  should  rise  upon  him  in 
Emain-Macha ;  it  was  he,  on  the  contrary,  who  should  rise 
before  it." 

More  curious  are  the  tabus  of  Cortnac  conloinges, 
Conchobhar's  son,  which  are  fully  set  forth  in  the  tale  of 
the  "  Destruction  of  the  Bruidhen  da  Choga,"  at  which 
place,  one  of  ancient  Ireland's  most  famous  houses  of 
hospitality,  he  met  his  death  through  the  breaking  of  his 
geasa.  They  were  laid  upon  him  at  birth  by  Cathbad  the 
Druid.  "Many  and  great  tabus,"  says  the  romance,  "  stood 
against  Cormac,  It  was  tabu  to  him  to  be  borne  by  horses 
yoked  with  an  ashen  yoke;  it  was  tabu  to  him  to  swim  at 
one  time  with  the  birds  of  Loch  Lo ;  to  have  a  stag  with 
golden  horns  in  front  of  his  hounds  ;  to  have  contact  with 
the  dewy  moisture  of  Cluain-Finnabhrach.  To  go  astray  in 
passing  out  of  one  province  into  another  was  forbidden  to 
him,  and  it  was  forbidden  to  him  to  listen  to  Craiphtine's 
harp.  It  was  tabu  to  him  to  pass  dry-foot  over  the 
Shannon,  to  be  by  women  accompanied  over  old  Athmore, 
and  for  his  hounds  to  pursue  the  swift  hare  of  Magh- 
Sainbh.  These  were  Cormac's  tabus,  which  on  the  night 
when  he  was  born  were  laid  on  him  by  Cathbad  the 
Magician."  In  the  tale  we  find  that  he  was  obliged  to 
break  his  geasa,  and  his  death  was  the  result.  P'or  instance, 
he  had  been  a  former  lover  of  the  wife  of  Craiphtine,  the 
most  noted  harpist  in  Eire,  and  on  the  night  of  the  attack 
on  Cormac,  Craiphtine,  in  a  fit  of  jealousy,  standing  outside 
where  Cormac  was  unaware  of  his  presence,  played  an  air 
so  sweet  and  enervating  that  the  youth,  overcome  by  its 
melody,  fell  an  easy  prey  to  his  enemies.  Curious  and  fan- 
tastic as  some  of  these  tabus  appear,  and  utterly  inexplicable 
to  us,  they  are  not  more  curious  than  many  of  the  semi- 
historic  prohibitions  of  the  Book  of  Rigkls.  They  at  all 
events  show  that  such  ideas  were  familiar  in  Ireland. 

In  the  same  manner  the  death  of  Cuchulainn  is  over- 
poweringly  certified  to  him   when   one  after  another  his 


64  Old  Irish  Tabus f  or  Geasa. 

geasa  are  broken.  His  approaching  end  is  surroanded 
bjr  omens.  When  he  rises  to  go  forth  to  the  battle  of 
Muirthemne  in  which  he  feO,  "  his  mantle's  border  chanced 
under  his  feet,  so  that  he  unwittingly  was  put  sitting.  He 
from  that  misadventure  upspringing  rose  again,  red  for 
shame,  and  the  golden  pin  in  his  mantle  flew  upwards,  then 
downwards  falling,  pierced  his  foot  through  to  the  earth. 
'  True,'  said  Cdchulainn,  '  the  cloak-pin  is  a  foe,  the  cloak 
a  friend,  it  warns  me.'  "  When  he  leaps  into  his  chariot  his 
weapons  fall  down  beneath  his  feet ;  his  horse,  the  Grey  of 
Macha,  refuses  to  come  at  his  call ;  the  M6rrigan,  the  God- 
dess of  War  and  Conflict,  breaks  his  chariot-wheels :  all 
this  to  him  a  "  mighty  foreshadowing  of  evil." 

The  "  Washer  of  the  Ford  "  who  foretells  the  death  of 
heroes,  is  seen  by  Cuchulainn  washing  his  bloody  gear.  When 
his  mother,  Dechtire^  meets  him  to  offer  him  a  cup,  the 
drinking  of  which  iiad  ever  presaged  victory,  it  is  thrice 
filled  with  blood.  He  answers  :  "  Lady,  as  regards  thyself, 
there  is  no  fault ;  it  is  that  my  geasa  are  destroyed,  and  my 
life's  end  is  near ;  from  the  men  of  £ire  I  shall  not  return 
alive  to-day."  ^ 

There  is  no  doubt  that  all  the  chief  personages  of  this 
cycle  were  regarded  as  the  direct  descendants,  or  it  would 
be  more  correct  to  say,  as  avatars  or  re-incamations  of 
the  early  gods.  Not  only  are  their  pedigrees  traced  up 
to  the  Tuatha  D6  Danann,  but  there  are  indications  in  the 
birth-stories  of  nearly  all  the  principal  personages  that  they 
are  looked  upon  simply  as  divine  beings  reborn  on  the 
human  plane  of  life.  These  indications  are  mysterious,  and 
most  of  the  tales  which  deal  with  them  show  signs  of 
having  been  altered,  perhaps  intentionally,  by  the  Christian 
transcribers.  The  doctrine  of  re-birth  was  naturally  not 
one  acceptable  to  them.  In  such  stories  as  that  which  de- 
tails the  marvellous  transformations  of  the  two  Sidh  swine- 

»  Brisleck  nUr  Maige  Murthemne,  or  Great  Defeat  of  Murthemne's  Plain, 
MS.  17 12,  Brit.  Mus.,  Egerlon  132,  fol.  i. 


Old  Irish  Tabus,  or  Geasa.  65 

herds  who  eventually  became  the  two  terrible  bulls  who 
play  their  part  in  the  Tain  Bo  Cuailgne  ;  or  of  the  goddess 
Etain,  who  becomes  the  mortal  wife  of  a  king  of  Ireland 
(stories  which  were  probably  less  familiar,  and  therefore 
less  liable  to  undergo  change),  the  re-birth  doctrine  is 
distinctly  laid  down  ;  and  it  corresponds  with  the  indications 
in  the  other  tales.  Conchobhar,  moreover,  is  spoken  of  as  a 
terrestrial  god;  and  Dechtire,  his  sister,  and  the  mother  of 
Ciichulainn,  is  called  2  goddess. '  In  the  case  of  Ctichulainn 
himself,  it  is  distinctly  noted  that  he  is  the  avatar  of  Lugh 
lamhfada  (long-hand),  the  sun-deity  of  the  earliest  cycle. 
Lugh  appears  to  Dechtire,  the  mother  of  Ciichulainn,  and 
tells  her  that  he  himself  is  her  little  child,  i.e.  that  the 
child  is  a  re-incarnalion  of  himself;  and  Ciichulainn,  when 
inquired  of  as  to  his  birth,  points  proudly  to  his  descent 
from  Lugh.  When,  loo,  it  is  proposed  to  find  a  wife  for  the 
hero,  the  leason  assigned  is,  that  they  "knew  that  his 
re-birth  would  be  of  himself." 

Before  leaving  the  subject,  it  maybe  interesting  to  point 
out,  that  among  the  Welsh  Mabinogion,  it  is  only  in  those  in 
which,  by  the  test  of  language.  Professor  Rhys  discovers  a 
Goidelic  or  Gaelic  influence,  that  we  find  geasa  playing  a 
part.  Out  of  the  twelve  tales  translated  by  Lady  Charlotte 
"luest  and  included  by  her  under  the  general  title  of 
Mabinogion,  there  are  five  of  Gaelic  or  Irish  origin,  viz. 
KilhwchandOhven,  or  the  Hunting  of  TwrchTrwyth;  PywII, 
Prince  of  Dyved;  Branwen,  Daughter  of  Llyr;  Manawyddan 
son  of  Llyr;  and  Math,  son  of  Mathonwy.  These  tales 
stand  quite  apart  from  the  others,  and  have  peculiarities 
of  their  own.  They  deal  with  the  adventures  of  the  various 
children  of  Don,  the  Irish  Tuatha  De  Danann,  and  in  them 
I  geasa  play  an  important  part.     To  place  a  person  under 

V  geasa  is  in  Welsh  called  "swearing  him  a  swear"  {tyngu 

\  tynghed),  but  it  is  more  usually  translated  "  to  swear  him  a 

I  destiny."     Professor    Rhys  has  pointed  out  in  the  volume 

b  '  dia  lalmaidc,  >ee  L.  U.  lOlb  ;  Ciiihulainn  mi  dta  dechliri,  L.  L.  tajb. 

^^^H  xii> 


whi 
I  Goi 

'  Kil 


66  Old  Irish  Tabus^  or  Geasa. 

of  th6  International  Folklore  Congress,  1891  (pp.  149-152), 
that  Lady  Charlotte  has  not  always  done  this  phrase  justice 
in  her  translation.  ^  One  of  her  notes  to  Manawyddan  ab 
Llyr,  taken  from  a  Triad  relating  the  adventures  of  this 
prince,  alludes  to  the  same  matter.  **  Three  makers  of 
Golden  Shoes,  of  the  Isle  of  Britain,  Caswallawn  son  of 

Beli : ;  Manawyddan,  son  of  Llyr  Llediath,  when 

he  went  as  far  as  Dyved  laying  restrictions,  &c.'* 

It  is  in  these  tales  that  we  find  the  greatest  number  of 
resemblances  to  Irish  romance  ;  and  whether  they  date  from 
a  period  before  the  "  Gael  of  the  East  of  the  Sea  "  {i.e. 
Cornwall  and  South  Wales)  parted  from  the  "  Gael  of  the 
West,*'  or  whether  they  belong  to  the  period  of  the  later 
immigrations  from  Ireland,  it  is  interesting  to  find  the 
same  features  predominating,  features  distinct  in  character 
from  those  found  in  the  purely  Welsh  or  Brythonic  stories 
of  North  Wales. 

I  I  am  indebted  to  the  author  for  these  references.  See  Professor  Rhys' 
Notes  on  the  Hunting  of  Twrch  Trwyth^  Trans,  CymmrodorUm  Soc.^  1S94-5, 
pp.  1-37.  The  Goidels  in  Wales ^  Archaologia  Cambrensis  for  1895,  PP-  '^-39, 
and  Goidelic  Words  in  Brythonic^  ibid,^  pp.  264-302. 


COLLECTANEA. 


A  Buddhist  Wheel  of  Life  from  Japan. 

The  picture  of  which  the  frontispiece  is  a  reduced  reproduction, 
was  given  to  me  by  my  friend  Professor  Anesaki  of  Tokio,  at 
present  resident  in  Kiel.  In  the  description  of  it  which  appeared 
in  Man  (January,  igoi),  was  included  a  translation,  by  the  late 
Mr.  T.  Watters,  of  the  Chinese  text  at  the  foot  of  the  picture.  It 
will  not  be  necessary  therefore  to  do  more  here  than  supply  a  key 
to  the  picture,  and  call  attention  to  the  points  interesting  to  folk- 
.  lorists. 

Commencing  with  the  nave,  we  find  Buddha  seated  in  the 
^  centre  (the  white  circle  showing  perhaps  that  he  is  supposed  to 
be  outside  the  wheel ;  on  the  other  hand  it  may  be  that  the 
corporeal  Buddha  is  regarded  as  a  part  of  the  illusion  of  this 
worid,  and  "therefore  placed  within  the  wheel);  in  the  yellow 
circle  are  a  dove,  a  serpent,  and  a  pig,  emblematic  of  evil 
cravings,  malice,  and  stupidity.  In  the  body  of  the  wheel,  which 
is  conceived  as  continually  revolving,  are  five  "  Resorts,"  or 
"  Ways  of  Life  " — Hell  at  the  bottom,  in  a  very  simplified  form, 
however,  and  hardly  suggestive  of  the  Inferno  of  Dante,  or  likely  ' 
to  have  given  him  ideas  for  it ;  at  the  top  is  Yama,  god  of  the 
dead,  and  on  either  side  of  him  good  and  bad  angels  ;  below  are 
the  various  punishments— on  the  right  the  hot  hell,  in  the  centre 
a  person  having  his  (or  perhaps  her)  tongue  torn  out,  a  requital 
reserved  for  slanderers  ;  on  the  extreme  left  we  have  perhaps  the 
cold  hell,  and  above  it  a  person  is  held  by  the  hair  by  a  demon 
before  a  mirror  to  see  his  or  her  sins  in  it ;  the  actual  occurrence 
in  the  mirror  seems  to  be  a  murder,  committed  by  hurling  the 
victim  over  a  precipice. 

In  the  next  Resort  we  have  the  tantalised  ghosts.  The  details 
are  here  unfortunately  not  sufficiently  clear  in  the  original  to  make 
a  good  picture.  The  tantalised  ghosts  are  here  represented  as 
emaciated  human  beings,  who,  when  they  endeavour  to  eat  and 
drink,  find  that  everything  which  they  touch  turns  to  fire.  They 
are  elsewhere  repreiienled  with  large  stomachs,  mouths  the  .size  of 


68  Collectanea. 

a  pinhole,  throats  the  size  of  a  hair ;  this  detail  in  the  picture  is 
Japanese. 

The  other  three  Ways  of  Life  explain  themselves ;  it  may,  how- 
ever, be  noted  that  in  the  "  Resort  of  Man "  there  are  four 
continents.  Of  these  the  Eastern  one  is  that  of  "  Men,"  i.e.  the 
Chinese  in  this  case,  who  apparently,  like  so  many  other  peoples, 
apply  this  term  to  themselves  par  excellence.  In  the  north  we 
should  find  the  country  of  horses,  but  what  is  actually  represented  is 
a  man  engaged  in  binding  sheaves.  It  is  not  clear  how  this  feature 
comes  into  the  picture.  The  Gilyaks  who  live  north  of  the  Amur 
get  their  com  by  exchange  from  the  Chinese;  it  is  true  they 
formerly  cultivated  millet,  and  the  picture  may  refer  to  this ;  for 
though  drawn  by  a  native  of  Japan  it  is  clearly  almost  entirely 
under  the  influence  of  Chinese  ideas.  The  original  name — 
country  of  horses — seems  equally  to  demand  explanation;  the 
term  can  hardly  refer  to  the  present  neighbours  of  the  Chinese. 
It  would  be  interesting  to  learn  how  far  back  the  name  can  be 
traced  and  how  far  there  is  a  historical  basis  for  it. 

The  same  remark  applies  to  the  country  on  the  west — the 
country  of  oxen ;  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  this  can  refer  to  any 
period  except  one  antecedent  to  the  introduction  of  the  ox  in 
North  China,  where  it  is  employed  in  ploughing ;  and  even  then 
it  is  not  clear  to  what  neighbours  it  refers ;  the  nomadic  hordes  of 
Central  Asia  would  surely  be  too  far  away. 

On  the  rim  are  buckets  containing  human  beings,  some  dis- 
appearing head  downwards  typifying  death,  ue.  passing  out  of  one 
form  of  existence,  and  others  emerging  head  upwards,  typifying 
birth,  i,e,  entering  upon  a  new  form  of  existence;  the  buckets 
are  naturally  at  the  end  of  the  spokes  which  divide  the  **  Ways 
of  Life."  The  whole  is  held  in  the  grasp  of  the  great  Demon 
of  Impermanency,  who  is,  unlike  many  of  the  figures,  of  a 
thoroughly  Japanese  type.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  he  has 
points  of  connection  with  the  mediaeval  Devil.  The  white  circle 
of  Nirvana  is  at  the  top  of  the  picture.  The  small  figures  round 
the  wheel  are  typical  of  the  twelve  Niddncu^  or  Causes  of 
Existence.  There  are  eighteen  pictures,  five  going  to  the  twelfth 
Niddna  and  three  to  the  eleventh.  The  series  commences  with 
(i)  the  demon  in  the  centre  (typifying  ignorance),  then  follow 
(2)  a  wheel  (elemental  matter),  (3)  a  monkey  (consciousness), 
(4)  a  man  crossing  a  stream  (perhaps  the  rise  of  self-consciousness), 


Stray  Notes  on  "Japanese  Folklore.  69 

■  (5)  a  naked  man  (the  senses),  (6)  a  man  and  woman  in  contact, 
r  (7)  figures  typifying  pain  and  pleasure,  (8)  a  wfoman  with  children 
(affection),  (9)  a  man  drawing  water,  (10)  the  God  Brahma 
(existence),  (11)  three  st^es  of  life,  and  finally  (12)  scenes 
typifying  pain  and  sorrow.  The  meaning  is  very  often  doubtful, 
and  I  there/ore  pass  over  some  of  the  scenes  without  suggesting 
what  they  typify. 

As  I  have  elsewhere  pointed  out,  we  see  in  the  three-headed 
figure  representing  BrahmS  a  small  head  above  the  other  three ; 
this  is  usually  a  feature  of  the  images  of  Avalokita,  who  was  in 
later  limes  depicted  with  several  heads  ;  in  view  of  the  capricious 
nature,  however,  of  Japanese  art  in  these  respects  it  is  a  question 
what  is  really  intended. 

The  first  scene  of  the  twelfth  Nidana  represents  a  funeral ;  on 

the  bier  supported  by  the  bearers  is  a  Swastika,  for  which  we  have 

in   English  no  popular   name  like  the  German  "  Hakenkreuz." 

There  does  not  seem  to  be  any  significance  attached  in  the  Far 

East  to  the  direction  of  the  bent  arms  of  this  emblem,  which  as 

here  depicted  is  left-handed.     I  am  not  quite  sure  what  meaning 

we  should  attach  to  it  here.     In  China  it  is  the  custom  to  have  it 

on   the   grave-clothes,  prepared    many  years    before    the  person 

L  expects  to  die,  when  its  influence  is  supposed  to  conduce  to 

^longevity.    This  can  hardly  be  the  case  here  unless  it  is  the  living 

I  who  are  to  reap  the  benefit  of  it.     On  the  other  hand  there  is  no 

l:ieason  to  regard  it  as  merely  decorative  in  its  object. 

The  picture  was  the  work  of  the  grandfather  of  Professor 
I  Anesaki ;  it  is  dated  1850.  There  is  another  picture  of  the  same 
I  sort  in  existence  in  Japan,  dated  a  few  years  earlier.  It  seems 
L  very  probable  that  both  go  back  to  a  Chinese  original  of  great  age, 
[  but  of  this  I  have  so  far  no  proof-  The  details  of  three  of  the 
■Kesorts  are  distinctly  old  Chinese.  I  hope  at  a  future  period  to 
e  able  to  give  the  whole  history  of  the  picture. 

N.  W.  Thomas. 


Strav  Notes  on  Japankse  Folkloek. 

The  following  notes  of  Japanese  superstitions  were  communi- 
I  cated  to  me  at  various  times  in  the  course  of  conversation  on 
1  European  folklore,  by  Professor  Anesaki  of  Tokio. 


70  Collectanea. 

If  a  man  feeds  a  thousand  white  hares  in  his  house,  one  of  his 
daughters  will,  marry  an  emperor.  [From  Heike-monogaiuri^  a 
thirteenth-century  poem.] 

At  the  Oharai  or  great  purification,  (end  of  July  and  February), 
an  idol  was  formerly  thrown  into  the  river  as  a  scapegoat. 

Formerly  a  man  whose  house  took  fire  was  taboo. 

During  drought,  torchlight  possessions  are  sometimes  made  to 
a  shrine  on  the  top  of  a  mountain.  The  idol  is  sometimes  bound 
with  cords  until  rain  comes  (but  ct/oum.  Anth,  Inst.^  xxvi.,  30). 

Domestic  pigeons  are  not  eaten ;  they  are  fed  in  the  temples. 
The  pigeon  is  the  sacred  bird  of  the  Minamoto  clan,  at  the  crises 
of  whose  history  a  white  pigeon  appears ;  there  are  many  white 
pigeons  in  the  temple  of  the  clan-god  Hatchiman. 

Sailors  feed  black  cats,  which  can  foretell  change  of  weather. 
Three-coloured  cats  (termed  mikt)  are  more  powerful  in  magic 
than  others. 

Swallows  in  cages  are  bought  merely  to  set  them  free.  They 
are  also  released  during  funeral  rites.  Pigeons  are  set  free  at  the 
launch  of  a  ship.^ 

"  This  custom  being  more  unusual  than  the  others  noted,  and  in  itself  of 
some  interest,  I  add  the  following  parallels : 

(a)  The  Valav^  of  Madagascar  have  each  their  special  Fady\  in  some  cases 
this  includes  all  animals  which  have  hair  or  feathers ;  in  other  cases  only  indi- 
vidual species.  They  say  that  the  souls  of  their  forefathers  have  entered  these 
animals,  and  when  they  are  kept  in  captivity,  buy  them  and  set  them  at  liberty  ; 
if  they  are  dead,  they  bury  them  {Globus,  xliv.,  284). 

(b)  On  August  1st  (New  Year's  Day),  the  Armenians  set  free  pigeons  and 
losects  (Erman,  Arckiv.,  xv.,  144). 

(c)  At  Champ  d'ioux  (Nivemais),  the  lord  of  the  manor  had  to  release  a  wren 
annually  (Holland,  ii.;  297). 

(d)  At  Paris,  swallows  are  purchased  and  set  at  liberty  (Holland,  ii.,  321. 
Cf.  R^'  ^^  Trad,  Pop.y  iv.,  229 ;  Globus,  xlviii.,  186). 

(b)  On  March  22nd,  cakes  in  the  form  of  larks  are  made  in  the  Ukraine  and 
thrown  into  the  air  ;  this  probably  points  to  a  similar  custom  (Reinsberg- 
Dttringsfeld,  Ethnogr.  Curiositaten,  i.,  128). 

It  seems  clear  that  these  cases,  in  their  present  form,  cannot  be  referred  to  a 
single  origin.  In  the  case  of  the  Festival  Customs  it  seems  possible  that  we 
may  regard  the  bird  as  a  scapegoat  (cf.  Volkskunde,  vi.,  155).  The  Battas  of 
Sumatra  set  free  a  swallow  as  a  means  of  getting  rid  of  a  curse.  {Allg.  Missions 
Zeitschr,,  xii.,  p.  478.)  The  Japanese  custom  is  commonly,  but  perhaps  on 
insufficient  grounds,  attributed  to  a  Buddhist  origin  ;  the  Madagascar  custom 
seems  clearly  totemistic ;  the  Ukraine  custom  may  be  no  more  than  a  celebra- 
tion of  the  return  of  spring- 


Folklore  Notes  from  South-west  Wilts.       71 

In  pictures,  the  quail  seems  to  be  associated  in  some  way  with 
millet 

Carp  are  eaten  for  luck. 

On  May  5th  a  carp  cut  out  in  paper  or  cloth  is  hung  on  a  pole. 
Professor  Anesaki  sends  me  a  picture  of  this,  of  which  he  says : 

"  This  is  a  picture  of  popular  May-festival  in  Japan.  The  5th 
of  May  is  celebrated  to  felicitate  the  future  career  of  boys.  Carp, 
sweet-flag  (in  this  picture),  oak-leaves,  are  all  the  symbols  of 
victory  or  power.  This  day  was  originally  the  festival  celebrating 
the  subjugation  of  the  devils  of  pestilence,  the  reminiscence  of 
which  remains  in  the  use  of  sweet-flag  leaves  and  flowers,  because 
this  grass  is  believed  to  have  medical  powers.  The  festival  is 
called  *  Gogatz-no-sek '  (May-festival)  or  *  Ayame-no-sek '  (Sweet- 
flag  festival)." 

The  intestines  of  executed  criminals  were  formerly  eaten ;  this 
was  believed  to  give  strength. 

A  person's  nails  were  also  boiled  in  water,  which  was  then  dnmk 
by  any  one  who  wished  to  acquire  his  qualities. 

Chips  from  a  gravestone,  (especially  of  a  man  who  has  been 
executed  or  died  a  violent  death),  bring  luck  in  speculation. 

A  tooth  falling  out  portends  the  death  of  a  relative. 

To  find  the  body  of  a  drowned  person,  a  piece  of  paper  with  a 
magic  formula  is  thrown  into  the  water  and  stops  over  the  spot 
where  the  body  is. 

The  southern  (?)  Chinese  bury  one  boot  in  the  coffin  and  keep 
the  other  in  the  house ;  the  dead  will  then  visit  the  house. 

N.  W.  Thomas. 


Folklore  Notes  from  South-west  Wilts 

The  district  from  which  these  notes  have  been  collected  is  in 
South-west  Wilts,  in  a  valley  running  north  and  south  between  the 
downs  and  ending  at  Warminster.  Most  of  them  come  from  Hill 
Deverill  and  Longbridge  Deverill,  two  adjoining  parishes  about 
halfway  down  the  valley.  Dorset  and  Somerset  are  but  a  few  miles 
off;  the  country  is  hilly ;  the  villages  are  self-contained,  and  the 
population  is  not  scattered.     Longbridge  DeveriU  is  at  the  junc- 


72  Collectanea. 

tion  of  two  main  routes,  the  Warminster  and  Shaftesbury  road, 
and  the  road  from  Heytesbury  to  Bruton  and  Wincanton;  but 
Hill  till  1854  had  only  field  roads  and  footpaths. 

The  Manor  Farm  at  Hill  Deverill,  often  mentioned  below,  has 
buildings  going  back  to  about  1500;  it  is  built  on  the  edge  of  a 
marsh  made  by  the  river  Deverill,  and  stands  by  itself  in  a  lonely 
and  dreary  situation. 

The  materials  have  been  collected  by  me  during  the  last  twelve 
years,  mostly  from  old  agricultural  labourers  and  their  wives,  some 
of  whom  are  still  living;  and  the  information  has  come  practically 
first-hand,  both  from  the  labouring  class  and  from  other  natives  of 
these  parishes,  except  where  I  have  noted  otherwise. 

It  will  be  convenient  to  follow  the  classification  of  Mr.  Gomme 
in  his  Handbook  to  Folk-Lore  (1890).  I  have  been  scrupulously 
exact  to  preserve  as  far  as  possible  the  precise  words  and  form  of 
sentence  in  which  the  narrations  were  given,  and  not  to  add  or 
edit  where  there  were  any  gaps ;  but  for  purposes  of  convenience 
I  have  not  generally  attempted  to  keep  the  dialectical  forms  of 
words.  The  date  of  receiving  the  narration  is  given  in  every 
case. 

I 

Superstitious  Belief, 

Trees. — If  a  branch  was  blown  down  off  certain  old  ash  trees 
at  the  Manor  Farm,  this  portended  the  death  of  one  of  the  family 
living  there.     (1889.) 

GoBLiNDOM. — Ghosts. — ^The  great-grandfather  of  my  informant 
was  driving  his  master  to  Hindon  one  night,  and  '*  sum'at  clung 
on  to  the  carriage  behind.  '  Drive,  Jim,  as  hard  as  you  can,'  he 
said,  and  sum'at  came  out,  and  they  never  seed  the  going  on't ; 
and  the  horses  ran  with  sweat  when  they  got  into  Hindon." 

''A  Deverill  man  was  courting  at  Hindon,  and  he  walked  home 
down  Lord's  Hill,  and  he  seed  sum'at,  and  he  said,  '  If  thou  be 
the  devil,  appear  bodily;'  and  he  seed  sum'at  as  had  eyes  as  big 
as  a  tea-saucer ;  he  didn't  know  how  he  got  home,  and  the  sweat 
poured  down  him  like  rain,  and  every  single  hair  of  his  head  did 
stand  on  end ;  and  he  never  seed  the  going  on't."    (1889.) 

On  "  Midsummer  night "  my  informant  went,  as  a  boy,  about 
1833,  to  the  churchyard  at  Hill,  "  to  see  them  come  out  and  in;" 
he  wanted  to  see  the  ghost  of  his  "  butty "  (his  companion  in 


Folklore  Notes  from  South-west  Wilts. 


fieldwork).  Men  without  beads  have  been  seeu  in  the  church, 
and  a  little  child,  and  "  a  turr'ble  sight  o'  galleysome  (fearsome) 
things."     (1894.) 

There  is  a  coach  with  a  headless  coachman  on  Lord's  Hill. 

A  woman  in  white  rustled  past  John  B on  the  Manor  House 

A  tall  lady  in  silk  rustled  past  my  informant,  "just  at  the  turn 
into  the  turnpike  road,  when  I  was  carrying  some  tracen  (traces)." 
(1894.) 

Round  the  last  of  the  family  of  Coker,  who  owned  the  Manor,  , 
have  gathered  the  following  stories.     (He  died  in  1736.) 

"  Old  Coker "  is  seen  silting,  or  heard  riding  (see  below)  j  he 
has  been  seen  sitting  "  on  the  dreshol  (threshold)  of  the  bam,  so 
that  they  had  to  go  in  another  way."     (1894.) 

Two  children  "came  out  and  danced  before"  a  woman  working 

at  the  Manor  Farm.     A  former  tenant-farmer  (Mr.  C )  has 

been  seen  sitting  on  a  stile  in  the  Bradley  Road  (1889);  and 
(1897)  in  Brixton  Deverill  a  dwelling-house  is  haunted;  "Old 
Coker  did  come  again  "  before  it  was  altered. 

But  besides  these,  there  is  invisible  agency.     An  unseen  hand 

pelts  with  stones  Joe  G as  he  works  at  the  Farm.    Something 

"galleys"  (frightens)  the  horses  ploughing.  Invisible  hands  place 
a  jug  of  drink,  while  men  are  threshing  in  the  bam.  Pots  will  not 
stay  on  the  fire  at  a  farmhouse  at  Kingston  Deverill,  but  jump  off; 
and  apples  on  the  floor  overhead  dance  about.     (1895.) 

Where  the  under-carter  slept,  at  the  Manor  Farm,  something 
would  "come  and  pull  the  clothes  off  hJm  "  (1894) ;  "  two  may- 
dens  "  would  do  this  (1899).  "I'll  throw  my  shoe  at 'ee,"  said 
he;  and  at  Tytherington  something  would  come  at  night  in  a 
certain  house,  and  lay  the  "  hangles "  (pot-hooks)  on  a  la^e 
hearth-stone.     ( i  S99,) 

And  (1890)  one  of  the  farm  lads  opened  the  barn  early  in  the 
morning,  and  heard  the  cake-cutter  going  of  itself. 

Laying  Spirits. — There  was  a  spirit  in  a  house  at  Heytesbury, 
and  the  "parsons"  were  summoned  to  "conjure"  it  (accent  on 
the  d),  but  they  all  "gied  out"  and  were  "mastered,"  except 
Parson  Smith. 

A  spirit  should  be  accosted  thus,  solemnly ;  "  In  the  name  of 
the  Lord,  why  troubles!  ihou  here  ?  "  Spirits  cannot  address  you, 
you  must  speak  to  them  first.     (18S9.) 


74  Collectanea. 

The  spirit  of  Lord  appeared  to  his  widow  in  a  certain 

room ;  she  had  wrapped  herself  in  a  lamb's  skin.  The  "parsons 
went  to  c6njure  it,"  but  Parson  S was  the  only  one  who  suc- 
ceeded ;  "  the  other  parsons  gied  out,  and  if  it  had  not  been  for 
Parson  S they  would  have  been  torn  in  pieces."  After  con- 
versation, the  spirit  asked,  ''What  is  the  simplest  thing  in  the 
world?"  The  Parson  said,  "A  lamb."  Then  the  ghost  was  laid. 
The  Parson  wanted  to  lay  the  ghost  in  the  Red  Sea,  but  the  ghost 

begged  not  to  be  put  there.     Lady  was  dressed  in  a  lamb's 

skin,  because  a  spirit  will  tear  ^ou  in  pieces  if  you  do  not  answer 
its  questions,  but  it  will  not  hurt  a  lamb's  skin.    Others  say  (1893) 

that  Lady went  once  a  year,  wearing  a  sheepskin  inside  out, 

to  talk  with  her  husband. 

On  that  night  there  was  a  fearful  storm ;  my  informant's  house 
was  "unheled"  (thatch  blown  off).  (When  there  was  a  great 
tempest,  people  would  say,  "They're  conjuring.")  This  laying 
can  be  dated.     "  It  was  nine  days  before  I  had  my  second  son, 

and  the  night  when  a  woman  named  C at  Sutton  had  twins;" 

that  is,  somewhere  about  1854.     (1894.) 

Apparitions, — My  informant's  wife  was  ill  of  small-pox,  and  as 
he  was  passing  by  Longbridge  Deverill  churchyard,  on  his  way  to 
sleep  at  another  house,  he  seemed  to  see  a  funeral,  and  as  it  were 
the  corpse  carried  on  men's  shoulders.  Soon  his  son  came  running 
after  him  to  call   him  back,  and  told  him   his  wife  was  dead. 

(1895.) 
The  ''Spectral Hunt''  is  attached  to  the  name  of  "OldCoker," 

who  drives  his  hounds  round  "Gun's  Church,"  the  name  of  a 

round  barrow  on  a  down  at  the  south-east  extremity  of  Hill 

parish,  or  through  his  "grounds"  by  the  house,  "horses  galloping 

and  chains  ratding,"  and  the  horn  sounding.     (1889.) 

The  devil  appeared  in  the  form  of  a  hare  at  the  hanging  of  two 
men  on  Warminster  Down  in  1813 ;  it  started  out  among  the 
spectators,  and  no  one  dared  stop  it.     (1889.) 

The  devil  appeared  in  the  form  of  a  dog  one  Palm  Sunday 
when  there  was  the  annual  gathering  on  Longbridge  Deverill  Cow- 
down  ;  some  one  said  the  devil  was  there  in  the  shape  of  a  dog. 
"  Sum'at  was  there,  anyhow,"  and  they  all  ran  away.  "  After  that 
there  were  no  more  gatherings."     (1898.) 

A  certain  farmer  said  he  would  revisit  his  farm  on  a  lonely 
moor  near  and  run  about  it  in  the  shape  of  a  rat.     (1895.)     He 


Folklore  Notes  from  South-'west  Wilts.        75 

Bbad  a  reputation  for  wickedness,  and  it  is  a  fact  thai  the  dead  of 
)  his  family  were  buried  not  in  the  churchyard  but  in  his  fields ;  he 
died  about  i860.    Thus,  in  a  thunderstorm,  he  would  say  of  a 
peal  of  thunder,  if  his  wife  was  frightened,  "  Thai's  a  good  rush- 
bowl  "  (rushbowls  are  skittles). 

Witchcraft. — One  old  man  of  an  older  generation  was  spoken 
of  as  being  able  lo  "  rule  the  planets."     (1896.) 

A  certain  thatcher,  who  came  from  Hampshire,  is  said  to  have 
bewitched  cows.     (1889,) 

Buried  Treasure. — There  is  treasure  buried  in  certain  fields. 
The  view  given  me  is,  that  there  were  not  the  present  facihties 
for  keeping  money,  and  therefore  the  owners  were  reduced  to 
hide  it ;  and  the  appearances  of  persons  are  due  to  the  owners  of 
the  buried  money  harbouring  round  the  place  and  drawing  atten- 
tion to  it.     Or  in  another  form,  Mr.  C sees  a  light  by  a 

certain  old  tree  in  "  conigre  "  (rabbit  warren)  on  his  farm.  He 
asks  the  estate-steward  for  the  tree,  and  when  it  is  grubbed,  a 
"  bushel  of  guineas  "  is  found. 

?er  plate  is  buried  in  a  well  in  the  field  beyond  Hill  Church 
;  some  call  it  the  "  church  plate."    (1894.) 
And  somewhere  there  is  a  golden  cofBn  buried. 
A  pot  jumps  about  in  a  house ;  they  dig  underneath  and  find 
|lnoney.    (1893.) 

GENERAt  Superstition.—  Tht  head. — If  a  child  had  two 
"  crowns  "  on  his  head,  that  is,  two  places  from  which  the  hair 
radiates,  it  was  a  sign  that  he  would  "eat  his  bread  in  tnro 
nations."     (1898.) 

Cock-erowing. — At  night,  cocks  crow  at  the  hour,  and  crow  the 
humber  of  the  hour.     (1898.} 

il. 

Traditionai  Customs. 

Fe-stivals. — On  Palm  Sunday  there  were  gatherings  on  Long- 
bridge  Deverill  Cow-down  to  play  "trap,"  going  up  by  "Jacob's 
ladder."  The  young  men,  with  the  elders  to  watch  them,  would 
"  beat  the  ball  "  up  Cow-down  and  then  play  trap. 

And  on  Palm  Sunday  the  women  and  children  would  go  out 
inlo  the  fields  "to  tread  the  wheat"    (1897.) 


76  Collectanea. 

Crockerton  Revel  (1893).  (I  give  the  infonnation,  but  cannot 
verify  the  historical  fact  underlying  it)  Thomas  ^  Becket  "  used 
to  come  to  Crockerton  Revel  dressed  like  a  gentleman,  and  he 
would  depart  through  the  wood  dressed  like  a  beggar,  in  rags, 
having  spent  all  his  money  at  the  Revel."  He  is  said  to  have 
consecrated  Longbridge  Deverill  Church,  which  is  the  parish 
church ;  and  certainly  the  oldest  stone  work  in  it  is  of  about  his 
date.  The  Revel  is  on  the  first  Sunday  after  the  Translation  of 
Thomas  ^  Becket,  the  day  of  which  is  July  7  th. 

The  following  story  is  told  me  about  Wishford,  a  village  some 
twelve  miles  off,  on  the  Great  Western  Railway  line  next  to  and 
north-west  of  Wilton.  An  oak-bough  is  cut  annually  on  May  29th 
and  hauled  down  into  the  village.  It  is  then  decked  with  ribbons 
and  hung  from  the  church  tower,  and  the  day  is  kept  as  a  Revel. 
It  gives  the  villagers  the  right  of  getting  dead  wood  from  Grovely 
Wood.     (1896.) 

Oxen  were  said  to  kneel  on  the  night  of  the  Nativity.  My 
informant  when  a  boy  would  propose  to  go  out  to  the  farmyard 
opposite  where  he  lived  and  see  them.  This  belief  is  not  much 
heard  of  now.     (1898.) 

Children's  Games. — Dred-the-wold-'ooman's  needle.    Turn 
the-barrel. 

Local  Custom. — The  church  land  at  Lx)ngbridge  Deverill  is 
let  "  by  the  candle."  I  am  not  aware  of  the  custom  anywhere 
else  in  this  immediate  neighbourhood,  but  it  exists  at  Alder- 
maston,  near  Newbury. 

III. 
Traditional  Narratives, 

An  old  man  would  tell  a  story  in  the  following  way  :  "  There 
were  a  time,  'tweren't  in  my  time,  neither  in  your  time,  nit  (nor 
yet)  in  anybody  else's  time ;  'twere  when  magpies  builded  in  old 
men's  beards  and  turkey-cocks  chewed  bacca;^  all  over  hills, 
dales,  mountains,  and  valleys,  so  far  as  I  shall  tell  you  to-night, 
or  to-morrow  night,  or  ever  I  shall  tell  you  before  I've  done,  if  I 
can."    (1895.) 

*  Apparently  something  is  lost  here. 


Folklore  Notes  from  South-west  Wilts. 

Creation  Mvth. — This  small  fragment  can  be  illustrated  from 
other  parts  of  the  world :  "  I've  heard  'em  say  that  Adam  v 

made  and  then  put  up  again'  a  wold  (old)  hurdle  to  dry."  (1895.) 
Fragments  of  Ballad  (?). — T/ie  Comical  Man. 


n  had  a  river  to  cross, 

I  10  slay  where  he  was."     (1S95-) 

A  fragment  not  identified  (1895). 
"  Jack-in-bog  ■  ■  .  ■  put  meal  for  the  horse  and  straw  foi  Ihe  lion." 

Place  Traditions. — It  is  not  the  function  of  folklore  to 
chronicle  the  facts  of  history  that  are  known  independently,  but 
rather  the  popular  additions  to  these  facts.  For  example,  the 
names  attached  to  fields  by  which  the  names  of  former  occupiers 
are  preserved  need  not  be  mentioned,  except  where  a  story  has 
become  attached.  But  I  give  some  such  traditions  of  history 
(1889).  The  story  of  King  Alfred  and  the  cakes  is  localised  at 
Brixton  Deveril!,  in  the  grass  ground  south  of  the  rectory.  Alfred 
is  called  "  him  of  Stourton."  (At  Kingsettle  Hill,  Stourton,  some 
few  miles  off,  is  a  tower  built  about  1722  as  being  the  spot  where 
he  "  erected  his  standard  against  Danish  invaders.") 

The  dim  past  is  called  the  time  "  when  there  was  a  king  in  every 
county." 

In  the  Manor  Farm  Hill,  "a  romantic  place "{1893),  "traitors" 
were  shut  up  (1889).  Coker,  the  former  owner  (died  1736),  is 
said  to  be  "  a  robber,  and  many  went  into  the  house  that  never 
came  out."  There  are  blood-marks  on  one  bedroom  floor.  "  He 
was  a  robber,  and  used  to  go  about  at  night  with  men  and  rob. 
He  kept  a  cannon  at  the  round  window." 

The  house  was  like  "a  den  of  thieves"  (1894).  Some  connect 
it  with  smugglers  (1894). 

The  following  traditions  are  preserved  of  the  Civil  Wars.  The 
farmer's  house  at  Hill  Deverill  that  goes  with  the  mill  was  a 
rendezvous  or  headquarters.  Upon  the  shoulder  of  the  hill 
south-east  of  the  Manor  Farm  cannon  were  said  to  have  been 
mounted,  and  to  have  battered  down  the  "  houses  "  which  stood 
on  the  rising  ground  south  of  the  church.     It  is  interesting,  how- 


78  Collectanea. 

ever,  to  know  that  the  "  brows  "  and  ridges  in  these  fields,  which 
this  tradition  calls  the  remains  of  houses,  are  really  the  site  of  a 
British  village,  of  which  traces  may  also  be  seen,  though  less 
conspicuously,  in  the  rising  ground  behind  the  Manor  House, 
and  indeed  all  over  the  high  ridge  of  Cold  Kitphen  and  Bid- 
combe,  to  the  western  boundary  of  the  parish  (1889). 

A  beam  in  the  bam  at  Rye  Hill  Farm  is  called  "  Coker's  bed- 
stead." The  timber  is  said  to  have  been  brought  from  a  bam 
that  was  pulled  down  at  the  Manor  Farm  (Coker's). 

The  "  Devil's  parrock  "  (dialectical  for  paddock)  is  so  called, 
because  horses  when  ploughing  there,  or  when  going  alone  in  the 
drove  hard  by,  would  be  frightened  by  something  and  run  away 
(1894). 

"  Gun's  Church,"  a  round  barrow  on  the  eastern  boundary,  has 
been  already  mentioned  as  having  the  "  Spectral  Hunt "  localised 
at  it. 

At  Longbridge  Deverill  people  were  afraid  to  go  up  the  Church 
Lane  in  the  dark,  lest  "woolpacks  should  roll  down  from  the 
thicket "  upon  them ;  and  kegs  of  brandy  are  said  to  have  rolled 
from  it  (1895). 

A  fragment  of  wall  abutting  on  the  road  from  Warminster  to 
Longbridge  Deverill,  north  of  the  churchyard,  is  called  "the 
Jew's  wall."  The  story  attached  is  that  a  Jew  was  murdered  on 
Lord's  Hill,  and  that  they  would  not  bury  him  in  the  churchyard, 
so  he  was  buried  outside,  at  this  spot.  Historically,  this  wall  is 
the  remains  of  the  wall  that  ran  round  the  yard  of  the  Manor 
House,  which  was  standing  in  1660. 

The  following  is  the  origin  of  Cley  Hill,  near  Warminster,  a 
round  isolated  prominent  hill  with  a  small  knob  on  it,  and  by  its 
side  a  smaller  hill  joined  to  it ;  so  that  it  is  said — 

«  Big  Cley  Hill  do  wear  a  hat, 
Little  Cley  Hill  do  laugh  at  that." 

(Warminster,  1874.) 

The  folk  of  Devizes  had  offended  the  devil,  who  swore  he 
would  serve  them  out.  So  he  went  "  down  the  country "  (i.e. 
into  Somerset),  and  found  a  big  "  hump  "  and  put  it  on  his  back, 
to  carry  it  and  fling  it  at  them.  On  his  journey  back  he  met  a 
man  and  asked   him  the  way  to  Devizes.     The  man   replied. 

That's  just  what  I  want  to  know  myself.     I  started  for  Devizes 


Folklore  Notes  from  South-west  Wilts. 


79 


when  my  beard  was  black,  and  now  it's  grey,  and  I  haven't  got 
there  yet.  The  devil  replied,  "  If  that's  bow  it  is,  I  won't  carry 
this  thing  no  further,  so  here  goes,"  and  he  flung  the  "girt  (great) 
hump"  ofThis  shoulder,  and  there  it  is.     (Watminsler,  1893.) 

Adjoining  the  mill  at  Boreham,  one  mile  east  of  Warminster,  is 
a  meadow  in  which,  local  tradition  says,  hay  will  not  be  made 
without  rain  ;  or  when  the  grass  is  cut,  rain  will  fall.  The  story 
is  this :  It  had  once  been  rainy  for  some  time  when  the  farmer 
wished  to  make  his  hay.  A  fine  Sunday  came,  and  he  then  hid 
his  watch  under  one  of  the  pooks  (cocks).  Then  with  his  fork 
he  turned  over  all  the  other  pooks,  and  when  people  asked  him 
why  he  was  making  hay  on  a  Sunday,  he  explained  that  he  had 
lost  his  watch  under  one  of  the  pooks,  and  therefore  was  turning 
them  over.  So  saying,  he  turned  over  the  last  pook  which  re- 
mained unturned,  and  there  discovered  the  watch,  and  gained  his 
real  end.'     (Bishopstrow,  1894), 


Foik-Sayiiigs, 

Rhymes. — The  thumb  and  fingers. 

■■  Tom  Thumbkin 
Tom  I6si«i 
Belly  bOsten 
Long  Iftsten 
Liitle  pig  a  rOslcn 


(This  comes  from  North  Wilts,  1894.) 


A  lullaby. 


"  Hush-a-hye,  hahby, 
The  beggar  shnn'l  have'ee 

No  more  shall  the  maggotly-pye  (magpie)  ; 
The  took  nor  the  raven 
Shan'l  car"  thee  to  heaven  (cany). 

So  hush-a.bye,  babby,  hy-byc." 

(Hfard  about  1870.) 


8o  Collectanea. 


Of  the  seasons. 


'*  March  will  search 
April  will  try 
May  will  prove 
Whether  you  Uve  or  die."  (1898.) 


Children's  rhyme. 


'*  Stare,  stare,  like  a  bear, 
And  then  you'll  know  me  anywhere." 

(Homingsham,  1898.) 

Written  in  pencil,  1840,  upon  the  whitewashed  church  porch. 
Hill. 

"  When  life  is  past  and  death  is  come, 
Happy  is  thic '  that  well  hath  done."  (1896.) 

Fragment  for  lying-in  (?). 

.    "  Pins  and  needles,  victuals  and  clouts."  (1889.) 

A  charm  used  when  pulling  out  a  tooth.     Children  look  up  the 
chimney  and  say. 

'*  Burn,  bum,  blue  tooth. 
Please  God  send  me  a  new  tooth."  (1895.) 

And  the  tooth  is  thrown  into  the  fire. 

A  rhyme  to  make  a  "  gramfer-grig  "  (that  is  a  wood-louse)  curl 
into  a  ball. 

"  Gramfer-grig  killed  a  pig. 
Hung  'en  up  in  comer  ; 
Gramfer  cried  and  piggy  died, 
And  all  the  fiin  was  over. "  ( i  S94. } 

Another  version  of  line  2. 

**  Covered  him  with  clover."  (1896.} 

A  rhyme. 


'*  There  once  was  a  man  with  a  girt  black  beard  ; 
He  kissed  all  the  maidens,  and  made  them  afeard. 


» 


1  «( 


That  man  " 


Folklore  Notes  from  South-west  Wilts.       8r 


A  rhyme  of  Shrovetide. 


"  Dame,  a  yuur  pan  hpl  ? 

L&rd  Rnd  corn  is  desi ; 
I've  come  a-shroving, 

'Ti5  but  once  a  year. 
So  up  to  the  flilch. 
And  cut  a  girt  sttlch  ; 
If  your  hens  don't  lay, 
I'll  steal  your  cock  away 
Before  nexl  Shtove  Tuesday." 


A  rhyme  for  a  child. 

"  Draw  a  bucket  of  walei 
For  my  lady's  daughter, 

MUk  the  cow 

Sar"  the  sow  (serve), 
And  turn  (he  ducks  lo  wafer."  (1899.) 

Place-Rhymes  and  Savings.— Rhymes  representing  what  the 
church  bells  of  the  neighbouring  parishes  "  say." 
Sotton  Veney  bells  (eight), 

"  Poor  old  John  Long  is  dead  and  goni:." 

Monk  ton  Deverill  (two). 


Longbridge  Deverill. 


"  Up  on  cow.duH'n.  cow-cla(s.  and  c 
Thy  dog  bit  my  dog  and  made  him 


Horningshat 


"  Fire-pan,  poker,  tongs." 


;  reputation  of  Maiden  Bradley  is  glanced  at  in  the  lines 
"  The  Bradley  man  has  gone  to  sleep, 
And  'tis  a  pily  lo  wake  him." 

;  Great  Bear  is  called  in  Longbridge  Deverill,  "Jack  and 
his  learn  going  to  pit,"  that  is,  to  the  coal-pit  to  fetch  coal.  The 
explanation  Is  this  :  it  was  the  custom  for  farmers,  and  still  con- 
linues,  to  send  a  waggon  at  night  lo  the  Radstock  pits  for  coal, 
la  distance  of  some  fourteen  miles.  Now,  roughly  speaking,  the 
;  Bear  moves  in  the  same  direction  as  a  waggon  leaving  the 
tnllage  for  the  coal-piis  would  take.     Thus  children,  going  out  at 

VOL-  XII.  G 


82  Collectanea. 

night  (say  to  some  meeting)  in  the  school-room,  would  say  as  they 
went,  "  There's  Jack  and  his  team  going  to  pit,"  and  in  coming 
out,  they  would  notice  how  far  he  had  moved.     (1893.) 

If  anyone  had  not  heard  the  cuckoo  by  Warminster  Fair  (April 
23rd),  people  would  say,  "  You  must  go  to  Warminster  Fair  and 
buy  one."    (1898.) 

Flowers,— K  child  told  my  informant  (1898)  that  with  "lords 
and  ladies,"  they  try,  by  seeing  which  break  off,  which  will  go  to 
hell,  and  which  to  heaven ;  "  and  even  some  of  the  little  ladies  go 
to  hell." 

There  is  a  great  number  of  fanciful  flower-names  in  this  district 
which  contain  children's  folk-stories  condensed,  and  the  Wiltshire 
Words  (English  Dialect  Society,  1893)  contains  many  from  v^irious 
districts.  From  this  district  come  "  Granny  jump  out  o'  bed  " 
(monkshood),  "Sweethearts"  (goose-grass),  Granfer-griddle-goosey- 
gander  (early  purple  orchis),  a  few  miles  off;  Quiet  Neighbours 
(red  spur  valerian) ;  Hand  of  God  (nipple-wort). 

Proverbs. — It  is  not  easy  to  define  a  "  proverb."  Lowell,  in 
the  introduction  to  the  Biglow  Papers^  remarks  that  almost  every 
country  has  some  good  die-sinker  in  phrase,  whose  mintage  passes 
into  the  currency  of  the  whole  neighbourhood."  The  following 
are  examples  of  pure  mother-wit,  and  some  are  plainly  original, 
though  others  are  familiar : — 

"  Children  be  first  a  yearm-ache  (arm-ache),  and  a'ter^^-ards  a  heart  ache." 

**  She  was  very  onkind,  but  God  is  good  and  the  world  is  wide." 

"  We  change,  the  seasons  don't." 

*'  'Tis  no  good  selling  a  breakfast  and  buying  a  dinner." 

*'  You  can't  go  through  the  world  in  glassen  slippers." 

"Her'd  lie  abed  till  her  wur  vinny"^  (one  old  woman  of  another 
given  to  shamming).  "  A  would  skin  a  vlint  vur  a  varden  and 
spwile  (spoil)  a  tenpenny  nayl  in  doin'  on't."  "  More  store,  more 
stink."  "  A  lie's  a  lie,  though  the  king  tell  it."  "  What's  the 
good  o'  going  to  law  when  the  court's  in  hell  ?  "  "  What  be  you 
a  lookin'  vor  ?  Lookin'  for  last  year's  snow  ?  "  (said  pettishly  to 
an  old  woman  poking  about  the  house).  "  Ees,  her  wur  a  proper 
vool.    Her  wur  missis  of  a  public-house  and  left  it  for  to  be  missis 


I  (( 


Vinny  "  is  used  of  blue-moulded  cheese. 


L 


Folklore  Notes  from  South-west  Wilts.       83 

of  a  teaty-pit "  (potato-pit)  (of  an  innkeeper's  widow  who  married 
a  labourer),'  t"  What  sort  of  man  is  the  new  fatmer?"  "Oh, 
lilce  a  crooked  road,  in  and  out."  "  Our  Tom  he's  too  wuld  and 
loo  stiff  for  a  souldier ;  perhaps  they'd  have  en,  if  a  were  oiled  and 
plyed,"  "  My  uncle  worked  seven  years  o'  Sundays."  The 
meaning  is  that  he  worked  Iq\  forty-nine  years;  he  was  a  shepherd, 
and  therefore  had  to  work  on  Sundays.  If  the  number  of  Sundays 
he  had  worked  during  his  life  were  added  together,  they  would 
make  seven  years;  multiply  52  Sundays  by  49=™  2,548;  divide 
this  by  365,  and  you  get  seven  years. 

Similes  from  Animal  Life. — "  They  ran  like  two  young  grey- 
hounds." "  I  can't  get  out  of  Dobbin's  pace."  "  Need  to  have 
a  head  Hke  a  hawk."  "As  cunning  as  a  young  rook."  "The 
poor  baby's  arm's  no  thicker  than  a  lamb's  tail  a'ter  It's  been 
skinned." 

Various. — "  What,  be  I  to  be  shrowded  like  a  wuld  potly  ?  " 
(said  by  a  man  when  told  by  the  doctor  that  he  would  have  to 
lose  his  arm,  i.e.  lopped  like  an  old  pollard).  "  These  yere  cats 
be  passon  and  clerk "  (one  white,  the  other  black).  "  I  be 
just  like  a  almanack,  I  can  tell  the  changes  coming"  (said  by 
a  rheumatic  woman).  "  Chatter-watter "  is  a  good  expression 
for  "  tea."  Two  good  terms  of  abuse  are  "  Thee  girt  maa-kin  " 
(malkin,  a  long,  thin  haking-slick).  "  Thee  little  truckle-muxen  " 
(little  girl  playing  about  in  the  mud).  "Passon  gied'em  a  physic- 
ball  'smaroin'  in  church."    (All  between  1888  and  1900,) 

This  small  collection  from  a  small  locality,  though  possessing 
little  that  is  remarkable,  still  illustrates  fairly  well  the  outlines  of 
folklore  ;  and  it  is  probable  that  much  more  might  be  gathered 
in  other  places  like  these,  particularly  in  the  region  of  popular 
superstition,  as  well  as  fragments  of  history  with  local  interpreta- 
tions and  additions. 


John  U.  Powell,  M.A. 


84  Collectanea. 

Folktales  from  the  iEcEAN. 

(Continued  from  voL  xi.,  p.  456.) 

XV.  The  Accursed  Schoolmaster.     (Lesbos.) 

In  a  certain  town  there  was  a  schoolmaster,  who  was  one  of  the 
Accursed.  Every  day  he  used  to  eat  a  little  girl.  The  king's 
daughter  was  one  of  his  pupils.  One  day  she  came  to  school 
earlier  than  usual,  and  went  up-stairs  and  saw  him  feasting  on  a 
girl.  She  ran  down  quickly  and  said  nothing  to  anyone  about  it, 
but  she  said  to  herself,  "  I  will  go  to-morrow  and  see  if  he  does 
this  every  day."  She  went,  and  found  him  eating  another  little 
girl.  On  the  third  morning,  as  she  was  watching,  he  noticed  her 
and  caught  her,  and  asked  her  if  she  had  told  anyone  about  it 
She  swore  she  had  not  (if  she  had,  he  would  have  eaten  her  too) ; 
but  he  cut  her  with  razors  and  tortured  her  to  make  her  confess. 
When  he  had  tortured  her  enough,  he  carried  her  away  and  put 
her  on  the  roof  of  the  palace  of  another  king,  and  left  her  there. 

This  king  was  young,  and  lived  with  his  mother.  In  the  night 
he  was  awakened  by  the  cries  of  a  child  overhead :  "  O  blessed 
Mary,  O  my  mother,  help  me :  what  shall  I  do  ?  "  He  ran  and 
called  his  mother,  and  she  said,  "  Wait  until  dawn,  and  we  will  go 
and  see  what  it  is."  In  the  morning  they  went  up  on  the  roof,  and 
found  the  little  girl  thus  vilely  used  and  half  dead  of  wounds  and 
cold  and  hunger.  They  took  every  care  of  her,  and  in  a  month 
or  two  she  was  well.  Then  the  king  said  to  his  mother,  "  I  will 
take  her  to  wife ;  she  came  and  fell  on  our  roof  and  she  is  my 
Kismet  (fate)."  "  Marry  her  if  you  will,"  said  his  mother,  "  but 
remember  we  do  not  know  what  race  she  comes  of.  She  may  be 
of  the  Jews,  or  the  Turks,  or  the  Gipsies."  But  the  king  persisted 
in  his  resolve ;  and  when  the  girl  was  old  enough  he  married  her. 

She  became  with  child,  and  just  before  the  time  of  her  delivery 
the  king  had  to  go  away  to  war.  He  begged  his  mother  to  take 
every  care  of  his  young  wife,  and  she  promised  him  that  she  would 
cherish  her  as  she  cherished  himself. 

The  ypung  queen  gave  birth  to  a  beautiful  boy ;  but  in  the 
night  came  the  Accursed  One  and  took  away  the  child,  and 
persuaded  her  that  she  had  eaten  it.  In  the  morning,  when  her 
mother-in-law  came  to  see  the  baby,  it  was  gone ;  and  when  she 


Folktales  from  the  yEgean.  85 

asked  after  it,  the  young  mother  said,  "  I  have  eaten  it."  When 
the  king  arrived  his  mother  told  him  what  had  happened,  and 
said  she  supposed  his  wife  must  belong  to  some  tribe  who  were 
accustomed  to  eat  their  children.  But  although  the  king  was 
very  sorry,  his  love  was  still  in  its  place,  and  he  spoke  no  word  of 
rebuke  to  his  wife. 

Again  the  young  queen  found  herself  with  child,  and  again  the 
king  had  to  go  to  war,  and  commended  her  to  his  mother.  This 
time  the  child  was  a  beautiful  girl,  and  the  queen  begged  them  to 
give  her  a  roast  lamb  and  lots  to  eat.  In  the  ^night,  however,  the 
Accursed  schoolmaster  came  back  and  took  the  child,  and  again 
made  her  think  she  had  eaten  it ;  and  this  was  all  the  reply  her 
mother-in-law  could  get  in  the  morning  when  she  asked  what  had 
become  of  it. 

The  king,  when  he  came  back  and  heard  of  it,  was  very  sorry, 
but  still  was  steadfast  in  his  love,  and  would  not  talk  to  his  wife 
about  it. 

Again  the  queen  conceived,  and  again  the  king  had  to  go  to 
war  a  little  while  before  the  babe  was  born.  It  was  a  lovely  boy, 
and  that  night  the  mother  asked  them  to  give  her  a  live  lamb  to 
eat,  and  when  she  was  alone,  she  swaddled  the  lamb  in  the  baby's 
clothes,  and  locked  the  baby  up.  But  the  Accursed,  when  he 
came,  discovered  the  deceit,  and  made  her  bring  him  the  child ; 
and  in  the  morning,  when  the  queen-mother  asked  where  it  was, 
the  answer  was  the  same  as  before  :  "  I  ate  it." 

This  time  the  king,  when  his  mother  told  him  that  his  wife  had 
eaten  the  third  child  too,  was  wroth,  and  threw  his  queen  into  a 
dungeon,  and  gave  orders  that  she  should  be  starved ;  but  from 
time  to  time  her  servants  managed  to  bring  her  food,  and  so  she 
kept  her  life  in  her.  One  day  the  schoolmaster  appeared  before 
her  in  the  dungeon,  leading  three  children  (he  had  not  eaten 
them,  but  taken'  great  care  of  them).  "  Here  are  your  children," 
said  he  ;  "  but  I  will  slay  yourself  and  your  husband."  When  the 
servants  came  to  bring  her  food  they  recognised  the  children  at 
once  from  their  marks,  and  ran  and  told  their  master.  When  he 
came,  the  queen  told  him  her  whole  story — how  she  was  a  king's 
daughter,  and  how  the  schoolmaster  had  ill-used  her  and  cast  her 
on  the  roof,  and  how  he  had  come  and  stolen  her  children  and 
persuaded  her  that  she  had  eaten  them,  and  of  his  threat  to  kill 
the  king  and  her.     "  I  will  keep  awake  at  night,"  said  the  king. 


86  Collectanea. 

and  never  closed  his  eyes ;  and  when  the  wall  opened  and  the 
Accursed  One  came  into  their  chamber,  he  shot  an  arrow  at  him 
and  killed  him. 

XVI.  Melidoni> 

(Lesbos :  told  by  Mersini.     Cf.  for  the  incidents  No.  VI.) 

There  was  once  a  poor  fisherman  who  had  three  daughters,  and 
they  were  getting  old  enough  to  want  husbands ;  and,  as  is  the 
wont  of  girls  at  that  age,  they  were  becoming  very  troublesome 
and  quarrelsome.  Their  father  was  very  poor;  by  his  craft  he 
made  only  just  enough  to  keep  his  family  alive.  One  day,  when 
he  was  at  the  caf^,  the  cafezi  asked  him  why  he  looked  so  sad. 
"  I  am  thinking,"  said  the  fisherman,  "  how  it  will  be  possible  to 
get  a  husband  for  my  eldest  daughter."  Said  the  cafezi,  "  If  you 
make  yourself  so  miserable  as  that,  you  will  have  a  fit  of  apoplexy, 
and  your  daughter  will  be  worse  off  than  ever.  Go  and  pray  to 
God,  and  make  a  cast  with  your  net  in  the  name  of  your 
daughter's  luck."  "  Alas,"  said  the  fisherman,  "  what  will  a  few 
pounds  of  fish  be?"  Nevertheless  he  took  the  cafezi's  advice, 
and  went  for  his  nets,  and  made  a  cast  in  the  name  of  his 
daughter's  luck.  Out  came  a  great  haul,  200  okes  of  fish !  He 
went  and  sold  them  for  800  piastres ;  and  taking  the  money  in 
his  pocket,  he  said,  "  Whoever  will  take  my  daughter  with  this 
money  is  welcome  to  her."  On  the  road  he  met  a  youth  whose 
appearance  pleased  him.  "  Good  day,"  said  he,  "  where  do  you 
come  from?"  "From  Moria,"^  answered  the  boy.  "If  you 
would  like  to  marry  my  daughter,"  said  the  fisherman,  "  here  is 
800  piastres ;  it's  all  I  can  give  you."  "  I  may  as  well,"  said  the 
boy  to  himself  (he  was  a  muleteer  by  trade);  "  it's  enough  for  me 
to  buy  a  horse  and  a  pair  of  breeches  for  myself  and  a  dress  for 
my  wife.  So  he  answered,  "  All  right,"  and  went  home  with  the 
fisherman  and  married  his  daughter. 

In  a  year  or  two  the  cafezi  noticed  the  fisherman  looking  very 
dismal  again,  and  said  to  him,  "  I  suppose  it  will  be  your  second 

*  fieXidwvfi,  "sorrow,"  or  "care"  :  a  Homeric  word  surviving  still  in  this 
tale. 

*  A  village  near  Mytilenc. 


Folktales  from  the  ^gean. 


daughter  this  time  that  you  want  to  marry?  But  what  is  the  use 
of  sitting  with  a  face  like  that  ?  You  managed  to  marry  the  first ; 
you  ought  to  know  how  to  set  about  it  to  dower  the  second.  Go 
again,  and  pray,  and  cast  your  nets  for  her  luclt."  So  the  fisher- 
man went  and  cast  his  nets  for  his  second  daughter's  luck ;  and 
this  time  he  got  300  okes  of  fish,  which  he  sold  for  2,000  piastres 
On  his  road  he  met  a  youth  who  took  his  fancy.  "  Good  day, 
where  are  you  from  ?  "  "  From  Thermi,"  "  Well,  if  you  will 
marry  my  daughter,  here  is  2,000  piastres;  it's  all  1  have,"  The 
young  man  was  a  grocer's  assistant,  and  he  thought,  "  Well,  that's 
enough  to  set  up  a  small  shop."  So  he  consented,  and  ihey  were 
married. 

When  it  came  to  the  youngest  daughter's  turn,  the  favourite, 
the  cafezi  saw  the  fisherman  looking  sadder  than  ever.  "  Well," 
said  he,  "  what's  the  matter  now  ?  "  Said  the  fisherman,  "  I  can't 
think  how  to  get  a  dowry  for  my  youngest  daughter."  The  cafezi 
persuaded  him  to  do  the  same  as  before,  and  again  he  went  and 
cast  his  nets  for  his  youngest  daughter's  luck.  When  he  went  to 
pull  them  up  he  could  not  move  them,  and  he  called  all  the  boat- 
men and  the  steamer  to  come  and  help.  They  all  pulled  with  all 
their  might ;  and  when  they  drew  the  net  up,  what  do  you  think 
there  was  in  it?  One  enormous  lobster!  The  fisherman  sent 
into  town  for  two  carts,  and  on  those  they  put  the  lobster,  and  the 
fisherman  took  it  home  with  him.  He  called  his  daughter  and 
said  to  her,  "Here,  this  is  your  luck;  you  must  marry  the 
lobster  !  "  So  she  was  married  to  the  lobster,  and  her  father 
and  mother  left  her  alone  with  it,  and  went  away  to  another 
place. 

The  poor  girl  sat  weeping,  and  had  just  cried  herself  to  sleep, 
when  she  woke  up  with  a  start,  and  found  by  her  side  a  very 
handsome  young  man,  richly  dressed.  "  Don't  be  afraid,"  said 
he.  "  1  am  your  husband,  and  the  lobster  is  my  ship." '  At  his 
command,  tables  with  all  kinds  of  delicacies  were  brought  in,  and 
they  feasted  logethRr,  and  then  went  to  bed. 

Thus  they  lived  together  for  some  time,  and  she  was  very 
happy,  but  her  husband  told  her  that  if  she  ever  saw  him  when 
her  own  people  were  with  her  she  was  on  no  account  to  tell  who 


I   Ihat  tapa^oi. 


88  Collectanea. 

he  was.  One  day  her  mother  and  sisters  came  to  see  what  she 
was  doing,  and  whether  she  were  alive  or  dead.  They  found  her 
sitting  and  watching  the  lobster.  Her  mother  said,  "My  poor 
child,  you  must  be  hungry.  Shall  we  give  you  food?"  "No," 
said  the  daughter,  "  I  want  nothing ;  you  gave  me  the  lobster, 
and  I  watch  over  it."  As  they  were  all  sitting  at  the  window,  the 
prince  came  by  on  a  white  horse  with  all  his  suite  in  gorgeous 
raiment.  As  he  passed,  the  mother  said,  "  Look  what  a  handsome 
prince;  he  must  have  heard  how  pretty  you  are,  and  that's  why  he 
comes  riding  past  here.  What  would  you  think  of  him  for  a 
husband?"  But  her  daughter  said,  "Do  you  suppose  that  a 
prince  would  think  of  a  poor  girl  like  me  ?  I  am  quite  content 
with  the  husband  you  have  given  me." 

Next  day  the  prince  came  by  on  his  chestnut  horse,  and  he  and 
his  attendants  were  more  richly  dressed  than  before.  The  mother 
said,  "  He  must  be  in  love  with  you."  But  her  daughter  answered 
as  before.  Then  her  mother  and  sisters  said  she  must  be  out  of 
her  wits  to  care  nothing  about  so  fine  a  prince,  and  to  be  content 
with  the  lobster. 

On  the  third  day  her  husband  came  riding  past  on  his  black 
horse,  and  his  dress  and  the  trappings  of  his  horse  glittered  with 
diamonds.  "  Just  look  at  him  now,"  said  the  mother  and  sisters  ; 
"  how  beautiful  he  is  ?  He  came  to  see  you ;  you  may  be  sure 
of  it."  Then  her  daughter  said,  "  You  are  very  silly.  I  can  have 
him  and  his  diamonds  when  I  want  them,  for  he  is  my  husband." 
The  prince  stopped  for  an  instant  and  said,  "  Good-bye,  and  if 
ever  you  see  me  again ,  you  will  be  lucky."  In  a  moment  he 
was  gone. 

Now  he  had  told  his  wife  his  name— it  was  Meiidoni.  Without 
delay  she  ordered  for  herself  three  leather  dresses,  and  three  pair 
of  boots  with  iron  soles,  and  a  basket  and  an  axe,  and  set  out  to 
look  for  him.  On  and  on  she  went,  and  for  a  whole  year  saw 
neither  man  nor  sheep,  and  fed  like  a  beast  on  grass  and  herbs. 
At  the  year's  end  she  came  to  a  place  with  trees  and  a  dry  pond, 
and  in  the  mud  lay  an  ogress,  with  her  eyelids  hanging  down  over 
her  face.  Taking  a  piece  of  wood,  the  girl  inserted  it  under  the 
eyelids,  and  cut  them  short  with  her  axe  ;  then  she  threw  water 
over  the  ogress'  face,  and  ran  away  and  hid  behind  a  tree.  The 
ogress  had  been  blind  for  fifteen  years,  and  when  she  found  her 
blindness  cured,  she  called  out,  "  Come  here,  whoever  you  are  ! 


Folktales  from  the  yEgean. 


If  you  are  a  woman  I  will  make  you  a  queen,  and  if  you  are  a 

man  I  will  make  you  a  king."  But  the  girl  waited  in  hiding,  and 
only  came  out  when  the  ogress  swore  by  her  strength  not  to  hurt 
her.  Then  the  ogress  asked  her  what  she  wanted,  and  the  girl 
said,  "  I  am  looking  for  Melidoni."  "  Stay  with  me  to-night," 
said  the  ogress.  "  I  have  two  sisters,  and  we  have  one  son 
between  us,  and  when  he  comes  home  to-night  I  will  ask  him,  and 
we  will  see  if  he  can  lell  you."  Then  she  turned  her  into  a  button 
and  put  her  in  her  pocket. 

At  night  when  the  ogress'  son  came  home,  he  said,  "  Surely  I 
smell  human  flesh  ! "  "  Nonsense,"  said  the  ogress,  "  how  can  any 
mortal  come  here  to  our  land?  You  must  have  been  with  man- 
kind to-day,  and  you  have  brought  the  scent  of  them  away  with 
you.  And,  by  the  way,  did  you  hear  what  has  become  of 
Melidoni?"  "  Melidoni?"  said  her  son.  "Oh,  yes,  I  heard  he  had 
married  a  beautiful  girl,  but  she  had  betrayed  him." 

Next  day,  when  her  son  was  gone,  the  ogress  turned  the  girl 
into  her  proper  shape  again,  and  told  her,  "  You  must  journey  on 
until  you  find  my  second  sister,  who  is  in  the  same  state  thai  you 
found  me  in,  and  from  her  you  may  find  out  what  you  want." 
Putting  on  her  second  dress  and  pair  of  boots  (for  the  first  were 
quite  worn  out),  the  girl  started  off  and  journeyed  on  for  a  year, 
and  saw  not  even  a  bird  the  whole  time.  At  the  year's  end  she 
came  to  a  tree,  and  beside  it  another  slough,  with  the  blind  ogress 
lying  in  it.  She  cut  her  eyehds  as  she  had  done  to  the  other,  and 
cured  her  loo.  This  ogress  had  been  blind  for  eighteen  years,  and 
she  was  very  grateful.  "  Come  to  me,"  she  called  out.  "  I  will 
make  you  a  queen  if  you  are  a  woman,  and  a  king  if  you  are  a 
man."  But  the  girl  did  not  leave  her  hiding-place  behind  the 
tree  until  she  heard  the  ogress  swear  by  her  courage  that  she 
would  not  hurt  her.  "  What  shall  I  do  for  you  ?  "  asked  the  ogress. 
"  I  want  to  find  Melidoni,"  said  the  girl.  "  To-night,  my  son  Is 
coming,"  said  the  ogress,  "  and  perhaps  he  will  know  where 
Melidoni  is  ;  but  I  must  hide  you,  or  he  will  eat  you."  So  she 
made  her  into  a  thimble,  and  put  her  into  her  pocket.  When  her 
son  came  in,  he  said,  "  I  smell  human  flesh."  But  his  mother 
said,  "  How  can  any  mortal  come  here,  where  no  bird  can  fly  ? 
You  have  been  with  mankind  to-day,  and  have  brought  their  scent 
with  you  ;  and,  by  the  way,  did  you  hear  anything  of  Melidoni  ? " 
"  Yes,"  said  he,  "  I  saw  him  in  the  shape  of  an  angry  black  cloud, 


9^  Collectanea. 

and  he  spoke,  and  said  he  had  married  a  beautiful  maiden,  but 
she  had  been  faithless  to  him." 

Next  morning  at  dawn  the  ogress  said  to  the  girl,  "  Take  this 
pan  and  these  three  apples,  until  you  come  to  a  well ;  and  then 
knock  one  of  the  apples  against  the  pan,  and  Melidoni  will  appear 
before  you.  He  is  my  younger  sister's  son,  and  he  will  appear, 
not  in  his  own  form,  but  in  many  others.  But  don't  let  him 
persuade  you  to  give  him  a  kiss,  for  then  all  will  be  lost ;  but  you 
may  give  him  the  apples  if  he  asks  for  them." 

The  girl  put  on  the  third  dress  and  the  third  pair  of  boots,  and 
journeyed  on  and  on  until  she  came  to  the  well.  She  knocked 
the  pan  once,  and  a  man,  not  her  husband,  appeared  before  her, 
and  asked  her  what  she  was  doing  there.  "  I  am  Melidoni's  wife  " 
said  she,  "and  I  am  looking  for  him."  "  Give  me  a  kiss,"  said  he, 
"  and  I  will  take  you  to  him."    She  replied : 

**  Never  shall  Melidoni's  kiss  be  slave  to  any  pleading; 
For  Melidoni's  sake  I'm  lost,  but  now  I  am  succeeding." 

Then,  as  he  could  not  get  the  kiss,  he  asked  for  one  of  the  apples, 
and  she  gave  him  one.  He  began  to  press  her  more,  and  said, 
"Just  let  me  kiss  you  on  one  cheek."  But  she  steadfastly 
refused,  and  always  answered  him  with  the  same  couplet.  Then 
he  asked  for  another  apple,  and  she  gave  it  him ;  and  then  again 
for  a  kiss,  but  that  she  would  not  give  him.  But  the  third  apple 
she  gave  him,  and  when  he  had  it  he  said,  "  Now  if  you  won't 
give  me  a  kiss  I'll  take  you  to  my  mother,  and  she'll  eat  you  up ;" 
and  he  blew  on  her  and  changed  her  into  a  button,  and  put  her 
in  his  pocket. 

Then  he  took  her  to  the  house  of  his  mother,  the  third  ogress. 
When  he  came  in  his  mother  said,  "  I  smell  human  flesh."  "  It 
is  because  I  have  been  with  mankind,"  he  said ;  and  they  sat  down 
together  to  dine.  When  Melidoni  saw  his  mother  was  in  a  good 
humour,  he  said  to  her,  "  Suppose  my  wife  were  here,  would  you 
eat  her  ? "  "  No,"  said  his  mother.  "  I'm  sure  /  would,"  said 
he  ;  "  and  do  you  mean  to  say  you  wouldn't  ?  "  "  No,  I  would 
not,"  said  the  ogress.  "  Swear  by  your  courage,"  said  her  son, 
"  that  you  wouldn't  eat  her."  His  mother  swore  it,  and  he  took 
the  button  out  of  his  pocket  and  changed  it  into  the  girl,  and 
said,  "  Here  she  is,"  and  left  her  with  his  mother. 

Next  day  his  mother  said  to  her,  "  I  am  going  out,  and  you 


Folktales  from  the  y£gean. 


91 


must  sweep  the  house.  There  are  forty  rooms  in  it,  and  ihey 
must  all  be  swept  and  not  swept  before  I  come  back."  The  girl 
sat  down  and  cried,  and  as  she  was  crying  her  husband  (but  not 
in  his  own  forml  stood  before  her,  and  asked  her  why  she  was 
crying.  She  told  him  her  story.  Then  he  promised  to  help  her 
if  she  would  give  him  a  kiss.     "  Never,"  she  said  ; 

"  Never  shall  Melidoni's  kiss  be  slave  lo  an;  pleniJiiig  ; 
For  Mcliduni'i  sake  I'm  lost,  bm  now  I  am  succeeding." 

"  Well,  you  are  obstinate,"  said  he ;  "  but  I'll  tell  you  what  to  do. 
First  sweep  the  house  clean,  and  then  put  the  dust  on  the  broom 
and  scatter  it  about."  So  she  did ;  and  when  the  ogress  came 
back  and  saw  the  task  performed,  she  said,  "  You  are  either  a 
witch  or  a  witch's  daughter,  or  else  my  son  told  you."  She 
replied,  "  I  am  neither  a  witch  nor  a  witch's  daughter,  nor  did  any 
one  tell  me.    Cod  gave  me  light,  and  I  did  ii." 

Next  day  the  ogress  told  her  to  cook  and  not  cook  the  meat 
She  sat  down  to  cry  again  ;  and  as  she  cried  her  husband  stood 
before  her  in  another  shape,  and  begged  her  for  a.kiss.  "  Never," 
she  replied  : 


"  Well,"  he  said,  "  you  are  a  very  obstinate  girl,  but  I  am  sorry 
for  you,  and  I  will  tell  you  what  to  do.  Cut  half  the  meat  and 
put  it  on  to  boil,  and  cut  the  rest  into  little  bits  and  throw  it  in 
the  pot  when  you  see  the  ogress  coming."  So  she  did,  and  the 
ogress  again  said  as  before,  and  received  the  same  answer. 

Next  day  the  ogress  said,  "  My  son  is  going  to  be  married  next 
week,  and  I  want  to  bake  bread  for  his  wedding.  You  must  go 
lo  my  sister's  and  fetch  yeast  from  her  house."  As  the  girl  went 
crying  on  her  way  her  husband  met  her  in  the  shape  of  a  boy  of 


thirteen  years,  and  asked  her 
him  her  story.  "  I  am  Melidoni 
father  is  going  to  marry  again.  G 
will  help  you."     "  No,"  said  she  : 


oing?     She  t 
,"   he  said,   "and  my 
;  a  kiss,  auntie,  and  I 


o  any  pleading  ; 
V  I  am  succeeding." 


"  But  just  let  me  kiss  your  hand,"  said  he.     "  Not  even  my  foot," 


g2  Collectanea. 

said  she.  "  You  are  not  nice,"  said  he ;  "  but  for  the  sake  of  my 
father's  soul  I  will  tell  you  what  to  do.  You  will  come  to  a  place 
where  thorns  grow  in  the  road  ;  and  you  must  take  off  your  shoes 
and  walk  over  them  and  say,  *  Why,  what  nice  thorns ;  it  is  just 
like  walking  on  cotton.  I  wish  we  had  thorns  like  these  at 
home.'  Then  you  will  come  to  a  fig-tree,  and  its  figs  are  full  of 
worms ;  you  must  eat  one,  and  say,  *  What  delicious  figs ;  I  wish 
we  had  a  fig-tree  like  this  at  home.'  Outside  the  ogress'  house 
stand  a  donkey  and  a  dog ;  the  donkey  has  bones  under  his  nose 
and  the  dog  has  straw.  You  must  give  the  bones  to  the  dog  and 
the  straw  to  the  donkey.  In  the  courtyard  is  a  fountain,  from 
one  side  of  which  flows  blood  and  from  the  other  pus.  You 
must  drink  from  it  and  say,  *  What  nice  water  this  is.  I  wish  we 
had  water  like  it  at  home.'  The  yeast  you  will  find  at  the  top  of 
the  stairs.     You  must  sweep  the  stairs  and  run  off  with  it." 

The  girl  did  as  she  was  bid.  She  passed  the  thorns  and  the 
fig-tree  (she  ate  two  figs  instead  of  one),  and  the  dog,  and  the 
donkey,  and  the  fountain ;  and  with  her  dress  she  swept  the  stair, 
and  carried  off  the  yeast.  As  she  ran  away  with  it,  it  called  out, 
"  Mistress,  mistress."  The  ogress  got  up  and  saw  her,  and  called 
out,  "  Drown  her,  fountain ; "  but  the  fountain  would  not  drown 
her ;  and  then,  "  Eat  her,  donkey  and  dog ; "  but  they  would  not 
eat  her  ;  and  then,  "  Fall  on  her,  fig-tree  ; "  but  the  fig-tree  would 
not  fall  on  her.  Then  she  cried,  "  Embrace  her,  thorns ; "  but  the 
thorns  would  not ;  so  she  got  back  safe  with  the  yeast. 

The  day  before  the  wedding  the  ogress  said  to  her,  "  My  son  is 
to  be  married  to-morrow ; "  then  giving  her  a  mattress,  a  loaf  of 
bread,  a  donkey,  and  a  dog,  she  went  on,  "  You  must  fill  this 
mattress  with  feathers,  and  give  the  dog  his  fill  to  eat,  and  the 
donkey  must  come  back  dancing,  and  you  must  bring  me  the  loaf 
back  untouched."  The  girl  went  and  sat  down  with  her  back 
against  a  stone  and  began  to  cry.  Then  her  husband  appeared 
to  her  in  his  proper  form,  and  said,  "  Behold  me ;  I  am  your 
husband.  I  have  been  disguising  myself  so  long  to  try  you,  and 
I  have  found  you  faithful.  Now  you  may  kiss  me  and  I  will  tell 
you  what  to  do."  "  No,"  she  said,  "  not  until  we  get  home,"  and 
she  would  not  yield.  Then  he  told  her  to  call  on  the  birds,  and 
say,  "  Melidoni  is  going  to  be  married ; "  and  they  would  come 
and  shed  their  feathers,  and  she  was  to  fill  the  mattress,  and  there 
would  be  enough  over  for  the  dog  to  eat.     When  she  got  near 


Folktales  from  the  ^gean.  93 

home  she  was  to  beat  the  donkey  and  make  it  kick  (for  that  is 
the  way  a  donkey  dances).  "  Next  day,"  said  he,  "  you  will  come 
to  the  wedduig,  and  we  will  give  you  torches  to  hold.  As  they 
bum  down  you  must  bear  the  pain,  but  when  you  are  told  to 
throw  them  down,  throw  them  at  the  bride  and  set  her  hair 
alight." 

So  the  girl  did  as  she  had  been  told  that  day,  and  the  next  day, 
at  the  wedding,  she  was  given  two  torches  to  hold.  When  the  pitch 
ran  down  they  burnt  her  very  much,  and  she  called  out,  "  Oh  ! " 
The  bridegroom  turned  round,  and  said,  **  Throw  them  down." 
But  instead  of  throwing  them  down  she  threw  them  at  the  bride 
and  set  her  hair  on  fire.  I  was  there  and  ran  like  everybody  else 
to  put  out  the  flames ;  but  it  was  all  of  no  use,  and  the  bride  was 
burnt  up,  and  in  the  tumult  the  prince  and  his  old  love  slipt  away 
and  went  home  to  her  father's  house.  There  they  found  that  her 
father  and  mother  had  burnt  the  lobster  shell;  so  they  lived 
always  together,  and  her  husband  never  left  her  again. 


XVII.  Thirteen, 

(Calymnos  :  told  by  Yannis  Kephalouchos,  aged  about  50, 
labourer.) 

Once  upon  a  time  there  were  in  Calymnos  an  old  man  and 
woman  who  had  seven  sons.  Skilful  reapers  were  they,  and  used 
to  earn  about  a  pound  a  day  between  them;  but  instead  of 
bringing  home  all  their  earnings  they  spent  most  of  them  in  drink 
at  the  tavern,  and  used  to  come  home  of  an  evening  with  little 
more  than  a  couple  of  dollars.  The  mother  and  the  youngest 
brother  used  to  scold  the  six  eldest  for  wasting  their  earnings 
thus ;  so  they  determined  to  go  across  to  Asia  Minor  and  find 
work  there,  but  to  leave  the  youngest  at  home  to  fetch  water  and 
do  errands  for  the  old  folks.  But  he  discovered  their  plan ;  and 
when  they  started  in  a  boat  he  took  another  boat  himself  at  once, 
and  followed  until  he  met  them  in  Asia  Minor. 

They  went  up  the  country  looking  for  work.  One  day  they 
came  to  a  great  plain  covered  with  ripe  standing  corn.  Well, 
they  thought,  this  corn  wants  reaping  and  there  seems  no  one  to 
do  it,  so  they  fell  to,  making  sure  that  the  owner  would  appear 
and  pay  them  wages.     Soon  the  owner,  who  was  an  ogre,  did 


94  Collectanea. 

appear,  and  asked  what  they  meant  by  reaping  his  com.  They 
told  him  what  they  had  been  thinking.  "  Well,"  said  the  ogre, 
"  look  here ;  I  have  seven  daughters.  If  you  can  reap  as  quickly 
as  I  can  bind  I  will  marry  you  to  my  daughters ;  but  if  I  catch 
you  up  I'll  eat  you."  The  youngest,  who  was  the  clever  one  of 
the  family,  directed  his  brothers  to  make  the  trusses  of  corn  much 
smaller  than  they  were  used  to  do  at  Calymnos ;  then,  said  he,  he 
will  never  catch  us  up.  All  that  day  they  reaped,  and  the  ogre  could 
not  bind  fast  enough  to  catch  them  up.  In  the  evening  he  invited 
them  to  his  castle  to  dine  and  pass  the  night.  In  the  middle  of 
the  hall  slept  the  ogre  and  Mrs.  Ogre,  on  one  side  of  them  his 
seven  daughters,  and  on  the  other  the  seven  reapers.  The 
youngest  very  wisely  kept  awake ;  for  in  the  middle  of  the  night 
he  heard  the  ogress  say  to  her  husband,  "  Now  they're  asleep,  get 
up  and  kill  them  for  breakfast."  As  many  times  as  the  ogre  got 
up  to  cut  their  throats  the  youngest  brother  coughed  loudly,  and 
back  went  the  ogre  to  bed ;  until  at  length  it  was  morning  and 
his  brothers  woke  up  too,  and  he  told  them  what  had  happened. 
All  that  day  they  reaped ;  and  at  evening  there  was  only  one  day's 
work  left ;  but  the  ogre  was  behind  in  his  binding. 

That  night  again  the  youngest  kept  awake,  and  heard  the 
ogre  say  to  the  ogress,  "  We'll  put  out  the  light  to-night,  and  then 
I'll  get  up  and  cut  their  throats."  The  moment  the  light  was  out 
the  youngest  brother  got  up  and  took  off  the  seven  daughters' 
headkerchiefs,  and  put  them  on  his  own  and  his  brothers'  heads, 
and  their  fezzes  he  put  on  the  daughters'  heads.  The  ogre  got  up 
to  cut  the  throats  of  the  seven  brothers ;  but  when  he  felt  the 
kerchief  on  the  first  one's  head,  "  A  pretty  mistake,"  said  he,  "  I 
was  going  to  make,"  and  went  over  to  the  other  side,  and  cut  all 
his  daughters'  throats,  and  then  he  went  back  to  bed  again  and  to 
sleep. 

Then  the  youngest  reaper  awoke  his  brothers  and  off  they 
started  and  ran  for  their  lives.  In  the  morning  said  the  ogress, 
"  Let's  get  up  and  cook  them."  But  when  they  came  there  were 
their  seven  daughters  all  stiff  and  stark,  and  the  seven  brothers 
gone.  Off  went  the  ogre  to  catch  them  ;  but  when  he  was  close 
upon  their  heels  they  reached  a  river  and  crossed  it,  and  he  could 
go  no  further.  From  the  other  bank  the  youngest  called  out  to 
him,  "  This  is  nothing,  the  worst  is  to  come,  and  if  you  want  to 
know  my  name,  it  is  Thirteen." 


Folktales  from  the  Aigean.  95 

I  They  journeyed  on  until  they  came  to  a  city,  where  ihey  settled 
'a  a  house  near  the  king's  palace.  The  king  sent  (or  the  strangers 
"and  questioned  them.  Now  the  six  elder  brothers  were  very 
jealous  of  the  youngest,  and  when  they  had  told  the  king  how  he 
had  cheated  the  ogre,  they  went  on  :  "The  ogre  has  a  coverlet 
with  forty-one  bells,  and  our  brother  is  clever  enough  to  fetch  it 
for  you,"  So  the  king  commanded  him  lo  fetch  the  coverlet. 
"  How  can  1  ?  "  said  he.  But  the  king  gave  him  the  choice 
either  to  fetch  it  or  be  killed. 

So  away  went  poor  Thirteen,  and  on  his  road  he  came  across  a 
cat  and  some  mice  quarrelling  about  the  division  of  a  carcass. 
He  divided  it  for  them  so  skilfully  that  they  asked  him  how  they 
could  assist  him.  At  first  he  laughed  at  their  offer ;  but  when 
they  insisted,  he  told  them  of  his  errand.  "  That's  a  simple 
matter,"  said  the  mice,  "we'll  fill  the  bells  up  with  cotton;" 
and  off  they  went  and  did  this- 

Thirteen  entered  the  ogre's  castle  at  night  when  the  ogre  and 
ogress  were  in  bed,  and  began  slowly  pulling  the  coverlet  off. 
"  Don't  pull  the  clothes  all  over  to  your  side,"  said  the  ogre  to 
his  wife.  "  I  didn't,"  said  she.  "  You  did,"  said  he.  And  they 
quarrelled  till  they  went  lo  sleep  again.  Then  Thirteen  worked 
the  coverlet  off  and  ran  away  with  it.  When  the  ogre  woke, 
"Why,  you've  got  the  whole  thing  now,"  said  he.  "  You've  got  it 
yourself,"  said  she.  They  struck  a  match  to  see  which  was  right, 
when  lo,  and  behold,  the  coverlet  had  vanished.  "  It's  that 
Thirteen,"  said  the  ogre,  and  off  he  started  to  catch  the  thief. 
But  Thirteen  had  crossed  the  river  before  the  ogre  caught  him  up, 
and  called  out,  from  the  other  side,  "  The  worst  is  yet  to  come." 
Then  he  brought  the  coverlet  to  the  king. 

The  six  brothers  now  said  lo  the  king,  "You  see  now  how 
clever  our  brother  is.  The  ogre  has  a  finer  thing  than  that 
coverlet — a  talking  horse.  Our  brother  could  fetch  you  that  if 
you  want  it."  The  king  sent  for  Thirteen,  and  said,  "  You  must 
go  and  fetch  me  the  ogre's  talking  horse,  or  else  I  will  kill  you." 
Thirteen  was  in  despair,  but  he  was  obliged  to  go.  He  found  his 
way  into  the  ogre's  stable,  and  began  to  saddle  the  horse,  but  it 
called  out,  "  Master,  Master."  Then  out  rushed  the  ogre  and 
caught  Thirteen,  and  carried  him  in  to  the  ogress.  "  I've  got 
him,"  he  said,  "  and  now  we'll  cook  him.  Light  the  oven,  and 
while  lies  roasting  I'll  go  and  ask  my  brother  to  come  and  dine 


96  Collectanea. 

with  as.  I  shall  be  very  hungry  before  I  get  back,  so  hang  up  one 
of  his  forequarters  outside  the  door,  ready  for  me  to  eat  at  once." 
So  the  ogre  started  for  his  brother's  castle,  and  the  ogress  lighted 
an  enormous  fire  in  the  oven.  She  put  Thirteen  in  before  it  was 
quite  hot,  but  he  kept  slipping  out.  ''  Can't  you  make  it  hotter," 
he  said,  *'so  that  I  may  be  roasted  the  moment  I'm  in,  because  this 
is  very  disagreeable  ?  ""  The  ogress  piled  on  more  sticks,  saying, 
"  If  you  don't  know  how  to  keep  inside  I'll  show  you,"  and  in  she 
got  into  the  oven  herself.    Thirteen  slammed  the  oven  door  and 

oasted  the  ogress  to  a  turn ;  then  he  cut  off  her  fore-quarter  and 
hung  it  up  outside  the  castle  door.  On  the  bed  he  piled  a  lot  of 
sticks  and  threw  the  counterpane  over  them.  Mounting  the 
horse,  away  be  rode. 

The  ogre  came  back  with  his  brother,  and  seizing  the  fore- 
quarter  devoured  it  Then  he  went  in  and  saw  the  roast  carcass 
served  up  on  the  table,  and  what  he  thought  was  his  wife  covered 
up  in  bed.  **  Poor  thing,"  he  thought,  "  she  was  tired  with 
cooking,  and  has  gone  to  sleep."  But  when  he  looked  at  the 
roasted  carcass  he  knew  it  was  his  wife's.  Calling  down  upon 
Thirteen  the  most  terrible  curses,  he  started  out  to  catch  him. 
Thirteen  was  waiting  for  him  on  the  far  side  of  the  river,  and 
called  out  again,  "  The  worst  is  to  come,  and  take  care  of  your- 
self this  time." 

When  he  had  brought  the  horse  to  the  palace,  his  wicked  brothers 
said  to  the  king,  "l/jok  how  clever  he  is ;  he  is  so  clever  that  he  could 
bring  the  ogre  himself."  And  the  king  sent  for  him  and  ordered 
him  to  do  this  on  pain  of  death.  There  was  no  help  for  it. 
Thirteen  begged  the  king  to  give  him  a  sharp  woodman's  axe  and 
a  few  dozen  big  nails.  Furnished  with  these  he  set  forth  disguised 
as  a  blackamoor,  and  started  cutting  down  the  ogre's  finest  trees. 
The  ogre  hearing  the  crash  of  the  timber  ran  out  to  see  what  was  the 
matter ;  but  Thirteen,  as  he  approached,  went  on  hacking  away, 
all  the  time  repeating  loudly  to  himself,  "  Curse  that  Thirteen ! 
Curse  that  Thirteen  !"  "What  are  you  doing?  "  asked  the  ogre. 
"  I'm  cutting  wood  to  make  a  coffin  to  put  that  Thirteen  in,"  said 
he  ;  "  he  has  played  me  some  nasty  tricks."  "  And  me  too,"  said 
the  ogre,  and  helped  him  until  he  had  finished  the  coffin.  "  You 
are  much  of  a  size,  Thirteen  and  you,"  said  Thirteen.  "  Would 
you  mind  getting  in  and  seeing  if  the  fit  is  right  ? "  So  in  got 
the  ogre,  and  Thirteen  put  on  the  lid,  and  knocked  in  one  nail. 


Crnffping  Animals'  Ears. 


97 


"Can  you  move  now?"  asked  he.  "Yes,"  said  the  Ogre.  Then 
he  knocked  another  nail  in.  "Can  you  move  now?"  "A  little." 
Then  a  third  nail.  "Can  you  move  now?"  "Not  a  bit." 
"  Thai's  right,"  said  Thirteen.  "  I  am  Thirteen,"  said  he,  and 
nailed  down  the  rest  of  the  lid,  and  carried  the  ogre  in  the  box  to 
the  king. 

The  King  decreed  that  the  ogre  should  be  roasted  after  they 
had  had  a  look  at  him  ;  and  the  six  brothers  said  "  Our  brother 
who  nailed  the  box  down  must  open  it."  So  they  heated  a  large 
oven,  and  Thirteen  went  and  opened  the  box,  and  out  jumped 
the  ogre ;  but  before  he  was  well  out  Thirteen  got  out  of  the  way, 
and  the  ogre  went  for  the  six  brothers  and  gobbled  them  up. 
Then  he  saw  Thirteen  and  chased  him ;  but  Thirteen  dodged 
him  skilfully  ;  and  at  length  he  so  managed  that  the  clumsy  ogre 
in  trying  to  catch  him  fell  head  foremost  into  the  oven,  and  thus 
he  was  roasted. 

Then  the  king  gave  Thirteen  his  daughter  in  marriage  and 
made  him  heir  of  his  kingdom. 

W.  R.  Paton. 


Cropping  Animals'  Ears. 
(Vol.  xi.,  p.  456-) 
Cream -stealing  cats  have  their  left  ears  cut  off  in  the  Highlands. 
Stewart,  'Twixt  Ben  Nevis  and  Glencoe,  p.  238. 

Among  precautions  against  witchcraft,  "  as  soon  as  a  calf  is 
dropt  they  immediately  lacerate  the  ear  by  slitting  it  with  a  knife." 
(Neighbourhood  of  Helrasley,)  Brand,  iii.,  zo,  ai,  quoting  The 
Yorkshireman,  1846. 

"  Chats  entiers  vont  au  sabat  le  samedi ;  mais  si  Ton  leur  avail 
CDup^  de  la  queue  ou  des  oreilles,  ils  n'y  seniient  jamais  admis." 
Dumaine,  Tinchebray,  p.  585,  n.  iiz. 

"  Lorsqu'on  conduit  une  vache  au  laureau,  on  ne  manque  jamais 
pour  la  faire  concevoir  .  .  .  .  de  fendre  en  quatre  la  derniere 
articulation  de  sa  queue."  La  SicoTifcRE :  Le  D^parttment  de 
rOme,  p.  339. 

"  Einem  neugekauften  Pferde  wird  im  Friihjahr  aus  dem  Schweif 
etwas  Blut  genommen,  und  dasselbe  dem  Thiere  eingegeben  .... 
damit  es  dablciben  moge."     Holzmaver,  Osiliana,  p.  109. 

N-  W.  Thomas, 


H.M.   QUEEN   VICTORIA. 

I  feel  it  my  duty,  as  President  of  the  Folk-Lore  Society,  to  offer 
some  expression,  however  inadequate,  of  the  deep  sorrow  felt  by 
the  members  of  the  Society  in  all  parts  of  the  Emjiire  on  the 
mournful  occasion  of  the  death  of  Her  Majesty  Queen  Victoria, 
and  of  the  loyal  and  loving  remembrance  with  which  they  regard 
Her  long  and  glorious  rule ;  and  I  cannot  do  so  more  suitably 
than  in  the  pages  of  the  Society's  official  oi^an. 

It  is  in  the  British  Empire,  which  has  to  so  large  an  extent 
grown  and  been  consolidated  during  Her  Majesty's  reign,  and 
which  includes  within  its  bounds  countless  races  of  every  degree 
of  civilisation  and  mental  development,  from  the  lowest  to  the 
highest,  that  the  student  of  folklore  has  to  seek  many  of  the  most 
precious  materials  of  his  study. 

Under  Her  Majesty's  rule  every  religious  belief  of  these 
races  has  been  respected,  their  customs  have  been  regarded  with 
consideration,  and  their  prejudices  conciliated  ;  and  the  study  of 
folklore,  a  science  the  very  existence  of  which  is  bounded  by  Her 
Majesty's  reign,  has  thus  been  rendered  possible, 

All  these  races  are  now  united  in  one  common  sorrow.  The  loss 
of  the  "  Great  White  Queen  "  is  to  us  and  to  them  the  same,  and 
this  is  a  point  of  sympathy  between  us  and  them  not  to  be  lost 
sight  of  by  those  who  are  brought  into  contact  with  the  subject 
races.  Mutual  sympathy  ought  to  help  forward  mutual  under- 
standing. 

Upon  all  these  grounds,  the  members  of  the  Folk-Lore  Society 
claim  a  special  share  in  the  universal  grief  which  has  fallen  upon 
the  subjects  of  the  Queen ;  and  on  their  behalf  I  desire  to  offer  an 
expression  of  respectful  condolence  to  Her  illustrious  Son,  whose 
declaration  when  entering  upon  His  great  heritage  has  touched 
al!  hearts. 

Long  may  King  Edward  VH.  and  Queen  Alexandra  live  to 
carry  down  to  remote  posterity  the  traditions  of  Victoria  and  of 
Albert  the  Good  ! 

E.  W.  Brabrook, 

Pmident  igar. 


J  F  Em^llP,  .Q 


WEATHERCOCKS. 


Correspondence.  gg 

Weathercocks. 
(Vol.  Xi..  p.  322.) 

In  1870  and  the  few  succeeding  years  I  made  about  forty-five 
drawin){s  of  weathercocks.  1  knew  nothing  of  any  meaning  they 
might  have,  though  I  used  lo  think  that  there  must  be  a  meaning ; 
curiosity  of  form  was  sufficient  attraction  to  induce  me  lo  make 
a  drawing.  Some  of  those  I  have  depicted  are  on  buildings 
which,  I  believe,  have  been  since  pulled  down.  Amongst  them 
are  not  a  few  representations  of  animals. 

On  Hendon  Church  (St.  Mary's)  a  lamb  and  flag,  which  (I  was 
told  by  the  landlady  of  an  inn  close  to  the  church)  was  said  to  be 
the  only  one  of  its  kind  in  England ;  on  Llanfair  Caer  Einion 
Church,  Montgomeryshire,  a  cock ;  1  have  seen  this  on  many 
churc'hes  in  Wales,  England,  and  the  neighbourhood  of  Boulogne- 
sur-Mer,  whatever  might  be  the  dedication  of  the  church  ;  on 
Neasdon  House,  Middlesex,  a  stag  ;  on  a  stable  at  Neasdon,  a 
running  fox  ;  on  Bridge  House,  Hendon,  Middlesex,  a  peacock 
(the  tail  not  spread) ;  on  Clovelly  Church,  Devonshire,  a  bird  of 
some  kind,  certainly  not  a  cock  ;  on  the  lantern  of  the  Inner 
Temple  Hall,  London,  a  winged  horse  (the  crest,  I  believe,  of  the 
Society) ;  at  Friern  Barnet,  Middlesex,  a  flying  swallow ;  at 
Greenford,  Middlesex,  a  bear's  or  boar's  head  (Plate  II.,  A). 

Weathercocks  with  representations  of  fabulous  animals  are,  on 
Seaford  Town  Hall,  Sussex,  a  horse's  head  and  forelegs  (the  two 
feet  holding  an  anchor)  joined  to  a  fish's  body  with  a  long  waving 
tail  (B) ;  at  Clay  Hill,  Beckenham,  Kent,  a  dragon's  head  (C) ;  a 
similar  one  at  Caroline  Mount,  Chingford,  Essex ;  on  another 
house  at  Chingford,  another  form  of  dragon's  head  (D). 

Many  weathercocks  have  a  form  as  of  a  ribbon  with  its  end  slit 
and  waving  in  the  wind,  of  which  E,  from  Hanger  Hill,  Ealing, 
Middlesex,  is  a  fairly  typical  example.  But  the  question  may  arise : 
Is  this  very  common  form  of  weathercock  a  debased  form  of  the 
dragon's  head?  for  F,  from  Luccombe  Church,  Somersetshire, 
would  seem  to  be  a  transition  from  the  one  to  the  other. 

Very  many  weathercocks  are  in  the  form  of  arrows  with  more  or 
less  ornate  feathering.  The  vane  of  the  weathercock  of  Merton 
Church,  Surrey,  is  pierced  with  representations  of  the  sun,  moon, 
and  a  star.     On  the  weathercock  of  Twyford  Chapel,  Middlesex, 


lOO  Correspondence. 

are  the  letters  I  H ;  a  part  which  probably  had  the  letter  S  has 
been  broken  away.  At  Bury  Street,  Edmonton,  Middlesex,  is  an 
angler  drawing  a  fish  out  of  the  water ;  the  action  of  the  figure  is 
very  good ;  he  is  in  late  seventeenth-century  costume. 

Much  might  be  said  about  the  fanciful  scroll-work  which  sup- 
ports the  post  of  the  weathercock  and  the  four  letters  which  are 
around  it,  but  I  suppose  that  this  is  a  matter  of  art  rather  than  of 
olklore. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  London  and  Middlesex  Archaeological 
Society,  held  on  the  13th  March,  1876,  a  paper  on  the  Church  of 
St.  Michael,  Queenhithe,  was  read  by  the  rector,  the  Rev.  G.  L. 
Gibbs.  In  his  paper  he  stated  that  '*  it  was  said  "  that  the  ship 
forming  the  weathercock  of  the  church  had  been  used  as  a  measure 
of  the  amount  of  com  which  was  the  Queen's  due  from  every  ship 
entering  the  port  of  Queenhithe. 

A  ship  in  full  sail  was  also  the  device  on  the  weathercock  of  the 
now  demolished  Church  of  St.  Mildred,  Poultry.  There  are  several 
curious  weathercocks  on  other  churches  in  the  City  of  London, 
but  I  can  only  at  present  call  to  mind  three :  on  St.  Clave,  Hart 
Street,  a  royal  crown;  on  St.  Lawrence  Jewry,  a  gridiron,  the 
symbol  of  St.  Lawrence ;  on  St.  Peter,  Comhill,  a  single  key,  not 
the  two  cross-keys  which  are  the  symbol  of  St.  Peter. 

A  young  man  in  the  City  told  me  that  he  had  once  seen  the 
dragon  of  Bow  Church  steeple  in  a  builder's  yard,  where  it  was 
undergoing  repairs,  and  that  he  had  been  told  that  when  the  dragon 
of  Bow  Church  and  the  grasshopper  of  the  Royal  Exchange  were 
both  together  in  the  same  builder's  yard  the  streets  of  London 
would  run  with  blood. 

J.  P.  Emslie. 


Alphabet  used  in  Consecrating  a  Church. 

(Vol.  xi.,  p.  105.) 

In  answer  to  A.  E.  O.  E.'s  question,  Professor  Albrecht  Dieterich 
of  Giessen,  the  distinguished  author  oi Abraxas  (\Z^\)  and  Nekyia 
(1893)  has  sent  me  an  offprint  of  his  paper  in  the  Rheinisches 
Museum  fiir  PhilologiCy  vol.  Ivi.,  entitled  "  ABC-Denkmaeler."  In 
this  exhaustive  study  the  author  surveys  the  entire  field — Greek, 


Correspondence.  >''.■■ 

Roman,  Etruscan,  Sanskrit,  Norse,  Medijeval— of  monunieil^.I^nd 
literary  use  of  the  alphabet,  and  shows  that  it  always  had  "been 
and  still  is  of  a  magi^ai  nature.  The  alphabetic  series,  wfietHer 
simple,  reduplicated,  or  transposed,  was  in  itself  a  potent  chani>,-*' 
and  one  which  was  handed  on  by  Paganism  to  Christianity.  T'j\e_.- 
particular  usage  to  which  A.  E.  O.  E.  alludes  will  be  found  in  the-;* 
latest  editions  of  the  PontiJicaU  Romanum  (e.g.  on  p.  130  of  the 
Ratisbon  edition,  1891).  It  precedes  an  exorcism  by  the  con- 
secrating bishop,  the  purport  of  which  is  to  keep  the  devil  out  of 
the  precincts  of  the  newly-consecrated  church.  The  compilers  of 
the  Pontifical  evidently  thought  that  the  Latin  and  Greek  alpha- 
bets conjoined  were  enough  to  frighten  even  the  devil. 

Alfred  Nutt. 


HUSBAND-AND-WIFE  StORY. 

(Vol.  xi.,  p.  375.) 
Professor  Sayce's  Cairene  story,  No.  n,  is  similar  to  Macchia- 
velli's  very  witty  story  of  the  Devil  who  married  a  wife.  The 
name  of  this  story  is  Belphegor.  As  far  as  I  remember,  it  was 
first  published  in  a  small  book  of  stories  by  Firenzuola  (?),  as 
being  his,  and  not  Macchiavelli's,  but  it  is  certainly  the  latter's. 
It  is  translated  in  Italian  Taks,  with  Cruikshank's  plates. 

W.  R.  Paton. 


Head  of  Corpse  between  the  Thighs. 
(Vol.xi.,  p.  413.) 

In  Professor  York  Powell's  review  of  Dr.  Boer's  edition  of  Grtttis 
Saga,  reference  is  made  to  an  ancient  custom  of  burying  the  head 
of  a  corpse  between  the  thighs,  the  head  being  described  in  the 
Saga  as  "  thigh -forked." 

About  three  years  ago  I  visited  and  examined  a  remarkable 
church  near  Barnsley,  and  immediately  after  my  visit  wrote  the 
following  note  {inter  alia)  : 

"  Built  into  the  west  wall  of  the  tower  of  Roystoii  Church,  near 


to2     .•../'.  Correspondence. 

Bari^9l^,*on  the  north  side  of  the  western  doorway,  and  near  the 
grorupdv  is  part  of  the  lid  of  a  stone  coffin. 

^'•Phe  breadth  of  the  stone  is  i  foot  ii  inches ;  the  thickness  in 

'Hve  middle  (it  slopes  away  to  each  side)  is  3^  inches,  so  far  as 

./.jit- can  now  be  measured.    The  length  is  3  feet.    The  cross  carved 

•./'•on  the  lid  is  that  which  is  known  in  heraldry  as  a  cross  crosslet 

.•^•-   On  making  inquiry  from  the  sexton  and  gravedigger,  the  foUow- 

./     ing  account  was  given  to  me.     When  the  font  was  removed  from 

its  old  position  under  the  tower,  and  the  floor  of  the  church 

lowered  about  a  foot,  the  excavators  came  upon  a  coffin  lid,  which 

was  formed  of  two  stones.    The  stones  covered  a  stone  coffin,  in 

which  lay  a  skeleton.     The  skeleton  was  perfect,  but  the  head 

had  been  removed  from  its  natural  position,  and  lay  between  the 

thighs,  near  the  pelvis.     The  stone  on  which  the  cross  is  carved 

was  built  into  the  tower  by  the  gravedigger.     The  other  stone 

which  completed  the  coffin  lid  was  left  in  situ  when  the  remains 

were  covered  up.     The  gravedigger  spoke  of  it  with  horror." 

In  an  article  called  "Eaten  with  Honour"  [^Contemporary 
JRevieWy  June,  1897)  Professor  Flinders  Petrie  speaks  of  a  civilised 
people  of  about  3000  B.C.  who  had  exquisite  handicrafts,  but  who 
"  habitually  cut  the  heads  from  their  dead  and  ate  some  portion  of 
the  bodies."  He  afterwards  describes  bodies  in  tombs  which  had 
been  dismembered  and  the  flesh  eaten. 

The  lid  of  the  coffin  at  Royston  is  shaped  like  those  of  Roman 
coffins  found  at  York.  [See  Wellbeloved's  Eboracuvu)  In  many 
old  stone  coffins  a  place  for  the  head  is  cut  at  one  end.  I  ought 
to  have  asked  the  sexton,  whose  name  is  Joseph  Haigh,  whether 
he  remembered  such  a  thing  in  the  coffin  just  referred  to. 

S.  O.  Addy. 


The  Divining  Rod  in  U.S.A. 

« 

(Vol.  xi.,  p.  434.) 

In  connection  with  Mr.  Rouse's  note  on  divining  rods  for  metals 
in  the  last  number  of  Folk-Lore^  the  following  extract  from  the 
specification  of  an  English  patent,  granted  in  1889  (No.  1,919)  to 
a  Texas  farmer,  may  be  of  interest :  "  The  object  of  this  invention 
is  to  enable  precious  metals  to  be  discovered  by  a  process  com- 
monly known  as  divination;  and  it  consists  in  a  composition  which 


Coriespon  de  n  ct 


103 


has  a  strong  attraction  and  affinity  for  gold  and  silver,  the  attraction 
reseinbhng  somewhat  that  of  magnetism.  In  carrying  my  invention 
into  practice,  I  place  the  composition  in  a  vial  or  flask,  seal  it 
tightly,  and  suspend  it  by  means  of  a  string,  The  composition 
referred  to  is  made  up  of  gold,  silver,  quicksilver,  and  copper,  the 
ingredients  being  placed  in  a  small  vial  or  flask,  together  with  a 
quantity  of  dilute  nitric  or  tartaric  acid  or  pure  alcohol."  (An 
accompanying  drawing  shows  a  flask  with  a  cord  or  string,  about 
20  inches  long,  secured  to  the  neck,  and  the  cork  or  stopper  sealed 
tight,  as  by  wax.)  "  In  iising  my  gold  and  silver  finder,  the  instru- 
ment is  held,  preferably,  by  the  thumb  and  forefinger  of  the  right 
hand  and  steadied  with  the  left  hand ;  it  shoiild  be  held  steady, 
but  not  cramped.  Then,  if  there  are  any  precious  metals  in  the 
immediate  neighbourhood,  the  flask  will  be  attracted  by  such 
metals  and  will  move  toward  them  at  first  and  will  then  vibrate, 
thus  indicating  the  presence  of  the  metaJ  sought  for.  To  protect 
and  conceal  the  contents  of  the  flask,  I  cover  it  with  paper,  cloth, 
or  tin." 

A.  R.  Wright. 


The  Bumble-bek  in  Magic, 
(Vol,  xi.,  p.  438-) 

I  have  not  met  with  the  bumble-bee  as  a  familiar  spirit  in 
Guernsey,  though  much  of  the  folklore  of  the  islands  refers  to  the 
subjects  of  magic  and  witchcraft.  But  the  following  note  from 
the  MS.  collections  of  the  late  Miss  Annie  Chepmell,  who  was  a 
repertory  of  local  folklore,  may  interest  Miss  Peacock  : 

"  Motuhe,  or,  as  pronounced  in  Guernsey,  '  Mouque '  (cf.  O.  Fr. 
mouskes,  moui^ue),  a  fly.  When  a  man  sells  his  soul  to  the  Devil, 
a  demon  is  given  to  him  for  his  servant  and  familiar  spirit.  It 
waits  upon  him  constantly  in  the  form  of  a  fly.  A  wizard  is 
known  by  his  meiigue  as  surely  as  by  his  having  no  shadow." 

Miss  Chepmell,  who  was  sixty-nine  at  the  time  of  her  death  in 
1899,  had  lived  in  Guernsey  all  her  life,  and  as  a  Guernsey 
woman  had  always  heard  and  known  our  island  traditions.  She 
lent  me  the  notebook  from  which  the  above  extract  is  taken,  for 
use  in  the  notes  to  the  volume  of  Guernsey  Folklore,  compiled  by 
the  late  Sir  Edgar  MaccuUoch,  which  I  am  now  editing  at  the 
request  of  the  Bailiff  and  Royal  Court  of  Guernsey. 

Edith  F,  Carey. 


1 04  Correspondence. 

Customs  in  the  Building  Trade. 
(Vol.  xi.,  p.  457.) 

In  the  December  number  of  Folk-Lore  I  see  a  letter  on  London 
Building  Trade  Customs.  I  never  heard  before  of  drink  being 
served  out  when  the  first  chimney  is  finished,  but  I  believe 
it  is  comnv^n  throughout  the  country,  certainly  in  the  north,  to 
have  what  is  called  a  "  rearing  " — namely,  a  supper  or  "  spree " 
— when  the  roof  principals  are  fixed.  I  remember  an  amusing 
instance  of  this  at  Heywood,  in  I^ancashire,  where  the  proprietor 
— being  a  teetotaler  of  rather  austere  religious  principles — on  being 
approached  for  a  contribution  to  the  "  rearing,"  would  not  give 
money  to  encourage  drunkenness  among  the  men,  but  presented 
each  of  them  with  a  cheap  copy  of  the  Bible,  which  of  course 
found  its  way  to  the  nearest  "  pawn-shop  "  for  what  it  would  fetch, 
and  the  language  used  was  scarcely  in  accordance  with  any 
religion  whatever. 

I  believe  that  forty  years  ago  the  same  custom  prevailed  in  the 
vicinity  of  New  York,  I  will  not  say  in  the  city  itself,  but  in 
adjacent  districts  of  New  Jersey,  bordering  on  Staten  Island 
Sound.  W.  Henry  Jewitt. 

Irish  Burial  Custom. 
(See  antCy  p.  3.) 

"I  send  you  an  Irish  pipe,  value  a  fraction  of  a  penny.  It  has 
an  interest  attached  to  it,  however,  which  ....  you  will  appre- 
ciate, and  perhaps  you  do  not  possess  a  specimen.  In  a  few  places 
in  the  west  of  Ireland  the  usual  pipes  and  tobacco — universal  at 
country  wakes — are  brought  also  to  the  graveyard  and  a  fresh  dis- 
tribution made.  Matches  being  not  always  carried  by  the  pea- 
santry, a  lighted  turf  may  be  procured  from  a  neighbouring  cottage 
to  supply  the  necessary  light  for  the  pipes.  The  pipes  are  left  in 
the  rude  box  beside  the  newly-filled  grave,  or  if  the  supply  runs 
short  a  few  are  kept  to  put  upon  it.  These  are  religiously  left 
alone;  but  I  could  not  overcome  the  inclination  to  take  speci- 
mens, one  for  myself  and  one  for  you,  from  the  old  graveyard  at 
Salruck.  You  will  find  the  place  close  to  the  head  of  Killary 
Harbour,  or  rather  at  the  head  of  the  Little  Killary,  in  Murray 
(map,  p.  226)." John  Cooke. 

66,  Morehampton  Road,  Dublin,  8  Dec,  1900. 
(To  E.  Sidney  Hartland,  Esq.) 


Correspiindence.  105 

Sacrifice  to  Avert  Shipwreck. 

There  are  a  curtain  number  of  allusions  in  the  Greek  Romances 
which  have  interest  for  students  of  folklore.  Here  is  a  passage 
which  recalls  the  story  of  Jonah  : 


Eii^afiiotr  ^iKoad^av  to  Kaff  '\a^{vi\v 


V  bpiifia,  vii.  : 


[During  a  storm,  the  helmsman  says  :] 

"Fellow-voyagers,  buffeted  upon  the  waves,  and  about  to  die, 
fierce  is  the  wind,  the  waves  unceasing,  and  rising  to  the  clouds. 
The  mast  is  broken,  the  vessel  full  of  water,  and  1  have  strength 
no  longer  lo  resist  the  mountainous  waves  and  the  violent  blasts 
that  blow  against  us.  I  have  had  shipwreck  enough :  Poseidon 
is  wholly  against  us.  Why  not  follow  the  islanders'  law,  and  pour 
libations  of  supplication  ?  To  cast  lots  is  the  law ;  why  not  cast 
lots  for  the  victim?"  ....  The  lot  fell  on  Hysmine  for  death, 
....  "Poseidon,"  said  one,  "seeks  the  girl;  the  lot  fell  on  her: 
she  is  victim  and  ransom  for  our  lives."  [Then  she  was  stript 
naked  and  cast  overboard.] 

W.  H.  D,  Rouse. 


Spectral  Light  in  Corsica. 

A  story  is  lold  in  M.  Gaston  Vuillier's  Jvr^o/U/i  Isles,  trans- 
lated by  Frederic  Breton,  regarding  a  light  which  is  ai  times  to  be 
seen  at  Busso.  A  certain  lord  of  sporting  tastes  kept  a  monk  as 
chaplain,  one  of  whose  duties  it  was  to  say  prayers  when  the  lord 
returned  from  the  chase.  One  evening  he  came  home  late ;  the 
prayers  had  been  said,  and  the  monk  had  gone  to  bed. 

"  Furious  with  rage  the  lord  rushed  to  the  chaplain's  room  and 
Striped  his  sword  through  the  priest's  body,  From  that  time  the 
monk  returns  each  night  lo  the  village,  wandering  about  with  a 
lighted  taper  in  his  hand,  searching  for  the  site  of  the  chapel  in 
order  to  say  mass  as  he  did  in  the  time  of  the  old  lord." 

That  the  light  exists  seems  certain.  M.  Vuillier  saw  it  one 
evening,  and  the  next  day  made  inquiries  to  satisfy  himself  that 
he  was  not  the  victim  of  hallucination.  "  Many  other  people," 
he  tells  his  readers,  "have  had  their  curiosity  aroused  by  this 
nocturnal  phenomenon,  but  none  has  ever  been  able  to  determine 


1 08  Reviews. 

them  so ;  and  this  volume  is  the  first  instalment  of  the  results  of 
two  expeditions  and  of  many  months'  residence  among  them 
and  their  neighbours  the  Coras. 

The  author  here  presents  us  with  an  account  of  the  gods  and 
goddesses  of  the  Huichols,  and  a  full  description,  accompanied  by 
beautiful  plates  and  other  illustrations,  of  the  various  ceremonial 
objects  connected  with  their  cult.  The  Huichols  are  polytheists, 
sufficiently  advanced  in  civilisation  to  carve  images  of  their 
divinities  and  to  have  god-houses,  dignified  by  Mr.  Lumholtz  with 
the  name  of  temples.  Huichol  philosophy  of  life,  he  tells  us,  is 
summed  up  in  a  sentence  actually  uttered  by  his  Huichol  servant  : 
"  To  pray  for  luck  to  Tatevali  [the  god  of  fire]  and  to  put  up 
snares  for  the  deer — that  is  to  lead  a  perfect  life."  Tatevali, 
Grandfather  Fire,  is  therefore  the  principal  god,  and  his  mother, 
Takotsi  Nakawe,  Grandmother  Growth,  is  the  chief  goddess.  The 
number  of  divinities  is  unlimited,  "since  every  hill  and  every 
rock  of  peculiar  shape  is  considered  a  deity.  .  .  .  However,  it 
would  be  a  mistake  to  assume  that  all  gods  are  in  reality  different. 
...  A  great  number  are  necessarily  only  different  impersonations 
of  the  same  god."  Water-holes  and  springs  are  their  dwelling- 
places.  "Women  are  considered  as  the  daughters  of  the  goddesses 
and  men  as  the  sons  of  the  gods,  each  one  belonging  to  a  par- 
ticular god.  Each  god  has  his  animals,  which,  as  an  Indian  once 
explained  to  me,  stand  in  the  same  relation  to  the  god  as  do  the 
hens  to  the  master  of  the  house." 

Images  of  the  gods  do  not  as  a  rule  stand  in  the  temples.  They 
are  placed  in  excavations  beneath,  or  in  other  secret  places,  often 
in  some  remote  cave.  In  the  temple  is  found  a  kind  of  altar  on 
which  are  seen  sacred  disks  representing  the  god's  domain,  and 
painted  or  carved  with  symbols  of  his  attributes  and  relations  to 
the  world.  They  are  consecrated  by  being  smeared  with  deer's 
blood.  Where  images  of  the  more  important  gods  are  found, 
they  stand  on  such  disks.  Among  other  ceremonial  objects  in  the 
temples  are  votive  chairs  and  stools  for  the  god,  arrows  painted 
with  symbols  of  the  god  and  having  various  votive  objects  attached, 
shields  (both  front-shields,  usually  circular  or  polygonal,  and  back- 
shields  or  beds,  ordinarily  oblong),  symbolic  eyes,  and  votive  bowls. 
Most  of  these  objects  indicate  some  prayer  by  the  persons  deposit- 
ing them.  The  large  collection  made  by  the  author  furnishes 
abundant  illustrations,  which  are  minutely  described  and  their 


'j^i  p.*^  .& 


Iymbolism  of  thk  HuicHOL  Indians.     By  Carl  I.umholtz. 
(Memoirs  of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural   History, 
'.  iii.     Anthropology,  ii.) 

n  HAVE  already  had  the  pleasure  of  drawing  attention  in  these 

iges  to  Dr.  Roas'  monograph  on  the  Mythology  of  the   Bella 

Coola  Indians,  and  that  of  Mr.  Teit  on  the  Thompson  Indians. 

■The  present  work  by  Mr.  Lumholtz  deals  with  the  beliefs  of  a 

^very  different  people  of  the  North  American  continent.  It  is 
equaily  the  fruit  of  the  munificence  and  the  large  comprehension 
of  the  value  of  the  scientific  study  of  savage  peoples  displayed  by 
our  cousins  across  the  water.  Naturally  and  properly  iheir  atten- 
tion is  chiefly  devoted  to  the  elucidation  of  human  pre-history  on 
the  western  continent.  This  is  a  field  of  the  utmost  importance. 
The  unity  of  race  amid  a  variety  of  conditions,  and  the  develop- 
ment of  an  indigenous  culture  almost  untouched  by  external 
influences,  amid  an  environment  of  fauna  and  flora  very  ditferent 
from  those  of  the  old  world,  may  be  expected  lo  throw  new  and 
striking  lights  on  the  problems  of  the  evolution  of  civilisation. 

Mr.  Carl  I.umholt/  is  one  of  the  latest  recruits  to  the  band 
of  trained  American  anthropologists.  His  previous  experience  in 
Borneo  and  Australia  has  stood  him  in  good  stead.  His  quick- 
ness of  observation,  the  minute  accuracy  which  nothing  escapes, 
and  the  insight  bom  of  sympathy  with  savage  modes  of  thought, 
are  worthy  of  the  best  traditions  of  American  science. 

The  Huichol  Indians  were  practically  unknown  lo  science  until 
he  went  among  them.  They  inhabit  the  southern  part  of  the 
Sierra  Madre  del  Norte  in  Central  Mexico.     Through  this  moun- 

I  tainous  territory  the  River  Chapalagana,  a  tributary  of  the  Rio 
Grande  de  Santiago,  runs  in  a  deep  ravine,  whose  sides  broaden- 

Fing  out  rise  to  heights  of  from  8,ood  to  10,000  feet.  Here  the 
Huichols  have  been  able  lo  defy  civilisation.  Missionaries  indeed 
came  to  teach  them,  but  they  have  been  long  since  expelled. 
"To-day  there  is  no  priest  among  them,  the  churches  are  in  ruins, 
and  the  Huichols  are  living  in  the  same  state  of  barbarism  as 
when  Cortes  first  put  foot  on  Mexican  soil."  They  are  thus  an 
ideal  hunting-ground  for  the  ethnologist.     Mr.  Lumholtz  found 


no  Reviews. 

UAnn^e  Sociologique,  publiee  sous  la  direction  de  Emile 
Durkheim,  Professeur  de  Sociologie  k  la  Faculty  des  Lettres 
de  rUniversit^  de  Bordeaux.  Troisiime  Annte  (i  898-1 899). 
Paris :  Fdix  Alcan.     1900. 

The  "  M^moires  Originaux  "  of  the  third  volume  of  this  valuable 
periodical  are  but  little  concerned  directly  with  the  study  of  folk- 
lore. The  first  article  is  by  M.  Frederic  Ratzel  on  the  Soil  in  its 
relations  with  Society  and  the  State.  Insisting  that  these  relations 
have  been  imperfectly  taken  into  account  by  sociological  students^ 
he  points  out  that  the  relation  of  society  to  the  soil  is  always  con- 
ditioned by  a  double  necessity,  that  of  habitation  and  that  of  food- 
supply;  and  he  discusses  very  briefly  how  the  evolution  of  the 
family  and  of  the  state  is  affected  by  the  conditions  of  the  soil. 
The  essay  is  suggestive :  it  might  have  been  lengthened  with 
advantage. 

Passing  over  M.  Gaston  Richard's  article  on  Social  Crises  and 
the  Conditions  of  Criminality  as  dealing  with  a  subject,  however 
interesting,  with  which  we  are  not  here  concerned,  we  encounter 
the  piece  de  resistance  in  M.  Steinmetz's  article  on  the  Classifica- 
tion of  Social  Types  and  a  Catalogue  of  Peoples.  The  author 
contends  that  the  great  want  of  sociology  (on  the  interpretation 
put  upon  this  word  see  my  notice  of  the  previous  volume,  vol.  xi., 
p.  96),  which  embraces  ethnology  and  a  good  deal  beside,  is  a 
proper  classification  of  peoples  and  of  cultures.  The  absence  of 
a  sound  classification  universally  accepted  leads  to  all  sorts  of 
blunders,  and  to  the  elaboration  of  theories  which  are  flights  of 
fancy  and  nothing  more,  but  which  by  their  brilliance  and  plausi- 
bility mislead  the  inquirer  and  delay  the  progress  of  science. 
From  demonstrating  the  possibility  and  utility  of  such  a  classifi- 
cation, M.  Steinmetz  passes  to  the  consideration  of  the  various 
systems  which  have  been  proposed.  These  he  subjects  to  a  keen 
criticism,  finally  sketching  the  classification  he  himself  proposes. 

His  system  is  partly  psychological,  partly  economic.  First  of 
all,  he  classes  human  societies  under  four  heads,  according  to  the 
predominant  character  of  their  intellectual  life.  The  first  head  is 
that  of  the  Urmenschen^  a  purely  hypothetical  class,  wanting  reli- 
gion, wanting  the  idea  of  soul,  of  spirit,  of  fetish,  even  wanting 
animism;  but  it  must  have  preceded  the  second.  The  second 
head  is  that  of  Savages.     Here  animism  is  developed  under  the 


Reviews. 


1 11 


form  of  spiritism,  ancestor-worship,  and  fetishism.  Savages  have 
not  yet  felt  the  need  of  system  in  their  conceptions ;  theit  intel- 
lectual force  is  loo  feeble  for  such  an  effort.  The  next  head, 
therefore,  comprises  peoples  who  display  the  aptitude  for  system- 
arising  and  unifying  ideas.  The  great  mythologies  and  hierarchies 
of  superhuman  beings  are  now  produced ;  inventions,  even  of 
great  importance,  are  made  ;  magnificent  philosophical  poems  are 
conceived  j  even  a  certain  erudition  is  acquired.  Egypt,  China, 
and  the  Middle  Ages  of  Europe,  among  others,  belong  to  this 
class.  The  remaining  head  comprehends  the  scientific  age 
begmning  with  the  Renaissance  and  the  sixteenth  century.  Free 
criticism,  a  methodical  and  scientific  attitude  towards  the  entire 
universe,  is  its  essential  characteristic. 

This  progressive  series,  however,  does  not  fulfil  all  the  require- 
ments. It  is  necessary  to  have  another  division  founded  on  the 
general  character  of  the  economic  life.  Here  the  first  class  is  that 
of  Collectors,  again  a  hypothetical,  or  almost  purely  a  hypothetical 
class,  who  collect  the  gifts  of  nature  with  no  other  instruments 
than  the  simplest  tools  hardly  fashioned  at  all,  and  who  forthwith 
consume  whatever  they  collecL  Next  come  the  Hunters;  third, 
the  Fishers ;  fourth,  the  Agricultural  Nomades,  or  Hunter-Agri- 
culturists. The  fifth  and  sixth  classes  are  those  of  the  Lower 
and  Higher  Agricuhurists.  The  seventh  class  comprehends  the 
Pastoral  Nomades.  The  eighth  is  a  class  disringuished  by  com- 
plexity of  conditions — division  of  labour,  industrial  progress, 
increased  commerce ;  but  the  industries  are  carried  on  in  small 
workshops  by  a  few  hands,  and  often  in  the  household  as  accessory 
to  agriculture.  In  this  class  are  comprehended  the  European 
peoples  during  the  greater  part  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Chinese 
and  others.  The  ninth  class  is  the  period  of  Manufacture,  marked 
by  greater  concentration  of  labour  and  the  rudimentary  employ- 
ment of  natural  forces.  The  tenth  and  last  class  is  characterised 
by  what  M.  Steinmetz  terms  Industry;  division  of  labour  pushed 
to  its  extreme  limits,  regular  employment  of  natural  forces,  such 
as  steam,  electricity,  and  explosives,  as  the  basis  of  all  production, 
and  the  entire  economic  life  founded  on  international  commerce. 

These  classes,  although  beginning  with  the  lowest  and  ending 
with  the  highest,  are  not  necessarily  like  the  last  in  an  ascending 
series  ;  and  each  of  them  is  subdivided  into  various  species.  It 
will  be  seen  that  the  scheme  is  sufficiently  complex  for  all  require- 


i  1 2  Reviews. 


ments.     M.   Steinmetz  pleads  for  its  adoption  as  a  working 
hypothesis,  insisting  on  the  need  of  at  least  some  system  of  classi- 
fication of  all  known  societies  and  their  historical  phases,  if  science 
is  to  make  progress.     FinaUy,  he  calls  for  a  catalogue  raisonnS  of 
peoples  and  of  their  historical  phases,  of  the  method  of  which  he 
sketches  an  outline.     It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  his  system 
of  classification  will  meet  with  the  approval  of  scientific  workers 
and  whether  his  call  will  be  answered.     In  any  case  the  essay  is 
well  worth  reading,  if  only  for  the  analysis  and  criticism  of  the 
systems  hitherto  proposed. 

The  remainder  of  the  volume  is  occupied  with  excellent  reviews 
of  works  interesting  to  students  of  folklore  and  other  branches  of 
anthropology. 

E.  Sidney  Hartland. 


The  Making  of  Religion.    By  Andrew  Lang,  M.A.,  LL.D. 
2nd  Edition,  1900.     Longmans  and  Co.     5s.  net. 

We  are  glad  for  more  reasons  than  one  that  our  distinguished 
ex-President  has  so  soon  been  called  upon  to  prepare  a  second 
edition  of  the  work  which  in  Folk- Lore  for  1898  and  1899  gave 
rise  to  a  memorable  polemic  between  himself  and  his  successor, 
Mr.  Hartland.  In  the  first  place,  the  fact  indicates  the  growing 
interest  of  the  public  in  the  subject,  which  Mr.  Lang  treats  with 
all  the  charm  that  his  practised  pen  and  ready  wit  bestow  upon 
even  the  driest  and  most  abstruse  of  problems.  In  the  second 
place,  it  has  given  him  the  opportunity  of  adding  a  preface,  which 
we  think  in  some  respects  minimises  the  differences  between  him- 
self and  his  critics,  and  removes  the  slight  trend  towards  paradox 
that  is  the  besetting  sin  of  a  brilliant  writer. 

The  readers  oi  Folk-Lore  will  recollect  that  the  work  falls  under 
two  divisions — the  first  eight  chapters  dealing  with  the  origin  of 
the  belief  in  spirits,  and  the  following  nine  chapters  with  the  origin 
of  the  idea  of  a  Supreme  Being,  when  the  notion  of  spirit  has  been 
attained.  These  two  branches  of  the  subject  are  sharply  divided 
— so  much  so  that  Mr.  Lang  says  that  the  students  who  are 
interested  in  and  familiar  with  one  of  them  neither  know  nor  care 
anything  about  the  other,  and  this  he  holds  to  be  the  natural  result 


113 

i  a  too  restricted  specialism.     In  the  first  branch  of  the  subject 

I  compares  the  mystical  phenomena  of  savage  life  with   the 

■modem    instances   examined    by  psychical   research   among  the 

civilised,  suggests  (what  we  are  more  than  ready  to  admit)  that 

the  evidence  of  the  former  is  at  least  as  good  as  that  of  the  latter, 

and  produces  instances  of  clairvoyance,  crystal  vision,  apparitions, 

possessions,  and  fetishism  to  prove  it.     In  the  second  part,  he 

traces  the  evolution  of  the  idea  of  God  up  to  a  high  point  in  very 

low  races,  analyses  what  is  known  of  the  beliefs  of  savage  peoples 

1  a  Supreme  Being,  and  solves  the  difficulties  of  the  question  by 

jverting  to  the  old  degeneration  theory. 

In  the  preface  to  the  new  edition,  in  dealing  with  the  first  part 
of  the  book,  he  urges  upon  such  anthropologists  as  can  observe 
savages  in  their  homes  the  closer  scientific  study  of  those  psychi- 
cal conditions,  as  of  hallucination  and  the  hypnotic  trance,  in 
which  the  belief  in  spirits  may  probably  have  had  some  at  least  of 
its  origins. 

In  dealing  with  the  second  part,  he  does  not  accredit  the  lower 
races  with  more  than  dim  surmises  as  to  a  Supreme  Being,  and  a 
belief  in  "a  kind  of  germinal  Supreme  Being,"  and  this  he  thinks 
need  not  at  all  have  arisen  in  the  notion  of  spirits.  As  soon  as 
man  had  an  idea  of  making  things,  he  might  form  conjectures  as 
to  a  Maker  of  things  which  he  himself  could  not  make,  and 
gradually  clothe  that  Maker  with  powers  and  attributes  which 
would  include  the  ideas  of  fatherhood  and  goodness  and  regard  for 
the  ethics  of  his  children.  The  author  sees  nothing  in  this  beyond 
the  limited  mental  powers  of  any  beings  that  deserve  to  be  called 
human,  and  relies  largely  in  support  of  his  view  upon  the  evidence 
of  Mr.  Howitt  as  to  the  beliefs  in  a  Supreme  Being  entertained  by 
some  of  the  Australian  tribes.  This  he  admits,  however,  not  to 
be  confirmed  by  the  recent  researches  of  Messrs.  Spencer  and 
(iitlen  among  the  Arunta  of  Central  Australia,  and  even  suggests 
that  these  Arunta  may  have  degenerated  in  religion  and  dropped 
the  moral  attributes  the  other  Australian  tribes  are  reputed  to 
have  conferred  on  their  deities. 

While  the  decline  of  belief  in  the  supernatural  is  not  necessarily 
a  sign  of  degeneration,  and  while  it  is  a  commonplace  as  old  as 
Bacon's  Wisdom  of  the  Ancients  that  early  religious  conceptions 
become  modified  in  course  of  lime  into  mythical  beliefs,  we  must 
still  hold  that  it  has  not  yet  been  proven  that  any  savage  tribe 

VOL.    XII  I 


1 1 4  Reviews. 

has  lost  any  high  ideal  of  religion  or  of  morals  that  it  had  ever 
previously  reached.  The  ethical  teaching,  such  as  it  is,  which 
Mr.  Howitt  reports  to  be  given  to  the  Blackfellows  at  their  initia- 
tion, does  not  appear  to  be  of  great  eflfect  in  the  diffusion  of 
sweetness  and  light  among  them.  Perhaps,  however,  the  same 
might  be  said  of  the  ethical  teaching  current  among  the  more 
civilised  races. 


Celtic  Folklore,  Welsh  and  Manx.    By  John  Rhys,  M.A., 
D.Litt     H.  Frowde.     1901.     2  vols.     Price  21s. 

Professor  Rhys  is  an  ideal  collector  of  folklore.  To  begin  with, 
he  was  bom  and  brought  up  in  its  midst.  It  is  not  given  to  every 
man  to  have  been  tended  in  childhood  by  a  nurse  who  belonged  to 
a  family  of  hereditary  hare-witches,  so  that  the  neighbours  blamed 
his  mother  for  putting  her  child  into  the  charge  of  so  untrustworthy 
a  being ;  nor  to  have  been  instructed  by  his  aunt  in  the  history  of 
the  reaper  whose  soul  left  his  body  and  wandered  round  the 
harvest-field  in  the  shape  of  a  little  black  man,  while  the  body 
slumbered  peacefully  among  the  sheaves.  Then  his  chosen  field 
of  work  is  his  native  country,  where  of  course  he  not  only  speaks 
the  language  of  the  people,  but  speaks  it  as  one  of  themselves :  a 
point  of  tenfold  importance  among  the  Welsh,  who  are  sometimes 
more  reserved  with  a  stranger  who  speaks  their  language  than  with 
one  who  does  not.  To  these  enormous  initial  advantages  he  adds 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  local  patriot,  the  educated  man's  sense  of 
the  value  of  evidence;  perseverance,  sense  of  humour,  genial 
bonhomie,  and  immense  power  of  winning  confidence.  He 
elicits  fairy  stories  from  a  peasant-woman  casually  met  at  a  railway 
station,  and  spends  a  fortnight  in  trying  to  draw  forth  the  legend 
of  "  the  lord  of  Castellmarch  who  had  horse's  ears  "  from  an  aged 
blacksmith. 

For  more  than  twenty  years  past  he  appears  to  have  been  in 
the  habit  of  revisiting  his  native  country  with  the  definite  object 
of  collecting  folklore ;  he  has  corresponded  with  all  who  could 
help  him  in  the  work,  and  he  has  made  at  least  one  expedition  to 
the  Isle  of  Man  for  the  same  purpose.  The  matter  so  gathered 
fills  the  greater  part  of  the  two  volumes  before  us. 


Revieivs. 


115 


We  open  them,  and  find  ourselves  transported  to  realms  where 
fairies  eat  bread  and  cheese  and  buy  and  sell  in  markets ;  where 
church  bells  ring  beneath  the  waves,  and  King  Arthur  and  bis 
knights  sleep  in  the  secret  recesses  of  the  mountains ;  where 
sacred  fish  are  guarded  in  wells,  where  your  next-door  neighbour 
may  be  a  fairy  changeling,  and  where  a  man  may  die  from  the 
effect  of  having  an  oath  forced  upon  him  by  a  foe.  And  as  we 
journey,  our  RUide  beguiles  the  way  with  racy  humorous  talk  of 
all  things  relevant  and  irrelevant ;  of  his  own  opportunities  of 
collecting  when  a  village  schoolmaster  in  Anglesey,  lost  because 
he  had  grown  up  "  without  learning  to  observe  anything  except 
the  Sabbath ; "  of  the  baleful  influence  of  Mr.  Robert  Lowe  on 
elementary  education  ;  of  Welsh  etymologies  and  the  skulls  of 
ritualistic  clergy  ;  of  the  unpleasantness  of  life  when  folklore  was 
in  full  flower  ;  and  of  the  (ajjocrypha!  ?)  German  philosopher  who, 
ordering  dinner  at  an  English  hotel,  wound  up  by  saying,  "  And 
hereafter  I  vill  become  a  Velsh  rabbit ! "  Are  we  through  the 
looking-glass  ?  or  are  we  not  ?  We  do  not  greatly  care  ;  we  yield 
ourselves  up  to  hear  the  voice  of  the  charmer. 

But  sooner  or  later  the  magic  volumes  must  be  closed,  and  the 
prosaic  unromantic  Sassenach  nibs  his  eyes,  shakes  himself  free 
from  the  glamour  of  Faery,  and  in  the  clear  cold  light  of  the 
twentieth  century  begins  to  say  disagreeable  things. 

Surely  we  have  read  this  before  !  This  chapter  has  appeared 
in  Folk-Lore,  that  in  Y  Cymnirodor.  Some  were  written  so  far 
back  as  1881  ;  the  final  chapter  of  all  is  an  expansion  of  Professor 
Rhys's  presidential  address  to  the  Mythological  Section  of  the 
Folklore  Congress.  Now  it  is  very  well  to  collect  and  reprint  old 
papers,  but  they  ought  to  be  reprinted  as  such.  Professor  Rhys 
does  not  of  course  imply  that  they  are  newly  written,  but  no 
one  would  suspect  from  the  title-page  that  his  book  is  a  collec- 
tion of  essays,  "  chips  from  a  "  Welsh  "  workshop,"  and  not  a 
single  connected  work.  And  the  want  of  coherence  necessarily 
resulting  from  such  a  method  of  composition  cannot  but  detract 
from  the  usefulness  of  the  book. 

Professor  Rhys  begs  us  in  his  preface  not  to  imagine  that 
"there  is  no  method  in  my  madness;"  and  in  fact,  through  the 
midst  of  digressions,  recantations,  speculations,  and  what  we  can 
only  call  "shots,"  we  do  dimly  discern  that  he  has  a  definite  aim 
in  view,  namely,  to  see  what  light  Welsh  and  Manx  folklore  throw 


1 1 6  Reviews. 

on  the  ethnology  of  the  Welsh  people.  In  this  he  would  have 
been  more  successful  if  he  had  looked  further  afield,  and  by  com- 
paring Celtic  and  non-Celtic  folklore  had  ascertained  what  features 
(if  any)  are  peculiar  to  the  former.  But  though  he  occasionally 
makes  a  good  point,  as  when  he  discusses  the  popular  calendar  of 
the  Isle  of  Man,  the  value  of  his  inductions  suffers  from  the  few- 
ness of  the  facts  on  which  they  are  based.  Even  with  regard  to 
his  favourite  thesis,  that  the  Welsh  belief  in  fairies  arises  partly 
(for  he  considers  that  belief  in  water-spirits  is  another  source  of 
nearly  equal  importance)  from  traditional  memories  of  an  abori- 
ginal or  prehistoric  race  preceding  the  Celts,  we  feel  that  the 
existence  of  such  a  race  may  help  to  account  for  belief  in  the 
fairies,  rather  than  that  belief  in  the  fairies  is  evidence  of  the 
existence  of  such  a  race ;  which  last,  if  we  mistake  not,  is  what 
the  writer  would  have  us  suppose.  But  Professor  Rhys's  naive 
way  of  "  thinking  aloud  "  in  print  tends  to  obscure  the  thread  of 
his  arguments,  though  it  gives  an  inimitable  impress  of  in- 
dividuality to  his  writings. 

We  will  not  attempt  to  follow  him  into  the  thorny  paths  of 
Welsh  heroic  legend.  Some  day,  perhaps,  he  will  tell  a  meeting 
of  the  Society  definitely  what  he  considers  the  Aryan  and  what 
the  non-Aryan  elements  of  Welsh  tradition.  Meanwhile  we  can 
but  thank  him  for  the  amusing,  provoking,  fascinating  book  now 
before  us. 


GuiNGAMOR,  Lanval,  Tvolet,  The  Were-wolf  (Bisclaveret). 
Four  lais  rendered  into  English  prose  from  the  French  of 
Marie  de  France  and  others.  By  Jessie  L.  Weston.  With 
designs  by  Caroline  Watts.  (Arthurian  Romances  un- 
represented in  Malory,  No.  iii.).     Nutt.     2S. 

Miss  Weston  has  again  placed  the  public  in  her  debt  by  a  fresh 
series  of  adaptations  of  tales  which,  though  not  contained  in 
Malory,  may  be  held  to  have  belonged  to  that  stratum  of  mediaeval 
romance  from  which  the  materials  of  the  Arthurian  cycle  proper 
were  drawn.  In  her  former  adaptations  the  author  dealt  with 
romances  belonging  to  what  may  be  called  the  period  of  conscious 
work,  when  the  romance-writer  moulded  his  story  after  a  distinct 
literary  conception  of  his  own.     In  this  present  volume  she  "  goes 


117 


behind  the  work  of  these  masters  of  their  craft  to  that  great  mass 
of  floating  tradition  from  which  the  Arthurian  epic  gradually 
shaped  itseif,  and  of  which  fragments  remain  to  throw  here  and 
there  an  unexpected  light  on  certain  features  of  the  story,  and  to 
tantalise  us  with  hints  of  all  that  has  been  lost  past  recovery." 
The  connection  of  these  tales  with  the  Arthurian  legend  is  some- 
times of  the  slightest.  A  few  lines  from  Chretien  de  Troyes  links 
the  unnamed  actors  in  the  tale  of  Guingamor  with  Arthurian 
romance ;  a  side  hint  from  Malory  serves  to  introduce  the  Lai 
du  Bisclavtrtt,  in  which  again  no  name  is  introduced.  But  the 
general  principle  on  which  Miss  Weston  works  is  a  sound  one. 
"  At  the  time  that  the  longer  Arthurian  romances  took  shape  there 
were  also  current  a  number  of  short  poems,  both  in  Breton  and  in 
French,  the  latter  in  the  precise  metre  adopted  for  the  longer 
poems,  connecting  the  Arthurian  story  with  a  great  mass  of  floating 
popular  folktale,  which  short  poems  were  known  to  the  writers  of 
the  longer  and  more  elaborate  romances.  Are  we  seriously  called 
upon  to  believe  that  they  made  absolutely  no  use  of  them  ?  Such 
a  solution  of  the  Arthurian  problem  I  can  scarcely  think  likely  in 
the  long  run  to  be  accepted  by  students.  The  Arthurian  legend 
has  its  roots  in  folk-tradition,  and  the  abiding  charm  of  its  literary 
presentment  Is  in  reality  due  to  the  persistent  vitality  and  per- 
vasive quality  of  that  folklore  element."  That  the  Arthurian 
story-tellers  spread  wide  their  nets  is  becoming  more  apparent  by 
every  fresh  study  of  the  subject ;  but  what  is  of  still  greater  interest 
is  the  discovery,  hardly  realised  as  yet,  that  the  main  elements  of 
Celtic  romance,  wherever  the  tales  of  the  disconnected  cycles  are 
capable  of  being  compared  together  in  their  more  primitive  state, 
are  found  to  be,  to  a  large  extent,  the  same.  The  number  of 
parallels  between  Breton,  Cymric,  and  Irish  romance  is  constantly 
accumulating,  and  they  are  much  more  apparent  in  these  early 
lais  than  in  the  more  sophisticated  romances  of  later  date.  Miss 
^Veston  has  pointed  out  some  of  these ;  there  are  others  over- 
looked not  only  by  her,  but  also  by  Dr.  Schofield,  in  his  recent  study 
of  the  Lays  of  Graelent  and  Lanval.  In  the  story  of  Guingamor 
both  these  writers  point  out  that  the  Incident  of  the  rape  of  the 
maiden's  clothes  by  the  knight  while  she  is  bathing  is  paralleled 
in  the  Norse  tradition  of  the  swan-maidens,  who  are  forced  to 
become  the  wives  of  the  three  brothers  who  discover  them  bathing 
in  a  lonely  lake  and  get  possession  of  their  swan-garments.     But 


1 1 8  Reviews. 

a  still  closer  variant  exists  in  the  story  of  Nessa,  mother  of  Con- 
chobar,  in  Irish  romance.  "  Once  Nessa  had  gone  upon  a  quest 
into  a  wilderness,  and  seeing  a  clear  beautiful  spring  of  water  the 
maiden  went  off  alone  to  bathe.  While  she  was  bathing  Cathbad 
passed  by  and  saw  her.  He  bared  his  sword  above  her  head  and 
stood  between  the  maiden  and  her  dress  and  weapons.  '  Spare 
me  I '  she  cried.  *  Grant  then  my  three  requests,'  replied  the 
Druid.  *They  are  granted,'  she  said.  *  I  stipulate  that  thou  be 
loyal  to  me,  and  that  I  have  thy  friendship,  and  that  for  so  long 
as  I  live  thou  wilt  be  my  one  only  wife,'  said  he.  *  It  is  better  for 
me  to  consent  than  to  be  killed  by  thee,  and  my  weapons  gone,' 
said  she."  ^ 

The  Irish  story  is  of  interest,  because  it  preserves  the  three 
conditions  on  which  the  garments  will  be  returned,  and  the  use 
made  of  them  in  securing  the  fay  to  wife.  This,  which  seems  to 
be  an  integral  part  of  the  origind  legend,  and  which  is  preserved 
in  the  kindred  stories  of  Graelent,  and  the  middle  High  German 
poem  of  Friedrich  von  Schwaben,  who  introduces  it  from  the 
Eddie  lay,  is  lost  in  Guingamor,  in  which  the  fay-maiden  is  repre- 
sented as  offering  herself  voluntarily  to  the  knight.  It  is,  we 
incline  to  believe,  one  of  those  incidents  which  have  been  intro- 
duced into  Celtic  legend  from  the  Norse  by  way  of  Ireland.  The 
long  sojourn  of  the  Norsemen  in  that  country  and  the  perpetual 
movement  between  Iceland  and  Ireland  during  that  period  will 
probably  be  found  to  have  influenced  Irish  literature  in  much  the 
same  proportion  as  Irish  literature  influenced  Icelandic  romance. 
Many  of  the  resemblances  to  Norse  legend  in  the  Tristan  tale, 
and  in  other  tales  and  lays  of  the  Cymric  and  Breton  romance, 
may,  we  believe,  be  thus  accounted  for  rather  than  by  direct 
transmission. 

Among  other  Irish  parallels  not  specifically  mentioned  by  Miss 
Weston  we  may  point  out  that  the  beautiful  description  of  the 
attendent  niaidens  in  the  stories  of  Launfal  or  Lanval,  and  Guin- 
gamor, who  bring  to  their  mistress  a  basin  of  gold  finely  wrought 
and  a  snow-white  towel,  and  comb  her  hair  as  she  stands  half- 
dressed  for  the  bath,  recalls  almost  word  for  word  the  description 
of  the  fay  in  the  "  Wooing  of  Etain,"  while  the  charge  of  the  fay 
to  Guingamor  that  he  shall  neither  eat  nor  drink  on  his  return 

*  MS.  Stowe,  992  Brit.  Mus.,  and  LI.,  foL  ii6a,  i. 


Reviews. 


119 


to  earth  from  fairyland,  lest  he  be  undone,  reminds  the  reader  of 
ihe  return  of  Oisfn  (Ossian)  from  Tir  na  n-6g.  Many  of  the 
details  of  this  story  are  reminiscent  of  Irish  methods  of  description. 

Of  the  four  tales  adapted  by  Miss  Weston,  two  aru  from  the 
undoubted  iats  of  Marie  de  I-'rance  and  another,  Guingamor,  is 
attributed  to  her.  It  maybe  looked  upon  as  a  variant  ofGraeleni 
and  Lanval,  This  tale,  and  that  of  Tyoiet,  have  been  edited  by 
M.  Gaston  Paris  for  Romania  (viii.)  from  a  manuscript  of  the 
thirteen  century  preserved  in  the  Biblioth^que  Nalionale.  (No. 
1,104,  of  the  Nouvelles  Aii/uisitions  du  Fonds  Franfah.) 

\Ve  should  prefer  that  Miss  Weston  had  left  untranslated  the  word 
Bretagne,  which  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  was  used  in- 
discriminately for  Armorica  and  Britain.  To  translate  it  "  Brittany  " 
is  to  prejudice  her  readers  in  favour  of  her  own  clearly  expressed 
opinion  ;  "They  are  Breton  iats ;  Arthur  is  a  Breton  king."  The 
two  of  these  lais  which  distinctly  mention  Arthur  deny  the  latter 
assertion,  the  former  is  at  least  problematical  Out  of  the  twenty- 
four  lais  in  the  above-mentioned  collection  which  bears  the  title 
Ci  commenctnt  les  lais  de  Bretaigne,  only  a  portion  are  really  Breton 
lays.  The  word  was  evidently  loosely  used  for  lays  of  a  certain 
class  which  resembled  Breton  compositions,  and  it  is  at  the  present 
moment  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the  mind  of  the  reader 
should  be  perfectly  unbiassed  as  lo  the  Cymric  or  Gaelic  or 
Armorican  origin  of  these  folk-tales.  A  wider  study  of  com- 
parative Celtic  romance  is  requisite  before  any  certainty  can  be 
arrived  at  on  this  point.  The  spelling  of  "  were-wolf "  is  also  open  lo 
objections.  The  middle  English  form,  here  the  preferable  one, 
s  to  have  been  "  wer-wolf,"  liice  the  middle  High  German  or 
Teutonic.  In  the  only  passage  in  which  il  is  found  in  Anglo- 
Saxon,  i.e.  in  the  Laws  of  Cnut,  where  it  applies  to  the  devil,  it 
is  spelt  "  were-wulf,"  but  we  are  not  here  dealing  with  Anglo- 
Saxon  tales.  Otherwise  the  judgment  of  the  author  is  seldom  at 
fault. 

Eleanor  Hijll. 


1 20  Reviews. 


CURIOSITis    DE    LA    ViE    EnFANTINE  :     6tUDES    DE    FOLKLORE. 

Par  Aug.  Gitt^e.     Paris  et  Verviers :   Bibliotheque  Gilon. 
1899. 

M.  GiTT^E  has  printed,  or  reprinted,  here  a  number  of  charming 
studies  on  folklore,  of  which  the  majority  are  devoted  to  the  folk- 
lore of  child-life.  Together  they  form  just  such  an  introduction  to 
the  study  of  folklore  as  the  ordinary  reader  is  likely  to  appreciate. 
There  is  hardly  any  scientific  work  more  useful  just  now  than  the 
popularisation  of  the  study  of  folklore.  The  writer  who  with  com- 
petent knowledge  and  discretion  knows  how  to  entice  his  fellow- 
countrymen  and  fellow -countrywomen  to  the  preservation  and 
study  of  these  priceless  remains  of  the  past  is  doing  a  service  both 
to  science  and  to  patriotism.  This  is  what  M.  Gittee  has  attempted, 
and  he  deserves  to  succeed.  Whether  he  is  explaining  what  folk- 
lore is,  or  pleading  for  a  folklore  museum,  or  discoursing  on 
children's  rhymes  or  children's  games,  he  is  equally  interesting. 

The  subjects,  however,  which  give  a  name  to  the  little  volume 
do  not  exhaust  its  contents.  His  chapters  on  Midsummer  and 
Christmas  observances  are  well  worth  reading.  In  the  former  he 
takes  as  his  text  a  Walloon  superstition  that  St.  John  does  not  go 
away  without  his  fish,  in  other  words,  that  Midsummer  day  never 
passes  without  some  are  being  drowned;  and  he  refers  it  to  a 
tradition  of  pagan  sacrifices  to  water-spirits.  Among  Christmas 
observances  he  fastens  on  the  custom  at  Li^ge  and  elsewhere  in 
Belgium  of  firing  guns.  This  he  contends  is  a  relic  of  the  ter- 
mination of  a  midwinter  feast  given  to  the  dead.  When  it  was 
all  over  the  spirits  were  driven  away  with  shouts  and  noise. 

One  of  M.  Gitt^e's  chapters  discusses  the  researches  of  the 
Psychical  Society  with  a  gravity  which  would  delight  Mr.  Andrew 
Lang.  Without  coming  to  any  positive  conclusion  about  them, 
he  points  out  their  importance  in  the  consideration  of  many  facts 
belonging  to  anthropology  or  to  history,  such  as  the  ancient 
oracles  and  savage  sorcery.  Mr.  Lang  has  himself  pointed  out 
their  bearing  on  the  miracles  alleged  on  behalf  of  more  than  one 
religion. 

An  able  article  on  M.  B^dier's  book  on  Les  Fabliaux  concludes 
the  volume.  M.  Gittee  fully  accepts  M.  B^dier's  reasoning,  and 
recalls  the  fact  that  he  had  already  in  1892  given  expression  to 


Reviews. 


121 


the  same  opinions  on  the  impossibility  of  determining  the  place  of 
ori^n  of  most  of  out  folktales.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this 
is  the  view  which  must  prevail ;  and  M.  GJttife  is  right  in  recog- 
nising how  substantial  a  contribution  towards  the  settlement  of 
the  controversy  was  made  by  M.  Bedier. 

E.  SiDNEV  Haktland. 


PoPULAK  Studies  in  Mvthologv,  Romance,  and  Folklore. 
Nos.  I  to  7.     David  Nutt.     5d.  each, 

1.  Celtic  and  Mediseval  Romance.     By  Alfred  Nutt.. 

2.  Folklore :  What  is  it,  and  what  is  the  Good  of  it?    By  E.  S. 

Hartland. 

3.  Ossian  and  the  Ossianic  Literature.     By  Alfred  Nutt. 

4.  King  Arthur  and  bis  Knights,     By  Jessie  L.  Weston. 

5.  The  Popular  Poetry  of  the  Finns.     By  Charles  J.  Billson. 

6.  The  Fair)'  Mythology  of  Shakespeare.     By  Alfred  Nutt. 

7.  Mythology  and  Folktales.     By  E.  S.  Hartland. 

These  little  books  should  be  very  welcome  to  all  who  wish  to 
begin  the  study  of  folklore.  The  ordinary  reader,  with  vague 
ideas  of  the  Arthurian  legends  or  Scandinavian  sagas,  roused  into 
further  interest  in  the  subject  perhaps  by  Mr.  Andrew  Lang  or 
Professor  Max  Miiller,  finds  the  difficulty  of  starting  on  a  sys- 
tematic course  of  study  by  himself  almost  insurmountable.  The 
field  open  to  him  is  alarmingly  vast,  the  materials  for  work  are 
most  inaccessible,  the  information  he  can  get  hold  of  either  vague 
or  forbiddingly  erudite.  To  such  an  one  these  booklets  bring 
exactly  what  he  needs,  a  chart  across  these  untravelled  seas,  a 
map  of  the  unknown  champain.  Out  of  the  mass  that  comes 
under  the  name  of  folklore,  they  mark  off  regions,  as  it  were, 
within  the  limits  of  which  study  and  investigation  seem  possible 
even  to  the  beginner,  and  give,  in  a  simple  but  by  no  means 
superficial  manner,  such  summaries  of  special  branches  of  the 
subject  as  will  guide  the  student  in  the  choice  of  a  line  of  study 
and  show  him  where  to  seek  his  materials  and  what  to  look  for  as 
he  goes  along.  The  books  are  not  of  a  dry  text-book  quality ; 
they  are  pleasant  reading  and  rouse  the  desire  to  read  more.     It 


122  Reviews. 

is  no  reflection  on  the  otliers  of  the  series  if  we  say  that  Mr. 
Nutt's  contributions  to  it  are  specially  interesting.  He  has 
fascinating  subjects  in  the  Fairy  Mythology  of  Shakespeare  and 
the  literature  of  Ossian,  and  he  treats  them  as  one  who  brings  out 
of  his  treasure  things  new  and  old.  The  bibliographical  appen- 
dices to  each  booklet  are  also  most  valuable  as  an  aid  to  further 
study.  The  importance  of  a  knowledge  of  folklore  to  us  as 
Englishmen  and  Christians  is  well  set  forth  in  Mr.  Hartland's 
lecture,  contained  in  No.  2  of  the  "Popular  Studies";  it  is  a  sub- 
ject to  which  all  intelligent  workers  can  contribute  something 
and  in  which  no  contribution  is  valueless.  We  live  among  un- 
noticed survivals  of  ancient  beliefs  and  customs,  and  the  observa- 
tion and  record  of  these  are  always  of  worth  for  the  science  of 
ethnology.  It  is  only  here  and  there  that  a  man  of  genius  will 
arise  who  will  know  how  to  reveal  to  others  the  laws  which  underlie 
the  strange  workings  of  the  human  mind  from  earliest  times,  but 
the  truth  of  his  conclusions  will  depend  to  a  great  extent  on  the 
fulness  and  accuracy  of  the  records  which  smaller  men  have  col- 
lected for  him  beforehand,  and  in  this  collection  every  honest 
student  of  folklore  can  take  a  part.  Such  books  as  those  before 
us  will  be  of  immense  use  if  they  encourage  a  host  of  workers  to 
come  into  this  hitherto  unreaped  field. 

[As  this  series  appeals  rather  to  the  general  public  than  to 
members  of  the  Society,  it  seemed  well  to  depart  from  our  usual 
custom  and  to  test  its  suitability  for  its  purpose  by  entrusting  the 
earlier  numbers  to  a  non-member  for  reviewal.  The  above  is  the 
result  of  the  test. — Ed.] 


Man.  a  Monthly  Record  of  Anthropological  Science.  To  be 
published  under  the  direction  of  the  Anthropological  Insti- 
tute of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.     Nos.  i  and  2. 

A  PERIODICAL  such  as  this  would  certainly  supply  a  need  in  this 
country,  but  it  will  have  to  be  better  done  than  these  two  numbers. 
With  all  goodwill  to  the  intention,  we  are  bound  to  say  that  they 
are  thin.  It  is  very  doubtful  whether  the  venture  can  be  a  success 
if  only  sixteen  pages  are  given  to  a  number.     A  single  article  in 


Reviews.  123 

foreign  review  of  this  type  often  fills  more  than  sixteen  pages,  and 
here  we  have  quite  a  number  of  different  subjects  attempted,  not 
lo  spealc  of  reviews.  The  best  article  is  one  by  Mr.  N.  VV.  Thomas, 
on  a  Pictorial  ReprestHlalion  of  the  Wheel  of  Life  from  Japan,  with 
coloured  plate.  The  number  is  worth  having  for  this  alone. 
Every  student  of  Buddhism  has  heard  of  the  Wheel  of  Life,  but  it 
was  unknown  until  quite  lately  what  was  meant  by  it.  Mr.  Thomas 
gives  a  translation  of  the  inscriptions  and  descriptions  which 
accompany  it,  which  in  matter  is  full  enough,  if  in  style  it  is  a 
trifle  rough  ;  but  considering  the  rarity  of  these  things,  and  their 
interest,  we  should  wish  for  descriptions  of  the  others,  or  at  least 
references  to  find  them  by, 

Messrs.  Evans  and  Hogarth  give  a  tantalising  sketch  of  the 
Cretan  discoveries,  hinting  at  greater  finds  in  store  and  appealing 
for  money.  We  note  that  they  speak  of  the  Cnossos  palace  as 
a  "sanctuary  of  the  Cretan  god  of  the  double  axe,"  and  of  the 
royal  "  throne- room."  We  cannot  let  this  pass  without  ask- 
ing for  evidence  (1)  that  the  double  axe,  which  is  scratched 
on  some  of  the  concrete  blocks  in  the  palace  was  meant  for  a 
divine  symbol,  (z)  that  the  room  with  the  throne  was  the  throne- 
room.  It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  other  symbols  besides  the 
axe  are  scratched  about  the  palace,  that  there  is  no  axe  in  the 
similar  i>alace  at  Phaistos,  but  other  symbols  only,  that  there  is 
nothing  to  show  whether  the  marks  were  meant  to  be  seen  at  all. 
■  They  were  probably  all  covered  with  stucco.  As  to  the  "  throne- 
room,"  was  it  usual  in  Crete  for  the  king  to  hold  audience  in  his 
bath  ?  The  "  royal  bath "  is  in  the  same  room,  and  we  might 
fairly  call  this  throne  a  drying-seat.  The  other  pages  of  this 
number  are  notes  or  reviews.  A  quarter  of  the  second  number  is 
filled  with  an  obituary  notice  of  Max  Miiller,  and  one  page  is 
devoted  to  an  interesting  tomb-find  from  China,  one  to  Californian 
basket-work,  and  one  to  Slonehenge. 

The  fact  is  that  Man  consists  of  the  miscellaneous  minor  notes 
contributed  to  the  Journal  of  tiu  Anthropological  Institute,  and 
here  pubUshed  separately  for  general  circulation  in  the  hope  of 
promoting  popular  interest  in  anthropology.  Such  an  attempt 
has,  of  course,  our  warmest  sympathy,  but  we  fear  that  the 
"  scrappy "  effect  inevitably  produced  by  the  wide  field  to  be 
covered  in  the  very  limited  space  at  command  will  render  success 
very  difficult  of  attainment. 


1 24  Reviews. 

AcHTZiG  Marchen  der  Ljutziner  Esten.  Gesammelt  von 
OsKAR  Kallas.  (Kaheksakiimmend  Lutsi  Maarahva  Muin- 
asjuttu  Kogunud  Oskar  Kallas).  (Verhandlungen  der  Ge- 
lehrten  £stnischen  Gesellschaft,  2o»*«'  Band,  2^  Heft,  pp. 
83-405.)     Dorpat:  Jurjew.     1900. 

The  present  collection  of  tales  was  formed  among  a  community 
of  Catholic  Esthonians  who  live,  interspered  with  Letts,  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  town  of  Liutzin,  in  the  Government  of 
Vitebsk,  a  little  to  the  south-east  of  the  frontiers  of  Livonia.    An 
extremely  interesting  account  of  these  people  is  given  in  the  pre- 
face, commencing  with  a  short  resumi  of  what  has  been  previously 
published  respecting  them.     As  they  have  been  cut  off  from  their 
compatriots  for  the  last  two  centuries,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the 
original  language  is  rapidly  disappearing,  and  that  in  many  places 
Lettish  and  Russian  have  taken  its  place.   But  where  it  still  exists, 
not  only  does  the  language  still  retain  its  original  purity,  but  some 
of  the  tales  are  almost  identical  with  those  which  have  been  col- 
lected in  Esthonia  proper.     Occasionally  a  word  has  acquired 
a  special  meaning.    Thus  we  read  (p.  99) :  "  The  word  *  saks '  is 
known,  but  no  longer  indicates  German  nationality,  but,  as  in  the 
Baltic  Provinces,  the  better  classes.   *  Saks '  also  means  the  Devil, 
the  Homed  One."    From   the  traditions  of  the  people,   who 
assert  that  they  came  from  "  Sweden,"  Professor  Kallas  comes  to 
the  conclusion  that  they  emigrated  from  Livonia  about  the  middle 
or  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  that  they  were  probably 
Lutherans  at  that  time,  though  they  are  now  Catholics.    Though 
a  Catholic  catechism,  of  which  the  title  page  is  given,  was  pub- 
lished in  Esthonian  and  German  in  1771,  this  was  for  the  use  of 
the  few  Catholics  in  Esthonia  itself,  and  nothing  of  the  kind  was 
found  among  the  Esthonian  Catholics  of  Liutzin.    A  few  pages 
tin;  devoted  to  the  author's  account  of  how  he  gained  the  con- 
lUlrncc  of  the  people ;  but  we  will  now  pass  on  to  the  stories. 
Tlu^  KHthonian  text  of  these  is  given  in  full,  but  twelve  only  are 
hitnNlAted  in  full  into  German,  only  German  abstracts  being  given 
(if  thn  others. 

Muny  of  the  stories  are  familiar ;  thus  the  very  first  gives  us  a 
^v^t^lMh  of  the  hero  who  discomfits  an  impostor  by  showing  the 
\\\\\\\\  huigUciN  of  the  monster  he  has  killed.  Other  stories  belong 
^v\  \\\\^  Twin  Hrothers  type;  the  Gold  Child  type;  the  Fortunate 


Reviews. 


"5 


Younger  Son  ;  the  Devil  outwitted  ;  the  Journey  to  Hell ;  the 
Singing  Bone  type,  &c.  There  are  also  a  few  a.niniaJ  (ales.  Some 
of  the  stories,  however,  are  more  decidedly  of  a  Finnish-Ugrian 
character,  such  as  those  which  relate  to  various  artifices  by  which 
God  outwits  the  Devil,  and  those  in  which  many-headed  demons 
are  introduced,  Both  these  features  are  common  in  Tartar  folk- 
tales. 

W.   F.   KiRBV 


Songs  of  Modern  Greece  :  wtth  Introductions,  Transla- 
tions, AND  NoTKS.  By  G.  F.  Abbott,  B.A.  Cambridge 
University  Press.     5s.  net. 

Modern  Greece  is  full  of  interest  for  the  student  of  folklore;  and 
in  spite  of  the  labours  of  Schmidt  and  others  it  is  an  almost  un- 
worked  field.  A  great  deal  may  be  learnt  from  the  popular 
ptoetry.  The  contents  of  this  volume  have  not  been  chosen  for 
their  bearing  on  folklore,  yet  they  conLiin  a  good  deal.  Unfor- 
tunately, as  Mr.  Abbott  has  not  indicated  his  sources,  it  is  not 
safe  to  conclude  that  a  given  piece  is  genuine  popular  poetry.  In 
fact,  several  of  the  pieces  are  taken  from  the  works  of  Valaorites 
and  Solomos,  who  were  indeed  inspired  by  the  popular  muse,  but 
wrote  as  self-conscious  artists.  We  can,  however,  praise  Mr. 
Abbott's  introductions  and  notes  with  a  clear  conscience.  They 
are  very  interesting,  and  throw  light  on  the  customs  of  marriage 
and  of  burial,  the  feast  and  the  dance.  We  watch  the  warrior  in 
his  Homeric  struggles,  and  listen  to  the  wandering  rhapsode,  who 
accompanies  his  recitations  on  the  lyre.  There  is  a  certain 
amount  that  is  new  in  the  volume,  and  new  or  not  it  is  all  fresh, 
for  Mr.  Abbott  has  seen,  and  therefore  he  has  spoken.  We  do 
not  propose  to  discuss  the  poems  from  a  literary  standpoint ; 
suffice  it  to  say,  many  of  them  are  graceful  and  stirring,  whilst  all 
have  the  elements  of  true  poetry,  and  the  translation  is  correct 
and  pleasing.     The  book  is  worth  getting. 


w 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


BOOKS    AND    PAMPHLETS. 

1900,   UNLESS   OTHERWISE  STATED. 

All  English  books  are  published  in  London^  all  French  books  in 

Paris^  unless  otherwise  stated. 

Arnold  (E.  V.).  The  Rig  Veda.  D.  Nutt.  i6mo.  56  pp. 
(Popular  Studies,  No.  9.) 

Boyle  (Virginia  Frazer).  Devil  Tales.  Illustrated  by  A.  B. 
Frost.     New  York  and  London :  Harper  Brothers.     211  pp. 

Caxton  (W.).  The  Golden  Legend,  or  Lives  of  the  Saints. 
Dent.  i2mo.  7  vols,  x.,  298;  vi.,  285;  vi.,  306:  vi.,  274; 
vi.,  258;  vi.,  274;  vi.,  292  pp. 

De  Visser  (M.  W.).  De  Graecorum  Diis  non  referentibus  Speciem 
Humanam.     Lugduni  Batavorum  :  Los.    8vo.     iv.,  283  pp. 

Fletcher   (Alice  C).     Indian   Story  and  Song  from    North 

America.     Boston :  Small,  Maynard,  and  Co.    xiv.,  126  pp. 
Frazer  (J.  G.).    The  Golden  Bough,  a  Study  in  Magic  and 

Religion.     Macmillan.    2nd  Edition,  1901.    3  vols,     xxviii., 

467;  X.,  471;  X.,  490.     36s. 
Laisnel  de  la  Salle.     Souvenirs  du  Vieux  Temps.     Le  Berry : 

Croyances  et  L^gendes.     Maisonneuve.     i6mo.     415  pp. 
Lang  (Andrew).     The  Making  of  Religion.     Longmans.     2nd 

Edition,     xxv.,  355  pp.     5s.  net. 

NiEBOER  (H.  J.).  Slavery  as  an  Industrial  System :  Ethnological 
Researches.    The  Hague  :  Nijhoff.    8vo.    xxvii.,  474  pp. 

Rhys  (John).  Celtic  Folklore,  Welsh  and  Manx.  Henry  Frowde. 
1 901.    2  vols.    8vo.    xlviii.,  718  pp.     21s. 

Rolland  (E.)  Flore  Populaire,  ou  Histoire  Naturelle  des  Plantes 
dans  leurs  Rapports  avec  la  Linguistique  et  le  Folk-lore. 
Tome  iii.     Rolland.     8vo.     378  pp. 

Roscher  (W.  H.).  Ephialtes,  eine  pathologische-mythologische 
Abhandlung  iiber  die  Alptraiime  und  Alpdamonen  des  klas- 
sischen  Altertums.    Leipzig :  Teubner.    Imp.  8vo.     133  pp. 

Rouse  (W.  H.  D.).     The  Jataka.    Vol.  iv.    Cambridge  University 

Press.     Price  12s.  6d. 
Schulte    (Fritz)  Psychologie  der  Naturvolker.    Entwickelungs- 

psychologische  Charakteristik  des  Naturmenschen  in  intel- 


Bihliograph  v . 


127 


lektueller,  aesthethischcr,  ethJscher,  und  religioser  Beziehung. 

Eiiie  naturliche  Schopfungsgeschichie  menschlichen  Vorslel- 

lens,  Wollens  und  Glaubens.      Leipzig ;  Veil  &  Co,     8vo, 

viii.,  39a  pp. 
StBiLLOT  (P  ).     Les  Coquillages  de  Mer.    (Melanges  Tradition- 

nistes  pubiiifs  par  Paul  S^billot  et  Julien  Vinson).     Maison- 

neuve.     i6mo.     v.,  iii  pp. 
Contes  des  Landes  et  des  Greves.     Reniies :  Cailliere.     Sq. 

8vo.     xi.,  306  pp. 


PERIODICALS. 

Tht  ConttHts  of  Periodicals  txduiively  devoted  to  Folklore 

are  not  noted. 
L'Antbropoloffie,  xi.,  4,     S.  Reinaeh,  Quelques  observations  sur 

le  tabou. 
Antiquary,  December,  1900.     A.  H.  Ball,  An  Indian  Child's 

Burial  in  Assiniboia.      February,  1901,      W.  E.  A.  Axon, 

A  Fifteenth-century  Life  of  St.  Dorothea. 
Archiv  fiir  ReligionswisBenscliaft,  iii,  4.     H.  Steintkal,  Allge- 

meine  Einleitung  in  die  Mylhologie  (Schluss).      K  Losch, 

Mythologische  Studien  im  Gebiet  des  Baldermythus. 
Proceedings  of  the  Cotteswold  Katnralists'  Field  Club,  ziii,  3. 

E.  C.  ScoMl,  The  Common  Fields  at  Upton  Saint  Leonard's 
and  the  recent  inclosure  (1897). 

EngliBh  EiBtorical  Review,  vol.  xv.,  p.  625.  A.  Ji.  IVAitnvay, 
Customs  of  Che  Western  Pyrenees. 

Transactions  of  the  Devonshire  ABSociation,  1900.  P.  P.  S. 
Amery,  Seventeenth  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Devonshire 
Folklore.  [Several  curious  items,  of  which  the  most  in- 
teresting is  perhaps  that  of  the  discovery  of  a  bottle  con- 
taining a  dark  fluid  corked  with  a  cork  stuck  with  pins,  said 
to  he  a  "  witch's  bottle,"  in  the  churchyard  at  Monkleigh.J 

Fortnightly  Review,  Pebrnary,  1900.  A,  Lang,  The  Golden 
Hough  [review  of], 

Indian  Antiquary,  November,  December.  Sir  J.  M.Campbell, 
Notes  on  the  Spirit  Basis  of  Belief  and  Custom.  R.  C.  Temple, 
The  Thirty-seven  Nats  (Spirits)  of  the  Burmese.   T.  L.  Barlow, 

F.  McNair,  and  W.  Crooke,  Folk-tales  from  the  Indus  Valley, 


128  Bibliography. 

InternationaleB  Arehiv  fur  Bthnogpraphie,  ziii,  6.  W,  von 
Biilaw^  Beitrage  zur  Ethnographie  der  Samoa-Inseln.  H.  Ling 
Roth^  Artificial  Skin-Marking  in  the  Sandwich  Islands. 
6.  O.  Sierich^  Samoanische  Marchen.  Supplement  T,  Koch^ 
Zum  Animismus  der  Siidamerikanischen  Indianer  [an  im- 
portant contribution  to  the  literature  of  the  subject,  drawn 
chiefly  from  German  sources]. 

Journal  of  Hellenic  Studies,  voL  zx,  p.  99.  Jane  E,  Harrison^ 
Pandora's  Box. 

Man,  a  Monthly  Record  of  Anthropolog^ical  Science.  No.  1, 
January,  N,  W.  Thomas^  A  Buddhist  Wheel  of  Life.  /.  Rhys^ 
On  certain  Wells  in  Ireland.  No.  2,  February,  E,  S.  Hart- 
land^  Problems  of  Early  Religion,  Certain  Wells  in  Ireland. 
Anthropological  Institute.     Imp.  8vo.  i6  pp.  monthly. 

Notes  and  Queries,  December  Sth,  1900.  Isaac  Taylor,  Nature 
Myths.  A'  y.  Davy,  A  Good  Friday  Superstition. 
December  15th.    Mayhew,  Sparrow-mumbling. 

Reliquary  and  Illustrated  ArchflDologist,  vii,  1.  T,  H.  Bryant, 
John  Schome :  a  Mediaeval  Worthy  [who  conjured  the  Devil 
into  a  boot]. 

K^vue  F^libr^enne,  Tome  xiv,  1898  et  1899.  G,  Doncieux, 
UEscrivette,  £tude  de  folklore  national. 

Kevue  de  I'Histoire  des  Religions,  xlii,  2.  Congres  International 
de  FHistoire  des  Religions  (Paris,  1900),  Proces-verbaux,  et 
discours  de  Naville,  Bonet-Maury,  et  de  Gubematis.  E,  L,  M. 
Conard,  Les  Id^es  des  Indiens  Algonquins  relatives  i  la  vie 
d'outre-tombe. 

Khenisches  Museum  fur  Philologrie,  vol.  Ivi.  1900.  Alb.  Dieterich, 
ABC-Denkmaler  [a  most  exhaustive  and  erudite  article  on 
the  distribution  and  original  (magical)  significance  of  the 
Alphabet  used  as  a  formula]. 

The  Scottish  Review,  October,  1900.  Olaf  Davidson,  The  Folk- 
lore of  Icelandic  Fishes. 

Proceedings  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  2nd  Series,  xviii,  1. 
W.  F,  Baildon,  On  a  Sixteenth-century  Leaden  Charm,  found 
at  Lincoln's  Inn.  [Similar  to  one  described  and  discussed 
in  the  Reliquary  and  Illustrated  Archceologist,  July,  1897. 
Better  evidence  as  to  the  age  of  the  object  and  the  person 
against  whom  it  was  directed  is  desirable.] 


3folk*Xore. 


TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  FOLK-LORE  SOCIETY. 


Vol.  XII-] 


JUNE,  1901. 


[No.  II. 


WZDHXSDAT,  FEBRUABT  gOth,  1901. 

'  The  President  (Mr.  E.  W.  Brabrook,  C.B.)  in  the  Chair. 

The  minutes  of  the  December  Meeting  were  read  and  con- 
.  firmed. 

The  President  read  an  Address  to  His  Majesty  King 
I  Edward  VII.  on  the  demise  of  Her  late  Majesty  Queen 
I  Victoria,  prepared  by  him  at  the  request  of  the  Council.  It 
E  was  unanimously  resolved  that  the  same  be  adopted  by  the 
I  Society  and  presented  in  the  usual  way. 

The  election  of  the  following  new  members  wasannounced, 
iviz.:  Mrs  A.  Newton,  Mr.  C.  H.  Chase,  Mr.  A.  Baldwin, 
I  Mr.  H.  A.  Rose,  Miss  E,  W.  Allen,  Mr.  G.  H.  Hampton, 
f  MissE.  M.  Cobham,  Miss  Thompson.  Mr.  D.  F.  de  I'H. 
I  Ranking,  and  Miss  C.  R.  Coleridge. 

The  resignation  of  Mr.  J.  L.  Andre,  Mrs.  Morris,  Mr.  F. 
I  L.  Gardner,  Miss  C.  Burdon,  and  the  Ecole  des  Hautes 
I  £tudes  (Sofia)  were  also  announced. 

Mrs.  Gomme  exhibited  and  presented  to  the  Society  a 
Kirn  Maiden  or  Dolly,  copied  by  Miss  Swan  from  those 
made  at  Duns,  in  Berwickshire,  fifty  years  ago,  and  Mr. 
Gomme  read  a  letter  from  Miss  Swan  describing  it  [p  2 15] . 
Votes  of  thanks  were  accorded  to  Mrs.  Gomme  and  Miss 
Swan. 

Mr.  N.  W.  Thomas  read  some  notes  on  Animal  Super- 
stitions in  Asia  Minor  [p.  189],  upon  which  Mr.  Kirby, 
Mr,  Ordish,  and  Mr.  im  Thurn  offered  some  observations. 

VOL.    XII.  K 


1 30  Min  utes  of  Meeting. 

Mr.  E.  F.  im  Thurn  read  a  paper  on  the  "  Games  of  the 
Red-men  of  Guiana"  [p.  132],  illustrated  by  lantern  slides, 
and  in  the  discussion  which  followed  Mr.  Gomme  and  the 
President  took  part. 

The  Meeting  terminated  with  votes  of  thanks  to  Mr.  N. 
W.  Thomas  and  Mr.  im  Thurn  for  their  papers. 

The  following  books  and  pamphlets,  presented  to  the 
Society  since  the  November  Meeting,  were  laid  upon  the 
table. 

I.  The  Annual  Report  (1900)  on  British  New  Guined^ 
presented  by  the  Government  of  Queensland.  2  Prods- 
verbaux  Sommaires  du  Congr^s  Internationale  des  Tra- 
ditions Populaires  (1900),  presented  by  M.  Paul  S^billot. 
3.  Transactions  of  the  Japan  Society^  vol.  v.,  presented 
by  the  Society ;  4.  Leggende  Tifernate  and  (5).  Amuleti 
Italiani  Antichi  e  Contemporanei,  by  Giuseppe  Bellu«ci, 
both  presented  by  the  Author.  6.  On  Norman  Tympana^ 
with  especial  reference  to  those  in  Derbyshire^  by  Dr.  T. 
N.  Brushfield,  presented  by  the  Author.  7.  Transactions  of 
the  Glasgow  Archaeological  Society y  N.S.,  vol  iv.,  Part  i, 
presented  by  the  Society.  8.  Folklore  of  the  Australian 
Aborigines y  by  R.  H.  Matthews,  presented  by  the  Author. 
9.  De  Grsecorum  Diis  non  referentibus  Speciem  humanam^ 
by  M.  W.  de  Visser,  presented  by  the  Author.  10.  The 
American  Antiquarian  and  Oriental  Journal,  vol.  xxiii., 
No.  I,  presented  by  the  Smithsonian  Institution.  11.  An 
Etymological  Dictionary  of  the  Assamese  Language  (Hem 
Kosha),  by  the  late  Srijut  Hem  Chandra  Barua  of  Chandra 
of  Gauhati,  edited  by  Captain  P.  R.  Gurdon  and  Srijut  Hem 
Chandra  Gosain,  presented  by  the  Assam  Government. 


Minutes  of  Meeting. 


WEDNESDAY,  MARCH  SOtb,  1901. 
Ww/  Meeting  of  the  Folk-Lore  Society  and  the  Anthropological  Institute. 
I  Chair  was  taken  by  Mr.  E.  W.  Brabrook,  President  of  the  Society. 
f  The  minutes  of  the  previous  Meeting  of  the  Society  were 
read  and  confirmed. 

Dr.  A.  C,  Haddon  exhibited  a  Wren-bush  from  co. 
Wicklow,  and  lantern  slides  of  a  Wren-bush  being  carried 
round,  and  of  a  wren-box  from  the  Pitt-Rivers  Museum  at 
Farnham.  He  also  exhibited  two  specimens  of  Yule  Doos 
(Christmas  cakes)  from  Newcastle-on-Tyne.  A  vote  of 
thanks  was  accorded  to  him  for  these  exhibits. 

Mr.  Brabrook  then  vacated  the  chair,  which  was  at  his 
request  taken  by  the  President  of  the  Anthropoiogical 
Institute,  Dr.  A.  C.  Haddon, 

Dr.  W.  H-  R.  Rivers  then  read  a  note  on  "  Primitive 
Orientation"  [p.  210],  illustrated  by  a  lantern  slide.  A 
short  discussion  followed, in  which  Mr.  Brabrook,  Miss  Grove, 
Mr.  Lewis,  and  Dr.  Gaster  took  part.  A  vote  of  thanks 
to  Dr.  Rivers  for  his  communication  having  been  passed. 

Mr.  Wilfred  Godden  read  a  paper  by  Miss  Gertrude  M. 
Godden,  entitled,  "The  Legend  of  the  Sand-Rope  and 
other  Futile  Tasks,  B.C.  400 — A.D.  1900,"  which  was  illus- 
trated by  lantern  slides. 

Miss  Godden  exhibited  the  following  objects  illustrative 
of  her  paper: — i.  A  specimen  of  Fulgurite  from  Poland, 
lent  by  Mr.  F.  W.  Rudler.  2.  Photographs  of  Greek  vases 
and  other  classical  monuments,  showing  futile  tasks.  3.  A 
drawing  of  an  unpublished  Greek  vase  recently  acquired 
by  the  British  Museum,  showing  Greek  futile  tasks.  4. 
Sketches  of  scenes  of  futile-task-stories  in  Cornwall,  by 
Mr.  W.  Godden.  5.  Photographs  of  scenes  of  futile-task- 
stories  in  Denmark,  Scotland,  and  England. 

In  the  discussion  which  followed,  Mr.  Kirby,  Dr.  Gaster, 
Mr.  P.  Redmond,  Mr.  N.  W.  Thomas,  Mr.  Brabrook,  and 
the  Chairman  took  part. 

The  Meeting  terminated  with  a  vote  of  thanks  to  Miss 
Godden  for  her  paper  and  to  Mr.  Wilfred  Godden  for 
reading  it. 


GAMES   OF  THE  RED-MEN  OF  GUIANA.^ 

BY  BVERARD  F.  IM  THURN,  C.B.,  CJC.G. 

{Read  at  Meeting  of  20th  February ,  1901). 

A  SOCIETY  such  as  this  has  use  for  two  different  classes 
of  workers — for  some  who  observe  and  record  facts,  and  for 
others  who  from  these  recorded  facts  make  theories.  It  is 
in  the  former  and  humbler  capacity  that  I  come  before  you 
to-night.  I  propose  by  word  of  mouth  and  by  picture 
to  set  before  you  facts  as  to  the  games  of  the  Red-men  of 
Guiana,  noted  during  a  twenty  years'  life  among  them ; 
and  I  leave  to  others  the  task  of  evolving,  by  the  comparative 
method,  theories  as  to  these  games — a  task  which  can 
probably  not  be  performed  till  much  fuller  records  from  all 
the  world  over  shall  have  been  accumulated. 

My  players  of  games  are  the  Red-men,  the  so-called 
"  Indians  "  of  the  country  immediately  south  of  the  Orinoco 
River,  who  are  still  in  much  the  same  condition  as  when  the 
sea  coast  and  the  river  banks  of  these  parts  were  first 
explored  by  rival  Dutch  and  Spanish  adventurers  of  the 
sixteenth  century. 

At  that  time  the  vast  mangrove  swamps  at  the  mouths  of 
the  rivers,  places  where  there  is  no  dry  ground,  and  con- 
sequently no  possibility  of  cultivation,  were  occupied  by  the 
Warau  Indians,  who  are  almost  certainly  the  remnants  of 
the  earliest  inhabitants  of  that  land  of  whom  we  have  any 
knowledge.  In  the  more  habitable  places  afforded  by  the  sand 
reefs  which  lie  just  inland  from  these  swamps  were  the  Ara- 
waks,  who  had  been  driven  southward  on  to  this  part  of  the 
mainland  from  the  West  Indian  Islands  in  front  of  the  fiercer 
Caribs,  who  were  at  the  moment  slowly  making  their  way 
south.  Various  bodies  of  the  Carib  race  had  reached  the  main- 
land long  before,  and  each  of  these  under  a  new  tribal  name 

*  Considerable  parts  of  this  paper  were  printed  in  1890  in  TtV/Mn',  a  Guiana 
journal. 


L 


of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana.  133 

had  made  its  way  inland  and  had  established  itself  inaseparate 
part  of  Guiana.  Thus  of  these  early  Carib  immigrants,  the 
Akawois  and  the  Partamonas  had  penetrated  through  the 
Warau  swamps  and  the  Arawak  sand  reefs,  and  had  divided 
between  them  the  forest  country  between  the  sand  reefs 
and  the  open  plains  (locally  called  savannahs)  of  the  far 
interior ;  and  the  Wapianas,  the  Macusis,  and  the  Arekunas 
had  passed  up  the  great  Orinoco  river  till  they  reached  the 
savannahs  on  the  right  bank  and  had  then  struck  across 
inland  and  had  taken  up  distinct  areas  on  the  savannah 
reaching  toward  the  Amazon.  But  the  True  Caribs — the 
main  body,  that  is  to  say,  which  we  now  know  by  that  name 
— were,  when  the  Dutch  and  Spaniards  came,  only  just 
reachingthose  parts.  They  were  raiding  in  widely-scattered 
warlike  bands  among  the  tribes  already  settled,  and  were  in 
the  act  of  winning  for  themselves  a  home  and  country. 

At  that  moment  first  came  into  those  parts  white  men, 
Dutch  and  Spanish  adventurers;  and,  as  the  development 
of  a  photographic  negative  is  arrested  by  the  fixing  salt,  so 
the  spread  of  the  Red-man  over  this  part  of  Guiana  was 
arrested  by  the  incoming  of  the  white  man.  The  tribes 
which  had  already  divided  up  the  land  between  them 
remained  in  their  places,  and  the  wandering  bands  of  the 
Caribs  stood  still  each  on  the  spot  where  it  happened  to  be. 
And  so,  with  but  slight  tribal  movements,  the  distribution 
has  remained  to  this  day. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  the  Spaniards  never  established  them- 
selves in  the  parts  with  which  I  am  dealing,  nor  even  pene- 
trated into  these  to  any  considerable  extent ;  and  the 
Dutchmen,  who  established  themselves  in  the  homes  of  the 
Arawaks.  made  friends  with  that  people — for  which  reason 
the  Arawaks  are  more  changed  than  any  other  tribe — but 
deliberately  adopted  the  wise  policy  of  befriending  the 
other  Red  men  with  as  Utile  interference  as  possible — for 
which  reason  these  other  Red  men  remain  to  this  day 
almost  unaltered  in  habits  and  ways  of  thought.     It  is  only 


134  Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana. 

just  now,  when  the  attraction  of  gold  and  diamonds  is  at 
last  spreading  white  men  throughout  Guiana,  that  the  whole 
nature  of  the  Red-man's  system  of  life  is  inevitably  to  be 
effaced. 

All  these  details  are  not  really  apart  from  my  subject; 
for  my  fragmentary  record  of  the  games  of  these  people 
will  only  gain  full  value  if  hereafter,  when  other  similar 
records  have  been  accumulated,  the  diffusion  of  ideas  as 
illustrated  in  games  can  be  detected  as  a  correlative  of  the 
diffusion  of  the  tribes  themselves. 

Yet  another  point  must  I  deal  with  in  this  long  preface. 
The  attempt  to  define  at  all  fully  the  connotation  of  the 
word  "  games "  would  be  hazardous ;  but  I  take  the  risk. 
A  game,  it  appears  to  me,  is  the  pleasurable  exercise  of 
any  of  the  bodily  or  mental  faculties  without  any  other 
purpose  on  the  part  of  the  player  than  either  (i)  developing 
the  faculty  exercised  or  (2)  developing  in  the  player  a  fervid 
state  of  mind — in  this  case  generally  for  quasi-religious  pur- 
poses. I  do  not  now  intend  to  examine  or  prove  the  truth 
of  this  definition.  I  only  wish  to  point  out  that  it  includes 
not  only  all  that  we  civilised  folk  class  in  common  thought 
as  games,  but  also — and  this  is  more  easily  illustrated  in  less 
complex  states  of  civilisation  than  ours — all  simple  games  of 
imitation,  whether,  as  in  the  case  of  many  children's  games, 
of  the  doings  of  their  elders,  or,  as  in  many  games  both  of 
children  and  adults,  of  the  doings  of  animals,  games  of 
endurance,  and  such  as  evoke  many  other  qualities,  and  (to 
come  to  much  more  complex  forms  of  games)  dances  in  all 
their  many  forms,  uncivilised  and  civilised,  religious  and 
non-religious. 

The  simplest  and  earliest  form  of  game,  whether  we 
regard  the  life  of  the  individual  or  of  the  race,  is  the 
imitation  by  children  of  their  elders.  Without  going  to 
primitive  folk,  we  can  see  such  games  as  playing  at  soldiers, 
at  marrying,  burying,  preaching,  coaching.  In  a  church 
paper  a  few  years  ago  there  was  a  serious  complaint  that 


Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana.         135 


I  parents  allowed  their  children  to  play  at  Jack-the-Ripper. 
In  our  state  such  games  arc  of  course  survivals  with  the 
utility  almost  gone  out  of  them.  But  among  the  Guiana 
folk  such  games  are  the  education  of  the  children.  The 
boys'  earliest  and  only  toys  are  little  bows  and  arrows, 
blow-pipes,  and  the  few  other  things  which  the  adult  Red- 
man uses;  his  ordinary  games  are  the  use  of  these;  and  he 
never  ceases  from  the  practice  of  these  games  till,  his 
implements  of  sport  having  grown  with  his  own  body,  he 
finds  that  he  has  imperceptibly  become  a  man,  with  a  man's 
habits  and  utensils.  The  girl,  on  the  other  hand,  has  as  her 
toys  some  clay,  with  which  she  makes  little  vessels  of  the  few 
conventional  shapes,  little  baskets  in  which  she  at  first  pre- 
tends to  carry  loads,  and  a  few  sticks  which  she  makes  into 
a  frame  on  which  she  puts  together  a  hammock ;  and  she  too 
grows  up  with  such  things  and  finds  herself  a  woman. 

It  is  curious,  and  I  think  characteristic,  that  one  of  the 
simplest  of  games,  which  has  developed  again  and  again 
among  many  different  peoples  and  has  taken  on  an  infinity 
of  elaborate  forms — I  mean  ball-play — is  almost  unrepre- 
sented among  these  utilitarian  Red-men.  I  never  saw  any 
ball-game  except  among  the  Arekunas  of  Roraima.  There 
the  men,  not  the  boys,  sometimes  stand  in  a  great  circle  beat- 
ing a  small  ball  of  native  rubber  from  one  player  to  the  other, 
each  with  his  hand  beating  it  down  on  to  the  ground  in 
such  a  way  as  to  make  it  rebound  towards  some  particular 
player,  whose  duty  it  is  to  beat  it  to  another  player.  The 
rarity  of  ba!!-play  in  Guiana,  and  the  fact  that  it  appears  to 
be  practised  only  by  adults,  looks  rather  as  though  it  had 
not  been  spontaneously  developed,  but  adopted  from  some 
other  people. 

But  in  addition  to  the  games  which  are  followed  from 
babyhood  to  adolescence,  and  which  are  merely  imitations 
of  the  adult's  few  serious  arts  of  life,  there  are  in  Guiana 
games  freely  joined  in  by  the  boys  and  lads  which  are 
dramatic  representations  of  the  more  complex  doings  of  their 


136         Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana. 

elders,  or  of  the  habits  of  animals.  These  also  probably 
have  their  recognised  educational  value,  taking  the  place 
of  the  story-books  and  natural  history  books  of  our  state. 

One  of  the  most  elaborate  of  the  story-book  games  is 
played  by  the  Macusi  lads  of  the  savannahs  on  the 
western  slopes  of  the  Pacaraima  Mountains.  It  must  be 
explained  that  a  visit  from  those  parts  to  town  is,  or  was 
till  within  the  last  few  years,  a  very  rare  event,  falling  to 
the  lot  of  but  very  few,  and  making  a  correspondingly  deep 
impression.  When  such  journeys  do  occur,  a  principal 
feature  in  them  is  the  purchase  and  bringing  home  of  a 
number  of  small  articles  to  which  the  travellers  take  a 
fancy.     So  this  important  event  has  given  rise  to  a  game. 

The  players,  seated  on  the  ground  one  behind  the  other, 
and  each  clasping  the  player  in  front  of  him,  form  a  long 
line,  which  by  the  motion  of  feet  and  thighs  drags  itself 
slowly  forward,  swaying  from  side  to  side,  and  imitating  the 
forward  rolling  motion  of  a  long  and  well-manned  canoe. 
(Plate  III.)  Two  other  players — who  have  not  been  to  town 
— pass  along  the  line,  and  as  they  come  to  each  squatting 
figure  seize  a  foot  and  make  the  owner  name  for  each  toe  some 
object  that  he  is  supposed  to  be  taking  home — a  razor  it 
may  be  for  the  big  toe,  a  gun  for  the  next,  cloth  for  the 
next,  hair-oil  for  the  next,  and  a  "chimney-pot"  hat  for 
the  little  toe.  The  greater  the  imagination  shown  in  the 
choice  of  goods,  the  louder  are  the  shouts  of  laughter  from 
the  spectators. 

Each  player  having  accounted  for  his  treasures,  the 
incidents  of  the  return  voyage  are  acted.  First,  rain 
overtakes  the  travellers,  that  is,  the  two  detached  players 
seize  a  long  pole  by  the  two  ends,  and  applying  this  to  one 
side  of  the  line  of  squatting  travellers,  forced  them  on  to 
their  sides  and  to  the  ground,  as  heavy  rain  stops  the  progress 
of  paddlers.  Next,  the  travellers  turn  over  on  to  their 
backs,  but  still  in  line.  Then  the  two  home-stayers  hold 
the  pole  longitudinally  over  first  one  and  then  another  of 


u 


i 


n 


^ 


^^^  tail, 
^^■taostn 


Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana.  137 

prostrate  travellers,  each  of  whom  in  turn  seizes  the 
lole  with  his  tingers  and  toes,  and  is  carried  across  the 
playground  and  placed,  still  flat   on  his  back,  in  another 

place.     This  is  portaging  the  boats  and  goods  overland,  to 

avoid  the  worst  falls  on  the  homeward  journey.     Next  the 

two  home-stayers,  one  after  the  other,  run  quickly  along 

the  line,  finding  room  for  their  feet  in  among  the  legs  of 

Uie  line  of  prostrate  travellers,  who,  it  must  be  remembered, 

placed  as  closely  as  possible  the  one  beside  the  other, 

id  who  endeavour,  by  the    movements  of   their  legs,  to 

iset  the  runners.     The  boat  is  being  guided  through  the 

itricate  groups  of  rocks  which  in  the  dry  season  block  the 

Team,     Then  the  home-stayers,  taking  each  traveller  in 

;rn  by  the  head,  raise  the  perfectly  stiffened  body  on  to  its 

,      It  is  the  fallen  limber  being  moved  from  the  creek 

which  the  canoe   now  has  to  pass.     This  done,  each 

ilayer  in  the  line  falls  forward  on  to  his  hands  and  feet,  his 

lighs  the  highest  part  of  him.     Thus  the  closely  pressed 

idies  of  the  players  form  a  long  tunnel  through  which 

;h  player  in  turn  has  to  creep  from  the  end  of  the  line  to 

ike  his  place  at  the  other  end,  as  a  canoe  along  a  tree- 

■ched  creek,     (Plate  IV.) 

The  following  are  some  of  the  ways  in  which  the  Macusi 

ids  play  animal.     In  the  kaikoosi,  or  jaguar  game,  all  but 

iree  of  the  players  form  one  long  procession,  each  player 

ith  his  hands  on  the  shoulders  of  the  one  immediately  in 

int  of  him,  and  then  the  whole  procession  winds  here  and 

lere,  with  rhythmic  sway  of  bodies  from  side  to  side,  and 

with  rhythmic  monotonous  chanting  of  the  words  "  Kaikoosi 

brahma  celertbt."     ("There  is   no  jaguar   here  to-day."} 

Then  from  the  onlookers  comes  one  of  the  three  players 

omitted  from  the  procession.     Moving  on   his  two  hands 

and  one  leg,  the  other  leg  held  high  in  the  air  to  represent 

tail,  he  is  the  jaguar  whose  task  it  is  to  catch  the  hinder- 

lost  member  of  the  procession  before  its  leader,  encumbered 

his  followers,  can  turn  and  face  the  dangerous  beast, 


138         Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana. 

and  then  to  carry  him  off  and  place  him  among  the  spectators. 
(Plate  V.)  The  next  has  then  to  be  caught,  and  so  on  until 
all  the  members  of  the  procession  have  been  removed  to  the 
aguar*s  lair  among  the  spectators.  The  two  other  players, 
not  involved  in  the  procession  are  two  small  boys  who,  on 
"all-threes,"  imitate  the  jaguar  cubs,  running  here  and 
there  after  the  full-grown  kaikoosi,  doing  nothing  else,  but 
adding  considerably  to  the  picturesqueness  of  the  scene. 

In  the  monkey  game,  all  form  in  single  file  and  move  in 
procession,  but  very  quickly,  and  with  ever  quicker  and 
quicker  movement,  until  a  considerable  pace  is  attained ; 
they  wind  round  and  round  the  open  space  and  across  and 
across  it  till,  at  a  sudden  signal  from  the  leader,  the  line  is 
instantly  broken  ;  each  bigger  lad  has  one  or  two  smaller 
player^  on  his  shoulders  (Plate  VI),  all  chattering  and 
squealing  and  gesticulating,  and  running  hither  and  thither. 
It  is  a  troop  of  monkeys  suddenly  alarmed  and  angered. 

Another  game  is  of  an  acoorie  {Dasyprocta  aguti)  in  a  pen 
and  the  attempts  of  a  jaguar  to  get  at  it.  The  players  form 
a  ring,  their  faces  inwards,  their  arms  round  each  other's 
necks.  Inside  the  circle  one  player  crouches  as  an  acoorie  in- 
side a  pen.  Outside  the  pen  another  player  watches ;  it  is  the 
jaguar  looking  with  hungry  eye  on  the  acoorie.  (Plate  VII.) 
He  tries  to  get  the  acoorie  out  between  the  bars  of  its  pen — 
that  is,  between  the  legs  of  the  circle  of  players.  But  the 
living  pen  whirls  round  and  round,  and  it  is  long  before 
the  jaguar  succeeds  in  grasping  the  acoorie  and  dragging 
it  out. 

A  flock  of  vicissi  duck  resting  on  the  ground  in  a  close- 
packed,  irregular-shaped  group  is  well  imitated  in  another 
game.  The  leading  duck,  at  some  supposed  sign  of 
danger,  starts  the  whole  flock,  which  now  darts  backward 
and  forward  in  straight  duck-like  flights  in  among  the 
houses,  imitating  the  curious  characteristic  whistling  of  the 
vicissi. 

Again,  a  procession  forms  and  moves,  while  a  single 


s                                                        '< 

w 

^^3C?*^'->         ^ 

r 

Gatnes  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana. 

player  hovers  in  front  of  the  leader  of  the  tile  until,  with 
the  cry  of  a  hawk,  he  strikes  down  one  side  of  the  file 
to  seize  the  hindmost  of  its  members,  each  one  of  whom, 
startled  by  the  sudden  cry,  crouches  as  a  chick  behind  a 
hen,  and  only  the  hindmost  man  runs  up  the  line,  on  the 
opposite  side  to  the  hawk.  If  the  latter  is  quick  enough  to 
effect  this  uncaught,  he  is  safe  for  that  time ;  otherwise  he 
is  carried  off  and  placed  among  the  onlookers,  and  this  is 
continued  until  the  whole  brood  of  chickens  has  been 
captured  by  the  hawk.  Or,  all  but  one  of  the  players 
squat  on  the  ground,  each  behind  and  clasping  his  neigh- 
bour's neck  with  his  arms,  and  all  forming  a  long  line.  The 
one  man  left  out,  representing  an  ant-eater,  creeps  up  to 
the  foremost  man  and,  after  scratching  on  the  ground  with 
his  hands,  seizes  the  foremost  player  by  his  feet,  throws 
him  over  his  shoulders,  and  so  conveys  him,  head  down- 
ward, across  the  playing  ground,  and  places  him  among 
the  spectators.  This  is  no  easy  task  when  the  prey  is  a 
well-grown  boy,  and  if  the  boys  are  small,  two  are  carried 
at  once.     It  is  an  ant-eater  supplying  himself  with  ants. 

Again,  one  boy  squats  in  Indian  fashion  while  the  others 
dance  round  him  in  wild  disorder  and  confusion,  buzzing 
like  a  swarm  of  wasps,  occasionally  darting  forward  and 
rumpling  the  hair  and  otherwise  worrying  the  sitter.  The 
latter  bears  this  patiently  until  he  sees  his  chance,  when, 
with  the  eagerness  of  a  monkey  who  sees  his  opportunity 
of  catching  a  troublesome  wasp,  he  seizes  and  disposes  in 
turn  of  one  after  another  of  his  tormentors. 

Though  the  games  as  yet  described  are  played  generally 
by  boys,  the  young  men  join  most  heartily  in  every  one  of 
them.  And  among  the  Arawaks  grown  men  and  women, 
as  well  as  children,  play  somewhat  similar  and  equally 
simple  games  of  imitation.  The  trumpet-bird  or  viarracaba 
game  is  simplicity  itself,  and  yet  no  one  who  knows  the 
habits  of  the  trumpet-bird  {Psophia  crepitans)  could  fail  to 
recognise  what  is  being  imitated.      The  players  in  single 


140         Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana. 

file,  each  with  his  or  her  hands  on  the  shoulders  of  the 
player  next  in  front,  march  and  hop  about  the  settlement, 
entering  and  prying  everywhere,  emerging  from  the  most 
unexpected  directions,  always  imitating  the  curious  boom- 
ing note  of  the  warracaba. 

I  have  seen  adult  Arawaks  play  a  most  realistic  monkey 
game  distinguished  by  unusually  rough  fun.  The  players 
in  line  simply  rushed,  sometimes  over  the  roofs  of  the  houses, 
tearing  off  bits  of  thatch  and  pretending  to  chew  these,  up 
and  along  the  rafters  of  the  house,  throwing  down  the  many 
small  properties  there  stored,  into  the  kitchen,  upsetting 
the  pot,  devouring  or  destroying  all  food  that  came  in  the 
way,  driving  out  the  women  who  were  baking  bread, 
scattering  the  fire ;  and  all  the  while  chattering  and  grin- 
ning as  vehemently  as  any  troop  of  real  monkeys.  The 
women  scuttled  at  the  very  sight  of  the  coming  troop.  The 
old  man  of  the  settlement  and  his  wife,  in  real  anxiety  for 
their  goods,  tried  to  protect  what  they  could,  tearing  it  even 
out  of  the  monkeys'  hands,  or  throwing  food  to  the  monkeys 
to  distract  their  attention  from  more  valuable  properties. 
At  last  the  old  man,  with  the  help  of  one  or  two  bystanders, 
secured  the  more  violent  of  the  players,  and,  despite  some 
too  genuine  scratchings  and  bitings,  managed  to  fasten 
them  by  ropes  round  their  loins,  monkey- wise,  to  the  posts 
of  houses.  At  last  five  had  been  so  caught  and  tied  in  one 
house  ;  and  then,  if  there  had  been  uproar  before,  there 
was  pandemonium  now.  The  captives  screamed  and 
shrieked  and  yelled ;  they  rolled  as  far  as  their  cords  would 
allow,  and  tore  with  their  teeth  everything  that  came  in 
their  way  :  food,  clothes,  hammocks,  pans,  and  calabashes. 
With  difficulty  I  saved  a  young  chicken  which  one  monkey 
had  seized  and  was  about  to  eat  alive  ;  and  my  camera, 
which  unfortunately  was  standing  by,  had  to  be  most 
closely  guarded.  One  monkey  took  into  his  mouth  and 
spat  out,  mouthfuls  of  salt  and  of  red  peppers  {Capsicums), 
At  last,  everything  within  reach  having  been  either  destroyer-' 


Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana. 


141 


'  or  removed,  the  captives  took   to  fighting  each  other,  in 

iine   heaving  heap  of  humanity.     And  the  whole  mighty 

j^roar  only  ceased  when  all  were  literally  too  tired  to  do 

Then  rest  and  refreshment,  in  the  shape  of  paiwarie, 

pic  native  fermented  drink)  followed,  and  the  usual  good 

nuniour  reigned  everywhere. 

The  games  which  1  have  hitherto  spoken  are  of  the 
simplest  possible  description,  and  may  probably  be  found 
mutatis  mutandis  among  a  great  many  other  races.  But 
1  have  now  to  speak  of  a  few  of  a  highly  specialised  kind, 
and  which  have  almost  certainly  been  slowly  developed 
each  in  the  tribe  to  which  it  seems  peculiar.  These  too 
seem  to  have  lost  much  of  the  educational  character  of  the 
earlier  kind,  and  yet  almost  certainly  wrap  up  a  good  deal 
of  the  history  of  the  tribes  that  play  them. 

The  whipping  game,  called  macquari,  of  the  Arawaks  is 
a  curious  performance,  the  essential  feature  of  which,  the 
mutual  whipping,  is,  I  suppose,  unique.  If  the  purpose  of 
the  game  is  the  cultivation  of  a  habit  of  endurance,  analogies 
may  be  drawn  between  this  game  and  all  of  the  many 
habits  of  self-torture  practised,  and  most  stoically  endured, 
by  almost  all  people  below  a  certain  stage  of  civilisation. 
^ut  I  am  not  aware  that  elsewhere  than  among  the  Arawaks 
his  habit  has  taken  the  particular  form  of  extremely  severe 
mutual  whipping  carried  on  simultaneously  with  extreme 
|7jollification. 

Brett  and  Schomburgk  write  of  it  as  a  funeral  rite,  prac- 
tised in  commemoration  of  some  important  dead  Arawak ; 
l)ut  I  have  never  been  able  to  confirm  this  statement. '  It 
U  true  that  the  game  is  very  rarely  practised  now,  and  but 
few  Arawaks  retain  the  correct  form  and  ritual  of  the  cere- 
mony, and  that  in  Schomburgk's  and  Brett's  time  the  game 
■luisl  have  been  much   more  frequently  practised.     Their 

'  The  laic  Rev.  C.  D.  Dance,  in  his  valuable  if  somewhul  ill-artanEed 
Sj^'Uts  frem  a  Guianesf  teg-ioei,  axinhiAci  a  funeral  purpose  lo  Ihe  macquari 
itiic.  ihough  wilhout  giving  any  itapoitani  evidence  of  the  fact. 


142         Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana. 

chance  of  obtaining  information  was  therefore  betterthan  any 
that  can  now  be  had.  But  if  the  game  really  was  a  funeral 
rite,  it  seems  to  me  strange  that  within  one  generation  all 
knowledge  of  this  has  died  out  from  the  minds  of  the 
Arawaks.  Futhermore,  there  is  a  circumstance  connected 
with  the  game  which  may  easily  have  misled  the  earlier 
writers.  A  grave  is  prepared  before  the  game  begins,  and 
in  this  grave,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  game,  a  burial  does 
take  place,  attended  by  all  the  players.  But  the  thing 
buried  is  not  a  corpse,  but  is  the  apparatus  of  the  game,  the 
whips  and  whistles  which  have  been  used,  and  which  are 
then  ceremoniously  buried,  to  be  dug  up  and  used — all  that 
is  left  of  them — with  the  addition  of  whatever  new  material 
may  be  requisite,  when  the  game  is  again  to  be  played. 

The  macquari  game  is  carried  on  with  much  drinking  of 
paiwarie,  and  has  at  least  in  these  latter  days  developed 
into  a  regular  paiwarie  orgy.  Probably  it  was  always  so. 
The  headman  of  the  place  where  the  macquari  is  to  be 
held  sends  out  his  invitations  long  before  the  day  appointed, 
each  guest  being  given  a  knotted  string  or  a  notched  stick, 
the  knots  or  the  notches  on  which  represent  the  number  of 
days  before  the  game.^  The  time  appointed  is,  as  indeed 
in  all  their  games  and  dances,  when  the  moon  will  be  full ; 
for  the  proceedings  are  carried  on  steadily  through  day 
and  night. 

As  regards  the  instruments  to  be  used,  I  think,  but  am 
not  quite  sure,  that  the  hosts  always  make  and  supply  these. 
Possibly,  however,  the  guests  make  and  bring  their  own 
share. 

The  essential  parts  of  the  whip  are  the  handle,  which  is 
a  stout  stick,  some  twenty  inches  long  and  perhaps  an  inch 

'  Early  one  December,  stopping  for  the  night  at  an  Indian  settlement  at  no 
great  distance  from  a  mission,  the  headman  of  the  place  insisted  upon  my 
preparing  for  him  a  cord  knotted  with  a  number  of  knots  to  correspond  with 
the  days  before  Christmas  ;  and  when,  sympathising  with  the  devotional  inten- 
tions which  I  mentally  attributed  to  him,  I  asked  him  why  he  was  so  anxious 
for  Christmas,  he  replied  that  **  he  wanted  to  have  a  good  drink." 


Games  of  the  Red-meti  of  Guiana. 


i43 


and  a  half  in  diameter,  and  the  lash,  from  two  to  two  and  a  half 
feet  long,  which  is  made  of  a  bundle  of  parallel  strands  of  the 
remarkably  tough  fibres  of  the  silk-grass,  round  which  is  very 
tightly  and  closely  bound  more  silk-grass ;  the  whole  is  then 
heavily  beeswaxed,  and  forms  as  severe  a  cutting  implement 
as  any  single  lash  could.  But  over  these  essential  parts  of 
the  whip  is  put  a  thin  covering,  by  way  of  ornament,  of  the 
far  weaker  uncleaned  fibre  {libisiri)  of  the  xla  palm 
{Mauritia  flexuosd);  and  the  ends  of  this  are  allowed  to 
hang  loose  at  each  end  of  the  handle,  so  as  to  make  a  sort 
of  ornamental  tassel  which  is  stained  red.  A  touch  or  two 
of  other  colour  is  added  by  tying  on  a  few  bright  feathers. 

In  the  above  description  the  essential  pans  of  the  whip 
have  been  carefully  distinguished  from  the  ornamental.  It 
will  easily  be  understood,  remembering  the  nature  of  the 
materials  used  for  these  two  parts,  that  the  former,  the 
handle  and  the  lash,  are  of  a  very  tough  and  enduring 
nature,  while  the  mere  ornamental  parts  are  of  very  perish- 
able nature.  When,  therefore,  after  the  game  is  for  the 
time  over,  the  whips — or  some  of  them,  for  I  think  only  a 
few  are  ever  so  treated — are  buried,  the  ornamental  parts 
quickly  decay,  while  the  handle  and  lash  endure.  It  is 
these  latter  which  are  dug  up  on  the  occasion  of  the  next 
playing  of  the  game,  and  are  then,  under  the  name  of 
"  macquari  grandfathers  "  {Macqttareeichi),  placed  (I  am 
not  sure  that  they  are  actually  used  on  this  second  occasion) 
among  the  whips  to  be  then  used. 

It  is  as  though  the  vitality  of  the  sport  were  preserved 
from  occasion  to  occasion  ;  as  if  the  macquari  of  one  genera- 
tion, reduced  we  might  almost  say  to  skin  and  bone,  looked 
on  as  a  grandfather  might  at  the  play  of  the  macquaries  of 
the  next  generation — surely  a  curious  and  characteristic 
idea,  and  one  which  may  obviously  have  given  rise  to  the 
idea  that  the  game  has  the  nature  of  a  funeral  rite. 

Two  wooden  whistles  are  made,  about  three  inches  long, 
roughly  carved  and  painted  to  resemble  plovers — whistling 


144         Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana. 

birds  be  it  remembered.  These  are,  I  think,  used  by  the 
two  chief  male  players.  More  of  these  instruments  may 
sometimes  be  made  and  used,  but  I  know  of  no  case. 

Whips  and  whistles  are  essential  implements  to  the 
macquari  game.  Whether  the  other  instruments  which  I 
have  now  to  describe  are  also  essential,  or  whether  they 
really  belong  to  some  other  game,  perhaps  more  than  one, 
which  has  in  some  way  nowadays  got  mixed  up  with  the 
macquari,  I  know  not,  but  I  have  seen  the  following  all 
used. 

The  honore — named  from  the  Arawak  name  for  the 
heron  {Ardea  cocoi) — is  also  a  rough,  very  rough,  wooden 
representation  of  a  bird.  It  is  used  always  by  the  women, 
and  sometimes  by  the  men  in  place  of  the  macquari  whip, 
the  blow  given  with  it  being  of  course  merely  formal  and 
not  severe.  ^ 

A  large  bundle  of  aeta  fibre  is  tied  up  to  imitate  the  shape, 
in  natural  size,  of  a  sloth.  The  two  front  limbs  of  this 
creature  are  tied  together  at  the  toes,  in  such  a  way  that 
when  the  loop  thus  made  is  slipped  over  the  neck  of  one  of 
the  players  it  hangs  down  his  back  like  a  sloth  hanging  by 
its  front  legs  round  his  neck.  This  seems  to  be  a  sort  of 
badge  of  disgrace  hung  on  any  player  who  is  in  some  way 
a  defaulter  in  the  game. 

Rattles,  or  shak-shaks^  made  of  small  round  gourds, 
enclosing  some  pebbles,  are  mounted  at  the  end  of  very 
long  sticks  (eight  or  nine  feet),  and  are  adorned  with 
tassels  of  3eta  fibre.  One  of  these  is  provided  for  each 
female  player. 

For  most  of  the  other  games  observed,  special  clothing, 
scanty  but  appropriate,  is  provided,      For  the  macquari  I 

*  Mr.  Dance,  in  his  Guianese  Log-book^  already  quoted,  page  273,  alludes 
to  the  "  Honora,  the  crane  or  heron  dance,"  as  distinct  from  the  macquar. 
He  may  be  right ;  and,  in  that  case,  it  must  be  understood  that  the  honore 
element  which  I  saw  in  the  macquari  was  only  accidentally  mixed  up  with  the 
true  ritual  of  the  latter  game. 


Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Gutana 


HS 


liiave  noticed  only  one  such  preparation,  which  is  that  the 

Pwomen  cover  their  heads  with  small  pieces  of  white  natural 
cotton  fibre.  But  as  the  Arawaks  are  by  far  the  most 
civilised  of  the  tribes,  and  have,  with  very  few  exceptions, 
almost  invariably  adopted  shirt,  trousers,  and,  in  the  case 

1  of  the  women,  ordinary  dresses,  we  may  suppose  that  the 
radition  of  the  appropriate  dress  for  the  macquari  has 
>een  lost 

When,  in  addition  to  the  things  already  mentioned,  a 
sufficient  quantity  of  paiwarie  has  been  prepared,  all  is 
ready  for  the  game,  which  will  last  for  a  day  and  night  or 
more,  according  as  the  paiwarie  lasts  out. 

The  guests  arrive  the  afternoon  before  the  first  day  of 
the  regular  dance.  As  they  arrive  they  are  met  at  the 
waterside  by  the  hosts,  provided  with  whips.  The  guests 
stand  to  be  whipped,  and,  in  turn,  the  whips  being  handed 
over  to  them  for  that   purpose,   whip   their   hosts.      So, 

I  whipping  and  being  whipped  in  turn  all  the  way,  the  pro- 

Icession  moves  up  to  the  houses.' 

Before  daylight  the  next  morning  the  women  are  astir, 
and  hand  to  each  player  a  small  calabash  of  paiwarie  which 
has  been  especially  prepared  twenty-one  days  beforehand. 

I  Now   paiwarie   is   undrinkable   the   first   two    days    after 
made,  is   in   perfection   on   the   third,  and   rapidly 

f  deteriorates  afterwards.  As  a  rule,  no  one  would  think  of 
drinking  paiwarie  more  than  four  days  old.  But  on  this 
occasion  each  player  takes  a  dose  of  thoroughly  spoiled 
paiwarie,  and  it  is  perhaps  hardly  necessary  to  throw  light 

[  on  what  goes  on  under  cover  of  the  darkness  that  morning, 

■  but  by  dawn  each  player  feels  within  himself  a  void  which 

Ronly  much  fresh  paiwarie  can  fill. 

Soon  after,  play  begins.     At  6rst  chiefly  the  men  take  part 

'  I  remember  overhearing  in  a  discussion  as  to  which  of  two  scltlcmeDts 
"■  Aould  be  the  scene  of  an  intended  macquari  dance,  an  BrEninent  put  forward 
Ihet  one  of  the  two  was  much  more  suitable,  as  being  furlhcsl  from  ihe  watei- 
lide,  and  therefore  allowing  more  scope  for  their  initial  whipping. 
VOL.  XII.  I. 


146         Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana. 

in  it,  though  after  a  time  some  of  the  women  occasionally 
break  into  the  line  and  take  part.  At  first  too  the  pro- 
ceedings are  more  like  that  of  an  ordinary  paiwarie  dance, 
the  players  standing  opposite  to  each  other  in  two  lines, 
their  arms  round  each  other's  necks  or  waists,  and  these  two 
lines  approach  and  retreat  from  each  other  with  much 
rhythmic  stamping.  Suddenly  this  play  is  abandoned  and 
the  real  business  of  the  macquari  begins.  This  may  be 
said  to  take  chiefly  two  forms,  alternating,  in  the  first  of 
which  only  the  men  take  part,  while  the  women  share  in  the 
second.    ^ 

In  the  former,  in  which  the  really  serious  business  takes 
place,  two  lines  of  men  and  boys  stand  facing  each  other, 
each  provided  with  a  whip,  and  the  two  at  one  end  having 
the  two  whistles.     The  members  of  the  opposite  rank  stamp 
rhythmically   at   each   other,   all   keeping   up    a    constant 
shouting  of  Yau-au  (like  au  in  German  Frau)^  all  waving 
their  whips.     Suddenly  the  two  with  the  whistles  pass  down 
from  their  end,  between  the  lines,  to  the  opposite  end,  the 
two  lines  meanwhile  moving  up  in  an  opposite  direction. 
More  stamping  follows,  and  then  the  two  whistlers  begin 
excitedly  whistling  at  each  other.     This  is  done  with  the 
most  comical  vehemence,  the  two  holding  their  heads   in 
opposite  directions  to  each  other  while  whistling,  and  each 
at    regular   intervals   reversing  the  direction  in  which  his 
head  is  held.     Then  takes  place  for  the  first  of  many  times 
what  I  may   call   a  complimentary  whipping.     Each  man 
raises  his  whip  high  over  his  head  and  brings  it  down  with 
a  great  show  of  force  and  violence,   as  though  bent  on 
cutting  open  the  calf  of   the  opposite  player's  leg;  as  a 
matter   of   fact,  however,  the  stroke  ends  in  the  merest, 
gentlest,  flick  of  the    leg.     After   that  the  whistlers  rush 
back,  as  they  came,  to  their  original  positions  at  the  other 
end  of  the  line.     These  proceedings  are  repeated  several 
times,  till  at  last  the  lines  break  up,  and  the  women  at  once 
bring  round  to  each  player  calabashes  of  paiwarie. 


Games  of  the  Red-men  of  G. 


M7 


But  it  is  also  now  that  the  serious  business  of  the  thing 
begins,  any  pair,  or  any  pairs  of  the  players,  challenging 
each  other  to  a  real  use  of  the  whip.  The  two  challengers 
stand  apart.  One  puts  forward  his  leg,  planting  it  firmly  ; 
generally  he  turns  his  back,  and  consequently  his  calf,  to- 
wards his  opponent,  but  sometimes  faces  him  exposing  his 
shin.  The  opposite  man  stoops  and  stretches  out  his  whip 
90  as  carefully  to  measure  the  distance  to  which  the  lash 
will  reach,  then,  rising,  he  carefully  poises  it  over  his  head, 
and  flogs,  one  single  stroke,  butwithall  his  might  and  main. 
The  crack  is  like  a  loud  pistol  shot.  The  first  time  1  saw  and 
heard  the  blow  given,  seeing  not  the  slightest  flinching  of  the 
recipient's  body,  not  a  twitching  of  his  lips,  I  was  fully  per- 
suaded that  there  was  some  trick  in  the  thing,  that  the  blow 
was  little  or  nothing  else  than  mere  sound  and  fury.  Express- 
ing something  of  this,  the  flogged_man  turned  toward  me  his 
calf,  and  right  across  it,  extending  nearly  round  on  to  the 
shin,  was  a  bleeding  gash.  The  stroke  having  been  given,  the 
two  players  at  once  began  to  dance  against  each  other  for  a 
few  seconds,  the  flogged  man  during  this  shouting  out  au 
the  flogger  yau.  Then  the  same  man  receives  a  second 
stroke,  which  is  sometimes,  according  to  a  rapidly  made 
sign,  a  second  serious  stroke  like  the  first,  sometimes  a 
merely  complimentary  stroke.  Then  follows  another  few 
seconds  of  dancing  and  shouting.  Then  the  one  who 
flogged  before  is  now  flogged  in  the  same  way,  either  only 
the  first  or  both  strokes  being  serious,  according  as  were 
those  he  had  inflicted.  Then  the  two  returned  to  the  body 
of  players,  in  the  best  of  humours,  hang  up  their  whips,  go 
to  the  paiwarie  trough,  and  drink  together. 

The  whole  business,  the  two  lines  of  dancers,  the  pairs 
of  challengers,  and  the  flogging,  are  repeated  again  and 
again  throughout  the  day  and  night,  and,  if  the  paiwarie 
lasts  out,  throughout  the  next  day  and  the  next  night,  and 
sometimes,  I  am  told,  yet  longer.  From  time  to  time  all 
the  players,  men  and  boys  alike,  give  and  take  their  share 


148         Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana. 

of  blows,  some,  however,  being  more  eager  than  others  for 
this  part  of  the  entertainment,  in  proportion,  as  it  seemed 
to  me,  to  the  skill  which  each  attributed  to  himself  in 
scientifically  and  forcibly  inflicting  the  cuts.  Watching 
with  the  greatest  care,  I  have  never  detected  the  slightest 
flinching  or  sign  of  dread  of  the  blow,  nor  any  sign  of 
ruffled  temper.  Yet  I  have  seen  men,  and  even  small  boys, 
after  twelve  hours  of  this  work,  with  their  calves  so  cut 
about  that  they  could  not  put  their  feet  to  the  ground  with- 
out pain ;  and  in  the  case  of  one  boy,  whom  I  took  into  my 
service  immediately  after  one  of  these  performances,  the 
scars  lasted  for  months.  I  may  add  that  the  two  challengers 
are  in  all  cases  suitably  matched,  boys  challenging  boys, 
and  men  challenging  opponents  worthy  of  their  lash. 

But  the  performance  so  far  described  is  occasionally 
slightly  varied,  and  it  is  in  this  second  form  that  the 
women  take  part.  It  seems  a  milder,  perhaps  a  later,  form 
of  the  genuine  game;  and  it  seems  itself  to  admit  of  a 
good  deal  of  variation.  The  women  who  take  part  in  it 
are  armed,  not  with  whips,  but  each  either  with  the  long 
skak-shak  or  rattle,  which  has  already  been  described,  or 
with  the  wooden  figure  of  a  heron.  The  leader  of  the  men 
also  has  one  of  these  wooden  birds  in  place  of  his  more 
usual  whip. 

Two  lines  are  formed,  the  men  and  women  standing 
indiscriminately  facing  each  other.  These  two  lines  make 
the  usual  series  of  advances  and  retreats  to  and  from  each 
other,  those  players  who  have  whips  shaking  these,  those 
who  have  rattles  shaking  these  by  hitting  the  stick  part  of 
them  at  regular  intervals  with  their  disengaged  hands ;  and 
those  who  have  honores  shake  these  at  each  other.  Then 
a  pause  is  called,  the  players,  men  and  women  alike,  put 
forward  their  calves,  and  each  receives  either  with  whip  or 
honore  a  quite  gentle  courteous  tap.  Sometimes,  too,  the 
players  instead  of  dancing  opposite  to  each  other  in  two 
opposing  lines  within  the  house,  vary  the  proceedings  by 


Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana. 


149 


I  marching  round  and  round  the  house  in  double-Rled  proces- 
\  sion,  stopping  from  time  to  time  to  give  and  take  the 
I  complimentary  strokes. 

In  a  curious  dance,  perhaps  a  variety  of  the  macquari, 

*  time  is  beaten  for  the  dancers  by  two  old  women,  or  an 

old  man   and  a  woman,  rarely  two  young  persons,  who 

squat  opposite  to  each  other  in  the  centre  of  the  dancing 

square  with  this  board  between  them.     Each  is  provided 

with  a  rough  wooden  figure  of  a  man  called  warau,  which 

[  word  as  thus  used  by  the  Arawaks  signifies  "barbarian," 

a  person  not  an  Arawak ;  or  sometimes  in  place  of  this 

■ail  each  has  a  bundle  of  a  few  straight  sticks  from  two 

I  to   three  feet  long.      Whatever  instrument  is   used,  it  is 

I  beaten  by  each  player  on  the  board  to  a  sort  of  rough  tune 

I  and  with  an  accompaniment  of  rhythmic  chanting.'     The 

1  words  of  this  chant,  as  I  am  assured,  are  now  unintelligible 

nonsense ;  frequent  reference  is,  however,  evidently  made 

to  the  ourafia,  or  labba.     In  a  circle  outside  these  beaters 

of  time  stand  a  few,  apparently  rarely  more  than  four  or 

six,  of  the  young  men.     Each  of  these  is  provided  with  his 

macquari  whip,  which  he  holds  by  its  two  extreme  ends, 

his  arms  being  thus  outstretched  to  their  full  span.     The 

extreme  end  of  the  lash,  held  in  the  left  hand,  is  pointed 

I  toward  the  centre  of  the  circle,  and  is  held  so  as  almost  to 

I  touch  the  ground  ;  the  opposite  end,  held  in  the  right  hand, 

L  is  held  as  high  as  may  be  from  the  ground.      Thus  the 

I  bodies  of  the  circle  of  dancers  are  all  inclined  inward,  the 

I  lashes  of  their  whips  pointing  to  a  common  centre,  at  which 

I  lies  the  square  board.     Suddenly,  at  a  signal  from  the  time- 

I  beaters  in  the  centre,  and  always  in  time  with  this  beating, 

I  the  men  come  forward  with  a  curious  little  running  motion, 

'  In  Nature,  for  Septembei  Sth,  1E99,  il  is  suited  Ihal  Ihe  Mincopies  hnve 
but  one  musical  insiniinenl,  which  consists  "  merely  of  a  hard  wood  board,  of 
spedsl  shape,"  which  is  used  for  sounding  a  ihylhmical  lime  foi  dancing.  It 
il  used  only  as  a  musical  inslnimcnt,  and  so  illustrates  a  step  in  advance  of  ihe 

I  Australian,  who  taps  with  his  stick  upon  his  "  casting  boaid  "  or  the  samcpur- 

I  pose,  without  etiiploying  a  separate  insUuoienl. 


150         Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana. 


y 


i 


1  I 


and  the  circle  contracts.  The  time-beaters  beat  on,  now 
faster,  now  slower,  and  as  they  beat  the  circle  of  dancers 
round  them  advance  and  retreat,  faster  or  slower,  and  as 
they  dance,  in  constant  alternation,  the  points  of  the  whips 
are  now  raised  toward  the  sky,  so  that  the  men's  figures  are 
bent  backward  out  of  the  circle,  now  are  turned,  as  at  first 
described,  down  toward  the  ground.  Description  entirely 
fails  to  give  any  idea  of  the  curious  gracefulness  of  this 
measured  swaying  backward  and  forw-ard  of  bodies,  and  of 
the  unusual  grace  and  unusual  activity  of  these  dancers. 
After  a  time  the  women  occasionally  break  in  and  increase 
the  circle  of  dancers,  to  the  destruction  of  the  gracefulness 
and,  it  must  be  said,  rapidity  of  the  dance. 

The  Warau  game,  called  taratoo^  or  naha^  in  which  the 
most  marked  feature  is  that  each  player  is  provided  with  a 
large  shield  made  of  palm-leaf  stalks,  is  both,  as  far  as  I  know, 
unrecorded  as  played  by  any  other  people,  and  is  remark- 
able for  certain  features  peculiar  to  it.  Chief  of  these  are 
that  it  is  the  only  game,  except  mere  children's  games, 
known  to  me  which  is  not  accompanied  by  drinking,  and 
that  there  is  a  real  element  of  contention  in  it,  in  that  it  is 
used  as  a  practical  means,  a  trial  by  ordeal,  of  settling 
disputes  which  may  have  arisen  between  distinct  groups 
of  Waraus,  generally  between  two  groups  respectively 
occupying  adjacent  rivers  or  creeks. 

The  absence  of  drinking  may,  perhaps,  be  explained  in 
this  way.  The  usual  fermented  liquor  used  in  the  Indian 
games  of  Guiana  is  either  paiwarie  or  casiri^  both  of  which 
are  the  ordinary  every-day  drink,  one  might  almost  say 
meat  and  drink,  of  all  the  Indians  of  Guiana  except  the 
Waraus.  The  latter — of  course  I  speak  of  them  now  in 
their  natural  state,  in  which  they  are  now  only  found  in 
British  Guiana,  near  the  mouths  of  the  Barima  and 
Amakuru  rivers — have  never  risen  to  the  level,  if  I  may 
so  speak,  of  a  good  drink  ;  they  live,  apparently,  curiously 
uncomfortable  lives,  hidden  away  between  the  mud  and  the 


Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana.  151 

gloom,  in  dense  jeta-palm  swamps  at  the  edge  of  the  sea. 
The  ground  there  is  nowhere  dry  enough  for  the  growth  of 
cassava  ;  agriculture,  even  in  the  simple  form  practised  by 

rthe  other  tribes,  is  unattempted  and  is  indeed  impossible; 

Mnd  consequently  the  great  food  supply  which  the  other 
tribes  use,  in  the  form  of  cassava  bread  and  paiwari,  is 
unattainable  and  unused  by  the  Waraus.  They  seem 
indeed,  in  their  purely  natural  state — which  is  perhaps  no 
longer  exhibited  anywhere  unless  on  some  of  the  more 
remote  and  intricate  windings  of  the  mouths  of  the 
Orinoco — to  have  been  in  litlle  more  enviable  state  thao 
the  Digger  Indians  of  California,  or  the  Fuegians, 
generally  accounted  the  most  miserable  of  human  beings. 
Even  game  is  very  scarce  in  the  sea-adjacent  swamps 
where  live  the  Waraus,  who  use  instead  fish  and  crabs. 
But  one  food  supply  they  have  of  a  marvellously  all-suf- 
ficient, if  unsatisfactory,  character,  the  a^ta  palm  [Mauritia 
flexuosa)  ;  and  on  this,  if  we  except  the  fish  and  crabs,  they 
live  exclusively.  The  pith  of  the  aeta  palm  and  the  pulp 
round  the  fruits  of  the  same  tree  serve  them  as  bread-stuff; 
the  fermented  sap  of  the  seta  palm  alone  seems  to  save 
them  from  quite  always  quenching  their  thirst  with  water. 
For  some  reason,  possibly  with  a  natural  and  wise  instinct 
for  the  preservation  of  the  palms,  which  are  so  much  to 
them,  they  only  sparingly  use  this  liquor,  the  drawing  of 
which  means  the  destruction  of  the  tree.  Unlike  the  other 
Indians,  the  Waraus  therefore  are  not  naturally  habituated 
to  the  incessant  use  of  fermented  liquor;  and  for  this 
reason  it  is  perhaps  that,  also  unlike  the  other  Indians,  they 
do  not  use  it  at  their  national  game.  The  energy, 
emulation,  and  excitement  shown  by  the  Waraus  in  their 
liquorless  game,  is  at  least  equal  to  that  shown  by  the 
paiwarie-filled  game-players  of  other  tribes. 

The  second  remarkable  feature  of  the  shield-game  is  that 

I  it  serves  as  a  trial  by  ordeal.     The  Waraus  of  one  river  are 

Kaccused,  say,  by  the  Waraus  of  a  neighbouring  river  of 


152         Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana. 

having  stolen  some  pots,  or  some  other  such  offence.  The 
dispute  between  the  two  parties  waxes  hot.  But  instead  of 
an  interchange  of  blows,  the  headmen  of  the  two  parties 
meet,  and  these  two  arrange  that  their  followers  shall 
assemble  at  some  appointed  place,  and  at  a  date  sufficently 
far  ahead  to  allow  of  due  preparation,  and  shall  then  fight 
it  out — or  play  it  out.  A  tree  is  chosen,  and  on  one  and  the 
other  side  of  this  tree  each  of  the  two  captains  respectively 
make  a  number  of  masks  indicating  the  number  of  days 
before  the  strife.  They  make  the  tree  look,  as  one  civil- 
ised Warau  once  picturesquely  described  to  me,  like  a  news- 
paper. The  two  parties  now  return  each  to  their  own 
homes,  and  there  occupy  themselves  until  the  day  of  strife 
in  the  preparation  of  their  shields  and  personal  ornaments. 
After  the  strife,  it  may  be  as  well  here  to  say,  the  vanquished 
will,  in  the  case  above  supposed,  good-temperedly  pay  to 
the  victors  the  amount  of  the  damage  which  by  ordeal  they 
have  been  shown  to  have  done. 

The  shields,  one  of  which  each  man  prepares  for  himself 

are  made  in  this  way.     Three  sticks  of  light  wood,  the 

centre  one  much  slighter,  but  also  nearly  double  the  length 

of  the  other  two,  are  laid  at  distances   of   about   fifteen 

inches,  parallel  to  each   other  on  the  ground.     The  two 

outer  sticks  are  perhaps  four  feet  long,  the  middle  one  seven 

or  even  eight  feet.      Across  the  front  of  these  parallel  sticks 

pieces  of  the  leaf  stems  of  the  aeta  palm,  all  cut  to  one 

length,  perhaps  thirty  inches,  are  laid  parallel  to  each  other 

and  close  together.     These  are  then  tightly  bound  with 

the  fibre  from  the  aeta  leaf  in  the  place  which  they  now 

occupy.     The  result  is  a  compact,    dense    shield  of   acta 

stalks,  square  or  oblong  in  shape,  above  the  top  of  which 

the  two  outer  of  the  three  upright  sticks  projects  five  or  six 

inches,  while  the  centre  of  these  sticks  projects  several  feet. 

To  give  additional  strength  to  the  shield,  a  stick  of  light 

strong  wood  is  bound  across   the  top  of   the  aeta  stalks, 

crossing  the  three  projecting  sticks  at  right  angles,  and 


Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana, 


153 


another  stick,  this  time  a  stout  piece  of  palm-leaf  stalk,  is 
bound  on  similarly  at  the  bottom  of  the  shield.  Into  three 
holes  made  in  this  lowest  horizontal  stick  the  lower  ends  of 
the  three  upright  projecting  sticks  are  inserted.  Great 
tassels  of  flowing  acta  fibre,  partly  dyed  red,  are  now  bound, 
by  way  of  ornament,  on  to  the  three  sticks  which  project 
over  the  top  of  the  shield,  and  the  outer  face  of  the  shield, 
also  by  way  of  ornament,  is  painted  in  quaint  barbaric 
patters  with  certain  white,  red,  and  yellow  ochreous  earths. 
The  shield  is  now  complete.  It  should  be  added,  however, 
that  each  maker  prepares  his  shield  of  a  size  suitable  for 
himself,  so  that  these  vary  in  size  from  that  of  the  big  full- 
sized  man  to  that  of  the  small  boy. 

The  personal  adornment  is  of  a  very  simple  nature,  its  con- 
stituents, if  we  exclude  the  few  beads  or  teeth  which  a  very 
few  of  the  Waraus  are  rich  enough  to  have  and  to  wear 
habitually,  are  only  acta  fibre  and  coloured  earths.  Yet  it 
is  a  fact,  easily  paralleled  among  other  Red-men,  that  a 
great  variety  of  taste,  and  some  very  good  taste,  is  indi- 
vidually shown.  Among  the  group  of  players  all  individuals 
may  be  discovered  varying  from  the  sloven's  state  to  that  of 
the  well  and  worthily  dressed  man — 1  had  almost  said 
gentleman.  Yet  the  latter  has  nothing  over  his  bright  clean 
skin  but  a  loin-cloth  or  lap  a  few  inches  wide,  a  few 
bunches  and  twisted  strands  of  straw-coloured  palm  fibre — 
these  latter  sometimes  partly  dyed  to  a  pretty  and  congruous 
red  colour — and  possibly  a  few  patches  of  coloured  earths, 
and  sometimes  of  plant  juices. 

Here  is  the  description  of  one  special  player,  in  a  sense 
as  well  and  as  becomingly  dressed  a  man  as  I  ever  saw, 
His  waist-cloth  was  of  clean  white  calico,  and  was  the  only 
European  thing  about  him.  It  was  kept  in  place  by  a  thick 
girdle  of  loosely  twisted  palm  fibres.  Round  each  of  his 
legs,  just  below  the  knees,  and  round  his  arms,  just  above 
the  elbows,  were  similar  girdles,  each  ending  in  a  long  and 
flowing  loose  end.  From  round  his  neck  to  below  his 
waist  hung  a  thick  sort  of  cloak  of  etitirely  loose  fibres;  and 


154         Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana. 

round  his  head  was  a  fibre  fillet  ending  at  the  back  in  a 
bunch  of  long  loose  ends  which  hung  down  over  his  neck. 
The  whole  of  his  hands  to  above  the  wrists,  and  the  whole 
of  his  feet  to  above  the  ankles,  were  dyed  of  that  deep 
Indian-red  colour  (procured  from  Bixa  orelland)  which  is, 
strangely  enough,  so  becoming  to  the  red  skin  of  a  Red-man. 
The  whole  of  his  clothing,  except  the  paint,  I  could  hold  in 
one  small  bundle  in  my  hand;  yet  in  this  full  dress  he 
looked  only  not  a  dandy  because  perfectly  becomingly 
dressed. 

When  the  appointed  day  comes  and  the  players  are 
gathered  together,  each  with  his  quaint  shield  and  many 
flowing  tassels,  the  group  presents,  as  a  whole,  as  picturesque 
an  appearance  as  can  well  be  imagined,  the  almost  solely 
prevalent  colours  of  which  are  soft  and  well-blended  reds, 
yellows,  and  browns. 

After  all  this  preparation  the  game  is  simplicity  itself. 
Each  party  is  drawn  up  in  a  long  single  line,  the  two  lines 
facing  each  other  in  such  a  way  that  each  player  has 
immediately  facing  him  a  player  of  the  opposite  side  of 
about  his  own  size.  There  is  much  stamping  of  feet  and 
much  threatening  shaking  of  shields,  now  held  high  over 
head ;  and  there  is  much  shouting  of  the  word  saki^  sakiy 
sakiy  each  series  of  shouts  ending  in  a  general  roar.  Then 
suddenly  the  two  lines  take  a  half  turn,  and  march  off  and 
about  in  single  file,  but  the  two  sides  in  parallel  lines ;  the 
stamping,  the  shield-shaking,  and  the  shouting  being  still 
kept  up.  Those  who,  judging  by  the  unfortunate  stray  Red- 
men  seen  dazed  in  the  town,  think  these  people  naturally 
dejected  and  low-spirited,  would  quite  change  their  opinion 
did  they  see  these  same  Red-men  wildly  excited  and  in  the 
highest  of  spirits  during  this  game.  Suddenly  the  march- 
ing ceases,  and  the  two  ranks  resume  their  places  opposite 
to  each  other.  Each  man  gets  his  shield  against  that  of  his 
opposite  foe,  and  now  in  silence  each  pushes  against  his 
opponent,  each  strives  might  and  main,  heart  and  soul,  to 


Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana. 


155 


[push  his  opponent  back  from  the  line  and  if  possible  to 

I  overthrow  him.      Then   follows  more   marching;  and  the 

whole  thing  is  repeated  time  after  time  till  all  are  too  weary 

to   do   more.      Then  the  thing  ends.     It  would  often  be 

difficult  for  any  but  the  most  observant  onlooker  to  tell 

which  side  had  got  the  better;  but  they  themselves  know, 

I  and  the  vanquished  admit  their  defeat.      Forfeit  is  paid,  or 

r  arrangement  is  made  to  pay  the  forfeit  at  some  convenient 

f  time.     Lastly,  all  separate  in  the  best  of  tempers. 

An  account,  written  at  the  time,  of  a  very  curious  cere- 

'  monial  feast,  which  I   saw  held,  apparently  with  strictest 

and   most  accurate  ceremony,   by  the   Partamonas,   must 

bring  this  paper  to  a  close.     In  the  course  of  an  overland 

journey  in  the  interior  of  this  colony,  1,  with  four  of  my 

Pomeroon   Indians  and  a  large  crowd  of  Macusi  carriers, 

[arrived  at  the  village  of  Araiwaparoo  before  noon,  and  there 

I  found  great  preparations  in  hand  for  a  dance  which  is  called 

parasheera,  and  seems  to  be  practised  especially  by  the 

Macusi  and  Akawoi. 

Parasheera  seems  to  be  the  name  not  only  of  the  dance 

but  also  of  each  of  the  performers,  who,  fantastically  clothed, 

arrived  at  the  appointed  settlement  for  the  dance.     Even 

when  we  reached  Araiwaparoo  in  the  morning,  the  wooded 

kbeights  round  us  from  time  to  time  re-echoed  to  frequent 

rshouts;  these,  however,  for  some   hours  died  away  each 

|(ime  they  were  raised  without  anything  apparently  happen- 

■  ing  or  anyone  appearing.     There  seemed  a  good   deal  of  ■ 
Ihesitation   and  unwillingness   in  answering  my   questional 
i  about  these  shouts,  and  an  air  of  mystery  seemed  to  per- 
("vade  the  whole  village.      I  however  induced  one  of    my 

■  Macusi  travelling-companions  to  throw  some  light  on  the 
Imatter.  He  told  me  that  it  was  the  parasheera  gathering, 
PEach  party  of  two  or  three,  being  the  male  inhabitants  of 
l^ne    household    from     some     part    of    the     neighbouring 

lavannah,  as  they  come,  shouting  and  yelling,  to  some  spot 
the  forest,   appointed  as   a   gathering   place,  near  the 


156  Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana. 

village  where  the  feast  is  to  be  held,  hush  their  cries  and 
wait  till  the  other  parasheeras,  each  party  of  whom  seems 
to  come  from  a  separate,  more  or  less  distant  settlement, 
come  up.  Only  when  the  representatives  from  all  the 
invited  settlements  have  thus  gathered  together  at  the 
appointed  place  in  the  forest  at  some  little  distance  from  the 
place  appointed  for  the  feast,  does  the  whole  party  move 
forward  together  When  we  arrived  at  Araiwaparoo,  and 
for  some  hours  afterwards,  the  mysterious  parasheera  were 
thus  gathering  in  our  neighbourhood,  unseen,  but  most 
certainly  heard,  and  apparently  not  to  be  talked  of. 

At  last,  just  before  four  o'clock,  the  excitement  reached 
its  highest  pitch,  and  seemed  to  pass  into  a  new  phase. 
The  men  and  boys  of  the  settlement  rushed  into  one  of  the 
houses,  and  presently  came  out  fantastically  painted  with 
the  finest  white  clay.      The  headman  had  a  broad  band  of 
this  pigment  entirely  across  his  face  so  as  to  cover  both 
eyes  and  meet  the  ears  on  either  side ;   he  looked  exactly 
as  though  blindfolded  with  a  white   handkerchief.      The 
same  man  had  also  various  bands  of  the  same  white  sub- 
stance round  his  body  and  legs.     Each  of  his  party  was 
also   painted,  but   differently,  with   this   same   substance. 
Otherwise  they  had  no  ornament,  and  no  clothing  beyond 
the   ordinary    narrow   waistcloth.        Each   had    a   whistle 
formed  of  one,  two,  or  three  very  slender  pieces  of  bamboo, 
arranged,  when  there  was  more  than  one  of  these,  like 
pan-pipes.     This  instrument  is  called  kimitiy  and  from  this 
instrument  the  whole  of  the  party  is  also  called  kimiti. 
Those  who  amuse  themselves  with  far-fetched  fancied  points 
of  analogy  between  different  languages  may  be  especially  in- 
terested to  hear  that  this  ^m/V/ performed  exactly  the  office 
of  a  reception  committee.    Some  of  the  kimiti  frantically 
waved  small  joints  of  smoke-dried  meat.    Then,  with  endless 
wild  and  most  fantastic  caperings  and  posturings,  and  with 
most  vehement  sounding  of  their  shrill  whistles,  the  kimiti 
darted  like  a  flock  of  wild  duck  down  the  path  toward  the 


Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guian 


157 


forest,   whence   the    parasheera  were    to    emerge.      The 
approach    of    the    latter  was    indicated   by  the    growing 
roar   which   they   raised,  which,   by   the   way,  contrasted 
curiously,  and  doubtless  intentionally,  with  the  piercingly 
shrill  sounds  of  the  equally,  but  differently,  noisy  kimiti. 
I  At  last,  just  as  the  two  bodies  of  different  noises  approached 
land  blended  in  a  most  truly  marvellous  inharmonious  har- 
rmony,  the  first  of  the  long  single-filed  procession  of  new- 
comers came  in  sight  just  at  the  edge  of  the  forest      His 
entire  body  was  concealed  in  a  clothing  of  the  pale  yellow- 
green  young  leaves  of  the  a;ta  palm  {Maurilia  flexuosd). 
A  skirt  of  the  same,  plaited  together  at  the  top,  but  other- 
wise hanging  loose,  hung  from  round  his  waist  to  his  heels. 
A  similar  cloak  of  the  same  hung  from  round  his  neck  so  as 
to  overlap  the  skirt;   and  a  curiously  plaited  arrangement 
of  the  same  leaves  encircled  his  head,  part  serving  as  a  far- 
extending  halo-like  crown,  part  hanging  down  visor-like 
r  his  face  so  as  to  overlap  the  top  of  the  cloak.     He 
■  'held  in  his  hand  a  long  wand  of  trumpet-wood  {Cecropia 
1  peltata),  pierced  with  holes  so  as  to  serve  as  a  rude  musical 
instrument,  and  surmounted  by  a  large  flat  representation  of 
the  sun  or  moon,  or  some  star,  or  of  some  animal  or  bird, 
made  of  carved  and  painted  soft  wood. 

The  procession  as  it  emerged  from  the  bush  was  com- 
posed of  thirty-five  of  these  fantastic  figures  [Parasheera), 
each  dressed  exactly  as  above  described ;  except  that  in 
each  case  the  figure  which  surmounted  the  trumpet-wood 
dancing-stick  represented  some  different  object  of  the 
heaven  or  of  the  earth,  or  in  some  few  cases  was  re- 
placed by  a  long  rattling  band  of  rattle-seeds  [TheveCia 
nereifolia).  Almost  all  the  performers  were  grown  men, 
but  the  last  half-dozen  or  so  were  boys  of  various  sizes 
down  to  the  smallest.  The  first  three  men  were  accom- 
panied by  their  wives,  who  were,  however,  not  in  the  rank, 
but  walked,  or  rather  pranced,  each  by  the  side  of  her 
husbaud,  her  hand  on  his  shoulder.     These  women  were 


1 58         Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana. 

entirely  without  clothing  or  ornament  except  the  usual 
small  bead  apron,  and  each  had  as  solemn  a  face  as  if  she 
were  taking  part  in  the  gloomiest  or  most  sacred  of  rites. 

As  the  party  of  parasheera  and  the  kimiti  met,  the  former 
blew,  though  that  had  seemed  impossible,  more  vehemently 
and  more  deeply  through  their  deep-toned  trumpets,  the 
latter   redoubled — nay,    increased    beyond   the    power    of 
words   to   express — their  ear-splitting  whistling.      All,  of 
both  parties,  postured  and  capered,  and  stamped,  and  waved 
their  sticks   till  the  whole  was  welded  into  as  strange  a 
phenomenon  of  sight  and  sound  as  eye  ever  saw,  ear  ever 
heard,  or  mind  ever  conceived.     Thus  the  parasheera  came 
on,  slowly  but  steadily,  and  as  they  did  so  the  kimiti  whirled 
round  and  round  the  advancing  line,  even  while  at  the  same 
time   they  were  posturing   and  capering  as  frantically  as 
ever.     Whether  by  accident  or  design,  the  long  procession 
closed  around  me,  yelling,  shrieking,  and  roaring,  and  waving 
their  dancing  sticks  so  closely  round  my  head  that  I  had 
continually  to  duck  to  avoid  them.     The  headman — who  had 
led  the  procession — alone  remaining  outside,  the  procession 
passed  into  the  house,  and  there  formed  a  circle,  faces  inward, 
round  the  paiwarie  trough.   And  now,  as  Mr.  Rider  Haggard 
would  write,  a  thing  most  surprising  to  me  happened.     The 
kimiti,  with  the  exception  of  the  leader,  instead  of  going  in 
to  share  the  feast  with  the  parasheera,  retired  quickly  into 
their  own  house,  washed  off  their  clay  adornments,  and 
came  out  and,  except  the  head  man  of  the  settlements,  set 
about  their  ordinary  occupations.     Except  as  a  sort  of  a 
reception  committee,  the  men  of  Araiwaparoo  itself — the 
male  hosts  as  it  were — took  almost  no  part  in  the  feast. 

The  headman  of  the  parasheera,  who,  as  has  been  told, 
instead  of  entering  the  drinking-house  with  the  others 
remained  without,  now  sat  down  outside  the  door  and  was 
there  entertained,  not  for  one  hour  or  two,  but  until  I  left 
the  place  the  next  morning,  by  the  leader  of  the  kimiti 
with    pepperpot    and   cassava,  with    much   paiwarie,   and 


Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana.  159 

with  an  endless  interchange  of  every  ejaculatory  conversa- 
tion. 

From    within   the  house   the    most   fiendish   noise   was 

issuing.     The  whole  parly  posturing  in  the  most  curious 

way,  going  through  what  I  can  only  describe  as  the  most 

solemnly  ridiculous  and  fantastic  posturings,  their  bodies 

energetically,  yet  steadily,  bent  from  the  hips  alternately 

backward  and  forward,  while  at  the  same  time  their  stamp- 

ling  feet  moved  the  whole  circle  of  them  round  and  round  the 

Ipaiwarie    trough.        All    were    chanting    as    loudly    and 

Sonorously    as    possible    a    short    continuously    repeated 

bentence,  erantan  eivorki,  which  being  interpreted  by  one 

W  my  own  Macusis,  was  said  to  mean  "  that  they  had  come 

Ho  drink  like  hogs."     This  sentence,  apparently  more  appo- 

Mitc  of  meaning  than  they  intended,  really  signified  that  they, 

fen  the  character  of  bush-hogs  (or  peccaries),  had  come  to 

^^rink.     And  to  a  very  large   extent   they  justified   their 

fstalement  that  they  had  come  to  drink  like  hogs,  both  in  its 

apparent  and  in  its  intended  signification ;    for  while  they 

wrtainly  did,  as  a  rabid  total  abstainer  might  say,  drink  like 

■bogs,  make  beasts  of  themselves,  they  at  the  same  time 

cleverly  managed  to  keep  up  the  whole  time  a  somewhat 

Sclose  suggestion  of  a  herd  of  peccaries.      Their  stamping 

Svas  as  the  stamping  of  a  herd  of  these  animals,  and  every 

vand  then  they  interrupted  the  chanting  of  their  sentence 

I  utter  a  series   of  fiendish  shrieks,  always   immediately 

followed  by  a  rapid  and  vehement  imitation  of  the  grunt- 

ings  of  a  herd  of  bush-hogs  when  disturbed  by  some  un- 

fltpected  sight  or  sound.      But  even  the  monotony  of  the 

Planted  sentence  was  occasionally,  perhaps  once  every  half- 

ir,  altered  by  the  adoption  of  new  words.     Sometimes  it 

(ras  erantan   meopoi  wai  cjy,   "  we  have   come  to  a  bad 

mlace  ;  "  that  is  to  say  they  had  had  to  mount  a  steep  hill 

■each  the  drinking-place.     This  was  followed  by  sugges- 

ions  that,  they  having  taken  so  much  trouble,  it  was  to  be 

loped  that  at  least  the  drink  was  good  and  plentiful. 


r6o         Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana. 

Sometimes  it  was  ewoto  wai  e  re  kay^  *'  we  stamp  the  ground 
like  bush-hogs ; "  and  certainly  they  did  stamp  on  the 
ground,  "  earth-shakers "  they  were  like,  but  much  more 
vehement  than  any  bush-hogs.  Then  again,  they  were 
shouting  in  chorus  that  ''hog  want  our  dancing-sticks,  bat 
we  not  let  hog  have  them." 

The  three  women  who  had  come  with  the  party  of  para- 
sheera  were  not  actually  included  in  the  circle  of  dancers ; 
but  they  solemnly  pranced  round  just  outside  the  circle, 
each  behind  her  husband,  with  her  hand  still  on  his  shoulder. 
The  women  of  the  settlement  of  Araiwaparoo  had  from 
the  first  kept  within  the  drinking  house,  and  were  now  in- 
side the  circle  of  dancers,  where  they  were  busily  employed 
in  handing  calabashes  of  paiwarie  or  casiri  to  the  thirsty 
dancers. 

With  almost  no  variation  this  went  on  all  night.  Every 
now  and  then  two  or  three  of  the  dancers  retired  from  the 
circle  and  the  house  to  free  themselves  by  vomiting  of  the 
superfluity  of  liquor.  And  later  on  in  the  night  a  few 
occasionally  fell  down  as  they  danced,  only,  however,  to  re- 
cover themselves  in  a  marvellously  short  time  and  resume 
their  places  in  the  circle.  The  caperings  of  course  got 
wilder,  the  shouts  more  disordered,  and  the  dresses  much  dis- 
arranged. Two  or  three  of  the  women  of  the  place,  one 
carrying  her  new-born  baby  under  her  arm,  took  part  in  the 
procession  for  a  few  minutes.  Sometimes,  too,  nature 
seemed  to  be  going  to  have  her  way  and  the  proceed- 
ings slacked,  but  whenever  this  happened  the  watchful 
kimiti  rushed,  into  their  own  house,  adorned  themselves 
afresh  each  time  with  white  paint,  and  entering  the  dancing 
house,  frantically  capered  round  outside  the  circle  of  the 
parasheera,  stimulating  the  latter  by  frantic  whistlings  and 
shouts  to  fresh  exertions  and  fresh  potations — and  never 

in  vain. 

When  I  left  the  place  the  next  morning  the  proceedings 
were  still  in  full  vigour,  except  that  the  headman  of  the 


Folklore  of  Lincolnshire.  i6i 

parasheera  and  the  leader  of  the  kimiti  no  longer  sat  talk- 
ing at  the  door,  but  lay  there  prostrate  and  overcome.  I 
was  assured  that  the  proceedings  would  continue  as  long  as 
the  paiwarie  lasted,  which  might  be  all  that  day  and  partly 
on  into  the  next  night,  but  that  as  soon  as  the  liquor  was 
finished  the  procession  would  move  off,  with  as  near  the 
same  ceremony  as  their  state  allowed,  to  the  next  settlement, 
and  would  there  go  through  the  same  performance.  I  was 
fortunate  in  seeing  them  only  at  the  first  settlement,  but  the 
party  was  engaged  to  visit  three  others.  In  each  case,  I 
was  told,  the  number  of  the  parasheera  would  be  swelled  by 
the  men  and  boys  of  each  of  the  settlements  at  which  they 
had  already  danced. 


P 


THE  FOLKLORE  OF  LINCOLNSHIRE. 


{Read  at  Meeting  ofigth  December,  rgoo.) 


When  the  popular  beliefs  of  Lincolnshire  are  compared 
with  the  traditions  of  more  picturesque  districts  of  the 
United  Kingdom,  it  is  at  once  seen  that  its  folklore  is 
prosaic.  The  fertile  stretches  of  agricultural  land  forming 
the  three  divisions  of  the  county,  known  as  Lindsey, 
Kesteven,  and  Holland,  support  a  population  which,  taken 
as  a  whole,  has  little  poetic  susceptibility,  notwithstanding 
its  probable  descent  from  some  of  the  scalds  of  the  Viking 
age.  On  the  one  hand,  the  unromantic  landscapes  charac- 
teristic of  the  shire  have  done  little  to  arouse  the  imaginative 
faculty,  and  on  the  other,  social  disorder  has  but  rarely  been 
acute  enough  to  become  a  mental  stimulus.  The  traditionary 
superstition  of  the  county,  then,  is  lacking  in  the  beauties 
which  distinguish  the  conceptions  of  the  Celtic  peoples. 

VOL.  XII  H 


I  f}2  Folklore  of  Lincolnshire. 

I  have;  been  unable  to  detect  any  near  relationship 

\,t\wt'rn     tlH!     folklore     of    Lincolnshire     and     that     of 
S/ ;iri^iin;ivia,  although   our  place-names  and  dialect   still 
\»*'AT  wihifSH  to  thc!  settlement  of  the  Northmen  between  the 
\\uu\\nT  ;\ut\  thr  Kens.     The  folklore  of  the  shire,  as  I  know 
it,  li;i«t  \\\\\r.  or  no  originality.     One  tradition  has  its  fellow 
in  S'Tiuu  I'f  another  in  Ireland,  a  third  in  Russia,  a  fourth  in 
l;'nrri;trk,  and  so  on  ;  but  so  far  as  yet  appears,  there  is  no 
f  ofif  ifMnf;il  area,  the  b(»liefs  of  which  have  a  special  kinship 
7/it|i  our  ^nijierstitions.      Yet  my  experience  must  not  be 
t;ih  fi    ;n   ;illogrther  conclusive.      Although  I  have  spent 
ii'.ifly  ;ill  rny  life  in  th<!  county,  my  opportunities  for  know- 
ing/ til'-  <li(f<Ti-iil  wa|)(!ntakes  into  which  it  is"  divided  have 
h"  )»  v«  ty  liffiitrcl,  and  <rven  in  the  district  best  known  to 
in*  .It  I".  '  'ft  a  in  that  i  have  gathered  but  a  very  small  part 
ol  till  I  zi-'.f  iiig  folklore.     Many  of  the  elderly  people  are  still 
ih  til'    ityt-  of  folklore  faith,  but  one  has  to   know   them 
ii,Utii>tU  \y    iK'lore  they    will   spcak    openly,   unless    they 
li^i|/j/«  ri  to  h'lray  llnir  thoughts  unintentionally  in  general 
'  M./M:-.;itiofi.       l*or   this    reason    it   is   scarcely   possible 
yi  t   I/,  I  i,itif  \t>  a  cjcfinite  conclusion  as  to  a  connection 
\t*\'/ttt\i    I  jri' olnsliire  and   Scandinavian    beliefs.       It   is 
/iot|i « ;il,|r   that  as  in  other  districts  of  England — it  may 
l/<   ^.;ij'l  of   lMiro|i( — there  is  a  paucity  of  genuine  Christian 
luytholo^^y,  for  the  divination  still  practised  on  the  eves  of 
rrrtain  saints'  rlays  i.s  crntirely  heathen  in  its  origin.      The 
dih|iosv.«-sHed  nature-deities  appear  to  have   fallen    out   of 
memory   soon   after  their  overthrow.      But  the   far  older 
shamanism  with  which  tlwty  had  become  connected  has  not 
yet  entirely  vanished.     And  after  all,  it  may  be  that  the  gods 
are  not  so  dead  .'is  th<jy  seem.       A  legend  or  two  which 
must  have  once  been  linked  with  their  names,  still  survives. 
The  story  of   the  farmer  and  the  weather,  for  example, 
appears  to  indicate;  that  the  offended  power  was  anciently 
thought  of  as  a  touchy  and  jealous  ruler  of  the  atmosphere, 
not  as  a  deity  "  slow  to  anger  and  of  great  goodness.'' 


Folklore  of  Lincolnshire. 

"Thaay  do  hev  it,  'at  wonce,  a  many  years  back,  i'  a 
wet  time,  a  wolds-man  said  'at  he  did  wish  th'  Lord  ud  goa 
te  sleep  while  (  =  until)  harvist  was  well  in.  And  as  soon 
as  he'd  spokken,  ye  knaw,  he  went  fast  asleep  hissen,  as 
fast  as  a  church,  just  as  he  was,  oot  on  his  land.  Yonder  he 
had  to  stop  i'  th'  oppen.  Noabody  could'nt  wakken  him, 
do  as  thaay  wo'd,  nor  git  him  moved  awaay.  Foaks  hed  te 
build  a  shed  ower  him  at  last  te  shilter  him.  An  he  niver 
stirred  at  all  while  (  =  until)  his  neighbours  hed  gotten  all 
their  com  in.  Then  he  wakken'd,  an  fun  all  his  awn  stuff 
clear  ruinaated  wi'  wind  an  raain." 

Another  tale,  also  from  the  wolds,  affords  a  further 
instance  of  the  folly  of  offending  the  controller  of  the 
atmosphere.  A  certain  man  was  sowing  beans  on  Fonaby- 
Top.  not  far  from  Caistor,  on  a  stormy  day,  when  the  wind 
became  so  strong  that  it  blew  the  beans  out  of  the  field. 
"  Damn  the  wind  !  "  ejaculated  the  sower.  Whereon  he 
and  the  sack  from  which  he  was  taking  his  seed  were 
instantaneously  turned  into  stone.  To  confirm  the  truth 
of  the  story,  the  boulder  into  which  the  man  was  changed 
may,  or  might  till  lately,  be  seen  at  a  little  distance  from 
the  transformed  sack.  It  is  remarkable  that  a  legend  of  a 
different  type,  referring  apparently  to  this  same  sack,  was 

related  to   Mr.  C.  F not  many  months  ago.     "Last 

week  I  was  talking  to  an  old  man,  who  told  me  that 
Jesus  Christ  once  came  to  Caistor,  and  went  into  a  field 
there,  and  asked  the  farmer  in  it  for  some  bread.  The 
farmer  gave  him  the  only  loaf  he  had.  Thereupon  Christ 
turned  the  stones  lying  near  into  sacks  of  barley,  one  of 
which  lies  in  the  held  now,  a  huge  stone  like  a  sack  tied 
up  at  one  end." 

There  is  also  a  third  story  which  seems  to  be  connected 
with  the  same  stone.  This  tale  was  picked  up  not  long  since 
as  far  away  from  home  as  the  Argentine  Republic.  One  of 
my  brothers  met  a  member  of  a  welt-known"  family  of 
Lincolnshire  wold-farmers  at  Buenos  Ayres,  who  told  him 
the  substance  of  what  follows  here. 


1 64  Folklore  of  Lincolnshire. 

On  the  road  from  Caistor  to  Grimsby,  in  a  field  by  the 
liif^hway,  there  stands  or  used  to  stand  a  stone  known  as  the 
"  Traveller's  Corn  Sack."  One  winter's  day,  many  3rear8 
af^o,  a  horseman  rode  along  the  road — ^at  that  time  little  more 
than  a  track  across  the  open  wolds — making  his  way  towards 
(Jrimsby.  As  he  pressed  forward  he  saw  a  man  busy  at 
work  sowing  grain,  and  drew  near  to  ask  him  if  he  would 
give  or  sell  him  some  of  it  for  his  horse,  which. like  its 
master  showed  signs  of  a  long  journey. 

"  I  am  short  of  corn  myself,"  was  the  sower's  reply,  "  I  can 
neither  give  nor  sell."  But  the  wayfarer's  glance  had  fallen 
on  a  sack  which  was  standing  near. 

"  You  have  a  sack  there  still  full,"  he  urged,  "  and  you 
have  almost  done  sowing.  Give  me  something  for  my 
horse," 

'*  That !  "  cried  the  sower ;  "  that  is  a  great  cobble-stone, 
and  no  sack  of  corn  ! "  Receiving  this  churlish  and  un- 
truthful refusal  the  rider's  wrath  was  roused^  and  in  his 
anger  he  uttered  the  following  words  : 

"  Saints  reward  lx)th  thee  and  thine, 
As  thou  rcwardcst  me  and  mine. 
A  stone,  thou  sayest,  I  can  see — 
Stone  for  ever  shall  it  be  1 " 

And  having  spoken  thus  he  passed  on  his  way,  leaving 
the  startled  husbandman  to  find  that  the  sack  had,  indeed, 
become  stone.  According  to  the  story,  there  it  stood  with 
its  very  .seams  and  stitching,  its  pursed-up  mouth,  and  the 
cord  that  bound  it,  even  to  the  twist  of  the  strands  all 
showing,  as  they  had  shown  before  the  spell  was  spoken. 
And  there  it  remained  through  wind  and  weather,  a  thing  of 
wonder  and  awe.  But  at  last  strangers  came  to  live  on  the 
land,  who  put  no  faith  in  old-time  tales.  After  a  while  it 
was  found  that  the  stone  was  in  the  way,  therefore  the 
holder  of  the  farm  on  which  it  lay  decided  to  have  it  moved, 
although  the  greybeards  of  the  township  warned  him  to  let 
well  alone.     The  task  which  he  had  set  himself  proved  to 


Folklore  of  Lincolnshire. 


1 6s 


be  not  only  difficult,  but  unlucky  also.  All  the  horses  and 
draught-oxen  belonging  to  the  man  could  scarcely  drag  the 
block  to  his  homestead,  so  heavy  did  they  find  it.  And  in  a 
short  time  his  live  stock  began  to  sicken,  some  of  the 
animals  dying.  Still  the  farmer  was  deaf  to  the  voice  of 
the  ''  old  standards."  Not  till  his  son,  an  only  child,  lay  at 
death's  door,  could  he  be  convinced  of  his  folly.  Then  his 
stubbornness  had  to  yield.  The  stone  was  placed  on  his 
best  wagon,  and  the  teams  brought  out  to  be  yoked  to  it. 
But  scarcely  was  the  old  grey  mare  between  the  shafts  when 
she  started  off  alone  drawing  the  once  burdensome  load 
with  ease,  although  the  road  back  to  the  field  was  up-hill. 
This  wonder  became  widely  known,  and  the  old  awe  of  the 
"  Corn  Sack  "  took  a  new  lease  of  lile.^ 

To  return,  however,  to  the  first  of  these  legends.  There 
are  other  stones  in  Lincolnshire  connected  with  the 
weather,  unless  they  have  been  broken  up  or  removed, 
In  a  manuscript  collection  of  local  rhymes  formed  in  the 
earlier  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  following  passage 


^ 


"At  Ewerby  Wath,  near  Sleaford,  an  ancient  doggrel  is 
extant  amongst  the  inhabitants,  which  they  apply  to  several 
large  coffin-shaped  stones  that  lie  upon  the  common 
there — 

'  The  KingG  of  Eogland,  Fianct,  and  Spain, 
All  fell  down  in  a  shower  o{  cnin, 
The  showei  of  raio  made  diity  wealher. 
And  heie  they  all  lie  down  logclher,'  " 

The  tradition  connecting  the  devil  and  the  wind  with 
Lincoln  Minster  has  lately  been  recorded  in  Folk-Lore.^ 
Variants  are  lold  of  several  foreign  churches,  and  the 
allied  belief  that  the  weather  is  unsettled  when  there  is  a 
"  hanging  assize  "  at  Lincoln,  finds  parallels  in  the  popular 
lore  of  Germany  and  Austria,  where  the  trial  of  a  prisoner 

lately  heaid  ihal  Ihe  slcitj'  of  Chrisl   and   Ihc  sack  has  properly  a 
similar  ending. 

pp.  172,  364. 


1 66  Folklore  of  Lincolnshire. 

for  a  capital  offence  is  supposed  to  be  accompanied  by 
heavy  gales  when  the  result  will  be  a  conviction.     Another 
illustration  of  the  same  idea  is  to  be  found  in  the  story 
that  many  of  the  Cavaliers  rejoiced  over  the  death  of  Oliver 
Cromwell  in   one   of  the   highest  winds   ever  known   in 
England,  telling  each  other  that  the  devil  had  come  in  a 
hurricane  to  fetch  old  Noll.     The  underlying  conception 
seems  to  be  that  the  god  of  the  air  and  wind  is  claiming  the 
spirit — the  very  breath  of  life — of  the  person  about  to  die. 
For  the  same  reason  it  is  sometimes  imagined  that  on  the 
morning  when  a  prisoner  is  to  be  executed  at  Lincoln  a 
thunder-cloud   hangs   over  the  city  :   while  I  have  lately 
heard  that  when,  not  long  ago,  an  unusually  violent  thunder- 
storm followed  closely  on  the  death  of  two  people  who  were 
much  respected,  it  was  suggested  in  a  parish  of  North-west 
Lincolnshire  that  the  devil  was  showing  his  fury.      These 
good  women  had  attained  the  bliss  of  heaven,  and  his  rage 
betrayed  itself  in  an  appalling  display  of  electric  force. 
Had  a  notorious  sinner  been  in   question  it  would    have 
been  thought  that  the  Prince  of  the  Powers  of  the  Air  had 
come  in  strength  to  bear  away  a  wretched  soul  to  torment. 

A  lingering  conviction  that  the  heavenly  bodies  are 
awesome  beings  shows  itself  in  the  saying  still  to  be  heard 
in  the  wapentake  of  Gartree,  that  the  sun,  moon,  stars,  and 
rainbow  ought  not  to  be  pointed  at ;  ^  while  on  the  western 
slope  of  the  wolds  in  North  Lincolnshire  the  flames  of  the 
aurora-borealis  are,  or  not  long  since  were,  spoken  of  as 
**  fire-drakes,"  a  term  which  implies  that  they  were  once 
considered  to  be  celestial  dragons. 

Needless  to  say  there  are  many  fragments  of  folklore 
connected  with  the  moon.  A  girl  of  eighteen,  who  is  a 
native  of  the  wapentake  of  Aslacoe,  says,  for  instance : 
"  Doant  Stan'  i'  th'  doorstead  te  see  th'  new  moon.  If 
yo  Stan'  atwixt  wood  te  see  it,  yah'll  soon  be  atwixt  yer 
coflin-booards." 

*  Cf.  C.  F.  Romilly- Allen,  The  Book  of  Chinese  Poetry ^  pp.  70,  71. 


Folklore  of  Lincolnshire. 


167 


The  sun,  though  of  less  account  than  the  changeful 
minary,  also  receives  consideration.  SunUght  shining 
1  the  apple-trees  at  Christmas  betokens  a  heavy  crop 
of  fruit  in  the  ensuing  autumn,  and  the  stones  of  all 
corn-mills  should  be  set  to  turn  with  the  sun,  if  the  miller  is 
to  thrive.'  Many  people  hold  the  opinion  that  neither  eggs, 
nor  flowers,  nor  any  green  plant  should  be  brought  into  a 
house  after  sunset,  for  fear  of  ill-luck,  and  others  say  that 
to  sharpen  a  knife  after  that  time,  or  to  leave  one  lying  on 
a  table  all  night,  is  very  rash,  for  if  the  master  of  the  house 
be  a  farmer  one  of  his  animals  will  die,  In  this  instance 
the  knife  probably  prefigures  the  flaying  of  the  creature.^ 

Certain  seasons  are  connected  with  ancient  forms  of  love- 
divination,  which  (olklorists  believe  to  have  very  unfortu- 
nate moral  results.  On  the  Eve  of  St.  Agnes,  the  Eve  of 
St.  Mark,  and  Hallow-E'en,  various  rites  are  practised  to 
obtain  a  glimpse  of  the  spirit  of  the  husband  who  has  been 
allotted  to  a  girl  by  immutable  destiny,  or  to  ensure  a  dream 
in  which  he  must  show  himself.  With  this  object  "dumb- 
cake"  may  be  prepared  and  eaten  with  the  appropriate 
observances,  a  supper  may  be  set  out  to  allure  the  man's 
spirit,  sage  may  be  gathered  to  compel  his  appearance,  or 
other  spells  may  be  used.  Most  of  the  stories  connected 
with  this  kind  of  divination  have  a  bad  ending,  and  there  is 
little  doubt  that  young  girls  frequently  allow  themselves  to 
be  led  astray  from  the  conviction  that  the  "  true  love  " 
L  revealed  to  them  by  occult  means  is  bound  to  marry  them 
My  a  fore-doomed  fate  from  which  there  is  no  escape. 

May  Eve   is   another   season  for  working  love-charms. 

k  native  of  a  village  near  Kirton-in-Lindsey,  who  is  now  in 

^arly   middle  age,  affirms  that  one  of  the  most  successful 

lethods  of  discovering  the  identity  of  the  person  you  are 

3  marry,  is  to  make  use  of  the  first  bunch  of  hawthorn  you 

[observe  in  the  spring  time,  especially  if  you  can  find  it  on 

'  Cf.  Spenec,  Shetland  FaHihi-e,  p,  112, 
»  Cf.  Falihre,  vol.  xj.,  p.  345,  I.  la 


1 68  Folklore  of  Lincolnshire. 

May  Eve.  You  "  crag  "  the  spray  on  the  bush,  that  is  you 
break  it  partly  through,  and  then  leave  it  hanging.  After- 
wards you  go  home,  and  at  night  you  ought  to  see  your 
future  husband  in  your  dreams.  When  the  morning  comes 
you  must  gather  the  may;  and  if  you  have  not  already 
dreamed  of  him,  it  is  certain  that  you  will  see* him  or  his 
apparition  ere  you  enter  the  house  again. 

"My  gran'muther  was  just  gooin'  in  at  back-door  efter 
she'd  fetched  th'  maay.  An'  sh*  seed  sumbody  as  sh' 
knaw'd  was  bed-fast  cross  ower  th'  yard.  Deein'  he  was, 
fooaks  thowt.  But  awiver,  he  got  better,  an'  married  her. 
Muther  tried  it  an'  all,  sh'  says,  an'  dream'd  o'  feyther, 
but  sh'  dars'nt  goa  fer  th'  maay  i'  th'  mornin  when  it 
cum'd  to  it,  she  was  scared." 

By  the  use  of  certain  unholy  spells,  an  unwilling  person 
may  be  compelled  to  accept  the  yoke  of  wedlock.  Accord- 
ing to  information  acquired  by  a  friend  of  mine  in  the  little 
town  of  Winterton,  in  the  north  of  the  county :  "  If  you 
want  to  marry  a  man  when  he  is  set  against  it,  you  can  force 
him  in  this  way.  Go  to  an  eight  o'clock  Holy  Communion, 
and  when  you  take  the  bread,  do  not  swallow  it,  but  keep  it 
in  your  mouth  till  the  service  is  over.  After  you  come  out 
of  the  church,  you  will  see  a  toad  in  the  churchyard.  Well, 
you  must  spit  out  the  bread  before  it,  and  it  will  eat  it  at 
once.  Then  your  young  man,  the  next  time  you  see  him, 
will  be  ready  enough  and  wanting  to  marry  you."  This 
grotesque  and  sacrilegious  belief  finds  close  parallels  in 
modern  Italian  sorcery. 

Another  charm,  acquired  from  a  girl  who  was  born  at 
Lincoln,  some  twenty-five  years  ago,  has  affinity  with  spells 
known  to  the  ancient  Romans.  **  If  you  take  the  breast-bone 
of  a  toad,  or  the  whole  skeleton,  and  bury  it  in  an  ant-hill  until 
the  ants  have  eaten  all  the  flesh  from  it,  and  then  throw  it 
into  a  running  stream,  whichever  way  the  water  goes  you 
will  see  it  float  right  against  it.  You  will  find,  too,  that 
however  often  you  throw  that  bone  away  it  will  always 


Folklore  of  Lincolnshire. 


return  to  your  pocket,  and  give  you  power  over  horses, 
cattle,  and  people.  My  uncle  told  me  of  a  young  man,  1 
forget  where  he  lived,  who  had  a  toad's  breast-bone,  and 
the  queerest-tempered  horses  and  beasts  would  do  just  as 
he  liked,  and  kneel  to  him.  And  if  he  went  along  the  road, 
and  willed  it  so,  all  the  men  and  women  passing  by  had  to 
come  to  him  and  follow  him."  No  magic  flute,  no  lyre,  not 
even  that  of  Orpheus,  seems  to  have  ever  possessed  more 
compelling  power.  The  toad's  bone  can  hypnotise  all  sorts 
and  conditions  of  creatures  at  the  will  of  its  owner.  The 
commonest  motive  for  the  use  of  such  a  charm  is,  as  might 
be  expected,  the  desire  to  secure  an  illegitimate  hold  on 
the  affections  of  a  woman  against  her  inclinations,  but  the 
intention  may  at  times  be  less  guilty,  although  in  no  case 
is  it  considered  right  to  gain  such  authority  over  people 
and  their  possessions, 

It  is  difficult  to  determine  whether  anyone  now  watches 
the  porch  of  the  church  on  St.  Mark's  Eve,  to  see  the 
spirits  of  all  the  parishioners  enter  the  building.  But 
various  accounts  of  this  practice  as  it  was  observed  sixty 
years  ago  are  still  current. 

"The  folks  to  be  married  came  out  arm-in-arm,"  says 
one  story,  "  and  those  who  were  to  die  within  the  next 
twelve  months  never  came  out  at  all." 

Unless  they  are  summoned  by  love-spells,  or  watched  for 
at  the  church  porch,  the  spirits  of  living  men  and  women 
rarely  appear,  though  they  have  at  times  been  seen  by 
persons  gifted  with  what  the  Scotch  term  "second  sight," 
a  faculty  which,  according  to  my  experience,  is  but  rarely 
heard  of  in  Lincolnshire.  Ghosts  of  the  dead  are,  however, 
common  enough,  and  apparitions  of  inanimate  objects  are 
not  entirely  unknown.  Early  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
before  the  house  underwent  alteration,  a  powder-puff  and 
its  box  were  amongst  the  spectres  said  to  haunt  Winterton 
Hall. 
At  the  present  time  fairies  are  seldom  heard  of,  but  in 


1 70  Folklore  of  Lincolnshire. 

earlier  days  it  was  not  unusual  to  encounter  them,  though 
they  do  not  appear  to  have  been  very  numerous,  even 
before  the  great  agricultural  enclosures.  Formerly  they 
were  to  be  observed  at  their  sports  on  Brumby  Common, 
and  about  the  year  1874  a  certain  Mrs.  W.  was  heard  to 
declare  that  she  had  often  seen  them  at  dusk  dancing  by 
the  wood-side  as  she  went  to  pick  up  sticks  by  stealth  in 
the  avenue  of  the  park  at  Blyborough.  She  had  also 
known  a  man  who  had  seen  the  fairies  all  his  life  in  the 
park.     When  she  was  a  lass  they  were  often  there.  ' 

According  to  a  writer  in  the  Stamford  Mercury^  June 
7th,  1889,  fairies  were  once  to  be  met  with  in  "Fairies' 
Holt,"  a  field  between  Bag-Enderby  and  Somersby, "  where 
the  ploughmen  in  the  old  days  used  to  be  regaled  with  hot 
cakes  brought  to  them  from  the  neighbouring  coppice. 
Fairies'  Wood.*' 

The  Scotch  Brownie  and  the  Yorkshire  Robin-Round- 
Cap  have  at  least  one  kinsman  in  the  parts  of  Lindsey. 
He  is  known  as  the  Hob-Thrust,^  and  he  has  attached  him- 
self to  a  house  in  the  parish  of  East-Halton.  The  stories 
which  are  generally  related  of  his  northern  relatives  are 
told  of  him  too,  but  he  is  distinguished  by  one  idiosyncrasy. 
He  may  always  be  made  to  "  walk  "  by  stirring  the  contents 
of  an  iron  pot  in  the  cellar,  which  pot  is  supposed  to  con- 
tain "  children's  thumb-bones."  This  idea  connects  him 
with  the  ordinary  ghostly  world,  for  I  have  it  on  the  authority 
of  a  Lincolnshire  girl  that  "  th'  waay  to  be  shut  o'  ghoasts 
is  te  get  'em  under  iron  pots."  ^ 

Another  more  than  natural  being  who  once  had  great 
renown,  and  who  still  survives  in  story  among  some  few  of 
the  "  old  standards  "  of  the  Isle  of  Axholme,  was  William 
of  Lindholme.  This  William  was  a  wizard  giant,  so  far  as 
can  be  judged,  not  wholly  unlike  the  Irish  Fann  MacCuil 

'  See  Hob-thrush  in  New  English  Dict.^  and  Hob  in  Atkinson's  Glossary 
of  the  Clevelaf id  Dialed, 

^  Cf.  Patrick  Kennedy,  Legendary  Fictums  of  the  Irish  Celts ^  p.  13. 


Folklore  of  Lincolnshire. 


171 


but  with  a  closer  resemblance,  perhaps,  to  Michael  Scott 
and  other  warlocks  of  fame.  He  used  to  live  at  Lindholme, 
a  small  hill  of  gravel  on  the  turf  moor  near  Wroot.  The 
first  and  most  celebrated  of  his  exploits  was  performed 
when  he  was  a  boy.  His  parents  went  to  Wroot  feast, 
leaving  their  son  to  keep  the  sparrows  from  the  corn-land. 
The  thought  of  this  occupation  enraged  him  so  much, 
however,  that  he  snatched  up  an  enormous  stone,  and  cast 
it  at  the  house  to  which  his  father  and  mother  had  gone ; 
but  as  he  threw  too  high,  the  missile  fell  on  the  further  side 
of  the  building.  After  this  feat  he  himself  went  to  Wroot, 
and  when  taken  to  task  for  deserting  his  work,  explained 
that  he  had  fastened  up  the  sparrows  in  the  barn ;  where 
indeed  they  were  found  in  the  evening,  all  dead,  except  a 
few  whidi  had  become  white.  The  farmer  on  whose  land 
the  stone  hurled  by  the  boy  had  fallen,  yoked  six  horses  to 
it,  but  their  united  strength  failed  to  move  it,  and  they  all 
died  soon  after.  Before  the  shifting  of  the  population,  now 
going  on  throughout  Lincolnshire,  had  filled  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Wroot  with  strangers  knowing  nothing  of  the  old 
local  traditions,  it  was  considered  unlucky  to  meddle  with 
this  or  with  other  large  stones  in  the  district.  Two 
boulders,  called  the  "  Thumb  Stone"  and  the  "  Little 
Finger  Stone,"  were  formerly  believed  to  owe  their  position 
to  the  ^ant.  Whether  any  of  the  stones  thrown  by  him 
still  exist  I  have  not  hitherto  been  able  to  learn.  Popular 
fame  also  formerly  connected  him  with  an  ancient  un- 
iinished  causeway,  and  a  Kirton-in-Lindsey  man  who  was 
in  "  The  Isle  "  not  so  very  long  ago,  was  informed  that  on 
one  occasion  William  of  Lindholme  went  to  borrow  some 
straw  of  a  neighbour.  The  latter  told  him  to  take  as  much 
as  he  could  carry  on  his  fork.  No  sooner  said  than  done. 
The  borrower  stuck  the  agricultural  fork  he  had  in  his 
hand  into  a  stack   and  walked  off  with  it  entirely.  *     A 

'  It  is  piotiahtc  [hal  al  Ihe  period  when  Ihis  ^tocy  gr<^w  up,  stacks  in  the 
Isle  of  Axhulnie  anil  other  parts  of  Lincolnshire  were  much  smallci  IhiUi  they 
ue  now.  Diniinulivi'  slacks  m»y  still  be  seen  in  Brittany,  i  [lott  of  the  world 
which  i!>i  aj^ricullumlly  speaking,  behind  the  tiniL's. 


172  Folklore  of  Lincolnshire. 

fragmentary  form  of  the  legend  relating  to  the  sparrows 
occurs  in  another  part  of  Lincolnshire,  and  other  examples 
of  the  story  have  been  found  beyond  the  borders  of  the 
county.^ 

Supernatural  beings  in  animal  shape  are  now  less  fre- 
quently seen  than  in  earlier  days,  yet  their  appearence  is 
still  vouched  for  by  some  elderly  people.  Shag-foal^  or 
as  he  is  also  called  Tatterfoal^  a  mischievous  goblin 
who  seems  to  be  one  aspect  of  Puck,  manifests  himself 
most  frequently  as  a  foal  in  its  rough  winter  coat.  Of 
late  years  he  has  seldom  been  met  with,  and  it  is  possible 
that  he  has  been  disconcerted  by  the  drainage  and  cultiva- 
tion of  fen,  marsh,  and  low-lying  moorland.  It  must  be  con- 
fessed, however,  that  local  belief  scarcely  attributes  to  him 
the  fondness  for  water  which  distinguishes  the  Irish  pooka^ 
the  Scotch  kelpie^  and  many  of  the  goblin  horses  of  conti- 
nental Europe.  Black  dogs  with  eyes  glowing  like  hot 
embers,  phantom  calves,  white  rabbits,  and  other  eerie 
animals,  are  sometimes  said  to  haunt  places  where  murder 
or  suicide  has  been  committed.  But  it  is  by  no  means 
clear  whether  these  apparitions  are  considered  to  be  spec- 
tres of  the  dead  in  brute  form,  or  demons  from  the  infernal 
regions.  After  some  consideration  I  have  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  they  are  probably  the  former.  The  belief 
in  shape-shifting  still  exists,  that  is  certain.  In  Lincolnshire, 
witches  can  take  on  themselves  animal  guise  at  will.  They 
have  been  known  to  assume  the  appearance  of  a  hare,  a 
magpie,  or  a  cat.  One  of  the  witches  whom  I  myself  have 
seen,  was  credited  with  being  able  to  change  himself  into 
a  dog  or  a  toad,  that  he  might  injure  the  pigs,  bullocks,  and 
other  live  stock  of  his  neighbours.  With  us,  be  it  observed, 
the  word  "  witch  "  is  often  masculine,  and  it  is  noteworthy 
in    this  connection  that    Bunyan   speaks   of  **  Simon    the 

*  Anielie  Rosquet,  Iji  Normandie  Romanesque  et  Mervcillcusey  p.  219.  A. 
C.  Fryer,  Llanttvit  Major  (1893),  p.  35.  Stirling,  Artists  in  Spain^  quoted  in 
Card.  Wiseman's  Essays,  p.  406. 


Folklore  of  Lincolnshire. 


173 


I  Witch,"  meaning  Simon  Magus.'  This  use  is  correct ;  the 
Middle  English  wicche,  a  wizard,  a  witch  being  both  mascu- 

I  line  and  feminine ;  Anglo-Saxon  wicca  masculine,  wicce 
feminine. 

Another  male  witch  living  in  the  same  parish  with  the  man 
above  mentioned,  had  received  the  evil  eye  by  descent,  and 
had  therefore  to  take  precautions  against  its  blasting  too 
freely,  since  if  he  looked  at  any  living  thing,  whether  animal 
or  vegetable  by  nature,  before  eating  in  the  morning,  it 
straightway  withered  and  died. 

That  sorcery  still  holds  its  own  in  the  district  lying  to 
the  west  of  the  Trent  is  shown  by  the  following  notes  on  the 
subject  sent  to  my  father  a  short  time  ago  by  a  close  observer 
of  folk-custom. 

"  The  survival  in  England  of  the  belief  in  witchcraft  is 
sometimes  questioned.  Lady  Rosalind  Northcote*  appears 
to  doubt  whether  it  survives  in  Devonshire.  1  think  I  may 
safely  say  that  it  still  lingers  in  the  Isle  of  Axholme.  A  few 
years  ago  a  girl  friend  of  mine,  when  staying  in  a  farmhouse 
in  the  next  village  to  this,  noticed  that  before  the  farmer's 
wife  began  to  churn  she  threw  a  little  salt  into  the  churn 
and  a  little  into  the  fire.  When  asked  why  she  did  this,  she 
replied  that  it  was  to  '  keep  the  witch  out  o'  chum.'  She 
did  not  mean  her  butter  to  be  '  witched.'  Some  weeks  after 
this  was  told  me,  one  of  my  neighbours  asked  me  if  I  could 
take  a  pound  or  two  of  butter  from  her,  as  she  had  made 
more  than   she   had    customers   for.      1    asked,   jestingly, 

[  whether  it  was  'witched,'  and  was  surprised  to  find  my 
question   taken  quite  seriously.     The  woman  assured  me 

I  that  she  '  always  took  care  o'  that,'  and  when  I  asked  how, 
she  said  she  always  used  the  salt-charm  just  described. 
When  I  pressed  her  to  say  whether  she  really  believed  in 

'  See  Precenlor  Vtrablea'  eililion  of  Ihe  Pili-rim's  Frogrcss,  nole  lo  p.  q^ 
J-  uid  p.  98.  Ct  also  a  reference  lo  the  Warwickshire  use,  in  Alhetueum, 
L  October  13,  1900,  p.  474,  3id  cdIuiud. 

'  Folklore,  vol.  xi.,  p.  316 


1 74  Folklore  of  Lincolnshire. 

witches  and  charms  she  hesitated  a  little,  but  finally  said 
that  she  '  wasn't  sure '  that  she  did,  but  she  had  always 
known  this  charm  used  for  this  purpose  and  '  thought  it  as 
well  to  be  safe.'  "  ^ 

**  Some  fifteen  years  since,"  continues  Mr.  Peacock's 
correspondent,  ''  I  communicated  some  notes  on  popular 
weather  lore  to  a  local  paper.  Shortly  afterwards  a  man 
from  a  neighbouring  village  whom  I  knew  very  well  called 
upon  me.  His  manner  was  mysterious  and  shamefaced,  and 
I  could  not  at  first  make  out  what  he  wanted.  At  lengthj 
however,  he  said  that  he  had  read  my  letters  about  the 
weather  and  the  moon  and  such  like,  and  knowing  that  I 
was  '  lamed  '  in  these  matters  he  wished  to  lay  his  trouble 
before  me,  in  the  hope  that  I  might  be  able  to  help  him. 
His  story  was  this.  He  had  for  years  been  *  living  tally  ' 
with  a  woman — that  is,  in  cohabitation  without  marriage— 
and  the  vicar  of  the  parish  had  been  *  at '  him  to  marry  her. 
'  He  said  something  would  happen  to  me,  if  I  didn't'  He 
had  not  done  so,  and  the  '  something '  had  happened." 

*^  *  It's  t'ould  vicar  as  has  witched  me,'  he  said.  I  tried 
in  vain  to  laugh  and  then  to  argue  him  out  of  his  belief. 
It  was  well  known,  he  said,  that  such  things  had  happened 
and  he  had  several  instances  pat.  I  told  him  that  witches 
were  usually  old  women,  whereas  the  vicar — !  !  !  !  But  all 
was  of  no  use  ;  I  must  '  take  it  off  him ; '  he  was  sure  that  I 
could. 

"  Perceiving  that  his  case  was  one  of  a  troubled  conscience 
complicated  with  chronic  dyspepsia,  I  prescribed  a  strong 
purgative  and  marriage  with  the  woman.  He  took  both 
doses  and  found  relief." 

Such  is  the  testimony  of  one  intimately  acquainted  with 
village  life  in  Lincolnshire. 

The  work  of  sorcerers  and  people  gifted  with  the  evil 

'  Salt  is  thus  used  in  North  Lincolnshire,  cfist  of  the  Trent,  also.  I  have  often 
seen  my  mother's  servants  throw  it  into  the  churn  and  into  the  fire,  at 
Bottesford. 


Folklore  of  Lincolnshire. 


eye  may  be  counteracted  in  various  ways.  Sprigs  of  the 
far-famed  "  Wicken-tree  "  (^Pyrus  aucuparia),  which  seems 
to  be  generally  so  used  throughout  Northern  Europe,  are 
supposed  to  prevent  ati  witch-work  if  kept  about  a  house  or 
farmstead,  especially  if  tied  in  the  form  of  a  cross.  A 
horse-shoe  placed  with  the  points  upwards  or  a  "witch- 
stone,"  is  also  effectual-  Any  stone  with  a  hole  through  it, 
if  found  without  being  searched  for,  will  serve  as  a  "  witch- 
stone,"  but  the  longer  it  has  been  used  for  this  purpose  the 

more  efficacy  it  possesses.     Old  Mrs.  V ,  who  owned 

one  till  she  gave  it  to  a  correspondent  of  mine  who  makes 
a  study  of  village-lore,  told  him  that  every  house  in  the 
parish   where    she    dwelt   was  probably    provided   with   a 

stone,      Mrs.  M ,  an  inhabitant  of   the  same  village, 

had  another  of  these  amulets,  and  she  was  of  opinion  that 

they  acted   equally  well  whether  concealed  in  the  pocket 

or   exposed   to   view.      A  common  way  of  using  them,  I 

learn  on  the  same  authority,  is  to   hang  one  behind  the 

outermost  door  of  the  house  which  it  is  to  protect,  thus 

,  securing  the  entrance  of  the  dwelling.     Flints  seem  to  be 

kthe  favourite  stones  with  us,  but  Mr.  John  Nicholson,  author 

lof  Folklore  of  East   Yorkshire,  says  (p.  87)  that  thin  flat 

loolite  stones  having   a   natural  perforation   are  found  in 

I  abundance  on  the  Yorkshire  coast,  and  are  tied  to  door-keys 

for  suspended  by  string  behind  the   cottage  door  to  keep 

I  witches  out.     "  As  a  relic  of  this  custom,  a  reel,  from  which 

I  the  cotton  has  been  used,  is  often  tied  on  a  bunch  of  keys." 

■In  Lincolnshire  I  have  noticed  one  instance  of  a  perforated 

flint  being  tied  to  a  bunch  of  keys,  though  the  person  who 

attached   it   to  them  professed   ignorance  of  any  special 

reason  for  doing  so.     Cotton  reels  are  commonly  thus  used, 

perhaps  simply  from  custom  in  many  instances.     My  father 

has  a  fine  neolithic  stone  hammer  with  a  perforation  for  the 

handle,  which  was  discovered  in  a  little  square  chamber  con- 

l^ved  beneath  the  door-stone  of  an  old  house  which  used 

I  stand  opposite  to  the  Methodist  chapel  at  Messingham. 


176  Folklore  of  Lincolnshire. 

"  Greybeards,"  and  other  oid-fashioned  vesselsi  or  frag- 
ments of  iron,  are  sometimes  found  embedded  beneath  the 
foundation,  the  threshold,  or  the  hearthstone  of  ancient 
dwellings,  to  hinder  witchcraft.  Such  vessels  may  con- 
tain horse-shoe  nails,  other  scraps  o£  iron,  needles,  pins, 
and  any  small  trifles  supposed  to  injure  sorcerers  or  divert 
their  attention.  An  animal's  heart  stuck  full  of  pins,  and 
concealed  within  the  fabric  or  under  the  walls  of  the  build- 
ing to  be  guarded,  was  not  long  ago  a  great  protection. 
Whether  it  was  a  substitute  serving  in  place  of  the  animal 
or  human  being  which  in  heathen  days  was  walled  up  in 
new  buildings,  has  yet  to  be  proved. 

Burning  some  of  the  thatch  from  a  witch's  house  will 
thwart  her;  and  grass  from  a  new-made  grave  is  also  of 
use.  Not  many  years  ago,  a  man  in  the  wapentake  of 
Yarborough  took  a  "  stee  " — that  is,  a  ladder — to  the  wall 
of  a  churchyard,  climbed  over  just  after  a  burial,  and  plucked 
blades  of  grass  from  the  sod  on  the  freshly-filled  grave. 
These  blades  were  to  put  under  his  wife's  pillow,  because 
she  was  bewitched. 

To  make  a  witch  appear,  a  cake  stuck  full  of  pins  should 
be  burnt  on  a  girdle,  or  pan,  over  a  fire. 

People  who  deal  in  innocent  magic  are  but  rarely  sup- 
posed to  practise  the  black  art  also.  Generally  speaking, 
the  wise-man  and  the  witch  are  quite  distinct  and  even 
opposed  to  each  other;  the  former  being  employed  to 
counteract  the  misdoings  of  the  latter,  and  showing  him- 
self as  inimical  to  those  dealing  with  the  powers  of  dark- 
ness as  was  the  great  god  Thor  himself.  An  instance  of 
the  possible  combination  of  the  two  professions  was,  how- 
ever, furnished  not  long  since  by  the  Rev.  J.  Conway 
Walter,  who  sends  me  the  following  extract  from  the 
autobiography  of  Thomas  Wilkinson  Wallis,  of  Louth. 

"  In  Louth  there  was  a  man  named  Stainton  who  had  the 
reputation  of  being  a  wizard.  Prior  to  Mr.  Brown's  illness 
he  met  this  man  at  the  public-house,  and  said  to  him,  *  If 


I 


Folklore  of  Lincolnshire.  lyy 

yah  be  a  wizard,  wizard  me. '  Brown  was  ill  soon  after  this 
and  believers  in  witchcraft  said  he  was  bewitched.  On  one 
occasion  the  foreman  of  John  Wright  (second  husband  of 
Brown's  mother)  of  Haugh  came  into  the  sick-room  and 
said  to  him,  'John,  1  am  sure  you  are  bewitched, and  you 
will  be  cured  if  you  do  what  I  am  going  to  tell  you.  Send 
for  this  man,  Stainton,  and  get  him  close  to  your  bedside, 
and  stick  an  open  penknife  into  him.  Draw  blood  and  you 
will  be  cured.'"  Brown  did  not  try  the  remedy.  Whether 
he  recovered  witness  deponeth  not. 

If  Stainton,  the  wizard  here  mentioned,  were  really,  as 
Mr.  Walter's  letter  to  me  implies,  the  same  person  as  the 
wise  man  who  consulted  his  book  by  the  aid  of  a  bumble- 
bee, of  whom  he  was  once  told  by  his  clerk  at  Woodhall 
[Folklore  xi.,  438]  the  case  is  curious  and  exceptional.  I 
regard  it  as  unorthodox  and  degenerate  folklore. 

Workers  of  useful  magic  can  make  charms  against  witch- 
craft, reveal  the  sex  of  creatures  yet  unborn,  foretell  future 
events,  and  perform  strange  cures.  Within  the  memory 
of  people  still  living,  there  was  a  wise  man  at  Lincoln  of 
whom  the  following  story  is  told. 

A  Market-Rasen  witch  laid  a  spell  on  the  cow  of  a  neigh- 
bour, so  that  the  animal  would  not  go  into  her  shed  to  be 
milked.  The  daughter  of  the  owner,  a  woman  who  now 
lives  "  on  the  other  side  o£  Doncaster,"  was  therefore  sent 
to  the  wise  man  to  see  what  he  could  do.  She  did  not 
know  in  which  street  of  Lincoln  his  house  was,  but  as  she 
was  going  through  the  city  uncertain  of  her  way,  a  man 
came  out  of  a  door  and  asked  her  name.  After  one  or  two 
more  questions  he  informed  her  that  he  was  the  person 
whom  she  was  seeking,  and  that  he  had  been  expecting  her 
to  come.  He  then  took  her  into  an  inner  room  of  his  house 
left  her  there,  and  in  a  little  while  returned  with  a  red-hot 
poker,  which  he  thrust  into  the  fire-grate,  kindling  the  wood 
and  coal  arranged  in  it. 

You  may  go  home,"  he  said,  "  it  will  be  all  right  now." 

VOL,  Xli  N 


178  Folklore  of  Lincolnshire. 

And  the  spell  was,  in  truth,  broken.  At  the  very  time 
the  fire  began  to  burn  at  Lincoln  the  witch  was  heard  to 
scream  with  agony  at  Rasen.  Another  person  troubled  by 
the  same  old  woman  is  said  to  have  "drawn  blood"  by 
cutting  her  across  the  fingers  with  a  chopper,  and  after  that 
she  had  no  further  power  to  injure  him. 

Sometimes  people  who  do  not  practise  professionally  as 
wise  men  or  wise  women,  yet  have  inborn  knowledge  by 
which  their  friends  may  benefit.  An  instance  in  point  is 
the  following  story,  which  was  related  to  me  by  an  old 
woman  in  1885. 

"  When  Mrs.  Blank  lived  i'  th'  Marsh,  i'  B.  parish,  she  ed* 
a  bairn  /at  was  overlooked,  an'  hed  n't  noa  ewse  at  all  i'  his 
legs.  He  was  windlin'  awaay  as  fast  as  he  could,  while 
\i.e,  until]  th'  wife  o'  th'  captain  o'  a  vessil  'at  pot  in  at 
Whitton  [on  the  Humber]  tell'd  his  muther  te  saay  a  set  o' 
words  ower  sum  barberries — barberries  is  like  beans,  an' 
thaay  gits  'em  at  druggists — an'  pot  'em  i'  a  bag  roond  lad 
neck.  Then  he'd  cum  all  raaight,  sh'  said.  An'  he  did. 
Just  th'  fost  week  or  two,  he  seemed  to  goa  back'ard  an* 
cried  an'  frettid  at  neet :  bud  afore  very  long  he  was  as 
raaight  as  th'  rest  on  'em.  An'  noo  him  an'  his  bruthers  is 
all  preachers." 

(Preaching,  I  may  add,  was  an  hereditary  gift,  for  the 
boy's  father,  though  said  by  his  critics  to  be  quite  illiterate, 
was  a  "  local "  whose  sermons  and  exhortations  were 
popularly  believed  to  have  brought  conviction  of  sin  to 
many  a  stubborn  heart.) 

While  the  dread  of  witchcraft  has  even  yet  a  far  firmer 
hold  on  many  people  than  they  are  willing  to  allow  to 
strangers,  the  closely  allied  belief  in  luck  and  ill-luck  is 
quite  as  strong  and  still  more  general. 

A  greater  number  of  actions  than  can  be  counted  are 
placed  under  taboo.  It  is,  for  instance,  most  unlucky  to 
praise  a  person,  or  thing,  very  highly.  And  many  people 
of  good  middle-class  education  feel  that  to  say  you  have 


Folklore  of  Lincolnshire. 


escaped  a  misfortune  invilcs  it  to  fall  on  you.  To  turn 
back  without  fulfilling  the  intention  with  which  you  set 
forth,  or  to  take  anything  out  of  the  house  before  it  has 
been  applied  to  the  use  for  which  it  was  brought  in,  is  very 
unwise.  In  sweeping  a  floor  the  dust  should  never  be  swept 
out  of  the  door,  lest  luck  should  be  swept  away  with  it.  A 
lantern  left  on  a  table  all  night  brings  misfortune ;  probably 
because  lanterns  are  frequently  used  in  the  hours  of  darkness 
when  men,  horses,  or  cattle  are  ill.  In  a  certain  house  in 
the  wapentake  of  Manley,  when  one  was  set  on  the  table 
for  a  very  short  time  "  there  was  a  six-pound  farrier's  bill  to 
pay  for  a  cow."  To  carry  all  your  eggs  to  market  in  one 
basket  is  foolhardy ;  evil  will  follow.  And  to  bring  the  small 
yolkless  eggs,  known  as  wind-eggs,  into  the  house  at  any 
time  is  to  do  a  terrible  thing. 

No  farmer  should  count  his  lambs  too  closely  during  the 

lambing  season.     This  idea  is,  it  may  be  guessed,  connected 

with  the  notion  that  to  reckon  very  accurately  gives  the  powers 

of  evil  information  which  they  can  use  against  the  objects 

under  consideration.    "  Brebis  catnpt^es,  le  hup  les  mange" 

I  have  seen  a  shepherd  in  obvious  embarrassment  because 

his  employer  knew  so  little  of  his  own  business  that,  though 

usually  the  most  easy  of  masters,  he  would  insist  on  learn- 

Ljng  every  morning  the  exact  number  of  lambs  his  flock  had 

■  produced.     For  a  cognate  reason,  it  may  be,  some  people 

'  when    asked   how    old   they  are    reply,    "'  As   old   as   my 

tongue,  and  a  little  bit  older  than  my  teeth.     M.  Gaidoz 

remarks  in  Melusine  (ix.,  35)  that  old  people   ought  not  to 

I  tell  their  age,  and  when  importuned  to  reveal  it  they  should 

■■rsnswer  that  they  are  as  old  as  their  little  finger.     Inhabit- 

lants  of  Godarville,  Hainault,  reply,  "  I  am  the  age  of  a  calf, 

pvcry  year  twelve  months." 

To  spit  for  luck  on  the  ground  or  on  money  when  buying 
r  selling  is  a  custom  still  frequently  observed.  It  is  usual 
Iso  for  the  seller  to  give  the  purchaser  "  luck-money." 
Dn   a   certain    day  in  August,   1898,   a  large  number  of 


mar- 


J  So  Folklore  of  Lincolnshire. 

buyers  kept  aloof  from  the  auction  sale  in  Lincoln  .„«.. 
ket  because  "luck-money''  was  withheld.  The  Lincoln 
Butchers'  Association  asserted  that  the  money  always  had 
been  given  till  the  auction  system  was  introduced,  and  that 
it  ought  still  to  be  allowed  at  the  rate  of  one  shilling  on 
cattle  and  a  penny  on  sheep.  The  auctioneers,  who  found 
their  customers  from  a  distance  less  conservative,  proved 
obstinate,  however,  declaring  that  the  Corporation  of 
Lincoln  would  not  permit  them  to  make  a  grant  of  "  luck- 
money."     The  old  custom  will  therefore  fall  out  of  use. 

Indeed,   a   large  number  of  traditionary  practices  and 
beliefs  appear  to  be  doomed  to  extinction  or   to  severe 
modification.     Not   only   do    gossiping    newspapers    and 
penny  novelettes  distract  the  thoughts  of  the  young  from 
interest  in  the  lore  of  *'  idle-headed  eld,"  the  changing  of 
the  population  also  does  its  work  of  destruction.     In  almost ' 
every  village,  strangers  are  now  replacing  the  old  families 
which  have  lived  there  or  in  the  surrounding  parishes  from 
before  the  time  that  manorial   records  first  began.     Ere 
many  years  have  passed  away,  the  old  methods  of  thought 
will  have  dropped  out  of  existence  or  have  taken  new  shapes 
in  accordance  with  the  necessities  of  the  average  school- 
boarded  intellect. 

Nevertheless,  at  the  present  time  much  might  still  be 
done  in  collecting  folklorfe.  For  a  little  while  yet  there 
will  be  a  crop  to  gather  in.  The  pity  is  that  in  Lincoln- 
shire as  in  many  other  counties  there  is  a  dearth  of  har- 
vesters to  bring  together  what  might  still  be  stored.  Every 
village  and  hamlet  possesses  its  own  variant  of  some  of  the 
popular  superstitions  of  Europe,  but  this  fact  is  generally 
unrecognised,  and  people  with  the  opportunity  to  discover 
or  the  inclination  to  record,  our  local  credulities  are  not 
easy  to  find. 


COLLECTANEA. 


Stories  and  other  Notes  from  the  Upper  Congo. 

(Collected  by  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Weeks,  Baptist  Missionary, 
Monsembe  Station,  Upper  Congo  River.) 

It  may  interest  you  to  know  how  these  stories  were  obtained. 
Soon  after  we  opened  this  station,  in  August,  1896,  I  tried  to  get 
some  native  stories  from  the  boys,  but  failed  in  every  attempt.  I 
felt  sure,  however,  that  they  had  some,  and  it  was  not  until  one 
evening  early  in  1892  that  I  was  successful.  On  that  evening 
while  I  was  writing,  some  boys  were  sitting  on  the  floor  at  my  feet 
talking.  After  a  time  I  noticed  that  one  was  talking  and  the  others 
listening  intently.  I  made  a  mental  note  of  it,  and  the  next  day 
I  asked  him  to  write  out  on  a  slate  for  me  the  palaver  he  had  told 
the  boys  on  the  previous  evening.  He  did  so,  and  I  found  it  was 
a  native  story.  I  gave  him  a  small  present  and  asked  him  to 
write  some  more,  which  he  did,  and  in  a  short  time  I  had  four  or 
five  boys  writing  stories  on  my  verandah,  and  very  often  one  boy 
who  knew  a  story,  but  could  not  write,  sat  and  told  it  to  one  who 
could,  and  then  shared  the  spoil.  We  have  between  sixty  and 
seventy  native  stories,  and  the  majority  of  them  was  handed  down 
by  one  chief,  who,  although  he  died  before  we  came  here,  is  still 
spoken  of  with  respect  on  account  of  his  knowledge  of  the  ancient 
myths  and  customs. 

These  stories,  or  most  of  them,  have  been  printed  in  the 
original,  to  use :  first,  as  a  reading  book  for  our  school ;  secondly, 
as  a  storehouse  of  native  idioms  for  our  own  use ;  thirdly,  so  as 
to  have  them  in  a  handy  and  permanent  form  for  reference.^ 

Some  of  the  stories  are  witty  and  amusing;  others  are  only 
remarkable  for  the  way  in  which  they  account  for  the  present  state 

*  The  thanks  of  the  Society  are  due  to  Mr.  Weeks  for  the  copy  of  this 
work  which  he  has  kindly  presented  to  the  library. — Ed. 


of  affiurs  b  the  ph^kai  ^  „^ 

>nMght  mio  the  a«in^  nxiai.  ^  his  li^rf  ."^T^  give  a  dear 
»n  the  loUowi,^.  taasoaocs  1  sh.2^2  »!1^'  ^"""^^ 
*P  to  wtiw  Hikww  but  he«  ^  »K^,^  f  "*  «  possible 


-    to 

oeamess. 


amd  unnecessary  detaUed  expon^^,.^^  to 

L— Lo  LA  MOTV  WAwu    iXfiketo,  p.  ,,) 

His  name  was  Mokwete.  He  possessed  a  number  of  - 
but  he  lived  in  a  hunting  camp.  He  made  traps  with  r^JS 
cane.  One  day  he  went  to  look,  and  found  an  animal  tram^ 
when  he  had  taken  the  animal,  he  said  to  his  wives  :  «  My  "  ' 
take  this  animal  and  cook  it''  They  cooked  it,  and  when  iT^^ 
finished  they  dinded  it  into  two  portions  :  one  the)-  took  to  h^ 
and  the  other  they  kept  for  themseh-es.  The  husband  took^ 
and  ate  it,  but  was  not  filled.  ^ 

By-and-by  he  caught  another  animal ;  then  he  said  :  « I  hav 
caught  plenty  plenty  animals,  but  1  myself  ha^-e  never  eaten   to 
repletion,  because  of  my   numerous  wives."    Another  day   he 
went  and  found  another  animal  trapped,  and  then  he  deceived 
his  wives  by  calling  out:  "Wives  of  Mokwete,  wives  of  Mokwete!" 
They  answered:  "Yes."    He  said:  "Should  your  husband  come 
with  meat,  you  must  not  eat ;  if  you  eat,  you  are  dead."    They 
answered:  "Very  well."    The  wives  waited  a  little,  and,  looking, 
saw  their  husband  coming  with  an  animal.     He  put  it  down,  and 
told  his  wives  to  take  and  cook  it    The  wives  cooked  all  the 
meat,  and  brought  it  all  to  him.     The  husband  said :  "  Why  have 
you  not  taken  some  meat?"    They  said :  "A  person  told  us  just 
now,  *  Should  your  husband  come  with  meat,  you  must  not  eat 
it.' "    Then  he  ate  it,  and  sang. 

He  went  to  look  at  his  traps  and  found  another  animal.  He 
Klartcd  again  for  that  place  from  which  he  had  called  to  his  wives. 
A  boy  was  visiting  the  place,  who  when  he  saw  him,  hid  himself 
\\\i\  hollow  tree.  He  looked,  and  saw  a  person  come  staggeringly 
«ilv>ug  and  throw  something  heavily  down,  then  he  said:  "Wives 
s^\  Mokwete  ! "  They  answered :  "  Yes."  "  Should  your  husband 
i\»uu*  with  meat  you  must  not  eat  it,  if  you  eat  it  you  are  dead." 
{ \w  lH>y  looked  and  found  that  it  was  his  father  who  was  deceiving 


Slories  from  the  Upper  Congo. 

his  mothers.  He  went  at  once  and  told  his  mothers  that  "  the 
person  who  is  calling  now  is  father,"  His  mothers  said  :  "  II  is 
untrue."  He  answered :  "  You  doubt  it,  come  and  look  then." 
They  went  and  beheld  their  husband  standing  calling  to  his 
wives.  When  they  saw  their  husband  there  they  returned,  and 
afterwards  when  he  came  with  meal  they  cooked  it  for  him. 

He  went  again,  then  the  wives  said  :  "  Let  us  run  away."  They 
fled,  ihey  broke  the  saucepans,  they  put  out  the  fire,  and  ran  to 
their  towns  and  told  the  people  i  "  We  would  have  stayed  if  wc 
could  have  eaten  of  the  animals  our  husband  killed ;  he  lulled 
one  and  we  ale  of  it,  he  killed  another  and  refused  us ;  we  felt 
angry  and  ran  away." 

Vou  see  women  got  the  habit  of  running  away  from  this,  and  in 
the  same  way  people  became  liars. 

The  last  two  lines  contain  the  moral  to  the  story.  They  are 
very  fond  of  rounding  off  their  stories  with  reasons  for  the  present 
state  of  things. 

There  is  only  one  remark  to  make  on  this  story.  The  women 
would  have  the  full  sympathy  of  all  who  heard  the  story,  and  the 
man  would  be  condemned  for  his  selfishness,  but  applauded  for 
the  cunning  way  in  which  he  tried  to  deceive  his  wives.  Voices 
telling  them  what  to  do  would  be  accepted  as  very  probable,  for 
they  come  quite  within  the  sphere  of  their  philosophy, 


II,— Lo  LA  Ensulunkl'tu  na  Lokanga.     (Miketo,  p.  4.) 

Concerning  the  Owl  and  the  Partridge. 

They  had  been  fishing  in  a  pond  when  the  owl  killed  the 
partridge,  skinned  it,  dressed  himself  in  it,  and  so,  changed  into  a 
partridge,  went  to  the  town.  The  partridge's  son  asked  the  owl, 
saying :  "  Where  is  my  mother  ? "  The  owl,  deceiving  him,  said : 
"  Why,  I  am  your  mother."  The  young  partridge  cried :  "  Those 
are  the  arras  of  my  mother."  Then  his  grandfather  said  to  the 
owl :  "  Why  did  you  kill  the  partridge  ?  Behold,  you  now  wear 
the  skin  of  the  partridge,  and  why  are  you  deceiving  the  partridge's 
son  ? "  They  killed  the  owl,  he  died  in  revenge  for  the  partridge, 
and  they  buried  him  in  the  road  on  the  way  to  the  well. 

The  little  boys  [i.e.  little  paruidges]  went  lo  draw  water;  they 
passed  along  in  numbers,  having  with  them  the  partridge's  son ; 


184  Collectanea. 

when  they  reached  the  place  where  the  owl  had  been  buried  all 
the  boys  passed  without  spitting,  but  the  partridge's  son  spat  on 
the  grave.  They  drew  the  water  and  were  returning  to  the  town, 
when  the  owl  stopped  them  and  asked  each  one :  *'  Did  you  spit 
here?"  But  each  one  denied  doing  it.  When  the  partridge's 
son  was  passing,  he  who  spat  there,  the  owl  asked :  "  Did  you  spit 
here?"  and  he  answered :  "Yes."  Then  the  spirit  [mungoli  =  dis- 
embodied spirit]  of  the  owl  tied  him  and  killed  him. 

For  this  reason  the  people  are  afraid  of  spirits,  because  he  [the 
owl's  spirit]  killed  the  partridge's  son. 

This  story  illustrates  two  customs  and  one  belief  among  these 
people. 

1.  The  law  of  revenge.  An  eye  for  an  eye,  a  tooth  for  a  tooth, 
is  carried  out  literally.  When  A.  wounds  B.,  B.'s  only  desire  is 
to  wound  A.  to  the  same  extent ;  but  should  he  go  beyond,  A. 
has  the  right  to  square  the  account  by  wounding  B.  again.  Should 
A.  wound  B.,  and  B.  in  return  wound  A.  so  badly  that  he  dies, 
then  A.'s  family  will  use  every  effort  to  either  kill  B.  or  one  of  his 
family.  In  the  eyes  of  the  natives  the  one  who  killed  B.  or  one 
of  his  family  would  be  held  guiltless.  They  would  say  that  he 
was  simply  doing  his  duty  by  a  member  of  his  family.  Should  a 
slave  kill  a  chief,  the  death  of  the  slave  would  not  square  off  the 
death  of  a  chief,  so  the  slave's  master  would  be  held  responsible, 
and  either  he  or  one  of  his  family  would  have  to  pay  the  balance 
due.     We  have  had  examples  of  each  of  these  points  here. 

2.  The  respect  due  to  the  dead.  The  owl  had  paid  the  debt  of 
his  crime,  therefore  why  insult  his  grave  ?  The  custom  was  very 
prevalent  when  we  came  here,  not  to  mention  a  dead  person's 
name  directly ;  but  if  it  were  necessary  to  speak  about  him,  some 
little  characteristic  was  mentioned.  As  we  talk  so  freely  about 
our  dead,  they  are  not  now  so  careful  as  formerly. 

3.  The  spirits  of  fairly  good  people  go  to  "  Longa"  (the  nether 
region),  but  specially  bad  ones  wander  through  the  forests  or 
remain  about  their  graves.  Such  spirits  are  invested  with  all 
kinds  of  power,  (a)  They  bring  sickness  on  a  town,  but  can  be 
driven  out  by  proper  means  through  the  agency  of  a  "  medicine 
man."  (b)  They  bring  sickness  on  an  unfavoured  individual,  but 
the  medicine  man  has  power,  under  conditions,  to  drive  the  sickness 
thus  caused  away,     (c)  They  sometimes  take  possession  of  a  man 


Stories  from  the  Upper  Co7igo.  185 

and  talk  through  him,  telling  the  people  what  tliey  are  to  do. 
The  signs  of  such  possession  are  :  the  body  quivering,  the  eyes 
frenzied,  the  language  obscure — being  generally  the  ancient  obso- 
lete language  of  the  elder  folk.  When  under  the  sway  of  the 
Spirit  \mo»gol}\  they  deliver  messages  from  some  well-known 
deceased  person  to  some  living  person.  This  has,  however,  quite 
recently  fallen  into  disrepute  here,  because  it  has  been  used  as  a 
means  to  get  slaves,  &c.,  by  the  person  so  possessed  out  of  others. 

Sundry  Notes. 
.  Charms  are  used  to  protect  inanimate  objects  from  malign 
P  influences. 

Among  the  Bangalas  it  is  the  custom  to  tie  a  small  palm-plant  to 
I  the  central  post  when  building  a  house,  otherwise  some  enemy 
•  will  bewitch  it,  and  cause  it  to  leak  badly,  or  throw  it  out  of  the 
perpendicular,  or  spoil  it  in  some  way  or  other.  The  palm-plant 
is  always  used,  but  frequently  it  is  supplemented  with  other 
charms,  according  to  the  experience  or  predilection  of  the 
builder.  Canoes  are  protected,  during  construction,  from  cracks, 
bad  shape,  &c.,  by  a  seed  pod  or  a  piece  of  candelabra  euphorbia 
tied  to  them.  The  man  while  making  the  canoe  will  abstain 
from  water,  and  drink  only  sugar-cane  wine,  or  from  some  particular 
food.  Should  he  through  carelessness  happen  to  partake  of  the 
tabooed  article  something  will  spoil  the  canoe.  There  is  scarcely 
a  thing  manufactured  except  under  the  protecting  influence  of  a 
charm.  Fishing-nets,  smithy-work,  stools,  houses,  canoes,  pottery, 
all  have  their  own  special  charms ;  and  those  who  make  them 
also  have  each  his  own  charm  to  protect  his  skill  from  the  malign 
influence  of  any  witchcraft  that  may  be  exercised  against  him  by 
his  enemies. 

3.  Charms  are  used  in  dealing  with  living  things. 

No  attempt  is  made  to  capture  elephants  until  an  elaborate 

ceremony,  lasting  from  one  to  three  days,  has  been  performed. 

When  elephants  are  known  to  be  in  the  neighbourhood,  a  man 

will  call  a  fetish-doctor  to  impart  to  him  the  necessary  skill  to 

ensure  success.     The  fee  Co  the  "doctor"  will  be  either  a  lump 

sum  down  or  a  commission  on  the  sale  of  the  slaughtered  animal's 

flesh,  or  both.     Sometimes  a  "  doctor "  will  visit  a  town  in  the 

Lvicinlty  of  elephants,  and  after  performing  certain  rites  will  sally 

Ifortb  with  people  from  the  town  to  trap  and  kilt.     Helpers  will 


1 8  6  CGlIectfinea. 

take  a  part  of  the  flesh  if  the  hunt  is  saccessfix],  but  if  otherwise 
the  *' doctor''  excuses  himself  bj  saving  that  a  more  powerful 
charm  than  his  has  been  used  by^  an  enemj  to  counteract  his  and 
bring  about  £ulure. 

As  hippopotami  are  more  plentiful  than  elephants^  the  requisite 
ceremony  to  ensure  success  in  killing  them  is  neither  so  elaborate 
nor  so  long ;  crocodiles^  however,  bdng  very  cunning,  no  attempt 
is  made  to  catch  them  without  much  ceremony.  As  fish  are  very 
common,  no  specially  prepared  charms  are  necessary  to  catch 
them,  unless  large  quantities  are  wanted,  or  expeditions  of  an 
extensive  kind  are  made. 

The  first  fish  caught  by  a  bd  b  given  to  his  parents^  or  those 
who  stand  in  that  relationship  to  him.  otherwise  he  wiU  £sl11  under 
the  ban  of  a  curse.  The  first  fish  caught  in  the  season  is  given  to 
the  person  who  greets  the  owner  first  on  stepping  ashore,  or  he 
wiU  have  no  further  luck.  The  giving  away  of  the  firstfruit  of 
skill  in  manufisLCture,  in  fuming,  in  hunting,  &c.,  is  widely 
observed. 

3.  '*  Likundu  "  is  the  native  term  for  an  occult  power  supposed 
to  be  possessed  and  exercised  by  many  individuals;  both  its 
possession  and  exercise  may  be  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
person  who  is  supposed  to  possess  it. 

A  person  is  accused  of  possessing  "  likundu  "  when  he  or  she 
is  extraordinarily  successful  in  hunting,  fishing,  skilled  bbour,  or 
the  accumulation  of  wealth.  There  is  apparently  only  a  certain 
amount  of  skill  extant,  only  a  certain  number  of  fish  to  be  caught, 
only  a  certain  amount  of  wealth  to  be  gained  ;  and  for  a  person 
to  excel  all  others  is  a  proof  that  he  is  using  evil  means  to  his  own 
advantage,  and  in  thus  defrauding  others  of  their  share  he  lays 
himself  open  to  the  charge  of  possessing  "  likundu." 

The  charge  of  having  "likundu"  is  sometimes  brought  play- 
fully against  a  person,  and  is  then  simply  equivalent  to  our  phrase 
"  you  arc  too  clever,"  but  when  used  seriously  against  one  it 
causes  much  annoyance,  and  can  only  be  disproved  by  either 
drinking  the  ordeal  or  refraining  from  doing  that  which  has 
brought  the  charge.  There  is  a  man  in  this  town  who  will  not 
set  traps  for  the  palm-rat  now,  because  his  success  has  laid  him 
open  to  the  charge  of  having  "  likundu."  A  person  who  possesses 
this  "  likundu  "  may  unconsciously  cause  the  hunting  skill  of  any 
hunter  in  his  family  to  fail.     There  is  a  hunter  of  hippopotami  in 


Stories  from  the  Upper  Congo.  187 

this  town  who  for  a  considerable  time  was  very  successful  in  his 
expeditions,  Soon  after  we  started  our  mission  work  he  utterly 
failed  in  his  hunt  for  them,  and  could  not  kill  a  single  one.  He 
returned  to  the  town  after  one  of  his  unsuccessful  hunts  and 
accused  his  nephew,  a  lad  of  ten  or  twelve,  of  having  exercised 
his  "  likundu  "  against  him.  The  lad  denied  the  charge,  but  on 
having  the  "  ordeal "  administered  it  was  satisfactorily  proved  to 
those  concerned  that  he  had  "  likundu,"  consequently  his  brother 
paid  a  heavy  fine  to  the  disappointed  hunter  who  had  been  the 
supposed  victim  of  his  evil  through  unconscious  machinations. 
He  has  done  little  or  no  hunting  since. 

It  is  a  common  belief  that  girls  and  lads  "have  plenty  likundu." 
This  belief  perhaps  originated,  but  is  cerUiinly  strengthened,  by  the 
fact  that  the  ordeal-drink  is  an  intoxicant,  and  as  girls  and  lads 
are  not  inured  to  its  effects  they  become  quickly  intoxicated  and 
fall,  but  after  having  taken  it  a  few  times  they  are  able  to  resist 
its  effects,  or  as  the  natives  say:  "they  have  no  more  'likundu,'" 

4.  Ordeals  used  are  as  follows : — 

The  most  common  one  in  this  district  is  "  nka,"  on  the  Lower 
Congo  "nkasa,"     It  is  the  outer  skin  of  the  rootlets  of  a  certain 
tree;  when  the  skin  is  scraped  off  it  looks  like  the  combings  from 
plush  velvet.     A  piled  teaspoonful  is  given.     If  the  person   is 
guilty  he  will  soon  fall  intoxicated ;  should  he  not  fall  intoxicated 
his  innocency  is  proved.     If  two  persons,  the  accused  and  the 
accuser,  take  it,  as  often  happens,  the  one  who  falls  first  is  the 
guilty  party.     Should  the  accused  fall  he  is  guilty,  should,  how- 
ever, the  accuser  fall  first  his  accusation  is  thereby  proved  false. 
The  next  in  favour  is  the  "  hlela  "  or  wild  yam.    About  a  pound 
.  is  boiled  and  administered  in  lumps  to  the  subject.     The  "  nka  " 
I  is  never  given  in  sufficient  quantity  to  kill,  but  the  "lilela"  is 
r  very  often  fatal  in  its  action. 

"  Mokungu  "  is  very  seldom  used.  The  bark  of  a  certain  tree 
is  broken  off,  and  the  inner  skin  of  the  bark  carefully  scraped ; 
the  juice  from  this  skin  is  pressed  and  dropped  into  the  eye.  If 
the  eye  is  blinded  the  person  is  guilty, 

5.  A  few  years  ago,  it  was  the  custom  in  this  district  that  when 
j  the  fishing  season  began  badly,  the  parties  interested  contributed 
I  towards  the  purchase  of  a  slave,  generally  an  old  person,  who 
1  «as  bound  hand  and  foot,  and  thrown  into  the  river  to  propitiate 
I  the  water-spirits.     As  the  people  who  contributed  the  necessary 


1 88  Collectanea, 

amount  fished  continuously  and  zealously  to  gain  as  much  benefit 
as  possible  from  the  appeased  disposition  of  the  water-sfniits,  diey 
of  course  were  very  successful,  and  put  to  the  credit  of  their 
sacrifice  what  was  really  due  to  their  zeal.  There  is  to-dayin  the 
district  above  this,  a  man  with  one  eye  who  was  sacrificed  in  this 
way.  While  in  the  water  his  bonds  became  unfastened,  and  on 
swimming  to  land  be  told  the  people  that  the  water-spirits  had 
sent  him  back  because  they  did  not  want  a  one-eyed  man.  His 
wit  saved  him. 

6.  I  will  close  with  two  or  three  observations  on  the  drinking 
customs  of  these  people.  The  liquor  generally  used  is  fennented 
sugai-cane  water.  (Palm  wine  is  drunk,  but  is  very  scarce.)  The 
canes  are  cut  into  lengths  of  two  feet,  stripped  of  the  hard  outer 
skin,  put  mto  heavy  canoe-shaped  troughs,  and  pounded  with 
heavy  pestles  until  Uie  fibres  are  cnished  and  separated.  The 
mode  of  pressing  the  juice  out  is  one  that  I  have  seen  illustrated 
as  an  old  Egyptian  one.  Two  strong  uprights  are  fixed  in  the 
ground,  and  at  a  convenient  height  a  horizontal  cross-piece  is 
placed.  Rope  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick  is  plaited  into  an  oblong 
web  two  feet  long  by  about  one  foot  three  inches  wide,  with  loops  at 
each  end ;  the  cross-bar  is  threaded  through  one  end,  and  a  short 
stout  stick  is  passed  through  the  loops  at  the  other  or  lower  end ; 
a  large  handful  of  juicy  fibre  is  placed  on  the  web  and  held  in 
position  while  the  lower  stick  is  turned  two  or  three  times  until 
the  fibre  is  enclosed  in  the  web,  then  the  lower  stick  is  turned 
repeatedly  until  the  fibre  is  pressed  dry ;  the  juice  runs  into  a 
slanting  canoe  beneath,  and  is  drained  ofl"  into  jars.  This  process 
generally  takes  place  in  the  morning,  some  fermented  wine  is 
added  to  the  fresh  juice,  and  by  the  early  afternoon  the  whole  is 
effervescing  and  ready  to  be  drunk.  A  jar  of  about  three  gallons 
can  be  bought  for  a  couple  of  yards  of  calico. 

A  man  buys  a  jar  of  wine,  beats  his  drum  in  a  certain  way  to 
call  his  friends,  who,  after  a  few  minutes,  begin  to  gather  from 
various  parts  of  the  town,  often  followed  by  a  wife  carrying  a 
stool  and  some  article  out  of  which  the  man  is  to  drink.  One  has 
a  bottle,  another  a  saucepan,  another  an  old  coffee-pot,  another  a 
jug,  another  an  enamel  mug  or  a  glass.  A  man  is  chosen  to  dole 
out  the  wine.  The  majority  drink  in  the  ordinary  way,  but  some 
drink  in  a  manner  peculiar  to  themselves.  One  draws  his  wine 
through  a  tube ;  another  has  a  cloth  dropped  over  his  head  while 


A nimal  Superstitions.  189 

drinking;    another    places   some  fine-shredded  grass  over  the 

mouth  of  his  bottle  and  draws  the  wine  through  that ;  another 

takes  a  part  of  a  plantain  leaf,  makes  a  channel  down  the  middle, 

puts  one  end  into  his  mouth,  and  pours  the  wine  out  of  his  cup 

on  to  the  top  end  of  the  leaf,  from  whence  it  runs  down  the 

groove  into  his  mouth.     All  these  various  modes  of  drinking  are 

rigidly  followed  out  of  regard  to  the  strictest  injunctions  of  some 

medicine-man,  who  has  told  them  that  in  order  to  prevent  the 

return  of  a  sickness  from  which  they  have  suffered  or  to  escape 

some  disease  they  must  drink  wine  in  such  and  such  a  manner  or 

not  at  all. 

When  a  man  is  "  on  the  booze,"  he  sticks  a  leaf  in  his  hair  to 

show  it,  and  then  no  notice  is  taken  of  any  stupid  or  insulting 

remark  he  may  make,  or  any  business  transactions  he  may  enter 

upon. 

John  H.  Weeks. 


Animal  Superstitions. 
I.  From  Symiy  Asia  Minor,     {Ante,  p.  129.) 

[The  following  are  a  selection  from  the  notes  collected  for  me 
by  Mr.  Demosthenes  Chaviaras,  and  translated  by  Mr.  W.  R. 
Paton.] 

I.  The  sponge- fishers  think  it  an  evil  omen  if  they  see  an 
octopus  at  the  first  place  they  touch  at  on  their  way  to  their  fish- 
ing ;  they  refrain  from  catching  it. 

Children's  clothes  on  which  a  cat  kittens  ^re  thrown  away,  as 
are  those  over  which  a  bitch  that  has  just  littered  passes. 

When  they  hear  the  owl's  cry  they  think  it  a  good  omen ; 
the  women  say  to  it :  e/iayas  KaXii  ya^ircLpia  Kat  aovvov  icaXa 
fAayrara,  "  Good  news  for  us  and  good  messages  from  you." 

Children  who  catch  an  owl  hold  it  by  the  beak  and  say  these 
verses : 

KovKKov  (iaba  fiaiayil  vuts  \opevei  ^  fiavva  aov  ; 
T6vpiKa  kL  iipfiiyiKa  kI  dp/ievo7roX/rc<a. 

"  Palm-Sunday  owl,  how  does  your  mother  dance  ? 
Turkish  and  Armenian,  Constantinople- Armenian.'* 

And  then  the  owl  shuts  its  eyes  and  goes  round  like  a  top. 


igo  Collectanea. 

When  the  crow  caws  it  is  considered  a  bad  omen,  and  they  say 
to  it :  va  i^ar\s  r^v  Jce^aX^v  trov  Xaicepa,  "  Eat  your  head  whole." 

The  trvyxoLipi^trHii  (?),  when  it  enters  a  house  and  goes  buzzing 
round,  is  looked  upon  as.  a  good  omen ;  the  person  round  whom 
it  flies  will  have  good  news. 

The  grasshopper  is  considered  lucky ;  they  do  not  kill  it 

The  6\oaTaKri%  tou  xp^ffrov  (Christ's  little  horse)  is  caught  and 
put  on  the  palm  of  the  left  hand  and  the  following  verse  said : 

"  If  you  are  Christ's,  stay  ; 
If  you  are  the  denl's,  away  ! " 

It  is  lucky  if  it  remains,  and  vice  versa, 

[The  creature — a  kind  of  large  grasshopper — is  called  in 
Calymnos  "The  Virgin's  little  horse";  the  children  when  they 
find  it  say  the  Paternoster;  if  it  flies  away  it  is  unlucky. — W.  R.  P.] 

Moths  and  butterflies  which  come  into  the  house  are  looked 
upon  as  lucky  and  are  not  hurt.  [In  Calymnos  the  humming- 
bird hawk-moth  is  regarded  as  presaging  good  tidings.  It  is 
perhaps  the  avyxaipiatrrlis  mentioned  above.  In  Calymnos  it  is 
called  "  extinguisher,"  Kay  r{Kotrfi6trTris, — W.  R.  P.] 

The  "little  bird  of  the  house"  (cricket),  which  usually  lives 
near  the  hearth,  is  considered  lucky  when  it  chirps  at  night. 

Swallows  bring  luck,  and  are  respected. 

Pigeons  bring  ill-luck  and  dearth ;  any  one  who  eats  nothing 
but  pigeons  for  a  fortnight  will  die.  [Pigeons  are  also  unlucky  in 
Calymnos.— W.  R.  P.] 

When  a  hen  crows  like  a  cock  it  is  an  omen  of  death ;  its  head 
must  be  cut  oflf  with  a  chopper  on  the  threshold  Lvd^vltrut^  ue, 
striking  it  on  the  upper  part  of  the  neck.     The  fowl  is  eaten. 

The  howling  of  a  dog  is  a  death-omen. 

When  the  ^ttXcq  (migratory  birds)  pair  in  autumn,  girls  say  to 
them  : 

&'K\in  fiov  KardrrXia  fiov 
iipave  ri)v  irXoLKay  fxov 
hive  KdfXTTOv  koI  deiXidv 
trrov  TtrovWiov  fiov  n)v  fiepidy, 

*'  My  aplia,  my  kataplia, 
Dry  my  Washing-stone, 
Tie  a  knot  and  an  end  knot, 
In  my  braid  of  hair/' 


Animal  Superstitions. 


191 


The  seal  is  regarded  as  unclean. 

The  £fnas,  a  large  snake  which  lives  near  houses,  was  fopnerly 
looked  on  [as  in  Lesbos,  W.R.P.]  as  the  guardian  of  the  house. 
It  is  not  killed  nor  persecuted  much,  as  other  snakes  are. 

The  colour  of  an  animal  seen  in  a  dream  decides  whether  the 
omen  is  good  or  bad.  Black  dogs  or  pigs  seen  about  midnight 
or  before  cockcrow  are  regarded  as  demons  or  vampires ;  any 
one  who  sees  them  leaves  his  boots  outside  the  threshold  till 
dawn  to  prevent  the  ghosts  entering  the  house.  (The  xiXiavrpitrira, 
a  terrible  apparition,  was  believed  to  traverse  the  town  after 
midnight,  howling  savagely  and  accompanied  by  a  number  of 
pigs  grunting  loudly.  She  disappeared,  like  other  ghosts,  at 
cockcrow). 

The  vafacrfipfji  (spider^ literally  weaver)  must  not  he  killed. 
A  man  was  once  unjustly  pursued  and  hid  himself  in  a  cellar; 
over  the  door  a  spider  spun  its  web  and  saved  the  man. 

3.  To  protect  children  from  the  evil  eye,  they  hang  on  them 
the  largest  claw  of  the  crab,  known  as  S^tpfioa  or  left. 

The  fiesh  of  the  tortoise  and  blood  of  the  turtle  give  strength. 

A  little  bone  of  a  bat  brings  luck. 

When  a  man  suffers  from  night-blindness  they  say  he  has 
oj)yiOoaKovTO<f\iisv  (chicken-blindness).  He  must  eat  the  head  of 
a  black  she-goat  roasted  and  wash  his  eyes  in  the  morning  in  the 
chickens'  waler-dish. 

Those  suffering  from  stone  drink  the  stone  from  the  gall- 
bladder of  an  ox. 

Those  who  have  a  wound  let  a  dog  lick  it. 

Those  who  suffer  from  heart-disease  should  eat  the  heart  of  a 
live  pigeon. 

They  pound  the  fr<^  in  a  mortar  in  spring  and  apply  it  to 
a  hand  which  Kav^t  fiofaxn  r>ji  (suffers  without  having  been 
injured). 

The  fat  of  a  kind  of  vulture  and  of  the  ftavp^  Sjiyida  is  used 
against  rheumatism  and  colds. 

The  hair  of  the  dog  which  has  bitten  a  man  is  used  to  cure  the 
bite.  The  hair  must  be  removed  together  with  a  portion  of  the 
skin  ;  the  dog  cures  the  wound  so  caused  by  licking  it.  There- 
fore they  say  ironically  to  some  one  who  has  been  ill-used  by  a  bad 
man,  "  Cut  a  hair  off  him." 

To  cure  a  person  in  danger  of  being  choked  by  a  bone  they 


192  Collectanea. 

hold  the  muzzle  of  a  puppy  not  yet  weaned  to  his  mouth,  and  its 
breath  helps  him  to  swallow  it  For  a  fish-bone  they  use  a  cat. 
[Also  in  Cos  and  Calymnos. — W.  R.  P.] 

With  the  prickle  on  the  back  of  the  hpuKaiva  (a  sea-fish)  they 
prick  those  suffering  from  toothache. 

To  cure  a  bruise,  a  person  is  put  naked  in  a  warm  sheepskin. 

3.  At  Easter  they  make  KovWovpia  (a  cake)  in  the  shape  of 
snakes ;  in  his  mouth  they  put  a  red  egg  and  peppercorns  or 
cloves  for  the  eyes.  . 

On  the  avyoK^KKas^  large  twisted  Easter  ffoXX<$vpca,  they  put 
little  birds  made  of  the  same  dough. 

4.  After  the  funeral  salt  fish,  bread,  and  wine  are  served  to  the 
grave-diggers ;  meat  was  formerly  forbidden  at  the  fiajcap/ac  (the 
ancient  7Fepih€iTya\  the  feast  given  to  the  relations  and  friends 
of  the  deceased 

5.  Skulls  of  animals  are  put  in  the  garden  as  scarecrows.  The 
horns  of  stags  or  oxen  are  sometimes  seen  over  the  doors  of 
houses. 


II.  From  Aidin^  Turkey.    Collected  by  Mr.  J.  Kletropoulos. 

The  vulture  {karidl)  is  not  killed  by  Turks ;  the  swallow, 
crane,  large  snake  are  also  respected;  so  is  the  kaplan^  or 
panther  of  West  Asia  Minor.  It  is  regarded  as  the  king  of 
beasts;  whoever  kills  one  is  imprisoned  for  twenty-four  hours 
and  then  rewarded. 

The  camel  is  only  killed  and  eaten  on  solemn  occasions  in  Asia 
Minor. 

The  partridge  is  killed  because  it  once  betrayed  the  prophet ; 
its  legs  are  red  because  they  were  dipped  in  the  blood  of  Hassan- 
Husein. 

The  pig  is  not  called  tomuz^  but  hinzir,  "demon."  Greeks 
call  the  wild  pig  fiovxrepdy  (i.e.  iio\Bripov)  instead  of  its  proper 
name. 

The  dog  is  often  called  keip  (scurfy)  instead  of  kiotek^  its  proper 
name. 

[At  weddings  in  Aidin  a  pigeon  is  eaten  by  the  bride  and 
bridegroom. — W.  R.  P.] 


Animal  Superstitions. 


III.  From  SUradz^  Poland.    Cotlecied  by  M.  I.  de  Piatkowska . 

A  goat  is  kept  for  Inck.  A  wolf,  crow,  pigeon,  or  magpie  in 
he  house  bring  ill-luck. 

A  stork  seen  for  the  first  time  in  flight  is  lucky,  on  the  ground 
unlucky. 

There  will  be  a  good  millet  year  if  many  cockchafers  are  seen. 

Earth  taken  from  the  ground  on  which  wild  geese  have  rested, 
and  put  under  a  tame  goose  when  it  is  sitting,  will  ensure  a  good 
brood. 

When  you  see  the  swallow  for  the  first  time  in  spring,  you  must 
sit  down  ;  this  prevents  sore  feet  in  summer. 

The  first  butterfly  should  be  caught  to  ensure  riches  j  you 
should  turn  your  money  when  you  hear  the  cuckoo,  the  frog,  or 
the  stork  for  the  first  time. 

The  swallow,  nightingale,  lark,  stork,  and  ow!  are  not  killed, 
nor  their  nests  touched.  Bees  and  ants  are  also  spared,  and  the 
word  used  for  "  die  "  is  the  same  for  them  as  for  human  beings. 
The  spider  is  not  killed.     Sparrows  are  killed  with  whips. 

At  Christmas  and  during  the  Carnival,  young  men  disguise 
themselves  as  animals— bear,  horse,  or  monkey— and  go  round 
the  village.     They  also  appear  at  weddings  disguised  as  bears. 

Owl-feathers  burnt  in  charcoal  are  good  for  fumigating 
rheumatic  Imbs ;  the-  flesh  of  the  owl  is  also  good  for  rheumatic 
patients ;  so  is  that  of  the  stork,  but  you  are  not  allowed  to  kill  it. 

A  tree-frog  held  in  the  hand  cures  excessive  perspiration. 

To  cure  consumption  you  should  eat  the  fiesh  of  a  cat  and 
wear  its  skin  on  your  chest. 

Cataract  is  called  "hen-blindness";  to  cure  it,  take  a  black 
cock,  hold  it  in  a  riddle,  make  it  look  at  the  setting  sun,  and  look 
at  the  sun  yourself;  then  throw  the  cock  on  the  ground,  jump  on 
the  top  of  a  hedge,  and  imitate  the  crowing  of  a  cock  three  times. 

On  the  eve  of  St  Andrew,  girls  who  wish  to  get  married  take  a 
black  cat  and  hold  it  over  the  fire  ;  then  they  throw  barley  on  the 
fire  and  say :  "  Barley,  burn ;  cat,  mew ;  and  let  my  dear  one 
come."  To  divine  which  will  be  married  first,  girls  put  bread 
before  a  dog  and  see  which  piece  it  eats  first. 

Clay  whistles  are  made  in  the  shape  of  cocks,  dogs,  and  pigs. 

The  souls  of  the  drowned  take  the  form  of  a  horse  or  dt^, 

VOL.  xn.  o 


194  Collectanea. 

Witches  appear  as  frogs,  wild  geese,  black  cats,  and  crows. 

The  bear  was  once  a  human  being ;  he  frightened  Christ  by 
his  growling,  and  received  his  present  form.  The  cuckoo  was 
formerly  a  girl;  she  disturbed  Christ  by  crying  "cuckoo"  and 
was  turned  into  a  bird  The  cuckoo  becomes  a  hawk  in  winter. 
The  swallow  was  once  a  girl  who  was  made  captive  by  the  Tartars ; 
she  prayed  to  be  allowed  to  return  to  her  country  and  was  changed 
into  a  bird. 

The  stork  brings  children  out  of  a  well  (?  spring). 

A  woman  was  once  carried  o£f  by  a  bear  and  produced  two 
young  bear-cubs. 

Cocks,  owls,  and  stags'  heads  made  of  wood  are  found  on  the 
houses.  Eagles,  owls,  and  hawks  are  killed  and  nailed  to  the 
front  of  the  house. 

N.  W.  Thomas. 


Vine-grafting  in  Southern  France. 

My  authority  for  the  following  is  Madame  Gasquet,  wife  of  Mon- 
sieur Joachim  Gasquet  of  Aix-en-Provence,  formerly  Mademoiselle 
Marie  Girard  of  Saint-Remy-de-Provence.  She  is  a  singularly 
intelligent  woman,  and  possessed  of  a  retentive  and  accurate 
memory.  She  is  (I  may  also  mention)  a  beautiful  woman,  tall 
and  well  formed,  and  as  a  girl  had  a  remarkably  pure  and  sweet 
expression  of  countenance.  In  April,  1894,  Mile.  Girard,  as  she 
then  was,  was  aged  about  nineteen,  and  was  staying  with  her 
foster-mother,  Liso  Gonfaut,  at  her  mas^  or  farm,  the  Mas  Pelissier, 
or  Viret.  It  lies  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  northern  slope  of  the 
Alpilles,  a  chain  of  sharp,  peaked,  rugged,  low  mountains,  running 
eastward  from  the  Rhone  near  Tarascon.  Formerly  they  were 
well  wooded,  now  the  upper  part  is  almost  all  bare  rock,  but  the 
slopes  or  foothills  grow  almonds,  olives,  and  vines,  according  to 
the  altitude.  Mile.  Girard  told  me  of  the  vine-grafting  when  I 
first  met  her  in  the  autumn  of  1894,  but  not  wishing  to  trust  to 
my  memory  only  I'  wrote  to  her  last  autumn  (1899)  ^or  exact 
details,  and  in  reply  she  sent  me  a  copy  of  a  letter  written  by  her 
at  the  time  to  her  fianci^  M.  Gasquet,  from  which  I  quote  the 
following  passages : 


Vine-gmfting  tn  Southern  France. 


Mile.  Girard  to  M.  Gasquet,  \z  Avril,  1894. 

"  J'etais  dans  les  environs  de  Romaninl  depuis  d^ji  une  quinz- 
aine  de  jours.  Je  m'etais  mel^e  le  p'us  possible  i  la  vie  simple 
des  paysans.  Puerile  un  peu,  j'avais  voulu  errer  dans  les  ruines 
vfetue  de  blanc ;  une  vieille  robe  de  bure  blanche,  belle  de  ligne, 
mes  cheveux  ^pandus,  un  immense  beret  blanc,  me  composaient 
la  toilette  rev&. 

'  Un  matin,  la  ntblo  iTabrUu  (brumes  d' Avril)  'm'avail  forc^e 
d'errer  un  peu  i  I'aventure  sans  point  de  repaire  bien  distinct. 
Je  courrais  de  morne  en  morne,  Candis  que,  semblable  i  d'enor- 
mes  fiocons  de  lumiere,  des  lambeaux  de  btouillard  Irainaient 
partout.  Les  amandiers  k  perte  de  vue  s'cvaporaienl  dans  le 
soleil.  Je  m'etais  eloignee  beaucoup,  sans  doute,  car  dejk  les 
terres  rosdtres  de  la  Vallongue  etaient  la.  Un  dernier  amandier 
gigantesque  tcrminait  le  sentier,  que  de  nouveaux  defrichements 
avaient  sacrifi^.  J'allais  resolument  partir  i  travers  la  terre 
iabourde,  quand  des  aboiements  furieux  retentirent,  partis  d'un 
groupe  de  chenes-verts  oil  je  distinguais  vaguement  la  forme  de 
trois  honimes  couchds,  '  Sounas  li  chin  I'*  m'&riai-je.  Obeis- 
sant,  les  chiens  retournerent  pres  du  maltre,  qui,  imperieux,  les 
fit  s'eCendre. 

"  II  y  avail  un  grand  vieillard  raaigre,  i  barbe  blanche,  I'allure 
superbe  et  presque  thedtrale,  tant  les  moindres  gestes  etaient 
soignes  ;  un  homme  de  vingt-cinq  i  trente  aus,  nerveux,  et  i  I'air 
sombre,^  et  un  enfant  de  seize  ans.  Le  vieillard  me  salua  d'un 
large  geste  de  la  main,  et  me  dit  avec  un  inexprimable  melange 
de  fierte  et  d'dmotion  : — - 

" '  Je  suis  le  maltre  grefleur  des  30,000  pieds  de  vigne  qui  sont 
li.  Dans  mon  pays,*  pour  que  la  vigne  soit  prosp^re,  il  faut  que 
la  sort  conduise  la  fille  la  plus  saine,  la  meilleure,  el  la  plus  belle, 
de  la  commune.     Cette  fille  doit  greffer  le  plus  beau  pied  de 

'  The  ruins  of  a  castle  that  belonged  to  the  Seigneuisof  LeaBaux.— C  A.  J. 

'  "Call  off  the  dc^  I" 

'  "  Le  bailc  [bailiff]  du  marquis  de  Poizi,  propri^tnirc  des  vignes  et  de 
Romanin."— M.  G.  to  C.  A.  J.,  iQ  Mars,  1900. 

<  "  II  DC  me  par  la  pas  on  bon  Pioven^Bl,  mais  en  languedocEen  de  Toulouse ; 
puis  en  fian^ais,  quand  11  devina  la  difficult^  que  j'avais  ^  compiendre.  II 
s'eipiinia  coiteclemenl  et  pompeuseroenl." — M.  G.  lo  C.  A.  J.,  ;o  Mais, 
1900. 


196  Collectanea. 

chacun  des  cdt^  d'oii  peut  venir  le  malheur.  Du  midi  il  n'y  a 
ricn  ii  craindrc,  c'est  le  soleil,  mais  de  ci  et  de  \ky  c'est  le  phyl- 
loxera, le  mildieu,  la  mine  !  Jamais  dans  cette  valine  perdue  je 
n'aurais  cru  rencontrer  la  vierge  qui  doit  donner  ses  vertus  k  la 
vigne,  et  j'^tais  inquiet  tout  au  fond  de  moi.  Voudrez-vous, 
belle  enfant,  que  par  vous  la  r^colte  soit  abondante  le  vin  plus 
g^n^reux  ?  * " 

"  *  Je  veux  bien,  mais  je  ne  sals  pas.'  *' 
"  *  Qu*  k  cela  ne  tienne,  nous  allons  vous  montrer.' " 
"  La  le^on  fut  courte,  et  dis  que  j'eus  compris,  nous  partions, 
le  vicillard,  I'enfant,  et  moi,  car  M'homme'  ^tait  parti  marquer 
d'une  branche  de  romarin  fleuri  les  trois  plus  beaux  pieds  des 
trois  c6t^s  k  preserver. 

''  Arrives  pr^s  du  cep,  le  vieillard  ^tendait  gravement  sa  limou- 
sine^ k  terre^  pour  m'y  faire  m'agenouiller,  et  je  greffais  le  pre- 
mier plant ;  puis,  1^-bas  au  versant  uba  dis  Aupiho^  le  second. 
Au  troisi^me,  comme  je  penchais  un  peu  trop  la  t^te  pour  nouer 
d'aplomb  la  ligature,  mes  cheveux  glisserent.  Prompt  comme 
Teclair,  I'enfant  arracha  la  branche  fleurie  marquant  le  cep,  et 
d'un  geste  adorable  maintint  mes  cheveux,  en  s'dcriant,  '  Anavon 
toucala  terro/^"^ 

"  Le  vieillard  me  dit  simplement,  *  Enfant^  vous  grhmaci^  fugues 
urauso,^ "  * 

Mile.  Girard  inquired  some  time  later  how  the  vineyard  had 
fared,  and  heard  that  only  the  plants  she  grafted  had  flourished ; 
the  rest  were  not  dead,  but  had  failed  owing  to  the  carelessness 
of  the  farmer. 

Madame  Gasquet  to  Mrs,  Janvier. 

"  Aix-en-Provence,  14  Decembre,  1899. 
"  Je  ne  sais  d'oii  peut  venir  cette  l^gende  adorable.  La  greffe 
des  vignes  amdricaines  est  toute  rdcente,  et,  helas !  le  peuple  a 
perdu  rhabitude  de  donner  un  sens  symbolique  k  ses  actes,  et  la 
vivante  po^sie  de  la  terre  vit  sur  son  passd.  On  garde  bien  la 
tradition,  mais  on  ne  crde  pas  de  nouveaux  mythes. 

*  A  striped  wrapi  a  sort  of  blanket. 

*  The  northern  slope  of  the  Alpilles. 

■  "  It  was  going  to  touch  the  ground  !"  [Cf.  Folk-Lore^  vol.  xi.,  p.  448, 
1.  24. — Ed.] 

*  **  Child,  I  thank  you  ;  may  you  be  happy  1 " 


Folktales  frc 


1  the 


■97 


"  Dans  le  Lot-et-Garonne,  j'ai  entendu  dire  i  une  vieille  ferame 
I  tres  int^ressanie  et  un  peu  sorci&re,  avec  laquelle  j'ai  caus^  des 
journ^es,  que,  pour  greffer  les  vignes  autrefois  (alors  que  I'on 
greffait  un  malaga  sur  d'aiiciens  pieds  fran^is,  de  mgme  pour  les 
I  pfiches  que  Toti  greffe  sur  des  arbres  sauvages),  une  jeune  fille 
pubire  (condition  absolue)  doit  greffer  le  premier  plant  de  chaque 
rang^e.  Dans  le  pays  I'usage  n'esi  plus  observ^,  et  quand  j'ai 
demande  pourquoi  i  la  vieille  Peirusseto,  elle  n'a  su  que  me  dire 
'  Les  vieux  avaient  dit  qu'il  fallait  le  faire.' " 

Peirusseto  lived  near  Monerabeau,  in  that  corner  of  the  depart- 
'  ment  of  Lot-et-Garonne  which  is  between  the  departments  of 
Gers  and  Les  Landes  (ancient  Gascony).     Mme.  Gasquel  visited 
the  district  in  November,  1899. 

Mr.  Fernand  Lundgren  told  me  a  few  days  ago  that  among  the 
Navajo  Indians  (North  America)  it  is  the  custom  that  the  first 
row  or  planting  of  maize  shall  be  done  by  young  girls.  This 
custom  is  falling  into  disuse,  but  at  one  time  it  was  considered 
absolutely  necessary. 

Catharine  A.  Janvier. 

March,  1900. 


Folktales  from  the  <Egean. 
(Continued  from  p.  97.) 


XVIIL  Thi  Woodcutter  Lad. 


(From  the  same  source  as  No.  XIV.) 


There  was  a  poor  woman  who  had  one  only  son.  One  day 
I  she  found  she  had  no  meal  to  make  bread,  but  her  boy  had  to  go 
and  cut  sticks  on  the  hill,  and  he  must  have  something  to  cat  to 
I  take  with  him.  She  made  him  a  cake  out  of  ashes  instead  of 
flour,  and  told  him,  "  Do  your  work  lirst  and  then  sit  down  and 
eat,"  for  she  was  afraid  he  would  get  angry  when  he  saw  the  black 
ashen  bread,  and  come  home  and  scold  her  and  cut  no  sticks. 


198 


Collectanea. 


Away  he  went  to  the  hill  and  cut  himself  a  big  bundle  of  sticks, 
and  then  sat  down  with  the  other  woodcutter  boys  to  eat    When  he 
untied  his  napkin  and  produced  his  black  bread,  the  other  boys 
laughed  at  him  and  bade  him  get  away,  and  he  sat  down  to  eat  by 
himself.     As  he  was  eating,  an  old  monk  appeared  and  begged  to 
share  his  meal.     "  I  have  nothing  but  this  black  bread,"  said  the 
boy,  "  but  share  it  if  you  will."    Now  this  monk  was  Christ  him- 
self, and  he  had  gone  to  the  others  and  asked  for  food,  but  they 
had  laughed  at  him  and  chased  him  away.     He  sat  down  and 
they  began  to  eat,  and  lo,  the  ashen  cake  became  a  beautiful 
white  loaf,  and  as  they  ate,  it  never  diminished.    The  monk  rose  and 
took  his  leave,  and  blessed  the  bundle  of  sticks,  and  the  boy  tied 
the  white  loaf  in  his  napkin  and  put  the  bundle  of  sticks  on  his 
back  and  started  off  home,  and  the  bundle  seemed  no  heavier 
than  a  feather.     When  his  mother  noticed  the  napkin  and  saw  the 
white  loaf,  she  asked  him  how  he  came  by  it,  and  he  told  her  all 
that  had  befallen  him.     She  gave  him  some  incense,  and  bade  him 
return  next  day  to  the  same  place  to  cut  sticks,  and  when  he  had 
finished  his  work,  to  bum  the  incense.     So  he  did,  and  the  old 
monk  appeared,  and  asked  him  what  he  could  do  for  him.     "  I 
want  nothing  at  all,"  said  the  boy ;  but  the  monk  said,  "  You  may 
have  anything  you  want ;  you  have  just  got  to  ask  for  it  and  it  will 
be  yours."  The  boy  began  to  trudge  home  with  his  bundle,  and  as 
he  went  he  all  of  a  sudden  said  to  himself,  "  Why  should  these 
sticks  ride  on  me,  and  why  shouldn't  I  ride  on  them  ?  "     Instantly 
he  found  himself  mounted  on  the  faggot  and  rode  merrily  home. 
On  his  way  he  had  to  pass  the  king's  palace,  and  the  princess  was 
standing  on  the  balcony.     When  she  saw  the  bumpkin  riding  on 
the  faggot  she  burst  out  laughing,  and  he  looked  up  and  said, 
"  Laugh  away,  but  may  you  grow  with  child."  ^     Sure  enough 
after  a  few  months  the  princess  found  herself  pregnant ;  and  one 
month  passed,  and  another,  and  she  gave  birth  to  a  boy. 

The  king  was  deeply  troubled,  and  questioned  her  again  and 
again  as  to  the  father  of  the  child,  but  she  persisted  in  saying  that 
she  knew  nothing  of  it.  Then  the  king  said,  "  We  will  do  this  :  I 
will  give  the  child  an  apple,  and  I  will  send  and  summon  all  my 
male  subjects  to  pass  before  the  palace  window,  and  whomsoever 
he  hits  with  the  apple  is  his  father."     For  three  days  the  procla- 

'  The  same  incident  occurs  in  one  of  the  stories  in  Basilc's  Pcntamcrone. 


Folktales  from  the  ^gec 


199 


malion  was  made,  and  all  the  men  of  the  kingdom  passed  under. 
Only  the  old  woman's  son  said,  "  What  is  the  use  of  my  going  ?  " 
and  stayed  at  home.  The  baby  threw  the  apple  at  no  one,  but 
he  was  allowed  to  keep  it,  and  one  day  the  boy  chanced  to  pass 
by  and  the  baby  threw  the  apple  at  him  and  hit  him. 

They  ran  and  told  the  king,  and  when  he  saw  this  ragged  boy, 
he  called  his  daughter  and  asked  her  what  she  knew  of  him.  She 
said,  "  Nothing  at  all ; "  but  her  father  would  not  believe  her,  and 
had  a  box  made  into  which  he  put  hts  daughter,  the  boy,  and  the 
baby,  and  cast  them  adrift  on  the  sea. 

As  they  sat  shut  up  in  the  box,  the  princess  begao  to  cry,  and 
said  to  the  boy,  "  Speak  to  me."  He  said,  "  I  won't.  I  don't 
know  anything  about  you,  and  you  have  got  me  into  a  pretty 
scrape."  But  she  and  the  baby  cried  so  much  that  he  was 
softened,  and  said,  "  Do  you  want  to  get  out  of  this  box  ? "  "  How 
is  that  possible?"  said  the  princess;  "here  we  are  on  the  sea,  and 
who  can  save  us  ?  "  "  If  you  7oani  to  get  out,  we  will  get  out," 
said  the  boy,  and  wished  the  box  to  be  landed  on  a  desert  island 
opposite  the  city  and  there  to  open.  His  wish  was  performed, 
and  they  found  themselves  on  the  shore.  "  But  what  are  we  to  do 
here,"  said  the  princess,  "without  house,  or  food,  or  water?" 
"  Trust  me  to  make  you  comfortable ; "  and  he  wished  for  a  great 
palace  with  male  and  female  servants,  and  beds  and  everything, 
and  as  he  wished,  it  arose.  Next  morning  the  king's  servants 
came  running  to  tell  him,  "  There  is  a  great  palace  bigger  than 
yours  on  the  island,"  and  the  king  got  up  and  looked,  and  said, 
"  I  must  go  over  and  see  what  all  this  means  ;  "  and  he  ordered  his 
boat  to  be  got  ready,  and  started  in  state  to  visit  his  new  neigh- 
bour. The  old  woman's  son,  dressed  in  royal  robes,  came 
down  and  received  him  courteously.  The  king  said,  "  May  I  ask 
if  you  are  married  ?  "  "  Yes,"  said  the  boy,  "  but  you  must  excuse 
the  absence  of  my  wife.  She  has  just  had  a  baby  ;  and  if  your 
majesty  would  come  next  Sunday  and  stand  sponsor  to  it,  1  should 
be  greatly  honoured."  The  king  consented,  and  they  sat  and 
talked.  When  the  king  was  about  to  leave,  the  prince  (for  now 
the  bumpkin  has  turned  into  a  prince)  said  to  him,  "Why  did 
your  majesty  come  here  by  sea  and  not  on  dry  land  ?  "  The 
king  was  a  little  taken  aback  by  this  question,  but  concealed  his 
embarrassment  and  said,  "  We  were  just  taking  a  little  trip  in  our 
boats,  and  we  happened  to  pass  here  and  thought  we  would  call 


200  Collectanea. 

upon  you."  "  But  you  may  as  well  go  back  by  land,"  said  the 
prince,  and  he  wished  for  a  bridge  and  a  carpet  on  it  stretching  to 
the  king's  palace  door. 

The  king  went  back  across  the  bridge  to  his  palace,  and  that 
night  he  told  his  wife  all  that  had  happened,  and  said  he  was 
puzzled.  On  Sunday  he  took  his  councillors  with  him  and  re- 
crossed  the  bridge,  and  came  to  baptise  the  prince's  son  as  he  had 
promised.  "  Is  the  baptism  to  be  at  once  ?  "  he  asked.  "  No,  we 
will  dine  first,"  said  the  prince,  and  led  the  king  to  the  banquet- 
ing hall,  where  the  table  was  furnished  with  a  splendid  service  of 
gold  plate.  After  dinner  the  prince  wished  all  the  gold  spoons 
and  forks  and  cups  to  go  into  the  king's  bosom,  and  they  did  so. 
When  the  servants  came  to  clear  away,  they  said,  "  All  the  plate 
is  missing."  The  councillors  were  loud  in  their  assurances  that 
they  had  taken  nothing,  and  the  prince  said  :  "This  is  awkward; 
your  majesty  will  permit  me  to  search  my  guests,  and  of  course 
I  will  begin  with  yourself."  The  king  readily  consented,  and  out 
of  the  bosom  of  the  king's  shirt  the  prince  pulled  his  whole  service 
of  gold  plate.  The  king  was  not  a  little  crestfallen,  but  the 
prince  said,  "You  have  never  seen  these  cups  and  spoons,  yet 
they  are  in  your  bosom.  I  never  touched  your  daughter,  yet  she 
conceived,  and  for  this  you  put  us  in  a  box  and  sent  us  to  be 
drowned." 

The  king  recognised  his  fault,  and  the  poor  old  woman's  son 
was  married  to  the  princess. 


XIX.     The  Three  Sisters.     (Cassaba.) 

There  were  three  girls  sitting  spinning  with  their  mother,  and 
they  agreed  that  whosesoever  thread  broke  first  they  should  kill  and 
eat.  Their  mother's  thread  broke,  but  they  said,  "  Let  us  spare 
her  for  having  carried  us  in  her  womb,"  and  went  on  spinning. 
When  the  mother's  thread  broke  a  second  time,  they  said,  "  Let 
us  spare  her  for  having  suckled  us  from  her  breast."  But  when 
the  mother's  thread  broke  a  third  time,  she  had  to  be  killed.  The 
two  eldest  killed  her,  cut  her  up,  cooked  her,  and  eat  well  of  the 
flesh,  but  the  youngest  would  not  join  them,  and  when  they  had 
finished  she  collected  the  bones  and  put  them  in  a  large  earthen- 
ware jar.     Every  day  for  forty  days  she  incensed  them.     After 


Folktales  from  the  y^gean. 


201 


forty  days  she  went  to  the  jar  and  found  within  it  three  dresses 
(one,  the  plain  with  its  flowers;  another,  the  sea  with  its  fish;  and 
the  third,  the  heaven  with  its  stars),  and  a  pair  of  beautiful  slippers 
and  a  splendid  horse.  On  Sunday  she  put  on  the  first  dress  and 
went  to  church.  There  the  king's  son  saw  her  and  fell  in  love 
with  her,  but  she  ran  away  before  he  could  catch  her  and  speak  to 
her.  So  it  was  the  next  Sunday,  when  wearing  the  second  dress 
she  came  to  church  again.  On  the  third  Sunday  she  put  on  the 
third  dress.  As  she  was  returning  from  church  she  stopped  to 
let  her  horse  drink,  and  one  slipper  fell  into  the  drinking-trough. 
The  prince,  who  was  following  her,  stopped  his  horse  too,  and  it 
was  frightened  at  the  slipper,  and  would  not  drink,  So  he  saw 
the  slipper  and  knew  to  whom  it  belonged,  and  went  round  to  all 
the  houses  in  the  town  trying  to  fit  it.  The  eldest  sister  had  put 
the  youngest  under  a  basket,  and  on  this  the  prince  sat  down  to 
try  the  slipper  on.  It  would  not  fit  them,  and  he  asked  them  if 
they  had  no  other  sister.  They  said,  "  No,"  but  the  youngest  took 
a  pin  from  her  hair  and  pricked  him  with  it,  and  so  he  lifted  up 
the  basket  to  see  what  was  under  it.^ 

When  it  was  lifted,  the  eldest  sister  said,  "She  is  a  poor  outcast, 
our  servant,  whom  we  put  there  that  you  might  not  see  her."  But 
the  shpper  fitted  her,  and  the  prince  recognised  her,  and  they  were 
married.' 


XX.  ThtRing.    (Mytilene).     , 

There  was  once  a  poor  boy  who  found  a  ring  lying  in  the  road, 
and  took  it  home  to  his  mother,  and  she  said,  "  What  is  the  use 
of  that  ring?  It  is  a  pity  it  was  not  at  least  a  piece  of  money." 
But  the  boy  said,  "  Let  us  keep  it  and  see  what  luck  it  brings  us," 
and  he  put  it  on  his  finger  and  wore  it.  He  called  on  the  ring 
one  day,  "  My  ring,  my  little  ring,  now  1  want  to  see  you ; "  and 
forty  (^res  presented  themselves  and  did  all  his  behests,  and  he 

'  The  same  ioddent  occurs  in  a  Cinderella  sloiy  in  Miss  Wardtop's 
Ceergian  Felk-lalcs, 

'  Calymms  variants. — The  mother,  before  she  is  killed,  lells  the  daughter 
to  collect  her  bonn,  &c 

The  slipper  is  dropped  on  the  road. 

The  incident  of  the  horse  drinking  in  Ihc  Cassaba  version  seems  to  come 
from  the  same  narralor's  KasitUako. 


202  Collectanea. 

became  as  rich  as  he  wanted  by  calling  on  the  ring.  When  he 
grew  up,  he  sent  his  mother  to  the  king  and  asked  for  a  measure 
to  measure  his  money  with ;  and  the  king  lent  his  measure,  and 
was  very  much  astonished  when  it  was  returned  to  him  with  a 
large  gold  coin  in  it,  and  asked,  "Who  is  your  son  that  he 
measures  his  money  in  a  measure?"  "He  is  richer  than  you," 
said  the  mother.  Next  time  the  young  man  sent  his  mother  to 
ask  for  a  still  bigger  measure,  and  this,  too,  was  sent  back  with  a 
coin  in  it.  Next  time  he  sent  her  to  ask  for  the  hand  of  the 
king's  daughter.  The  king  said,  "  If  your  son  wants  my  daughter, 
he  must  make  this  hill  near  my  palace  flat,  and  plant  trees  on  it,  and 
after  forty-one  days  I  must  eat  their  fruit"  The  young  man  said, 
"  My  ring,  my  little  ring,  now  I  want  to  see  you,"  and  there  were  the 
forty  ogres,  and  they  went  to  work  with  such  a  will  that  next  morning 
the  mountain  was  level,  and  planted,  and  after  forty-one  days 
the  fruit  was  ready  for  the  king  to  eat.  "  Now,"  said  the  king  to 
the  woman,  "  I  want  your  son  to  make  this  other  hill  before  my 
palace  flat,  and  to  bring  the  sea  to  my  palace-door,  and  make  a 
beautiful  garden  at  the  seaside."  Next  morning  it  was  done ;  but 
the  king  still  demanded  that  his  daughter's  suitor  should  separate 
the  corn  in  his  bams  from  the  grist  and  stones,  and  make 
separate  heaps  of  each.  When  this  task  had  been  performed  the 
king  yielded,  and  the  marriage  took  place,  and  the  bridegroom 
brought  his  bride  such  dresses  and  jewels  as  she  had  never  seen 
in  her  life. 

Now  there  was  a  Jew  who  knew  the  young  man  had  that  ring, 
and  he  went  and  bought  a  lot  of  beautiful  diamond  rings,  and 
went  about  the  town  crying,  "  Rings,  rings  to  sell."  As  he  passed 
the  palace  the  princess  saw  the  rings.  Her  husband  was  asleep ; 
so,  taking  his  off*  his  finger,  she  exchanged  it  for  one  from  the 
Jew's  basket. 

As  soon  as  the  Jew  had  the  ring,  he  called  on  it  and  wished 
that  the  palace  and  the  princess  and  himself  should  be  out  at  sea, 
and  that  her  husband  should  find  himself  in  the  street  in  his 
drawers.  This  was  done  in  a  minute,  and  when  the  young  man 
found  himself  in  this  plight,  and  his  ring  and  his  wife  and  all 
gone,  he  ran  ofi"  to  drown  himself  in  the  sea ;  but  once  he  had 
seen  a  man  taking  a  dog  and  cat  down  to  the  sea  to  drown  them, 
and  he  had  asked  him  why  he  was  going  to  do  so.  "  They  are 
bad  beasts,"  said  the  man,  "  and  do  us  damage."     "  Don't  drown 


Folktales  from  the  ^gcari. 


203 


them,"  said  he,  "  I  will  give  you  100  piastres  and  take  them  home 
with  me,"  and  he  had  done  so  and  taken  care  oi  them ;  and  now 
the  dog  and  eat  came  to  him,  and  the  dog  said,  "  Don't  drown 
yourself ;  let  us  go  and  look  for  the  ring ; "  and  the  prince  let  them 
try.  So  the  dog  took  the  cat  on  his  back  and  swam  over  to 
the  palace,  and  sent  the  cat  up  to  do  her  best  to  get  the  ring. 
The  Jew  was  so  afraid  of  losing  the  ring  that  he  kept  it  always 
under  his  tongue.  The  cat  caught  a  mouse  in  the  palace  and 
said,  "  I  will  eat  you."  "  Please  don't ;  what  will  you  gain  by 
eating  me  ?  "  said  the  mouse.  "  I  will  spare  you,"  said  the  cat, 
"  if  you  will  go  and  dip  your  tail  in  oil  and  then  put  it  in  the 
Jew's  nose  when  he  is  asleep."  This  the  mouse  did,  and  the 
Jew  sneezed  violently  and  out  dropped  the  ring.  The  cat  was 
ready  and  grabbed  it,  and  rushed  out  of  the  palace  and  on  to  the 
dog's  back,  and  they  started  for  the  land.  As  they  were  crossing 
the  dog  said,  "  Give  me  the  ring-  I  am  afraid  you  will  run  off 
when  we  get  to  land  and  give  it  to  our  master  and  get  all  the 
reward."  The  cat  said,  "  No,  I  won't."  But  the  dog  insisted,  and 
said  he  would  put  her  off  his  back  if  she  didn't.  As  she  was 
trying  to  transfer  the  ring  from  her  own  mouth  to  his,  it  dropped 
into  the  sea.  They  came  and  told  their  master  what  had  hap- 
pened, and  he  said,  "  Now  1  will  drown  myself."  But  the  cat 
said,  "  ^Vait  a  bit,  who  knows,  a  fish  may  have  swallowed  the  ring 
and  may  be  caught,  and  we  may  find  it."  Sure  enough  it  was  so. 
That  very  day  some  fishermen  caught  this  fish  amongst  others  and 
cleaned  it,  and  threw  its  entrails  on  the  beach,  and  the  cat  went 
to  eat  ihem,  and  found  the  ring,  and  brought  it  to  her  master. 

Then  he  wished  the  palace  back  in  its  place,  and  his  wife  and 
the  Jew  in  it.  He  look  the  Jew  and  tied  him  on  a  wild  horse 
with  a  sack  of  walnuts,  and  he  was  knocked  to  bits ;  and-  the 
princess  and  her  husband  lived  happily  ever  afterwards. 


XXI,  Kyra  Fhrou.     (Cassaba.) 

There  was  a  certain  queen  who  had  two  children,  a  son  and  a 
daughter.  The  princess  was  very  beautiful ;  when  she  combed 
her  hair  pearls  fell  from  it,  and  flowers  from  her  lips  when  she 
laughed,  but  when  she  cried  it  thundered  and  rained.  The  queen 
lay  dying,  and  called  her  son  to  her,  and  bade  him  never  leave  his 
sister  alone  to  grow  sad  and  cry  and  bring  storms  of  rain,  but  he 


204 


Collectanea. 


must  always  remain  with  her.  For  some  months  after  their 
mother's  death  the  prince  did  as  she  had  commanded,  but  one  day 
he  said,  ''  I  must  go  out  and  look  after  my  servants,  who  are 
storing  the  com  in  my  granary."  "  Go  "  said  the  princess.  When 
he  was  gone  an  old  b^gar  woman  carrying  a  distaff  came  to  the 
palace  and  sought  alms.  The  princess  called  her  in  and  gave  her 
coffee  and  bread  and  a  new  dress,  and  the  old  womajn  sat  spinning 
and  chatting  for  a  time  and  then  went  away.  Next  day  the 
prince  went  out  again,  and  again  came  the  old  woman  and  sat 
spinning  and  talking  with  the  princess.  "  Why, "  she  said, "  should 
such  a  pretty  girl  as  you,  and  a  princess  too,  sit  here  alone?  It  is 
surely  time  for  you  to  look  out  for  a  husband ;  "  and  more  words 
of  like  effect ;  so  that  when  she  had  gone  away  the  princess  grew 
melancholy  and  began  to  cry.  All  at  once  it  began  to  thunder 
and  lighten  and  rain,  and  the  prince  ran  home  to  see  what  had 
happened.  His  sister  (her  name  by-the-bye  was  Kyra  Florou), 
told  him,  and  he  bade  her,  should  the  old  woman  return,  ask  her  if 
she  had  said  this  thing  of  her  own  accord,  or  if  someone  had  sent 
her  to  say  it  So  next  day,  when  the  old  woman  began  again, 
"  Ah,  you  will  never  be  happy,  my  child,  until  you  find  a  hand- 
some young  man  for  a  husband,"  Kyra  Florou  asked  her,  "  Tell 
me,  didn't  some  one  send  you  to  say  this  to  me  ?  "  "  No,"  said 
the  old  woman,  "  but  I  know  it  is  your  Kismet  to  wed  the  King 
of  Rhodope's  son." 

When  the  princess  told  her  brother,  he  started  off  to  find  the 
King  of  Rhodope,  and  offer  his  sister  in  marriage  to  the  King's 
son.  He  journeyed  on  and  on,  and  on  the  fifth  day  he  met  a 
monk,  who  asked  him  where  he  was  going.  "  To  find  the  King 
of  Rhodope,"  said  the  prince.  "  It  is  a  far  road  and  perilous," 
said  the  monk ;  "  but  I  will  guide  you."  After  many  days'  travel 
they  came  to  a  plain  full  of  horses  and  flocks  and  herds  grazing. 
"  Whose  are  these  ?  "  asked  the  prince.  "  The  King  of  Rhodope's," 
answered  the  monk.  "  Here  I  must  leave  you,  you  must  go  on 
alone  and  do  as  I  bid  you.  When  you  come  to  the  palace  you 
will  see  it  has  three  gates,  and  each  gate  is  guarded  by  a  beast. 
You  must  catch  a  horse  and  three  sheep  from  those  you  see  feed- 
ing on  the  plain,  hang  the  sheep  on  the  horse,  mount  it,  and  ride 
on.  When  you  come  to  the  first  gate,  throw  the  beast  a  sheep 
and  ride  quickly  through,  and  so  do  at  the  second  and  third  gates. 
In  the  doorway  of  the  king's  presence-chamber  is  a  sword  which 


Folktales  from  the  /^gean. 


205 


keeps  descending  and  ascending.  You  will  say  as  it  rises,  '  Steady, 
sword,  now  I  want  to  pass,'  and  you  will  rush  through  before  it 
falls.  Then  the  king's  servants  will  call  out  that  a  stranger  has 
entered,  and  the  king  will  ask  you  forty  times  who  you  are  and 
what  you  want,  but  never  a  word  must  you  answer.  Then  the 
king  will  say,  "Tell  me  your  trouble,  and  you  may  abide  here 
with  me  in  safety,'  and  then  you  may  speak  and  tell  him  your 
mission." 

It  all  fell  out  as  the  monk  had  said,  and  the  prince  told  the 
king  that  he  was  come  to  offer  his  sister  in  marriage  to  the  Prince 
of  Rhodope.     "  Would  you  know  your  sister  if  you  saw  her  ?  "  said 
the  king.     "  Of  course  I  would ;"  said  the  prince  and  the  king  led 
him  into  a  room  all  hung  with  portraits  of  maidens,  but  his  sister's 
was  not  among  them.      They  passed  into  thirty-nine  other  rooms 
full  of  the  pictures  of  all  the  girls  in  the  world,  and  in  the  last  picture 
of   the   fortieth   room   the  prince   recognised   his  sister.      "If 
that  is  your  sister,"  said  the  king,  "  then  she  is  my  son's  destined 
wife.     I  will  give  you  ships  to  go  and  fetch  her."     "  I  am  afraid," 
said  the  prince,  "  because  my  sister,  when  she  goes  lo  sea,  turns 
into  an  eel,  and  takes  to  the  water."     "  I  will  make  you  a  glass 
box,"  said  the  king,  "  and  into  that  you  must  put  your  sister,  and 
set  a  woman  to  watch  her  during  the  journey."    So  all  was  pre- 
pared, and  the  prince  sailed  to  his  home  and  bade  his  sister  make 
ready  to  return  with  him.     One  day,  a  litlie  before  they  were  to 
sail,  the  old  woman  came  to  the  princess  and  begged  to  come  too. 
"  You  have  no  mother  or  grandmother,"  she  said  ;  "  take  me,  and 
call  me  granny."     Kyra  Florou  obtained  her  brother's  consent  to 
this.    Now  the  old  woman  had  a  daughter  who  was  blear-eyed  and 
'  yery  ugly,  and  next  day  she  came  andbegged  the  princess  to  take  her 
I  daughter  too«"     "  You  will  tell  them  she  is  your  cousin,"  said  she, 
land  the  prince  and  princess  agreed  to  this  loo.     The  princess  was 
■  put  in  the  glass  box  and  the  old  woman  was  set  to  watch  her. 
s  they  were  nearing  the  coast  of  Rhodope,  while  everyone  slept 
I  the  old  woman  opened  the  glass  box,  and  out  slid  the  princess  and 
I'into  the  sea,     Then  the  old  woman  put  her  own  ugly  daughter  in 
J  tiie  box.     When  they  reached  the  city  the  king  and  his  son  and 
I  -all  his  courtiers  came  down  to  receive  the  bride  ;  but  when  instead 
of  the  beauriful  girl  he  expected,  the  blear-eyed  girl  was  presented 
to  the  king,  he  grew  very  wroth,  and  ordered  the  prince  to  be  loaded 
with  chains  and  put  in  prison.    The  Prince  of  Rhodope,  however, 


■■d 


206  Collectanea. 

had  to  marry  the  old  woman's  daughter,  as  he  had  givdnhis 
promise,  and  could  not  break  it  After  a  year  the  king  had  for- 
gotten all  about  the  young  prince  in  prison,  and  when  oq£  day 
the  prince  begged  his  gaolers  to  take  him  to  the  king  and  then 
begged  the  king  to  be  allowed  to  go  down  and  walk  near  the  sea, 
the  king  did  not  know  who  he  was,  and  gave  his  consent.  So  the 
prince  went  down  to  the  beach  and  began  weeping  and  calling  on 
his  sister,  and  cried  himself  to  sleep.  As  he  slept  the  eel  came  out 
of  the  sea  and  coiled  itself  round  his  neck.  When  he  awoke  and 
found  something  strangling  him,  he  started  to  his  feet  and  ran  up  the 
beach  trying  to  tear  it  off.  Then,  when  he  was  at  some  little  distance 
from  the  sea,  the  eel  spoke  and  said,  "  I  am  your  sister.  You 
must  kill  me  and  take  me  to  the  king,  and  tell  him  I  am  very 
good  to  eat,  and  ask  to  be  allowed  to  cook  me  for  his  table.  You 
will  cut  me  into  three  pieces  and  make  three  dishes, //b/b',^  roast, 
and  boiled.  When  the  king  and  his  court  have  eaten  me,  you 
must  collect  my  bones  and  bury  them.  Then  a  rosebush  covered 
with  beautiful  rosebuds  will  come  up.  The  old  woman  will  ask 
the  king  to  have  it  cut  down,  and  when  this  is  done  take  care  of 
th^s||m,  for  I  am  in  it."  The  prince  did  as  he  was  bidden.  The 
kin^,  his  vizier,  and  courtiers  entirely  finished  the  three  dishes 
and  sucked  the  bones,  which  the  prince  collected  and  buried. 
Next  day  there  was  a  beautiful  rosebush  growing  inside  the 
palace.  As  the  king  stopped  to  admire  it,  one  of  the  branches 
waved  towards  him  and  scratched  him.  "  What  is  this  ?  "  said  the 
old  woman,  who  was  walking  with  the  king.  "  Are  we  going  to 
have  your  palace  made  into  a  thicket  where  you  can't  walk  without 
scratching  yourself?  Cut  the  nasty  thing  down  at  once,"  and  this 
was  done.  The  prince  secured  the  stem,  and  taking  it  with  him 
started  off  and  walked  until  he  came  to  a  monastery  where  lived  a 
monk  with  no  other  companion  than  a  cat.  He  asked  the  monk 
to  give  him  a  dish  of  soup.  "  I  have  nothing  to  make  it  of,"  said 
the  monk,  **  and  no  wood  to  cook  it  with."  "  But  I,"  said  the 
prince,  "  have  meat,  and  rice,  and  firewood  too.  Give  me  an  axe 
and  a  room  to  myself,  and  I  will  prepare  it."  When  he  found 
himself  alone  he  took  the  rose-stem  and  struck  it  three  times  with 
the  axe,  and  out  of  it  stepped  his  sister  as  beautiful  as  ever. 
She  told  him,  "  You  must  ask  the  monk  to  give  you  a  room  which 
you  may  keep  closed,  and  there  I  will  stay,  and  you  must  ask  him 

*  A  stew. 


raronb." 


Folktales  from  the  ^gean. 


207 


for  a  ronb."  When  she  had  the  comb,  she  combed  her  hair,  and  out 
fell  quantities  of  pearls.  These  she  bade  him  give  the  monk  to 
take  to  the  king,  and  the  king  gave  him  a  handsome  present  of 
money.  This  she  did  several  times,  and  then  bid  her  brother  tell 
the  monk  that  he  wished  to  rebuild  the  monastery.  He  was  to 
order  all  the  wood  and  stones  and  two  hundred  masons,  and  he 
was  also  to  get  her  an  embroidery-frame  and  silks  and  stuff.  All 
this  was  done,  and  in  a  month  the  monastery  was  magnificently 
restored.  "Now,"  said  Kyra  Florou,  "tell  the  monk  that  to  celebrate  ■ 
the  completion  of  the  work  he  must  give  a  banquet,  and  invite  the 
king  and  court,  and  you  must  find  means  for  me  to  lay  the  table." 
The  king  and  his  vizier  and  courtiers  came  to  the  banquet 
and  each  had  a  beautiful  embroidered  napkin  set  before  him. 
The  vizier's  napkin  and  all  the  others  had  each  something  appro- 
priate worked  on  them.  But  when  the  king  unfolded  his,  he  saw  on 
it  the  portrait  of  Kyra  Florou.  Then  he  asked,  "Who  made  this?" 
and  when  no  one  could  answer,  the  princess  came  out  of  her 
hiding-place  and  saluted  him.  So  he  took  her  home  with  him  and 
she  was  wedded  to  his  son.  The  wicked  old  woman  was  cut  to 
pieces,  and  the  pieces  put  in  one  of  a  pair  of  saddlebags,  the  other 
of  which  was  filled  with  nuts  and  set  on  the  back  of  a  wild  horse, 
and  as  the  nuts  were  scattered,  so  were  the  fragments  of  the  old 
woman.  But  her  blear-eyed  daughter  was  sent  to  wash  the 
dishes  in  the  scullery. 


XXII.  Fox^skin,     (Cassabd.) 

There  were  three  princes  whom  the  king  their  father  bid  shoot 
their  arrows,  and  each  prince  was  to  take  a  wife  from  the  house 
on  which  his  arrow  fell.  The  first  prince's  arrow  alighted  on  the 
roof  of  the  Vizier's  house,  the  second  prince's  on  that  of  the 
Nadir's  house,  but  the  youngest  could  not  find  his  arrow  at  all. 
Coming  to  a  tower,  he  went  in,  and  found  an  old  woman,  who 
told  him  that  his  arrow  had  alighted  there,  and  that  he  was  to 
marry  her  daughter.  Her  daughter  was  a  fox.  They  were  married 
and  started  off  for  another  palace.  From  here  the  fox  sent  her 
husband  back  to  tell  her  brother  the  cat  to  bring  her  dresses. 
The  cat  obeyed,  but  when  he  brought  them  he  tore  the  bridegroom 
to  pieces.  The  old  woman,  who  wasawilch,  put  him  together  and 
brought  him  to  life  again.     The  fox  took  off  her  skin  and  became 


2o8  Collectanea. 

a  beautiful  girL  She  gave  the  skin  to  her  husband  and  b^|;ged 
him  never  to  bum  it,  for  if  he  did,  misfortune  would  befall  them. 
She  then  caused  in  one  night  a  splendid  palace  to  be  built  in  the 
sea  opposite  her  father-in-law's  house,  and  there  she  and  her  hus- 
band went  to  dwell.  The  king  was  angry  when  he  saw  the  palace, 
and  sent  to  ask  whose  it  was.  When  he  heard  it  was  his  son's, 
he  begged  him  to  bring  his  wife  and  introduce  her  at  court.  The 
prince  first  burnt  her  fox-skin.  As  they  were  dining  with  the  king, 
she  spUt  a  spoonful  of  pilaff  in  her  bosom  and  it  all  turned  into 
pearls.  Her  sisters-in-law  were  jealous  of  her,  but  she  charmed 
the  king  so  much  that  he  fell  in  love  with  her  and  wanted  to 
marry  her.  His  daughter-in-law  now  said  to  her  husband,  "  Ah, 
why  did  you  bum  my  skin?"  and  they  started  off  together  to  escape. 
The  king  sent  after  them  an  old  woman,  who  was  a  witch.  The  girl 
tumed  round  and  saw  a  black  cloud  following  them,  and  said 
to  her  husband.  "You  must  become  a  cypress-tree,  and  I  a  bird 
sitting  singing  on  you,"  and  the  old  woman  passed  on.  But  no 
sooner  had  the  pair  resumed  their  form  and  continued  their  flight 
than  there  again  was  the  black  cloud  following  them.  ''You 
must,"  said  the  girl,  "  become  the  sea,  and  I  a  sea-gull  swimming 
on  you,"  and  then  the  old  woman  passed  on  again.  When  the 
black  cloud  appeared  for  the  third  time,  the  girl  said,  "  You  must 
become  a  church  and  I  the  Virgin  Mary  sitting  in  the  middle  of 
you ;"  and  so  they  escaped  from  the  old  woman,  and  came  to  a 
castle,  in  which,  however,  they  found  the  prince's  father,  who 
killed  his  son  and  took  his  daughter-in-law  to  wife. 

W.  R.  Paton. 

Cropping  Animals'  Ears. 

{Ante,  p.  97.) 

Among  the  Hudson's  Bay  Eskimo  "the  dogs  must  not  be 
allowed  to  get  at  deer-meat,  lest  the  guardian  spirit  of  the  deer  be 
offended  and  refuse  to  send  further  supplies.  If  by  some 
misfortune  the  dogs  get  at  the  meat,  a  piece  of  the  offending  dog's 
tail  is  cut  off,  or  his  ear  cropped."     nth  Ann,  Report  Bur.  Ethn,, 

P-  ^^'-  N.  W.  Thomas. 

Here  is  a  curious  illustration  of  this  practice.  In  the  reign  of 
Claudius,  by  the  request  of  a  section  of  the  Parthian  nobles. 


Cropping  Animals   Ears.  209 

Meherdates,  who  had  been  brought  up  in  Rome,  was  sent  to 
assume  the  crown.  He  was  defeated  and  captured  by  the 
reigning  King  Gotarzes,  and  Gotarzes  instead  of  killing  him  cut 
oflf  his  ears.  The  words  of  Tacitus  distinctly  imply  that  Gotarzes 
inflicted  this  punishment  on  him  as  a  trespasser :  "  ille  *  non  pro- 
pinquum  neque  Arsacis  de  gente  sed  alienigenam  et  Romanum ' 
increpans,  auribus  decisis  vivere  jubet,  ostentui  clementiae  suae  et 
in  nos  dehonestamentp."     (Tac.  Ann,  xii.,  14). 

Unless  one  had  these  words  of  Tacitus,  one  might  be  inclined 
to  regard  the  mutilation  as  similar  in  motive  to  the  putting  out 
the  eyes  or  cutting  off  the  nose  of  pretenders  to  the  throne,  so 
extensively  practised  in  the  Byzantine  Empire ;  viz.,  to  render  the 
claimant  unfit  to  be  king,  since  a  king  must  be  complete 
(6XdicXi7pos),  like  a  priest.  I  daresay  both  notions  were  present 
to  the  mind  of  Gotarzes,  who  seems  to  have  been  as  humane  as 
he  could  be  under  the  circumstances. 

From  my  infancy  I  have  thought  that  when  Simon  Peter  in 
the  garden  of  Gethsemane  drew  a  sword  "  and  smote  the  servant 
of  the  high  priest  and  cut  off  his  right  ear,"  as  narrated  in  all 
the  four  gospels,  he  made  a  bad  shot  at  the  man's  head ;  but  it 
seems  not  unlikely  that  he  caught  hold  of  the  man  by  the  head, 
and  cut  off  his  ear  purposely. 

W.  R.  Paton. 


VOL,  XII. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


Primitive  Orientation. 
{AnUy  p.  131.) 


When  in  Torres  Straits  with  the  Cambridge  Anthropological 
Expedition,  I  used  a  method  of  testing  acuteness  of  vision  in 
which  the  natives  had  to  place  a  letter  E  ^cld  in  their  hands  in  a 
given  position.  In  the  island  of  Mabuiag,  definite  names  were 
given  to  different  positions  of  the  letter,  the  normal  position  being 
called  "paipakit"  and  the  reversed  position  "pbpakit"  These 
words  mean  "  windward  "  and  "  leeward  "  respectively,  and  the  E 
was  said  to  be  windward  when  the  open  side  was  towards  the 
direction  of  the  prevailing  south-east  trade  wind.  In  describing 
direction  and  locality,  the  terms  "windward"  and  "leeward" 
were  constantly  used  by  these  people,  and  also  by  various 
Melanesians  living  on  the  islands 

Cohn,^  who  used  the  same  method  of  testing  acuteness  of 
vision  in  Heligoland,  had  a  similar  experience.  He  found  that 
the  fishermen  of  that  island  described  the  position  of  the  E  ^ 
north  and  south  in  place  of  right  and  left,  and  Cohn  had  con- 
siderable difficulty  in  getting  them  to  give  up  the  habit.  I  have 
recently  met  with  a  similar  custom  among  the  fellahin  of  Upper 
Egypt.  In  testing  the  colour-vision  of  these  people,  I  used  a  box 
within  which  two  patches  of  light  could  be  seen.  A  native  had 
to  say  whether  the  right  or  left  patch  was  coloured.  Instead  of 
the  Arabic  words  for  right  and  left,  the  people  invariably  used  the 
terms  bahari  and  qubli  (the  local  pronunciation  of  bahri  and 
qebli).  These  words  are  those  commonly  used  in  the  colloquial 
Arabic  of  Egypt  for  north  and  south  respectively. 

Rink  ^  states  that  the  Eskimo  of  Greenland  use  the  same  words 
for  right  and  left  as  for  north  and  south. 

I  believe  that  the  custom  of  using  the  points  of  the  compass 

'  Dcutsch,  medicin,  Wochensch,,  1896,  s.  698. 

"^  J ourtial  of  the  Anthropological  Institute  i  vol.  xv.,  p.  244,  1886. 


Correspondence, 


for  indicating  direction,  and  for  orientation  generally,  still  exists  in 
Yorkshire  and  in  many  parts  of  Scotland.  An  interesting  indica- 
tion of  the  custom  is  to  be  found  in  Barrie's  A  Windrnv  in 
Thrums  (p.  z6),  in  which  Hendry  has  his  east-trouser  pocket 
filled  with  dulse.  Dr.  C.  R.  Browne  informs  me  that  the  islanders 
of  the  west  coast  of  Ireland  direct  by  compass  points,  and  that 
the  same  custom  is  found  all  along  the  Irish  sea  line,  while  inland 
one  is  directed  by  right  and  !eft  or  by  pointing. 

In  several  languages  the  word  for  right  or  left  is  the  same  as  for 
one  of  the  cardinal  points.  Mr.  Sidney  Hanland  and  Professor 
Skeat  have  called  my  attention  to  the  fact  thai  in  Welsh  "  deheu  " 
means  both  "right"  and  "south,"  and  the  same  association  is  found 
in  the  Irish  "  deas "  (old  Irish,  dess).  Professor  Skeat  has  also 
pointed  out  to  me  that  the  Sanscrit  "  dakshina  "  (related  to  Greek 
hilwi)  also  means  both  "right"  and  "south,"  and  in  the  term 
"  Deccan,"  applied  to  the  southern  part  of  India,  we  have  the 
same  word,  Mr.  W.  W.  Skeat  has  called  my  attention  to  the  fact 
that  in  both  the  vernacular  and  ceremonial  dialects  of  the  Java- 
nese, in  the  vernacular  dialed  of  the  Sundanese,  in  the  ceremonial 
dialect  of  Bali,'  and  in  the  Patani  dialect  of  Malay,'  the  word 
"  Kidal "  used  for  south  is  certainly  connected  with  the  Malay 
word  "  Kidul,"  meaning  left  or  left-handed,  Crawford*  states  that 
the  Javanese  usually  employ  the  Sanscrit  terms  for  the  cardinal 
points  in  the  sense  of  beginning,  end,  right,  and  left. 

The  instances  which  I  have  given  are  sufficient  to  show  that 
there  is  a  tendency  among  savage  and  semi-civilized  races  to 
orientate  by  means  of  the  cardinal  points  or  by  reference  to 
natural  features  (prevailing  winds),  and  that  this  custom  still  lingers 
in  many  parts  of  our  own  countty.  In  other  cases,  the  existence  of 
the  custom  in  an  earlier  stage  of  culture  seems  to  be  shown  in 
language. 

It  is  probable  that  man's  primitive  orientation  was  by  means  of 
the  objects  around  him.  Nearly  all  races  have  an  idea  of  the 
cardinal  points  in  some  more  or  less  developed  form,  and  it  is 
probable  that  man  first  orientated  in  reference  to  these,  and  that 
orienlation  in  reference  to  himself,  which  is  implied  in  the  ideas 
of  right  and  left,  came  later.     Rink*  believes  that,  in  the  case  of 

'  Sec  Crawford,  MisUry  eflhi  /iidian  Arikipita^,  iSao,  vol.  ii.,  p.  la?. 
'  Ibid,  vol  ii.,  p.  101, 
*  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  316. 


212  Correspondence. 

the  Eskimo,  the  distinction  between  right  and  left  was  the  original 
method,  and  the  words  for  the  right  and  left  sides  came  t6  signify 
at  the  same  time  " north '^  and  "south,"  but  it  is  far  more  probable 
that  the  latter  were  original.  I  think  it  is  in  accordance  with 
what  one  knows  of  the  psychology  of  primitive  man  that  he  should 
have  originally  orientated  in  reference  to  his  surroundings  rather 
than  in  reference  to  himself. 

It  is  perhaps  worth  noticing  that  two  of  the  instances  which  I 
have  given  (Mabuiag  and  Heligoland)  are  derived  from  seafaring 
people,  and  that  Dr.  Browne  believes  that,  in  the  case  of  the  Irish, 
the  custom  is  limited  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  coast. 

I  should  be  very  much  obliged  if  members  of  the  Folk-Lore 
Society  could  give  any  information  as  to  the  existence  of  the 
custom  in  the  British  Isles  or  elsewhere,  especially  in  relation  to 
one  point  about  which  I  am  at  present  uncertain,  viz.,  whether 
the  association  between  a  given  point  of  the  compass  and  right  or 
left  is  a  fixed  one.  Most  of  my  informants  are  inclined  to  think 
that  in  the  British  Isles  an  object  is  only  called  east  when  it  is 
actually  on  the  eastern  side  at  the  moment  of  speaking,  but  in 
Welsh  and  other  languages  there  must  have  gradually  come  about 
a  fixed  association  between  south  and  right,  and  it  is  possible  that 
one  may  find  a  similar  association  between  a  given  point  of  the 
compass  and  right  or  left  side  in  different  stages  of  fixity  and 
constancy.  The  use  of  such  an  expression  as  "  doing  her  hair 
east,"  which  I  have  been  informed  is  to  be  met  with  in  Perthshire, 
certainly  suggests  a  definite  association  of  such  a  kind. 

W.  H.  R.  Rivers. 

P.S. — Since  writing  the  above.  Miss  Burne  has  called  my  atten" 
tion  to  references  to  the  custom  in  Dean  Ramsay's  "  Reminis- 
cences of  Scottish  Life  and  Character"  (22nd  Edition,  p.  179, 
1874).  One  of  the  instances  given  by  Ramsay  is  that  of  a  man 
whose  medicine  "  wadna  gang  wast."  Ramsay  states  that  in  this 
case  the  man  would  be  lying  with  his  feet  to  the  west.  If  this 
statement  is  correct,  it  would  imply  that  the  term  "  wast "  was 
used  on  account  of  the  man's  position  at  the  moment  of  speaking. 
Mr.  P.  Redmond,  however,  informs  me  that  in  Ireland  "  west "  is 
used  in  a  bad  sense  as  in  the  sayings  "  the  inflammation  has  gone 
west  on  his  stomach,"  "  a  cold  has  gone  west  on  him." 


Co  rrespondc  tice. 


(Vol,  xi.,  p.  375  ;  vol.  xii.,  p.  loi.) 

This  slory  recurs  in  Carnoy  and  Nicolaides'  Traditions  popa- 
laires  de  PAsie  Afineure,  p.  173.  There  the  wife  is  always 
demanding  jewels  and  fine  clothing,  and  is  enticed  by  her  husband, 
when  his  patience  is  worn  out,  into  the  well,  under  pretence  that 
that  is  where  the  jewels  and  so  forth  are  to  be  found.  In  a 
Sicilian  story  given  by  Pitre  (No.  54,  Bibliottca,  vol  v.,  p.  18),  the 
Lame  Devil,  having  been  told  by  all  the  men  who  come  to  hell 
that  they  come  through  the  women,  determines  from  curiosity  to 
go  to  earth  and  marry.  So,  clad  as  a  cavalier,  he  arrives  al 
Palermo.  He  is  pleased  with  a  girl,  whom  he  marries  on  a 
bargain  that  he  shall  take  her  without  dowrj-,  provided  that  she  is 
to  ask  for  all  she  wants  before  marriage,  and  that  she  shall  ask 
for  nothing  after.  After  marriage  he  takes  her  one  day  to  the 
theatre,  where  she  sees  a  dress  she  has  not  got.  As  she  may  not 
ask  for  it,  she  falls  into  a  bad  humour.  When  her  husband  at  last 
gets  her  to  tell  him  what  is  the  matter,  he  exclaims  :  "  Ah  !  then 
it  is  true  that  the  men  go  to  hell  on  account  of  you  women." 
He  leaves  her  in  a  trice,  and  presently  meets  an  old  comrade,  to 
whom  he  tells  his  story.  They  then  concoct  a  scheme  by  which 
the  Lame  Devi!  is  to  enter  into  the  daughter  of  the  King  of  Spain, 
and  the  other  devil  is  to  exorcise  him.  The  plot  is  put  into 
execution,  but  the  Lame  Devil  finds  himself  in  such  comfortable 
quarters  that  he  refuses  to  leave,  until  the  second  devil  tells  him 
that  his  wife  is  coming.  Hearing  this,  the  Lame  Devil  is  o£f  like 
B  shot,  leaving  the  princess ;  and  his  comrade  marries  her,  in 
accordance  with  her  father's  offer  to  any  man  who  could  cure  her. 
The  tale  also  appears  in  Straparola,  and  in  Bernoni's  Fiabe  popolari 
vemziane  (No.  3).  It  is  found  in  the  textus  ornatior  of  the 
^iikasaptati  {Tales  of  a  Tarrot),  vhcte  the  demon  dwells  in  a 
pipal-tree  at  the  door  of  a  certain  Brahman's  house.  The  demon 
is  driven  away  by  the  eternal  brawling  and  wrangling  of  the 
Brahman's  wife.  Finally,  the  Brahman  himself  is  driven  away  by 
the  same  cause,  and  picks  up  the  demon  of  the  pipal-tree.  The 
tale  then  follows  the  course  of  the  Cairene  story.  A  Bihar 
proverb,  given  by  Christian,  p.  182,  refers  to  a  version  where  the 
demon  originally  occupied  a  pipal-tree.     The  village  termagant, 


2 1 4  Correspondence. 

having  driven  all  her  fellow-villagers  away,  and  having  none  left 
to  quarrel  with,  vents  her  rage  on  the  pipal-tree  every  morning 
with  broom  and  voice.  The  proverb  in  question  is  used,  Mr. 
Christian  says,  as  an  invocation  to  exorcise  evil  spirits,  for  the 
termagant's  name  is  sufficient  to  make  any  demon  flee.  It  is  also 
used  in  joke  when  someone  noted  for  an  evil  temper  is  coming. 
It  looks  as  though  the  story  originated  in  the  East 

E.  Sidney  Hartland. 


Japanese  Notes  :  Corrigenda  et  Addenda. 

{Ante^  pp.  67 — 71.) 

Professor  Anesaki  tells  me  that  a  thousand  white  hens^  not 
hareSy  should  be  fed  (p.  70). 

The  Oharai  is  now  in  June  and  December. 

The  magic  formula  (p.  71)  was  the  name  of  Suitengd,  the  god 
of  water  and  of  heaven,  corresponding  to  the  Hindu  Varuna. 

Since  writing  my  description  of  the  Wheel  of  Life,  I  have 
observed  that  the  figure  in  the  bucket  between  the  abode  of 
animals  and  the  abode  of  gods  is  not  human ;  it  is  most  pro- 
bably that  of  a  fox. 

I  am  informed  that  the  Swastika  is  known  to  English  heralds  as 
a  Fylfot. 

N.  W.  Thomas. 


Cutting  off  the  Head  of  a  Corpse. 

(Ante,  p.  1 01.) 

In  East  and  West  Prussia,  if  a  family  is  visited  with  diseases 
after  the  death  of  one  of  its  members,  it  is  believed  that  they  are 
caused  by  the  deceased  sitting  up  in  the  grave  and  eating  his 
shroud.  To  stop  him  from  doing  this,  he  must  be  dug  up^  and 
his  head  cut  off  with  a  spade.  What  is  done  with  the  head  I  do 
not  know ;  almost  certainly  it  is  replaced  in  the  coflfin.  (Tettau 
und  Temme,  Die  Volkssagen,  p.  277;  Globus  xix.,  96;  where 
references  to  prehistoric  evidence  will  be  found.) 

Madi  Braitmaier. 


Correspondence. 


215 


Stone-catching  Games. 
{Axle,  p.  lofi.) 

I  should  advise  Fraiikin  Lemlte  to  communicate  with  Mr. 
E.  LovetC,  of  41,  Outram  Road,  Croydon,  England,  who  has  made 
a  study  of  the  subject,  and  who  exhibited,  and  read  descriptive 
notes  on,  his  collection  of  Astragali  at  the  Society's  meeting  on 
April  17th.  I  venture  to  express  a  hope  that  we  may  be 
privileged  to  see  these  extremely  interesting  notes  reproduced  in 
Folk-Lore. 

F.  A.  Milne. 


A  Berwickshire  Kirn-doj.i.y. 
{Ante.  p.  129.) 

The  "  Kirn-dolly,"  or  maiden,  I  exhibited  on  Wednesday 
evening,  Feb.  zoth,  was  made  and  given  me  by  Miss  Swan,  of 
Duns,  Berwickshire.  The  following  notes  extracted  from  cor- 
respondence I  have  had  with  Miss  Swan  may  be  of  interest  to 
members.     Miss  Swan  says  : 

"In  talking  with  our  young  folks  about  old  customs  last 
harvest  (1900)  [I  called  to  mind  the  kirn-dolly]  such  as  I  used  to 
see  in  my  childhood's  days  fifty  years  ago  and  more,  when  they 
were  constantly  made."  When  harvest  was  proceeding  "the 
last  handful  was  left  standing  and  was  eagerly  competed  for  by 
the  great  bands  of  harvesters.  The  men,  standing  at  a  certain 
distance,  threw  in  turn  their  sickles  at  this  last  bunch  of  the 
standing  corn.  The  man  who  was  successful  gave  the  cut  corn 
to  one  of  the  women  employed,  any  one  he  preferred.  This 
girl  then  arranged  the  corn  in  the  shape  of  the  '  dolly '  shown, 
and  dressed  it.  It  was  then  taken  to  the  farmhouse  and  hung 
up.  Here  it  remained  until  the  next  harvest,  when  another 
would  lake  its  place."  Miss  Swan  adds  :  "  I  am  sure  there  was 
a  good-luck  superstition  attached  to  the  making  and  preserving 
it,  although  it  was  not  much  talked  about.  The  kirn  sent  you, 
though  a  modern  dolly,  is  a  faithful  reproduction  of  those  I 
have  seen  and  helped  to  dress  '  lang  syne.' " 

I  have  asked  Miss  Swan  for  further  notes  about  harvest 
customs  in  Duns  long  ago,  and  will  communicate  any  I  receive. 


II 


3 1 6  Correspondence. 

I  hope  to  send  photographs  of  this  and  other  harvest-dolls  which 
I  have  collected  for  reproduction  in  Folk-Lore,  and  the  "dolly" 
itself  I  have  pleasure  in  presenting  to  the  Society's  museum. 

Alice  B.  Gomme. 
24,  Dorset  Square,  N.W. 


StiN  Charms. 


In  his  ai^ument  for  the  magical  nature  of  lire  festivals  and 
midsummer  fires,  Mr.  Frazer  has  not,  I  think,  alluded  to  the 
practice  of  certain  tribes  of  firing  flaming  arrows  into  the  air 
during  eclipses  of  the  sun.  This  can  hardly  be  anything  but  a 
magical  rite  intended  to  rekindle  the  dying  light  and  heat.  It 
might  indeed  be  argued  that  it  is,  like  the  clang  of  gongs  and 
similar  usages,  a  device  for  scaring  away  the  monster  who  is 
devouring  the  sun.  This  interpretation,  however,  will  not  apply 
to  a  custom  of  the  Lenguas  in  the  Gran  Chaco.  I  recently  saw 
at  the  rooms  of  the  South  American  Missionary  Society  a  photo- 
graph of  an  Indian  holding  towards  the  sun,  which  was  obscured, 
a  flaming  torch,  with  the  object,  as  I  was  informed,  of  enabling  it 
to  pierce  the  clouds. 

N.  W.  Thomas. 


Rain  Charm  in  Asia  Minor. 

Owing  to  the  drought,  the  Turks  from  the  villages  of  this 
neighbourhood  assembled  yesterday  on  the  seashore  to  the 
number  of  four  or  five  hundred.  They  collected  (at  least  they 
say  they  did,  and  they  meant  to  do  so)  77,000  stones  and  threw 
them  into  the  sea.  A  certain  number  of  stones  are  assigned  to 
each  man,  and  he  has  to  lick  each  stone.  I  have  heard  of  this 
practice  also  in  the  interior,  where  the  stones  are  thrown  into 
rivers  ;  but  I  did  not  know  that  the  stones  must  number  77,000. 
The  performance  of  the  charm  would  be  a  trying  task  for  a  single 
individual,  nearly  as  bad  as  having  to  stamp  77,000  circulars  I 

W.  R.  Pato.v, 
Myndus,  Asia  Minor. 
■jth  April,  1901. 


Correspondence.  217 

Sacrifice  at  York,  1648. 

In  Whitelock's  Memorials  of  the  English  Affairs,  ed.  1853, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  291,  under  the  date  of  3rd  April,  1648,  there  is  an 
entry  stating  that  "  a  woman  [was]  executed  at  York  for  crucifying 
her  mother,  and  sacrificing  a  calf,  a  cock,  &c.,  as  a  burnt 
sacrifice,  and  her  husband  was  hanged  for  having  a  hand  in 
that  fact." 

In  the  Criminal  Chronology  of  York  Castle,  1867,  p.  29,  this 
tragedy  is  mentioned,  with  the  addition  that  the  name  of  the 
woman  who  committed  the  crime  was  Isabella  Billington,  aged 
thirty-two,  and  that  the  deed  was  done  at  Pocklington. 

I  have  tried  to  recover  further  details  but  have  not  been  suc- 
cessful. I  shall  be  pleased  if  any  one  can  throw  further  light  on 
the  subject.  The  act  must  have  been  a  folklore  survival,  not  the 
result  of  madness,  for  it  is  noteworthy  that  two  persons — ^husband 
and  wife — were  concerned  in  it. 

Edward  Peacock,  F.S.A. 


Blacksmiths'  Festival. 


I  find  in  an  old  note-book  the  following  cutting  from  the 
Guardian  of  December  23rd,  1891  : 

"Can  any  of  your  readers  explain  why  St.  Clement's  Day, 
November  23rd,  is  observed  as  a  festival  by  blacksmiths,  and 
whether  the  same  custom  prevails  in  other  counties  besides 
Hampshire  ?  They  explode  powder  on  their  anvils  and  fire  ofT 
guns,  and  certainly  at  one  village  (Twyford,  near  Winchester) 
there  is  what  is  called  a  "  Clem  Feast "  for  the  smiths ; — a  dinner, 
at  which  is  read  a  curious  story  of  Solomon's  having  given  a 
banquet  to  all  the  labourers  of  the  Temple,  from  which  the 
blacksmiths  were  excluded  till  they  proved  their  claim  by  pointing 
to  their  work.  They  were  then  admitted  after  washing  off  their 
smuts." 

The  note  is  signed  "  C.  M.  Y.,"  the  initials,  obviously,  of  the 
late  Miss  Charlotte  Mary  Yonge.  It  is  not,  I  think,  generally 
known  that  among  Miss  Yonge's  many  literary  and  intellectual 
interests  was  numbered  a  keen  interest  in  folklore.  Her  Httle 
story  "  The  Christmas  Mummers,"  which  deserves  a  place  among 


2 1 8  Correspondence. 

the  classics  of  village  fiction,  includes  one  of  the  first  versions  of 
the  Mummers'  Play  ever  "collected;"  and  the  pages  of  the 
Monthly  Pockety  which  she  edited  for  so  many  years,  were  always 
open  to  articles  on  folklore  (a  point  to  which  I  may  perhaps  draw 
the  attention  of  the  Bibliography  Committee).  I  owe  my  own 
first  acquaintance  with  the  subject  to  this  source;  and  the  late  Mr. 
Henderson,  many  of  whose  earlier  writings,  besides  those  of  the 
Rev.  J.  C.  Atkinson,  appeared  in  this  way,  mentions  his  debt  to 
Miss  Yonge  in  the  Preface  to  Folklore  of  the  Northern  Counties. 
I  am  glad  to  have  the  opportunity  of  thus  recording  the  name  of 
one  of  the  earliest  of  folklore  collectors.  She  is  no  doubt  right 
in  her  suggestion,  made  in  the  letter  I  have  quoted,  that  St 
Clement's  anchor  accounts  for  his  connection  with  the  black- 
smiths, of  which  various  instances  have  been  given  in  our  earlier 
volumes,  but  the  Solomon  story  has  not,  I  think,  been  mentioned 
before.     Probably  some  of  our  members  can  trace  its  source. 

Charlotte  S.  Burne. 


The  Mill  of  the  Twelve  Apostles. 
Last  September  I  was  travelling  in  a  third-class  railway 
carriage  between  Buxton  and  Ashbourne  when  a  fat,  middle-aged 
woman  carrying  butter  to  market  got  into  the  carriage  and  sat 
opposite  to  me.  It  was  a  hot  day,  and  she  had  a  very  red  face. 
As  the  train  moved  on  a  man  who  sat  next  to  her  said  to  her 
suddenly,  "  Missis,  if  your  face  keeps  as  red  as  that  you'll  never 
die."  She  laughed,  and  her  face  grew  redder  still ;  and  then,  as  if 
to  make  that  face  grow  paler,  the  man,  who  carried  a  basket  of 
tools  and  appeared  to  be  a  joiner,  told  a  story  about  a  woman 
whose  husband  had  died.  It  seemed  to  be  a  folktale,  but  there 
was  so  much  talking  and  noise  that  I  could  hardly  hear  a  word. 
But  I  heard  him  say  that  the  dead  man  was  now  "grinding  snuff 
with  the  Twelve  Apostles."  As  he  told  the  story  she  ceased  to 
laugh  and  her  face  grew  paler.  Can  anyone  supply  the  rest  of 
the  story  ? 

S.  O.  Addy. 


REVIEWS. 


The  Golden  Bough,  a  Study  in  Magic  and  Religion.  By 
J.  G.  Frazer,  D.C.L.,  LL.D.,  Litt.D.,  Fellow  of  Trinity 
College,  Cambridge.     2nd  Edition.    3  vols.    Price  36s. 

Since  the  first  edition  of  Dr.  Frazer's  work  appeared  he  has 
greatly  expanded  it  by  the  insertion  of  much  fresh  illustrative 
matter,  drawn  chiefly  from  further  reading.  It  now  fills  1,476 
pages,  of  which  nearly  one-half  is  new  matter.  Nothing  could 
more  strikingly  attest  the  extent  and  value  of  the  additions  that 
are  daily  being  made  to  our  knowledge  by  the  activity  and  intelli- 
gence of  observers  in  all  parts  of  the  world;  and  nothing  could 
more  clearly  illustrate  the  effect  which  has  been  produced  by 
Dr.  Frazer's  original  and  inspiring  researches  than  the  fact  that 
the  new  matter  thus  collected  fits  in  so  aptly  to  the  scheme  of  his 
work.  The  central  theme  of  it  was,  it  will  be  recollected,  the 
priesthood  of  the  groves  of  Aricia  : 

**  Those  trees  in  whose  dim  shadow 
The  ghastly  priest  doth  reign, 
The  priest  who  slew  the  slayer, 
And  shall  himself  be  slain.'' 

The  author  explained  the  priest  of  Aricia—  the  King  of  the  Wood 
— as  an  embodiment  of  a  tree-spirit,  and  inferred  from  a  variety 
'  of  considerations  that  at  an  earlier  period  one  of  these  priests  had 
probably  been  slain  every  year  in  his  character  of  an  incarnate 
deity.  A  curious  illustration  of  this  theory  has  been  afforded  in 
an  unexpected  quarter  by  the  publication  in  1897  of  the  Martyr- 
dom of  St  Dasius  by  Professor  F.  Cumont,  showing  that  in  Lower 
Moesia  the  Roman  soldiers  celebrated  the  Saturnalia  by  the  creation 
of  a  mock  king,  who  perished  by  his  own  hand  on  the  day  of  the 
festival,  which  indicates  that  though  the  custom  had  even  before  the 
classical  era  fallen  into  disuse  in  Rome,  it  lingered  on  to  the  fourth 
century  of  the  Christian  era  in  remote  parts.   Dr.  Frazer  proceeded 


220  Reviews. 

in  his  first  edition  to  discuss,  by  means  of  his  absolutely  eichaustiTe 
knowledge  of  all  the  facts  known  at  the  time  of  its  publication, 
the  ceremonies  observed  by  the  European  peasantry  in  spring,  at 
midsummer,  and  at  harvest.  Since  then  the  splendid  researches 
of  Messrs,  Spencer  and  Gillen  among  the  native  tribes  of  Central 
Australia  have  furnished  fresh  and  striking  analogies ;  so  that,  as 
the  author  observes,  we  find  at  the  other  side  of  the  world  an 
exact  counterpart  of  those  spring  and  midsummer  rites  which  our 
own  rude  forefathers  probably  performed  with  a  full  consciousness 
of  their  meaning,  and  which  many  of  their  descendants  still  keep 
up.  With  regard  to  the  harvest  rites,  not  applicable  to  the 
Australian  aborigines,  who  do  not  till  the  ground,  equally  close 
parallels  have  been  traced  in  Malaysia  by  Mr.  W.  W.  Skeat  and 
in  Sumatra  by  Mr.  van  der  Toorn. 

When  it  is  remembered  to  how  laigie  an  extent  the  work  con- 
sisted of  novel  and  startling  hypotheses,  it  is  distinctly  noteworthy 
that  the  lapse  of  ten  years  and  the  collection  of  so  vast  a  number 
of  additional  facts  should  have  done  so  little  to  displace  the 
particular  arrangement  and  co-ordination  of  the  then  known  facts 
by  which  the  hypotheses  were  deduced.  It  is  very  possible  that 
among  so  many  observations  there  may  be  some  which  are  less 
authentic  than  others,  and  that  here  and  there  a  false  analogy  may 
have  been  drawn,  but  it  is  impossible  not  to  feel  that  the  sceptic 
is  borne  down  by  the  very  weight  and  bulk  of  the  evidence. 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  the  second  title  of  the  work  is  "  a 
study  in  magic  and  religion."  When  Dr.  Frazer  first  wrote  the 
book  he  was  disposed  to  class  "  magic "  loosely  as  one  of  the 
lower  forms  of  religion.  He  now  recognises  that  there  is  a  funda- 
mental distinction  and  even  an  opposition  of  principle  between 
the  two,  and  that  in  the  evolution  of  thought  magic  has  probably 
everywhere  preceded  religion.  To  understand  this  change  of 
view  it  is  necessary  to  define  the  terms  used.  Dr.  Frazer  under- 
stands by  religion  a  propitiation  or  conciliation  of  powers  superior 
to  man  which  are  believed  to  direct  and  control  the  course  of 
nature  and  of  human  life.  It  is  opposed  to  magic,  and  equally  in 
his  opinion  opposed  to  science,  because  conciliation  implies  that 
the  being  conciliated  is  a  conscious  or  personal  agent,  whose 
conduct  is  in  some  measure  uncertain,  and  who  can  be  prevailed 
upon  to  vary  it  by  a  judicious  appeal  to  interests,  appetites,  or 
emotions.     Magic  and  science  assume  that  the  course  of  nature 


is  detennitied,  not  by  the  passions  or  caprice  of  personal  beings, 
but  by  the  operation  of  immutable  laws  acting  mechanically.  On 
this  question  of  the  essential  distinction  between  magic  and 
religion  the  author  adopts  views  similar  to  those  enunciated  by 
Sir  Alfred  Lyall  and  Mr.  Jevons  ;  but  it  is  probable  that  neither 
the  definition  nor  its  consequences  will  obtain  universal  acceptance. 
To  the  objection  that  in  magic  spiritual  agents  are  often  dealt 
with,  it  is  answered  diat  they  are  treated  in  the  same  way  as 
inanimate  agents,  that  is,  constrained  or  coerced,  not  conciliated 
or  propitiated. 

It  may  be  convenient  to  readers  who  are  at  a  distance  from 
libraries  if  we  briefly  recapitulate  the  main  contents  of  the  work. 
Passing  from  the  discussion  of  Magic  and  Religion  generally,  the 
second  chapter  is  devoted  to  the  study  of  the  perils  of  the  soul,  as 
sought  to  be  avoided  by  royal  and  priestly  taboos,  which  are 
traced  to  the  belief  in  a  separate  soul,  that  can  only  be  kept  in 
the  body  by  excessive  precaution.  Examples  of  this  are  given 
from  all  parts  of  the  world,  from  the  Flamen  Dialis  of  Ancient 
Rome  to  the  Kafirs  of  the  Hindu  Koosh.  The  savage  dislike  to 
being  photographed  is  based  on  the  same  principle.  These  con- 
ceptions of  the  soul  and  of  the  dangers  to  which  it  is  exposed  lead 
to  a  great  variety  of  strange  customs  and  prohibitions. 

The  third  chapter  completely  fills  the  second  volume  and  goes 
halfway  into  the  third.  It  relates  to  killing  the  god,  and  investi- 
gates the  case  where  a  king,  being  divine,  had  to  be  put  to  death 
in  his  prime,  before  decay  set  in,  the  ultimate  substitution  of  a 
mock  human  sacrifice  for  a  real  one,  and  the  many  ceremonies 
connected  with  death  and  resurrection.  The  myths  of  Adonis, 
Attis,  Osiris,  Dionysus,  Demeter,  Proserpine,  and  Lityerses  are 
passed  under  review.  The  various  customs  relating  to  the  cutting 
of  the  last  sheaf  of  corn,  in  which  the  embodiment  of  the  corn- 
spirit  is  supposed  to  lurk,  the  sacramental  eating  of  it  and  the 
sacrificial  ceremonies  connected  therewith  are  studied.  The 
superstitions  connected  with  transference  of  evil  and  expulsion  of 
evil  by  means  of  a  scapegoat  are  investigated.  The  religious 
customs  of  the  Ancient  Mexicans  are  compared  with  the  Saturn- 
alia and  kindred  festivals. 

The  fourth  chapter  relates  to  the  Golden  Bough  itself,  which 
had  to  be  plucked  by  the  candidate  for  the  Arician  priesthood 
before  he  could  slay  the  priest,  and  which  is  correlated  with  the 


222  Reviews. 

mistletoe  by  which  the  Norse  God  Balder  was  slain :  the  explana- 
tion being  that  Raider's  life  was  in  the  mistletoe,  which  was  called 
the  Golden  Bough  as  analogous  to  the  mythical  fern  seed.  "  The 
result  of  our  enquiry,"  concludes  the  author,  "  is  to  make  it  pro- 
bable that,  down  to  the  time  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  the 
beginning  of  our  era,  the  primitive  worship  of  the  Aryans  was 
maintained  nearly  in  its  original  form  in  the  sacred  grove  at 
Nemi,  as  in  the  oak  woods  of  Gaul,  of  Prussia,  and  of  Scan- 
dinavia ;  and  that  the  King  of  the  Wood  lived  and  died  as  an 
incarnation  of  the  supreme  Aryan  god,  whose  life  was  in  the 
mistletoe  or  Golden  Bough," 

In  reviewing  the  first  edition  in  Foik-Lore  (i.  384)  Mr.  Joseph 
Jacobs  described  the  work  as  "a  series  of  monographs  on  folklore 
and  mythological  subjects,"  and  wrote  in  terms  of  just  admiration 
of  the  literary  skill  with  which  it  had  been  fashioned.  This 
appreciation  is  not  less  but  more  applicable  to  the  revised  work. 
The  spirit  in  which  it  is  written  may  be  stated  in  the  author*s  own 
words,  "Whatever  comes  of  it,  wherever  it  leads  us,  we  must 
follow  truth  alone  ;  it  is  our  only  guiding  star." 

E.  W.  Brabrook. 

I  HAVE  read  Mr.  Frazer's  new  edition  of  the  Golden  Bough  with 
care,  and  I  need  not  say  with  how  much  pleasure  and  profit. 
There  was  all  the  old  charm  and  fascination  which  I  remember 
when  first  of  all  I  dipped  into  the  original  two  volumes.  If  I 
now  venture  to  say  a  word  of  criticism  as  a  folklorist  it  is  only  in 
the  hope  that  Mr.  Frazer  may  prove  me  and  others  all  wrong. 
Of  course  he  has  gone  through  the  whole  process  of  observation, 
research,  and  deduction,  in  all  its  stages,  and  therefore  knows 
his  case  so  much  more  thoroughly  than  any  one  of  us,  that  he 
will  at  once  appraise  the  value  of  each  criticism  and  put  his  finger 
on  the  weak  spot.  But  I  think  this  process  will  strengthen  us  all. 
If  Mr.  Frazer  is  right  and  Mr.  Lang  is  wrong,  if  Mr.  Frazer  is 
right  and  Mr.  Hartland  wrong,  then  we  have  this  grand  study  of 
a  great  subject  left  intact  to  us.  And  just  where  Mr.  Lang  is 
right  and  Mr.  Hartland  is  right,  if  they  are  right,  it  is  necessary 
to  understand  what  part  of  the  Golden  Bough  is  thereby  afiected 
and  has  to  be  rewritten  or  amended.  The  subject  matter  is,  in 
point  of  fact,  too  important  to  be  left  to  the  ordinary  channels  of 
literary  criticism,  and  hence  I  venture  to  add  my  small  mite  to 


the  additional  studies  which  some  of  my  fellow -in  embers  of  ihe 
Folk-Lore  Society's  Council  have  supplied  in  connection  with  this 
monumental  work. 

Let  me  first  of  all  stale  broadly  my  conception  of  Mr,  Frazer's 
process.  He  notes  the  famous  rite  of  the  Arician  priesthood,  and 
seeks  to  explain  it :  first,  by  endeavouring  to  understand  the  con- 
ditions of  human  thought  which  could  give  rise  to  the  rites  at  the 
Arician  grove  ;  and,  secondly,  by  endeavouring  to  trace  the  rites 
corresponding  to  those  of  Aricia  in  other  parts  of  Europe.  The 
first  process  is  necessary  if  we  would  view  these  rites  from  the 
'point  of  culture  at  which  they  started  instead  of  from  the  altogether 
misleading  standard  of  our  own  time  ;  the  second  process  is 
necessary  if  we  would  place  these  rites  in  their  proper  relationship 
to  the  culture  of  early  Europe,  of  which  they  must  have  formed  a 
part.  It  is  essential  to  note  this.  The  rites  of  Aricia  must  have 
formed  part  of  the  culture  of  eariy  Europe,  or  else  they  are  of  no 
value  in  the  history  of  culture,  If  they  spring  from  the  fancy  of 
their  literary  observers  or  from  the  brutal  instincts  of  Roman  con- 
sul or  emperor,  they  are  not  landmarks  of  culture,  but  examples 
of  human  folly  or  crime.  This,  shortly  stated,  I  take  to  be  Mr. 
Frazer's  position.  And  a  most  admirable  position  it  is.  It  is 
supremely  logical,  and  can  be  the  only  scientific  method  of  reach- 
ing a  result 

I  shall  not  concern  myself  here  with  Mr.  Frazer's  first  process. 
My  concern  rather  is  with  the  second — the  identification  of  the 
rites  of  Aricia  with  the  rites  of  early  European  people.  I  at  once 
admit  that  Mr.  Frazer  has  made  good  his  point  that  the  rites  of 
Aricia  are  to  be  traced  in  riles  surviving  in  other  parts  of  Europe, 
but  I  do  not  think  that  Mr.  Frazer's  methods  have  produced  the 
best  proofs  of  this.  In  the  first  place  the  rites  of  Aricia  them- 
selves are  not  minutely  stated  and  examined.  The  authorities  are 
twofold.  Greek  and  Latin  writers — Virgil,  Servius,  Strabo,  Pau- 
sanias,  Solinus,  Suetonius,  andOvid — and  arch.-eological  discoveries 
of  considerable  magnitude.  Now  the  evidence  from  these  diverse 
authorities  is  not  exactly  consistent.  Archeology  tells  us  of  female 
votaries  devoted  to  chastity  and  hunting,  magnificent  temple 
buildings  and  vast  treasures,  the  result  of  offerings  by  the  rich  and 
noble.  The  texts  tell  us  in  varying  language  of  the  priest  who 
was  succeeded  by  his  slayer,  and  of  rites  which  are  inconsistent 
with  the  archaeological  evidence.     Before,  then,  we  can  properly 


224  'Reviews. 

seek  for  analogues  to  the  rites  of  Nemi  we  want  a  critical  exami- 
nation of  each  element  of  those  rites,  the  determination  of  the 
relationship  of  each  element  to  each  other,  the  reconstruction  of  the 
whole  with  a  view  of  showing,  if  possible,  what  parts  are  archaic 
and  in  survival  and  what  parts  are  developed  and  in  accord  with 
the  religion  of  Imperial  Rome.  And  we  want  explanations  of 
why  one  portion  of  the  rite  was  left  in  its  archaic  form,  and  that 
portion  the  most  brutal  and  barbaric,  and  other  portions  were 
allowed  to  develop,  and  finally,  whether  the  answer  to  this 
query  is  one  of  non-development  and  development  of  different 
parts  of  one  whole,  or  of  survival  of  an  original  rite  and  the 
intrusion  of  later  rites. 

All  these  things  seem  to  me  to  be  absolutely  necessary  before 
we  are  entitled  to  use  these  several  rites  as  a  whole,  the  parts  of 
which  properly  fit  into  each  other,  and  to  take  them  all  over  Europe 
in  search  of  their  counterparts. 

Now  though,  as  I  have  said,  I  think  Mr.  Frazer  conclusively 
shows  that  in  Europe  there  exist  the  analogues  to  the  Nemi  rites, 
he  fails  to  show  that  in  Europe  there  existed  in  any  one  place, 
either  in  survival  or  in  tradition,  one  set  of  parallels  to  the 
differing  rites  at  Nemi.  One  parallel  is  found  in  one  group  of 
peasant  customs,  another  is  found  in  another  group,  and  so  on. 
And  hence  it  appears  to  me  that  the  true  force  of  these  analogues 
is  not  properly  seen  in  Mr.  Frazer's  study  of  them. 

That  Mr.  Frazer  considers  them  as  parts  of  one  whole  is  seen 
by  his  method  of  treating  them.  Everywhere  in  Europe  they 
are  referred  to  as  Aryan  custom ;  custom,  that  is,  of  the  Indo- 
European  peoples  who  have  governed  Europe  under  their  several 
names  of  Celts,  Teutons,  Scandinavians,  and  so  on.  The  inference 
is  purely  gratuitous,  and  is  due  to  Mr.  Frazer's  initial  conception 
of  the  rites  as  belonging  to  a  homogeneous  original. 

In  any  less  skilled  hands  than  those  of  Mr.  Frazer  the  method 
of  comparison  adopted  in  the  Golden  Bough  would  have  led  the 
author  to  almost  hopeless  confusion.  Mr.  Frazer,  imperceptibly 
as  it  seems  to  me,  comprehends  the  difficulty,  and  as  imper- 
ceptibly corrects  it  by  elaborate  and  careful  explanations  all  along 
the  line.  The  result  is  a  very  lengthy  study  through  which  we 
wend  our  way,  charmed  by  the  wealth  of  illustrations  brought 
forward  and  the  many  sidelights  of  the  most  suggestive  kind 
which  are  constantly  developed.     But  a  simpler  method  of  re- 


The  Golden  Bough.  225 

search  would  have  been  far  more  satisfactory,  and  would  have  left 
Mr.  Frazer  material  enough  for  other  studies  which  I  personally 
should  have  welcomed  from  his  pen.  As  it  is,  everything  seems 
to  be  sacrificed  to  the  one  object  of  bringing  the  comparative 
results  of  the  Latin  and  European  customs  into  effective  line. 
Too  much  is  thus  sacrificed  for  one  study.  There  are  many 
European  customs  which  do  not  really  belong  to  the  subject,  but 
which  are  nevertheless  necessary  to  prove  the  desired  results  by 
Mr.  Frazer's  method.  If  the  method  of  analysis  had  preceded 
that  of  comparison,  many  of  these  European  customs,  thus 
apparently  forced  into  a  setting  to  which  they  do  not  really 
belong,  would  have  been  left  untouched,  and  I  think  to  the 
benefit  of  science.  It  will  be  hard  work  for  us  more  humble 
students  to  detach  a  custom,  or  set  of  customs,  doing  duty  in  Mr. 
Frazer's  work,  from  the  surroundings  into  which  he  has  built  them. 
We  shall  have  to  explain  why  it  is  that  a  custom  successfully 
used  in  the  Golden  Bough  as  a  part  of  a  particular  survival-group 
may  also  be  used  as  a  part  of  an  altogether  different  survival- 
group.  And  in  the  study  of  survivals  too  much  care  cannot  be 
taken,  I  think,  in  using  each  example  exactly  where  it  should  be 
used — with  its  fellows  of  the  same  group  either  in  study  of  culture 
or  in  connection  with  given  peoples.  And  in  this  respect,  there- 
fore, I  consider  Mr.  Frazer's  great  book  sins  against  the  canons 
which  govern,  or  should  govern,  our  use  of  survivals  of  ancient 
culture. 

I  hope  I  have  not  said  anything  to  make  it  appear  that  my 
methods,  here  noted,  are  accepted  methods  to  which  there  can 
be  no  possible  objection.  I  put  forward  no  such  claim.  Mr. 
Frazer  is  of  course  more  likely  to  be  right  than  I  am.  I  put 
them  forward  as  the  result  of  a  study  of  his  great  book.  I  think 
I  can  discern  that  the  study  of  survivals  has  hitherto  proceeded 
upon  no  settled  lines.  Mr.  Frazer  uses  them  in  one  way,  Mr. 
Lang  in  another,  Mr.  Hartland  in  another,  Mr.  Clodd  in  yet 
another,  and  so  on,  each  scholar  according  to  the  immediate 
needs  of  the  moment.  But  this  must  be  wrong.  If  one  of  these 
methods  is  right  all  the  rest  are  wrong.  And  I  claim  it  to  be  not 
the  least  important  result  of  Mr.  Frazer's  study  that  it  would  seem 
to  bring  before  our  minds  the  imperfection  of  the  present 
methods  of  using  survivals  in  illustrating  facts  of  culture. 

G.  Laurence  Gomme. 

VOL.   XII.  Q 


■  i 


226 


Reviews. 


I  INTEND  singling  out  one  small  chapter  in  the  book.  The 
historical  and  literary  value  of  the  subject  treated  therein  tran- 
scends to  my  mind  in  importance  all  the  rest ;  not  to  speak  of  the 
theological  question  connected  with  it,  which  I  leave  out  alto- 
gether. In  theology  and  politics  the  most  sane  men  will  disagree, 
and  I  have  moreover  no  desire  to  introduce  any  of  the  old, 
but  not  yet  extinct,  odium  theologicum. 

The  historical  facts  considered  in  this  chapter,  as  they  present 
themselves  to  me,  are  diametrically  opposed  to  the  ingenious 
suggestions  which  Mr.  Frazer  manipulates  into  reliable  materiafs. 
When  there  are  no  known  facts  he  is  not  slow  to  suggest 
possibilities  which  have  never  existed.  One  can  not  protest  too 
strongly  against  a  system  which  allows  a  promiscuous  use  of  late 
and  recent  facts  in  juxtaposition  with  the  oldest  on  record,  which 
attaches  the  same  value  to  mediaeval  excrescences  and  imitations 
of  strange  habits  as  to  old  originals,  and  deduces  from  them 
results  explanatory  of  very  old  ceremonies  and  beliefs.  I  am 
referring  to  the  equation :  Saturnalia,  Sacaea,  Zakmuk,  Purim, 
and  the  crucifixion  of  Jesus  (vol.  iii.,  chap,  iii.,  p.  138  ff.,  §  17). 

The  central  idea  of  the  book,  restated  in  a  few  words,  is  the 
"  one-day  "  or  "  one-year  king,"  who  must  depart  by  that  time,  in 
order  to  insure  by  his  voluntary  departure  or  violent  death  the 
future  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  vegetable  and  animal 
world  in  the  course  of  that  year.  Round  this  idea  every  pos- 
sible parallel  is  grouped.  The  net  is  spread  so  wide,  that  even 
the  most  improbable  is  drawn  into  it  and  has  to  serve  as  an 
argument  to  prove  this  theory.  Thus,  the  merry-making  and  the 
temporary  freeing  of  the  slaves  on  the  Saturnalia  is  a  mere  later 
humanised  form  of  the  ancient  more  cruel  custom.  According  to 
that  custom  in  ancient  times,  a  god  or  the  god  was  yearly  put  to 
death ;  his  place  was  afterwards  taken  by  a  substitute,  who  as  a 
representative  of  the  god,  wherever  the  worship  of  Saturn  pre- 
vailed, enjoyed  for  a  time  the  privileges  of  Saturn,  and  then  died, 
"  whether  by  his  own  or  another's  hand,  whether  by  the  knife  or 
the  fire  or  on  the  gallows-tree,  in  the  character  of  the  good  god 
who  gave  his  life  for  the  world  "  (p.  142).  In  the  same  breath 
we  are  told,  however,  that  already  in  the  Augustan  period  the  old 
stern  and  barbarous  practice  had  been  suppressed,  and  that  it 
lingered  on  in  the  emasculated  form  of  the  Saturnalia  as  recorded 
by  the   classical  writers.      This   is  mere   hypothesis,    without  a 


The  Golden  Bough. 


227 


tittle  of  justilication  for  the  identification  suggested,  especially  as 

not  a  single  trace  of  any  evil  consequences  to  the  revellers  can  be 

found.    No  one  was  killed  or  hanged  at  the  end  of  the  Saturnalia. 

The  explanation  of  the  Oriental  custom  told  by  Dio  Chrysostom 

regarding  the  Sacaea  rests  on  a  still  more  flimsy  basis,  and  the 

attemptedidentificationwith  theBabylonianZakmukhasnotasingle 

it  to  suggest  any  identity.     The  Zakmuk  was  merely  the 

ig  of  the  new  year,  pregnant  with  omens  for  the  coming 

On  that  day  the  great  gods  assemble  in  the  Temple 

)  determine  the  fate  of  man  in  general,  and  that  of  the  king, 

01C  first  person  in  the  kingdom,  in  particular.   The  meeting  takes 

:;  under  the  presidency  of  the  god  Marduk,  and  the  season 

diosen  for  the  new  3'ear  is  the  month  of  Nisan,  on  which,  by  the 

Itiy,  the  Jewish  year  also  begins.    That  is  all  that  is  known  of  this 

BSiival,   except   that  rich   offerings  were    made  on    that    day. 

Quite  natural,  when  one  thinks  of  the  result  to  be  obtained  by 

properly  propitiating   the   gods,  and  influencing  them  to  take  a 

favourable  view  of  the  man  who  brought  those  offerings.    Mr.  Frazer 

feels  that  there  is  apparently  little  in  common  between  the  two 

festivals,  and    owns  that   the  "  identity  with    the  Sacaea  must 

remain  for  the  present  a  more  or  less  probable  hypothesis  "(p,  152) 

_  The  dates  do  not  coincide  either,  and  yet  "  it  would  be  premature 

allow  much  weight  to  the  seeming  discrepancy  in  the  dates  of 

e  two  festivals  "  (p.  153).     Not  a  single  word  of  substitution  or 

a  vicarious  death,   or  of  expiation,  or  of  the  renewal  ol  the 

;'s  reign  after  the  lapse  of  one  year,  in  fact  not  one  of  the 

fcharacteristic  elements  of  the  central  idea,  so  carefully  worked  up 

'  the  author,  appears    in    the    Babylonian    records   or   in    the 

lylonian  Zakmuk,  and  yet  it  is  afterwards  treated  as  identical 

I  the  Sacaea ;  and  we  are  led  one  step  further  in  this  exlra- 

rdinary  chain  of  reasoning.     For  the  festival  of  Purim  as  related 

n  the  Book  of  Esther  is  now  identified  with  this  new-year  festival 

'  Marduk.      I    say    nothing  of  the    identification    of  the   chief 

iersonages,  such  as  Mordecai  with    Marduk,   and    Esther  with 

pBhtar,  or  the  still  more  doubtful  identification  of  Haman  with  a 

piythical  Elamitic  god,  and  Vashti  with—?   To  prove  anything  by 

ttie  identity  of  the  name  ought  by  this  time  to  he  considered  as 

I  exploded  fallacy.      Not  one  single  old  name  of  kings  or  of 

great  men  is  known,  which  is  not  directly  derived  from  that  of  a 

god.     The  king  is  merely  called  by  a  sacred  name,  probably  for 

Q  3 


228  Reviews. 

the  purpose  of  placing  him  under  the  direct  protection  of  that 
deity,  but  not  in  order  to  identify  him  with  this  or  that  god. 
Even  granted  that  the  names  are  identical,  the  identity  in 
character  has  still  to  be  demonstrated.  This  demonstration  is 
absolutely  wanting.  Not  the  wildest  stretch  of  fancy  can  detect 
in  Mordecai  any  single  trait  of  Marduk.  The  problem  gets  more 
complicated,  for  we  deal  in  the  Book  of  Esther  with  a  differen- 
tiation of  the  dramatis  persona.  Instead  of  one  temporary  king, 
instead  of  the  Zoganes  or  the  Marduk  of  the  Babylonians,  we 
have  not  one,  but  two,  pairs,  in  the  figures  of  Mordecai  and 
Esther  and  in  those  of  Vashti  and  Haman.  There  is  no  longer 
a  question  of  one  and  the  same  person  who  is  to  enjoy  the  tem- 
porary privileges  of  the  king,  and  then  to  die  after  the  short 
enjoyment  of  them,  but  two  doubles,  in  fact  four  persons,  of  whom 
two  are  quite  unlike  anything  yet  mentioned,  as  female  characters 
are  added  to  the  impersonation  of  the  one  god.  Between  the 
Babylonian  and  the  Jewish  tradition,  assuming  it  all  to  be  actually 
as  imagined  by  the  author,  lies  a  Persian  intermediary,  for  the 
Jews  have  derived  their  Esther  festival  and  merrymaking  through 
the  medium  of  the  Persians. 

The  Persians  know  of  an  old  ceremony  of  the  "  Beardless-One," 
who  rides  naked  on  an  ass  on  the  first  day  of  the  first  month  of 
the  year.  He  is  first  honoured,  in  a  very  limited  fashion,  and  is 
afterwards  left  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  rabble.  This  buffoon 
is  then  connected  with  the  old  rite  of  the  Sacaea !  We  might 
just  as  well  adduce  the  English  "  Guy  Fawkes,"  who  is  after- 
wards burned  on  a  bonfire,  as  a  proof  that  this  local  and  quite 
modern  ceremony  is  a  remnant  of  the  old  Zoganes  festival. 
Before  proceeding  further,  attention  must  still  be  drawn  to  the 
double  interpretation  of  the  figures  in  the  Book  of  Esther. 
They  represent,  according  to  the  author,  the  killing  of  the  old 
king  and  the  crowning  of  the  new  (but  also)  temporary  king,  and 
they  represent  the  victory  of  the  Babylonian  gods  over  the 
Elamitic  gods.  Both  explanations  are  given  by  the  author,  who 
decides  for  the  first  alternative,  for  he  says  (p.  185),  when  dis- 
cussing the  duplication  of  the  pairs,  that  "  the  old  decrepit  spirit 
of  the  past  year  is  personated  by  one  pair,  and  the  fresh  young 
spirit  of  the  new  year  by  another."  A  long  way  indeed  from  the 
primitive  sacrifice  of  the  god  or  his  representative  at  the  end  of  his 
year  of  office,  which  is  later  on  curtailed  to  a  much  shorter  period. 


The  Golden  Bough.  229 

Purim  then  is  to  offer  the  explanation  of  the  liberation  of 
Barabbas  and  the  crucifixion  of  Jesus.  A  custom  thus  far  known 
to  the  imagination  of  the  author  alone  is  to  have  prevailed 
in  ancient  Jerusalem.  The  Jews  are  said  to  have  celebrated  a 
life-like  personation  of  Haman  and  to  have  hanged  the  man 
then  on  the  cross  after  mocking  him.  Not  a  trace  of  anything 
like  such  a  custom  is  known  to  have  existed.  Not  the  remotest 
hint  in  the  gospels  and  not  a  word  in  the  old  writers  of  such 
barbarous  merrymaking,  either  in  ancient  or  in  later  times.  To 
drink,  to  feast,  and  to  offer  gifts  is  all  that  has  been  enjoined  and 
carried  out  throughout  the  ages.  The  discrepancy  between  the 
dates — Purim  is  four  weeks  before  Passover — is  again  banished 
by  a  dexterous  sleight  of  hand.  Where  is  the  proof  of  such  an 
astounding  assertion  ?  one  might  ask.  In  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries  some  such  Biblical  representations  have 
taken  place  in  Europe,  after  the  model  of  the  mediaeval 
Mystery  Plays  !  And  this  is  the  proof !  !  Nothing  else  to 
justify  this  curious  identification,  unless  it  be  the  other 
"  beardless  one,"  a  caricature  in  which  the  Greek  rabble  in  Alex- 
andria indulged  to  spite  King  Agrippa  on  a  casual  visit  to  that 
town.  As  if  every  caricature  carried  with  it  a  deep  mystical 
significance,  and  were  the  reflex  of  old  forgotten  customs  and 
beliefs  !  I  refrain  from  pursuing  this  special  point  further;  it  is 
not  here  the  place  to  tread  so  dangerous  a  ground. 

This  chapter  is  sufficiently  instructive.     A  chain  of  argument, 
as  loose  as  in  fairy  tales;   the  most  improbable  taken  as  real. 
Distances  vanish.     Everything  stands  on  one  and  the  same  level. 
No  discrimination  between  the  modern  and  the  old,  between  the 
true  and  the  doubtful  statement,  a  ready  admission  of  the  most 
hazardous   identifications    and    of   hardly    verified   conjectures; 
hypotheses  from  beginning  to  end ;  plausibility  making  the  proof 
of  the  unsatisfactory  logical  sequence  very  difficult ;  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  whole  primitive  human  life  and  thought  to  almost 
one  single  notion — the  dying  and  the  quickened  god — coupled 
with    a   brilliant   style,    wonderfully    wide    and    comprehensive 
reading,  are  the  characteristics  of  this  book ;  the  conclusions  of 
which  have  so  readily  been  accepted  by  many,  but  which  lack 
still  the  confirmation  of  the  critical  inquirer.     Far  be  it  from  me 
to  belittle  the  astounding  achievement  in  the  world  of   fiction. 
Reading  the  book  as  such,  I  owe  the  author  sincere  thanks  for 


230  Reviews. 

the  delight  and  pleasure  with  which  I  followed  up  the  plot  from 
beginning  to  end. 

M.  Gaster. 

Like  all  other  anthropologists  I  am  immensely  impressed  with 
the  great  value  of  The  Golden  Bought  not  only  as  a  synthesis  but 
also  as  a  mine  of  facts  and  references.  I  do  not,  however,  pro- 
pose to  criticise  the  book  in  bulk  or  in  part,  but  merely  to  allude 
to  a  subject  that  has  interested  me. 

The  section  on  totemism  has  been  increased  slightly  by  foot- 
notes, notably  by  that  on  p.  416  (vol.  iii.),  in  which  Dr.  Frazer 
admits  that  the  theory  previously  adopted  is  at  most  only  a 
partial  solution  of  the  problem.  The  theory  was  as  follows.  A 
tribe  revere  a  particular  species  of  animal  or  plant  and  call  them- 
selves after  it,  from  a  belief  that  the  life  of  each  individual  of  the 
tribe  is  bound  up  with  some  one  individual  of  the  species,  and 
that  his  or  her  death  would  be  the  consequence  of  killing  that 
particular  animal  or  destroying  that  particular  plant.  Thanks  to 
the  memorable  investigations  of  Messrs.  Spencer  and  Gillen  in 
Central  Australia,  a  further  explanation  of  totemism  is  forthcoming 
which  indicates  that,  at  least  among  these  tribes,  its  aim  is  to  pro- 
vide the  community  with  a  supply  of  food  and  all  other  necessaries 
by  means  of  certain  magical  ceremonies,  the  performance  of  which 
is  distributed  among  the  various  totemgroups. 

I  may,  perhaps,  be  permitted  to  adduce  further  evidence  on  this 
aspect  of  totemism  from  the  Western  tribe  of  Torres  Straits.  On 
certain  occasions  each  of  the  dugong-men  of  Mabuiag  was 
painted  with  a  red  line  from  the  tip  of  his  nose  up  his  forehead 
and  down  his  spine  to  the  small  of  the  back.  (I  obtained  in  this 
island  a  model  of  a  dugong  which  was  used  as  a  charm,  which  was 
correspondingly  painted  with  a  red  line.)  The  men's  foreheads 
were  decked  with  upright  leaves  to  represent  the  spouting  of  the 
dugong,  and  leaves  were  also  inserted  in  the  armbands  like  water 
splashing  off  the  dugong  when  it  comes  into  very  shallow  water. 
This  decoration  was  made  when  the  dugong-men  performed  a 
magical  rite  in  the  ktvod  (or  taboo-ground)  that  was  situated  in 
their  particular  region  of  the  island.  A  number  of  different  plants 
were  put  on  the  ground  and  a  dugong  placed  on  the  top.  Several 
men  took  the  dugong  by  the  tail,  which  they  hoisted  up  in  such  a 
way  as  to  make  the  dugong  face  the  rest  of  the  island — for  the 


The  Golden  Boii^h. 


23' 


^was  near  the  seashore  and  faced  the  great  reefs  on  which 
the  dugong  abound.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  this  was  a 
magical  rite  performed  by  the  dugong-men  to  make  the  dugong 
come  towards  the  island  of  Mabuiag.  The  dugong  used  in  this 
ceremony  was  given  to  the  tartle-men.  When  only  one  turtle  was 
obtained  on  a  turtle  expedition  it  was  taken  to  the  kmod  of  the 
turtle-men,  who  performed  a  pantomimic  ceremony  which  symbol- 
ised the  increase  of  turtle.  The  social,  as  opposed  to  the  magical, 
aspect  of  totemism  was  also  well  developed  among  these  people, 
and  on  another  occasion  1  shall  have  something"  to  say  about  their 
|incipient  evolution  from  a  totemistic  cult. 

Dr.  Frazer  (vol.  iii.,  p.  418)  also  regards  the  totem  as  a  re- 
f  eeptacle  in  which  a  man  keeps  his  life,  that  is,  his  soui  or  one  of 
his  souls.  I  have  no  further  evidence  on  this  point,  but  on  the 
island  of  Yam  I  discovered  that  the  life  of  an  augud  (totem) 
might  reside  in  a  slone.  In  the  kwod  in  this  island  there  was  an 
losed  spot  which  contained  the  shrines  of  two  great  auguds  of 
island,  the  crocodile  and  the  hammer-headed  shark.  Each 
■was  represented  by  a  large  tortoiseshell  mask,  below  which  was 
in  which  its  life  resided.  Although  the  same  term 
aupid  was  employed  for  the  mask  as  for  a  totem  species,  it  is 
evident  that  true  totemism  is  merging  into  something  else. 

I  did  not  find  a  personal  totem  among  the  Papuans,  either  on 

^the  mainland  of  New  Guinea  or  in  Torres  Straits,  but  I  did  dis- 

r  its  occurrence  among  the  Yaraikanna  tribe  of  Cape  York, 

I  who  are  true  Australians.     One  informant  told  me  he  had  three 

art,    one  which    fell    to    him    through    blood-divination    at    ihe 

ceremony  of  knocking  out  a  front  tooth,  the  two  others  given  as 

the  result  of  dreams.     It  appears  that  if  an  old  man  dreams  of 

anything  at  night,  that  object  is  the  ari  of  the  first  person  he  sees 

next  morning;  the  idea  being  that  the  animal,  or  whatever  appears  in 

the  dream,  is  the  spirit  of  the  first  person  met  with  on  awakening. 

The  personal  totem  of  the  Omahas,  which  has  been  described 

|so  graphically  by  Miss   Alice   C.  Fletcher  (The  Import  of  the 

*  Totem,  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science, 

'  Detroit  Meeting,  1897),  is  somewhat  similar  to  xh^Nyarongm 

spirit-helper  of  the  Sea  Dayaks  of  Sarawak  (C.   Hose  and  W, 

McDougall,  Report,  British  Aaociation,  Bradford  Meeting,  1900, 

.p.  907),  in  which   "every  Sea  Dayak   hopes  to    be  guided  and 

■belped  all  through  his  life  by  a  spirit  which  announces  itself  to 


232  Reviews. 

him  in  dreams,  and  takes  up  its  abode  in  some  peculiar  natural 
object  or  in  some  animal.  In  the  latter  case  the  Dayak  will 
never  kill  or  eat  one  of  the  same  species  of  animal,  and  will 
lay  the  same  prohibition  on  all  his  descendants,  so  that  a  whole 
family  may  come  to  pay  especial  regard  to  one  species  of  animal 
for  many  generations."  The  personal  totem,  or  an,  of  the 
Yaraikanna  is  different  from  either  of  these,  and  so  far  as  I  am 
aware  has  no  equivalent  among  the  Papuans,  but  it  has  occa- 
sionally been  recorded  for  other  Australians. 

Dr.  Frazer  promises  us  a  second  edition  of  his  excellent  little 
book  on  Totemisnty  which  will  be  eagerly  welcomed  by  students. 
It  is  probable  that  what  is  described  as  totemism  in  one  place 
may  be  different  in  its  origin  from  that  which  is  called  totemism 
elsewhere.  Should  this  prove  to  be  the  case,  the  term  should  be 
restricted  to  practices  and  beliefs  which  are  undoubtedly  similar 
to  those  of  the  Ojibway  cult. 

Dr.  Frazer  rightly  lays  great  stress  in  The  Golden  Bough  on  the 
importance  of  Spencer  and  Gillen's  study  of  the  Arunta  tribe,  in 
their  masterly  book,  The  Native  Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  I 
should,  however,  like  to  add  a  word  of  warning,  that  although  most 
of  the  customs  and  beliefs  of  nomadic  savages  may  be  what  is  termed 
"  primitive,"  it  does  not  follow  that  all  are  really  primitive;  indeed 
the  evolution  of  customs  is  clearly  stated  by  Spencer  and  Gillen 
in  their  tenth  chapter,  where  three  phases  of  evolution  are  de- 
scribed. Might  I  suggest  that  it  would  be  well  for  students  to 
face  the  probability  of  what  may  be  termed  "  differential  evolu- 
tion ; "  that  is,  there  may  be  a  lagging  behind,  or  an  acceleration, 
or  an  entire  omission  of  certain  customs  and  beliefs  in  even 
allied  tribes  which  belong  to  the  same  general  level  of  culture. 
For  example,  we  are  told  that  in  Alcheringa,  the  mythical  anti- 
quity of  the  Arunta,  each  of  the  wandering  companies  was  com- 
posed of  a  certain  number  of  individuals  belonging  to  a  particular 
totem  (p.  120).  Judging  from  the  authors'  remarks  on  pp.  73 
and  74,  there  was  a  closer  connection  between  the  Alcheringa 
ancestors  and  their  totems  than  exists  at  the  present  day.  The 
Alcheringa  ancestors  passed  into  the  ground,  and  each  spot  or 
area  became  infected  with  the  respective  totem  of  the  ancestor. 
Thus  the  totems  are  at  the  present  day  territorial,  which  does 
not  strike  one  as  being  a  primitive  concept,  quite  apart  from  the 
tradition  that  it  was  not  so. 


The  Golden  Bough.  233 

I  have  pointed  out  that  the  marriage  restrictions  of  the  Yarai- 
kanna  tribe  are  territorial  and  not  totemistic  {Report^  British 
Association^  Dover,  1899,  p.  585).  Dr.  Rivers  has  shown 
{^Journal  Anth,  Inst.y  xxx.,  1900,  p.  78)  that  in  Murray 
Island,  Eastern  tribe  of  Torres  Straits,  "  marriages  are  regulated 
by  the  places  to  which  the  natives  belong.  A  man  cannot  marry 
a  woman  of  his  own  village  or  of  certain  other  villages.  The 
totemistic  system  which  probably  at  one  time  existed  in  this 
island  appears  to  have  been  replaced  by  what  may  be  called  a 
territorial  system."  I  found  that  a  similar  custom  occurs  in  the 
Mekeo  District  of  British  New  Guinea,  and  it  is  probably  still  more 
widely  distributed.  I  have  collected  evidence  which  proves  that 
there  is  a  territorial  grouping  of  totemic  clans  among  the 
Western  tribe  of  Torres  Straits.  At  Kiwai,  in  the  delta  of  the  Fly 
River,  where,  by-the-by,  plant  totems  largely  predominate,  all  the 
members  of  a  totemic  clan  live  together  in  a  long  house  which  is 
confined  to  that  clan. 

It  would  seem  that  the  members  of  a  totemic  clan  tend  to  live 
together  and  have  lands  in  common,  but  on  the  weakening  of  the 
totemistic  system  the  social  restrictions  come  to  be  associated 
with  the  lands  or  villages.  Among  the  Arunta,  the  totems  have 
now  no  relation  to  marriage  restrictions,  nor  indeed  does  it  appear 
that  there  ever  was  a  time  when  marriage  was  regulated  by  the 
totems  (pp.  121,  393).  This  may  very  well  have  been  a  really 
primitive  custom,  and  hence  there  is  no  territorial  marriage  restric- 
tion among  the  Arunta. 

A.  C.  Haddon. 

I  INVOKE  The  Golden  Bought  vol.  iii.,  pp.  458-461. 

In  the  beginning  there  was  Thought  and  there  was  Void.  And 
Thought  conjured  up  out  of  the  Void  an  unsubstantial  world — 
earth  and  sun — an  ever-shifting  phantasmagoria  of  thought,  with 
the  high-sounding  names  of  the  world  and  the  universe.  Having 
done  this,  without  reason  assigned.  Thought  proceeded  to  try  and 
explain  (presumably  to  the  Void)  what  it  had  done,  and  devised 
hypotheses,  three  in  number,  successively — magic,  religion,  and 
science.  By  their  aid.  Thought — quite  unnecessarily — registered 
the  shadows  on  the  screen,  ix,  registered  the  unsubstantial  world 
and  ever-shifting  phantasmagoria,  already  mentioned.  But 
having  conjured  them  up  and  registered  them.  Thought  has  come 


234  Reviews. 

to  the  conclusion  that  they  (somewhat  superfluously,  for  unsubstan- 
tial things),  may  melt  into  air,  into  thin  air — in  fact  that  there  is 
nothing  in  them.  In  these  circumstances  Thought  feels  that  it  is 
making  an  infinite  progression  towards  a  goal  that  for  ever  recedes, 
and  that  great  things  will  come  of  that  pursuit,  though  we  may 
not  enjoy  them.  Indeed,  as  Dr.  Frazer  says  in  his  Preface,  "  we 
cannot  foresee,  we  can  hardly  even  guess,  the  new  forms  into 
which  thought  and  society  will  run  in  the  future."  They  will  be 
an  ever-shifting  phantasmagoria,  with  high-sounding  names,  but 
thin,  very  thin  ;  in  fact,  not  to  put  too  fine  a  point  on  it,  unsub- 
stantial, not  to  say  void.  We  shall  be  making  infinite  progress 
from  nowhere  to  nowhere,  in  a  purely  hypothetical  way,  and  we 
may  enjoy  ourselves — in  a  phantasmagorical  manner,  of  course. 

This  is  "  the  lesson  of  hope  and  encouragement  to  be  drawn 
from  the  melancholy  record  of  human  error  and  folly  which  has 
engaged  our  attention  "  in  The  Golden  Bough.  It  is  the  conse- 
quence of  "  rejecting  the  religious  theory  of  nature  as  inadequate 
and  reverting  in  a  measure  to  the  older  standpoint  of  magic." 
What  hope  or  encouragement  is  to  be  got  out  of  unsubstantial 
hypotheses,  like  science,  conjured  up  out  of  the  void  only  to  melt 
into  thin  air,  I  cannot  say.  I  only  wish  to  make  one  or  two 
remarks  about  the  older  and  equally  unsubstantial  hypothesis  of 
magic. 

In  the  beginning,  according  to  Dr.  Frazer,  man  was  absolutely 
destitute  of  religious  belief,  which  "  explains  the  succession  of 
natural  phenomena  as  regulated  by  the  will."  Man  begins  by 
finding  himself  in  presence  of  "a  certain  established  order  of 
nature  on  which  he  can  surely  count  and  which  he  can  manipulate 
for  his  own  ends  "  by  means  of  magic,  which  no  more  implies  a 
belief  in  the  existence  of  spirits  than  science  does.  This  view  is 
of  course  incompatible  with  Dr.  Tylor's  theory  of  Animism  ;  and 
one  or  other  of  the  two  theories  must  be  wrong  (or  perhaps  both 
are  phantasmagorical).  According  to  Dr.  Tylor,  man  in  his 
dealings  with  nature  is  dealing  with  bodies  supposed  to  be 
animated  by  spirits  like  man's.  According  to  Dr.  Frazer,  man 
knows  nothing  of  spirits  whatever  in  this  stage  ;  he  simply  knows 
the  succession  of  events,  "a  certain  established  order  of  nature," 
which,  however,  he  (and  the  man  of  science)  believes  that  he  can 
vary  and  alter,  and  "  manipulate  for  his  own  ends  " — so  that  the 
"established  order"  is  not  really  established  but  is  perpetually 


The  Golden  Bough.  235 

being  altered  by  man,  by  will.  But  man  does  not  jump  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  changes  which  take  place  around  him  are  also 
produced  by  other  wills  or  by  other  spirits  or  by  other  beings.  If 
he  did,  Dr.  Tylor's  theory  of  Animism  would  be  right  and  Dr. 
Frazer's  theory  of  Magic  would  be  wrong. 

This  is  rather  a  priori  speculation.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  do  we 
come  across  instances  or  survivals,  of  a  period  when  man  believed 
in  magic,  but  knew  nothing  of  spirits  ?  Now  "  beneath  a  super- 
ficial layer  of  Christianity,"  we  are  told,  we  do  find  **  a  faith  in 
magic  and  witchcraft."  Indeed  "  the  common  herd  never  really 
abandon  their  superstitions."  The  superstitions  in  question  are  a 
belief  in  magic,  which  we  have  learnt  is  a  good  deal  nearer  the 
truth  of  science  than  religion  is.  Now,  what  the  argument 
requires  is,  that  primitive  man  should  believe  in  magic,  and  should 
not  even  so  much  as  know  that  there  are  spirits.  What  Dr. 
Frazer  tells  us  is  something  quite  different,  viz.  that  the  "  omni- 
presence and  malignity  of  spirits  "  is  a  belief  of  "  the  primitive 
mind ; "  and  primitive  man  is  dated  as  being  in  the  hunting  or 
pastoral  stage.  Thus  it  appears  that  spirits  were  omnipresent  to 
the  primitive  mind,  which  is  just  what  Dr.  Tylor  has  taught,  and 
what  Dr.  Frazer  has  denied. 

I  submit  then  that  the  omnipresence  of  spirits  to  the  primitive 
mind  is  fatal  to  the  theory  that  the  primitive  mind  recognised 
only  "  an  established  order  of  nature  "  and  knew  nothing  what- 
ever of  spirits.  Dr.  Frazer  himself  has  shown  that  primitive  man 
recognises  and  deals  with  spirits,  good  as  well  as  bad ;  I  do  not 
therefore  understand  his  belief  "  that  in  the  evolution  of  thought, 
magic,  as  representing  a  lower  intellectual  stratum,  has  probably 
everywhere  preceded  religion,"  and  that  "  magic  is  probably  older 
than  a  belief  in  spirits."  If  it  is,  then,  on  Dr.  Frazer's  own 
showing,  it  is  prior  to  primitive  man,  which  is  difficult  to  understand. 

That  magic  is  distinct  from  religion,  I  hold  with  Dr.  Frazer. 
But  that  magic  is  prior  to  religion.  Dr.  Frazer  produces  no 
evidence  to  show. 

Nevertheless,  whatever  criticisms  we  may  make,  we  are  all 
indebted  more  than  we  can  well  say  for  the  second  edition  of 
The  Golden  Bough— 

"venerabile  donum 
Fatalis  virgae  longo  post  tempore  visum." 

F.  B.  Jevons. 


\ 


236  Reviews. 

I  HAVE  written  elsewhere  on  the  new  edition  of  The  Golden 
Bough,  Here,  however,  I  may  say  that  I  cannot  accept  the 
hypothesis  on  which  Mr.  Frazer's  argument  as  to  the  Crucifixion 
depends.  He  is  obliged  to  postulate  a  Persian  custom  of 
annually  sacrificing  the  king  at  Babylon.  I  say  "Persian," 
because  I  am  not  privileged  to  find  any  tittle  of  evidence  that  the 
feast  of  the  Sacaea  was  old  Babylonian.  Mr.  Frazer  argues  that,  in 
time,  a  son  of  the  king  died  as  his  proxy,  and  finally  a  criminal 
was  selected.  This  man,  after  five  days  of  royalty,  was  stripped, 
scourged,  and  hanged.  He  is  sometimes  said  to  die  to  save  the 
king's  life,  and  at  other  times  he  dies  as  a  representative  of 
Tammuz,  or  Adonis,  a  god  of  vegetation.  I  do  not  think  he  can 
be  either  alternately,  or  both  at  once.  From  this  execution,  the 
Jews  are  supposed  to  have  borrowed  the  custom  (unproved)  of 
crowning,  robing,  stripping,  scourging,  and  hanging  a  man  at 
Purim,  or,  as  Mr.  Fraser  also  conjectures,  not  at  Purim,  every  year. 
Our  Lord  was  one  of  these  men. 

I  can  accept  no  step  in  the  argument  I  entirely  decline  to 
believe  that  ever,  anywhere,  a  king,  let  alone  the  king  of  Persia, 
was  annually  "  sacrificed."  No  mortal  would  take  the  crown  on 
the  terms.  No  royal  house  could  stand  the  drain  on  its  members. 
No  example  of  such  an  idiotic  practice  is  anywhere  proved  to 
exist.  Nobody  who  knows  human  nature  could  dream  that  the 
Persians  would  find  kings  ready  to  take  the  crown  on  the  alleged 
conditions.  Moreover,  the  supposed  substitute  is  not  "  sacrificed  " 
at  all ;  he  is  stripped,  scourged,  and  hanged,  if  our  solitary 
evidence — a  speech  attributed  by  Dio  Chrysostom  to  the 
humorous  cynic  Diogenes — is  evidence,  which  I  doubt.  Kings, 
if  the  victim  represents  a  king,  gods,  if  he  represents  a  god,  are 
not  put  to  death  or  "  sacrificed  "  by  scourging  and  hanging  ! 

The  custom,  if  it  existed,  has  an  easier  explanation.  At  the 
Persian  Sacaea,  as  at  the  Roman  Saturnalia,  and  in  many  other 
cases,  each  household,  during  a  brief  period  of  license,  had  its 
King  of  Unreason,  in  Persia  a  slave.  To  play  the  king  in  the  real 
king's  house  was,  technically,  treason ;  and  was  treason  nowhere 
else.  But,  as  it  would  have  been  a  shame  to  punish  a  slave  who, 
in  acting  king,  only  obeyed  custom,  a  condemned  criminal  took 
in  the  royal  household  the  role  of  King  of  Unreason.  He 
was  then  stripped  to  show  his  mockery  of  kingship,  whipped,  to 
prove  his  servile  status,  and  hanged,  on  the  technical  count  of 


The  Golden  Bough.  237 

treason,  and  on  the  real  charge  for  which  he  had  already  been 
condemned  to  death. 

This,  of  course,  is  a  guess,  but  it  does  not  involve  the  fantastic 
theory  that  Persian  kings  were  once  annually  "  sacrificed ; "  or 
that  a  sacrifice  is  ever  whipped  and  hanged;  or  that  once 
they  were  burned,  but  later  were  whipped  and  hanged  by  way 
of  mitigation  of  their  sufferings  ! 

As  I  have  criticised  portions  of  The  Golden  Bough  (^Fortnightly 
Review^  February,  April,  1901),  and  as  my  book  on  these  themes 
("  Magic  and  Religion  ")  is  in  the  press,  I  need  not  occupy  much 
more  space  in  Folk-Lore,  But  I  may  point  out  that  while  Our 
Lord,  by  Mr.  Frazer*s  theory,  derives  his  "  halo  of  divinity  "  from 
his  succession  to  a  long  series  of  criminals,  recognised  and 
sacrificed  as  divine,  he  also  assures  us  that  nobody  recognised 
the  god  in  these  unlucky  characters  (Vol.  III.,  p.  120).  Of 
course  this  looks  to  me  like  a  contradiction  in  terms.  It  is  as  if 
Mr.  Frazer  said,  "  Jones  was  universally  known  to  be  a  pauper," 
and  also  that  "  Jones  was  knocked  down  and  robbed,  because  of 
the  universal  belief  in  his  opulence." 

I  need  scarcely  add  that,  though  unconvinced  by  Mr.  Frazer's 
logic,  I  have  the  highest  sense  of  his  industry  and  erudition,  and 
of  the  value  of  his  collection  of  evidence.  Oddly  enough,  while 
describing  the  Ashanti  custom  analogous  to  the  Sacaea,  he  omits 
the  circumstance  that  in  Ashanti,  as  at  Babylon  (if  Dio  Chr>'sostom 
makes  Diogenes  tell  truth),  a  criminal  is  sacrificed  on  the  fifth 
day  of  the  feast  (Ellis,  TJu  Tshi-Speaking  Peoples^  p.  229).  If,  by 
the  way,  the  word  Sacaea  is  derived  from  the  verb  whence  comes 
Sdkl  (Persian,  the  wine-pourer)  then  Sacaea  is  a  Semitic  word  and 
therefore  cannot  be  Persian,  and  may  suggest  a  Babylonian  origin. 
This  suggestion  is  not  made  by  Mr.  Frazer. 

Andrew  Lang. 


Mr.  Frazer's  work  has  exerted  an  influence  over  and  won  an 
authority  among  his  fellow  students  denied  to  any  since  the 
appearance  of  Professor  Tylor's  Primitive  Culture,  There  are 
reasons  why  this  should  be  so,  over  and  above  the  author's 
immense  range  of  reading  and  great  literary  skill  in  handling  and 
displaying  to  the  best  advantage  a  mass  of  facts  which,  presented 
otherwise,  would  be  simply  unreadable.      But  it  does  not  seem  to 


238  Reviews. 

me  that  any  of  Mr.  Frazer's  reviewers  have  adequately  recognised 
the  force  and  cogency  of  his  appeal  to  folklorists. 

I  speak  of  Mr.  Frazer's  appeal,  but,  as  he  himself  has  insisted, 
the  hypotheses  which  he  has  so  ably  championed  are  originally 
due  to  Mannhardt.  It  would  be  unfair,  however,  to  separate 
master  and  disciple,  discoverer  and  expositor.  Whatever  may 
be  the  final  decision  of  advancing  knowledge  upon  their 
hypotheses,  their  names  will  remain  indissolubly  linked  together 
in  the  history  of  folklore  scholarship. 

The  Mannhardt-Frazer  hypothesis  has  won  such  immediate  and 
widespread  recognition  because  it  satisfies  psychological  require- 
ments of  which  every  student  is  conscious,  although  very  few  are 
at  the  trouble  of  formulating  them.  It  supplies,  w^hat  it  was 
dimly  felt  the  earlier  hypotheses  did  not  supply,  an  adequate 
explanation  of  the  facts  involved.  This  does  not  of  course  prove 
that  it  is  true ;  no  one  knows  better  than  the  student  of  folklore 
how  far  apart  adequacy  and  truth  may  be.  Ninety-nine  per  cent, 
of  humanity  have  accepted  and  acted  upon  the  most  grotesquely 
absurd  explanations  of  fact  because  they  were  nevertheless  felt  to 
be  adequate. 

What  then  briefly  speaking  is  the  nature  of  the  facts  which  the 
hypothesis  essays  to  connote  and  interpret,  and  wherein  does  its 
special  adequacy  lie  ? 

The  customs  and  beliefs  involved  are  in  the  first  place  wide- 
spread, covering  as  they  do  not  only  the  Europaeo-Asiatic  area  in 
which  all  the  higher  civilisations  have  developed,  but  being  met 
with  also  in  districts  and  among  cultures  historically  unconnected 
with  that  area.  In  the  second  place,  they  are  found  at  all 
stages  of  recorded  history,  their  range  in  time  being  as  wide  as 
their  range  in  space.  In  the  third  place,  they  are  singularly  per- 
sistent in  outline  and  animating  spirit.  Fourthly,  unlike  certain 
products  of  folk-fancy — story,  song,  riddle — they  do  not  impress 
one  at  first  sight  as  possessing  an  inherent  capacity  for  wandering, 
for  passing  from  one  people  to  another.  This  impression  may  be 
wrong,  but  I  believe  that  the  most  determined  transmissionist, 
who  is  quite  convinced  e.g.  that  Cinderella  originated  in  one  definite 
centre  whence  it  spread  around,  would  hesitate  to  explain  the 
prevalence  of  May-day  or  harvest  customs  in  the  same  way. 

We  may  fairly  conclude  that  the  appeal  and  sanction  of  these 
beliefs  and  customs  must  have  their  roots  in  something  practi- 


The  Golden  Bough.  239 

cally  common  to  all  mankind,  seeing  that  they  are  met  with 
almost  semper  et  ubique.  These  roots  are,  according  to  the 
Mannhardt-Frazer  hypothesis,  the  overpowering  interest  felt  by 
mankind  in  the  germination  and  growth  of  the  food-crop,  and 
the  anxious  desire  to  promote  processes  recognised  by  experience 
as  uncontrollable  by  purely  material  means,  but  upon  the  proper 
completion  of  which  depends  the  welfare  of  the  community. 

The  adequacy  of  the  hypothesis  is  self-evident.  Nearly  every 
race  of  mankind  has  passed,  or  is  passing,  through  an  agri- 
cultural stage,  and  whilst  agriculture,  as  it  is  in  all  early  com- 
munities, is  a  self-contained  and  empiric  craft,  the  welfare  of  the 
crop  is  of  absolutely  paramount  importance.  If,  as  the  hypothesis 
assumes,  certain  practices  do  promote  that  welfare,  they  must^  for 
the  average  man  and  woman,  have  a  significance,  an  import,  tran- 
scending every  other  body  of  practices.  Thus  the  ritual  possesses 
the  most  awful  of  all  sanctions — dread  of  starvation ;  thus  the 
mytholog}'  which  informs  and  animates  the  ritual  appeals  to 
everyone,  and  not  merely  to  the  higher  minds  of  the  community. 
If  any  ritual,  if  any  mythology,  could  count  upon  persistent  sur- 
vival after  what  may  be  called  their  social  and  economic  justifica- 
tion has  ceased  to  be  operative,  it  would  be  these.  And  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  of  all  survivals  of  lower  into  higher  culture  these 
are  the  most  marked  and  the  most  persistent. 

What  may  be  termed  the  central,  the  essential,  adequacy  of  the 
hypothesis  is  reinforced  by  secondary  considerations.  The  ani- 
mating spirit  of  the  practices  is  influence  exerted  by  imitation, 
mimetic  magic.  But  this  forcedly  originates  and  develops  the 
dramatic  faculty.  And  if  the  craving  for  food  be  the  most 
insistent  physical  demand  of  man,  delight  in  dramatic  represen- 
tation is  one  of  the  most  potent  of  his  psychical  emotions. 
Man  lives  by  bread — man  does  not  live  by  bread  alone :  these 
two  statements  contain  in  germ  the  Mannhardt-Frazer  hypo- 
thesis, the  one  which  I  firmly  hold  to  explain  most  adequately 
the  largest  body  of  those  diverse  and  well-nigh  innumerable 
practices,  opinions,  and  fancyings  designated  folklore. 

If  this  be  so,  Mr.  Frazcr  can  regard  with  perfect  equanimity 
the  bulk  of  the  criticisms  passed  upon  his  work.  P"or  it  so 
happens  that  his  avowed  object  is,  comparatively  speaking, 
unimportant.  He  essays  to  show  that  the  facts  involved  in  the 
Arician   custom   are   best  explained  by   reference  to  the  great 


240  Reviews. 

body  of  agricultural  ritual  of  which  Mannhardt  and  he  have  traced 
the  outline  and  interpreted  the  spirit.  Interesting  if  true — if  not 
true,  the  failure  of  the  essay  in  no  wise  discredits  the  main 
hypothesis.  It  is  the  exposition  of  facts  necessitated  by  the 
attempted  solution  of  the  problem  that  constitutes  the  value  of 
the  work  ;  the  solution  itself  is  of  little  moment 

Personally  I  keep  a  very  open  mind  regarding  Mr.  Frazer's 
solution  of  the  Arician  problem,  as  I  also  do  regarding  his 
explanation  of  many  of  the  subsidiary  questions  which  arise 
therefrom.  The  point  I  wish  to  emphasise  is  the  psychological 
adequacy  of  the  main  hypothesis ;  it  not  only  fits  the  facts,  it 
arises  naturally  and  unforcedly  out  of  the  facts. 

Alfred  Nutt. 

For  a  woman  to  have  the  last  word  is  perhaps  not  an  unpre- 
cedented event  in  the  history  of  the  world,  yet  I  should  not  have 
attempted  to  say  anything  on  this  subject  had  it  not  been  sug- 
gested to  me  by  one  to  whose  opinion  much  deference  is  due, 
that  it  would  be  part  of  my  editorial  duty  to  close  the  discussion. 
Not  even  the  most  adverse  of  critics  can  fail  to  admire  the 
extraordinary  erudition,  the  skill  in  weaving  fragments  together, 
the  intuition,  insight,  and  originality,  displayed  by  Dr.  Frazer. 
Nor  is  it  possible  to  read  his  great  work  without  feeling  that  in 
the  courtesy  he  shows  to  his  opponents,  the  good  taste  with 
which  he  touches  on  "burning  questions,"  and  the  candour 
and  humility  with  which  he  acknowledges  former  mistakes,  he 
sets  us  all  an  example  worthy  of  imitation.  But  I  am  very 
glad  to  observe  that  there  seems  to  be  no  disposition  in  the 
Society  to  take  his  views  for  granted,  or  to  accept  his  theories 
without  a  close  individual  examination  of  his  grounds  for  them. 
There  is  a  natural  tendency  among  students  to  confuse  theories 
with  discoveries,  and  to  work  from  the  theories  of  a  great  master 
as  if  they  were  axioms  of  science;  to  mistake  them  for  proven 
facts,  and  to  reason  from  them  as  a  starting-point  instead  of  from 
the  evidence  on  which  they  rest,  or  which  other  inquirers  have 
brought  to  light.  It  is  a  tendency  against  which  all  honest 
seekers  after  truth  will  rightly  be  on  their  guard.  ^^  Al agister 
dixit "  is  a  principle  fatal  to  the  advancement  of  science.  Espe- 
cially it  is  so  to  a  science  such  as  ours,  which  is  incapable  of 
practical  demonstration  like  the  physical  sciences,  but  (to  borrow 


The  Golden  Bough.  241 

Mr.  Hartland's  quotation),  deals  with  matters  *  in  the  dark  back- 
ward and  abysm  of  time,"  of  which  our  knowledge  must  always  be 
more  or  less  scanty,  vague,  and  uncertain,  liable  to  be  interpreted 
in  different  ways  and  modified  as  fresh  evidence  comes  to  light. 
It  would  be  a  great  misfortune  if  the  study  of  folklore  were  ever 
to  become  cramped  by  a  blind  following  of  the  leader,  or  if  its 
students  were  to  be  classified  as  the  orthodox  adherents  of  such  a 
teacher  and  the  unorthodox  dissenters  from  his  doctrine.  The 
amount  of  independent  criticism  that  has  been  called  forth  by 
the  Golden  Bought  both  in  these  pages  and  elsewhere,  is  then  a 
healthy  sign,  of  good  omen  for  the  future. 

In  one  case  Dr.  Frazer  seems  to  me  to  have  laid  himself  open 
to  criticism  by  himself  starting  an  unnecessary  difficulty  and  then 
inventing  hypotheses  to  get  over  it.  I  mean  as  regards  the  Purim 
and  Passover  celebrations.  If,  as  he  suggests  and  as  Dr.  Gaster  and 
others  deny,  it  was  the  custom  of  the  Jews  to  slay  a  human  victim 
at  Purim,  the  fact  that  our  Lord  was  crucified  at  the  Passover  and 
not  at  Purim  would  not,  I  think,  be  a  valid  objection  to  the  idea 
that  some  of  the  ceremonies  attendant  on  such  a  custom  may 
have  been  carried  out  in  His  case.  It  is  not  at  all  necessary 
for  those  who  like  to  accept  this  view  to  assume  a  mistake  as  to 
the  date  in  the  Gospel  narrative.  The  transference  of  customs 
from  one  date  to  another  is  an  everyday  occurrence :  witness, 
for  example,  our  English  customs  of  lighting  bonfires  on  the  fifth 
of  November  and  carrying  oak-boughs  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  May. 
Nor  do  our  populace  wait  for  Guy  Fawkes'  Day  to  mark  their 
opinion  of  offenders  against  domestic  peace  by  "riding  the  stang" 
for  them  (a  custom,  by  the  way,  to  which  I  think  Dr.  Frazer 
nowhere  refers).  Moreover,  any  expression  of  popuku:  feeling  is 
apt  to  reproduce  old  traditional  forms.  I  remember  being  much 
struck  with  this  on  seeing  a  form  of  Fifth  of  November  celebration 
at  Folkestone  in  1893,  which  closely  resembled  an  old  Corpus 
Christi  civic  trades'  procession.  I  made  inquiries,  and  found  it 
had  been  newly  introduced  within  the  last  few  years ;  and  in  this 
case  the  "  reversion  to  type  "  was  quite  an  unconscious  one  on 
the  part  of  the  performers.^    I/b.  custom  of  showing  mock  honour 

•  Full  details  of  this  will  be  found  in  Folk-Lore^  vol.  v.,  p.  38.  An  account 
of  a  Provenfal  May  Festival  which  I  expect  to  turn  out  to  be  another  case  in 
point  will,  I  hope,  appear  in  a  future  number  of  Folk-Lore, 

VOL.  XII.  R 


242  Reviews. 

to  a  condemned  criminal  at  the  Purim  feast  existed  at  one  time 
among  the  Jews,  it  might  easily  suggest  a  similar  treatment  of  our 
Lord  to  the  minds  of  His  captors  at  the  Passover;  supposing 
always  that  the  nature  of  the  accusation  against  Him  were  not 
sufficient  by  itself  to  suggest  it  to  them.  But  in  neither  case  ought 
we  to  assume  that  the  whole  procedure  must  necessarily  have  been 
carried  out,  because  a  resemblance  to  certain  features  of  it  can  be 
traced.  By  doing  so,  Dr.  Frazer  has  involved  himself  in  a  whole 
web  of  conjectures,  possibilities,  and  imaginings. 

This  may  seem  like  criticism  of  a  detail,  but  it  leads  up  to  my 
main  point.  The  recrudescence  of  old  folklore  in  modem  shapes, 
and  still  more,  the  assumption  of  a  common  form  by  practices 
having  different  origins,  are  subjects  which  call  for  more  attention 
than  they  have  yet  received,  and  which  are  of  first-rate  importance 
in  arriving  at  a  correct  interpretation  of  folklore.  Long  ago  I  urged 
that  "  the  sources  of  folklore  are  not  one  but  many,"  and  I  have 
since  seen  no  reason  to  alter  my  opinion.  With  some,  Animism 
seems  to  fill  up  the  whole  range  of  vision  ;  with  others,  Totemism ; 
with  others,  the  Evil  Eye  and  its  kindred  superstitions  ;  with 
others.  Agricultural  Sacrifice.  But  the  fate  of  the  solar  mytho- 
logists  should  be  a  warning  to  us.     There  is  no  master-key. 

Dr.  Frazer  acknowledges  this  in  his  preface  ;  but  he  is  greater 
at  synthesis  than  he  is  at  analysis  :  he  catches  at  points  of  likeness, 
and  does  not  seem  sufficiently  to  recognise  the  possibility  of  vary- 
ing origins  underlying  similar  externals.  If  we  add  to  this,  that 
like  almost  all  thinkers  possessed  with  a  great  idea,  he  sometimes 
pursues  his  speculations  without  pausing  to  consider  the  difficulties 
his  theories  would  involve  in  practice,  and  even  allows  himself  to 
make  one  hypothesis  the  groundwork  of  another,  I  think  we  may 
see  the  causes  to  which  the  various  criticisms  directed  against 
his  work  may  be  traced.  But  it  is  one  thing  to  destroy  and  quite 
another  to  build  up ;  and  Dr.  Frazer's  severest  critics  are  perhaps 
the  best  able  to  appreciate  the  labour,  the  research,  and  the  con- 
structive skill  displayed  in  his  building.  We  may  disagree  with 
him  as  to  the  distinctive  features  and  relative  positions  of  Magic 
and  Religion  ;  we  may  show  that  one  piece  of  evidence  is  unduly 
pressed  into  his  service,  and  that  another  has  no  trustworthy  basis 
of  fact ;  we  may  feel  that  he  is  rather  a  speculative  philosopher 
than  a  sound  historical  critic,  and  that  it  is  difficult  to  correlate 
his  notions  of  early  political  institutions  with  the  results  of  other 


The  Golden  Bough.  243 

researches  into  the  subject ;  we  may  even  think  the  Golden  Bough 
itself  too  slender  a  twig  to  sustain  the  weight  of  learning  hung 
upon  it ;  but  at  present  we  have  not  found  a  more  satisfactory 
explanation  of  our  popular  annual  customs  than  Dr.  Frazer's  theory 
that  a  large  proportion  of  them  (though  perhaps  not  so  many  as 
he  thinks)  originated  in  rites— call  them  magical  or  call  them 
religious — intended  to  promote  the  fertility  of  Nature. 

Charlotte  S.  Burne. 


De  Graecorum  diis  non  referentibus  speciem  humanum. 
Marinus  Willem  de  Visser.  Lugduni-Batavorum,  G.  Los, 
1900. 

The  extent  to  which    scientific    anthropology  has    penetrated 

classical  studies,  and  is  helping  to  revolutionise  and  reconstitute 
our  knowledge  of  pagan  antiquity,  is  illustrated  by  Dr.  de  Visser's 
thesis  for  his  degree  at  the  university  of  Ley  den.  The  body  of 
the  work  is  a  collection  from  classical  and  post-classical  writers, 
and  from  coins  and  inscriptions  of  all  kinds,  of  references  to 
Greek  superstitions  concerning  plants,  animals,  stocks,  and  stones 
directly  or  indirectly  indicative  of  the  worship  of  divinities  having 
other  than  human  forms.  This  collection  is  preceded  and 
followed  by  an  interesting  introduction  and  comments.  Aph 
proving  Schultze's  definition  of  fetishism,  which  extends  not 
merely  to  the  worship  of  terrestrial  objects  like  rocks,  trees, 
animals,  mountains,  seas,  and  rivers,  but  also  of  the  sun,  moon, 
stars,  and  clouds.  Dr.  De  Visser  goes  on  to  discuss  totemism. 
The  explanation  of  totemism  which  he  accepts  is  that  of  Wilken, 
namely,  that  particular  species  of  animals  and  plants  are  venerated 
because  it  is  believed  that  the  souls  of  departed  clansmen  have 
passed  into  them.  This  theor}%  whether  true  or  not,  has  the 
advantage  of  yielding  an  intelligible  connection  between  totemism 
and  the  cult  of  the  dead.  The  author  favours  the  opinion  that 
many  Greek  superstitions  are  ultimately  referable  to  totemism. 

R    2 


1 


244  Reviews. 

Discussing  the  questions  why  many  deities  have  incongruous 
attributes,  and  why  several  kinds  of  animals  or  plants  are  often 
under  the  tutelage  of  one  and  the  same  deity,  he  contends  that 
there  is  no  difference  of  kind  between  the  higher  gods  and  the 
lower  orders  of  spiritual  beings,  and  suggests  that  a  definite  deity 
of  a  lofty  personality  has  in  these  cases  taken  the  place  oV  an 
anonymous  demon,  or  that  the  latter  has  become  absorbed  by  the 
new  and  higher  divinity.  This  theory  of  conflation,  as  it  may  be 
called,  has  been  heard  of  before.  The  process  is,  indeed,  well 
known  to  have  gone  on  in  connection  with  the  conversion  of  the 
barbarians  to  Christianity,  and  its  results  are  visible  in  the  folklore 
of  all  Europe.  Yet  I  am  not  sure  that  it  has  received  enough 
consideration  at  the  hands  of  anthropological  students  for  the 
purpose  of  explaining  the  characteristics  of  the  classical  gods. 

Dr.  De  Visser  regards  animism  as  the  savage  philosophy  of 
religion ;  and  in  discussing  the  various  causes  of  reverence  for 
animals,  trees,  stocks,  and  stones  he  refers  them  all  in  the  last 
resort  to  animism.  Now  the  degree  of  accuracy  with  which  this 
theory  represents  the  facts  very  much  depends  on  the  definition 
of  animism.  It  must  at  least  be  made  to  include  that  presumably 
earlier  habit  of  regarding  all  external  objects  as  endowed  with 
personality  and  consciousness  similar  to  human,  without  raising 
questions  as  to  a  soul.  But  this  is  a  larger  range  of  meaning  than 
Dr.  De  Visser  gives  it.  He  even  makes  fetishism  dependent  on 
animism,  since  he  holds  it  to  be  the  worship  of  an  object  because 
it  is  the  abode  of  a  spirit  {quia  animi  domus  est). 

His  discussion  of  the  steps  by  which  anthropomorphism  con- 
quered is  very  interesting.  He  is  undoubtedly  right  in  his  conten- 
tion against  Botticher  that  the  worship  of  stocks  {loava)  is  only 
due  in  part  to  their  being  relics  of  trees.  Idolatry,  he  thinks, 
arises  from  the  union  of  fetishism  (as  above  defined)  with  anthro- 
pomorphism. In  the  final  chapter  he  turns  to  answer  the  question 
why  are  there  more  traces  of  the  worship  of  stones,  stocks,  trees, 
and  animals  in  Greece  after  the  Christian  era  than  before.  It  is 
curious  at  first  sight  that  both  the  later  monuments  and  the  later 
literary  sources  are  more  productive  of  evidence  than  the  earlier. 
Dr.  De  Visser  accounts  for  this  phenomenon  by  a  general  reaction 
against  anthropomorphism.  Anthropomorphism,  which  began  by 
raising  the  divine  ideal  to  a  height  of  majesty  and  beauty  hitherto 
unattained,  ended  by  degrading  the  gods  to  the  condition  of  mere 


Reviews.  245 

humanity.  Aphrodite  lost  all  sublimity  when  she  lasciviously 
displayed  her  charms  to  every  eye.  Apollo  was  shorn  of  dignity 
and  glory  when  he  became,  in  marble  or  in  bronze,  a  mere  youth 
playing  with  a  lizard.  The  consequent  reaction  was  reinforced  by 
the  superstitions  of  all  kinds  that  spread  through  the  Roman 
empire  on  the  break-up  of  the  ancient  local  and  tribal  faiths,  and 
in  the  universal  ferment  that  preceded  and  accompanied  the 
advent  of  Christianity.  This  subject,  however,  is  beyond  the  scope 
of  Dr.  De  Visser's  thesis,  and  he  does  no  more  than  indicate  the 
solution  of  the  problem. 

Dr.  De  Visser's  book,  as  this  sketch  will  show,  is  a  valuable  con- 
tribution to  anthropology.  His  collection  of  texts  will  be  very 
useful  to  students.  And  the  accompanying  commentary,  though 
it  may  not  approve  itself  in  all  details,  is  the  work  of  one  who  is 
thoroughly  versed  in  the  literature  of  his  subject,  and  has  carefully 
weighed  the  various  theories  between  which  he  has  had  to  choose. 
English  anthropologists  share  with  Wilken  and  Marillier  the  fore- 
most places  among  his  authorities. 

E.  Sidney  Hartland. 


Res  iNDiCiE. 


1.  The/dtaka^or  Stories  of  the  Buddha^ s  former  Births,    Vol.  IV. 

Translated  by  W.  H.  D.  Rouse,  M.A.     Cambridge.     1901. 

2.  Popular  Studies  in  Mythology^  Romance^  and  Folklore,     No.  9. 

The  Rigveda,     By  Professor  E.  V.  Arnold.     D.  Nutt.    1900. 

3.  Occasional  Essays  on  Native  South  Indian  Life,      By  S.  P. 

Rice,  Indian  Civil  Service.     Longmans.     1901.      \os,  6d, 

We  have  here  three  works  on  Indian  subjects  of  varying  inte- 
rest and  value.  I  need  hardly  recommend  to  readers  of  Folk  Lore 
the  new  Cambridge  translation  of  the  Jataka,  of  which  this,  the 
fourth  instalment,  translated  by  Mr.  Rouse,  is  quite  up  to  the  level 
of  its  predecessors.  He  has  given  us  a  readable  English  version  of 
the  crabbed  Pali  text,  and  has  been  particularly  successful  in  the 
metrical  versions.  He  has  added  some  valuable  notes,  and  we 
can  only  regret  that  the  plan  of  this  edition  did  not  admit  of 
more  ample  annotation.     None  of  the  stories  in  this  instalment 


\ 


246  Reviews. 

are  of  special  novelty,  but  there  are  some  interesting  examples  of 
familiar  folktales  and  incidents.  Thus,  in  No.  439,  we  have  the 
Indian  form  of  the  Jonah  legend,  and  the  incident  of  the  ship 
impeded  in  its  course  by  the  ill-omened  passenger,  for  which  there 
are  many  Indian  parallels,  as  for  instance  in  the  Kathd  Sarit 
Sdgara  (i.,  139;  ii.,  629).  No.  472  is  a  variant  of  the  Potiphar's 
wife  saga,  which  is  also  common  in  other  Indian  collections.  In 
No.  481  we  have  the  incident  of  the  goat  knocking  down  the 
knife  with  which  her  own  slaughter  is  to  be  accomplished — the 
At|  T^iv  fiaxmpay  of  the  Greek  tale  from  Zenobius  and  Strabo.  In 
No.  489  the  tale  of  the  man  who  could  not  be  made  to  laugh  or 
fear  appears  in  a  shape  somewhat  different  from  the  form  familiar 
to  us  in  Grimm  (No.  4).  In  Nos.  454  and  461  we  have  interest- 
ing variants  of  the  Krishna  saga  and  the  Rimayana.  Among 
other  interesting  points  incidentally  referred  to,  I  may  note  tree- 
worship  and  tree-marriage  (pp.  97,  294) ;  an  annual  ploughing 
festival,  as  in  China  (104) ;  the  birth-tree  and  the  naming  of  a 
child  from  it  (188);  the  juggler  disappearing  into  the  sky  by 
climbing  a  rope,  of  which  the  /ocus  classicus  is  Yule^s  Marco  Polo^ 
i.,  308 ;  the  wearing  of  leaves  as  clothing,  like  the  JuHngs  of  our 
own  day  (269). 

Professor  Arnold  has  made  the  most  of  the  scanty  space  at  his 
disposal  in  his  study  of  the  Rig  Veda,  which  forms  a  useful  intro- 
duction to  the  more  detailed  treatment  of  the  subject  in  Professor 
Macdoneirs  Vedic  Mythology  and  Dr.  01denberg*s  Die  Religion  des 
Veda.  The  study  of  Vedic  mythology  is  now  being  conducted  on 
saner  lines,  as  the  solar-myth  interpretation  is  giving  place  to  an 
investigation  of  the  connection  of  the  hymns  with  local  Indian 
belief,  and  the  stratification  of  the  collection  is  being  more  closely 
examined. 

Mr.  Rice  has  broken  fresh  ground  in  his  studies  of  the  South 
Indian  races,  but  his  book  is  not  likely  to  be  of  much  service  to 
students  of  folklore  and  anthropology,  with  the  problems  of  which 
he  exhibits  only  slight  acquaintance.  We  should  have  welcomed 
a  more  detailed  study  of  the  Savaras  and  kindred  jungle  tribes,  of 
whom  little  is  known.  But  Mr.  Rice's  account  of  them  is  too 
slight  to  be  of  much  practical  use.  At  the  same  time  the  book 
contains  some  matters  of  interest.  Thus,  in  founding  a  new- 
village  the  ground  is  ploughed  and  sown  with  a  little  grain  (p.  39). 
Mr.    Rice   can   suggest   no   reason   for   this ;    but   it   is   almost 


Reviews.  247 

certainly  a  fertility  charm.  And  so  with  the  mock  struggles  and 
games  which  are  leading  incidents  in  the  marriage  rites  (p.  47), 
which  are  probably  some  form  of  mimetic  or  sympathetic  magic. 
In  one  of  the  Uriya  States  there  is  a  curious  mode  of  counting  the 
period  of  the  Raja's  reign  which  deserves  investigation.  **The 
first  year  of  the  reign  is  called  not  one^  but  iabho  or  *  gain.'  The 
counting  then  proceeds  in  the  ordinary  course,  but,  with  the 
exception  of  the  figure  10,  all  figures  ending  with  7  or  o  are 
omitted.  This  is  cdW^d  onko.  Thus,  if  a  Raja  has  reigned  21^ 
years,  he  would  be  said  to  be  in  the  25th  onko^  7,  17  and  20  being 
omitted  "  (p.  96).  Thus,  all  years  ending  in  7  or  o  are  apparently 
unlucky,  except  10.  The  rule  is  a  curious  one,  if  correctiy 
reported,  and  in  default  of  further  investigation  I  hesitate  to 
suggest  an  explanation. 

W.  Crooke. 


ENCVCLOPiEDIA     BiBLICA  :        A    CRITICAL    DICTIONARY    OF     THE 

Ijterary,  Political,  and  Religious  History,  ARCHiEO- 
LOGY,  Geography,  and  Natural  History  of  the  Bible. 
Edited  by  Rev.  T.  K.  Cheyne,  M.A.,  D.D.,  and  J.  Suther- 
land Black,  M.A.,  LL.D.  Vol.  II.  London  :  A.  and  C. 
Black.     1 90 1.     Subscription  price  for  the  whole,  ;^3  3J. 

Last  year  in  these  columns  {Foik-Lore,  xi.,  99  seq,)  I  called  the 
attention  of  students  of  anthropology  to  the  first  volume  of  this 
important  work.  The  new  instalment  is  of  equal  if  not  greater  value. 
With  the  literary  and  critical  articles  we  have  no  immediate  con- 
cern, but  scholars  will  hardly  find  elsewhere  a  more  exhaustive  dis- 
cussion of  biblical  problems  of  the  greatest  moment  than  in  the 
articles  on  the  Gospels^  by  Dr.  Abbott  and  Professor  Schmiedel ; 
Egypt ^  by  Dr.  W.  Max  M tiller ;  Eschatoiogy^  with  special  reference 
to  death  and  mourning  customs,  by  Dr.  Charles ;  Genesis,  by 
Dr.  Moore ;  the  Hexateuchy  by  Professor  Cheyne  ;  Israel,  by 
Professor  Guthe ;  Jerusalem,  the  joint  work  of  Dr.  G.  A.  Smith, 
the  late  Dr.  Robertson-Smith,  and  Colonel  Conder;  Job,  by 
Professor  Cheyne  ;  John,  son  of  Zebedee,  by  Professor  Schmiedel ; 
and  Judith,  by  one  of  our  members,  Dr.  Gaster,  who  has  dis- 
covered at  least  one  very  early  version  of  the  story. 

Of  more  immediate  interest  to  readers  of  Folk-Lore  are  the 
articles  which  deal  with  anthropological  matters.     I  can  only  refer 


248  Reviews. 

briefly  to  some  suggestive  contributions.  Thus,  Dr.  Moore  deals 
with  the  curious  divination  by  means  of  the  Ephod,  which  was 
probably  some  form  of  idol;  when  Jacob  seeks  the  paternal 
benediction  he  wears  the  skins  of  sacrificial  animals,  of  which 
many  instances  are  collected ;  in  the  story  of  Tobit  we  have  the 
use  of  fish-gall  in  the  treatment  of  eye-disease,  and  the  same 
remedy  appears  to  be  still  used  in  Persia ;  the  worship  of  sacred 
fish  is  discussed  by  Mr.  Stanley  Cook ;  the  avenging  of  blood  by 
Dr.  Driver ;  Dr.  Cheyne's  investigation  of  the  story  of  Hiel  and 
the  foundation-sacrifice,  and  the  same  scholar's  article  on  Jonah, 
where  he  accepts  Dr.  Tylor's  suggestion  that  it  is  connected  with 
the  Semitic  Dragon-Myth.  He  also  regards  the  story  of 
Jephthah's  daughter  as  a  case  of  human  sacrifice  connected 
with  the  Tammuz- Adonis  Myth. 

Of  special  importance  are  the  purely  anthropological  articles, 
particularly  those  by  Dr.  Benzinger  on  the  Family^  with  a  discus- 
sion of  birth  and  marriage  rites  and  legal  obligations ;  on  Fasting 
as  a  preparation  for  the  sacramental  meal ;  on  Government^ 
including  the  sept  and  tribe,  and  on  Kinship,  Dr.  Morris's  article 
on  Idolatry  and  Primitive  Religion  is  interesting,  but  a  little  thin. 
Folklore  students  will  turn  perhaps  with  most  interest  to 
Professor  Noldeke's  article  on  Esther^  which  has  been  used  by 
Dr.  Frazer  in  the  new  edition  of  The  Golden  Bough, 

The  book  is  admirably  printed,  and  the  means  adopted  to  eco- 
nomise space  are  most  ingenious.  It  is  supplied  with  good  maps 
and  all  really  necessary  illustrations.  The  new  Encyclopaedia  is 
certainly  far  ahead  of  anything  of  the  kind  at  present  available 
for  English  readers. 

W.  Crooke. 


The  English  Dialect  Dictionary.  Edited  by  Joseph 
Wright,  Ph.D.,  D.C.L.,  Professor  of  Comparative  Philology 
in  the  University  of  Oxford.  Parts  IX.  and  X. :  Flyer — Gyver. 
15s.  net. 

We  should  not  ordinarily  notice  a  work  of  this  sort,  but  the 
Dialect  Dictionary  contains  a  great  deal  of  folklore.  We  propose 
therefore  calling  attention  to  such  parts  of  it  as  are  important  for 
our  members,  and  leaving  aside  the  purely  Hnguistic  parts.     As 


Reviews.  249 

for  the  latter,  a  few  words  will  suffice;  to  the  student  of  the 
English  language  the  book  is  indispensable.  The  clearness  of  its 
arrangement,  its  thoroughness,  and  the  editor's  sobriety  of 
judgment  make  it  worthy  to  rank  in  its  own  department  with  Dr. 
Murray's  great  work. 

For  ourselves,  the  Dictionary  is  valuable  in  two  respects.  In 
the  first  place,  it  contains  a  good  deal  of  matter  not  elsewhere 
published.  Take  the  children's  games,  for  example.  Mrs. 
Gomme's  delightful  volumes  have  recorded  the  best  of  them,  but 
there  are  many  which  do  not  come  within  the  scope  of  her  work. 
Every  game,  however,  has  a  name ;  and  under  that  name  in  the 
Dictionary  the  game  will  be  found.  The  descriptions  given  are 
brief,  of  course,  but  sufficient  for  their  purpose,  and  in  the  case  of 
games  not  hitherto  described  the  accounts  given  are  full  enough 
to  explain  them  to  those  who  do  not  know.  When  they  have 
been  described,  a  reference  will  be  found  to  the  authority.  There 
is  new  matter  under  FoXy  French^  Frincy-Francy,  Funny^  G<^fft 
Geggy  Green  Grass,  And  secondly,  the  Dictionary  gives  5it  a 
glance  the  geographical  distribution  of  the  games,  which  may  turn 
out  sometimes  to  be  a  matter  of  some  importance.  Turning  now 
to  other  subjects,  we  find  a  great  deal  of  interest  touching  feudal 
customs  and  others  connected  with  the  tenure  of  land.  The 
ancient  Forrep-land  is  still  known  in  Sussex ;  the  Great  Foude  is, 
or  lately  was,  the  King  of  Norway's  representative  in  Shetland. 
Under  Free-bench  will  be  found  the  description  of  a  rite,  by  which 
a  widow  who  had  proved  too  frail  recovered  her  claim  to  her 
husband's  copyhold  lands,  and  which  is  ill  suited  to  the  dignity  of  a 
manor  court.  Rural  custom  is  described  under  Fond-plough^ 
Fool-pioughy  Geese-dance^  Guiser ;  social  custom  under  Feet- 
washing  (447),  Goodingy  Grigglingy  Groaning-cake,  Lastly,  for 
quaint  superstitions  we  may  consult  Forspeaky  Frogy  and  Gabriel 
Ratchet,  These  items  do  not  by  any  means  exhaust  the  interest 
of  the  book,  which  we  cordially  recommend  to  our  members  as  a 
useful  guide  until  Mr.  Gomme  has  given  us  his  Dictionary  of 
British  Folk-Lore, 


250  Reviews. 

L'Origine  della  Favola  Greca  e   I  Suoi  rapporti  con  le 

FAVOLE      ORIENTALI.         Del       Dr.      MiCHELE      MaRCHIAN6. 

Trani :  V.  Vecchi.  1900. 

Since  the  *'  discovery "  of  the  Sanskrit  language  by  Sir  William 
Jones,  the  origin  of  fable  has  been  a  favourite  battlefield  of  the 
scholars.  First  come  the  Indianists  in  a  compact  phalanx,  long  to 
remain  in  possession  of  all  the  strong  places.  To  them  enter,  with 
fanfare  and  taratantara,  with  thunder,  stormwind,  day,  night,  and 
dawn,  the  Mythologists,  headed  by  that  redoubtable  warrior,  now 
at  rest.  Max  Miiller.  Lastly,  like  a  cloud  of  light  cavalry  and 
mounted  infantry,  the  Anthropological  host,  Mr.  Andrew  Lang  in 
the  van  on  a  wiry  Basuto  pony  or  an  Australian  charger,  and 
attended  by  totems,  fetiches,  hobgoblins,  and  high  gods.  And 
now,  from  a  well-defined  battlefield  the  theatre  of  war  has 
become  a  scene  of  inextricable  confusion,  every  leader  harrying 
the  rest  on  his  own  account,  or  holding  some  isolated  kopje  with 
his  own  devoted  commando.  Like  the  Pythagorean  world,  all 
was  chaos,  until  Dr.  Marchianb,  like  Nous,  strides  in  and  attempts 
to  set  things  in  order.     Hence  this  book. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  earlier  parts  of  it  produce  a 
melancholy  impression.  Author  after  author,  book  upon  book, 
one  theory  after  another,  marches  past  in  state,  only  to  be 
inspected,  reprimanded,  and  sent  to  his  own  place.  Fables 
Greek  and  fables  Indian,  fables  Hebrew,  Egyptian,  Arabian, 
Syriac,  Assyrian,  Babylonian,  Persian,  Cilician,  Cyprian,  Carian, 
Lydian,  Phrygian,  Sybaritic,  Sicilian,  Milesian,  all  come  in  for 
their  turn ;  their  resemblances  are  examined,  their  divergencies 
ticketed,  and  each  is  put  in  its  own  appropriate  pigeonhole  for 
future  use.  The  amount  of  labour  unwisely  applied,  by  those 
who  start  with  a  fixed  idea,  and  work  everything  round  to  it, 
makes  one  weep.  Yet  after  all,  even  these  have  done  their  part ; 
each  has  his  measure  of  grain,  even  when  Dr.  Marchianb  has 
blown  away  the  chaff.  He  is  no  merciful  critic,  and  men  who  like 
Ldveque  have  been  rash  and  too  ready  to  jump  to  conclusions 
make  but  a  sorry  figure  before  him.  We  would  pay  a  tribute  of 
respect  to  the  great  learning  and  accuracy  shown  in  this  section  ; 
nothing  seems  to  have  been  omitted,  and  the  student  could  find 
no  more  satisfactory  collection  of  facts  than  he  will  find  here. 

When  we  come  to  the  author's  constructive  part,  he  is  less 
satisfactory.     In  tracing  the  fable  to  a  very  remote  origin,  he  is 


Reviews.  251 

no  doubt  right.  There  was  doubtless  a  time  when  men  lived  not 
otherwise  than  the  beasts  of  the  field,  when  they  understood 
the  beasts  better,  and  when  it  was  natural  to  suppose  them 
endowed  with  speech  and  thought.  These  fables  may  have  been 
taken  in  earnest,  and  the  type  may  have  then  originated.  But 
when  he  speaks  of  the  beasts  influencing  men's  language  by  their 
cries,  so  that  a  large  part  of  it  is  based  upon  them,  or  when  he 
assumes  that  the  earliest  dramatic  representations  of  the  human 
race  were  a  kind  of  beast-life  mimicry.  Dr.  Marchianb  goes 
beyond  his  evidence.  It  is  comforting  to  find,  though,  that 
in  spite  of  an  imagination  somewhat  too  luxuriant.  Dr. 
Marchianb  comes  to  much  the  same  conclusion  as  Mr.  Jacobs 
in  his  -^sop ;  viz.,  that  the  literary  fable,  as  we  know  it, 
was  first  born  in  Greece.  He  examines  its  traces  in  Greek 
literature,  and  its  connection  with  myth  and  proverb,  with 
acuteness  and  in  a  most  interesting  way  ;  and  his  conclusion  may 
be  regarded  as  a  step  onwards  in  the  history  of  the  question. 
We  very  fitly  end  with  his  final  words,  which  on  the  evidence  we 
cannot  but  agree  with  : 

"  Modern  criticism,  then,  must  reconsider  its  judgment  as  to 
the  origin  of  fable ;  and  regarding  its  many  independent  origins 
as  the  incipient  and  rudimentary  expression  of  human  thought, 
and  as  a  confused  detritus  of  popular  wisdom,  ii  must  restore 
that  literary  form  to  Greece ;  arguments  irrefutable  support  the 
claim  ;  it  is  well  suited  to  the  Greek  genius  ;  and  a  long  tradition 
has  never  deflied  it." 


Devil  Tales.       By   Virginl\   Frazer   Boyle,   illustrated   by 
A.  B.  Krost.     Harper  Brothers,  New  York  and  London. 

Though  these  tales  profess  to  be  such  as  used  to  be  told  to  the 
children  of  planters  by  their  Negro  nurses  when  slavery  still  pre- 
vailed in  the  Southern  States  of  America,  from  their  form  they 
cannot  be  strictly  speaking  regarded  as  a  direct  contribution  to 
Negro  folklore.  Nevertheless  they  are  capital  stories  and  very 
well  told.  The  title  is  perhaps  a  little  misleading.  The  devil 
that  figures  in  these  pages  is  not  of  the  awe-inspiring  kind  ;  he  is 
more  inclined  to  make  us  laugh  than  to  make  the  skin  creep. 
Even  when  so  serious  a  matter  as  lack  of  wood  to  keep  the  fires 


252  Reviews. 

of  hell  burning  causes  the  fire  to  go  out,  the  trouble  the  devil  has 
to  get  a  fresh  light  is  amusing.  And  the  fire  went  out  because 
the  devil  was  so  long  away  courting  a  very  pretty  Negro  girl. 

The  authoress  has  certainly  interwoven  into  the  woof  and  web 
of  these  tales  a  great  deal  of  folklore,  of  which  it  is  only  necessary 
to  give  a  few  specimens.  The  hoodoo  or  Negro  wizard  figures 
largely,  and  generally  as  a  beneficent  personage  that  gives  his 
neighbours  charms  to  counteract  the  machinations  of  the  devil 
and  the  spells  of  other  hoodoos.  He  can  even  combine  this 
function  with  the  office  of  exhorter  or  evangelist  No  hoodoo  can 
withstand  a  man  that  strikes  him  with  a  rod  of  green  grape-vine, 
cut  when  the  sap  is  flowing.  But  then  the  hoodoo  must  be  on 
his  own  ground,  not  in  a  strange  place.  He  may  possess  the 
power  to  give  the  devil  a  human  heart,  the  better  to  torment  him. 
But  a  hoodoo,  however  great,  cannot  cross  running  water  without 
breaking  the  spell  that  gives  him  power,  and  his  charms,  too, 
cannot  take  effect  across  running  water.  Yet  he  can  sometimes 
evade  this  obstacle  by  drying  the  water  up. 

The  jay  sold  itself  to  the  devil  for  a  half-filled  ear  of  com,  and 
henceforth  is  bound  to  bring  loads  of  wood  to  keep  the  fire  of  the 
infernal  regions  in  full  blaze  every  Friday.  The  crow,  too,  has  to 
serve  the  devil  in  the  same  way,  but  only  once  a  week,  and  can 
refuse  to  work  oftener. 

John  Abercrombv. 


Paul  S^billot — Cuentos  Bretones — Cuentos  Populares  de 
Campesinos,  Pescadores  y  Marineros.  Traducidos  por 
Manuel  Machado.     Paris  :  Gamier  Hermanos.     1900. 

A  TRANSLATION  into  Spanish  of  a  selection  of  M.  Sebillot's  Breton 
tales.  Wherever  I  have  tested  it  the  translator  has  done  justice 
to  the  sense  of  the  very  charming  originals,  but  the  style  has, 
perhaps  inevitably,  acquired  a  slightly  more  literary  flavour.  The 
introduction  includes  a  short  sketch  of  the  life  and  an  enumera- 
tion of  the  writings  of  M.  Sebillot,  which  give  some  idea  of  the 
extraordinary  industry  of  one  to  whom  folklore  owes  much. 

E.  Sidney  Hartland. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


BOOKS    AND    PAMPHLETS. 

All  English  books  are  published  in  London^  all  French  books  in 
Paris ^  and  all  1901 ;  unless  otherwise  stated. 

Barrows  (David  Prescott).  The  Ethno-Botany  of  the  Coa- 
huilla  Indians  of  Southern  California.  Chicago  University 
Press.     1900.     8vo.     82  pp. 

Cheyne  (T.  K.),  and  Black  (J.  Sutherland).  Encyclopedia 
Biblica.     Vol.  ii.     A.  and  C.  Black.     Roy.  8vo.     1,344  pp. 

Clark-Hall  (John  R.).  Beowulf  and  the  Fight  at  Finnsburg,  a 
Translation  into  Modern  English  Prose.  Swan  Sonnenschein. 
8vo.     xlvi.,  204  pp. 

NiNA-RoDRiGUES  (Dr.).  L'Animisme  Fetichiste  des  N^gres  de 
Bahia.  Bahia:  ReisandCo.  1900.  Cr.  8vo.  158  pp.  [A 
valuable  account  of  fetishism  as  practised  among  the  negroes 
at  Bahia,  including  discussions  of  the  neuropathic  aspects  of 
some  of  the  rites,  and  of  the  fetishistic  beliefs  and  practices 
retained  by  the  nominal  converts  to  Christianity.] 

Orain  (A.).     Contes  de  Tllle-et-Vilaine.     Maisonneuve.     i6mo. 

303  PP- 
Panzer  (F.).     Hilde-Gudrun.     Eine  Sagen-und-literargeschicht- 
liche  Untersuchung.  8vo.     Halle  :  Niemeyer.     xvi.,  452  pp. 

Petsch  (R.)-  Formelhafte  Schliisse  in  Volksmarchen.  Berlin. 
Weidmannsche  Buchhandlung.     1900.   8vo.   xL,  185  pp. 

Rice  (Stanley  P.).  Occasional  Essays  on  Native  South  Indian 
Life.     Longmans.     8vo.     223  pp.     los.  6d. 

RoussEL  (A.).  L^gendes  Morales  de  Tlnde  empnint^es  au 
Bhagavata  Purana  et  au  Mahabharata.  Traduites  du  San- 
scrit.    Vol.  ii.     Maisonneuve.     i6mo.     361  pp. 

S^BiLLOT    (P.).      Le    Folk-lore    des   Pecheurs.      Maisonneuve. 

i6mo.     xii.,  389  pp. 
South  African  Native  Races  Committee.     The  Natives  of 

South  Africa :  their  Economic  and  Social  Condition.   Murray. 

8vo.    XV.,  360  pp. 
Weston  (Jessie  L.).    The  Romance  Cycle  of  Charlemagne  and 

his  Peers  (Popular  Studies,  No.  10).     D.  Nutt.     46  pp. 

Wiedemann  (K.  A.).  The  Realms  of  the  Egyptian  Dead  (The 
Ancient  East  Series,  No.  i).     D.  Nutt.     68  pp. 


2  54  Bibliography. 

PERIODICALS. 

The  Contents  of  Periodicals  exclusively  devoted  to  Folklore 

are  not  noted, 

L'Anthropologie,  xi.,  5,  6.  M,  Delafosse,  Sur  des  Traces  pro- 
bables de  la  Civilisation  Egyptienne  et  d^Hommes  de  Race 
Blanche  a  la  Cote  d'l voire  (suite). 

American  Anthropologist,  N.S.,  ii^  4.  S.  Culin^  Philippine 
Games. 

American  Antiquarian,  Jan.-Feb.  A,  F,  Chamberlaiuy  Philippine 
Folklore.  G.  A,  Dorsey^  Games  of  Makah  Indians.  March- 
April,  y".  Frasery  Indian  Words  of  Relationship  in  Australian 
tribes. 

Archsological  Report,  Ontario,    1900.     F,  Hamilton^  Rough 
Notes  on  Native  Tribes  of  South  Africa. 
[These  notes  accompany  some  ethnographical  specimens  ob- 
tained by  the  writer  while  correspondent  for  the  Globe  during 
the  war,  and  sent  to  the  Museum  at  Toronto.] 

Archiv  fiir  Beligionswissenschafk,  iv.,  1.  B,  Lauftr^  Zwei 
Legenden  des  Milaraspa.  7^  Branky,  Zu  den  Ehrenstrafen. 
P,  SchellhaSy  Zur  Maya  Mythologie. 

Berlin  Museum  fiir  Vdlkerkunde.    Veroffentlichungen  vii.,  1-4. 

W,  Grube,  Zur  Pekinger  Volkskunde.     Notizblatt,  ii.,  2. 

Hahl^  Uber  Sitten  auf  Ponape.    K.  T.  Preuss^  Der  Affe  in  der 

mexikanische  Mythologie.     A.  Bastian^  Zum  SeelenbegrifT  in 

der  Ethnologic. 

British  School  at  Athens  (Annual  of),  vi.  (1899-1900).  /.  C. 
Lawson,  A  Beast-dance  in  Scyros. 

Bureau  of  Ethnology,  17th  Ann.  Bep.,  Pt.  2.  C.  Mindeleff, 
Navaho  Houses  [some  religious  and  social  details].  J.  JV, 
Fezvkes,  Archaeological  Expedition  to  Arizona  in  1895 
[shrines,  prayer-sticks,  &c.]. 

Church  Quarterly  Review,  April.  Frazer's  **  Golden  Bough  " 
[review  of]. 

Fortnightly  Review,  April.  A,  Lang,  Mr.  Frazer's  Theory  of 
the  Crucifixion. 

Globus,  Ixxix.,  1  and  2.  C.  Af.  Pleyte,  Die  Mentawei-Inseln  und 
ihre  Bewohner.  2.  P,  F.  MuIIer^  Folkloristische  Ewhetexte. 
6.  A".  T.  Preuss,  Mexikanische  Thonfiguren  [amulets  in  form 
of  gods].  Die  Verehrung  der  Meteoriten.  7.  Ozaki,  Die 
Heisswasserprobe  in  Japan.  8.  P.  F.  Kaindi,  Aus  der 
Volksiiberlieferung  der  Bojken  (Ruthenia). 


Bibliography.  255 

Harper's  Magazine,  April.  W,  H,  Tribe^  Snake-worshippers  of 
India. 

Indian  Antiquary,  January.  /.  Burgess^  Notes  on  Jaina  Mytho- 
logy. M,  N.  Venkataswami^  Folklore  in  the  Central  Pro- 
vinces. March.  Sir  J,  M,  Campbell^  Notes  on  the  Spirit 
Basis  of  Belief  and  Custom.  M,  N,  Venkataswami^  Folklore 
in  the  Central  Provinces. 

Internationales  Archiv  fUr  Ethnography^  xiii.,  6.  O.  Stench, 
Samoanische  Marchen. 

Journal  of  the  Anthropological  Institute,  vol.  zzx.  {Jan,  to 
June,)  If.  M,  Chadwick^  The  Oak  and  the  Thunder-god. 
R,  Koettlitz,  Notes  on  the  Galla  of  Walega  and  the  Bertal. 
H.  Pope-Hen fiessey,  Notes  on  the  Jukos  and  other  Tribes 
of  the  Middle  Benue.  J,  Strange,  Nootka  Sound  [some 
details  of  religious  belief  and  practice]. 

Journal  of  Hellenic  Studies,  zzi.,  1.  P.  Gardner,  A  New 
Pandora  Vase.  A.  J,  Evans,  Mycenean  Tree  and  Pillar 
Cult. 

Literary  Guide,  May.  J.  M^  Robertson,  Mr.  Frazer's  Theory  of 
the  Crucifixion. 

Longman's  Magazine,  May.  A,  Lang  (**At  the  Sign  of  the 
Ship  "),  The  "  Borrowing  Days  "  in  Egypt  and  the  Expulsion 
of  Winter. 

Madras  Qovemment  Museum.  Bulletin  iv.,  1.  E,  Thurston, 
Todas  of  the  Nilgiris.  Meriah  Sacrifice  Post.  Walking 
through  Fire  (Hot  Ashes).  Malaialis  of  the  Shevaroys. 
Sorcery  in  Coimbatore.  5.  Appadorai  Iyer  and  E,  Thurston, 
Nayadis  of  Malabar.  [Mr.  Thurston's  anthropological 
bulletin  is  always  good.  His  researches  and  those  of  his 
assistants  among  the  less  known  tribes  of  Southern  India 
have  been  continued,  and  we  here  get  some  of  the  results. 
Of  special  interest  are  his  notes  on  a  visit  to  the  Todas,  his 
account  of  a  Meriah  Sacrificial  Post  (probably  the  only  one 
now  in  existence),  which  he  has  obtained  for  the  museum, 
and  the  details  relating  to  the  customs  of  the  wild  mountain- 
tribe  of  the  Nayadis.  Among  the  last  the  ceremony  of 
choosing  a  husband  by  the  marriageable  girl  presents  some 
very  curious  features.] 


256  Bibliography. 

Man,  March.  F,  Fawcett,  Notes  on  the  Dombs  of  Jeypur.  Edge- 
Fartingion^  Note  on  a  Matuatonga  [Maori  sacred  image]. 
April.    N,  JV.  Thomas^  Animal  Folklore  in  Georgia. 

Hittheilungen  des  Seminars  fur  Orientalische  Spracheiiy  vol.  iii., 

1900.    R,  Lange,  Japanische  Kinderlieder.    F.  H.  Brincker^ 

Charakter,  Sitten,  und  Gebrauche  der  Bantu  Deutsch-Siid- 

west  Afrikas.     C.  Velten^  Die  Spitznamen  der  Europaer  bei 

den  Suaheli. 

Monthly  Review,  April.  E,  S.  Hartland^  The  Native  Problem 
in  our  New  Colonies. 

Notes  and  Queries,  January  5th.  The  Danaids.  Northumberland 
Marriage  Custom.  A  Devil's  Dam  in  a  Cossack  Stanitza. 
Counting  Buttons.  Smock  Marriages.  January  12th.  Flower 
Divination  (daisy-picking).  Nature  Myths.  January  19th. 
Gipsy  Wedding.  Cure  for  Sterility.  Lights  and  Buried 
Treasure.  Evil  Eye.  January  26th.  Mussulman  Legend 
of  Job.  Lizard  Folklore.  Water  in  Death  Chamber.  Corpse 
on  board  Ship.  Pebmary  2nd.  Corpse  Superstition.  Ram- 
hunting  at  Eton.  The  Ladybird.  Keeches  (Christmas 
cakes  in  bird-form).  February  9th,  Superstitious  Cures 
(S.  America).  White  Marks  on  Horses  (Hindustan). 
February  16th,  Nature  Myths.  Wedding  Custom.  Boulder 
Stones  March  9th.  Ram-hunting  at  Eton.  March  16th. 
Yorkshire  Marriage  Custom.  March  23rd.  Lizard  Folk- 
lore. Animal  Superstitions  (Hindustan).  March  dOth. 
Mock  Bull-fight  on  Christmas  Eve  (Bolivia).    Nursery  Rime. 

Popular  Science  Monthly,  Ivii.,  7.  F,  Boas^  The  Religious 
Beliefs  of  the  Central  Eskimo. 

Revue  de  TEiBtoire  des  Religions,  xlii.,  3.  Z.  Legcr^  Intro- 
duction ^  r^tude  de  la  Mythologie  Slave.  S.  Reincuh^ 
L'Orphisme  dans  la  IV°  Eglogue  de  Virgile. 

Revue  d'Histoire  et  de  Litt^rature  religieuses,  vi.,  2,  F, 
Cumont,  Lc  Taurobole  et  le  culte  de  Bellona. 

Taveta  Chronicle,  January,  1901.  A.  C.  HolliSy  A  Wataveta 
Ngasu  [marriage  feast].  April.  A,  C,  Hollis^  Laws  of 
Divorce  and  Inheritance  ;  Criminal  Law  of  Wataveta. 

Zeitschrifb  f'lir  Socialwissenschaft,  iv.,  2.  R,  Lasch,  Die 
Anfange  des  Gewerbestandes. 


3folfe*Xore. 


TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  FOLKLORE  SOCIETY. 


Vol.  XII.]  SEPTEMBER,  1901.  [No.  III. 


WEDNESDAY,  APRIL  17th,  1901. 

Mr.  Alfred  Nurr  (Vice-President)  in  the  Chair. 

The  minutes  of  the  previous  Meeting  were  read  and  con- 
firmed. 

The  Chairman  laid  on  the  table  a  copy  of  Dr.  Maclagan's 
Argyllshire  Pastimes y  being  the  extra  volume  published  by 
the  Society  for  the  year  1900. 

The  Chairman  also  read  the  formal  acknowledgment 
received  from  the  Home  Office  of  the  address  presented  by 
the  Society  to  His  Majesty  King  Edward  VII.  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  death  of  Her  late  Majesty  Queen  Victoria. 

The  election  of  the  following  new  members  was 
announced,  viz. :  Messrs.  Hirschfeld  Brothers,  Mr.  S.  E. 
Bensusan,  Mr.  A.  E.  Swanson,  Mr.  T.  V.  Holmes,  Mr.  E. 
Lovett,  Professor  A.  Dietrich,  and  the  Fulham  Libraries. 
The  resignation  of  Miss  R.  Higford  was  also  announced. 

Mr.  E.  Lovett  read  a  paper  on  "The  Ancient  and  Modem 
Game  of  Astragals"   [p.  280],  in  illustration  of  which  he 
exhibited  the  following  objects,  viz. : 
Ancient : 

I.  Photograph  of  Tanagra  Group    in    British    Museum 
representing  Girls  playing  Astragals,  B.C.  300. 

lA.  Ditto  of  Marble  Figure,  full  size,  later  Greek  period. 
British  Museum. 

VOL.   XII.  s 


258  Minutes  of  Meeting. 

2.  Roman  Bronze  Astragali. 

3.  Astragalus  of  Bison,  rubbed  down  as  a  die.     Mound 

burial,  N.  America. 

4.  Ditto  of  Bos  longifrons.  Lake  dwellings,  Switzerland. 
Modern : 

5.  Typical  set  of  bone  Astragals. 

6.  Set  of  four  bones  and  ball.     Gironde,  France. 

7.  "  Set  '^  of  foot  bones  of  pig.     "  Five  Bones."     Kent. 

8.  "  Five  stones  "  of  Diorite  (road  metal).    Croydon. 

9.  *'  Fivies."     Quartzite  pebbles.     Scotland. 

10.  "  Five  stones."     Drift  pebbles.     Essex. 

11.  Five  wooden  cubic  astragals.     Worcestershire. 

12.  Five  discs  of  potsherd.     Norfolk. 

13.  Ditto.     Yorkshire. 

14.  Four  pebbles  and  ball.     "  Cobbles."     Kent. 

15.  "  Marble  and  dubbs"  (made  in  Germany).   Houndsditch. 

16.  Nine    quartzite    pebbles,    as   played   at   Neuch&tel, 

Switzerland. 

17.  Five  stones  called  "Jacks."     Warwickshire. 

18.  Five  stones  called  "Jack  o'  five  stones."    Worcester- 
shire. 

19.  Tamarind  stones  from  Gujerat,  as  played  in  India. 
Miss  Violet  Turner  gave  an  exhibition  of  the  game  of 

Astragals  (locally  known  as  Snobs)  sls  played  in  Derbyshire. 

Mrs.  W.  Price  exhibited  (i)  a  photograph  of  the  Grave- 
yard at  Salruck,  Connemara  [reproduced,  Plate  viii.,  cf. 
p.  104],  and  (2)  a  photograph  of  a  Wedding-dance  Mask 
of  plaited  straw,  used  in  County  Mayo,  Ireland,  of  which  a 
specimen  may  be  seen  in  the  Society^s  case  at  the  Archaeo- 
logical Museum,  Cambridge  [Plate  ix.     See  vol.  iv.,  p.  123]. 

Miss  Ella  Sykes  read  a  paper  on  "Persian  Folklore" 
[p.  261]. 

A  discussion  on  Mr.  Lovett^s  and  Miss  Sykes'  papers 
followed,  in  which  Dr.  Gaster,  Mr.  Longvvorth  Dames,  Dr. 
Ranking,  Mr.  Gomme,  Mr.  Letts,  Mr.  P.  Redmond,  and  the 
Chairman  took  part. 


I 


Minutes  of-  Meeting.  259 

The  Meeting  terminated  with  votes  of  thanks  to  Mr. 
Lovett  and  Miss  Sykes  for  their  papers,  and  to  Miss 
Violet  Turner  for  her  exhibition. 

The  following  books  and  pamphlets  which  had  been 
presented  to  the  Library  since  the  last  Meeting  of  the 
Society  were  laid  on  the  table,  viz. : — 

I.  Schwetzerisches  Archiv  fur  Volkskunde^  March, 
1901.  2.  Y  Cymmrodor^  vol  xiv.,  presented  by '  the 
Cymmrodorion  Society.  3.  Archivio  delta  R.  societh 
Romanay  vol.  23,  parts  3  and  4 ,  presented  by  the  Societh. 
4.  Journal  of  the  Anthropological  Institute^  vol.  xxx. 
(new  series  iii.),  1900. 


WEDNESDAY,  MAT  16th,  1901. 
The  President  (Mr.  E.  W.  Brabrook)  in  the  Chair. 

The  minutes  of  the  last  Meeting  were  read  and  confirmed. 

The  election  of  the  following  new  members  was 
announced,  viz. :  Mr.  J.  L.  Freeborough  and  the  Reading 
Public  Library. 

The  Chairman  referred  in  sympathetic  terms  to  the  loss 
the  science  of  Anthropology  and  Folklore  has  sustained  by 
the  deaths  of  the  Rev.  Dr  Chalmers  and  Miss  Christian 
Maclagan. 

Mr.  E.  Lovett  exhibited  some  crescents  and  discs  used 
as  amulets  and  charms  in  various  parts  of  the  world. 

Miss  Burne  also  exhibited  some  charms  against  the  Evil 
Eye  from  Portugal  and  Italy. 

Mr.  F.  T.  Elworthy  read  a  paper  entitled  "  Dischi  Sacri," 
of  which  he  exhibited  a  number  of  specimens,  and 
illustrated  his  lecture  by  lantern  slides,  from  the  figures 
given  in  his  work  Horns  of  Honour}  A  discussion 
followed,  in  which  Dr.   Gaster,  Mr.  Kirby,   Dr.  Ranking, 

*  Reviewed  in  Folklore^  vol.  xi.,  p.  402. 

S  2 


1 


26o  Minutes  of  Meeting. 

Miss  Burne,  the  Rev.  —  Cornish,  and  the  President  took 
part. 

The  Meeting  terminated  with  votes  of  thanks  to  Mr. 
Lovett  and  Miss  Burne  for  their  exhibits  and  to  Mr. 
Elworthy  for  his  paper. 


WEDNESDAY,  JUNE  19th,  1901. 

Joint  Meeting  of  the  Anthropological  Institute  and  Folk-Lore  Society. 

The  Chair  was  taken  by  Dr.  A.  C.  Haddon,  the 

President  of  the  Institute. 

The  minutes  of  the  last  Meeting  of  the  Institute  having 
been  read  and  confirmed,  Dr.  Haddon  vacated  the  Chair, 
which  at  his  request  was  taken  by  Mr.  Brabrook,  the 
President  of  the  Society. 

The  Chairman  referred  in  sympathetic  terms  to  the  loss 
the  Society  has  sustained  in  the  death  of  Miss  Florence 
Grove. 

A  collection  of  Musquakie  beadwork,  presented  by  Miss 
M.  A.  Owen  to  the  Society,  was  exhibited,  upon  which  Mr. 
E.  S.  Hartland  offered  some  observations,  the  catalogue 
raisonn^  promised  by  Miss  Owen  not  having  yet  reached 
England.  In  the  discussion  which  followed,  Mr.  Henry 
Balfour  f  Curat  or  of  the  Pitt-Rivtrs  Museum  at  Oxford), 
Dr.  Haddon,  Colonel  Temple,  the  Rev.  J.  Sibree,  and  the 
Chairman  took  part. 

At  the  request  of  the  Chairman  Mr.  Hartland  undertook 
to  convey  to  Miss  Owen  the  expression  of  the  very  deep 
sense  of  gratitude  the  Society  was  under  for  her  munificent 
donation. 

A  paper  on  ''Japanese  Gohei/*  by  Mr.  W.  G.  Aston,  was 
read  by  Mr.  Balfour,  and  a  paper  on  ''The  Spirit  of  Vegeta- 
tion," by  Mr.  E.  Tregear,  by  Mr.  N.  W.  Thomas. 

The  Meeting  terminated  with  votes  of  thanks  to  Mr. 
Aston  and  Mr.  Tregear  for  their  papers. 


PERSIAN   FOLKLORE. 

BY  ELLA  c.  SYKES,  AUTHOR  OF  Through  Persia  on  a  Side-saddle^  AND 

The  Story-book  of  the  Shah, 

{Read  at  Meeting  of  17M  Aprils  1901.) 

I  MAKE  no  pretensions  to  possess  any  special  knowledge  of 
this  interesting  subject.  My  only  claim  on  your  attention 
is  that,  during  a  residence  of  over  two  years  in  Persia,  I 
collected  various  items  of  folklore,  which  may  perhaps  be 
new  to  some  of  those  present. 

Strabo  says :  "  Man  is  eager  after  knowledge,  and  the 
love  of  legend  is  but  the  prelude  thereto.  This  is  why 
children  begin  to  listen  (to  fables)  and  are  acquainted  with 
them  before  any  other  kind  of  knowledge."  Persians  of  all 
ranks  are  like  children  in  their  love  of  stories.  From  the 
Shah  downwards  they  listen  with  delight  to  the  public 
story-tellers,  most  of  whom  belong  to  the  order  of 
dervishes,  and  make  the  round  of  the  country,  always 
drawing  small  crowds  in  every  town. 

Some  eight  hundred  years  ago  the  poet  Firdusi  collected 
all  the  old  legends  referring  to  the  rise  of  the  Persian 
nation,  and  made  from  them  a  fine  epic  poem,  entitled 
the  Shah  Nameh,  or  Book  of  Kings.  The  principal 
character,  however,  is  not  a  king,  but  a  hero,  the  mighty 
Rustum,  who  is  the  Hercules  of  Persia,  and  whose  won- 
drous exploits  rival  those  of  that  illustrious  Grecian  hero. 
So  much  a  part  of  the  national  tradition  is  Rustum,  that  a 
specially  strong  man,  if  referred  to  in  conversation,  would 
be  at  once  compared  to  him,  and  all  over  the  north  of 
Persia,  the  scene  of  his  exploits,  villages  named  Rustum- 
abad  frequently  occur. 

Scarcely  less  celebrated  is  Sohrab,  Rustum's  ill-fated  son  ; 
and  the  fine  passage  in  Firdusi,  where  the  champion  of  the 
world,  unwitting  of  the  relationship,  kills  his  own  child  in 
single  combat,  is  well  known  by  every  Persian  possess- 
ing any  claim  to  culture.      Time  fails  to  tell  of  Prince 


262  Persian  Folklore. 

Isfundiyar,  whose  deeds  of  valour  equalled  those  of 
Rustum,  with  whom  he  had  a  celebrated  fight,  lasting  two 
days.  The  old  champion,  now  aged  some  hundreds  of 
years,  was  pressed  so  hard  by  his  youthful  opponent,  that 
he  was  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  the  aid  of  the  Simurgh, 
a  creature  half-bird,  half-beast,  before  he  could  vanquish 
the  prince. 

It  is  but  a  step  from  these  legends  to  the  ghouls^  divSy 
jinnSy  and  afreetSy  in  which  all  Persians,  even  those  who 
are  well  educated,  have  a  firm  belief. 

The  Ghoul  haunts  lonely  places,  and  its  aim  is  to  lure 
travellers  from  their  path  and  then  devour  them.  Its  real 
form  is  monstrous  beyond  words,  and  it  indulges  in  blood- 
curdling yells  and  shrieks;  but  it  has  the  power  of 
assuming  any  shape  it  pleases,  and  often  appears  in  the 
guise  of  a  camel  or  mule,  or  even  in  that  of  its  intended 
victim's  relatives  or  friends.  Both  Rustum  and  Isfundiyar 
had  repeated  combats  with  these  appalling  creatures,  which 
now  specially  haunt  the  "Valley  of  the  Angel  of  Death,** 
not  far  from  Koom.  They  are  supposed  to  be  the  at- 
tendants of  Azrael,  or  Death,  and  feast  on  the  departed. 
Persians  say  that  a  true  believer,  who  utters  the  name  of 
the  Prophet  in  all  sincerity,  can  never  be  harmed  by  a 
ghoul;  but  all  the  same,  no  one  will  run  the  risk  of  going  into 
a  graveyard  or  of  wandering  among  ruins  if  he  can  possibly 
avoid  it.  A  Persian  gentleman  of  my  acquaintance  con- 
fessed to  being  afraid  of  these  horrible  chimeras,  but  said 
that  in  my  company  he  would  venture  into  the  most 
deserted  ruin,  because  he  knew  that  no  ghoul  would  appear 
were  an  European  present.  The  reason  he  gave  was  that 
these  Persian  bogies  only  revealed  themselves  to  those  who 
believed  in  them. 

Divs  or  Demons  are  supposed  to  take  the  form  of  cat- 
headed  men  with  horns  and  hoofs,  and  the  hero  Rustum's 
most  celebrated  exploit  was  the  slaying  of  the  great  White 
Demon  which  lived  in  a  cave  on  Mount  Demavend.       No 


PERSIAN   FOLKLORE. 

BY  ELLA  C.  SYKES,  AUTHOR  OF  Through  Persia  on  a  Side-saddUy  AND 

The  Story-book  of  the  Shah, 

{Read  at  Meeting  of  17M  Aprils  1901.) 

I  MAKE  no  pretensions  to  possess  any  special  knowledge  of 
this  interesting  subject.  My  only  claim  on  your  attention 
is  that,  during  a  residence  of  over  two  years  in  Persia,  I 
collected  various  items  of  folklore,  which  may  perhaps  be 
new  to  some  of  those  present. 

Strabo  says :  "  Man  is  eager  after  knowledge,  and  the 
love  of  legend  is  but  the  prelude  thereto.  This  is  why 
children  begin  to  listen  (to  fables)  and  are  acquainted  with 
them  before  any  other  kind  of  knowledge."  Persians  of  all 
ranks  are  like  children  in  their  love  of  stories.  From  the 
Shah  downwards  they  listen  with  delight  to  the  public 
story-tellers,  most  of  whom  belong  to  the  order  of 
dervishes,  and  make  the  round  of  the  country,  always 
drawing  small  crowds  in  every  town. 

Some  eight  hundred  years  ago  the  poet  Firdusi  collected 
all  the  old  legends  referring  to  the  rise  of  the  Persian 
nation,  and  made  from  them  a  fine  epic  poem,  entitled 
the  Shah  Natnehy  or  Book  of  Kings,  The  principal 
character,  however,  is  not  a  king,  but  a  hero,  the  mighty 
Rustum,  who  is  the  Hercules  of  Persia,  and  whose  won- 
drous exploits  rival  those  of  that  illustrious  Grecian  hero. 
So  much  a  part  of  the  national  tradition  is  Rustum,  that  a 
specially  strong  man,  if  referred  to  in  conversation,  would 
be  at  once  compared  to  him,  and  all  over  the  north  of 
Persia,  the  scene  of  his  exploits,  villages  named  Rustum- 
abad  frequently  occur. 

Scarcely  less  celebrated  is  Sohrab,  Rustum's  ill-fated  son  ; 
and  the  fine  passage  in  Firdusi,  where  the  champion  of  the 
world,  unwitting  of  the  relationship,  kills  his  own  child  in 
single  combat,  is  well  known  by  every  Persian  possess- 
ing any  claim  to  culture.      Time  fails  to  tell  of  Prince 


266  Persian  Folklore. 

It  is  a  usual  custom  to  slay  a  goat  in  order  to  ensure 
prosperity  to  any  personage  on  entering  a  town.  On  the 
approach  of  the  traveller,  the  goat  is  killed  in  the  middle  of 
the  road,  then  its  head  is  placed  on  one  side  and  its  body 
on  the  other,  the  man  thus  honoured  riding  between  the 
different  parts  of  the  animal  and  across  its  blood.  Some- 
times sweetmeats  are  thrown  under  the  hoofs  of  the  rider's 
horse  for  the  same  purpose.  Morier  mentions  that  in 
travelling  through  a  disturbed  part  of  Persia  his  muleteer 
happened  to  kill  a  snake.  The  man  cut  it  in  half,  and 
throwing  the  two  parts  on  different  sides  of  the  road,  he 
explained  to  his  master  that  this  act  would  save  them  from 
any  marauding  band  that  might  be  on  their  track.^ 

It  is  unlucky  to  commence  walking  with  the  left  foot,  or 

for  a  gazelle  to  cross  on  the  left  of  a  rider,  and  all  Persian 

women  consider  that  disaster  is  sure  to  overtake  them  if 

they  start  off  on  a  journey  without  giving  some  money  to 

the  poor.     Once  my  horse,  shying,  was  within  an  ace  of 

precipitating  us  both  into  the  moat  round  Kerman,  and  a 

Persian  gentleman  with  our  party  told  me  that  the  incident 

was  owing  to  my  lack  of  charity  as  we  started.     A  way  of 

ensuring  a  successful  journey,  which  is  common  to  both 

Persians  and  Parsees,  is  to  show  a  mirror  to  the  traveller, 

and  at  the  same  time  to  offer  him  a  glass  of  water  on  which 

floats  the  head  of  a  flower,  or  to  burn  certain  herbs  before 

him.      During  our  journeys  in   Persia  my  brother  and  I 

have  been  speeded  on  our  way  in  this  manner  two  or  three 

times  both  by  Parsees  and  by  Persians.     My  little  Parsee 

maid  also  used  often  to  wave  the  smoke  of  a  burning  herb 

before    me    when    we    left   one    camp    to    go   to    another. 

She  would  assure  me  that  this  ceremony  would  guarantee 

me  against  all  kinds  of  accidents. 

To  sneeze  once  when  starting  on  any  expedition  is  an 
evil  omen,  and  as  far  as  I  could  make  out  it  is  equally  un- 
lucky whether  the  traveller  himself  or  anyone   else  per- 

'  Morier,  A  Jourtuy  through  Persia  in  i8o8  atid  1809,  p.  316. 


Persian  Folklore.  267 

petrates  the  sneeze.  Persians  in  such  a  case  will  stare 
hard  at  the  sun  in  order  to  induce  a  second  or  third  sneeze. 
If  they  are  unsuccessful  in  doing  this,  they  can  betake 
themselves  to  repeating  a  certain  invocation  to  Allah ;  but 
most  Persians  will  give  up  the  expedition,  believing  firmly 
that  it  can  only  end  in  disaster.  Curiously  enough,  how- 
ever, Persians  believe,  on  the  other  hand,  that  if  they  are 
desiring  anything  ardently,  and  someone  sneezes  at  that 
moment,  that  their  wish  is  sure  to  be  granted.  My  brother's 
Persian  secretary  always  attributed  a  bad  accident  to  the 
fact  that  someone  had  sneezed  just  as  he  was  mounting 
his  horse.  As  his  companions  were  Englishmen,  he  felt 
ashamed  to  decline  the  ride,  but  the  sequels  of  a  bolting 
horse  and  a  broken  arm  made  him  chary  about  giving  up 
his  superstitions  from  that  time.  He  also  assured  me  that 
he  owed  the  schooling  he  had  had  in  England  to  the  fact  that 
when,  as  quite  a  child,  he  was  wishing  to  go  to  that  country, 
someone  had  sneezed.  On  investigation,  I  found  that  a 
lapse  of  several  years  had  occurred  between  this  lucky 
sneeze  and  its  consummation,  and  I  pointed  out  this  fact  to 
him.  It  made  no  difference,  however,  in  his  belief  in  that 
particular  sneeze. 

It  is  unlucky  to  name  a  horse  after  a  Persian,  as  if  any 
evil  befalls  the  animal,  the  same  injury  will  overtake  the 
man  after  whom  it  is  called.  This  fact  was  brought  home 
to  me  in  a  curious  way.  We  had  bought  a  horse  from  a 
Persian  gentleman,  and  had,  in  ignorance  of  this  supersti- 
tion, called  it  after  its  former  owner.  When  I  met  this  latter 
after  a  lapse  of  some  two  years,  I  was  struck  by  his  eager 
inquiries  as  to  the  health  of  this  horse,  and  at  last  elicited 
the  real  reason  of  this  unusual  interest. 

If  any  accident  occurs  to  a  rider,  his  horse  being  hurt  but 
he  himself  escaping  unscathed,  the  Persians  say,  "  The 
horse  has  become  a  sacrifice, "  meaning  that  the  injury 
meant  for  the  rider  has  descended  on  his  steed.  During  our 
travels  in  Baluchistan  an  incident  of  this  kind  happened  to 


268  Persian  Folklore. 

my  brother,  and  the  horse  which  he  was  riding  was  killed. 
As  the  animal  was  a  great  pet  with  us  both  I  felt  the  loss 
keenly,  greatly  to  the  surprise  of  our  servants,  who  con- 
sidered that  I  ought  to  have  rejoiced,  as  the  horse  had 
averted  the  evil  intended  for  my  brother. 

Throughout  Persia  there  is  a  very  strong  belief  in  the 
Evil  Eye,  Every  European  on  entering  the  country  is 
warned  never  to  admire  anything  belonging  to  a  Persian 
without  using  the  expression  "  Mashallah  "  (God  is  great) 
to  avert  it.     If  this  be  omitted  harm  is  sure  to  follow. 

Rich  Persians  frequently  dress  their  children  in  shabby 
clothes  in  order  to  avert  the  Evil  Eye.  A  friend  of  mine 
once  took  her  children  by  invitation  to  visit  a  Persian  lady 
of  rank  in  Tehran  who  had  one  small  son.  The  child  did 
not  make  its  appearance  for  a  considerable  time,  and  then 
was  carried  into  the  room  dressed  in  clothes  no  better  than 
would  be  worn  by  a  peasant's  baby.  This  was  because  the 
mother  feared  that  the  European  lady  might  admire  her  son 
and  so  bring  illness  upon  him.  A  few  days  after  this  my 
friend's  Persian  nurse  came  to  her  in  great  agitation,  saying 
that  some  Europeans  had  admired  one  of  her  charges  and 
had  omitted  to  say  "  Mashallah."  Oddly  enough  the  child 
fell  ill  the  next  day,  proving  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  nurse 
that  the  evil  eye  had  been  cast  upon  it. 

Old  hags  are  popularly  credited  with  this  unpleasant 
power,  and  no  superstitious  Persian  will  look  at  one  if  he 
can  avoid  it. 

Blue  is  the  favourite  colour  to  ward  off  the  Evil  Eye,  and 
camels,  horses,  and  mules  have  beads  fastened  on  their  tails, 
or  even  wear  blue  necklaces  in  the  case  of  highly  valued 
animals.  Children  frequently  wear  a  sheep's  eye  brought  by 
a  pilgrim  from  Mecca  who  has  been  there  on  the  day  of  the 
great  holocaust  of  sheep.  A  turquoise  is  stuck  into  this 
eye,  and  the  whole,  put  into  an  amulet-case,  is  sewn  on  to 
the  child's  cap.  Another  powerful  charm  is  a  verse  from 
the  Koran,  placed  in  the  bazu-hand  or  amulet-box,  which  is 


Persian  Folklore.  269 

then  bound  on  the  fore-arm.  A  metal  hand  with  one  finger 
extended  is  also  used  for  the  same  purpose.  A  wild  pig 
kept  in  the  stables  is  supposed  to  keep  the  evil  eye  off  the 
horses,  who  seem  to  be  peculiarly  liable  to  this  malign  in- 
fluence. A  groom  who  broke  the  knees  of  one  of  our  horses 
was  sharply  reprimanded  by  my  brother  for  his  careless 
riding.  He  answered  promptly  that  the  accident  was  no  fault 
of  his,  because  a  man  had  admired  the  horse,  and  as  he  did 
not  add  the  word  "  Mashallah"  it  was  not  surprising  that 
the  animal  came  to  harm.  This  is  only  one  of  dozens  of 
examples  that  came  under  my  notice,  showing  the  deeply- 
seated  belief  in  the  evil  eye. 

Curiously  enough,  a  stable  constitutes  bast  or  sanc- 
tuary in  Persia.  While  living  at  Kerman,  we  frequently 
found  some  refugee  or  other  in  our  stable,  come  to  implore 
my  brother's  good  offices  with  the  Governor.  On  one 
occasion,  when  we  were  in  Baluchistan,  the  Governor  of  the 
province  threatened  to  bastinado  his  soldiers  for  misconduct. 
We  were  in  camp  at  the  time  and  our  horses  were  tethered 
in  a  grove  of  palm-trees.  To  my  amusement  the  soldiers 
repaired  in  a  body  to  this  grove,  and  refused  to  move  from 
among  our  horses  until  the  Governor  promised  to  overlook 
their  offence. 

While  on  the  subject  of  sanctuary,  I  may  mention  that 
every  shrine  has  this  privilege,  and  in  most  Persian  towns 
there  are  quarters  in  which  any  malefactor  is  safe,  notably 
at  the  sacred  city  of  Koom.  To  hold  on  to  the  English  flag- 
staff, or  to  grasp  the  coat  of  any  great  personage,  also  con- 
fers sanctuary.  ^ 

*  [Sanctuary.  "  Among  Bedouin  tribes  there  is  an  ancient  law  called 
the  law  of  *  dakhal/  An  escaped  prisoner,  or  a  man  in  danger  of  being 
captured  by  an  enemy,  may  by  this  law  claim  refuge  in  the  tent  of  an  Arab, 
even  in  the  encampment  of  an  opposing  tribe.  The  refugee  enters  the  tent, 
takes  bold  of  the  robe  of  the  occupant,  and  exclaims  :  *  Ya  dakhaliek,'  and 
thus  becomes  a  *  dakhiel,*  or  prot^^.  A  true  Arab  will  defend  his  *  dakhiel' 
with  his  life.  The  law  of  *  dakhal '  is,  however,  only  in  full  force  among 
those  tribes  who  are,  by  their  strength  or  geographical  position,  independent 
of  the  Turkish  Government.      Among  tribes  in  which  the  law  is  maintained  a 


270  Persian  Folklore. 

Medicine  in  Persia  is  more  or  less  a  question  of  charms. 
A  hot  disease  requires  a  cold  remedy,  and  vice  versi.  The 
advice  of  the  astrologers  is  always  taken  as  to  summoning 
the  doctor,  and  they  are  again  consulted  before  his  medicine 
be  swallowed.  The  doctor's  principal  stock-in-trade  is  a 
brass  bowl  with  the  signs  of  the  Zodiac  and  texts  of  the 
Koran  engraved  outside.  The  inner  surface  is  incised 
with  a  mass  of  short  prayers — a  prayer  for  each  disease.  To 
each  prayer  belongs  a  small  key  with  the  name  of  the 
disease.  The  method  of  procedure  is  simple  in  the 
extreme.  The  doctor  fills  the  bowl  with  water,  makes  a 
feint  of  unlocking  with  one  of  the  keys  the  prayer  alluding 
to  his  patient's  disease,  and  tells  the  sick  man  to  swallow 
the  water.  If  this  be  done  in  a  believing  spirit,  a  cure  is 
sure  to  follow. 

Here  is  another  example  of  a  faith-cure.  A  European 
lady-doctor  was  asked  by  a  Persian  patient  for  a  token  in 
order  that  she  might  be  admitted  to  her  presence.  For 
lack  of  anything  better  the  lady-doctor  gave  a  safety-pin, 
but  her  patient  did  not  appear  at  the  appointed  time. 
Shortly  after,  however,  the  token  was  returned  with  thanks, 
the  patient  alleging  that  she  had  been  cured  by  drinking 
the  water  in  which  she  had  placed  the  safety-pin. 

Many  other  remedies  are  resorted  to.  If  anyone  is  at 
the  point  of  d^ath,  a  pearl  ground  up  will  act  as  a  power- 
ful restorative,  while  powdered   rubies  and  emeralds  are 

man  who  proved  false  to  his  dakhiel  would  be  disgraced  for  life.  The  expres- 
sion *  Ya  dakhaliek/  is  used  by  town  Arabs  as  a  term  of  endearment,  imply- 
ing perfect  reliance  and  trust." — M.  E.  Rogers,  Domestic  Life  in  Palestine, 
p.  391  (published  by  Bell  and  Daldy  in  1862,  and  probably  long  since  out  of 
print).  Miss  Rogers,  the  sister  of  the  well-known  *' Rogers  Bey  "(Mr.  E.  T. 
Rogers,  H.B.M.  Consular  Service),  had  unusual  opportunities  of  observing 
Palestinian  life  and  manners.  In  the  preceding  pages  she  describes  how 
the  young  sons  of  an  Arab  chieftain  of  Djebel  Nablous,  who  had  been 
worsted  in  a  local  strife  in  which  the  Turkish  authorities  took  sides  with  the 
opposite  party,  sought  her  protection  at  the  British  Vice-Consulate  at  Haifa, 
clinging  piteously  to  her  skirts  with  cries  of  **  Va  dakhaliek  !''  and  entreaties 
to  be  kept  from  faUing  into  the  hands  of  the  Turkish  Ciovernor.    C.  S.  Hirnk.j 


Persian  Folklore. 


administered  as  tonics,  and  to  sew  a  patient  up  in  a  raw 
hide  is  another  remedy.  If  a  person  is  badly  burnt,  the 
wounds  are  sometimes  smeared  over  with  soot  from  the 
bottom  of  the  cooking  vessels,  and  to  drink  quantities  of 
pomegranate  juice  is  another  cure  for  the  same  thing. 

A  child  suffering  from  water  on  the  brain  was  brought  to 
a  Persian  doctor,  who  assured  the  parents  that  it  was 
possessed  by  a  demon.  He  advised  them  to  lay  it  in  a 
newly-dug  grave  during  the  night,  saying  that  in  the  morn- 
ing it  would  either  be  cured  or  the  demon  would  have  made 
away  with  it.  The  parents  followed  the  prescription  faith- 
fully, and  their  surprise  was  great  to  find  their  child  next 
morning  sleeping  soundly  in  its  strange  cradle,  neither 
better  nor  worse. 

When  the  child  of  one  of  my  friends  was  very  ill,  the 
servants  implored  her  to  allow  them  to  try  a  charm  in  order 
to  cure  it.  They  mixed  grease  and  charcoal,  with  which 
they  made  crosses  on  the  child's  forehead,  the  palms  of  its 
hands,  and  the  soles  of  its  feet.  Then  one  of  them  took  a 
roasted  egg,  and  holding  it  in  his  two  hands,  raised 
them  towards  heaven,  invoking  at  the  same  time  the 
names  of  all  the  people  whom  he  especially  loved  and 
respected. 

Another  charm  used  when  a  Persian  is  ill,  and  his  disease 
does  not  yield  to  the  remedies  of  the  doctor,  is  to  bring 
eggs  into  his  room  and  plaster  them  over  with  mud,  calling 
each  by  the  name  of  some  possible  enemy.  The  eggs  are 
then  baked  on  the  hearth,  and  the  one  that  cracks  first  tells 
which  enemy  it  is  that  has  bewitched  him.  To  escape 
from  his  power,  the  egg  must  be  thrown  into  running  water 
at  a  cross-road  if  possible. 

Another  method  used  to  cure  a  sick  man  supposed  to  be 
bewitched,  is  for  his  wife  to  beg  for  fragments  of  food  from 
all  his  acquaintances.  This  she  does  in  the  belief  that  if 
her  husband  can  eat  of  the  food  of  his  enemy  he  will  he 
cured.     She  makes  a  kind  of  porridge  of  all  the  pieces  thai 


272  Persian  Folklore. 

she  has  collected,  and  when  the  sick  man  has  swallowed  it 
he  is  supposed  to  recover. 

One  of  our  Persian  servants,  whom  we  had  taken  with 
us  from  the  capital  to  Kerman,  became  very  queer  in  his 
behaviour,  and  one  day  he  took  French-leave,  and  made 
his  way  back  to  his  home,  some  six  hundred  miles  away. 
The  other  servants  were  at  no  loss  for  an  explanation  of 
his  conduct.  They  said  immediately  that  his  wife  at 
Tehran  had  bewitched  him  in  order  to  get  him  home  again. 

Near  Kerman  a  small  stream  trickled  out  of  a  well  of 
rock.  Popular  superstition  ascribed  this  to  a  blow  from 
the  hand  of  Ali,  and  women  desiring  to  become  mothers 
would  drink  the  water  and  hang  candles  and  rags  on  the 
bushes  near,  in  order  to  attract  the  notice  of  the  saint. 
Not  far  from  this  was  a  cave  in  which  sick  women  put 
food.  If  this  were  eaten  during  the  night,  it  was  a  sign 
that  the  Peri-banou  or  queen  of  the  fairies  would  cure 
them. 

Some  families  possess  a  stone  as  an  antidote  against 
scorpion  and  tarantula  bites.  They  say  it  is  formed  of  the 
hardened  tears  of  a  certain  Persian  prince,  who  was  turned 
by  enchantment  into  an  ibex,  and  wandered  among  the 
mountains,  eternally  bewailing  his  cruel  fate. 

Throughout  Baluchistan  are  ziaratSy  or  shrines,  consisting 
of  small  enclosures  of  rough  stones.  In  the  middle  of 
these  is  always  a  heap  of  boulders,  among  which  sticks 
fluttering  with  rags  are  placed.  These  rags  are  pieces  of 
the  garments  of  devotees,  who  imagine  that  in  this  way 
they  are  calling  the  attention  of  the  holy  man  who  is  buried 
there,  and  who  will  cure  their  complaints  and  intercede  for 
them  with  Allah.  Often  fine  ibex  or  moufflon  horns  are 
placed  on  the  stones  to  do  honour  to  the  saint,  and  usually 
there  are  camel-bells,  presumably  to  attract  his  attention. 

As  these  shrines  are  extremely  common  in  Baluchistan,  I 
used  to  wonder  what  qualities  went  to  make  a  saint,  and  was 
interested  when  at  a  place  called  Manish  to  find  that  the 


Persian  Folklore. 


273 


late  Governor  was  buried  under  a  huge  cairn  of  stones  with 

the  usual  accompaniments  of  fluttering  rags  and  ibex  horns. 

The  Baluchis  informed  us  that  this  man's  claim  to  saintship 

Lconsisted  in  the  fact  that  he  had  never  robbed  the  poor. 

jFrom  an  Oriental  point  of  view,  the  man  who  has  it  in  his 

tower  to  oppress  and  to  amass  money  as  a  result  of  his 

ippressions,  and  refrains  from  doing  so,  is  worthy  of  every 

lossible  honour.     The  natives  themselves  were  often  not 

■■very  clear  as  to  the  saintly  personages  buried  beneath  the 

liinnumerable   cairns   of   stones.     In   reading   Mr.  Floyer's 

■  book,   Unexplored   Baluchistan,    I    noticed   that   he   says 

mp.  39)  that  he  sometimes  started  a  eiarai  or  shrine  himself 

Lby  collecting  together  a  small  heap  of  stones  as  he  walked 

Ion   ahead  of  his  caravan.    His  camel-drivers,  when  they 

|-came  up  to  the  spot,  imagined  that  this  must  be  the  grave 

I  of  some  dervish,  and  at  once  cast  their  quota  of  boulders 

^on  the  cairn. 

Occasionally  I  noticed  a  shrine  walled  round  with  upright 

Bslabs  of  a  sort  of  shale,  on  which  were  scratched  animals 

F-and  figures  ;  a  proceeding  quite  contrary  to  the  tenets  of 

Mohammedanism,  which  does  not  allow  anything  human  or 

animal  to  be  depicted. 

In  some  siarats  the  head  and  feet  of  the  saint  were 
marked  by  s!ate  monoliths,  and  these  were  often  placed 
several  yards  apart ;  the  idea  being,  I  believe,  to  give  an 
impression  in  this  way  of  the  grandeur  of  the  departed. 

Often  1  observed  large  round  places  swept  clean  of  the 

^lack  shingle  and  formed  into  a  circle  with   low  upright 

F stones,  a  small  pile  of  stones  being  left  in  the  centre.     Dr. 

Bellew,  in  his  book  From  the  Indus  to  the  Tigris,  says 

(p.  54)  they  are  called  chaps,  a  word  meaning  "  clapping  of 

-hands,"  and  that  on  the  occasions  of  weddings  the  Baluchis 

lance  here,  keeping  time  to  the  muiiic  by  clapping  their 

inds,  and  the  musicians  take  up  their  position  on  the  stones. 

lie  explanation,  however,  given  to  me  about  these  places 

was,  that    they    were    used    as    points    for    the    people    to 


274  Persian  Folklore. 

assemble  and  hear  parts  of  the  iameh  or  passi6n  play  recitedi 
the  dervish  who  conducted  these  religious  exercises  sitting 
in  the  centre.     Perhaps  both  explanations  are  right. 

The  folklore  of  places  is  interesting.  For  examplci  the 
fort  of  Aibi  in  Baluchistan  had  a  stuffed  dummy  warrior 
always  hanging  over  the  parapet.  We  were  informed  that 
the  figure  had  been  placed  there  by  a  dervish,  who  had 
assured  the  Baluchis  that  by  this  means  their  castle  was 
rendered  impregnable. 

The  volcano  Demaveud  in  the  Elburz  Range  is  the  scene 
of  many  of  the  Persian  legends,  and  was  the  home  of 
demons  and  genii,  besides  being  the  resting  place  of  the 
blessed  on  their  way  to  paradise. 

Kuh-i-Shah|  or  "  The  Mountain  of  the  Saint,"  in  S.E. 
Persia,  a  peak  1 3,700  feet  in  height,  is  dedicated  to  a  holy 
man  who  is  supposed  to  cause  explosions  in  the  mountain 
during  the  summer  months.  Whether  these  explosions  take 
place  or  not  I  am  unable  to  say,  but  my  brother's  huntsmen 
firmly  believed  in  them.  My  brother  and  I  ascended  this 
mountain  in  July,  1895,  and  found  a  heap  of  stones  at  the 
summit,  on  which  was  laid  a  large  collection  of  coins,  beads, 
brass  rings,  and,  odd  to  relate,  a  Queen  Victoria  token.  As 
the  mountain  was  not  a  volcano  there  was  nothing  to  account 
for  the  theory  of  these  supposed  explosions. 

Kuh-i-Chehel-Tun  or  "  The  Mountain  of  the  Forty 
Beings,"  in  Baluchistan,  is  supposed  to  be  haunted  by  forty 
children,  turned  by  enchantment  into  goats,  which  cease- 
lessly fling  down  stones  on  all  who  dare  to  climb  their 
fastnesses. 

We  will  now  turn  to  the  subject  of  Games, 

1.  A  ball  is  hit  into  the  air  with  a  gaudily-painted  stick. 
Whoever  catches  it  calls  out  Goal  geriftun^  a  corruption 
of  Gul  geriftun  (I  have  taken  the  flower.)  Who  misses  is 
pelted. 

2.  A  row  of  walnuts  are  put  on  a  ridge  and  knocked  off 
by  another  walnut  thrown  at  four  to  five  yards'  distance. 


Persian    Folklore. 

3.  A  chain  gathered  up  in  the  hand  is  thrown  out  so  as 
to  touch  another  player. 

4.  An  oblong  is  drawn  with  divisions,  and  stones  are 
kicked  into  them,  each  division  counting  so  much. 

5.  The  Jereed,  in  which  horsemen  throw  javelins  at  one 
another;  the  men  aimed  at,  ducking  to  avoid  the  missile. 

6.  The  Dogfie/a-Basi {ihrowing  game)  is  played  on  horse- 
back. The  players  fling  a  stick  on  the  ground  with  great 
force  and  catch  it  up  as  it  rebounds. 

7.  A  lemon  is  thrown  into  the  air  and  then  fired  at  from 
horseback. 

S.  An  egg  placed  on  a  little  mound  of  sand  is  fired  at  by 
horsemen  passing  it  at  full  gallop. 

9  Chess,  a  kind  of  draughts,  pitch  and  toss,  marbles 
(played  with  pebbles),  and  a  species  of  rounders  and  fives, 
are  all  known  in  Persia,  as  well  as  card-games. 

10.  My  brother,  Major  Sykes,  has  had  some  success  in 
reviving /o/(j,  which  is  said  to  have  had  its  origin  in  Persia. 
I'ln  the  SiaA  Namek  is  an  account  of  a  game  played  by  the 
vPersian  hero,  Siawush,  before  Afrasiyab,  King  of  Tartary, 
iMy  brother  has  sent  home  copies  of  old  tiles  on  which 
K'the  game  is  depicted  in  a  spirited  manner.  The  originals 
lare  about  the  date  of  Shah  Abbas,  and  the  king  is  intro- 
fduced  as  watching  the  game. 

No  rUs,  the  Persian  New  Year's  Day,  which  takes  place 
F  shout  March  2ist,  as  the  sun  passes  into  Aries,  is  a  day  of 
general  rejoicing,  marking  the  end  of  winter  and  the 
beginning  of  spring.  It  is  a  festival  dating  from  remote 
antiquity,  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  Mohammedanism. 
l£very  Persian  dons  new  clothes,  all  ser^■ants  being  given 
:w  costumes  by  their  masters.  There  is  a  feast  in  every 
luse,  and  among  the  food  are  dishes  of  springing  barley 
^nd  lighted  candles.  On  this  day  the  -Shah  shows  himself 
Ko  his  subjects,  gives  Kalats  or  robes  of  honour,  and 
distributes  largess;  while  ceremonious  visits  of  congratula- 
tion are  paid  to  him  and  to  his  representatives  in  all  the 


276  Persian  Folklore. 

cities  in  Persia.  Persians  have  a  superstition  that  whatever 
a  man  is  doing  on  this  day,  he  will  be  fated  to  do  the  same 
thing  throughout  the  whole  year ;  therefore  they  are  always 
anxious  not  to  be  travelling  at  Na  rilzy  not  wishing  to  be 
unsettled  for  a  twelvemonth.  At  this  season,  according  to 
Dr.  Wills,  ^  the  dervishes  or  professional  beggars  erect 
tents  before  the  houses  of  prominent  personages,  make  a 
pretence  of  a  garden  by  sticking  twigs  in  the  ground,  and 
then  blow  a  cow's  horn  incessantly  with  the  cry  "  Ya  hue!" 
(my  right) .  They  refuse  to  leave  until  they  have  been  given 
a  good  present  of  money. 

A  Persian  bride  is  given  a  piece  of  gold  for  luck.  She 
carries  bread  and  salt  into  her  husband's  house  to  ensure 
plenty,  and  kisses  her  father's  hearth  as  she  leaves  her  old 
home. 

The  Shah  has  the  right  to  see  every  woman  in  his  kingdom 
unveiled,  and  the  royal  glance  is  believed  to  bring  good 
luck  to  those  on  whom  it  is  cast. 

I  will  now  say  a  few  words  about  the  Gahres  or  Fire- 
Worshippers,  commonly  called  Parsees  by  Europeans,  the 
word  Parsee  or  Farsi  merely  meaning  Persian.  These  are 
the  descendants  of  the  old  inhabitants  of  the  land,  who  clung 
to  their  faith  when  Persia  was  overrun  by  the  conquering 
Arabs.  They  are  to  be  found  at  Tehran,  but  are  principally 
at  Yezd  and  Kerman,  and  also  in  the  villages  near  these 
latter  cities,  and  of  course  at  Bombay.  They  are  looked 
down  upon  by  the  Persians,  who  will  not  allow  them 
to  ride  through  the  towns,  and  restrict  the  townsmen  to 
ugly  mustards  and  browns  in  their  costumes,  not  allowing 
them  to  wear  the  flowing  Persian  ahha  or  cloak.  The 
peasants  wear  curious  helmet-shaped  felt  caps.  Moreover 
the  Gabres  are  restricted  as  to  what  trade  they  may  follow, 
and  in  consequence  the  race  has  taken  to  agriculture,  all 
the  best  gardeners  in  Persia  being  fire-worshippers.  The 
women  go  about  with  their  faces  uncovered,  and  have  a 

'  Dr.  Wills,  In  the  Land  of  the  Lion  and  the  Stitty  p.  46. 


picturesque  dress  composed  of  a  gay  chintz  jacket,  fu!l 
trousers  which  are  embroidered  in  many  coloured  stripes, 
and  half  a  dozen  wraps  for  the  head  ;  the  fifth  consisting  of 
a  white  veil  falling  in  graceful  folds  down  the  back,  but  not 
concealing  the  face,  and  the  last  being  a  large  checked 
cotton  sheet  worn  over  the  head  and  wrapt  round  the  body 
for  out-door  use.  Little  Gabre  girls  wear  a  small  coif,  and 
the  hair  falls  from  it  in  long  plaits,  but  the  women  would 
look  upon  it  as  immodest  to  allow  anyone  to  see  their  head 
without  its  coverings. 

The  Gabres,  as  is  well  known,  follow  the  tenets  of  Zoro- 
aster, and  have  the  Zendavesta  as  their  Sacred  Book.  They 
believe  in  Ormuzd,  the  Good  Spirit,  and  in  Ahriman,  the 
Principle  of  Evil,  and  worship  fire  as  a  deity.  At  the  city 
of  Yezd  is  the  chief  temple  of  the  fire  worshippers,  who 
believe  that  the  flame  which  burns  on  the  altar  there  has 
never  been  extinguished  through  the  centuries.  When 
Gabres  settle  in  any  other  part  of  Persia  they  always  get 
some  of  the  sacred  fire  from  Yezd  to  place  in  their  temples. 
The  priests  who  attend  to  this  fire  wear  a  veil  over 
their  mouths  in  order  not  to  pollute  the  holy  flame  with 
their  breath,  and  it  is  on  account  of  this  thai  no  Gabre  will 
blow  out  a  flame.  My  little  Parsee  maid  always  extin- 
guished a  candle  with  her  fingers  when  she  entered  my 
service.^ 

The  Gabre  men  wear  a  threefold  cord  round  their  waists, 
signifying  good  thoughts,  good  words,  and  good  deeds. 
This  they  untie  and  retie  five  times  daily  at  the  hours 
of  prayer. 

They  reverence  the  dog,  which  in  the  Zendavesta  is  the 
special  animal  of  Ormuzd,  and  a  dog  is  often  called  in 
to  decide  whether  a  man  be  dead  or  not.  If  it  eats  the 
bread  laid  on  the  breast  of  the  supposed  corpse,  life  is  ex- 
tinct, but  if  it  refuses  the  food  there  is  still  hope. 

'  The  Shah's  band  plays  at  sunset  every  day  nl  Tehran,  and  Ihis  performance 
is  supposed  iq  be  a  Zordiisirian  cuslom,  surviving  from  ihe  limes  when  ihe 
wo  WM  worshipped. 


278  Persian  Folklore. 

Herodotus  says  that  the  corpse  of  every  male  Persian  had 
to  be  torn  by  a  dog  or  by  a  beast  of  prey.  At  the  present 
day  the  dead  are  exposed  on  towers  to  be  eaten  by  vultures 
and  crows.  If  the  birds  pick  out  the  right  eye  of  a  corpse 
first,  it  is  a  sign  that  the  soul  has  gone  to  the  Zoroastrian 
Paradise.  If,  however,  the  left  eye  is  attacked  first,  the 
fate  of  the  departed  soul  is  a  gloomy  one.^ 

There  is  considered  to  be  such  defilement  in  touching  a 
corpse,  that  a  special  class  of  Parsees  do  all  the  burying, 
and  even  relatives  will  not  assist  a  man  if  they  think  he  may 
breathe  his  last  while  they  are  touching  him. 

Close  to  the  Dakhma^  or  Tower  of  Silence,  at  Kerman, 
in  S.E.  Persia,  was  a  house  with  unglazed  windows.  The 
relatives  of  deceased  Gabres  were  in  the  habit  of  setting 
out  a  substantial  meal  in  the  upper  room  of  this  house, 
affirming  that  the  spirit,  just  after  its  separation  from  the 
body,  was  greatly  in  need  of  nourishment. 

The  Parsees  never  wash  anything  on  a  Tuesday,  saying 
that  no  article  can  be  cleansed  on  that  day. 

My  Parsee  maid  used  to  hang  a  small  white  shell  on  any 
possession  that  she  was  afraid  of  losing,  affirming  that  it 
was  an  infallible  charm. 

I  have  selected  a  few  Proverbs  and  Saws  which  are 
characteristic  of  the  country. 

Here  is  a  beggar's  refrain  : — 

"Khodaguft,  'bidde,' 
Shaitan  guft,  'nidde.'" 
It  means,  "God  says  'give,'  but  Satan  says,  *  Don't  give.''' 

"  Stretch  your  legs  no  further  than  your  carpet,"  is  equi- 
valent to  our  "  Cut  your  coat  according  to  your  cloth." 

*  [At  the  end  of  the  17th  century,  it  was  the  custom  in  Kebraboth,  a  suburb 
of  Ispahan,  to  let  a  cock  out  of  the  house  in  which  the  dead  body  lay.  If  it 
was  caught  and  carried  off  by  a  fox,  it  was  believed  that  the  deceased  person 
would  be  happy  in  the  next  life.  If  this  test  failed,  or  was  ambiguous  in  its 
issue,  the  corpse  was  decorated  and  hung  up  on  the  wall  of  the  cemeter>-  with 
wooden  forks  for  the  test  related  by  Miss  Sykes.  (Olearius,  Persianische  Reise- 
heichreibwtg,  p.  49S-)     N.  W.  THOMAS.] 


"  The  jackal  dipped  himself  in  indigo,  and  then  thought 
he  was  a  peacock."  explains  itself. 

"  This  camel  is  at  your  gate,"  is  tlie  same  as  "  This  sin 
is  laid  at  your  door." 

"  When  you  are  in  a  room  be  of  the  same  colour  as  the 
people  in  it,"  is  the  Persian  for  "  Do  at  Rome  as  the 
Romans  do." 

"The  swiftest  horse  is  apt  to  stumble,"  is  "  More  haste 
worse  speed,"  and  our  familiar  proverb,  "  Don't  look  a  gift- 
horse  in  the  mouth,  "  is  found  also  in  Persia. 

"  A  cut  string  may  be  joined  again,  but  the  knot  always 
remains,"  is  used  in  speaking  of  a  broken  friendship. 

"  Only  a  Mazanderani  dog  can  catch  a  Mazanderani 
fox,"  is  the  equivalent  to  our  "  Set  a  thief  to  catch  a 
thief." 

"  Often  to  be  kind  to  the  tiger  is  to  be  cruel  to  the  lamb," 
seems  to  have  no  equivalent. 

"  If  you  have  a  fine  horse  it  becomes  a  gift,  or  pishkash." 
This  proverb  alludes  to  the  way  in  which  princes  and  those 
in  authority  despoil  those  under  them. 

■'  A  Persian  receiving  a  toman  (a  coin  worth  about 
four  shillings)  at  once  buys  a  led  horse,"  is  a  saying  sati- 
rizing the  national  love  of  tashakhus  or  show. 

"  Our  fathers  never  saw  this  even  in  a  dream,"  is  a  com- 
mon expression  denoting  astonishment. 

"  All  pains  can  be  forgotten  in  forty  days,  but  the  pain  of 
being  deprived  of  food  lasts  forty  years." 

"  A  fool  said, '  My  father  was  vizier  to  the  Sultan,'  and  I 
answered,  '  What  is  that  to  you  ?'  "  This  is  a  Persian  way 
of  snubbing  anyone  who  may  boast  of  his  ancestry. 

"War  at  the  outset  is  good  if  it  ends  in  peace,"  is  the 
Persian  manner  of  saying  that  it  is  good  to  begin  a  friend- 
ship with  a  little  aversion. 

"  Man  is  the  slave  of  his  benefactor." 

"The  innocent  man  may  go  to  the  foot  of  the  scaffold, 
but  he  will  never  ascend  it." 


28o  The  Ancient  and  Modern  Game  of  Astragals. 

"  If  you  become  rich  and  your  head  is  not  turned,  you  are 


a  man." 


"  New  sleeves  get  a  good  dinner."  This  proverb  alludes 
to  the  story  that  a  shabbily-dressed  mollah  was  turned 
away  from  a  feast.  On  returning  in  a  new  coat  lie  was 
given  the  place  of  honour  at  the  entertainment,  and  re- 
peated the  saying  at  intervals  during  the  evening  in  a 
bewildered  manner. 


THE  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  GAME  OF 

ASTRAGALS. 

BY  B     LOVETT. 

{Read  at  Meeting  of  I'jth  Aprils  1901.) 

A  FEW  years  ago,  during  a  visit  to  Holland  and  Belgium,  I 
noticed  in  the  poorer  parts  of  some  of  the  towns  children 
playing  a  game  upon  doorsteps  with  small  metal  objects, 
which  upon  investigation  proved  to  be  white  metal  copies 
of  the  Astragalus  or  knuckle-bone.  I  soon  found  some  of 
these  for  sale  in  the  toy  shops,  where  I  purchased  them  at 
prices  ranging  from  three  a  penny  to  about  a  penny  each. 

They  were  of  great  interest  to  me,  as  they  seemed  to  be 
a  direct  descendant  of  the  bronze  Astragali  of  the  Roman 
period,  and  they  prompted  me  to  collect  a  few  notes  and 
specimens  to  illustrate  the  devolution  and  differentiation  of 
this  very  ancient  game. 

The  game  of  Astragals,  so  called  because  it  was  played 
with  the  Astragalus  or  knuckle-bone  of  an  animal,  usually  a 
sheep,  is  of  great  antiquity.  A  beautiful  group  (one  of  the 
Tanagra  terra-cottas)  in  the  British  Museum,  representing 
two  girls  playing  the  game,  is  recorded  as  B.C.  800,  and  a 
lO^ijble  figure  of  an  astragalus  player,  life-size,  of  later  date. 


The  Ancient  and  Modern  Game  of  Astragals.  281 


may  also  be  seen  there.     There  are  also  other  figures  and 
pictures,  Pompeian  and  others,  of  which  I  hope  to  give  a 
detailed  list  in  later  notes.     In  Horace's  Satires,  Book  II., 
we  read:    "  Servius  Oppidius,   a  rich   man   according   to 
ancient  reckoning,  is  said  to  have  divided  his  two  farms  at 
Carnucium   between  his  two  sons,  and  when  dying  to  have 
.said  this  to  his  boys,  after  they  had  been  called  to  his  bed- 
I  side  ;  '  Ever  since  I  saw  you,  Aulus,  carrying  your  knuckle- 
bones and  nuts  in  the  loose  fold  [of  your  toga],  giving  them 
away  and  playing  with  them,  but  you,  Tiberius,  counting 
them  and  solemnly  hiding  them  in  holes,  1  have  feared  that 
different  kinds  of  madness  may  seize  you,  and  that  _)'(ja  will 
I  follow  Nomentanus  and  you  Cicula-'  "  ' 

In  the  British  Museum  are  several  Astragali  in  bronze, 

fcrock-crystal.agate,  &c.,  of  ancient  Greek  and  Roman  times, 

I  together  with  certain  dice  of  which  they  are  doubtless  the 

■  origin.     But  it  is  to  their  use  in  games  of  skill  rather  than 

as  gambling  dice  to  which  I  have  devoted  these  notes,  and 

unhappily  I  have  not  been  able,  so  far,  to  ascertain  any 

details  as  to  how  the  game  of  skill  was  anciently  played, 

\  beyond  the  figures  and  mural  designs  already  referred  to. 

I  take  the  following  from  the  Report  of  National  Museum, 
ISmithsonian  Institution,  Washington,  U.S.,  for  1896: 

"  Knuckle-bones  have  been  used  as  implements  in  games 
f  from  remote  antiquity.  There  are  several  distinct  ways  in 
Rwhich  they  are  thus  employed.  One  was  as  Jackstones, 
■described  by  classical  authors  as  played  principally  by 
1  and  children  with  five  bones.  Among  the  Syrians 
pat  the  present  day  they  are  used  by  children  in  games 
resembling  marbles,  being  knocked  from  a  ring  drawn  on 
the  ground  with  others  which  are  sometimes  weighted  with 
.  lead. 

"  A  favourite  and  almost  universal  use  of  knuckle-bones 
I  games  was  as  dice  in  games   of  chance.     Among  the 

'  Nomenlanus,  used  by  Horace  as  a  lype  ot  a  prodigal  and  spendthrift  [ 
a  very  cautious  money  .lender. 


282  The  Ancient  and  Modern  Game  of  Astragals. 

Greeks  and  Romans  numerical  values  were  attributed  to 
the  four  long  sides,  the  two  pointed  ends  not  being  counted. 
The  two  broad  sides,  respectively  convex  and  concave, 
counted  three  and  four,  while  of  the  narrow  sides,  the  flat 
counted  one  and  the  indented  six.  The  numbers  two  and 
five  were  wanting.  Several  names,  both  Greek  and  Latin, 
are  recorded  for  each  of  the  throws.  Two  persons  played 
together  at  this  game,  using  four  bones,  which  they  threw 
into  the  air  or  emptied  out  of  dicebox  [fritillus).  The 
numbers  on  the  four  sides  of  the  four  bones  admitted  of 
thirty-five  different  combinations.  The  lowest  throw  of  all 
was  four  aces,  but  the  value  of  a  throw  was  not  in  all 
cases  the  sum  of  the  four  numbers  turned  up.  The  highest 
in  value  was  that  called  VenuSy,  in  which  the  numbers  cast 
up  were  all  different.  Certain  other  throws  were  called 
by  particular  names,  taken  from  gods,  illustrious  men  and 
women,  and  heroes.  These  bones,  marked  and  thrown  as 
above  described,  were  also  used  in  divination. 

"  Among  the  Turks,  Arabs,  and  Persians,  the  four  throws 
with  a  single  knuckle-bone  receive  the  names  of  the  four 
ranks  of  human  society.  Thus  among  the  Persians, 
according  to  Dr.  Hyde,  they  were  called  as  follows : 

Supinum  : — Dudz  =  *  thief.* 

Pronum  : — Dihban=*  peasant.' 

Planum : — ^Vezir. 

Fortuosum :— Shah. 
"The  Arabic  name  for  the  bones  is  Kdb  (plural  Kabat)y 
meaning  Ankle ^  referring  to  their  source.  Two  bones  are 
now  commonly  used — one  from  the  right  and  the  other 
from  the  left  leg  of  a  sheep.  I  regard  them  as  the  direct 
ancestors  of  cubical  dotted  dice,  the  name  of  which  in  Arabic 
is  the  same  as  that  of  the  bones.  The  dice  used  in  Arabic 
countries  are  made  in  pairs,  and  the  most  popular  and 
universal  game  is  one  with  two  dice,  Kdbatam, 

"  Games  with  knuckle-bones  are  a  favourite  amusement 
in  Spanish-American  countries,  and  it  is  claimed  that  they 


wT/ie  Ancient  and  Modern  Game  of  Astragals.  283 


existed  among  the  [ndians  before  the  discovery.  Dr.  Carl 
Lurnholtz  found  them  among  the  Tarahumara,  who  attribute 
numerical  values  to  the  different  sides.  Among  the  Papago, 
in  Arizona,  Mr.  W.  J.  McGee  found  a  single  knuck'e-bone 
of  a  bison,  used  in  playing  a  game  called  Tan-wan,  of 
which  a  specimen  collected  by  him  is  exhibited  in  the  U.S. 
National  Museum.  In  Costa  Rica,  Dr.  T,  M.  Calnek  states 
that  the  Indians  in  the  vicinity  of  San  Jos^  continually  play 
with  the  Astragalus  of  an  ox  or  cow,  using  a  single  bone : 
they  call  the  game  by  the  name  of  Choque  suelo.  They 
are  also  used  by  the  Indians  in  Peru.  Their  Quichua 
name  tava  would  appear  to  be  derived  from  the  Spanish 
taba,  but  this  is  contrary  to  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Emilio 
Montez,  who  exhibited  a  prehistoric  copy  of  a  knuckle-bone 
in  terra-cotta,  from  Cuzco,  in  his  collection  at  the  Columbian 
Exposition,  There  are  nine  Astragalus  bones  from  the 
Lengua  tribe,  Chaco  Indians,  in  the  Hossler  collections  from 
Paraguay,  in  the  Field  Columbian  Museum, 

'  Knuckle-bones  of  various  animals,  some  worked  and 
ihowing  wear,  have  been  found  associated  with  Indian 
Pemains  in  various  parts  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  C.  B. 
Moore    found   a   fossil   llama   Astragalus  in  a  mound  on 

■  Murphy  Bland,  Florida,  and  a  large  fossil  Astragalus,  not 
identified,  in  a  mound  on  Ossabow  Island,  Georgia.  They 
are   also   reported  from    stone   graves,  Tennessee.     They 

-were  always  found  in  pots,  and  in  the  case  of  children's 
Eraves  the  bones  as  well  as  the  pots  were  always  smaller. 
showed  wear  and  polish.     There  are   also   numerous 

'records  from  earth  mounds  in  Arkansas,  the  bones  being 
those  of  deer  and  bison  ;  some  have  been  squared  for  use 
as  dice,  others  showed  the  high  polish  of  much  wear." 

This  concludes  the  Washington  report,  except  in  the 
ramifications  of  the  use  of  the  Astragalus  as  a  die  pure  and 
simple. 

My  inquiries  as  regards  our  own  country  have  yielded 
aery  poor  results  very  few  of  our  museums  preserving  any 


284  The  Ancient  and  Modern  Game  of  Astragals. 

records  of  the  game,  either  ancient  or  modern.  I  have 
been  able  to  gather,  however,  a  few  very  interesting 
specimens  showing  considerable  variety  in  the  objects  used 
in  the  game.^ 

The  classical  name  "  Astragals "  seems  to  be  entirely 
unknown.  None  of  my  correspondents  had  ever  heard  of 
it.  Instead  of  it  we  get  Knuckle-bones,  Knuckle-downs, 
Five-bones,  Five-stones,  Jacks,  Jack  o'  five-stones,  Fivies, 
Dibs,  Dabbers,  Chuckies,  Chuckie-stones,  and  "  Marbles 
and  Dubs,"  the  latter  word  seeming  to  be  a  corruption 
of  Dibs  and  Dabbers.  The  word  '*  Jack,"  too,  is  curious, 
more  especially  as  in  the  Swiss  form  of  the  game  we  get  a 
King,  Queen,  Jack  (or  knave),  and  pawns — a  remarkable 
mixture  of  Cards,  Chess,  and  Astragals. 

The  materials  employed  in  the  game  of  Astragals  of 
to-day  differ  almost  as  much  as  do  the  names  themselves, 
and  are  equally  devoid  of  any  marked  local  feature  or 
peculiar  character.  For  example,  in  my  small  collection  I 
possess  the  Astragalus  bone  series,  which  is  the  type ; 
another  from  near  Bordeaux,  in  which  the  unjoined  ends  of 
the  metatarsal  bone  of  a  lamb  are  used  ;  and  a  third  from 
Faversham,  Kent,  of  the  short  phalanges  of  a  pig.  Pebbles 
of  suitable  shape  are  very  widely  used,  and  I  have  them 
from  Suffolk,  Worcestershire,  and  Kent,  besides  records 
from  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  Cornwall.  I  have  seen  small 
selected  pieces  of  diorite,  used  for  road-making,  turned  into 
Astragals  in  London  and  in  my  own  town,  Croydon ;  whilst 
trimmed  pieces  of  potsherds  are  employed  in  Yorkshire, 
Suffolk,  and  Sussex.  In  Worcestershire  I  found  small 
home-made  cubes  of  wood  thus  used,  merging  thereby  into 
dice  ;  and  the  Belgian  and  Dutch  metal  ones  already  referred 
to  are  a  pleasing  illustration  of  an  attempt  to  perpetuate 
the  Greek  and  Roman  Astragali.  It  has,  however,  been 
reserved  for  Germany  to  produce  the  most  prosaic  and 
uninteresting  machine-made  materials  for  this  ancient  game. 

*  See  list  of  exhibits,  ante^  p.  257. 


The  Ancient  and  Modern  Game  of  Astragals.  285 

This  consists  of  a  stone  marble  and  four  little  fluted  stone- 
ware cubes  in  assorted  glazed  colours.  This  "up-to-date" 
monstrosity  is  sold  largely  in  Houndsditch  by  the  name  of 
"  Marbles  and  Dubs,"  and  in  my  many  local  inquiries  this 
has  frequently  been  the  sole  result,  correspondents  sending 
me  sets  of  these  "  made-in-Germany  "  knuckle-bones,  as  of 
local  interest. 

Another  curious  aspect  of  the  game  is  the  use  of  a  ball,  or 
marble,  and  four,  bones  or  stones,  instead  of  five  bones  or 
stones  and  no  ball.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  this  is  a  some- 
what modern  modification  of  the  game,  to  enable  young 
children  or  unskilled  players  to  the  more  enjoy  it.  It  is  very 
widely  spread,  for  I  saw  it  played  thus  in  Belgium,  and  I  have 
a  set  from  Bourg,  near  Bordeaux,  another  from  Kent,  and 
the  "  made-in-Germany  "  variety  from  many  places. 

A  Parsee  friend  of  mine  tells  me  that  so  far  as  he  knows 
the  only  game  played  in  India  at  all  corresponding  to 
Astragals  is  played  with  tamarind  seeds  (Chinchora),  and 
the  game  is  called  Oochard&o,  It  occurs  chiefly  in  the 
province  of  Gujerat.  The  game  is  played  chiefly  (as  might 
be  expected)  by  women  and  children,  and  by  from  two  to 
six  individuals,  arranged  equally,  of  course.  Adults  use 
one  hand  only,  but  children  are  allowed  to  use  two.  A 
great  number  of  seeds  are  used,  and  the  winner  is  the  one 
who  succeeds,  when  throwing  up,  in  catching  the  greater  or 
greatest  number  upon  the  back  of  the  hand.  This  aspect 
of  the  game  appears  to  me  to  be  a  very  degraded  form  of 
Astragals,  to  which  it  seems  to  have  many  similarities, 
differing  only  in  being  made  exceedingly  easy  for  the 
benefit  of  a  race  to  whom  an  easy  game  of  skill  would 
naturally  appeal. 

The  following  is  a  description  of  the  game  as  played  in 
Scotland  under  the  name  of  *'  Chuckies." 


Onesey. — Take  five  white  stones  in  the  palm  of  the  right  hand,  toss  up  and 
catch  one  on  the  back  of  the  hand,  toss  it  up  and  quickly  catch  up  one  of  the 


286  The  Ancient  and  Modern  Game  of  Astragals. 

fidlen  stones  and  catch  the  <»ie  yoa  have  tossed  up  before  it  fidit  to  the 
ground.     Put  one  aside  and  do  as  before  till  all  are  caught  up. 

Twosey, — Take  up  one,  throw  it  up  and  quickly,  catch  up  two  and  the 
&lling  one,  put  two  aside,  toss  up  one  and  catch  up  the  other  two  and  the 
fidlingone. 

Threesey, — ^Same  as  before,  but  catch  up  three,  then  one. 

Fmrsey, — Same  as  before,  only  catch  up  four  and  the  fedling  one. 

Sweep  the  House, — Place  four  stones  in  a  square,  then  say  while  yon  toss  up 
the  fifth,  "  Sweep  the  house.*'  Draw  your  forefinger  in  firont  of  one  stone 
and  catch  the  fidling  one.  Toss  again  and  say,  "  Lift  a  chair,"  catch  up  one 
from  the  square  and  the  felling  one.  Keep  one  in  hand,  toss  up  one  again 
and  say,  "  Sweep  below,"  draw  finger  over  the  comer  where  yon  lifted  stone 
from  and  catch  falling  one  ;  toss  again  and  say,  "  Put  it  dovm,"  put  down  the 
supposed  stone  and  do  the  same  at  all  the  comers. 

Dttttger, — Scatter  stones,  take  one,  toss  it  up,  catch  up  one  and  the  fidling 
one;  toss  up  both,  catch  up  one  and  the  two  felling  ones,  and  so  on  till  all  five 
are  in  your  hand. 

Crawly. — ^Toss  up  &ve,  catch  as  many  as  possible  on  back  of  hand,  then 
keeping  them  there  cautiously  gather  in  the  scattered  stones  under  the  hand. 

CaUk  Fishey, — ^Toss  up  five,  catch  as  many  as  possible  on  back  of  hand, 
then  by  a  quick  movement  throw  forward  and  catch  in  palm  again. 

Catch  FlHhey.~-Thtow  up  one  and  catch  up  all  four,  and  then  catch  the 
felling  one  without  turning  up  palm,  but  with  the  same  forward  movement, 
with  a  grab  as  it  were. 

Caws  in  /[>rfv.— Place  tip  of  left-hand  fingers  on  ground,  put  one  stone 
between  each  finger.  Toss  up  the  fifth  and  say,  ''  Put  the  cows  in  the  byre," 
push  one  stone  under  the  hand  and  catch  the  felling  one.  Repeat  till  all  are 
pushed  under  the  left  hand, 

£an^  the  Dyke, — ^Place  four  stones  in  line,  toss  up  the  fifth,  catch  up  the 
first  and  the  third  and  the  felling  one.    Toss  up  again  and  catch  up  the  other 

twa 
Deaf  and  Crack. — Same  as  in  first  movement,  only  in  catching  the  first  it 

must  crack  on  the  caught  up  one  in  the  palm  of  the  hand,  the  second  must  not 

touch,  the  third  must  not,  and  so  on. 

This  ends  the  game. 


My  friend  M.  Alfred  Godet,  Curator  of  the  Museum  of 
Ntuchatel,  Switzerland,  sent  me  specimens  of  the  game  as 
li^  knows  it,  and  writes  me  as  follows : 

v^Xhis  game  has  replaced,  if  I  mistake  not,  here  the  game 
^  Hockeets  or  Osselets,  similar  to  the  Dutch  example  of' 
.^jy^A  you  sent  me  a  specimen.     I  do  not  think  anything 


The  Ancient  and  Modern  Game  of  Astragals.  287 

like  it  has  been  found  here.     The  game  I  can  remember  as 
far  back  as  between  1840  and  1850. 

"  The  game  consists  of  nine  stones  :  The  King^  black;  the 
Queen,  white  ;  the  Knave,  brown  or  green  ;  and  six  Pawns 
of  yellowish  white  quartz. 

"  A  flat  surface  is  generally  selected  upon  which  to  play, 
if  possible  rather  soft  or  elastic,  a  hard  cushion  or  a 
dress  stretched  across  the  knees.  There  may  be  several 
players. 

"  Let  us  suppose  two  players,  A.  and  B. 
"  A.  takes  in  his  right  hand  all  the  stones  and  throws 
them  up,  not  too  high,  and  catches  them  upon  the  back  of 
his  hand.     Then  three  alternatives  present  themselves. 
"  I .  He  catches  one  stone  only,  the  others  have  rolled  off 
to  the  right  or  left.     In  this  case  the  player  A,  con- 
tinues (see  later) ; 
*'  2.  He  fails  to  catch  any  of  the  stones,  in  which  case  B. 

continues  to  play  ;  or 

"  3.  He  has  caught  most  of  the  stones,  the  others  having 

rolled  off.     In  this  case  the  player  can,  ist,  work  the 

stones  close  together  by  means  of  the  muscles  on  the 

back  of  his  hand ;  2nd,  throw  down  some  and  take 

care  that  the  others  do  not  fall ;  3rd,  only  retain  one 

upon  the  back  of  the  hand,  and  proceeds  to  the  next 

part  of  the  game ;  but  it  is  very  important  that  he 

retains  in  any  case  at  least  one  stone  upon  the  back 

of  his   hand,    otherwise    the    play    reverts    to    his 

opponent. 

"A.  now  throws  up,  by  a  rapid  movement,  the  one  or 

more  stones  resting  upon  the  back  of  his  hand,  and  must 

catch  them  in  his  palm.     If  he  fails,  the  game  passes  to  B. 

''A.  then  takes  one  of  the  stones  (if  he  has  caught  more 

than  one  he  selects  that  of  least  value),  throws  it  up,  rapidly 

gathering  with  a  stroke  of  the  hand  as  many  of  the  stones 

as  possible  resting  on  the  cushion  or  ground,  catching  in 

its  fall  the  one  he  threw  up.     This  continues  till  he  has 


288  The  Ancient  and  Modern  Game  of  Astragals. 

picked  up  all  the  stones,  but  failure  consists  in  missing  the 
stone  thrown  up  or  dropping  one  of  those  picked  up. 
Sometimes  a  good  player  will  gather  up  all  the  stones  at 
one  coup  if  they  happen  to  be  in  a  group,  which  does  not 
often  occur.  If  he  does,  however,  he  has  won  the  first  part 
of  the  game. 

"  Now  suppose  A.  at  his  first  throw  picked  up  a  pawn, 
and  with  this  thrown  up,  the  king,  then  the  queen,  then 
the  knave,  then  one  or  two  pawns,  and  then  misses  his  fifth 
or  sixth  try.  B.  then  takes  the  rest  of  the  stones  that  are 
on  the  cushion,  throws  them  up  as  at  the  start  of  the 
game,  and  catches  them  on  the  back  of  his  hand,  dropping 
those  which  inconvenience  him  and  only  taking  care  of 
the  one  or  more  which  suit  him.  This  he  throws  into  the 
air,  catching  it  in  the  palm  of  his  hand,  and  with  this 
stone  he  gathers  those  which  rest  upon  the  cushion  (as 
before).  When  he  has  collected  all  of  them,  supposing 
that  he  has  succeeded  in  doing  so,  the  first  player,  A., 
places  upon  the  cushion  one  of  the  stones  which  he  has 
won.  This  will  be  of  the  lowest  value  he  has,  a  pawn  for 
example. 

"  B.  tries  to  take  it  by  throwing  one  of  his  pawns  up  (in 
the  usual  way). 

"  A.  then  throws  down  his  second  pawn,  B.  tries  to  take 
it  as  before,  after  the  pawns  (B.  still  winning)  A.  gives  up 
his  jack.  B.  then  throws  up  two  stones  in  order  to  be  able 
to  take  this  piece.  A.  then  yields  the  queen  and  B.  has  to 
throw  up  three  stones  in  order  to  capture  it.  Lastly,  A. 
yields  his  king  and  B.  has  to  throw  up  and  catch  four  pawns 
to  enable  him  to  pick  up  this  piece.  Should  he  succeed  in 
thus  picking  up  all  the  stones  without  dropping  any  he 
wins. 

*'  In  the  other  event,  A.  again  takes  up  the  game  with  the 
stones  left  upon  the  cushion,  B.  in  his  turn  giving  up  one  by 
one  his  pawns,  jack,  queen,  and  king. 

**  Sometimes   the   game    lasts  a  long  while.     It  is  very 


The  Ancient  and  Modern  Game  of  Astragals.  289 

easy  to  learn  and  to  play;  some  pick  it  up  upon  seeing  it 
once,  and  with  a  little  exercise  soon  become  proficient." 
I  have  obtained  a  few  other  descriptions  of  the  playing 

[  of  this  game,  but  they  differ  only  in  minor  points  from  those 

'  mentioned.  As  these  few  remarks  are  intended  more  as 
an  introduction  to  the  subject  than  a  treatise  thereon,  I 
shall  be  greatly  indebted  to  any  members  of  the  Fo!k-Lore 
Society  for  any  future  assistance  in  recording  and  collecting 
notes  and  specimens,  so  that  a  fairly  comprehensive  history 

I  of  the   ancient   game   of  Astragals   with    all    its    recent 

I  ramifications  may  be  thus  obtained. 


Note  I. 

I  have  in  my  possession  a  knuckle-bone  of  a  very  similar 
type  to  Mr,  Lovett's  Greek  and  Roman  exhibits,  which  was 
dug  up  at  the  ancient  site  of  Akra  in  the  Bannu  district 
on  the  North-west  Frontier  of  India.  It  is  of  bronze,  or 
perhaps  copper,  and  is  a  very  fair  imitation  of  a  real 
knuckle-bone.  Judging  from  the  evidence  of  sculptures, 
coins,  engraved  gems,  &c,,  found  on  the  same  site,  it  pro- 
bably may  be  referred  either  to  the  Greek  kingdom  of 
Bactria  and  N.W.  India  (B.C.  250  to  B.C.  50)  or  to  the 
Scythic  kingdoms  of  the  Sakas  and  Kushans  which  fol- 
lowed immediately  after  it. 

At  the  present  day  gambling  by  means  of  knuckle-bones 
{of  sheep)  is  extremely  common  on  the  N.W.  Frontier, 
especially  among  the  Baloches,  and  the  legendary  ballads 
allude  to  it.  Dilmalikh,  a  very  lavish  hero  of  one  slory, 
I  laments  that  he  was  reduced  by  his  extravagance  to  cutting 
grass  for  his  tivciihood  and  being  called  "  Uncle"  by  the 
Rind  maidens.  All  his  horses  and  their  trappings  have,  he 
says,  "  gone  with  the  coloured  knuckle-bones."  The  story 
will  be  found  in  the  "  Legend  of  Mir  Chakar,"  of  which  I 
contributed  a  translation  to  Colonel  Temple's  Legends  of 
the  Punjab. 

M.  LoNGWORTH  Dames. 

Note  II. 
This  game  is  well  known  among  schoolboys  under  the 


290  The  Ancient  and  Modern  Game  of  Astragals. 

name  of  "  knuckle-bones/'  or  *'  dibs."  When  I  was  at  school 
at  Aldenham,  in  Hertfordshire,  in  1860-67,  it  was  played 
principally  from  October  to  April.  The  great  ambition  of 
every  player  was  to  possess  a  set  of  knuckle-bones,  but  as  a 
substitute  cubes  cut  from  the  horse-chestnut  were  often  used. 
The  mode  of  play  was  identical  with  the  description  of  the 
game  as  played  in  Scotland,  with  some  additions  and 
variations. 

It  may  be  conceived  that  the  knuckle-bones  were  origin- 
ally used  as  a  means  of  divination,  and  afterwards  degene- 
rated into  a  child^s  game  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
present  use  of  playing  cards  arose  from  the  ancient 
"  Tarots  "  used  for  divination.  In  this  connection  it  might 
be  of  importance  to  notice  the  numerical  values  which  Mr. 
Lovett  mentions  as  being  ascribed  to  the  different  sides  of 
the  bones,  in  case  it  should  appear  that  they  in  any  way 
correspond  with  the  Pythagorean  system  of  numbers  which 
was  so  largely  used  in  divination. 

D.  F.  DE  l'Hoste  Ranking. 

Note  III. — The  Game  of  "Snobs"  as  played  in 

Derbyshire.  (See  p.  257.) 

Five  snobs  are  used — the  manufactured  cubes — ^but  no 
marble.  Any  number  of  people  can  play,  and  when  one 
player  fails  in  any  action  the  next  one  goes  on.  Whoever 
gets  to  the  end  first,  wins. 

I.  Single  ones, — Take  five  in  your  hand,  throw  them  up,  and  catch  as  many 
as  you  can  on  the  back  of  your  hand .  Throw  those  up  from  the  back  and  catch 
in  the  palm.  Put  down  all  you  catch  except  one.*  Throw  that  one  up,  and 
while  it  is  in  the  air  pick  up  one  of  those  you  did  not  catch  on  the  back  of 
hand,  and  catch  the  one  thrown  up.  Put  it  down  and  repeat  from,*  till  you 
have  finished  the  balance  you  did  not  catch. 

II.  Single  twos, — Take  all  five  in  your  palm,  put  them  on  the  table  again,* 
throw  up  one,  and  while  it  is  up,  pick  up  two  of  the 'others,  catch  the  thrown 
one,  put  down  two,  and  repeat  from*  till  you  finish. 

III.  Single  threes. — Take  all  in  your  palm,  put  them  carelessly  on  the  table, 
pick  up  one,  throw  it  up  and  pick  up  three  while  it  is  in  the  air,  put  three  down 
and  throw  one  up,  and  pick  up  the  remaining  one. 

IV.  Single  fours. — Take  five  in  your  hand,  throw  up  one,  put  down  four, 
and  catch  the  thrown  one. 

V.  Double  ones.  Take  up  five,  throw  up  and  catch  on  the  back  of  the  hand 
as  many  as  you  can,  throw  up  those  you  catch,  pick  up  another,  catch  all,  and 
so  on  till  you  have  picked  up  all  five. 

VI.  Double  twos. — Like  single  twos,  as  double  ones  are  like  single  ones, 
except  that  you  do  not  put  down  again  those  you  take  up,  but  keep  them  in 
your  hand  and  throw  them  up  with  the  others. 


The  Ancient  and  Modern  Game  of  Astragals.  291 

VII.  Deublt  linn. — Pm  M  on  table,  lake  up  one,  ihrow  il  up  and  take 
■.'1^  three  ;  throw  lip  four  and  pick  up  the  fifth. 

VIII.  Dsuble  fiurs.—lhe  same,  only  take  up  four  instead  of  three, 

IX.  Jiaki. — Exactly  like  single  raies,  only  that  you  have  to  make  each 
stone  dink  agoitist  the  other  in  your  hand  as  you  catch  it. 

X.  NoJinJli. — The  same,  only  don't  let  them  clink. 

XI.  Creeps. — Take  all  in  hand,  throw  up  and  cnlch  on  bock  of  hand,  take 
those  not  caught  between  lingers,  throw  i;ip  those  on  back  of  hand,  and  catch 
in  palm  without  letting  the  rest  drop  from  between  fingers. 

XII.  Potato  Sets.—TaVe  all  in  palm,  throw  up,  catch  on  back  of  hand, 
throw  up  those  caught,  and  caich  in  palm,  throw  up  one,  put  down  rest 
while  it  IS  up,  and  catch  again  in  palm  ;  throw  it  up  again,  and  pick  up 
Buotbei,  catch  it  again,  throw  up  second,  put  down  nrst  by  the  rest,  catch 
second,  pick  up  third,  throw  up  third,  put  down  second,  catch  third,  &c., 
till  all  four  are  put  down  in  a  heap,  throw  up  fifth,  pick  up  the  fourth,  catch 
fifth,  and  end  with  all  in  your  hand. 

XIII.  Stiaps.^Kitcxly  like  the  !>ingle  sets  (i-iv),  except  that  you  catch  over- 
hand instead  of  with  palm  uppermost. 

The  game  may,  at  pleasure,  be  continued  through  "  double  snaps,"  as  T-riii, 
but  catching  nvei-hand. 

C.  Violet  Turner. 

The  name  "  Snobs"  has  been  noted  at  Derby  and  Matlock, 
and  in  South  Notts,  but  at  Tutbury,  Staffordshire,  about 
ten  miles  south-west  of  Derby,  the  game  is  called  "Jacky- 

e five-stones,"  and  generally  in  South  Staffordshire  "Jacky- 
stones." 
No 
five 
pla 
nar 
Sec 
Fot 
Ch; 


|,NoTE   IV. — Abstract  of   Information   rfxeived 
Mr.  Lovett  since  the  Meeting. 


" Knuckledovins"  Buckhurst  Hill,  Essex.  Played  with 
five  marbles  or  stones. 

Fourteen  complete  "games"  (or  rather  figures)  are 
played  with  the  right  hand  and  fourteen  with  the  lefL  The 
names  of  the  figures  are  in  the  order  given :  First  Sum, 
LSecond  Sum,  Third  Sum ;  Onesey,  Twosey,  Threesey, 
Foursey  ;  Bonks,  Creeps,  Cracks,  No  Cracks,  Everlastings, 
^  Changelings,  and  Aniens.  They  correspond  very  nearly 
with  the  first  eleven  figures  of  the  Derbyshire  variant, 
adding  the  following  figures : 

Sonis. — Four  in  palm,  one  between  finger  and  thumb,  throw  up  latter, 
and  while  in  air  put  down  remBining  four  on  ground  and  catch  No,  i.  Place 
No.  I  Bgainbetween  finger  and  thumb,  throw  it  into  air,  while  in  air  pick  up 
teinaining  four  again  and  catch  No.  l. 

£ver/aslingj.— -Five  in  palm,  throw  all  up  and  catch  on  back  of  hand  i  if 
five  so  caught,  throw  up  all  from  back  of  hand  and  catch  in  palm ;  if  less, 
throw  up  those  caught  and  catch  in  palm.  Retain  these  in  palm,  then  Ihrow 
up  one  from  finger  and  thumb,  picking  up  one  from  ground  while  in  air,  catch 
falling  one.    Again  throw  up  one  and  pick  up  another,  repeating  process  till 

u  a 


292  The  Ancient  and  Modern  Game  of  Astragals. 


Changelings, — Five  in  palm,  throw  all  up  and  catch  on  back  of  hand ;  if 
five  so  caugnt,  throw  up  all  from  back  of  hand  and  catch  in  palm ;  if  less, 
throw  up  those  caught,  and  catch  in  palm,  picking  up  one  from  ground  at 
same  moment     Repeat. 

Amens. — Four  in  palm,  one  between  finger  and  thumb ;  throw  up  the  one 
and  catch  in  palm.  £.  Linder. 

2.  ^^  Dabbers.**  Chalfont  St.  Giles,  Bucks.  Played  with 
four  stones  and  a  marble.  The  figures  are  given  in  full,  to 
show  the  variant  induced  by  the  use  of  the  marble  kept 
constantly  bouncing. 

Pinks.  (To  find  order  of  players). — Throw  up  four  stones  and  catch  as 
many  as  possible  on  back  of  tiand.  Throw  up  and  catch  in  palm.  Each 
player  has  three  throws.  The  player  who  catches  most  stones  in  the  three 
throws  starts  first,  and  so  on  in  order. 

Ones, — ^Throw  down  four  stones.  Bounce  marble,  pick  up  one  stone  with- 
out touching  the  rest,  and  catch  marble.     Repeat  for  each  stone. 

Half-twos — Throw  down  four  stones.  Bounce  marble,  pick  up  two 
together  and  catch  marble.    Pick  up  the  other  two  separately. 

Twos, — As  in  "ones,"  but  pick  up  two  stones  each  time. 

Threes, — As  in  "  ones,"  but  pick  up  three  stones  together  and  then  one. 

Fours. — As  in  "  ones,"  but  pck  up  all  four  together 

Upsets. — Take  four  stones  m  hand,  bounce  marble,  put  down  stones  and 
catch  marble.     Bounce  marble  again,  pick  up  stones,  and  catch  marble. 

Creeps. — Throw  up  four  stones  and  catch  as  many  as  possible  on  back  of 
hand.  Those  which  fall,  to  be  picked  up  between  fingers.  Throw  up  those 
on  back  of  hand  and  catch  in  palm,  retaining  those  between  fingers. 

Clicks, — As  in  "  ones,"  but  each  stone  and  marble  must  click. 

No  Clicks. — As  in  "clicks"  but  stone  and  marble  not  to  click. 

Little  Maids, — Three  stones  taken.  Throw  up  and  catch  as  many  as 
possible  on  back  of  hand.  Throw  up  and  catch  in  palm.  Throw  up  again, 
pick  up  others  and  catch. 

Big  Maids. — As  in  **  little  maids  "  but  four  stones  used. 

First  Everlastings, — As  in  **big  maids"  but  no  stone  caught  must  after- 
wards be  dropped. 

Second  Everlastings, — Throw  down  four  stones.  Bounce  marble,  pick  up 
one  stone,  and  catch  marble.  Bounce  again  and  pick  up  number  two,  still 
holding  number  one,  and  repeat  until  all  four  are  picked. 

Third  Everlastings. — Throw  out  four  stones,  and  play  as  in  "second 
everlastings,"  putting  down  number  one  and  picking  up  number  two  whilst 
marble  was  bouncing. 

Longs, — Place  two  stones  about  a  yard  apart.  Bounce  marble,  pick  them  up 
together. 

Shorti. — Two  stones  a  foot  apart,  then  as  in  "  longs."  E.  Linder. 

Compare  the  Wakefield  variant^  Gomme's  Traditional 
GatneSy  i.,  125. 

3.  Other  correspondents  describe  '*  Jacks/'  played  at 
Whitefield  and  Haslingden,  near  Manchester^  with  four 
cubes  and  a  **  dobber,*'  or  marble ;  played  in  youth  at 
Bolton-Ie-Moors,  by  Mrs.  Hannah  Woodcock,  born  18 14, 
with  four  bits  of  wood  and  a  dobber.  The  game  played 
was   the   Westminster   variety    described    in    Traditional 


THE  PAGANISM  OF  THE  ANCIENT  PRUSSIANS. 


TIANSLATBD   I 


The  Paganism  of  the  Ancient  Prussians.   293 

Games,  1.,  126,  but  the  last  part  was  called  "  Driving  Pigs 
to  Market." 

The   playplace  is  generally  mentioned  as  the  doorstep 
or  the  hearthstone. 

Some  account  of  the  classical  game  will  be  found  in 
Traditional  Games,  i.,  239,  s.v.  "  Hucklebones/'  and  refe- 
rences to  the  several  British  variants  recorded  by  Mrs. 
Gomme  have  already  been  given,  ante,  p.  106. 
.  4.  The  game  is  known  in  Persia,  where,  says  my  inform- 
mant,  it  is  played  by  boys  of  the  lower  classes — E.  c.  Svkes. 

^^H  Tt 

^^^^n'HERE  was  printed  at  Spiers  {Spiral)  in  the  year  1582  by 
^^^^  Barnardus  D'Albinus  a  volume,  now  become  infinitely  rare, 
of  which  the  contents  are  thus  described  on  the  title  page  : 
"  About  the  religion,  sacrifices,  wedding  and  funeral  rites 
of  the  Russians,  Moscovites,  and  Tartars,  by  various 
authors."  Mr.  Arthur  Evans  possesses  a  copy,  which  he 
has  kindly  lent  to  me.  All  the  pieces  are  in  Latin,  and  the 
first  is  a  long  controversial  dialogue  in  which  are  discussed 
the  respective  merits  of  the  new  Lutheran  religion  and  the 
faith  of  Muscovy,  The  discussion  was  held  in  Moscow 
early  in  the  year  1570,  and  no  less  a  personage  than  Ivan 
the  Terrible  is  put  forward  to  assail  the  Lutheran  faith, 
which  is  defended  by  the  minister  of  Christ,  John  Rohita. 
Many  cruelties  perpetrated  by  the  Muscovite  tyrant  against 
Lutherans  are  detailed  in  the  course  of  the  dialogue,  and 
serve  to  dispel  the  opinion  one  often  hears  expressed,  that 
the  history  of  the  Russian  State  has  never,  like  that  of 
other  countries,  been  sullied  by  purely  religious  persecu- 
tions. 

The  gem  of  the  collection,  however,  is  the  tract  about 


294  Th^  Paganism  of  the  Ancient  Prussians^ 

the  superstitions  of  the  Borussi  or  Prussians,  which  fills 
pp.  257-264.  It  is  so  little  known,  that  I  have  thoagbt  it 
iworthy  to  be  translated.  It  was  written  about  1553,  and 
a£Fords  us  a  pleasing  picture  of  the  old  paganism  of  Prussia, 
which  in  that  age  still  survived,  hardly  touched,  in  remote 
country  places.  The  Borussi  or  Prussians  were,  of  course, 
Slavs  by  race  and  akin  to  the  RuthenL — ^F.  C.  C. 

About  the  Reugion  and  Sacrifices  of  the  Ancient 

Prussians. 

An  Epistle  ofyohn  Meletius  to  George  Sabine} 

My  son  Jerome,  who  is  usually  very  much  delighted  with 
your  writings,  gave  me  to  read  that  elegy  of  yours  which 
you  wrote  to  the  Cardinal  Peter  Bembo,  and  in  which  you 
mention  the  custom  of  sacrificing  a  goat  and  of  worshipping 
snakes  found  among  some  oi  the  Sarmatian  races.  I  could 
not  help  writing  to  you  details  I  have  ascertained  of  the 
vain  cults  of  those  peoples.  Indeed,  I  expect  you  will 
not  be  sorry  to  understand  more  fully  the  customs  and 
idolatry  of  tribes  among  which  a  certain  destiny  has  sum- 
moned you,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  which  you  are 
passing  your  life.  For  many  superstitious  rites  and  idola- 
trous cults  are  still  kept  up  in  these  regions,  which  as  a 
fresh-comer  you  may  not  yet  have  learned  about.  This  is 
why  I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  communicate  to  you  what- 
ever I  have  found  out  about  them. 

Not  to  trouble  you  wth  a  longer  preface,  I  will  begin  by 
describing  the  sacrifices  with  which  formerly  the  Borussi, 
Samogitae,  Lithuanians,  Ruthenians,  and  Livonians  wor- 
shipped the  demons  as  if  they  were  gods,  and  still  continue 
to  do  so  in  secret  in  many  places.     Then  1  will  describe 

'  Meletius  wa<i  arch -presbyter  of  the  Ecclesia  Liccensis  in  Prussia.  Sabinus 
was  a  pf^et.  Johannes  Lasicius  (Lasitzki),  in  his  tract  De  diis  Samagitanitn^ 
(Basil,  161 5),  reproduces  the  book  of  Meletius.  It  was  reprinted  by  Michael 
Neander,  Or  bis  terra  Succincta  Explicatio  (Lipsi;ie,  1597),  p.  573  foil.,  and  in 
thU  century  by  Haupt,  vol  i.,  p.  146  foil. 


The  Paganism  of  the  Ancient  Prussians.  295 


certain  superstitious  rites  usual  among  the  same  races  in 
celebrating  weddings,  funerals,  and  wakes. 

On  St.  George's  Day  they   are   accustomed  to  offer  a 

I  sacrifice  to  Pergrubrius,  who  is  believed  to  be  the  god  of 

flowers,  plants,  and  of  all  seeds.    This  is  how  they  sacrifice 

to    Pergrubrius.      The  sacrificing  priest,   whom  they  call 

Vurschayten,  holds  in  his  right  hand  a  dish  {obda)  full  of 

beer,  and  after  he  has  invoked  the  demon's  name,  chants 

I  his  praises.     "Thou,"  he  says,  "  drivest  away  the  winter; 

I  thou  bringest  back  the  pleasures  of  spring;  through  thee 

the  fields  and  gardens  grow  green  ;  through  thee  the  woods 

.  and  groves  get  their  leaves."     When  he  has  finished  this 

i  hymn,  he  takes  the  dish  in  his  teeth,  and  drinks  down  the 

'  beer  without  touching  it  with   his  hand;  then  he  throws 

I  backwards  over  his  head  the  dish  which  he  has  drunk  up, 

I  touching  it  only  with  his  teeth.     Next  the  dish  is  picked  up 

'  off  the  ground  and  filled  afresh,  and  all  present  drink  out 

I  of  it  in  order  and  sing  a  hymn  in  praise  of  Pergrubrius. 

'  After  that  they  feast  the  whole  day  long  and  dance. 

Similarly  when  the  crops  are  ripe  the  rustics  meet 
together  in  the  fields  for  sacrifice,  which  in  the  Ruthe- 
nian  tongue  is  called  Zasinck,  that  is  the  beginning  of 
spring.  When  this  rite  is  finished  one  o(  their  number  is 
chosen  and  takes  a  forecast  or  augury  of  the  harvest  by 
I  cutting  down  an  armful  of  corn,  which  he  carries  home. 
On  the  morrow  all,  first  the  members  of  his  household,  then 
of  the  rest  all  who  will,  get  in  the  harvest, 

When,  however,  that  is   done  they  offer   up  a   solemn 

sacrifice  by  way  of  giving  thanks.     This  is  called  in  the 

'  Ruthenian   language   Osink,  that  is  to  say  the  completion 

of   the  harvest.     In  this  sacrifice   the   Sudine  peoples  of 

I  Prussia,  among  whom  amber  is  collected,  sacrifice  a  goat, 

IS  you  write  in  your  elegy  to  Bembo. 

The  ritual  of  this  sacrifice,  however,  is  as  follows.     The 

[people  congregate  together  in  a  barn,  and  a  goat  is  brought 

■  forward,  which  the  Vursichaytes  [sic),  or  sacrificer,  is  to  slay. 


296   The  Paganism  of  the  Ancient  Prussians. 

He  lays  both  hands  on  the  victim  and  invokes  in  order  the 
demons  whom  they  believe  to  be  gods,  to  wit :  Oocopim, 
the  god  of  heaven  and  earth ;  Antrimpi  the  god  of  the  sea ; 
Gardoaeti  the  god  of  sailors,  such  as  of  old  ampngr  the 
Romans  was  Portunnus;  Potrympi  the  god  of  rivers  and 
springs ;  Piluiti  the  god  of  riches,  whom  the  Latins  called 
Plutus;  Pergrubrius,  the  god  of  spring;  Pargn,  the  god 
of  thunder  and  tempests;  Poccl,  the  god  of  hell  and 
of  darkness;  PoccoII,  the  god  of  the  spirits  of  the  air; 
Putscaet,  the  god  that  protects  the  sacred  groves ; 
the  god  Ausceuti  of  health  and  sickness ;  Marcoppol,  the 
god  of  magnates  and  nobles;  the  Barstuccae,  whom  the 
Germans  call  Erdmenlen^  that  is  to  say,  the  subterranean 
ones. 

When  the  demons  have  been  invoked,  those  who  are 
present  in  the  barn  raise  aloft,  all  together,  the  goat,  and 
hold  it  up  over  their  heads  while  a  hymn  is  sung.  When 
that  is  finished  they  put  it  down  again  to  stand  on  the 
ground.  Then  the  sacrificer  admonishes  the  people  to 
conduct  this  solemn  sacrifice,  instituted  by  the  piety  of 
their  ancestors,  with  the  most  entire  veneration,  and  to 
treasure  up  religiously  the  memory  of  it  for  their  posterity. 
When  he  has  delivered  himself  of  this  little  homily  to  the 
people,  he  himself  slays  the  victim  and  sprinkles  about  the 
blood,  which  has  been  caught  in  a  patin.  The  flesh,  how- 
over,  he  hands  over  to  the  women  in  the  barn  in  question 
for  them  to  cook.  They  meantime,  while  the  flesh  is  being 
cooked,  get  ready  cakes  of  siligineous  flour.  These  they 
do  not  put  into  the  oven,  but  the  men  stand  round  the  fire 
and  turn  them  over  and  over  in  the  fire  without  ceasing 
until  they  grow  hard  and  are  cooked.  All  this  discharged, 
they  feast  and  carouse  all  day  and  night,  drinking  till  they 
vomit.  Then  the  drunkards,  at  the  top  of  the  morning,  go 
forth  outside  the  village,  where  they  choose  a  spot,  and 
cover  up  with  earth  whatever  is  left  over  and  remains  of 
their  feast,  so  that  it  may  not  become  the  prey  either  of 


The  Paganism  of  the  Ancient  Prussians,    2y7 

birds  or  of  wild  beasts.  After  that  they  dismiss  the 
gathering,  and  each  returns  to  his  home. 

For  the  rest,  out  of  all  the  tribes  of  Sarmatia  above 
mentioned,  many  still  worship  with  particular  veneration 
Putscaet,  who  presides  over  trees  and  groves.  He  Is 
believed  to  have  his  dwelling  under  the  tree  Sambuc.  Men 
everywhere  in  their  superstition  make  him  offerings  of 
bread,  beer,  and  other  sorts  of  food,  which  they  lay  under 
the  Sambuc  tree,  praying  of  Putscaet  that  he  will  appease 
and  make  friendly  to  them  Marcoppol,  the  god  of  magnates 
and  nobles,  to  the  end  that  their  lords  may  not  oppress 
them  and  make  their  servitude  heavier  to  bear.  They  also 
pray  that  the  Barstuccse  may  be  sent  to  them,  which  are, 
as  I  said  before,  called  the  underground  spirits.  For  if  the 
latter  are  tenanting  the  house,  they  believe  that  the  owners 
are  in  good  luck,  and  they  place  at  eventide  for  them  in 
the  barn,  on  a  table  spread  with  a  cloth,  bread,  cheese, 
butter,  and  beer.  Nor  do  they  doubt  that  it  will  bring 
them  good  luck,  if  next  morning  they  find  the  food  left 
there  taken  away.  But  if  it  ever  remains  untouched  on 
the  table,  they  are  in  great  distress  and  fearful  of  some 
calamity. 

The  same  people  worship  certain  spirits  that  can  be  seen 
with  the  eye,  and  which  are  called  in  Rulhenian  Colfy,  in 
Greek  Coboli_  in  German  Co  holds.  These  spirits  they 
believe  to  dwell  in  hidden  places  in  their  houses  or  in  the 
network  of  the  timbers ;  and  they  feed  them  handsomely 
on  all  sorts  of  food,  because  ihey  are  wont  to  bring  to 
them  who  so  feed  them  wheat  which  they  have  carried  off 
by  stealth  from  other  men's  stores- 

When,  however,  these  spirits  desire  to  take  up  their 
residence  and  be  fed  somewhere  or  other,  this  is  how  they 
make  known  their  disposition  towards  the  father  of  a 
family.  They  heap  together  by  night  in  the  house  chips 
of  wood,  and  place  on  the  milk-pails  full  of  milk  different 
sorts  of  animals'  dung.     As  soon  as  the  father  of  the  family 


'flHfflfS 


^  j«r  JMxmst  vpnr 


^*™'**-    "sr^isK 


fi.mwn^  -2C  wfiii:  i 


12  I3>e  Rz 
aiud  aocGrcicg  u>  the  ^gi:zvs  2zc  b^z^vs  iszo 


2  icc^oe  Bmriy. 

into  wat^y 

* 

It 


shapie  tf^ir  pmiktioBS  in  regard  to  all  saitcfs  thcr  hare 
b^en  askfMi  aboct.  I  myself  knew  a  pix>r  wocsan  who  had 
for  long  been  awaiting  the  retiim  of  her  absent  son ;  for 
her  son  had  left  Prussia  and  gone  to  Dennsark.  She  con- 
suh/xl  a  fortnne-telleTy  and  he  told  her  that  he  had  perished 
by  fthipwreck.  For  the  wax,  when  poured  into  the  water, 
t/>ok  the  form  of  a  broken  ship  and  the  shape  of  a  man 
fl//atin^  flat  on  his  back  close  bj  the  ship. 

Among  the  Samogita:  there  is  a  mountain  situated  by 
th^  Kiver  Nauuassa,  on  the  top  of  which  formerly  a  fire 
wa»  kept  ficrpetually  alight  by  a  priest,  in  honour  of  Pargn 
himHrrlf,  who  is  still  believed  by  superstitious  people  to 
control  thunder  and  tempest    So  much  for  their  sacrifices. 


I 


The  Paganism  of  the  Ancient  Prussians.    299 

Now  for  their  marriage  rites,  funerals,  and  wakes,  about 
which  I  can  tell  you  things  as  laughable  as  they  are  super- 
stitious. Among  the  Sudini,  Curonenses,  Samogitae,  and 
Lithuanians,  girls  of  noble  birth  in  places  carry  a  bell, 
which  is  tied  by  a  string  to  the  girdle  and  hangs  down  to 
the  knees.  They  are  not  led  in  marriage,  but  are  carried  off 
after  the  old  Lacedemonian  manner  instituted  by  Lycurgus. 
They  are,  however,  carried  off  not  by  the  bridegroom  him- 
self, but  by  two  of  his  kinsmen.  And  when  they  have 
been  carried  off,  and  not  before,  the  consent  of  the  parents 
IS  sought  and  the  marriage  contracted. 

When  the  wedding  is  actually  being  held,  the  bride  is  led 
.three  times  round  the  hearth,  and  is  then  placed  in  a  chair 
by  it.  As  she  sits  on  the  chair,  her  feet  are  washed;  and 
the  water  in  which  her  feet  are  washed  is  sprinkled  over 
the  marriage  bed  and  over  all  the  furniture  of  the  home- 
In  the  same  way  the  guests,  who  have  been  invited  to  the 
wedding,  are  sprinkled.  After  that  the  bride's  mouth  is 
smeared  over  with  honey  and  her  eyes  are  hidden  with  a 
veil ;  and  with  her  eyes  thus  veiled  she  is  led  to  all  the 
entrances  of  the  house  and  is  told  to  touch  and  beat  them 
with  her  right  foot.  At  each  entrance  is  scattered  around 
wheat,  siligo,  oats,  grain,  pease,  beans,  and  poppy.  For 
the  man  who  follows  the  bride  carries  a  bag  full  of  all  sorts 
of  fruits,  and  as  he  scatters  them  about  declares  that  none 
of  these  shall  be  wanting  to  the  bride,  if  she  reverently 
follows  her  religion  and  looks  after  her  household  affairs 
with  all  due  diligence.  This  done,  the  veil  is  taken  off  the 
bride's  eyes  and  the  feast  is  held. 

In  the  evening  when  the  bride  is  going  to  be  led  off  to 
bed,  in  the  course  of  the  dancing  her  hair  is  cut  off,  and 
when  that  is  done  the  women  put  a  garland  on  her,  decked 
with  a  white  kerchief,  which  wives  may  wear  until  they 
have  borne  a  son.  For  until  then  wives  conduct  themselves 
as  if  they  were  virgins, 

In  the  end  she  is  led  into  her  chamber,  where,  after  being 


300    The  Paganism  of  the  Ancient  Prussians. 

struck  and  beateiii  she  is  thrown  on  to  the  bed  and  handed 
over  to  the  bridegproom.  Then,  instead  of  wedding-cakes, 
are  brought  the  testicles  of  a  goat  or  of  a  bear,  the  par- 
taking of  which  together  on  the  very  day  of  the  wedding  is' 
supposed  to  render  the  wife  fecund.  For  this  reason  also, 
no  castrated  animal  is  slain  on  the  occasion  in  view  of  the 
wedding. 

At  funerals  the  following  rite  is  observed  by  the  coiftitry 
folk.  The  bodies  of  the  dead  are  dressed  up  in  their  coats 
and  trousers  and  are  placed  upright  on  a  bench.  Then 
their  nearest  relations  sit  down  by  the  body  and  drink  and 
carouse,  swilling  beer  and  raising  a  funeral  lamentation, 
which  in  the  Ruthenian  tongue  has  the  following  sound : 

f  Hale  le  /  le  le  /  y  procz  ty  mene  vmarl  ?  ii  za  tii  nie  miel 
szto  nesty  albo  pity?  y  procz  tii  vmarl?  Ha  le  le/le  le  ii 
za  tii  nie  miel  krasz  iie  mlodzice  ?  ii  procz  tii  vmarl?"  That 
is  to  say :  "  Ah,  ah  me !  Why  hast  thou  died  ?  Was  there 
lacking  to  thee  food  or  drink  ?  Why  then  hast  thou  died  ? 
Ah,  ah  me  !  Hadst  thou  not  a  beautiful  wife  ?  Why  then 
hast  thou  died  ?  " 

With  such  lamentations  as  this,  they  enumerate  in  order 
all  the  external  blessings  of  the  one  whose  death  they 
deplore,  to  wit,  his  children,  sheep,  oxen,  horses,  geese, 
cocks,  &c.  And  as  they  enumerate  each  item  they  chant 
this  refrain :  ''  Why  then  hast  thou  died  when  thou  hadst 
these  ?  " 

After  the  lamentation  is  done,  presents  are  given  to  the 
corpse,  namely,  to  a  woman  a  thread  and  needle,  to  a  man 
a  linen  cloth,  which  is  folded  round  his  neck.  When  the 
body  is  carried  out  for  burial,  many  follow  the  funeral  on 
horseback  and  drive  chariots  towards  the  place  whither  the 
body  is  being  carried.  And  they  draw  their  swords  and 
smite  the  winds,  crying  aloud  :  "Sey  geythe  begaythe  peck 
elle."  That  is :  "  Flee,  ye  demons,  into  hell."  Those  who 
conduct  the  funeral  throw  down  coins  into  the  grave,  as  if 
to  help  the  dead  on  his  way  with  journey-money.     They 


The  Paganism  of  the  Ancient  Prussians.  301 


also  place  bread  and  a  pitcher  full  of  beer  at  the  head  of 
the  corpse  brought  to  the  tomb,  that  the  soul  may  be  neither 
thirsty  nor  hungry.  A  wife,  early  and  late,  at  sunrise  and 
sunset,  sits  or  lies  on  the  tomb  of  her  lost  husband  and 
laments  for  thirty  days.  The  kinsmen,  however,  hold 
banquets  on  the  third,  sixth,  ninth,  and  fortieth  days  after 
the  interment-  To  these  banquets  they  invite  the  soul  of 
the  deceased,  praying  in  front  of  the  door.  In  these  ban- 
quets, in  which  they  loast '  the  dead,  they  sit  in  silence  at 
a  table  as  if  they  were  dumb,  and  use  no  knives.  At  table, 
however,  two  women  wait  and  put  food  before  the  guests 
and  also  forbear  to  use  a  knife.  They  each  throw  some- 
thing from  every  dish  under  the  table,  upon  which  they 
believe  the  soul  feeds,  and  they  pour  out  drink  for  them 
[i.e.  for  the  dead  souls,]  If  perchance  anything  drops  off 
the  table  on  to  the  ground,  they  do  not  pick  it  up,  but 
leave  it  to  be  eaten  by  the  deserted  souls — such  is  their 
phrase  for  such  souls  as  have  neither  kinsmen  nor 
friends  living,  by  whom  they  could  be  entertained  at  the 
feast.  When  the  meal  is  finished,  the  sacrificer  rises 
from  the  table  and  clears  out  the  house  with  brooms,  And 
he  casts  out  the  souls  of  the  dead  along  with  the  dust,  as  if 
they  were  fleas,  and  prays  them  in  the  following  words  to 
quit  the  house :  "  lely,  Piiy  ducisse :  nu  wen,  nu  wen."  That 
is:  "  Ye  have  eaten  and  drunk,  beloved  souls;  go  ye  forth,  go 
ye  forth."  After  that  the  guests  begin  to  talk  to  one  another 
and  vie  in  their  cups  each  with  his  fellow.  The  women 
drink  first  before  the  men,  and  the  men  in  turn  with  the 
women,  and  they  kiss  one  another. 

Of  this  oblation  of  food  over  the  tombs  of  the  dead 
Augustine  also  makes  mention  in  his  15th  Discourse,  con- 
cerning the  Saints,  and  his  words  are  these  : 

"  I  wonder  why  among  some  infidels  of  to-day  so  per- 
nicious an  error  has  become  so  common,  I  mean  of  putting 

'  The  writer  hai  ihe  Latin  ViOtil  parenlani,  and  use*  ihc  wotd  parttUalia  lo 
describe  Ihe  whole  cetemony  of  Ihe  wake. 


302   The  Paganism  of  the  Ancient  Prussians. 

together  food  and  wine  on  the  tombs  of  the  dead,  as  if  the 
souls  come  forth  out  of  the  bodies  and  wanted  carnal  food. 
For  it  is  only  the  flesh  which  wants  banquets  and  refections; 
but  the  spirit  and  soul  do  not  want  them.  Anyone  will  tell 
you  he  is  preparing  for  his  dear  ones  what  he  devours  him- 
self. What  benefits  the  belly  he  sets  down  to  piety,  &c." 
So  far  Augustine. 

These  details  about  the  superstitions,  rites,  and  cere- 
monies of  these  races  I  relate,  having  witnessed  some  of 
them  and  having  heard  others  from  men  worthy  of  credence. 
Do  you,  however,  my  most  distinguished  friend,  as  one 
accustomed  to  be  delighted  by  a  knowledge  of  various 
things,  take  in  good  part  this  poor  essay  written  by  one  most 
attached  to  your  person. 


'i 


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s!  1 

^^^1 

^^^E^"       ^^^k^^^l 

S  1 

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^^^^^hI 

COLLECTANEA. 


A  Hertfordshire  St.  George. 

Dragon  legends  are,  I  think,  somewhat  uncommon  in  the  eastern 
and  souihem  parts  of  England.  Perhaps  the  dense  woods  and 
morasses  formerly  existing  in  the  northern  portion  of  the  kingdom, 
in  which  all  kinds  of  wild  beasts  could  find  a  refuge,  may  have 
produced  such  stories  in  greater  abundance  and  detail. 

In  the  church  of  Brent  Pelham,  or  Pelham  Samers,^  Herts,  a 
small  village  situated  about  ten  miles  from  Bishop's  Stortford  and 
five  from  Buntingford,  is  a  semi-effigial  monumental  slab,  thus 
described  (163 1)  in  Weever's  Funeral  Monuments,  "  In  the  North 
Wall  of  this  Church  lyeth  an  antient  Monument  of  Stone,  wherein 
a  Man  is  figur'd,  and  about  him  an  Eagle,  a  Lyon,  and  a  Bull,  all 
having  Wings ;  and  a  fourth  of  the  Shape  of  an  Angel ;  as  if  they 
should  represent  the  foiir  Evangelists ;  under  the  Feet  of  the  Man 
is  the  Gross  Fleurie,  and  under  the  Gross  a  Serpent." 

"  Simple  and  beautiful  as  these  symbols  are,"  says  our  most 
recent  county  historian,  Mr.  Gussans  (1872),  "they  have  given 
rise  to  the  most  absurd  traditions.  The  most  popular  is,  that 
Piers  Shonkes  [in  whose  memory  the  monument  is  said  to  have 
been  erected]  was  a  mighty  hunter,  and  was  always  accompanied 
in  his  expeditions  by  one  attendant  and  three  favourite  hounds, 
so  swift  of  foot  that  they  were  said  to  be  winged,  and  are  so 

*  Brent  Pelham,  or  Pelham  Arsa,  from  a  fire  which  destroyed  it  in  the  reign 
of  Henry  I.  ;  t*elhara  Samers,  from  the  name  of  a  grantee  of  the  Bishop  of 
London  shortly  after  the  date  of  Domesday.  These  cognomina  are  needed  to 
distinguish  the  place  from  its  neighbours,  Pelham  Furneaux  and  Pelham 
Stockin.  But  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest,  says  Sir  Henry  Chauncy  (^Hist, 
Herts,  i.,  276),  "These  several  Mannors  and  Parcels  of  Land  made  but  one 
Parish,  known  in  Domesdei  Book  only  by  the  name  of  Pelham,"  when  they 
formed  an  estate  of  the  Bishop  of  London.  The  three  parishes  are  collectively 
known  as  "  the  Pelhams"  to  this  day.  The  Domesday  Church  seems  to  have 
been  at  Pelham  Furneaux. 


304  Collectanea. 

represented  on  the  tomb.^  Chancing  one  day  to  kill  a  dragon, 
which  seemed  to  have  been  under  the  immediate  protection  of 
Satan,  the  latter  declared  that  he  would  be  revenged  on  Shonkes, 
and  would  have  him  at  his  death,  whether  he  was  buried  within 
or  without  the  church.  Shonkes,  to  avoid  his  fate,  directed  that 
he  should  be  buried  neither  within  nor  without  the  sacred  build- 
ing, but  in  the  wall,  and  feeling  perfectly  secure  in  that  position 
ordered  that  a  representation  of  his  achievement  should  be  carved 
on  his  tomb.  On  the  wall  at  the  back  of  the  tomb  is  painted  this 
inscription  : 

"  '  Tantum  £aima  manet  Cadmi  sanctique  Georgi 
Posthuma ;  tempus  edax  ossa  sepulchra  vorat. 
Hoc  tamen,  in  muro  tutus,  qui  perdidit  anguem 
Invito  positus  Dsemone,  Shonkus  erat. 
O,  Piers,  Shonks 
Who  died,  Anno  1086.' 

"  *  Nothing  of  Cadmus  nor  St  George,  those  names 
Of  great  renown,  survives  them  but  their  fames  ; 
Time  was  so  sharp  set  as  to  make  no  Bones 
Of  theirs,  nor  of  their  monumental  stones. 
But  Shonks  one  serpent  kills,  t'other  defies 
And  in  this  wall,  as  in  a  fortress,  lies.' 

"  It  is  possible  that  the  last  couplet  may  have  given  rise  to  the 
tradition."  ^ 

*  The  four  Evangelistic  symbols  as  above. 

'  The  epitaph  is  said  (by  Salmon)  to  have  been  composed  by  the  Rev. 
Raphael  Keen,  who  died  in  1614.  He  was  vicar  of  Brent  Pelham  for  75^ 
years  !  Chauncy,  writing  in  1700,  gives  the  inscription  and  also  a  variant  of  it, 
and  speaks  of  it  as  "formerly"  over  the  tomb.  Mr.  E.  E.  Barclay,  of  Brent 
Pelham  Hall,  has  kindly  shown  me  a  copy,  made  1806,  of  a  copy  of  both 
variants  made  by  Tho :  Jugge,  Vicar  1683- 1725,  which  also  speaks  of  them  as 
"formerly"  there.  That  now  existing  must  have  been  repainted  before 
1728,  when  Salmon  saw  it.     The  other  runs  thus  : — 

"  Cadmi  Fama  manet,  tantum  tua  Fama  Georgi 
Posthuma,  Tempus  edax  Ossa,  Sepulchra  vorat : 
Attamen  hoc  Tumulo,  Shonkus  qui  perdidit  Anguem 
Invito  Satano  caute  sepultus  erat." 

"  Cadmus  his  Fame,  St.  George  his  Fame  alone, 
Their  Tombs  and  Ashes  all  are  gone  : 
But  Shonks  who  valiantly  ye  Serpent  wounded 
In  spite  of  Satan,  here  he  lies  entombed." 

[The  tradition  must  be  older  than  the  epitaph  which  embodies  it. — Ed.] 


A   Hertfordshire  St.    George. 


305 


Salmon,  writing  in  1728,  winds  up  his  account  of  the  place 
"  with  the  relation  given  to  me  by  an  old  farmer  in  the  parish, 
who  valued  himself  for  being  born  in  the  air  that  Shonk  breathed. 
He  saith  '  Shonk  was  a  giant  that  dwelt  in  this  parish  who  fought 
with  a  giant  of  Barkway,  named  Cadmus,  and  worsted  him  ;  upon 
which  Barkway  hath  paid  a  quit-rent  to  Pelham  ever  since.' "  ^ 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  state  that  the  Cadmus  referred  to  was 
no  local  giant,  but  the  fabled  Phoenician  dragon-slayer  mentioned 
in  the  epitaph,  while  the  quit-rent  was  the  usual  copyhold  tenure. 

The  accounts  given  locally  vary  greatly,  as  is  usually  the  case. 
The  chief  variant  is,  that  when  Piers  was  on  his  death-bed  he 
called  for  his  bow  and  an  arrow  and  shot  it  at  random  from  his 
window,  commanding  that  he  should  be  buried  where  the  arrow 
fell.'  The  arrow  passed  through  one  of  the  church  windows  and 
transfixed  itself  in  the  wall  where  the  tomb  now  is. 

Some  thirty  or  forty  years  ago,  a  patriarchal  old  villager  told 
Mr.  W.  H.  N,  of  Watford  that  he  either  retnembered  or  heard 
that  on  an  excavation  being  made  under  the  wall  near  the  monu- 
ment, bones,  supposed  to  be  Shonkes',  were  found,  and  from  their 
proportions  would  have  belonged  to  a  man  from  nine  to  ten  feet 
high.     Whether  these  were  replaced  in  the  tomb  or  not  he  did 

An  old  man  named  Thomas  Tinworth,  who  died  a  septuagenarian 
in  1899,  told  Ml.  E.  E.  Barclay,  of  Brent  Pelham  Hall,  that  his 
father  was  the  person  who  explored  the  tomb  during  some  repairs 
to  the  floor  about  1835,  He  found  that  the  recess  went  a  Jong 
way  down,  and  in  digging  into  it  he  found  some  very  large  human 
bones,  evidently  belonging  to  a  man  of  great  stature. 

The  following  account  written  some  years  ago  by  the  Vicar  of 
Brent  Pelham  (the  Rev.  W.  Wigram,  M.A.)  is  worth  quoting  here. 
He  says  :  "  The  tomb  is  in  the  north  wall  of  the  church  and  is  of 

ihirteenlh-cenlury  ^  work The  staff  of  the  cross  is  driven 

like  a  spear  through  the  mouth  of  the  dragon,  the  emblem  of  the 
human  sou![?].  The  chancel  of  the  church  was  rebuilt  about 
forty  years  ago  and  is  now  in  a  straight  line  with  the  nave.  For- 
merly it  inclined  so  much  to  the  north  that  room  for  a  small 


'  Salmon'!  ATiitorj-o/^tm,  p.  389. 

*  This  resembles  an  tncidenl 

*  More  probably  (ourtecnth 


Robin  Hood  heio-talc. 


3o6  Collectanea. 

vestry  was  gained  between  the  original  north  wall  (which  was  left 
as  it  stood)  and  the  line  of  the  existing  north  wall ;  hence  the 
south  window  of  the  chancel  looked  through  the  chancel  arch, 
and  an  arrow  entering  at  the  window  could  have  struck  the  north 
wall  of  the  nave. 

"A  terrible  dragon  kennelled  under  a  yew  tree  which  stood 
between  what  were  afterwards  two  fields  called  Great  and  Little 
Pepsells ;  and  the  stile  in  the  pathway  which  crossed  them  was 
set  up  in  the  stem  of  this  tree  when  it  was  split  open,  as  such 
trees  do,  with  extreme  old  age.  This  dragon  was  killed  by 
Shonkes,  and  as  it  was  dying  Satan  himself  arose  and  claimed 
Shonkes'  body  and  soul  for  slaying  his  dragon.  The  Christian 
knight  defied  him,  promptly  replying  that  his  soul  was  in  the 
keeping  of  Heaven,  and  that  his  body  should  rest  where  the  arrow 
then  upon  his  bowstring  should  fall.  He  shot  accordingly,  and 
the  arrow  entering  the  south  window  of  the  crooked  chancel 
passed  through  the  chancel  arch  and  struck  the  north  wall  of  the 
nave  at  the  spot  in  which  Shonkes  still  rests,  invito  Dcemone. 

"  In  subsequent  ages  the  yew  tree  was  cut  down  by  a  labourer 
well  known  to  my  informant,  the  parish  clerk.  The  man  began 
his  work  in  the  morning,  but  left  it  at  breakfast-time,  and  on 
returning  found  that  the  old  tree  had  fallen,  collapsing  into  a 
large  cavity  underneath  its  roots." 

As  to  the  real  history  of  the  hero,  little  can  be  said.  Weever, 
who  gives  neither  legend  nor  inscription,  says  {/oc,  cit.) :  "  He  is 
thought  to  have  been  sometime  the  Lord  of  an  old  and  decayed 
House,  well  moated,  not  far  from  this  Place,  called  O  Piers 
Shoonkes?-  He  flourished  Anno  k  Conquestu  vicesimo  primo." 
In  Salmon's  time  (Joe.  cit)  there  was  a  barn  standing  on  this 
moated  enclosure,  and  he  also  states  that  this  manor  (Beeches) 
pays  castle-guard  to  Bishop's  Stortford,  a  relic  of  the  feudal  system 
which  is,  I  believe,  paid  to  the  lord  of  the  manor  of  Stortford 
tp-day.  Mr.  Wigram  {ut  supra)  says :  "  The  site  of  the  hero's 
house  is  marked  by  the  moat  which  once  surrounded  it,  in  a 
pasture  still  called  *  Shonkes'  Garden,'  upon  Beeches'  Farm." 
"  Batches  alias  Beaches  "  was  a  distinct  manor  in  Brent  Pelham 
parish;   and  of  another  manor,   "Graies,"  Sir  Henry  Chauncy 


'  Sic.     The  next  sentence  is  not  borne  out  by  Domesday  Book,  still  less  so 
is  the  statement  of  the  inscription  that  Shonkes  died  in  that  year- 


'  Grateful  Pr4jus" 


307 


(1700)  says  it  was  "  become  a  decayed  Farm  and  now  annexed 
to  Beaches."  Among  the  endowments  of  the  church  is  a  parcel 
of  woodland  called  "  Beches  and  Shonks." 

The  only  other  person  of  ihe  name  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
whom  we  have  any  record  is  Gilbert  Sank,  who  in  the  sixteenth 
year  of  Edward  I.  was  distrained  upon  by  Simon  de  Furneaux, 
Lord  of  the  Pelhams,  for  his  "  Homage  and  service  and  forty 
shillings  and  sixpence  rent  by  the  year,  Fealty  and  Suit  at  Court 
at  Pelham  Arsa,  from  three  weeks  to  three  weeks,"'  Salmon 
suggests  that  he  might  be  the  father  of  Peter  or  Piers  Shonks. 

As  to  the  dragon,  fossil  remains  of  extinct  animals  have  often 
been  found  in  the  clay-pits  of  Hertfordshire,  none  of  which, 
however,  are  of  so  recent  a  date  as  the  medieval  period.  But 
the  story  may  be  very  much  older,  dating  possibly  even  from 
prehistoric  times,  and  thus  handed  down  from  father  to  son  it 
has  become  connected  in  the  usual  materialistic  way  with  the 
monumental  slab,  assisted  during  the  past  two  centuries,  as  Mr 
Cussans  says,  by  the  epitaph. 

W.  B.  Gerish. 


"Gratefl'l  Frejus." 
{Quoted  by  permission  from  the  "  Guardian,"  iind  August,  1900.) 

It  is  not  often,  even  in  Provence,  which  has  kept  much  sim- 
plicity and  the  beauty  born  of  simplicity,  that  we  have  the 
opportunity  of  taking  part  in  a  festivity  entirely  popular  in  its 
character,  which  has  been  celebrated  for  several  centuries  with 
the  same  details  as  it  is  to-day. 

But  on  this  sunny  May  morning  the  high  road  to  Fi^jus  is  gay 
with  bright  faces,  and  many  a  family  group  of  gaily  dressed  girls, 
white-capped  mothers,  and  red-sashed,  blue-trousered  fathers,  goes 
chattering  along  the  boulevard  under  its  young-leafed  plane-trees, 
their  French  greetings  seeming  almost  out  of  keeping  with  their 
dark,  handsome   Italian   faces.     French  greetings  for  us  only, 

'  Chauncy,  Hut.  Mtrli  C1700),  vol,  i,,  p.  378.  I 


3o8  Collectanea. 

however,  for  we  find  it  hard  to  follow  their  pretty  Provengal 
tongue,  with  its  soft  diminutives  and  drawn-out  vowels.  Fr^jus, 
the  sleeping  city  that  dreams  alternately  of  Roman  Empire  and 
mediaeval  ecclesiasticism,  is  half  awake  this  morning,  and  has 
hung  her  steep  streets  and  old-world  houses  with  flags. 

Down  a  side-street,  where  the  interest  seems  gathering,  a  little 
crowd  of  women  is  watching  the  assembling  of  some  strange  little 
figures.  Little  boys,  from  about  twelve  years  old  down  to  mites 
of  three  or  four,  trot  up  one  after  the  other  inside  cardboard 
horses,  adorned  with  long  lace  frills,  that  do  not  quite  hide  the 
little  running  legs  of  the  rider.  These  hobby-horses  have  the 
small  heads  df  their  kind,  above  which  are  the  tiny  round  serious 
faces  of  the  younger  and  the  laughing  mischievous  faces  of  the 
elder  boys,  all  dressed  in  gay  coats  and  caps  with  flowers  and 
ribbons. 

Anxiously  careering  round  them  on,  or  rather  we  must  say  /«, 
a  hobby-horse  of  a  larger  growth,  is  a  "  Capitano  "  of  so  humorous 
and  yet  earnest  an  aspect  that  one  can  but  wonder  what  other 
part  in  life  he  could  ever  play.  Dressed  like  the  boys  in  ribbons 
and  laces,  he  wears  on  his  head  a  large  white  hat,  with  long 
coloured  feathers,  rosettes  on  each  ear,  and  an  elastic  under  the 
chin,  which  gives  a  peculiarly  innocent  look  to  his  wrinkled  old 
face.  Flourishing  right  and  left  with  his  sword,  encouraging  here 
and  urging  there,  he  gets  them  at  last  into  procession,  and  they 
set  off  for  the  "  Chapelle  de  St.  Roche " — a  small,  dilapidated 
building  just  outside  Fr^jus. 

There  a  larger  crowd  is  assembled  outside  the  door,  by  which 
stand  two  barefooted  monks  and  a  charming  old  lady  in  a  large 
straw  capeline,  or  Proven9al  hat,  black  tippet,  and  distaff  in  her 
hand.  These  three  wait  patiently,  their  eyes  on  the  ground,  till  the 
music  is  heard  and  the  procession  of  hobby-horses,  headed  by  a 
few  young  soldiers  and  sailors  and  a  band,  comes  winding  between 
the  high  white  walls  over  which  the  fresh  young  fig-trees  are  peep- 
ing. The  door  of  the^  chapel  then  opens,  and  there  is  carried  out 
a  small  boat,  which  is  placed  on  wheels,  and  by  which  the  monks 
and  the  old  lady  take  their  places  and  head  the  procession,  which 
moves  gaily  up  into  the  town  and  into  the  big  square  in  front  of 
the  cathedral. 

Here  all  Fr^jus  is  collected  round  the  barrier  that  rails  in  the 
square,  and  all  the  windows  of  the  four  or  five-storied  old  houses 


"  Grateful  Fr4jus"  309 

are  full  of  faces  looking  on.  The  little  hobby-horses  manifest  a 
disposition  to  prance  round  and  show  themselves  off,  but  are  soon 
recalled  by  the  Capitano,  who  wildly  waves  his  sword  and  forms 
them  again  into  line  preparatory  to  leading  them  round  the 
square  with  a  dancing  step  in  time  to  the  music.  Suddenly  all 
the  chattering  and  laughing  is  hushed,  every  one  presses  forH'ard 
round  the  railings,  the  little  hobby-horses  retire  into  a  large  circle, 
and  in  the  centre  of  the  square  three  figures  stand  alone — the 
two  monks  and  the  old  lady,  whose  name,  we  are  told,  is  Santa 
Brigitd.  The  elder  monk,  reverent  and  serious  of  face,  and  digni- 
fied in  bearing,  now  comes  forward,  and,  addressing  the  old  lady, 
who  stands  with  her  hands  clasped  round  ber  distaff,  asks  her  in 
Provenga!  why  he,  a  stranger,  just  arrived  by  sea  in  Fr^jus,  finds 
the  city  empty  and  forsaken,  doors  and  windows  shut,  silence  in 
the  streets,  and  no  children  at  play. 

She  answers  him  in  the  same  soft  tongue,  and  in  a  clear, 
pathetic  voice,  that  Frejus  is  ravaged  by  the  plague,  that  many  of 
the  inhabitants  are  dead,  others  sick  unto  death,  and  that  those 
who  are  still  in  heahh  have  fled  to  the  country  and  carried  off  all 
the  children  in  fear  of  their  lives.  On  hearing  this  he  bows  his 
head  in  silence,  then,  turning  to  her  again,  he  requests  her  to  lead 
him  to  the  cathedral.  Amid  perfect  silence  around,  the  two  cross 
the  square  and  disappear  within  the  great  doors,  and  only  the 
splashing  of  the  stone  fountain  at  the  corner  disturbs  the  hush  of 
expectation  until  the  two  quiet  figures  reappear  and  take  up  their 
position  again  in  the  middle  of  the  square. 

Stretching  out  his  hand  to  her,  the  monk  then  cries  in  a  loud, 
clear  voice,  "I  am  Francois  de  Paule.  God  has  sent  me  to  Frejus 
to  stay  the  plague  and  heal  this  suffering  people."  Stooping  down 
he  then  draws  a  circle  on  the  ground  with  his  staff  and  kneels 
down  to  kiss  the  centre  of  the  circle.  Then,  laying  down  his 
staff,  he  lifts  his  hands  to  heaven  and  cries  aloud  upon  God  to 
look  down  on  this  poor  Frejus  and  to  have  mercy  on  her.  This 
cry  he  repeals  three  times,  each  time  in  a  louder  voice,  more  and 
more  thrilled  with  passionate  supplication.  Rising  to  his  feet  he. 
then  takes  up  his  staff  and  turns  again  to  the  over-awed  woman. 
"  Go,"  he  cries,  "  and  tell  the  inhabitants  of  Frejus  that  God  has 
stayed  the  plague  and  healed  their  sickness."     He  continues  with 

solemn  command  that  In  all  ages  to  come  Frejus  should  remem- 
this  great  mercy,  and  that  each  year  a  solemn  remembrance 


I stayed  the 

^^^■^  solemn  c 
^^^Hkt  this  gri 


3IO  Collectanea. 

and  rehearsal  of  his  coming  by  sea  to  Fr^jus  and  this  miracle  that 
God  has  wrought  by  him  be  enacted.  Nor  must  Fr^jus  ever  cease 
to  carry  out  this  custom,  for,  should  it  ever  fall  into  n^lect,  the 
plague  would  surely  return  to  the  city. 

After  the  solemn  adjuration  he  turns  and  leads  the  way  to  the 
cathedral,  followed  by  old  Santa  Brigitd,  the  procession  of  boys, 
and  the  crowd  of  onlookers,  who  soon  fill  the  dark  old  church, 
where  the  priest  is  waiting  to  say  mass  at  the  side  altar  of  St. 
Frangois,  which  blazes  with  lights.  The  mass  is  long,  the  crowd 
pass  silently  in  and  out  of  the  great  doors,  and  the  little  hobby- 
horse boys  sit  down  for  very  weariness  in  rows  on  the  steps  of  the 
high  altar,  the  little  brown  heads  of  their  horses  appearing  through 
the  gloom,  at  that  distance,  quaint  appendages  to  the  solemn 
service.  We  stay  to  see  no  more,  but  feasting  and  frolic  fill  up 
the  two  following  days  till  the  third  evening,  when  St.  Francois 
de  Paule  and  his  boat  are  conducted  back  to  the  little  chapel  of 
St.  Roche,  and  grateful  Fr^jus  subsides  into  its  calm  life  of  every 
day. 

Valescure.  E.  M.  J. 

The  following  further  notes  have  been  kindly  sent  us  by  the 
writer  of  the  above  article.  Lady  Jones  : 

The  fete  is  an  entirely  popular  one,  and  has  no  connection 
with  the  Church,  though  sanctioned  by  the  celebration  of  mass 
at  the  altar  of  St.  Francois  de  Paule.  The  priests  do  not  seem 
at  all  interested  in  the  ceremonies ;  they  evidently  treat  them  as 
amusements  for  the  people.  The  correct  date  of  the  fete  is  said 
in  the  local  history  to  be  the  third  Sunday  after  Easter ;  hence  it 
is  a  moveable  feast.  But  it  is  changed  to  suit  the  convenience  of 
the  people.  I  saw  it  on  the  27th  May,  1900,  in  which  year  it  was 
not  held  on  the  right  day,  as  there  were  municipal  elections  going 
on.  This  year  (1901)  it  was  perpetually  being  put  off  on  account 
of  the  extraordinarily  bad  weather.  The  following  extracts  from 
LHistoire  de  FrejuSy  by  J.  A.  Aubenas,  Honorary  Curator  of  the 
Museum  of  Antiquities  at  Fr^jus,  published  at  Fr^jus  in  1881,  give 
the  local  tradition  as  to  the  origin  of  the  festival  (pp  276-279)  : 

La  Peste  et  St,  Franfois  de  Paule, 

La  villa  se  vit  plus  cruellement  ^prouv^e  encore  par  un  fieau 
qui  9'<5tait  abattu  sur  la  Provence  en  1480,  en  m^rae  temps  que 


'  Grateful  Fr4jus" 


mourait  1e  roi  R^n^,*  et  dont  les  ravages  n'ont  ^te  depasses  que 

parceuxde  la  pesie  de  1720 C'est  dans  ces  circonstances, 

qu'au  commencement  de  I'annee  1483  la  tempete  jeta  sur  la 
plage  voisine  un  homnie,  un  Saint,  le  celebre  Francois  de  Paule, 
appeW  du  fond  de  la  Calabre  par  le  roi  Louis  XI.  agonisant,  pour 
lui  rendre,  par  un  miracle,  la  sante  que  la  science  humaine  ne 
pouvait  plus  lui  donner.  Cetle  gucrison  d'un  vieiliard  cruel,  en 
meme  temps  habile  et  prafond  politique,  n'etait  pas  dans  les 
desseins  de  Dieu ;  mais  la  tradition  et  la  foi  contemporaine 
attestent  le  miracle  non  moins  grand,  accompli,  b,  cette  occasion, 
par  le  saint  anachorete  en  faveur  de  Fr^jus.  Girardin-  est  le  plus 
ancien  historien  qui  ait  recueilli  par  ^crit  cette  tradition,  unani- 
mement  proclam^e  jusqu'i  lui :  il  convient  de  le  laisser  parler. 

"  Le  serviteur  de  Dieu,"  dit-il,  "  ne  sachant  pas  que  notre  ville 
fQt  infecte'e,  s'approche  de  nos  murs,  accompagn^  de  plusieure 
personnes,  et  s'avance  dans  les  rues  sans  trouver  qui  que  ce  soit. 
Enfin,  une  femme  dgee  se  trouve  par  hasard  sur  ses  pas;  il  lui 
demande  pourquoi  on  ne  voyoit  personne  dana  la  ville :  '  Hii ! 
mon  Pere,'  dit-elle,  'c'est  parceque  la  peste  est  ici.  La  moitie 
des  habitants  a  peri,  et  la  pluparl  des  autres  se  sont  enfuis,  ou  se 
tiennenl  enferm^s  chez  eux,' 

"A  cette  nouvelle,  Saint  Francois  de  Paule,  plein  de  charit^  et 
de  confiance  en  Dieu,  se  jeta  4  genoux  pour  se  recommander  avec 
aa  troupe  au  Seigneur,  et  pour  le  prier  qu'ii  voulflt  bien  Eloigner 
ce  terrible  fleau  d'une  ville  0(1  sa  providence  I'avoit  conduit.  La 
priere  de  ce  juste  eut  un  effet  singulier,  car,  depuis  ce  moment, 
le  mal  contagieux  cessa,  non  seulement  de  faire  des  progres,  mais 
encore  on  vit  ceux  qui  en  etaient  attaqu^s  recouvrer  la  sant^. 
Bien  plus,  depuis  cet  heuteux  jour,  la  peste  n'a  jamais  ose 
approcher  de  cette  ville,  et  semble  encore  aujourd'hui  respecter 
un  lieu  d'oii  ce  grand  saint  I'a  chass^e  une  fois. 

"  Notre  tradition  nous  apprend  que  le  saint  entra  par  la  porte  de 


'  [Rini  of  Anjou,  Counl  of  Provcnc*.  liwlar  K[ng  of  the  Two  Sicilies  and 
■  Jerusalem.  It  should  be  noliced  Ihal  the  independence  of  Provence  expired 
with  the  death  of  King  Rini,  and  ihat  Louis  XI.  was  Ihe  liril  French 
sovereign  ever  scknowledged  there.- — Ed.] 

'  [M.  le  Curi  Giraidin  wrote  about  1750,  but  hiswoiks,  Hisloirtdt  la  i'ilU 
tl  de  FEglin  dt  Frijta  and  Dtscriplian  kUlerique  du  Dtixht  dt  Frijui,  were 
only  printed  in  1S73,  when  they  were  edited  by  M.  I'Abb^  J.  B.  Disdier  and 
published  al  Dtoguigtion.— Ed.] 


312  Collectanea. 

M6ons,  et  que,  prenant  d'abord  k  droite,  il  venoit  it  F^lise  par 
ces  petites  rues  qui,  apr^s  quelques  detours,  aboutissent  k  la 
Place — que  c'est  dans  ces  quartiers-lk  qu'il  rencontra  cette 
femme,  et  qu'il  prik  k  genoux  pour  la  prosp^ritd  de  notre  villa. 
Elle  nous  apprend  encore  que  le  serviteur  de  Dieu  logea  dans  la 
maison  canonicale  de  M.  le  Pr^vot  Antelmi,  aujourd'hui  iv^que 
de  Grasse,  et  qu'on  lui  donna  une  chambre  vers  le  coin  qui 
r^pond  k  la  porte  du  cloltre  de  TEglise. 

"  Une  preuve  ^vidente  de  la  brusque  cessation  du  fleau,  de  la 
coincidence  de  ce  fait  avec  le  passage  de  Saint  Frangois  de  Paule, 
et  en  mdme  temps,  de  la  croyance  des  contemporains  en  sa  miracu- 
leuse  intervention,  c'est  la  construction  presque  immediate  de 
r^glise  et  du  couvent  ^lev^s  k  Frejus  pour  perp^tuer  la  m^moire 
de  ce  grand  bienfait.  Quelque  temps  apres  la  mort  du  roi 
Louis  XL,  et  grice  aux  liberalit^s  de  son  fils  Charles  VIII. 
le  saint  Calabrais  venait  de  fonder,  k  Plessis-les-Tours,  le  premier 
monastire,  en  France,  de  son  ordre,  que,  dans  son  humility,  il 
avait  voulu  appeler  TOrdre  des  Minimes  (les  plus  petits  de  tous). 
Commence  d^s  1490,  sept  ans  seulement  apr^s  les  faits  accomplis, 
le  couvent  des  Minimes  de  Frejus,  aujourd'hui  disparu,  et  sa 
remarquable  ^glise  qu'on  voit  encore,  ^taient  completement 
achev^s  en  1509.  Cette  maison  prit,  des  Tabord,  une  grande 
importance,  et  trois  chapitres  gendraux,  ayant  mission  d'elire  le 
chef  de  FOrdre  y  furent  tenus,  en  1547,  en  1556,  et  en  1565. 

"  Depuis,  la  population  de  Frejus,  dans  une  fete  annuelle,  n'a 
cess^  de  renouveler  I'expression  de  ses  actions  de  grices  envers 
celui  qui  fut  son  protecteur  et  qu'elle  a  choisi  pour  son  second 
patron."  ^  [St.  Leonce,  Bishop  of  Frejus  in  the  fifth  century,  is 
the  original  patron.] 

*  La  fi&te  commemorative  de  Saint  Fran9ois  de  Paule  se  c^lebre  le  3m c 
dimanche  apris  Pdques  et  dure  plusieurs  jours.  L'espace  nous  manque,  k  notre 
grand  regret,  pour  d^crire  ces  manifestations  touchantes  de  la  reconnaissance 
populaire,  et  nous  ne  pouvons  que  renvoyer  le  lecteur  i  la  relation  si  complete 
et  si  heureusement  r^ussie  que  vient  d'en  publier  M.  I'Abbe  Paul  Terriss, 
secretaire  de  Mgr.  TEveque  et  Chanoine  honoraire  de  Frojus,  La  fete  de 
Saint  Francois  de  Paule  h  Frijus  Ctyp.  L.  I^ydet,  imprimeur  de  I'Eveche). 

I  have  been  unable  either  to  buy  or  borrow  a  copy  of  the  last 
mentioned  work,  and  the  following  version  of  the  dialogue  recited 
on  the  occasion  is  translated  from  the  Provencal  notes  given  me 


"  Grateful  Frejus.'* 

f  one  of  the  Cures,    The  dialogue,  however,  is  far  n 
['than  it  is  possible  to  convey. 

Dialogue  de  S.  Framjois  db  Paule  et  ia  i-emme  i 


1   FBftjUS 


SI.  Fra\ 


:  Femme,  d'oCi  vieni  qu'en  arriva.nl  dans  celle  giiinde  villc,  je 
;rsoDDe?     D'oii  Went  que  potlcs  el  fenelres  soot  leimies,  que 
llierbe  cioit  entte  lea  pienes?    D'oii  vienl  une  %\  giande  solitude  ? 

La  Ftmmc  :  Comment  I  vous  ne  savez  pus  que  la  pestc  d^sole  notte  pauvte  ^ 
ville  depuis  irii  longues  inn^cs  1    Vous  ne  saves  pas  que  presque  lou! 
habitants  soul  morts  el  que  les  lares  suivivants  snnt  dans  leurs  maison 
campngne  ou  cach^  au  fond  de  leurs  niaisons  de  ville  F 

St.  Frartfeis  :  Femme,  pai  la  charit ^  de  Dieu,  enseigne-moi  I'jgtise  1 

La  vUilU  femme  mint  St.  Francois  d  ttglist,  efc.  ....  Mevenant  h  la 
Crandt  Place  de  Frijus.     St.  Franfeis  se  frmterni,  el  ficrie  par  troisfois  : — 

St.  Franfoii :  Mis^ricorde,  Seigneur,  pardonnc  au  peuple  de  Fri!jus  I 
{Fuis  il  s'adrisa  i  la  Femme,  el,  ebitssani  it  tint  veix  intin'mTe  qui  Itii  dil 
que  sa  friire  est  exaucit,  lui  dil):  Femme,  vas  annoncer  au  peuple  de 
Frjjus  que  la  colore  de  Dieu  s'esl  apaisj,  que  la  pesle  ne  revicndia  plus 
jamais  a  Fi^jus — el  qu'ils  se  souviennent  de  Si.  Francois  de  Piule  1 

There  is  something  left  out  at  the  end,  for  I  distinctly  heard 
the  St.  Francois  say  that  if  ever  the  fete  were  forgotten  the  plague 
would  return. 

I  was  certainly  told  at  the  time  of  the  fete  last  year  that  the 
woman  represented  St.  Brigili,  who  has  a  chapei  near  Frejus,  al 
which  an  interesting  ceremony  takes  place  every  May,  which  I 
attended  this  year,  namely,  the  blessing  of  the  iflai/,  who  are 
brought  to  the  chapel  early  in  the  morning  for  the  purpose.  But 
I  the  priest  who  officiated  told  me  that  the  woman  of  the  dialogue 
'is  simply  "  une  vieJUe  de  Frdjus." 

Evelyn  M,  Jones. 


[The^harbour  of  Frejus,  which  in  the  time  of  Augustus  sheltered 
300  galleys  after  the  battle  of  Actium,  was  still  in  use  in  the  tenth 
century,  but  during  the  Middle  Ages  it  gradually  silted  up.  owing 
to  the  soil  washed  down  by  the  River  Saint  Argent,  so  that  by 
1555  it  had  become  useless,  and  the  stagnant  pools  and  marshes 
which  formed  around  the  city  in  consequence  of  the  loss  of  the 
outlet  for  the  water  rendered  it  exceedingly  unhealthy.  The 
Chapel  of  St.  Roch,  whence  the  festival  procession  starts,  is 
situated  on  the  quay  of  the  old  harbour.  (D'Aubenas,  ofi.  cil., 
I  map  3.)    The  visit  of  St.  Francesco  di  Paola  to  France  during  a 


314  Collectanea. 

time  of  plague,  at  the  request  of  the  dying  Louis  XL,  is  an  actual 
historical  event,  but  the  saint  landed  not  at  Fr^jus,  but  at  Bormia, 
{Acta  Sanctorum^  April  2nd,  ed.  1675).  Here,  so  say  the  Bollan- 
dists,  he  visited  the  church  of  St.  Roch,  the  first  to  be  reached  on 
arriving,  the  doors  of  which  opened  to  him  of  their  own  accord ; 
and  by  his  prayers  caused  an  intractable  beam  in  the  new  roof  to 
fit  into  its  place.  Here  also  he  caused  the  plague  to  cease.  The 
next  day  he  went  on  to  Fr^jus,  where  took  place  the  circumstances 
commemorated  in  the  festival.  The  house  of  his  order  of  Minimes, 
built  by  the  city  in  honour  of  the  event,  was  finished  in  1509,  but 
was  handed  over  to  the  order  of  Cordeliers  in  1571. 

St.  Roch  of  Montpellier  (i 295-1327)  is  related  to  have  healed 
plague-stricken  folk  in  -North  Italy,  and  to  have  died  in  prison  in 
his  native  town  after  five  years'  unjust  detention.  When  the  plague 
broke  out  at  Constance  during  the  sitting  of  the  Council  (14 14), 
processions  and  prayers  in  honour  of  St.  Roch  were  ordered,  and 
the  plague  was  stayed;  hence  a  great  increase  of  devotion  to  him. 
His  relics  were  translated,  part  to  Aries,  1399,  part  to  Venice, 
1485.  While  living  as  a  hermit  in  the  forest  near  Piacenza,  the 
wild  beasts,  plague-stricken,  came  to  him  for  healing,  and  were 
cured  by  his  blessing.  "  Hence  the  habit  in  certain  places  of 
blessing  domestic  animals  and  flocks  on  the  Feast  of  St.  Roch, 
and  of  having  recourse  to  his  intercession  in  time  of  niurrain." 
{Lives  of  the  Saints  of  the  Order  of  St,  Francis  [of  Assisi], 
Franciscan  Convent,  Taunton,  1886,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  17,  18.) 

It  may  be  noted  that  St.  Raphael,  the  name-patron  of  the  port 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  four  miles  from  Frcjus,  is  the  Angel  of 
Healing. 

There  were  two  St.  Bridgets ;  the  famous  early  Irish  saint,  and 
St.  Bridget  of  Sweden  (i 302-1373),  foundress  of  the  Brigittine 
Nuns,  who  in  her  widowhood  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  took 
up  her  abode  there,  and  eventually  died  at  Avignon.  She  is  the 
Santa  Brigita  usually  honoured  in  Italy  and  Southern  France,  but 
her  legend  has  no  reference  to  cattle,  while  of  the  first  St.  Bridget 
it  is  related  that  the  cattle  stolen  from  worshippers  at  her  convent 
at  Kildare  ran  to  the  convent  with  the  thieves  in  pursuit  of  them. 
But  the  blessing  of  cattle  on  the  feast  of  a  patron  saint  seems  to 
have  been  a  common  mediaeval  custom. 

St.  Francesco  de  Paolo  had  a  sister  Brigita,  who  was  married  to 
Antonius  de  Alesso  (Alassio?),  and  their  son  Nicholas  is  said 


Midsummer  in  the  Pyrenees.  315 

{Acta  Sanctorum,  foe.  at.)  to  have  been  the  young  man  whom 
the  saint  miraculously  restored  to  life,  and  whose  parents  then 
consented  that  he  should  "enter  reUgion."  Can  the  silent 
younger  monk  in  the  festival  ceremony  be  meant  for  him? 
And  can  some  confusion  between  his  mother  and  her  patron 
saint  account  for  the  vague  association  of  St.  Bridget  with 
the  festival  ?  We  do  not  know ;  and  it  seems  impossible, 
with  the  information  at  present  at  our  disposal,  to  carry 
the  fete  beyond  the  fifteenth  century.  But  the  boat  and  the 
hobby-horses  suggest  a  far  earlier  date  than  the  dialogue,  and  we 
must  hope  that  some  of  our  French  or  Provencal  brethren  will  be 
induced  to  undertake  a  search  in  the  municipal  archives  of  Fr^jus 
in  order  to  ascertain  if  possible  what  anoual  ceremonies  were 
customary  there  before  1483. 

Festival  processions  with  ships  or  boati  are  known  at  Brussels 
and  Mannheim  and  probably  other  Continental  towns ;  as  well  as 
at  Luxor.  Detailed  descriptions  by  recent  eye-witnesses  of  any  of 
these  would  fee  welcome. — Ed.] 


Midsummer  in  the  Pyrenees, 

On  Midsummer  Eve,  some  ten  or  eleven  years  ago,  I  was 
present  at  the  ceremony  of  the  Srandon,  at  Bagneres  de  Luchon, 
in  the  department  of  Haute  Garonne,  in  France,  The  town 
stands  in  the  heart  of  the  mountains,  close  to  the  highest  point 
of  the  Pyrenees,  and  almost  in  the  country  of  that  rather  mysterious 
people,  the  Basques.  The  custom  is  so  ancient  that  no  Luchon- 
nais  questions  it.  They  tell  you  that  it  has  always  been  so,  and 
that  appears  to  them  to  be  a  perfectly  satisfactory  explanation. 
I  watched  the  building  of  the  Brandon  from  the  first.  It  was 
_  erected  on  the  Quineonce,  that  shady  plantation  of  trees  in  rows 
1- forming  a  square,  which  is  a  special  feature  in  most  provincial 
■'towns  in  France.  The  Qmnconce  at  Luchon  is  unusually  fine  ; 
the  trees  are  grand,  and  many  of  them  are  trees  that  blossom. 
The  Brandon  was  placed  in  the  centre  of  a  wide  gravelled  area 
which  extends  from  the  outer  row  of  the  Quimona  to  the  ^tabUs- 
tenutti  at  the  base  of  the  beautiful  wooded  hill.  It  was  composed 
of  thin  laths  of  wood,  nailed  in  network  fashion,  and  it  was  stuffed 


i 


3 1 6  Collectanea. 

with  shavings  and  straw,  soaked  in  some  inflammable  liquid.  It 
was  shaped  like  a  mummy,  or  perhaps  a  cigar  set  on  end,  as  it  was  so 
long  in  proportion  to  its  breadth.  The  base  was  certainly  narrower 
than  the  centre.  It  rose  to  the  height  ("so  far  as  I  could  judge 
from  comparison  with  the  trees  behind)  of  about  twenty  feet. 

After  the  Angelus  on  Midsummer  Eve,  a  priest,  accompanied 
by  some  choir-boys  bearing  lighted  candles,  and  followed  by  a 
multitude  of  the  Luchonnais  of  both  sexes  and  all  ages,  came  in 
procession  to  the  Quinconce^  chanting  solemnly;  and  after  sprinkling 
the  base  of  the  Brandon  with  the  goupillon  or  asperge^  as  the  holy- 
water  sprinkler  is  named,  he  set  Are  to  the  shavings  and  then 
returned  by  the  way  he  came.  The  wood  crackled,  and  the  whole 
huge  torch  was  soon  a  roaring  pillar  of  fire,  with  a  fine  plume  of 
mounting  sparks  against  the  deep  blue  dusk  of  the  summer  sky. 
As  it  burned,  it  bent  and  broke,  and  fragments  fell  to  the  earth. 
There  was  a  rush  each  time,  and  the  blazing  piece  of  wood  was 
snatched  by  some  member  of  the  crowd.  Then  ensued  the  most 
picturesque  night-scene  of  weird  and  rather  perilous  revelry.  A 
dance  began  in  and  out  amongst  the  trees.  It  seemed  to  have 
no  set  step  and  no  figures,  but  the  effect  was  a  continuous  and 
rhythmical  whirl ;  each  dancer  whirled  alone,  as  he  whirled  his 
flaming  torch  above  his  head.  It  was  wonderful  that  no  accident 
happened,  but  it  must  have  been  owing  to  the  dexterity  of  long 
practice.  The  whole  Quinconce  was  full  of  whirling  separate 
flames,  and  yet  the  dancers  seemed  to  keep  clear  of  each  other 
and  of  the  stems  of  the  trees.  As  the  torches  burned  down,  and 
threatened  to  burn  fingers,  they  were  carefully  extinguished  and 
carried  home.  I  was  told  that  the  blackened  and  charred  wood 
is  carefully  preserved  till  the  next  Brandon^  and  that  some 
mysterious  virtue  is  supposed  to  be  attached  to  it. 

I  was  also  told  that  until  very  recent  times  it  had  been  the 
custom  to  imprison  couleuvres  (a  non-poisonous  snake),  and 
toads,  and  even  apes,  within  the  Brandon^  which  caused  great 
entertainment  (!)  by  their  efforts  to  escape  this  horrible  death, 
jumping  out  in  all  directions  and  wriggling  higher  and  higher  as 
the  flames  approached  them,  only  to  be  caught  and  cast  back 
into  the  fire.  And  it  seemed  that  no  human  feeling  of  pity  for  the 
reptiles  would  have  caused  a  cessation  of  the  hideous  sport,  but 
on  one  occasion  a  large  coukuvre  in  agony  leapt  upon  the  back 
of  a  woman  who  stood  unwarily  near,  and  the  woman  died  on  the 


Folktales  from  the  yEgean. 


317 


spot  from  fright,     So  henceforth  the  Brandon  lacked  its  living 
sacrifice.^ 

Jean  Carlvle  Graham  Speakman. 
July  and,  jgoi. 


Folktales  from  the  ^gean. 

(Continued  from  p,  208.) 

XXIII.      Ulum-Stfer.     (Boudroum  :  told  by  the  daughter  of 

the  narrator  of  No.  XXV.  Both  are  illiterate.) 
There  was  once  a  priest  who  possessed  many  camels,  oxen,  and 
sheep.  One  day  the  keeper  of  his  camels  came  to  him  bringing 
their  bells  and  saddles,  and  told  him  that  they  were  dead,  every  one. 
Another  day  his  shepherds  and  neatherds  came  with  the  news 
that  all  his  flocks  and  herds  had  perished.  So  he  and  his  wife 
were  left  in  poverty,  and  had  scarcely  bread  enough  to  eat.  The 
priest  resolved  to  go  out  into  the  world  lo  seek  his  fortune,  and 
leaving  home  arrived  in  the  evening  at  a  spring,  where  he  sat 
down  to  soak  and  eat  the  stale  crumbs  of  bread  he  had  brought 
for  provision.  To  the  same  place  came  a  carpenter  and  a  tailor, 
and  when  they  had  all  become  acquainted,  they  agreed  to  go  on 
in  company. 

At  nightfall  they  reached  a  large  house,  and  entering  found  a 
beautiful  room,  with  the  table  laid  and  the  dinner  cooking,  and 
narghihes  ready  to  be  smoked  ;  but  no  one  was  there.  They  were 
all  exceedingly  hungry,  and  after  waiting  a  little  while  in  patience 
began  to  discuss  the  question  whether  it  would  not  be  best  to 
no  longer,  but  to  sit  down  and  dine.     The  carpenter  and 

I  shoemaker  were  afraid,  and  said,  "If  this  house  belongs  to  a 

'  gentleman  he  will  excuse  us,  but  if  the  owners  happen  to  be  ogres 
they  will  certainly  kill  us."  The  priest,  however,  replied,  "  It  will 
be  all  right"  So  they  sat  down  and  dined  sumptuously.  The 
priest  then  said,  "Now  we  will  go  to  bed,  but  each  must  watch 
in  his  turn  while  the  others  sleep,  so  that  we  can  apologise  to  the 

I  owner  when  he  comes."     They  drew  lots,  and  it  fell  to  the  car- 

I  penter  to  watch  first. 

ice  B  much  leis  detailed  account  in  G.  B.,  iii.,  314,  quoted  from  the 
Atktnaum,  14  July,  i86g,  at  which  due  the  snakes  were  stilf  sacrificed, — Ed. 


3^8  Collectanea. 

He  sat  down  admiring  the  woodwork  of  the  house,  a  beautiful 
piece  of  walnut-wood  particularly  pleasing  him.  He  thought  to 
himself,  "  I  could  make  anything  out  of  that  wood/'  Then  to 
pass  the  time  he  commenced  carving  the  figure  of  a  girL  By 
the  time  his  share  of  watching  was  over  he  had  completed  his 
task.  He  awoke  the  tailor,  whose  turn  came  next,  and  went  to 
bed. 

The  tailor  on  getting  up  was  surprised  to  see  a  beautiful  giri  in 
the  room,  and  began  paying  his  respects  to  her ;  but  when  she 
did  not  answer,  he  approached  nearer,  and  found  she  was  made  of 
wood.  "Ah!"  cried  he,  "that's  the  carpenter's  work;"  and 
rather  than  be  beaten  he  set  to  work  and  made  a  dress  for  the 
girl,  so  lovely  that  all  the  room  shone. 

By  the  time  he  had  finished  it  was  the  priest's  turn  to  watch. 
When  he  saw  this  lovely  and  splendidly-dressed  young  lady  he 
made  his  bow  and  addressed  her,  but  received  no  answer.  Ap- 
proaching her,  he  discovered  what  she  was,  and  said,  "  Ah  I  that's 
the  carpenter's  and  tailor's  work ;  but  I  won't  be  beaten."  So  he 
went  to  work  with  his  holy  water  and  prayer-book,  and  read  and 
read  and  sprinkled  and  sprinkled  her  until  he  put  a  soul  into  her. 

In  the  morning,  when  his  companions  awoke,  the  question 
was,  "Whose  daughter  is  she  to  be  ? "  Each  of  the  three  stoutly 
maintained  his  claim  to  her,  and  at  length  they  agreed  to  go  to 
the  town  and  have  the  matter  decided  there  by  the  Cadi. 

It  was  decided  that  the  girl  was  to  belong  to  the  priest,  who 
had  given  her  a  soul.  When  the  beauty  of  the  priest's  daughter 
became  known,  there  were  many  suitors  for  her  hand,  but  she 
said,  "  I  will  marry  no  one  but  the  man  who  w^ill  bring  me  from 
the  Uium-sefer  (Road  of  Death)  the  kerchief  that  the  princess  is 
broidering." 

No  man  in  his  senses  could  be  found  to  venture  to  the  place 
of  death,  but  a  poor  man  who  got  tipsy  undertook  the  task  and 
started  on  his  journey. 

As  he  became  sober  he  began  to  repent,  but  was  ashamed 
to  return.  At  nightfall  he  lay  down  to  rest  under  the  tree  in 
which  the  eagles  had  made  their  nest.  The  parent  birds  were 
away,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  night  came  the  monster  with  the 
seven  heads  to  eat  the  young  ones.  The  sleeper  awoke  at  the 
noise,  and,  drawing  his  sword,  cut  the  creature  through  the  middle. 
"  Hit  me  again,"  it  said.    "  But  once  my  mother  bore  me  and  but 


Folktales  from  the  ySgean. 


319 


I  once  I  strike,"  he  answered,  and,  dragging  its  carcass  away,  threw 
it  into  a  guliy  and  went  to  sleep  again  under  the  tree. 

In  the  morning  came  the  two  old  eagles,  and,  seeing  him  said, 
"  Ah  1  this  is  he  who  comes  and  takes  our  young  every  year,"  and 
were  just  going  to  kill  him  when  the  little  ones  all  called  out, 
"  Don't,  don't ;  he  killed  the  beast  that  was  going  to  eat  us." 
Then  the  eagles  thanked  him  and  covered  him  with  their  wings, 
and  begged  lo  kiiow  what  favour  they  could  show  him.  He  told 
them  that  he  was  on  his  way  to  the  Utumsefer,  and  they  said,  "It 
is  a  fearful  place  to  go  to,  but  we  will  take  you.  But  you  must 
get  a  sheep,  kill  it,  and  cut  it  in  pieces  to  lake  with  you,  also  a 
pitcher  of  water,  and  on  the  journey  when  we  say  '  Kra '  you 
must  give  us  meat,  and  when  we  say  ■  Kroo '  you  must  give  us 
water."  He  did  as  they  commanded,  and  the  eagles  carried  him 
and  set  him  down  outside  the  city  of  the  Road  of  Death,  and 
gave  him  a  feather  which  he  was  to  bum  if  he  wanted  help. 

Close  by  was  a  shepherd  keeping  his  flock,  but  when  he  went 
up  and  said,  "  Good  day,"  never  a  word  spoke  the  shepherd,  nor 
did  he  move,  he  or  his  sheep,  but  they  were  as  dead.     Entering 
the  town  the  man  went  first  lo  the  baker's  shop.     There  stood 
Lthe  baker  with  his  peel  putting  loaves  into  the  oven,  hut  he 
I  neither  answered  nor  moved.     So  our  friend  took  a  loaf  and  went 
ron  to  the  confectioner's  to  buy  some  halvd.''     There  was  the  con- 
fectioner cutting  a  slice  of  fia/vd,  and  all  the  people  round,  but 
they  neither  spoke  nor  moved.     Our  friend  cut  as  much  as  he 
wanted  and  breakfasted.    Then  he  went  on  to  the  palace.    There 
was  a  staircase  of  forty-one  steps,  and  on  each  step  stood  a  soldier 
with  his  sword  drawn.    Climbing  the  stairs,  he  pushed  the  soldiers 
over,  and  they  all  lay  in  a  heap  at  the  bottom  like  sardines.     At 
1  the  head  of  the  staircase  was  a  door,  and  opening  it  be  entered  a 
Kipreat  chamber,  where  sat  the  princess's  father,  smoking  a  chibook 
■  with  a  stem  as  long  as  a  beam  and  a  bowl  as  big  as  a  caldron, 
'  and  with  him  the  princess  herself  broidering  the  kerchief.     He 
drew  his  knife  and  cut  the  kerchief  from  the  frame,  and  taking  it 
set  out  on  his  journey  home.     On  his  way  to  the  city  gate  he 
passed  a  church  and  heard  chanting  within.     Entering,  he  found 
"  e  church  full  of  people,  but  they  were  all  still  and  mule.     Only 
Qie  priest  was  just  coming  out  of  the  sanctuary  with  the  elements 


'  A  well-known  Turkish  5 


s  vuiety  of  which  is  like  iiaugal. 


320  Collectanea. 

in  his  hand  and  called  to  the  stranger,  ''My  blessing  and  the 
blessing  of  God  be  on  thee,  my  son.  Go  and  tell  that  bitch ^  to 
come  back  here,  for  she  has  tormented  us  enough."  For  it  must 
be  known  that  the  soul  of  the  wooden  girl  was  the  soul  of  the 
princess  and  of  all  the  people  of  Ulum-sefer,  and  that  is  why  they 
were  dead. 

Our  adventurer  found  his  way  back  to  his  city  and  took  the 
kerchief  to  the  priest's  daughter.  She  asked  him  what  he  heard 
and  saw,  and  he  told  her  all  his  adventures,  and  the  moment  he 
came  to  the  message  with  which  the  priest  of  Ulum-sefer  had 
charged  him,  she  turned  into  a  partridge  and  fiew  away  through 
the  window,  calling  out,  "  If  you  want  to  marry  me,  come  and 
find  me." 

He  was  in  such  a  hurry  to  follow  her  that  he  even  forgot  to 
bum  his  feather  and  summon  the  eagles,  but  away  he  ran  and 
never  rested  till  he  came  to  Ulum-sefer.  There  he  found  the 
shepherd  keeping  his  sheep  in  the  same  place,  and  said  to  him, 
"  Why,  the  last  time  I  came  you  were  dead,  and  I  might  have 
driven  away  all  your  sheep."  The  shepherd  thought  he  was 
mad,  for  he  did  not  know  he  had  been  dead,  and  giving  him 
some  food  sent  him  away.  He  went  to  the  baker's  and  said, 
"  Oh,  you  are  alive  now ;  the  last  time  I  came  I  might  have  stolen 
all  the  bread  in  your  shop."  The  baker  laughed  at  him  and  gave 
him  a  loaf,  and  when  he  told  the  confectioner  the  same  thing  he 
also  thought  the  man  mad,  and  gave  him  a  piece  of  halvd.  So  he 
breakfasted  well  this  time  too,  and  then  went  on  to  the  palace. 
As  he  was  about  to  mount  the  stairs,  the  soldiers  (now  in  their 
places  again)  were  about  to  kill  him,  but  the  princess  from  above 
called  out,  "  Let  him  come,  he  is  my  betrothed."  Her  soul  had 
told  her  this  when  it  came  back  to  her.  So  they  were  married 
with  great  rejoicings,  and  I  wish  I  had  been  there,  but  I  was  not. 

XXIV.     Donkey-Skin:" 
(From   the  same  source.) 

There  were  once  in  the  same  city  a  poor  woman  and  a  noble 
lady,  neither  of  whom  had  children.     The  noble  lady  one  day 

*  This  word,  as  in  ancient  Greek,  is  not  used  in  so  opprobrious  a  sense 
as  in  English.     Helen  calls  herself  a  bitch. 

*  Cf.  Pumpkin^  vol.  x.,  p.  $00.    The  type  is  common. 


Folktales  front  the  ^gean. 


1,  "  If  I  could  only  have  a  girl  I  would  not  mind  marrying 
her  to  a  donkey."  The  poor  woman  also  said  to  herself:  "Ah, 
could  I  but  have  a  son,  even  though  he  were  a  donkey." 

Soon  afterwards  they  both  grew  big  with  child,  and  a  beautiful 
girl  was  bom  to  the  lady ;  but  the  poor  woman  gave  birth  to  a 
donkey.  He  was  her  son,  and  she  had  to  bring  him  up.  When 
he  went  to  school  all  the  girls  made  fun  of  him,  especially  the 
lady's  daughter.  One  day  he  said  to  her,  "  You  had  better  take 
care  what  you  say,  because  I  am  going  to  marry  you."  This 
made  the  girl  cry,  and  she  told  it  with  tears  to  her  mother,  who 
remembered  her  vow,  and  replied,  "  Who  knows  ?  It  may  be 
your  fate."  When  the  donkey  grew  up  he  said  to  his  mother, 
"  You  must  go  and  ask  for  that  lady's  daughter  in  marriage  for 
me,"  and  insisted  until  she  went. 

The  noble  lady,  when  the  poor  woman  came,  ashamed  at 
making  such  a  request,  answered,  "Yes  ;  if  God  has  not  written 
it,  let  Him  write  it  now,"  and  consented.  She  talked  to  her 
husband,  and  they  agreed  that  it  would  be  quite  easy  to  let  their 
daughter  marry  the  donkey  and  to  kill  him  the  day  after  the 
marriage.  So  the  marriage  was  made,  and  the  bride  and  bride- 
groom retired  for  the  night,  When  they  were  alone  the  donkey 
took  off  his  skin,  and  lo  !  he  was  a  beautiful  young  man. 

The  next  morning  the  bride's  parents  came,  expecting  to  find 
their  daughter  in  tears,  and  ready  to  kill  the  donkey,  but  they 
found  her  looking  quite  cheerful.  "  Do  you  mean  to  say,"  said 
her  mother,  "  that  you  like  the  company  of  that  donkey  ?  "  "  Oh, 
yes,"  said  she  ;  "he  may  be  a  donkey,  but  1  find  him  very  nice." 
They  were  very  much  surprised,  but  thought  no  more  of  kUling 
the  donkey,  since  their  daughter  liked  him.  Soon  afterwards  there 
was  to  be  a  great  wedding,  and  sweets  were  sent  to  the  donkey 
and  his  wife  as  an  invitation.  Her  mother,  however,  said,  "  You 
cannot  possibly  come  with  the  donkey."  He  said  to  her,  "You 
must  go  alone,  but  I  will  come  afterwards  and  dance  with  you ; 
only  if  you  tell  them  that  I  am  your  husband  you  will  lose  me." 

She  went  to  the  wedding,  and  the  beautiful  young  man,  whom 
no  one  knew,  came  and  danced  with  her.  Al!  thought  what  a 
handsome  pair  they  were,  and  what  a  pity  it  was  she  was  the  wife 
of  the  donkey.  After  the  ball  her  motliet  questioned  her  so 
closely  about  her  partner  that  at  length  she  told  her  the  whole 
story.     "  You  must  prevent  him  becoming  a  donkey  again,"  said 


322  Collectanea. 

her  mother.  "  When  he  is  asleep,  go  and  get  his  skin  from  the 
cupboard  where  he  keeps  it,  and  bum  it"  So  the  next  night  the 
girl  got  up  and  burnt  the  skin,  and  instantly  came  the  three  £EurieSy 
her  husband's  sisters,  and  took  him  away  with  them. 

The  poor  girl  set  ofif  to  find  him,  and  came  to  a  deep  spring  in 
which  a  rope  was  floating.  She  took  hold  of  the  rope  to  pull  it 
out,  but  it  pulled  her  down  and  down  to  another  country.  There, 
hard-by,  she  saw  a  great  castle,  and  on  going  in  found  it  empty 
and  unswept.  In  a  little  while  came  her  husband.  She  did  not 
know  him,  but  he  knew  her  and  revealed  himself.  He  told  her 
that  his  three  sisters,  the  fairies,  would  come  soon.  "  You  must 
sweep  the  house  and  go  to  the  garden  and  get  roses  to  decorate 
the  table,  and  when  my  sisters  come  you  must  beg  the  eldest  for 
!  her  handkerchief,  the  second  for  her  head-kerchief,  and  the  third 

for  her  apple."  When  the  fairies  came  they  were  very  pleased  at 
the  work  the  girl  had  done  for  them,  and  the  eldest  said,  "  Ask 
for  what  you  want  Do  you  want  money  ?  do  you  want  long  life  ? 
Ask."  "  No,"  said  the  girl,  '"  but  will  you  give  me  that  pretty 
handkerchief."  "Anything  else,"  said  the  fairy,  "but  not  that. 
I  must  have  it  to  wipe  the  sweat  from  my  face."  The  second 
sister  also  begged  her  to  ask  for  money,  or  many  years  of  life,  or 
what  she  liked.  "  I  should  like  your  kerchief,"  she  said.  "  Oh, 
I  can't  give  you  that,  it's  the  only  one  I  have."  When  she  asked 
the  youngest  for  her  apple,  the  fairy  threw  it  to  her,  but,  alas  !  she 
missed  it,  and  in  a  moment  she  was  lying  at  the  bottom  of  the 
spring,  and  the  palace  was  gone.  She  took  hold  of  the  rope  and 
it  pulled  her  up,  and  above  was  her  husband  turned  into  stone. 
He  said  to  her,  "  You  must  watch  here  for  forty  days,  forty  nights, 
and  forty  sand-glasses,^  and  then  you  will  get  me  back."  She  had 
nearly  finished  her  watch  when  a  ship  with  a  cargo  of  negresses 
came  sailing  there,  and  the  captain  sent  his  men  ashore  for  water. 
They  came  and  found  the  girl  and  asked  her  where  they  could  get 
the  water.  "  There  is  none,"  she  said,  but  she  had  been  weeping 
all  the  time  and  had  filled  a  bottle  with  her  tears,  so  she  gave  that 
to  them.  The  captain,  when  he  heard  of  it,  said,  "  We  must  do 
something  for  her,  as  she  has  been  so  kind  to  us,"  and  sent  her 
one  of  his  negresses  to  wait  on  her. 


7 


•  Sand-glasses.     The  word  is  maniserolais.     I  do  not  know  the  derivation. 
These  gKisscs  are  used  by  sponge-divers  at  Boudroum  for  reckoning  time. 


Folktales  frotn  the  yEgeaii. 


She  told  the  negress  her  story,  and  liow  she  had  watched  the 
forty  days,  forty  hours,  and  thirty-nine  sand-glasses.  "  Go  to 
sleep  now,"  said  the  negress,  "and  I  will  watch  it  out."  So  the 
girl  lay  down  and  slept,  and  the  n^ress  hid  her,  and  when  her 
husisand  awoke,  instead  of  his  beautiful  wife  he  found  a  negress. 
"Don't  you  know  me?"  said  she.  "I  have  got  so  black  sitting 
here  in  the  sun."  He  was  obhged  to  believe  this  and  took  her 
home  with  him. 

When  his  wife  awoke  she  knew  she  had  been  betrayed,  and 
going  down  the  spring  again  came  to  her  husband's  castle  and 
begged  for  shelter.  The  negress  shut  her  up  in  the  donkey's 
stall,  and  there  she  lived.  One  day  they  came  and  told  the 
negress  that  the  girl  in  the  donkey's  stall  had  got  a  gold  hen  and 
chickens,  "  but  she  will  give  them  to  no  one  but  your  husband." 

The  negress  very  much  wanted  to  have  them  and  said  to  her- 
self, "  If  I  give  my  husband  a  magic  draught  and  send  him  to 
her,  she  will  be  obliged  to  give  them  and  no  harm  will  come."  So 
they  did  this.  A  little  time  after  they  told  the  negress,  "  The  girl 
has  got  a  gold  table,  but  will  only  give  it  to  your  husband."  So 
the  negress  prepared  another  magic  draught. 

Now  the  keeper  of  a  cafe  to  which  the  young  man  used  to  go, 
had  heard  the  girl  in  the  stable  telling  all  her  story  to  herself,  and 
he  told  it  to  her  husband.  Then  her  husband  felt  sure  she  must 
be  his  wife,  and  when  the  magic  draught  was  brought  him  this 
time  he  poured  it  away  and  went  to  seek  the  girl.  He  found 
his  wife,  and  the  negress  wras  tied  on  a  horse  with  pepper  in  his 
nose  and  two  bags  of  nuts  hung  on  him,  and  she  was  dashed  to 
pieces. 


XXV.   The  Jealous  Kh^. 

(Told  by  all  old  woman  from  Boudroum.) 

Once  upon  a  time  there  were  a  king  and  his  queen.  One  day 
the  king  said  to  the  queen,  "  I^t  us  go  and  lunch  in  our  garden." 
So  they  went  and  lunched  on  the  platform  of  the  garden-tank 
under  the  shade  of  the  trellised  vine.  For  dessert,  the  king  com- 
manded his  negro  slave  to  pick  grapes  from  the  vine.  The  slave 
picked  them  and  put  them  on  the  table  in  a  golden  platter.  The 
king  was  in  great  good  humour,  and  ordered  the  negro  to  undress 


■it. 


• 


( 

I 


( 


324 


Collectanea. 


and  swim  in  the  tank  to  make  sport.  The  queen,  as  they  watched 
him  swimming,  said,  "  Why !  he  looks  just  as  pretty  there  in  the 
water  as  these  grapes  in  the  golden  dish."  This  made  the  king  very 
angry,  and  he  at  once  ordered  the  negro  to  be  killed  and  flayed. 
He  had  his  skin  stuflfed,  and  every  night  he  laid  the  queen  on  the 
stuffed  negro  and  scourged  her  until  he  had  broken  forty  switches, 
saying  all  the  time,  "Is  there  any  one  handsomer  than  your 
husband  ?  " 

There  was  in  the  town  a  woman  whose  babies  never  lived,  and 
she  was  advised  to  get  clothes  for  her  last  baby  from  a  woman 
who  had  no  sorrow,  and  then  it  would  live.  All  her  friends  had 
some  sorrow,  and  she  thought  to  herself,  "  The  best  thing  I  can 
do  is  to  go  to  the  queen,  who  is  so  rich  and  happy  and  can  have 
no  sorrow,  and  ask  her  to  do  me  this  kindnesss."  So  she  called  on 
the  queen,  and  made  her  request.  "  Sit  down,"  said  the  queen, 
"  and  we  will  make  you  a  cup  of  coflfee.  I  want  you  to  stay 
with  me  to-night,  and  to-morrow  I  will  give  you  the  clothes. 
The  king,  my  husband,  has  not  yet  returned,  and  in  order 
that  he  may  not  see  you  I  will  put  you  into  this  closet  So 
don't  be  afraid."  So  the  woman  went  into  the  closet,  and 
through  the  keyhole  she  saw  how  the  king  laid  his  wife  on  the 
stuffed  negro  and  scourged  her  till  he  broke  the  forty  switches, 
saying  all  the  time,  "Is  there  any  one  handsomer  than  your  hus- 
band ? "  In  the  morning  the  queen  called  out  the  woman,  and 
said  to  her,  "  You  see  that  I  have  my  sorrow.  I  wanted  you  to 
see  it  with  your  own  eyes,  or  you  would  not  have  believed  it." 
The  woman  said,  "Now  I  see  that  there  is  no  woman  in  the  world 
without  sorrow;  but  to-night,  when  the  king  uses  you  so  and  says, 
*  Is  there  any  one  handsomer  than  your  husband  ? '  you  must  say 
to  him,  *  Yes,  the  king  of  the  seven  veils  {kKTavKeirosX  and  then 
he  will  go  to  find  the  seven-veiled  king  and  will  be  eaten  by  the 
beasts  that  guard  his  palace,  and  you  will  be  well  rid  of  him." 

So  the  queen  took  her  advice,  and  when  the  king  received  this 
answer  he  left  off  scourging  his  wife  and  said  to  himself,  "  I  must 
find  this  seven-veiled  king."  So  he  took  ship,  and  where  he  landed 
he  asked  about  the  seven-veiled  king.  They  told  him,  "  It  is  very 
difficult  to  come  to  him,  for  his  palace  is  guarded  by  three  savage 
beasts,  a  lion,  wolf,  and  panther;  but  if  you  will  venture  you  must 
take  with  you  three  roast  lambs  stuffed  with  spices,  and  throw 
one  to  each  of  the  beasts.     So  the  king  did,  and  thus  gained 


f/ 


Folktales  from  the  j^gea, 

entrance  to  the  presence-chamber  of  the  seven-veiled.  When  the 
seven-veiled  saw  him  enter  he  called  to  his  guardian  beasts  add 
asked,  "  How  is  it  that  ye  allowed  him  to  enter? "  They  answered, 
"  He  is  a  king  like  you,  and  we  never  in  our  lives  ate  anything  so 
nice  as  what  he  gave  us."  Our  king  was  sitting  in  great  trepida- 
tion in  the  presence-chamber ;  but  when  the  beasts  gave  this 
answer,  the  seven-veiled  lifted  his  veils,  and  asked  hira  why  he 
had  honoured  him  by  the  visit.  Then  the  king  told  his  story. 
"Was  it  so  Ughtly,"  said  the  seven-veiled  king,  "that  you  punished 
your  wife  ?  I  had  a  wife,  whom  I  detected  in  adultery  with  my 
slave,  and  she,  from  her  shame,  was  changed  into  a  mare.  She  is 
a  woman  down  to  her  waist,  but  the  rest  of  her  is  a  mare.  She 
is  in  my  stable,  and  every  day,  when  they  take  com  to  my  other 
horses,  I  send  her,  instead  of  com,  a  basin  of  pearls  to  eat. 
And  is  your  wife  very  pretty?"  "There  is  none  like  her,"  said 
our  king,  and  the  seven-veiled  clapped  bis  hands  and  a  lovely  girl 
entered.  "  Is  she  like  this  ? "  "  This  is  like  the  girl  who  makes 
her  bed."  Then  he  clapped  his  hands  again  and  a  still  more 
lovely  girl  entered.  "Is  she  like  your  wife?"  "She  is  like  her 
tiring-woman."  Then  the  third  time  he  struck  himself  on  the 
breast  and  there  entered  one  loveliest  "Is  this  like  her?"  "More 
or  less,"  said  the  king.  "  Then,"  said  the  seven-veiled,  "  I  con- 
gratulate you.  You  will  go  back  and  make  your  peace  with  your 
wife  and  give  her  this  carpet  as  a  present  from  me,  and  ask  her 
sometimes  when  she  goes  to  the  bath  to  sit  on  the  carpet  and 
remember  the  giver." 

The  king  went  back  with  the  carpet,  and  gave  it  and  the 
message,  and  his  apologies  for  his  harshness  to  his  queen ;  but 
the  first  time  she  sat  on  the  carpet,  away  went  the  carpet  with  her 
to  its  master,  the  seven-veiled,  and  her  original  husband  could 
not  call  her  back,  though  he  called  as  loud  and  long  as  he  had 
strength. 

W.  R.  Paton. 


326 


Collectanea. 


The  Kraal  Family  System  among  the  Amandebele, 

(Quoted  by  permission  from  the  ^^  Zambesi  Mission  Record^^ 

Vol.  /.,  No,  13,/.  442.) 

Although  the  Amandebele  have  considerably  departed  from  the 
customs  of  the  Zulus,  their  ancestors,  still  they  retain  in  many 
ways  their  usages  as  the  basis  of  their  presetit  mode  of  living. 
One  of  these  is  the  family  kraal  system. 

It  may  as  well  be  stated  at  once  that  the  word  kraal  denotes 
the  domestic  establishment  and  usual  place  of  residence  of 
natives. 


Oa  Indhlunkulu  (the  great  house) 

Oa  '»  2>  3>  4»  houses  affiliated^  to  the  Indhlunkulu. 

Ob  Chief  Kunene  house. 

Ob  I  and  2,  houses  affiliated  to  the  chief  Kunene  house. 

Oc  Chief  Ikohlo  house. 

Oc  ^  a^^  2,  houses  affiliated  to  the  chief  Ikohlo  house. 

Ox  huts  in  the  kraal,  but  not  having  the  family  status. 

The  Isigodhlo  is  the  upper  part  of  a  great  chiefs  kraal,  occupied 
by  his  wives  and  secluded  from  common  contact. 

'  Affiliation  denotes  the  attachment  of  a  junior  house  to  a  senior  house  for 
the  purpose  of  providing  against  the  failure  of  an  heir  in  the  latter. 


The  Kraal  Family  System  ^c. 


327 


The  smaller  huts  in  the  Isigodhlo,  as  also  in  the  Kunene  and 
Ikoklo,  represent  the  dwellings  of  the  children  of  the  various 
houses,  the  girls  having  their  huts  nearest  to  their  mother's  hut, 
while  the  boys  have  theirs  in  front  of  the  girls'  habitations. 

The  Isigodhlo  was  found  only  in  the  great  chiefs  or  Wing's 
kraal,  as  also  in  kraals  of  indunas,  where  a  wife  or  wives  of  the 
great  chief  resided. 

The  above  diagram  shows  the  plan  of  construction  of  the  lead- 
ing kraals  in  Matabeleland  under  Lobengula.  It  must  not  be 
supposed  that  ihe  kraals  were  circular  in  shape,  nor  that  regularity 
or  symmetry  were  observed  in  the  arrangement  of  the  various 
sections.     The  kraals  were  sometimes  oval,  and  often  irregular  in 

I  their  outer  boundary ;  still  the  internal  disposition  of  the  sections 
was  always  observed  in  the  kraals  of  the  leading  famihes  of  the 
country. 
This  construction  was  noticeable  at : 

Others  might  be  added,  but  these  were  some  of  the  principal 
kraals  of  the  country,  together  with  their  indunas. 

It  will  be  observed  that  a  kraal  consisted  of  four  sections — the 
Indhlunkulu  (the  great  house),  the  Kunene  (the  right  side),  the 
Jkohlo  (the  left  side),  and  the  portion  allotted  to  mere  retainers. 

The  sides  of  the  kraal  are,  as  viewed  from  the  Indhlunkulu, 
facing  the  isango  or  main  entrance  by  which  the  cattle  walked 
into  their  enclosure,  each  kraal  being  provided  also  with  smaller 
jOpenings,  called  intuba,  for  the  convenience  of  the  inhabitants. 

Oa  i"  ^^  diagram  represents  the  Indhlunkulu,  and  Qi,  2,  3, 


Bulawayo,          Jnduna,  Umakwckwe 

■Mhlahlandlela 

,         Ulutuli 

Emagogwene 

,         Ugambu 

Amanguba 

,         Mapcia 

Inyali 

,         Ishibini 

'M  tern  ha 

,        Ucugutwayo 

Umuzinyati 

,         Uzulu 

Nena 

,         Umgandeni 

Mambanjeni 

,        Ujosana 

Usizindene 

.         Mapisa 

Ujingeni 

Induba 

Uloje 

Ingwanga 

Ugodo. 

328  Collectanea, 

and  4  represent  the  houses  of  the  wives  taken  by  the  head  of  the 
kiaoL    By  marriage  these  houses  are  affiliated  to  die  Indklunkulu, 

Oq  stands  for  die  chief  house  on  the  right-hand  side  of  the 
kraaL  and  is  called  the  Kunene,  Qq  i  and  2  are  houses  affiliated 
to  the  Kunene  house. 

Oq  represents  the  dii^  house  on  the  I^-hand  sick  of  the 
kraalf  and  is  known  as  the  Ikohlo,  Except  in  the  case  of  great 
chie^  and  others  of  position  and  who  also  were  ridi  in  cattle, 
the  establishment  of  thb  house  was  unusuaL 

Kraals  were  ^sometimes  formed  of  houses  not  known  as  the 
Kunene  and  Ikohlo.  When  diis  was  the  case  houses  not  affiliated 
were  independent  of  each  other.  In  kraals  thus  formed,  if  the 
chief  wife  died  during  her  husband's  lifetime,  the  wife  next  in 
rank  succeeded  her,  but  without  prejudice  to  the  surviving 
children  of  the  deceased. 

The  affiliadon  of  houses  was  brought  about  by  the  giving  of 
catde  or  other  property,  generally  goats,  if  catde  were  wanting, 
by  and  on  behalf  of  an  intended  husband  to  the  ^ther  or  guardian 
of  an  intended  wife.  This  delivery  of  cattle  or  property  is  called 
awudoMoj  Irequendy  contracted  into  lo^io. 

In  Matabeleland,  marriage  entered  into  between  natives,  ac- 
cording to  native  law,  is  not  an  act  of  religion.  It  is  merely  a 
civil  contract  entered  into  by  and  between  the  two  parties,  assisted 
when  necessary  by  their  respective  fathers  or  guardians,  which 
contract  is  made  valid  by  the  delivery  of  lobolo.  In  practice,  it  is 
frequendy  not  distinguishable  from  the  purchase  of  a  wife  by  a 
man  for  the  purpose  of  begetting  children,  among  whom  the  girls 
when  marriageable  are  disposed  of  to  obtain  lobolo^  which  is  used 
again  to  purchase  other  wives,  the  final  object  being  to  acquire 
position  and  substance  through  the  possession  of  women  and 
children 

In  Matabeleland,  then,  the  native,  in  many  instances,  enters 
into  marriage  as  a  business  speculation,  and  to  acquire  wealth 
through  the  medium  of  women,  just  as  the  white  man  engages  in 
and  carries  on  commerce  through  the  medium  of  money.  This 
is  the  conclusion  I  have  arrived  at  after  eighteen  years  of  re- 
sidence among  natives.  One  day,  when  I  was  expressing  my 
disapproval  of  and  aversion  to  polygamy  to  an  old  man  verging 
on  seventy,  who  had  recently  taken  a  young  wife,  he  said  :  "  Lx)ok 
here,  we  black  people  are  not  like  you  white  people,  we  cannot 


get  rich  by  trading  in  goods;  where  are  our  articles  to  trade  with? 
We  have  only  our  women,  we  can  only  get  rich  through  them." 
This  statement,  at  once  candid  and  instructive,  left  no  doubt 
as  to  the  true  nature  and  operation  of  lobolo  in  the  case  of  this 
individual,  and  in  ail  probability  his  case  is  that  of  many  others, 

P.    PRESTAGE,  S.J. 


Stories  from  Upper  Egvpt. 
(Told  byaCopt  of  Assiut,  on  board  a  Nile  steamer,  January  1901.) 

I.  One  night  a  man,  when  walking  down  a  street  of  his  village, 
saw  a  giant  before  him  with  a  face  of  fire  and  his  legs  planted  one 
on  each  side  of  the  pathway.  The  man  turned  and  ran  back, 
only  to  find  the  same  giant  once  again  similarly  facing  him. 
Thereupon  he  cried  out.  Some  friends  came  to  his  aid,  and  the 
giant  suddenly  vanished.     (Assiut.) 

II.  There  was  an  unusually  fine  donkey  for  sale,  and  a  man, 
who  wished  to  purchase  it,  mounted  the  animal  to  give  it  a  trial 
ride.  It  began  immediately  to  grow  taller  and  taller.  But  the 
man,  who  was  very  strong  and  was  possessed  of  a  knife,  displayed 
the  weapon  and  threatened  to  kill  the  donkey  if  it  did  not  at  once 
return  to  its  former  size.  The  beast  consented,  and  the  man  was 
able  to  dismount  again,     (Assiut.) 

III.  A  fellah  (peasant)  of  Upper  Egypt  wished  to  marry,  but, 
having  no  money,  applied  to  his  neighbour  for  a  loan.  The  latter 
replied  Chat  he  was  too  busy  preparing  to  go  to  Cairo,  and  that  he 
would  lend  him  money  upon  his  return.  Accordingly  the  rich 
neighbour's  boat,  laden  with  corn,  started  down  the  Nile  towards 
Cairo,  and  pursued  an  uneventful  voyage  until  it  reached  the 
cliffs  of  Abdul  Fflda.  There  it  stopped,  and,  after  using  every 
effort,  the  Reis  (captain)  told  his  master  that  he  could  not  make 
his  ship  move.  Suddenly  a  man  appeared  on  board.  The  owner 
asked  him  his  business.  The  stranger  replied,  "  At  how  much  do 
you  value  your  corn?"  "Why  do  you  ask?"  said  the  owner. 
"  I  want  to  buy  it,"  came  the  answer.  The  owner  said,  "  I  value 
my  com  at  five  hundred  guineas."  "  Then,"  exclaimed  the 
stranger,  "  throw  it  into  the  Nile."  This  was  done ;  and  thereupon 
the  stranger  gave  the  owner  a  paper,  saying,  "Take  this  to  the 


330  Collectanea. 

slaughter-house  in  Cairo.    You  will  find  there  a  very  dirty  dog  in 

front  of  the  house  sitting  on  its  hind  legs.    Give  it  this  paper,  and 

it  will  procure  you  the  money."    Although  he  disbelieved  all  this, 

the  man  took  the  paper,  and  when  he  reached  Cairo  went  to  the 

slaughter-house,  where  he  found  several  clean  good  dogs,  and 

finally  a  dirty  one  sitting  on  its  hind  legs.     He  gave  it  the  paper. 

The  dog  read  it,  and  said,  "  I  will  give  you  the  money  to-morrow. 

Return  here  at  this  time."    The  next  day,  when  the  man  revisited 

the  dog,  he  was  told,  "  Come  again  to-morrow  for  the  rest.    I  give 

you  now  half  the  money  you  require."    On  the  morrow  the  dog 

said,  "  To-day  I  can  complete  three-quarters  of  the  full  amount. 

You  shall  receive  the  remainder  to-morrow."    On  the  following 

day  the  last  instalment  was  paid.    "  Tell  me,"  inquired  the  man  of 

the  dog,  "  who  are  you,  who  was  he  who  gave  me  the  paper,  and 

how  did  you  procure  the  money?"    The  dog  replied,    "The 

man  whom  you  met  is  my  king,  and  I  am  his  slave.     It  was  my 

king  that  wished  to  marry,  but  he  had  no  corn.     On  the  first  day 

after  you  came  here  I  could  not  find  sufficient  money  for  you. 

When  a  thief  stole  money,  I  also  stole.     Where  he  stole  one 

guinea,^  I  stole  six.     Thus  I  obtained  for  you  the  money."     (Nile 

Valley,  between  Assiut  and  Luxor.) 

C.  S.  Myers. 


Rhymes,  English  and  Hindu. 

I.  I.  From  Mr.  Hills,  a  very  old  labourer,  of  Compton,  near 
Newbury,  June,  1900.2 

Chum,  butter,  churn  ! 
Come,  butter,  come  ! 
Peter  stands  at  our  gate. 
Wailing  for  a  butter-cake. 
Chum,  butter,  churn  ! 
Come,  butter,  come  ! 

'  The  word  **  guinea "  has  become  universally  Arabicized  in  Egypt.  It 
means  an  Egyptian  pound,  i.e,,  100  piastres  =  ;£^i  os.  dd.  It  is  the  only 
common  Egyptian  word  for  such  a  coin,  which  is,  as  a  fact,  very  rare,  English 
gold  being  used  (with  the  additional  pence),  as  the  equivalent  of  it. 

-  Ellis's  Brandy  iii.,  313.  It  is  interesting  to  find  a  charm  in  use  350  years 
ago  still  extant,  and  in  a  more  complete  form  than  that  originally  recorded. 


Rhymes^* English  and  Hindu.  331 


2.  From  the  same. 


There  was  an  old  woman  lived  under  a  hill, 
And  three  thieves  came  to  rob  her, 

She  cried  out, 

And  made  a  great  rout, 
For  the  thieves  had  a  mind  to  stab  her. 

She  ran  fourteen  miles  in  fifteen  days, 
And  never  looked  behind  her. 

She  got  in  a  wood, 

And  there  she  stood. 
And  the  thieves  could  never  find  her. 

3.  From  the  same. 

There  was  an  old  man,  and  he  had  an  old  cow. 
And  how  to  keep  her  he  didn't  know. 
He  built  up  a  bam  to  keep  his  cow  warm, 
And  a  little  more  drink  it  will  do  you  no  harm  ! 

There  was  an  old  man,  and  he  had  an  old  cat. 
And  she  kep'  herself  most  wonderful  fat. 
And  always  was  catching  the  mice  in  the  bam. 
And  a  little  more  drink  will  do  us  no  harm. 

4.  From  Mrs.  Shaw,  an   old  woman  since  dead.     Pinkney's 
Green,  1898. 

Cicely  Parsley  lived  in  a  den. 
She  brewed  good  ale  for  gentlemen. 
Gentlemen  came  there  twice  a  day, 
Yet  Cicely  Parsley  ran  away  ! 


5.  From  the  same. 


Little  pretty  Nancy  girl. 

She  sat  upon  the  green. 
Scouring  of  her  candlesticks, 

They  were  not  very  clean. 
Her  cupboard,  that  was  musty, 
Her  table,  that  was  dusty  ; 
And  pretty  little  Nancy  girl,  she  was  not  very  lusty  ! 


6.  From  the  same. 


Green  sleeves,  yellow  lace, 

Maids,  maids,  many  a  pace. 

The  bachelors  are  in  a  pitiful  case. 

They  kiss  away  all  their  money  O  ! 


332  Collectanea. 

7.  From  a  MS.,  dated  1740,  lent  by  the  late  Mrs.  Samuel 
Plumbe,  High  Street,  Maidenhead.    Supposed  to  be  Wiltshire. 

"  I  prithee,  Molly,  whistle, 

And  you  shall  have  a  cow.'' 
"  I  fear  I  cannot  whistle, 

I  cannot  whistle  now." 

**  I  prithee,  Molly,  whistle, 

And  you  shall  have  a  man." 
*'  I  fear  I  cannot  whistle, 

But  I'll  whistle  as  well  as  I  can." 

(See  variants  in  Northall's  English  Folk-Rhymes^  p.  295.) 

8.  From  the  same. 

Fiddle-de-dee,  fiddle-de-dee ! 

The  wasp  has  married  the  humble  bee  ! 

Puss  came  dancing  out  of  the  bam 

With  a  pair  of  bagpipes  under  her  arm. 

One  for  Johnnie  and  one  for  me, 

Fiddle-de-dee,  fiddle-de-dee  I 
The  bull's  in  the  bam,  thrashing  the  com, 
The  cock  on  the  dunghill  is  blowing  his  horn. 
I  never  saw  such  a  sight  since  I  was  bom  ! 

9.  From  the  singing,  or  rather  chaunting,  of  children  in  Norfolk. 

I  had  a  little  nabby  colt,  (?) 

His  name  was  Dapple-grey, 
His  head  that  was  made  of  pease-straw, 

His  tail  that  was  made  of  hay. 
I  had  a  little  nabby  colt 

No  bigger  than  my  finger, 
I  bridled  him  and  saddled  him, 

And  sent  him  in  to  town. 
I  sent  him  to  the  garden 

To  pick  a  little  sage. 
He  popped  into  the  kitchen 

And  kissed  the  pretty  maids. 


Kate  Lee. 


IT.  Heard  at  Wensleydale,  Yorkshire. 

Shak'  a  leg,  shak'  a  leg, 
Where  will  t'  gang  ? 

Gang  wi'  me  mammy. 
When  days  is  lang. 

When  days  is  lang 
And  loans  is  dry. 


Rhymes^  English  and  Hindu.  333 

Gang  wi'  me  mammy 
To  milk  cushie  kye. 
And  when  we  come  to  t*  st/e 
Then  vi^jounip  o'er  't  I 

Margaret  Eyre. 

III.  A  riddle,  from  Moriey,  near  Wakefield. 

Peter  Flickem  had  a  bam  [child], 
It  had  neither  leg  nor  arm, 
It  had  neither  back  nor  belly, 
Eh,  poor  thing  !  they  called  it  Nelly. 

Answer,     An  umbrella. 

S.  O.  Addy. 

IV.  From  Secunderabad,  Deccan. 

**  Konga,  konga,  ammavari  gudilo,  poovaisi  po, 
Konga,  konga,  ammavari  gudilo,  poovaisi  po." 

"  Crane,  crane,  put  a  flower  in  the  goddess's  temple." 

Thus  repeat  boys  and  girls  in  a  sing-song  tune  on  seeing  a 
flight  of  white  cranes  in  the  skies,  rubbing  at  the  same  time  the 
nails  of  the  four  fingers  (but  not  the  thumb)  of  one  hand  with 
those  of  the  other,  with  the  hope  that  white  specks,  which  they 
compare  to  a  flower,  will  appear  on  the  nail,  which  they  call  a 
goddess's  temple,  from  its  shape.  The  figure  is  very  apt.  No 
speck  appears  there  and  then,  but  on  seeing  a  speck  which  they 
have  not  noticed  before,  they  contend  that  it  appeared  there  and 
then. 

2.  A  boy's  riddle. 

"  Eka,  eka,  kai, 
Paka,  paka,  kai, 
Kuloo,  bundoo  kai, 
Naila  burdoo  kai, 
Jagat  jhoti  kai." 

Eka^  eka,  fruit. 
Ripe,  ripe  fruit, 
Joint'fastening  fruit, 
Naila  burdu  fruit, 
Light-unto-the-world  fruit. 

The  meaning  of  the  words  in  italics  is  difficult  to  trace ;  they 
are  not  found  in  a  dictionary. 

[The  answer  to  the  riddle,  if  we  understand  Mr.  Venkataswami's 
notes  rightly,  is  "  Man."] 


334  Collectanea. , 

3.  "  Chunda  mama,  Chunda  mama,  chhakanga  rayai ! 
Golakonda  pothamoo, 
Gorraini  testamu. 
Gorrai  buddaidu  pilu  ichhay 
Pilu  teesookoni  komatodiki  ichhai ; 
Komatodoo  cobbaira  bellamu  ichhai ; 
Cobbaira  bellamu  teesookoni  swamilli  ichhay ; 
Swami  poovoo  ichhay, 
Poovoo  teesookoni  ma  akka  koppulo  pettinanu." 

"  Uncle  moon,  uncle  moon,  come  straight  ! 
[We]  shall  go  to  Golconda, 
[And]  bring  an  ewe. 
The  ewe  gave  a  bottle  of  milk  ; 
Taking  the  milk  [we]  gave  it  to  [the]  Komati ; ' 
The  Komati  gave  cocoanut  zx\A  jaggery  ;^ 
Taking  the  cocoanut  ^nA  jaggery ^  we  gave  to  God  ; 
The  God  gave  [a]  flower  ; 
Taking  the  flower  [I]  put  it  in  my  sister's  braid  of  hair." 

Thus  repeats  the  father  or  elderly  person,  pointing  out 
the  moon  to  the  crying  child,  and  soothing  him  to 
quiet 

4.  B&vi,  b&vS,  bullairu, 
Bivani  putti  tunnairu, 
Eedi  eedi  tippairu 
Era  gimdum  poosairu. 

"  Brother-in-law,  brother-in-law,  is  a  built  root. 
Brother-in-law  is  caught  and  kicked, 
Paraded  from  street  to  street. 
And  rubbed  [with  ?]  dirt-paste.'* 

Thus  repeats  the  younger  sister-in-law,  with  a  view  to 
deride  her  brother-in-law. 

y  5>     A  pancha  voka  kookka, 

Ij  E  pancha  voka  kookka, 

Nadi  pancha  ma  biv4  kookka 
[j-  Vundaina  voka  vailla  vonto  kookka. 


**  On  this  side  of  the/(ya/'  there's  a  dog, 
On  that  side  of  the  piyal  there's  a  dog, 
In  the  centre  of  the  piyal  there's  my  brother-in-law  dog, 
[Who]  was  at  one  time  a  solitary  dog." 

'  Aomali,  a  shopkeeper,  merchant. 

"  I^Sf^^i  juice  of  the  sugar-cane,  unrefined  sugar. 

'  Piyal  J  a  roof  on  posts,  erected  over  a  platform. 


Rhymes^  English  and  Hindu.  335 

So  says  the  younger  sister-in-law,  in  a  sing-song  tone,  con- 
trasting the  condition  of  her  brother-in-law  before  he 
had  married  her  sister ;  a  condition  which  she  regards 
as  that  of  a  dog  snarling  at  everything.  Amongst  Hindus 
celibacy  is  looked  down  upon.  Every  Hindu  is  a  married 
man. 

6.     Nagi,  Nagi,  nuUairu, 
Nagini  putti  tunnairu 
Cheekati  kottulo  vaisairu 
Chuppidi  gungi  posairoo. 

"  Nagi,  Nagi  is  a  nulli  root. 
Nigi  is  caught  and  kicked  ; 
[She  is]  put  in  a  dark  room 
And  given  conjee^  without  salt" 

Thus  repeats  one  female  playmate  of  another  by  way  of  a 
taunt.  Nagi  is  the  name  of  a  girl.  It  is  not  known 
what  is  meant  by  nulli  root. 

M.  N.  Venkataswami. 

24th  August,  1900;  7th  February,  1901, 

'  Conjee^  porridge,  any  kind  of  sloppy  food. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


History,  Tradition,  and  Historic  Myths. 

Professor  Ridgeway's  recently  published  Earfy  Age  of  Greue 
raises  questions  the  correct  answer  of  which  is  of  much  interest 
to  folklorists,  and  which  admit  of  discussion  apart  from  any 
special  reference  to  the  author's  thesis  and  to  the  arguments  by 
which  he  supports  it  Stated  generally,  this  thesis  is  that  the 
present  Greek-speaking  area  has  been  inhabited  as  far  back  as 
we  know,  by  populations  speaking  varieties  of  that  form  of  Aryan 
designated  Gredc ;  that  these  populations,  called  Pela^an  in  the 
eariiest  times  to  whidi  we  have  access,  developed  the  civilisation 
known  as  Mycenaean,  a  dvilisation  which  owed  little  to  the  older 
cultures  of  the  Euphrates  and  Nile  Valleys  or  to  the  cultures 
influenced  by  them;  that  this  civilisation  was,  in  the  period 
1 500-1 300  B.C.,  influenced  by  the  incursions  of  a  tall,  fair-haired, 
blue-eyed  race,  speaking  a  variety  of  Aryan  akin  to  Celtic, 
and  possessing  a  culture  substantially  similar  to  that  revealed 
by  the  Hallstadt  cemeteries,  a  culture  which  had  for  its  dis- 
tinctive sign  the  use  of  iron,  by  which  the  far  ruder  invaders  were 
enabled  to  overcome  the  more  highly  civilised  Pelasgians,  who 
only  used  bronze  weapons.  These  invaders,  the  Achaeans  of 
the  Homeric  poems,  adopted  the  language  of  the  Pelasgians, 
upon  which,  however,  they  imposed  phonetic  changes,  and  they 
ultimately  became  entirely  fused  with  the  earlier  populations.  The 
Homeric  poems  are  the  work  of  a.  Pelasgian  court  bard,  attached 
to  descendants  of  the  invading  Achsan  chiefs,  and  the  civilisation 
he  describes  is  that  of  the  Achaean  Celts,  partly  modified  by  that 
of  the  older  Pelasgians  they  had  subdued.  Historic  Greece  derives 
its  culture,  blood,  and  speech  substantially  from  the  pre-Achaean 
Pelasgians,  but  with  modifications  due  to  the  Achseans. 

Professor  Ridgewa3r's  arguments  are  chiefly  archaeological;  with 
these  I  have  nothing  to  do.  But  he  also  relies  largely  upon  the 
traditions  concerning  their  origin  and  early  history  found  among 
Greek  writers  from  the  time  of  Hesiod  {circa  800  b.c.)  onwards. 
He  practically  assumes  the  substantial  value  and  accuracy  of 


Cor  respondence. 


337 


^ 


profi: 


these  traditions ;  and  his  work  marks  the  high  water  of  a  period 
of  reaction  from  the  critical  scepticism,  inaugurated  by  Niebuhr, 
which  dominated  scholarly  research  throughout  the  greater  part 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  I  say  "  practically  assumes  "  because 
the  author  makes  no  attempt  to  discuss  the  nature  and  import  of 
such  traditions.  The  test  he  applies  is,  whether  they  accord  with 
the  theories  he  bases  upon  archaeological,  anthropological,  and 
general  historic  evidence.     Is  this  sufficient? 

Let  me  put  a  case.  If  Western  Europe  had  been  overwhelmed 
in  the  fifteenth  century  by  a  Turkish  invasion,  if  the  monuments  of 
its  culture  had  been  largely  destroyed,  if  the  chief  representatives 
of  that  culture  (the  priestly  and  warrior  classes)  had  been  driven 
into  holes  and  corners  but  not  extirpated,  if  after  a  lapse  of  centuries 
the  wave  of  barbarism  had  receded,  leaving  West  European  culture 
sadly  mutilated,  wofully  diminished,  but  still  persisting,  what 
account  would  the  intelligent  Aztec  or  New  Zealander  have  found 
concerning  its  earliest  origins  ?  Alike  in  the  British  Isles  as  in 
France,  in  Italy  as  in  the  remotest  north,  he  would  come  across 
stories  of  wanderers  from  the  Far  East  to  whom  the  chieftain 
classes  were  proud  to  trace  their  descent,  and  concerning  whom 
the  priestly  antiquary  class  had  traditions  based  upon  wrirings 
which  had  disappeared,  but  which  were  asserted  to  have  been 
universally  accepted  as  true.  Here  the  eponymous  hero-founder 
would  be  called  Francus,  there  Brutus,  nor  could  our  Aztec  savant 
fail  to  note  that  traces  still  remained  of  national  and  tribal  desig- 
nations obviously  related  to  the  names  of  these  heroes.  Assuming 
that  fragments  of  any  historical  works  of  the  pre-invasion  period 
were  discovered,  say  fourteenth -century  compilations  based  upon 
Geoffrey  or  Fredegarius,  or  an  Icelandic  chronicle  on  the  lines  of 
the  Prologue  to  Snorre's  Edda,  they  would  definitely  confirm  what 
had  been  recovered  from  oral  tradition. 

Now  we  know  thai  the  TViy  Saga,  the  legend  which  places  a 
fugitive  from  Ilium  at  the  outset  of  some  of  the  chief  nations  of 
modem  Europe,  is  destitute  of  any  and  every  kind  of  basis,  histori- 
cal, racial,  archaeological,  or  linguistic.  We  know  it  to  be  sheer, 
absolute  fiction.  Vet  for  centuries  it  was  regarded  as  gospel  truth ; 
it  was  embodied  in  every  national  chronicle,  in  every  princely 
genealogy ;  it  was  relied  upon  by  statesmen  and  monarchs  ;  it  was 
accepted  by  the  learned  cleric  and  by  the  wandering  minstrel.  The 
profoundest  acquaintance  with  the  facts  disclosed  by  archaological 

VOL.    XII.  Z 


I 


i 


1 338  Correspondence. 

or  anthropoto^cal  research  could  fumish  our  hypothetical  Aztec 
savant  with  no  reasons  for  disregarding  traditioDs  so  widely  spread 
and  supported,  apparently,  by  so  many  concurrent  strands  of 
evidence. 

I  do  not  for  one  moment  assert  that  the  Greek  traditions  are  to 
be  placed  on  the  same  level  as  the  mediteval  fables  concerning 
Brutus  and  Francus.  That  would  be  begging  the  question  which 
has  to  be  answered.  What  I  do  assert  is  that  any  scholar  who 
intends  to  rely  upon  tradition  should  as  an  indispensable  pre- 
hminary  make  clear  to  himself  and  to  his  readers  what  opinion 
he  really  holds  concerning  its  nature.  Especially  when,  as  is  the 
case  with  Professor  Ridgeway,  the  tradition  is  sometimes  accepted, 
sometimes  disregarded.  He  argues  strongly  for  the  original,  non- 
derivative  character  of  early  Greek  (pre-Achsean)  civilisation.  But 
most  undoubtedly  the  historic  Greek  had  very  strong  and  very 
definite  traditions  to  the  contrary.  If  these  are  to  be  disregarded 
as  completely  as  they  are  by  our  author,  I,  for  one,  should  reiiuire 
better  warrant  for  the  acceptance  of  other  traditions  than  their 
accord  with  theories  based  upon  arch  Geological  evidence.  Again, 
Professor  Ridgeway  treats  the  Achjean  invasion  as  a  mere  episode 
in  the  evolution  of  Greek  culture.  The  Achseans,  he  tells  us,  were 
probably  few  in  number,  they  do  not  seem  to  have  brought  their 
women  with  them  to  any  extent,  they  mei^ed  with  comparative 
rapidity  into  the  conquered  population.  Large  portions  of  Greece 
(e.g.  Arcadia)  remained  unaffected  by  them,  their  own  language  died 
out  utterly,  their  funereal  rites  and  conception  of  life  after  death 
(after  finding  a  record  in  the  Homeric  poems)  died  out  also,  their 
influence  upon  Greek  art  was  transitory  and  unessential.  All  this 
may  be  true,  but  it  would  most  assuredly  have  astounded  a  con- 
temporar)',  whether  of  Hesiod  or  of  Herodotus;  he  would  have 
stoutly  protested  that  it  ran  counter  to  all  his  traditional  views, 
and  indeed  we,  Professor  Ridgeway's  readers,  are  left  wondering 
why  on  earth  the  Hellenic  world  should  have  accepted  a  set  of 
stories  about  alien  barbarians  as  an  almost  sacred  record  of  its  most 
famous  past.  There  is  a  valid  psycholc^ica!  justification  for  the 
fabrication  and  belief  in  the  Troy  Saga  and  similar  medisval 
fictions :  namely,  the  tendency  which  leads  the  MuUins  family  to 
swallow  the  ingenious  fables  of  Garter  King  at  Arms  concerning 
that  doughty  companion  of  the  Conqueror,  De  Moleyns,  from 
whom  he  traces  their  descent;    the  natural  desire,  that  is,  to 


Correspondence.  339 

believe  that  one  is  connected  with  a  person  or  society  of  higher 
standing  than  oneself.  But  ex  hypothisi  Ridgewayii,  the  Achseans 
were  the  low-class  parvenus. 

Professor  Ridgeway,  I  have  said,  accepts  such  Greek  traditions 
as  fit  in  with  his  thesis  as  being  substantially  valuable  and  accurate. 
I  do  not  mean  that  he  necessarily  pledges  himself  to  the  actual 
existence  of  the  heroes  or  to  their  sequence.  Sometimes  he  appears 
to  do  so,  but  sometimes  he  seems  to  treat  the  traditions  as  historic 
myths.  By  this  I  mean  that  a  story  is  regarded  not  as  the  actual 
record  of  the  adventures  of  a  hero  named  A  or  B,  but  as  summing 
up  in  concrete  form  the  relations  of  groups  of  men  represented,  for 
the  sake  of  convenience  and  picluresqueness,  by  A  and  B.  Here,  I 
venture  to  raise  a  question  which  I  raised  nine  years  ago  at  the 
Second  International  Congress  of  Folklore:  Is  there  such  a  thing 
as  historic  myth  at  all  ?  Do  men  commemorate  tribal  wanderings, 
settlements,  conquests,  subjugations,  acquisitions  of  new  forms  of 
culture,  or  any  of  the  other  incidents  in  the  collective  life  of  a  people 
in  the  form  of  stories  about  individual  men  and  women?  I  do  not 
for  one  moment  deny  the  possibility  of  their  so  doing ;  all  I  ask  for 
is  evidence  of  the  fact.  Obviously  this  evidence  cannot  be  furnished 
by  any  examination  of  the  legendary  traditions  of  byegone 
peoples,  Greeks  or  Celts,  or  Teutons,  or  Aitecs,  or  even  Maoris ; 
it  can  only  be  furnished  by  the  examination  of  the  legends  of 
such  barbaric  peoples  as  are  still  living  in  an  oral -traditional 
mythopojic  stage  of  culture.  I  ask  again,  do  such  peoples,  apart 
from  stories  about  actual  men  and  women  and  their  achievements, 
yield  examples  of  "  historic  myth  " — of  an  historic  process,  thai  is, 
involving  ihe  fortunes  of  a  collective  group  translated  into  the 
terms  of  individual  lives  ?  I  believe  in  naturalistic  myths,  that  is 
in  natural  processes  translated  into  the  terms  of  human  life, 
because  I  find  barbarian  and  savage  races  all  over  the  world,  not 
only  relating  and  accepting  such  myths,  but  still  engaged  in  their 
fabrication.  I  am  quite  wilting  to  accept  historic  myths  on  the 
same  evidence. 

To  any  folklore  student  eager  for  a  fruitful  line  of  research  I 
would  recommend,  lirstly,  a  methodical  examination  of  the  nature 
and  value  of  tradition,  especially  of  historic  or  pseu  do -historic 
tradition  ;  secondly,  an  endeavour  to  determine  whether  "  historic 
myth  "  is  a  substantial  fact  or  a  mere  figment  of  mythologists. 
Alfred  Nutt. 


340  Correspondence. 


Customs  relating  to  Iron. 

(Vol.  X.,  p.  457.    Vol.  xi.,  p.  105.) 

The  late  Miss  Florence  Peacock  had  observed  that  a  nurse  some- 
times heated  the  water  in  which  a  newly-born  child  is  washed  by 
plunging  into  it  a  red-hot  poker,  and  supposed  that  the  virtue  of 
this  act  resided  in  the  iron.  I,  who  had  observed  midwives  heat 
water  for  a  lik^  purpose  by  casting  into  it  red-hot  cinders,  sug- 
gested that  these  customs  were  a  survival  of  the  use  of  "pot- 
boilers," viz.  the  practice  of  raising  the  temperature  of  water  by 
putting  hot  stones  into  it. 

I  have  recently  come  upon  a  passage  in  the  Saxon  Leechdoms, 
(Rolls  ed.,  ii.  218-219),  which  confirms  the  latter  view  : — 

"  edc  hylp-S  gif  m6n  "  Also  it  helpeth  if  one 
mid  ea  stanum  with  water-stones  ^ 

onbaernedum,  offe  mid  fired,  or  with 

hatene  isene,  J)a  meoliic  heated  iron,  the  milk 

gefyrS  7  self  drincan."  tumeth  and  giveth  to  drink." 

^  Understand  such  stones  as  would  bear  to  be  heated  and  plunged  in 
water. — \^Editor's  note^  op,  «/.] 

Here  the  iron  is  to  be  used  simply  as  an  alternative  to  "  pot- 
boilers" for  the  purpose  of  heating  milk,  and  not  because  it 
possessed  any  magical  virtue.  But  it  affords  an  illustration  of  the 
influence  of  ferric  metallurgy  on  the  early  customs  of  mankind, 
and  makes  it  probable  that  the  method  of  tempering  iron  by 
heating  it  and  plunging  it  into  water  had  long  before  been  dis- 
covered. 

On  the  other  hand  the  Leechdoms  (vol.  i.,  pp.  244-245)  furnish 
a  pretty  example  of  the  superstitious  use  of  iron  ;  especially  when 
a  necessary  correction  has  been  made  of  a  mis-writing  by  the 
scribe  and  a  corresponding  mistake  of  the  editor  and  translator. 
"  This  wort  which  is  named  fiavbpayopas  is  large  and  noble  of 
aspect,  and  it  is  beneficial.  Thou  shalt  in  this  manner  take  it 
when  thou  comest  to  it.  Then  thou  understandest  it  by  this  that 
at  night  it  seemeth  all  like  a  light-vessel  (lamp)." 


C'jrrespondence. 


"  Jwnne  |)U  hyre  heaford 
serest  geseo 
|ionne  bepnC  [bepri'5] 
pu  hy  pel  hra{>e 
raid  iserne 
fy  Iffis  heo  |>e  astfleo." 


"  When  thou  its  head 
first  seest 

then  inscribe  [encircle] 
thou  it  instantly 
with  iron 
lest  it  flee  from  thee." 


"  Its  might  is  so  great  and  so  marvellous  that  Trom  an  unclean 
man,  when  he  cometh  to  it,  it  will  instantly  flee.     So  therefore 


|)U  hy  beprit  [bepri^S] 


do  thou  it  inscribe  [encircle] 


as  we  before  said,  with  iron ;  and  thou  shalt  so  about  it  dig  that 
thou  touch  it  not  with  iron.  But  thou  shalt  carefully  dig  the  earth 
with  an  ivory  staff  (spade)." 

This  last  injunction,  that  the  mandrake  must  not  be  touched 
with  iron,  shows  that  the  instruction  to  inscribe  it  with  iron  must 
be  erroneous.  The  change  of  a  single  letter,  th  for  t,  bewrith  for 
beu'rit,  makes  everything  clear.  The  iron  was  to  be  used  for  sur- 
rounding the  wort  with  a  magic  circle.  This  is  evident  from 
Pliny's  account  (//"«/.  Nat.^  xxv.,  13),  which  relates  that  persons 
about  to  obtain  the  mandrake  Rrst  of  all  draw  three  circles  round 
it  with  a  sword,  "  tribus  circulisantegladio  circumscribunt,  portea 
fodiunt  ad  occasura,"  and  afterwards  dig  it  up  at  sunset. 

Here,  too,  we  perhaps  reach  the  origin  of  the  Saxon  writer's 
confusion  ;  he  may  have  taken  circumscribunt  for  inscribunt. 

H.  CoLLEV  March. 


The  Transition  from  Totemism  to  Ancestor  Worship. 
{Ante,  p.  36.) 

Facts  are  in  ethnology  very  apt  to  upset  theories.  It  does  not 
always  fall  to  the  lot  of  the  ethnologist  to  find  that  a  hypothetical 
stage  of  development  postulated  by  his  theory  actually  exists, 
Mr.  Hartland  is,  however,  in  this  happy  position.  In  his  Presi- 
dential Address  he  suggested,  but  without  being  able  to  cite  any 
actual  case,  that  from  the  additional  emphasis  laid  on  the  clan 


342  Correspondence. 

name  in  the  case  of  the  chief  it  would  result  that  he  would 
longest  preserve  the  totem  form  after  death.  The  following  facts 
seem  to  supply  the  missing  link  in  his  chain  of  evidence.  The 
Betsileos  and  other  tribes  of  Madagascar  seem  to  be,  like  the 
Bantu  people,  emerging  from  a  stage  of  totemism.  It  is,  or  was, 
universally  believed  that  the  souls  of  members  of  certain  clans 
passed  after  death  into  the  bodies  of  animals.  Each  person 
seems  to  have  known  beforehand  into  what  animal  he  would  pass, 
the  nobles  into  a  snake,  the  middle-class  into  a  crocodile,  and  the 
lower  classes  into  an  eel.  It  was  not,  however,  the  privilege  of 
every  noble  to  occupy  a  separate  snake.  The  chief  of  the  clan 
aff6rded  accommodation  in  his  totem-animal  to  the  souls  of  his 
nobles,  to  the  women,  to  the  children,  &c.  {Les  Missions 
catholiqueSy  1880,  p.  550.) 

The  process  of  transmigration  is  too  long  to  describe  in  detail, 
but  an  interesting  point  in  connection  with  the  metempsychosis 
of  the  lower  classes  may  be  noted.  The  soul  passed  into  the  first 
eel  which  took  a  bite  at  the  corpse  after  it  was  thrown  into  the 
sacred  lake. 

How  far  the  facts  I  have  quoted  may  be  taken  to  support  Mr. 
Hartland's  theory  is  of  course  another  question.  There  may 
have  been  an  earlier  stage,  but  totemism  in  South  Africa,  as  we 
know  it  at  present,  is,  I  submit,  a  form  of  ancestor-worship.  If  I 
have  not  misunderstood  Mr.  Hartland,  his  initial  assumption  is 
that  the  souls  of  the  clan  pass  into  some  species  of  animal,  which 
is  respected  on  that  account.  This  may  not  be  ancestor-worship 
pure  and  simple,  but  still  it  is  ancestor-worship,  I, submit;  and  if 
this  is  so,  does  not  Mr.  Hartland's  theory  begin  where  it  should 
have  ended?  Surely,  in  tracing  the  development  of  ancestor- 
worship  from  totemism,  we  must  not  assume  the  belief  that  the 
souls  of  the  dead  pass  into  animals  which  are  therefore  respected. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Hartland's  theory  is  intended  to 
show  how  South  African  ancestor-worship  may  have  lost  its  totem- 
istic  features,  it  is  not  clear  why  we  should  lay  stress  on  the  totem- 
form  being  confined  to  the  chief.  The  germ  of  ancestor-worship 
is  already  present  in  the  respect  paid  to  the  animals.  When  the 
social  side  of  totemism  fell  into  the  background  in  the  manner 
described  by  Mr.  Hartland,  the  religious  idea  would  hardly  remain 
unchanged.  It  may  well  have  happened  that  the  sojourn  of  the 
soul  in  the  body  of  the  animal  came  in  process  of  time  to  be 


Correspondence.  343 

regarded  as  lemporary,  and  for  the  period  of  the  animal's  life 
only.     After  the  death  of  the  animal  the  soul  reached  its  final 
resting-place  and  received  the  honours  and  offerings  characteristic 
of  a  cult  of  ancestors,     If  the  social  side  of  totemism  had  fallen 
3  the  background,  the  intermediate  stage  might  well  drop  out. 
'  Whether  this  was  the  case,  or  whether  the  dead  were  believed  to 
return  in  the  form  of  any  animal  at  will,  it  does  not  seem  neces- 
sary to  lay  stress  on  the  part  played  by  ihe  authority  of  the  chief. 
The  Madagascar  facts  show  us,  as  I  have  said,  the  stage  postulated 
by  Mr.  Hartland,  but  I  suggest  a  different  interpretation  of  them 
I  from  his.     To  me  they  seom  rather  to  point  to  the  way  in  which 
[  totemism  may  have  been  transformed  into  the  cult  of  animals. 
N-  \S.  Thomas. 


Spectral  Lights. 

(An/f,  p.  105.) 

It  is  not  necessary  to  look  abroad  for  "spectral  lights."    In 

'  the  sea  loch  which  severs  Appin  from  Maraore,  and  between 
Ball.ichulish  Hotel  and  Glencoe,  the  lights  abound.  There  they 
are  seen  (by  educated  Lowlanders,  too)  on  the  Isle  of  St.  Mun, 
an  old  place  of  burial,  and  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  loch,  on 
the  road  to  Callert.  When  I  was  at  Carnoch  House  last  year, 
opposite  Invercoe,  an  English  friend  of  mine  observed  the  light 
closely,  and  about  10.30  p.m.  in  late  August,  the  Ballachulish 
villagers  turned  out  to  stare  and  wonder.  The  lights  moved 
rapidly  down  the  road  to  Callert,  then  climbed  the  hill  side,  then 
went  down  to  the  shore  of  the  loch.  My  friend  could  form  no 
theory  to  account  for  their  nature  and  movements,  which  are 
rapid.  The  country  people  have  various  hypotheses,  all  super- 
normal. No  doubt  there  is  a  natural  explanation,  but.  so  far, 
conjecture  has  been  baffled.  They  are  no/  corpse  lights,  for 
they  are  visible  to  all,  not  merely  to  the  second -sigh  led. 

The  late  Dr.  Stewart  (Nether  Locbaber),  who  lived  near 
Onich,  on  the  further  side  of  the  loch,  told  me  that  a  woman 
called  him  out  one  night  to  see  a  bright  light  on  a  rock  on  the 

I  shore. 


344  Correspondence. 

"  Phosphorescence  from  decaying  seaweed,"  said  the  doctor. 

"There  will  be  a  corpse  there  to-morrow,"  said  the  woman. 
And  a  corpse  was  landed  under  the  rock,  from  a  boat. 

The  doctor  looked  for  the  decaying  sea-weed  of  his  explanation. 
He  found  none. 

The  local  second-sighted  man,  a  most  interesting  person,  is 
wont  to  find  the  bodies  of  the  drowned  by  the  lights  above 
them.  He  kindly  gave  me  an  account  of  the  beginning  of  his 
powers.  The  whole  story  was  "weird"  enough,  but  I  fear  this 
is  not  folklore,  is  it? 

A.  Lang. 


Miss  Weston's  "  Guingamor." 

{Ante,  p.  1 1 6.) 

May  I  point  out  in  reference  to -Miss  Hull's  review  of  Miss 
Weston's  Guingamor  that,  as  the  title  plainly  states,  the  /ais  are 
"  rendered,"  not  "  adapted."  Miss  Weston's  rendering  is  in  fact 
exceedingly  close,  and  represents  the  twelfth-century  French  as 
faithfully  as  is  possible  save  in  an  avowed  crib. 

A.   NUTT. 


Blacksmiths'  Festival. 
{Ante,  p.  217.) 

The  following  appeared  in  the  Church  Times  on  November  23rd, 
1894,  in  "Peter  Lombard's"  notes. 

"  St.  Clement  is  held  to  be  the  patron  saint  of  blacksmiths.  .  .  . 
Readers  of  Dickens  will  remember  how  Joe  Gargery  and  his 
assistants  hammered  away  at  their  forge  to  the  musical  accom- 
paniment of  *  Old  Clem.'  A  year  ago,  apropos  of  St.  Clement's 
Day  (23rd  inst.),  a  correspondent  sent  me  the  following,  which  he 
says  used  to  be  read,  with  accompanying  song,  in  some  Hampshire 
villages,  eg.  Twyford  and  Hursley,  on  this  day : — 

"  It  came  to  pass  when  Solomon,  the  son  of  David,  had 
finished  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem  that  he  called  unto  him  the 


Cnrrespondenci 


chief  architects,  the  head  architects,  the  head  artificers,  and 
cunning  workers  in  silver  and  gold,  in  wood  and  ivory,  and  in 
stone,  yea,  all  who  had  aided  in  rearing  the  Temple  of  the  Lord, 
and  he  said  unto  them,  'Sit  ye  down  at  my  table.  I  have 
prepared  a  feast  for  all  the  cunning  artificers  and  chief  workers. 
Stretch  forth  your  hands,  therefore,  and  eat  and  drink  and  be 
merry.  Is  not  the  labourer  worthy  of  his  hire?  Is  not  the 
skilful  artificer  worthy  of  his  honour?  Muzzle  not  the  ox  that 
trcadeth  out  the  corn.'  And  when  Solomon  and  the  chief 
workers  were  seated,  and  the  fatness  of  the  land  and  the  wine 
and  oil  thereof  were  set  upon  the  table,  there  came  one  who 
knocked  loudly  at  the  door  and  thrust  himself  into  the  festal 
chamber.  Then  Solomon  the  King  was  wroth,  and  the  stranger 
said,  '  When  men  wish  to  honour  me  they  call  me  the  Son  of  the 
Forge,  but  when  they  desire  to  mock  me  they  call  me  the  black- 
smith;  and  seeing  that  the  toil  of  working  in  the  fire  covers  me 
with  sweat  and  smut,  the  latter  name,  O  King,  is  not  inapt,  and  in 
that  thy  servant  desires  no  better.'  '  But,"  said  Solomon,  '  why 
come  ye  thus  rudely  and  unbidden  to  the  feast  where  none  but 
the  chief  workers  of  the  Temple  are  invited  ?'  '  Please  you,  my 
Lord,  I  came  rudely,'  replied  the  man,  'because  thy  servants 
obliged  me  to  force  my  way,  but  I  came  not  unbidden.  Was  it  not 
proclaimed  that  the  chief  workmen  of  the  Temple  were  invited  with 
the  King  of  Israel?'  Then  he  who  car\'ed  the  cherubim  said,  'This 
fellow  is  no  sculptor.'  And  he  who  inlaid  the  roof  with  pure 
gold  said,  '  Neither  is  he  a  worker  in  fine  metals.'  And  he  who 
raised  the  walls  said,  'He  is  no  cutter  in  stone.'  And  he  who 
made  the  roof  cried  out,  'He  is  not  cunning  in  cedar  wood, 
neither  knoweth  he  the  mystery  of  knitting  strange  pieces  of 
timber  together.'  Then  said  Solomon,  '  What  hast  thou  to  say. 
Son  of  the  Forge,  why  I  should  not  order  thee  to  be  plucked  by 
the  beard,  scourged  by  the  scourge,  and  stoned  to  death  with 
stones  ? '  And  when  the  Son  of  the  Forge  heard  this,  he  was  in 
no  sort  dismayed,  but  advancing  to  the  table  snatched  up  and 
swallowed  a  cup  of  wine  and  said,  '  O  King,  live  for  ever !  The 
■  chief  workers  in  wood  and  gold  and  stone  have  said  I  am  not  of 
them,  and  they  have  said  truly.  I  am  their  superior.  Before  they 
lived  1  was  created.  I  am  their  master  and  they  ate  my  servants.' 
And  he  turned  him  round,  and  said  to  the  chief  carver  in  stone, 
'Who  made  the  tools  with  which   you  carve?'    And  he  said, 


I 


3 


I 


346  Correspondence. 

*The  blacksmith.'  And  he  said  to  the  chief  mason,  *Who 
made  the  chisel  with  which  the  stones  of  the  temple  were 
squared?'  And  he  said,  *The  blacksmith.'  And  he  said  to 
the  chief  worker  in  wood,  *  Who  made  the  tools  with  which  you 
felled  the  trees  of  Lebanon  and  made  into  the  pillars  and  roof  of 
the  temple  ? '  And  he  answered,  *  The  blacksmith.'  *  Enough, 
enough,  good  fellow,'  said  Solomon,  *thou  hast  proved  that  I 
invited  thee,  and  thou  art  all  men's  father.  Go  and  wash  the 
smut  of  the  forge  from  thy  face  and  come  and  sit  at  my  right 
hand.  The  chief  of  workmen  are  but  men,  thou  art  more.'  So 
it  happened  that  the  feast  of  Solomon  and  the  blacksmiths  has 
been  honoured  ever  since." 

T.    W.   E.    HiGGENS. 

A  Sussex  version  of  the  story  is  given  in  a  paper  entitled 
"  Sussex  Songs  and  Music,"  by  Mr.  F.  E.  Sawyer,  printed  in  the 
Journal  of  the  British  Archaological  Association^  vol.  xlii.,  pp.  306- 
327  (1886),  besides  other  notes  relating  to  the  blacksmiths*  festival. 
Mr.  Sawyer  prints  two  or  three  special  toasts  that  were  used  at 
the  annual  dinner  held  in  honour  of  "  Old  Clem."  ^  I  wonder  if 
anybody  has  ever  made  a  collection  of  toasts  that  were  formerly 
used  in  connection  with  trades,  &c. 

Perhaps  the  following  rhyme,  if  unrecorded,  may  be  interesting. 

**  *  Little  Billy  Shortcoat,  can  you  make  a  nail  ? ' 
*  Yes,  master,  that  I  can,  as  well  as  any  other  man. 
Smite,  Jack  ;  hit,  Tom  ; 
Blow  the  bellows,  old  man.'  "  * 

It  was  repeated  to  me  by  an  old  farmer,  a  native  of  West 
Sussex,  from  whom  I  have  recently  noted  a  good  many  folk-songs. 

W.  Percy  Merrick. 

'  See  also  Folk- Lore  Journal ^  ii.,  p.  321. 

^  Cf,  F.  L.J,i  iv.,  p.  146,  and  Shropshire  Folklore y  p.  571. 


Cor  re  span  dence. 


"The  Golden  Bouc 


MoAB  OR  Edom  ? 


{Anle,x>.  2I9-) 

In  vol,  ii.,  p.  so,  of  The  Golden  Bough,  Mr.  Frazer,  discussing 
the  supposed  Semitic  practice  of  sacriRcing  the  lirst-barn  son 
as  substitute  for  the  father,  refers  to  the  incident  recorded  in 
3  Kings  iii.  27  as  a  definite  instance  of  such  a  sacrifice.  Some 
years  ago  this  passage  attracted  my  attention,  and,  studying  it  in 
connection  with  Amos  ii.  i,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
interpretation  which,  on  a  casual  reading  of  the  veree,  one  would 
most  readily  assign  to  it  was  not  the  correct  interpretation,  i.t.  it 
was  the  son  not  of  the  King  of  Moab,  but  of  the  King  of  Edom, 
who  was  sacrificed. 

The  grammatical  construction  of  the  fMissage  in  Kings  admits 
of  the  pronoun  his  being  applied  to  either  king,  while  Amos 
directly  slates  lliat  Moab  "burned  the  bones  of  the  King  of  Edom 
into  lime."  As  1  understand  the  passages,  the  position  was  this : 
the  King  of  Edom,  Moab's  old  ally,  had  taken  part  against  this 
latter;  Moab  endeavoured  to  reach  him  directly,  but  failed  to  do 
so ;  he  therefore  adopted  an  indirect  means  of  breaking  off  the 
alliance  with  Israel  by  slaying  the  King  of  Edom's  son,  who  by 
some  unexplained  means  was  in  his  power.  The  result  was  exactly 
what  was  aimed  at,  "there  was  great  wrath  against  Israel"  (not, 
as  we  might  have  expected,  against  Moab),  and  the  siege  was 
raised,  i.€.  the  King  of  Edom  saw  he  had  gained  nothing  by 
changing  sides ;  the  loss  of  his  son  was  more  to  him  than  that  of 
a  tribute  of  sheep  to  Israel,  and  he  broke  off  the  alliance. 

If  these  two  passages  are  really  connected  with  each  other,  it 
follows  that  the  incident  Is  not  one  which  can  fairly  be  quoted  in 
support  of  Mr.  Frazer's  argument;  yet  it  is  the  only  definite  case 
of  such  sacrifice  which  he  produces;  otherwise  the  practice  is  only 
a  matter  of  inference. 

Jessie  L,  Weston. 


The  Li;cK  of  Mvcekje. 

It  may  interest  readers  to  quote  a  curious  passage  from  Accius. 
In  a  fragment  of  his  Atreus,  he  speaks  of  a  "golden  lamb,  the 


348  Correspondence. 

mainstay  of  my  rule,"  preserved  in  the  palace,  which  Thyestes 
stole  away : 

Adde  hue  quod  mihi  portento  caelestum  pater 
Prodigium  misit  regni  stabilimen  mei, 
Agnum  inter  pecudes  aurea  clarutn  coma, 
Quondam  Thyestem  clepere  aurum  ex  regia. 

W.  H.  D.  Rouse. 


Horses'  Heads. 
(Vol.  xi.,  p.  322.) 


I  do  not  know  if  the  following  cutting  from  the  Pembroke 
County  Echo  is  worth  anything,  but  I  enclose  it  on  the  chance. 

Florence  Grove. 

"  A  Strange  Discovery  at  Jordanston. 

"  To  the  Editor  of  the  County  Echo, 

"  Sir, — Some  time  last  year  a  paragraph  appeared  in  your  paper 
to  the  effect  that  a  horse's  head  had  been  found  under  the  flooring 
of  a  room  at  Poyston,  near  Haverfordwest,  and  it  was  suggested — 
whether  by  an  archaeologist  or  a  reporter  I  do  not  know — that  as 
Poyston  was  the  birthplace  of  the  late  Lieutenant-General  Picton, 
G.C.B.,  who  fell  at  Waterloo  in  18 15,  that  the  find  was  the  head 
of  his  *  favourite'  charger.  I  very  much  question  this  theory 
myself.  In  laying  down  a  new  floor  here  last  week  twenty  horses' 
heads  were  found.  I  believe  it  was  customary  very  many  years 
ago  (I  may  say  this  house  dates  back  to  the  Elizabethan  era,  over 
300  years  ago)  to  put  horses'  head  under  the  flooring  to  cause  an 
echo  in  the  room.  At  any  rate  I  do  not  think  anyone  would 
have  the  temerity  to  say  that  Colonel  Vaughan,  who  died  here  in 
1798,  caused  the  heads  of  twenty  *  favourite'  chargers  to  be 
interred  under  the  flooring  of  a  room — with  all  due  solemnity  of 
course.  I  have  had  all  the  heads  put  back,  not  from  any  fear  of 
a  visit  from  the  colonel  for  disturbing  the  resting  place  of  his 
« favourite '  chargers'  heads,  but  to  cause  an  echo,  and  I  have  no 


Correspondence.  349 

doubt  that  should  the  flooring  be  taken  up  in  any  very  old  houses 
that  like  discoveries  would  be  made. — I  am,  &c,,  H.  W.  Thomas. 
"Jordanston,  May,  8/A,  1901." 

[The  above  possesses  a  melancholy  interest  as  the  last  com- 
munication we  shall  receive  from  Miss  Florence  Grove.  But  a 
few  days  after  despatching  it,  Miss  Grove  died  very  suddenly  in 
her  rooms  at  Chelsea,  on  the  i4lh  June  last.  The  main  work  of 
her  life  lay  in  philanthropic  labours,  in  connection  with  the  Board 
of  Guardians  and  otherwise,  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor  of  Chelsea, 
where  she  had  lived  since  her  father's  death  some  eight  years  ago. 
She  only  joined  the  Folk-Lore  Society  in  1895,  but  she  took  up 
the  subject  with  her  accustomed  energy,  and  her  work  in  con- 
nection with  the  Lecture  Committee,  the  idea  of  which  she 
originated,  and  of  which  she  was  always  the  leading  spirit,  soon 
won  for  her  a  place  on  the  Society's  Council.  She  was  one  of 
the  most  regular  and  business-like  attendants  at  the  Council 
meetings,  and  the  gap  she  leaves  there  will  be  sensibly  felt  by  all 
who  were  her  fellow-workers  in  the  Society. — Ed.] 


New  Year  Customs  in  Hehekordshire. 

The  enclosed  cutting  from  the  Z'ai/c  Graphic  of  ist  January, 
898,  has  been  sent  me  by  a  correspondent.  The  custom 
described  is  new  to  me,  and  I  hope  you  will  give  it  a  place  in 
\  Folk-Lort. 

J.  G.  Frazer. 

"A  strange  custom  still  lingers  in  out-of-the-way  country  places 
I  in  Herefordshire,     On  New  Year's  Day,  very  early  in  the  morn- 
ing, the  farm  boys  go  out  and  cut  branches  of  the  blackthorn, 
which  they  weave  into  a  kind  of  globe  of  thorns.     Then  a  la:^e 
fire  of  straw  is  made  in  the  farmyard,  in  which  the  globe  of  thorns 
is  slightly  burnt,  while  all  the  inmates  of  the  farm  stand,  hand  in 
J-  hand,  in  a  circle  round  the  fire,  shouting,  in  a  monotonous  voice, 
I  the  words  "  Old  Cider,"  prolonging  each  syllable  to  its  utmost 


350  Correspondence. 

extent  When  the  globe  of  thorns  is  slightly  charred,  it  is  taken 
indoors  and  hung  up  in  the  kitchen,  when  it  brings  good  luck  for 
the  rest  of  Uie  year.  Old  people  say  that  in  their  youth  the  practice 
was  general  in  all  country  places  in  Herefordshire,  and  it  was  a 
pretty  sight  on  New  Year's  morning  to  see  the  fires  burning  all 
over  the  neighbourhood  Another  custom  still  in  use  is,  to  take 
a  particular  kind  of  cake,  and  on  New  Year's  morning  to  bring  a 
cow  into  the  farmyard  and  place  the  cake  on  her  head.  The  cow 
walks  forward,  tosses  her  head,  and  the  cake  foils,  and  the 
prosperity  of  the  New  Year  is  foretold  from  the  direction  of  its 
foU." 

[The  above  passage  was  alluded  to  by  Miss  Mabel  Peacock  in 
Folk-Lore,  x.,  489  ("  A  Crown  of  Thorns  "),  referring  to  the  AnH- 
quary^  February,  1898,  where  it  is  quoted  in  fulU  with  a  reproduc- 
tion of  the  cut  depicting  the  "globe."  The  latter  appears  to 
consist  of  two  transverse  circles  placed  perpendicularly,  and 
another  placed  horizontally  across  them,  like  a  hollow  globe 
formed  of  four  lines  of  longitude  and  the  equator.  This,  with  or 
without  the  '*  equator,"  is  a  common  form  of  decorative  *'  garland" 
in  the  Western  Midlands,  where  it  may  be  seen  on  festive  occa- 
sions made  in  flowers  and  leaves,  and  hanging  from  the  cross- 
staves  of  maypoles,  the  centres  of  triumphal  arches,  and  the 
ceilings  of  farm-kitchens. 

We  are  indebted  to  Miss  M.  C.  Ffennell  for  unearthing  the 
following  additional  particulars  from  the  Daily  Graphic  of  January 
8th,  1898.  Two  other  letters  appeared  on  the  same  date,  but 
need  not  be  reprinted.  In  one,  the  cry  "  Old  Cider ! "  is  derived 
from  Osiris  ! — Ed.] 

"Will  you  allow  me  to  suggest  that  your  correspondent's 
account  of  the  'strange  custom  which  still  lingers  in  out-of-the 
way  places  in  Herefordshire '  scarcely  represents  the  actual  facts  ? 
In  the  first  place,  the  blackthorn  *bush'  is  more  like  a  crown 
than  a  globe,  and  the  fire  is  not  made  in  the  farmyard,  where  it 
would  endanger  the  buildings,  but  on  the  *  headland '  of  one  of 
the  wheatfields ;  and  the  bush  to  be  burnt  is  not  a  newly-cut  one, 
but  an  old  one  which  has  been  hanging  in  the  farm  kitchen  for 
the  past  twelve  months,  its  place  being  supplied  by  a  new  one 
every  year.  The  bush  when  well  lighted  is  usually  carried  across 
several  ridges  of  newly  planted  wheat ;  the  number  which  can  be 
traversed  while  the  bush  still  remains  alight  being  considered  an 


Correspondence.  35 : 

omen  or  forecast  of  the  number  of  successful  (farming)  months  ii 
the  year  .   .   .   . — E,  L.  Cave," 

"  Bromyard  [Herefordshire],  ist  January,  1898." 


Whitsuntide  Fate  and  Mock  Burials. 


As  I  understand  that  some  inieresi  has  been  excited  by  a  para- 
graph on  " Whitsuntide  Superstitions"  which  I  contributed  to  the 
Daily  Chromck  of  the  27th  May  last,  I  write  to  soy  that  the 
belief  that  a  prayer  offered  at  sunrise  on  Whitsunday  morning 
cannot  fail  to  be  granted,  will  be  found  in  Arise  Evans's  Echo  to 
ike  Voice  /mm  Heaven,  or  a  Narrative  of  his  Life,  iiii2,  p.  9, 
quoted  in  ElHs's  Brand,  i.,  283.  My  authority  for  the  rest  of 
the  paragraph  is  the  following  passage  from  the  autobiographical 
reminiscences  of  Mary  Leadbeater,  a  Quaker  lady  of  Ballitore, 
county  Kildare,  1758-1816:— 

[iSji.]  "On  Whit*Sunday  a  child  was  bom  to  I'at  Mitchell,  a 
labourer.  It  is  said  that  the  child  born  on  that  day  is  fated  to 
kill  or  be  killed.  To  avert  this  doom  a  little  grave  was  made,  the 
infant  laid  therein,  with  clay  lightly  sprinkled  on  it  and  sods  sup- 
ported by  twigs  covering  the  whole,  'I'hua  was  the  child  buried, 
and  at  its  resurrection  deemed  to  be  freed  from  the  malediction," 
(The  Leadbeater  Papers,  18G2,  vol.  i.,  403.) 

M.  F.  Johnston. 

A  district  visitor  in  Newton  Abbot,  Devonshire,  on  visiting  an 
old  man  who  suffered  from  rheumatism,  found  him  unusually 
spry  and  cheerful.  "  Oh,  yes'm,"  he  said,  "  I  be  better,  sure. 
I  knew  I  should  be  if  I  took  the  right  remedy,  iliough  'tain'i  a 
pleasant  one."  The  lady  asked  him  what  the  remedy  was,  and 
after  some  pressing  he  said  that  he  had  "  made  it  all  right  with 
sexton,"  and  had  gone  up  at  night  to  Woolborough  churchyard, 
and  had  laid  himself  down  in  a  new-made  grave,  "  and  of  course 
if  1  did  that,  I  knew  my  rheumatis  would  be  cured,  and  so  it  be." 

This  happened  two  years  ago.  The  only  point  on  which  my 
memory  fails  me  is  that  I  cannot  be  certain  whether  anything  was 
said  about  "  the  full  of  the  moon,"  but  1  think  noL 


35  2  Correspondence. 


■■  > 


/ 


The  district  Tisitor  told  the  incident  to  mj 
came  back  from  Newton  Abbot  and  told  it  to  me. 

Torquay.  Christabel 

I  know  personally  a  man,  now,  I  think,  between  thiitj-fi¥«  and 
forty  years  of  age,  who  as  a  very  little  child  was  buried  iq>  to  the 
neck  in  the  ground  to  cure  him  of  smaD-pox.  He  was  then 
living  in  (^oucestershire,  where,  by  his  mother's  acooant,  this 
method  of  medical  treatment  was  frequendy  resorted  to.  She  <fid 
not  state  with  what  percentage  of  fatal  results  ! 

Stoke-on-Trent  Alice  A.  Keart. 

[See  a  Persian  instance,  anU  p.  271.     Mr.  Black  gives  two 
examples,  Folk-Mcdkine^  p.  loi. — Ed.] 


Border  Marriages. 

It  may  not  be  generally  known  how  recently  Lamberton  Toll- 
bar,  Berwickshire,  "  the  Gretna  Green  of  the  eastern  Borders," 
(Denham  Tracts^  i.,  289),  has  been  resorted  to  for  irr^ular 
marriages. 

A  friend  of  mine,  who  lately  had  to  investigate  a  claim  under 
the  Workmen's  Compensation  Act,  on  behalf  of  the  widow  of  a 
man  who  had  lost  his  life  in  an  accident  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  discovered  that  the  parties  had  been  married 
at  Lamberton  Toll ;  and  on  pursuing  his  inquiries  upon  the  spot, 
he  was  informed  that  so  lately  as  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century  there  were  eight  or  nine  "  toll  priests  "  who  took  acknow- 
ledgments at  the  toll,  which  up  to  that  date  operated  in  Scotch 
law  as  valid  marriages.     As  the  result  of  his  investigations,  how- 
ever, he  was  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  the  lady  had  no  legal 
claim  to  compensation,  as  her  marriage  had  been  celebrated  since 
the  Marriage  Act  of  1856,  and  both  she  and  her  husband  were 
domiciled  in  England,  and  neither  of  them  had  been  resident  in 
^x>tland  for  twenty-one  days  previous  to  the  date  of  the  ceremony. 
I1w  ^'  toll  priest "  before  taking  the  acknowledgment  had  inter- 


Correspondence. 


I  PowKR  OF  Speech. 
{Translation.) 


"  rogated  the  husband  pretty  closely  as  to  his  domicile,  but  he 

appears  to  have  given  answers  which,  if  not  absolutely  untruthful, 

^^^   were  at  any  rate  evasive. 

^^1  F.   A.    MlLNE. 

^^H      There  are  in  many  places  wells,  springs,  chapels,  tombs,  dolmens, 
^       woods,  trees,  &c,,  to  which  the  people  have  resorted  from  time 
immemorial  to  be  either  cured  of,  or  preserved  from,  some  sick- 
ness or  infirmity. 

The  Director  of  the  Institution  for  Stammerers  at  Paris  would 
be  grateful  for  detailed  information  about  the  rites,  ceremonies, 
and  offerings  customary  at  such  places  as  are  visited  specially  lor 
the  cure  of  dumb  or  stammering  children,  or  of  those  who  are 
backward  in  speaking ;  and,  in  fact,  for  any  popular  traditions 
relating  to  the  power  of  speech.     Address 

M.  LE  Dr.  Chervin, 
Inslitut  des  Bigues  de  Paris, 

8a,  Avenue  Victor  Hugo,  Paris. 

[A  few  examples  from  Great  Britain  may  be  given  as  specimens. 
If  a  woman  hears  her  banns  of  marriage  proclaimed,  her  children 
will  be  deaf-and-dumb  (England),  Common.  An  aspen  leaf  under 
the  tongue  cures  dumbness,  C.  Alery  Talys,  quoted  in  Black's 
Folk  Medicine,  203.  Infant's  mouth  must  touch  the  earth  to 
ensure  well-chosen  language  (Hebrides),  Folk-Lore,  xi.,  445. 
Deaf-and-dumb  fortune-teller  infallible  (Greenock),  Choice  Notes, 
p.  247.  Legend  of  Caedmon,  in  Bede's  Ecclesiastical  History. 
Legend  of  True  Thomas,  in  Border  Minstrelsy,  iii.,  135.  Com- 
munications on  this  interesting  subject  will  gladly  be  inserted  in 
Folk-Lore,  but  any  further  references  to  accessible  printed  books 
had  better  be  sent  direct  to  Dr.  Chervin.— Ed.] 


^^^B  VOL 


3 


REVIEWS. 


Magic  and  Religion.    By  Andrew  Lang.   Longmans.    los.  6d. 

In  the  form  of  a  set  of  essays,  chiefly  new,  but  in  some  cases 
reprinted  from  various  periodicals,  Mr.  Lang  here  sets  forth  a 
further  study  in  what  he  aptly  calls  (p.  5)  "  the  nascent  science  of 
the  anthropological  study  of  religions."    This  science,  he  tells  us, 
has  now  been  before  the  public  for  thirty  years,  since  the  first 
publication  di  Primitive  Culture,   Principles  of  Sociology  succeeded 
that,  and  two  editions  of  The  Golden  Bough  have  followed  since, 
not  to  mention  countless  other  books  on  the  same  subject.     But 
the  new  science  has  not  attracted  the  amount  of  attention  either 
from  the  world  of  scholars  or  from  the  general  public  which  it 
seems  to  us  who  pursue  it  to  deserve,  and  which  was  foretold  for 
it  twenty  years  ago.     Dr.  Tylor  then  wrote  that  it  was  calculated 
to  create  a  general  sensation  compared  to  which  that  caused  by 
Darwin's  theory  of  the  Origin  of  Species  would  be  insignificant. 
And  yet  the  world  at  large  remains  unmoved,  uninterested.     Why 
is  this?   Many  of  us  must  have  asked  ourselves  the  same  question. 
Mr.  Lang  answers  it  thus. 

Science,  he  says,  observes  facts  and  reasons  from  them.  The 
result  is  the  discovery  of  the  laws  of  cause  and  effect  which  pro- 
duce and  govern  them.  Superstition  also  observes  facts,  but 
combines  them  with  preconceived  opinions  and  reasons  from  the 
combination.  The  result  is  the  barren  practices  of  magic.  Hence 
Superstition  remains  stationary  while  Science  progresses.  Further- 
more, the  present  age,  an  age  of  science,  "  more  and  more  .... 
insists  on  strictness  in  appreciating  evidence  and  on  economy  in 
conjecture "  (p.  8),  while  students  of  the  evolution  of  myth  and 
belief,  now  as  always,  fail  in  both.  Hence  we  neither  command 
the  general  attention  we  might  have  looked  for  nor  make  the 
progress  we  should  desire.  "  We  are  all,  we  who  work  at  these 
topics,  engaged  in  science,  the  science  of  man,  or  rather  we  are 


Reviews, 


y  labouring  to  make  good  the  foundations  of  that  science. 

It  our  science  cannot  'expedite  progress'  if  our  science 

fbt  scientific"   {p.  9).     And  it  is  not  scientific  if  it  fails  to 

e  the  true  value  of  evidence,  if  it  overlooks  or  disregards 

itncc,  if  it  builds  on  hypothesis,  if  it  leaves  some  of  the  facts 

I  cjf  account. 

:  far  Mr.  Lang's  opening  essay ;  the  rest  of  the  work  is 
tonty  occupied  with  an  examination  of  the  recent  work  of  the 
cipal  writers  on  the  subject.  Mr.  Frazer,  Mr.  Hartland,  Mr. 
fons,  and  ("  with  the  greatest  diffidence  and  while  awaiting  the 
Uication  of  his  Gifford  Lectures "),  Mr.  Tylor,  are  all  passed 
r  review,  and  all  found  wanting  in  one  or  another  of  these 
!ticu!ars.  Mr.  Frazer  comes  in  for  by  far  the  largest  share  of 
mtion,  the  most  caustic  and  unsparing  criticism ;  prefaced,  we 
B  glad  to  see,  by  a  bit  of  warm  and  ungrudging  praise,  which  in 
Rice  to  both  parties  we  cannot  resist  the  pleasure  of  quoting. 
.  Frazer's  speculations,  says  Mr.  Lang  (p.  76},  "  are  based  on 
I  extraordinary  mass  of  erudition.  We  are  not  put  off  with 
vague  and  unvouched-for  statements,  or  with  familiar  facts  ex- 
tracted from  the  collections  of  Mr.  Tylor,  Lord  Avebury,  and  Mr. 
Herbert  Spencer.  Mr.  Frazer  does  not  collect  knowledge,  as  his 
Babylonian  kings  are  supposed  by  him  to  have  been  sacrificed — 
by  proxy.  No  writer  is  so  erudite,  and  few  are  so  exact  in  their 
references.  While  venturing  to  differ  from  Mr.  Frazer,  I  must 
often,  as  it  were,  make  use  of  his  own  ammunition  in  this  war. 
Let  me  say  sincerely  that  I  am  not  pitting  my  own  knowledge  or 
industry  against  his.  I  rather  represent  the  student  who  has  an 
interest  in  these  subjects,  and  peruses  '  The  Golden  Bough,'  not 
as  '  the  general  reader '  does,  but  with  some  care  and  with  some 
verification  of  the  citations  and  sources," 

The  principal  counts  of  the  acte  tfacaisation  against  Mr.  Frazer 
are  three  :  that  he  omits  such  evidence  as  tells  against  his  theory 
of  the  priority  of  magic  to  religion  (a  question  which,  moreover, 
"  cannot  be  historically  determined  " ') ;  that  the  chain  of  hypo- 
theses by  which  he  connects  the  Saturnalia,  the  Sacea,  and 
Calvary  Is  inconsistent  with  history  and  reason  ;  and  Chat  his 
proposed  explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  Arician  priesthood 
depends  for  its  final  proof  on  a  series  of  unverified  assumptions ; 


'  fage  47- 


35^  Reviews. 

a  heavy  indictment !  We  cannot  but  feel,  however,  that  Mr. 
Frazer  would  have  escaped  much  of  this  criticism  if  he  had 
adopted  the  method  of  work  advocated  by  Mr.  Gomme  at 
page  223  of  the  present  volume,  and  had  begun  by  giving  a 
critical  study  of  the  whole  of  the  authorities  for  the  ritual  of 
Aricia  and  its  reputed  connection  with  the  golden  bough  of 
iEneas,  and  had  then  sought  in  his  vast  storehouse  of  facts  for 
parallels  and  analogues  of  the  various  points.  His  conclusions 
would  have  been  likely  to  meet  with  much  more  general  accept- 
ance when  reached  by  such  a  course  than  when  attained  by  the 
adoption  of  the  opposite  plan,  namely,  by  working  from  the 
earliest  point  of  culture  which  the  author's  mind  could  conceive 
or  his  studies  suggest  to  him,  down  to  the  solid  historical  ground 
of  the  priesthood  of  Nemi. 

But  Mr.  Lang  weakens  his  position  and  mars  the  effect  of  his 
vigorous  and  earnest  plea  for  trustworthy  evidence  rightly  used, 
by  his  "  guess "  (he  is  careful  to  call  it  no  more)  that  the  Tree 
of  Nemi  was  a  sanctuary  tree.  In  support  of  this  suggestion  he 
brings  forward  three  present-day  instances  of  such  trees  in  Samoa. 
But  here  there  is  none  of  that  "  coincidence  of  testimony  "  from 
various  nations  and  widely  distant  regions  on  which  he  elsewhere 
lays  so  much  stress.  To  substantiate  this  "guess"  we  should 
need  an  exhaustive  study  of  the  subject  of  Sanctuary — from 
Leviticus  to  Westminster  Abbey,  from  the  immunity  of  the  guest 
among  Eastern  nomads  to  the  gradual  spread  of  the  King's  Peace 
from  the  court  and  the  highway  over  the  length  and  breadth  of 
the  realm— placed  in  juxtaposition  with  an  equally  exhaustive 
study  of  sacred  and  guardian,  magic,  and  taboo  trees  in  all  times 
and  places.  Meanwhile  we  can  only  say,  "Not  proven."  He 
himself  calls  it  "  a  problem  which  I  think  we  have  not  the  means 
of  solving"  (p.  vii.). 

We  do  not  propose  to  enter  into  the  merits  of  the  particular 
controversies  in  which  Mr.  Lang  engages.  We  prefer  to  make 
some  remarks  on  the  main  theme  of  the  book,  the  needs  and 
methods  of  the  scienlific  study  of  the  evolution  of  religion.  In 
the  first  place,  one  cannot  but  observe  that  the  absence  of  accepted 
definitions  forms  one  most  serious  obstacle  to  progress.  Take  the 
word  Religion  itself.  Mr.  Frazer  defines  it  {G,  B,,  I.  63),  as  "a 
propitiation  or  conciliation  (the  italics  are  ours)  of  powers  superior 
to  man  which  are  believed  to  direct  and  control  the  course  of 


/ 


Reviews.  357 

nature."  This  definition  identifies  Religion  with  Worship.  Mr. 
Lang  (pp.  48,  69)  contends  that  there  may  be  Religion,  (that  is  to 
say,  Religious  Faith),  without  Worship.  This  is  a  legitimately  argu- 
able question,  though  not  a  new  one,  (we  know  what  St.  James 
thought  on  the  subject !)  ;  but  so  long  as  two  different  definitions 
of  Religion  are  current,  progress  can  hardly  be  hoped  for. 

Leaving  the  preliminary  question,  whether  belief  without  worship 
should  be  called  religion  or  not,  the  next  point  is,  when  belief  in 
a  vague  unworshipped  deity  is  found  among  savages,  did  they 
borrow  the  deity  from  the  white  man  ?  Mr.  Lang  says,  had  they 
done  so  they  would  have  borrowed  the  white  man's  ritual  of 
worship  also.  Does  not  this  depend  a  good  deal  on  the  white 
man?  To  acknowledge  a  Deity  without  worshipping  him  is 
a  phenomenon  not  unknown  in  European  countries.  Savages 
brought  into  contact  with  white  traders  and  sailors  long  before 
the  arrival  of  the  missionary,  might  conceivably  borrow  the  idea 
of  an  unworshipped  deity  from  them,  and  report  it  to  the  mis- 
sionary in  after  years;  but  where  the  missionary  has  followed 
closely  on  the  heels  of  the  trader,  or  (as  in  some  of  the  islands 
of  the  Southern  Seas)  has  actually  preceded  him,  one  would  expect 
to  find  that  if  borrowing  took  place  at  all,  ritual,  or  at  any  rate 
prayer,  would  be  borrowed  as  well  as  belief.  And  not  only  would 
one  set  of  missionaries  import  a  veneration  for  beads  and  images, 
as  Mr.  Lang  suggests  on  p.  11,  but  another  set  would  import 
veneration  for  printed  books.  It  is  a  case  in  which  one  cannot 
generalise,  but  in  which  each  instance  needs  to  be  considered  on 
its  own  merits.  Moreover,  it  is  one  of  those  cases  in  which  one 
indisputable  piece  of  evidence  would  be  as  good  as  a  hundred. 
One  absolutely  unimpeachable  case  of  a  borrowed  faith  engrafted 
without  worship  into  a  native  cult,  would  suffice  to  establish  that 
such  borrowing  can  occur ;  and  one  equally  unimpeachable  case 
of  an  unworshipped  "  high  god  "  of  native  growth  would  suffice  to 
prove,  not  that  such  gods  are  never  borrowed,  but  that  such  a  god 
can  occur  where  no  borrowing  has  been. 

It  is  to  be  observed  further  that  the  question  of  borrowed  re- 
ligions is  only  a  part  of  the  great  question  of  borrowing  versus 
independent  origination,  whether  of  folktales,  customs,  or  other 
things,  and  ought  to  be  studied  in  connection  with  it.  Some 
students  have  formerly  contended  that  the  contact  of  races  has 
tended  in  many  cases  rather  to  crystallise  than  to  obliterate  national 


358 


kxa 

of  ODC4  lllllllft 

,  beapectBd  id 

iiiiiMiPiitiii  QOBDI  RuCr  anKL  SLIil|aLL.      IWIII'  H  UL 


ini|^iilMm%  and 
jcjuxdiiig^  Id  Iftw. 


tbe  <{0Bsxmi  Ok  CEvidenoe*  Every  one  aits  oot^ 
IB  cvujp  Qoe  bos  cnca  out  fiir  cbc  bst  iweuLjp  jcsis^  for  move 
evidexice.  Bat  die  qoestioa  of  wfaic  is  ini&iwurthy  eruieiice  is  m 
verj  diffiazk  one.  The  onfiiBizT  diffioiItT  of  pnmng  a  n^atXYe 
is  iocreaaed  aad  compficated  in  oar  case  by  the  qnesdoo  of  per- 
sonality.  It  h^ipcDs  at  home  as  well  as  abroad  dut  ooe  folklore 
collector  wiD  dxxt  a  host  of  informatioa  on  a  certain  point,  and 
anodier  wiD  hear  fittle  or  noching,  naj.  will  eren  meet  with 
denials.  The  fishermen  of  Sooth  Uist^  qoesdoned  by  a  irisitor 
who  ''had  the  Gaelic,"  ''just  all  had  a  heavy  silence  like  mist  on 
nSy"  said  one  of  them.  **  For  we  knew  diat  though  he  had  the 
Gaelic  tongue,  he  had  not  the  Gaelic  heart.  For  sure  it  was  not 
for  love  and  kinship,  bot  just  to  find  out  and  to  speak  sccmfully 
to  others  about  our  ways,  that  he  asked.  **  When  denials  did  not 
suffice,  too  close  a  crossexamination  naturally  produced  fictions. 
**  At  first  I  to!d  them  nothing,"  said  another,  speaking  of  other 
inquirers ;  "  and  then  when  they  bothered  me  every  hour,  I  told 
them  a  litde  that  was  nothing  at  all,  and  they  were  pleased ;  and 
at  last  when  they  wanted  more,  and  spoke  of  things  I  did  not 
wish  to  speak  about,  I  told  them  a  fathom  o*  nonsense,  and  the 
older  man,  he  put  a  net  into  my  words,  and  took  out  what  he 
fancied,  and  told  his  friend  to  write  them  down  as  he  said  them 


Reviews. 

over,"  What  was  the  effect  on  these  tourists  we  are  not  told,  but 
the  inquirer  first  mentioned  "  found  the  people  strange  and  quite 
unlike  what  he  had  read  about  them  ....  dull  and  prosaic,  with  in- 
terests wholly  commonplace  and  selfi.sh."*  It  is  not  close  question- 
ing, but  interested  and  sympathetic  listening,  that  wins  confidence 
and  ehcils  truth.  Any  one  hving  in  a  country,  or  even  passing 
through  it,  may  observe  more  or  less  of  the  customs,  but  the  belief 
is  another  matter.  A  great  deal  of  mutual  knowledge  may  exist 
among  people  who  nevertheless  remain  "  strangers  yet."  Lord 
Wolseley  has  been  in  the  army  all  his  life,  but  one  hardly  credits 
him  with  the  insight  into  the  mind  of  the  private  soldier  possessed 
by  Mr,  Rudyard  Kiphng,  Nor  is  it  only  personality  which  tells; 
the  collectors'  sex,  natural  powers,  circumstances,  employments,  all 
alfect  their  opportunities  of  information  and  their  qualifications  as 
witnesses.  The  unmusical  man  collects  no  songs,  the  busy  man 
of  affairs  has  not  time  to  listen  to  folktales,  the  clergyman  rarely 
hears  anything  that  he  is  supposed  likely  to  think  superstitious. 
Papers  on  Wiltshire  and  on  Lincolnshire  Folklore  respectively  were 
read  at  the  same  meeting  of  the  Society  last  winter,  and  it  was 
observed  that  the  difference  of  the  matter  recorded  was  due  not 
so  much  to  the  difference  of  the  two  districts  as  Co  the  differing 
sex  and  consequent  opportunities  of  the  two  collectors,  Mr.  Powell 
and  Miss  Peacock.'  In  fine,  if  caution  is  necessary  in  accepting 
positive  evidence,  it  is  tenfold  more  necessary  where  negative 
evidence  is  concerned. 

Then  there  is  historical  evidence  to  be  considered.  What  are 
the  relations  between  folklore  and  recorded  history  ?  The  great 
question  of  the  amount  of  credit  which  may  be  accorded  to  tra- 
dition has  never  been  really  thrashed  out  from  our  point  of  view. 
Much  has  been  written  on  individual  traditions,  but  little  has  been 
ascertained  on  the  whole  subject.  There  is  hardly  anything  that 
wouid  be  a  more  valuable  contribution  to  the  "  nascent  science  " 
than  an  examination  and  determination  of  the  conditions  favour- 
able and  unfavourable  to  the  maintenance  of  a  trustworthy  his- 
torical tradition.  Would  that  some  of  our  romance  students  would 
address  themselves  to  the  comparison  of  oral  historical  traditions 

'  Fiona   Maeleod,    "The  Gad  and   Hti   Herilagc,"   in   73*   NiniUtnth 
ittry,  November,  igoo. 
(,  pp.  71,  161. 


360  Reviews. 

with  the  contemporary  records  of  the  events  to  which  they  refer ! 
By  then  examining  the  social  and  other  conditions  under  which 
each  tradition  has  been  preserved,  we  might  arrive  at  some  ap- 
proximate determination  of  the  law  which  governs  their  credi- 
bility in  general. 

In  the  meantime  it  is  remarkable  how  many  people  fail  to 
discriminate  between  authorities,  or  to  appraise  an  author's 
possible  sources  of  information.  Some  even  seem  unable  to 
realise  that  a  tradition  when  written  down  does  not  cease  to  be 
a  tradition,  and  that  because  a  tradition  was  recorded  some 
generations  or  even  centuries  ago,  it  does  not  thereby  become 
authentic  history.  Others,  again,  seem  to  forget  that  oral  tra- 
dition, when  rejected  as  evidence  of  fact,  ranks  with  folktales  as 
evidence  of  the  ideas  and  manners  of  the  time — or  succession  of 
times — in  which  it  took  shape  or  grew.  A  knowledge  of  the 
methods  of  historical  criticism  is  really  a  necessary  part  of  the 
equipment  of  the  folklorist. 

These  are  some  of  the  reflections  to  which  Mr.  Lang's  new 
book  gives  rise.  They  may  seem  truisms,  but  it  is  good  some- 
times to  be  recalled  to  first  principles  and  forced  to  consider  how 
far  our  actual  practice  agrees  with  the  elementary  maxims  which 
in  theory  we  all  accept. 


The  Early  Age  of  Greece.  By  W.  Ridgeway,  Disney  Pro- 
fessor of  Archaeology  in  the  University  of  Cambridge- 
Cambridge  University  Press.     2  IS. 

Professor  Ridgeway  is  a  most  inspiring  writer.  One  might 
say  of  him  what  was  said  of  another,  nihil  quod  ieiigit  non  ornavif. 
He  is  also  a  first-rate  fighting  man,  and  we  like  him  best  when  he 
is  flourishing  his  shillelagh  in  the  face  of  what  we  may  call  the 
archaeological  ritualists.  He  has  a  great  advantage  over  other 
scholars  in  his  knowledge  of  ethnology  and  folklore,  and,  indeed, 
it  is  his  application  of  these  to  classical  subjects  which  have  made 
his  reputation.  Our  readers  will  all  be  familiar  with  that  brilliant 
essay,  the  Origin  of  Coin  and  Weight  Standards  ;  and  although 
there  is  less  room  in  the  present  volume  for  comparative  folklore, 
it  is  used  on  occasion  with  effect. 


Greek  archeology  is  outside  our  province,  and  we  will  do  no 
more  than  indicate  the  lines  of  the  argument  Professor  Ridgeway 
first  collects  and  condenses  all  the  notices  of  Mycenean  finds  over 
the  Mediterranean  area.  Their  range  is  remarkable,  and  no  less 
so  their  uniform  character.  He  concludes  that  these  are  the  pro- 
ducts of  one  race.  Next  he  examines  tradition  and  history,  and 
finds  that  both  point  to  a  race,  known  to  the  Greeks  as  Pelasgian, 
which  attained  to  great  power  in  the  period  before  either  Achfeans 
or  Dorians  had  entered  Greece,  and  which  had  its  centre  in  the 
Argive  plain  and  in  Crete,  where  the  most  remarkable  finds  have 
turned  up.  He  then  examines  the  claims  ol  the  Achreans,  the 
Dorians,  and  other  races,  to  be  the  authors  of  the  Mycenean 
culture,  and  decides  against  them.  The  Pelasgians  are  left.  ^Ve 
are  struck  by  the  cogency  and  lucidity  of  the  argument,  and  no 
less  by  its  fairness  in  meeting  difficulties.  The  main  theory  has 
been  before  the  world  of  scholars  for  some  years,  since  it  was 
originally  published  in  \k\t  Journal  of  Hellenic  Studies,  and  there 
has  been  no  attempt  to  answer  it  until  Mr.  Hall's  book  was 
brought  out  last  month.  Mr.  Hall  does  not  make  out  a  good 
case,  and  has  evidently  not  mastered  the  Greek  side  of  the 
question. 

We  need  not  enter  into  the  points  which  crop  up  by  the 
way — Homeric  armour,  the  Homeric  dialect,  the  relations  of 
Achrean  or  Dorian  to  Mycenean ;  but  we  proceed  to  those  which 
interest  us  more  closely,  First  comes  the  question  of  religion 
and  custom.  Religion  is  only  touched  on  occasionally,  as  it  is  to 
form  the  subject  of  the  second  volume.  But  burial  customs  are 
an  important  link  in  the  argument  of  this.  Professor  Ridgeway  is 
not  of  Mr.  Hall's  way  of  thinking,  who  pooh-poohs  the  difference 
between  burial  and  burning,  and  suggests  that  since  they  existed 
side  by  side  they  could  be  used  indifferently  by  the  same  people. 
Professor  Ridgeway  points  out  that  they  imply  two  opposite  con- 
ceptions of  the  worid  of  the  dead,  Those  who  bury,  believe  that 
the  dead  man  abides  near  his  body ;  they  wish  to  locate  it  and 
preserve  it,  that  they  may  keep  it  in  good  humour  by  sacrifice  and 
offering.  Those  who  burn,  regard  the  world  of  death  as  shadowy, 
unsubstantial,  afar  off;  and  they  burn  the  offerings  which  they 
desire  the  dead  to  have,  that  they  may  get  them  the  easier,  fiurial 
B  a  mark  of  the  Myceneans,  burning  of  the  Homeric  age,  which 
e  assigns  to  the  Achseans.     He  uses  this  custom  as  a  criterion 


362  Reviews. 

of  race,  and  explains  the  fact  that  burning  and  burial  were  used 
together  by  assuming  that  two  races  existed  side  by  side,  one 
having  conquered  or  superseded  the  other.  This  theory  he 
illustrates  from  the  tombs  of  Central  Europe.  This  argument 
leads  him  to  ethnology ;  and  he  gives  reason  for  holding  that  the 
Pelasgians  were  a  small,  swarthy  race,  the  Achasans  a  tall  and  fair 
one.  We  may  regard  this  as  proven,  not  only  by  the  distinct 
statements  of  Homer  and  Hesiod,  but  by  the  measurements  of 
sword-grips  and  the  actual  remains  of  the  dead.  The  culture  of 
the  two  races  is  examined,  and  a  great  deal  of  evidence  taken 
from  the  types  of  brooches,  cups,  and  armour  :  from  the  number 
of  spokes  in  the  wheels  of  the  chariots  ;  from  the  use  of  iron  or 
bronze ;  from  the  breed  of  cattle.  Some  of  this  is  new;  and  there 
is  no  other  book  which  brings  it  together. 

We  shall  look  forward  with  special  interest  to  the  next  volume ; 
but  enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  the  student  of  custom  or 
ethnology  cannot  afford  to  ignore  this.  It  appeals  in  the  first 
place  to  the  classical  student,  but  no  less  truly,  if  less  completely, 
to  the  student  of  folklore. 


Myths  of  Greece.    By  George  St.  Clair.     2  vols. 

Williams  and  Norgate. 

Mr.  Casaubon,  with  the  aid  of  the  beautiful  Dorothea,  spent  his 
life  in  searching  for  a  Key  to  All  the  Mythologies.  He  was  not 
the  first,  nor  will  Mr.  St.  Clair  be  the  last,  to  undertake  the 
search ;  but  the  result  is  always  the  same.  One  key  will  not  fit 
all  the  problems  of  a  single  mythology,  much  less  those  of  all. 
Mr.  St.  Clair  has  opened  up  Egypt  with  his  key,  and  he  now 
applies  it  to  Greece.  If  you  allow  his  method,  he  will  in  due  time 
open  all  the  rest ;  but  unfortunately  his  method  is  wrong.  It  is 
briefly  an  attempt  to  prove  by  the  use  of  metaphor — as  unscientific 
as  it  would  be  to  hold  that  the  sun  is  alive  because  we  can  say  he 

shines. 

Mr.  St.  Clair's  explanation  of  Greek  mythology  is,  that  every 
legend  refers  to  the  calendar,  and  usually  to  some  reform  of  the 


I  Plar 


calendar  introduced  by  astronomical  priests,  We  do  not  find 
historical  persons  who  have  reformed  the  calendar  using  this 
method.  Julius  Cfesar  was  more  simple,  and  he  was  a  priest,  but 
we  will  not  insist  on  that.  We  will  content  ourselves  with  point- 
ing out  that  Mr.  St,  Clair's  theory  assumes  that  the  Greeks  con- 
ceived of  astronomy  as  the  one  thing  which  mattered,  and  that 
the  priests  were  undisturbed  in  their  efforts  through  thousands  of 
years.  If  the  first  supposition  were  true,  it  is  odd  that  so  little  of 
their  information  leaked  out,  and  that  after  so  many  reforms 
Hesiod  could  write  in  so  childish  a  fashion  about  it.  The  second, 
in  view  of  the  eternal  wars,  raids,  and  invasions  of  Greek  lands,  is 
clearly  impossible.  History  is  completely  neglected  by  Mr.  St. 
Clair,  with  all  the  evidence  accumulated  of  recent  years  to  show 
that  incoming  conquerors  brought  their  gods  with  them,  that 
these  gods  superseded  the  old,  or  by  some  fiction  were  combined 
with  them,  and  that  legends  often  preserve  a  record  of  the  fact. 
One  such  is  ihe  legend  of  the  strife  of  Athena  with  Poseidon,  to 
explain  which  we  have  the  known  fact  thai  a  people  who  wor- 
shipped Athena  got  hold  of  the  power  in  a  place  which  had 
formerly  worshipped  Poseidon.  Mr.  St.  Clair  thinks  that  Athena, 
in  ihe  year  2418  B.C.,  effected  a  reform  by  which  "the  Horse 
were  bom  and  adopted  into  the  year  of  Poseidon  beginning  in 
the  autumn."  Archaeolc^y  will  hardly  carry  Athena  beyond  the 
eighth  century  in  Athens,  literary  evidence  beyond  the  eleventh, 
but  that  is  a  trifle.  Archteology  might  also  help  in  explaining  the 
ages  of  man.  But  for  Mr.  St.  Clair,  the  four  ages  of  gold,  silver, 
brass  [f<V],  and  iron  are  the  four  seasons. 

Mr.  St.  Clair's  theories  are  all  put  as  statements,  more  or  less 
confident.  In  place  of  logic  we  have  such  phrases  as  "  this  may 
well  be,"  "  may  we  not  suspect,"  "  more  likely,"  or  "  the  heroic 
deeds  of  Perseus  and  the  gigantic  labours  of  Hercules  are  really 
allegorical  descriptions  of  great  reforms."  When  the  legends  do 
not  lit,  the  heaven  is  shifted  round  until  they  do— an  easy  thing 
when  we  deal  with  milleniums.  In  the  heavens  are  mythological 
towns  and  rivers ;  but  Mr,  St,  Clair  is  good  enough  to  say,  "  We 
need  not  doubt,  however,  that  Arcadia  and  Argolis,  Argos  and 
Thebes,  although  celestial  and  belonging  to  the  myths,  had  a 
gec^raphlcal  existence  as  well." 

It  would  be  too  long  a  task  to  examine  all  Mr.  St.  Clair's  ex- 
planations ;  but  one  or  two  may  serve  as  examples,     llie  pecca- 


364  Reviews. 

dilloes  of  Zeus  are  not  unknown  to  us.  Here  the  god  appem 
like  a  sailor  who  has  a  wife  in  each  port  of  call :  borne  on  the 
bosom  of  Oceanus,  he  travels  round  the  Zodiac,  finding  his  wivet 
ready  for  him  at  90  degrees  apart  (p.  240).  It  was  prudent  of 
Mr.  St.  Clair  to  put  ninety  degrees  between  the  ladies.  Mutilated 
Cronus  is  ^  the  year  of  365  days,  deprived  of  that  small  member 
the  six  hours,  a  loss  which  gives  rise  to  the  Sottuc  Cycle  ^  (p.  334). 
We  sliould  like  to  quote  a  longer  passage  as  an  example  of  Mr. 
St  Clair's  logic  (p.  166) ;  but  enough.  He  is  quite  equal  to 
proving  that  King  Arthur's  Round  Table  is  the  Zodiac  Multiply 
the  150  knights  by  two  and  you  get  300,  which  is  only  65  diort 
of  the  reformed  calendar.  If  the  Sothic  Cycle  cannot  ei^lain 
away  these  65  we  are  much  mistaken. 

Mr.  St  Clair  comes  to  his  task  insufficiently  equipped  in 
scholarship.  Quam  kmge  inUrvalla^  he  ejaculates  in  one  place  ; 
and  a  certain  author  is  always  called  Pausanius.  The  etjrmologies 
are  as  wild  as  Mr.  Robert  Brown's:  evpweiv  is  derived  (after 
Ghdstone)  from  ^ms^  regardless  of  form  and  meaning.  Athena, 
or  Athana,  "  the  only  form  used  in  tragedy  "  (p.  490),  is  "sugges- 
tive of  Atkanes^  undying  ^  (a  word  not  known  before  1 50  b.c).  The 
vowel ''  a ''  is  long  in  Athana,  and  short  in  Bavaroi — of  course  that 
does  not  matter.  Athena  is  immortal  because  *'  the  lunar  year, 
and  eveiy  year  that  was  too  short,  ended  before  the  next  [lunar?] 
year  began.  .  ,  •  The  year  of  full  and  true  length  was  said  to  be 
re-bom  in  the  moment  of  its  death,  like  the  phoenix ;  but  that  was 
like  saying  that  it  never  died  at  all."  Odd,  is  it  not,  that  no  one 
ever  said  that  of  the  phoenix  ?  ''  Bosphonis  "  is  explained  as  an 
astronomical  "  bull-that-carries ; "  but  here  Mr.  St.  Clair  trips,  for 
the  ancients  called  it  Bos-poros,  the  Oxford.  No  less  remarkable 
are  the  oMer  dicta.  We  learn  that  baituUa  (sic)  are  stones  with 
wings,  and  for  authority  are  bidden  "  see  Cory's  Fragments  " ;  the 
phallus  is  said  to  be  an  ''  emblem  of  life  and  truth."  This  book 
has  made  us  melancholy ;  so  much  hard  work  and  so  misspent. 


The  Realms  of  the  Egyptian  Dead.    By  K.  A.  Wiedemann. 

London:  David  Nutt.     1901. 

This  is  the  first  volume  of  the  translation  of  an  excellent  series  of 
little  books  that  are  being  published  in  Germany  under  the  title 


Reviews. 


of  The  Andeni  East.  They  are  written  by  competent  scholars, 
and  are  intended  to  popularise  the  most  recent  discoveries  and 
conclusions  of  oriental  archeology.  Their  handy  and  compact 
form  and  absence  of  technicalities  ought  to  make  them  as  popular 
in  this  country  as  they  are  at  home. 

The  name  of  Professor  Wiedemann  is  a  sufficient  guarantee  that 
the  account  he  gives  of  ancient  Egyptian  beliefs  about  the  next 
world  is  accurate  and  scholarly.  There  is  no  one  who  is  better 
acquainted  with  the  subject,  and  he  enjoys  the  rare  distinction 
among  Egyptologists  of  being  thoroughly  familiar  with  classical 
literature.  It  is  really  astonishing  into  how  small  a  space  he  has 
packed  a  complete  review  of  the  various  doctrines  held  in  ancient 
ERypt  concerning  the  life  after  death,  without  any  sacrifice  of 
lucidity.     All  is  clear  and  complete,  and  at  the  same  time  brief. 

He  emphasises  the  fact  that  a  systematic  account  of  ancient 
Egyptian  theology  is  impossible,  as  the  Egyptians  themselves  never 
possessed  what  we  should  call  a  theological  system.  Opinions, 
utterly  inconsistent  with  one  another,  were  held  by  them  without 
any  apparent  perception  of  their  inconsistency.  They  were  too 
conservative  to  discard  a  belief  or  practice  which  had  come  down 
the  past,  however  little  it  might  harmonise  with  the  theology 
of  a  later  day.  But  in  this  they  were  not  peculiar.  The  views 
held  by  a  good  many  modem  Europeans  about  a  future  life  would 
be  found,  if  closely  examined,  to  be  similarly  full  of  inconsisten- 
cies. In  such  matters  the  majority  of  mankind  are  not  inclined 
to  be  strictly  logical.  It  is  probable  that  some  at  least  of  the 
different  beliefs  and  practices  which  were  thus  mingled  together 
in  the  oRicial  or  popular  religion  of  Egypt  were  derived  from 
different  elements  in  the  population. 

Another  fact  which  has  to  be  emphasised  is  the  great  antiquity 
of  the  beliefs  in  question.  Most  of  them  go  back  to  a  period  long 
before  the  earliest  monumental  records,  when  those  who  professed 
them  were  still  but  partially  civilised.  They  have  been  already 
incorporated  into  the  state  religion  when  our  first  knowledge  of 
it  begins.  Menes  and  his  immediate  successors  were  already 
followers  of  Osiris,  with  all  that  the  Osirian  form  of  faith  involved. 

Professsor  Wiedemann  has  been  unfair,  however,  to  the  Osirian 
religion,  which  was  that  of  the  great  mass  of  the  Egyptians  through- 
out the  historical  period.  The  need  of  being  brief  has  made  him 
slur  over  the  moral  element  that  is  so  remarkable  a  feature  in  it, 


366  Reviews. 

and  the  reader  who  is  unacquainted  with  the  subject  would  con- 
clude from  his  words  that  the  follower  of  Osiris,  like  the  follower 
of  the  Sun-god,  looked  for  salvation  merely  to  magical  charms  and 
spells.  But  this  was  not  the  case.  The  passport  to  the  heaven 
of  Osiris  was  not  the  potency  of  magic,  but  a  righteous  life.  It 
was  only  after  the  heart  or  conscience  had  been  weighed  in  the 
balance  of  truth,  and  proof  was  thus  given  that  the  dead  man  had 
spoken  truly  in  declaring  that  he  had  lived  in  accordance  with 
one  of  the  highest  of  existing  moral  codes,  that  he  was  admitted 
to  the  fields  of  paradise.  The  test  of  admittance  to  the  heaven  of 
sunlight  and  happiness  over  which  Osiris  ruled  was  a  moral  one, 
and  the  morality  was  of  a  very  high  order  indeed.  It  was  the 
follower  of  the  Sun-god,  who  looked  forward  to  sharing  with  him 
the  solar  bark,  that  put  his  trust  in  spells  and  incantations,  and 
the  solar  creed,  with  its  books  of  Am-Duat  and  the  Gates,  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  older  than  the  age  of  the  eighteenth 
dynasty.  The  Osirian  creed,  on  the  other  hand,  has  its  roots  in 
the  very  beginning  of  Egyptian  history. 

The  translation  of  Professor  Wiedemann's  work  is  excellent  and 
free  from  Germanisms.  Type  and  paper  are  also  good,  and  I 
have  noticed  only  one  misprint — the  omission  of  "  with  "  near  the 
foot  of  page  22. 

A.  H.  Savce. 


The  Ethno-Botany  of  the  Coahuilla  Indians  of  Southern 
California.  By  David  Prescott  Barrows.  Chicago  Uni- 
versity Press.     1900. 

This  dissertation  forms  a  valuable  contribution  to  our  too  scanty 
knowledge  of  the  aboriginal  peoples  of  Southern  California. 
The  Coahuilla  (pronounced  Kau-ivei-yah)  belong  to  the  great 
Shoshonean  family  which  formerly  wandered  over  the  Rocky 
Mountains  and  the  arid  lands  to  the  east  of  the  range.  How  far 
they  are  purely  Shoshonean  may  be  a  question,  for  they  speak  an 
idiom  which  is  probably  that  of  the  Californian  tribes  into  whose 
territory  they  have  intruded  at  some  unknown  period.  Their 
habitat  is  desert-country,  sandy,  mountainous,  broken  by  cliffs 
and  gorges,  and  having  a  flora  rich  in  the  number  of  species,  but 


Reviews. 


367 


^ranting  in  foliage,  while  fruitful  in  thoms  and  prickles  and  stiff 
hairs,  with  thick  stalks  and  trunks  suitable  for  retaining  and 
utilising  every  drop  of  the  scanty  moisture  which  the  climate 
affords ;  in  short,  a  desert-flora  of  yuccas,  cactuses,  agaves,  and 
so  forth.  The  canons,  however,  are  often  watered  by  streams, 
and  there  a  luxuriant  vegetation  of  palms  and  other  tropical  and 
aub-tropical  trees  and  plants  is  found.  On  emerging  from  the 
canons  the  rivers  lose  themselves  in  the  sands  of  the  desert,  in 
the  remote  past  an  extension  of  the  Californian  Gulf,  Beneath 
the  sand-drifts,  therefore,  often  lies  a.  reserve  of  water ;  and 
perhaps  quite  alone  among  the  American  tribes  the  Coahuillas 
have  learnt  to  dig  wells. 

In  a  district  like  this,  where  white  men  could  hardly  live,  the 
inventive  and  adaptive  powers  of  the  natives  have  been  exercised 
to  the  utmost.  The  terrible  struggle  with  nature  has  sharpened 
their  wits,  and,  as  in  the  search  for  water,  has  led  to  developments 
of  great  interest.  These  Dr.  Barrows  has  here  undertaken  to 
describe  and  discuss,  so  far  as  they  concern  the  flora  of  the 
country.  House- building,  basket-making,  and  other  manufac- 
tures ;  food-plants,  their  callection,  preparation,  and  storage ; 
drinks,  narcotics,  and  medicines,  come  successively  under  review. 
There  seems  to  be  no  detailed  scientific  account  of  the  organisation 
and  traditions  of  the  Coahuillas ;  hence  much  of  Dr.  Barrows' 
account  is  less  intelligible  than  it  might  fae.  Even  his  careful  de- 
scription of  the  construction  of  the  dwelUngs  would  be  more  easily 
understood  if  we  knew  what  was  meant  by  the  term  "  family." 
Similarly,  much  light  would  have  been  thrown,  not  indeed  upon  the 
species  and  qualities  of  the  plants  used  as  intoxicants  and  medicines, 
but  upon  their  use,  by  a  discussion,  which  the  author  avoids  as  no 
part  of  his  subject,  of  the  position  and  practice  of  the  shamans  of 
the  tribe.  And  an  acquaintance  with  the  religious  beliefs  might 
easily  lead  to  a  better  comprehension  of  the  attitude  of  the 
Coahuillas  to  many  of  the  plants  employed  for  these  and  other 
purposes.  Dr.  Barrows'  treatise  thus  reminds  us  of  a  modern 
development  of  the  art  of  writing  books,  according  to  which  the 
first  volume  is  not  necessarily  the  earliest  in  the  order  of 
publication,  though  the  others  may  be  mere  fragments  without  it. 
He  has  done  his  work  so  well  that  we  regret  all  the  more  that  the 
groundwork  was  not  first  provided  in  a  general  study  of  the  tribe. 

In  substance,  the  monograph  is  an  enumeration  and  description 


368  Reviews. 

of  the  different  vegetable  products  used  by  the  Coahuillas.  The 
author  has  not  been  able  to  identify  the  scientific  name  of  every 
species,  for  they  are  very  numerous,  and  supply  a  great  variety 
of  food  at  times,  and  in  some  districts  in  great  abundance.  With- 
out pretending  to  have  exhausted  the  list,  Dr.  Barrows  claims  to 
"have  discovered  not  less  than  sixty  distinct  products  for  nutrition, 
and  at  least  twenty-eight  that  were  utilised  for  narcotics,  stimu- 
lants, or  medicines,  all  derived  from  desert  or  semi-desert  localities 
in  use  among  these  Indians."  His  observations  on  the  problem 
of  the  search  for  food  in  such  places,  where  a  white  man  would 
die  of  starvation,  and  on  the  part  played  by  the  women  in  this 
work,  are  most  instructive;  and  perhaps  the  most  interesting 
part  of  the  book  is  that  which  relates  to  the  food-plants  and  to 
their  ingathering,  preparation,  and  storage. 

The  tribe,  once  the  most  powerful  in  Southern  California,  is 
now  dying  out  Change  of  food,  new  diseases,  and  other  inci- 
dents of  European  domination  have  all  contributed  to  the  result. 
The  author's  concluding  paragraphs  describing  and  deploring  the 
rapid  extinction  of  the  tribe  are  fraught  with  suggestive  reflections 
on  the  patience  and  powers  of  adaptation  displayed  by  the  people, 
the  advance  they  had  made  in  culture,  and  the  influence  of  the 
desert  on  the  development  of  civilization. 

E.  Sidney  Hartland. 


Indian  Story  and  Song  from  North  America.     By  Alice 
C.  Fletcher.     Boston  :  Small,  Maynard,  and  Co.     1900. 

Miss  Fletcher  is  well  known  for  her  careful  investigations 
into  the  life  and  culture  of  the  aborigines  of  North  America, 
especially  of  the  Omahas,  among  whom  she  has  lived  and  worked 
for  a  considerable  period.  One  of  the  subjects  to  which  her 
attention  has  been  directed  has  been  the  native  music,  and  the 
investigations  she  carried  on  in  conjunction  with  the  late  Pro- 
fessor Fillmore  have  led  to  the  production  of  the  volume  before  us. 
For  it  was  felt  that  in  dealing  with  savage  music,  as  in  dealing 
with  savage  beliefs  and  savage  institutions,  inquirers  were  driving 
a  shaft  down  into  a  more  archaic  stratum  of  culture.  Vistas 
appeared  to  be  opened  in  the  history  of  the  evolution  of  music. 
Both  for  purposes  of  science  and  as  materials  for  the  civilised 


composer,  it  was  obvious  that  the  songs  would  be  better  undei- 
stood  if  they  could  be  presented  "  in  their  matrix  of  story "  or 
ceremony. 

This  then  is  what  Miss  Fletcher  has  attempted  here.  "  In 
Indian  story  and  song,"  she  says,  "  we  come  upon  a  time  where 
poetry  is  not  yet  differentiated  from  story  and  story  not  yet 
set  free  from  song.  We  note  that  the  song  clasps  the  story  as  a 
part  of  its  being,  and  the  story  itself  is  not  fully  told  without  the 
cadence  of  the  song.  Yet  in  even  the  most  primitive  examples  a 
line  of  demarcation  can  be  discerned ;  and  when  this  line  has 
deepened  and  the  differentiation  has  begun  we  are  able  to  trace 
the  formative  influence  exerted  by  story  upon  song  and  by  song 
upon  story,  and  can  observe  what  appear  to  be  the  beginnings  of 
musical  and  poetical  structure."  Accordingly  she  not  merely 
gives  the  song,  she  narrates  also  the  story,  or  describes  the  scene 
or  the  ceremony  she  has  witnessed,  of  which  the  song  is  an 
integral  part.  So  simple  are  the  words  of  most  savage  songs — 
indeed  they  are  often  mere  vocables  to  float  the  voice — that  they 
have  little  if  any  meaning  apart  from  their  setting  of  tale  or  rite, 
When  that  is  known,  the  emotion  it  is  sought  to  render  becomes 
intelligible,  the  song  completes  the  story,  the  story  interprets  the 
song. 

Most  of  the  songs  are  printed  with  harmonies  by  Professor 
Fiilmore,  whose  views  on  the  subject  of  Indian  music,  put  forth 
shortly  before  his  death,  excited  some  controversy  among  musical 
critics.  It  certainly  seems  a  questionable  method,  to  render  with 
modern  scientific  harmonies,  however  simple,  [he  melodies  of  a 
people  "  practically  without  musical  instruments,"  who  sing  always 
in  unison,  accompanied  only  by  the  monotonous  beat  of  a  drum 
or  the  harsh  sound  of  a  rattle  to  mark  the  rhythm.  But  as 
they  have  in  many  cases  been  noted  down  by  the  aid  of  the  grapho- 
phone,  the  airs  themselves  are  safely  put  on  record  for  the  use  of 
future  investigators.  The  words  have  been  translated  wherever 
that  was  possible.  Many  of  the  songs  are  now  printed  for  the 
first  time,  but  others  have  already  appeared  in  scientific  periodi- 
cals on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  All  have  been  gathered 
directly  from  the  people  themselves,  and  thus  a  valuable  contribu- 
tion has  been  made  to  the  study  of  savage  music  and  ceremonial. 
The  intimate  connection  between  music  and  religion,  amounting 
even  to  a  belief  that  song  is  in  itself  a  means  of  communicat- 

VOL.  XII.  3  B 


370  Reviews. 

ing  with  the  unseen,  is  very  strikingly  brought  out;  and  Miss 
Fletcher's  remarks  on  the  relation  of  story  to  song,  and  on  the 
place  of  music  in  Indian  life,  are  well  worthy  of  the  attention  of 
folklore  students.  £.  Sidney  Hartland. 


CoNTES  DES  Landes  et  des  Gr^ves.      By  Paul  S^billot. 

Rennes:  Hyacinthe  Cailli^re.     1900. 
Les  Coquillages  de  Mer.    By  Paul  S^billot.    Paris  :  Maison- 

neuve.     1900. 
Le  Folk-Lore  des  P^cheurs.    By  Paul  Si^billgt.    Paris :  Mai- 

sonneuve.     1901. 

M.  S]^billgt's  folktales  seem  inexhaustible.     It  is  true  that  most 
of  those  in  the  first  volume  before  us  have  been  already  printed  in 
periodicals.   But  he  has  done  well  to  reproduce  them  together ;  and 
he  has  added  some  which  have  not  been  previously  published. 
Tales  of  Moor  and  Strand,  as  he  calls  them,  they  are  gathered 
chiefly  from  the  department  of  Cotes  du  Nord,  and  display  similar 
characteristics  to  the  other  stories  of  Upper  Brittany  that  we  owe 
to  his  patient  zeal  and  admirable  power  of  reproduction.     For  the 
most  part,  he  tells  us,  he  has  endeavoured  here  to  give  tales  which 
have  no  parallels  in  his  previous  collections.     He  could  not  of 
course  altogether  avoid  drawing  on  the  common  stock.     What  he 
has  done  is  in  such  cases  to  give  stories  which,  though  composed 
of  the  common  incidents,  take  a  new  and  unexpected  turn.     The 
story  of  the  magical  bird,  whose  head  eaten  destines  the  eater  to 
become  king,  and  whose  heart  eaten  makes  the  eater  wealthy,  may 
be  taken  as  an  example.     The  two  boys  who  have  eaten  the  fatal 
portions  are  abandoned  by  their  father  and  adopted  by  a  lady. 
One  of  them  is  married  and  taken  away  by  the  Queen  of  Spain. 
After  three  years  the  other  goes  to  seek  his  brother.    He  falls  into 
the  power  of  a  man-eating  giant,  from  whom  he  escapes  by  robbing 
him  of  his  invisible  mantle,  taking  at  the  same  time  his  inexhaus- 
tible purse.    In  turn  he  is  robbed  of  these  objects,  and  of  the  bird's 
head,  which  he  had  eaten,  by  three  girls,  and  conveyed  by  means 
of  the  mantle,  which  has  also  the  power  of  transporting  the  owner 
whither  he  will,  to  an  island  in  the  ocean.     There  of  course  he 
finds  the  two  kinds  of  carrots  which  effect  transformations  into 
animal  form  and  back  into  human.     Escaping  from  the  island,  he 


Kevtews.  37 1 

recovers  by  their  aid  his  mantle  and  purse  and  the  bird's  head. 
He,  however,  makes  no  further  use  of  these  magical  objects,  but 
sets  out  on  horseback  to  find  his  brother.  Coming  to  a  cave  in 
the  mountains,  he  stays  there,  and  at  the  end  of  twenty  years  his 
corpse  is  found  by  his  brother,  who  falls  dead  also  at  his  side. 

The  collection  includes  some  apologues,  beast-tales,  and  drolls. 
Episodes  from  the  epos  of  Reynard  the  Fox  appear  among  them, 
and  some  more  adventures  of  the  famous  Jaguens.  The  Jaguens 
are  always  entertaining.     Some  of  the  other  drolls  are  very  funny. 

The  frontispiece  is  a  delightful  portrait  of  M.  S^billot, 

The  two  remaining  works  are  collections  of  folklore,  classified, 
not  by  its  place  of  origin,  but  by  its  subject.  Les  CoquiUages  is  the 
initial  monograph  of  a  series,  projected  by  the  author  and  M.  Jules 
Vinson,  of  little  volumes  of  64  to  120  pages,  containing  disserta- 
tations  or  collections  too  short  for  an  ordinary  volume  and  yet  too 
long  for  a  magazine  article.  To  judge  by  the  present  specimen, 
they  arc  likely  to  be  of  considerable  use  to  the  student.  Here 
both  the  living  mollusc  and  the  shell  are  treated  under  appropriate 
headings.  M.  S^billot  draws  not  only  on  his  own  investigations 
in  Brittany,  but  also  on  his  wide  reading,  and  the  references  are 
always  given. 

Tht  Folklore  of  Fiihermen  is  a  volume  of  the  same  general 
character,  but  much  longer.  It  forms  one  of  the  volumes  of 
Les  Lilthratuns  Populaires  de  loutes  les  Nations  published  by 
M.  Maisonneuve.  The  two  together  make  a  tolerably  complete 
collection  of  folklore  relating  to  fishermen  and  their  quarry.  Not 
the  least  interesting  of  the  chapters  in  the  latter  volume  is  that  on 
whalers.  It  is  not  confined  to  the  whalers  of  civilised  countries. 
The  very  remarkable  customs,  especially  the  burial  customs  of 
the  Kaniagmioute  whalers  of  the  Aleutian  Islands,  are  described 
from  an  article  by  M.  A.  Pinarl  in  the  Revue  (TAtttkropologie, 
which  supplements  in  important  details  that  given  by  Mr.  W.  H. 
Dall  in  the  first  volume  of  Contributions  to  North  American  Eth- 
nology, p.  90,  apparently  referring  to  the  same  people. 

The  two  English  place-rhymes  quoted  by  M.  Sebillot  on  the 
last  page  illustrate  the  great  difiiculty  of  translating  such  amenities 
into  a  foreign  language.  Neither  of  them  seems  quite  accurately 
reproduced,  though  the  translations  are  suflUciently  close  for  practi- 
cal purposes,  except  that  M.  S^billot  is  evidently  and  pardonably 
unacquainted  with  our  vulgar  corruption  oXtaters  iroia potatoes . 


372  Reviews. 

An  index  would  have  been  useful.  And  those  readers  who  are 
familiar  with  the  earlier  dainty  volumes  of  Les  Literatures  Popu- 
laires  cannot  but  regret  the  deterioration  in  paper  and  printing  of 
the  later  volumes.  Paper  and  printing  count  for  sometliiiig,  even 
in  the  eyes  of  a  scientihc  student. 

E.  Sidney  Harti.akd. 


Tradizioni  Popolari  Pistoiesi.  Racconti  Popolari  Pistoiksi 
IN  VERNACOLO  PisToiESi,  Raccoiti  c  pubblicati  da  Rudolfo 
Nerucci.  Pistoia.  1901. 
SiGNOR  Nerucci  has  in  this  volume  begun  the  publication  of  a 
collection  of  traditions  collected  at  Pistoia.  Drolls  are  by  no 
means  the  most  interesting  species  of  folklore,  but  they  are  of^en 
very  amusing ;  and  this  at  least  may  be  said  of  the  collection  here 
presented  to  us.  Some  of  them,  of  course,  are  old  friends,  such 
as  that  of  the  peasant  who  outwits  the  devil,  with  whom  he  has  to 
divide  what  he  sows  (No.  21).  The  devil  figures  in  many  of  the 
tales.  I  do  not  remember  to  have  read  before  the  version  (No.  3) 
of  the  favourite  subject  of  the  devil  outwitted  by  a  woman,  which 
represents  the  contest  as  one  of  sewing.  The  devil  was  beaten 
because  he  forgot  to  knot  the  thread. 

Many  of  the  stories,  as  we  might  expect,  are  satires  on  the 
priests  and  other  churchmen  ;  but  they  are  not  lashed  with  more 
than  ordinary  severity.  Allied  to  these  are  several  stories  about 
commissions  given  to  artists  to  paint  pictures  of  the  saints.  In 
one  of  them  (No.  41)  we  find  a  variant  of  the  story  by  Hans 
Andersen,  doubtless  of  traditional  origin,  about  the  Invisible 
Clothes.  In  this  case  the  figure  of  the  saint  cannot  be  seen  by 
persons  in  a  state  of  sin. 

An  example  of  the  rapid  spread  of  modern  stories  is  that 
(No.  15)  of  the  boots  sent  by  telegraph,  which  is  found  in  more 
than  one  European  country.  Some  of  the  stories  illustrate  or 
contradict  proverbs.  "  He  who  sleeps  does  not  catch  fish  "  {Che 
dorme  'un pigUa  beset)  is,  it  seems,  the  Pistoian  version  of  " The 
early  bird  catches  the  worm."  The  tale  (No.  6)  proceeds  to  tell 
of  a  lazy  boy  whom  his  father  could  not  cure  of  his  lie-abed 
habits.  One  day  he  heard  of  a  purse  full  of  money  found  upon 
the  road.     He  promptly  told  his  son,  improving  the  o 


Reviews.  373 

point  out  that  if  the  latter  had  been  up  early  that  morning,  instead 
of  snoring  in  bed,  he  might  have  been  the  lucky  finder.  When  he 
had  finished,  the  boy  simply  remarked  that  a  bigger  fool  than  the 
finder  had  been  up  first ;  if  he  had  stayed  in  bed.  he  would  not 
have  lost  the  purse !     "  Serves  the  worm  right ! "  as  we  say. 

Il  is  to  be  hoped  that  Signor  Nerucci  will  complete  his  scheme 
by  issuing  the  other  volumes  of  traditions  in  due  course. 

E.  Sidney  Hartland. 


The  Wife  of  Bath's  Tale  ;   its  Sources  and  Analogues. 

By  G.  H,  Mavnadiek,  Instructor  in  English  at  Harvard 

University.     (Grimm's  Ubrary.     Vol.  riii,) 
Iv  this  study  Mr.  Maynadier  examines  the  various  versions  of  a 

popular  and  wide-spread  tale,  the  testing  of  the  courtesy  of  a  hero 
by  a  "  Loathly  Lady,"  who  is  either  a  fairy,  or  a  maiden  in  be- 
spelled  form.  Variants  of  this  tale  are  found  in  Irish,  English, 
Scandinavian,  and  Teutonic  literatures.  Whether  a  genuine  French 
version  ever  existed  is  doubtful,  although  a  "  Loathly  Lady  "  is  a 
figure  of  French  romance,  and  certain  characteristics  of  her  appear- 
ance may  have  influenced  the  English  tales. 

The  hypothesis  eventually  offered  by  Mr.  Maynadier  (he  does 
not  claim  to  have  arrived  at  a  certain  result)  is  that  the  tale,  in  its 
origin  Celtic,  relating  a  test  imposed  by  a  beneficent  fairy  upon 
the  hero,  is  found  in  its  earliest  form  in  the  Irish  versions ;  from 
Ireland  it  came  to  England  probably  by  direct  transmission,  but 
possibly  through  a  Scandinavian  channel.  The  earliest  English 
form  has  been  lost,  and  the  extant  versions  all  present  features 
unknown  to  the  Irish  tales.  Some  of  these  features  Mr.  Maynadier 
considers  to  be  of  Scandinavian  origin  ;  the  source  of  others  he 
does  not  specify.  The  relation  of  the  Teutonic  parallels  he  does 
not  attempt  to  establish,  merely  deciding  that  they  are  ofTshoots 
of  the  Irish  tale. 

With  the  main  conclusion,  that  of  the  CeUic  origin  of  the  story, 
I  entirely  agree,  but  there  are  certain  points  overlooked  by  Mr. 
Maynadier  which  I  think  may  usefully  modify  the  rather  confused 
hypothesis  which  is  the  outcome  of  his  study.  The  "question 
motif"  should,  I  think,  be  ascribed  to  northern  influence.  All 
students  of  Scandinavian  and  Teutonic  literature  must  have  been 


374  Reviews. 

struck  by  the  frequent  recurrence  of  "  riddling  "  contests,  in  which 
life  depends  upon  the  correct  answering  of  a  question,  as  in  eg. 
the  Vafthrudnismal^  King  HeidriJ^s  Riddles^  the  Wartburg-kriegy 
etc.  The  motif  is  of  course  found  elsewhere,  but  nowhere  does 
it  seem  to  have  been  so  popular  as  in  the  north.  I  should  con- 
sider such  features  as  the  question,  appetite  of  the  lady,  and  rape 
of  maiden,  as  all  indicative  of  indirect  transmission,  and  most  pro- 
bably dependent  upon  a  northern  source. 

Again  I  should  connect  the  tale  with  Gawain  as  a  Celtic^  rather 
than  as  an  Arthurian^  hero.  As  I  pointed  out  some  years  ago, 
he  is  certainly  closely  connected  with  early  Irish  tradition ;  his 
love  was  as  certainly  an  unearthly  lady ;  and  in  some  instances, 
as  in  Diu  Crdnty  he  has  to  undergo  a  severe  test  before  winning 
her.  As  the  Gawain  versions  now  stand  they  possess  this  striking 
peculiarity,  that  in  them  alone  is  the  rdle  of  hero  and  question- 
answerer  separated';  is  it  not  possible  that  in  the  earliest  form  of 
the  Marriage  of  Sir  Gawain  the  question  found  no  place,  that  it 
was  introduced  later  under  the  influence  of  versions  affected  by 
Scandinavian  transmission,  and  that  the  appearance  of  Arthur  as 
question-answerer  was  due  to  a  desire  to  harmonise  the  story 
with  the  more  popular  form,  while  at  the  same  time  the  chivalry 
of  the  hero  was  emphasised  by  making  him  undergo  a  double 
test,  that  of  devotion  to  his  king,  as  well  as  courtesy  to  the  lady  ? 
Mr.  Maynadier  rightly  recognises  that  it  was  Gawain,  rather  than 
Arthur,  who  was  the  hero  of  the  early  English  tradition.  I  would 
therefore  suggest  that  for  Mr.  Maynadier's  hypothetical  lost  English 
source  we  substitute  the  earlier  form  of  the  Marriage  of  Sir 
Gawain^  derived  directly  from  an  Irish  source  and  minus  the 
"  question,"  and  probably  also  the  "  appetite,"  features. 

The  Wife  of  Bath! s  Tale^  which  possesses  both  "  question  "  and 
"  rape,"  points  to  a  different  line  of  transmission. 

As  to  the  supposed  Wolf  Dietrich  parallels,  they  do  not,  I 
think,  all  come  from  the  same  source  ;  die  rfihe  Else  may  be  a 
connection  of  this  "  Loathly  Lady,"  but  the  Aleer-  Wib  stories  are 
more  suggestive  of  a  sea  monster  of  the  Grendel  and  Diu  Crone 
type,  complicated  in  one  instance  by  a  transformation  motif 

Mr.  Maynadier's  study  is  extremely  interesting  and  suggestive, 
but  it  would  have  been  improved  by  a  more  discriminating 
method.  Similarity  of  incident  does  not  always  constitute  paral- 
lelism, much  less  identity,  but  Mr.  Maynadier  too  often  argues  as 

if  it  did. 

Jessie  L.  Weston. 


JUNIOR  Temple  Reader.     By  Clara  L.  Thompson  and 

E.  E.  Speight.  Horace  Marshall,  is.  6d. 
O  to  be  a  child  again!  If  children  do  not  learn  to  love  fine 
literature  nowadays,  they  are  Philistines  bred  and  born.  Here 
are  fairy  tales,  myths,  legends,  and  lays  from  aL  parts  of  the 
world  ;  from  ancient  Greece  and  modern  Lapland,  from  Germany 
and  New  Zealand — historical  deeds  like  the  last  fight  of  the 
Jievengf,  Roland  and  his  Oliver  at  Roncevaux — fables  by  yEsop 
and  nursery  tales — poems  by  Stevenson,  Allingham,  and  Blake, 
riddles  and  nursery  rhymes,  what  a  feast  1  And  told  so  well,  in  the 
simplest  of  vigorous  prose,  no  meretricious  tricks,  no  laboured 
pretiosities.  This  is  hardly  a  book  for  the  Folklore  Society  as  a 
society;  but  as  human  beings,  produce  the  man  whom  it  would 
not  charm,  and  there  stands  a  dullard.  We  lay  it  down  with  a 
prayer  that  it  may  fall  into  the  hands  of  some  of  our  popular 
novelists,  and  give  them  a  first  glimpse  of  what  good  writing  is. 
There  are  many  pictures  in  the  book,  some  really  good,  but  some 
rather  hard  to  understand ;  and  why  are  the  women  twelve  heads 
high  ?  That  is  the  only  fault  we  have  to  find.  We  hope  that 
such  books  as  this  may  be  adopted  in  every  elementary  school. 
The  elementary  schools  have  almost  killed  our  idiomatic  English, 
and  with  it  the  traditional  culture  of  the  people ;  the  least  they 
can  do  is  to  revive  it  before  it  is  too  late. 

POPULAH   Studies   in   Mythology   and   Folklore.    No.   io. 

The   Romance  Cycle  of  Charlemagne  and  his  Peers. 

By  Jessie  L.  Weston.  D,  NuIL  6d. 
The  romances  of  the  Charlemagne  cycle,  although  to  English 
readers  not  so  interesting  as  the  Arthurian,  have  an  importance  of 
their  own  as  showing  how  the  popular  fancy  deals  with  historical 
facts.  Since  we  can  here  compare  the  fact  with  the  fancy,  we  find 
parallels  and  criteria  which  may  be  applied  to  prehistoric  legends 
in  order  to  extract  their  truth  ;  as  Professor  Ridgeway  has  shown 
in  the  book  which  we  review  elsewhere.  In  literary  value  this 
cycle  is  perhaps  not  equal  to  the  legends  of  Arthur,  but  in 
character-drawing  it  is  superior;  and  we  point  to  these  as  a 
possible  source  for  future  poets  to  draw  from.  Miss  Weston  gives 
a  lucid  account  of  the  divisions  of  the  cycle.  Of  course  she  has 
no  space  for  details  ;  but  the  pamphlet,  with  its  bibliography,  will 
serve  well  as  an  introduction  to  further  study,  which  is  all  it 
otofesscs  to  do. 


BIBLIO  GRA  PHY. 


BOOKS    AND    PAMPHLETS. 

All  English  books  art  published  in  London,  all  French  books  tn 
Paris,  and  all  1901 ;  unless  otherwise  stated, 

Amersbach  (Karl).  Licht-  und  Nebelgeister,  ein  Beitrag  zur 
Sagen-  und  Marchenkunde.  Baden-Baden :  Ernst  Kdlblin. 
8vo.     48  pp. 

CuMONT  (Franz).  Les  Myst^res  de  Mithra.  Brussels.  1900. 
4to.     viii.,  84  pp. 

Lang  (A.).  Magic  and  Religion.  Longmans.  8vo.  x.,  316  pp. 
I  OS.  6d. 

Maynadier  (G.  H.).  The  Wife  of  Bath's  Tale  :  its  Sources  and 
Analogue.     D.  Nutt.     1901.     Cr.  8vo.    xii.,  222  pp. 

Nerucci  (Rodolto).  Racconti  Popolari  Pistoiesi  in  Vemacolo 
Pistoiese.     Fistoia :  Niccolai.     8vo.     164  pp. 

NuTTALL  (Zelia).  The  Fundamental  Principles  of  Old  and 
New  World  Civilisations  :  a  Comparative  Research  based  on 
a  Study  of  the  Ancient  Mexican  Religious,  Sociological,  and 
Calendrical  Systems,  Cambridge,  Mass.  Archjeological  and 
Ethnological  Papers  of  the  Peabody  Museum,  Harvard  Uni- 
versity.   8vo.     60a  pp. 

Patkanov  (S.).  Die  Irtysch-Ostjaken  und  ihre  Volkspoesie. 
II.  Teil.  Text  und  Ubersetzungen.  St.  Petersburg.  1900. 
viii.,  xii.,  26,  302,  114  pp. 

RiDGEWAY  (William).  The  Early  Age  of  Greece.  Cambridge 
University  Press.      2  vols.    Illustrated,     Vol.  i.     8vo.    xvi., 

684  pp.       2 IS. 

St.  Clair  (George).  Myths  of  Greece  Explained  and  Dated  1 
an  Embalmed  History  from  Uranus  to  Perseus,  including 
the  Eleusinian  Mysteries  and  the  Olympic  Games.  Williams 
and  Norgate.     2  vols.     800  pp.     i6s. 

Theal  (G.  McC).  Records  of  South-Eastem  Africa,  Collected 
1  Libraries  ahd  Archive  Departments   in  Europe. 


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Vol.  vii.  Printed  for  the  Government  of  Cape  Colony.  8vo. 
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Santos,  with  an  English  translation  :  and  Ahstract  of  Ethno- 
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BWeston  (Jessie  L.).  The  Legend  of  Sir  Lancelot  du  Lac. 
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Arthurian  Romantic  Cycle.  (Grimm  Library,  VoL  12). 
D.  Nutt.     xii,,  252  pp.     ys.  6d. 


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Tht  Conttttts  of  Periodicals  exciusively  devoted  to  Folklore  are 
not  stated. 

Al-Hachriq,  1901,  No.  4.     P.  'Rto,  Les  castes  indiennes.     8.  /. 

Pafiii,  Mteurs  libanaises;  les  Jeux  de  I'Enfance, 
American  Aniiqusrian,  xxxiii.,  3.  J.  Maclean,  Blackfoot  Amuse- 
ments.   J.  Fraser,  Hindu  Relationship  Terms  in  Australia. 
S.  D.  Peet,  The  Serpent  and  the  Tree.     A.  F.  Chamieriain, 
Philippine  Studies. 
I  American  Anthiopolo^'st,  iii.,  1.  G.  A.  Dorsey,  Gambling  Games 
of  ilie  Klamath   Indians.     W.   Bogoras,  The   Chukchi  of 
N.E.  Asia.     C.  P.  Boiuditck,  Maya  Calendars. 
I  Anglo-AmeTican  Magazine,  January.  E.  E.  Blackman,  Quivera, 
History  and    Legends  of  an   Ancient  American    Kingdom. 
February.  C.  G.  Shaw,  An  Attempt  to  define  Religion. 
L'Annee  Sociologique,  iv.,  1899-1900.     C.  Bougie,  Remarquea 

sur  le  Regime  des  Castes. 
Annual  of  the  British  School  at  Athens,  vi.,  1899-1900.    /.  C. 
Lawson,  A  Beast-dance  in  Scyros. 
Bji'Anthropologie,  lii.,  1.      B.    Girard,   Vahomas    et   Bougons 
Anlhropophages  du  Haut-Oubanghi. 
jitiqnary,  xxxvii.,  4.     W.  H.Jewitt,  Pagan  Myths  and  Christian 
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ii.  The  Moon  and  the  May  Goddess  (continued). 

Archiv  fiir  Beligionswissenschaft,  iv.^  2.  D.  W,  Bousset,  Die 
Himmelsreise  der  Seele.  B,  F,  Feilbergy  Hochzeitsschiisse, 
Neujahrsschiisse. 

Asiatic  Quarterly  Beview,  April.  H,  Beveridge,  An  Afghan 
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Bijdragen  tot  de  Taal-,  Land-,  en  Volkenkunde,  viii.,  p.  604. 
y.  Habbenea^  Bij  geloof  in  de  Preanger-Regentschappen. 

Bulletin  de  la  Societe  d'Etudes  Coloiiiales,  Brussels,  April. 
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Bulletin  de  la  Societe  Royale  de  Oeographie  d'Anvers,  zxv.,  83. 
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Calcutta  Review,  January.    Travancore  and  its  Land  Tenures. 
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China  Review,  xxv.,  3.     2!  W,  Kingsmill,  Han  Wu  Ti  and  the 

Aboriginal  Tribes  on  the  S.W.  Frontier  of  China. 

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Contemporary  Review,  January.  Emma  Marie  Caillard,  The 
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East  Anglian,  March.     Horse-shoe  in  a  Cover  of  Scarlet. 

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NOTES  AND  QUERIES  ON  TOTEMISM. 

TOTEMISM  is  the  name  given  to  a  religious  and  social 
system  which  has  been  found  amongst  savages  in  many 
parts  of  the  world,  especially  Australia,  North  America, 
and  Africa.  A  totem  is  a  sacred  object,  generally  an 
animal,  less  often  a  plant,  an  element,  or  even  an  inanimate 
object,  of  which  the  whole  species  is  revered  by  a  tribe  or 
clan.  The  tribe  or  clan  generally  takes  its  name  from  the 
totem.  Thus  if  the  totem  is  a  wolf,  the  tribesmen  or  clans- 
men call  themselves  wolves,  and  they  will  not  kill  or.injure 
wolves  or  eat  wolf's  flesh.  Often  the  clansmen  think 
they  are  descended  from  the  totem,  but  sometimes  they 
explain  their  connection  with  the  totem  in  other  ways. 
Where  totemism  exists  in  full  force,  a  man  may  not  marry 
a  woman  of  the  same  totem  as  himself ;  thus,  if  he  is  a  wolf 
he  may  not  marry  a  wolf,  but  may  marry  a  bear,  &c. 
Where  this  rule  of  exogamy  {i.e.  marrying  out  of  the  clan) 
exists,  we  necessarily  have  two  or  more  totem-clans 
existing  side  by  side ;  and  generally  there  are  many 
different  totem-clans  living  together.  In  some  clans  the 
children  are  of  their  mother's  totem  ;  thus,  if  the  father  is 
a  wolf  and  the  mother  is  a  bear,  the  children  will  be  bears. 


386  Notes  and  Queries  on  Totemism. 

In  other  clans  the  children  are  of  the  father's  totem;  thus,  if 
the  father  is  a  raven  and  the  mother  a  dog,  the  children 
will  be  ravens. 

Totemism  in  ,some  places  tends  to  become  territoriial. 
The  members  of  the  same  totem-clan  may  live  together  in 
the  same  house  or  in  a  group  of  houses,  and  there  may  be 
definite  clan-lands.    This  leads  to  other  developments. 

In  some  rare  cases,,  the  totem  to  which  an  individual 
belongs  is  determined  by  the  part  of  the  country  in  which 
his  mother  was  at  the  time  when  conception  is  thought  to 
have  taken  place;  different  districts  being  the  supposed 
sites  of  the  death  of  different  totem-ancestors,  who  are 
supposed  to  reincarnate  themselves  in  the  children  con- 
ceived in  these  localities.     (Central  Australia.) 

Among  some  of  the  Australian  tribes,  the  male  members 
of  a  totem-clan  believe  that  by  magical  rites  they  have  the 
power  of  ensuring  a  plentiful  supply  of  their  particular 
totem-animal,  plant,  or  whatever  it  may  be.  This  economic 
aspect  of  totemism  has  been  recognised  only  quite  recently ; 
it  is  known  to  extend  to  one  Papuan  tribe,  but  it  may  be 
more  generally  distributed.  It  is  possible  that  when  rain- 
making,  for  example,  is  restricted  to  a  certain  group  of 
people  it  may  have  had  a  similar  origin. 

Besides  totems  proper  {i.e.  animals,  plants,  &c.,  revered 
by  a  whole  clan)  there  are  also  what  may  be  called  personal 
totems  and  sex-totems.  Thus,  besides  the  totem  of  his 
clan,  a  man  may  have  a  private  totem  of  his  own ;  if  he  is 
of  the  Wolf  clan,  he  may  have  snakes  for  his  personal 
totem. 

Among  certain  American  tribes,  various  animal  figures 
are  successively  drawn  on  the  floor  of  the  hut  and  nibbed 
out  while  parturition  is  proceeding,  the  animal  represented 
by  that  figure  which  was  unobliterated  at  the  actual  moment 
of  the  child's  birth  being  called  his  naguaL  Again,  among 
certain  Australian  tribes,  there  is  some  evidence  to  show 
that  subsidiary  personal  totems  may  be,  and  are,  acquired 


I^otes  and  Queries  on  Totemism.  387 

at  puberty,  while  among  the  Omaha  and  other  North 
American  Indians,  the  personal  totem  is  not  received  from 
an  ancestor,  was  not  the  gift  of  any  living  person,  but  was 
obtained  through  a  certain  rite  by  the  man  himself. 

In  Australia,  besides  the  clan-totem  and  personal  totem, 
each  sex  has,  in  some  tribes,  a  totem ;  the  men  calling 
themselves  by  the  name  of  a  particular  bird,  and  refusing 
to  injure  any  bird  of  that  species,  and  the  women  doing 
the  same  with  another  sort  of  bird.  It  is,  however,  doubt- 
ful how  far  a  personal  totem,  or  a  sex-totem,  can  properly 
be  considered  a  totem.  It  is  true  that,  as  with  a  totem 
strictly  so  called,  ihe  whole  species  stands  in  some  relation 
to  the  person  who  honours  it.  Where  the  personal  totem 
is  an  animal,  the  animal  is  regarded  as  a  tutelary  being. 
In  the  case  of  sex-totems  the  relation  is  one  of  fraternity 
rather  than  protection.  Other  characteristics  of  totemism 
(marriage-taboo,  name,  &c.)  seem  to  be  unknown. 

Amongst  certain  Papuans,  the  representation  of  a  man's 
totem  is  painted  on  his  chest  or  back,  and  it  is  a  fixed  law 
in  battle  that  no  man  shall  attack  or  slay  another  who  bears 
the  same  cognisance  as  himself.  A  stranger  from  hostile 
tribes  can  visit  in  safety  villages  where  the  clan  of  his 
totem  is  strong,  and  visitors  from  other  tribes  are  fed  and 
lodged  by  the  members  of  the  totems  to  which  they 
severally  belong. 

It  is  also  important  to  determine  whether  ancestors  or 
ancestral  spirits  to  whom  reverence  is  paid,  or  who  are 
regarded  as  capable  of  influencing  the  course  of  events,  are 
associated  in  name,  form,  or  attribute,  with  animals,  plants, 
or  natural  objects  (among  certain  Papuan  tribes  there  is 
a  stone-clan).  The  precise  nature  of  such  association, 
should  it  exist,  can,  however,  only  be  guessed  at  by  analogy 
with  the  beliefs  of  other  savage  tribes;  and  the  following 
questions  (many  of  which,  together  with  the  definition  of 
■totemism,  are  taken  from  Notes  and  Queries  on  Anthro- 
pology, published  by  the  Anthropological  Institute),  may  re- 


Notes  and  Queries  on  Totemism- 

quire  to  be  supplemented  by  other  questions,  which  should 
readily  suggest  themselves  to  investigators  on  the  spot. 

1.  Are  the  natives  divided  into  tribes,  clans,  or  castes? 
Enumerate  these  tribes,  ctaas,  or  castes,  with  their  sub- 
divisions, as  far  as  you  can  ascertain  them,  giving  in  each 
instance  the  native  name  and  its  English  equivalent,  so  as 
to  make  it  clear  whether  any  of  these  tribes,  clacis,  or 
castes  are  named  after  animals  or  plants. 

2.  Do  the  members  of  each  tribe,  clan,  or  caste,  &c., 
revere  any  species  of  natural  objects,  as  a  particular  kind 
of  animal,  or  plant,  &c.  ?  If  so,  in  what  way  do  they  show 
their  respect  for  the  animal,  plant,  &c.  ?  Are  they  for- 
bidden to  kill  and  eat  it?  What  do  they  do  on  meeting 
one  of  the  sacred  animals,  &c.  ?  What  do  they  think 
would  happen  to  them  if  they  were  to  act  disrespectfully 
to  it ;  as,  for  instance,  if  they  killed  and  ate  the  animal  or 
plant?  If  a  man  inadvertently  killed  an  animal  whose 
name  he  shared,  what  would  happen?  And  should  he  find 
such  an  animal  dead,  would  he  show  signs  of  grief  or 
mourning,  and  would  any  attempt  be  made  on  his  part  to 
perform  over  the  animal's  body  the  rites  he  would  perform 
over  the  dead  body  of  a  clansman?  If  a  man  of  another 
clan  killed  an  animal  whose  name  a  clansman  bore, 
would  the  latter  in  any  way  dissociate  himself  from  the 
act  and  express  sorrow  or  horror?  Enumerate  all  the 
kinds  of  animals,  plants,  &c.,  thus  revered  by  the  tribes 
or  clans. 

3.  Do  all  the  members  of  each  tribe,  clan,  ftc,  call  them- 
selves by  the  name  of  the  totem  (sacred  animal  or  plant), 
&c.?  If  they  do,  how  is  each  individual  distinguished? 
Are  individuals  called  after  parts  of  the  sacred  animal,  as 
the  tail,  shoulder,  tongue,  &c.  ?  Is  a  clansman  ever  cut, 
tattooed,  or  painted  with  a  realistic  or  conventionalised 
design  representing  the  animal  or  vegetable  whose  name  he 
bears?  Sometimes  the  clan  is  named  after  one  kind  of 
animal,  but  reveres  an  animal  of  different  species.     Where 


Notes  and  Queries  on  Totemism. 

this  happens,  in  what  relation  do  these  two  kinds  of  animal 
or  plant,  &c.,  stand  to  the  tribe  and  to  each  other?  Is  the 
animal  whose  name  the  clansman  bears  ever  called  '  father' 
or  by  any  other  honorific  title  ?  Is  it  sworn  by  ?  And  is  a 
design  representing  it  or  any  o(  its  salient  characters  ever 
carved  or  burnt  on  the  property  or  cattle  of  the  clansman  ? 
Is  there  any  special  title  by  which  the  oldest  man,  or  the 
most  important  man,  in  each  clan  is  called  ?  And  if  so,  has 
his  title  any  suggestion  of  special  relationship  or  influence 
with  the  animal  whose  name  the  clan  bears?  For  instance, 
is  the  man  who  is  the  head  of  the  lion-clan — supposing 
that  such  a  clan  exist — known  or  regarded  as  the  lion-man? 
And  if  so,  is  he  Jn  this  capacity  supposed  to  be  able  to 
exert  special  powers  against  or  to  show  a  special  know- 
ledge of  the  habits  of  lions?  Would  he,  in  the  event  of 
man-eating  lions  becoming  troublesome,  be  specially  ap- 
pealed to?  Would  the  necessary  killing  or  driving  away 
of  such  animals  be  entrusted  to  him  ?  Or  would  he  care- 
fully abstain  from  taking  part  in  any  such  proceeding? 

4.  What  stories  do  the  natives  tell  of  the  totem  (sacred 
animal,  plant,  &c.)  of  the  tribe?  How  do  they  explain  its 
sanctity?  Do  they  think  that  they  are  descended  from  it? 
Is  a  clansman  ever  supposed  to  change  his  form  and  to  take 
on  that  of  the  animal  whose  name  he  bears,  or  any  other? 
Are  there  legends  relating  that  in  olden  times  this  occurred  ? 
And  especially  were  the  founders  of  different  clans  able  to 
exert  this  power? 

5.  May  a  man  marry  a  woman  of  the  same  totem  as 
himself,  or  may  he  not?  Thus,  if  he  is  a  wolf,  may  he 
marry  a  wolf?  If  he  may  not  marry  a  woman  of  his  own 
totem,  is  he  free  to  marry  a  woman  of  any  other  totem  ?  or 
are  there  certain  other  totem-clans  beside  his  own  into 
which  he  may  not  marry?  May  a  clansman  marry  into  a 
similarly-named  clan  of  another  tribe,  or  have  connection 
with  a  woman  of  such  a  clan?  Enumerate  as  many  of 
these  prohibitions  of  marriage  as  you  can  ascertain,  Is 
kinship   reckoned  through  the  mother  or  the  father?      Is 


390  Notes  and  Queries  on  Totemism. 

the  influence  of  the  maternal  uncle  especially  strong? 
Does  the  latter  present  a  youth  with  his  first  weapon, 
inculcate  tribal  morality,  or  assume  a  position  o£  special 
responsibility  towards  his  nephew  at  puberty  or  any  other 
time?  Does  a  nephew  as  a  matter  of  custom  present  his 
maternal  uncle  with  a  portion  of  loot  taken  in  warfare,  or  of 
animals  killed  ?  Does  a  nephew  inherit  property  or  office 
from  his  maternal  uncle,  and  does  the  latter  take  a  promi- 
nent part  in  exacting  vengeance  or  receiving  cattle  equi- 
valent to  blood-money,  should  his  nephew  be  killed  ? 

6.  If  a  man  may  not  marry  a  woman  of  the  same  totem 
as  himself,  is  he  allowed  to  have  sexual  intercourse  with 
her,  either  generally  or  at  stated  times  ?  If  at  stated  times 
what  are  these  times,  and  what  reason  is  given  for  this 
license  ? 

7.  What  do  they  think  would  happen  to  them  or  to  their 
children  if  they  married,  or  had  sexual  intercourse  with, 
women  of  a  forbidden  totem  ?  Does  the  tribe  punish  such 
breaches  of  tribal  law  ?  and  if  sOj  how  ? 

8.  How  does  a  man  ascertain  whether  he  may  marry  or 
have  intercourse  with  a  stranger  woman,  especially  when 
they  speak  different  dialects  ? 

9.  Are  the  tribes,  clans,  castes,  and  their  subdivisions 
distinguished  from  each  other  by  badges,  or  by  differences 
in  dress,  the  mode  of  wearing  the  hair,  tattooing,  chipping 
or  filing  the  teeth,  &c.  ?  Distinguish  carefully  the  national 
badge  {i.e.  the  badges  worn  by  all  the  people)  from  the 
tribal  or  clan  badges  {i.e.  the  badges  worn  by  different  sub- 
divisions of  the  people,  namely,  the  tribes,  clans,  &c.).  Do 
the  tribal  or  clan  badges  ever  consist  of  representations  of 
the  totem  tattooed,  painted,  or  carved  P  Does  a  clansman 
wear  a  portion  of  the  totem-animal  or  plant  about  his 
person  on  all  or  on  special  occasions,  or  does  he  carefully 
avoid  doing  so  ?      , 

10.  Are  any^ipe^al  ceremonies  observed  by  each  totem 
tribe,  or  clan,  aO  the  birth  of  a  child  ?    Describe  such  cere- 


Notes  and  Queries  on  Totemism. 


391 


L 


!i.  Are  initiatory  rites  performed  on  boys  or  girls  at 
puberty  to  admit  them  to  the  full  position  of  tribesmen  and 
tribeswomen  ?  Describe  such  rites  fully.  Is  there  any 
pretence  of  killing  the  boys  and  bringing  them  to  life 
again? 

12.  During  and  for  some  time  after  these  initiatory  rites 
are  the  lads  forbidden  to  see  women?    If  so,  why? 

13.  What  is  the  relation  of  children  under  puberty  to  the 
totem  ?  May  they  eat  the  totem-animal  or  plant  ?  Are  they 
absolved  from  the  other  restrictions  which  are  imposed 
upon  grown  members  of  the  clan  in  regard  to  the  totem  ? 

14.  Have  the  ceremonials  at  the  death  and  burial  of  a 
member  of  a  totem-tribe  any  reference  to  the  totem  ? 
Describe  such  ceremonies.  What  is  supposed  to  happen  to 
the  spirit  or  sou!  of  a  member  of  a  totem-tribe  at  death? 
Is  it  thought  to  migrate  into  the  totem  ?  Or  is  the  dead 
man  himself  thought  to  be  transformed  into  a  member  of 
the  totem-species? 

15.  Are  omens  drawn  from  the  appearance,  motions, 
cries,  &c.,  of  the  totem  ? 

!5.  Is  the  totem  supposed  to  help  the  tribe,  clan,  or  clans- 
man in  any  way  ? 

17.  Is  food  offered  to  the  totem-animal?  Is  it  caught 
and  kept  in  captivity  ? 

18.  Is  the  totem  ever  treated  like  a  human  being,  dressed 
in  clothes,  prayed  to,  &c.  ? 

19.  Is  constraint  ever  placed  on  the  totem,  in  order  to 
compel  it  to  grant  the  wishes  of  the  tribe  ? 

20.  Are  there  totem-dances,  i.e.  do  the  members  of  the 
totem-tribe  or  clan  dress  up  in  the  skins  of  the  totem 
animal  and  represent  its  movements  and  cries?  On  what 
occasions,  and  with  what  object,  are  such  dances  per- 
formed ? 

2[.  Does  each  tribesman  or  clansman  revere  all  members 
of  the  totem  species  equally  ?  or  does  he  suppose  that  he 
has  a  special  connection  with  one  particular  individual  of 
the  species,  e.g.,  if  he  is  a  wolf  does  he  respect  all  wolves 


392  Notes  and  Queries  on  Tolemism. 

equally  ?  or  does  he  think  that  one  particular  wolf  is  his 
special  friend,  and  that  his  fate  is  bound  up  in  that  par- 
ticular wolf  so  closely  that  if  it  dies  or  is  killed,  he  must 
himself  die  at  the  same  moment  ? 

22.  In  addition  to  the  tribal  or  clan-totem,  has  each  man 
a  totem  of  his  own?  i.e.  an  animal,  plant,  &c.,  which  he 
specially  reveres  and  with  which  he  conceives  that  his  fate 
is  bound  up  ?  How  does  he  acquire  his  personal  totem  ?  is 
it  chosen  for  him  at  his  birth  by  his  parents  or  the  priest  ? 
or  does  he  choose  it  for  himself,  and  if  so,  how,  and  with  what 
ceremonies  ?  Does  he  take  for  his  personal  totem  a  whole 
species  of  animals  or  plants,  &c.  (as  all  eagles,  all  turtles), 
or  only  one  individual  of  the  species  (as  a  particular  eagle 
or  turtle)  ? 

23.  Are  there  any  traces  of  the  transitions  of  totemism 
into  a  more  advanced  worship  ?  e.g-t  are  there  any  gods 
worshipped  in  human  form  with  the  heads  of  animals,  or  la 
animal  form  with  human  heads,  &c.  ?  Are  gods  in  human 
form  supposed  to  have  certain  animals  or  plants  specially 
connected  with  their  worship  ?  Do  these  animals  or  plants 
appear  to  have  been  once  the  totems  of  tribes  or  clans? 
Are  the  dead,  or  the  spirits  of  the  dead,  worshipped?  If 
so,  what  is  their  name  (Zulu  Amatongo)  ?  And  have  these 
any  relation  to  animals,  and  especially  to  snakes  (Zulu 
Ihloei),  or  to  those  animals  whose  name  the  clan  bears? 
Are  such  animals  considered  to  bring  luck  or  to  represent 
ancestral  or  guardian  spirits?  Is  there  a  supernatural 
being,  a  kind  of  great  father,  who  first  gave  being  to  men  ? 
And  if  so,  what  is  his  name  (Zulu,  Unkulunkulu)'}  How 
did  he  beget  them  ?  Were  they  dug  up,  or  split  out  of 
wood,  &c. 

24.  Is  the  totem-animal  ever  slain  sacrificially  ?  If  so, 
what  is  done  with  the  various  portions  of  the  carcase,  such 
as  head,  various  organs,  bones,  flesh,  &c.  ?  Do  the  clans- 
men consume  the  flesh,  or  any  portion  of  it  ?  And  are  any 
other  persons  admitted  to  share  the  meal?  What,  if  any, 
superstitious  beliefs  are  annexed  to  the  act,  or  to  the  dis- 


f 


Notes  and  Queries  on  Tatemism. 


393 


posal  of  any  part  of  the  body  not  wholly  consumed  ?  Is 
the  observance  of  any  such  custom  periodical  ?  Is  the  slain 
animal  supposed  to  revive  ?  And  what,  if  any,  precautions 
are  taken  for  that  purpose  ?  When  the  totem  is  a  plant,  is 
it  ever  eaten  ceremonially  by  members  of  the  totem-clan  ? 
25  Are  there  any  traces  of  territorial  totemism  ?  Do 
the  members  of  the  same  totem  live  together?  Have  they 
common  lands?  Are  there  any  land  or  village  restrictions 
which  may  have  had  a  totemistic  origin  ? 

26.  Has  each  totem-clan  a  special  burial-ground  of  its 
own  ?  If  so,  is  the  place  or  the  district  sacred  to  the  clan 
and  not  to  be  inhabited,  or  used  for  common  purposes? 
Does  the  place  become  a  sanctuary  or  refuge  where  animals 
and  men  are  safe  from  violence  ? 

27.  Do  the  members  of  any  totem-clan  believe  that  by 
magical  ceremonies  they  can  ensure  a  constant  supply  of 
their  particular  lotem  for  the  good  of  the  community  ?  Give 
the  native  explanations  of  the  symbolism  employed. 

28.  When  the  totem  happens  to  be  a  noxious  or  dangerous 
species  of  animal  {e.g.,  crocodiles,  serpents,  locusts),  do 
the  members  of  the  totem-clan  perform  any  ceremonies  to 
appease,  avert,  or  destroy  such  animals?  When  the  totem 
happens  to  be  a  harmful  or  dangerous  thing,  [e.g.,  snow,  or 
thunder  and  lightning),  do  the  members  of  the  totem-clan 
perform  any  ceremonies  to  avert  such  dangers  or  to 
prevent,  abate,  or  remedy  the  harm  resulting  from  such 
things  ? 

29.  Can  a  man  belonging  to  a  particular  totem-clan  visit 
with  safety  a  man  of  a  non-friendly  tribe  who  belongs  to 
the  same,  or  an  associated,  totem  ?  Would  a  man  inten- 
tionally kill,  in  battle  or  otherwise,  another  belonging  to  the 
same  totem-clan  as  himself  ? 


","  Infonnatioii  on  any  of  Ihese  poinls  will  be  very  welcome,  nnd  may  be 
fbrwu-ded  to  the  Secietary  of  the  Society. 

Copies  of  these  Notes  and  Queries  may  be  oblained  sepotalelT  from 
D.  Null,  57,  Long  Acre,  price  6d. 


GARLAND   DAY  AT  CASTLETON. 


I. 

Before  describing  the  ceremony  which  forms  the  subject 
of  this  paper,  let  me  first  say  something  about  the  district 
in  which  it  is  performed,  and  about  the  inhabitants  and  their 
traditions  and  customs. 

The  village  of  Castleton,  in  the  High  Peak  of  Derbyshire^ 
lies  at  the  bottom  of  an  amphitheatre  of  steep  and  lofty  hills 
thinly  covered  by  grass,  limestone  crags  protruding  here  and 
there  from  its  slopes.  It  is  difficult  of  access  except  on  its 
western  side,  in  the  direction  of  the  adjacent  village  of  Hope, 
Before  the  opening  of  the  Dore  and  Chinley  Railway  a  few 
years  ago  it  was  visited  chiefly  for  its  well-known  caves, 
and  for  the  ancient  and  once  impregnable  castle  which 
frowns  over  the  village,  and  which  has  been  made  widely 
known  by  Scott's  Peveril  of  the  Peak.  In  1851  U  had 
fewer  than  900  inhabitants,  and  since  the  decay  of  the 
lead-mining  industry  the  population  has  become  still 
smaller.  Last  April  the  census  showed  that  there  were  547 
inhabitants.  Parts  of  the  church  are  old,  the  chancel  arch 
being  round,  and  of  Romanesque  or  Norman  work,  with 
chevron  ornamentation. 

The  parish  consists  of  the  townships  of  Castleton  and 
Edale,  which  contain  together  about  to,ooo  acres,  Edale 
being  a  small  village  which  is  separated  from  Castleton  by 
a  range  of  hills.  The  township  of  Castleton  contains  about 
2,900  acres.  "The  Duke  of  Devonshire  has  the  nominal 
appointment  of  Constable  of  the  Castle,  and  is  lessee  of  the 
honor,  or  manor,  and  forest  of  the  Peak,  of  which  Castleton 
was  till  of  late  years  esteemed  a  member.  Courts  are  held 
for  Castleton  as  a  distinct  manor,  extending  over  many  of 
the  townships  of  the  Peak The  civil  subdivisions  of 


Garland  Day  at  Castleton. 

Derbyshire,  like  those  of  most  other  northern  counties, 
were  anciently  called  wapentakes.  In  the  Domesday 
Survey  we  find  mention  of  the  wapentakes  of  Scarvedale, 
Hamestan,  Morlestan  [jiV],  Walecros,  and  Apultre,  and  a 
district  called  Peche-fers  (Peak  Forest),  but  we  gain  no 
information  from  it  as  to  the  extent  of  the  several  districts.^ 
....  The  Wirksworth  division  still  retains  the  name  of  a 
wapentake  ;  the  other  modern  divisions,  Appletree,  High 
Peak,  Scarsdale,  Repton  and  Gresley,  and  Morleston  [sic] 

and  Litchurch   are  called   hundreds The   Duke   of 

Devonshire  is  lessee,  under  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  of  the 
hundred  of  the  High  Peak."  « 

Domesday  Book  says:  "In  Pechesers  Terram  castelli 
Will'!  Peuerel  tenuerunt  Gernebern  et  Hundinc."  The  Pipe 
Rolls  show  payments  of  salary  to  the  custodes  of  the  castle 
for  many  years,  proving  that  in  the  twelfth  century  it  was 
Crown  property.  In  1374  it  was  granted  by  Edward  III.  to 
John  of  Gaunt,  with  the  Honour  and  Forest  of  Peak,  and 
became  parcel  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster.  I  have  been 
unable  to  discover  at  what  place  the  Hundred  Court  was 
held  in  the  High  Peak.  The  Great  Barmote  Courts  for  the 
district  which  includes  Castleton,  were  held  at  Monyash 
(  =  many  ashes)  near  Bakewell,  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  April 
and  the  first  Tuesday  in  October,  at  which  all  pleas  of  debt 
and  disputes  as  to  title  relating  to  lead-mines  within  the 
hundred  of  High  Peak  were  determined.  Other  Barmote 
Courts  were  held  at  Ashford,  Eyam,  Sloney  Middleton, 
Crich,  and  Wirksworth.  No  Barmote  Court  appears  to 
have  been  held  at  Castleton.  The  village  of  Bradwell  and 
the  hamlets  of  Pindale  and  Smalldale,  mentioned  in  the 
following  pages,  are  in  the  pari.sh  of  Hope.  It  appears, 
however,  that  the  manor  and  the  parish  of  Castleton  were 
by  no  means  co-extensive.    The  castle  gave  to  the  town 

'  [Sny  rather,  no  one  has  been  M   Ihe  pains  to  trace  the  areas  of  these 
districts  from  Ihe  poiticulan  given. — Ed.] 
-  Lysons's  Derbyshire,  1817,  pp.  73,  xi. 


396 


Garland  Day  at  Castleton. 


' 


of  Castleton  an  importance  which  its  neighbours  did  not 
possess.' 

That  the  inhabitants  have  been  clannish,  and  have  freely 
intermarried,  may  be  shown  perhaps  by  the  great  prevalence 
of  the  surname  Hall.  The  churchyard  seems  full  of  Halls. 
So  common  is  this  surname  that  the  various  persons  who 
bear  it  have  been  popularly  distinguished  by  nicknames. 
Thus  there  are  the  Hall-Baileys,  so  called  because  one 
of  them  had  held  the  office  of  bailiff ;  the  Hall-Chips,  so 
called  because  one  of  them  had  been  a  cooper  or  "tub- 
thumper;"  the  Hall- Frenches  or  French-Halls,  so  called 
because  they  are  maternally  descended  from  a  Miss  French  ; 
the  Hall-Stones,  from  a  place  called  Stones  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood where  they  lived;  the  Hall-Chorltons,  of  un- 
known origin;  the  Hall-Cotes,  from  Cotes  Green  in  the 
township  of  Bradwell ;  the  Hall-Blacksmiths,  from  the 
family  trade,  and  so  on.  The  second  name  is  commonly 
used.  Thus  Nancy  Hall,  or  Chorlton,  would  be  called 
Nancy  Chorlton.  I  heard  it  said  of  a  woman  in  Castleton 
that  "  she  couldn't  call  folks  by  their  right  names  if  she 
tried." 

Till  of  late  years,  a  considerable  part  of  the  inhabitants 
have  been  engaged  in  lead-mining.  This  is  a  veiy  ancient 
industry  both  in  the  High  Peak  and  in  the  wapentake  of 
Wirksworth.  The  lead-mining  population  of  the  district 
have,  or  rather  had,  some  peculiar  customs.  Two  or  three 
years  ago  I  was  talking  to  Mr.  Bagshaw,  a  farmer  about 
sixty  years  of  age,  who  lives  at  Shatton,  three  miles,  to  the 
east  of  Castleton.  He  mentioned  a  tradition  that  if  a  man 
could  build  a  hut  on  the  moors  in  that  neighbourhood  in  a 
single  night,  and  make  a  fire  so  that  the  smoke  would  go  up 
in  the  morning,  he  would  obtain  the  right  of  following  a  vein 
of  lead  on  those  moors.     1  immediately  wrote  this  down, 

'  A  trace  of  this  dignity  may  appear  in  a  proverb  which  the  Castlelon  boys 
repeal  when  they  go  to  play  fixitball  in  other  villages  :  "  Castleton  for  honoar, 
Halhersage  for  wit,  Detwent  for  water,"  Ac. 


Garland  Day  at  Castleton.  397 

and,  as  I  was  lodging  at  Mr.  Bagshaw's  house  at  the  time, 
I  had  good  opportunities  of  judging  as  to  the  source  of  the 
tradition.  I  was  satisfied  that  it  was  not  derived  from  books, 
nor  am  I  acquainted  with  any  book  which  mentions  such  a 
custom  in  Derbyshire  in  the  way  in  which  Mr,  Bagshaw 
put  it.  The  tradition  is  confirmed  by  the  former  existence 
of  a  similar  belief  in  Sheffield.  On  the  edge  of  Crookes 
Moor,  near  that  city,  a  house  called  Mushroom  Hall,  long 
ago  rebuilt,  still  exists.  Its  name  was  derived  from  the 
fact,  or  from  the  belief,  that  the  original  house  sprang  up  in 
a  night  like  a  mushroom.  "  The  story  was,"  says  the  Rev. 
Joseph  Hunter  (i 783-1861),  "that  it  was  built,  covered  in, 
and  a  pot  boiled,  between  sunset  and  sunrise,  and  this,  it 
was  alleged,  gave  a  right  to  the  ground  on  which  it  stood, 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  manor.'" 

One  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  Derbyshire  lead-mining 
customs  was  that  which  enabled  the  finder  of  a  vein  to  set 
a  mark  of  possession  called  a  "  stowe  "  upon  it,  and  to  build 
a  "  coe  "  or  hut  over  the  "  grove  "  or  pit.  This  practice  is 
well  explained  by  the  opening  lines  of  Manlove's  Liberties 
and  Customes  of  the  Lead-Mines  within  the  Wapentake  of 
Wirksworth,  first  printed  in  1653  : 

"  By  cuslom  old  in  Wirkswonh  Wapentake, 
If  any  of  this  nation  find  a  Rake, 
Or  Sign,  01  leading  to  the  same  ;  may  scl 
In  any  Ground,  rmd  there  Lead-oai  may  get : 
They  make  crosses,  holes,  and  set  theii  Stowes, 
Sink  Shafts,  build  Lodges,  Cottages  or  Goes. 
But  churches,  houses,  gaidens  oil  aie  free 
From  ihis  strange  custom  of  the  minery." 

That  the  practice  of  building  a  hut  over  the  pit  leading 
I  into  a  newly-opened  lead-mine  is  ancient,  may  perhaps  be 
I  inferred  from  a  folktale  belonging  to  the  district.  I  have 
I  published  a  tale  called  "  The  Little  Red  Hairy  Man,"'  in 

MS.  Glossary  in  the  British  Museum. 

HaustMd  Talis,  &-c.,  p.   50.     The   first  pait  of  the  talc  has  a  strong 
10  Grimm's  Celdem  Gaost. 


398  Garland  Day  at  Castleton. 

which  the  sons  of  a  poor  Derbyshire  lead-miner  meet,  each 
in  turn,  "  a  little  red  hairy  man,  covered  with  hair,  and 
about  the  height  of  nine  penn'orth  of  copper."  ^  The  little 
man,  in  the  course  of  the  story,  directs  one  of  the  sons  to 
an  old  lead-mine.  "  The  opening  of  the  mine, "  we  are 
told,  "was  inside  an  old  hut."  The  son  goes  down  the  pit, 
and  finds  himself  in  a  beautiful  country. 

In  Castleton  and  in  the  adjacent  village  of  Bradwell,  and 
probably  also  in  other  villages  of  the  High  Peak,  the  garden 
or  yard  belonging  to  a  house  is  known  as  "the  privilege.'' 
Thus  one  may  hear  a  man  say,  "  He's  got  a  nice  bit  o' 
privilege  at  the  back  of  his  house,"  or,  "  I'll  not  have  thee 
on  my  privilege."  This  word  is  either  a  reminiscence  of  the 
time  when  a  man's  house  and  garden  were  free  from  the 
invasions  of  lead-miners,  or  of  squatting  on  the  waste  and 
obtaining  a  title  by  prescription.  It  is  commonly  said  that 
everybody  in  Bradwell  has  "  a  bit  of  a  house  of  his  own.' 
One  of  my  informants  said,  "  There  never  was  a  place  with 
so  many  little  freeholders  as  Bradwell."  Another  said 
that  "  Bradwell  has  more  freeholders  than  any  village 
in  England."  Some  of  the  houses  are  very  small,  and 
within  my  knowledge  have  been  sold  for  small  sums.  The 
Bradwell  people  have  been  described  as  "  independent 
paupers."  The  houses  are  built  in  a  most  irregular  way  on 
a  hillside.  It  is  a  common  thing  on  the  sale  of  any  of  these 
" privileges " to  reserve  a  "ladder-stead,"  i.e.  a  right  for 
the  seller  to  put  a  ladder  on  the  sold  "  privilege"  to  repair 
windows,  spouts,  &c.  The  people  have  the  reputation  of 
being  extremely  thrifty  and  industrious,  hating  nothing  so 
much  as  debt.  Like  the  people  of  Castleton,  they  are  very 
fond  of  music,  and  generally  are  intelligent  and  refined. 
Old  lead-miners  still  remember  an  ancient  technical 
vocabulary,  of  which  only  a  small  portion  has  found  its  way 
into  word-books,     I  have  been  overwhelmed  sometimes  by 

■  In  Sheffield  they  uy  of  a  small  man  "  He's  a  little  Hop  o'  my  Thumb,  no 
bigget  Iban  nine  penn'orth  o'  brass. 


4 


Garland  Day  at  Castlcton.  399 

quite  a  torrent  of  these  words,  and  found  it  impossible  to 
write  them  down. 

The  name-system  at  Bradwell  resembles  that  at  Castleton. 
The  great  prevalence  of  a  few  surnames,  such  as  Bradwell, 
Middleton,  and  Hallam,  has  led  to  the  invention  of  distin- 
guishing cognomina,  or  to  the  substitution  of  bye-names. 
Thus  Jack  Clany  was  so  called  because  his  mother's  name 
was  Clarissa  Middleton.  The  real  name  of  Bob  Shoemaker 
was  Robert  Middleton  ;  Joe  i'  t'  Meadow,  Tom  i'  t'  Meadow, 
and  Tom  o'  th'  Island  were  also  Middletons.  (The  Island 
is  the  name  of  a  knoll  in  Smalldale.)  Sam  o'  th'  Hatter 
was  the  son  of  a  hatter  in  the  village. 

The  ceremony  at  Castleton  which  I  am  about  to  describe 
takes  place  annually  on  the  29th  of  May,  and  as  that  was 
the  day  of  the  Ambarvalia  it  would  perhaps  be  to  the  point 
if  I  said  a  few  words  about  the  vestiges  of  the  Romans  in 
this  district.  Two  miles  to  the  east  of  Castleton,  and  one 
mile  to  the  north-east  of  Bradwell,  are  the  remains  of  an 
unexplored  station  or  town  called  Brough,  formerly  Burgh. 
The  once  paved  Roman  way  known  as  Bathom  Gate,*  which 
extends  between  Buxton  and  Templeborough,  and  which 
goes  from  the  the  latter  town  towards  the  Humber,  passes 
through  Brough,  and  through  Smalldale  adjoining  Bradwell, 
which  is  an  old  lead-mining  village  in  the  manor  of  Castle- 
ton.^ By  this  means  there  was  direct  communication  be- 
tween the  Derbyshire  lead-mines  and  the  Humber.  That 
the  Romans  worked  the  lead-mines  of  this  district  is  proved 
by  the  discovery  of  inscribed  pigs  of  that  metal.  In  1894  a 
pig  of  lead  was  discovered  near  Matlock  with  an  inscrip- 
tion which  Mr.  Haverfield  interpreted  to  mean  "  the  lead  of 
P.  Rubrius  Abascantus,  of  the  mine  of  Lutudarum,"  which 
was  already  known  as  a  lead-mining  town  or  district  near 
Matlock  and  Wirksworth.  "  It  may  be  worth  noticing," 
says  Mr.  Haverfield,  "  that  three  of  the  four  men  whose  names 

■  The  a  iD  BBthom  is  sounded  like  the  a  in  late. 

■  But  ia  the  puish  of  Hope,  see  p.  395. 


400 


Garland  Day  at  Castleton. 


have  come  down  to  us  as  private  miners  at  Lutudamm  have 
Greek  cognomina,  Abascantus,  Protus,  and  Trophimus  (if 
that  be  the  correct  expansion).  This  may  show  that  here, 
as  elsewhere,  trade  was  to  some  extent  in  the  hands  of 
Greek  freedmen.  It  is  more  important  to  add  that  Lutu- 
darum  is  the  only  mining  district  in  Britain  where  we  find 
private  enterprise  active,  according  to  our  remains."  *  Lead 
was  worked  in  Britain  in  the  time  of  the  Venerable  Bede, 
and  the  evidence  of  Domesday  Book  and  many  later  records 
proves  that  it  has  been  worked  continuously  in  Derbyshire 
from  the  eleventh  century  to  the  present  day. 

Mr.  Bagshaw,  of  Shatton,  said  to  me  some  years  ago  that 
the  old  inhabitants  of  Bradwell  were  of  short  stature.  Mr. 
Marrison,  of  Castleton,  whose  evidence  about  the  garland 
ceremony  is  given  further  on,  told  me  last  September  that 
the  old  inhabitants  of  Bradwell  were  the  descendants  of 
"  transports,  like  the  people  sent  from  Russia."  He  said 
he  had  heard  that  these  "  transports  "  built  themselves  little 
stone  huts  without  mortar,  "  and  settled  down  in  Bradwell." 
He  had  heard  about  the  "  transports  "  all  his  life ;  "  it  was 
quite  true,  and  had  been  handed  down."  He  "had  heard 
scores  and  scores  of  people  talk  about  it."  They  were 
transported  to  work  the  lead-mines.  Some  of  them  came 
out  of  Italy  and  France,  and  they  used  to  call  them  "part- 
bred  Italians."  Some  of  these  "old  originals  were  half- 
blacks  when  he  was  a  lad,"  and  he  had  known  some  people 
at  Hucklow  whose  hair  was  "as  black  as  a  sloe."  They 
were  "little  folk,  strip-made.  They  had  little  short  legs, 
and  their  knees  were  low  down,"  Mr.  Marrison  was  care- 
ful to  add  that  "  as  a  rule  they  were  honest,  hard-working 
people."  He  afterwards  said  they  were  "  long-headed  " 
(which  he  explained  as  meaning  "witty")  people.  He  said 
that  he  was  born  In  Castleton,  and  his  father  before  him. 

Mr.  Henry  Ashton,  of  Castleton,  told  me  that  he  had  heard 
that  the  lead-miners  of  Castleton,  as  well  as  Bradwell,  were 
'  PreictdtHgi  of  Ike  SacUly  ef  Antiquaru!,  May,  1S94. 


I 


L^ 


Garland  Day  at  Castleton. 


the  descendants  of  convicts.  He  thought  he  had  seen  that  in 
a  book,  but  could  not  remember  where.  Mr.  Joseph  Dalton, 
of  Aston  Hall,  farmer,  said  to  me  that  the  old  inhabitants 
of  Bradweli  were  short  and  thick-necked  (what  I  have 
noticed  is  that  they  are  short-necked).  Mr.  George  Barber, 
of  Castleton,  mentioned  below,  said  there  were  "plenty  of 
people  in  Bradweli  not  more  than  4  foot  8  inches  high." 
They  were  "podgy  little  things,"  and  he  observed  that  a 
well-known  man  in  Castleton,  now  deceased,  said  they  were 
"  nothing  but  Hottentots." 

Robert  Bradweli,  of  Bradweli,  formerly  a  lead-mine 
owner,  aged  88,  told  me  last  September  that  he  was  the 
oldest  inhabitant  of  Bradweli,  and  was  descended  from  the 
old  stock  of  Bradweli  people.  He  had  heard  that  the  lead- 
miners  of  Bradweli  were  sent  there  as  convicts — that  was 
his  word — from  a  foreign  country  a  long  time  ago.  He  had 
heard  that  from  his  father.  It  was  an  old  tradition.  He 
had  never  seen  it  in  print,  but  he  believed  that  many 
people  in  Bradweli  were  descended  from  those  men. 
"We're  descended  from  a  nice  lot,  aren't  we?"  said  he. 
He  said  that  the  Castleton  people  used  to  say  that  the 
Bradweli  people  were  descended  from  convicts,  whilst  the 
Bradweli  people  retorted  that  the  Castleton  people  were 
descended  from  slaves.  Mr.  Bradweli  said  that  these 
convicts  lived  in  stone  huts  near  the  mines.  He  was  not 
aware  that  the  Bradweli  people  had  dark  hair,  and  I  asked 
no  questions  about  stature.  He  said  that  the  Castletop 
people  used  to  reproach  the  Bradweli  people  because  they 
had  "no  steevelin' "  (stabling),  Mr.  Bradwell's  daughter- 
in-law  said  that  the  old  Bradweli  people  were  "transports," 
sent  over  by  some  foreign  power,  and  "that  is  why  they 
differ  from  other  people."  ' 

Mary  Barber,  of  Castleton,  mentioned  below,  said  tliat  the 
old  inhabitants  of  Bradweli  rarely  married  out  of  their  own 

'  [Compare  Ibe  "  Biddlc  Muir  men  ol  Noilh  SuSbrdshiie,  Folklore,  vil. , 
|«,  379-] 

VOL.  Xll.  3    D 


403 


Garland  Day  at  Castleton. 


village.     She  said  that  they  were  short  and  thick-necked, 
and  she  thought  that  the  thick  necks  were  caused  by  thd 
women  carrying  buckets  of  water  on  their  heads,  watei 
being  scarce  in  Bradwell.     These  buckets  stood  on  "  rows 
i.e.  on  padded  rolls  of  old  stockings  or  some  soft  materia] 
They  were  made  like  crowns,  so  as  to  fit  their  heads.  ^    Son: 
people  attributed  the  short  stature  of  the  lead-miners  I 
working  in  the  mines. 

I  have  seen  enough  of  the  old  inhabitants  of  Bradwell  tfd 
enable  me  to  confirm  these  statements  about  their  shoif 
stature.  Many  of  them  are  strikingly  little,  and  considerable 
below  the  middle  height.  Their  faces  are  of  an  intellectuaT 
type.  Their  hair  is  generally  dark,  but  I  have  seen  no  c 
of  black  hair.  It  is  necessary  to  distinguish  the  old  ia4 
habitants,  nearly  all  of  whom  have  been  lead-miners,  i 
are  the  descendants  of  lead-miners,  from  the  inhabitants 
who  have  settled  there  of  late  years.  The  railway 
brought  a  new  population  from  Sheffield  and  elsewhere.* 

As  this  remarkable  tradition  may  have  arisen  from  1 
opinion  of  some  antiquary  or  writer,  I  have  searched  In" 
county  histories  and  guide-books  for  some  account  of  these 
so-called  "transports"  or  convicts,  I  find  that  Glover,  in 
his  History  of  the  County  of  Derby,  1829,  offers  the 
extraordinary  conjecture  that  some  of  the  terms  used  by  the 
miners  can  be  traced  to  an  Asiatic  source,  and  this,  be  says, 
"seems  to  go  far  in  proving  that  the  mineral  treasures  < 
the  county  were,  at  a  very  early  period,  wrought  either  by  i 
colony  of  foreigners  from  the  East  or  under  their  direction. |1 
1  have  also  come  across  the  following  passage  in  W.  Wood's 

■  "  Derl^shire  neck  "  {i.e.  goitre)  was  a  common  ailment  of  the  womei 
*  1  wa$  lold  at  Bradwell  that  the  people  of  Little  Hueklow,  two  miles 
BredwcU,  "were  left  to  themselves,  more  10  than  at  BcadwelL  X 
Ilucklow  is  locally  called  "  flen-town,"  and  the  people  are  said  to  be  '* 
gipHes."  People  there  are  called  "  strainers  "  if  they  have  not  lived  ix 
vill^e  [oT  several  gencrstioDS.  I  have  not  visited  the  place  myself 
told  that  many  gipsies  have  enctunped  there.  "  Flea-tuwn  "  is  said  to  fa«9 
modem  name. 


L 


Garland  Day  at  Castleton. 


Tales  and  Traditions  of  the  High  Peak,  the  preface  to 
which  is  dated  from  Eyam,  where  the  author  lived,  in  1862, 
that  village  being  four  miles  from  Bradwell : 

"  The  inhnbitanis  of  Castlelon,  and  ihe  Peak  in  general,  ate  now  dislin- 
Euishcii  by  a  many  excellent  traits,  of  humanity,  kindoess,  and  social  impoi- 
tnnce.  That  the  inhabitants  of  this  mountiinous  locality,  generations  back, 
should  have  been  rough,  uncouth,  yea,  even  savage  and  ferocious,  may  be  ac- 
counted, if  not  apologised  for,  by  Ihe  Eeneially  stated  fact  that  the  north  of 
Derbyshire  was,  during  and  after  the  Septarchal  ages,  a  penal  selilcmcnt ;  that 
criminals  were  sent  to  work  in  mines  (under  captains)  as  a  fit  punishment  for 
certain  crimes"  (p.  57). 

I  take  it  that  the  words  ■'  generally  stated  fact  "  mean  a 
tradition  which  Wood  had  heard,  and  that  the  words 
"  Septarchal  ages,"  "under captains,"  and  "certain  crimes" 
are  embellishments  of  his  own.  It  seems  strange  that 
Wood,  who  mentions  Brough  and  the  Roman  settlement 
there  in  this  same  book,  should  never  have  mentioned  the 
fact  that  under  the  Roman  Empire  the  workmen  employed 
in  mines  were  often  slaves,  soldiers,  or  criminals,  and  that 
where  the  miners  were  criminals  there  was  always  a  military 
station  near  them.  But  let  us  not  forget  the  Greek  freed- 
men  whose  names  seem  to  appear  on  the  Derbyshire  pigs 
of  lead. 

The  "  Hundred  of  the  High  Peak,  that  is  called  the 
King's  Field,  is  divided  into  several  divisions  or  liberties, 
and  every  one  of  those  liberties  is  governed  by  a  person 
called  a  Bar-master."'  The  barmaster  (minemaster)  was 
assisted  by  a  grand  jury  of  24  men,  and  he  and  the  jury 
held  a  Barmote  Court,  which  settled  the  ctjstoms  of  the 
liberty.  In  this  court  all  actions  relating  to  the  mines  were 
to  be  brought.  The  barmaster  held  a  court  every  three 
weeks  if  required,  and  two  great  barmote  courts  every 
year.  He  sat  as  coroner  in  cases  of  fatal  accidents  in  the 
mines.  He  was  arbitrator  between  miner  and  merchant. 
He  gave  possession  to  the  discoverers  of  veins,  inspected  the 
mines,  and  set  out  roads.  He  could  put  offenders  into  the 
'  Hardy's  Mineti  Guide,  1748,  p.  6. 
3  D  3 


404  Garland  Day  at  Castleton, 


stocks,  and  he  administered  a  curious  and  elaborate  body 
of  customary  rules. 

In  the  High  Peak  the  barmaster  is  "  first  chosen  by  the 
lord  of  the  field  or  his  farmer."  ' 

In  Castleton  there  is  an  ancient  lead-mine  which  in 
county  histories  and  other  books  is  described  as  "  Odin 
Mine."  But  old  lead-miners  in  Castleton  and  Bradwell 
speak  of  it  as  Owdane  Mine,  accenting  the  second  syllable. 
A  Castleton  man  said  to  me  that  this  mine  "  formerly 
belonged  to  the  Danes,"  and  an  old  Bradwell  lead-miner 
said  that  "  the  Danes  hid  themselves  in  it,"  afterwards 
remarking,  "  We've  mixed  with  the  Danes."  I  think  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  true  name  of  this  mine,  in  which 
many  ancient  tools  have  been  found,  is  Owd  Dane  (Old 
Dane)  Mine,  for  prehistoric  and  Roman  work  is  often  in 
this  country  attributed  to  the  Danes.  For  example,  at 
Eckington,  in  Derbyshire,  the  Roman  road  is  known  as  Dane 
Balk.  There  seems  to  be  no  trace  of  the  Scandinavians 
either  in  the  place-names,  the  dialect,  or  the  people  of  the 
High  Peak.  The  usual  name  for  ancient  lead-workings  in 
the  Peak  is  "owd  mon  workings."  Less  than  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  from  the  north-eastern  side  of  Bradwell,  and 
between  that  village  and  Brough,  is  a  straight  embankment 
of  earth  which  runs  from  a  very  steep  hill,  called  Rebellion 
Knoll  on  the  ordnance  map,  to  another  very  steep  hill  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  valley.  It  is  called  Grey  Ditch  ou 
the  ordnance  map,  and  the  people  know  it  as  Grey  Dych 
(with  a  long  y).  This  earthwork  cannot  have  been  a  road, 
but  its  perfect  straightness  affords  some  evidence  of  Roman 
origin.  It  looks  like  a  military  work  extending  from  a  cliff 
on  one  side  of  the  valley  to  a  cliff  on  the  other  side,  and 
forming  a  barrier  between  Bradwell  and  Brough.^ 

'  The  course  of  Grey  Ditch  is  not  continued  over  the  cliff  in  the  diiectioD 
of  the  norlh'Wcst ;  bul  on  the  olhcr  side  of  the  cliff  it  goes  on  again 
for  a  lew  hundred  ysrds,  and  is  abruptly  terminated  by  two  short  ctn- 
bMikntenla  at  right  anglea  to  the  long  one.      The  earth  has  been  thrown  up 


Garland  Day  at  Castleton.  405 

The  Peak  of  Derbyshire  is  mentioned  in  the  English 
Chronicle  for  the  year  924  under  the  name  of  Peiclond. 
And  in  Kemble's  Codex  Diplomaticus  ( i,  14,  7.)  the  inhabit- 
ants are  called  Pe^c-s^etan,  Pec-sa:tan,  the  district  being 
described  as  containing  r,20o  hides.  In  Robert  of 
Gloucester's  Chronicle  {Hearne,  p.  7)  the  eminence  on 
which  the  castle  stands  is  called  "  ^e  hull  of  J>e  pek." 
Whatever  be  the  meaning  of  this  peac  or  pec,  it  can  hardly 
mean  a  "  peak  "  in  our  sense  of  the  word,  for  there  are  no 
such  things  in  the  district,  and  the  hill  on  which  the  castle 
stands  has  a  truncated  top. 

That  an  open-air  court  was  once  held  in  this  neighbour- 
hood seems  proved  by  the  existence  of  a  pJace  described  on 
the  ordnance  map  as  Laughman  Tor  (Lawman  Rock)  four 
miles  to  the  south-west  of  Castleton.  (Tor  is  pronounced 
iur  in  this  neighbourhood.) 

Castleton,  like  other  villages  in  the  High  Peak,  has  its 
wakes.  They  begin  on  the  first  Sunday  in  September,  and 
last  till  the  following  Sunday.  During  this  week  natives 
of  the  place  who  have  gone  to  live  elsewhere  come  back  to 
see  their  relations.  There  were  few  wakes  without  a 
quarrel.  The  Castleton  people  quarrelled  with  the  Bradwell 
people,  and  fought  with  knobsticks  in  the  fields  between 

from  ihe  nDrih-eMlem  side  of  Ihe  embankmenl,  or  Ihe  side  facing  Brough. 
"  It  is  about  twelve  feet  broad  at  Ihe  top There  U  no  tradition  con- 
cerning it ;  but  pieces  of  swords,  spears,  spurs  and  bridle  bits  have  be«n  found 
very  near  it."  (Pilkington's  iJunij'jAin!,  1789,11.,  403.)  I  found  thai  the  widtb 
of  Ihe  convex  surface  b  45  feet,  the  heighl,  measured  from  an  im^nary  line 
drawn  at  right  angles  to  the  base,  being  about  10  feet.  The  one-inch  ord- 
nance map  shows  the  portion  of  the  earthwork  which  extends  from  Rebellion 
ICdoU  to  Bradwell  Brook,  but  does  not  show  its  continuation  across  StretGeld, 
where  the  Roman  ruad  is,  to  Far  Coatcs  or  Meadow  House.  Mrs.  Middleton, 
mentioned  below,  whose  house  in  Smalldale  is  on  the  Raman  toad,  and  on 
the  Bradwell  side  of  the  embankment,  said  there  was  a  tradition  thai  her  house 
was  once  a  prisotu  It  was  not  so  in  her  time,  and  she  cannot  lix  a  date.  A 
few  yards  to  the  north  of  the  embankment  is  a  place  which  the  inhabitants  call 
the  "IddenTrec."  They  speak  of  a  man  being  "down  at  t'  Idden  Tree," 
and  their  fancy  connects  It  with  hiding  io  a  tree.  There  is  no  tree  Ihete  now. 
(See  more  about  this  pUice  in  Wood's  TaUs,  &c,  pp.  182  «f.) 


4o6  Garland  Day  at  Castleton. 

the  two  villages.    Tbey  also  fought  in  3  croft  behind  the 
Bull's  Head  Inn. 

Forty  years  ago  it  was  said  of  Bradwell  that,  "like  all 
other  mountain-hid  villages,  it  contains  a  population 
strongly  niariced  by  peculiarities  of  custom,  and  most  pug- 
naciously tenacious  of  their  numerous,  time-honoured,  and 
antique  usages.  Here,  to  a  deplorably  excessive  degree, 
intermarriages  exist,  and  have  existed  for  ages."'  In  this 
and  other  villages  of  the  High  Peak  a  fine,  sometimes 
called  "  foot-ale"  ("foot"  being  sounded  like"  boot"),  was 
exacted  by  the  populace  from  a  stranger  who  came  to  woo 
a  girl  in  them.  At  Bradwell  the  6ne  was  is.  61/.,  and  if 
the  interloper  would  not  pay,  a  haiter  was  put  round  his 
neck  and  he  was  driven  round  the  tillage.  Mr.  Sidebotham, 
of  Castleton,  whose  evidence  about  the  Castleton  garland  I 
shall  give  further  on,  told  me  that  if  a  suitor  of  this  kind 
would  not  pay  "  they  put  him  into  the  mere,"  and  "  covered 
his  clothes  with  mud."  But  he  said  that  such  rough  treat- 
ment would  not  now  be  permitted,  and  that  the  police 
"  would  ran  people  in  "  who  attempted  it,  Mr,  Potter, 
whose  evidence  as  to  the  Garland  I  shall  also  give,  told  me 
in  August,  1901,  that  if  a  stranger  came  to  court  a  girl  at 
Chapel-en-le-Frith  forty  years  ago  he  was  expected  to  pay 
a  small  fine.  If  he  refused  "  he  was  dragged  through  the 
water — a  sort  of  christening."  He  remembered  a  girl  at 
Chapel  whom  a  number  of  young  men  "  wanted."  But  a 
man  from  another  village  came  to  court  her,  and,  because 
he  would  not  pay,  they  first  of  all  dragged  him  through  a 
pool  of  clean  water,  and,  as  that  did  not  make  him  pay, 
they  dragged  him  through  a  dirty  horse-pond.  Mr.  Robert 
Evans,  of  Bradwell,  whom  I  saw  there  in  August,  1901,  told 
me  that  he  once  lived  at  Deepcar,  between  Sheffield  and 
Penistone,  where  this  custom  was  known  as  "  pitchering." 
My  friend  Mr,  Joseph  Kenworthy,  of  Deepcar,  teils  me  that 
the  word  "  pitchering  "  simply  means  that  the  fine,  which 

■  Wood's  Tales,  ut  supra,  p.  183.  I  was  told  al  Bradwell,  in  August,  1901, 
thai  "  nearly  all  Ihe  old  people  are  related." 


N 


Garland  Day  at  Castleton. 

varied  according  to  the  means  of  the  person  accused,  was 
spent  in  drink  (in  a  jug  or  pitcher),  and  has  some  affinity  to 
the  custom  of  footing  or  "  foot-ale."  He  says  that  the  custom 
is  remembered  in  Deepcar  by  a  few  people.  Every  village  in 
this  neighbourhood  seems  to  have  some  predominant  sur- 
name. Thus,  at  Tideswell  (popularly  known  as  TJdsa  or 
Tidsa-God-bless-you)'  they  say  "Tidsa  for  Bramas,"  Bram- 
well  being  the  most  common  surname.  At  Bradwell 
Mr.  Evans  remembered  the  custom  of  "  cucking  "  (compare 
"  cuck-atool  ")  or  tossing  up  the  young  women  at  Easter, 
if  they  refused  to  kiss  the  men, 

Mrs.  George  Middleton,  mentioned  below,  told  me  that 
on  Christmas  Even,  as  they  call  it,  when  the  lead-miners 
came  out  of  the  mines,  they  left  half  a  candle  burning  for 
the  "  owd  man,"  this  being  the  collective  term  by  which 
they  describe  the  men  of  bygone  limes  who  have  worked  in 
the  mines.'  In  another  part  of  Derbyshire  colliers  have 
been  known  to  leave  pieces  of  coal  in  the  pit  for  the  fairies, 
but  I  am  not  aware  that  they  do  this  on  Christmas  Eve. 
In  their  houses  on  Christmas  Eve,  Mrs.  Middleton  said,  the 
miners  burnt  a  Yule  candle,  which  is  much  bigger  than  an 
ordinary  candle,  ate  a  Yule  loaf,  and  drank  posset.  "  The 
Yule  loaf."  she  said,  "  is  like  a  round  cake  put  on  a  square 
loaf,  and  pricked  with  a  fork."  Another  informant  told  me 
that  "they  all  sit  round  the  table  whilst  the  candle  is  burning, 
and  put  spoons  into  the  bowl  [of  posset]  as  it  is  passed 
round.  It  is  done  yet,  and  the  grocers  give  the  candles 
to  their  customers  for  this  purpose." 


About  five  years  ago  my  wife  and  daughter  were  staying 

■  This  U  Ibe  common  Uont  of  ponrty,  ss  in  Tickhill-God-tidp-you,  neai 
Rotherham. 

'  Mrs  Middleton  afterwMds  said  Ihat  Ihey  also  left  a  portion  of  their  dinner. 
I  mentioned  this  lo  Mr.  Robert  Bradwell,  who  said  he  did  not  remember  it, 
bul  that  he  had  seen  Ihem  leave  a  whole  candle  "  for  the  old  ancient  man  to 
have  hii  posset  by."    I  had  not  memiooed  posKt  to  him. 


4o8  Garland  Day  at  Casileton. 

in  Castleton  at  the  house  of  Mrs.  Jacob  Eyre,  who  lets 
rooms.  On  the  evening  of  the  39th  of  May  there  was  so 
much  noisy  merriment  that  they  were  kept  awake  half  the 
night.  On  inquiring  what  was  the  cause  of  the  noise,  Mrs. 
Eyre  said  it  was  made  by  the  Morris- dancers.  My  wife 
then  wrote  down  the  following  note  of  what  Mrs.  Eyre 
told  her. 

"  On  the  29th  of  May  the  church  bell  rings  at  two  o'clock 
to  call  the  ringers  together  to  make  a  garland  of  May- 
flowers and  ginger-flowers  (wild  geraniums) '  ,  the  flowers 
having  been  gathered  by  the  people  in  the  village. 

"  At  six  o'clock  the  king  and  queen  go  round  the  village, 
and  the  king  carries  a  garland.  They  dance,  and  any  one 
that  has  a  bit  of  oak  can  join  in  it.  It  is  said  that  the  oaJc 
is  used  in  memory  of  King  Charles  II.  The  dance  is  kept 
up  till  a  late  hour  on  a  fine  night,  and  after  it  is  finished 
the  king,  queen,  and  dancers  go  to  a  public-house  and  have 
a  feast.  Castleton  is  a  noted  place  for  singing,  ringing,  and 
playing." 

Mrs.  Eyre  told  me  on  the  30th  of  last  May  that  the  29th 
of  that  month  is  known  as  Garland  Day,  and  from  further 
inquiries  which  I  have  made  from  the  inhabitants  I  have  no 
doubt  that  such  is  the  fact.  She  also  said  that  when  she 
was  young,  more  than  fifty  years  ago,  the  king  and  queen 
were  called  "  the  man  and  woman." 

Last  April  I  got  some  further  particulars  of  this  ceremony 
from  my  brother-in-law,  Mr.  Barton  Wells,  and  on  the  10th 
I  went  over  to  Castleton  to  make  preliminary  inquiries, 
intending  to  see  the  ceremony  myself  on  the  29th  of  the 
following  month. 

I  soon  found  out  who  took  the  leading  parts  in  the  cere- 
mony, and  my  first  informant  was  George  Potter,  aged  57, 
a  native  of  Chapel-en-Ie-Frith  (six  miles  from  Castleton), 

'  Red  Campion,  Lyncknis  diuma.  There  is  a  Held  in  a  swampy  hollow 
at  Deepcar  called  Ginger  Botloms.  I  have  often  heard  these  (lowers  called 
"  giuger-Boweis  "  ai  Castleton. 


Garland  Day  at  Castltton.  409 

who  keeps  a  shop  and  lets  rooms  in  the  village.  He  said 
that  Castleton  people  called  the  29th  of  May  Royal  Oak 
Day.  A  garland  is  made  "  in  the  fore  part  of  the  day," 
and  "they  reckon  to  finish  it  about  two  o'clock."  The 
framework  of  the  garland  is  kept  at  the  parish  clerk's  house, 
to  be  used  every  year.  It  is  like  a  beehive  in  shape.  On 
the  top  of  it  they  fix  a  large  bunch  of  choice  flowers  which 
they  call  "the  queen"  (locally  pronounced  "quane").  This 
bunch  of  flowers  is  fastened  to  a  stick  which  fits  into  a 
round  hole  in  the  top  of  the  garland  frame.  The  garland 
itself  is  made  chiefly  of  wild  flowers,  each  bunch  of  flowers 
being  tied  on  with  string.  They  begin  fastening  the  flowers 
at  the  top,  and  gradually  get  down  to  the  bottom.  Formerly 
the  ringers  alone  made  the  garland,  and  they  have  now  more 
to  do  with  it  than  anybody  else.  There  are  people  in  Castle- 
ton who  still  grow  tulips  and  other  flowers  for  the  garland  ; 
especially  for  "the  queen."  Some  of  these  are  ringers,  and 
others  are  not.  Before  the  garland  is  put  on  the  king's 
head,  the  king  and  queen  ride  round  the  village,  dressed  in 
their  costume,  to  "advertise  themselves,"  and  to  show  the 
people  that  the  ceremony  is  about  to  begin.  Having  done 
this  the  garland  is  put  over  the  king's  head  by  two  strong 
men,  who  stand  on  two  barrels  or  stools,  and  lift  it  up  by 
"  fork-stales,"  i.e.  fork-handles.  The  king  then  rides  from 
one  inn  in  the  village  to  another,  with  the  queen  and  the 
Morris-dancers.  The  garland  covers  him  down  to  the  hips, 
so  that  you  can  see  nothing  of  him  but  his  legs.  His  arms 
are  inside  the  garland,  steadying  it.  It  is  so  heavy  that  it 
makes  him  sweat.  The  part  of  king,  which  requires  great 
bodily  strength,  is  taken  by  Thomas  Hall.  He  is  so  encum- 
bered by  the  garland  that  he  cannot  use  the  reins,  and  his 
horse  has  to  be  led.  He  can  move  aside  some  of  the  leaves 
in  one  "  quarter"  of  the  garland  in  order  to  see  through. 

The  woman,  lady,  or  queen,  taking  part  in  this  ceremony, 
is  a  man  dressed  in  woman's  clothes.  The  present  queen 
is  Arthur  Whittingham.     The  queen  now  wears  a  jewelled 


4IO  Garland  Day  at  Castleton. 

crown,  bought  a  few  years  ago ;  formerly  it  was  an  old 
bonnet. 

As  the  king  and  queen  ride  round  the  town  they  are 
accompanied  by  a  band  of  music,  which  now  comes  from 
Bradwell.  The  queen  rides  behind,  and  keeps  the  ground 
clear  for  the  Morris-dancers,  who  go  in  the  middle  of  the  pro- 
cession. Formerly  a  man  with  a  besom  went  before  it,  to 
clear  the  way.  The  queen's  horse  has  been  led  for  the 
last  ten  or  fifteen  years  by  John  Nail,  parish-clerk  and 
sexton.  It  is  safer  to  lead  the  horse,  because  a  strange 
horse  might  not  stand  the  noise.  The  Morris-dancers  are 
now  young  girls. 

The  band  plays  as  they  go  round  the  village,  and  the 
Morris-dancers  dance  before  every  public-house  in  the 
village,  and  after  they  have  done  riding  round,  the  king 
rides  alone  into  the  churchy&d.  He  sits  on  his  horse,  close 
to  the  south  wall  of  the  tower,  when  the  ringers  remove  the 
nosegay  called  "  the  queen  "  from  the  top  of  the  gfarland, 
and  a  rope  is  let  down  from  the  summit  of  the  tower,  put 
through  the  hole  left  by  the  removal  of  "  the  queen,"  and 
fastened  inside  by  the  king.  Six  or  eight  men  are  standing 
on  the  top  of  the  tower ;  less  than  six  could  not  manage  it. 
The  rope  goes  over  a  stone  which  projects  from  the  leads 
of  the  tower,  and  serves  for  a  pulley.  The  men  pull  the 
rope,  the  garland  is  lifted  from  the  king's  head,  and  raised 
to  the  top  of  the  tower.  It  is  then  fixed  "  on  the  pike,"  i.e. 
on  the  middlemost  of  the  three  pinnacles  on  the  south  side, 
a  "  pike  "  being  a  pinnacle.^  The  ringers  and  their  friends 
sometimes  get  a  little  money  as  they  go  round  collecting 
flowers,  and  the  bunch  of  flowers  called  '*the  queen"  is 
given  to  some  prominent  inhabitant  at  the  end  of  the  day. 
It  is  not  sold,  but  the  recipient  usually  makes  a  present, 
varying  from  5s.  to  £2^  to  the  ringers.  Mr.  Potter  is  not 
elected  by  the  ringers  ;  the  king  knows  that  he  is  always 
ready  to  lead  the  horse.      Mr.  Potter  has  seen  the  late  Mr 

*  Between  my  first  and  second  visit  the  western  pinnacle  on  this  side  fell. 


Robert  Howe,  barmaster,  and  other  well-to-do  inhabitants, 
dancing  as  ringers  and  Morris-dancers. 

On  Garland  Day,  everybody  is  supposed  to  have  a  bit  of 
oak,  and  the  Morris -dancers,  who  were  formerly  the  ringers, 
tossed  their  pieces  up  in  the  air  as  they  danced,  first  in  one 
hand  and  then  in  the  other.  The  children,  in  imitation  of 
what  the  men  did,  "  dance  two  steps  out  and  two  steps  in, 
and  then  they  twist  round."     Thus  far  George  Potter, 

Mrs.  Wood,  of  Castleton,  said  that  she  knew  James  J/arr 
Deakin,  an  old  man  who  took  the  part  of  queen  and  rode 
on  a  side-saddle.  He  had  a  wide  strip  of  needlework 
stitched  at  the  bottom  of  his  trousers,  and  he  wore  the 
oldest  shawl  that  could  be  found.  He  wore  a  large  yellow 
Tuscan  bonnet,  sometimes  called  a  Quaker  or  "  entry  " 
bonnet,  with  a  broad  blue  ribbon  on  it.  Flowers  for  the 
garland,  such  as  tulips,  were  often  cut  some  days  before  the 
29th  of  May,  if  ihey  were  likely  to  be  overblown  by  that 
time,  and  kept  in  a  dark  place,  such  as  under  the  stairs  or 
in  the  cellar,  to  keep  them  in  bloom.  Sometimes  they  were 
put  into  salt  and  water  for  that  purpose.  All  work  was  at 
a  standstill,  except  a  bit  of  milking  of  the  cows,  the  old 
folks  danced,  and  it  was  a  high  feast.  There  was  more 
laughing  and  scjuealing  in  those  days  than  there  is  now. 
James  Marr  Deakin's  wife  used  to  brew  what  she  called 
"  yarb  beer  "  (herb  beer)  to  be  used  on  Garland  Day.  She 
said  that  there  were  twenty-four  sorts  of  herbs  in  it,  such 
as  dandelion,  Robin -run-i'-t'-hedge  (ground  ivy),  foal-foot, 
&c.  It  was  "  as  black  as  black  treacle,"  and  was  good  for 
the  blood.  There  wasn't  so  much  doctoring  then  as  there 
is  now.  I  could  not  ascertain  that  the  beer  was  made  by 
anybody  eUe  in  Castleton  for  Garland  Day,  and  Mrs. 
Deakin  was  said  to  have  made  it  for  the  benefit  of  some 
regular  visitors, who  came  over  from  Chesterfield  on  that  day. 
Mrs.  Wood  said  that  most  of  the  inhabitants  grew  flowers 

Ir  the  garland,  and  flowers  were  often  stolen  for  it. 
I  was  told  by  another  informant  that  tulips  "  are  very 


413  Garland  Day  at  Castieton. 

nesh  {tender)  in  the  stem,  and  won't  stand  tying,"  so  that 
they  are  put  in  the  "  quane." 

Mr.  Potter's  daughter  kindly  took  us  to  see  the  frame  of 
the  garland.  On  our  way  she  showed  me  the  spout  or 
gargoyle  over  which  the  rope  goes  when  the  garland  is 
pulled  up  to  the  top  of  tht  tower.  She  said  that  the  garland 
is  taken  down  in  two  or  three  weeks,  when  the  flowers  are 
withered.  Sometimes  it  is  blown  off  by  violent  winds. 
Photographers  don't  like  it  because  it  spoils  their  view  of 
the  church.  We  found  the  frame  of  the  garland  at  Mary 
Barber's,  Primrose  House.  Passing  through  a  long  disused 
rope-walk,  with  a  very  low  ceiling,  we  mounted  a  ladder  at 
one  end,  and  got  into  the  chamber  in  which  the  frame  of 
the  garland  was  hung  by  a  chain  from  a  balk  of  the  roof,  the 
chain  going  through  a  round  hole  bored  through  a  round 
piece  of  wood  which  formed  the  top.  The  frame  consists 
of  a  round  hoop,  with  a  diameter  of  2  feet  5  inches,  from 
which  seven  curved  strands  or  pieces  of  wood  rise  and 
meet  in  the  apex  formed  by  the  round  piece  of  wood  just 
mentioned.  The  height  of  each  curved  piece  of  wood  is 
I  foot  8  inches,  and  the  the  whole  framework  is  neatly 
wrapped  by  straw.  The  round  piece  of  wood  forming  the 
top  is  6  inches  in  diameter,  and  the  round  hole  at  the  top  to 
hold  "  the  queen  "  is  i  inch  in  diameter.  Miss  Barber,  who 
is  76  years  old,  said  that  many  of  the  flowers  are  gathered 
the  day  before  Garland  Day.  Formerly,  she  said,  they  were 
gathered  by  the  eight  ringers.  She  remembered  the 
garland  banging  on  the  tower  all  the  year  round.  She  said 
that  the  frame  of  the  garland  was  brought  to  her  house  last 
year,  because  some  repairs  were  being  done  at  the  parish 
clerk's  house.  Her  brother  Edwin,  who  lives  with  her,  is 
now  the  oldest  ringer.  She  had  heard  that  King  Charles 
took  an  eagle  up  into  the  oak-tree  with  him,  to  deceive  his 
pursuers.  She  called  the  Morris-dancers  "  molly  dancers." 
She  said  that  most  people  in  Castieton  grew  flowers  for  the 
garland. 


i 


_jl 


Garland  Day  at  Castleton. 

Thomas  Hall,  a  native  of  Castleton,  aged  48,  formerly  a 
lead-miner,  but  now  a  labourer,  said  that  he  had  taken  the 
pari  of  king  for  the  last  thirty  years,  having  begun  at  the 
age  of  eighteen.  He  is  not  a  ringer.  George  Watts,  who 
was  king  before  him,  had  taken  that  part  for  many  years. 
Watts  was  coachman  to  the  late  Dr.  Winterbottom,  of 
Castleton,  and  the  coat  which  he  wore  on  Garland  Day  was 
an  old  livery  coat  of  drab  colour,  reaching  down  to  the  heels, 
with  a  red  lining.  This  coat  was  afterwards  worn  by  the  said 
Thomas  Hall,  and  every  year  they  put  fresh  ribbons  and 
rosettes  or  "  May -bunches  "  on  it.  He  said  that  the  ringers 
"  uphold  "  the  garland,  meaning  that  they  keep  the  ceremony 
up.  They  meet  in  the  belfry  or  in  a  public-house  a  week  or 
two  before  Garland  Day,  and  ask  the  man  who  was  king  last 
year  if  he  will  be  king  again .  Formerly  he  was  not  paid  for 
his  services,  but  now  he  gets  a  small  sum.  Four  years  ago 
the  ringers  bought  a  new  coat  for  the  king,  and  Mr.  Hall 
keeps  it  at  his  own  house.  The  ringers  also  bought  a 
crown  for  the  queen  at  the  same  time.  The  hat  which  the 
king  formerly  wore  before  the  garland  was  put  on  was 
black,  with  a  broad  brim.  He  said  that  James  Marr 
Deakin  (commonly  known  as  James  Mart),  was  queen  along 
with  him  for  many  years.  He  was  a  clean-shaven  man,  and 
was  called  Marr  because  bis  father's  name  was  Marriott 
Deakin. 

Mr.  Hall  said  that  the  band  plays  "  the  old  original  tune  " 
as  the  procession  marches  round  the  village,  and  a  different 
tune  in  front  of  the  public-houses.  P'ormerly,  two  or  three 
men  carrying  besoms  used  to  go  before  the  procession  to 
sweep  people  out  of  the  way.  Before  they  went  round  the 
town  they  used  to  go  to  the  old  vicar's  house  at  Goose  Hill 
Hall.  Mr.  Hall  was  chosen  king  on  account  of  his  bodily 
strength,  for  the  garland  is  very  heavy  when  the  flowers 
are  wet,  especially  when  there  are  such  flowers  as  "  May- 
blobs  "  '  in  it.  He  fixes  a  round  pad  on  his  head  before  they 
■  Motsh-marigotds  (Cd/Ma/a/wi/nV). 


414  Garland  Day  at  Castleton. 

put  the  garland  on,  and  when  it  is  put  on  he  makes  a  hole 
in  the  garland  with  hts  hands  to  see  through.  The  king 
always  rides  first  in  the  procession,  and  Mr.  Hall  has  never 
heard  any  other  names  than  king  and  queen  used  on 
Garland  Day.  His  family  of  Hall  is  popularly  known  as 
the  Hall-Pees.  This  nickname  is  said  to  have  been  given 
at  school,  the  Castleton  schoolmaster  having  said  to  a  boy 
of  this  family,  "  Well  done,  Bob,  thou'll  soon  be  as  clever 
as  Bobby  Pee  "  (the  local  p  c  riation  of  Peel).  Mr.  Hall 
said  that  they  once  tried  to  i  e  a  garland  at  Bradwell  out 
of  a  hamper,  "but  the  man's  id  went  through,  and  they 
jarred  one  another  about  it."  n'e  said  that  he  had  missed 
being  king  two  or  three  times  in  the  thirty  years  owing  to 
bis  absence  in  India.  Mrs.  Hall  said  she  had  seen  the  late 
barmaster  and  his  brother  dancing  among  the  ringers. 

Arthur  Whittingham,  carriage -driver,  aged  20,  and  a 
native  of  Castleton,  said  that  he  had  taken  the  part  of 
queen  for  the  last  five  years-  His  brother  had  been  queen 
before  him  for  one  year,  but  "  could  not  settle  down  to  it." 
He  said  that  he  was  chosen  by  the  ringers  every  year.  The 
ringers  meet  in  the  belfry  first,  and  then  at  the  public-house 
where  the  garland  was  to  be  held  for  any  particular  year. 
They  write  down  the  names  of  those  who  have  been  chosen 
at  the  public-house.     He  grts  a  shilling  for  his  services. 

John  Nail,  parish  cleric  and  sexton,  said  that  he  leads  the 
queen's  horse,  but  does  not  remember  how  long  he  has  led 
it  Formerly  the  man  who  led  the  king's  horse  carried  a 
besom,  but  he  has  not  carried  one  himself.  The  king  rides 
first. 

Ann  Nail,  aged  69,  widow  of  Nathan  NaU,  late  parish 
clerk  and  sexton,  said  that  she  was  bom  in  Castleton,  like 
her  father  and  grandfather  before  her.  Her  late  husband 
had  at  one  time  "  led  the  garland,"  which  she  explained  as 
meaning  "  led  the  king's  horse."  She  lives  with  her  son, 
John  Nail,  the  present  parish  clerk.  She  showed  me  the 
queen's  new  crown  and  false  hair,  which  are  kept  at  the 


I 


Garland  Day  at  Casthton. 

parish  clerk's  house.  The  old  shawl  formerly  worn  by  the 
queen  belongs  to  her.  She  said  that  her  son  now  leads 
the  queen's  horse,  and  lately  had  a  coat  made  for  him,  but 
would  not  wear  it,  preferring  to  keep  to  the  old  style.  She 
said  that  Samuel  Howe  or  Cooper,  grew  "a  square  of 
tulips"  for  the  garland.  Formerly  the  queen  had  a  new 
bonnet  every  year,  which  was  provided  by  the  inn  at  which 
the  garland  was  held  for  that  year.  A  man  carried  a 
besom  before  the  garland,  and  "  used  to  clear  people  away 
with  it,"  and  sometimes  hit  them  on  the  legs.  He  usually 
carried  the  besom  over  his  shoulder.  The  king's  old  coat 
was  scadet  with  ribbons  attached  to  it.  She  said  that  the 
frame  of  the  garland  has  always  been  kept  at  the  parish 
clerk's  house.  She  called  the  Morris-dancers  "  molly 
dancers."  She  said  the  ringers  used  to  dance  themselves 
and  throw  pieces  of  oak  up. 

George  Barber,  tailor  and  draper,  aged  65,  was  born 
in  Castleton,  and  is  now  one  of  the  churchwardens. 
His  father,  who  lived  at  Castleton,  and  was  born  in 
1792,  remembered  the  Garland  Day  in  his  time.  He  said 
that  there  are  now  seven  public-houses  in  Castleton,  the 
garland  being  held  at  each  of  them  in  turn,  so  that  it  takes 
seven  years  to  go  round.  The  king  and  queen  are  dressed 
up,  and  they  start  from  the  public-house  where  the  garland 
is  made  in  any  particular  year,  and  ride  round  the  town  to 
show  themselves.  Then  they  go  back  to  the  public-house, 
where  the  ringers  put  the  garland  on  the  king's  head.  He 
was  sure  that  king  and  queen  are  the  old  names.  The 
garland  has  always  been  made  by  the  ringers,  and  the 
king's  horse  was  formerly  led  by  a  ringer,  but  George 
Potter,  who  now  leads  it,  is  not  a  ringer.  The  Morris- 
dancers  were  formerly  the  ringers,  joined  with  some  others. 
They  were  men,  and  the  elderly  people  once  took  much 
more  interest  in  the  affair.  When  the  band  goes  round 
;  town  it  plays  the  tune  of  "A  feberry  loaf,  &c.,"  and 
ley  f^et  a  drink  at  each  public-house.     Une  of  Mr.  Barber's 


4i6  Garland  Day  at  Castleton. 

SODS,  who  was  one  of  the  ringers,  with  others  who  were 
mostly  ringers,  went  into  the  fields  about  four  o'clock  on 
the  morning  of  the  29th  with  baskets  to  get  flowers  for  the 
garland.  Mr,  Barber's  son  said  that  the  present  frame  of 
the  garland  was  made  last  year,  the  old  frame  being  quite 
rotten.  It  is  "  made  of  laths  like  the  strands  that  go  round 
an  apple  barrel."  The  new  frame  cost  2j.  Mr.  Barber  said 
that  the  ringers  meet  a  week  or  two  before  Garland  Day, 
sometimes  in  the  belfry  and  sometimes  in  a  public-house, 
to  settle  who  is  to  be  king  and  queen  that  year.  This 
year  he  was  making  Arthur  Whittingham  some  clothes,  and 
when  he  came  to  have  them  tried  on  be  said  he  had  been 
chosen  queen  again.  Mr.  Barber  also  said  that  he  had  seen 
the  late  Mr.  Robert  Howe,  barmaster,  who  was  one  of  the 
ringers,  dancing  as  one  of  the  Morris-dancers,  and  also  bis 
brother,  Mr.  Edmund  Howe,  and  Mr.  James  Halt. 

Samuel  Sidebotfaam,  of  Castleton,  grocer  and  diaper,  ap- 
parently aged  about  60,  said  that  the  old  people  who  knew 
most  about  the  ceremony  were  dead.  Formerly  the  eight 
ringers  had  sole  charge  of  the  affair,  and  even  yet  they  had 
more  to  do  with  it  than  anybody  else.  When  he  was  a  boy 
the  king  and  queen  were  called  "the  man  and  woman." 
The  Morris-dancers  were  formerly  all  men.  The  person 
taking  the  part  of  queen  had  always  been  a  man.  He 
could  not  remember  when  the  ceremony  first  began.  It 
was  before  his  father's  time- 
Samuel  Marrison,  aged  86,  retired  farmer  and  cattle 
dealer,  said  that  he  had  lived  in  Castleton  all  his  life,  and 
remembered  the  garland  since  he  was  a  child.  When  he 
was  young  they  played  clarionets,  French  horns,  and  a 
serpent,  as  they  went  round  the  town.  He  said  that  the 
garland  was  bigger  than  it  is  now,  but  it  was  made  in  the 
same  way  and  hung  on  the  church  tower.  He  remembered 
a  shoemaker  who  grew  tulips  in  his  garden  for  the  garland, 
and  he  knew  an  old  man  who  used  to  boast  that  he  had 
taken  part  in  making  the  garland  for  70  years,  and  had 


Garland  Day  at  Castkton. 


never  missed.  He  connected  the  garland  with  Charles  11., 
and  said  that  when  Charles  was  followed  with  bloodhounds 
he  took  an  eagle  up  into  the  oak-tree  to  deceive  his 
pursuers.  The  pursuers  knew  by  that  that  the  king  could 
not  be  in  the  tree,  for  no  bird  would  have  remained  in  a 
tree  if  a  man  were  hidden  in  it.  The  men  saw  the  eagle 
fly  out,  and  so  the  king  was  saved.'  Mr.  Marrison  remem- 
bered no  other  names  but  king  and  queen  on  Garland  Day. 
It  took  a  strong  man  and  a  strong  horse  to  carry  the 
garland.  The  Morris-dancers  were  old  men  dressed  in 
their  Sunday  clothes.  Two  of  Mr.  Marrison's  sons  agreed 
in  saying  that  the  king  and  queen  were  elected  every  year, 
but  the  ringers  always  paid  the  same  men  the  compliment 
o(  re-electing  them.  Mr.  Marrison  had  never  seen  a  may- 
pole at  Castleton. 

Samuel  Barber,  of  Castleton,  aged  59,  said  that  the 
"  queen  "  on  the  top  of  the  garland  was  a  bough  of  green 
oak  covered  by  flowers,  and  that  many  people  in  Castleton 
grew  flowers  for  the  garland,  lilies  and  "gillivers,"  but 
mostly  tulips. 

Edwin  Barber,  aged  57,  said  that  he  was  now  the  oldest 
ringer  in  Castleton,  and  had  rung  for  36  years.  The 
ringers  arrange  the  garland  ceremony  a  week  or  two  before 
Garland  Day.  They  see  that  horses  are  bespoken  for  the 
carrier  of  the  garland  and  for  the  "  lady,"  and  their  custom 
is  to  ask  the  two  men  who  have  acted  before  to  act  again. 
The  ringers  do  not  use  the  words  "  king  and  queen."  They 
speak  of  the  "  man  that  carries  the  garland,"  and  the 
"  lady."  They  have  £2  2s.  a  year  paid  out  of  a  voluntary 
church  rate.  They  spend  one-quarter  of  this  on  Garland 
Day,  another  quarter  on  the  5th  of  November  for  their 
"  suppering  "  at  one  of  the  inns,  another  quarter  on  Christ- 
mas Eve  in  plain  loaf  and  warm  ale,  and  the  remaining 
quarter  on  New  Year's  Eve,  when  they  ring  the  old  year 
'  Mr.  Robert  Bradivll,  of  Bradwell,  hnd  also  hearJ  lha(  King  Charles  took 
an  ragle  up  into  the  tree,  10  deceive  his  pursuers. 
VOL.    Xli,  2  K 


1 


4i8  Garland  Day  at  Castleton. 

oat  and  the  ttew  yesr  in.  The  queen  rides  round  and  round 
the  Moms-dancers  lo  keep  people  out  of  the  way.  Formerly 
a  man  it-ith  a  besom  walked  before  the  king.  The  Brad- 
wefl  band  only  plays  because  they  cannot  now  maintain  a 
band  in  Cafiletoo.  The  muMcians  used  to  be  Castleton 
■KO,  and  the  procession  used  to  go  to  the  old  vicar's  house 
first.  They  fix  boughs  on  the  church  tower  on  the  2Sth, 
aboot  seven  in  the  evening.  The  garland  is  lifted  upon 
the  king's  head  by  a  "  fork-stale." 

I  went  to  Castleton  again  on  the  2Stb  of  May  and 
Rmained  two  o^^its  at  Mrs.  Jacob  Eyre's.  About  aevea 
o'dock  OD  tbe  evening  of  that  day  the  ringers  fastened 
green  boughs  to  all  the  pinoades  on  the  church  tower,  and 
some  of  tbe  Castleton  pet^Ie  were  out  all  ni^t  In  the  fields 
gathering  wild  flowers  and  ^ligs  of  oak  in  baskets.  The 
garland  was  to  be  held  this  year  at  the  ina  known  as  the 
Ckeskirg  Ckeese.  It  was  composed,  as  far  as  1  could  tell 
of  blue  hyacinths,  water  lilies,  and  ferns,  tt^ther  with  lilacs 
and  other  garden  flowers.  I  am  told  that  "  lady-grass,"  or 
"  ribbon-grass,"  is  also  used.  The  garland  was  hung  from 
the  roof  of  a  stable  by  a  rope,  and  as  one  bunch  of  flowers 
after  another  was  tied  on,  and  the  superfluous  stalks  trimmed 
off,  the  weight  became  condderable.  It  is  said  to  weigh 
about  13  stone  when  complete.  In  a  building  adjoining  the 
stable  I  saw  them  making  the  lai^  nosegay  called  "  the 
queen." 

The  day  seemed  wasted,  but  1  was  told  that  most  of  the 
ringers  were  farmers,  who  could  not  leave  their  work  until 
the  cows  had  been  milked.  At  five  o'clock  young  men  were 
going  about  with  oak  branches,  and  distributing  pieces  to 
those  who  had  none,  and  girls  dressed  in  white  and  crowned 
with  wreaths  of  flowers  appeared  in  the  streets.  It  was 
said  that  sods  would  be  thrown  at  those  who  had  no  oak. 

At  half-past  five  I  saw  the  king  and  queen  leaving  the 
Cheshire  Cheese,  which  is  near  the  Peak  Hotel,  where  the 
garland  was  held  last  year,  to  ride  round  the  town  and  show 


Garland  Day  at  Castleton. 


419 


themselves.  The  king  was  dressed  like  a  cavalier,  in  a  blue 
velvet  tunic  and  cape  trimmed  with  gold  lace.  He  wore  a 
slouched  hat  with  a  red  feather,  and  big  top-boots.  The 
queen,  who  rode  on  a  side-saddle,  wore  a  crown  and  a 
shawl,  and  had  a  long  white  veil  and  streaming  false  hair. 
Both  carried  branches  of  oak  in  their  hands.  The  queen's 
crown  was  adorned  with  imitations  of  pearls  and  precious 
stones. 

At  six  o'clock  the  king  and  queen  returned  to  the  Cheshire 
Cheese.  Shortly  afterwards  a  band  of  music,  which  came 
from  Bradwell,  met  them,  and  the  huge  garland  having  been 
put  on  the  king's  head,  they  rode  through  the  town.  First 
came  the  king,  and  then  a  procession  of  young  girls,  who 
were  dressed  in  white  and  crowned  with  flowers,  each 
carrying  in  her  hand  a  stick  with  ribbons  of  different 
colours  streaming  from  one  end.  Last  of  all  came  the 
queen.  As  the  girls  danced  they  waved  their  sticks  about 
so  rapidly  that  a  photographer  said  that  he  could  not  take  a 
snap-shot  at  them,  I  noticed  that  drink  was  given  to  the 
performers  at  two  of  the  public -houses,  and  I  am  told  that 
all  the  public-houses  give  it  to  them  on  Garland  Day.  1  did 
not  follow  the  procession  through  the  town,  for  a  heavy 
thunderstorm  came  on,  compelling  the  people  to  take  shelter. 
But  at  eight  o'clock,  when  the  rain  had  ceased,  I  went  to 
the  church  and  found  that  the  garland  was  already  hung  on 
the  middle  pinnacle  of  the  south  side  of  the  tower.  1  had 
been  told  that  everybody  had  gone  home,  and  regret  that  I 
did  not  see  it  hoisted  up.  I  was  told  that  the  rope  is  let 
down  from  the  tower  and  fixed  to  the  garland  by  the  sexton, 
assisted  by  the  man  who  leads  the  king's  horse.  A  good 
strong  rope  is  borrowed  from  somebody  in  the  village. 

I  had  hoped  to  get  instantaneous  photographs  of  the 
procession  as  it  moved  along,  but  owing  to  the  late  hour  at 
which  the  proceedings  began  and  to  the  thunderstorm  it 
was  impossible.  The  photographs  of  the  king  and  quetn 
here  reproduced  were  taken  at  my  request  by  Mr.  H. 
2  E  2 


420 


Garland  Day  at  Castleton. 


Bamforth  of  Holmfirth,  whilst  their  horses  were  standing, 
and  Mr.  Bamforth  took  the  photograph  showing  the  garland 
on  the  tower  on  the  morning  of  the  30th  of  May. 

As  the  king  wore  it  in  the  streets,  the  garland  was  not  a 
beautiful  object,  and  of  course  photography  does  not 
represent  the  different  gradations  of  colour  correctly.  It 
looked  more  like  a  very  large  beehive  moving  above  the 
heads  of  the  people  than  anything  else.  The  band  played 
in  the  streets  long  after  the  garland  had  been  hung  on  the 
tower.  There  was  a  dance  at  the  Cheshire  Cheese,  and 
that  inn  had  obtained  leave  to  remain  open  till  midnight  on 
this  day.  I  tried  to  discover  whether  any  superstitious 
belief  was  connected  with  the  ceremony,  but  without 
result. 

Being  in  Castleton  again  on  the  21st  of  August  I  fouod 
that  the  garland  had  been  removed  from  the  tower.  Mr. 
Barber's  son,  who  is  one  of  the  ringers,  said  that  it  is  now 
taken  down  in  about  three  weeks,  when  the  flowers  are 
withered.  On  the  23rd  I  found  the  frame  of  the  garland,  still 
covered  bywitheredflowers,at  the  parish clerk'shouse,  which 
adjoins  the  churchyard.  1  carried  it  to  the  steps  at  the 
foot  of  the  south  side  of  the  church  tower  and  photographed 
it  lying  on  its  side,  so  as  to  show  the  strands,  and  the  very 
numerous  pieces  of  string  by  which  the  bunches  of  Bovvers 
were  tied  on.  I  was  often  at  Castleton  during  the  months 
of  August,  September,  and  October  last,  and  some  part  of 
the  foregoing  evidence  was  written  down  by  me  during 
that  time. 


III. 
The  tune  played  as  the  procession  goes  round  the  town 
was  kindly  written  out  for  me  by  Mr.  Horace  E.  Middleton, 
of  Bradwell,  teacher  of  music.     It  is  as  follows : — 


Mr.  Middleton  knows  no  other  name  for  the  tune  but 
"Rowty  Tow."'  In  Castleton  they  sing  no  words  to  it 
during  the  garland  ceremony,  but  many  Castleton  people 
whom  I  have  questioned  on  the  subject  agree  in  saying  that 
the  following  words  belong  to  the  tune : 
"A  febeny  loaf  and  pili  oakum  pic, 

^^_  And  wlial  Iheie  u  i'  Bradn',  [Bradwell] 

^^^^_  An  old  cow's  ycad  [head]  and  a  piece  o'  bread, 

^^^^H  And  a  pudding  baked  in  a  lantern. 

^^^^H  A  bit  for  me  and  a  bit  for  thee, 

^^^^H  And  a  bit  for  l'  Morris-dancers. 

^^^^H  Ra  di  da,  diddle  diddle  dum,  rowty,  lowly.  t»w." 

^^^^  See 


422  Garland  Day  at  Castleton. 

One  of  the  witnesses  said  "cinder  pie"  instead  of  "oakum 
pie."     Another  version  is  : 

"  Thou  doesno'  know,  and  I  dono'  know 
Whal  they  han  i'  BiaJa' ; 
An  owd  cow's  head,  and  a  piece  o'  bread. 
And  a  pudding  baked  in  a  kintem. 
If  fhou'd  been  wed  as  long  as  me, 
T'  pudding  would  ha'  been  wanicd," 

Feberry  {i.e.  gooseberry)  loaves  are  eaten  at  Bradwell 
wakes,  which  begin  on  the  second  Sunday  in  July.  A 
feberry  loaf  is  a  gooseberry  pasty  made  in  a  pie-dish.  It  is 
like  an  ordinary  gooseberry  pie,  except  that  the  crust  goes 
all  round  it,  so  that  the  "loaf"  can  be  taken  out,  and  cut 
into  slices.  Plum  pies  could  not  be  cut  in  this  way,  for  the 
juice  would  ooze  out.  At  Bradwell  wakes  this  feberry  loaf 
is  usually  eaten  with  set  custard,  i.e.  baked  custard.  I 
have  often  heard  feberry  pronounced  "  fayberry,"  or  even 
"  fayvcrry." 

As  regards  the  "  old  cow's  head,"  Mr.  Robert  Bradwell, 
mentioned  above,  told  me  that  the  lead-miners  made  cow's- 
head  broth  when  he- was  young.  They  used  to  club  to- 
gether and  buy  a  cow,  feed  her  up,  and  after  killing  her, 
hang  up  the  salted  portions  of  the  beef  on  the  balks  of 
their  houses.  Mr.  Bradwell  had  seen  beef  procured  in  this 
way  hung  up  in  his  own  house,  where  he  had  lived  for 
seventy  years.  As  regards  the  "  pudding  baked  in  a  lan- 
tern," Mr.  Bradwell  said  that  kettle-pie  was  a  favourite  dish 
in  Bradwell.  It  was  made  with  potatoes  "  slashed  into  thin 
slashes,"  and  covered  by  a  "male"  (meal)  crust.  At 
Bradwell  they  had  also  a  kind  of  meal  porridge  which  they 
called  "  lenten  dick."  This  was  more  frequently  called 
"  lumpy  tums,"  both  in  Castleton  and  Bradwell.  These 
"turns"'  are  lumps  of  oatmeal  caused  by  the  pot  being 
imperfectly  stirred.  At  Bradwell  they  called  water-gruel 
"  cobbling-knife  water." 

'  Al  Bradwell  Ihey  call  a  foolish  penon  "a  turn  i'  ('  wa'  "  (wall). 


Garland  Day  at  Casileton. 


423 


Mr.  Robert  Evans  of  Bradwell  told  me  that  the  lines 
about  "  a  feberry  loaf,  &c,,"  were  intended  by  the  Castleton 
people  as  an  insult  to  the  people  of  Bradwell,  and  I  heard 
the  same  thing  at  Aston,  a  hamlet  about  two  miles  off. 
But  I  could  never  get  anybody  in  Castleton  to  admit  this, 
or  to  explain  why  the  Bradwell  people  should  be  insulted 
on  Garland  Day,  especially  as  the  Bradwell  band  now  plays 
the  tune  to  which  the  offending  lines  are  alleged  to  be  set. 
The  village  of  Bradwell,  the  hamlets  of  Smalldale  and  Pin- 
dale,  and  the  village  of  Castleton  are  described  thus  : 


^ 


Brada'  rappers,' 
Sma'iia'  Etnokets, 
Pinda'  pipers. 
And  Castlelon  swill -lubs. 


When  a  fever  was  prevalent  in  Bradwell  a  few  years  ago 
a  Bradwell  woman  said  in  Castleton  that  if  she  could  send 
the  fever  to  Castleton  in  a  piece  of  paper  she  would.  Not- 
withstanding this  animosity  between  the  two  villages  the 
Castleton  people  used  to  beg  flowers  from  the  Bradwell 
people  for  their  garland,  and  Mrs.  Harriet  Middleton,  of 
Smalldale,  aged  83,  told  me  that  Edward  Middleton,  of 
Bradwell,  "  would  have  stripped  his  garden  "  of  tulips  for 
the  garland. 


V  IV. 

I  thought  it  desirable  to  inquire  whether  other  villages 

in  the  neighbourhood  of   Castleton   had  a  Garland  Day. 

The  nearest  village  with  an  old  church  is  Hope,  two  miles 
Kvff.^    James  Proctor  of  that  village,  saddler,  aged  60,  told 


The  meaning  of  ihis  word  iii  unknown  in  the  nrigbbourhood.  An  ingenious 
ve  of  Bradwell  suggests  rapparei,  an  Irish  robber.  A  Castleton  man  will 
to  a  Bradwell  man,  "Thou'rt  nought  hul  a  Brada'  rapper."  This  is  said 
aggravate  him." 

("  Mony  a  one  lives  in  Hope  ns  never  saw  Castleton."     Local  ptm-erb 
the  stBy-at-home  hatuia  of  the  people.— f.  L.  /.,  vii.,  191  ] 


434 

me  that  about  forty  years  ago  they  had  a  garland  on 
the  29th  of  May,  but  the  ceremony  was  only  performed 
twice.  He  was  the  "  roan,"  and  Joseph  Holmes,  blacksmith, 
was  the  "  lady."  They  made  a  heavy  garland  of  ' 
kinds  of  flowers  on  a  frame  of  wicker  work,  went  round 
the  villa^  with  a  drum>and-fife  band,  and  at  the  end  of 
the  proceedings  fixed  the  garland  on  the  old  chancel,  which 
was  pulled  down  about  twenty  years  ago.  There  ; 
pinnacles  on  the  church  tower,  and  if  lixed  on  the  tower 
at  all  the  garland  could  only  have  been  put  on  the  top  of 
the  spire.  He  was  sure  that  the  ceremony  was  not  an  old 
custom  in  Hope,  and  he  had  never  heard  his  fathei 
mother  or  any  old  people  speak  of  a  garland  at  Hope  at 
an  earlier  time.  He  said  that  the  members  of  the  dnim- 
and'  fife  band  got  it  up.  He'  rode  on  horseback,  as  they 
do  in  Castleton. 

Henry  Shirt,  mason,  whom  I  saw  on  the  9th  of  October, 
said  that  be  was  a  native  of  Hope,  and  56  years  of  age. 
He  played  in  the  drum-and-fife  band  when  a  garland  was 
held  at  Hope  on  the  29th  of  May,  about  1861  and  i86a. 
He  thinks  that  it  was  not  held  more  than  twice,  and  that  it 
was  not  an  old  custom  as  it  was  in  Castleton.  The  garland 
was  made  of  boughs  of  green  oak  and  wild  flowers  with 
some  garden  flowers,  such  as  "laylacs"  (lilacs)  with  mari- 
golds and  lady-grass  among  them.  The  king  and  queen 
rode  on  horseback,  as  they  did  at  Castleton.  The  queen 
was  dressed  in  woman's  clothes,  and  rode  on  a  pony  belong- 
ing to  Mr.  Robert  Middleton,  who  was  churchwarden  for 
many  years.  They  went  round  the  village,  and  got  a  drink 
at  each  of  the  public-bouses.  There  was  a  crown,  made  of 
choice  garden  flowers,  at  the  top  of  the  garland,  and  this 
crown  was  given  away  after  the  garland  was  over.  The 
garland  was  pulled  up  to  the  top  of  the  church  by  a  rope  let 
down  and  "threaded"where  the  crown  had  come  off.  There 
was  a  hole  at  the  top  of  the  garland  into  which  the  crown 
fitted.     He  did  not  remember  that  anybody  in  Hope  grew 


flowers  for  the  garland.  It  was  fixed  somewhere  in  the 
middle  of  the  church,  and  he  thought,  but  was  not  quite 
sure,  that  it  was  fixed  on  a  pinnacle  on  the  north  side.  He 
said  that  the  band  played  the  same  old  tune  that  they  played 
at  Castleton,  and  he  whistled  it  to  me  exactly.  He  thought 
that  on  the  first  occasion  the  crown  was  given  to  a  former 
vicar,  Mr.  Daniels.  He  had  been  a  ringer  for  thirty  years, 
and  said  it  was  chiefly  the  ringers  and  bandsmen  who  got 
the  garland  up.  He  did  not  remember  that  there  were  any 
words  to  the  old  garland  tune.  He  had  never  heard  his 
father  or  mother  speak  of  a  garland  being  held  at  Hope 
before  the  time  mentioned,  and  he  thought  that  the  Hope 
garland  was  a  copy  of  the  Castleton  ceremony. 

Joseph  Holmes,  aged  62,  Charles  Hadfield,  grocer,  Henry 
Ashton,  owner  of  a  saw-mill,  George  Ashton,  aged  75, 
and  Mrs.  Shirt,  wife  of  Henry  Shirt,  and  also  a  native  of 
Hope,  corroborated  this  account.  Mrs.  Shirt  used  the 
names  "  gentleman  and  lady,"  and  Mr.  Hadfield  "  king  and 
queen."  Mr.  Holmes,  who  took  the  queen's  part,  believed 
it  was  not  an  old  custom  in  Hope,  but  did  not  seem  quite 

Benjamin  Wilson,  of  the  parish  of  Hope,  farmer  and 
landowner,  aged  apparently  about  65,  said  that  the  children 
of  Thornhill,  a  hamlet  in  the  same  parish,  used  to  erect  a 
maypole  there  on  the  29th  of  May.  It  was  a  piece  of  wood 
three  or  four  yards  long,  set  up  somewhere  in  the  village 
and  fixed  in  a  heap  of  stones.  They  used  to  go  round 
gathering  flowers,  and  said  some  verses  containing  the 
words  "  a  posy  for  my  meepow  "  (maypole).  The  practice 
has  been  discontinued  for  many  years. 

Mr.  Middleton,  of  Bradwell,  postmaster,  said  he  remem- 
bered children  in  that  village  on  the  29th  of  May  carrying 
branches  of  flowers  tied  to  the  end  of  sticks.  "They  used 
to  carry  them  about  like  umbrellas,  and  some  of  them  were 
very  elaborate  affairs."  Harriet  Middleton,  of  Smalldale, 
adjoining  Bradwell.  remembered  the  same  thing  in  Bradwell 


436 


Garland  Day  at  Castleton. 


on  the  29th  of  May.  She  said  that  the  flowers  used  were 
chiefly  "  may-blobs  "  and  "  frumity-flowers."  ' 

Mr.  Bradwell,  of  Bradweli,  mentioned  above,  said  he 
remembered  an  attempt  to  hold  a  garland  at  Bradwell  on 
the  29th  of  May  less  than  fifty  years  ago.  It  lasted  for 
two  or  three  years,  and  was  not  continued.  There  was  no 
church  at  Bradwell  then. 

None  of  the  persons  with  whom  I  talked  could  remember 
a  garland  at  Eyam  or  Hathersage,  but  I  have  made  no 
personal  inquiries  in  those  villages.  I  was  told  at  Tides- 
well  that  they  had  no  garland  there,  and  no  ceremony  of 
any  kind  either  on  the  ist  or  on  the  29th  of  May.  The 
Morris-dancers  dance  at  the  wakes  in  June  and  at  the 
Kettle  Fair  in  September.  ^ 

The  above-named  Mrs.  George  Middleton,  of  Smalldale, 
aged  43,  said  that  she  was  born  at  Abney,  a  hamlet  two 
miles  south-east  of  Bradwell.  The  place  is  shut  in  by  hills 
on  all  sides,  and  difficult  of  access.  When  she  was  young 
every  house  in  Abney  had  a  garland  hung  above  its  door  on 
the  first  of  May.  She  had  helped  to  make  these  garlands 
herself.  They  were  round  like  hoops,  and  made  of  "  bits  of 
green  things,"  primroses,  Mary-blobs  (j/V),  &c.  She  said 
that  people  "  would  plod  through  snow  "  to  get  flowers  for 
them.  They  were  about  a  foot  in  diameter,  and  were  left 
hanging  over  the  doors  tilt  the  flowers  were  withered.  She 
thought  they  were  intended  to  welcome  the  spring.  She 
spoke  of  the  Garland  Day  at  Castleton  as  Oak-apple  Day, 
and  said  that  "  when  the  oak  is  coming  out  a  little  tiny  crab 
comes  with  the  leaf." 

'  Old  Mr.  Bradwell  had  heard  of  frumity-flowers  "  hundreds  of  times,"  but 
could  not  describe  ihem  to  me.  1  found  (hat  other  people  in  Bradwell  knew 
them,  and  I  ascertained  eventually  that  frumily-flower  is  n,  name  for  the 
cuckoo-flowet  01  lady's  smock  (Cardaminf  pralimis).  Can  we  connect  it 
with  the  l.alin  fminmhiiH  ?  and  was  it  once  intended  to  have  a  magical 
influence  on  the  harvest? 

'  Till  of  late  years  Derbyshire  men  believed  thai  Morris-dancing  was 
borrowed  from  the  fairies.  I  have  elsewhere  published  the  tune  which  these 
dancers  used  at  Eyatn  and  Tideswell.    {HoHseiolii  liUi,  &&,  1S95,  p.  136.) 

I 


Garland  Day  at  Castieton. 


We  have  seen  that  the  people  o(  Castieton  speak  of 
"  holding  the  garland  "  at  this  or  that  inn.  Here,  by  an 
easy  transference  of  meaning,  "  garland  "  has  come  to  mean 
"  feast."  This  sense  of  the  word  is  not  recorded  in  diction- 
aries, but  it  is  neither  local  nor  modern.  In  the  years  1600 
and  1608,  two  Kentish  innkeepers  were  presented  in  the 
court  of  the  Archdeacon  of  Canterbury  for  holding  "  gar- 
lands "  in  their  houses  on  holy  days  and  Sundays,  and  per- 
mitting dancing,  music,  tippling,  and  drinking  there." 

A  few  lines  about  the  Castieton  garland  are  given  in 
Cox's  Churches  of  Derbyshire  (ii.  132).  The  author  ob- 
serves that ''in  the  churchwardens'accounts  for  the  year  [749 
is  the  following  item:  "Paid  for  an  iron  rod  to  hang  ye 
ringers'  garland  in  [on  ?]  8(/."  The  item  is  valuable  as 
showing  that  even  then  the  church  took  official  cognizance 
of  the  ceremony.' 

Now,  as  we  have  seen,  the  festival  is  undergoing  change. 
The  queen's  crown  is  a  novelty.  The  Morris-dancers  are  no 
longer  men,  and  the  women  who  have  dressed  up  their 
children  in  lieu  of  them  are  talking  of  introducing  a  well- 
dressing.  But  the  striking  feature  of  the  May  celebration 
at  Castieton  is  that  it  still  remains  the  act  of  the  whole 
community,  and  not  that  of  a  special  trade  or  of  scattered 
parties  of  idlers  in  search  of  gain.  The  ringers,  who  have 
the  principal  management  of  it,  are  evidently  the  agents  of 
the  community.  Till  quite  lately  the  Barmaster,  the  most 
important  official  in    the   neighbourhood,   took  part  in  it, 

'  Mr.  Arthur  Hussey  in  jV.oWg,,  <»lhser.,  vi.,  245. 

'  Biiind's  Popular  Antiq.,  1849,  24S.  Old  churchwatdens'  ftccounla  often 
record  payments  for  the  garmenU  and  tinsel  of  Moms-dancers.  "In  the 
later  mediieval  period  Morris-dancing  was  associated  with  churches,  that  a  m 
the  nave  ni  ^¥esl  end,  the  mummeis  not  going  forth  on  Iheir  Whitsuntide 
round  until  the  fasi  dance  had  l>ecn  given  within  the  sacred  fabric"  ("  Sports 
in  Churches."  by  Ihc  Rev.  Dr.   Cos  in  And.«ws's  Cwi.',,,  Chavck   Cusfsmi, 


1 


4j8  Garland  Day  at  Castleton. 

though  not  perhaps  in  his  official  capacity.  Mr.  Potter,  who 
leads  the  King's  horse,  is  the  owner  of  the  house  in  which 
he  lives.  The  parish  clerk  takes  part  in  the  proceedings, 
and  the  frame  of  the  garland  and  the  queen's  garments  are 
kept  at  his  house.  Further,  the  inhabitants  still  grow  flowers 
specially  for  the  garland. 


VI. 

I  beg  leave  to  quote  the  following  very  striking  parallel 
from  the  second  edition  of  Dr.  Frazer's  Golden  Bough: 

"At  Grossvargula,  near  Langensalza,  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  a  Grass  King  used  to  be  led  about  in  procession  at 
Whitsuntide.  He  was  encased  in  a  pyramid  of  poplar 
branches,  the  top  of  which  was  adorned  with  a  royal  crown 
of  branches  of  flowers.  He  rode  on  horseback  with  the 
leafy  pyramid  over  him,  so  that  its  lower  end  touched  the 
ground,  and  an  opening  was  left  in  it  only  for  his  face. 
Surrounded  by  a  cavalcade  of  young  fellows,  he  rode  in  pro- 
cession to  the  town  hall,  the  parsonage,  and  so  on,  where 
they  all  got  a  drink  of  beer.  Then  under  the  seven  lindens 
of  the  neighbouring  Sommerberg,  the  Grass  King  was 
stripped  of  his  green  casing;  the  crown  was  handed  to  the 
mayor,  and  the  branches  were  stuck  in  the  flax-fields  in 
order  to  make  the  flax  grow  tall."  ' 

I  have  elscM'here  {Evolution  of  the  English  House,  p. 
176  jy.)  tried  to  show  that  an  English  parish  church  was 
substantially  a  basilica,  or  town  hall,  the  place  where  the 
local  council  met  for  the  transaction  of  business,  and  the 
place  where  justice  was  administered. 


'  Vol.  i.,  218,  refenringto  F.  A.  Rcimann,  Deutsche  Valiifitt 
fakTkuBaert,  pp.   I57'IS9;  Mmnhardt,  B.  K.  p.  347  iq. ;  Wifischel,  Si^m, 
Sitten,  and  Ceirdaz-ke  am  nuriagm,  p.  203. 


Garland  Day  at  Castteton. 


Note  I.— The  Air  "  Rowty  Tow." 


The  above  Moms-dance  tune  bears  a  considerable  degree 
'  of  resemblance  to  others  formerly  current  in  different  parts 
of  the  country. 

A  Cheshire  Morris-dance  printed  in  Grove's  Dictionary 
of  Music  and  Musicians,  vol.  li.,  page  369,  may  be  com- 
pared, as  also  a  Lancashire  specimen,  used  at  Rush-bearings 
on  the  outskirts  of  Manchester,  which  is  noted  in  my  book 
Traditional  Tunes,  1891,  page  184.  This  latter  has  many 
points  of  similarity  with  the  Derbyshire  one,  and  I  have  also 
come  across  a  traditional  Sword-dancers'  Song  used  in  the 
North  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  built  upon  a  like  melodic  basis. 

Hal  and  Tow,  the  Helstone  dance,  is  a  very  good 
example  of  typical  Morris-dance  tunes,  which  are  generally 
in  a  form  requiring  the  repetition  of  the  first  strain  as  a  con- 
clusion. Theyareall.properly,  in  two-four  time,  commencing 
on  the  accented  note  of  the  bar.  1  take  it  that  they  are  the 
survival  of  the  original  country  dance  (not  the  exploded 
centre  danse) ;  and  in  Oxfordshire,  if  in  no  other  county, 
they  are  danced  to  their  original  music,  that  of  the  pipe  and 
tabor.^  The  pipe,  though  it  has  but  three  holes  (two  in 
front  and  one  at  the  back  for  the  thumb),  is  equal  to  most 
simple  tunes,  and  by  clever  management  of  the  breath  can 
be  made  to  cover  more  than  an  octave.  Some  of  the  i8th 
century  country-dance  books  bear  upon  their  titles  the 
statement  that  the  tunes  are  "  adapted  for  the  violin,  German 
flute,  and  tabor  and  pipe,"  and  some  bear  representations 
of  the  instruments  themselves. 

The  Morris-dance  tune  was  not  necessarily  one  especially 
composed  for  the  dance,  but  some  suitabli'  popular  air  was 
most  frequently  used.  A  comparison  with  the  old  Scottish 
tune  "The  Breast-knot,"  as  given  below,  will  show  that 
both  the  Derbyshire  tune  and  the  others  quoted  owe  much 
of  their  melody  to  it. 

The  earliest  copy  of  this  tune  I  have  seen  occurs  in 
a  volume  of  Walsh's  Caledonian  Country-Dances,  circa 
1753,  under  the  title  "  The  Ladies'  Breast-knot,"  and  it  is 
practically  the  same  as  the  following  from  Bremner's  Reels 


k 


I  C/.  Folilart,  viii.,  308. 


Garland  Day  at  Castleton. 


and    Country  Dances  (Edinburgh,    1758).       I    should     not 
think  it  is  much  older  than  about  1740-50. 


Tua  Lady's  Bi.%ASt-iSMat\Bnmiur'i  Rait,  175S;. 


At  a  later  date  the  air,  with  a  song  attached  to  it,  appeared 
in  Johnson's  Scot's  Musical  Museum,  vol.  iii.,  1 790.  The 
late  Mr.  Chappell,  in  Popular  Music  of  the  Olden  Time, 
1856-9,  p.  681,  mentions  that  the  air  was  then  common  as 
a  Morris-dance  in  Derbyshire  and  Lancashire. 

To  prevent  confusion,  it  may  be  as  well  lo  state  that 
another  song,  "  Hey  the  Bonnie  Breast-knots,"  with  a 
different  air,  composed  by  John  Sinclair,  was  published  ia 
1826,  and  that  this  is  the  one  most  frequently  reprinted. 


Frank  Kidson.' 


128,  Burley  Road,  Leeds. 


(Meoiber  afComnuUeei  Kolk-Soog  Socieiy.) 


han< 


In  the  early  chapters  of  Mr.  Frazer's  Golden  Bough  the 
author,  following  the  Commentary  of  Servius.  connects  the 
rites  performed  at  Nemi  with  the  allusion  of  Virgil  to  the 
bough  plucked  by  command  of  the  Sibyl  and  carried  by 
vEiieas  into  the  under-world.  So  far  as  the  present  writer 
is  aware,  there  is  no  other  and  no  better  ground  for  the 
connection  than  this  one  passage  from  Servius.  The  refer- 
ences given  by  the  author  to  Pausanias,  Strabo,  and  Sue- 
tonius, do  indeed  bear  upon  the  legend  and  the  rites  of  the 
Grove  of  Aricia,  but  none  of  them  suggest  any  further 
tradition  connecting  the  bough  broken  off  by  the  runaway 
slave  within  the  sanctuary  of  Nemi,  with  the  Golden  Bough 
plucked  near  the  entrance  to  Avernus  from  the  wondrous 
tree  sacred  to  "  Infernal  Juno  "  {i.e.,  Proserpine),  without 
which  none  might  enter  the  realm  of  Pluto.  Is  there,  in 
fact,  any  likelihood  that  such  a  connection  really  existed? 

Without  unduly  emphasising  the  fact  that  Servius  lived 
nearly  400  years  later  than  Virgil,  we  would  remind  the 
reader  that  Servius  is  a  voluminous  writer,  who  drags  in 
every  possible  and  impossible  allusion  collected  in  the 
course  of  a  laborious  life,  however  remotely  bearing  upon 
the  matter  in  hand,  which  can  by  any  means  be  used  to 
illustrate  his  subject.  He  is  quite  devoid  of  the  power  of 
discrimination,  and  his  work  is  rather  to  be  regarded  as  a 
repository  of  legends,  many  of  which  might  otherwise 
have  been  lost,  than  as  a  trustworthy  guide  to  the  origin 
of  any  particular  tradition.  Nothing  indeed  could  better 
illustrate  his  system  of  gathering  together  and  setting 
down  every  allusion  occurring  to  his  well-stocked  mind, 
which  bore  in  the  most  distant  way  upon  the  subject  in 
hand,  than  his  treatment  of  this  very  point.    Here  is  the 


432  The  Silver  Bough  in  Irish  Legend. 


passage :  "  Ucet  de  hoc  ramo  hi  qui  de  sacris  Proserpinae 
scripsisse  dicuntur,  quiddatn  esse  mysticum  affirment  ;  pub- 
lica  tamen  opinio  hoc  babet.     Orestes  post  occisum  regem 

Thoantem  in  regione  Taurica  cum  sorore  Iphigenia " 

(Here  begins  the  story  of  the  flight  of  Orestes  with  Iphigenia 
and  of  the  carrying  off  of  the  statue  of  Diana,  as  related  by 
Hr.  Frazer.)  ".  .  .  .  Nunc  ergo  istum  inde  sumpsit  colorem. 
Ramus  enim  necesse  erat  ut  et  unius  causa  esset  interitus 
unde  et  statim  mortem  subiungit  Miseni:  et  ad  sacra  Pro- 
serpinx  accedere,  nisi  subUto  ramo,  non  poterat.      Inferos 

autem  subire  hoc  didt  sacra  celebrare  Proserpina " 

(Servius,  /ff«.,  vi.,  136  sqq, )  After  which,  Servius  wanders 
into  a  discussion  of  the  doctrine  of  Pythagoras  that  life  is 
like  the  letter  Y,  in  which  he  finds  again  the  symbol  of  the 
branch  in  the  dividing  ways  of  good  and  evil. 

We  may  read  the  passage  in  English  as  follows  : — 

"  Although  such  as  are  said  to  have  written  on  the  rites  of 

Proserpine  assert  of  this  branch  that  there  is  something 

mystic  in  it,  the  current  view  is  as  follows.     Orestes,  after 

the  slaying  of  king  Thoas  in  the  Tauric  district,  fled  with 

his  sister  Iphigenia Now  therefore  he  (i.«.  the  poet) 

has  coloured  his  story  from  this  source.  The  branch  had  to 
be  the  cause  of  one  death ;  wherefore  he  adds  at  once  the 
death  of  Misenus:  and  he  could  not  join  the  rites  of 
Proserpine  without  having  the  branch  to  hold  up.  And  by 
'going  to  the  shades'  be  (the  poet)  means  celebrating  the 
rites  of  Proserpine."  ' 


a  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  W.  H.  D.  Rouse  for  the  &bove 
With  reference  to  the  phisse  "  Don  poteial,"  Mr-  Rouse  adds  : 
"  I  think  feterat  is  used  loosely,  as  if  Moias  had  been  mouil,  when  the 
writer  should  have  said  '  a  man.'  j^neas  was  to  pluck  the  bough  because  he 
could  not  join,  &c,  to  imply  that  dOQc  could.  Not  Misenus,  ceilaioly,  ij 
meant ;  Kraromatically,  the  poet ;  by  intent,  .tneas  ;  by  implication,  anyone." 
Miss  Bume  suggests  that  Servius  must  have  seen  in  his  own  lifetime  the  last 
days,  perhaps  the  Goal  extinction,  of  the  "  Rites  of  Proserpine,"  i.e.  the  famous 
Eleusinian  Mysteries.  This  throws  an  interesting  light  on  his  nsc  of  the 
impcrlecl,  feltrat. 


The  Silver  Bough  in  Irish  Legend.        433 

It  will  be  seen  that  Servius  endeavours  to  rationalise  the 
story  by  connecting  it  with  the  Orestes  legend  and  the 
death  of  Misenus,  adding  that  he  derives  the  former  con- 
nection from  a  current  tradition,  popular  in  his  day.  That 
there  was  some  such  confused  popular  tradition  is  likely 
enough,  but  it  seems  to  have  had  as  little  foundation  in  the 
thought  of  Virgil  as  had  the  further  suggestion  that  the 
bough  represented  to  Virgil  the  diverging  paths  of  virtuous 
and  evil  living,  represented  by  the  letter  Y  of  Pythagoras. 
As  explanations  of  the  bough  of  >Eneas,  both  seem  to  be 
equally  far-fetched  ideas.  ^ 

The  point  in  no  way  touches  Mr.  Frazer's  main  line  of 
argument,  derived  from  a  consideration  of  the  rites  of 
Nemi,  and  it  might  not  have  been  worth  while  to  call  atten- 
tion to  it,  but  that  it  would  seem  a  pity  that  a  modern 
scholar  should  give  prominence  to  a  far-fetched  theory  of 
post-classical  origin,  to  explain  an  episode  so  full  of  beautiful 
and  mystic  meaning  as  the  plucking  of  the  bough  before 
entering  the  under-world.  It  certainly  had  no  such  cut-and- 
dry  rationalistic  meaning  in  the  mind  of  the  poet.  Even 
Servius  recognises  an  older  meaning,  though  it  had  become 
faded  and  obscured  in  his  day,  when  he  says,  "Such  as 
have  written  on  the  rites  of  Proserpine  assert  of  this  branch 
that  there  is  something  mystic  in  it."  And  again,  "  He 
could  not  take  part  in  the  rites  of  Proserpine  without  having 
the  branch  to  holdup,  and  by  'going  to  the  shades'  he 
means  celebrating  the  rites  of  Proserpine  ; "  that  is  to  say, 
the  well-known  and  constantly  recurring  Mysteries  of 
Eleusis,  in  which  the  disappearance  of  the  Maiden  into 

'  Since  writing  the  above,  my  allention  has  beea  dnwn  to  ihe  puiage  in 
Mr.  Andrew  Lang's  recent  boolt  M<^e  and  ReligiBn,  pp.  207-9.  In  the 
main  his  view  of  Servius'  methods  agrees  with  Ihe  above,  but  he  does  no[ 
appear  to  be  aware  of  ihc  Irish  fulklore  Iiclief.  It  is  (ar  more  likely  that 
Virgil  look  his  legend  from  prevalent  tradition  than  that  be  "  invented "  it. 
I  can  see  no  connection  between  the  Golden  Bough  and  Ihe  dnwing  of 
Arthur's  sword,   which   lielon(^  to  a  dilTerenl  set  of  legends,  viz.  Ihe  hero- 

voL.  XII.  a  r 


434        ^^  Silver  Bough  in  Irish  Legend. 


Hades  was  continually  re-enacted.  Here  Servius  en- 
deavours to  explain  away  the  supernatural  element  in  the 
history  of  /Gneas,  and  to  that  end  credits  Virgil  with  an 
allegorical  method  of  relating  history.  Again,  the  branch 
could  not  have  caused  the  death  of  Misenus,  as  Misenus 
was  dead  before  the  bough  was  plucked.  This  seems  a 
wholly  gratuitous  addition  cn  the  part  of  Servius  to  support 
his  theory.  Nor  can  it  be  said  that  the  branch  had  a  con- 
nection with  the  burial,  for  the  surprise  of  Charon  at  the 
sight  of  the  Bough,  "  so  rarely  seen  "  in  Hades,  shows  that 
it  was  only  those  who  entered  the  realms  of  the  dead  during 
life  who  presented  the  branch  to  Proserpine.  She  herself 
was  a  native  of  the  upper  world,  dwelling  in  the  shades, 
but  able  to  return  to  earth  at  inter\als.  Hence,  no  doubt, 
the  need  that  the  living  man  who  would  enter  Hades  and 
return,  should  appear  there  in  the  character  of  her  votary. 
The  connection  with  the  death  of  Misenus  was  simply 
that  thtf  truth  of  the  Sibyl's  announcement  with  regard  to 
Misenus  strengthened  the  belief  of  ^neas  in  the  righteous* 
ness  of  her  further  command  to  pluck  the  bough. 

The  idea  of  the  poet  is  wholly  different  from  that  of  his 
commentator.  In  Vii^,  the  Golden  Bough,  which  grew 
concealed  in  the  shades  of  gloomy  woods,  and  could  only 
be  gathered  "the  fates  permitting,"  was  dedicated  to 
Proserpine.  It  was  to  be  presented  to  her  as  her  peculiar 
gift.  It  could  never  come  to  an  end,  because  no  sooner  was 
one  bough  broken  off  than  another  succeeded  it.  It  was  . 
this  shining  bough,  plucked  by  v^^neas,  and  carried  by  the 
Sibyl,  that  gained  them  admission  into  Hades.  When 
Charon  withstood  their  passage,  refusing  to  ferry  living 
beings  across  the  Stygian  lake,  the  Sibyl  "  showed  the 
shining  bough,  concealed  within  her  breast." 

' '  Nor  mote  wu  needful ;  for  the  gloom)'  god 

Stood  mute  in  awe  to  see  the  golden  rod  ; 

Admired  the  destined  offering  to  hii  queen, 

A  venenble  gift,  so  rarely  seen. " 

'rm's  Trautiatitm.) 


The  Silver  Bough  in  Irish  Legend. 

With  limbs  and  body  cleansed  with  water,  iEneas 
later  approaches  the  gate  of  Pluto's  palace,  and  "  fixes  the 
fatal  bough  required  by  his  cjueen  above  the  porch."  The 
Golden  Bough  was  thus  plainly  a  talisman,  empowering  the 
bearer  to  enter  in  safety  during  his  lifetime  the  under-world. 
It  was  the  property  of  the  queen  of  the  unseen  abode.' 

Now  it  is  interesting  to  find  the  same  idea  running 
through  a  number  of  very  early  pagan  legends  derived 
from  Gaelic  or  Irish  sources.  We  propose  to  throw  to- 
gether a  few  of  these  examples,  gathered  out  of  that  large 
storehouse  of  visions  regarding  the  unseen  world  which 
Irish  literature  provides  us  with.  Probably  these  surviving 
visions  or  voyages  are  only  the  remains  of  a  body  of  legend 
originally  extending  far  beyond  Ireland,  though  some  of 
the  conceptions  which  we  find  in  them  seem  special  to  the 
Western  Gael.  The  bough  in  Irish  legend  was  not  intended 
to  avert  the  anger  of  the  gods  of  the  under-world,  who  are 
always  represented  as  craving  for  the  presence  of  the 
chosen  being  ;  it  is  rather  the  gift  of  the  queen  or  presiding 
genius  of  the  Land  of  the  Ever  Living  and  Ever  Young,  to 
draw  to  her  domain  the  favoured  mortal  on  whose  com- 
panionship her  heart  is  set.  For  the  mortal  generally 
enters  by  invitation,  and  the  branch  is  held  out  as  a  clue 
binding  the  desired  one  to  enter  her  abode.  It  acts  the 
double  part  of  a  link  to  the  unseen  world  and  of  a  means 
of  sustenance  while  there.  Often  also  it  produces  sweet 
and  soothing  music,  which  both  allures  the  mortal,  and 
wiles  into  forgetfulness  the  bereaved  who  are  left  behind. 
The  Irish  conception  of  the  unseen  differs  so  entirely  from 
the  classical,  that  it  is  only  to  be  expected  that  the  functions 
of  the  bough  should  differ  slightly  also.  The  idea  of  torture, 
pain,  or  expiation  for  sin  never  enters  into  the  Celtic  future. 
His  Elysium  is  wholly  happy ;  the  Plain  of  Flowers,   the 

'  In  G.  B.,  iii. ,  455,  u  5,  Mr.  Fraicr  seems  suddenly  10  revert  lo  this  idea, 
Ihough  the  whole  of  his  previous  aiguinent  hangs  upon  ibe  bough  bearing  a 

diffeient  ugnificaliun. 


I  Ihough  tl 

L  diffeient  1 


436        27ie  Silver  Bough  in  Irish  Legend. 


Land  of  Youth,  the  Country  ot  the  Ever-living,  the  Plain  of 
Honey,  these  are  his  names  for  it.  It  is  only  after  the 
introductioD  of  Christianity  that  these  joyous  ideas  become 
oversbado¥red  by  gloom,  and  the  conception  of  guilt  and 
expiation  fills  the  canvas. 

Let  us  take  first  a  vision  which  in  iis  structure  and  sub. 
stance  retains,  with  very  little  infusion  of  Christian 
elements,  its  pagan  form  and  feeling.  The  Voyage  of 
Bran,  Son  of  Fehal,  describes  the  visit  of  Bran  to  the 
Elysium  of  the  pagan  Celt.  It  begins  thus:  '■  It  was  fifty 
quatrains  that  the  woman  from  the  unknown  land  sang  on 
the  floor  of  the  house  to  Bran,  son  of  Febal,  when  the  royal 
house  was  full  of  kings ;  they  knew  not  whence  the  woman 
had  come,  few  the  ramparts  were  closed.  This  is  the 
beginning  of  the  story.  One  day  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
his  stronghold  Bran  went  about  alone,  when  he  heard 
music  behind  him.  As  often  as  he  looked  back  it  was  still 
behind  him  the  music  was.  At  last  he  fell  asleep  at  the 
sound  of  the  music,  such  was  its  sweetness.  When  he 
awoke  from  his  sleep  he  saw  close  by  him  a  branch  of 
silver  with  white  blossoms,  so  that  it  was  not  easy  to  dis- 
tinguish the  blossoms  from  the  branch.  Then  Bran  took  the 
branch  in  his  hand  to  the  royal  house.  When  the  hosts 
were  in  the  royal  house,  they  saw  a  woman  in  strange 
raiment  on  the  floor  of  the  bouse.  'Twas  then  she  sang  the 
fifty  quatrains  to  Bran,  the  host  listening,  and  all  beholding 
the  woman.     And  she  sang: 

'  A  branch  of  ihe  applelree  from  Emiin 

I  bring,  like  those  we  know  ; 

Twigs  ai  while  silver  are  on  i[ 

Crystal  biows  with  blossoms,  Ac' 
Thereupon  the  woman  went  from  them  and  they  knew  not 
whither  she  went.  And  she  took  her  branch  with  her.  The 
branch  sprang  from  Bran's  hand  into  the  hand  of  the 
woman,  nor  was  there  strength  in  Bran's  hand  to  hold  the 
branch." ' 

'  Edited  by  Dr.  Kuno  M  yer  in  Mr,  Null's  Voyage  qf  Bran,  vol.  L 


The  Silver  Bough  in  Irish  Legend.       437 

We  would  note,  m  passing,  that  the  branch  is  always 
said  to  be  the  bough  of  an  apple-tree,  and  we  shall  see  in 
future  extracts  that  the  apples  of  the  branch  served  for 
meat  and  drink  in  the  Land  of  Promise.  They  tasted 
of  every  sort  of  delicious  flavour,  and  their  sustenance 
lasted  during  the  whole  sojourn  of  the  visitor  to  the  in- 
visible world.  The  tree  is  described  in  the  Sickbed  of 
Cuckulainn  as  growing  in  Magh  Mell,  "the  Plain  of 
Honey,"  another  name  for  the  Irish  Elysium. 

"  There  is  a  tree  at  ihe  door  of  ihe  Court, 
It  cannot  be  matched  in  harmony, 
A  Itee  of  silver  upon  which  ihe  sun  shin«. 
Like  unlo  gold  is  its  splendid  lustre. 

"  There  are  at  the  eastern  door 
Three  stalely  trees  of  crimson  hue, 
From  wliich  Ihe  birds  of  perpetual  blooro 
Sing  to  the  youth  from  Ihe  Itingly  rath." 

Mr.  Frazer  takes  it  for  granted  that  the  Golden  Bough  of 
Virgil,  and  also  that  cut  by  the  fugitive  at  Nemi,  which  in 
his  view  were  the  same,  but  to  our  mind  were  probably 
unconnected,  was  the  mistletoe.'  This  is  possible,  but 
it  is  worth  remark  that  this  plant,  though  we  learn  from 
Latin  authors  that  it  played  a  part  in  the  religious  cere- 
monies of  the  pagan  Celts  of  Britain  and  Gaul,  is  seldom 
if  ever  mentioned  in  Irish  literature.  The  ceremonial 
cutting  of  the  mistletoe  bough  either  belonged  to  a  later 
system  of  things  than  that  described  in  Irish  Gaelic  litera- 
ture, or  it  was  confined  to  the  more  Easterly  branches  of  the 
Celtic  race.*  The  yew  was  the  tree  from  which  the  Irish 
Druid's  wand  of  divination  was  made,  and  it  is  the  apple- 
tree  that  plays  the  greatest  part  in  his  romance.  In  the 
Voyage    of   Bran    the  talisman    given  by   the    unknown 

'  It  is  rK>where  stated  that  the  bongh  of  i€iieas  was  the  mistletoe.     Virgil 

etmfans  it  to  the  mistletoe,  which,  as  Mr.  A.  Lsiig  remaiks,  aiguei  to  the 

1  contrary. 


438         The  Silver  Bough  in  Irish  Legend. 


woman  to  Bran,  is  said  to  be  "  a  branch  of  the  apple-tree 
itom  Emain,"  i.e.,  the  kingly  residence  of  the  Kings  of 
Ulster,  the  earthen  ramparts  of  which  still  exist  not  far 
from  Armagh.  Now  the  three  halls  or  forts  of  this  ancient 
palace  were  called  the  Royal  Branch  {Craebh  Ruadh),  the 
Red  Branch  [Craebh  Derg),  and  the  Speckled  House 
{Teiti  Brec) ;  while  the  bodyguard  or  knights  of  the 
king  were  styled  Champions  of  the  Royal  Branch.  It  was 
only  by  special  proficiency  in  the  arts  of  combat  that 
Admittance  into  this  order  was  gained.  So  far  as  is 
known  to  the  writer,  the  origin  of  these  names  is  lost: 
could  we  regain  their  significance,  some  light  would  pro- 
bably be  thrown  upon  the  choice  of  the  "apple-tree  of 
Emain  "  as  the  magic  talisman  insuring  safety  and  nourish- 
ment in  the  invisible  world. 

But  to  turn  to  another  story.  We  meet  the  silver 
branch  again  in  a  tale  entitled  Cormac's  Adventure  in  the 
Land  of  Promise}  The  youth  who  acts  the  hero  of 
this  tale  was  one  of  the  most  famous  kings  of  early  Ireland. 
The  portion  of  the  tale  bearing  upon  this  point  runs  as 
follows : — "  One  day  at  dawn  in  May-time,  Cormac,  grand* 
son  of  Conn,  was  alone  on  Mur  Tea  in  Tara.  He  saw 
coming  towards  him  a  sedate,  grey-headed  warrior.  A 
branch  of  silver  with  three  golden  apples  on  his  shoulder. 
Delight  and  amusement  to  the  full  was  it  to  listen  to  the 
music  of  that  branch,  for  men  sore  wounded,  or  women  in 
child-bed,  or  folk  in  sickness,  would  fall  asleep  at  the 
melody  which  was  made  when  that  branch  was  shaken." 
The  warrior  tells  Connac  that  he  comes  from  a  land 
wherein  is  naught  but  truth ;  where  is  neither  age  nor 
decay,  nor  gloom,  nor  sadness,  envy  nor  jealousy,  hatred 
nor  haughtiness.  Cormac  begs  the  warrior  to  give  him  the 
branch.  This  the  unknown  consents  to,  on  condition  that 
he  receives  in  return  any  three  boons  that  he  shall  ask. 

'  Edited  by  Dr.  Whitley  Stokes,  Iriicht  Ttxit,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  iSj-izg. 


The  Silver  Bough  in  Irish  Legend. 

On  getting  Cormac's  promise,  he  gives  the  branch  to  the 
young  prince,  and  disappears,  Cormac  knows  not  whither. 
Cormac  returns  to  his  palace.  He  shakes  the  branch  and 
deep  slumber  falls  on  all.  But  at  the  end  of  a  year  the 
warrior  returns  and  demands  in  succession  the  three  boons 
promised  him  by  Cormac.  They  are  Cormac's  daughter 
Ailbe  ;  his  son,  Cairpre  Lifechair;  and  finally  Cormac's 
wife,  Ethne  the  Tall.  Twice  Cormac  uses  the  magic 
bough  to  sooth  the  grief  of  the  survivors,  but  the  third 
time  he  follows  the  messenger  into  the  invisible  land,  where 
he  finds  his  wife,  and  sups  with  her  and  his  children  in  a 
country  of  wonderful  happiness.  He  finds  that  it  was 
Manannan  mac  Lir  who  drew  away  his  wife,  the  same  god 
who  interferes  between  Cuchulainn  and  Fand  in  The  Sick- 
bed of  Cuchulainn,  and  who  probably  was  conceived  of  as 
the  ruler  of  the  unseen  world.  In  the  latter  story  it  is  a 
cloak  that  he  shakes  between  the  seen  and  unseen  to  hide 
the  invisible  world  from  Cuchulainn.  The  cloak  seems 
here  to  have  for  some  reason  replaced  the  branch.  The 
close  of  the  story  of  Cormac's  adventure  in  the  Land  of 
Promise  is  that  Cormac  gets  the  Cup  of  truth  and  the 
Branch  of  music  and  joy,  and  returns  home. 

The  branch  performs  the  double  function  of  sustaining 
life  by  providing  nourishment  and  of  producing  sounds  of 
entrancing  harmony.  There  may  be  a  connection,  conscious 
or  unconscious,  between  this  latter  power  possessed  by  the 
branch  and  the  symbolic  branch  carried  by  the  bards  as  a 
sign  of  their  profession.  The  purpose  of  the  branch 
[Craebh  Ciuil)  was  exactly  the  same  as  that  described 
above;  it  was  used  to  bring  about  peace  and  order  in 
moments  of  excitement,  and  its  authority  seems  never  to 
have  been  questioned.  The  shaking  of  the  bardic  wand, 
which  seems  to  have  been  a  little  spike  or  crescent,  with 
gently-tinkling  bells  upon  it,  quieted  the  most  turbulent 
assembly.  For  instance,  in  the  piece  called  Mesca  Ulad, 
in  the   midst  of  a  bloody  fray,  the  chief  poet  of  Ulster, 


440       The  Silver  Bough  in  Irish  Legend. 

Sencha,  arose  ''  and  waved  the  peaceful  branch  of  Sencha, 
and  all  the  men  of  Ulster  were  silent,  quiet ; "  ivhile  in 
another  passage  in  the  same  piece,  he  is  described  as 
"  bearing  a  bronze  branch  at  the  summit  of  his  shoulder." 
His  title  of  "  pacificator  of  the  hosts  of  Ulad  "  probably 
comes  from  this.  In  another  piece  entitled  Agallamh  an 
da  Shuadh  or  the  Dialogue  of  the  two  Sages,  the  symbol  is 
thus  described :  "Neidhe"(a  youthful  bard  who  aspired 
to  succeed  his  father  as  chief  poet  of  Ulster),  "  made  his 
journey  with  a  silver  branch  over  him.  The  Anradhs^  or 
poets  of  the  second  order,  carried  a  silver  branch,  but  the 
Ollamhs^  or  chief  poets,  carried  a  branch  of  gold ;  all 
other  poets  bore  a  branch  of  bronze."  The  King  of 
Ulster  also  had  in  his  palace,  at  the  right  hand  of  his  seat 
at  table,  a  bronze  post,  which  he  struck  with  his  wand  or 
sceptre  of  silver,  and  which  had  the  same  instantaneous 
effect  of  pacifying  feuds  between  his  followers.  In  the 
tales  of  the  Irish  Elysium,  there  may  be  some  remembrance 
of  these  well-known  kingly  and  bardic  boughs  of  Peace. 

In  the  story  of  Conla  Ruadhy  the  maiden  who  calls  him 
away  uses  a  single  apple  as  a  bait  to  draw  him  to  fairy- 
land. He  is  the  son  of  a  famous  monarch  of  early  Ireland, 
Conn,  the  fighter  of  a  hundred  (Cet-da-thach)  and  the  story 
seems  to  have  been  told  to  explain  why  his  brother 
Art,  the  succeeding  king,  should  have  been  named  "the 
Solitary."  Conn  and  his  son  Conla  were  seated  together 
one  day  on  the  hill  of  Usnech  in  Meath,  when  Conla  per- 
ceives a  beautiful  maiden,  visible  only  to  himself,  who 
speaks  to  him  and  invites  him  to  join  her  in  Magh-Mell  (viz. 
the  *'  Plain  of  Honey,"  one  of  the  Irish  names  for  Elysium). 

The  king  is  startled  at  the  abstraction  into  which  the 
vision  has  thrown  Conla,  and  frightened  at  hearing  him 
converse  with  an  invisible  being.  He  hastily  sends  for  his 
Druids  to  exorcise  his  son  and  chant  their  incantation 
against  the  invisible  syren,  who  disappears.  *'  But  when 
the  chant  of  the  Druids  was  driving  her  away,  she  threw  an 


The  Silver  Bough  in  Irish  Legend.       441 

apple  to  Conla.  For  a  full  month  Conla  ate  nothing  but  this 
apple  ;  no  bit  nor  drink  beside  it  passed  his  mouthy  for  he 
deemed  all  other  food  poor  and  unworthy  beside  that  apple. 
Yet,  however  much  he  ate  of  it,  nothing  was  gone  from  the 
apple  ;  it  was  still  quite  whole."  At  the  end  of  a  month  the 
lady  appears  again,  beseeching  him  to  come  and  reign  as 
King  over  the  Ever-living  Ones,  the  people  of  Tethra,  Ocean 
King.  Conla  is  grieved  and  perplexed  between  his  duty  to 
his  kingdom  and  his  strong  desire  to  go ;  and  seeing  him 
wavering,  the  lady  breaks  out  into  song,  describing  in  terms 
so  ravishing  the  joys  and  glories  of  the  Land  of  the  Living, 
that  he  gives  one  spring  into  her  "  very  strong,  well- 
balanced,  gleaming  curach ''  and  disappears.  "  And  it  is 
not  known  whither  they  went."* 

In  the  next  story  that  attracts  our  attention,  however,  we 
learn  "  whither  they  went."'  In  it  the  same  hero  plays  a 
part.  We  meet  Conla  again  in  the  semi-Christian  tale  of 
TeiguBy  Son  of  Cian.  It  is,  like  so  many  of  the  Irish  stories 
of  the  unseen  world,  thrown  into  the  form  of  a  voyage. 
The  invisible  world  is  conceived  of  sometimes  as  being 
beneath  the  hills,  and  entered  through  the  tumuli  that  in 
several  places  in  Ireland  mark  the  burial  places  of  early 
heroes  or  gods  ;  or  as  being  far  over  the  seas,  and  approach- 
able either  by  boat  or  by  means  of  a  magic  horse  which 
rides  across  the  waves,  and  which  carries  the  chosen  hero 
to  the  land  of  happiness.  There  is  quite  a  large  literature, 
full  of  imagination  and  romance,  dealing  with  these  voyages; 
a  literature  that  is  exceptionally  interesting  as  showing  the 
gradual  modification  of  thought  brought  about  by  the  in- 
fusion of  Christian  ideas.  The  two  most  important  points 
regarding  the  pagan  conception,  unadulterated  by  Chris- 
tianity, are  (i)  that  the  Irish  unseen  world  was  a  land  of 
absolute  delight,  unclouded  by  any  idea  of  pain  or  expiation 


'  Edited  by  0*Beirnc  Crowe,   Kilkenny  ArchmologUal  Journal^   1S74-5, 
p.  X18,  etc. 


442        The  Silver  Bough  '*>  Jrish  Legend. 

for  sin;  (2)  that  it  was  not  attained  through  death:  but 
generally  at  the  call  or  invitation  of  an  inhabitant  of  the  in- 
visible world,  often  a  woman  who  sets  her  love  upon  some 
human  being  and  entices  him  away.  The  passage  from  the 
story  of  Teigue,  Son  of  Cian,  bearing  on  our  point  is  as 
follows  1 — 

"  Now  for  all  they  had  suffered  of  cold,  of  strain  on  their 
endurance,  of  foul  weather,  and  of  tempest,  yet  after  reach- 
ing the  coast  on  which  they  were  thus  landed,  they  felt  no 
craving  at  all  for  fire  or  for  meat ;  the  perfume  of  that 
region's  fragrant  crimsoned  branches  being  meat  and  satis- 
fying nourishment  for  them.  Through  the  nearest  part  of 
the  forest  they  take  their  way,  and  come  by-and-by  upon  an 
orchard  full  of  red-laden  apple-trees,  with  leafy  oaks  too  in 
it,  and  hazels  yellow  with  nuts  in  their  clusters.  They  quit 
this  spot  and  happen  on  a  wood;  great  was  the  excellence 
of  its  scent  and  perfume ;  round  purple  berries  hung  on  it, 
and  every  one  of  them  bigger  than  a  man's  head.  Birds 
beautiful  and  brilliant  feasted  on  these  grapes ;  they  were 
fowls  of  unwonted  kind :  white,  with  scarlet  heads  and 
golden  beaks.  As  they  fed,  they  warbled  music  and  min- 
strelsy exquisitely  melodious,  to  which  the  sick  of  every 
kind  and  the  many  times  wounded  would  have  fallen  asleep, 
and  Teigue  hearing,  chanted  this  melody :  '  Sweet  to  my 
fancy,  as  I  consider  them,  the  strains  of  this  melody  to 
which  I  listen,' '" 

They  advance  over  a  plain,  clad  in  flowering  clover  all 
bedewed  with  honey,  and  enter  a  fort  with  a  silver  rampart 
in  the  "  Earth's  Fourth  Paradise,"  where  they  find  a  charm- 
ing youthful  couple,  with  torques  of  gold  about  their  necks. 
"  Now  the  youth  held  in  his  hand  a  fragrant  apple  having 
the  hue  of  gold  ;  a  third  part  of  it  he  would  eat,  and  still, 
for  all  he  consumed,  never  a  whit  would  it  be  diminished. 
This  fruit  it  was  that  supported  the  pair  of  them,  and  when 


I  Edited  by  Dt.  Slandish  Hajes  O'Grady,  SUva  Gadilka. 


The  Silver  Bough  in  Irish  Legend,       443 

once  they  had  partaken  of  it,  nor  age  nor  dimness  could 
affect  them." 

The  youth  explains  that  he  is  Conla  and  that  he  has 
been  drawn  away  by  the  girl  of  many  charms  who  sits 
beside  him.  Then  as  they  wander  round  the  splendid 
mansion,  now^  empty,  but  reserved  '*  for  the  righteous 
kings  who  after  acceptance  of  the  Faith  shall  rule  Ireland," 
Teigue  looks  away  across  the  capacious  palace  and  "  marks 
a  thickly  furnished  wide-spreading  apple  tree  that  bore 
both  blossoms  and  ripe  fruit  at  once.  '  What  is  that  apple 
tree  yonder  ?'  he  asked,  and  she  made  answer :  *  That  apple 
tree's  fruit  it  is  that  shall  serve  for  meat  for  all  who  come 
to  this  mansion,  and  a  single  apple  of  it  was  that  which 
coaxed  away  Conla  to  me.'  '* 

The  pagan  idea  of  the  apple-branch  as  a  talisman  is,  in 
such  semi-Christian  visions  as  the  above,  evidently  be- 
coming confused  with  the  idea  derived  from  Biblical  sources 
of  the  tree  in  the  midst  of  the  Christian  Paradise ;  yet  its 
original  meaning  is  not  entirely  lost.  In  the  visions  in 
which  the  Christian  idea  is  paramount,  such  as  the  Vision 
ascribed  to  Adamndn,  or  the  piece  entitled  the  Two  Sorrows 
of  HeaverCs  Kingdom^  the  notion  of  the  talisman  is 
altogether  lost,  while  the  idea  of  the  tree  of  nourish- 
ment^ which  is  pagan  and  Christian  alike,  remains.  The 
birds  of  pagan  legend  inhabiting  its  boughs  become  in 
the  later  visions  the  souls  of  the  righteous  in  the  form 
of  birds.  In  the  Voyage  of  Brendan  we  find,  amid  many 
details  inspired  by  Christian  tradition,  a  confused  remem- 
brance of  the  fair  maiden  of  the  pagan  tales,  in  the 
monstrous  maiden,  "smooth,  full-grown,  yellow-haired, 
whiter  than  snow  or  the  foam  of  the  wave  "  who  is  found 
floating  dead  upon  the  ocean,  and  is  brought  to  life  by 
Brendan  in  order  that  she  may  be  baptised  and  receive 
the  Sacrament,  "before  going  at  once  to  Heaven." 

In  the  Ossianic  tale  of  Oisin  in  Tir-na-nog^  the  wanderers, 
Oisin  (Ossian)  and  the  beautiful  maiden  who  entices  him 


444        ^'^^  Silver  Bough  in  Irish  Legend. 

away,  meet,  twice  in  their  voyage  "  a  lovely  young  maiden 
riding  the  waves  on  a  brown  steed,  with  a  golden  apple  in 
her  hand,  followed  by  a  young  warrior  on  a  white  steed, 
who  closely  pursued  her."  In  the  Voyage  of  Maelduin  2l 
similar  idea  is  latent  in  the  rod  plucked  by  the  voyager 
from  the  wood  as  they  were  passing,  which  sprouted  on  the 
third  day  with  a  cluster  of  three  apples,  and  each  of  these 
apples  sufficed  them  for  forty  nights. 

Putting  together  all  these  examples,  which  no  doubt 
might  be  added  to  from  other  sources,  may  we  not  ask,  is 
not  the  Gaelic  Apple-Bough  of  entrance  into  the  unseen 
world  nearer  in  idea  to  the  conception  of  Virgil  thaa  the 
legend  of  the  bloody  sacrifice  within  the  groves  of  Nemi, 
or  the  story  of  the  flight  of  Orestes  from  which  this  is 
supposed  to  have  had  its  origin  ?  In  both,  the  mortal 
entered  alive  into  the  unseen  world,  guided  by  the  bough ; 
in^both,  the  bough,  though  in  classic  tradition  it  grew  above 
Avernus,  while  in  Irish  tradition  it  grew  in  the  invisible 
land  itself,  was  the  special  property  of  the  presiding  god- 
dess of  that  world.  It  would  be  curious  if  a  folk-belief, 
once  perhaps  widely-spread,  had  been  retained  only  in  the 
verse  of  Virgil,  and  the  folk-tradition  of  Ireland. 

[Miss  Hull  suggests  that  her  examples  of  Magic  Boughs  may  be  added  to 
from  other  sources.  The  following  passage  from  Grimm's  Deutsche  Mythologie 
seems  pertinent  to  the  subject.  (Stallybrass'  translation,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  971  sqq,) 
He  is  dealing  with  the  widespread  German  legends  of  departed  heroes 
slumbering  in  hidden  caverns,  and  of  white  ladies  inhabiting  the  recesses  of 
the  mountains,  with  whom  is  usually  commonly  associated  the  notion  of  an 
enchanted  yet  recoverable  treasure. 

**  To  get  into  the  mountain  in  which  it  b  concealed,  one  usually  needs  a 
plant  or  root  to  clear  the  way,  to  burst  the  door.  The  folktales  simply  call 
it  a  beautiful  wofuUrflower^  which  the  favoured  person  finds  and  sticks  in  his 
hat ;  all  at  once  entrance  and  exit  stand  open  for  him  to  the  treasure  of  the 
mountain.  If  inside  the  cavern  he  has  filled  his  pockets,  and  bewildered  at 
the  sight  of  the  valuables  has  laid  aside  his  hat,  a  warning  voice  rings  in  his  ear 
as  he  departs.  Forget  tiot  the  best  I  but  it  is  then  too  late,  the  iron  door  shuts 
with  a  bangy  hard  upon  his  heel^  in  a  twinkling  all  has  disappeared  and  the 
road  is  never  to  be  found  again.  The  same  formula  comes  up  regularly  every  time 


TTie  Silver  Bough  in  Irish  Legend.       445 

Id  Ih«  l^eods  of  the  Odenbe^,  of  the  Wcs«r  mountuiu,  and  the  Han, 
and  in  many  more  {D.  Sag.,DOi.  9i303i  314-  Bechst.  i,  146,  3,  16,  4,  310-1. 
Dieffenhoch's  WeUerau,  pp.  284-5. 19^) !  it  ntust  be  very  old.  The  flower  is 
commonly  said  to  be  blui,  the  colour  most  proper  to  gods  and  spiiits,  yet  also 
I  find  'purfli  flower'  and  'mhitt  flower'  mentioned.  Sometimes  it  is  called 
SchliisstJblttiat  (keyflower)  because  it  locks  the  vault,  and  as  symbol  of  the 
key-wearing  white  woman  whom  the  btateh  ef  keys  beflts  as  old  niistress  and 
housekeeper,  and  who  has  likewise  power  to  unlock  the  treosuie ;  also  luck- 
Jhwer  (Bechst.  3,  3 13),  but  most  frequently  nwnakrJ/KHW.  When  three  viondtr- 
fiorotrs  are  named,  it  seems  to  mean  three  on  one  stalk  {ib.  t.,  146,  4,  209)." 

Instead  of  wonderflower  or  keyflower,  other  stories  name  the  sfringvmnet 
(explosive  root)  supposed  to  be  the  tupherbta  laikyrii,  which  the  Italiaos  call 
sferra-tavalh,  because  its  power  over  metals  is  so  great  that  a  horse  stepping 
on  it  has  to  leave  the  shoe  behind.  A  foot-note  refers  to  the  rock-splitting  plant 
Shamir,  of  Rabbinic  legend.  Trom  this  he  passes  to  the  use  of  the  wish-rod, 
or  divining-rod,  called  in  the  description  of  the  Hoard  of  the  Nibelungs  [Nit. 
1064)  "a  rodling  of  gold."  Additional  references  are  given  in  vol  iv.,  pp. 
1596,  1597- 

We  naturally  think  of  "  Open,  sesame ! "  in  this  coimection,  but  ef.  Mr. 
Haitland's  remarks,  Jieport  ef  the  Folilitrt  CiMgrtss  of  1S91,  pp.  28-30.— Ed.] 


COLLECTANEA. 


The  Fire  Walk  Ceremony  in  Tahiti. 

{Quoted  by  permission  from  ^^  Nature  ^^  22nd  August^  1901.) 

The  very  remarkable  descriptions  of  the  "  Fire  Walk,"  collected 
by  Mr.  Andrew  Lang  and  others,  had  aroused  a  curiosity  in  me 
to  witness  the  original  ceremony,  which  I  have  lately  been  able  to 
gratify  in  a  visit  to  Tahiti. 

Among  these  notable  accounts  is  one  by  Colonel  Gudgeon, 
British  Resident  at  Raratonga,  describing  the  experiment  by  a 
man  from  Raiatea,  and  also  a  like  account  of  the  Fiji  fire  cere- 
mony from  Dr.  T.  M.  Hocken,  whose  article  is  also  quoted  in 
Mr.  Lang's  paper  on  the  "  Fire  Walk,"  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Society  for  Psychical  Research,  February,  1900.  This  extra- 
ordinary rite  is  also  described  by  Mr.  Frazer  in  the  Golden 
Bough  and  by  others. 

I  had  heard  that  it  was  performed  in  Tahiti  in  1897,  ^nd 
several  persons  there  assured  me  of  their  having  seen  it,  and  one 
of  them  of  his  having  walked  through  the  fire  himself  under  the 
guidance  of  the  priest,  Papa-Ita,  who  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  last 
remnants  of  a  certain  order  of  the  priesthood  of  Raiatea,  and  who 
had  also  performed  the  rite  at  the  island  of  Hawaii  some  time  in 
the  present  year,  of  which  circumstantial  newspaper  accounts 
were  given,  agreeing  in  all  essential  particulars  with  those  in  the 
accounts  already  cited.  According  to  these,  a  pit  was  dug  in 
which  large  stones  were  heated  red  hot  by  a  fire  which  had  been 
burning  many  hours.  The  upper  stones  were  pushed  away  just 
before  the  ceremony,  so  as  to  leave  the  lower  stones  to  tread 
upon,  and  over  these,  **  glowing  red  hot "  (according  to  the  news- 
paper accounts),  Papa-Ita  had  walked  with  naked  feet,  exciting 
such  enthusiasm  that  he  was  treated  with  great  consideration  by 


the  whites,  and  by  the  natives  as  a  god.  I  Tound  it  commonly 
believed  in  Tahiti  that  anyone  who  chose  to  walk  after  him, 
European  or  native,  could  do  so  in  safety,  secure  in  the  magic 
which  he  exercises,  if  his  instructions  were  exactly  followed. 
Here  in  Tahiti,  where  he  had  "  walked "  four  yeare  before,  it 
was  generally  believed  among  the  natives,  and  even  among  the 
Europeans  present  who  had  seen  the  ceremony,  that  if  anyone 
turned  around  to  look  back  he  immediately  was  burned,  and  I 
was  told  that  all  those  who  followed  him  through  the  fire  were 
expected  not  to  turn  until  they  had  reached  the  other  side  in 
safety,  when  he  again  entered  the  fire  and  led  ihem  back  by  the 
path  by  which  he  had  come.  I  was  further  told  by  several  who 
had  tried  it  that  the  heat  was  not  felt  upon  the  feel,  and  that 
when  shoes  were  worn  the  soles  were  not  burned  (for  those  who 
followed  the  priest's  directions),  but  it  was  added  by  all  that  much 
heat  was  felt  about  the  head. 

Such  absolutely  extraordinary  accounts  of  the  performance  had 
been  given  to  me  by  respectable  eye-witnesses  and  sharers  in 
the  trial,  confirming  those  given  in  Hawaii,  and,  in  the  main,  the 
cases  cited  by  Mr.  Lang,  that  I  could  not  doubt  that  if  all  these 
were  verified  by  my  own  observation,  it  would  mean  nothing  less 
to  me  than  a  departure  from  the  customary  order  of  nature,  and 
something  very  well  worth  seeing  indeed. 

I  was  glad,  therefore,  to  meet  personally  the  priest,  Papa-Ita. 
He  is  the  finest  looking  native  that  I  have  seen ;  tall,  dignified  in 
bearing,  with  unusually  intelligent  features.  1  learned  from  him 
that  he  would  perform  the  ceremony  on  Wednesday,  July  17,  the 
day  before  the  sailing  of  our  ship.  I  was  ready  to  provide  the 
cost  of  the  fire,  if  he  could  not  obtain  it  otherwise,  but  this  proved 
to  be  unnecessary. 

Papa-Ita  himself  spoke  no  English,  and  I  conversed  with  him 
briefly  through  an  interpreter.  He  said  thai  he  walked  over  the 
hot  stones  without  danger  by  virtue  of  spells  which  he  was  able  to 
utter  and  by  the  aid  of  a  goddess  (or  devil,  as  my  interpreter  had 
it),  who  was  formerly  a  native  of  the  islands.  The  spells,  he  said, 
were  something  which  he  could  teach  another.  I  was  told  by 
others  that  there  was  a  still  older  priest  in  the  Island  of  Raiatea, 
whose  disciple  he  was,  although  he  had  pupils  of  his  own,  and 
that  he  could  "  send  his  spirit "  to  Raiatea  10  secure  the  permission 
of  his  senior  priest  if  necessary. 


448 


Coihctanea. 


In  answet  to  my  inquiry  as  to  what  preparations  he  was  going 
to  make  for  the  rite  in  the  two  or  three  days  before  it,  he  said  he 
was  going  to  pass  them  in  prayer. 

The  place  selected  for  the  ceremony  fortunately  was  not  far 
from  the  ship.  I  went  diere  at  noon  and  found  that  a  large 
shallow  pit  or  trench  had  been  dug,  about  nine  feet  by  twenty- 
one  feet  and  about  two  feet  deep.  Lying  near  by  was  a  pile  con- 
taining some  cords  of  rough  wood,  and  a  pile  of  rounded  water- 
worn  Stones,  weighing,  I  shuuld  think,  from  forty  to  eighty  poundl 
apiece.  They  were,  perhaps,  loo  in  number,  and  all  of  porous 
basalt,  a  feature  ±e  importance  of  which  will  be  seen  later.  The 
wood  was  placed  in  the  trench,  the  fire  was  lighted  and  the  stones 
heaped  on  it,  as  I  was  told,  directly  after  I  left,  or  at  about  twelve 
o'clock. 

At  4.0  p.m.  I  went  over  again  and  found  the  preparations  very 
nearly  complete.  The  fire  had  been  burning  for  nearly  four 
hours.  The  outer  stones  touched  the  ground  only  at  the  edges 
of  the  pile,  where  they  did  not  burn  ray  hand,  but  as  they 
approached  the  centre  the  stones  were  heaped  up  into  a  mound 
three  or  four  layers  deep,  at  which  point  the  lowest  layers  seen 
between  the  upper  ones  were  visibly  red-hot.  That  these  latter 
were  nevertheless  sending  out  considerable  heat  there  could  be 
no  question,  though  the  topmost  stones  were  certainly  not  red- 
hot,  while  those  at  the  bottom  were  visibly  so  and  were  occasion- 
ally splitting  with  loud  reports,  while  the  flames  from  the  burned 
wood  near  the  centre  of  the  pile  passed  up  in  visible  lambent 
tongues,  both  circumstances  contributing  to  the  effect  upon  the 
excited  bystanders. 

The  upper  stones,  I  repeat,  even  where  the  topmost  were  pre- 
sently removed,  did  not  show  any  glow  to  the  eye,  but  were 
unquestionably  very  hot  and  certainly  looked  unsafe  for  nalced 
feet.  Native  feet,  however,  are  not  like  European  ones,  and  Mr. 
Richardson,  the  chief  engineer  of  the  ship,  mentioned  that  he  had 
himself  seen  elsewhere  natives  standing  unconcerned  with  naked 
feet  on  the  cover  of  pipes  conveying  steam  at  about  300  degrees 
Fahrenheit  where  no  European  foot  could  even  lightly  rest  for  a 
minute.  The  stones  then  were  hot.  The  crucial  question  was, 
how  hot  was  the  upper  part  of  this  upper  layer  on  which  the  feet 
were  to  rest  an  instant  in  passing  ?  I  could  think  of  no  ready 
thermometric  method  that  could  give  an  absolutely  trustworthy 


The  Fire  Walk  Ceremony  in  Tahiti. 

answer,  but  I  could  possibly  determine  on  the  spot  the  thermal 
equivalent  of  one  of  the  hottest  stones  trodden  on.  (It  was  sub- 
sequently shown  that  the  stone  might  be  much  cooler  at  one  part 
than  another.!  Most  obviously,  even  this  was  not  an  easy  thing  to 
do  in  the  circumstances,  but  I  decided  to  try  to  get  at  least  a  trust- 
worthy approximation.  By  the  aid  of  Chief  Engineer  Richardson, 
who  attended  with  a  stoker  and  one  of  the  quartermasters,  kindly 
detailed  at  my  request  by  the  ship's  master.  Captain  Lawless, 
I  prepared  for  the  rough  but  conclusive  experiment  presently 
described. 

It  was  now  nearly  forty  minutes  after  four,  when  six  acolytes 
(natives),  wearing  crowns  of  flowers,  wreathed  with  garlands,  and 
bearing  poles  nearly  fifteen  feet  long,  ostensibly  to  be  used  as 
levers  in  toppling  over  the  upper  stones,  appeared.  They  were 
supposed  to  need  such  long  poles  because  of  the  distance  at  which 
they  must  stand  on  account  of  the  heat  radiated  from  the  pile, 
but  I  had  walked  close  beside  it  a  moment  before  and  satisfied 
myself  that  I  could  have  manipulated  the  stones  with  a  lever  of 
one-third  the  length,  with  some  discomfort,  but  with  entire  safety. 
Some  of  the  uppermost  stones  only  were  turned  over,  leaving  a 
superior  layer,  the  long  poles  being  needlessly  thrust  down  between 
the  stones  to  the  bottom,  where  two  of  them  caught  fire  at  their 
extremities,  adding  very  much  to  the  impression  that  the  exposed 
layer  of  stones  was  red  hot,  when  in  fact  they  were  not,  at  least 
to  the  eye.  These  long  poles  and  the  way  they  were  handled 
were,  then,  a  part  of  the  ingenious  "staging"  of  the  whole 
spectacle. 

Now  the  most  impressive  part  of  the  ceremony  began.  Fapa- 
Ita,  tall,  dignified,  flower-crowned,  and  dressed  with  garlands  of 
flowers,  appeared  with  naked  feet  and  with  a  large  bush  of  "  Tl " 
leaves  in  his  hands,  and  after  going  pardy  around  the  fire  each 
way  uttering  what  seemed  to  be  commands  to  it,  went  back  and 
beating  the  stones  nearest  him  three  times  with  the  "  Ti  "  leaves, 
advanced  steadily,  but  with  obviously  hurried  step,  directly  over 
the  central  ridge  of  the  pile.  Two  disciples,  similarly  dressed, 
followed  him,  but  they  had  not  the  courage  to  do  so  directly  along 
the  heated  centre.  They  followed  about  half-way  between  the 
centre  and  the  edge,  where  the  stones  were  manifestly  cooler,  since 
I  had  satisfied  myself  that  they  could  be  touched  lightly  with  the 
hand.     Papa-Ita  then  turned  and  led  the  way  back,  this  time 


I. 


I . 


450 


Collectanea. 


•f 


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i  ' 
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with  deliberate  confidence^  followed  on  his  return  by  several  new 
disciples,  most  of  them  not  keeping  exactly  in  the  steps  of  the 
leader,  but  obviously  seeking  cooler  places.  A  third  and  fouitfa 
time  Papa-Ita  crossed  with  a  larger  following,  after  which  many 
Europeans  present  walked  over  the  stones  without  reference  to 
the  priest's  instructions.  The  natives  were  mostly  in  their  bare 
feet  One  wore  stockings.  No  European  attempted  to  walk  in 
bare  feet  except  in  one  case,  that  of  a  boy,  who,  I  was  toldy  found 
the  stones  too  hot,  and  immediately  stepped  back. 

.The  mise  en  seine  was  certainly  noteworthy.  The  site,  near 
the  great  ocean  breaking  on  the  barrier  reefs,  the  excited  crowd, 
talking  about  the  "red-hot"  stones,  the  actual  sight  of  the 
hierophant  and  his  acolytes  making  the  passage  along  the  ridge 
where  the  occasional  tongues  of  flame  were  seen  at  the  centre, 
with  all  the  attendant  circumstances,  made  up  a  scene  in  no  way 
lacking  in  interest.  Still,  the  essential  question  as  to  the  actual 
heat  of  these  stones  had  not  yet  been  answered,  and  after  the 
fourth  passage  I  secured  Papa-Ita's  permission  to  remove  from 
the  middle  of  the  pile  one  stone,  which  from  its  size  and  position 
every  foot  had  rested  upon  in  crossing,  and  which  was  un- 
doubtedly at  least  as  hot  as  any  of  those  trodden  on.  It  was 
pulled  out  by  my  assistants  with  difficulty,  as  it  proved  to  be 
larger  than  I  had  expected,  it  being  of  ovoid  shape  with  the 
lower  end  in  the  hottest  part  of  the  fire.  I  had  brought  over  the 
largest  wooden  bucket  which  the  ship  had,  and  which  was  half- 
filled  with  water,  expecting  that  this  would  cover  the  stone,  but  it 
proved  to  be  hardly  enough.  The  stone  caused  the  water  to  rise 
nearly  to  the  top  of  the  bucket,  and  it  was  thrown  into  such 
violent  ebullition  that  a  great  deal  of  it  boiled  over  and  escaped 
weighing.  The  stone  was  an  exceedingly  bad  conductor  of  heat, 
for  it  continued  to  boil  the  water  for  about  twelve  minutes,  when, 
the  ebullition  being  nearly  over,  it  was  removed  to  the  ship  and 
the  amount  of  evaporated  water  measured. 

Meanwhile  others,  as  I  have  said,  began  to  walk  over  the 
stones  without  any  reference  to  the  ceremony  prescribed  by 
Papa-Ita,  and  three  or  four  persons,  whom  I  personally  knew  on 
board  the  ship,  did  so  in  shoes,  the  soles  of  which  were  not 
burned  at  all.  One  of  the  gentlemen,  however,  who  crossed  over 
with  unburned  shoes,  showed  me  that  the  ends  of  his  trousers  had 
been  burnt  by  the  flames  which  leaped  up  between  the  stones, 


The  Fire  Walk  Ceremony  in  Tahiti.       451 

and  which  at  all  times  added  so  much  to  the  impressiveness  of 
the  spectacle,  and  there  was  no  doubt  that  any  one  who  stumbled 
or  got  a  foot  caught  between  the  hot  stones  might  have  been 
badly  burned.  United  States  Deputy-Consul  Ducorran,  who  was 
present,  remarked  to  me  that  he  knew  that  Papa-Ica  had  failed  on 
a  neighbouring  island,  with  stones  of  a  marble-like  quality,  and 
he  offered  to  test  the  heat  of  these  basaltic  ones  by  seeing  how 
long  he  could  remain  on  the  hottest  part  of  the  pile,  and  he  stood 
there,  in  my  sight,  from  eight  to  ten  seconds  before  he  felt  the 
heat  through  the  thin  soles  of  his  shoes  beginning  to  be  un- 
pleasantly warm, 

A  gentleman  present  asked  Papa-Ita  why  he  did  not  give  an 
exhibit  that  would  be  convincing  by  placing  his  foot,  even  for  a 
few  seconds,  between  two  of  the  red-hot  stones  which  could  be 
seen  glowing  at  the  bottom  of  the  pile,  to  which  Papa-Ita  replied 
with  dignity.  "  My  fathers  did  not  tell  me  to  do  it  that  way."  I 
asked  him  if  he  would  hold  one  of  the  smaller,  upper  hot  stones 
in  his  hand.     He  promised  to  do  so,  but  he  did  not  do  it. 

The  outer  barriers  were  now  removed,  and  a  crowd  of  natives 
pressed  in.  I,  who  was  taking  these  notes  on  the  spot,  left,  after 
assuring  myself  that  the  stones  around  the  edge  of  the  pit  were 
comparatively  cold,  although  the  centre  was  no  doubt  ver)-  hot, 
and  those  below  red  hot.  The  real  question  is,  I  repeat,  how  hot 
were  those  trodden  on  ?  and  the  answer  to  this  I  was  to  try  to 
obtain  after  measuring  the  amount  of  water  boiled  away. 

On  returning  to  the  ship  this  was  estimated  from  the  water 
which  was  left  in  the  bucket  (after  allowing  for  that  spilled  over) 
at  about  ten  pounds.  The  stone,  which  it  will  be  remembered 
was  one  of  the  hottest,  if  not  the  hottest,  in  the  pile,  was  found 
to  weigh  sixty-five  pounds,  and  to  have  evaporated  this  quantity 
of  water.  It  was,  as  I  have  said,  a  volcanic  stone,  and  on  minuter 
examination  proved  to  be  a  vesicular  basalt,  the  most  distinctive 
feature  of  which  was  its  porosity  and  non-conductibility,  for  it 
was  subsequently  found  that  it  could  have  been  heated  red  hot  at 
one  end,  while  remaining  comparatively  cool  at  the  top.  I  brought 
a  piece  of  it  to  Washington  with  me,  and  there  determined  its 
specific  gravity  to  be  o'39,'  its  specific  heat  0-19,  and  its  con- 
ductivity to  be  so  extremely  small  that  one  end  of  a  small  frag- 


'  Read, 
a  G  a 


■39- 


452 


Collectanea. 


ment  could  be  held  in  the  hand  while  the  other  was  heal 
indefiiiitely  in  the  flame  of  a  blow-pipe,  almost  like  a.  stick. 
sealing-wax.  This  partly  defeated  the  aim  of  the  experiment  ( 
find  the  temperature  of  the  upper  part  of  the  stone),  since  ot 
the  mean  temperature  was  found.  This  mtan  temperature  of  t 
hottest  stone  of  the  upper  layer,  as  deduced  from  the  above  dal 
was  about  1,200  degrees  Fahrenheit,  but  the  temperature  of  t 
surface  must  have  been  indefinitely  lower.  The  temperature' 
which  such  a  stone  begins  to  show  a  dull  red  in  daylight  is,  so| 
as  I  am  aware,  not  exactly  determined,  but  is  approximately  i,j 
to  1,400  degrees  Fahrenheit. 

To  conclude,  I  could  entertain  no  doubt  that  I  had  witneai 
substantially  the  scenes  described  by  the  gentlemen  cited,  and 
have  reason  to  believe  that  1  saw  a  very  favourable  specimen  of 
"  Fire  Walk." 

It  was  a  sight  well  worth  seeing.  It  was  a  most  clever  ai 
interesting  piece  of  savage  magic,  but  from  the  evidence  I  ha 
just  given  I  am  obliged  to  say  (almost  regretfuUy)  that  it  was  nol 
miracle.  S.  P.  Langl£y. 

Smithsonian  Institution,  Washington,  D.C., 
August  ^tht  1901. 

Mr.  Lang  has  published  some  remarks  on  the  above  accoo 
{Morning  Post,  aist  September)  which  we  summarise  as  follow 
omitting  his  observations  on  the  extraordinary  lightness  of  ti 
stone,  which  have  proved  to  be  based  on  a  misprint  in  JVatk 
("  spedfic  gravity,  o"39  "  for  "  a'39  ") : — 

The  test  applied  was  so  "rough"  as  to  be  inconclusive.  T 
quantity  of  the  water  is  not  given,  nor  are  we  told  whether  ai 
allowance  was  made  for  the  water  likely  to  be  absorbed  by  tl 
porous  stone.  In  any  case,  only  the  mean  temperature,  not  th 
of  the  upper  surface,  could  have  been  discovered  by  this  mear 
Nor  do  we  hear  how  long  a  time  elapsed  before  Europeans  pass< 
through,  shod,  without  harm. 

A  comparison  of  the  afiair  with  other  accounts  brings  out  tl 
following  points. 

I.  It  was  undertaken  as  an  exhibition,  not,  as  in  the  originals 
religious  ceremony  preparatory  to  cooking  the  first-fruits.  The; 
b  certainly  no  such  rite  in  Tahiti,  where  the  performant 
occuired. 


The  Fire  Walk  Ceremony  in  Tahiti.       453 

2.  The  stones  used  were  noted  by  Dr.  Hocken  as  basaltic  (as 
above),  and  by  Mr.  Gorten  a.s  lava  rocks.  Other  witnesses  omit 
the  point.  "  In  Asia  and  India  stones  are  not  used,  but  what  is 
described  as  red-hot  charcoal,  as  in  ancient  Italy." 

3.  The  tests  of  temperature  attempted  by  previous  witnesses  all 
fail  in  some  respect. 

4.  The  trousers  of  an  American  were  burnt  by  the  flames 
between  the  stones  (Langley).  The  dry  fern  anklets  of  the 
natives  were  not  burnt  (Thomson). 

5.  Thomson  and  Hocken  examined  the  feet  of  the  "native' 
fire-walkers,  and  found  them  not  insensitive,  but  unburnt.  Colonel 
Gudgeon  (though  a  European)  himself,  with  several  others,  walked 
barefoot,  and  unhurt, 

6.  The  furnace  was  only  lighted  four  hours  before  the  per- 
formance ;  not,  as  in  Hoclten's  case,  36  to  48  hours  before,  or,  as 
in  Gudgeon's,  from  dawn  till  z  p.m. 

"  Here  I  leave  the  matter,  not,  of  course,  claiming  a  '  miracle,' 
but  hopeful  of  more  exact  tests,  both  as  to  temperature  and 
'  native  feel.' " 

Mr.  Lang  writes  to  us  that  he  does  not  desire  to  engage  in 
further  controversy  on  Mr.  Langle/s  case.     He  adds  :— 

I  am  glad  that  Folk-Lore  is  turning  its  attention  to  the  Fire 
Walk.  Its  interest  is  religious,  apart  from  the  problem  of  the 
immunity  from  blisters.  In  the  Oceanic  area,  the  rite  appears  to 
be  one  of  the  sanctifying  of  First  Fruits.  In  the  Asiatic  area  the  rite, 
at  least  in  some  cases,  is  one  of  purification.  Mr.  Frazer  suggests 
that,  in  ancient  Italy,  "  the  passage  of  the  priests  of  Soranus  through 
the  fire  was  a  magical  ceremony  designed  to  procure  a  due  supply 
of  light  and  warmth  for  the  earth  by  mimicking  the  sun's  passage 
across  the  firmament,"  that  is,  if  Soranus  (Apollo)  was  a  sun-god 
{Golden  Bough,\\\.,  ^11).  I  have  not  observed  this  magical  purpose 
asserted  where  the  rite  is  still  practised.  Mannhardt  thinks  that 
perhaps  the  Italian  fire-walkers  {Hirpi,  wolves)  represented  the 
Corn  Spirit, — not  the  Sun.  This  is  not  the  case  where  the  fire- 
walkers  have  no  corn,  but  perhaps  they  then  represent  the  masawe 
spirit  ? 

As  to  the  immunity  of  the  fire-walkers,  I  cite  many  examples, 
and  good  European  reports,  in  Modern  Mythology,  and  in  Magic 
and  Reiigion, 

The  best  authorities  are  Mr.  Basil  Thomson,  when  a  British 


* 


454 


Collectanea, 


I  > 


I     > 


official  in  Fiji,  Miss  Teuira  Henry,  a  learned  lady  of  Polynesu 
extraction  (Honolulu),  Dr.  Hocken  of  New  2^ealand,  who  made 
very  careful  examination,  using  a  thermometer,  Colonel  Haggai 
(Japan),  Colonel  Gudgeon,  Governor  of  Rarotonga  (who,  wit 
other  Europeans,  performed  the  walk  barefoot  and  unhurtX  ^^ 
Mr.  George  Ely  Hall,  Turkish  Consul-General  at  San  Francisa 
who  did  the  walk  in  company  with  Commodore  Germinot,  con 
mander  of  the  French  cruiser  Froiet,  last  year.  His  account  is  i 
the  Sunday  Examiner  Magazine  (San  Francisco)  for  Decembei 
1900,  and  brief  extracts  appeared  in  ih^  Journal  of  tke  I^cfyfusia, 
Society^  March,  1901. 

In  my  opinion  these  and  other  versions,  cited  by  Mr.  Fiazer  ii 
The  Golden  Bought  and  by  myself  in  the  books  mentioned,^  nea 
to  be  compared  with  the  description  by  Mr.  Langley.  It  is  tni( 
that  the  other  authors  offer  no  explanation.  The  only  explanatioi 
which  I  have  ever  oflfered  (in  Magic  and  Religion)  is  that  **  perhap 
we  can  all  do  the  fire-walk."    One  never  knows  till  one  tries ! 

A.  Lang. 


We  have  to  thank  the  proprietors  of  The  Wide  World  Magazini 
for  the  use  of  the  illustration,  (Plate  xv.),  one  of  five  photograph; 
taken  by  Mr.  Frank  Davey,  ("  the  well-known  Honolulu  photo 
grapher"),  of  the  exhibition  given  by  Papa-Ita  at  Honolulu  or 
Saturday,  January  19th,  1901,  which  are  reproduced  in  the  June 
(1901)  number  of  The  Wide  World,  with  an  accompanying 
description  by  Mr.  Davey. 

With  regard  to  the  points  emphasised  by  Mr.  Lang,  Mr.  Davey's 
evidence  is  as  follows,  i .  The  ceremony  as  performed  by  Papa-Ita 
has  "  degenerated  into  a  mere  show,"  with  a  "  manager  "  and  gate 
money.  2.  "The  peculiarly-mottled  lava-stones  which  are  necessary 

for  the  ceremony  were  easily  found Ita  was  greatly  pleased, 

for  they  were  just  what  he  wanted."  3.  No  test  of  temperature  is 
described ;  but  "  you  could  hear  the  stones  splutter  as  the  rain 
(which  began  to  fall  at  the  moment)  struck  them."  4.  J^i/, 
5.  "I  personally  examined  his  feet  with  scrupulous  care,  and 
found  they  were  intact."  Their  callosity  or  otherwise  is  not  men- 
tioned. 6.  The  furnace  was  lighted  ten  hours  beforehand.  Ita 
said  "  the  stones  were  not  hot  enough,"  and  that  he  would  give 
another  performance,  which  he  did  the  following  Thursday,  when 
500  dollars  was  offered  to  any  one  who  would  precede  him,  but  not 


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The  Fire  Walk  Ceremony  in  Tahiti. 

aken.  Mr.  Davey  speaks  of  the  "  red-hot "  stones,  the  flames 
leaping  up  between  them,  and  the  men  who  (in  ordinary  European 
dress,  according  to  the  photograph)  turned  them  over  with  long 
poles,  "  so  as  to  get  the  greatest  heat  uppermost " ;  but  neither  he 
nor  any  narrator  previous  to  Mr.  Langley  explains  whether  or  not 
he  means  the  epithets  "red-hot"  and  "white-hot"  to  apply  to 
the  upper  sur/aet  of  the  topmost  layer  of  stones  at  the  moment  of 
being  trodden  on  1  If  not,  then  the  witnesses  are  substantially 
agreed  on  this  point,  However,  we  are  not  dealing  with  con- 
flicting accounts  of  the  same  event,  but  comparing  the  accounts 
of  different  events. 

It  is  perhaps  worth  while  Eo  point  out  that  in  all  Papa-ICa's 
performances  of  which  we  have  particulars,  the  fire  was  made 
under  a  cairn  of  stones,  and  continued  to  burn  during  the  exhibi- 
tion, which  must  have  added  not  a  little  to  the  exciting  nature  of 
the  scene;  while  in  other  cases  (New  Zealand,  Fiji)  the  pit, 
appears  to  have  been  lined  with  the  stones  and  the  firewood 
placed  on  them ;  what  remained  of  it  being  removed  (in  Dr. 
Hocken's  account)  when  they  were  sufficiently  heated,  after  the 
manner  of  an  old-fashioned  bread-oven  in  England.  Ed. 


I 


A  Survival  of  Tree-worship. 
{CommunUated  by  Mr.  J.  G.  Frazer.) 


In  this  little- visited  corner  of  Tuscany  1  have  come  across  what 
appears  to  me  a  curious  survival  of  tree -worship,  or  rather,  worship  of 
the  spirit  of  the  woods.  I  am  spending  the  summer  in  a  little  village 
on  the  edge  of  the  great  chestnut  forests  which  cover  Mount  Amiata, 
an  isolated  mountain  rising  from  the  Maremma.  All  summer  a 
movement  has  been  going  on ;  the  peasants  going  away  by  twos 
and  threes  at  night,  and  returning  the  next  day,  tired,  but  with  a 
queer  excited  visionary  look  which  was  so  marked  that  it  excited 
my  curiosity.  At  first  they  were  unwilling  to  say  much,  only  that 
they  had  been  to  visit  a  Madonna  in  an  oak-tree ;  but  as  I  have 
become  well  known  they  grow  more  communicative  and  enter 
into  particulars.     They  walk  to  a  certain  valley,  and  there  they 


456 


Collectanea, 


assert  that  a  lady  (the  Madonna,  as  they  believe)  appears  in  an 
oak-tree.  They  spend  the  night  in  a  sort  of  ecstasy,  of  which 
they  can  tell  little  except  that  it  leaves  them  "  conteniisitmi* 
This  has  been  going  on  all  summer,  and  sometimes  there  arc 
several  thousand  people  on  the  spot.  When  one  sees  them  going 
off  after  their  hard  day's  work  under  the  Italian  sun,  to  take  first 
a  walk  of  four  hours  from  here  (many  come  from  much  furtber)^ 
and  then  to  spend  the  whole  night  in  this  way,  one  cannot  help 
feeling  that  some  strong  instinct  or  feeling  must  draw  them. 

The  Church  discourages  the  whole  thing  ;  the  arch-priest  d 
Santafiora  goes  so  far  as  to  assert  that  it  is  a  work  of  the  devO, 
but  that  would  be  his  view  of  any  survival  of  the  worship  of  the 
wood-spirits.  The  people,  though  pious  Catholics,  will  not  be 
prevented  from  going  to  their  oak-tree  ;  they  are  persuaded  it  ii 
the  Madonna.  The  government,  which  dislikes  any  religious  fcp 
ment  among  the  people,  has  sent  the  carabinitri  once,  who  tOrt 
off  the  offerings  which  the  poor  people  had  hung  on  the  tree,  and 
threw  down  and  trampled  on  the  candles  they  had  fixed  on  it  | 
but  this  has  only  irritated  the  believers.  They  threaten  now  to 
cut  down  the  oak  and  post  carabinieri  on  the  spot,  so  the  who!* 
thing  may  soon  be  put  down,  and  you  may  like  to  know  about  il 
while  yet  going  on. 

Peasants  are  not  good  hands  at  describing  sensations ;  about 
their  visions  they  can  only  say  they  see  a  strange  light  and  tbt 
Madonna  appears,  and  they  see,  or  she  tells  them,  wondeifu! 
beautiful  things.  It  is  all  vague  as  to  detail,  but  not  as  to  th( 
sentiment,  or  belief  in  the  vision.  Owing  to  its  isolation,  sur 
rounded  by  the  deadly  Maremma,  the  people  of  this  mountaii 
aie  peculiarly  primitive ;  but  an  electric  tram  is  threatened,  so  ooi 
had  better  study  them  at  once,  as  that  will  banish  the  spirits. 

Makv  Lovett  Cahbron. 

Le  Bagnore,  Arcidosso,  Prov.  di  Grosseto,  Italy. 
izth  August,  1901, 


The  Rice  Harvest  in  Ceylon.  457 

The  Rice  Harvest  m  Ceylon. 
(Communicated by  Mr.  Andrew  Lang). 

Let  me  give  you  an  account  of  a  Hindu  festival  that  occurs  here, 
in  Ceylon,  annually.  The  Tamil  coolies  have  a  god  Mareii,  that 
they  carry  in  an  ark,  shaped  so.  [Here  follows  a  small  rude 
pen-and-ink  outline :  a  figure  (the  god)  under  a  segmental  arch 
supported  on  pillars,  out  of  which  spring  lines  explained  to  repre- 
sent "  peacock's  feathers,  hair,  &c."]  After  the  harvest  of  rice  is 
gathered,  any  time  in  May,  June,  or  July,  and  befort  the  burst  of 
the  south-west  monsoon,  which  occurs  in  May  or  June,  they  lake 
this  god  and  throw  it  into  the  river  ;  and  then  fifteen  or  twenty- 
one  days  after  they  go  to  the  same  spot,  and  look  about  for  the 
new  god  ;  pretend  not  to  find  it,  and  go  through  a  pantomime  ; 
and  then  find  a  new  ^d  in  the  water,  with  great  rejoicing,  &c.  I 
asked  the  man,^  why  find  a  new  god  ?  Would  not  the  old  one 
do,  washed  and  dried  ?  No,  he  said,  after  the  rice  is  harvested 
the  "  god  must  be  killed,"  and  a  new  god  found  hke  a  new-born 
baby  come  to  life,  and  it  must  be  found,  or  the  "  great  rain  "  (the 
south-west  monsoon)  will  not  come,  and  the  sowing  of  rice  (for 
the  second  crop)  will  fail. 

Note  the  variable  date  of  doing  this.  This  depends  entirely  on 
the  harvest  date,  late  or  early,  according  to  the  weather  and  the 
heaviness  of  the  crop.  And  here  in  Ceylon  we  have  two  or  three 
different  dales  for  harvesting  produce,  entirely  depending  on  the 
rain  and  sunshine  being  different  in  different  parts  of  Ceylon.  In 
one  place  you  will  have  drenching  rain,  wind,  and  cold,  and  on 
the  same  day  you  go  five  miles  or  so,  across  a  range  of  hills  6,000 
feet  high,  and  you  go  into  a  fine  climate  like  Italy  :  no  rain,  no 
cold  ;  all  sunshine  and  drought.  The  harvest  time  is  opposite  10 
harvest  time  on  the  other  side  of  the  range.  One  must  live  in  the 
tropics  to  understand  this. 

Another  very  interesting  ceremony  among  the  Singhalese  is 
Thrashing  the  Rice.  I  found  an  account  of  it  in  the  Monthly 
Literary  Register,  or  Notes  and  Queries  of  Ceylon  (Ferguson, 
Obstroer  Office,  Colombo),  1896,  p.  149,  as  follows, 


I  Obstroer  Off 


Presumably  a   Tamil  coolie  previously  mentioned. 


458 


llfl 


They  choose  a  lucky  day  and  hour,  and  then  draw  in  wood- 
ashes  on  the  floor  of  the  thrashing-place  this  picture.  [Here 
follows  a  rough  diagram  :  a  cross  with  equal  amis  having  trident- 
shaped  extremities,  intersecting  three  concentric  circles,  the  arms 
projecting  well  beyond  the  circles.]  They  then  put  in  each  of  the 
six  arcs  of  the  two  outer  circles  [sie]  the  following  :  r,  a  broom  ;  2, 
a  winnow ;  3,  an  ear  of  corn  ;  4,  a  flail ;  5,  the  bow  and  arrow  of 
Vishnu  ;  6,  a  new  moon.  The  two  btter  [figures  ?]  are  to  keep 
off  evil  spirits.  Then  turmeric  and  cow-dung  are  mixed  in  water 
and  spread  all  over  it,  and  in  the  centre  is  put  (i)  a  piece  of 
margosa-wood,  (2)  a  sea-shell,  (3)  a  piece  of  iron.  The  first  is  to 
keep  off  the  special  com-devil,  the  second  is  an  emblem  of  the 
purity  of  Sakkeya,  and  the  third  is  to  ward  off  general  devils. 

Then  some  one  lucky  and  wealthy  carries  in  a  handful  of  ears 
on  his  head,  walks  three  times  round  the  thrashing-floor,  places 
the  corn  in  the  centre,  kneels  down  and  folds  his  hands  before 
it,  and  bows  down  to  it  with  uplifted  hands ;  and  then  he  makes 
a  litter  of  the  stack,  and  thrashing  begins.  While  they  are 
thrashing,  "  tee "  or  "  dummy "  names  are  used  for  all  tools,  &c.  ; 
and  no  one  may  swear,  or  say  devil,  tiger,  hre,  &c.,  or  the  com 
will  be  spoilt 

R.  J.  Druumond,  M.D. 

Belgravia,  Talawakelli,  Ceylon. 
z^th  Septemier,  1901, 


|1 


Stories  and  other  Notes  from  the  Upper  Congo. 

{Continued  from  p.  189.) 

III. — MoTU  MoKo.    (Miketo,  p.  36.) 

About  a  Certain  Person. 

He  lived  and  worked  a  farm,  and  planted  a  large  number  of 

plaintains  in  it.    They  ripened  very  well. 

One  day  he  went  and  found  that  the  matured  plantains  had 
been  entirely  broken  off  their  stems.     He  said :    "  Who   has 


r 


stories  from  the  Upper  Congo.  459 

broken  my  plantains  thus  ?  Alas  !  for  mercy."  Every  morning 
and  every  day  it  was  thus ;  however,  it  was  the  Above-folk  who 
came  down  on  purpose  to  steal  them.  One  day  he  laid  in  ambush, 
and  saw  them  descend  in  numbers  and  give  themselves  up  to 
eating  the  ripe  plantain.  The  man  rushed  out  and  chased  them, 
and  caught  one  woman,  He  brought  her  with  him  and  put  her 
in  his  house,  and  gave  her  a  name — Mwila-ndaku. 

Mwila-ndaku' had  much  intelligence.  She  set  fire  to  the  wood, 
did  work,  and  knew  things  like  a  member  of  the  human  race,  and 
was  every  day  charming  her  friends,  and  afterwards  she  brought  a 
great  many  of  them  to  her  husband. 

By-and-by  this  woman  became  possessed  of  a  covered  basket, 
and  thereupon  she  said  to  her  husband  1  *'  As  we  live  here,  if  I  go 
to  the  farm,  you  must  not  open  my  basket,  and  if  you  open  it, 
then  consequently  we  shall  all  go  away."  The  husband  answered : 
"  All  right,  then  I  will  not  undo  it" 

Every  day  he  was  very  happy  because  he  had  plenty  of  people. 
But  one  day  the  wife  went  to  the  farm,  and  the  husband  said : 
"  Every  morning  why  does  my  wife  say,  '  You  must  not  open  the 
basket  ? '  "  The  husband  opened  the  basket,  looked  inside,  and 
shut  it  again.  When  his  wife  returned  she  entered  the  house  and 
said :  "  My  husband,  why  did  he  open  the  basket  ? "  The  husband 
sat  perfectly  quiet.  One  day  the  husband  went  into  the  bush, 
and  the  wife  called  all  het  tribe  and  returned  above. 

Moral:  You  see  when  a  friend  admonishes  you  not  to  touch 
his  things,  then  leave  them  alone. 

1.  Ba-Likoh  0\  Bai-Likolo.  Likolo>=  sky,  place  above;  ba  or 
bai=people  of;  hence  the  people  of  the  place  above,  or  for  short, 
the  Above-folk,  This  I  acknowledge  is  an  awkward  phrase  ; 
perhaps  a  better  will  suggest  itself  some  day.  One  is  restricted 
to  this  narrow  view  of  Likolo  because  they  have  the  word  Bolobo 
=happiness,  as  describing  a  place  where  some  of  their  ancestors 
are.  Bolobo  is  from  the  verb  lo6a  =  lo  rejoice.  Their  notions 
regarding  this  place  (Bolobo)  are  very  nebulous. 

Some  other  stories  give  other  phases  of  the  powers  of  these 
folk  who  descend  from  above. 

2.  Mwila-ndaku.  This  was  one  of  the  names  given  to  a  slave- 
wife  who  was  set  apart  10  be  buried  with  the  dead  husband-  If 
she  gave  birth  to  a  child  before  her  husband  died,  she  waa  freed 


460 


from  this  doubtful  honour.  The  woman  was  often  buried  alive. 
During  the  first  year  or  two  of  our  residence  here  we  were  enabled 
to  stop  this  cruel  custom. 

3.  Set  fire  to  the  wood.  The  belief  is  that  there  was  no  fiie  on  the 
earth,  but  that  originally  it  came  from  above.  In  another  story 
it  is  related  that  these  Above-folk  brought  down  the  fire,  and 
taught  the  folk  on  earth  the  use  of  it. 


II 


IV. — Lo  La  Nkkngo.  1 

Palaver  of  Nkengo. 

The  son  of  Libuta  lived  in  a  town.  When  he  saw  the  people 
dying  in  numbers,  he  said :  "  Vou  Above-folk,  throw  me  down  a 
rope."  The  Above-folk  heard,  and  threw  him  down  a  rope. 
Nkengo  held  the  rope,  and  they  pulled  him  up  above.  When  he 
reached  above  he  waited  one  day. 

When  the  day  was  gone,  in  the  morning,  they  asked  him, 
saying :  "  Vou  come  here  in  order  to  receive  salvation,  the 
appointment  is  for  seven  days,  but  you  must  not  sleep;  should 
you  sleep,  then  you  will  not  receive  salvation." 

Nkengo  was  able  to  remain  sleepless  for  six  days,  but  on  the 
next — the  seventh — he  was  not  able,  but  nodded  in  sleep.  They 
roused  him  up,  saying :  "You  came  that  you  might  receive  salva- 
tion, you  had  an  appointment  for  seven  days,  you  were  able  to 
keep  six  well,  why  did  you  abandon  salvation  on  the  seventh?" 
The  Above-folk  were  angty,  they  drove  him  away,  saying :  "  Get 
out,  and  go  with  your  dying,"    They  lowered  him  to  the  earth. 

The  people  left  on  the  earth  asked  him,  saying :  "  Tell  us  what 
happened  when  you  were  up  above  to  receive  salvation."  Then 
Nkengo  said :  "  When  I  went  above  to  receive  salvation,  they 
gave  me  an  appointment,  saying,  '  You  have  come  to  receive  sal- 
vation, but  you  must  not  sleep  for  seven  days.'  I  was  able  for 
six,  but  the  next — the  seventh — I  abandoned  it.  Thereupon  they 
were  angry,  and  drove  me  away,  saying,  'Get  away  with  your 
dying,  you  shall  not  receive  salvation;  every  day  you  shall  be 
dying.' " 

His  friends  who  were  left  laughed  at  him,  saying :  "  Nkengo, 
the  son  of  Libuta,  was  receiving  salvation,  and  ran  away  quickly, 

d  so  lost  it" 


Stories  from  the  Upper  Congo. 


This  story  I  have  had  for  several  years ;  in  fact  there  are  many 
reasons  to  believe  that  its  conception  is  purely  native.  Nkengo 
is  often  blamed  for  so  nearly  gaining  salvation,  and  yet  losing  it. 


V. — The  Two  Bundles. 

On  one  occasion  while  a  man  was  working  in  the  forest,  a  little 
man  with  two  bundles,  one  large  and  one  small,  went  up  to  him 
and  said  :  "Which  of  these  bundles  will  you  have?  This"  (taking 
up  the  large  bundle)  "contains  knives,  looking-glasses,  cloth,  &c. 
This  "  (taking  up  the  small  bundle)  "  contains  immortal  life."  "  I 
cannot,"  said  the  man,  "choose  by  myself;  I  must  go  and  ask  the 
others  in  the  town."  While  he  was  gone,  some  women  arrived, 
and  the  choice  was  put  to  them.  They  tried  the  edges  of  the 
knives,  decked  themselves  in  the  cloth,  admired  themselves  in  the 
looking-glasses,  and,  without  more  ado,  selected  the  big  bundle. 
The  little  man,  picking  up  the  small  bundle,  vanished.  On  the 
return  of  the  man  from  the  town,  both  little  man  and  bundles 
were  gone.  The  women  exhibited  and  shared  the  things,  but 
death  continued  on  the  earth. 

This  legend  was  told  me  by  a  brother  missionary  who  had  lived 
some  years  among  the  Balolo  tribe,  five  miles  south  of  the  Equator 
(long,  18°  east),  as  being  generally  accepted  among  his  people  to 
account  for  the  continuance  of  death  on  the  earth. 

My  friend  told  me  that  he  had  beard  the  people  say  frequently  ; 
"  O,  if  those  women  had  only  chosen  the  small  bundle  we  should 
not  be  dying  like  this ! " 


Sundry  Notes, 

I.  The  Ngala  langu^e,  with  small  dialectical  differences,  is 
spoken  by  the  tribes  living  on  that  portion  of  the  right  and  left 
banks  of  the  Congo  River  that  has  the  large  state  station  of 
Nouvelle  Anvers  (the  native  name  is  Bangala)  as  its  centre. 
Lat.  about  1°  40'  north,  long.  18°  east.  The  Ngala  language 
is  used  for  100  miles  west  and  150  miles  east  of  that  point. 
Both  the  language  and  the  tribes  are  chieSy  confined  to  the  river- 


^bi 


Collectanea, 


I 


/i 


banks.  The  hinterland  folk  spealc  a  dilTerent  languitge,  and  lutve 
different  tribal  marks.  Stanley  mentions  these  BangalA  {I>ark 
CimtintHt,  ed.  1878,  ii.,  300).  They  were  a  warlike  people; 
they  fought  Stanley  several  times  during  his  first  journey  down 
the  Congo. 

Whence  these  tribes  come,  and  why  they  have  come,  in  the 
memory  of  men  now  living,  to  inhibit  the  main  banks  of  the 
river,  are  questions  of  great  interest,  which  I  must  try  to  answer 
another  time.  Suffice  it  to  say  they  belong  to  the  great  Bantu 
family,  come  probably  from  the  direction  of  the  Mob.ingi  River, 
and  have  for  their  principal  tribal  mark  the  Lilcwala  (=  cock's 
comb)  running  from  the  middle  of  tlie  head  down  the  forehead 
to  the  bridge  of  the  nose.  The  more  dandyish  a  person  is  the 
more  prominent  is  bis  or  her  likwala. 

a.  There  is  no  objection  whatever  to  naming  a  child  after  the 
dead.  It  is  often  done  when  there  is  a  similarity  between  the 
child  and  the  dead  person,  and  sometimes  it  is  done  when  the 
dead  person  was  a  man  of  some  distinction  and  wealth.  The 
motive  then  is  either  to  bring  similar  good-fortune  on  the  child  so 
named,  or  to  keep  green  the  memory  of  a  chief  who  has  brought 
distinction  on  a  family.  The  name  would  then  be  that  of  the 
child,  and  to  call  him  by  it,  no  matter  how  frequently,  would  not 
be  considered  wrong. 

3.  As  to  belief  in  the  rebirth  or  reincarnation  of  a  dead  person, 
preferably  an  ancestor.  A  few  years  before  Sunley  descended  the 
Congo  there  was  a  general  belief  extant  in  this  district  that  many 
of  their  ancestors  would  appear  in  another  form,  and  yet  would 
be  recognisable  by  similarity  of  features  to  those  whose  spirits  the 
"appearances"  took.  When  the  white  men  came,  this  belief 
seemed  to  be  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  they  often  thought  they 
saw  a  likeness  in  the  features,  walk,  or  gestures  of  some  white  men 
to  dead  men  whom  they  knew.  I  myself  have  often  been  surprised 
and  amused  when  a  motion,  a  glance,  or  some  little  peculiarity 
among  these  folk  has  called  vividly  to  mind  some  person  I  know 
at  home.  There  was  one  man  (now  dead)  I  never  met  without 
having  a  certain  uncle  of  mine  recalled  to  mind,  and  another 
person  (a  girl)  always  by  an  indescribable  something  reminded  me 
of  a  girl  I  knew  at  home.  When  we  came  here  in  1890,  my 
colleague  was  thought  to  resemble  a  chief  who  had  died  some 
e  before,  and  I  was  ftvoM^t  Uj  bt  ViVa  MicttvM  who  had  died 


I  beli 


Stories  from  the  Upper  Congo.  463 

belonging  to  a  family  that  has  a  hippopotamus  for  its  omen  (not 
totem,  that  is  another  word),  and  this  view  was  confirmed  by  my 
firing  on  two  successive  nights  at  a  hippo  that  came  prowling 
about  our  beach.  After  the  second  night  the  hippo  sent  me  a 
message  to  say  that  it  was  little  use  my  firing  at  it  as  it  was  im- 
possible for  me  to  kilt  it,  as  it  was  a  spirit.  The  message  was  sent 
through  a  member  of  the  family  to  whom  the  hippo  acted  as  an 
omen.  However,  after  this  the  hippo  gave  our  beach  a  wide 
berth,  and  so  I  lost  a  chance  of  distinguishing  myself  by  killing  a 
spirit  The  members  of  the  above  family  used  to  put  a  pot  of 
sugar-cane  wine  out  in  the  town  every  night,  while  the  hippo  was 
in  the  neighbourhood,  for  it  to  drink. 

Our  small  steamer,  the  Peace,  was  the  first  to  pass  near  the 
towns  in  this  bay,  and  as  the  people  could  not  see  any  reason  for 
the  rapid  progress  of  the  "big  canoe,"  there  being  no  paddles 
visible,  they  believed  that  the  water  spirits  (some  of  their 
ancestors)  were  pushing  it  along  from  below.  Many  thought  that 
the  steamer  was  Libanza  (God)  on  his  way  to  Tinge-Tinge 
(Stanley  Falls)  to  visit  his  sister  Nsongo.  You  will  see  on  page  1 1 
of  Miketo  Nsongo  mentioned  several  times,  but  that  story  I  must 
tell  you  another  time. 

There  is  no  belief  in  reincarnation  among  these  people,  and 
the  above  slight  suspicion  of  it  may,  I  think,  be  accounted  for  by 
rumours  of  the  white  man  having  filtered  through  from  both 
coasts.  The  Bangala  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago  were  a  strong 
war-loving  people  who  travelled  far  and  wide  on  the  river.  Then 
again  slaves  were  bought  and  exchanged  from  widely  distant 
parts,  and  of  course  carried  with  them  the  news  and  rumours, 
true  and  false,  of  their  last  residence.  This  factor  in  the 
disseminating  of  religious  belief,  and  the  interweaving  of  those 
beliefs  into  what  is  often  a  patchwork  whole,  has  not  been 
^iroperly  allowed  for  in  dealing  with  the  superstitions  of  African 

ces. 

Bamaleli  is  a  word  for  a  sickness  in  which  a  man  is  supposed 
to  be  possessed  by  many  spirits.  When  the  afflicted  person  eats, 
he  divides  his  food  into  two  portions,  one  he  scatters  in  various 
directions  around  him  for  the  spirits  to  eat,  and  the  other  he  eats 
himself.  It  is  a  very  common  custom  here  and  on  the  Lower 
Congo  for  a  sick  man  lo  remove  secretly  in  the  night  to  another 
town  so  as  to  outwit  the  spirit  that  is  supposed  to  be  troubling 


464 


Collectanea. 


him.  A  few  weeks  ago  a  sick  man  came  to  me  attired  in  a 
woman's  dresi,  and  ttyinR  to  speak  in  &  woman's  voice.  He  was 
attempting  by  these  means  to  make  himself  other  than  he  was  in 
order  to  cheat  the  spirit  that  had  made  him  ill. 

Abnonnal  events  are  frequently  placed  to  the  credit  of  the 
spirit  of  a  man  recently  dead.  A  few  hours  after  the  death  of  a 
young  man  who  died  about  thrive  months  ago  a  furious  storm 
broke  on  the  town,  blowing  down  plantain  trees  and  working 
havoc  in  the  farms.  It  was  stated  in  all  seriousness  by  the  old 
folk  that  the  storm  had  been  sent  by  the  spirit  of  Mopembe.  We 
have  had  for  dinner  to-day  a  shouldi;r  of  antelope,  the  history  of 
which  will  further  illustrate  the  above  statement.  Three  days  ago 
Mumbamba,  an  old  head-man,  died.  Since  his  death  his  relatives 
have  been  coming  from  various  towns  to  mourn  at  his  grave. 
This  morning  three  canoes  of  men  and  women  were  coming  up 
liver,  with  the  object  of  expressing  their  grief  at  the  grave,  when 
they  happened  upon  a  large  anteiope  caught  in  the  grass  of  an 
islet  that  bad  lodged  against  a  fallen  tree  in  the  river.  The 
mourners  dragged  the  antelope  into  one  of  the  canoes,  and  gave 
Mumbamba  the  credit  of  sending  them  an  antelope  as  an 
expression  of  his  fovour. 

John  H.  Wkucs. 


SUPERKATURAL  CHANGES   OF  SiTES. 

<VoL  viii.,  pp.  177,  379.) 

The  Sporting  Magasine  for  April,  1S13,  p.  31,  contains  a  story 
relating  to  a  knightly  effigy  which  was  then,  and  I  trust  still  is,  in 
the  church  of  Tolleshunt  Knights,  Essex.  When  I  first  read  it  I 
had  thoughts  of  sending  to  Folk-Lore  a  full  transcript,  but  it  is  so 
clogged  with  needless  verbiage  that  I  am  sure  students  will  prefer 
a  condensation.  The  writer,  who  signs  his  communication  L, 
says  that  he  had  heard  the  tale  told  more  than  fifty  years  before 
sending  it  to  the  Sporting  Magazine,  and  was  evidently  of  opinion 
^hat  it  had   not  been   recorded   elsewhere.     It   was,   he    says. 


Supernatural  Changes  of  Sites. 


"  honoured  with  entire  credence  by  some  ....  and  half  believed 
by  all "  the  old  peciple  who  told  it. 

A  long  time  ago  the  landowners  of  Tolleshunt  Knights  had  a 
dispute  as  to  where  a  certain  manor-house,  to  be  called  Bam 
Hall,  was  to  be  built.  An  attempt  was  made  to  erect  it  near  the 
church,  but  as  soon  as  any  part  thereof  was  to  be  seen,  it  was  torn 
down  "  and  carried  clean  away  by  night,"  and  ibis  damage  was 
not  done  silently  but  accompanied  by  terrible  sights  and  sounds. 
At  length  a  knight  was  found  sutBciendy  heroic  to  undertake  to 
encounter  the  evil  spirits  who  impeded  the  work,  the  townsfolk 
went  to  bed,  and  at  about  midnight  the  knight  fully  armed  "and 
attended  only  by  his  two  faithful  spayed  hitches  "  sallied  forth. 
There  was  a  violent  storm — thunder,  lightning,  and  a  whirlwind, 
and  in  the  midst  of  the  elemental  disturbance  the  devil  appeared. 
He  was  armed  with  an  immense  club.  After  some  hard  fighting 
in  which  neither  the  knight  nor  the  spirit  of  evil  was  victorious, 
the  latter  was  for  a  time  out  of  breath,  so  he  paused,  and,  resting 
on  his  club,  said  to  his  antagonist,  "  Who  helped  you  ?  "  To  this 
question  the  knight  gave  answer,  "  God  and  myself,  and  my  two 
spayed  bitches."  The  fight  was  again  renewed,  but  soon  the 
Devil  was  once  more  exhausted,  so  he  paused  as  before,  the  same 
question  was  asked  and  received  a  tike  reply.  The  encounter  was 
renewed  for  a  third  time,  and  the  Devil  once  more  put  his  former 
query.  Hitherto  the  knight  had  done  well,  but  now  he  made  a 
fatal  blunder  by  putting  in  his  reply  his  own  name  before  that  of 
God,  his  answer  running,  "  Myself  and  God  and  my  two  spayed 
bitches."  The  result  of  this  verbal  error  was  terrible.  The 
knight  was  at  once  overcome  and  slain,  and  the  victorious  demon 
exclaimed  in  an  earth-shaking  voice,  "  Be  you  buried  by  land  or 
by  sea,  in  church  or  churchyard,  I  will  have  you."  Then  he 
whirled  his  club  five  miles  away  saying,  "  Wherever  you  drop, 
there  Barn  Hall  shall  be  built,"  and  so  it  came  to  pass.  Bam 
Hall  was  built  on  the  very  spot  where  the  club  fell,  and  of  the 
club  was  made  the  main  beam  of  the  house.  The  villagers  had 
too  much  admiration  for  their  fallen  hero  to  be  willing  that  the 
Evil  One  should  possess  his  soul,  so  they  buried  his  body  neither 
in  the  church  nor  the  churchyard,  but  in  the  church  wall  itself, 
and  set  up  near  his  place  of  rest  his  efligy  clad  in  armour  with  his 
two  faithful  hounds  at  his  feet. 

The  writer  says  that  there  was  another  form  of  the  tale  in  which 

vot.  XII.  a  u. 


466 


Collectanea. 


it  is  set  forth  that  it  was  the  building  of  the  church,  not  of  the 
hall,  that  the  demon  was  bent  upon  frustrating. 

Edward   Peacock. 


[This  i«  evidently  the  version  of  the  Barn  Hall  legend  known 
to  the  late  Rev.  J.  C,  Atkinson  in  his  boyhood  (see  ref.,  supra). 
The  veruon  given  in  Mr.  Gomme's  Folkkrt  RelUs  of  Early  ViUag! 
life  was  told  to  Mr  J.  H.  Round  "  by  a  person  well  acquaintol 
with  the  locahty,"  and  recorded  by  him  in  the  Antiquary,  vol.  iv., 
p.  a79.— Ejx] 


(Jn/c,  p.  336.} 
Mr.  Nutt's  criticism  raises  the  general  question,  whether  we  are 
justified  in  accepting  a  part  of  any  group  of  traditions  as  evidence 
and  rejecting  the  rest.  This  is  too  large  a  question  to  be  discussed 
fully  here ;  but  perhaps  I  may  point  out  that  there  are  certain 
kinds  of  accretions,  (for  instance,  the  miraculous  element,  or 
exaggerations  of  numbers),  which  are  apt  lo  add  themselves  to 
stories  told  by  tradition  ;  these  may  be  eliminated  without  discre- 
diting the  rest  So,  too,  whole  episodes  based  on  local  prejudices 
may  often  be  traced  to  their  origin,  though  with  less  certainty. 
But  those  parts  of  a  body  of  tradition  which  are  possible  in  fact, 
and  consistent  together,  stand  on  a  different  basis  from  isolated 
episodes.  In  such  a  case  it  may  be  unsafe  to  base  theories  upon 
these  alone ;  but  if  it  be  found  that  they  support  theories  which 
are  based  on  acchEeological  or  other  evidence,  they  may  be  added 
as  confirmatory  evidence,  and  will  be  cogent  in  proportion  to 
their  mass  and  consistency.  Professor  Ridgeway  has  used  the 
Greek  traditions  in  this  way.  He  deduces  his  theory  from  archfeo- 
logical  and  ethnological  evidence,  and  then  points  to  the  remark- 
able fact  that  the  traditions  in  the  main  agree  with  the  evidence. 
It  follows,  then,  that  the  traditions  are  in  the  main  trustworthy. 
But  Professor  Ridgeway  does  not  assume  iheir  trustworthiness, 
and  then  deduce  a  theory  from  them.  After  his  demonstration, 
however,  we  are  justified  in  giving  weight  to  the  traditions. 

Those  which  Mr.  Nutt  adduces  as  examples  of  what  might 
have  happened  are  not  parallel  to  the  Greek  traditions.  He 
chooses  one  which  is  "destitute  of  any  and  every  kind  of  basis, 
historical,  racial,  arcbseological,  and  linguistic."  If  there  are  such 
amongst  Greek  traditions,  it  would  he  rash  to  base  theories  upon 
2  H  2 


m 


468  Correspondence. 


them ;  and  Professor  Ridgeway  has  not  done  this  at  all.  More- 
over the  conditions  are  difierent  in  a  world  which  has  been 
accustomed  to  the  common  use  of  writing  for  two  thousand 
years;  and  in  the  world  of  two  thousand  years  B.C.,  where  writing 
was  known  indeed,  but  was  certainly  not  common. 

Genealogical  trends  were  of  supreme  importance  to  the 
Greek,  who  so  olten  traced  his  descent  from  gods  or  demigods, 
and  whose  religion  was  bound  up  with  his  family.  It  was  of 
importance  to  him  to  be  accurate  in  this,  although  the  tendency 
to  self-glorification  no  doubt  was  present ;  and  it  was  possible 
to  carry  much  historical  fact  by  tongue-tradition  when  family 
bards  existed,  whose  life-work  it  was  to  preserve  and,  it  must  be 
admitted,  to  embellish  this.  I  do  not  offer  any  opinion  on  the 
question  of  "  historic  myths,"  but  ray  own  studies  lead  me  to 
think  that  there  is  a  personal  basis  for  heroic  legends,  and  that 
Asclepius  and  the  Dioscuri  were  not  the  only  divinities  who  were 
human  to  begin  with. 

On  the  whole,  I  think  Professor  Ridgeway  has  treated  the 
legend  fairly ;  but  if  he  has  not,  I  fail  to  see  why  all  tradidons 
should  be  discarded  as  worthless  for  evidence,  as  Mr.  Nutt  seems 
inclined  to  do. 

W.  H.  D.   Rouse. 


The  Ethnological  Sichificance  of  Burial  and  Crkmation. 
(Ante,  p.  361). 

IsProfessorRidgewayon  firm  ground  when,  pointing  todiflerences 
of  custom  in  the  matter  of  disposal  of  the  dead  as  indicating  a 
different  conception  of  the  world  of  the  dead,  he  argues  that  this 
difference  of  mental  attitude  is  due  to  difference  of  race  ?  I  ven- 
ture to  think  that  we  have  no.  solid  grounds  for  supposing  that 
where  one  custom  has  succeeded  the  other,  this  result  may  not  be 
due,  as  Mr.  Hall  suggests,  to  other  causes  than  the  presence  in 
later  times  of  a  people  of  alien  race.  Surely  we  have  no  reason 
whatever  for  believing  that  the  religious  creed  of  a  people  can 
only  be  changed  by  an  admixture  of  foreign  blood.  It  is  not 
•iven  proved  that  difference  of  race  is  the  cause  of  the  varying 


standard  of  culture  of  different  strata  of  the  population.  The 
parishioner  may  locate  the  ghost  of  a  dead  man  in  the  churchyard 
and  the  pareon  believe  it  to  be  further  away,  without  their  being 
of  different  blood.  If  contemporaneous  divergences  are  not  in- 
compatible with  racial  unity,  still  less  are  the  differences  of  custom 
of  successive  ages  a  proof  that  one  race  has  succeeded  another. 

In  examples  drawn  from  European  peoples,  however,  it  is 
always  possible  to  argue  that  racial  diversity  lies  at  the  root  of 
divei^ences  of  mental  attitude.  It  may  therefore  be  well  to  give 
an  example  in  which  this  cause  is  practically  excluded.  Collins 
{Account  of  Ihe  English  Colony,  p.  60 1)  informs  us  that  the  natives 
of  New  South  Wales  buried  their  young  people  and  burned  their 
old.  No  one  will  assert  that  the  difference  here  is  due  to  racial 
diversity ;  it  points  to  a  difference  of  intention  with  regard  to  the 
dead,  rather  than  to  the  different  conception  of  the  world  of  the 
dead,  for  which  Professor  Ridgeway  argues.  I  do  not  of  course 
argue  that  a  similar  custom  prevailed  in  Greece ;  it  is  quite  pos- 
sible that  Professor  Ridgeway  is  right,  but  the  burial-cremation 
test  does  not  prove  him  to  be  so. 

N.  W.  Thomas. 


"  MvTH';  OF  Gbf.f.ck," 


{Ante,  p.  362. 


The  able  classical  scholar  who  has  noticed  my  book  is  unfair 
to  me.  For  example,  I  have  quoted  from  a  writer  of  the  folklore 
school  a  paragraph  containing  a  bit  of  bad  Latin,  and  the  error 
in  the  Latin  is  charged  upon  me,  without  any  mention  of  the 
quotation  marks.  Most  of  the  other  errors  could  be  just  as 
easily  explained.  But  what  I  want  to  say  is  that  my  book  is  the 
outcome  of  years  of  investigation  and  ought  not  to  be  damned  for 
a  trifle.  Tht  Times  has  said  that  "  there  is  some  truth  in  Mr.  St. 
Clair's  explanations,"  and  Literalun  allows  that  I  have  at  least 
"  advanced  the  study  of  one  factor,  perhaps  a  large  factor,  in  the 
growth  of  Greek  legend."  Why.  then,  cannot  the  folklorists 
accept  me  as  a  co-worker,  instead  of  depreciating  the  work  of 


470 


Correspondence. 


years  because  my  method  is  not  the  same  as  theirs,  or  becan 
my  assumptions  are  not  the  same  aa  theirs? 

Now  really  my  method  has  been  scientific.  My  critic  says  tb 
1  "attempt  to  prove  by  the  use  of  metaphor."  He  is  mistalw 
That  there  Is  figure  and  symbol  in  the  myths  is,  1  suppose,  inca 
testable.  Paosanias,  for  one,  tells  us  that  the  wise  among  d 
Greeks  spoke  of  old  in  riddles. 

To  discover  the  meaning  of  any  symbol  or  phrase  I  have  o( 
lated  the  passages  in  which  it  occurs  and  then  asked  myself  »i4 
sense  would  tit  them  all.  This  is  the  inductive  method.  Na 
like  any  man  of  science,  I  have  framed  a  "  working  hypothesa 
and  tried  the  application  of  the  meanings  thus  arrived  at.  The 
"fables"  are  prehistoric  in  origin.  Where,  then,  is  the  sense 
asking  me  to  furnish  historic  record  or  foundation  for  everythil 
I  put  forth  ?  "  Literary  evidence  will  not  carry  Athena  beyoi 
the  eleventh  century."  How  far  will  literary  evidence  carry  ti 
existence  of  the  Greeks  themselves  ?  And  do  the  Greeks  on 
begin  when  the  literai;  evidence  b^ins  ? 

My  working  hypothesis  connects  the  myths  with  the  seasons ' 
the  year  and  the  measurement  of  time.'  What  more  likely  ?  Ai 
if  true,  there  would  of  course  be  something  like  systeoi  and  co 
tinuity.  My  critic  says  I  assume  that  the  priest-astronomers  we 
undisturbed  in  their  efforts  through  thousands  of  yeaiB,  and  th 
this  is  impossible  in  view  of  wars  and  invasions.  Let  me  remin 
him  that  Julius  Caesar  reformed  the  calendar,  and  Pope  Gregoi 
soi^ht  to  perfect  it,  after  1,500  years,  notwithstanding  wars  an 
invasions.  But  tii  presenting  my  working  hypothesis  as  a  who! 
I  have,  in  some  places,  been  able  to  offer  nothing  better  than 
guess.  It  is  only  what  a  classical  scholar  does  when  he  seeks  t 
translate  a  mutilated  manuscript ;  when  he  fills  in  the  Ituunee  oai 
jecturally.  Where  is  the  fairness — either  to  me  or  your  readers- 
in  singling  out  such  a  passage  as  "an  example  of  Mr.  St.  Clair 
logic  "  ? 

As  to  the  strife  between  Athena  and  Poseidon — "  Where  Pose 
don  had  been  worshipped,  the  worship  of  Athena  supplanted  ii 
Incoming  conquerors  brought  their  gods  with  them."  Of  cour$ 
they  did ;  but  you  don't  account  for  the  origin  of  a  tribal  cult,  an 
more  than  for  the  tribe  itself,  by  saying  that  it  is  an  immigtan 
from  another  country. 

I,astly  (on  account  of  space),  the  reference  to  the  four  ages  i 


Correspondence. 


471 


\Sfcurus  iudictt  orhis  ttrrarum. — Your  Reviewer.] 


unfair.  It  is  matter  of  fact  that  the  ancients  spoke  of  a  Great 
Year.  The  Sothic  Cycle  was  one  Great  Year  and  the  Precession 
Cyclf  anothet.  These  "years"  of  course  had  their  quarters  ;  and 
a  quarter  of  the  precession  cycle  would  be  6,467  ordinary  years. 
What  is  there  ridiculous  in  surmising  that  the  notion  of  these  was 
what  underlay  the  tradition  of  Four  Ages — of  gold,  silver,  bronze, 
and  iron?  In  describing  the  Four  Ages  of  the  Anecs,  Hum- 
boldt says,  '•  They  are  fictions  of  the  astronomical  mythology." 
(Rtsearches,  xiv.  23.)     I  am  not  speaking  of  the  seasons  of  the 

rmmon  year,  as  my  critic  represents. 
Geo.  St.  Ci^ib. 
Thk  Transition  from  Totemism  to  Ancestor- worship. 
(AttU,  pp.  36,  341.) 

The  close  connection  between  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of 
Madagascar  and  the  South  African  races  renders  the  comparison 
of  their  beliefs  and  practices  important.  I  feel,  therefore,  much 
indebted  to  Mr.  N.  W.  Thomas  for  calling  attention  to  the  very 
interesting  Betsileo  example  of  transmigration. 

His  remarks,  however,  open  a  wide  field  of  controversy,  and 
one  into  which  I  cannot  here  enter.  I  must  content  myself  with 
disclaiming  (a)  the  "initial  assumption"  which  Mr,  Thomas  attri- 
butes to  me,  {b)  any  definite  opinion  on  the  origin  of  totemism  (a 
subject  on  which  the  evidence  at  present  accessible  does  not,  1 
think,  warrant  our  pronouncing),  (c)  the  intention  to  trace  the 
development  of  ancestor-worship  elsewhere  than  among  the  Bantu 
from  totemism,  and  [d)  the  assumption  of  identity  between  the 
totemism  of  South  Africa  and  that  of  any  other  part  of  the  world. 
My  suggestions  were  entirely  confined  to  South  Africa.  We  are 
likely  to  make  better  progress  with  the  investigation  o(  totemism 
if  we  begin  by  dealing  with  the  problems  of  each  area  separately. 

E,  Sidney  Hartland, 


l.i 

f 


I 


I 


I' 


'  -I 
•i 


472  Correspondence. 

Customs  Relating  to  Iron. 
(Ante,  p.  340.) 


I  scarcely  think  that  heating  water  witfi  a  red-liot  poker  for 
washing  new-bom  infants  is  generally  practised  in  this  neighbour- 
hood. C.  B.,  a  well-known  nurse  who  lived  in  a  village  on  the 
Nottinghamshire  side  of  the  Trent,  near  Gainsborougfa,  and  died 
in  1863,  was  accustomed  to  use  nothing  else  until  the  navel  had 
healed  ;  but  probably  the  custom  is  dying  out.  A.  H.,  a  Lincoln- 
shire woman  of  experience,  tells  me  now  that  she  never  heard  of 
heating  water  by  means  of  a  red-hot  poker  for  this  purpose  ;  but 
she  adds,  unprompted,  that  cinder-tea  is  believed  to  be  good  for 
J I  curing  flatulence  and  colic  in  young  children.     A  correspondent 

at  Epworth,  (Mr.  C.  Bell,  chemist),  informs  me  that  water  heated 
with  hot  iron  is  commonly  used  in  Notts  and  I  Leicestershire  for 
bathing  infants  suffering  from  "  thrush." 

At  Scotter,  in  North  Lincolnshire,  some  years  ago,  bandages 
soaked  with  water  in  which  iron  had  been  slaked  by  the  village 
smith  were  applied  successfully  to  a  "  bad  leg."  In  like  manner, 
in  Swabia,  water  into  which  a  smith  has  plunged  iron  at  red  heat 
is  used  for  washing  purposes  by  people  suffering  from  the  itch. 
(Birlinger,  Volksthiimliches  aus  Schwaben,  i86i,i.,  486.  In  Derby- 
shire, a  spoonful  of  water  in  which  a  hot  iron  has  been  cooled  is 
I  administered  to  a  baby  shortly  after  birth  {Shapshire  Folklore^ 

•\  p.  285.)     And  according  to  the  Rev.  S.  Baring  Gould  {Gent.  Afag.^ 

I  Dec,  1889,  art.  "Coffin-Nails")  the  Romans,  when  affected  by 

i"  dysentery,  drank  water  in  which  glowing  iron  had  been  quenched. 

■    i  As  to  heating  water  with  cinders.  Dr.  H.  Ploss  mentions  the 

custom  of  dropping  red-hot  coals  into  the  water  in  which  a  new- 
born child  is  to  be  washed.  {Das  Kind,  i.,  140,  141,  143.)  In 
Scotland  a  glowing  ember  was  anciently  put  into  the  first  draught 
of  water  given  to  a  cow  after  calving.  {F,  L. /,,  vii.,  278.)  And 
among  the  Magyars,  a  child  injured  by  being  stared  at  may  be 
cured  by  throwing  a  live  coal  into  the  water  and  making  him 
drink  the  fluid  and  bathe  his  eyes  with  it,  while  you  wish  the 
injury  back  to  the  person  from  whom  it  came  (Jones  and  Kropf, 
T/ie  Folk'taks  of  the  Magyars,  Ixv.).  My  friend  Miss  W.  M.  E. 
Fowler  tells  me  the  following  story,  the  place  at  which  it  happened 
being  Wakefield. 


Correspondence.  473 

"When  one  of  my  brothers  was  a  few  weeks  old^in  1867 — he 
was  suddenly  seized  by  an  attack  of  convulsions  during  my  parents' 
temporary  absence  from  home  On  my  mother's  return,  the  nurse 
rushed  to  meet  her  and  told  her  of  the  baby's  illness,  continuing, 
however,  to  say  that  the  infant  was  now  sleeping  quietly,  and 
would  certainly  recover,  as  she  had  done  all  that  was  necessary  or 
possible  in  such  a  case — namely,  had  dropped  a  hot  cinder  into  a 
cup  of  water,  with  which  she  had  baptized  the  child  by  making  a 
cross  on  his  forehead,  afterwards  giving  him  the  remainder  to 
drink ;  thus,  apparently,  in  her  own  eyes  bringing  both  religion 
and  science  to  bear  on  the  case.  The  nurse  was,  I  believe,  an 
Irishwoman,  who  had  been  brought  up  in  Yorkshire,  where  she 
would  have  many  opportiAiities  of  learning  the  well-known  healing 
power  of '  cinder-tea,' " 

A  curious  distinction  between  iron  and  copper  came  under  ray 
notice  the  other  day.  Only  a  short  time  ago  one  of  my  neigh- 
bours said  to  her  cook,  "What  is  the  good  of  my  buying  that  new 
copper  kettle  if  you  do  not  use  it  ?  "  The  girl,  a  native  of  Bigby  in 
North  Lincolnshire,  answered  that  a  copper  kettle  must  be  baptized 
before  it  could  be  used,  and,  on  being  questioned,  explained  that 
the  baptism  was  performed  by  heating  beer  or  spirits  in  it  Iron 
kettles,  it  appears,  need  not  undergo  the  rite. 

One  wonders  whether  the  precious  cauldrons  of  the  Scandinavian 
sea-rovers  were  similarly  hallowed.  Miss  W.  M.  E.  Fowler  tells 
me  that  she  considers  this  belief  far  more  like  the  superstitions 
current  in  Yorkshire  than  in  Lincolnshire.  Yorkshire  folk  are 
addicted  to  analogous  ceremonies,  which  do  not  seem  common 
south  of  the  Humber. 

Mabel  Peacock. 

R  irton-i  n-Li  ndsey . 

In  the  west  and  south-west  of  Scotland,  among  those  who  are 
rather  more  than  less  tenacious  of  the  old  customs,  red-hot  cinders 
are  considered  to  have  a  mysterious  efficacy  in  the  matter  of 
tempering  or  seasoning  new  cooking  utensils.  A  new  teapot  or 
one  that  has  been  out  of  use  for  some  time  is  placed  on  the  hob 
filled  with  cold  water.  Into  this  are  thrown  some  red  cinders.  It 
is  allowed  to  remain  for  several  hours,  after  which  tea  made  in  the 
pot  is  supposed  to  "  mask,"  i.e.  infuse,  satisfactorily.  On  question- 
ing the  advantage  of  this  over  simply  scalding  with  boiling  water, 


I 


474 


Correspondence. 


I  was  told,  "  My  grannie  and  her  grannie  before  her  did  it,  and 
the  auld  folks  kenned  many  things  we  dinna,  an*  I  ken  tea  b  nae 
guid  in  a  teapot  seasoned  ony  ither  way."  With  some  housewives 
all  the  pots  and  pans  undergo  this  baptism  of  fire  within,  with  the 
idea  of  cleansing  properly  before  putting  to  domestic  uses  ;  with 
others  it  is  now  only  retained  in  the  case  of  the  teapot. 

The  favourite  panacea  for  all  ordinary  physical  ills  amoi^  the 
rural  population  of  Scotland  is  tea  or  gruel  seasoned  with  whisky. 
The  whisky  is  always  referred  to  as  "  a  cinder." 

Katherine  Carson. 

I  have  always  been  familiar  with  the  use  of  water  he%ted  by 
putting  hot  embers  into  it,  (i)  for  removing  any  taint  from  over- 
kept  meal,  (2)  for  cleansing  musty  vessels,  (3)  for  administering  to 
infants  suffering  from  flatulence.  Two  questions  suggest  them- 
selves :  can  dropping  hot  iron  or  cinders  into  water  form  any 
solution  possessing  antiseptic  or  medicinal  qualities,  or  do  the  gases 
given  off  act  merely  as  deodorants?  and,  secondly,  what  is  used  in 
wood-,  peat-,  or  charcoal -burning  countries  for  the  various  purposes 
mentioned  ?  Wood-3s\\^%,  in  England,  were  an  old-fashioned  sub- 
stitute for  soap,  and  were  supposed  to  be  a  stronger  detergent. 
Coarse  linen,  much  soiled,  was  not  soaped  and  rubbed  with  the 
hand,  but  boiled  in  a  "  lye  "  or  decoction  of  wood-ashes,  beaten 
with  a  wooden  bat,  and  rinsed  in  a  running  stream.  See  the 
description  of  a  "buck-wesh"  in  Miss  Jackson's  Shropshire  Ward- 
book  {s.v.')  \  evidently  the  same  process  that  was  being  carried  oa 
in  Mrs.  Ford's  household  when  FalstafTpatd  her  his  famous  viat 

I  have  communicated  with  Mr.  Seligmann  on  the  former  point, 
thinking  that  the  queer  combination  of  sense  and  superstition 
which  we  so  of^en  find  in  folk-medicine  rendered  it  worth  while 
to  asceruin  the  facts  of  the  case.  He  tells  me  he  has  tried 
dropping  fragments  of  (i)  completely  red-hot  and  (a)  partly- 
burnt  coal  into  cold  water.  (2)  was  slightly  sulphureous  in  taste, 
and  there  was  evidence  of  dissolved  sulphides,  presumably  sul- 
phuretted hydrogen  (HgS).  (i)  gave  no  traces  of  H,S  or  other 
sulphide.  Although  HjS  kills  germs,  Mr,  Seligmann  does  not 
think  it  would  be  present  in  strong  enough  solution  to  have  the 
least  effect  on  tainted  meat,  &c.  On  metal  articles,  if  present  in 
sufRcient  quantities,  it  could  have  only  a  bad  effect,  nor  does  be 
think  that  minute  amounts  of  H.S  would  affect  a  flatulent  babe 


Correspondence. 


475 


one  iray  or  another.     Possibly  traces  of  potash,  lime,  or  magnesia 
present  might  be  beneficial ;  but  probably  not. 

Iron,  on  being  dropped  into  water,  would  partially  oxidise,  but 
no  soluble  compound  would  be  formed. 

Wood-ashes  contain  much  soluble  caustic  alkali  (potash  princi- 
pally), which  would  destroy  the  tissues  if  applied  to  them. 

Apropos  of  ashes,  Mr.  Seligmann  adds  that  he  has  come  across 
|-one  or  two  out-patients  at  St.  Thomas's  Hospital  who  believed 
lat  cigar-ash  mixed  with  water  was  profoundly  narcotic 

Chari.ottk  S.  Bukne. 


King  Solomon  and  the  Blacksmith. 

{Ante,  p.  344.) 

I  state  at  once  that  I  know  no  parallel  to  this  legend  in  either 
'  old  or  modern  Oriental  literature.  It  seems,  however,  to  be  a 
complement  to  another  legend,  and  purposely  invented  as  a  set-off 
against  the  legend  intimately  connected  with  the  history  of  the 
"  Shamir,"  which  has  been  treated  so  profoundly  by  the  laie  Pro- 
fessor Paulus  Cassel,  The  gist  of  this  legend  is,  that  in  con- 
formity with  the  Biblical  prescription  (Exodus  xx.  25:  "And  if 
thou  wilt  make  me  an  altar  of  stone,  thou  shall  not  build  it  of 
hewn  stone :  for  thou  hast  lifted  up  thy  sword  [or  too/]  upon  it 
and  thou  hast  defiled  it"),  no  iron  was  allowed  lo  be  used  by 
Solomon  in  the  building  of  the  temple.  He  had  therefore  re- 
course to  a  miraculous  plant,  or  worm,  which  split  stones  and 
thus  made  it  possible  10  erect  the  building.  Evidently,  then,  the 
blacksmith  had  no  place  and  could  have  no  place  at  the  banquet 
of  King  Solomon.  This  legend,  then,  is  the  afterthought,  in- 
vented to  correct  the  deficiency  of  the  other,  and  to  bring  home 
to  Solomon  and  the  other  masters  how  utterly  ibey  depended  for 
their  tools  on  the  craft  of  the  blacksmith.  The  original  author  of 
this  legend  must  have  been  well  acquainted  with  the  older  tale 
that  no  iron  was  used  in  the  building  of  the  temple,  but  either  for 
the  purpose  of  enhancing  the  value  of  his  own  craft,  or  because 
he  really  did  not  know  of  the  full  Shamir  legend  (which  I  am 
loth  to  believe,  as  it  is  always  connected  with  the  other,  being,  in 


h. 


476 


Correspondence. 


fact,  the  necessary  complement  of  it),  invented  this  legend  for 
the  glorification  of  the  blacksmith.  As  it  stands,  the  legend  has 
a  Western  ring  about  it,  and  reminds  one  somewhat  of  the  Free- 
masons' Solomonic  legends,  which  centre  in  the  figure  of  the  chief 
builder,  Hiram. 

M.  Gaster. 


MOAB   OR    EdOM? 

(Ante,  p.  347.) 


Miss  Weston  will  undoubtedly  be  pleased  to  learn  that  in  die 
ingenious  si^estioa  of  connecting  the  two  passages,  a  Kings  iiL 
27  and  Amoa  iL  i,  and  considering  both  as  refening  to  one  and 
the  same  incident,  she  has  been  forestalled  by  some  of  the  niost 
famous  Jewish  commentators  of  the  Bible,  such  as  Abraham  ibn 
Ezra  in  the  twelfth  century,  David  Qimhh  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  and  Levi  ben  Gerson  in  the  fourteenth  century.  Far 
from  being  a  mere  surmise,  therefore,  we  may  consider  this 
identification  to  have  the  authority  of  tradition  to  back  it. 

M.  Gaster. 


Ship  Processions. 
{Ante,  p.  307.) 

An  account  of  a  ship-carrying  procession  will  be  found  in  the 
Tramtutions  of  the  Devonshire  Association,  xv,,  104.  It  appears 
that  the  ceremony  took  place  in  Plymouth  al  Corpus  Christi  in 
mediaeval  limes.  At  Devonport  it  was  brought  from  Millbrook  on 
May-day  within  living  memory. 

Usener  {Die  Sintflvtsagen,  pp.  116,  126)  deals  with  the  ship. 
It  was  borne  in  Dionysiac  processions  al  Smyrna  and  Athens, 
and  at  the  Panathenaion ;  also  in  the  Carnival  procession  in  Italy, 
France,  Spain,  and  Portugal  {ibid.  p.  120);  and  occasionally  in 
Germany  (Pan/er,  Beitrag  fur  d.  Myth,  ii,,  250;  Meier,  Drufsche 


Correspondence. 


Sagen  aus  ScAwaien,  p.  374).  I  need  hardly  recall  the  ship  of 
Nerthus  (Mannhardt,  IVald.  u.  Feldkulte,  i.,  59,1).  Other  re- 
ferences will  be  found  in  Hahn,  Demeter  u.  Baubo,  p.  38  uq. 


I 


N.  W.  Thomas, 


A  "  Nabbv  "  Colt. 

{Ante,  p.  1,1^.) 

1  think  this  wbrd  is  correct     In  this  neighbourhood  a  young 

foal  of  the  male  sex  is  often  addressed  as  "  Nobby"  j  whether  a 

female  is  too,  I  am  not  sure. 

^^H  M.  Peacock. 

r  The  stoi 


Earlv-Rising  Jest. 
{Ante,  p.  373.) 


The  story  told  in  the  review  of  Tradiziom  Fojiolari  Pistoien' 
occurs  (according  10  John  Ashton)  in  *^  England sjestt  Rtfin'd and 
Itnprtn/d"  &•€.,  iS^c  {London.  Printed  for  John  Harris,  at  the 
Harrow  \n^e.  Poultry.  1695.}  "A  young  lad  being  chid  by 
his  uncle,  for  lying  a  Bed  so  long  in  a  Morning,  telling  him  that 
such  a  one  had  found  a  Purse  of  Money  by  rising  early  in  the 
Morning :  I,  says  the  Lad  smartly,  but  he  rose  too  early  that  lost 


I 


W.  Henry  Je' 


Dr.  Keilberg's  Seventieth  Birthday. 


Since  getheiile  Freude  hi  doppelU  Freude,  I  would  ask  for  the 
insertion  in  Folk-Lore  of  the  following  slightly-abridged  transla- 
tion by  Mr.  Thornton  of  the  account  given  in  Hpjskokbladtl, 
16th  August,  1901,  of  Ur.   H.  t',  l-'eilbcrg's  sev<^deth  birthday. 


^1  :i^<  478  Correspondence. 

1,1 
i  (>_,  By  this  means  the  communication  I  have  received  will  interest 

i  j:  many  another  reader,  and  will  especially  gratify  those  memben  of 

!  '  our  Society  who,  like  myself,  know  Dr.  Feilbeig  as  a  lavish  giver 

:  '•!  i  of  his  vast  learning  and  his  untiring  labour  for  the  service  of  the 

humblest  student  of  folklore.    One  and  all  will  assuredly  join  in 

the  congratulations  to  Dr.  Feilbeig  on  the  completion  of  his  great 

^; '  work,  the  Diakct  Dictionary  of  Jutland. 

Marian  Roauv  Cos. 


.ir 
f 


I 

■1 

■.      ■    I 
<    -*    . 

.,    [ 


\ 


.  * 


i 
I 


On  behalf  of  the  Council  of  the  Folk-Lore  Society^  I  desire  to 
associate  myself  with  Miss  Roalfe  Cox  in  congratulating  our 
valued  member  Dr.  Feilbeig,  who  has  more  than  once  contributed 
to  the  gratification  SH  the  readers  of  Folk-Lore^  on  the  pleasant 
celebration  recorded  below,  and  in  wishing  him  many  years  of 
continued  activity  in  the  promotion  of  our  science. 

£.  W.  Brabrook. 

''  The  flags  waved  all  over  Askov  on  the  6th  of  August ;  people 
in  their  Sunday  clothes  flocked  thither  from  all  around,  and  every- 
thing was  at  its  gayest.  At  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  a 
deputation  from  the  Church  and  neighbourhood  assembled  in 
Feilberg's  garden,  where  they  sang  a  morning  hymn.  Knud 
Pedersen,  schoolmaster  from  Skibelund,  then  stepped  forward  and 
thanked  the  old  pastor  for  his  helpful  Church-work,  prayed  that 
for  a  long  time  to  come  he  might  live  and  work  among  them,  and 
desired  his  acceptance  of  a  sum  of  money  as  a  token  of  their 
gratitude.  The  Principal  of  the  Askov  High  School  being  away 
from  home,  Jacob  Appel,  one  of  the  teachers,  speaking  in  his 
stead,  thanked  Feilberg  for  all  he  had  done  for  the  school,  and 
especially  because  on  his  retirement  from  pastoral  work  he  had 
determined  to  fix  his  abode  among  the  teachers,  far  from  the 
capital  and  its  libraries,  so  helpful  to  him  in  his  researches.  He 
also  presented  a  money-gift.  Feilberg  thanked  all  gracefully  and 
cordially  for  the  great  kindness  and  affection  he  had  ever  met 
with. 

"  Professor  Otto  Jespersen  and  Decent  Axel  Olrik  had  arrived 
the  day  before  from  Copenhagen,  to  brir*  '  eting  from  the 
learned  folk  of  the  University  in  the  sb  ^  Number 

of  the  scientific  journal  Dania^  issued  uid  con- 

Sodning  a  sketch  of  Feilberg's  ■  hand- 


Correspondence. 


479 


writing  and  a  striking  portrait.     Professor  Jespersen   has  abo 
brought  out  a  treatise  on  the  teaching  of  languages,  to  which  is 

prefixed  the  following  birthday  dedication  to  Feilberg : 

"  '  You  were  young  with  the  young  and  eager  with  the  eager  at 
the  Stockholm  meeting  of  1886.  Permit  me  now,  on  the  day 
you  complete  your  seventieth  year,  to  dedicate  to  you  in  fuller 
form  the  thoughts  we  then  strove  for,  with  hearty  thanks  for  all  I 
owe  you ;  thanks  for  your  splendid  Jutland  Dictionary,  for  your 
works  on  common  life  and  common  behefs,  which  we  so  much 
enjoy,  but  most  of  all  for  the  beaming  kindliness  which  has  made 
every  visit  to  you  and  every  visit  from  you  a  red-letter  day  in  my 
calendar.' 

"  In  the  afternoon  Feilberg's  children  and  friends  met  for  dinner 
at  his  house,  when  many  speeches  were  made  ;  and  although  most 
of  them  were  of  a  domestic  nature,  yet  the  work  of  the  philologist 
and  folklorist  was  not  forgotten  by  the  Copenhagen  scholars.  In 
the  course  of  the  afternoon  and  evening  people  came  flocking  in 
to  bring  their  congratulations,  and  although  Feilberg's  house  is 
small  his  heart  is  so  targe  that  they  all  passed  a  most  happy 
evening.  Letters  and  telegrams,  bringing  greetings  from  friends 
innumerable,  kept  coming  in  ;  from  Slesvig  and  from  all  corners 
of  the  land ;  from  mansions  in  Copenhagen  and  from  huts  on  the 
Heath  ;  from  the  most  learned  of  the  land  and  from  the  small 
peasants  of  the  barren  west :  all  joined  in  honouring  and  con 
gratulating  '  den  gamle  Feilberg.' " 


Rainbow  Magic 

In  the  late  sixties  I  was  a  schoolboy  in  Greysouthen,  near 
Workington,  Cumberland.  At  that  time  it  was  a  custom  amongst 
my  companions,  upon  the  appearance  of  a  rainbow,  to  pick  up 
two  straws,  cross  them  upon  a  stone,  and  then  by  means  of  a 
second  stone  to  strike  and  break  them  at  the  middle  of  the  cross. 
1  this  way  the  rainbow  was  supposed  to  be  destroyed,  and  as  it 
of  course,  disappeared  within  a  short  time  of  the  ceremony 
had   any    reason    to   doubt  its  efficacy.     I    distinctly 


.4    ■ 


480  Correspondence. 


I  .'■ 

I  remember  that  the  first  time  I  broke  the  straw  cross  I  did 

with  feelings  of  impious  daring  such  as  no  doubt  Ajax  t^d  wl 
he  defied  the  lightning. 

Frkdjouc  J.  Chsshiu 


I 

1  Bell-lorb. 

> 


1.  In  East  Anglia  there  is  an  almost  universal  demand  th^it  1 
Passing  Bell  should  be  tolled  either  exactly  twelve  or  exac 
twenty-four  hours  after  the  death  of  a  person.     Why  is  this  ? 

2.  It  was  remarked  by  the  ringers  here  on  Sunday,  July  21 
that  the  tenor  bell  '*  roared  "  to  such  an  extent  that  **  it  drown 
all  the  others;"  and  the  clerk  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  soi 
one  in  the  parish  would  die  in  the  course  of  the  week.  I  nei 
heard  anydiing  about  one  particular  bell  '*  roaring  "  elsewhei 
but  this  is  an  old  bell-ringing  parish,  and  superstitions  lingi 
Can  you  tell  me  anything  about  it? 

E.  Farrkr,  F.S.A. 

Hinderclay  Rectory,  Diss. 

[i.  We  need  not  remind  Mr.  Farrer  that  the  practice  of  toUii 
a  bell  after  death  has  gradually  replaced  that  of  tolling  it  while  tl 
sick  man  is  in  extremis :  still  less,  probably,  need  we  refer  him 
the  67th  Canon  as  the  Anglican  post-Reformation  authority  f< 
the  Passing  Bell,  nor  to  Ellis's  Brand  (ii.,  202)  for  details  ar 
records  of  the  custom.  But  the  particular  rule  he  mentions 
curious,  and  has  not,  we  think,  been  noticed  before.  What  reasc 
do  the  people  themselves  give  for  it  ? 

2.  In  several  collections  of  local  English  folklore  (Hendersoi 
Northern  Counties^  P«  5^  >  Latham,  "  West  Sussex  Sup>erstitions 
Folklore  Record^  i.,  51),  Mr.  Farrer  will  find  it  said  that  a  peculii 
heavy  dull  sound  in  the  funeral  bell  is  supposed  to  portend  anoth< 
funeral  shortly.  This  sound  (be  it  real  or  imaginary)  is  doubtle 
what  the  ringers  meant  by  the  term  "roaring,"  and  the  clerk  inte 
preted  it  accordingly.  The  tenor  bell,  of  course,  would  be  the  on 
tolled  at  a  death  or  funeral. — Ed.] 


L'Ann£e  SociOLOGiQUK,  publiee  sous  la  direction  de  femile 
Durkheim,  Professeur  de  Sociologie  i  la  Faculte  des  Leitres 
de  I'Universit^  de  Bordeaux.  Quatrieme  Ann^e  (1899-1900). 
Paris:  Felix  Alcan.     1901, 

The  high  standard  of  learning  and  criticism  set  up  by  Professor 
Durkheim  and  his  collaborators  in  the  first  year's  issue  otL'Annie 
Socio/ogigue  has  been  fully  maintained,  though  only  one  of  the 
"  Mdmoires  Originaux  "  comprised  in  the  fourth  volume  is  directly 
interesting  to  students  of  folklore.  The  subject  of  sociology  is  a 
wide  one ;  and  students  of  the  folklore  side  have  no  ground  for 
complaint  that  other  aspects  than  that  in  which  they  are  specially 
interested  are  also  studied  here.  The  second  part  of  the  volume 
contains,  among  other  things,  the  best  annual  bibliography  of 
folklore  with  which  I  am  acquainted;  and  critical  analyses  of 
most  of  the  important  books  and  articles  in  periodicals  are 
also  supplied. 

The  "  M^moire  "  with  which  we  are  immediately  concerned  is 
that  by  M.  Bougie  on  Caste.  The  author  sets  himself  to  inquire, 
first,  whether  Caste  is  a  phenomenon  peculiar  to  India,  or  whether 
it  is  universal ;  and,  secondly,  what  are  the  relations  between  it 
and  analogous  social  forms,  such  as  the  guild,  the  clan,  the  class. 
He  begins  by  citing  the  Abb^  Dubois,  Professor  Max  Miiller, 
Mr.  W.  Crooke,  and  other  authorities  who  insist  on  the  analogy 
between  Caste  and  the  social  institutions  and  class  hatreds  of 
other  countries.  In  opposition  to  them  he  sets  the  opinions  of 
M.  Senart  and  Mr.  Risley,  for  whom  Caste  is,  at  least  in  its 
developments,  purely  Indian.  To  decide  between  these  two 
views  it  is  necessary  to  define  accurately  what  is  meant  by  Caste. 
He  decides  that  Caste  is  distinguished  by  three  characteristics  : 
mutual  repulsion,  a  hierarchy  of  class  privileges  and  responsi- 
bilities, and  hereditary  specialisation.  Mutual  repulsion  of  castes 
implies  that  within  the  caste  men  are  drawn  together,  and  that  the 
caste  is  endogamous.  Hereditary  specialisation  means  that  the 
occupations  of  the   parents   descend  to  the  children,  and  are 

VOL.  xii.  a  i 


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483 


Reviews. 


obligatory  upon  them.    Such  occupations  entail  a  certain  lanL 
They  entail  also  on  the  one  hand  monopoly,  and  on  the  otbei^ 
obligations  towards  other  Castes  and  occupations.     Status  is  in- 
exorably determined  from  £ather  to  son  by  Caste.     Heredity  if 
of  the  essence  of  the  system,  and  it  is  impossible  to  escape  from  it 
Caste  as  thus  defined  is  found  only  in  India.     But  tins  is  not 
to  say  that  there  are  not  elsewhere  elements  and  scattered  tniti 
of  it    The  exclusiveness  of  classes  and  coteries  in  western  society, 
the  clergy  with  their  vast  claims  and  close  corporate  selfishnesi^ 
the  feudal  system,  all  betray  in  various  ways  traces  of  the  spirit 
of  Caste.    In  none  of  them,  however,  is  the  rule  of  Caste  comj^ete. 
The  exclusiveness  of  classes  and  coteries  is  in  nowise  conseoated 
by  law,  and  in  practice  is  breached  in  a  thousand  places.    Oeiiad 
succession  is  not  perpetuated  by  heredity.    The  feudal  system 
was  erected  not  on  an  original  ancestral  or  social  distinction,  but 
on  the  relation  of  the  individual  to  the  land.    This  might  change. 
Throughout  the  Middle  Age,  when  feudalum   reigned,  it  dtid 
change  often.    The  tendency  of  the  system  was  not  to  cut  society 
up  into  small,  compact,  mutually  repellent,  groups ;  it  was  indi- 
vidualist.    Even  ancient  Egyptian  society,  which  of  all  known 
societies  bears  most  resemblance  to  that  created  by  Caste,  does 
not  seem  in  the  light  of  recent  discoveries  to  be  a  case  of  perfect 
analogy.     Hereditary  specialisation,  if  usual,  was  not  absolute; 
and  the  social  hierarchy  was  far  from  being  petrified.     From 
early  times  examples  are  found  of  men  rising  by  talents  or  by 
favour  from  one  rank  of  life  to  another.    The  king  always  had  it 
in  his  power  to  upset  the  ordinary  course  of  things.    As  a  rule  the 
transmission  of  land  and  of  titles  was  hereditary;    but  in  the 
feudalism  of  Egypt,  investiture  by  Pharaoh  was  an  indispensable 
condition  to  the  status  of  baron.     Pharaoh,  by  granting  lands  or 
appointing  to  office,  could  create  nobles.     Moreover,  so  far  from 
the  history  of  the  Egyptian  civilisation   revealing   that   mutual 
repugnance  of  classes  which  has  proved  the  political  and  social 
bane  of  India,  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  Egypt  is  one 
of  those  countries  where  the  administrative  organisation    most 
quickly  effaced   the  spontaneous  divisions  of    the    population. 
The  necessities  of  the  country  demanded  a  strong  central  govern- 
ment, with  efficient  and  cohesive  organisation,  which  could  never 
have  been  attained  under  the  rule  of  Caste,  and  in   fact  was 
contrary  to  its  spirit 


'm^A 


In  India,  on  the  other  hand,  the  reign  of  Caste  was  opposed 
neither  by  a  strong  monarchy  nor  by  a  strong  democracy.  No- 
where is  there  greater  speciahsation.  Nowhere  are  the  distinctions 
so  wide.  Nowhere  do  they  entail  so  much  either  of  contempt  or 
of  respect.  Every  observer  is  struck  by  the  fact  that  the  force 
which  animates  the  entire  system  is  one  of  repulsion.  This  it  is 
which  maintains  the  isolation  of  the  different  groups.  In  the  eyes 
of  an  orthodox  Hindu  every  caste  but  his  own  is  in  a  sense 
impure.  It  is  impossible  of  course  for  men  of  different  castes 
entirely  to  avoid  coming  into  contact  with  one  another;  but  there 
are  certain  acts  which,  more  than  others,  imply  contamination, 
that  of  eating,  for  example.  The  scruples  in  this  respect  are 
naturally  more  lively  in  the  higher  castes,  but  they  pervade  the 
whole  of  Indian  society  from  the  top  to  the  bottom.  In  time  of 
famine,  a  Sanlal  would  rather  die  than  touch  food  prepared  by 
Brahmans.  To  eat  food  prohibited  by  one's  caste  is  to  become 
an  outcast.  Still  higher  barriers  prevent  the  intermarriage  of 
caste  and  caste,  in  spite  of  the  exceptions  introduced  by  the 
custom  called  by  Mr.  Risley  "hypergamy,"  and  by  that  of  the 
Jdts,  noted  by  Mr.  Crooke.  J^ts  frequently  marry  girls  of  low 
caste.  But  girls  chosen  for  this  purpose  are  first  of  all  made  to 
pass  for  maidens  of  their  own  stock.  This  very  Action  is  thus  a 
testimony  to  the  potency  of  Caste. 

Anthropometry  shows  that  in  spite  of  prohibitions  the  mixture 
of  blood  has  in  fact  been  very  great.  Yet  it  remains  true  that 
the  separatist  tendency  is  inherent  in  Indian  society ;  and  the 
best  proof  is  the  multiplicity  of  the  groups  into  which  it  is 
divided.  The  witness  of  the  sacred  books  as  to  the  number  of 
castes  in  antiquity  is  not  to  be  trusted.  Mann  declares  there  are 
only  four  castes — Brahmans,  Kshatriyas,  Vaisyas,  and  Sudras ; 
but  there  are  indications  of  a  much  larger  number  even  in  those 
times.  An  examination  of  Buddhist  and  other  ancient  literature 
yields  the  same  results.  Moreover,  of  the  four  castes  just  named, 
three  have  practically  disappeared,  for  the  pretensions  of  the 
Rajputs,  who  claim  to  represent  the  Kshatriyas,  are  manifestly 
false.  The  Brahmans  are  the  only  caste  which  retains  any 
semblance  of  continued  existence,  and  even  they  are  divided  up 
into  a  crowd  of  castes,  all  closed  one  against  another.  The  fact 
is  that  the  castes  have  to  be  reckoned  not  by  the  unit  but  by  the 
thousand. 


484 


Reviews. 


A  long  and  interesting  ailment  follows,  to  show  that  Caste  hi 
received,  not  its  origin,  but  its  special  orientation,  from  industi] 
that  a  number  of  economic  causes,  similar  to  those  which  product 
the  guild  in  Mediaeval  Europe,  have  been  operating  from  tin 
immemorial  in  India,  to  unite  together  all  whose  occupation  m 
the  same.  It  is  pointed  out  that  the  guilds  were  organised  like 
large  family  with  common  worship,  sacrifices,  feasts,  and  burii 
The  form  which  they  then  took  was  not  indeed  economic.  It  «t 
determined  by  tradition,  and  was  due  to  the  influence  of  religia 
Powerful,  however,  as  was  the  guild,  it  never  obtained  over  il 
members  the  absolute  empire  of  Caste.  If  it  be  impossible  t 
explain  all  the  peculiarities  of  the  guild  from  economic  causa 
i  fortiori  it  will  be  impossible  thus  to  explain  all  the  peculiaritie 
of  the  caste  system.  The  survivals  of  family  religion,  not  di 
exigencies  of  industry,  are  responsible  for  the  features  of  resecB 
biance  between  the  guild  and  the  caste.  The  ^ild  was  organise) 
like  a  family,  or  rather  perhaps  like  a  clan.  But  it  was  neve 
pretended  that  its  members,  though  they  regarded  one  anothe 
as  brethren,  were  literally  akin.  The  caste,  on  the  other  band 
is  founded  on  the  clan.  Not  that  the  members  are  in  realit] 
consanguine.  According  to  primitive  ideas  actual  consanguiniti 
is  not  necessary  to  kinship.  It  often  seems  to  be  derived  &oa 
union  in  one  cult,  from  simple  identity  of  name,  or  even  fron 
dwelling  together  in  one  place.  All  that  is  necessary  is  the  senti 
roent  of  relationship.  It  is  on  this  sentiment  of  relationship,  anc 
not  on  actual  blood-kinship,  that  the  caste  is  founded. 

The  weak  spot  in  the  theory  which  derives  the  caste  from  dn 
clan  is,  that  the  caste  is  endogamous  while  the  clan  is  usuall] 
exogamous.  M.  Bougie  is  conscious  of  the  difEculty,  and  be 
endeavours  to  meet  it  by  arguing  that,  stricdy  speaking,  it  is  the 
family  only  that  is  exogamous.  The  gens,  like  the  gotra  of  India, 
is  exogamous.  But  the  caste  is  an  assemblage  of  gotras,  as  the 
clan  and  the  tribe  are  an  assemblage  of  several  families  or  gcnta. 
They  are  thus  endogamous,  while  the  families,  the  gotras  are 
exogamous.  This  is  a  question  to  some  extent  of  terminology. 
But  M.  Bougie  seems  not  to  have  a  very  clear  notion  of  clan- 
organisation,  or  of  the  very  wide  differences  of  custom  in  respect 
to  marriage  characteristic  of  savages,  even  within  comparativelv 
limited  districts.  And  he  expressly  declines  to  determine  whether 
the  true  germ  of  the  clan  is  to  be  found  in  the  clan  or  in  th« 


Reviews. 


485 


tribe,  on  the  ground  that  the  dififerent  types  of  primitive  society 
are  not  yet  clearly  enough  defined  for  this  purpose.  The  main 
point  is,  he  says,  that  the  caste  is  animated  by  the  spirit  of  these 
primitive  (by  which  he  means  savage)  societies,  and  that  the 
religious  scruples  and  the  taboos  of  all  sorts  which  lead  these 
savage  societies  to  repel  one  another,  explain,  in  a  natural  manner, 
such  customs  as  operate  to-day  in  India  to  isolate  the  castes. 

The  domination  of  archaic  exclusiveness  may  thus  prevent  the 
castes  from  minghng  and  producing  a  firmly  welded  society :  il 
does  not  explain  the  hierarchy  of  castes.  The  chief  riddle  after 
ail  is,  why  the  Brahmans  are  at  the  top?  Nor  is  it  a  difficult 
riddle  to  read.  Given  the  hereditary  priest,  given  the  preter- 
natural seriousness  with  which  he  takes  himself,  as  all  priests  do, 
and  the  exaggerated  and,  according  to  our  view,  topsy-turvy 
value  he  sets  on  ceremonial  purity,  given  savage  ideas  on  the 
nature  of  sacrifice  and  the  qualities  of  the  oflSciant,  leading  to  an 
elatioration  of  rite  surpassing  that  of  most  other  peoples— given 
all  these,  and  the  wonder  would  be  if,  among  an  ignorant  people 
largely  preoccupied  with  religious  matters,  the  Brahman  did  «o/ 
"  come  out  on  top." 

The  rule  of  Caste,  as  thus  defined  by  M.  Bougie,  bears  all  its 
fruit  only  in  India.  Its  roots,  however,  are  to  be  found  in  savage 
society  everywhere.  When  society  attains  a  certain  degree  of 
civilisation.  Caste  begins  to  bud.  But  everywhere  else  than  in 
India  various  causes  have  combined  Co  stunt  its  development 
and  to  cause  its  decay.  India  alone  has  sufTered  a  sort  of 
arrested  sociological  development.  What  has  elsewhere  dissolved 
she  has  ossified.  Where  other  peoples  have  unified,  mobiUsed, 
levelled,  she  has  continued  to  divide,  to  specialise,  to  hierarchise. 
To  what  concourse  of  circumstances  this  special  direction  of 
Hindu  civilisation  is  due,  what  influences,  ethnic  or  telluric,  and 
what  historical  occurrences,  have  determined  this  social  evolution, 
the  author  does  not  venture  to  say.  Science  has  as  yet  no  answer 
for  these  questions. 

M.  Bougie's  is  thus  a  very  interesting  article.  It  is  lucid  and 
judicial,  and  if  not  so  important  as  some  of  its  predecessors,  it 
will  help  to  clear  the  minds  of  students  and  prepare  the  way  for 
further  inquiries. 

E.  Sidney  Hartland. 


486 


Reviews. 


\ 


fl'hii 


The  Legend  of  Sir  Lancelot  du  Lac,     By  Jessie  L,  Wesios. 

(Grimm  Library,  vol.  xii.)     D-  Nutt.      1901. 

The  able  study  of  the  Gawain  legend  which  appeared  3  ft* 
years  ago  from  the  pen  of  Miss  Weston,  should  insure  among  ail 
interested  in  Arthurian  criticism  an  eager  welcome  for  the  present 
volume,  in  which  the  author  has  made  bold  to  attack  what  is,  alike 
from  its  intrinsically  complex  nature  and  from  the  coroparatin 
inaccessibility  of  some  of  the  texts,  perhaps  the  most  fonnidabk 
of  the  branches  of  Arthurian  romance.  The  present  study  miy 
at  once  and  unhesitatingly  be  pronounced  fully  worthy  of  llw 
wide  knowledge  and  sound  critical  instinct  of  its  author,  and  Ihe 
results  attained  are  none  the  less  important  from  the  fact  tbal 
they  are  necessarily  in  many  cases  of  a  tentative  character.  Tliil 
on  certain  points  it  is  impossible  to  speak  with  any  attempt  ax 
finality  Miss  Weston  fully  recognises.  "Until  a  critical  text  [d 
the  Lancelot]  based  on  a  comparison  of  all  the  available  veraions 
is  in  our  hands,  it  will  be  quite  impossible  to  do  more  than  form 
a  tentative  hypothesis,  or  advance  a  guarded  suggestion  as  to  ike 
gradual  growth  and  formation  of  the  completed  legend."  This  is 
alike  modest  and  critically  sound,  and  it  would  be  an  admirable 
thing  were  writers  on  the  Arthurian  romances  generally  to  adopt 
an  equally  guarded  attitude.  But  if  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case 
it  is  impossible  to  arrive  at  results  which  shall  have  the  quality  of 
finality,  there  is  yet  room  for  good  work  in  the  way  of  cl^uing 
the  ground  and  presenting  in  orderly  form  such  evidence  as  is  at 
present  available,  and  much  good  work  of  this  nature  will  be 
found  in  Miss  Weston's  book. 

It  is  impossible  here  to  do  more  than  pass  in  review  the  general 
results,  and  call  attention  to  a  few  points  which  appear  for  one 
reason  or  another  to  possess  particular  importance.  In  the  course 
of  doing  so  I  shall,  however,  I  believe,  be  able  to  bring  to  bear  on 
the  question  of  the  relation  of  the  texts  of  the  prose  Latue/ot  some 
items  of  evidence  which  have  somewhat  unaccountably  escaped 
the  attention  of  the  author. 

The  extant  literature  dealing  with  Lancelot  may  be  roughly 
divided  into  two  classes :  on  the  one  hand  the  vast  compilation 
known  as  the  prose  Lancelot,  consisting  of  the  two  parts  of  the 
Lancelot  proper,  the  Queste  and  the  Mart  Artur;  on  the  other, 
various  smaller  romances  or  independent  laii  which  sometimes 


Revieii 


487 


present  a  very  different  legend  from  that  of  the  great  cycHc  com- 
pilation. Of  these  two  divisions,  the  former  may  be  held  to  be 
of  demonstrably  late  origin,  the  distinctive  features  being  unknown 
to  earher  Arthurian  tradition ;  though  it  is  probable  that  some  of 
the  other  cyclic  romances,  such  as  the  Merlin  and  the  Grand  S, 
Graal,  have  been  at  least  worked  over  with  a  view  to  making 
them  agree  with  the  Lancelot.  The  independent  romances  offer 
a  rather  more  hopeful  field  of  investigation  as  regards  the  original 
legend,  though  the  inquiry  still  presents  very  considerable  diffi- 
culties. 

The  first  romance  examined  by  Miss  Weston  is  the  Lanseki  of 
Ulrich  von  Zatzikhoven,  a  work  the  exact  date  of  which  it  is  im- 
possible to  fix,  but  which  probably  belongs  to  the  opening  years  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  and  is  consequently  later  than  Chrestien 
de  Troyes.  It  is,  however,  highly  probable,  if  not  exactly  provable, 
that  the  tradition  represented  Is  as  a  whole  earlier  than  that  of  any 
other  romance  dealing  with  the  hero,  since  the  story  of  his  liaison 
with  Guenevere,  which  later  obtained  such  universal  popularity, 
is  wholly  unknown.  The  poem  contains  the  enfances  of  the  hero 
in  a  primitive  though  probably  not  original  form,  followed  by  a 
variety  of  adventures  relating  to  his  later  life  which  in  all  probabihty 
represent  the  working  over  of  a  number  of  independent  lais  so  as 
to  form  something  of  a  biographical  romance.  It  is  very  doubtful 
whether  any  of  these  lais  were  originally  connected  with  Lancelot 
at  all ;  in  any  case  they  form  a  highly  incongruous  whole,  and 
involve  the  preposterous  supposition  that  the  hero  was  at  least 
three,  probably  four,  times  married,  one  of  the  ceremonies  taking 
place  after  his  union  with  the  lady  who  retains  the  position  of  wife 
at  the  end  of  the  poem.  The  portion  dealing  with  the  enfances  is 
important,  since  Miss  Weston  adduces  strong  reasons  for  supposing 
that  in  it  we  find  the  real  aboriginal  germ  of  the  Lancelot  legend. 
Throughout  Arthurian  tradition— and  unlike  other  legends,  we 
have  no  literary  remains  of  the  Lancelot  legend  in  the  stage  before 
it  became  connected  with  the  court  of  Arthur — Lancelot  remains 
Lancelot  du  Lac.  It  is  the  one  attribute  which  never  varies,  and 
the  one  feature  common  to  all  versions  of  the  enfances  is  his 
residence  in  the  kingdom  of  the  mysterious  Lady  of  the  Lake,  In 
Ulrich'g  poem  the  lady  is  represented  as  a  water  fairy  (mer-feine\ 
and  her  domain  is  the  land  of  maidens,  the  Maide-lani.  This  has 
the  appearance  of  an  original  or  at  least  a  primitive  trait,  but  the 


^ 


character  of  the  Lady  of  the  Lake  is  perhaps  the  most  punling  of 
the  whole  cycle,  and  the  probability  of  the  influence  of  Gawain^ 
Castle  of  Maidens  warns  the  critic  to  be  careful.  In  its  origis 
there  is  a  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  land  in  question  was  an 
other-world  kingdom,  and  Miss  Weston  puts  forward  the  su^esdoa 
that  Lancelot  may  in  the  first  instance  have  been  the  Jover  of  in 
queen,  a  connection  which,  supposing  its  existence  and  surrival^ 
may  have  recommended  him  to  fill  the  rdU  of  lover  to  Gueneveie. 
One  of  the  later  portions  of  the  poem  relates  how,  when  a  certain 
King  Valerin  or  Falerin  lays  claim  to  Guenevere,  he  is  challenged 
and  defeated  by  Lanzelet ;  when,  however,  he  afterwards  cairia 
off  the  queen,  Lanzelet  is  by  no  means  particularly  instrumental 
in  recovering  her  ;  unless  indeed  one  could  identify  the  mysterioiB 
Malduz,  the  magician  who  helps  to  that  end,  with  the  otha 
magician  M4bQz,  the  son  of  the  Lady  of  the  Lake,  whom  Lanzelot 
had  previously  benefited.  This  incident  has  an  obvious  likenesi 
to  the  Meleaganl  adventure,  though  the  similarity  with  that  related 
in  the  Tristan  {a  character  known  to  Ulrich)  bids  us  again  beware 
how  we  consider  it  as  in  any  way  particularly  connected  with 
Lancelot.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  rather  difficult  altogether  to 
agree  with  Miss  Weston,  who  in  her  anxiety  to  show  that  Ulrich 
knew  nothing  of  the  distinctive  liaison  molt/,  endeavours  to 
minimise  Lanzelet's  share  in  the  rescue. 

The  next  romance  lo  be  examined  is  an  episode,  only  known 
as  occurring  in  the  Dutch  Lancelot,  but  which  there  can  be  little 
doubt  represents  some  French  lai  of  an  episodic  character.  Miss 
Weston  calls  it  the  Cerf  au  pied  blanc,  and  points  out  that  in  it 
we  find  the  thoroughly  '  Arthurised'  form  of  the  well-known  ltd 
of  Tyolet,  which  she  regards  with  great  plausibility  as  a  transforma- 
tion legend ;  while  the  special  form  which  the  adventure  assumes 
involves  the  widely-diffused  '  False  Claimant'  motif,  which  is  well 
known  from  the  Tristan,  and  actually  occurs  a  second  time  in 
the  Dutch  compilation,  namely  in  the  Morien  adventure.  In  any 
case  the  Cerf  au  fiieJ  ilanc  represenis  a  late  and  debased  version 
and  the  existence  of  the  iii  enables  us  to  state  definitely  what  we 
might  in  any  case  have  surmised  with  probability,  namely,  that 
the  adventure  cannot  have  formed  any  part  of  the  original  L^celot 
tradition. 

Next  comes  Chrestien  de  Troyes  and  his  Chevalier  de  la 
Charrettt,  the  earliest  text  which  knows  anything  of  the  love  ol 


r  hero  for  the  wife  of  his  lord.  The  manner  in  which  this 
;  is  regarded  will  depend  largely  upon  the  view  taken  of 
Chcestien's  methods  of  authorship  generally ;  and  in  the  fifth 
chapter  Miss  Weston  descends  into  the  arena  of  controversial 
criticism  on  the  question  of  the  relation  of  that  writer's  work  to 
his  sources,  and  attacks  the  theory  advocated  by  Chrestien's  most 
recent  editor.  Professor  Foerster;  a  theory  which  has  met  with  a 
good  deal  of  favour  among  German  scholars,  namely  that  which 
would  regard  Chrestien  as  largely  an  original  author  and  place 
the  genesis  of  the  romantic  as  opposed  to  the  historical  Arthurian 
tradition  on  continental  ground.  Miss  Weston  enters  into  a  care- 
ful examination  of  the  evidence  of  names  and  places  with  respect 
to  the  light  they  throw  upon  the  locality  of  cristalisation,  and 
endeavours  to  show  the  impossibility  of  regarding  Chrestien's 
work  as  original,  owing  to  the  marked  folklore  features  it  con- 
tains ;  a  line  of  invesUgation  which  has  only  recently  been  applied 
to  the  legends,  and  which  promises  some  interesting  results.  A 
good  deal  of  clear  logic,  too,  is  brought  to  bear  on  some  of  the 
arguments  of  the  advocates  of  the  'continental*  theory,  in  par- 
ticular Professor  Foerster's ;  with  a  total  result  that  a  very  fair 
case  is  made  out  for  the  insular  origin  of  most  of  the  romances 
refashioned  by  the  French  poet. 

We  now  pass  to  the  great  prose  Lance/of.  As  already  stated, 
Miss  Weston  points  out  that  a  thorough  investigation  of  the 
legend  is  impossible  until  the  Herculean  task  of  preparing  a 
critical  edition  of  this  compilation,  involving  the  comparison  of 
innumerable  and  widely-scattered  MSS.  and  printed  editions,  has 
been  undertaken  and  brought  to  a  satisfactory  conclusion.  At 
present  it  is  only  possible  to  treat  detached  sections  of  the  story, 
and  these  only  tentatively — a  general  criticism  is  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. The  tn/ances,  the  Guenevere  iiaison,  and  the  Grail  adventure, 
are  the  points  chosen  for  special  study  by  Miss  Weston.  The 
second  of  these  possesses  the  most  general  interest,  and  is  dealt 
with  in  a  singularly  able  chapter.  The  following  points  seem 
established  as  surely  as  the  nature  of  the  evidence  available  in 
such  cases  admits.  In  the  first  place,  the  loves  of  Lancelot  and 
Guenevere  form  part  neither  of  the  original  Arthur  nor  the  original 
Lancelot  legends.  Secondly,  Lancelot  does  not,  as  Miss  Weston 
in  her  earlier  work  supposed,  take  over  the  rile  previously 
belonging  to  Mordred.    Thirdly,  the  story  appears  to  have  been 


490 


Reviews. 


\ 


i 


introduced  in  accordance  with  the  taste  of  contemporary  coffll' 
life,  and  to  have  been  developed  under  the  influence  irf  d» 
popular  Tristiam  legend,  which  in  its  turn  was  influenced  b;  tie 
Latuehl.  The  chief  difficulty  is  to  find  any  reason  for  LanceW; 
being  selected  for  the  post  of  lover,  and  on  this  point  it  is  oalf 
possible  to  offer  a  more  or  less  plausible  conjecture. 

Leaving  on  one  side  the  Melwas-Meleagant  abduction  episode, 
rightly  regarded  as  an  other-world  rescue  tale.  Miss  Weston  oW 
the  following  sequence  among  Guenevere's  lovers.  Original  lon( 
Gawain,  replaced  by  Mordred,  probably  created  for  the  piupwl 
when  the  position  was  regarded  as  inconsistent  with  Gawain'sbi^ 
reputation  as  a  knight.  Later,  the  queen  is  represented  as  repulRBg' 
the  advances  of  Mordred,  her  character  undergoing  the  ^i" 
process  of  clearing  as  Gawain's.  Lastly  comes  the  introduction fl( 
the  Lancelot  motif,  due  to  social  conditions,  and  to  the  popuiari^ 
of  the  Tristan.  Miss  Weston  also  suggests  that  to  the  into- 
mediate  whitewashing  stage  belongs  the  introduction  of  ihU- 
mysterious  character,  the  '  false  Guenevere,'  but  the  evidence 
available  is  of  far  too  scanty  a  nature  to  allow  of  much  importaw* 
being  attached  to  the  suggestion.  With  regard  to  the  position 
ascribed  to  Gawain,  it  also  behoves  us  to  be  cautious.  He  ii 
essentially  a  folklore  character,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that  1* 
may  represent  a  Cuchulinn-Diarraid-Conlaoch  hero,  and  as  sudi 
belong  to  the  family  of  the  Arician  priest ;  but  even  if  the  two 
characters  are  not  exactly  incompatible,  it  is  not  very  easy  to  see 
how  this  would  come  to  be  combined  with  the  position  of  sua 
hero  ascribed  to  him  in  Miss  Weston's  former  study. 

We  pass  on  to  the  very  intricate  subject  of  Quests  redactions 
and  at  once  find  ourselves  in  a  maze  of  hypothesis — -for  the  mosl 
part,  it  must  be  admitted,  not  of  Miss  Weston's  devising.  Ttx 
general  transition  from  a  Perceval  to  a  Galahad  Queste  has  o 
course  been  long  recognised,  but  the  present  author  brine 
forward  strong  reasons  for  supposing  the  existence  of  a  Percev^ 
Lancelot  Queste  intermediate  between  the  two.  One  point  oi 
which  Miss  Weston  very  rightly  insists  is  the  absolute  futility  o 
the  Galahad  Quest,  qua  quest,  and  consequently  the  necessity  o 
regarding  it  as  a  mere  branch  of  the  legend  of  Lancelot,  for  whos( 
glorification  alone  it  was  composed.  It  can  only  have  existed  ii 
the  cyclic  form,  although  its  aggressively  conventual  tone  stampi 
it  as  the  work  of  a  different  hand  from  the  Lancelot  proper  ant 
the  Mori  Arlur. 


rii " 


Reviews.  49 1 

The  remainder  of  the  volume  is  devoted  to  a  detailed  compari- 
son of  the  various  versions  of  the  great  cyclic  romance  of  Lancelot, 
including  as  it  does  nearly  the  whole  of  the  later  history  of  Arthur 
and  the  Round  Table.  This  is  important  as  being  the  first 
attempt  at  a  scientific  examination  of  the  legend  ;  and  the  resuhs 
being  of  a  less  hypothetical  character  than  those  of  the  other 
portions  of  the  volume,  they  deserve  somewhat  closer  consideration 
in  this  place.  The  basis  of  comparison  is  afforded  by  the  following 
texts  :  first,  the  Dutch  Lancelot,  an  analysis  of  which  is  also  given 
in  the  appendix  (referred  to  as  D.  L.) ;  secondly,  the  Lenoire 
edition  printed  at  Paris  in  1533,  presen'ed  in  the  Bodleian,  and 
unknown  to  Dr.  Sommer  (referred  to  as  1533)  i  thirdly,  Dr. 
Sommer's  analysis  of  the  prose  Lancelot  founded  on  the  edition 
of  1513,  said  by  him  to  correspond  with  the  versions  contained  in 
the  twelve  MSS.  and  two  other  printed  editions  in  the  British 
Museum,  and  compared  with  Malory's  text  in  the  third  volume  of 
his  edition  of  the  Aforle  d' Arthur  (S.) ;  fourthly,  the  Quale  edited 
by  Dr.  Furnival  for  the  Roxburghe  Club  from  MS.  Royal  14  E  iii. 
(Q.);  fifthly,  Malory's  Morte  iT Arthur  (M.);  and  sixthly,  the 
Welsh  Quesle  in  the  Rev.  R.  Williams'  translation  (W.), 

At  the  outset  Miss  Weston  announces  what  she  conceives  to  be 
the  result  attained  by  this  comparison.  "The  point  I  desire  to 
prove  is  that  the  versions  D.  L.  and  1533  represent  a  text  radically 
different  from  that  consulted  by  Dr.  Sommer,  and  that,  in  con- 
junction with  Malory,  they  may  be  held  to  represent  a  family  of 
MSS.  hitherto  unregarded  or  unsuspected."  Thus  it  appears  that 
the  only  knowledge  Miss  Weston  possesses  of  the  text  represented 
by  Dr.  Sommer's  analysis,  and  from  which,  according  to  him,  the 
twelve  Museum  MSS.  and  other  printed  editions  differ  in  "details 
of  style  and  phraseology  "  only,  is  derived  from  the  Doctor's  ana- 
lysis itself.  However,  a  few  pages  further  on  Miss  Weston  writes, 
"  I  assume  throughout  that  Dr.  Sommer's  summary  correctly 
represents  his  text,  but  I  admit  that  I  have  my  doubts  on  this 
point ;  certainly  in  the  Quesle  section  he  gives  some  most  mis- 
taken readings."  One  would  have  thought  that  under  the  circum- 
stances Miss  Weston  would  have  found  it  worth  while  to  check 
Dr.  Sommer's  analysis  by  a  few  test -references  to  such  an  acces- 
sible work  as  the  1513  Laneelol;  had  she  done  so  the  result  might 
well  have  surprised  her.  What  is  the  position  as  represented  by 
her  comparison  ?  We  find,  as  above  stated,  a  general  agreement 
between  D.  L.,  1533,  and  M.,  as  against  the  twelve  MSS.  and 


}..  i. 


1  ■ 

! 


492  Reviews. 

three  printed  editions  in  the  British  Museum  examined  by  Dr. 
Sommer.  Now,  that  a  version,  or  more  properly  a  type,  of  VboX  of 
such  wide  diffusion  as  to  underiie  three  texts  in  tluee  diflerent 
languages,  between  which  there  is  no  external  hint  of  comtectkn 
and  each  of  which  introduces  matter  not  found  in  the  other  two— 
that  such  a  version  should  be  represented  by  no  sis^gle  textamoQg 
the  fifteen  preserved  at  the  Museum  is  in  itself  all  but  an  imponi- 
bility,  and  should  have  at  once  aroused  suspicion.  Having  had 
experience  for  my  own  part  of  the  singular  blunders  ci  which  Dc 
Sommer  was  capable  in  critical  work  unconnected  with  Arthurian 
romance,  I  determined  to  consult  some  of  the  editions  and  MSS. 
which  he  claimed  to  have  examined,  and  very  soon  became  con- 
vinced that  for  purposes  of  comparison  his  analj^sis  was  worse 
than  useless.  Here,  in  the  first  place,  are  a  few  of  the  resolti 
obtained  by  bringing  that  analysis  alongside  of  his  original  of 
1 5 13.  It  must  be  understood  that  the  comparison  was  only 
made  as  r^ards  certain  test  points;  the  results  obtained  show 
that  further  comparison  would  be  waste  of  time,  the  whole 
work  requires  doing  afresh.  Thus  at  the  top  of  page  181  of  Dr. 
Sommer's  Studies  we  read  of  *' forty  *  glaives,'  forty-^five  shieldsi 
and  five  spears."  Miss  Weston  notes  (p.  152)  that  D.  L.  speaks 
of  "  Ix.  (?  xl.)  shields  and  helmets  and  xl.  swords  ",  1 533  of  "  forty- 
five  helmets,  forty-five  swords,  and  more  than  forty>five  shields." 
Malory  merely  mentions  "many  fayre  sheldes."  Now  will  any 
serious  reader  believe  me  when  I  say  that  the  text  of  15 13,  that 
which  Dr.  Sommer  is  supposed  to  be  representing,  reads  "  plus 
de  quarante  et  cinq  glaiues  &  plus  de  quarate  &  cinq  escus  et 
plus  de  quarante  &  cinq  heaulmes  &  quarate  et  cinq  espees"? 
Again  (p.  153),  Miss  Weston  points  out  that  both  D.  L.  and 
1533  differ  from  S.  (p.  183)  in  saying  that  it  was  the  Queen  and 
not  the  King  of  Sorestan  who  had  seized  the  lands  of  the  daughter 
of  the  Duke  of  Rochedon.  Here  again  Dr.  Sommer  has  mis- 
represented his  original,  which  distinctly  speaks  of  the  queen. 
On  p.  154  Miss  Weston  remarks  that  when  Lancelot  and  his  com- 
panions separate  in  search  of  Hector  and  Lionel  there  were  seven 
knights  in  the  company  and  not  six  as  S.  represents.  This  is 
true;  but  here,  however,  Dr.  Sommer  is  merely  following  the 
15 13  text  which  says  *six.*  On  p.  187  of  the  Studies^  on  the 
other  hand,  Dr.  Sommer  asserts  that  the  15 13  text  agrees  with 
Malory  in  saying  that  Lancelot  h-  irse  rides  off  on  that 


of  Gaheret  after  the  slaying  of  Turquyne.  This  is  incorrectj  1513 
agrees  with  D.  L.  and  1533  as  against  M.,  in  making  Lancelot  ride 
off  on  his  own  horse,  no  mention  being  made  of  Gaheret's.  Again, 
on  the  same  page  Dr.  Sommer's  analysis  is,  as  Miss  Weston  sus- 
pects {p.  154),  a  "hasty  summary  which  does  not  represent  the 
text."  S.  has,  "the  knights  exchange  Terriquen's  castle  for 
horses,  though  not  very  good  ones."  Here  D.  L.  evidently  has 
an  abridged  version  which  may  be  left  out  of  account.  1533 
"  says  that '  Keux  du  Pare "  has  a  '  brother '  prisoner :  delighted 
at  his  safety  he  gives  them  all  horses,  very  good  to  Arthur's 
knights,  not  so  good  to  the  others.  Out  of  gratitude  they  offer 
him  the  castle."  This  really  agrees  with  1513,  in  which  'Ireu 
(an  evident  misprint  for  Keu)  du  pare,'  whose  brother  had  been 
prisoner  "  si  fist  venir  a  chascun  cheualier  ung  cheual  de  la 
maison  du  roy  artus  bon  &  fort  &  donna  aux  aultres  des  cheuaulx, 
mais  ilz  nestoyent  point  si  tres  bons,"  after  which  Arthur's  knights 
give  him  the  castle  in  guerdon.  Slightly  different  is  the  text 
presented  by  MS.  Royal  19  C  xiii. :  "si  fist  uenir  a  ceaus  qui 
esloient  de  la  meson  lo  roi  artur  cheuax  &  armes  &  il  li  doiient 
p  16  coniun  conteil  ceu  chastel  en  geredon  de  ceu  seruise  qui  estoit 
beaus  &  forz."  The  reading  of  this  MS.  is  very  interesting  in 
another  way.  The  '  Keux  du  Pare '  appears  in  D.  L.  as  '  Die 
grave  van  den  Pale,'  and  Miss  Weston  conjectures  that  in  Keux 
we  should  see  some  equivalent  to  grave  ( =  count).  Now  this 
MS.  verifies  her  conjecture  and  puts  the  matter  beyond  doubt  by 
reading  "li  qns  {i.e.  quens)  deu  pare"  It  may  be  mentioned 
incidentally  that  Dr.  Somraer  finding  himself  confronted  by  the 
obviously  corrupt  Ireu  of  1513,  omitted  all  mention  of  the  name. 

To  pass  lo  another  section  of  the  work,  namely,  the  Mnri  Artur. 
On  p.  223  of  the  Studies,  Dr.  Sommer  says  that  at  the  tournament 
at  Winchester  "  The  people  think  the  two  knights  cannot  be  the 
sons  of  the  lord  of  the  castle  of  '  escalol.'"  Miss  Weston  (p.  195) 
remarks  that  in  D.  L.  and  1533  it  is  Gawain  who  doubts.  With 
this  agree  both  1513  and  MS.  Royal  14  E  iii.,  the  magnificent  illu- 
minated MS,  (ihe  Quest  section  of  which  was  edited  by  Dr.  Fur- 
ni\'al),  of  which  the  Mort  Artur  section  is  unfortunately  imperfect. 
Lower  down  on  the  same  page  S,  says  that  Gawain  meets  a  wounded 
knight:  1513,  however,  describes  the  knight  as  "mort  nouuelle- 
ment,"  which  agrees  with  1533.  With  regard  to  the  words  of 
Arthur  a  few  hnes  later,  "  it  was  not  the  first  time  he  took  trouble 


J 

I 


I . 


I 


!■■; 

I 
I   ' 


■•    , 


494  Reviews. 

without  result,**  Miss  Weston  points  out  that  1533  >^d  D.  L.  add 
"through  that  knighf  The  text  of  1513  reads,  ^'pas  k  pre- 
miere peine  que  vous  en  auez  eue,**  which  comes  to  die  «"m^ 
thing.  On  p.  228  of  the  Studies  occurs  an  important  passage 
concerning  the  manner  in  which  Lancelot  hears  of  Guenevere^ 
danger  from  Madoc  de  la  Porte.  According  to  S.,  Lancdot 
meets  a  knight  who  informs  him  of  the  situation.  ^  A  daj  after 
this  conversation  Lancelot  meets  Hector  by  chance,  and  xefcab 
his  intention  of  going  to  Kamalof  This  is  pure  fictioo  00 
Dr.  Sommer's  part  The  edition  of  15 13  has  *'et  quant  k 
cheualier  fust  eslognie  de  luy  il  regarde  entrauers  et  vit  uenir  ung 
cheualier  arme  et  lancelot  la  deuisa  congneut  tantost  que  cestdt 
j  i  hector  du  maris  son  frere ; "  it  is  also  Hector,  not  Lancelot,  who 

*' reveals  his  intention  of  going  to  Kamalot"  With  I5r3  and 
1533  agrees  MS.  Add.  17443-  MS.  Royal  14  E  iii.  on  the  other 
hand  says,  '*  mais  il  not  gaires  cheuauchie  qnt  il  en  contra  booit 
et  hestor.  &.  ii.  escuiers  auoec  eus."  They  tell  him  the  news  and 
he  says  he  already  knows  it.  This  agrees  with  D.  L.  as  sum- 
marised by  Miss  Weston  (p.  198) ;  a  noteworthy  point,  considering 
the  general  agreement  reported  between  1533  and  D.  L.  as  against 
the  Quest  section  of  the  MS.  edited  by  Dr.  FumivaL  On  p.  255 
of  the  Studies  occurs,  however,  the  most  astounding  and  damning 
of  Dr.  Sommer's  blunders.  He  here  makes  Lancelot  send  mes- 
sengers to  King  Ban  of  Benoyc.  As  Miss  Weston  points  out 
(p.  200),  King  Ban  (Lancelot's  father)  had  died  long  before,  and 
D.  L.  and  1533  have  "the  barons  of  Benoyc"  By  this  time 
it  may  not  surprise  readers  to  learn  that  the  edition  of 
151 3  (that,  remember,  summarised  by  Dr.  Sommer),  reads 
"Quat  lancelot  entendit  ces  nouuelles  il  print  ung  messaige 
et  enuoya  au  royaulme  de  benoic  &  manda  a  ses  barons 
que  lis  gamissent  les  chasteaulx,"  Ccc. !  With  this,  MS.  Royal 
14  E  iii.  agrees,  and  breaks  off  abruptly  a  few  columns  further 
on.  Is  it  necessar}-  to  quote  further  instances  ?  I  will  only  refer 
to  one  or  two  more  particularly  blatant  errors.  On  page  256,  at 
the  bottom.  S.  asserts  that  1513  agrees  with  M.  in  making  Boors 
ovenhrow  Arthur.  It  does  nothing  of  the  kind :  it  agrees  with 
1533  and  P.  I-.  in  ascribing  the  feat  to  Hector.  Finally,  on  the 
opposite  page,  S.  makes  •Ector*  offer  to  tight  Gawain,  vhile 
1513  again    agrees   m-i:h    the   o;h**  >qs  in  ascribing   the 

challence  to  Boors  * 


This  then  is  the  famed  German  Criticism,  this  is  the  kind  of 
investigation  on  which  other  critics,  such  as  Professor  Foerster, 
possessed  of  no  first-hand  knowledge,  rely,  when  they  announce 
that  "  Der  iiberall  seine  Quellen  und  zwar  nur  seine  Quellen  und 
obendrein  noch  treu  wiedergebende  Malory  ist  ein  Phantasie- 
geschopf  der  Walliser  und  Englander  "  !  German  scholarship  has 
an  honoured  name  the  world  over ;  how  many  of  its  followers  of 
to-day,  one  begins  to  wonder,  are  going  to  make  it  their  life's 
work  to  trail  that  name  in  the  dust  P 

The  result  of  the  inquiry  has  so  far  been  to  make  the  divei^ence 
between  the  texts  of  1513  and  1533  far  less  than  Miss  Weston, 
relying  on  Dr.  Sommer's  analysis,  was  led  to  believe.  It  must 
not,  however,  be  supposed  that  the  divergence  does  not  exist,  or 
even  that  it  is  of  minor  importance.  For  instance,  the  note  in 
1533  recorded  by  Miss  Weston  {p.  160),  "Ainsi  prend  fin  le 
premier  volume,"  &c.,  finds  no  parallel  ai  this  point  in  1513, 
while  in  the  account  of  Elayne's  leaving  the  court  (Sommer, 
p.  196;  Weston,  p.  161)  1513  and  M,  agree  in  making  Arthur 
escort  her,  as  against  D.  L.  and  1533,  in  which  he  does  not,  and 
which  latter  at  this  point  apparently  have  the  support  of  MS. 
Royal  19  C  xiii. 

Nor  must  it  be  supposed  that  the  various  MSS.  agree  in  any 
constant  or  consistent  manner  with  either  of  the  printed  texts. 
There  are  twelve  MSS.  in  the  British  Museum  which  represent 
either  the  whole  or  parts  of  the  1513  text.  Of  these  Dr.  Sommer 
gives  a  table  showing  the  correspondences,  which  he  is  careful  to 
inform  us  was  set  up  in  type  from  the  original  drawn  by  himself. 
This  is  well,  and  the  result  is  useful,  only  he  might  certainly  have 
drawn  it  with  greater  care.  Thus  in  the  numbers  of  the  various 
books  of  Malory  given  at  the  top  of  the  table,  "  Book  xviii."  is 
apparently  a  misprint  for  "  Book  xix ; "  Book  xi,,  chapters  1-3, 
should  be  inserted  between  the  two  portions  of  Book  vi. 
to  correspond  to  folios  313-315  {1513.  vol.  ii.,  folios  105-107), 
as  appears  from  page  190  (note)  of  the  Studies;  MS.  Royal 
14  E  iii.  should  be  marked  as  breaking  off  in  the  middle  of  the 
Mart  Ariur,  and  the  dotted  lines  between  volumes  i.  and  ii.  of  the 
1513  edition  should  be  drawn  atfoHo  so8,  not  about  folio  195, 

I  do  not  pretend  to  have  examined  all  these  MSS.,  but  one  or 
two  points  will  make  it  clear  what  may  be  expected  from  a  careful 
comparison.     It  will  be  noticed  that  there  are  twO  MSS.,  Royal 


I   ■ 

r 
I 


r 


I 
I 


496  Reviews. 

14  E  iiL  and  Add.  i7443»  which  correspond  to  tbe  Qmst  and 
Aforf  only.  These  appear  to  agree  closely  togetber,  and  I  hue 
already  quoted  readuigs  from  them.  I  will  only  add  here  tint 
they  usually  agree  with  1513  and  1533  in  points  where  D.  L 
dififersy  and  also  against  M.,  as  where  (Sommer,  p.  230)  thej  and 
1 5 13  give  Guenevere  forty  days'  respite  against  M^'s  fifteen.  In 
MS.  Add.  17443,  however,  there  is  an  interesting  vaiiation»  the 
exact  bearing  of  which  I  leave  to  more  expert  students  than  mysdf 
to  determine.  Dr.  Sommer  notes  on  p.  209,  that  in  1513  thcxe  is 
a  contradiction,  Galahad  being  spoken  of  as  the  son  of  **  la  fiHe 
le  roy  pescheoure  "  and  '*  la  fille  au  roi  pelles  "  within  the  compas 
of  a  few  lines.  The  MS.  in  question  reads  "  la  fiUe  au  riche  roi 
pescheor"  in  do^  cases,  which,  however,  is  such  nn  obvious 
i  correction  that  it  by  no  means  makes  it  certain  that  the  printed 

text  is  not  really  the  more  original. 

A  yet  more  interesting  MS.  is  Royal  19  C  xiii.,  which  covers  die 
whole  of  the  prose  Lancelot  text,  though  in  parts  it  appears  to 
offer  a  very  condensed  version.  Thus  when  Lancelot  leaves  die 
castle  of  Turquyne,  according  to  15 13  and  1533,  "si  virent  venir 
troi  varletz  qui  amenoiSt  trois  sommiers  chai^gez  de  venoison," 
while  M.  and  D.  L.  agree  in  speaking  of  ''a  foster  with  four  horses 
lade  with  fatte  veneson."  Here  the  MS.  merely  says,  *'  si  uoiet 
uenir  .11.  roncins  chargez  de  uenoison."  Again,  when  Arthur 
announces  the  tournament  at  Winchester,  (Sommer,  p.  195),  the 
MS.  makes  no  mention  of  the  news  spreading  to  Scotland,  Ire- 
land, &c.,  though  a  few  lines  further  down  it  clears  up  a  confusion 
in  M.  We  there  read  how  Elayne  took  with  her  twenty  knights 
and  ten  ladies  "to  the  nombre  of  an  hondred  horses,"  while 
1 5 13  merely  speaks  of  ladies  and  damsels  to  the  number  of  eighty. 
The  MS.  is  unfortunately  a  very  difficult  one  to  read,  but  it  cer- 
tainly adds  "&  seriSz  (/>.  serjants)  asez,"  together  with  some 
hieroglyphics  which  I  interpret  to  mean  "et  c.  cheuaux." 
Later  on  (Sommer,  p.  201,  Weston,  p.  163)  we  find  the  MS. 
agreeing  with  D.  L.  and  M.  as  against  15 13  and  1533  in  making 
Lancelot  strike  the  shield  as  if  ten  and  not  twelve  knights  did  it, 
and  further  down  on  the  same  page  of  the  Studies,  where  D.  L. 
differs  from  15 13  and  1533  in  representing  Lancelot  as  chained 
by  the  ankles  and  not  feet  and  hands,  the  MS.  speaks  of  "  petiz 
aneaul  es  jambes  "  only. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  theory  of  the  opposing  groups  of  D.  L. 


Reviews. 


497 


1 533,  :ind  M.  on  the  one  hand,  and  all  the  B.  M.  texts  on  the  other, 
is  a  pure  phantasm,  the  result  of  imperfect  comparison  and  careless 
analysis  on  Dr.  Sommer's  part.  My  own  impression  is  that  the 
MSS.  and  printed  editions  alike  are  full  of  the  most  puzzling  cross 
links  which  it  will  take  a  vast  deal  of  labour  and  care  to  unravel. 

So  far  then  as  concerns  the  acceptance  of  the  results  arrived  at 
by  Miss  Weston  in  the  ninth  and  eleventh  chapters  of  her  study 
(for  the  tenth  she  luckily  had  Dr.  Fumival's  edition  of  the  Qmste), 
caution  will  be  needed.  Of  her  work  as  a  whole,  as  a  piece  of 
patient,  careful,  and  honest  investigation,  it  is  not  easy  to  speak 
too  highly,  and  such  is  the  value  of  these  qualifications  in  all 
literary  inquiry,  that  it  is  impossible  not  to  regret  that  the  author 
should  have  allowed  herself  to  be  misled  in  an  important  section 
of  her  work,  when  a  very  few  hours  spent  in  examining  the  British 
Museum  texts  would  have  revealed  to  her  the  true  character  and 
value  of  Dr.  Sommer's  analysis. 

Walter  W.  Greg. 


Stories  OF  the  High-priests  of  Memphis.    ByF.  LL  Griffith. 
Oxford  L  Clarendon  Press,  igao. 

Mr.  Griffith's  handsomely  got-up  book  will  interest  two  classes 
of  readers.  One  is  the  philologist,  the  other  is  the  folklorist. 
For  the  one,  there  are  the  best  translations  yet  produced  of  two 
demotic  Egyptian  texts ;  for  the  other,  fragments  of  the  ancient 
folklore  of  Egypt.  Both  "  stories  "  relate  to  Setne  Khamuas,  the 
priestly  son  of  Ramses  II.,  whose  later  fame  rested  on  his  sup- 
posed magical  knowledge  and  powers.  The  first  of  them  is  con- 
tained i[i  a  papyrus  which  was  first  edited  and  translated  by 
Brugsch,  the  second  is  written  on  the  back  of  two  Greek  docu- 
ments which  are  dated  in  the  seventh  year  of  the  Emperor 
Claudius  (a.d.  46-47),  and  has  not  been  published  before. 

The  first  tale  describes  the  efforts  of  Khamuas  to  get  possession 
of  a  magic  book  which  gave  the  owner  power  over  the  whole 
universe.  It  had  been  written  by  Thoth  himself,  and  had  been 
stolen  from  its  original  resting-place  by  a  certain  Ne-nefet-ka- 
Ptah,  the  son  of  an  early  Pharaoh,  who  had  In  consequence  been 
drowned  in  the  Nile  along  with  his  wife  Ahure  and  only  child. 


I 


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498  Reviews. 

The  ghost  of  Ahure  endeavours  to  dissuade  Khiimuas  from  fgj 
lowing  the  example  of  her  husband  by  relating  his  disastrous  lal^ 
All  was  in  vain,  however,  and  Khamuas  succeeded  in  identifyiq 
and  entering  the  tomb  of  Ne-nefer-ka-Ptah  ;  but  the  ghost  of  dl 
latter  refused  to  give  up  the  book  unless  Khamuas  won  it  froB 
hicn  at  a  game  of  draughts.  But  so  far  from  doing  this,  Khamita 
lost  game  after  game  and  found  himself  in  consequence  sinkiq 
into  the  ground  "  up  to  his  ears."  From  this  perilous  ^tuatid 
he  was  rescued  by  his  brother,  who  brought  him  the  "  amulets  < 
Piah  "  and  his  books  of  m^ic. 

After  this  Khamuas  carried  away  his  prize  in  triumph.  But 
terrible  misfortune  soon  overtook  him.  The  ghost  of  Ne-netH 
ka-Ptah  assumed  the  form  of  a  beautiful  girl  with  whom  Khamiil 
fell  in  love.  At  her  bidding  he  gave  her  all  his  possessions  an 
put  his  children  to  death.  Then  suddenly  she  vanished,  an 
behold,  it  was  all  a  dream.  But  Khamuas  was  lying  naked  0 
the  ground  in  the  presence  of  Pharaoh  and  his  court. 

The  second  tale  records  how  "Setme"  Khamuas  had  a  so 
whom  he  called  Si-Osiri  ("  the  son  of  Osiris  ").  The  son  g« 
rapidly  in  wisdom  and  the  knowledge  of  magic.  When  he  « 
still  but  a  child  he  transported  his  father  to  Hades  in  order  thi 
he  might  see  there  the  rich  and  the  wicked  tormented,  while  t 
virtuous  poor  were  rewarded  for  their  deeds. 

When  Si-Osiri  was  twelve  years  old  he  was  wiser  than  the  wise 
of  the  scribes.  Then  there  arrived  an  Ethiopian  magician  wil 
the  object  of  humbling  Egypt.  Si-Osiri,  however,  read  the  wridi 
that  was  within  his  unopened  letter,  which  described  the  contei 
in  magic  that  had  been  carried  on  in  old  days  between  the  ma) 
cians  of  Egypt  and  Ethiopia.  Of  the  three  Ethiopian  magidai 
the  most  formidable  had  been  "  Hor  the  son  of  the  N^ires 
But  he  was  defeated  by  the  Egyptian  Hor  the  son  of  Pa-nesh 
when  the  final  struggle  took  place  between  them  in  the  presen< 
of  the  Pharaoh,  and  among  other  miracles  the  Ethiopian  hj 
caused  a  thick  darkness  to  overspread  the  land.  Eventuai 
"  Hor  the  son  of  the  Negress "  engaged  not  to  come  again 
Egypt  for  1,500  years. 

The  fifteen  hundred  years  were  now  fulfilled,  and  the  Ethiopii 
messenger  was  "  the  son  of  the  Negress  "  himself.  As  soon 
his  real  character  was  unmasked  he  was  destroyed  by  magi( 
fire,  and  then  Si-Osiri  revealed  himself  as  a  re-incarnation  of  H 


Reviews. 


the  son  of  Pa-neshe,  who  had  been  allowed  by  Osiris  to  return  to 
this  earth  in  order  to  overthrow  the  designs  of  the  Ethiopian 
enemy.  The  revelation  having  been  made,  Si-Osiri  disappeared 
from  view  and  went  back  once  more  to  Hades. 

Seme  or  Setme  is  a  priestly  title,  the  old  Egyptian  Sem,  and 
Mr.  Griffith  suggests  that  we  may  see  in  it  the  name  of  SethBs, 
who,  according  to  Herodotus,  defeated  the  army  of  Sennacherib 
with  the  help  of  the  mice.  If,  however,  we  are  to  identify 
Sethos  with  a  prince  of  the  19th  dynasty,  it  would  be  simpler  to 
make  him  Seli,  the  feeble  grandson  of  Ramses  II.  More  attract- 
ive are  the  parallelisms  that  have  been  pointed  out  between 
certain  incidents  in  the  story  of  Si-Osiri  and  passages  in  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments.  The  account  of  the  rich  and  the  poor  man 
and  their  respective  fates  in  the  next  world  curiously  resembles 
the  parable  of  Dives  and  Lazarus,  and  the  contest  between  Si-Osiri 
and  the  Ethiopian  sorcerers  reminds  us  of  that  between  Moses 
and  the  Egyptian  magicians.  We  know  from  the  reference  to 
Jannes  and  Jambres  in  t  Tim.  iii.  8,  g  that  a  similar  story  must 
have  been  current  among  the  Jews  before  the  time  of  St.  Paul 
Thai  the  Hebrew  narrative  of  the  Exodus  was  not  unknown  to 
the  writer  of  the  Egyptian  tale  is  clear,  not  only  from  the  men- 
tion of  the  plague  of  darkness  which  was  brought  upon  Egypt  by 
the  sorceries  of  the  Ethiopian,  but  still  more  from  the  words  put 
into  the  mouth  of  Si-Osiri  :  "  Ho,  ihou  impious  Ethiopian,  art  thou 
not  Hor  the  son  of  the  Negress  whom  I  saved  in  the  reeds  (?)  of 
Ra,  as  well  as  thy  companion  of  Ethiopia  that  was  with  thee,  when 
ye  were  drowning  in  the  water,  being  cast  down  from  upon  the  hill 
on  the  east  of  On  ?  "  Long  before  the  reign  of  the  Emperor 
Claudius  a  large  popularion  of  Jews  had  settled  in  Egypt,  some  of 
ihem  being  established  as  far  south  as  Assuan,  and  the  Greek 
language  which  they  used  enabled  any  educated  Egyptian  who 
chose  to  become  acquainted  with  their  literature.  It  is  generally 
recognised  that  the  parable  of  Dives  and  Lazarus  is  derived  from 
Jewish  sources.  As  for  the  assertion  that  when  Si-Osiri  was 
twelve  years  of  age  his  wisdom  already  exceeded  that  of  the  most 
learned  scribes,  little  can  be  inferred  from  it.  Twelve  is  the  age 
at  which  the  Oriental  boy  begins  to  ripen  into  manhood,  and  it  is 
therefore  the  period  of  life  at  which  he  would  natm^ly  be  con- 
sidered first  fit  to  associate  and  argue  with  older  men.  The 
doctrine  of  re-incarnation  was  probably  derived  from  India ;  it 
2  K  a 


I 


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5cx>  Reviews. 

differs  essentially  from  the  old  Egyptian  belief  in  the  power  of 
soul,  or  indeed  of  the  magician  himself^  to  assume  other  foi 
Re-birth  was  an  Indian  and  not  an  Egyptian  idea. 

A.  H.  SAva 


De  diis  in  locis  editis  cultis  apud  GitiBoos.    CtrnpuxQ 
Albers.    Zutphanis,  W.  J.  Thieme  &  Cie.,  1901. 

Like  Dr.  de  Visser,  whose  thesis  on  the  Greek  gods  having  oti 
forms  than  human  was  noticed  in  these  pages  a  few  months  j^ 
£>r.  Albers  has  recognised  the  validity  of  the  anthropologi 
method  of  approaching  questions  relating  to  mythology  a 
religion,  and  has  chosen  for  his  thesis  for  the  d^^ree  of  doctc 
similar  subject.  The  custom  of  worshipping  in  high  placei 
very  widespread.  Dr.  von  Andrian  in  his  woric,  jDer  Hokemau 
Asiatischer  und  Europaischer  Vblker^  treated  of  the  cult  of  h 
places  among  many  peoples,  but  he  unaccountably  neglected  am< 
European  peoples  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  Though  Beer  af 
wards  attempted  to  fill  the  gap  thus  left,  he  did  so  in  a  perfiinct 
manner.  Dr.  Albers,  therefore,  found  the  material  practia 
untouched,  and  he  determined  to  devote  his  inquiries  to 
Greek  divinities,  using  the  Roman  customs  merely  by  way 
illustration.  In  a  few  words,  before  plunging  into  his  dieme, 
repudiates  the  interpretation  of  the  myths  as  humanisations  of 
story  of  the  heavens,  of  day  and  night,  summer  and  wint 
tempest  and  sunshine,  and  the  narrow  school  of  Indo-Germa 
scholars  who  wielded  the  philological  method ;  a  method  whi 
as  he  notes  incidentally,  is  still  in  favour  in  Germany.  Dr.  Alb< 
however,  avows  himself  a  disciple  of  the  school  founded 
England  by  Professor  Tylor,  and  now  slowly  but  surely  extendi 
its  influence  over  the  rest  of  the  learned  world,  the  school  t) 
seeks  to  reach  the  origin  and  meaning  of  myths  by  the  histori 
and  comparative  method,  not  divorcing  mythology  from  worsh 
nor  custom  from  belief  and  story,  but  bringing  them  side  by  si 
in  order  to  ascertain  what  light  every  one  of  these  can  throw  up 
the  others. 

Guided  by  the  principles  of  the  anthropological  school,  ] 
Albers  passes  in  review  the  references  in  classical  authors  and  1 


Reviews.  501 

inscriptions  exhibiting   the  cult  of  the  various  Greek  divinities 

practised  on  mountain-tops  or  declivities,  or  other  high  places. 
From  this  inquiry  references  to  gods  having  temples  in  the  citadels 
of  the  Greek  cities  are  excluded,  for  the  obvious  reason  that  the 
citadel  was  simply  the  safest  and  most  conspicuous  position  for 
the  temple  of  a  great  deity,  and  therefore  was  not  of  necessity 
chosen  as  the  site  of  his  shrine  on  account  of  its  height.  In  the 
course  of  the  examination  many  shrewd  observations  are  made. 
The  uncertainty  of  the  identity  of  Mount  Olympus  is  ingeniously 
made  an  argument  to  prove  that  the  worship  of  a  god  who  was 
held  to  rule  the  world  from  some  mountain  height  was  very  wide- 
spread among  the  Greek  peoples.  The  god  named  Zeus  absorbed 
the  cult  of  all  other  such  gods  and  effaced  the  memory  of  most  of 
them,  but  probably  each  locality  had  originally  ils  own  high 
divinity.  In  a  similar  spirit  the  author  deals  with  the  Arcadian 
worship  of  Arlemis  and  other  goddesses  identified  with  her. 
Arcadia  was  the  most  backward  country  of  Greece.  And  it  is 
there  that  we  find  the  worship  of  Artemis  most  firmly  established 
in  high  places,  with  every  mark  of  barbarism  and  antiquity. 

From  his  collection  of  examples  Dr.  Albers  concludes  that  the 
Greeks  worshipped  from  immemorial  time  on  high  places,  that 
such  worship  was  chiefly  dedicated  to  gods  thought  to  dwell  in 
heaven,  and  that  it  was  not  derived  from  Semitic  or  other  foreign 
intercourse,  but  was  indigenous.  For  the  last-named  of  these 
conclusions  he  also  adduces  the  authority  of  Mr,  Lang.  The 
original  god  worshipped  in  many  of  the  shrines  can,  he  thinks,  be 
identified.  Many  monasteries  throughout  Greece  dedicated  to 
the  prophet  Elias  are  found  on  the  mountain-lops  or  ridges.  Of 
these  a  large  number  occupy  the  sites  of  shrines  of  Zeus.  Some 
of  the  sites,  however,  were  dedicated  to  the  Sun, 'nx<oi.  That 
dedication,  indeed,  is  known  to  have  been  in  many  cases  super- 
seded by  Zeus,  or  other  divinities,  as  in  the  case  of  Acrocorinth, 
by  Aphrodite.  Dr.  Albers  adopts  Wachsmuth's  conjecture,  which 
is  now  generally  accepted,  that  St.  Elias  was  substituted  by  Chris- 
tianity for  Helios  as  an  object  of  adoration  ;  and  he  is  of  opinion 
that  wherever  a  shrine  of  St.  Elias  is  found  occupying  a  site  once 
sacred  to  some  other  god  than  Helios,  we  may  suspect  an  original 
dedication  to  the  Sun.  The  cult  of  Hebos,  he  thinks,  probably 
lingered  on  among  the  country  people  in  spite  of  the  supersession 
of  his  place  by  Zeus  or  any  Other  deity,  and  when  in  the  decline 


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Reviews. 


of  paganism  the  splendour  of  these  great  official  gods  hcgpn  1 
wane,  the  pristine  worship  revived,  to  be  finally  merged  or  meta 
morphosed  into  the  new  cult  of  St  Elias.  It  seems  to  me,  howeve 
that  this  hypothesis  will  have  to  be  considered  in  connectioD  wit 
the  Russian  cult  of  St  Elias.  The  Russians,  of  course,  receive 
the  saint  with  Byzantine  Christianity,  and  his  cult  is  now  ver 
widespread.  But  the  old  Slavonic  god,  whose  attributes  a» 
legends  have  been  transferred  to  St  Elias,  was  Perun  or  Peikima 
In  such  a  case  there  could  have  been  no  similarity  of  name  t 
facilitate  the  supersession.  And  it  may  very  well  have  been  tbi 
in  many  Greek  examples  the  change  took  place  without  any  sud 
aid. 

Dr.  Albers  has  done  excellent  service  to  students  by  his  con 
pilation  of  references  and  by  his  comments  upon  them.  Woik 
like  those  of  Dr.  de  Visser  and  himself  are  to  be  welcomed  a 
evidence  that  the  influence  of  the  philological  school  of  mytholog 
is  giving  away  among  continental  scholars  to  a  more  truly  sdentxfi 
method. 

E.  SmNSY  Hartland. 


Fables  and   Folktales  from   an   Eastern   Forest.      By 
W.  Skeat.     Cambridge  University  Press.     7  s.  6d. 

The  Folklore  Society  knows  that  Mr.  Skeat  has  recently  returnee 
from  an  exploring  expedition  in  the  Malay  States.  He  and  hi 
company  have  brought  with  them,  we  understand,  large  collection 
of  the  kind  which  interest  us ;  and  whilst  these  are  being  got  int< 
shape,  Mr.  Skeat  has  kindly  presented  us  with  this  pretty  book 
containing  twenty-six  stories  and  legends.  To  students  we  cai 
cordially  recommend  them.  The  stories  have  not  received  an^ 
doctoring,  and  they  appear  exactly  as  they  were  told,  although  ii 
one  case  the  disjecta  membra  of  a  story  had  to  be  recovered  fron 
different  sources.  Mr.  Skeat  got  them  all  at  first-hand,  and  w< 
believe  none  of  them  have  been  printed  before. 

A  few  notes  are  added,  which  give  the  source  of  each  tale,  an< 
a  good  classified  index  completes  the  book. 

It  will  not  be  out  of  place  briefly  to  indicate  the  contents.  Th 


Reviews. 

reader  will  be  interested  to  find  a  new  variety  of  Brer  Rabbit  in 
the  skin  of  a  pretty  little  creature  called  the  Mouse-deer.  Though 
weak  in  body,  he  is  great  of  wit,  and  nearly  always  gets  the  better 
of  crocodiles  and  such  monsters  if  they  try  conclusions  with  him. 
Some  of  the  stories  have  parallels  in  the  Indian  peninsula.  The 
Pelican's  Punishment  reappiears  in  the  Jataka  as  Nandajataka, 
No.  39.  The  Tiger  gets  his  deserts  turns  on  the  same  point  as 
The  Foolish  Fish  {cf.  The  Talking  Thnish,  p.  65) ;  and  in  the 
same  book  (p.  130)  is  a  variant  of  the  Tiger  and  the  Shadow. 
In  Fa/her  Foll<ni)-my-Nose  comes  the  episode  of  a  man  who  was 
induced  to  bury  four  priests,  by  the  pretence  that  the  corpse  had 
returned  from  the  grave;  this  is  widespread  in  the  Levant  and 
the  East.  King  Solomon  appears  in  one  tale  ;  there  is  a  Deluge 
Legend,  and  several  which  are  intended  to  account  for  natural 
phenomena,  the  shape  of  plants,  and  so  forth.  Indeed,  there  is  a 
taste  of  everything,  and  all  good.  It  should  be  mentioned  that 
the  book  is  daintily  got  up,  and  illustrated  with  a  number  of 
capital  pictures. 


Indian  Fables.   By  Ramaswami  Raju.  Swan  Sonnenschein.  y. 

This  is  a  delightful  gift-book  for  children,  who  will  enjoy  the 
stories  and  their  morals  none  the  less  for  a  trifle  of  sententious- 
ness.  The  morals,  indeed,  are  generally  pithy  and  often  proverbial 
in  form ;  but  the  tales  are  not  quite  naturally  expressed  to  an 
English  ear.  A  fuller  command  of  strong  colloquial  English 
would  have  made  a  better  book  of  it,  but  who  can  now  step  into 
the  shoes  of  L'Estrange  ?  We  hasten  to  add  that  readers  may  be 
daunted  by  the  preface,  which  is  verbose,  and  not  quite  intelligible; 
but  if  they  read  further  they  will  be  rewarded.  From  our  point  of 
view  the  book  is  not  adequate,  since  it  gives  no  authorities- 
There  is  one  of  the  Gotham  stories  on  p.  61  (which  turns  on 
counting  a  dozen),  3  Jataka  story  on  p.  88  (the  Crane  and  the 
Crab),  and  one  on  p.  83  with  the  same  motive  as  the  Talking 
Thrush,  p.  65,  but  there  is  nothing  to  show  where  the  varionta 
come  from. 


504 


Reviews. 


I. 


I' 

I. 


■■     I      t 


Records  of  Women's  Conference  on  thx  Homb  Lifb  of 

Chinese  Women.    November,  1900. 

When,  last  year,  missionaries  from  all  parts  of  China  fled  to  the 
treaty  ports,  advantage  was  taken  of  the  presence  in  Shanghai  of 
workers  from  all  parts  of  China  to  hold  a  Conference  of  Ei^ish- 
speaking  ladies,  Chinese  as  well  as  foreigners,  to  oompare  notes 
on  the  home-life  of  Chinese  women.    It  was,  of  course^  essentially 
a  missionary  Conference,  and  the  scientific  interest  of  its  reooris 
is  therefore  subordinated  to  the  missionary  interest.     In  other 
words,  the  attention  of  those  who  took  part  in  it  was  directed 
rather  to  the  way  to  remedy,  or  at  all  events  alleviate^  the  evib 
complained  of  than  to  describe  the  customs  and  superstidoos 
minutely  or  dispassionately.    Still  a  considerable  amount  of  infor- 
mation was  brought  together  and  is  placed  on  record  in  the 
pamphlet  containing  the  transactions  of  the  Conference.    Certainly 
much  of  the  information  is  not  new.    This  was  to  be  expected. 
Moreover,  the  Records  require  to  be  used  with  discretion.    China 
is  an  enormous  country,  consisting  of  many  provinces,  the  customs 
of  which  have  a  general  likeness  but  very  many  differences  of 
detail.     The  speakers,  men  as  well  as  women  (for  the  Conference 
was  not  entirely  confined  to  women),  coming  from  various  dis- 
tricts, all  relate  their  experiences,  and  care  must  be  taken  by  the 
reader  to  discriminate  the  Ibcalities  of  the  observances  mentioned. 
These  observances  are  necessarily  dealt  with,  too,  in  a  fragmentary 
way,  and  much  is  assumed  to  be  already  known.     An  illustration 
of  this  is  found  on  p.  70,  where  a  Chinese  lady,  reporting  a  custom 
presumably  belonging  to  Honan  and  Hupeh,  says,  "  A  man  with 
a  big  hat  [Why  a  big  hat  ?    How  is  it  significant,  and  what  is  its 
form  ?]  asks  each  one  in  the  crowd,  *  To  what  tribe,  or  stem,  do 
you  belong  ? '    Chinese  don't  ask,  *  How  old  are  you  ?  *  but  what 
is  your  tribe — dog,  monkey,  rabbit,  dragon,  or  other  of  the  twelve 
stems."    The  explanation  is  here  only  half  given.     It  is  referable 
to  the  custom  of  naming  the  years,  and  has  no  relation  to  the 
clan  or  family  of  the  person  addressed.    This  may  be  inferred 
from  the  sentence  following ;  but  it  is  not  made  clear  in  the 
report,  and  hasty  reading  might  lead  to  misunderstanding. 

As  against  criticisms  of  this  kind,  however,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  for  the  primary  purpose  of  the  Conference  they  are 
comparatively  unimportant.     It  is  only  when  the  Records  are 


Reviews.  $0$ 

used  for  scientific  purposes  that  the  criticisms  become  serious. 
The  chief  value  of  the  Conference  lies  in  the  fact  that  its  success 
determined  the  promoters  to  organise  a  permanent  committee 
for  the  purpose  of  collecting  information  all  over  China.  This 
was  a  decision  of  the  most  happy  augury ;  and  the  ladies  chosen 
on  the  committee,  so  far  as  can  be  judged  from  the  parts  they 
took  in  the  Conference,  are  admirably  qualified  for  the  work.  I 
should  like  to  urge  upon  them  that  in  order  that  their  publications 
may  have  real  value,  it  is  of  the  firet  importance  that  the  customs 
and  beliefs  they  record  should  be  set  down  accurately  and  minutely, 
that  the  locality  should  always  be  specified,  and  that  the  aboriginal 
tribes  should  by  no  means  be  neglected  in  the  survey.  The  only 
real  knowledge  is  accurate  knowledge.  If  the  object  be  to  under- 
stand the  native  women,  their  customs,  traditions,  and  condirions, 
for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  Christian  work  among  them,  then 
vague,  inaccurate  information  will  very  often  be  worse  than  none 
at  all.  If,  beyond  that,  the  committee  wish  the  record  to  be  of 
scientific  value,  and  to  serve  as  a  monument  for  future  ages  of 
the  state  of  things  in  China  when  Christian  missions  entered 
there,  the  duty  of  exactitude  and  fulness,  glossing  nothing  and 
shirking  nothing,  is  not  less  plain.  Notes  and  Queries  on  Anthro- 
poiogy,  issued  by  the  British  Association,  would  afford  them 
valuable  hints ;  and  both  the  Folklore  Society  and  the  Anthro- 
pological Institute  would  doubtless  be  glad  to  render  them,  if 
they  need  it,  assistance,  such  as  has  been  recognised  as  useful  by 
many  missionaries  in  various  parts  of  the  world.  Finally,  the 
information  thus  collected  and  compiled  should  be  issued  in  a 
form  which  will  render  it  accessible  to  all  who  may  be  interested 
in  the  subject,  whether  from  a  missionary  or  a  scientific  point  of 

I  congratulate  the  organisers  of  the  Conference  on  its  success, 
and  on  the  beginning  of  a  work  the  value  of  which,  if  carried  out 
in  the  manner  I  have  indicated,  it  will  be  difficult  to  overestimate. 
With  energy,  care,  and  determination  on  the  part  of  the  committee, 
and  the  willing  co-operation  they  are  hoping  to  secure  "  all  over 
China,"  the  task,  though  laborious,  will  be  amply  repaid  by  its 
results  and  by  the  gratitude  of  those  who  succeed  them  in  their 
devoted  efforts  for  the  benefit  of  the  millions  of  China,  as  well  as 
by  the  students  of  civilisation  and  of  man. 

£.  SiDNEV  Hastlahd. 


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BIBLIO  GRA  PHY. 


BOOKS    AND    PAMPHLETS. 

All  English  books  are  published  in  London^  oil  F^nch  books  in 
Paris^  and  all  1901 ;  unless  otherwise  staieeL 

Albers  (C.)*  l^e  diis  in  locis  editis  culds  apud  Gneoos. 
Zutphaniae :  W.  J.  Thieme  &  Cie.    8vo/    100  pp. 

Blochst  (E.)*  Les  Sources  Orientales  de  la  Divine  Com&lie. 
Maisonneuve.     12010.    xvL,  215  pp. 

Van  Eysinga  (G.  A.  Van  den  Bergh).  Indische  Invloeden  op 
Oude  Christelijke  Verhalen.  Leiden:  E.  J.  BrilL  8va 
ix.,  140  pp. 

Griffith  (F.  Ll.).  Stories  of  the  High  Priests  of  Memphis. 
Oxford  University  Press.     2  vols.    £^^  los. 

Hall  Qoseph).  King  Horn,  a  Middle  English  Romance  (edited 
from  the  MSS.  by).  Oxford :  Clarendon  Press.  Demy  8vo. 
Ivi.,  240  pp. 

Headland  (Isaac  Taylor).  Chinese  Mother  Goose  Rhymes. 
Translated  and  illustrated.  New  York  :  Fleming  BL  Revell 
Co.     160  pp. 

Horstman  (Carl).  Nova  L^enda  Anglie  (edited  with  fresh 
material).  Oxford :  Clarendon  Press.  2  vols.  8vo.  Ixviii., 
506  and  732  pp.     36s. 

John  (Ivor  B.).  The  Mabinogion  {^Popular  Studies^  No.  11). 
D.  Nutt.     56  pp.     6d. 

Ramaswami  Raju.  Indian  Fables  (translated  into'  English). 
Swan  Sonnenschein.     5s. 

Schmidt  (K.)-  Das  Pancatantram.  Eine  altindische  Marchen- 
sammlung,  zum  ersten  Male  iibersetzt.  In  3  Parts.  Part  2. 
Leipsic.    Royal  8vo.     4s. 

Schwarzfeld  (M.).  Cilibi  Moise,  Practica  si  apropourile  lui, 
Precedate  de  Biografia  lui  Cilibi  Moise.  Bucharest.  2nd 
Edition,  1901.     i6mo. 

Skeat  (Walter).  Fables  and  Folktales  from  an  Eastern  Forest 
Illustrated  by  F.  H.  Townsend.  Cambridge  :  University 
Press.     4to.     xiv.,  92  pp. 

Taylor  (Francis  Edward).  Wit  and  Wisdom  of  the  Sooth 
Lancashire  Dialect,  an  Appendix  to  tbfi  iBifldntP>>^*  ^^  -SMBi 

Lancashire^  printed  separately,  and 
Manchester :  John  Heywood* 
Thurneysen    (R.).     Sagen  ans  1 
Wiegandl  und  Giv&\>exi,    %to« 


Bibliography. 


PERIODICALS. 

The  Conttnts  of  Ptriodicah  exclusively  devoted  lo  Folk/ore  are 

not  slated. 

Abhandlusgea  and  Berichte  des  K.  Z.  and  A.  K  MaseuniB  za 
Dreaden,  Bd.  ii.,  No.  6.  Ethnographisdie  Miscellen.  A.  B. 
Meyer  tind  IF.  Fov,  Die  Bestattungsweisen  in  der  Minahassa 
in  Nord  Celebes. 

Ainslee's  Magazine,  April.  /.  T.  Headland,  Chinese  Children's 
Blocks  {Illustrated). 

Al-Machriq,  No.  12.  J.  Patai,  Mceurs  lihanaises — les  Jeux  de 
retifance  (fin.). 

American  Anthropologrist,  No,  2.  J.  W.  Feivkes,  The  Owalciilti 
Allar  at  Sichoraovi  Pueblo.  L.  Farrand,  Notes  on  the  Alsea 
Indians  of  Oregon.  J.  D.  McGuire,  Ethnology  in  the  Jesuit 
Relations.  R.  H.  Matthews,  Initiation  Ceremonies  of  the 
Wiradjuri  Tribes. 

American  Antiquarian  and  Oriental  Journal,  July,  Aujput. 
G.  L.  Robinson,  The  High  Place  at  Pctra.  F.  Starr,  Notes 
upon  the  Mandrake  (Superstitions).  G.  E.  Laidlaw, 
Gambling  amongst  the  Crees  with  Small  Sticks. 

Antiquary,  xxxvii.,  8-  A.  Watson,  The  Tarasque.  9, 10, 11. 
W.  H.  Jewitt,  Pagan  Myths  and  Christian  Figures. 

Biblia,  August.     The  Ethnological  Significance  of  Burial  Rites. 

Bijdragea  tot  de  Taal-,  Land-,  en  Volkenkande,  9e  Deel,  le 
en  2e  afl.  J.  H.  F.  Kohlbrug^e,  Die  Tenggeresen,  ein  alter 
Javanischcr  Volkstamni. 

Bulletin  de  I'EcoIe  FrauQaise  d'Extr^me  Orient,  i,,  1.  L.  Final, 
La  Religion  des  Chams  d'aprcs  les  Monuments.  2  and  3. 
L  Cadiire,  Croyances  &  Dictons  populaires  de  la  Vallee  de 
Ngu6n-Son  (religious  ideas,  legendary  animals,  tiger  super- 
stitions. 8.  A.  Ltelere,  La  Fete  de  Ja  Tonsure  d'un  Prince 
royal  1  Phnom-Penh. 

Bulletins  et  Uemoires  de  la  Societe  d'Anthropologie  de  Paris, 
1901, 1.     F.  Fommerot,  Origines  du  culte  des  Viergcs  noires. 

Byegones,  Jannary  2.     Moon-superstition  (Pig-killing  and  hen- 

•ipttiru  "      January  16th.     "  Catholic  Survivals  "  (Christmas 

'**''.     "  Catholic  Survivals  "  (Wooden 

*^U5toms,  4;c.^      'U.w.t^  ^'Ca.. 


I  >■ 

I 

t 


Gmin^sss 


ConmpmikmMnn,  Jvlr.     ^. 

at  viiicfa  dij  bulls 
Aigvstb     j4.  SqLE^  Siriniriilirhe 
Sudvestdeatscfabud. 
Edinburgb  Beriew,  Oetober.    Magac  aod  Rrfigioo  (mievX 

lagliih  HisUnrieil  Icmv,  Odober.  £.  IL  Bgwmm^  The 
I>eificatioo  of  Kii^  in  the  Greek  Chies^ 

lUiaolofisehef  Hotisbktt,  iL,  3.  Dr,  K  I^rUwm^  Udxr 
ktinstliche  Korpenrerunstaltiiiigen  bei  den  Eii^ebofenen  im 
Stiden  der  deutsch  ostafirikamschen  Colonie.  ZV.  ^.  .AuJtoi 
Zur  noetischen  oder  ethnischen  Psytixilogie.  JHdz  Zmn 
Seelenbegriff  in  der  Ethnologie. 

Expository  TimeSy  June.     JF.  Afarsrukj  Magic  and  Religion. 

Field  Ck>lii]nbian  MnBeam,  Anthropologieal  Series,  iiL,  1.  G.  A. 
Darsey  and  H.  R.  Vothj  Oraibi  Sozal  Ceremony  (Hopi  winter 
solstice  celebration). 

Tireeide,  September.    T.  WHghty  Anglo-Saxon  Games. 

Gentleman's  Kagasine,  Oetober.  E,  C,  Vansittart,  Italian  Cradle 
Songs. 

Oeographical  Jonnud,  September.  /.  Af,  BeJI,  Explorations  in 
the  Great  Bear  Lake  R^ion  (p.  252,  hunting  superstition; 
p.  356,  Eskimo  charm). 

OloboSy  Mo.  6.  M.  HofUr^  Das  Spendebrot  bei  Sterbefiillen. 
N,   IV.  Thcfnas^  Eine  intemadonale  anthropologisch-ethno- 


_'  J  J 


I 

Ir 
Si 
Jc 


Bihlmgraphy.  509 

graphische  Bibliographic.  No.  7.  R.  Lasch,  Der  Verbleibsort 
der  Seelen  der  im  VVochenbelt  Gestorbenen.  No.  8.  H. 
Francke,  Die  Dhyini  buddhas  und  M^nusibuddhas  im  Lichie 
der  vorbuddhistischen  Religion  Ladakhs.  A.  Perrig,  Aus 
den  Bekenntnissen  eines  Dakota-Medizinmannes.  No.  9. 
R.  F.  Kaindl,  Die  Jiiden  in  der  Bukowina  (marriage),  In 
Benares  Jiiir  zeit  der  Wasserfeste,  No.  10.  P.  V.  Stenin, 
Die  neuen  Forschungen  iiber  die  Baschkiren  (marriage, 
burial,  &c.).  R.  F.  Kaindl,  Die  Juden  in  der  Bukowina 
(festivals,  omens,  proverbs,  &c.).  No.  18.  /.  v.  N€gekin, 
Das  Pferd  in  der  Volksmedizin.  A.  Gebhardt,  Der  Name 
der  Weissen  Frau.  No.  Ifi.  Durand's  Besuch  bei  den 
Webias  auf  Neukaledonien. 

Harper's  Ifonthlj'  Mag&zioe,  Septemlier.  /.  Moomy,  The  Ton- 
kawas,  our  last  Cannibal  Tribe. 

Home  magazine  of  New  Tork,  November,  1900.  /.  T.  Headland, 
The  Chinese  Mother  Goose  {Illustrated). 

Indian  Antiquary,  July.  A.  Weier,  On  the  History  of  Religion 
in  India.  Tiid.,  The  Satrunjaya  Mabatruyam.  Sir_f.  M.  Camp- 
bell, Notes  on  Spirit  Basis  of  Belief  and  Custom  (contd.). 
August.  A.  H.  Francke,  The  Spring  Myth  of  the  Kesar-Saga. 
September,  R.  M.  La/renais,  Some  Songs  of  the  Portuguese 
Indians.  G.  R.  Subsamiah  Panlulu,  The  Tula-Kaveri 
Mahatmya. 
iternationaleB  Archiv  fUr  Ethno^apliie,  xiv.,  2,  3.  Dr.  H. 
H.  Juynboll,  Das  Javanische  Maskenspiel. 

Iriah  EcclesiaBtical  Record,  Angust,  P.  Fardc,  The  Ongin  of 
Religion. 

Jewish  Quarterly  Baview,  July.  M.  Jastrow,  Hebrew  and 
Babylonian  Accounts  of  Creation. 

Journal  of  the  African  Society,  i,,  1,  Col.  J.  G.  B.  Slop/ord, 
(ilimpses  of  West  African  Law  and  Custom.  A.  C.  Hollis, 
Taveta  Customs,  [The  attention  of  Members  is  called  lo 
the  African  Society,  founded  in  memory  of  Mary  Kingsley, 
one  of  the  principal  objects  of  which  is  the  investigation  of 
the  usages,  institutions,  customs,  religions,  antiquities,  history, 
and  languages  of  the  native  races  of  Africa.  The  President 
is  the  Marquis  of  Ripon,  and  the  Hon.  Sec.  is  the  Count  de 
Cardi,  18,  Grange  Road,  Chiswick,  who  will  be  happy  to 
answer  inquiries  and  forward  prospectuses  and  information 
to  anyone  interested  in  ^Vfrlcan  subjects.^ 


5IO 


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hr 


y 


Jottrnal  of  the  Anthiopological  Inatitnte,  zzai.,  1.    B.  ling 

Roth,  Maori  Tatu  and  Moko.      IV.  G.  Sumner,  The  Yakuts. 
Jiev.  J.  Roscoe,  Notes  on  the  Manners  and  Customs  of  the 
Baganda.      W.   G.  Aston,  Japanese  Gohei   and  Ainu  Inao. 
Baiil  Thomson,  Note  upon  the  Natives  of  Savage  Island  or 
Niue.    S.  H.  Ray,  Stories  from  the  Southern  New  Hebrides. 
N.     W.    Thomas,    Note    on     some   Americaji     Parallels  to 
European  Agricultural  Customs.     E.  Tregear,  The  Spirit  of 
Vegetation. 
Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Japan,  1900.     W.  G.  Asttm, 
Chhoi-Chhung  :  a  Korean  Miirchen  [a  translation  of  a  Korean 
MS.].  S.  Ballard,  Some  Tales  from  the  Uji  Shui  Monogaieri. 
Jooiul  of  the  Btqnl  ABiktio  Boeioty,  July.    C.  F.  OUham, 
The  Nagas,  a  Contribution    to    the  History  of  Serpent- 
worship. 
Joarnil  of  the  Boyal  Aaifttio  Society  of  Bengal,  Izix.,  S. 
L.  A.  Waddtlly  Tribes  of  the  Brahmaputra  Valley  (maniage, 
tabu,  tree  cult,  rope-pulling,  sacrifices,  &c.). 
Jonnil  of  Hellenio  Stndiea,  xzl.,  9.     W.  H.  D.  Ronst,  The 

Double  Axe  and  the  Labyrinth. 
Journal  of  the  Polynesian  Society,  June.    Archdeacott  Grate, 
Maori  Tradirions   from   d'Urville   Island.     [Anon.'\,  Short 
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N&yars  of  Malabar.     [A  very  valuable  monograph.] 
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1901,   1.    R.   Lasch,   Die   Verstummelung   der   Zahne  in 
America  und  Bemerkungen  zur  Zahndeformierung  im  AUge- 
meinen.    N.   Yamasaki,  Ein  Bcsuch  in  den  Kopfjagerdorfera 
auf  Formosa,     v.  Preen,   Opferung  aus  Thonkopfurnen  in 
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Myth,  Yahveh,  Fight  with  the  Dragon).  July.  Faiiy  Tale 
Element  in  the  Bible  (concluded), 

Hatnre,  October  31.     O.  Fhher,  Folklore  about  Stonehenge. 

Hew  Ireland  Review,  December,  January,  Febraary,  MbtoIi, 
April.     D.  Hyde,  Religious  Songs  of  Connacht. 

Notes  and  Queries,  July  6.  /.  M.  Lawrence,  E.  Ptacock,  St- 
deorge  and  the  Dragon.  July  13.  B.  Belcher,  Riding  the 
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T.J.Jeakes,  Spider  Follclore.  September  14.  Horse -ribbon 
Day.  C.  Harpur,  Pineapple  at  New  Year.  Beptember  21, 
H.  Andrews,  Folklore  of  Sailors  (list  of  articles  on).  October 
6.  Gadwhip  Service.  R.  H.  Wallace,  Devil  Worshippers 
and  White  Cattle.      W.  C.  Yeo,  Swallow  Lore. 

Open  Court,  August,  September,  October,  November.  H,  Gunkel, 
The  Legends  of  Genesis  (continued). 

Overland  Monthly,  Jane.  M.  W.  Leighton,  The  Haidah 
Indians. 

Palestine  Exploration  Fund  Quarterly  Statement,  October. 
J.  Segall,  A  Druze  Talisman. 

The  Reformer,  August.     Early  Christian  Magic. 

Bevue  de  I'Histoire  des  Religions,  xliii.,  3.  E.  C/iavannes,  Le 
dieu  du  sol  dans  I'ancienne  religion  chinoise.  Z.  Afan'/lier, 
Le  folk-lore  et  !a  science  des  religions, — 3.  _/.  Caparl,  La 
fete  de  frapfter  les  Anou.  T.  Pinches,  Observations  sur  la 
religion  des  Babyloniens  deux  mille  ans  avant  J.  C.  J.  Af. 
Price,  Le  Pantheon  de  Goud^a.     G.  Opptrt,  Sur  les  Sila- 

Jgnlmas,  pierres  sacr^es  de  I'lnde.  M.  Tehirat,  La  Legende 
d' Alexandre  le  grand  chez  les  Arm^niens,  M.  Vemes,  Notes 
sur  les  sanctuaries  de  la  region  chanan^enne.  xliv.,  1. 
Goblet  tTAhiie/la,  De  I'emploi  de  la  m^thode  comparative 
dans  I'etude  des  phenomenes  religieux.  P.  de  la  Grasserie, 
Du  role  social  du  sacrifice  religieux.  G.  Foucart,  Sur  le  culte 
des  statues  funeraires  dans  I'ancienne  Egypte.  F.  Cany- 
beare,  Les  sacrifices  d'animaux  dans  les  ancJenncs  eglises 
chnfticnnes. 
Boyal  Magazine,  September.  T.  P.  Wilson,  School  Superstitions. 
Science  of  Man,  June.  _/.  Maguire,  Buggeen,  the  Evil  Spirit. 
August.  J.  Maguire,  Childbirth  (unnamed  tribe  or  tribes), 
,  Fraser,  How  the  Aborigines  about  Kalliduan^  ^nai«A 
G.  C.  Greenway,  The  Bota. 


I 


,.     ,      f 


t| 

L 

■I  I 
•  ■ 
.1    , 

M     ■ 

I 

I 


I 

I      ' 
I 


513  Bibliography. 


South  Amerieaa  MiiuriimaTy  Kagaiine,  Ootolm.     A  Tiq>  to 

j  .  Palngin  (Mapuche  milk  tabu ;  sirens). 

K  Strand  Magaiiiiey  Angust    Henry  Ni   JPubman^   Phntiiig  tltt 

I;  Penny  Hedge  at  Whitby  (illustrated). 

Taveta  Ohnmide,  July.  A.  C.  Holtts^  Bantu  Gestmes.  Iktela 
Burial  and  Sacrifice.  Feasts  of  Gicumcisioii  in  die  Nev 
Year.    The  Maniata  (house  of  the  unmarried  men). 

TheoIogiBohe  Tydaohrift,  July.  /  C.  JUaUkes^   De  Dooden- 

vereering  bij  Israel. 

Theosophioal  BevieWy  Augnat    B.  KdgkiUy^  ReUgioo  of  die 

Sikhs. 

Tydschrift  vor  Indiaehe  Taal-,  Land-,  en  Volkenlnuide,  yi«T|  4. 
y.  Brandes^  Omina  et  Portenta.  X.  Kem^  Dweighertvertialai 
uit  den  ArchipeL  xliiL,  8  en  4.  J.  Brandes^  Dweighert- 
verhalen  buiten  den  ArchipeL  C  J.  vam  Gerde^  Aantee- 
kening  over  de  Bodha's  van  Lombok  (Religion,  ICaniagc^ 
Birth,  &c.). 

Transaotiona  of  the  Honourable  Society  of  Qymmrodoriony  1899- 
1900.    /.  lihys^  Welsh  Cave  Legends.    E.   Owen^  Owiin 

Lawgoch — ^Yeuain  de  Galles. 

Vienna  Oriental  Joumali  zv.,  S.    Z.  v.  Schrotder^  Das  Bohnen- 

verbot  bei  Pythagoras  und  im  Veda. 

VolkskundOi  xiii.,  9, 10.  A,  de  Cock^  de  Arabische  Nacht  Vertd- 
lingen;  Spreekworden  und  zegswijzen  (Vrijen  en  trouwen). 
M,  Sabbe^  Eenige  Brugsche  volkslideren.     G.y.  Boekencogen^ 

Sprookjes  en  Vertelsels. 

Wide  World  Magasinei  May.  D,  Harding,  Mystery  Plays  in  the 
West  Indies.  Odds  and  Ends  ("  Breaking  the  Pinata "  in 
Mexico — The  Eagle  Dance  of  the  Stick  Indians).  June. 
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I.  (Photos  of  water-filled  jars  representing  "  Great  Bear " 
which  protect  Foochow  from  fire,  of  painted  wall  to  avert 
malign  influences,  &c.).  F,  Davey,  Papa  Ita  and  his  Fire- 
walking  Performance  (Honolulu,  Photos),  July,  E.  Af.  Lee 
My  Experiences  as  a  Lady  Missionary  in  China,  II.  (Photos 
of  death-signs,  shrines,  &c.) 

Ymer,  xxi.,  8.  C.  V,  Hartmann,  Etnografiska  undersokningar 
ofver  aztekema  i  Salvador. 


Abdul  Fflda  cliffs   (Nik),  story  co 

cerning,  329-30 
Abereromby,  J.,  review   by,    Boylt 

Devil  Tales,  xSl-i 
Abney  :  garlands  over  doors.  May  ut. 

Accounts  of  Folk-I/wc  Sociely,  13 

Accursed  Schoolmaster,  The,  Greek 
folktale,  84-6 

A<hltig  Marihen  der  Ljulziner  Esten, 
by  O.  Kallas,  reviewed,  124-5 

Acoorie,  lie  Agouti 

Adorn,  in  Wills  tradition,  77 

Addy,  S.  O.,  Garland  Dny  al  Costle- 
toD,  394-430  iflaies):  Head  of 
Corpse  between  the  Thighs,  101-2; 
The  MUi  of  the  Twelve  Apostles, 
ai8;  riddle  collected  by,  333 

i^gean,  Folktales  from  the,  ty  W.  R. 
PatOQ,  84-97,  197-M8,  317-25 

Afreet,  Efiyplian  1  demon  donkey, 
339  ;  giant  phantom,  329 

Afreet,  Peisian :  appears  as  animal, 
263  ;  causes  epileptic  fits,  263 

Africa  :  {set  also  Ashanti  ;  Bantu  ; 
Congo  ;  Egyp'  <  Gold  Coast ; 
Ivory  Coast;  Madagascar  i  Otangje 
River  Colony;  Rhodesia;  Slave 
Coast  1  Tanganyika  ;  and  Trans- 
vaal) ;  Notes  and  Queries  on  To- 
temism,  385-93  ;  Some  Problems  of 
Early  Religion  in  the  light  of 
South  African  Folklore,  by  E.  S. 
Hartland,  4,  15'40 

Age,  unlucky  to  tell  one's,  Lincoln- 
shire, 179 

Agmtion  01  falher-righi :  among 
Bantu,  29  ;  replaces  molhec-right 
with  higher  organisaliun,  39,  35 

Agoull :  imitated  in  Macusi  game, 
Guiana,  138  (plait) 

Agricultural  folklore,  see  Com -spirits, 
v^elalion  souls,  and  the  like ; 
Harvest  customs  and  beliefs;  Land 
tenure  ;  Maize  ;  MtUet ;  Ploughing 
customs  and  beliefs  ;  Seeds ;  So' 
ing  customs  and  beliefs 

Aibi :  fort  made  impr^nable  by 
charm,  274 

Aidin  :  animal  superslitioiu,  192 
Akawoi  Indians,  Guiana,  133,  155 
VOL.  XII. 


letat  knucklebone  from,  289 
Aladdin  type  of  folktale,  201-3 
Alcheringa  traditions  of  Arunta  tribe, 

C.  Australia,  232 
Aldenham  :  gameof  "knucklebones" 

01  "dibs,    290 
AldemiBslon;  letting  "  by  candle,"  76 
Aleutian  Islands;  customs  of  Kaniag- 

mioute  whalers,  371 
Alfred,  King,  set  King  Alfred 
Alligator,  see  Crocodile 
Alphabet  used  as  a  formula,  128 
Alphabet    used    in    Consecrating   a 

Church,  by  A,  Null,  loo-t 
Alpilles,  vine-grafting  on  the,  194-7 
Alsace  r  fair,  508 
Altars:  Huichol  Indians,  loS;  Eastern 

Vorubaland,  508 
Amandebele,  The  Kraal  Family  Sys- 
tem among  the,    by    P.    Prestage, 

326-9 
Amazulu  :     (ste  also  Amandebele)  ; 

mother-right  among,  33  ;  religious 

beliefs,   23-3,  26-8;   totemism,  no 

traces  of,  33 
Ambarvalia  :  Garland  Day  at  Caslle- 

lon.  399-430  (plales) 
America,   see   North   America ;   and 

South  America 
Amulets  and  talismans,  128,  169, 175, 

254,  259.  268-9,  274.  378-9.  435. 

438.  443.  5'a 

Amur  district :  the  country  of ' '  horses, 
68;  millet  cultivated  l^Gilyaks,  68 

Ancestors ;  re-bom,  U  pper  Congo, 
463;  worship  of  arises  from  pairi- 
archal  system,  33,  and  evolved  from 
totemism,  35-36.  341-3.  387,  471  ; 
worshipped  by  Amazulu,  23,  27, 
34-S,  Bechuana  and  Basuto,  25 

Ancient  and  Modern  Game  of  Astra- 
gals. The,  by  E.  Lovetl,  257-8 
28093 

Anesaki,  Prof.,  notes  on  Japanese 
folklore  from,  67-71  (JrontispUa') 

Animal  Superstitions,  by  N.  W. 
Thomas,  129,  1S9-94 

Animals  in  folklore:  (JM  d//# Agouti ; 
Anlenter :  Ape ;  Ass :  Bat ;  Bear  i 
Birds:  Bison  1  Boar;  Buffalo;  Bull ; 
Calf  J  Camel ;  Cal ;  Cattle  i  Cow  ; 


II 

li 


514 


Index, 


i 


■I 

■  H 


'    I 


,    ■■! 


Crocodfle ;  Crustacea  { Deer ;  Dog 
Dragon ;     Dugong ;      Elephant 
Fifth ;  Fox ;  Frog ;  Gaselk;  Goat 
Hare ;     Hippopotamus ;     Horse 
Ibex  ;   Insects ;   Jackal ;  Jaguar 
Labba ;  Lion  ;  Llama  ;  Nlonkey 
Moufflon  ;    Mouse  ;    Mouse-deer 
Mule  ;    Ox  ;    Panther  ;    Peccary 
Pig;    Porcupine;    Rabbit;    Rat 
Scorpion ;  Seal ;  Shark ;    Sheep 
Shellfish;    Sloth;    Snake;   Stag 
Tarantula ;  Tiger ;  Toad  ;  Tortoise 
Turtle ;  and  WolO  ;  apparitions  of, 
at  place  of  murder  ac,  Lincoln 
shire,     172 ;    Bechuana    ideas    of 
origin  of,  24;   freed  and   buried, 
Madagascar,  70;    Greek  supersti- 
tions concerning,  24J-5 ;  heart  stuck 
with  pins,  against  witdies,  Lincoln- 
shire, 176;  Huichol  gods,  connected 
with,    108;     imitated   in   games, 
Guiana,  137-41,  Red  Indian,  379 ; 
knucklebones  of,  games  with,  257-8, 
280-93  t  ornaments  on  musical  in- 
struments, Guiana,  157  ;  skulls  as 
garden   scarecrows,    Asia    Minor, 
192 ;  taboos,  se$  Taboos ;  totems, 
set    Totemism  ;    weathercocks   in 
shape  of,  99-100 

Animism  :  discussed  by  E.  S.  Hart- 
land,  21-2,  1 10- 1  ;  J.  G.  Frarcr's 
views  in  conflict  with  theory  of, 
234-5  ;  negro  fetichism,  Bahia,  252  ; 
de  Visser's  views  on,  244 

Annfe  Sociohgiaiu,  V,  by  E. 
Durkheim,  reviewed,  110-2,  481-5 

Annual  meeting,  3-5 ;  report  of 
Council,  5-14 

Ant :  imitated  in  Macusi  game, 
Guiana,   139 ;  not  killed,  Poland, 

Anteater  :  imitated  in  Macusi  game, 

Guiana,  139 
Antrimp,  ancient  Prussian  god,  296 
Ape :     burnt     in    Midsummer     fire, 

Bagncrcs  de  Luchon,  316-7 
Apparitions  of  dead,  see  Ghosts 
Appin  :  spectral  lights,  343 
Apples  :  in  Greek  folktales,  90,  322  ; 

grigj;ling,  249  ;  from  Irish  Land  of 

Promise,  437,  441-4 
Appletrec :     silver    apple    bough    in 

Irish   legend,  436-45  ;  sunlight  on 

at  Christmas  foretells  heavy  crop, 

Lincolnshire,  167 
Applctree  hundred,  Derbyshire,  395 
April :  {see  also  May  Eve)  ;  Barmote   | 


Comt,  MoQymsh,  395  ;  fint  Moo- 
dur  unhicky,  Ireliiiidt  48 ;  rbyne, 
Wilts,  80 ;  13th  oC  SaSMX  tmhidbj, 
Persia,  264 

Arabs :  (j«#  ais^  Bedonin) ;  kmickfe- 
bonedioe,  283 

Araiwapuoo  :  paruhcom  danoe, 
iSS-oi 

Anpaboes  :  rock  fairies,  379 

Anwak     TtMiwuifi^     Gojana,    t^-y, 

Aivlnina  Indiansp  Gtdaitt,  133,  135 

Argentine  Ropa  Wc,  sm  Gian  Owbo 

Argyllshire :  (ue  ais0  Appiii ;  Balk- 
chulish ;  CaUert ;  Glencoe  ;  ami 
Invercoe)  ;  •«  reaping  maiden,**  i 

Arida,  the  priest  of:  FVaaer*s  The 
Golden   J&Hgk    reviewed,  219-43, 

^  ?S5-6,  431-45 

Arizona  :  game  of  Tan-wan,  Pkjpaga 
Indians,  283  ;  shrines,  prayei^Kks, 
Ac,  254  ' 

Arkansas  :  astragali  from,  283 

Armenians :  friee  pigeons  &c., 
Aug.  1st,  70 

Armories,  see  Brittany 

Arrows,  votive,  in  Huichol  templo, 
108 

Arthur,  King,  sm  King  Arthur 

Arunta  tribe  of  C.  Australia :  tote- 
mism among,  232-3 

Ash :  branch  blown  off  portends 
death,  Wilts,  72  ;  horse-yoke  of, 
tabooed  to  Cormac  canhinges^  63 

Ash,  mountain,  see  Mountain  ash 

Ashanti :  criminal  sacrificed  on  fifth 
day  of  feast,  237 

Ashford  (Derby) :  Barmote  Court, 
395 

Asia:  {see  also  Aleutian  Islands: 
Amur  district ;  Asia  Minor ;  Balu- 
chistan  ;  China  ;  India  ;  Japan ; 
Palestine  :  and  Persia)  ;  fire 
walk,  red-hot  charcoal  used  for, 
453 

Asia  Minor :  {see  also  Boudroum ; 
Myndos  ;  Smyrna  ;  Symi  ;  and 
Syria);  animal  superstitions,  129, 
189-92  ;  rain  charm,  216 

Aslacoc  :  new  moon  not  to  be  seen 
between  wood,  166 

Ass:  demon,  Assiut,  329;  in  Greek 
folktales,  92-3,  320-3  ' 

Assiut :  stories  from,  329-30 

Aston,  W.  G.,  Japanese  Gohei,  260 

Astragals,  The  Ancient  and  Modem 
Game   of,    by   E.    Lovett,    257-8, 


Index, 


a8o-93 :  neta  by  M,  Longwonh 
Dames,  D.  F.  de  I'Hoste  Kuiking, 
Miss  C.  Violei  Turner,  &c.,  sSg. 
93  i  106,  21S 

Asttoli^  :  uncienl  Irish,  47-8  ; 
Persia,  264 

Aslronomical  folklore:  {tee  also  Moon; 
Signs  of  zodiac  i  Sur:;;  uni/Sun); 
G.  Si.  Clair's  Mylhs  of  Cruet 
(bused    on    aslronomy)    retiewed, 

s  theories  con- 
cerning, 363-4. 470 
Athens  :   Diouyiiac  possessions.  476 
Ath  Maighne  :  laboo  of  King  of  Eire 

at,  47 
Athmore  :  laboo  on  Cormac  coiiloiagts 

al.  63 
Auditors,  election  6f,  4 
August :  IM,  Annenians  free  pigeons 

and  insects,  70 ;    second  Monday 

unlucky,  Ireland,  4S 
Aurora  borealis  :    "  lire-dnikes,"  N. 

Lincolnshire,  166 
Ausceul.  ancient  Pnissian  god,  396 
Australia  1  (ju  alsa  New  South  Wales 

and   Tones   Straits)  ;  Notes    and 

Queries    on    Totemism,    385-93  ; 

personal  totems,  Varatkanna  tribe. 

Cape  York,  131 ;  peltOTTaphs,  383  ; 

totemism  in  Aninta  tribe,  331 
Austria :    (i«    aha    Bukowina ;    and 

Hungary) ;  cakes  in  animal  Tonn, 

St.  Nicholas'  day,  I ;  gales  portend 

result  of  trial,  165-6 
Avalokiia,  in  Buddhist  Wheel  of  Life, 

69 
Axe,   scratched   on   Cnossos  Palace, 

"3  ,       . 

Axbolme,  Isle  of:   giant  at,  170-3; 

witchcraft,  173 
Azrael  (the  angel),  ghouls  attend  on, 

Fersia,  262 


Babylo 

Bag-Enderby  :  loiiiesat,  170 
Bagn^ies  de  Luchon  :     Midsummer 

Eve  ceremony.  315-7 
Bahia  :  negro  felichlsm,  253 
Bakalla,  Bcchuana  tribe.  31 
Bakuena,  Bechuana  tribe,  31,  36 
Balance  Sheet  of  Folk-Lore  Society, 

rds  '  south  '  and  '  lef\ '  con- 


Ball  games ;  buana,  135 

Baliilore:  mock  burial,  351 1  Whit- 
Sunday  child  kills  or  is  killed,  351 

Balolo  tribe :  why  death  continues 
on  earth,  461 

Baluchistan:  (f»a/itfAibi;  Manish; 
OHf/Kuh-i-Chehel-Tun) ;  gambling 
by  knucklebones,  289:  sanclnary 
taken  among  horses,  369 1  riarxts  or 


Banatc,  Bechuana  tribe,  31 
Bangala   tribes  :   charms,    185 ;  dis- 
semination of  tieliefs  among,  463 ; 
language  and  tribal  mark  o^  46I-2 
Bannock  In diAns :  games,  379 
Bannu,  see  Akra 
Banoga,  Bechuana  tribe,  31 
Banoku,  Bechuana  tribe,  31-3 
Bantu  :  {su  alia  Amandebelei  Ania- 
xulu  1  Bangaln  ;   Basuto;   Bayeye; 
Becbunna;  Hottentots;  Ovnhcreti; 
and  Woganda) ;  inslilulions,  3S-9  ; 
mother-right,    JJ ;    shape-shitling, 
35-6;    tolemism,  survivals  of,   3I, 
33.  35-6 
Baperi,  Bechuana  tribe,  33,  36 
Baptism  cures  convulsions,  Wakefield, 


Barberries ;   charm  against  tvQ  eye, 

Lincolnshire,  178 
Bards,     Irish :     symbolic    brinchei 

borne  by,  43Q-40 
Earimo,  spirits  of  dead,  Bechuana,  25 
Boikway  (Herts) :  origin  of  quit-rent 

«.  30s 
Barley  burnt  in  love  charm,  Poland, 

193 
Barmole  Couits  of  Derbyshire,  395, 

403-4 
Bamslcy :    head   of  corpse  between 

Baronga :  ideas  of  deity  and  heaven, 
36-7 

Batotse:  dead  chief  appears  as  hippo- 
potamus, 36 

Barrows :  associated  with  spectral 
bunt,  Wilu,  74 

BarstuccK,  ancient  Prussian  gods, 
396-7 

Basket  work,  California,  133 

Basuio :   amulets,    378 ;    bridal  an 


5i6 


Index. 


n 
H 

« 
■I 


■i 


N  I 


'■      .     -L 


I 


1         L 


funeral  customs,  39,  378 ;  mother- 
righty  txmces  of,  29;  sacrifice  to 
ancestors  in  sickness,  25 

Bat :  bone  brings  luck,  Asia  Minor, 
191 

Batau,  Bechuana  tribe,  31,  36 

Bath  water  for  in&nts,  heated  by  hot 
iron,  Lincolnshire,  Notts,  and 
Leicestershire,  472,  or  by  dnders, 
472 

Batlapi,  Bechuana  tribe,  31 

Batlou,  Bechuana  tribe,  31 

Battas,  Sumatra :  free  swallow  to 
avert  curse,  70 

Bayeye  tribe:  mother-right  among,  30 

Bear :  Christmas,  carnival,  and  wed- 
ding disguise,  Poland,  193  ;  human 
wife  of,  roland,  194;  transformed 
man,  Poland,  194 ;  weathercock  in 
shape  of  head,  Greenford,  99 

"  Beardless  One,**  Persian  festival  of 
the,  228-9 

Beasts  in  folklore,  see  Animals  in 
folklore 

Beating,  ceremonial,  see  Whipping, 
ceremonial 

Bechuana  (jsu  also  under  names  of 
tribes)  \  ancestors  invoked  and 
sacrificed  to,  25  ;  belief  in  a  god 
absent,  23-6;  mother-right,  traces 
of,  33  ;  totemism,  traces  of,  31,  33 ; 
women  degraded,  29 

Beckenham  :  weathercock  at,  99 

Bedouin  :  {see  also  Arabs) ;  moiuming 
and  burial,  383  ;  right  of  sanctuary, 
269-70 

Bee :  bumble-bee  in  magic,  103  ; 
humble-bee  in  rhyme,  Wiltshire, 
332  ;  not  killed,  Poland,  193 

Belgium  :  (jee  also  Brabant,  South  ; 
Hainault ;  Li^ge  ;  cmd  Walloons) ; 
game  of  astragals,  280,  284-5  * 
guns  fired,  Christmas,  120 

Bells :  Bell-lore,  by  E.  Farrer,  480 ; 
camel  bells  on  ziarats  or  shrines, 
Baluchistan,  272 ;  church,  rhymes 
about,  Wilts,  81  ;  worn  by  ancient 
Lithuanian  &c.  virgins,  299 

Beltaine,  taboo  on  Kings  of  Eire  on 

Monday  after,  47 
Berkshire,    see    Aldermaston ;     and 

Compton 
Bertha  type  of  folktale,  203-7 
Berwickshire,  see  Duns ;  and  Lamber- 

ton  Tollbar 
Berwickshire  Kim-Dolly,  A,  by  Mrs. 

A.  B.  Gonune,  129,  215-6 


Betsileos:  totemism  amoi^  14^3*  47' 

BiUe:  Dehme  lesends*  SL  m; 
Chme  1^  BlsdL's  MnryH^eAm 
BikUea  reviewed,  347.8;  ^ther. 
Book  of,  336-30^  248 1  ~  ■ 
Book   of,  refereuces  in 

stoi7to,499;  Jephthah's ^—.^ 

248 ;  Jonah  legend,  346, 34S ;  J.  G. 
Fiaier's  views  on  the  CraciiaioB 
disCTMed,  33^-30,  336^,  3^-3 ;  J. 
G.  Fiasers  views  on  3  Kufiji  in. 
27  discoased,  347.  476 

Bibliographj,   136-8,  353^  376^ 
506-12 ;  m  L'Ann^  T    '  ~    ' 
481 

Bisby:   copper  kettles 
before  use,  473 

Bihar :  proverb,  313.4 

Birds  in  folklore:  {sea  aha  Chickcs; 
Code;  Crane;  Crow;  Cndoo; 
Dove;  Dock;  Eagle;  Goose; 
Hawk ;  Hen ;  Heron  ;  Jiqr ;  Laik ; 
Magme  ;  Nightingale  ;  Owl ; 
Pulndce ;  Peacock  ;  Pigeon  ;  Plo- 
ver ;  (>iaa  ;  Sea-guU  ;  Sparrow; 
Stork  ;  Swallow  ;  Swan  ;  Trampet- 
bird ;  Vulture  ;  owdT  Wren) ;  cdca 
in  shane  of,  Christmas,  356 ;  cfaikl- 
ren's  rhyme  on  pairing,  Asia  Minor, 
190;  day,  sold  at  fidr,  Alsace, 
508;  in  Cuchulainn  sagas,  48-9^ 
63 ;  on  Easter  cakes,  A«a  Minor, 
192 ;  in  Greek  folktale,  92  ;  medi- 
cine bird,  Shoshones,  379 ;  orna- 
ments on  musical  instruments, 
Guiana,  157  ;  as  sex  totems,  An^ 
tralia,  387 ;  weathercock  in  shape 
of,  Clovelly,  99 

Birth  customs  and  belief  :  Biblical 
rites,  248 ;  birth  typified  in  Budd- 
hist Wheel  of  Life,  68  ;  Egyptian, 
383 ;  groaning-cake,  249 ;  in 
Jutaka,  246 ;  lying-in  rhyme,  Wilts, 
80 ;  stork  brings  children,  Poland, 
194  ;  totem  determined  at  time  of 
conception  or  birth,  386 ;  twins 
attributed  to  "  Tilo,"  Baronga,  26 ; 
water  heated  by  poker  or  cinders 
to  wash  newly-born,  340,  472  ; 
water  in  which  iron  cooled  given 
to  newly-born,  Derbyshire,  472 ; 
Whit -Sunday  child  fated  to  kill  or 
be  killed,  Ballitore,  351 

Bisclaveret,  j^^  Werwolf 

Bison :  astragali  from  N.  America, 
258,  Arizona,  283,  and  Arkansas, 
283 


517 


• 


Black  animals  :  (sa  aha  Cat  -,  Cock  ; 
Dog  ;  Goal ;  and  Pig) ;  in  dream 
bad  omen,  Asia  Minor,  igi 

Black  o[  unlucky  days,  Persia,  265 

Blacksmilhs:  Blacksmiths'  Festival,  by 
MissC.S.  Bume,  »i7-8,  T.  W.  E. 
Higgcns,  344-6,  and  W.  Percy  Mer- 
rick^ 346;  King  Solomon  and  Ihc 
Blaclumilh,  by  M,  Gastcr,  47S'6  ; 
smithy  vfork  and  workers,  chntins 
for.  Upper  Congo,  l8j  ;  water  in 
wluch  lion  slaked  used  as  remedy, 
Scotler  and  Swabia,  473 

Blackthorn  :  globe  of,  burnt  on  New 
Vcnr'i  morning,  Herefordshire, 
349-Si 

Blood  :  avenging  of,  Z4S  ;  in  cup  pre- 
sages Cuchulainn's  death,  64; 
drawn  to  cure  witchcraft,  Lincoln- 
shire, 177-8  ;  given  to  horse  tram 
own  tail,  Germany,  97;  smeared 
on  Huiclio]  sacred  discs,  loS  ;  of 
turtle  gives  strength,  Asia  Minor, 
191 

lue :  key  flower  in  Barbarossa 
legend,  445  ;  wards  off  evil  eye, 
Persia,  168 

Blyboroueh  :  biries,  170 

Bi^,  wild:  Diarmuid's  foster-brother 
changed  into,  48  ;  hunting  tabooed 
to  Diarmuid,  44;  slaying  causes 
Diarmuid's  death,  44-5  ;  weather- 
cock in  shape  of  head,  Greenfotd, 
99  (flaU) 

Boating  g^ime,  Macusi  Indians, 
Guiana,  136-7  (plat') 

Boats  in  festival  processions,  308,315, 
476-7 

Bolivia  :   mock   buU-liehl,  Chrisltnas 

Bol[un-le>Moois  :  game  of  jacks,  391 
Bombay  ;  Pacsees,  account  of,  176-S 
Books  presented  to  Folk- Lore  Society, 

2,  g,  130,  259 
Boots  and  the  Ttol!  type  of  folktale, 

95-7 
Bordeaux  :  astragalus  from,  284 
Border  Marriages,  by  F.  A.    hlilne, 

352-3 
Borehom :     sabbath-breaking     story 

from,  79 
Borrowing  customs  &C.,  theories  of, 

3S7-8 
Borneo,  l«  Sarawak 
Borussi,  su[t«rstitions  of,  293-302 
Bollesfotd;  salt  Bfiainsl  witchcraft,  174 
Boudroutn  :  folktales  from,  317-25 


Boulogne-sur-Mer  :  weathercocks  at, 

99 
Bourg-sui-Gironde:  game  of  astragals, 

"*! 

Bow  and  arrow  of  Vishnu,  m  magic 
Rgure  for  rice- thrashing,  Ceylon, 
4S« 

Bow  Church,  weathercock  of,  too 

Bowls,  votive,  in  Huichol  temples, 
108 

Brabant,  South,  let  Brussels 

Brabrook,  E,  W.,  II.  M.  Queen 
Victoria,  98;  review  by,  FraKer'a 
The  Goldat  BQUgk,  119-za 

Biadwell :  "cucking"at  Easter,  407  ; 
embankment  near,  4t)4-5  ;  fevourile 
dishes,  421 ;  (lowers  carried.  May 
19th,  435-6  :  "  foot-ale  "  levied  on 
stranger  wooer,  406  %  garland  cere- 
mony, May  29th, 416  iliousegardea 
Recalled  "  the  privili^e,"  398  ;  in- 
sulting lines  used  on  Gotland  Day, 
Castlelon, 431-3;  "ladder-steads" 
reserved  on  sales,  398  ;  miners  said 
10  descend  &om  convicts,  400-3  ; 
name  system  at,  399 ;  nickname 
for  foolish  person,  42a :  place 
rhyme,  423  ;  wakes,  special  lUshes 
at,  412 

Brahma,  in  Buddhist  Wheel  of  Life, 
69 

Brahmans  as  a  caste,  483,  485 

Brahmaputra      volley,     folklore     of 

Brains  of  king  of  Leinster  hardened 

as  trophy,  55 
Brailmaier,  M.,  Cutting  off  the  Head 

Brandon,  the.  Midsummer  Eve  cere- 
mony at  Bagniresdc  Luchon,  315-7 

Bran's  voyage  to  Elysium,  436-8 

Brazil,  sie  Bahia 

Biegia ;  taboo  on  lung  of  £in*  al,  47 

Brendan's  voyage,  443 

Brent  Pelham :  A  Hertfordshire  St. 
Geo^,  303.7  [flail) 

Brelagne,  iw  Brittany 

Bridal  customs  and  beliels,  m 
Marriage  customs  and  beliefs 

Bride  W^er  type  of  folktales,  87-93 

British  Guiana,  ui  Guiana 

Brittany  t  folklore  colleclions  itata, 
reviewed,    352,    37(3-2 ;      lais    of, 

Brixton  Deverill :  haunted  house, 
73  1  king  Alfred  and  the  cftket 
localised,  77 


Si8 


Inde^c. 


■hj 


I-     • , 


I     .. 


Broadsides,  SfMUsish,  3 
Broom  in  magic  figure  for  rice-thrash- 
ing, Ceylon,  458 
Brugh    on    the  Boyne:   Diarmuids 

foster-brother  transformed  to  wild 

boor,  48 
Bruises,  cure  for,  Asia  Minor,  192 
Brumby  Common  :  fairies,  170 
Brussels :  festival  processions,  315 
Buckhurst    Hill  (Essex) :    game    of 

knuckledowns,  291-2 
Buckinghamshire,  su   Chalfbnt   St 

Giles 
Buddha :    Rouse's    Tke  Jiiaka^  or 

Stories   of  the  BtuUke^s    firmer 

Births  reviewed,  245-6 
Buddhist  Wheel  of  life  from  Japan, 

A,  by  N.  W.  Thomas,  i,  67-9, 123, 

214  (^frontispiece) 
Buffalo :  Bechuana.  tribe  named  after. 

Building :  trade  customs,  locally,  104 
Bukowina  :  folklore  of  Jews,  509 
Bull :  (see  also  Cattle ;  and  Ox) ;  bull 

fight,      mock,      Christmas      Eve, 

Bolivia,  2^6 ;  in  Cuchulainn  sagos, 

65  ;  in  Wiltshire  rhyme,  332 
Bumble-bee,  see  Bee 
Bumblebee  in  Magic,  The,  by  E.  F. 

Carey,  103 
Burial  customs  and  beliefs,  see  Death 

and  funeral  customs  and  beliefs 
Burials,  mock,  271,  35 1 -2 
Buried  treasure,  see  Treasure,  hidden 
Bume,    Miss    C.    S.,    Blacksmiths' 

Festival,  217-8  ;  Customs  Relating 

to  Iron,  474-5 ;  review  by,  Frazer's 

The  Golden  Bought  240-3 
Burning  herbs  for  traveller's  success, 

Persia,  266 
Burning    of    dead,   su    Death    and 

funeral  customs  and  beliefe 
Burns,  cures  for,  Persia,  271 
Burnt  offerings,  see  Sacrifice 
Bush-hog,  see  Peccary 
Busso  :  spectral  light,  105 
Butterfly:  first  seen,  caught  for  riches, 

Poland,  193  ;  lucky  in  house,  Asia 

Minor,  190 
Buying,    luck    money    in,    Lincoln, 

179-80 

Cairene  folklore,  see  Cairo 

Cairns  or  shrines,  Baluchistan,  272-3 

Cairo :     Cairene   story,    parallel    to, 

loi  ;   in  story  from  Upper  Egypt, 

329-30 


Caistor :  folly  oC  ofiendiiw  nlcr  cf 
weather,  163  ;  stone  changed  to 
cornsack^  and  vice  vmrtdf  165-4 

Cakes :  in  animal  form,  i ;  In  faiid 
fbnn,  I,  70,  256 ;  Ana  Minor,  192 
in  snake  form,  Asia  Minor,  192;  ai 
New  Year  omen,  HerefonUuic^ 
3^;  with  pins,  bnint  to  brmg 
witches,  Lincolnshire,  176;  Vide 
docs,  NewcastleK»-Tyne,  131 ; 
Yule  loaves,  Derbyshire  minen,  407 

Calendar  ioikloKe,  jw  Days  ud 
Seasons 

Calendar,  knotted  string  or  notdwd 
tree  as,  Guiana,  X42, 15a 

Calf:  ear  slit  against  witchcnfk, 
Helmsley,  97 ;  phantom,  haunts 
place  of  murder  &c.,  Linoolii- 
shire,  172 

California  :  basketwork,  123; 
Barrows'  The  Etknc-lUim^  ^ 
the  Coahmlla  Indians  of  SmOkem 
California  reviewed,  366-8 

Callert :  spectral  lichts  near,  343 

Caljrmnos :  cure  for  choking  from 
bone,  191-2;  folktales  from,  93-97, 
197-200,  201;  omens  fiom  gfa»- 
hopper,  190,  from  moth,  190; 
pigeons  unludcy,  190 

Camel :  blue  boids  &c.  worn 
against  evil  eye,  Persia,  268; 
killed  and  eaten  on  solemn  occa- 
sions, Asia  Minor,  192  ;  Persian 
ghoul  appears  as,  262 ;  in  Persian 
proverb,  279 

Ounel  bells,  on  ziarats  or  shrines, 
Baluchistan,  272 

Cameron,  M.  L.,  A  Sorvival  of 
Tree-worship,  455-6 

Canada,  see  Great  Bear  Lake ;  and 
Hudson's  Bay 

Candles :  burnt  on  Christmas  Eve, 
Derbyshire  miners,  407 ;  hung  on 
bush  near  holy  well,  Persia,  272 ; 
left  in  lead  mine  for  "owd  man," 
Christmas  Eve,  Derbyshire,  407  ; 
letting  church  land  by,  Berks  and 
Wilts,  76 

Canoes,  protected  by  seed  pods  &c.. 
Upper  Congo,  185 

Cape  York  (Aus.)  :  personal  totems, 
Yaraikanna  tribe,  23 1 

Carey,  E.  F.,  The  Bumblebee  in 
Magic,  103 

Carib  Indians,  Guiana,  1 32-3 

Carnival  customs  :  Poland,  193  ;  pro- 
cessions, 476 


Caroline  Mount,  Chingfoid  :  weather- 
cock at,  99 
Catp :    eaten    fur   luck,  Japan,  71; 

ficlure  hung  on  j»U,  May  Icitlval, 
span,  71;   symbol   of  vicloiy   or 
power,  japan,  71 
Carson,    Has  K.,  Cusloms  telalirg 


to  Iro: 


.  473-4 


1.203-7. 


^^H   bres 

^^H    Ihrc 

^^v  folk 


Cassabi,  folktales  from. 
207-8 

Caste  :  Bnihnnans  as  a,  4S3,  485  1 
castes  in  Baiar.jSl:  why  Mala  caste 
is  Ihe  lowest,  Central  Provinces 
(India),  3S0  ;  nature,  prevalence, 
and  relationships  of,  48l<5 

Castleton  :  Garland  Day  at  Costle- 
ton,  394-430  (//ofri) 

6/aci, — foretells  weather,  Japan, 
70 ;  jinn  appears  a,s  Persia, 
263  ;  used  in  love  charm,  Poland, 
193  )  witch  appear)  as,  Poland, 
■94) 
breath  cures  choking  from  bone, 
Asia  Minor,  Cos,  and  Calj'mnos, 
193  i  clothes  on  which  cat  killens 
1  away,  Asia  Minor,  189; 
off  for  cream-stealiojg.  High- 
lands. 97 ;  flesh  and  skin  cure 
consumption,  Poland,  193)  in  Greek 
folktales,  95,  207  ;  jinn  and  afreet 
appeal  ais,  Persia,  163)  maimed, 
not  admitteij  to  Sah^l,  Tinchc- 
bray.  97  ;  in  rhymes,  Compton 
(Berks),  331,  Wills,  332;  three- 
coloured,  powerful  in  magic, 
Japen,  70  ;  wilch  as,  Lincolnshire, 

Cataract,  charm  for,  Poland,  193 
Caihbad  the  Druid,  57-8,  63.  iiS 
Cattle:  {see  alia  Bull;  Calf;  Cow  ; 

ami    Ok)  :    associated    with    St. 

Bridget,  Kildare,  314;  blessed  in 

May  at  chapel,  Frijus,  313  j  ears 

incised  by  Bakuena,  31 
Caves  :  food  oflered  lo  P<ri-I>an<m  in, 

Persia,  272 '.  Huichol  sacred  images 

in,  108 
Cayuses :  games,  379 
Celt,  Irish  literature  enshrines  belief 

and  customs  of  the,  42-3 
Celtic  and  Mediitval  RtmioKt,  by  A. 

Nutt,  reviewed,  121-2 
Cdtk  FelilBrt,  Wehk  and  iiaruc,  by 

J.  Rhys,  reviewed,  114-6 
Cet,  chief  of  Connaught,  55 
Ceylon  :  {tte  aiso  Tamils ;  and  Ved- 


dahs) ;  thrashing  i 

for,  457-8 
Chairs,votive,  for  Huichol  deities,  to8 
Chalfont  St.  Giles  :  game  of  dabbers, 

Champ  d'louz  C^ivemais)  :  wren  r«- 

leased  annnally,  70 
Channel  Islands,  see  Guernsey 
Chapalanga  river,  Huichol  Indians  of, 

107-9 
Chapel -en-!c- Frith  ;  fine  on  stranger 

Ckarltmagne  and  his  Peers,  The  Hi- 
manee  Cycle  of,  by  J.   L.  Weslon, 
reviewed.  375 
Charles'     Woin     constellation,     su 

Great  Bear  constellation 
Channs  and  spells  : 
agaimi     cataract,   Poland,      193; 
clouds  obscuring  sun,  I^nguas, 
216  :    convulsions,     Wakefield, 
473 :     disease,      I'ersia,      ayi  i 
drought,    Asia      Minor,     atS ; 
eclipses,    ai6 ;    evil    eye,    383, 
Lincolnshire,  178,  Penia,  268-9: 
evil  spirits,  Ceylon,  458 ;  loss  of 
articles,  Persia,  a7S ;  rheumatbmi 
Newton  Abbot,  351-a;  scorpion 
biles,    Persia,    272  ;    smallpox, 
Gloucestershire,  35a ;   sore  feet, 
Poland,  193  ;    staring,  injury  to 
children  from,     Magyars,   472 ; 
tarantula     bites,     Peisil^     rja ; 
water  on  the  brain,  Penia,  271  ; 
witchcraft,     Lincolnshire,     173. 
Persia,  271,  Upper  Congo,  185; 
children,  lo  obtain.    Persia,  272 ; 
churning,  for,   Compton  Clerks), 
330.   Lincolnshire,    173;   dugong, 
model    of,    Torres    Straits,    230; 
Eskimo,  508;    fort,  to  render  im- 
pregnable, Baluchistan,  274 ;  geese, 
to  ensure  good  brood  of,  Poland, 
■93  >    hunting    and    fishing,   for, 
Ujiper    Congo,      185-6;      leaden, 
Lincoln's  Inn,  ia8  ;  love,  Lincoln- 
shire, 167-9,  Poland,  193  i  Persia, 
263 ;    rwnbow,   to  destroy,  Grcy- 
souttien,  479-80 ;  rice-thrashing,  Ifor, 
Ceyion,  450;  toad's  bone  as,  Lin- 
colnshire,  168-9;  tooth,  for  pulhng 
out, Wilts,  So  ;  Veddah,  37?  !  wocU 
louse,  to  moke  curl  up.  Wills,  So 
Chaviaras,    D.,  animal   superstitions 
from    Asia    Minor,   collected    by. 


[ 


'  1.  1 
■I  '  . 


.1    ■'  n 


I 


I 

h 
I* 

I 


S20 


Index. 


Cheshire,   F.    J.,   Rainbow    Magic, 

479-80 
Chevalier  de  la  Charrette,  romance  of 

the,  488.9 
Chicken  :  imitated  in  Macusi  nme, 
Guiana,  139;  water  from  chiocen's 
dish   cures   night-bUndnen,    Asia 
Minor,  191 
Childbirth  customs  and   belief,  see 

Birth  customs  and  beliefr 
Child-life,  folklore  of^  120-1 
Children  lucky,  Upper  Congo,  187 
Children's   diseases,    cures   for,    see 

Medical  folklore 
Children's  games,  see  Games 
Children's  rhymes,  see  Nursery  rhymes 
China :  {su  also  Foochow ;  Honan  ; 
and  Hupeh) ;  one  boot  of  dead  in 
coffin   and  one  left  in  house,  71  ; 
the  continent  di  "  men,"  68  ;  death 
signs,   512;    Records  of  Women*s 
Conference  on  the  Home  Life   of 
Chinese  Women  reviewed,  504-5  ; 
shrines,  512 ;   swastika  on  grave- 
clothes,  ^;  tomb  find,  123 
Ching[ford :  weathercocks  at,  99  {plate) 
Choking  from  bone,  cures  for,  Asia 
Minor,  Cos,  and  Calymnos,  191 -2 
Christmas  :     animal     diseuises    at, 
Poland,  193  ;  cakes  in  bird  form, 
256 ;  customs,  507 ;   geese-dance, 
249 ;    guisers,    249 ;    guns    fired, 
Bel^um,  120 ;   sunlight  on  apple 
trees  foretells  heavy  crops,  Lincoln- 
shire,   167  ;    Yule    doos   (cakes), 
Newcastle-on-Tyne,  131 
Christmas    Eve :    bull   fight,   mock, 
Bolivia,  256 ;   candle   &c  left   in 
lead  mines  for  "  owd  man,"  Derby- 
shire, 407;  oxen  kneel,  Wilts,  76; 
Yule  candles,  loaves,  and  posset, 
Derbyshire  miners,  407 
Chuckies,  game  of,  284,  285-6 
Chuckie-stones,  game  of,  284 
Church :    alphabet    used    in    conse- 
crating,   100- 1  ;    chancel,    garland 
hung   from,    Hope,   424 ;    morris- 
dancing     associated    with,     427  ; 
porch,  wraiths  of  those  to  die  enter 
out    do    not    leave,    St.    Mark's 
Eve,    Lincolnshire,    169 ;     tower, 
^rland    hung    from,    May    29th, 
Castleton,  410,412,  416,  419-20; 
wall,  burial  in,  Brent  Pelham,  304, 
{plate),  Tolleshunt    Knights,  465  ; 
weathercocks,  99-100 
Church  bells,  rhymes  about,  Wilts,  81 


Ghnrchyud  gfaoits,  9m   Death  aad 

fanenl  cnstoms  and  bdiefii 
Churchjrard   bnriftl  i*MfffflBW  and  be> 
liefr,  Mr  I>eAth  and  fiuwnd  cnrtoH 
andbdidGi 
ChuichyBrd  toad,  hort  givai  fto^  « 

love  qpell,  lAicolmfaife,  16S 
Churning:      charm     lor,     Ornip" 
(BerksK  33^;    OLlt  piotocKs  fioai 
witch,  Linoolnahire,  173 
Cigar  ash  as  narootic,  Loniion,  475 
Cinderdla  type  of  Iblktale,  aoo-i 
Qndeis»  redlxyt :  in  fiitt  water  Ibreov 
after  cal^ong,  Scotland,  472;  to  hot 
bath  for  newly-bom,  47a ;  to  heit 
water  for  removing  taint  £ram  mett, 
474;   to  season  cooking  atenik, 
Scotland,  473-4  s   water  in  wUdi 
thrown  as  remedy,   Maerais  and 
Wakefield,  472-S 
Cinder  tea  as  cure,  472*3 
QvU  Wars,  traditions  oC  Wilts,  77 
Clan  names  among  Bantu,  31-3,  JS 
Clan,  relations  of  guild  and  caste  to^ 

484 
Clay  Hill,  Beckenham :  weatfaeroodc 

at.  99  i^late) 
Qeena,  sympathetic  wave  of,  51-2 
Qey   Hill,   Warminster  :  tiaditioDil 

origin  of,  7^-9 
Clovelly  :  weathercock  at,  99 
Cluain-Finnabhrach :  taboo  on  Cormac 

conloinges  at,  63 
Cnossos,  palace  at,  123 
Coach  with  headless  dnver,  ^^ts,  73 
CoahuUla  Indians  of  Soutkem  Cali- 
fomioy   The  Etkno-Botanty  «^  iff 
D.  P.  Barrows,  reviewed,  366-8 
Coal-mining    customs    and     belief: 
coal  left  for  fairies,  Derbyshire,  407 
Cobolds,  amongst  ancient   Pmstians^ 

297-8 
Cock:  black,  in  cure  for  cataract, 
Poland,  193;  cakes  in  form  of, 
Austria,  I  ;  crowing  lucky  and  un- 
lucky at  certain  hours,  Persia,  265  ; 
crows  the  hour,  Wilts,  75 ;  as  omen 
of  future  of  deceased,  Ispahan,  278 : 
in  rh)rme,  Wilts,  332 ;  weather- 
cocks in  shape  of,  99 ;  whistles  in 
shape  of,  Poland,  193;  wooden 
heads  on  houses,  Poland,  194 
Cockchafer  :  if  common,  sign  of  good 

millet  year,  Poland,  193 
Colair  Lake,  legend  of,  380 
Colds,  cure  for,  Asia  Minor,  191 
Coleridge,  Miss  Christabel,  Whitsun 


J.iA 


Mock     Burials, 


■e  For,  Lincolnshire,  472 
Collectanea,  67-97,   1B1-Z09,  303-35, 

446-66 
ColonUI  Secretniy,  memorial  I0,  11,38 
Colours,  ill  Black  1   Blue  :    Purple  ; 

Red;  am/ White 
Colt,  j«  Horse 
Combangree  tribe,  legends    &c.   nf, 

Combats,  ceremonial,  247 
Comtnunion  bread,  sa  Host 
Compass,   points  of,  used  for  direc- 

Complon  (Berks) :  churning  charm, 
330 ;  rhymes,  331 

Coiuulle-Muirlhemnc :  Clichulainn  s 
tight  at,  57-S 

Conception,  lolems  determined  by 
place  of,  386 

Conchobhar  sagas  :  cause  of  death  of 
king,  55-6 ;  gcas«  more  prominent 
than  in  Os^anlc  cycle,  43-5  ;  king  a 
lerrestrial  god,  65  ;  Nessa,  mother 
of  king,  llS  t  shield  roars  when 
king  in  danger,   51-3;   taboos  on 

^  king.  S3-SS 

Congo  :  Stories  and  other  Notes  from 
the  Upper  Coogo,  by  J.  H.  Weeks, 
i8t.9,  45S-64 

Conta  Ruodh,  sloir  of,  440-3 

Connaughl,  ste  Cet ;  Connemara ; 
Mayo ;  and  Meave 

Connemata,  sa  Salnick 

Consecraling  church,    alphabet    used 

Constance  :  plague  at  lime  of  Council 

of,  314 
Consumption,  cute  for,  Poland,  193 
Convulsions:   allribuled  lo  "Tilo," 

Baronga,  26  ;  cures  for,  WakeHeld, 

473 
Conybeare,  F.  C,  The  Paganism  of 

ihe  Ancient  Prussians,  393-3OZ 
Cooke,  J.,  Irish  Burial  Custom,  104 
Cooking  :  utensils   seasoned    by  hot 

dnders,  Scotland,  473-4 
Copper    kettles    "baptized"    before 

use,  Bigl)y,  473 
Coptic  folklore,  lee  Egypt 
Cora  Indians,  Mexico,  loS 
Cormac  tanloingis  :  adventnie  in  the 

Land  of  Promise,  438-9  ;  taboos  on, 


63 

Com  devil, 


t  wood  to  keep  ufT, 


Com,  ear  of,  in  magic  figure  for  rice- 
thrashing,  Ceylon,  458 

Com -spirits,  vegetation  souls,  and 
the  like:  blackthorn  globe  burnt 
and  replaced,  New  Year's  morning, 
Herefordshire,  349-Jl ;  Prater's  The 
GoltUn  Bough  revievi^,  219-43, 
355-^.  43'-4S  :  Grass  King  proces- 
sion, Whitsuntide,  Grossvorgula, 
428;  ancient  Italian  fire- walkers  re- 
presented corn-spirit,  453  ;  "  kjra 
maiden,"  Berwickshire,  129,  3I5'6  ; 
"  reaping  maiden,"  Argyllshire,  I  ; 
old  Tamil  god  thrown  into  river, 
and  replaced,  before  rice  harvest, 
Ceylon,  457;  old  whips  placed  with 
new  ones  for  whipping  game, 
Guiana,  143 

"  Com  sack,  stone  in  Lincolnshire, 
163-5 

Cornwall  :  {sa  also  Helston);  liilile 
task  stories,  131 ,-  pebbles  xt 
astragali,  2S4 

Corpses,  customs  and  beliefs  concern- 
ing, ste  Death  and  funeral  customs 
and  beliefs 

Corpus  Chrisli :  ship-carrying  pro- 
cession, Plymouth,  476 

Correspondence,  99-106,  210-8,  336- 
53.  467-80 

Corsica,  sa  Busso 

Cos  :  cure  for  choking  from  bone,  ■()> 

Costa  Rica  :  game  with  knucklebone, 
383 

Coles  du  Notd  ;  folklore  colleelions 
from,  reviewed,  370-2 

Cotton  reels,  see  Reels,  cotton 

Council,  election  of,  4 

Counting    lambs   unlucky,    Lincoln- 


shire, 


"79 


Couniing-oui  rhymes,  508 

Counting  years  of  raja  s  reign,  Uriya 
States,  347 

County  Falk-Lare,  colleclionB  (or, 
9-10 

Courting  customs  and  belief :  (na 
aisa  Charms  and  spells);  "fool- 
nle"  levied  on  stranger  wooer, 
Dertyshire,  406  ;  "  pilchering, 
Deepcar,  406-7 

Coavade,  58,  60-1 

Cow;  (J«  a/m  Calf;  and  Cattle) ! 
bewitched.  Market  Rasen,  177-8, 
Wilts,  75  ;  calving,  ember  put  in 
first  water  given  after,  Scotland, 
472 :  dung  used  in  magic  figure 
for    rice-thrashing,    Ceylon,   45S ; 


532 


Index. 


■ 


I 


knucklebone,  nune  with,  Cotta 
Rica,  283 ;  in  Mew  Year's  omen, 
Herdbrdshire,  350;  in  rhymes, 
Compton  (Berks),  331,  Wilts,  333; 
tail  slit  to  ensure  conception,  Dep. 
de  rOme,  97. 

Cimb  :  claw  charm  against  evil  eye, 
Asia  Minor,  191 

Crane:  respected  by  Turks,  193; 
white,  children's  rhyme  on  seeine, 
I^^cc*^*  333  *  wooden,  in  Aiawuc 
dance  or  game,  Guiana,  144 

Creation   myths  :    Shoshones,  379 ; 

Wits,  77 
Creator :     early     conceptions      of, 

113-4;  idea  foreign  to  Amasuhi, 

23,  and  to  Bechuana,  24 

Cremation  of  dead,  see  Death  and 
jfimeral  customs  and  beliefs 

Crete,  discoveries  in,  123 

Crich  :  Barmote  Court,  395 

Cricket :  lucky,  Asia  Minor,  190 

Criminab :  chips  from  gravestone  of 
lucky,  Japan,  71  ;  intestines  eaten, 
Japan,  71 

Crockerton  Revel,  76 

Crocodile:  Bechuana  tribe  named 
Bfttx,  31,  36  ;  hunting  ceremonials. 
Upper  Congo,  186;  souls  of  middle- 
class  pass  into,  Madagascar,  342; 
totem,  Yam  Island,  231 

Crooke,  W. ,  reviews  by,  Cheyne  and 
Black's  Encychpctdia  Biblica^  247- 
8  ;  Rouse's  The  Jdiaka,  or  Stories 
of  the  Buddha  s  former  Births j 
Arnold's  The  Rigveda^  and  Rice's 
Occasional  Essays  on  Native  South 
Indian  Life^  245-7 

Crook's  Moor  (W.  Riding) :  building 
house  &c.  in  one  night  gives  title  to 
land,  397 

Cropping  Animals'  Ears,  by  N.  W. 
Tnomas,  97,  208,  and  W.  R.  Paton, 
2o8-9 

Cross :  equal-armed,  in  magic  figure 
for  rice-thrashinj;,  Ceylon,  458 ; 
swastika,  69  ;  wicken-tree  sprigs  in 
form  of,  against  witch- work,  Lin- 
colnshire, 175 

Crow  :  carries  wood  for  hell  fires, 
negroes  (U.  S.  A.),  252  ;  cawing  a 
bad  omen,  Asia  Minor,  190 :  Parsee 
corpses  exposed  to,  278 ;  unlucky 
in  house,  Poland,  193 ;  witch 
appears  as,  Poland,  194 

Croydon:  astragali,  284;  '*five 
-stones,"  258 


« 


Crucifixion  at  Pocklii^loii  in  1648 
217 

Cmdfixioo  of  JeMH»  J.  G.  FnoeA 
views  on  dixnawd,  bf  M.  Gaitar, 
226-30,  A.  Long,  256-7,  and  Mw 
C  S.  Burae,  241-3 

Crustacea  in  foUdoffe,  sm  Grabs  '■<' 
Lobster 

CAchulainn  «is  :  Cdchnlainn  a  an 
h«n>,  58,  £k-3p  65;  nua  bor 
pfominent  than  in  Omhuuc  c|cfc^ 
43-4  i  moCfaer  of  Qidmlaintt  and 
her  maidepi  appear  as  1iiid% 
48-9;  peiiodioal  prottiation  of 
Ulster  warriors,  56-9$  taboos  rand 
Cdchulainn,  49-509  6«-3»  and  dnef 
jpersonaees,  61-5 
Cocking^  custom,  Easter,  Biadwdl, 

407 

Cuckoo :  becomes  hawk  in  winter, 
Poland,  194;  when  first  bend, 
moner  turned,  Poland,  193;  sayiw;, 
Wiltshire,  82;  transformed  ^, 
Poland,  194 

Cuckoo-flower :  used  in  garland,  May 
29th,  Bradwell,  426 

Cmtntos  BreUmes :  CuttUms  P^pwhns 
de  Campesinas  Ascad^nes  j  Aim^ 
msfws,  trans,  by  M.  Machado^  re* 
viewed,  252 

Cumberluid,  see  Greyaouthen 

Cupid  and  Psyche  type  of  folktales, 

»7-93 
CuHcsitfs    de    la    Vie   Bnfamtvu: 

Etudes  de  Folklore^  by  A.  Gitt^ 

reviewed,  i20-i 
Curonenses,  customs  of,  299-302 
Customs  in  the  Building  Trade,  by 

W.  H.  Jewitt,  104 
Customs    relating   to    Iron,   by    H. 

Colley    March,    340-1,    Miss   M. 

Peacock,  472-3,  Miss  K.   Carson, 

473-4»  and  Miss  C.  S.  Bume,  474-5 
Cutting  off  the  Head  of  a  Corpse,  fay 

M.  Braitmaier,  214 
Cuzco:  knucklebone  from,  283 
Cypress  tree,  in  Greek  folktale,  208 

Dabbers,  game  of,  284,  292 
Daisy  :  divination  by,  256 
Damaraland,  see  Ovaherero 
Dames,  M.  Long  worth — ,  note  on  The 

Ancient    and    Modem    Game    of 

Astragals,  289 
Dances  :  Bagn^res  de  Luchon,  316 ; 

Baluchistan,   273-41    grass  dancei 

Yankton    Indians,    379;     Greece, 


^^    16; 

K 


.  146-50.  '55-6' 
■Ilupa,  379;  Mayo,  158  {Jilalc) 
mollis,  sei  Morris-dancing  ;  teir 
used  for  animal  tribes  uf  Bechuina, 
31  1  loiem,  391  ;  Veddah,  379 
Days  and  Seasons :  April,  4S,  8a, 
167,  169,  264 ;  August,  48,  70  ; 
Beltaine,  47  i  Chinese  years,  names 
of,  504  :  Cbrislmas,  130,  13I,  167, 
'93i  ^9i  356,  J07  1  Chrislmas 
Eve,  76,  256,  407  ;  Corpus  Chrisli, 
476  ;  December,  1,48,  76,  1Z9>  I3l> 
167.  193,  314,  249>  15^1  4071  5^  ' 
Sasler,  192,  407 :  February,  57, 
■JD ;  Friday,  252,  264  ;  Hallow- 
e'en, 47,  57,  167;  Januar}',  167, 
349-S'.  507;  July.  70,  76;  June, 
,  72,  120,  214,  476  ;  Lucky  and 
unlucky,  47,  264-S ;  March,  70. 
80,  275-6;   May,  47,   71,   76, 


Midsummer  Day,  ISO  :  Midsummer 
Eve,  315-7 ;  Midsummer  Night, 
72  ;  Midwinter,  120:  Monday,  47- 
8  ;  New  Year's  Day,  70,  227,  275-6, 
349-51,  507  ;  November,  193,  217. 
■J41  ;  October,  47,  57,  395  ;  Palm 
^Sunday,  74-S,  189 ;  St.  Agnes' 
e,  167  ;  St.  Andrew's  Eve,  193 ; 
Clement's  Day,  217,  249, 
344-6  ;  Si.  Mark's  Eve,  167,  169 ; 
St.  Nicholas"  Day,  1  i  St.  Thotnas' 
Day,  249  i  Samhain,  47,  57 : 
Shrovetide,  81  ;  Spring,  296; 
Tuesday,  47  ;  Wednesday,  47, 164  i 
Whitsuntide,  351,  428;  Winter, 
57-8,  508  ;  St.  Clair's  Mythi  of 
Gruce  (based  on  calendar),  re- 
viewed, 362-4, 469-71 
Dead,  land  •A\\M,!ce  lEades 
Deatii  and  funeral  customs  and 
beliefs  T  \sie  alio  Graves ;  and 
Omens)  ;  Biblical,  247  -.  body  must 


.  ;  body  thrown  into  sacred  lake, 
Madagascar,  343 ;  burial  customs 
and  tolemism,  393  ;  burial  customs, 
Baiir,  381,  Bedouin,  383,  Greece, 
125,  Jews  of  Bukowina,  509,  and 
KaJiiaginiDule  whalers,  Aleutian 
Islands,  571;  burial  in  church 
wall,  Brent  Pelham,  304,  Tolles- 
hunt  Knights,  465  ;  burial  mark  of 
Mycenaean  age,  burning  of  Homeric 
age,  361-2,  468-9,-  buriaj  ol  slave 


wife  with  husband,  Upper  Congo, 
459-60;  burials,  mock,  351-21 
churchyard  custom,  Salruck,  3, 
104,  258  {Jilaie  viii.j;  cull  of 
dead  among  Amarulu,  23,  37, 
34,  and  Bechuana  and  Bomlo, 
25 ;  dead  assume  form  of  10. 
tern  animal,  N.  America,  Mada- 
gascar, ac,  36-7,  342-3  ;  dead 
avenge  insult.  Upper  Congo,  1S4; 
dead  cause  abnormal  events,  Upper 
Congo,  464 1  dead  cause  diseases, 
E.  and  W.  Prussia,  214  ;  dead  visit 
house  if  one  boot  left  there,  China, 
71  ;  death  signs,  China,  512  ; 
death  lypifi^  in  Buddhist 
Wbeet  of  Ufe,  68  :  fairs  and  feasts 
comniemomlive  of  deaths,  Greece 
and  Ireland,  60 ;  food  lor  dead, 
Kerman,  278,  ancient  Prussians, 
300-2  :  funeral  feasts,  Asia  Minor, 
192,  ancient  Prus^tis,  30O-2; 
ghosts,  lit  Ghosts  j  ghouls  attend 
Azrael,  Persia,  262  1  future  life, 
Tahiti,  3S4  ;  gifts  to  corpse,  ancient 
Prussians,  300- 1  ;  graveclolhes, 
swastika  on,  China.  69  ;  head  ol 
corpse  cut  off,  E.  and  W,  Prussia, 
214:  head  of  corpse  between 
thighs,  Roj-sion,  101-2;  joumcy 
money  (or  dead,  ancient  Prussians, 
300-1  :  maternal  uncle  presides  at 
funeral,  Bosulos,  19 ;  rnouming. 
Bedouin,  383,  Biblical,  247, 
Egyptian,  383 :  name  of  dead 
not  spoken.  Upper  Congo,  1S4; 
name  of  dead  used  for  children. 
Upper  Congo,  462 ;  swallows 
released  at  funeral,  Japan,  70  ,- 
totemism  in  connection  with  death 
and  burial,  391  ;  whipinng  game 
of  Arawaks,  Guiana,  141-2;  why 
death  continnes  on  earth,  BaJolo 
legend,  461  ;  Wiedemann's  The 
Realms  of  Iht  Egyptian  Dtad 
reviewed,  364-6  j  young  buried, 
but  old  burned.  New  South  Wales, 
469 

Death,  the  city  of  the  Road  of,  Greek 
folkwle,  317-20 

Death  to  be  avoided  h^  keeping 
awake,  Upper  Con^  folktale,  460 

Deccan  :  ^see  also  ^tecunderabad) ; 
name    means    both     'right '    and 

December :  {set  also  Christmas ; 
Christmas  Eve  ;  and  St.  Nicholas' 


524 


Index. 


! 

II 


Day)  ;   Japanese  Oharai  in,  214 ; 
third  Monday  unlucky,  Ireland,  48 
Dechtire,  mother  of  Cuchulainn,  64-5 
De    diis  in   locis  editis  cultis  aptid 
Grmi-oSt   by  C.  Albers,  reviewed, 
500-2 
Deeixrar  :  **  pitchering,"  406-7 
Deer :  astragali  from,  Arkansas,  283  ; 
blood  consecrates  Huichol  sacred 
discs,    108 ;     cakes    in    form    of, 
Austria,    i  ;    if    eaten    by    dogs, 
guardian  spirit  offended,  Hudson's 
Bay,  208 
Deitv,  conceptions  of :  Amazulu,  23, 

26-7  ;  Bechuana,  23-7 
Deluge  legends,  383, 503 
Demavend,  legends  of,  274 
Demon  possession,  see  Possession 
Demons  :  (see  also  Devil) ;  appear  as 
black   dogs  or  pigs,  Asia  Minor, 
191,   as  cat-head^    men,.  Persia, 
262,   as  donkey   for  sale,  Assiut, 
329 ;  Demon  of  Impermanency  in 
Buddhist  Wheel  of  Life,  68  ;  divs, 
Persia,  262-3  ;  dwell  in  pipal  tree, 
India,  213-4 ;    iron    to  ward  off, 
Ceylon,  458  ;  Japanese,  68  ;  powers 
greater  in  darkness,  Persia,  263  ; 
spoil  at  night  food  cooked  in  day, 
Persia,  263 
Denmark  :  futile  task  stories,  131 
Derby  :  game  of  snobs,  291 
Derbyshire  :  (see  also  Abne>-  ;  Apple- 
tree  ;   Ashford;   Bradwell;   Castle- 
ton  :      Chapcl-en-le-frith ;     Crich ; 
Derby  ;         Eyam  ;         Hamestan  ; 
Hathersage  ;     Hope  ;     Litchurch  ; 
Little  Hucklow  ;  Matlock  ;  Mony- 
ash  ;  Morleston  ;  Pindale  :  Repton 
and  Gresley  ;  Scarsdale  ;  Shatton  ; 
Smalldale ;     Stoney     Middleton  ; 
Thomhill  ;   Tideswell ;  Walecros  ; 
and  Wirksworth) :  Barmote  Courts, 
395;  game  of  "  snobs,"  258,  290-1  : 
The  >Iill  of  the  Twelve  Apostles, 
by  S.  O.  Addy,  2l8:  wapentakes, 
395  ;  water  in  which  hot  iron  cooled 
given  to  newly-born,  472 
Deverill    district     (, Wills),     folklore 

notes  from,  71-83 
Devil :  (see  also  Demons)  ;  appears 
as  dog.  Wilis,  74.  as  hare  at  hang- 
ing, Wilts,  74  :  burial  in  church 
wall  to  outwit.  Brent  PelhAm,  304, 
Tolleshuni  Knights,  465  :  change 
of  site  by,  Tolleshunt  Knights, 
465-6  :  combat  with  knight,  Tol'*^- 


hunt  Knights,  465;  "  DcvU's  paid-, 
dock,"  V/ilts,  78  ;    the  devil  who 
married    a    wife,    loi,    213^ ;   in 
Pistoian  drolls,   372  ;    word  deri 
tabooed      while       rice  -  thiashin^ 
Ceylon,  458 
Devil   Outwitted    type    of   folktales, 

I25»  372 
Devil  Tales,   by   V.    F.   Bqyie,  re- 
viewed, 251-2 
Devizes,  devil's  plot  against,  78-9 
Devonport:  ship-canyin^  processioii. 

May  Day,  470 
Devonshire,    see    Clovelly ;    Devon- 
port  ;  Monkleigh  ;  Newton  Abbot ; 
Plymouth;  a#t^  Wool  borough 
Diarmuid  O'Duibhne  :  foster-brother 
transformed     to    wild    boar,    48: 
taboos  in  story   of  Diarmuid  and 
Grainne,  44  ;  wicket-gate  tabooed 
to,  61 
Dibs,  game  of,  284,  290 
Dice,  knucklebones  as,  281*2 
Dinn  Riogh  :  taboo  on  King  of  Lein- 

ster  at,  46 
Dion3rsiac  processions,  476 
Discs,  sacied  :  Dischi  Sacri,  by  F.  T. 
Elworthy,  259 ;  of  Huichol  Indians, 
108 
Diseases  :  cures  for,  see  Medical  folk- 
lore ;  due  to  dead  relative.  El.  &  W. 
Prussia,     214,      evil     ghosts    and 
spirits,  Upper   Congo,    184,  463-4, 
jinns,    Persia,    263,    and    **  Tilo." 
Baronga,  26  ;  modes  of  drinking  to 
avert.      Upper      Congo,       188-9; 
removal  or  disguise  to  outwit  spirit* 
causing     illness.      Upper      Congo 
463-4  ;  sick  share  food  with  spirit 
causing  sickness,  Upper  Congo,  46' 
Diss:    "roaring"    of    bell    foretelli 

death,  480 
Dives  and  Lazarus,  parallel  to  parabh 

of,  499 
Di\-inaiion  :    (see  also    Charms    anc 
spells  ;    and  Omens)  ;  daisy  pick 
ing,    256:     by     ephod.     24S ;    b 
knucklebones,  Greeks  and  Romans 
2S2,  290 :  by  wax  poured  in  water 
ancient  Prussians  &c. ,  298  ;  divina 
tion    wands  of    Druids   from    yew 
437  :  of  harvest,  ancient  Prussian* 
j        295  :     of    marriage,     Lincolnshire 
I        107.  Poland.   193  '-  Veddah,  379 
I    DivminT   rod:    in    Grimm*s  Germa 
;        MythMog)-,      445;      for       metali 
'       L.S.A-,  102-3 


I70 
Dog :  bite  from  cured  by  rcmovinE 
hair    from,     Asia     Minor,      191  : 
'  biLch'  QOE  opprobrious  in  Greek, 
330  i     black,     demons     or    vam- 

B'les  appear  as,  Asia  Minor,  191 ; 
ack,  haunts  place  of  murder 
&c,  IJncolnshiic,  172:  breath  of 
puppy  cures  choking  from  bone, 
Asia  Minor,  Cos,  and  Calymnos, 
19a  r  clolhes  thrown  away  over 
which  Inlch  passes,  Asia  Minor, 
1S9 ;  corpses  of  ancient  Persians 
lorn  by,  xjS ;  devil  appears  as, 
Wilts.  74  ;  car  or  tail  cropped  if  enls 
deei  meal,  Hudson's  Bay,  loS ; 
llesh  tabooed  toCuchulainn,  49-50  ; 
in  Greek  folktale,  91  ;  hawUng  a 
death  omen,  Asia  Minor,  190 ; 
jinn  and  afreet  appear  as,  Perida 
163  :  licking  by  cures  wound,  Asia 
Minor,  191;  in  marriage  divination, 
Poland,  193  ;  nickname  for,  A^ 
Minor,  192;  proverb,  Persia,  279; 
reverenced  by  Parsees,  277-8  ;  in 
rhyme,  Secunderabad,  334-5  ;  souls 
of  diowned  appear  as,  Poland, 
193 ;  in  story  from  Upper  Egypt, 
330  ;  used  to  decide  if  man  dead, 
Parsees,  277  ;  whistles  in  shape  of, 
Poland,  193 

Donkey,  set  Ass 

Donkey-skin,  Greek  folktale,  320-3 

Doorways  tabooed,  Marquesas 
Islands,  62 

Dove  :  in  Buddhist  Wheel  of  Life,  67 

Dragon :  aurora  borealis  as,  N. 
Lincolnihite,  166  ;  the  Fight  with 
the  Dragon.  511 ;  A  Henrord- 
shire  Si.  George,  303-7  (/>/ati) ; 
myth  connected  with  Jonah  legend, 
248  ;  weathercock  in  shape  of,  99- 
100  f^/altj 

Dreams  :  Persian  belief  in,  2G3  ; 
spirit  helpers  announced  in.  Sea 
Dyaks,  231-2;  totems  ascertained 
by.  Cape  York,  331 

Drinking  customs.  Upper  Congo, 
i3S-9 

Drolls ;  England,  477  ;  P^toia,  372-3 

Drought,  averting,  ut  Rain 

Drowned  :  bodies  found  by  floating 
paper,  Japan,  71,  314 :  bodies 
found  by  spectral  lights,  344  i  some 
fated  to  be,  on   Midsummei  Day, 


Walloon,  120;  souls  of,  appear  as 

horses  or  dogs,  Poland.  193 
Druids  :  Cathbod  the  Druid,  57,  63, 

iiS;   divination  wands  from  yew, 

437 
Drummond,  R.  J.,  The  Rice  Harvest 

in  Ceylon.  457-8 
Duck :     vicissi    duck      imitated     in 

Macusi  game,  Guiana,  13S 
Dugung:  ceremony  to  obtain  npply 

of,  Torres  Straits,  230-1  ;  model  of 

used  as  charm,  Torres  Straits,  230 ; 

as  totem,  Torres  Straits,  230-1 
Dumb,  folklore  of  the.  353 
Dung  of  cow  used  in  magic  figure  for 

rice' thrashing,  Ceylon,  45S 
Duns :    kirn  maiden  or  dolly  from. 

Dust  not  swept  out  of  door,  Lincoln- 


shire, 


179 


Dutch  folklore,  i«  Holland 

Dwarfs,  Shoshones,  379 

Dyaks,  Nynrong  or  spirit  helper  nf. 


Eagle:  in  Greek  folktale,  318-9; 
nailed  la  house  front,  Polantf,  194  ; 
with  Charles  H.  in  oak,  Castleton, 
41*.  417 

Eating  :  weathercock  at,  99 

Sar/y  Age  af  Creete,  tht,  by  W, 
Ridgcway,  reviewed,  360-2,  336-9, 
467-9 

Early-Rising  JesI,  by  W.  H.  Jewitl, 
477 

Ears  of  animals,  cutting  or  cropping, 
31,97,208 

Ears  of  trespasser  cut  off,  Farlhin 
and  Gelhsemane,  209 

East  Anglia,  /«  Nofrolk  ;  aid  Suffolk 

Easter  :  cakes  in  snake  form,  Asia 
Minor,  192  1  cakes  with  bird  orna- 
ments, Asia  Minor,  192 ;  "  tuck- 
ing "  custom,  Brodwell,  407 ;  3rd 
Sunday  after,  festival  at  "Gratefiil 
Fr^ius,  "307-15 

East  Hallon,  see  Halton,  East 

East  Indies,  let  Bali ;  Borneo  ;  Java  ; 
Mabuaig ;  New  Guinea  ;  Papuans  ; 
Sumatra ;  Sundanese  ;  Torrci 
Straits  ;  and  Yam  Island 

East  o'  the  Snn  and  West  o"  the  Moon 
type  of  folktale,  86.93 

East  Prussia,  sie  Prussia,  East 


Sa6 


Index. 


I 

i 

1' 


Eating  intestines  of  criminal,  Japan, 

Eclipses,  solar,  magical  rites  for,  216 
Edmonton  :  weathercock  at,  100 
Edom,   sacrifice  of  son  of  king  of, 

347.  476 

Eel :  in  Greek  folktale,  205-6;  souls 
of  lower  classes  pass  into,  Mada- 
gascar, 342 

Eggs :  not  brought  into  house  after 
sunset,  Lincolnshire,  167 ;  in 
charms  against  disease  and  witch- 
craft, Persia,  271  ;  single  basket  of 
for  market  unlucky,  Lincolnshire, 
179 ;  yolkless  eggs  unlucky  in 
house,  Lincolnshire,  179 

E(^'pt :  (see  also  Abdul  FCida  ;  Assiut ; 
Cairo ;  and  Luxor) ;  birth  customs, 
mourning,  &c. ,  383  ;  Upper,  orien- 
tation by  fellahin,  210,  and  stories 
from,  329-30; 

ancient — Wiedemann*s  The  Realms 
of  the  Egyptian  Dead  reviewed, 
364-6 ;  society  not  perfectly 
analogous  to  that  of  caste,  482 ; 
Griffith's  Stories  of  the  High- 
priests  of  Memphis  reviewed, 
497-500 

Elaine,  in  Arthurian  romances,  495-6 

Elburz  mountains,  see  Demavend 

Eleusinian  mysteries,  432-4 

Elephant :  Bechuana  tribe  named 
after,  31  ;  charms  for  hunting. 
Upper  Congo,  185-6 

El  worthy,  F.  T.,  Dischi  Sacri,  259 

Elysium,  see  Iladcs 

Emain  Macha :  apple-tree  of,  436, 
438  ;  palace  at,  57,  438  ;  taboo  on 
Cuchulainn  at,  63  ;  weapons  fall 
from  racks  when  Conchobhar  in 
danger,  51-2 

Emania,  see  Emain  Macha 

Emeralds  :  powdered,  as  remedy, 
Persia,  270 

Emslie,  J.  P.,  Weathercocks,  {plaie)^ 
99-100 

Encyclopivdia  Biblica,  by  T.  K. 
Cheyne  and  J.  S.  Black,  reviewed, 

247-8 
Enj;land  :  (^see  also   under  names  of 

counties^ ;  futile  task  stories,  131 
Eni^lish  Dialect  Dictionary^  The^  by 

J.  Wright,  reviewed,  248-9 
Epileptic  fits,  caused  by  jinns,  Persia, 

263 
Erdinenlen,   ancient    German    gods, 

296 


Eskimo:  charm»  508 ;  if  dogi  eat  deer 
meat,  their  ears  &c.  cropped,  ao8  ; 
primitive  orientation,  210-2 

Essex :  isu  eilso  Buckhnrst  Hill ; 
Chingford ;  and  ToHeshuit 
Knights) ;  **  five  stones,"  258 

Esther,  Book  of :  248  ;  J.  G.  FrMcr's 
views  discussed  by  M.  Caster,  226- 

Esthonia  :    Kallas'  Achttig  Marchem 

der  Liut%iner  Esten  reviewed,  124-5 
Etain,  Irish  goddess,  65,  118 
Ethno-Botany      of     the      CoaknUU 

Indians    of  Southern     CaJiforma^ 

The,  by  D.  P.   Barrows,  reviewed. 

366.8 
Ethnoli^cal  Significance    of  Burial 

and  Cremation,    The,    by    N.  W. 

Thomas,  468*9 
Evil  eye:  charm  against,  383;  Asia 

Minor,  191  ;  Italy,  259  ;  Lincoln- 

shire.  173, 175,  178  ;  Persia,  268-9 ; 

Portugal,  259 
Evil  spirits,  see  Demons 
Evolution    of  customs    &c.    may  be 

differential,  232 
Ewerby   Wath    (Sleaford) :  weather 

rhyme  on  stones,  165 
Executioners  and  their  &milies  have 

unlucky  faces,  Persia,  265 
Exhibits,  I,  3,  7-8,    129,    131,  257-8, 

259-60 

Exodus,  Book  of,  references  in 
Egj-ptian  story  to,  499 

Exogamy:  amongst  Bantu,  32-3: 
connected  with  totemism,  385,  389- 
90 

Eyam :  Barmote  Court,  395  ;  no 
garland  ceremony,  426 ;  morris- 
dancing,  426 

Eyes :  fish  gall  remedy  for  disease  of, 
Persia  &c.,  248 ;  omen  of  soul's 
destiny  from  eye  attacked  by  birds, 
Persia,  27S  :  ordeal  applied  to, 
Upi^^r  Congo,  187  ;  symbolic,  in 
Hiiichol  temples,  loS 

Eyre,  Miss  M..  rhymes  collected  bv, 

Jj2-3 

Fables:  Marchiano's /^'Or/Ww^  7'"* 
raryia  Orem  c  t  ."it/os  ra/^/i^^rti  icn 
ic  favole  oricniali  reviewed,  2  5a-i  : 
Kamaswami  Raju's  /nMan  /-a^Us 
reviewed.  503  :  Ske.it \s  Fi2l>:es  and 
Fo/.i'ta.'cs  r'rci  an  E.zs/,r,t  /-Vn :: 
reviewed,  502 -3 

Fabli.aux,  A.  Giitee  on,  lao-i 


Fuce  paintings  of  Hiiichol  Indians, 
109 

Faces,  lucky  and  unlucky,  Persia,  265 

Fairies  :  cool  left  in  pit  for,  Derby- 
shire, 407  ;  fairy  dwellinm^or  Mdh 
of  Ireland,  50-1  ;  Null's  Tie  Fairy 
Mftkehgy  of  Shakesfcart  le- 
viewed,  ili-z  ;  in  lais  di  Brc- 
laigne,  118-9:  Lincolnshire,  170; 
morris-dancing  borrowed  from, 
Derbyshire,  42G ;  rtick-&jries, 
Arapahoes,  379;  Wales,  1 14-6 

Fairs :  Alsace,  5(^ ;  andeni  Irish,  So ; 
Warminster,  8z 

Faith  cures,  Persia,  270 

Familiar  spirit,  fly  as.  Guernsey,  103 

Family :  in  Bible,  348  ;  evolution 
of  the,  1 10  ;  kraal  family  system 
among  Amandebele,  326-9 

Fasting  before  sacramental  meal,  34E 

Favcrdiam  :  astragali  from  pig,  284 

Feafts  :  ancient  Irish,  60  ;  funeral, 
Asia  Minor,  193 ;  ancient  PruS' 
sians,  300-3;  Greece,moileni,  135; 
Jews  of  Bukowina,  509;  marriage, 
Wataveta,  256 

February:  Ciichulainn  st  rubles  with 
Meave's  hosts  till  Wednesday  after 
Imbolc  (isl),  57  ;  Japanese  Obarai 
in,  70,  314 

Feet-washing,  sa  Marriage  customs 
atid  beliefs 

Feilberg's  Seventieth  Birthday,  Dr.. 
by  Miss  M.  R.  Cox  and  E.  W. 
Brabrook,  477-9 

Fergus,  laboo  on  in  Cuchulitinn  cycle, 
61 

Fern :  used  in  Garland,  May  39th, 
CatlletoD,  41S 

Festivals  and  Saints'  Days,  see  Days 
and  Seasons 

Fetishism  :  negro,  Bahia,  353  :  Stein' 
meU'  views  on,  Iio-I  ;  de  Visser's 


ilh  c 


views  on,  243-4 
Feudalism  os  compared   ■ 


Fifteen:    tSth  of  all   months  lucky, 

Persia,  265 
Fig-tree  ;  in  Greek  folktale,  92 
Fiji  Islands  :  fire   walk   rile  in,  446, 

Fingen,  Conehobhar's  leech,  55 
Finger-nails,  ut  Nails,  Gngcr 
Fingers  of  children,  Wilts  sayings  lor. 


Finn  sacas  :  geasa  less  prominent  than 
in  Cuchulainn  cycle,  43-5  1  wicket- 
gale  tabotwd,  61-2 

Fire  ;  brought  to  earth  by  Above-folk, 
Upper  Congo,  460  ;  burning  thatch 
b-om  witch  s  house,  Lincolnshire, 
1 76 :  Iluichol  god  oF,  loS ; 
kindled  to  end  witchcraft,  Lincoln, 
177 :  kindled  on  last  Wed- 
nesday in  SafTar,  and  children 
jump  over,  Persia,  264  ■,  origin  of, 
Combangrce  tribe,  3B3  ;  perpetual, 
in  honour  of  god  Pa^n,  Samogilx, 
398;  talisman  to  avert,  Foochow, 
512 ;  word  tabooed  while  rice- 
thrashing,  Ceylon,  458 1  worship- 
pers, see  Paisees 

Fire  drakes,  see  Dragon 

Fire  festivals,  316,  315-7 

Fire  Walk  Ceremony  in  Tahiti,  The, 
by  S.  P.  Langlay,  446-55  {plate) 

Firstborn,  Semitic  sacrifice  of  :  J.  G. 
Fraier's  views  discussed,  347 

First  foot  in  new  building  lucky, 
Persia,  365 

Firstfruils  :  cooking  preceded  by  the 
lire  walk,  453-3  ;  given  away, 
Upper  Congo,  1 86 

Fish  i  Ute  also  Carp  t  Eel ;  o«rf  Octo- 
pus) i  Bechuana  tribe  named  alter, 
31  ;  gall  cures  eye  disease,  Persia 
&c,  248  ;  prickle  used  as  toothache 
cure,  Asia  Minor,  193 ;  lacred, 
Wales,  1 1 J  :  weathercock  in  shape 
of,  99  (/^"ie)  '■  worship  of,  348 

Fishbone,  choking  from,  cures  for, 
Asia  Minor,  C^,  and  Calymnos, 
193 

Fishing ;  (.see  aim  Sponn-lishing  j 
and  Whaling  customs  and  beliefs)  ; 
charms,  Upper  Congo,  185-6  ] 
human  sacnfice  for  luck.  Upper 
Congo,  187-8;  proverb,  Pistoia, 
372-3  :  Sebillofs  Le  Folk-Ure  des 
r/eieurs  levicvted,  371-I 

Five  :  criminal  sacriRced  on  fifth  day 
of  feast,  Ashanti,  237  :  human 
sacrifice  on  fiflh  day  of  Sacea, 
Babylon,  336-7  ;  nol  used  on  an- 
cient knucklelxme  dice,  283 

Five-bones,  game  of,  384 

Five-stones,  game  of,  384 

Fivies,  game  of,  284 

Flail  in  magic  figure  for  rice-thrash- 
ing, Ceylon,  458 

Flatulence,   cure  for,   474.    Lincoln- 


I 

•    r 


i 


!i. 


f 


528 


Index. 


Fkz  coltivatioii :  GimM  King  pio- 
oeisiony  Whitsuntide^  GrottrnguU, 
428 

Florida,  su  Murphy  BUnd 

Flowers  in  folklore :  (imo^  Cuckoo- 
flower ;  Daisy;  Goose-^rus ;  Haw- 
thorn ;  Hyacinth;  Lilacf  Lily; 
Marigold ;  Mayflower ;  Monka* 
hood ;  Nippkwort ;  Orchid ; 
Primrose;  Red  campion;  Sweet- 
flag  iVTulip  ;  Valerian ;  Wallflower  ; 
muL  Water-lily) ;  not  broug^  into 
house  after  sunset,  Lincolnshire^ 
167;  key  flower  in  Barbaiossa 
legends,  445 ;  Peigrubrius,  ancient 
Prussian  (^  of  flowers,  295-6 

Fly :  as  fiuniliar  spirit,  Guernsey,  103 

Ffying  carpet  in  Greek  folktale,  325 

Foal,  su  liorse 

Folk-dnuna :  (ju  also  Christmas 
[guiiers  ftc]) ;  passion  play,  Persia, 

Folkestone :  Fifth  of  November  cele- 
brarion,  241 

Folklore :  bibliography,  su  Biblio- 
gr^)hy ;  collection  of  mateiiak 
cannot  wait,  40 ;  dissemination  by 
slavery  and  war.  Upper  Congo, 
463 ;  its  importance  for  proper 
government  of  native  tribes,  38-9  ; 
progress  of  study  in  nineteenth 
century,  17-8 

Folklore  of  Lincolnshire,  The,  by 
Miss  M.  Peacock,  3,  161-80 

Folklore  Notes  from  South-West 
Wilts,  by  T.  U.  Powell,  3,  71-83 

Folklort  :  IVhat  is  it,  and  what  is  the 
Good  of  it,  by  £.  S.  Hartland, 
reviewed,  12 1-2 

Folk  medicine,  see  Medical  folklore 

Folk-rhymes,  su  Rh3rmes 

Folk-sayings,  see  Proverbs 

Folk-songs :  Balochee,  289 ;  Flet- 
cher's Indian  Story  and  Song  from 
North  America  reviewed,  368-70 ; 
Abbott's  Songs  of  Modem  Greece 
reviewed,  125  ;  Wilts,  77  ;  words 
for  Garland  Day  tune,  Costlelon, 
421-2 

Folktales  :  {jsee  also  Folktales  from  the 
y«:gean);  Brittany,  252,  370-1; 
Combangree  tribe,  383;  Derbyshire, 
218 ;  English  droll,  477  ;  Estho- 
nian,  124-5  ;  formula  for  opening, 
Wilts,  76  ;  Hindu,  503  ;  Husband 
and  Wife  Story,  loi,  213-4;  Lin- 
colnshire,   163-5  \    Malay,   502-3  ; 


ncobii    dioUa.    3y».3;     tUAt 
3S4;  Uoper  Congo^  igs^  45841 ; 

Folktales  from  the  i^eui,fawW.R. 
Paton:  The  Aoconed  Sdod- 
mutcr»  84-6;  Me&doiii,  86-93; 
Thirteen,  93-7 ;  The  Woodatfler 
Lad,  197-aoo ;  The  Three  Siila% 
MO-i;  The  Rinic,  joi-j;  1^ 
Fkwon,  ao3-7;  FoK-ddn.  Ja74; 
Ulum-Sdier,  317*30;  Iloracf^fcab 

Fonafay  Top  (Guator) :  feUfoi  OHBd- 

ing  ruler  of  weather,  163 
Fond-ploiigh,  249 

Foochow  :  taliwnan  to  avert  fire^  5U 

Fool-ploogfa,  249 

"  Foot-ale,"  fine  on  stnuMer  wooo^ 
High  Peak,  406  ^^ 

Fonep  Und,  SotMic,  249 

Fonpeak,  to,  249 

Fortunate  Younger  Son  type  of  fioOe^ 
tales,  124 

Foude^  the  Gnmd,  Shethmd^  249 

Founfhition  lacrificea,  248 

Fountain,  in  Greek  lolktale,  92 

Fourteen :  X4th  day  of  all  monte 
lucky,  Persia,  265 

Fos:  in  Buddhist  Wheel  of  Lifeb 
214;  in  Greek  folktale,  207^; 
in  test  of  future  of  deceased,  I^- 
sees,  278 ;  weathercock  in  shape 
of,  Neasdon,  99 

Fox-skin,  Greek  folktale,  207-8 

France:  {su  also  Alsace;  Brittaay; 
Corsica  ;  C6tesdu  Nord  ;  Gironde ; 
Haute  Garonne  \  Herault  t  Lan- 
guedoc ;  Lot-et-Garoime ;  Nivcr* 
nais ;  Ome,  Dep.  de  1' ;  Pas  de 
Calais  ;  Provence  ;  Seine ;  emi 
Var);  carnival  procenions,  476; 
Weston's  GuingamoTy  Lenrrai, 
TyoUt,  The  Werewolf  (Bisclteveret) 
reviewed,  116-9,  344;  Weston^ 
The  Legend  of  Sir  Lancelot  dm 
Lac,  reviewed,  486-497  ;  Weston's 
The  Romance  Cycle  of  Charle- 
magne and  his  Peers  reviewed, 
375 ;  Vine^afting  in  Southern 
France,  by  C.  A.Janvier,  194-7 

Frazer,  T.  G.,  New  Year  Customs  in 
Herefordshire,  349-51 

Free-bench  tenure,  249 

French  folklore,  see  France 

Fr^jus  :  "  Grateful  Frt^jus,"  by  E.  M. 
Jones,  307-15 

Friday  :  jay  carries  wood  for  hell  fire 


Index. 


529 


negroes  (U.  S.  A.).  1$!  ;  unlucky, 
Persia,  364 
Friern  Bamet :  weathercock  at,  9Q 
Frog;  when  firsi  heard,  money  turned. 
Poland,  193 ;  pounded  to  cure 
hand,  Asia.  Minor,  191  ;  irce-frc^ 
in  hand  cures  excessive  perspiration, 
Poland.  :93 ;  witches  appeal  as, 
"  '      ■,194 


Fniils  in  folklore,  i«  Apple;  Bar- 
berries ;  and  Pomegianale 

Frunuty-Rower,  lu  Cuckoo-flower 

Funeral  customs  and  beliefs,  see  Death 
and  Funeral  customs  and  belief 

Future  life,  beliefs  about,  set  Death 
and  funeral  customs  and  beliefs 

Fylfot,  let  Swastika 

Gabres,  He  Parsees 

Gabriel  ratchet,  lee  Spectral  bunt 

Gael,  Irisb  literature  enshrines  heMtU, 

and  customs  of  the,  42-3 
Galahad,  ioArthutiaD 


496 

Gales,  lee  Storms 

Games :  astragals,  106.  315,  257- 
S,  zSo-93 :  hall.  Persia,  274 ; 
children's,  in  English  Dialect  Dic- 
tionaiy,  149,  A  Gilt^e  on.  I30. 
Wilts,  76;  Cayuse,  379;  defined, 
1341  dice  Kames,  2S1-1:  Guiana, 
130,  131-61  ifilaies);  Hupa,  379; 
Makab  Indian,  379 :  in  nuuriage 
riles,  5.  India,  347  ;  on  Palm  Sun- 
day, Wills,  75  ;  sacred  animal, 
Bannock  Indians,  379 ;  Persia. 
a74-5  i  Ule.  379 

Games  of  the  Red-men  of  Guiana,  by 
E.  F.  im  Thum,  130,  132-61 
iplates) 

Gardoael,  ancient  Prussian  god,  296 

Garlanrl  Day  at  Castleton,  by  S.  O. 
Addy,  394-430  If/ales] 

"  Garlands  "  in  Midlands,  3^0 

Garlands,  feasts  known  as,  427 

Caitree  :  sua  Ice.  not  to  be  pointed 
at,  )66 

Gaster,  M.  1  King  Solomon  and  the 
Blacksmith,  475-6 ;  "  Moab  or 
Edom,"  476  i  review  by,  Fraxer's 
TAt  Geldta  Baugh,  236-30 

Gates,  see  Wick«t-galM 

Gateways  tabooed,  Marquesas  islands, 
63 
VOL  XII.  2 


Gawain.  in  Arthurian  rt 

490,    493>4  ;    lale  of  his  marriage 
-""— ';ted  with  the  Wife  of  Batffs 


Tale,  374 

Gaielle;   unlucky  if  ci 
left,  Persia,  266 

Geosa,  see  Old  Irish  Tabus  or  Geua 

Geese-dance,  349 

Genovcva  type  of  folktales,  84-6 

Georgia,  see  Ossabow  Island 

Geris^,  W.  B.,  A  Henfordsbiie  St. 
George,  303-7  [flate] 

Germany  :  (set  also  Alsace  ;  Baden  j 
Heligoland ;  Prussia  :  Saxony ; 
diuf  Swabia) ;  gales  portend  result 
of  trial,  165-6 ;  hoise  giveti  blood 
from  own  (ail,  97 1  ship  processions, 
476-7 

Ghcais ;  (see  atsa  Death  and  funeral 
customs  and  belieli) :  in  animal 
form,  172 ;  Asia  Minor.  191  ; 
Assiut,  339 ;  Buddhist,  67-8 ; 
"ghosi -keeping,"  Yanklon  Indians, 
379 ',  of  inanimate  objects,  169  ; 
Lincolnshire.  169-70 ;  Upper 
Congo,  184  ;  Wilishire,  72-5 

Ghouls,  Persia,  a6l 

Giants:  Aswut,  329;  Hertfordshire. 
305  1  William  of  Lindhohne,  170-1 

Gilliver,  see  Wallflower 

Gilyaks.  Amur  district,  68 

Gingerflowers.  jm  Ked  campion 

Ginns,  i^Jinns 

Gironde :  (see  aisa  Bordeaux ;  and 
Bourg-sur-Gironde) :  astragali,  258 

Glencoe  :  spectral  lights,  343 

Gloucestershire :  smalipoi  cured  by 
mock  burial,  352 

Goal :  black  she-goat,  head  of  eaten 
for  nigbl -blindness.  Aua  Minor. 
191  :  children  enchanted  as  goats, 
Baluchistan,  374  ;  in  Jltaka,  246  : 
kepi  for  luck,  Poland,  193:  sacri- 
^ced  at  end  of  harvest,  ancient 
Prussians,  295-7  ■  sacrificed  to 
prosper  traveller,  Persia,  266 

Goblin  foal,  Lincolnshire,  172 

Godarville:  unlucky  lo  lell  age,  179 

Godden,  Miss  G.  M.,  The  Legend 
of  ihe  Sand-Rope  and  other  Fuiile 
Tasks.  B.C.  400— A.D.  1900,  131 

Gods,  conceptions  of,  «e  Deity 

Goldchild  type  of  folktales,  124 

Gold  Coast :  taboos  of  time.  59 

Gcldm  B0Hgk,  The,  a  Study  in  Magic 
and  Rtligion,  reviewed  by  E.  W. 
Brnbro.ik,  G.  L.  flomme,  M  Ga». 


S30 


Index. 


i 
i 
t 


ter,  A.  C.  HaddoD,  F.  B.  Jevons, 
A.  Lang,  A.  Nutt,  and  Miss  C.  S. 
Burne,  2x9-243,  355-6 ;  Moab  or 
Edom?,  by  Miss  J.  L.  Weston, 
^7,  and  M.  Caster,  476;  The 
Silver  Bough  in  Irish  IJigtndi,  by 
Miss  Eleanor  Hull,  431 -4S 

Gomme,  Mrs.  A.  B.,  A  Berwickshire 
Kern-dolly,  129,  215-6 

Gomme,  G.  L.,  review  by,  Frazer's 
Tfu  Golden  Bough,  222-5 

Gooding  (collecting  gifts),  249 

Goose  :  means  to  ensure  good  brood, 
Poland,  193 ;  wild,  witch  appears 
as,  Poland,  193 

Gooseberry  or  feberry  loaves.  Brad- 
well,  421-3 

Goose-grass,  Wiltshire  name  of,  82 

Gotham  stories,  503 

Grafting  of  vines,  S.  France,  194-7 

Gran  Chaco :  sun  charm  of  Lenguas, 

2X6 

Grape  vine,  see  Vine 

Grass  from  grave  used  against  witches, 

Lincolnshire,  176 
Grasshopper:    children's  rhyme  on, 

Asia    Minor,    190 ;    lucky,    Asia 

Minor,    190 ;    omen    from,    Asia 

Minor  and  Calymnos,  190 
Grasshopper  of  Royal  Exchange,  100 
Grass  King  procession,  Whitsuntide, 

Grossvargula,  428 
"  Grateful  Fr^jus,"  E.  M.Jones,  307- 

Grave  :  child  laid  in,  as  remedy  for 
water  on  brain,  Persia,  271  ;  chips 
from  gravestones  bring  luck,  Japan, 
71  ;  feasts  to  gravediggers,  Asia 
Minor,  192 ;  grass  from,  used 
against  witches,  Lincolnshire,  176  ; 
lying  in,  remedy  for  rheumatism, 
Newton  Abbot,  351 

Graveyard  :  {see  also  Churchyard) ; 
haunted  by  ghouls,  Persia,  262 

Great  Bear  constellation  :  water-filled 
jars  to  represent,  Foochow,  512  ; 
Wiltshire  name,  81-2 

Croat  Bear  Lake  :  charm,  Eskimo, 
508  ;  hunting  superstition,  508 

Greece,  see  /Egean  ;  Athens  ;  Greek 
civilisation  ;  Greek  folklore  ;  and 
Mycenrtan  civilisation 

Creek  civilisation  :  Prof.  Ridgeway's 
views  on,  discussed  by  A.  Nutt, 
336-9  ;  Ridgeway's  The  Early  Age 
of  Greece  reviewed,  360-2,  by  W. 


H.  D.  Rottse»    467-S,  and  N.  W. 

Thomas,  468-9 

Greek    folklore  :  (jue  mif  Athens; 
iCgean;    and  Mjroccae);   animal 
superstitions,    189^ ;    Albeis  Dt 
diis    in    locis   ediHs    emltis  etftd 
Graces  reviewed,  500-2 ;  de  Viaer's 
De  Graecorum  diis  mem  rrfertmtibm 
speciem  humanum  reviewed,  243- 
5  ;  dice,  282  ;  futile  tasks  oo  vases, 
Iji  ;    game     of     astragals,    257, 
280-1 ;  St.  Clair's  Myths  of  Grma 
reviewed,  362-4,   469-71 ;  Maidu- 
an6's  VOrigine  detia  Faoda  Grtm 
e   i  Suai  rapporti  ecm    le  fntU 
orientali  reviewed,    250-1 ;   tfcri- 
fice  to  avert  shipwreck,  Z05  :  Ab* 
bott's    Sot^   of    Modem    Gneee 
reviewed,  125 

Greenford  (Midfd.)  :  weathercodc  at, 
99  {plate) 

Greg,  W.  W.,  review  by,  Weston's 
The  Legend  of  Sir  Ixauelot  du  Lac, 

486-97 
''Greybeards"  used    against   witdi- 

cran,  Lincolnshire,  176 
Greysouthen  :  rainbow  magic,  479-80 
Griggling,  249 
Grindstones,  new,  folklore  of^  India, 

380 
Grossvargula  :  Crass  King  procession, 

Whitsuntide,  428 
Grove,  Miss  F.,  death  of,  260,  349 ; 

Horses'  Heads,  348-9 
Grovely     Wood     (Wilts),     villagers' 

rights  in,  76 
Cuebres,  see  Parsees 
Guenevere,  Queen,  see  Queen  Gaene- 

vere 
Guernsey  :  fly  as  familiar  spirit,  103 
Guiana  :   Games  of  the   Red-men  of 

Cuiana,  by  E.  F.   im  Thum,  130^ 

132-61  {plates) 
Guilds  as  compared  with  caste,  484 
Guirtgamory     Lanval,      TyoUt,     The 

Werewolf  {Bisclaveret),    by  J.   L. 

Weston,  reviewed  by  Miss  Eleanor 

IIulU  1 16-9,  344 
Guisers,  249 
Gujerat  :  game  of  astragals,  258,  285 

Haddon,  A.  C,  leview  by,  Fraiers 
The  Golden  Bough,  230-3 

Hades  :  {^see  also  Hell)  ;  Celtic 
Elysium,  435-43  ;  The  Silver  Bough 
in   Irish  Legend,  by  Miss  Eleanor 


Index. 


.    head. 


Hull,  431-45  ;  Upper  Congo  ideas, 

.84-S 
Hafiz,  volume  of,  used  In  laking  tots, 

264 
Hainaull,  see  Godorville 
Hair:    cui    of!   from    bride's 

ancient  Pnissians,  agg 
Hall,  common  surname  at  Castleton, 

396 
Hallowe'en :     Cliehulninn's    simple 

with  Mcave's  hosts  begins  Mon 

before,     57  ;    love    divination 

Lincolnshiie,  167;  taboo  on  King 

of  Eire  on  Tuesday  after,  47 
Hallon,  East :  Hob-Thnist  spiiit,  170 
Hamestan,     wapentnlte    of     Detby- 

sbire,  395 
Hampshire^  {lee  alte   Ilursley;  anJ 

Twyford) :  blacksroiths'  festival,  St, 

Clement's  Day,  317,  344-6 
Hand  :    amulet   against   evil  eye  in 

form  of,  Penis,  269 ;  cure  foe  aib 

mcnls  of,  Asia  Minor,  191 
Manger  Hill,  Ealing  ;    weathercock 

at,  99  iplafe) 
Hanging  :   devji  appeati  as  hire  al 

Wilts,    74:    wcalher  unselUed  i 

"  hanging  assiie,"  Lincoln,  165-6 
Hanunuin,   pilgiimage   to  shrine  ol 


^ 


Haie  :  deiil  as,  at  hanging.  Wilts, 
74;  bunting  tabooed  to  Cortnac 
cenhingts,  63  ;  witch  as,  Lincoln- 
shire, 173,  Wales,  114 

Harp  :  of  Craiphtine,  £3  ;  of  the 
Dagda,  SI 

Hartland,  E.  5.:  Husband-and-Wife 
Story,  213-4 ;  Preiidcniial  Addreii 
(Some  Problems  of  Early  Religion 
in  the  light  of  South  African  Folk- 
loie),  4,  15-40;  The  Transition 
ftom  Totemism  to  Aneeslor-wor- 
(hip,  471  ;  reviews  bv,  VAunls 
Sedehgique,  110-2,  481-5;  Sfbil- 
lot's  ConUi  dis  LaniUs  tt  des  1 
Gri-ve!,  Lis  Coquillagti  di  Mir, 
and  Lt  Folk-ten  des  Plckcun, 
370-2 ;  Machado's  translation  in- 
to Spanish  of  Sjbiltot's  Breton 
tales,  353 :  Gitt^'s  Curiesi- 
Us  de  la  VU  Enfantim,  lio-l  ; 
Albers'  De  diis  in  lads  editis  mitis 
ofud  Gracas.  500-3;  de  Visser't 
Z>e  Graecamm  diis  mm  refertttlibus 
speciem  kanmnum,  343-5  i  Barrow's 
Tke  Etkne- Botany  gf  Ike  Ciaknilla 
Indians   sf  SuHthern    California, 


366-8  ;  Fletcher's  Indian  Story  and 
ScHg/rem  North  America,  368-70; 
Heeords  ef  Women's  Canferente  OH 
tie  Home  Life  of  Chinae  Ifomen, 
504-5 :  Lumholu'  Symioliim  aftht 
ffuicfiol  IniHani,  107-9;  Nerucd's 
Tradiiioni      Popotari     Pistmsi: 
Roiconii  Popotari  Pisteiesi  in  v*r- 
ttacalo  Pisteiesi,  373-3,  477 
Harvest  customs  and  bcliek :  {sa  also 
Coni-ipiiils,  vegetation  souls,  and 
■be    like] ;     Berwickshire,    115-6 ; 
Ceylon,  457.8;  Lincolnshire,  163; 
Fraier's    The    Golden    Beugh    re- 
viewed, 219-41;  Prussians,  acdent, 
29J-6 ;  Veddahs,  379 
Hasbngden:  game  of  jaclcs,  393 
Hatchiman,  clan  god,  Japan,  70 
Hathersage :    no  garland  ceremony, 


■■    of,  446-7. 


Hawaii :  lire    walk, 

4S4-5.  (/'<"'<) 
Hawk  :  cuckoo  becomes,  in  wintei, 

Poland,    194:  itniiated  in   Macuii 

game,     Guiana,    139:    nailed    10 

house  front.  Poland,  194 
Hawthorn  :  as  love-charm,  Kirton-io- 

Lindsey,   167-8 
Head:   child    with    Iwo    "ctowni" 

will  travel,  Wills.  75 ;  immodest  to 

uncover,  Parsee  women,  377 
Head  of  Corpse  between  the  Thight, 

by  S.  O.Addy,  loi-s,  3t4 
Headless  ghosts,  WillK,  73 
Heart  disease,  cure  for,  Atia  Minor, 

191 
Heart     stuck      with    pins,    against 

witches,  Lincolnshire,  176 
Hearth :  bride    led     round,   ancient 

Prussians,  299 
Hebrides,  see  South  Uiit 
Hector    du     Marais    tn    Arthurian 

romances,  491,  494 
Heligoland  :     primitivi 


Hell :  {see  also  Journey  to  Hell  type 
of  folktales)  -.  in  Buddhist  Wheel  of 
Lite,  67  !  jay  and  crow  carry  wood 
for  fires,  negroes  (U.  S.  A.),  353  ; 
Poccl,  ancient  Prussian  god  of,  396 

Helios,  Greek  deity,  superseded  by 
St  Elias,  5QI-3 

Hclmslcy ;  ear  of  enlf  slii  ngoinst 
witchcraft,  97 


532 


Index. 


r 

i 


Elelston  :  Hal  and  Tow  tune,  429 

lien :  {see  also  Chicken) ;  cataract 
called  "hen-blindness,"  Poland, 
193  ;  crowing,  must  be  killed,  Asia 
Minor,  190 ;  hen-setting,  507 ; 
white,  Japanese  belief  concerning, 
214 

Hendon  :  weathercock  at,  99 

H^rault,  see  Montpellier 

Herefordshire :   New  Year   customs, 

349-51 
Heron :    wooden,    used    in    Arawak 

game,  Guiana,  144 
Hertfordshire  :   i_see  also  Aldenham  ; 

Bark  way ;    and    Brent    Pelham) ; 

A    Hertfordshire   St.   George,    by 

W.  B.  Gerish,  303.7  (J>late^ 
Heytesbury  :  laying  spirits,  73 
Heywood :  building  trade  customs,  104 
Hides,  raw,  patients  sewn  in,  Persia, 

271 
Higgens,    T.     W.   E.,    Blacksmiths* 

Festival,  344-6 
Highlands  :  {see  also  Argyllshire ;  and 

fnvemess-shire)  ;     ear    of    cream- 
stealing  cat  cut  off,  97 
High    Peak,    Derbyshire :    Garland 

Day  at  Castleton,  394-430 
**  High  places,"  worship   of    Greek 

divinities  in,  500-2 
Hill  (Wilts) :  churchyard  ghosts,  72 
Hill    Deverill,    folklore  notes  from, 

71-83 
Hills  :  {see  also  Alpilles  ;  Cley  Hill ; 

Kingsettle  Hill ;  Lord's  Hill  ;  and 

Usnech) ;      deities      of     Huichol 

Indians,  108 
Hindon  (Wilts)  :  ghosts,  72 
Hindu  customs  and  beliefs,  see  India 
Hippopotamus  :   dead  Barotse  chief 

appears  as,   36 ;    hunting  beliefs, 

upper  Congo,  186-7  ;  omen  of  a 

family,  Upper  Congo,  463 
History   and    folklore,   relations    of, 

359-60 
History,     Tradition,     and     Historic 

Myths,   by   A.    Nutt,    336-9 ;     by 

W.  H.  D.  Rouse,  467-8 
Hobby-horses  :  Frejus,  308-9 
Hob-Thrust,  spirit,  Lindsey,  170 
Holland :    game    of   astragals,   280, 

284 
Holy  places,  Tanganyika,  379 
Holy  wells,  see  Wells 
llonan  :  custom  in,  504 
Honolulu:    fire  walk    rite    at,    454-5 

{piatf) 


Hoodoo,  see  Wizard 

Hope:    garland    ceremony,    423-5 

proverb,  423 
Hopi  Indians  :    winter  solstice  cek 

bration,  508 
Hop-o*-my-Thanib  type  of  folktale 

93-4 
Homingsham  :  saying  of  bells,  81 
Horns  :  of  ibex  or  moufflon  offered  a) 
shrines,  Baluchistan,  272 ;  of  01 
and  stag  over  doorways,  Abi 
Minor,  192 
Horoscopes,  ancient  Irish,  47-8 
Horse  :  bled  from  tail,  to  settle  in 
new  home,  Germany,  97;  blue 
beads  &c  worn  against  evil  qre> 
Persia,  268 ;  Christmas  and  Car- 
nival disguise,  Poland,  193 ;  colt 
in  Norfolk  rhyme,  332,  477; 
country  of  horses,  in  Buddhist 
Wheel  of  Life,  68 ;  goblin  foal, 
Lincolnshire,  172  ;  head  foond 
under  flooring,  Poyston,  348; 
heads  put  under  flooring  for 
echo,  Jordanston,  X48-9 ;  hobby- 
horses at  Frejus,  308-9  ;  in  Persian 
proverbs,  279;  may  '*  become  a 
sacrifice  "  for  rider,  Persia,  267-8  ; 
souls  of  drowned  appear  as,  Poland, 
193  ;  stable  as  sanctuar>',  Persia, 
269;  talking,  in  Greek  folktale, 
95-6 ;  unlucky  to  name  after 
person,  Persia,  267,  or  to  praise, 
Persia,  269 ;  weathercocks  in  shape 
of»  99  {plaf&r  wild  pig  in  stable 
protects  from  jCvil  eye,  Persia. 
269 
Horse-chestnut :      cubes      from      as 

knucklebones,  Aldenham,  290 
Horses*  Heads,  by  Miss  F.   Grove, 

348-9 
Horse-shoe  nails  used  against  witches, 

Lincolnshire,  176 
Horse  yoke  of  ash  tabooed  to  Cormac 

con  hinge Sy  63 
Host,  sacred  :  given  to  toad  as  love 

sp)cll,  Lincolnshire,  168 
Hottentots  :   mother-right,    traces  of, 

30  ;  women,  position  of,  30 
lloundsditch  :    ''marble    and  dubs," 

258,  285 
Household  spirits  :  ancient  Prussians, 

297-8 
Houses  :  charms,  Upper  Congo,  185 
Hucklehoncs,  game  of,  293 
Hudson's  Bay  :  Eskimo  dog's  ear  or 

tail  cropped,  208 


Huichol   Indians  ;     symbolism    and 

mythology,  107-9 
Hull,  Miss  Eleanor  :  Old  Irish  Tabus, 

□I    Gea^  2,   41-66 1    The    Silver 

Bough    in    Irish  Legend,   431-45  ; 

review    by,    Weslon^    Ctiingamer, 

Lanval,     Tyolet,     Tht     Wtri-molf 

{Bisclavtrel),  116-9,  344 
Human  sacrifice,  la  Sacrifice,  human 
Humbic-bce,  see  Bee 
Hungary,  set  Magyars  ;  and  Ruthenia 
Huniing :  charms.  Upper  Congo,  1H5- 

6;    "likundu"   or  abnormal   luck 

in,    Upper  Congo,    186-7  i    Greal 

Bear  Lake  region,  508 
Hunt,  spectral,  lee  Spectral  hunt 
Hupas,  folklore  of,  379 
Hupch,  custom  in,  ^04 
Huisley :    blacksmiths'    festival.    Si, 

Clement's  Day,  344-6 
Husbind-and-Wife  Story,   by  W.  R. 

Palon,    loi.  and  E.   S.   Haitland, 


Ib«  ;  enchanted  prince,  Persia,  a?!  ; 
hardened  tears  antidote  to  scorpion 
&e.  bites,  Persia,  272  ;  horns 
offered  at  shrines,  Baluchistan,  373 

Idols,  ae  Images,  sacred 

Images,  sacred  :  gohei,  Japan,  160 ; 
of  Huichol  Indians,  toS  ;  Maori, 
2j6  ;  thrown  into  river  as  scape- 
goat, japan,  70  ;  bound  with  cords 
in  drought,  Japan,  70 

Im  Thurn,  E.  F.,  Games  of  the  Red- 
men  of  Guiana,  130,  tta-fii  iplaUs) 

India  :  (i«  also  Bannu;  Bailr  j  Bihar; 
Bombay  ;  Brahmans  ;  Biahmapuira 
valley;  Ceylon;  Colair  Lake;  Deccaa; 
Gujarat ;  JSts;  Juangs  ;  Malabar; 
Meriah  ;  Santals  ;  Savalas  ;  Todas; 
and  Uiiya  States) ;  animal  super- 

lence,  and  relationships  of,  481-5  ; 
Gre-walk,  red-hot  charcoal  used  for, 
4S3;  game  with  tamarind  seeds, 
2S5 ;  grindstones,  new,  380 ; 
Ramaswami  Raju's  Indian  FabUs 
reviewed.  503;  Vio-as^i  Tht Jataia, 
ar  Sleric!  0/  Iht  BuddhJs  farnier 
Birlks,  reviewed,  345-7 ;  nail 
parings.   380 ;    N.   W.   Provinces, 


345-7 ;  Arnold's  The  Rigveda  re- 
viewed, 345-7  '•  same  Sanscrit  word 
for  'right'  and  '  south,'  ill 

Indian  FabUs,  by  Ramaswotoi  Raju, 
reviewed,  503 

Indians,  set  North  America ;  and 
South  America 

Indian  Story  and  Song  from  North 
by  A.   C,    Fletcher,    re- 


B-70 


Insects  in  folklore :  (i«  abo  Ant ; 
Bee  ;  Butterfly  ;  Cockchafer  t 
Cricket  ;  Fly ;  Grasshopper ; 
Moth  ;  Spider  ;  Wasp  ;  and  Wood- 
louse)  j  released,  Aug.  Isl,  Ar- 
meoians.  70 

Intestines  of  criminals  eaten,  Japat), 
71 

Invercoe  :  spectral  lights,  343 

Inverness-shire,  sti  Mam6re ;  atd 
Onich 

Invisible  clothes  troe  of  folktale,  372 

Ireland  :  (i«  als«  Connaught ;  Lein- 
ster  :  Shannon  ;  Ulster  ;  and  sifia- 
rate  counties)  :  Celtic  l^end  in- 
fluenced by  Nurse  by  wayor  Ireland) 
llS  ;  Old  Irish  Tabus  or  Geasa,  by 
Miss  Eleanor  Hull,  2,  41-66 : 
pebbles  as  astragali,  284  ;  on  sea- 
coasl,  directions  given  by  compass, 
zil  ;  same  word  for  'right'  and 
'  south,'  3 1 1 ;  The  Silver  Bough  in 
Irish  Legend,  by  Miss  Eleanor 
Hull,  431-45  ;  '  west '  used  in  bad 
sense,  312;  Wife  of  Bath's  Talc, 
Irish  source  of,  373-4    - 

Irish  Burial  Custom,  by  J.  Cooke, 
104 

Iron  (Kt  alia  Knife ;  Nails ;  Needles ; 
and  Pins) ;  Customs  relating  to 
Iron,  by  H.  CoUey  March,  340-1, 
Miss  M.  Peacock,  472-3,  Miss 
K.  CarsoQ,  473-4,  and  Miss  C.  S. 
Burne,  474-5  ;  ghosts  got  rid  of  by 
iron  pots,  Lincolnshire,  170  ;  used 
against  devils,  Ceylon,  453 ;  used 
against  wilchcioft,  Lincolnshire, 
176 


378 

Italy ;  [set  alio  Aricia;  Nemi ; 
Pisioia ;  Pompni ;  and  Romans) ; 
Carnival  processions,  476;  evil  eye 
charms,  2591 


534 


Indeic. 


■T 
"J 
\ 


%  ' 


i..         i 


« 


I 


«M»Miii— fire  wmlk  magical  in  pur- 
poM,  4^3 ;  fire  inilk»  red-hot 
charcoal  used  for,  453 ;  fire- 
walkers  represent  sun  or  com- 
spirit,  453 

Itch,  cure  for,  Swabia,  A72 

Vnxtf  Coast ;  magic  in  hinteriand  0^ 

579 


{ackal :  in  Persian  proiverb,  279 
ack  and  the  BeanAtlk  type  of  folk- 

tiJe,9S-7    .    « 
facks,  game  of,  284f  ^^ 

[ack-o'-five-stones,  game  of,  991 

f  ackstones,  sei  Astiajfgtls 

facky-five-stones,  game  of,  284 

[ad^stones,  game  o^  291 

faguar:    imitated  in  Hacnsi  gpune, 

Guiana,  137-8 

{anuaiy,  Mf  New  Year's  Day 
anvier,  C  A.,  ^^e-grafting  in 
Southern  Fhmce,  194-7 
Jraan  :  A  Buddhist  Wheel  of  Life 
firom  Japan,  by  N.  W.  Thomas, 
1,  67.9,  123,  214  CfiytUU^iiCi)  \ 
Japanese  Gohei,  by  W.  G.  Aston, 
260;  Stray  Notes  on  Japanese 
Folklore,  t^  N.  W.  Thomas,  69-71, 

214 
JStaka,  The,  or  Stories  of  the  Buddkds 
fornur    Births,   by    W.     H.    D. 
Rouse,  reviewed,  245-6;    parallel 
stories,  ^03 

{its,  marriage  customs  of,  483 
ava  :  wonU  '  left '  and  '  south '  &c 
connected,  2x1 
Jay:    carries   wood   for   hell   fires, 

negroes  (U.  S.  A.)>  252 
Jealous  King,  The,  Greek  folktale, 

323-5 

{ephthah's  daughter,  248 
evens,  F.  B.,  review  by,  Frarer's  The 

Golden  Bough,  233-5 
Jewels,      see      Emeralds;      Pearls; 

Rubies ;  and  Turquoises 
Jewitt,   W.    H. :     Customs    in    the 

Building;  Trade,  104  ;  Early- Rising 

Jest,  477 
Jews  :  folklore  in  Bukowina,  509  ;  in 

Greek  folktale,  202-3 
Jinn,  Persian  ;  assumes  animal  shape, 

263  ;    causes   epileptic    fits,  263  ; 

whirling  sand  spouts  called  jinns, 

Kerman,  263 
Johnston,  M.  F.,  Whitsuntide  Fate 

and  Mock  Burials,  351 


{ 


Jouh  tefondL  jM3  i  ladni 

oC  246 
Jones,  E.  M^    "Gntcfid    A^" 

J ordinslon :  hoffid'  head  pat 

floorii^  for  ediOb  34S-9 
Jonnwj:  oenmoolin  oa 
Fmm,  a66 ;  nfts  neomuwat  «ailp 
iqp,  Penin,  s66 ;  ihoaU  kwelKwe 
with  fece  to  door.  Penis,  atfS; 
^ogle  mecy  at  ataitiiv  ohkkf . 

enia,  200*7 
oomey  to  Hell  type  ofWkfW,  12$ 
oaags  (India),  kafcJothuy  oft  246 
nhr:  CrockertoQ  Revd^wilt^  Tfi\ 
Japanese  Ohaiai  in,  70^  214 
June:  (Mt o/w Corpaa Chriid ;  IGd- 
snmmer   Day;    mmd  MidsoanBer 
l^t) ;  Ji^MUMse  Ofaani  in,  214 ; 
2ist  (BdtaineK  tnboo  on  Kk^  of 
Eire  on  Kondi^  after,  47 
Jummr  TtmpU Rmekr^  TX^^hyCL. 
Thompson  and  £.  E.  Spe^pit^  ie» 

Juniper-tree  type  of  lolktale,  206-7 

Kaniagmionte  wfaalen,  custouia  oft 
371 

Keaiy,  A.  A.,  Whitsnntide  Fate  and 
Mock  Burials,  352 

Kent :  {^see  also  Beckenham ;  FaTcr- 
sham ;  tfin/ Folkestone) ;  "odbUes* 
and  '*  five-hones,"  358;  garlands, 
feasts  known  as,  427;  game  of 
astragals,  284-5 

Kerman  :  food  for  dead«  278;  gifts 
necessary  on  starting  journey,  266 ; 
holv  well  and  cave  near,  272; 
owls  unlucky,  265;  Panees,  ac- 
count of,  276-8 ;  staUe  as  sanctiaiy, 
269 ;  whirling  sand  spouu  called 
jinns,  263 

Kidson,  F.,  note  to  Garland  Day  at 
Castleton,  429-30 

Kildare  :  stolen  cattle  and  St.  Bridget, 

314 

Kildare  county,  su  Ballitore;  Kil- 
dare ;  and  Naas 

King  :  {see  also  Conchobar  sagas  OMd 
other  entries  under  King) ;  must 
have  no  blemish,  209;  countii^ 
years  of  raja's  reign,  Uriya  States, 
247  ;  of  Edom  or  Moab,  sacrifice 
of  son  of,  347,  476 ;  of  £^e,  taboos 
upon,  45-7 ;  on  Garland  Day, 
Castleton,  408-10,  411-9  (/Atfi), 
Hope,  424-5**    of    Raodope^   in 


Index. 


f   Greek     folktale,     204-7  "■     people 
I   Hilfer   fium   defect    or   illnc^  of, 
J  ;    J.    G.     Frazei's    iheoiy  of 

snnual  sacrifice  of,   A.  Lang  < 

236-7 
King  Alfred   and     the    cakes,   t&Ie 

localised  in  Wilis,  77 
King  Arthur  :  Weston's  CuiHgamor, 

Lanval,    TyoUt,     The    Wirc-violf 

{BUclaueret)  reviewed,  116-9,  344; 

Weston's    King  Arlhur  and  his 

tCiiigkls nrnevitA,  lzl-2;  Weston's 

The  Ug»Hd  ef  Sir  Lancelot  du  Lac 

reviewed,  4S6-97 
King  Falertn  and  Guenevere,  48S 
King  Mesgegra  of    Leinsler  :  brajas 

of  hardened  as  trophy,  55 
King  Solomon  and  the  Blacksmith, 

by  M.  Outer,  475-6 
King     Salomon :     associated    with 

blacksmiths'   festival,    Hampshire, 

217,  344'6,  475-6  i  in  Malay  folk- 
King  Valcrin  and  Guenevere,  4S8 
Kingsetlle      Hill,     Stourtnn,     King 

Alfred  connected  with,  77 
Kingsley,  Miss  Maiy  H.,  remarks  on, 

Kingston  Dcvetill  ;  invisible  agency. 


73 
Kirby,   W.    F.,    review   by,   Kallas' 

Achliig    Mdrshta    dtr    Ljutxintr 

EiUn,  124'^ 
Kim  maiden  01  dolly,  m  Corn-spirits, 

vegetation  souU,  and  the  liiie 
Kirlon-iD-Lin<lsey  :  love  chamu,  1G7- 

S 
Kiwai  (Fly  River)  :  totem  clans,  233 
Kletropoulos,  J.,  animal  superstitions 

from  Aidin  collected  by,  192 
Knife  :   not  sharpened  or  left   lying 

after  sunset,  Lincolnshire,  167  j  not 

used  at  funeral  banquets,   ancient 

Prussians,  301 
Knotted  string  as  calecdai,  Guiana, 

142 
Knowlh   (Boyne)  ;  tumuli  associated 

with  Tuatha  De  Danann,  50 
Knucklebones :  as   dice.    281-3 ;   in 

divination,  2S3  ;  games  of,  2SO'93 
Knuckle -downs,  game  of,  2S4,  291-2 
Kobolds,  amongst  ancient  Prussians, 

297-8 
Koom  ;  right  of  sanctuary,  269 
Kraal    Family    System    among    the 

Amandebele,  The,  by  P.  Prestage, 

326-9 


Krishna  saga,  variant  of,  246 
Kuh-i-Chchel-Tun       (Baluchistan)  : 

children  enchanted  as  goats,  274 
Kuh-i.Shah(S.E.  Persia}!  explosions 

caused  by  saint,  274 
Kyra  Ftotou,  Greek  folktale,  203-7 

Labba  (rodent);  referred  to  in  Arawak 

chant,  149 
Lady-grass,  see  Ribbon  grass 
Lady  of  the  Lake,  the,  487-8 
Lady's  smock,  sit  Cuckoa-RoweT 
Lakes,  see  Colair  ;  Great  Bear  Lake  ; 

and  Tanganyika 
Lamb,  see  Sheep 
Lamberton    Tollbar :    maniagES   at, 

3SI-3 
I^me  Devil,  Sicilian  stoiy  of,  113 
Lancashire  :     {see     also     Bclton-Ie- 
Moors  ;     Haslingden  ;    Heywood  ; 
Manchester;      and     WliiteSeld)  ; 
rush-bearing    tune,    429  T    roorris- 
dance  aii,  430 
Lancelot  du  Lac,  the  legend  of,  486> 

97 
Land  tenure  ;  foriep-land,  Sussex, 
249  ;  free-bench,  249  ;  right  ob- 
tained by  building  house  &c  in 
angle  night,  Sheffield,  397 
Lang,  A- ;  The  Fire  Waik  Ceremony 
in  Tahiti,  452-4  ;  The  Making  of 
Ktligion  discussed  by  E.  S.  llail- 

4  ;  Spectral  Lights,  343-4  ;  review 
by,  Fruer'i  The  Golden  Bough, 
236-7 

itsuntide,  438 

Langley,  S.  P-.  The  Fite  Walk 
Ceremony  in  Tahiti,  446-52  (plali) 

Languedoc,  set  Montpellier 

Lantern  left  on  table  at  night  un- 
lucky, Lincolnshire,  179 

Lantern  slides,  scheme  for  providing, 

Lanval,  romance  of,  116-9 

Lark  :  cakes  in  form  of,  Ukraine,  70  ; 

not  injured,  Poland,  193 
Launch  of  ship,   pigeons   (reed  at, 

Japan,  70 
Lauiifal,  romance  of,  II6-9 
Laying  spirits  ;  Wills,  73-4 
Lead-mining   customs    and    beliefs, 

Derbyshire,  396-8,  403-4,  407,  42a 
Leaves  as  clothing,  246 
Lecture    committee,   work    of,    S-g, 

■  1-3 


536 


Index. 


•• 


Lee,  Mn.  IC,  ifajmes  collected  by, 

330-2 

Leecfaamft,  see  Medical  folklofe 

Left :  gazdle  croniiig  rider  on,  un- 
lucky, PersiA,  266;  left  foot  un- 
luckj  to  start  with,  Persia,  266 ; 
left-hand  direction  named  firom 
compass  point,  210-2 

L^;end  of  Sir  Lancelot  da  Lac,  The, 
fy  J.  L.  Weston,  reviewed,  486-97 

Lmnd  of  the  Sand-Rope  and  other 
Futile  Tasks,  B.&  400— A.  D.  1900, 
by  Miss  G.  M.  Godden,  131 

Leicestershire :  water  heated  by  hot 
iron  to  bathe  infiuts  with  thrush, 

Leinster :  {sm  aUo  Dinn  Riogh ;  Kil- 
dare;  Lon^brd ;  Meath ;  West* 
meath ;  tmd  V^ddow) ;  brains  of 
lu^  hardened  as  trophy,  55 ;  taboos 
on  king,  46 

Lemke,  E.,  Stone-catching  Game, 
106,  215,  2S7-8,  280-93 

Lei^aas  (Gran  Chaco):  astngali, 
283 ;  sun  charm,  216 

Lesbos,  folktales  from,  W.  R.  Paton, 

84-93 
Letters:  a  comer  should  be  cut  off, 

Peisia,  265 

Liars,  origin  of :  Upper  Congo  folk- 
tale, 182-3 

Li^  :  guns  fired,  Christmas,  120 

Lilac :  used  in  Garlandi  May  29th, 
Castleton,  418,  Hope,  424 

Lily :  used  in  Garland,  May  29th, 
Castleton,  417 

Lincoln  :  luck-money  at  sale,  179-80 ; 
weather  unsettled  at  *' hanging 
assize,"  165-6 ;  wise  man  at,  177-0 

Lincolnshire  :  (see  aiso  Aslacoe  ;  Ax- 
holme,  Isle  of ;  Bag-Enderby ;  Big- 
bv;  Blyborough;  Bottesford;  Bruml^ 
(Common  ;  Caistor  ;  Ewcrby  Wath  ; 
Fonaby  Top  ;  Gartree  ;  Halton, 
East ;  Kirton-in-Lindsey ;  Lincoln; 
Manley ;  Market  Rasen;  Scotter; 
Sleaford  ;  Somersby  ;  Winterton  ; 
Wroot ;  and  Yarborough)  ;  cinder 
tea  as  remedy,  472  ;  folklore  of,  by 
Miss  M.  Peacock,  3,  161 -180 

Lincoln's  Inn :  leaden  charm  found 
at,  128 

Linder,  £.,  note  on  the  Ancient  and 
Modern  Game  of  Astragals,  291-2 

Lindholme,  William  of,  (giant),  170-2 

Lion :  Bechuana  tribe  named  after, 
31,  36  ;  in  Greek  folktale,  324-5 


Litdmidi    handrBd   of  Dafeyrineb 

LithuaniA:    nciifioeB   and  ritn   cf 

ancient  UtliiiMiiaiH*  SM^jn 
Little Hockkyw :  nidmamen^  402; 

people  0^  40SI 
Liatsin  :  miirclicnp  194-5    - 
Lifooia:  iBorifioes     and 

andent  livoniansy 
Llama 

283 
lian&ir 

aty  99 
Lobster :  in  Giedc  iolktafe,  Sy-i^  99 
LochLo:  tihnn  nn  rminar  tmlri^ti 

«t,63 
London:   ^mt   «6»    Bow    CfaaRk; 

Hoimdsditdi ;     Lincoln's      Ian ; 


1^4  I  cwar  adi  as 
cotic,  475  i  "marble  and  dabfas," 
858,285;  weatheroocki,  99-100 

Longbfidge  Devcrill,   laUdoce  notes 
from,  71-83 

Loagfotd,iM  Teffia,  North 

Lookiog^laas :  shown  to. tmcOeriv 
luck,  Feisia,  266 

Loid's  Hm(Wilu):  headlmcoadh 

num>73 
Lot-et-Garonne  :  vine-grafiii^  197 
Lots,  casting  :  Persia,  263-4 
Love  charms,  su  Charms  and  spdb 
Lovett,  £.,  The  Ancient  and  Modem 

Game  of  Astragals,  2(7^  >&^3 
Lower  Moesia,  see  Mcesia,  Lower 
Luccombe :  weathercock  at,  99  (/(&*) 
Luck-money,  Lincoln,  179-80 
Luck  of  Mycenae,  The,  1^  W,  H.  D. 

Rouse,  147-8 
Lucky  and  unlucky  days  and  deeds : 

ancient  Irish,  47-8  ;    linmlndriTe, 

178-80  J    Persia,    263-7;   Sienub, 

Poland,  193 ;  Upper  Congo,  i86-7 ; 

Uriya  States,  247 
Lugh  Lamhfada,  Irish  sun  deity,  65 
Lullabies :  Wilts,  79 
Luxor:    festival    processions,     315; 

story  from,  329-30 
Lying-in,  rhyme  for,  Wilts,  80 

Mabinogion,  taboos  in,  65-6 
Mabuiag  Island:  primitive  orientation, 

2IO-2 ;  totemism,  230-1 
Mabi!^  the  magician,  488 
Macquari  game  of  Axawaks,  Guiana, 

141-50 


Index, 


MacDU  Indians,  Gui&na,   133,  136-9, 

Madagascar  :   (j«    aha    Betaileos)  ; 

animals   Ireeu    and    buried,     70 : 

lotemisni,  342-3 
Maelduia.  voyage  of,  444 
Magh   Bieagh :    taboo    on     King   of 

Eta  .1,  47 
Magh  Cuitlinn  :  labooonKing  of  Kire 


1.47 


Cormac 


Magh-Slinhh  :     Utbuu 
lOHloinges  al,  63 

Magic  :  (see  also  Amulets  and  talis- 
mans ;  Charms  and  spells ;  Wiich. 
cinft  i  nnrfWiiards)  ;  bumble-bee  in, 
I03;ti[e-walk  ceremony,  Tabiti&c. , 
446-55 ;  geomctncal  figures  and 
ceremonies  before  thrashing  rice, 
Ceylon,  457-8 ;  in  hinterland  of 
Ivoiy  Coast,  379  ;  rainbow  magic, 
Greysoulhen.  479-80  ;  as  related  to 
religion,  J.  G.  Fraier's  views  on, 
J20-1.  a34-S.3SS-6i  sun,  rites  to 
rekindle,  Lenguas  &c.,  216  ;  thiee- 
colouied  cats  in,  Japan,  70 

Magic  and  Riligim,  by  A.  Jjing, 
reviewed,  3S4-60,  433 

Magpie :  unlucky  in  house,  Poiand, 
193  :  witch  as,  Lincolnshire,  17a 

Magyars  1  water  in  which  live  coal 
thrown  as  remedy,  472 

Maiden  Bradley :  proverb,  81 

Maize :   girls  plant  lirsl  row,  Navajo 


Indii 


1.  197 


Makah  Indians,  (biklore  of,  379 
Mating  af  Retigian,     TTu,    by   A, 

Lang,  reviewed.  JII-4 
Malabar,  set  Nayadis 
Malaysia  :   Skeal's  Fablts  and  FbU- 
lalts  from    an  Bailtrn   Forest   re- 
viewed, 50Z-3  :  harvest  riles,  330; 
Falani    words   '  south '  and  '  left ' 
connected,  31 1 
Malduz  the  magician.  4S8 
Mamore  :  spectral  lights,  343 
Man.  origin  of,  according  toAmaiulu, 

13,  Bcchuana,  34 
Man,  reviewed,  13Z-3 
Manannon  mac  Lir,  ruler  of  unseen 

world,  43S.9 
Manchester  :  rush-bearing  tune,  429 
Mandrake :     melhod   of    gathering, 

Manish  (Baluchistan):  cairn  or  shrine. 


Manx  folklore,  /«  Isle  of  Mao 
Mapuche  milk  taboo,  512 
Marble  and  dubs,  game  of,  3S4 
March  1    3lsl,   Persian    New   Year's 

Day     (No    nil),    375-6:     22nd, 

caJies  in   laik  form,  Ukraine,  70 ; 

rhyme.  Wills,  80 
March,  K.  Colley,  Customs  relating 

to  Iron,  340-1 

Marcoppol,    ancient     Prussian    god, 

196-7 
Mardukmylh,  510 
Maietl.  R.  R.,    *  


Market  Rosen  :  witchcraft,  177-8 

Marcii,  Tamil  deity,  457 

Mirgosa  wood  keeps  off  corn-devil, 

Ceylon,  458 
Marigold :  used   in   garland,   Mope, 

*H 
Marquesas   Islands :    door  and  gale 

ways  tabooed,  62 
Marriage  customs  and  beliefs  :  Aidin 
(Turkeyt,  193  ;  Baluehisiaii,  S73-4 ; 
Barir.  38i;Basuto29,  378;  Biblical, 
Z48 ;     Border    marriages,     351-3: 
litahmapulra  valley,  5101  by  cap- 
ture, 299  ;  ciste  and  clan  in  relation 
In,  484-5  ;  feasts,  Watavela,  356 ; 
feet-washing,   349,   199 ;    Greece, 
135;   Jit,   483;    in  Jalaka,   246; 
Jews  of  Bukowina,  509 ;  Lincoln- 
shire, 16S-9  ;  Malabeleland,  328-9  ; 
Mayo,      358      (fi/ate);       Nayidis 
( MalabarJ,    355 ;     Murray    Island 
(Torres  Straits),  333  ;  New  Guinea, 
3331     Poland,     193;     Prussians, 
ancient,    399-300 ;     by    purchase, 
328-9 ;  South  India,  347  ;  tolemism 
in  connection  with,  3S5-6,  389-90 ; 
Waganda,  33  ;   Vaiaikanna  tribe. 
Cape  VorkCAus.),  333 
Marsh  marigold,  see  MaySawer 
Masks :     tortoiseshell,     representing 
totem,  Vam  Island,  331  ;  weddiog- 
donee.  Mayo,  358 
Malabeic,  see  Amandebele 
Matlock  :  game  of  snobs,  391 
Matriarchy,  lee  Mother-right 
May  :  (j«  aisa   May  Day  ;  and  May 
Eve) ;  cattle  blessed  at  chapel  of 
Si.  Brigita,   Frijos,   3131   rhyme. 
Wills,  Soi5tb,  May  festivil,  Japan, 


S38 


Index, 


yi  I  a^dt,  Gariand  Day  at  Caatle- 

Umt  Daj :  guUDd*  ovet  doon, 
AboejFi  436 1  ihip'^UTTiiif  pcoce*- 
non,  Dmnport,  476  ;  taboo  od 
Kiv  of  Biieon  Mondajr  after,  47 

Maf  Ere :  time  for  love  chumi,  tin- 
ednAiie,  167-8 

Idajra  pletnre  writiiigi  ponible  origlii 
«t  K19 

Hajr  btoiaoa,  itt  Hawthorn 

Bfa)4ower;  earned  on  Haj  19th, 
4J6',  med  in  Gatland,  Cutletoa, 
408,  and  iu  houe  [arlaiKU,  Abn^, 
436 

Uajo :  weddJng'daaee  maik,  358 
iflaU) 

Mmole,  Tharnhill,  435 

Uealh,  Mf  Bngia  ;  Knowth ;  High 
Braij^  t  Kew  Gnoge ;  Tan  t  mrf 

tiMMCh 

Heave,  nueen  of  Connaariit,  56-7 
Uedkal  JolkloK  i   (m  aU»  Charma 
■ndqteUf}; 

dbtaia  tKd  ii^nria  Inaltd:— 
"  bad  IcKi"  471 ;  bcniMa,  iga ; 
bimif,  >7t ;  dtokiDC,  191-3 ; 
coldi,  191 ;  ooKe,  473 1  coaauwp- 
lion,  193  ;  convoiaioni,  473  ;  ie- 
bilily,  37C»-l ;  dog-bile,  161 ;  Ay- 
■enleij,  47a  ;  ofejre,  348;  flatu- 
lence, 473  ;  of  baod,  191 ;  heait 
diieaK,  191 ;  itch,  473 ;  night- 
UindncB,  191  ;  perquadon,  ex- 
cetaive,  193;  rhcnmatimi,  191, 
193 1  Mane,  191 ;  thnuh,  349, 
473  I  toothache,  19a  ;woand(,i9i 
ItotiitUi: — Aaia  Minor,  191-3  ; 
Calfinooa,  193;  Cos,  192 ; 
LeiixMeidiin:,  473 ;  IJncoln- 
•hire,  47a  ;  Loodoa,  475  ;  Not- 
tingtianuhire,  472  ;  Penda,  34S, 
370-3 ;  FoUod,  193 ;  ancient 
Kumani,  473 ;  Swabia,  473 ; 
Wakefield,  472-3 
remtdits  : — tncatli  of  puppy  or  cat, 
19a ;  cat  fiesfa  and  sliut,  193 ; 
cigai  aifa  in  water,  47J  ;  diider 
tea,  472  ;  dogi  Udiing  t^,  191  ; 
d(%  whkb  tat,  bair  of,  191  ; 
emeralds,  powdered,  270;  fish 
gaU,  248;  frog,  249:  froc, 
poonded,  191  :  goat,  bead  of 
Nack  she,  191  ;  owl  feadiers  c 
fle*h,  [93;  ox's  e*!!  l*)*^ 
none  &MU,  191 :  peaik,  pv 


*JOi  piceea.  B*c  hent  oC  i« 


-   '33 
__,,....         --    Rp  lih 
primitiTe  onentMMO,  a\o-» 
Melidcmi,  Greek  folktale,  86-93 


i,  IS-*;  J 


Hen :  are  ion*  of  Huicdiol  eoda,  lot 

Heriah  taoifidal  post,  355 

Meriino,  ict  Morinio 

Merrick,    W.     Percjr.     Bbuismith^ 

Fettival,  346 
HcTton    (Surrer):    wcatbercati   at. 

99 
Me^^ra,  king  of  LeinitcT,  55 
Henco  :  (see  aita  HuicJiol  Indiaw: 

ami  Maya) ;  goddess  evolTcd  hito 

mnt,382 
Middleaex, /«   Ealine;    Edmonton ; 

Fnem  Bamet ;  Gieenfbrd  ;  Haiw- 

er  HiU  :  Hcndon  :  London  ■  N^ 

doD !  ami  Twyfoid 
Midsummer     Day:      always      some 

drowned  on,  Walloons,  130 
Midsummer      Eve:      Bagaires      de 

Luchon,  315-7 
Midsummer  fires,  216,  315-7 
Slidsummer      Night  :        churchyaTd 

ghosts.  Wilts,  73  '^ 

Midsummer    in    the    P}-reiiee.      b* 

J.  C.  G.  Speakman,  315.7  ' 

Midwinter  :  feast  of  dead,   Belgium, 

Hapqche  taboo,  cts 

"ft  Poland,  193  J   coltira- 


lion  hy  Gilyaks,  68 ;  quul  asso- 
cialcd  wilh.  Japan,  71 

Mill  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  The, 
by  S.  O.Addy,  218 

MUlaiones  should  turn  sunwise,  Lin- 
colnshire, 167 

Milne,  F.  A.,  Border  Marriages, 
352-3  i  Sione-caiehine  Games,  ais 

Mlninp  cuslomEi  and  beliefs,  ju  Coal- 
mining  customs  and  beliefs  ;  Leaxl' 
mioing  customs  uid  belie& 

Micror.  Jie  Loolung-glass 

Miss  Weston's  "  Guingamoi,"  by  A. 
Nuti,  344 

Mistletoe :  the  "  Golden  Bough," 
222;  net  the  "Golden  Bough," 
437 

Moab,  sacrifice  of  son  of  king  of, 
347.  476 

Mcesia,  Lower :  celebration  of 
Salumalia,  ZI9 

Mohnmmed  and  the  spider,  parallel 
to  story  of,  Asia  Minor,  191 

Molimo,  i«  Morimo 

Molluscs,  su  Shellfish 

Monday :  (after  Bel(aine),  taboo  of 
King  of  &irt  on,  47 ;  Irish  biblical 
explanation  of  unlucky  Mondays, 
4« 

Monerabeau  :  vine-grafting,  197 

Monkey :  Bechuana  tribe  named 
after,  31  ;  Christmas  and  Carnival 
disguise,  Poland,  193 1  imitated  in 
games,  Guiana.  138  (flaii),  13^, 
140 1  lypihing  consciousness,  m 
Buddhist  Wheel  of  Life,  68 

Monklcigh  :  "  witch's  bottle,"  137 

Monkshood,  Wiltshire  name  of,  83 

Monklon  Deverill :  saying  about  bells, 
81 

Monsembe  (Upper  Gingol :  stories 
and  other  notes  from,  lSi-9, 
458-64 

Montgomeryshire,  lie  Llanfair  Caer 

Month  rhymes.  Witts,  So 
Montpellier,  St.  Roeh  of,  314 
Monyash  :  Great  Barmole  Court,  395 
Moon  :  full  moon  time  of  games  and 
dances,   Guiana,    142 ;  new,   figure 
of,  in  magic  figure  for  rice-thrash- 
ing, Ceylon,  458  ;  new, "fortunate" 
face  should  lie  seen  with,   Persi, 
a65i 

wood.  Lincolnshire,   166: 
I  Kry   rhyme,   Secundetabad, 


Guiana,    157  ;    not 
(It,  Garlrec,  166 

Mordrcd    in     Arthuri 
489-90 

Moria  (n.  Mylilcne) :  b  Creek  folk- 
tale, 86 

Morimu,     malignant    being    among 
Bechuana,  34 

Moileston   hundred    of   Derbyshire, 


and  Lancashire,  430 ;  Castlelon. 
408,    4'0-2.    415-9.      421.     437! 

churches,  associated  wilh,  427 ; 
Eyam,  426 ;  from  fairies,  Derby- 
shire, 49i5 ;  Tideswell,  436 ;  tunes 
for,  426,  429*30 

Mosulo :  sacrifice  lo  ancestor  in 
sickness,  35 

Moth  -.  humming-bird  hawk-moth 
omen  of  good  tidings,  Calymnos, 
190 :  lucky  in  house,  Asia  Minor, 
190 

Mother-right ;  change  to  father- 
right  evolves  totemism  into  an- 
cestor worship,  33-7  ;  disappears 
with  higher  oi^anisation,  38-9 ; 
totemism  in  connection  with,  390  ; 
traces  among  Bantu,  29-30,  33 

Moufflon  :  boms  offered  at  scnnes, 
Baluchistan,  271 

Mountain  ash :  against  witchcraft, 
Lincolnshire,  175 

Mountains  ;  (iw  aim  Demavcnd  1 
Hills  1  Kuh-i-Chehel-Tun  ;  Kuh-i- 
Shnh :  Olympus  5  Pacanjma  moun- 
tains :  ami  Rorsima) ;  cull  of 
Greek  divinities  in  mountain  topi, 
Soo-2 ;  perpetual  fire  in  honour  of 
god  Pargn.  Sami^ta:,  39S 

Mourning  customs,  in  Death  and 
funeral  customs  and  beliefs. 

Mouse  :  in  Greek  folktale,  95 

Mouse-deer  :  in  Malay  folktales,  ^03 

Muirthemne,  great  defeat  of  PJiun 
of,  56,  64 

Mule ;  blue  beads  &c,  worn  against 
evil  eye,  Persia,  268;  ghoul  appears 
as.  Persia,  262 

Mummers,  Christmas,  itt  Christmas 

Murder  :  phantom  animali  haunc 
place  of,  Lincolnshire,  172 

Murphy  Bland  (Florida)  1  ulragaloi 
from,  28] 

Murray  Island,  Torres  Stiaiu  :  mar- 
riage restrictiona,  133 


540 


Index. 


Music  :  Fletcher's  Indian  Story  ctnd  \ 
Song  from  North  Anurica  reviewed, 
368-70 ;  musical  instruments, 
Guiana,  149,  156-7,  and  for  morris- 
dancing,  429 ;  tune  for  Garland 
Day  procession,  Castleton,  420-1, 
425,  and  for  morris-dances,  429-30 

Musquakie  beadwork,  260 

Mycenae,  The  Luck  of,  by  W.  H.  D. 
Rouse,  347-8 

Mycensran  civilisation,  Prof.  Ridge- 
way's  views  on,  discussed  by  A. 
Nutt,  336-9 :  Ridgeway*s  The 
Early  Age  of  Greece  reviewed, 
360-2.  by  W.  H.  D.  Rouse,  467-8, 
and  N.  W.  Thomas,  468-9 

Myers,    C.   S.,  Stories  from  Upper 

Eg>Tt.  329-30 

Myndos  (Asia  Minor):  rain  charm,  216 

Mythology  and  Folktales  :  Their  Re- 
lation and  Interpretation y  by  E.  S. 
Hartland,  reviewed,  12 1-2 

Myths,  historic,  discussed  by  A.  Nutt, 
336-9,  and  W.  H.  D.  Rouse,  467-8 

Myths  of  Greece^  by  G.  St.  Clair, 
reviewed,  362-4,  469-71 

Mytilene :  folktale,  201-3 

Naas  :  residence  of  kings  of  Leinster, 
46 

"Nabby"  Colt,  A,  by  Miss  M. 
Peacock,  477 

Naguals,  386 

Nails,  finger  :  decoction  from  drunk, 
Japan,  71  ;  parings,  folklore  of, 
India,  380;  rhyme  to  cranes  to 
obtain  spots  on,  Deccan,  333 

Nails,  horse-shoe,  used  against 
witches.  Lincolnshire,  176 

Names:  "dummy"  names  used  for 
tools  tS:c.  in  rice -thrashing, 
Ceylon,  458;  namesake  of  horse 
suffers  same  injury  as  animal, 
Persia,  267  ;  nicknames  for  holders 
of  same  surname,  Derbyshire,  396, 
399  ;  of  dead  not  spoken,  Upper 
Conj;o,  184;  of  dead  given  to 
children,  Upper  Congo,  462 

Nauuassa  river  :  perpetual  fire  near  in 
honour  of  god  Pargn,  Saniogita?, 
298 

Navajo  Indians  :  girls  plant  first 
maize,  197 

Nayadis  :  marriage  customs,  255 

Neasdon:  weathercocks  at,  99 

Needles,  used  against  witchcraft,  176 

Negro   folklore,   see   Africa  :    Bahia; 


a$ui     United     States     of    No 

America 
Nemi :  Frazer's   The    Gulden  Bn 

reviewed,  219.41,  355-6,  431^5 
Nerthus,  see  Niord 
Nessa,  mother  of  Conchobar,  118 
Neuchfitel :  astragali,   358 :   game 

astragals,  286-9 
Newcastle-on-Tyne  :  Yule  docs,  v 
New  Grange  (Boyne):  tumuli  as 

dated  with  Ttiatha  D^  Daoann. 
New  Guinea,   see    Fly   River;  a 

Papuans 
New  Jersey  :  building  trade  costoa 

104 
New    South    Wales  :     magic  stoo 

Manning   River   tribe,   3;  natit 

bury  d^id  if  young,    bum  if  d 

469 
Newton  Abbot  :    rheumatism,  mo 

burial  cures,  351-2 
New  Year  Customs  in  Hereforddiii 

byj.  G.  Frazer,  349-51 
New      Year's     Day  :       Armeniai 

(Aug.  1st),  70 ;  Babylonian  Zakmi 

227  ;  customs,  507  ;  Herefbrdshii 

349.51:   Persian  ATe    rtf*  (Mai 

2ISt),  275-6 

New  York :  building  trade  custoo 

104 
New  Zealand  :    fire  walk  rite,  45 

Maori  sacred  image,  256 
Ngala  language,  Upper  Congo,  46; 
Ngami,  Lake,  see  Baveve 
Ngu6n-Son,  vallev  of:  lolklore,  50; 
Niddftasy  in  Buddhist  Wheel  of  Li 

68-9 
Night-blindness,      cure      for,      A 

Kfinor,  191 
Nightingale :    not    injured.     Polar 

193 

Nile  :  corn  thrown  into,  in  story  fn 
Upper  Egypt,  329 

Niord,  ship  of,  477 

Nipple-wort,  Wiltshire  name  of,  S: 

Nirvana^  in  Buddhist  Wheel  of  Li 
68 

Nivernais,  see  Champ  d'loux 

Norfolk  :  {see  also  Diss)  ;  astraga 
258  ;  nursery  rhyme,  -^-^2  ;  i 
Passing  Bell,  4S0 

North  America:  (sec  also  Aleuti 
Islands  :  Canada  ;  Costa  Kic 
Ilopi  Indians ;  Mexico  ;  Mi 
quakie  ;  Navajo  Indians  ;  Omai 
Indians ;  and  United  States 
North  America);    astragals,    25J 


Fletcher's  Indian  Slery  and  Song 
from    North    Ameriia    reviewed, 
368-70  5    Notts    and   Queiies    on 
TotcmiEin,  3S5-93 
Notth  Teffia,  see  Teffia,  North 
Norlhumberland,   stt    Ncwcaslle-on- 

Tyne 
A'li  rtls,   Persian   New  Year's  Day, 

Norway:  connection  between  Lincoln' 
shire     and     Scandinavian    beliefs, 

161  :! 
Notched  slick  or  tree   as  calendar, 

Guiana,  142,  153 
Notes   and    Queries   on   Totem  bm. 

385-93 
Notlinghaiushire :     south,    game    of 

snobs  in,   291  ;    water   healed   by 

hoi  iion  for  bathing  infants,  472 
Nought  or  zero  :  omitted  in  counting 

Rajn's  reign,  Uriya  Slates,  247 
November  :    l_stt  also  Si.   Andrew's 

Eve ;   and  St.   Clement's  Day) ; 

5lh,  Folkestone  celebration,  24I 
Numbers    in    folklore,   tti   Fifteen ; 

Five:  Fourteen  ;  Nought;  Seven; 

Thirteen  ;  and  Two 
Nursery   rhymes :    Asia  Minor,   1S9- 

90  J      Berkshire.     331  :      Deccan, 

333-S  ;  A.  Gitlie  on.  Iso ;  Norfolk, 

332  J  Wilts,  79-81,332 

Null,  A.,  Alphabet  used  in  Conse- 
crating n  Church,  I'lO-i  g  History, 
Tradition,  and  Historic  M^tlu, 
336-9;  Miss  Weston's  "Guinga- 
mor,"  344 ;  review  by,  Frazer's 
Tkt  Golden  Bough,  237-40 

Nyarong  or  spirit-helper  of  Sea 
Dyaks,  231-2 


Oak 


May  29th,  Wills, 
76 ;  leaves  symbols  of  victory  or 
power,  71,  used  in  May  festival, 
Japan,  71  ;  primitive  Aryan  wor- 
ship asiodaled  with,  122  ;  used  on 
GarUnd  Day,  Castletun.  40S,  415. 
417-9,  and  Hope,  414,  416  1  wor- 
ship, survival  of,  Tuscany,  455-6 

Oaths:  by  crocodile,  Bakuena,  31  : 
by  eldest  sister,  Hotlentols,  30; 
by  porcupine,  Banoku,  3a ;  forfeits 
Cor  breach,  Hodcnlots,  30 

Obituary  notice  :  Miss  F.  Grove,  349 

Occasiattal  E^ays  f"  JValivt  Seulh 
Indian  Lift,  by  S.  P.  Rice,  re- 
viewed, 245-7 

Occopim,  ancient  Frusiian  god,  296 


Ochain,  shield  of  Conchobar,  51-2 

October:  {see  alie  Halloween  :  and 
Samhain)  ;  Barmoie  Court,  Mony- 
ash,  395 

Octopus  :  ill  omen  to  sponge  fishers, 
Asia  Minor,  189 

0(;reG  and  ogresbes  in  Greek  folk- 
lales,  84-6.  88-93,  93-7 

Ohnrai,  semi-annual  Japanese,  70, 
2:4 

Old  Irish  Tabus,  or  Ceasa,  by  Miss 
Eleanor  Hull,  2.  41-66 

Olympus,  Mount,  and  Greek  worship, 
501 

Onmha  Indians  :  personal  totems, 
231.  387 

Omens:  from  animals,  Asia  Minor, 
189-90,  Herefordshire,  350,  Persia, 
278,  Poland,  193  ;  from  birds, 
Asia  Minor,  189-90,  Persia,  278  ; 
from  snakes,  andeni  Lithuanians 
and  Samogitie,  29S  ;  from  lolems, 
391  1   of  death,  Asia   Minor,    IQO, 


509  :  of  New  Vear.  Herefordshire, 

350-t  ;  in  Pcrna,  264 
Onich  :  spectral  light,  343-4 
Orange  Itiver  Colony:  memorial  on 


OrdcaU  :   shield  games  of  Womus, 

Guiana,  150-5:  UpperCongo,  187 

"  ■         *        Primilive,  by  W.  H.  R. 


River 


131.; 


Origine  delta  Fovola  Greia  e  i  Suoi 
rapporle  ion  It  faitle  aritnlali,  L', 
by  M-  Marehian6,  reviewed,  250-I 

Orne.  Dep,  de  I'  ;  [see  also  Tinche- 
hray}  ;  tail  of  cow  slit  lo  ensure 
conception ,  97 

Osiris,  moral  element  in  worship  of, 
365-6 

Ossabow  island  :  asltalagus,  283 

Ossianic  sagas :  geass  less  prominenl 
than  in  Ciichulainn  cycle,  43-5 
Oitin  in  Tir-na-nog,  443-4:  Null's 
Ossian  and  the  Ossianit  Litera/urt 
reviewed,  121-2 

Ovaberer6  :  mother. dght  among,  29- 
30,33 

Overlooking,  see  Evil  eye 


54« 


fydtif* 


Owen.  Wm  U.  A.; 


I 


Owl:  ehOdicn's  rikvow  aod  

An    Minor,   189;   feathcn   aod 

193;  not  n^wed,  Pbhnd.  193; 
infled  to Iwnifriraiitt  Poluid«  194; 
maimkf^  Penii.  965;  in  Upper 
€0000  fDlktale,  183-4;  wooM 
hamoa  fv-trft  Poluid«  194. 


Ox :  astnfUnt  from  bot  kMunfroBt, 
Switfgfwnd,  acS ;  oountnf  01  oxen, 
in  Boddhiit  meel  of  life^  68; 
iMrns  over  doots,  Asa  Minor, 
191 ;  kneeb  on  night-  of  nativity, 
Wilts,  76;  knaddcbooe,  gune 
with,  OMta  Rica,  283 ;  Mone  from 

Bll    bladder  cuei    itone,    Asa 
inor,  191 
Oxfbfdshire:  OMRis  dance  nntic,  4J9 


Pacaiaina  moxntaini,  Guiana :  gune 
of  Maaua  Indians,  136-7  (/Mr) 

Pi^nnism  of  the  Andent  Prussians, 
The,  tnms.  fay  F.  C  Conybeare, 

Pdestine,  stt  Bedonin ;  ami  Djebd 
Nabloos 

Palm  :  seta  palm  used  by  Wanus, 
Guiaoa,  150-3,  and  in  parasheera 
dance,  151 ;  plant  tied  to  house 
post,  Upper  Congo,  185 

Palm  Sunday :  associated  with  owl  in 
children's  rhyme,  Asia  Minor,  189 ; 
customs  on,  WUts,  75  ;  devil  as 
dog  at  gathering  on,  mlts,  74 

Pamphlets  presented  to  Folk-Lore 
Society,  su  Books 

Panther  (of  W.  Asia  Minor):  in 
Greek  folktale,  324-5  ;  killer  pun- 
ished and  rewajrded  by  Turks,  192 

Papago  Indians  :  game  of  Tan-wan, 

283 
Papers  read  at  meetings  of  Folk-Lore 

Society,  2,  3,  7,  129-31,  257-60 
Papuans  :  marriage  restrictions,  233  ; 
no  personal  totems,  23  X  ;  totemism 
among,  386-7 
Parasheera  dance,  Guiana,  155-61 
Pargn,  ancient  Prussian  god,  296,  298 
Paris  :  swallows  released,  70 
Parsees :   account    of,    276-8 ;    cere- 
monies on   starting  journey,  266; 
children  Jump  over  fires  at  end  of 
Saflfar,  264  ;  13th  of  all  months  un- 
lucky, 265  I 


15S-61 
Pn5i4t»:  Ufad. 


I3S 


if  V 
vdiy  fcn  red.  Am  ICiBor.  1981  k 

Upper  CoMo  fclktale.  i8>4 


^jiWJMf  Folk 
FiatoB,  W.    R.,  Onm 
Ban,  ao8^i  Folfitelei  horn  tte 

Hvabniid-uid-Wae     Stoiy,    na; 

Rain  Chum  m  Arfn  ifinor,  si6 
FUiiaidiy  or  patifaadnl  goiWMMil : 

camei  nitnppfnmire  of  tofeBHlM, 

33 1  not  identknl  widi  fitfhBM^ 

35 ;  looaens  des  of  mother-it^  3S 
Penoodc :  in  Fbibui  ptovobb  M; 

wwlhereoA  m  diuie  o^  Hate, 

99 

FMood[,  E.»  SncriSoe  at  Yoik^  itfA 

817 
PiModCf    E.,     Spectial    L%>l  ii 

*o  }      Sopg— twi 


«o5      ,      - 
Cbaqget  of  SScs,  jfiir^ 

rMeock.  Uhm  MnbSTcMiiMn* 
ladqg  to  Inm,  472-3  ;  TheFoUoN 
of  Lboofairiiire.    3,    161.180;  A 

•«Nabby»C61t»477 
Pearb:  groond,  as  ranody,  tmrn, 

270 
Peccary:  imitated  in  paraaheom  danee, 

Guiana,  159-60 
Pelham  Am,  su  Brent  Pftlham 
Pelham  Samers,  jm  Brent  Pdham 
Pembroke,     stt     Jordanstoii;    and 

Poyston 
Penance,  N.W.  Pitmnces,  India,  50! 
Pentamerone,  Greek  pandlel  to  sten 

in,  197-aoo 
Perceval,    in    Arthnrian 

490 

Peignibrias,  ancient  Prnssian 
295-6 

Perkunos,  Slavonic  god,  anpeneded 
by  St  Elias,  502 

Persia :  {see  also  Ispahan  ;  Kerman ; 
Koom  ;  Teheran  ;  and  Yezd);  eye 
disease,  cure  for,  248 ;  J.  G.  Frazer's 
views  on  Sacaea  discussed  by  A. 
Lang,  236-7  ;  game  of  astragals, 
293;  knucklebone  dice,  282;  Persian 
Folklore,  by  Miss  E.  Sykea,  258, 
261-80 

Perspiration,  excessive,  cure  for, 
Poland,  193 

Perthshire  :   *'  doing  her  hair 
ai2 


543 


Peni :  Indian  guiae  wilh  knuckle- 
bone, 1S3 

Perun,  Slavonic  god,  superseded  by 
St.  Eliss,  502 

Peruonto  (tale  in  Penlamerone), 
Creek  parallel  to,  197-100 

Pelrographs,  Australia,  383 

Phaistos,  palace  at,  1x3 

Piatkowslia,  M.  I.  de,  animal  super- 
ililions  from  Sietadi  cuDcclcd  by, 
193-4 

Pier uie- writing,  Maya,  possible  origin 
of,  109 

Pip  :  astragali  from.  FaTCisham,  284  ; 
black,  demons  or  vampires  appear 
as  Bi  nigbt,  Asia  Minor,  igi  ;  in 
Buddhist  Wheel  of  Life,  67  :  names 
for,  Asia  Minor,  192;  {»g<killing, 
507  ;  whistles  in  shape  of,  Poland, 
193 ;  wild,  kept  with  hoisea  [o 
ward  off  evil  eye,  Persia,  269 

Pigeon  :  eaten  by  bride  and  bride> 
groom,  Aidin  (Turkey),  192 ; 
not  eaten,  Japan.  70  ;  heart  eaten 
for  heart  disease,  Asia  Minor,  191; 
released,  at  launch  of  ship,  Japan^ 
70,  on  Aug,  is(,  Armenians,  70 ; 
unlucky,  Asia  Minor  and  Calymnos. 
190,  Poland,  193  ;  while,  sacred 
bird  of  clan,  Japan,  70 

Pilgrimages  :  to  shrine  of  Hanuman, 
SoS 

Piluit,  ancient  Prussian  god,  196 

Pindale  :  place  rhyme,  423 

Pinkney's  Green  :  rhymes  from,  331 

Pins,  used  against  witches,  Lincoln- 

Pipal  tree  :  residence  of  demon  in 
Tales  ota  Parrot  &c,  213-4 

Pipe  and  labor,  for  morris- dancing, 
429 

Pistoia :  Nemcci's  Tradaioni  Papo- 
lari  Fiiloitsi:  Raccmli  PopolaH 
Pistoitsi  in  vtntatelo  Pt'siffitsi  re- 
viewed, 37z-3i  477 

Pitl-Rivers,  I  Jeut-Gen.  A,  services  of, 
15.6 

Place  rhymes  :  Derbyshire,  423 

Plagae  :  procession  to  avert.  Fr^jus, 
307-15 

Plants  in  folklore  :  (set  also  Fern ; 
Flax  ;  Hawthorn  j  Maiie  ;  ^" 
drake  ;  Millet ;  Mistletoe  ;  Palm  ; 
Ribbon-grass ;  Rice  ;  Rosemary  1 
Sage  1  Silk-giass ;  Sugai  cane ; 
Thorns ;  Vine ;  anii  Yam.  wild)  1 
not  brought  inio  house  ^ei  sur 


Lincolnshire,  167  ;  Barrow*'  73* 
EfkHtBolany  ef  the  CeaJmilla 
ludians  of  Strut Atm  CaKfomia 
reviewed,  366-8  ;  Greek  plant 
superstitions,  243-5  ■  Pergrubius, 
ancient  Prusaan  god  of  plants, 
'95-6  1  totem,  i«  Tolcmism 

Ploughing  customs  and  beliefs : 
annual  festival,  Jaiaka,  and  in 
China,  246 ;  fond-plough  and  fool- 
plough.  249 :  site  of  new  village 
ploughed  and  sown,  S.  India, 
246-7 

Plover ;  whistles  in  shape  of,  for 
whipping  game,  Guiana,  143-4 

Plymouth  :  ship-canying  procession. 
Corpus  Christ!,  476 

Poccl,  ancient  Prussian  god.  296 

PoccoU,  ancient  Prussian  god,  296 

Pocklinglon :  crudlixion  and  burnt 
sacrifices,  217 

Poland.  i«  Sieradi 

Polynesia,  set  Marquesas  Islands ; 
Raiatea ;  Raralonga ;  Sandwich 
Islands;  am^ Tahiti 

Pomegranalc;  juice  remedy  for  hums, 

Pompeii:  game  of  astragals,  381 
Popular  Paltry  ofl/ie  Pinni,  Tke,  by 

C,  J.  Billson,  reviewed,  rai-a 
Papular     Studies     in     Mythalegy, 

Romance,   and  Folklort  reviewed, 

r2i-2,  24S-6,  375 
Porcupine :    Becliuana    clan    named 

after,  31-3,  36 
Portugal ;  Carnival  procession,  476  ; 

evil-eye  charms,  359 
Possession  :   among   Bechuuia,   35 ; 

in  Persia,  371 ;  on  Upper  Congo, 

184-S 
Poliphar's  wife  story,  Indian  vanants 

of;  246 

Potiymp,  ancient  Prusaan  god,  296-7 
Pottery  :  charms  for.   Upper  Congo, 

i8j 
Powder-puff,    ghost    of,    Winterton 

Hall.  169 
Powell,  r.  U, :  Folklore  Notes  feom 

Soulh-Wesl  Wills,  3.  71-83 
Power    of   Speech,   The,    traditions 

concerning.  153 
Poyslon:  hones  head  under  flooring, 

348 
Praise    unlucky,    Lincolruhire,    178, 

Persia,  268-9  \  'o  "forspeak,"  049 


544 


Index. 


on,  discussed  by  EX  S.  HartUnd, 

20-I 
President,  election  of,  4 
Presidential    Address    (Some    Prob- 
lems of  Early  Religion  in  the  light 

of    South    African    Folklore),   by 

£.  S.  Hartland,  4,  15-40 
Prestagc,    P.,    The    Kraal     Family 

System  among   the    Amandebele, 

326-9 
Pnmitive  Orientation,  by  W.  H.  R. 

Rivers,  131,  210-2 
Primrose  :    used   in  house  garlands. 

May  1st,  Abney,  426 
Proserpine,   rites  of,   see   Eleusinian 

mysteries 
Provence,  see  Fr^jus 
Proverbs  :  Bihar,  213-4  ;  Derbyshire, 

396,423  ;  Jews  of  Bukowina,  509  ; 

Persia,  275^80  ;  Pbtoia,  372 ;  Wilts, 

81-3 
Prussia,  see  Prussia,  East  and  West ; 

Saxony,  Prussian 
Prussia,    East    and    West :    diseases 

caused    by    dead    relatives,    214 ; 

head  of  corpse  cut  oflf,  214 
Prussians,  Ancient,  The  Paganism  of 

the,  translated  by  F.  C.  Conybeare, 

293-302 
Puberty  :   personal    totems  acquired 

at,  Australia,  386-7  ;  rites  at,  391 
Publications  of  Folk-Lore  Society,9- 10 
Purim,  feast  of :  J.  G.  Frazcr's  views 

discussed   by    AI.   Caster,   226-30, 

A.  Lang,  236-7,  and   Miss  C.    S. 

Bume,  241-3 
Purple     key- flower     in    Barbarossa 

legends,  445 
Putscaet,  anaent  Prussian  god,  296-7 

Quail :  associated  with  millet,  Japan, 

71 
Queenhithe:  weathercock  at,  100 

Queen,  on  Garland  Day,  Castleton, 
408-11,413-9,  427  (//a/0.  Hope, 
424-5 

Queen  Guenevere,  in  relation  to 
Lancelot  du  Lac,  487-8,  494,  496 

Queen    Victoria,   death  of,  98,    129, 

257 

Rabbit  :  white,  haunts  place  of 
murder  &€.,  Lincolnshire,  172 

Races,  annual  :  Eastern  Vorubaland, 
508 

Rag  bushes  near  holy  well,  Persia, 
272 


Rags  on  sticks  at  ziumts  or  shrine 

Baluchistan,  272-3 
Raiatea  :  fire  walk,  rite  of,  446-7 
Rain|:  attributed  to  *'Tilo,''  Baroog 

26;    follows     ^'kUling    of    godi 

Ceylon,  457 ;    idol   tied  to  obtai: 

Japan,  70  ;  rain-making  and  totea 

ism,    386;    torchlight    processioc 

for,  Japan,  70 
Rain  Charm  in  Asia  Minor,  by  W.  I 

Paton,  216 
Rainbow :  magic  to  destroy,  Grej 

southen,  479-^0  ;  not  to  be  pointe 

at,  Gartree,  166 
Rainbow  Magic,  by  F.  J.  Cheshire 

479.80 
Rim&yana,  variants  of,  246 
Ranking,  D.  F.  de  L'FIoste,  note  ct 

The  Ancient  and  Modem  Game  c 

Astragals,  289-90 
Raratonga:   fire  walk,  rite  ci,  446 

454 
Rat :  revenant  as,  Wilts,  74 
Rattles :  in  Arawak  whipping  game 

Guiana,  144  ;  in  parasheeia  danoe 

Guiana,  157 
Realms  if  the  Egyptian  Dead^  The 

by  K.  A.  Wiedemann,    reviewed 

364-6 
'*  Reaping  Maiden,"  Ar^leshire,  I 
Re-birth,  see  Re-incamation  belid^ 
Records  of  Womet^s  Conference  cm  tk 

Home.  Life  of  Chinese  IVomen  re 

viewed,  504*5 
Red  :  used  by  dugong-men  in  magica 

ceremony,  Torres  Straits,  230 
Red     campion :    used    in     garland 

Castleton,  408 
Red    Sea:    ghosts    laid    in,    WilU 

Reels,  cotton,  tied  to  keys,  Lincoln 
shire,  175 

Re-incamation  beliefs :  in  Egyptiai 
story,  408-500 :  in  Irish  sagas,  49 
64-5  ;  Upper  Congo,  462-3 ;  Va 
lave,  Madagascar,  70 

Religion  :  beginnings  of,  discussed 
1 12-4,  by  E.  S.  Hartland,  19-28 
definitions  of,  356-7  ;  its  relatioi 
to  magic,  J.  0.  Frazer's  views  on 
220-1,  234-5:  ling's  Magic  am 
Kcligioft  reviewed,  354-60 

Report  of  Council,  5-14 

Reptiles  in  folklore,  see  Frog  :  Snake 
Toad  ;  Tortoise  ;  and  Turtle 

Repton  and  Gresley  hundred  0 
Derbyshire,  395 


Reviews,  107-25,  119-52,  3S4-7S. 
481-505 

RheumnLiiiin,  cures  for:  Asia  Minor, 
191;  NewlonAtibol,  351-2;  Poland, 
"93 

Rhodesia:  The  Kraal  Family  System 
among  the  Amondehele,  by  P. 
Prestage,  326-9 

Rhodope,  king  of,  ■□  Greek  folktale, 
204-7 

Rhymes :  (sa  alia  Coun!ing-oul 
rhymes  ;  Nursery  rhymes  ;  Place 
rhymes ;  Rhymes,  English  and 
Hindu:  aWRiddlcs):  W, Sussex, 346 

Rhymes,  English  and  Hindu,  collected 
by  Mis.  K.  Lee,  M.  Eyre,  S.  O- 
Addy,  and  M.  N.  Venlcalaswami, 
330-S 

Kibbon-gra£s  :  used  in  Garland,  May 
29ih,  Ciislleloti,  418,  Hope,  424 

Rice  Harvest  in  Ceylon,  The,  by 
R.  J.  Drummond,  457-S 

Riddles :  Morley  (Yorks),  333 ; 
Secunderabad,  333 

Right  foot  of  bride  must  touch  house 
entrances,  ancient  Prussians,  299 

Right-hand  direction  named  from  com- 
pass point,  21D-Z 

Rigveda,  The,  by  Prof.  E,  V.  Ainotd, 
reviewed,  145-7 

Rjng,  The,  Greek  folktale,  201-3 

Rivers  and  streams:  (m«  a/n>  Chapa- 
langa ;  Nauuassa;  Nile;  and 
Shannon):  negro  hoodoo  and  his 
charms  cannot  cross,  U-S.A.,  2521 
pnlluled  stream  taboos,  61  \ 
Polrymp,  ancient  Prussian  god  of, 
296;  stones  thrown  into,  u  rain 
chann,  Asia  Minor.  116 

Rivers,  W.  H.  R.,  Primitive  Orienta- 

Kobin  Hood  saga  :  parallel  to  death 

and  burial,  Hertfordshire,  305 
Rocks :   deities  of  tluichol  Indians, 

108  ;  roc!<  fairies,  Arapnhoes,  379 
RsmaHci  Cycle  of  CharliitiagHt  and 

his  FecT!,   Tki,  by  J.  L.  Weston, 

reviewed,  375 
Romans.ancient;  astragali,  258,  281-2; 

dysenlery,  cure  for,  473  ;  vestiges 

of  in  Derbyshire,  399-404 
Ropc-pu11ing,BrahmapulravBlley,5l0 
Roraima:  boll  game  near,  135 
Rosemary  :   used   in  vinegrafling,  S. 

France,  196 
Kosnarec,  battle  of,  51-3 
Rouse,  W.  H.  D..  History,  Trtidilioa. 


and  Historic  Mylh,   467-8;     The 

Luck  of  Mycenoe,  347-8  ;  Sacrifice 

to  avert  Shipwreck,  t05 
Royal  Exchange,  grasshopper  of,  too 
Royston :    head   of   corpse   between 

thighs,  101-3 
Rubies:  powdered,  as  remedy,  Persia, 


Lithuania ;       Livonia  ;       Poland  ; 
Ukraine  ;  and  Vitebsk 
Rilslum,  Persian  villages  named  from, 


Sabbat,  i«  Witchcraft 
Sabbath-breaker,   rain   damages  hay 

crop  of,  Warminster,  79 
Sacaea.  T.  G.  Fraier's  views  on,  dii- 
cussed,  by  M.  Gaster,  226-30,  and 
A-  Lang,  336-7.  355 
Sacrifice  : 

animal: — burnt,  Pocklington,  317; 
goat,  for  harvest,  ancient  Prus- 
sians, 395-6  ;  in  Midsummer  lire, 
Bagoires  de  Luchon,  316-7;  for 
prosperity   of   traveller,    Persia, 
366  ;  of  totem,  392-3  ; 
beec-drioking  to  god  of  plants  &c., 
ancient   Prussians,   295  ;   Biahma- 
puua  valley,  Jio:  foundation  sacri- 
fices, 348  ; 

Aumaa  : — burial  of  slave  wife  with 
dead.     Upper   Congo,    459-60 ; 
criminal  sacrificed  on  5th  day  of 
feast,  Ashanti,  337  ;  of  liritbom 
among  Semites,  347  ;  fishing,  far 
luck   m,  Upper  Congo,   187-S ; 
Jepbthoh's  daughter,  348  ;  of  one- 
year  king,  J.  G.  FraieHs  theories 
on    discussed,     226-30,     336-7: 
Meriah  sacri^cial  post,  Z55  ;    at 
Saturnalia,   219  ;  shipwreck,   to 
avert,  ancient  Greece,  105  ; 
of  god,  331  :  sacred  days  for.  Gold 
Coast,  59  ;  lo  spirits  of  dead,  Bechu- 
ana  and  Basuto,  35:  of  totem,  393-3 
Sacrifice  at  York,  1648,  by  E.   Pea- 
Sacrifice  lo  avert  Shipwreck,  by  W. 

H.  D.  Rouse,  105 
Sage  1       gathered       as     love     spell, 

lincolnshire,  1 67 
Sailtirs'  beliefs  and  customs,  iie  Sea 
belief  and  customs 


546 


Index. 


St.  Agnes'  Eve  :  love  divination  on, 

Lincolnshire,  167 
St.   Andrew's  Eve  :  lovo  chann  on, 

Poland,  193 
St.  Bridget  at  Fr^jus,  309-1$ 
St  Clair,  G.,  "Myths  of  Greece," 

469-71 
St.    Clement's    Day:     blacksmiths' 

festival,    Hampshire,  217,   344-6 ; 
gooding,  249 
St.  Elias  as  successor  of  Greek  deity 

Helios,  501 -2 
St.  Fran9ois  de  Paule  at  Fr^jus,  309-14 
St.  George,  A  Hertfordshire,  303-7, 

{plate) 
St.  John's  Day,  see  Midsummer  Day 
St.  Mark's  Eve  :  church  porch  visions, 
Lincolnshire,  169  ;  love  divination 
on,  Lincolnshire,  167 
St.  Nicholas'  Day  :  cakes  in  animal 

form,  Austria,  I 
St.  Raphael,  Angel  of  Healing,  3x4 
St  Roch  of  Montpellier,  314 
St.  Thomas'  Day  :  gooding,  249 
Sakkeya,  sea-shell  as  emblem  of  purity 

of,  in  magic  figure,  Ceylon,  458 
Salruck  :  burial  customs,  3,  104,  258, 

iplate) 
Salt,  used  against  witchcraft,  Lincoln- 
shire, 173-4 
Samhain  ( Hallowe'en)  :  Cuchulainn's 
struggle  with  Meave's  hosts  begins 
Monday  before,  57  ;  taboo  on  King 
of  fiire  on  Tucs«lay  after,  47 
Samogitae,    ancient     sacrifices     and 

rites  of,  294-302 
Sanctuary,  right  of  :  in  burial  ground 
of  toiem  clan,  393  ;  in  Persia,  269  ; 
sanctuary  trees,  356 
Sand-rope,  the  legend  of  the,  131 
Sandwich  Islands,  see  Hawaii 
Santals  refuse  food  cooked  by  Brah- 

mans,  483 
Santa  Brigita  at  Fr^jus,  309-15 
Sarawak  :  nyarong  or  spirit  helper  of 

Sea  Dyaks,  231-2 
Sarmatians,  worship  and  customs  of, 

294-302 
Saturnalia :  J.  G.  Frazer's  views  dis- 
cussed, by  M.  Gaster,  226-30,  and 
A.  Lang,  355  ;   in  Lower  Mcesia, 
219 
Savaras  (India),  246 
Saxony,  Prussian,  see  Grossvargula 
Sayce,    A.   II.  :    reviews   by,  Wiede- 
mann's The  Realms  of  the  E^ptian 
Dead,  3646  ;    Griffith's  Stories  of 


the  ffigk'Priests  if  Mempl 

500 

Scandinavia  :    (x«r    aise    N( 

connection    oif     Lincolnahi 

Scandinavian  belief,  i6i-2 

Scapegoat:  birds  as,   70;   id 

nver  as,  at  Japanese  Q^xtx 

superstitions  connected  with 

Scarsdale  hundred  of  D^faysh 

Schoolmaster,  The  Accursed, 

folktale,  84-6 

Scorpion :  antidote  to  bites, 
272 

Scotter  :  water  in  which  iron 
as  remedy  for  bad  leg,  472 

Scotland  :     (jse€     aUo      Argyi 
Berwickshire ;     Hebrides ; 
lands;  Inverness-shire;  Per 
and  Shetland  Islands);   as 
pebbles  as,  2S4;  chuckies,  g 
285-6;    compass  points   u 
giving    directions,    aii-a; 
put  in  first  water  given  to  a 
calving,  472  ;    feet-washing 
ding),  249;    "fivies,"  258 
task  stories,  131  ;  toest  tmc 
west,    red-hot    cinders    to 
cooking  utensils,  473 

Sea  beliefs  and  customs : 
sacrifice  to  avert  shipwreck, ' 
105  ;  Japanese  sailors  fee< 
cats,  70;  orientation  by  c 
points,  212  ;  pigeons  freed  at 
of  ship,  Japan,  70 ;  ancient  1 
gods  of  sea  and  sailors,  sacr 
296  ;  S^billot's  L€  Folk-l 
Pccheurs  reviewed,  37 1 -2; 
thrown  into  sea  as  rain  char 
Minor,  216 

Sea  Dyaks,  nyarong  or  spirit 
of,  231-2 

Seaford  :  weathercock  at,  99  ( 

Sea-gull,  in  Greek  folktale,  2C 

Seal  :  unclean,  Asia  Minor,  i< 

Sea,  Red,  see  Red  Sea 

Sea-shells,  see  Shells 

Second  sight  :  rare  in  Linco 
169 

Secretary,  election  of,  4 

Sccunderabad  :  rhymes  from. 

Seeds  :  (J«  also  Millet  ;  Ric 
Tamarind  seeds) ;  Pcr^ 
ancient  Prussian  god  of  seed 

Seine,  Dcpt.  of,  see  Paris 

Serpent,  see  Snake 

Serpent  Child  type  of  folktale, 

Seven  :  77,000  stones  as  rain 


Asia  Minor.  J  i6  :  omilled  in  count- 
ing raja's  leign,  Uriya  Slates,  247 
Shag  loal.  goblin,   Lincolnihirc,  172 
Shakefpeari.  TAi  Fairy  Mylkohgy  of, 

hy  A.  Nmt,  reviewed,  ia:-a 
Shnmani,  we  Medicine -men 
Shamii,  Ihe  legend  of  ihe,  44S.  475 
Shannon  ;   passing  dry-fool   labooed 

to  Cormac  eonloingts.,  63 
Shape-shifting  ;  among  Bantu,  35-6  ; 
belief  in,  one  of  elemenla  of  tor  — 


.  35i   ' 


o  pnmuive 


,  49,  and 


.  .  ,  .  1  Greek  folktale, 
87-93.  205-7,  a(D7-8  ;  IJncolnihir< 
172:  by  Per^an  ghouls,  ifti,  and 
jinns  and  afreets,  363 

Shark  :  hammer-headed,  loletn  in 
Yam  Island,  3JI 

Shatton  :  lead-mining  custom,  396-7 

Sheep  :  (i«  also  Moufflon) ;  astragalus 
from  lamb,  Bordeaux,  384 1  dice 
from  knucklebones  of,  Arabs,  aSz, 
and  N.W.  froQlier  of  Indl,i,  sSi) ; 
ewe  ia  nursery  rhyme,  Secundcra- 
^^1  334;  eye  worn  as  amulet, 
Persia,  36S ;  in  Greek  folktale, 
3'9 ;  goldeo  lamb  the  luck  of 
Mycemc,  ^7-8 ;  lambs  not  I  ' 
counted,  Lincolnshire,  1791  1 
iltin  applied  for  bruises,  Asia 
Minor,  191:  skin  protects  from 
spirits,  Wilts,  741  weathercock  in 
shape  of  lamb,  Hendon,  99 

Sheffield  :  building  house  &c  in  one 
night  gives  title  to  land,  397 

Shell :  emblem  of  pmitj?  ofSakkeya, 
in  magic  ti^re  for  ricc-thraihing, 
Ceylon,  45S ;  white,  is  charm 
against  loss  of  article,  Parsee,  378 

SheUlish :  S^billol's  La  Coquiliagts 
dt  Shr  reviejved,  371 

Shetland  Islands:   "Grand  Foudc" 


I,  J49 


Shield  : ' 


s  when  Conchobhat   i 


I    of 

, L,  ncn  1  shield 

Huichol  temple  .  . 
Ship  Processions,  by  N.  W.  Thomas, 

476-7 
Ships:   in  festival  processions,  315, 
476-7  ;  launch  of,  pigeons  freed  si, 
Japan,  70  :  weathercocks  in  shape 

Shipwreck,  human  socrifice  lo  aveii. 


^ 


Shoshone  Indians  ;  (i«  aAc  Coohuilla 

Indians)  ;  folklore  of,  379 
Shrines  :  Anions,  154    Baluchistan, 

272-3;  China,  511 
Shrovetide  :  rhyme,  Wilts,  Si 
Sickness,  see  Diseases 
Si'lh  or  fairy  dwellings  of  Ireland,  51 
Sieradz  :  animal  lupetstiiions,  193-4 
Signs  of  lodiac  :   water  drunk  from 

basin   inscribed   with,  as   remedy, 

Persia,  270 
Silk-grass  :  used  for  whipping  game  of 

Arawnks.  Guiana,  143 
Silver  Bough  in  Irish  Legend,  The, 

by  Miss  Eleanor  Hull,  43'-4S 
Singing  Bone  type  of  folklnlci,  izj 

Sisters :  special  position  amongst 
Hottentots,  30 

Skins  :  (r»  aho  Cat ;  and  Sheepl  :  of 
sacrificial  animaUi  worn  by  Jacob, 
248 

Skulls  of  animals  as  garden  scare- 
crows, Asia  Minor,  192 

Slave  Coast  :  holy  days,  59 

Slavs.  r«Borus!.i ;  Russia;  Ruthenia; 
oHi/Sami^tEe 

Sleaford  :  weather  rhyme  on  stones 
near.  165 

Sleeping  cily,  in  Greek  fQlktale,  319- 

Sloth :   badge  in  whipping  game  of 

Amwaks,  Guiana,  144 
Smalldalc:  "  bye-names"  used,  399  ; 

place  rhyme,  423;  Roman  vestiges. 


399 
Smallpox,    mock     burial     to    curCi 

Gloucestershire,  353 
Smiths  and  smithy  work,  see  BUck- 

Smyma  :  Dionysiac  processions,  476 

Snake  :  Bechuana  lube  named  after, 
31  ;  in  Buddhist  Wheelof  Life,  67  j 
burnt  in  Midsummer  fire,  Bagnirei 
de  Luchon,  316-7;  cakes  in  form 
of,  Asia  Minor,  192 ;  house 
guardian,  Asia  Minor  and  Lesbos, 
191  ;  omens  for  year  from  house- 
hold snakes,  ancient  Lithuanians 
and  SamogilK,  298  t  respected  by 
Turks,  iQz  ;  souls  of  nobles  pass 
into,  Madagascar,  342  \  Iravellers 
pass  between  divided  body,  Per^a, 
166  1  worshipped,  ancient  Lilhu- 
nians  and  Samt^t^e,  298 

Sneezing  :  Persia,  366-7 

Snobs,  game  of,  3;8,  zgo-i 


r, 


I  I      u 


i 


I. 

i 

■ 

■i 

I 


! 


II  ij-j 

1'!   ■■  . 


if.  '-i  ■ 


■i 


'« 


1 


1 


J 


548 


Index. 


Sodetieit  humsiii   daiiHicatfcin   o( 

1 10-3 
Solar  edipao*  i«  Kdipaet*  aobr 
Solomon,  Kind  jm  King  Solomoo 
Some  Ptohkmf  of  Eai^  ReHgioQ  in 

the  light  of  Sooth  African  Folkloie^ 

by  E.  S.  Hartland,  4, 15-40 
Somenbgr :  fiuriet  at»  170 
Somenetihiie,  jm  Loccombe 
Songs,  JM  Folk-ioon 
.S^ftfT  rf  Mfdtm  Gn$e§^  hf  G.  F* 

iUibott,  reviewed,  125 
Soot  as  remedy  for  born,  Penla,  17s 
Sore  feet,  charm  against,  F6land,  193 
Sartes   VirgiHama :  volwne  of  Hans 

and  knife,  Perna,  263-4 
Sools :  {se$  als9  Death  and  funeral 

customs    and     beliefr);     leaving 

sleeping  body,  Wales,  11^  1  omens 

of  tiiture  state  of,  Pttsia,   178; 

taboos  to  keep  in  body,  221 
South  Africa,  sa  Africa 
South  America:  {su  alt9  Amntine 

Republic;  Bolivia ;  Brsail ;  Guiana ; 

Mapodie ;  amd  Peru) ;  cures,  256 ; 

gaines  widi  knucklebones,  2&1-3 
South  Uist :  collection  of  folklore  in, 

358-9 
Scming  customs  and  bdiefr :  diurlidi 

sower  punished,  Lincolnshire,  164 ; 

folly  ot  offending  niler  of  weather, 

Lincolnshire,    163;    site   of  new 

village    ploughed   and   sown,    S. 

India,  24(5-7 
Spain  :  broadsides,  3 ;  Carnival  pro- 
cession, 476 
"  Spanish  Alleluias  "  (broadsides),  ^ 
Sparrow :  killed  with  whips,  Poland, 
-   193  ;  in  story  of  William  of  Lind- 

holme,  171-2 
Speakman,  J.  C  G.,  Midsummer  in 

the  PVrenecs,  315-7 
Spectral  hunt :  Gabriel  ratchet,  249  ; 

Wilts.  74 
Spectral    Light   in   Corsica,  by  £. 

Peacock,  105-6 
Spectral  Lights,  by  A.  Lang,  343-4 
Speech,  folklore  as  to  power  of,  353 
Spells,  ste  Charms  and  spells 
Spider  :  not  killed,  Asia  Minor,  19X, 

Poland,  193 
Spirit  of  Vegetation,   The,    by    E. 

Tregcar,  260 
Spitting :  for  luck,  I  jncolnshire,  179  ; 

on  grave,  Upper  Congo,  1S4 
Sponge-fishing,  octopus  of  ill  omen 

to,  Asia  Minor,  189 


Spring,  nncieBt  FfeMrivB  fod  o( : 
Sprigs:  dw^^p  of  HneUdsi 

pd  ct  396 1  toA  briiy  cfca 

Stable :  as  Mmctmy,  Bniat  1 
wild  pig  in,  piolaels  hooBt  i 
evU  eve,  Piffila,  2^9 

Stafibtddiire  s^f   «&»  lUba 

Slag:  horns oiver  doon^  ArialQ 
192;  Inntiw  oi  ma^  with  gri 
hocns  tahoocq,  63 ;  ipcailicnBC 
shape  of,  Neudoa,  99;  wm 
heads  on  hoiiaca,  Pcdsnd,  194 

Stammering^  folklore  o(  253 

Staring  at  diild,  core  for  iqi 
caused  by,  Memia,  47a 

Stais :  (jM  mit0  Great  Bear  eoa* 
tkm) ;  myth,  Mnll^anib  j83;a 
ment  on  aanaical  inibMB 
Guiana,  157  ;  not  to  he  poa 
at,  Gartree,  166 

State,  evohitioii  of  tfac^  no 

Stone-catdiing  Game,  hf  E,  Lea 
106, 815, 1S7-8,  a8o^3 

Stone,  cure  for,  Asia  lunor,  191 

Stonehenge,  133 

Stones:  (iw  oAa  Rocks);  p 
thrown  by,  Linocdnshne,  1 
Greek  superstitions  ooocera 
243-5 ;  ^th  holes,  cfaanns  agi 
witchcraft,  Lincolnshire^  i 
legends  connected  with,  TJnr 
shire,  163-5:  magic,  Man 
River  Tribe  (Aus.),  3; 
charm,  thrown  into  water  as,  j 
Minor,  2x6 ;  totem  may  reskk 
Yam  Island,  231 

Stoney  Middleton :  Barmote  Co 

395 
Stools:    channs  for.  Upper  Coi 

185;  votive, for  Iluicholdeities, 
Stories  and   other  Notes  from 

Upper  Congo,  by  J.    H.   Wo 

181-9,  458-04 
Stories  from  Upper  Egypt,  by  C 

Myers,  329-30 
Stories  of  the  Higk-^ritsts  cfMem^ 

by  F.  U.  Griffith,  reviewed,  ^ 

500 
Stork :   child-bringer,  Poland,  v 

flesh  cures  rheumatism,  Poland,  I 

when  first  heard,   money  tun 

Poland,  193 ;  not  injured,  Pols 

193 ;  luck  or  ill-luck  from 

Poland,  193 


•• 


549 


Storms ;  accompuDy  trial  for  capital 
offence,  165-6 ;  atlribuled  to 
"  Tilo,"  Baronga,  26;  Paign, 
ancient  PruBsian  god  of,  296,  298  ; 
show  fury  of  devil,  1 66 

Slourlon,  King  Allrcd  localised  at, 
77 


t  Rivcf 

Sualtach,  Fnlher  of  Cuchulainn,  57 
Sudini,  customs  of,  299-301 
Suffolk  ;  BstnLgali  fiom  pebbles,  2S4, 

from  polsberds,  184  ;  the  Passing 

Bell,  4Sa 

;r  Congo,  188-9 
Suicide :     phantom    animals    haunt 

(llace  of,  Lincolnshire,  172 
Suitenglj,  Japanese  god  of  water  and 

heaven,  214 
Sumatra ;    Batlas    free   swallow    to 

avert  cuise,  70  ;  harvest  riles,  Z20 
Sun  :  Cuchulainn  a  sun-hero,  58,  6a- 

3,  65  ■,  eclipses  and  clouds,  magical 

musical  instrument,  Guiana,  157  ; 
passage  of,  magicajly  imitated  by 
ancient  Italian  fire  walk,  453  ; 
not  to  be  pointed  al,  Gartree,  166  ; 
shining  on  apple-trees  al  Christmas 
foretells  heavy  crop,  Lincolnshire, 


Sun  Charms,  by  N.  W.  Thomas,  216 

Sundanese  Words  'south'  and  'left, 
connected,  211 

Sunrise :  prayer  granted  at,  on  Whit- 
suntide morning,  351 

Sunset ;  unlucky  to  bring  <^gs  &c. 
into  house  after,  Lincolnshire,  I67 

Sunwise  :  millstones  should  so  turn, 
Lincolnshire,  167 

Supernatural  Changes  of  Sites,  by  E. 
Peacock,  464-6 

Surnames,  sec  Names 

Surrey,  j«  Croydon  :  and  Merlon 

Survival  of  Tree- Worship,  A,  by  M. 
L.  Cameron,  4SS-^ 

Sussex  :  tin  aJm  Seaford)  1  astragals, 
fioishefds  us.  284 !  blacksmiths  fes- 
tival, 346;  forrep  land,  2491  wit, 
funeral  bell  may  portend  anolher 
funeral,  480;  iiitit,  rhyme  from,  346 
Iton  Veney  ;  rhymes  about   bells. 


Swabia :  water  in  which  iron  cooled 
as  remedy  for  itch,  472 

Swallow  :  not  injured,  Poland,  t93  ; 
lucky,  Aua  Minor,  190,  Persia, 
265  ;  released  by  Ballas  (Sumnlra), 
70,  japan,  70,  Paris,  70;  respcclcd, 
Asia  Minor,  190,  Turks,  192 ; 
when  6rsl  seen,  sore  feel  averted 
by  silting  down,  Poland,  193 : 
transformed  girl,  Poland,  1941 
weathercock  in  shape  of,  Frietn 
Barnet,  99 

Swan  :  shape  assumed  in  Irish  legends. 

Swan-maiden  type  of  follilales,  I17-8, 

458-9 
Swastika,  6g.  214 
Swearing.  i«  Oaths 
Sweeping  dust  out  of  door  unlucky, 

Lincolnshire,  179 
Sweet-flag  :    medical   powers,  Japan, 

71;  used  in  May  festival,  Japan,  71 
Switzerland  :    {ste  ala    Neuchilel) ; 

astragalus    from    Lake   dwellings, 

258 
Sykes,    Miss    E.,  Persian   Folklore, 

258,  261-80  ;  nole  en  The  Ancient 

and   Modem   Game  of  AslragaU> 

293 
Symbolism  efike  Huhhel  /ndtans,  by 

C.  Lumholli,  reviewed,  107-9 
Symi :  animal  niperslilions,  189-92 
Syria  :  children's  games,  2S1 

Taboos ;  animal,  among  Bechuano, 
31 -I;  of  canoe -builder.  Upper 
Congo,  185  ;  on  man  whose  house 
lakes  fire,  Japan,  70;  milk, 
Mapuche,  512  ;  on  names  of 
dead,  Upper  Congo,  1S4 ;  Old 
Irish  Tabus  or  Geosi,  by  Miss 
Eleanor  Hull,  2,  41-66;  polluted 
stream,  61  ;  during  rice- thrashing, 
Ceylon,  458;  toy^  and  priestly, 
221  ;  in  Welsh  Mabinagion,  65.6 

Tahiti :  The  Fire  Walk  Ceremony  in 
Tahiti,  446-SS  (/'o") 

Tails  of  animals  cropped,  97,  20S, 
slit  or  bled,  97 

Takoisi  Nakawe,  Huichol  goddess  of 
growlh,  108 

T^dismans,  ui  Amulets  and  talismans 

Tamarind  seeds,  game  with,  Gujcnit, 
258,  285 

Tamils :  old  god  thrown  into  river, 
and  new  one  found,  before  rice 
harvest,  457 


•550 


Index. 


I 

w 
I 

f 


Tanganyika,   Lake :    folklore    from, 

379 
Tara:  taboo  on  King  of  Ireland  at,  46 
Tarahumara    Indians :    games    with 

knucklebones,  283 
Tarantula  :  antidote  to  bites,  Persia, 

272 
Tasks  set  in  Greek  folktale,  91-3 
Tatevali,  Huichol  god  of  fire,  108 
Tatterfoal,  goblin,  Lincolnshire,  172 
TeaffOts    seasoned    by  hot    cinders, 

Scotland,  473-4 

TefBa,  North  :  taboo  on  king  of  £ire 
concerning,  47 

Teheran :  evil  eye,  belief  in,  268  ; 
Parsees,  account  of,  276-8 ;  witch- 
craft, 272 

Teigue,  Son  of  Cian,  story  of,  442-3 

Tempests,  see  Storms 

Tennessee  :  astragali  in  stone  graves, 

283 
Tenos,  folktale  from,  197-200 

Texas  :  divining  rod,  102-3 
Thermi,  village  in  Greek  folktale,  87 
Thirteen  :  13th  of  SafTar  unlucky,  of 
other  months  lucky,   Persia,  264 ; 
unlucky,  Persia,  264-5 
Thirteen,  Greek  folktale,  93-7 
Thomas,  N.   W.  :   Animal  Supersti- 
tions,  129,     189-94 ;    A    Buddhist 
Wheel  of  Life  from  Japan,  i,  67-9, 
123,  214  {^frontispiece)  ;    Cropping 
Animals'     Ears,    97,    208  ;     The 
Ethnological  Significance  of  Burial 
and  Cremation,  468-9  ;  Ship  Pro- 
cessions, 476-7  ;    Stray   Notes  on 
Japanese    Folklore,     69-71  ;     Sun 
Charms,  216  ;  The  Transition  from 
Totemism    to    Ancestor  Worship, 

341-3 
Thornhill  :  maypole,  425 

Thorns  in  Greek  folktale,  92 

Thrashing     rice,      ceremonies     for, 

Ceylon,  457 -8 
Three  Sisters,  The,  Greek    folktale, 

200-1 
Threshold  :    bride    touches,    ancient 

Prussians,  299 
Thrush  :  cure  for,  Leicestershire  and 

Notts,  472  :  frog  or  thrush,  249 
Thunder,    ancient    Prussian    god   of, 

296,  298 
Thundercloud  :  at  execution,  Lincoln, 

166 
Thunderstorms,  see  Storms 
Tideswcll  :     no    garland    ceremony, 

426  ;   morris  dancers,  426  ;    nick- 


name fbr»  407  ;  predomimuit 
name,  407 

Tiger :  saperstitions,  Ngii6n- 
vaUey,  507  ;  word  tabooed  w 
rice-thrashing,  Ceylon,  458 

Tilo,  heaven  and  deity  of  Baroi 
26-7 

Tinchebray  :    cats  with  falemisfa 
admitted  to  Sabbat,  97 

Toad :  bone  has  magical  poa 
Lincohi,  168-9 ;  burnt  in  Id 
summer  fire,  Bagn^res  de  Lachi 
316-7;  in  love  charms,  TJnm 
shire,  168-9 

Tobacco  pipes  left  on  grave,  Salru 
3,  104,  258  {pUUe) 

Todas,  account  of,  255 

ToUeshunt   Knights  :   Barn-Hall 
gend,  464-6 

Tooth  :  charm  for  pulling,  Wilts.  S 
loss  portends  relative's  deal 
Japan,  71 

Toothache,  cure  for,  Asia  Minor,  I 

Torres  StraiU  :  marriage  restrictkN 
233 ;  primitive  orientation,  210- 
totemism,  230-1,  233 

Tortoise :  {see  also  Turtle) ;  fl< 
gives  strength,  Asia  Minor,  191 

Totemism :  m  Arunta  tribe  (Ans 
232  ;  evolved  into  ancestor  wi 
ship,  35-7»  341-3,  471  ;  flesh 
hound  tabooed  to  Cuchulainn,  41 
J.  G.  Frazer*s  views  discussed 
A.  C.  Haddon,  230-3 ;  ma 
Greek  superstitions  referable  1 
243-5;  li^e  of  totem  may  be 
stone,  Yam  Island,  231  ;  Notes  a 
Queries  on  Totemism,  385-9 
origin  may  vary,  232;  no  p 
sonal  totems,  Papuans,  231  ;  n 
sonal  totems.  Cape  York,  23 
survivals  amongst  Bantu,  31-3,  3 
territorial,  Arunta  tribe  (Aus 
232  ;  territorial  grouping  of  tote 
clans,  Torres  Straits,  233  ;  tote 
animal,  dead  clansman  assum 
form  of,  36  ;  totem  clan  Hves 
long  house,  Fly  River,  233  ;  tote 
represented  by  mask.  Yam  Islan 

231 
Tradition  and  historic  myths  in  th( 

relation    to   history,    discussed   1 

A.    Nutt,   3J6-9,   and   W.    H.   : 

Rouse,  467-8 
Tradition,  credit  due  to,  359-60 
Tradizioiii         Popolari        Pistcies 

Racconti     Popolari     Pistoiesi 


Index. 


m 


vemaceta  Pistaitst,  da  R.  Neiucd, 

reviewed,  371-3,  477 
Tnnsronnaunn  inlo  beails  01  birds, 
tc  Shape-ihifting 
tTiansition    from    Tottmiim   lo 

ccsloi   Worship.  The,   by  N.  W. 

Thomas,  341-3,  and  E.   S.  Ilarl- 

land,  4;t 
Tronsvaal :   memorial  on  native  cus 

lomsund  instiiutinni,  11,38,40 
"  TtBp,"   played   on   Pitim   Sunday, 

Wi/ts,  7S 
Treasure,  hidden :  Wilts,  75 
TtcBsiucr,  eleciion  of,  4 


Trees  in  folklore ;  (la  aisa  Ash ;  Black- 
thorn;  Cypress;  Fig-lree;  Hone- 
chestnut  I  Mountain  ash  ;  Oak  ; 
Palm  ;  Pipal  Uee  ;  and  Vew) : 
binh-trees,  246 ;  ssncluary  trees, 
356 ;  worship  of,  Brahmapulia 
valley,  51a,  Jllaka,  346,  and  Tus- 
cany, 4SS-6 

Tiee-spirils :  Fraier's  TTu  Golden 
Boiigh  reviewed,  219-41 

Trcgear,  E.,  The  Spirit  of  Vegeta- 
tion, 260 

Trident -armed  cross  in  magic  figure 
for  rice- thrashing,  Ceylon,  458 

TrifiUn,  romance  of,  488,  49a 

Triimpet-lnrd ;  imitated  in  Arawak 
game,  Guiana,  139-40 

Tmmpcls,  used  in  pu'nsheetH  dance, 
Guiana,  157-S 

Tuadh  Inbhir,  sympalhetjc  wave  of. 


Turning  back  unlucky.  Lit 


Turq 


s  amulel,  Persia, 


itha  D£  Danann  :  can  transform 
birds   or  beasts,  48  \    govern 
under    world    like    upper    world 
chieftains,    50-1;   re-incamaled 


Tuesday  :    Paisees  ri 
J»;    0 

Tulip  :    used  for  garland.  May  aglfa, 

Castleton,  409,  411,  415-7 
Turkey  :    {set  also  Metan  ;   Aiilin  i 

Armenians;   Asia  Minor  1   Crete; 

and  Myiidoi);    Turkish    knuckle- 
bone dice,  aSi 
Turmeric    in   magic  figure  for  rice- 

Ihnuhing.  Ceylon,  458 
Turner,   Miss   C.   V.,    tioU  en  The 

Ancient   and    Modern    Game   of 

Asuagals,  290-1 


Turtle  :  {see  a/ie  Tortoise} ;  blood 
gives  strength,  Asia  Minor,  igi  ; 
ceremony  10  obtain  supply  of, 
Torres  Sfralls,  231 

Tulbury  :  game  of  jacky-five-slones, 
191 

Twelve  Apostles,  the  mill  of  the, 
21S 

Twin  Brothers'  type  of  folktales,  124 

Twins,  altribuied  (o  "Tilo,"  Ba- 
ronga,  26 

Two ;  not  lued  on  ancient  knuckle- 
bone dice,  iSa 

Twyford  ( Hants)  :  blacksmiths'  festi- 
val, St.  Clement's  Day,  317,  344-6 

Twyfotd  (Middlesex):  wealbercock 
1,99:00 


Ukraine :  cakes  in  form  of  larks, 
March  22nd.  70 

Ulster  :  (i«  a/io  Btiigh  ;  Conehob»r 
sagas;  Cilchulainn  sagas :  and 
Emain  Macha)  i  the  Champions  of 
the  Royal  Branch,  43S;  the  king's 
post  of  peace,  440 ;  periodical 
prostration  of  warriors,  56-61 

Ultonian  cycle,  sa  Conchobhar  sagos  ; 
dui/ Ciichulainn  sa^^ 

Ulum-Scfcr,  Greek  folktale,  317-ao 

Uncle,  malernal ;  influence  among 
Basuto,  29 

Underworld,  r«  Hadcs 

United  Slalesof  North  America :  (see 
01^^  Aleiuian  Inlands;  Arapahoes ; 
Arizona;  Arkansas;  Bannock 
Indians  ;  California  ;  Cayuses  ; 
Florida  ;  Georgia  ;  lIap>E;Makah 
Indians;  New  Jersey  ;  New  Votk; 
Shoshone  Indians;  Tenneuee; 
Texas;  Uies;  and  Vankton  Indians); 
astragali,  sS]  :  lu^o  folklore, — 
Boyle's  Devi/  Tales  reviewed,  151-3 

Unkulunkulu,  Amazulu  ideas  of,  33 

Unlucky  days  and  deeds,  see  Lucky 
and  unlucky  days  and  deeds 

Upper  Congo,  see  Congo 

Uriya  Slates:  counting  years  of  raja'g 
teign,  347 

Uanech,  hill  of^  Conla's  adventur« 
on,  440 

Ulw  ;  folklore  of,  379 


5Sa 


Index. 


ValW,  tbdipKu,  belkA  ot.  Jo 
Vilerun,  ted  ipiiT :  WUuIutc  nuw 

ol,  Sa 
VsmpiKs :  ■Ppw  »  tiUek  dogi  oc 

[Mft,  Am  Hinot,  191 
Vanei  or  weatbocockt,  jm  WMthcr- 

V*r,  M*  Frfjni 
Veddalu,  utide  on,  379 
V«dic    mjUioloKr  :     Amold'i     71* 
RigMOt  leWnred,  345-6 
enkatummi,  M*  N.,  Rindn  ilm&ai 


collected  bj,  3J3-5 
Vice-PieiidenU,  election  e£  4 
^neU  diK^,  M>  Dock 
inctoiu,  Qoeen,  Mf  Qaecn  Victotk 
\^iie-n*ftuic  in  Sotttaem  Fnutec^  \i] 

C  A.  Jmnvier,  194-7 

boodoo,  153  i  wUd,  BeAniM  tnbe 


r.Jl 


Vlihan,  bow  uid  urov  of,  ia  nngic 
figwe  foe  itee-thndimt  Cejrlon, 

Vit^ 


I  in  TTnii-Knl  tenplci, 


Vnlture  :  &I  cores  eoldi  un 
tjlm,  Aiu  Hioor,  191  ; 
by  Turltg,  192 ;  Ftknee  c 
poeed  to,  378 


Wi 


'upu)da  :  1 
'akelield  ; 


»i3*  , 


convulrions,    cures    for, 
471-3;  K»ine  of  utragnls,  393 
Wakes,  let  Death  and  funeral  customs 

and  belief 
Walecros  wapentake  of  DerbTihire, 

395 
Wales :  (set  ait»  Montgomemhire ; 
and  Pembrokeshiie]  1  Rhys'  Ctllit 
Folklore,  Wtltk  and  Manx,  re- 
viewed, 114-6;  taboos  in  MaUno- 
gion,  65-6  ;  same  word  (or  "  right " 
and  "south,"  3ii-a 
Wallflower  :  used  in  Garland,  May 

39th,  Casllelon,  417 
Walloons ;  some  always  drowned  on 

Midsummei  Day,  I30 
WapenUkes  of  Derbyshire,  395 
Wapiana  Indians,  Guiana,  133 
Warau  Indians,  Guiana,  Iji-J,  150-1 
Warmiiislei :  origin  of  Cley  HUl,  78' 


WMwlcfcHtira :  HMe  oT  "id 
Wariter  >£  the  ^d,  aaa  k< 
blan,64 

Gtdua,  139; 

TOb:L 

Sckt  Rnwn  and  abM^ ;  $ 

2h?*'-  **^  y*"*i  ^^ 

Penia,  X70;  dnnk  mn  1 
iBKribad  bMin.  M  roMdh 
370;     finycr     iMili     tNilB 

eUdtoi'i  diih,  .^M  wa^gd 


bf  iMt  iron  or  diri 
Ktnedy,  DerbyAiic,  LdCMh 
IJnwiliaWre,  HuvanL 
SooUand,  and  SmEN,  «] 
for  miluiiB  Bewtr^ociL 
(Notts),  47a;  aSaed  lo  U 
far  hck,  Pnu,  306;  taba 
canoe-boDder,  Uppa  Conn 
Water  god :  pucr  wub  name  < 


391b,  < 
Water  spiiits : 

Congo,  463;    Banum    neriC 

Upper  Congo,   187-8;  the  t 

the  Ldke  as  water  U17.  487  ; 

Gee  lo  torrivci  in  Wallooa 

Mition,     I30 ;     source    of 

biries,  116 
Waves  ;  the  three  ^npatlietie 

of  Erin,  51-3 
Wax  poured  into  water  fix  it 

telling,  andcDt  Pnmiaiia  Ac 
Weather :    Ibretold    by    black 

Japan,  70 ;    Lincolnshire    fo 

162-7  i  weather  sayings,  Wil 
Weathercocks,    by    J.      p      j 

99-100  C/Wb/<J 
Wedding    customs    and    belie 

Marriage  customs  and  bcLefi 
Wednesday :  last  W.  of  Saffar  1 

Day  of    Judgment,    Persia, 

taboo  on  King  of  j^ire  on    4] 

lucky,  Persia,  364 
Weeks,   J,    H.,    Stories    and 

Notes  from  the  Upper  Cocua 

9, 458-64 


Well  :  from  blow  of  All's  hand, 
Persia,  171 :  offering  on  bushes 
near,  Persia,  272 ;  stork  beings 
children  from,  Poland,  194  ;  water 
from  causes  conception,  Persia,  172 
Wensleydale  :  rhyme  from.  332-3 
Werwolf :     romance  ol    Bisclavctct, 

West  Indies  :  taboos  of  time,  59 
Wcstmealh,  la  Alh  Majghne 
Weslon,     J.      L.,     "The     Golden 

Bough":  Moab  01   Edom  7.  347, 

476 ;   review  by,  Maynadier's  TAe 

iVift  of  Balk's  Tali:  its  Simnts 

and  Analopits,  373-4 
West  Prussifl.  ste  Prussia,  West 
Whaling  customs  and  beliefs  :  Kooiag- 

mioute,  371  :  Makah  Indians,  379 
Wheel  of   Life,  Buddhist,    1,    67-9, 

laj.  U4  {frBulispitci) 
Whipping,    ceremonial :    of     bride, 

aiicient  Lithuanians,  300 
Whipping  game  of  Arawaks,  Guiana, 

141-50 
Whistles :  in  animal  shapes,  Poland, 

193 ;   used   for   whipping  gimc  of 

Arnwaks,  Guiana,    143 ;    in    para- 

sheeia     dance      of      PaitamoDBS, 

Guiana,  156-8 
White    animals,   sa  lien;    Pigeon; 

and  Rabbit 
Whilelield 


Whi 


lilelield  ;  game  of  jacks,  292 

lite    key -Sower     in      Batbaiossa 

legends,  445 
While  01  lucky  days,  Persia,  265 
While  pigments  used  for  paiasheera 

dance,  Guiana,  Ij6 
White  shell  as  chaim,  Parsee,  378 
White  witches,  sa  Wise  women 
Whitsuntide  Fate  and  Mock  Burials, 

by     M.     F.      Johnston,      C     R. 

Coleridge,  and  A.  A.  Keary,  351-2 
Whitsuntide :    child   born  on    Whit 

Sunday  wUI  kiU  or  be  killed,  Balll- 

tore,  351  ;  Grass  King  procession 

at,  Grossvargula,  41S 
Whitton   (Lin.):  chattn  against  evil 

Wicken-tree,  sa  Mountain  ash 
Wicket-gates,  tabooed  in  Finn  lago, 

61-3 
Wicklow:  wren  bush,  131 
Widows  :  free-bench  tenure,  249 
Wife  if  Bath's  TiU.  The:  luSeurtts 

and  Analogues,    by  G.    H.    May- 

nadier,  reviewed,  373-4 
Wild  Hunt,  i«  SpecUal  hunt 


Wilishirc :  (sa  alto  Borehim  ;  Briit- 
ton  Deverill;  Crockerton;  DeveriU; 
Devizes  ;  Grovely  Wood  ;  Ileyles- 
bury;  Hillj  Hill  Deverill:  Hindoo; 
Homingsham ;  Kingsettle  Hill  1 
Kingston  Deverill ;  Longbridge 
DeveriU;  Lord's  Hill:  Maiden 
Bradley;  Stouilon;  Sutton  Veney; 


rhymes  fr 

Wind  :  {sa  alia  Storms) ;  cursing  of, 
putiudled,  Lincolnshire,  163 

Winnow,  in  magic  ligure  for  rice- 
ihrashiDg,  Ceylon,  45 S 

Winter :  Ciichulainn  holds  back 
Meave's  hosts  during,  57-8  :  winter 
solstice  celebration,  Hopi  Indians, 
S08 

Winterton :  ghost  of  powder  puff, 
169  I  lovecbarm,  16S 

Wirkswonh ;  Barmnte  Court,  395  i 
lead-mining  customs.  396-8 

Wise  men  or  wizards,  ste  Wirards 

Wise  women  1  Lincolnshire,  178 

Wishfotd  Revel,  76 

Witchcraft :  cat  with  blemish  not 
admitted  to  Sabbat,  97  ;  cured  by 
eating  food  of  enemy,  Persia,  271, 
or  by  throwing  e^  into  running 
water,  Persia,  271  ;  ear  of  calf  slit 
against,  Helmsley,  97  %  Lincoln* 
shire,  173-8  i  Persia,  263,  271-2 : 
Wilts,  75 !  "  witch's  bottle," 
Monkleigh,  u/ 

Witchw  :  drawitig  blood  from,  Lin. 
colnsbire,  I77'8:  sha|>c-shifting by, 
Lincolnshire,  172,  Poland,  194 

Wives :  husband  and  wile  stories, 
101,  213-4  ;  Upper  Congo  folktale, 
l8a-3 

Wiiards;  negro,  U.S.A.,  252:  powers 
of,  Lincolnshire,  177;  alsis  witches, 
Louth  (Lin.),  176-7 

Wolf ;  [sa  also  Werwolf) ;  in  Greek 
folktale,  324-5  ;  unlucky  in  house, 
Poland,  193 

Women :  (j«  a/w  Mother-right  i 
Sisters;  Widows;  Wise  women; 
Witches;  and  Wives);  are 
daugiiters  of  Huichol  goddeuet, 
loS ;  degraded  position  among 
Bantu,  29  ;  excluded  from  para- 
sheera  dance,  Guiana,  160 ;  high 
position    among    Hottentots,   30 ; 


1' 


554 


Index. 


madze    planting    begun    by    girls, 

Navajo  Indians,  197;  old,  have  evil 

eye,   Persia,   268;   Parsee,  276-7; 

taboo  on  Cormac  conhinges^  63 ; 

in  Upper  Congo  folktales,    182-3, 

461  ;  vine-grafting  begun  by  girl, 

S.  France,  196-7 
Woodcutter  Lad,  The,  Greek  folktale 

197-200 
Woodlouse :  charm  to  curl  into  ball, 

Wilts,  80 
Wooing    ciistoms    and    belie£i,    see 

Courting  customs  and  beliefs 
Woolborough  :  rheumatism  cured  by 

mock  burial,  3SI-2 
Worcestershire  :  astragals,  258,  284  ; 

"  jack  o'  five  stones,"  258 
Wounds,  cure  for,  Asia  Minor,  191 
Wren :  released  annually,  Champ  d' 
loux,  70;  wren  bush  and  box,  131 
Wright,  A.  R-,  The  Divining  Rod  in 

U.S.A.,  102.3 
Wroot :  grant  at,  170-2 


Yam  Island :  life  of  totem  in  stone, 
231 


Yam,  wild:    used  in  orda 
Congo,  187 

Yankton  Indians,  folklore  o 

Yaraikanna  tribe,  Cape  Yot 
personal  totems,  231 

Yarborougb  :  grass  from  § 
against  witches,  176 

Yew :  Druid  wand  firom, 
Hertfordshire  legend,  jpk 

Yezd  :  Parsees,  accoimt  (2, 

York  :  crucifixion  and  bomi 
in  1648,  317 

Yorkshire :  (jeealso  Bamale^ 
Moor  ;  Deepcar  ;  Helmd 
ley  ;  Pocklington ;  Royst 
field ;  Wak^eld  ;  We 
and  York);  astragals, 
as,  258,  284  ;  compass  p 
for  indicating  directions, 
Riding,  sword-dancers'  s< 

Yule,  su  Christinas 

Zakmuk,  Babylonian  :  J.  C 
views  on  discussed  by  li 
226-30 

Ziarats  or  shrines,  Baluchisi 

Zulus,  su  Amazulu 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  INDEX. 

Names  of  Authors  of  Articles  in  Periodicals  are  in  ordinc 
type,  names  of  Authors  of  Books  in  italics,  and  Titles  of  Peri 
small  capitals. 

See  also  separate  Index  of  Archxological  Papers  published  in  1899, 


Abhandlungen  and  Berichte  des 
K.  Z.  UND  A.  E.  Museums  zu 
Dresden,  507 

Adler,  C,  383 

Aegerlein,  J.  V.,  379 

Ainslee's  Magazine,  507 

Alters ,  C,  506 

Al  Machriq,  377>  5°? 

Alviella,  G.  d',  511 

American  Anthropologist,  254, 

377,  507 
American      Antiquarian 

Oriental   Journal,    254, 

507 
Amersbachy  K.,  370 

Amery,  P.  F.  S.,  127 
Andrews,  H.,  5 II 
Anglo-American  Magazine,  377 
Annke  Sociolociquk,  L',  377 
Annual  of  the  British  School 
at  Athens,  254,  377 


AND 

377, 


Anthropologie,  L',  127, 
Antiquary,  127,  377,  507 
Anyut,  Y,  383  {ter) 
Arch/eological      Repos 

TARIO,  254 

Archiv     FiJR     Religigi 

SCHAFT,  127,  254.  378 

Arlington,  L.  C,  508 
Arnold,  E.  v.,  126 
Asiatic  Quarterly  Revi 
Aston,  W.  G..  510  (^bis) 
Aubert,  A.,  381 
Axon,  W.  E.  A.,  127,  377 

Baildon,  W.  P.,  128 
Baldensperger,  P.  J.,  383 
Ball,  A.  H.,  127 
Ballard,  S.,  510 
Barlow,  T.  L.,  127 
Barrows,  j9.  /'.,  253 
Bastian,  A.,  254,  508  (^bis^ 


Al^ 

1 

^^^^^M                                                            555 

1 

Baty,  T.,  Sio 

Campbell,  Sir  J.  M,,  127.  nS,  380. 

Belchct,  B.,511 

509 

Bell,  J.  M,.  soS 

Caparl,  J.,  51 1 

Beoham,  W.  G.,  378 

Caius,  P.,  382(i/i),  SIO 

Wrard,  A.,  3S3 

Casanowici.  J.  M.,  383 

Bbrlin    MusgoM    FiJi  VoLKES- 

Cassidy.J.,  378 

KIINDB,  154 

Car/™,  IV.,  116 

Besi.  E.,  381,  383 

Century  Magazine,  The,  378 

BevaD,  E.  R.,  50S 

Cesaresco,  Counleas  Mirtinengo-,  37B 

ChadwLck,  H.  M-  ISS 

BlELlA,  507 

Chamberlain,  A.  f..  aS4,  377 
Chambers'  Journal,  378 

BlJDRACE  NTOT  DE  TAAL— ,   LAND-, 

BN    VOLKBNKUNDE,  378,  SO? 

Chaipenlier,  L.,  382 

£laci,/.S.,m 

Chaube,  R.  G.,  3S0  (ftr) 

Blacltman,  E,  E.,  377,  383 

Chavannes,  E.,  sn 

Bbden.  W.  W.,  384 

Chcynt,  T.  K.,  253 

Blait,  0.  Hunter—,  511 

China  Review,  378,  508 

Blcchel.E.,  S06 

Church      Mission  akv     IktAlli- 

Boas,  F.,  356 

GBNCBB,  378,  S08 

Bwldine,  P.  0.,  381 

Church  Quarterly  Review,  354 

Bockcnoogen,  G.  J.,  S" 

Clari-Jiall,/.  X..  153 
Clemens,  WTm.,  381 

B<^oras,  W.,  377 

Bouchier,  J.,511 

Cock,  A.  de.  Sii 

Bougl*.  C,  377 

Conard,  E.  L.  M.,  118 

Bouwi,  D.  W.,  378 

Contemporary  Review,  378 

Bowdiich,  C  P.,  377 

Conybearc,  F.,  S'l 

Boyle,  D.,  380 

CORRttSPONDANT,  LB,  50S 

BayU,  V.  F.,  ia6 

Cprrespondkniblatt,  soS 

Breodes,  J.,  Si2(#") 

Courboin,  A„  378 

Branky,  F.,  254 
Bray,  J.,  383 

Cranworlh,  Lady,  378  (*m) 

Crooke,  W..  127 

BriEBS,  G.  W.,  379 

Crowfool.  J.  W.,  3S0 

Brinckcr,  P.H.,2S6 

Culin,  S.,  254,  379  U"-) 

Bristowe,  L.  W.,  380 

Cumoni,  F.,2S6,38l 

Brockelmatui,  C,  510 

Cumanl,  F.,  376 

Blown,  R.,  3S1 

Bryant,  T.  II.,  isS 

Dale,  E.  R.,  381 

BCLLBTIN      DB       LA       SOCI^Ti       d' 

Davey,  F.,  512 

Etudes  CoLONiALBS,  378 

Dairidson,  O.,  128 

Bulletin  db  la  Soci^te  Rovalb 

Davy,  A.  J.,  128 

DB  Geockaphie  d'Anvbks,  378 

Delafosse,  M.,  254 

Bulletin  de  l'Ecolb  Fran^aisb 

Dielcrich,  A„  iz8 

^         d'  ExtrImb  Orient,  507 

Docsbcrg,  y.van   381 

Bulletins   bt  Memoires  db  la 

Doncieu*,  G.,  128 

Soci^Tt    d'Anthropolcxjib   db 

Dorsry,  G.  A.,  »S4.  377.  S08 

Paris,  507 

Draper,  W.  H.,  382 

^     BUlow,  W.  voo,  liS 
'     Bunker,  J.  R..  SIO 

East  Anulian,  378 

Bureau  of  American  Ethnolocv, 

Eastern  Counties  Macaeihb,  378 

Rbports  of,  SS4,  378 

Edge- Partington,  — ,  256 

Burgess,  J.,  ass 

Edisburoh  Rbvibw,  50S 

Bushdl.  S.  W..  3S1 

Elworthy,  F.  T..  383 

BVECONES,  S07 

English     Historical     Review. 
137,  soS 

Cadiire,  L..  507 

Essex  Review,  3 78 

Calliard,  E.  M.,  378 

Ethnolociischks  Notizblatt,  so8 

Calcutta  Revibw,  378 

Evans.  A.  J.,  ass 

556 


379 

FewkM,  . 

FiBLO  Columbian  Hdixum,  Ah- 

THBOrOLCXlICAL  SBUII,  JtA 

Ftmit,  I.,  507 
FiunDB,  379,  S08 
Fliher,  0.,S1I 
Flttiktr,  X.  d  ta6 
Fordc,  P.,  509 
V^tvxnuta,  E.,  379 
FOR-n(ioHTi.T  Rkviiw,  117,  S54 
Foncait,  G^  511 

Foy.  w.,  507 

Rmncke,  A.  H^  380,  jog 

Fnndce,  H^  509 

Fniet,  A.,  ^3  ijHi)t  511 

FtMei,  J.,  su.  m 

Fmir,J.  G.,  ia6 

Fsn  MunoK  of  Sctwcx  Ain> 

A",  379 
Falleboni.  F.,  508 
FurncM,  W.  H.,  379 

Gutder,  K.,  383 

G<'<ili>«'>  !*■>  355 

Gartxnijidbb,  379 

Gebhardt,  A.,  509 

GKHTLKUAH'a  Maoaziks,  379.  508 

GbOCKAFHICAL  JODKHAL,  JOS 

Gerde,  C  J.  van,  511 

Gintd,  11.,  377 

Globus,  aM.  379.  S** 

GoddArd,  P.  E.,  379 

GoDIt,  T.,  383 

Grace,  — ,  510 

Greenway,  G.  C  511 

Crimih,  F.  U.,  506 

Grube,  W.,  254 

Gnlnwedel,  — ,  379 

Gunkel,  H.,  38a(«w),Sil 

Habbenea,  J.,  378 
Hahl,  — .  354 
Hoig,  W.,  381 
Hail,/.,  S06 
Ilamillon,  F.,  354 
Harding,  D.,  51Z 

Harpbr's    Month  lv     Macazinb. 
ass.  379.  S09 


■— ■■■■■■■*,  CL  v.,  51s 

He.11.^,'  ir-f!r^s»7. 
BaHmml,  r.  T!,  jS 
IlauT,  T.i  3S1 
HCTtc(«,A.,5a8 

HOkr.  iCft..  379 
Hfldei^kL,  sotf^ 
Holb,  A.  CL,  X56  (MfL  sb 
Hdkc  Haqaums  or  Mi 

38(^509 
Hopewell,  Y.,  384 

"'  "^     *"Aa 
"•"■■"■'■>  C.,  506 
HdmamitI  NoovBtxa,  jl 
HuntcT-Bfaur,  O.,  (11 
Hyde,  IX,  511 

IMVIKUI.  Aire  CausKm 
lira,  380 

IKDIAM  AirtTQDAKT,    137. 

r  *^ 

INTXXHATIOKAIJH      AKCH 

Etsnoguphis,    laS.    ' 

S09 

IimKNATlONAI.  HOMTHLV 

Irish  Ectlxsiastical  Rbi 
Islamic  Wobla,  380 

IsrOUTCHKSKII   ViBSTNIK, 
lyei,  S.  A.,  ass 
■too.  P.,  377 


eakei,T.  L,  511 
,  eTOns,F.BL.  380,  38a 

■WISH  QUARTBRLY  RbVIK 

cwitl,  W.  H.,  377-8  («»*),  1 
John,  I.  B.,  506 
"ohn$,  C  W.  H.,  379 

one*.  F.  M.,  508 

,  OHRHAL     DB  LA     SOClAri 
OUCRIBNKB,  381 

Journal   op   Hellkmic  I 

128.  2SS,  510 
Journal  OF  thbApsican* 


Journal  of  thb  Anthkc 
cal  Institutr,  ass,  380, 

Journal  op  th«  Anthkc 
CAL  SociRTT  OP  Bombay, 


557 


ouKNAL  OP  THE  Anthropologi- 
cal Society  of  Tokyo,  380 

ouknal  op  the  asiatic  socibtv 
OF  Japan,  sia 

■URNAL       OF      THB        POLYNaSIAN 

Society,  3S1,  510 
lUkNAL  OF  THB  Royal  Asiatic 
Society,  510 

lurkal  of  the  royal  asiatic 
Society  of  Bsngal,  381,  510 
[uynboll,  H.  H.,  509 

Ksiiidl,  R.  P.,  354,  S09  liii) 
K&rutz,  — ,  379 
Keighiley,  B.,  511 
Ketn,  R.,  511 
Kinesmill,  T.  W.,  378 
Knowledge,  381 
Koch,  T.,  138 
Kohlei,  E.  M.,  384 


Koeitlitt,  R^  355 
Kohlbnigge,  I.  H.  F., 
Krelschmer,  P.,  510 


W 


Lady's  Rbalu,  381 
L«  F.rp,T.,384 
Lalienais,  R.  M.,  509 
LAfirange,  — ,  3B3 
L«GrasseTie,  R.  de,  511 
Laidlaw,  G.  E,,  507 
Lang.  A.,  127,354.355.381 
Lang,  A.,  136,  376 
Lange,  R.,  Zj6 
La  Sailt,  L.  dt,  136 
Luch,  R.,  356,  509,  510 
Laufer,  B.,  354 
Law  Magazine,  510 
LftwrcDce.J.  M.,511 
Lawson,  J.  C,  354,  377 
Leclerc,  A.,  S07 
Lcd«rb^n,  W.,  510 
Lee,  E.M.,  513  («i'i) 
LeRvie,  A„  383 
Leg",  '        " 


\^1 


Leisure  Hour,  381 

Lindiey,  E.,  383 

Lipfihcott's  Monthly  Magazine, 

381 
LiTBBARV  Guide,  355 
Longman's  Magazine,  355 
Latch,  F.,  137 

McDcn^aU,  A.  C,  383  (ftrj 


McGuire,  I.  D.,  507 
Maclean,  J.,  377 
Mocmillan,  H  ,  383 
McNaii,  F.,  137 

Madras    Govrrnuent     Museum 
Bulletin,  355,  510 


Anthropological  Science,  laS, 

356,  38" 
Marillier,  L,  511 

Maninengo-Cesaresco,  Countess,  378 
Morwick,  W.,  379,  508 
Malthes,  J.  C,  51a 
MaKhewE,  R.  H.,  507 
Matthews,  W.,  380 
Mayhew, ,  138 

MaynaditT,  G.  H.,  376 
Mays,  C.  H.,  383 
Meeker,  L.  L,  379 
Merrinun,  H.  S.,  3S3 
Meyer,  A.  B.,  507 
Mindelcff,  C,  254 
Milra,  S.  C,  380  ibis),  381 
Milter,  H.  M.,  379 

MITTHEILUNGEN  DER  AKTHROFO- 
LOGISCHEN  GESELLSCHAFT  IN 
WlEN,   SIO 

MITTHEILUNGEN     DER    DEUTSCHEK 

Gesbllschaft  FiJR  Naturund- 

VOLKERKUNDS  OST-ASIBNS,  38 1 
MtTTHBILUNGEN       DBS      SEMINARS 

FiJE  Oribntalische  Sprachrn, 

as6,  SIO 
Modi.  J.  J.,  380 
Monde  Moderns,  381 
Monist,  510 
Moncelius,  O.,  383 
Monthly  Review,  356 
Mooncy,  J,,  509 
Moore,  %.  B.,  381 
Mori,  U..  380 


Navorscher,  !    ,  , 
Negflein,  J.  v.,so9 
Nelson,  E.  W..  378 
Ntntai,  R.,  376 
New  Ikrland  Review,  511 
Niiiitr,  H.J.,  136 
NlBDBRLAUSI-RBS        HltTHBlLDN- 
OBN.3»I 


558 


Index. 


Nina-Rodfiguts,  Dr,,  253 

NORDISK  TiDSKRIFT,  382 

Northern  Counties   Magazine, 

Notes  and  Queries,  128,  256,  382, 

Notes  and  Queries  for  Somer- 
set and  Devon,  382 
NouvELLE  Revue,  382 
Nuttalt,  Z.,  376 

Oldham,  C  F.,  510 

Open  Court,  382, 511 

Oppert,  G.,511 

Oratn,  A,t  253 

Osmond,  £.  L.,  378 

Outing,  382 

Overland  Monthly,  383,  S" 

Owen,  E.,  512 

Ozaki, ,  254 

Palestine    Exploration    Fund 
Quarterly    Statement,     383, 

5" 
Pantulu,  G.  R.  Subsamiah,  509 

Panzer f  F.,  253 

Parker,  W.  T.,  382 

Partington,  —  Edge-,  256 

Patai,  J.,  377,  507 

PatkanoVy  S.,  376 

Peacock,  E.,  511 

Pedlow,  M.  R.,380  iUr) 

Pedroso,  Mise.  de  San  Carlos  de,  50 

Peet,  S.  D  ,  377 

Pereira,  G.,  384 

Perrig,  A.,  509 

PetscA,  ^.,  253 

Pi9arra,  L.,  384 

Pinches,  T.,  51 1 

Pleyte,  C.  M.,  254 

Pommerol,  F.,  507 

Pope- Hennessey,  H.,  255 

Popular  Science  Monthly,  256 

Postma,  G.,  381 

Preen, v,  510 

Prestage,  P.,  384 

Preuss,  K.  T.,  254  (*«),  379i  3^4 

Price,  J.  M.,  511 

Proceedings  of  the  Cotteswold 

Naturalists'  Field  Club,  127 
Proceedings  of  the  Society  of 

Antiquaries,  128 
Proceedings  of  the  Society  of 

Antiquaries     of    Newcastle, 

383 
Proceedings  of  the  Society  of 

Biblical  ArcH/EOLogy,  383 


Pulman,  11.  N.,  5i» 
Porpos,  C.  A.,  379 

QuiVML,  383 

Ramaswami  Raju^  506 
Ray,  S.  H.,  510 
Reformer,  The,  511 
Reinach,  S.,  127,  256 
Reinecke,  F.,  384 
Reliquary       and      Illusti 

ARCHiBOLOGIST,  1 28 

Report      of        U.S.      Nati 

Museum,  383 
Revue     (Ancisnnb    Revue 

Revues),  La,  383 
Revue  Biblique,  383 
Revue     de     l'Ecole     d'Aici 

POLOGIE,  383 

Revue    d'Histoirk    bt    db 

tAraturb   RBLIGIBUSBS,  29 

Revue  db  l'Histoirb  des   ] 
gions,    128,  256,  511 

R^VUE  F^LIBR^ENNB,  I28 

Rhenisches   Musbum    fur  ] 

ologie,  128 
Rhys,  J.,  128,  51a 
RhySyJ.^  126 
Ricty  S,  p.,  253 
Ridgeway,  IV.,  376 
Robertson,  J.  M.,  255 
Robinson,  G.  L.,  507 
Rolland,  E.,  126 
Roscher,  iV,  H.,  126 
Roscoe,  J.,  510 
Roth,  H.  Ling,  128,  cio 
Rouse,  W.  H.  D.,  510 
Rome,  W.  H.  Z>.,  126 
Rousself  A.y  253 
Royal  Magazine,  511 
Rozan,  C,  381 

Sabbe,  M.,  512 
St.  Clair,  G. ,  379 
St.  Clair,  G.,  376 
Salmon,  A.  L.,  379 
Schellhas,  P.,  254 
Schliz,  A.,  508 
Schmidt,  K.,  506 
Schroeder,  L.  v.,  512 
SchulU,  P.,  126 
Schurtz,  H.,  380 
Schwarzfeld,  M.,  506 
Science  of  Man,  383,  en 
Scobell,  E.  C,  127 
Scottish  Antiquary,  383 
Scottish  Review,  The,   128 


-.iJ 


Index. 


Sckibnbr's  Maoazinb,  3S4 

Segnll,  J.,  511 
Seidel,  H.,  379 
Shaw,  C.  G..  377 
Si«nch,  O.,  118,  IS5,  3S0 
Singer,  — ,  379 
Singh,  G.,  380 

SlTZtlKGSHBRlCHTS  DBB  B.  PREUS- 
SISCHBN    AKADEMIB,  383 

Skeai,  W.  W ,  381 

Steal,  IV. ,  506 

Skinner,  C.  M„  381 

Sour  A  A/ruan  Native   Races    Cem- 

mitlet,  253 
So'-TH     AuERicAK     Missionary 

Magazine,  3S4,  512 
StadUng,  J.,  378  (4ii) 
Suit,  F„  507 
Sleinthal,  H.,  117 
Stenin,  P.  V.,  509 
Stopford,  Col.  J.  G.  B.,  509 
Strand  Magazinb,  513 
Scnmge,  t-,  255 
Suronei,  W.  G.,  510 

Taveta  Chronicle,  356,  3S4,  jis 

Taylor,  F.  E.,  S06 
Taylor,  I..  13S 
Tchitai,  M., jii 
Temple,  R.  C,  127,  3S0 
Theal,  G.  McC,  376 
Thbologische  Tijdschrift,  513 
Thhosofkical  Review,  3S4,  513 
Thonias,  N.  W.,  iz8,  356,  508,  510 
Thocason,  B.,  510 
Tkumtyien,  R.,  yi6 
Thurslon.  E.,  i55  [Us) 
TiJDSCHRlFT  VOR  Indischb  Taal-, 
Land-,  eh  Volkbnkundb,  384, 

Toiil,  R.,  381 
Tradi;ao,  a.,  384 
Transactions  or  the  Honour- 
able Society  OF  CvHHRODORioN, 

Transactions  of  the  North 
Staffordskirb  Field  Club.  384 

Transactions  of  the  Devon- 
shire Association,  127 


Tregear,  E ,  510 
Tribe,  W.  H.,  ass.  379 
Tulub,  P.  A.,  380 
Tycr,  K.  S.,  380 
Tyer,  S.  A.,  381 

VansiClart,  E.  C,  508 

Vellen,  C,  256 

Venkalaswami,  M.  N.,  355  {Mi),  380 

Vemes,  M.,  511 

ViBNNA  Oriental  Journal,  513 

Visser,  M.  W.  di,  126 

Volkskundb,  513 

Voth,  H.  R.,  508 

Waddell,  L.  A.,  Jio 

WadE.  G.  A..  381 

Wallace,  R.  H.,  JII 

Watson,  A,,  S07 

Weber,  A.,  509  (bU) 

Wdneck,  F.,  381 

Weipert,  H.,381 

Westcn,/.  L.,  353,  377 

While,  A.  D.,  382 

Whileway,  A.  R.,  137 

Wichmann,  v.,  381 

Wide  World  Magazine,  511 

Wiedemann,  K.  -4.,  353 
Wilson,  T.  P.,  5H 
Wcltskire  Notes 

384 

Windsor  Magazine,  3S4 
Winter,  A.  C,  379 
Wire,  A.  P.,  378 
Wright,  T.,  S08 

Vamasaki,  N.,  510 
Yeo,  W.  C,  511 
Vmer,  511 

Zambesi    Mission  Rbcord,    The, 

384 
Zeitschbift    FliR    Afrikanische 

UND  OCEANISCKE  SFRACHBN,  384 

Zbitschrift     fur    Ethnologib, 

384 

Zbitsckrift  fItr    Socialwissbn- 

SCHAFT,  356 

Zoologischbr  Garten,  384 


QUEI 


The  Polk-Lorc  Society. 

(1901.) 


yiHttrent. 

B.  W.  BRABBOOK,  C.B.,  F.8.A.,  178,  Bedford  Hill.  BalbMii,  8.W. 

VicfUttsAtBll. 

THE  HON.  JOHN  ABERCROMBT. 

THE  RIGHT  HON.  LORD  AVEBOET,  D.C.I. ,  LLJJ.,  FJI.S.,  F.SJk., 

F.O.S.,  F.L.S. 
MISS  C  S.  BURNE. 
EDWARD   CLODD. 
G.  LAURENCE  GOMME,  E.S.A. 
E.  SIDKEr  HARTLAND,  F.S.A. 
ANDREW  LANG,  M.A.,LL.D. 
ALFRED   NUTT. 

PROFESSOR  F.  YORK  POWELL.  ItA.,  F.S.A. 
PROFESSOR  J.  RHYS,  M.A.,  LLJ).,  F.S.A. 
THE  REV.  PROFESSOR  A.  H.  SAYCE,  M.A.,  LL.D.,  D.D. 
PROFESSOR  EDWARD   B.  TYLOR,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  F.R.S. 


Cottictl. 


H.  C.  BOWEN.  M.A. 

MISS  LUCY  BROADWOOD. 

E.  K.  CHAMBERS. 

F.  C.  CONYBEABK,  M.A. 
J.  E.  CROMBIE. 

F.  T.  ELWORTHY,  F.S.A. 

J.  G.  FRAZER,  M.A.,  LL.D.,  Litt.D. 

DR.  GASTER. 

MISS  F.  GROVE. 

PROF.  A.  C,  HADDON,  M.A.,  D.Sc. 

MISS  E.  HULL. 


E.  F.  lu  THORN,  C.B. 

A.  F.  MAJOR. 

R.  R.  MARETT,  M.A. 

J.  L.  MYRES,  M.A,,  F.S_A. 

S.  E.  BOUVERIE  PCSEY,  F.E.G.8. 

T.  FAIHMAN  URDISH. 

C.  G.  SELIGMANN. 

PROF.   B.   C.    A.    WIHDLE,    M.A., 

M.D.,  D.Sc. 
A.  R.  WRIGHT. 


Kon.  €tu.*Mnt. 
EDWABD  CLODD,  19,  CArlstoii  Boftd,  Tofnell  Park.  N. 
Aon.  flnbiltn. 
F.  Q.  GREEN. 
N.  W.  THOMAS. 

F.  A.  MILNE,  M.A.,  II,  Old  Sqnwe,  Lincoln'B  Inn,  London,  W.C. 


MISS  C.  S.  BURNE 
LAND 
A.  it.  WRIGHT. 


tTiptniftKH : 

PUBLICATIOHS  OOMMITTB*. 

E.  K.  CHAMBERS :    G.  L.  GOMME  ;    E.  8.  HART- 
W.  P.  KER  1    A.  NUTT  ;    C.  G.  SELIGMAMN ; 


BIBLIOaKAPHT    OOHMITTBB. 

■  h  5.0??K?J    W-   ^-    KIRBY  ;  T.  F.  ORDISH  ; 


N.  W.  THOMAS  ;    A.  R.  WRIGHT. 

UUSEtni  COMMITTBK. 
.  P.  EMSLIB  ;     MISS   M.   C.  FFENNELL  ;     G.  L.  GOMME  i   MRS.  G. 
GOMME  1    PROFESSOR  A.  C.  HADDON ;    J.  L.  MYRES. 


MBS.  GOMME  ;    MISS  F.  GROVE  ;    D.  MESCAL  ;   A.  NUTT. 
Tb*  Prwident  and  Treararer  am  fm^ffieie  ■m.vtt&Mn  r\  ^\  f^xsvxasA 


RULES, 

As  amended  by  Special  General  Meeting  held  on  tlu 

nth  January y  1900. 

I.  "  The  Folk-Lore  Society  "  has  for  its  object  the  eolle 
and  publication  of  Popular  Traditions,  Legendary  Ballads,  1 
Proverbial  Sayings,  Superstitions  and  Old  Customs  (Britisl: 
Foreign),  and  all  subjects  relating  thereto. 

II.  The  Society  shall  consist  of  Members  being  subecri 
to  its  funds  of  One  Guinea  annually,  payable  in  advanc 
the  1st  of  January  in  each  year. 

III.  A  Member  of  the  Society  may  at  any  time  oompc 
for  future  annual  subscriptions  by  payment  of  Ten  Qui 
over  and  above  the  subscription  for  the  current  yeaF. 

IV.  Every  Member  whose  subscription  shall  not  be  in  ai 
shall  be  entitled  to  a  copy  of  each  of  the  ordinary  w 
published  by  the  Society. 

V.  Any  Member  who  shall  be  one  year  in  arrear  of 
subscription  shall  cease  to  be  a  Member  of  the  Society,  ui 
the  Council  shall  otherwise  deteiinine. 

VI.  The  affairs  of  the  Society,  including  the  electioi 
Members,  shall  be  conducted  by  a  Council,  consisting  < 
President,  Vice-Presidents,  Treasurer,  Secretary,  and  eiglr 
other  Members.  The  Council  shall  have  power  to  fill  up 
vacancies  in  their  number  that  may  arise  during  their  j 
of  office. 

VII.  An  Annual  General  Meeting  of  the  Society  shall 
held  in  London  at  such  time  and  place  as  the  Council,  from  t 
to  time  may  appoint.  No  Member  whose  subscription  ia 
arrear  shall  be  entitled  to  vote  or  take  part  in  the  proceedi: 

or  tln'  Mooting. 


VIII.  At  such  Annual  General  Meeting  all  the  Memhers  of 
the  Council  shall  retire  from  office,  but  shall  be  eligible  for 
re-election, 

IX.  The  accounts  of  the  receipts  and  expenditure  of  the 
Society  shall  be  audited  annually  by  two  Auditors,  to  be  elected 
at  the  General  Meeting. 

X.  The  Council  may  elect  as  honorary  Members  persons 
distinguished  in  the  study  of  Folklore,  provided  that  the  total 
number  of  such  honorary  Members  shall  not  exceed  twenty. 

XI.  The  property  of  the  Society  shall  be  vested  in  three 
Trustees. 

XII.  The  first  Trustees  shall  be  appointed  at  a  Meeting 
convened  for  the  purpose. 

XIII.  The  office  of  Trustee  shall  be  vacated  (i.)  by  resigna- 
tion in  writing  addressed  to  the  Secretary,  and  (ii.)  by  removal 
at  a  Meeting  of  Members  convened  tor  the  purpose. 

XIV.  The  Meeting  removing  a  Trustee  shall  appoint 
another  in  his  place.  Vacancies  in  the  office  arising  by  death 
or  resignation  shall  be  filled  up  by  the  Council. 

XV.  The  Trustees  shall  act  under  the  direction  of  the 
Council. 

XVI.  No  Trustee  shall  be  responsible  for  any  loss  arising  to 
the  Society  from  any  cause  other  than  his  own  wilful  ac 
or  default. 

XVII.  No  alteration  shall  be  made  in  these  Rules  except  at 
a  Special  General  Meeting  of  the  Society,  to  be  convened  by 
the  Council  or  upon  the  requisition  of  at  least  five  Members, 
who  shall  give  fourteen  days'  notice  of  the  change  to  be 
proposed  which  shall  be  in  writing  to  the  Secretary.  The 
alteration  proposed  shall  be  approved  by  at  least  three-fourths 
of  the  Members  present  and  voting  at  such  Meeting 


iv  List  of  IfemAers. 

HEMBBRS  {eomeUd  to  Alrwvy,  1901). 


Abennmbr,  Hob.  J.,  CS,  FalmHitcM  FIms,  IMlnTwiuli  (  Him  rtwMrt 
AbcrdMd  PDblie  lAhnrj,  ptr  Q.  W.  AMor,  B^,  M  *    Tibnite. 
Abardani  TTBlmri^  Llbniy,  par  P.  J.  Aad«Hoa,  Baq^  Ubm^ 
AdJy,  8.0-B«q.,lLA.,gBitort  B»tM^^inelilM»Mi^  flliirtiM 
AldMihun,  Bl^  Hon.  Lcrd,  St.  Doiwtui'a,  H«ganf«  Pack,  N.W. 
Allan,  Um  E.  W.,  S9,  Lamiui  ttiMt,  E.a 
AUktp,  Hob.  A.  Pm?.  Btfnhan  Hon^  mh  WonMtBr. 
Amiwhttli,  Fnd.  K.,  14,  Sdnlte  8bM«a,  Badon  B«dai,  ff— -mj 
Aviarieu  Qoosr^Ueal  Sodat^  (Now  ToA),  par  B.  V.  BtonnB  a^  ftm 

4,  Itatalcar  Sqaan,  8.W. 
Aiiiaf7,  P.  i;.  &,  Zaq.,  Dnld,  AdlMrton,  Bmn. 
AuiMardMi,  tha  UbIt.  Ubauj  at,  per  Kbbai'iar  ft  TTMpiu,  TTiiiili^ 


O.  Asdmn,  J.  &,  Baq,  Bafont  Clnb,  Pall  Hall,  8.W. 
AnieUoT,  Fmfaaaor  K,  Inpatlal  UnlTant^  of  Vbdlmir,  KteL 
AntlqnarlM,  tha  Soeietr  ot  BnUigtan  Bona,  W. 
Arnold,  Profewor  B.  T.,  10,  Biyn  Satrio),  Bangor. 
A^ST,  a  O.,  Eu].,  89,  Wigmore  Straat,  W. 

Alton,  G.  F.,  Baq-,  OS,  ^vsiintBr  Boad,  Sonth  Kenaingtnti    S.W. 
ATabiuT,  Bt  Hon.  lord,  S.C.L.,  I1L.D.,  7.B.S.,  P.S.A.,  F.O.S.  F.Lf 
High  Klma,  FambOTDogfa,  B.S.O.  ( Vlte-Pretiilatf),         '    •    •     ■ 

Backhonie,  Kr  Jonathan  G.,  Bart,  Bank,  Darlington. 

Baker,  Judge  Frank,  T.,  364S,  Lake  Afenne,  Chicago,  HI,,  U^g  j^ 

Baldwin,  Alfred,  Eni.,  M.P.,  Wjldnn  Houe,  Stonrport. 

Balfour,  C  B.,  Esq.,  Hewton  Don,  Eelto,  N.B. 

BalfoDT,  tin.  H.  C,  22,  Momingude  Gardeni,  Gdinbni^h, 

Basset,  Mods.  Ben£,  L'Agha,  T7,  Hne  Mirhelet,  Algiere. 

Beanchamp,  Right  Hon.  the  Earl,  Hadre«field  Conrt,  Great  Ma1*em 

Beer,  W.,  Eeq^  Howard  Memorial  Library,  New  Orieans,  U.S.A. 

Beer,  Mra,  7,  Chesterfield  Gardens,  Hjrde  Park,  W. 

Belt,  Sir  J.,  101,  Vincent  Street,  Glai^^iaw. 

Berlin  Rojal  Library,  par  Asher  and  Co.,  13,  Bedford  Str««t,  Connt 

Garden,  W.C. 
Besant,  Sir  Walter,  Frognal  End,  Hampstead,  N.W. 
Bllleon,  C'J.,  Esq.,    M.A.,   St.    John'"   Lodge,  Clarendon    Pbi*    Bflai 

Leicester. 
Birmingham  Free  Library,  Ratcliffe  Place,  Birmingham. 
Birmingham  Library,  care  of  C.  B.  Sraree,  Eeq.,  Librarian,  Union  Strttl 

Birmingham. 


List  of  Members.  v 

Black,  G.  ¥.,  Esq.,  New  York  Tublic  Library,  Lafajette  Place,  M.Y.,  U.8  A. 

Blakeborongb,  R.  Esq.,  24,  Trent  Street,  Stockton-on-Tees. 

Blind,  Dr.  Karl,  3,  Winchester  Road,  Soath  Hampgtead,  N.W. 

Bolicho,  T.  H.,  Esq.,  Trengwainton,  Hea  Moor,  R.S.O.  Cornwall. 

Bonaparte,  Prince  Uolaud,  10,  Areone  d'ltna,  Paris. 

Bond,  Mrs.  C.  A.,  3,  Beaufort  Baildingg,  Gloacesler. 

Bordeaux  UuiierBitj  Library, perM.Jnles  Peelman,  2,  Rne  Autome-Dnbois, 

Boston  AtbeuieDm,  The,  Boston,  U.S.A.,  per  Kegau  Pan), Trench,  Triibner, 

k  Co.,  LJ.,  Charing  Cross  Boad,  W.C. 
Boston  Public  Library  (Mus.),  U.S.A.,  per  G.  E.  SCechert,  2,  Star  Yard, 

Carey  Street,  W.C. 
Bourdillon,  F.  W.,  Esq.,  M.A. ,  Bnddington,  Midhunt,  Sntsex. 
Bowdilch,  C.  1'.,  Esq.,  28,  State  Street,  Boston,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 
Boiren,  H.  Conrthope,  Esq.,  M.A.,  3,  York  Street,  Portman  Sqnare,  W 
Bower,  H.  M.,  Esq.,  Elmcrofts,  Kipon. 
Brabrook,  E.  W.,  Esq.,  C.B.,  F.S.A.,  ITS,  Bedford  Hill,  BaUiMn,S.W. 

(Preaidenl). 
Brighton  Town  ConncU,  per  the  Town  Clerk,  Town  Hall,  Briijhton. 
Britten,  James,  Esq.,  126,  Kennington  Park  Boad,  S.E. 
Brix,  M.  Camillo  de,  13,  Kue  Victor  Hugo,  Donai,  France. 
Broadwood,  Miss  Lucy  E.,  61,  Carlisle  Mansions,  S.W. 
Brockhaos,  F.  A.,  Esq.,  Leipzig,  per  H.  Williams,  4S,  Old  Bailey,  £.0- 
Brooke,  Kex.  Slopford  A.,  I,  Maucheeler  Square,  W. 
Brown,  Col.  Henrj  Thomas,  Koodeye  Uonse,  Chester. 
Browne,  John,  Esq.,  Cherisey  House,  Park  Hill  Rise,  Croydon. 
Bmshfield,  Ur.  T.  K.,  The  CllS,  Bndleigh-Salterton,  Devonshire. 
Bnme,  Miss,  6,  Ivema  Gardens,  Kensington,  W.  (  Viee-Prerident). 

Caddick,  E.,  Esq.,  Wellint^n  Road,  Edghaslon,  Binningbam. 
Campbell,  Lord  Archibald,  Coombe  Hill  fann,  Kingston-on-Thames. 
Campbell,  W.J.  Douglaa,  Esq.,  F.S.A.  Scot.,  Innis  Chonain,  Loch  Awe, 

Argyll. 
Cardiff  Free  Libraries,  per  J.  Ballinger,  Esq.,  Cardiff. 
Carnegie  Free  Library,  Alleghany,  Pa.,  U.S.A.,  per  O.  E.  Stechert,  2,  Star 

Yard,  Carey  Street,  W.C. 
Carpenter,  Professor  J,  Estlia,  109,  Banbury  Rood,  Oxford. 
Caraoo,  Miss  E.,  Park  Lane,  ClisBold  Park,  N. 
Charencey,  Comte  de,  2i,  Rne  de  la  Cbaise,  Paris. 
Chase,  Charles  H., Esq.,  G8,  Park  Street,  Somerrille,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 
Chambers,  E.  S..,  Esq.,  Board  of  Education,  Whitehall,  S.W. 
Chelsea  Public  Library,  Manresa  Road,  S.W.,  per  J.  H  Qnuin,  Esq. 
Chicago  Public  Library,  Blinois,  U.S.A.,  per  B.  F.  St^rena,  4,  Trafalgar 

Sqoare,  W.C. 
Chicago  University  Library,  Illinoi*,  U.S.A.,  per  G.  B.  Stechert,  2,  Star 

Yard,  Carey  Street,  W.C. 


List  of  Members. 


Cborlum,  Thomu,  Ewi.,  32,  BruennoM  Street,  A 
CiDcinnati  PdMm  libTary,  p«r  B.  F.  Sterena,  4,  Xr&f&lgsr  Sqt 
CI*rk,Oi*c&rW.,EBq.,M.A.,M.B.,  8t.LDke'a  Honse,  SpaBokd 
Cl&rke,   Ber.  E.   Wraoglea,  Cb.   Ch.   Vicuage,    FuadBj    £ 

K«D8iDglOII,  W. 

Cli>dd,Edwud,  Esq.,  19,  Carleton  Road,  Tnfnell  Puk.  N.  ( 1% 

*Qd  Treatttrtr), 
Cobb,  Rer.  Dr.,  1,  Linden  Gudens,  Horatej  Iadb,  N. 
Cubhuo,  Min  E.  M,  B.A.,  1,  Edwin  Street,  Qr«*eBen(L 
Coleridge,  Misi  C.  R.,  Cheyne,  Torqakf. 
Colfox,  W„  Esq.,  Weetmeid,  Bridport. 
Colnmbia  College,  New  York,  per  G.  E.  Slechert,  2,    Star   ' 

Street,  W.C. 
ConKTew,  The  Library  of,  WMhingtoa,  U.S.A.,  per  B.  Q.  AH 

Henrietta  Street,  CoTent  Garden,  W.C. 
Conybcare,  F.  C,  I'>q,,  M.A.,  18,  Norham  Gardens,  Oxford. 
Cornell  Universitj  Library,  per  E.  G.  Allen,  Esq.,  28,  Henrietta 
Corry,  Miss  L.  M.,  39,  Park  Hill  Road,  Eiut  Croydon. 
Coeqnin.  M,  Emannel,  Vitry-le-Franfoia,  Manie,  Prance. 
Cox,  Min  Mariao  Roalfe,  107,  Earl's  Conrt  Road,  W. 
Craigie,  W.  A.,  Emi.,  M.A.,  DaDeaiead,  226,  Iffley  Road,  Oxfoi 
Crombie,  James  E.,  Esq.,  Park  Hill  Uonse,  Dyr*,  Aberdeen. 
Crombie,  John  W.,  Esq.,  M.P.,  91,  Onslow  Sqaare,  S.W, 
Crooke,  W.,  Esq.,  B.A.,  Langton  House,  Charlton  Kings,  Chell 


Dabis,  Miss  A.,  13,  Glebe  Place,  Chelsea,  S.W. 
Dames,  M.  Longwortb,  Esq.,  Ategria,  Enlicld. 
Dampicr,  G.  R.,  Esq.,  20,  Neville  StrMt,  Onslow  Gardens,  S.W 
Davie,  Lieut.-Col,  John,  Wliitniead,  Famham,  Surrey. 
DetifDham.  Mies  Amy,  CheBhunt  Park,  Herls. 
Debcnhain,  Mie-i  Mary  H.,  Chcshutit  Park,  Herts, 
Dofries,  Wolf,  Esq.,  B.A.,  Weyliridge,  Surrey. 
Dempster,  Misa  C.  Hawkins,  2-i,  Portman  Square,  S.W. 
Dennett,   R.    B.,   Esq.,    Loango,  Congo    Frangais,   S.W.    Cot 
(Parcels  rid  Lisbon,  St.  Thomi-,  and  Gaboon.) 


List  of  Members. 


Eggots  and  Co.,  MessTB.,  St.  Vetersbnrg,  per  Sampson  Low  and  Co.,  Fetter 

Lace,  K.C. 
Elliot,  W.  Sco.tt,  jnnr.,  t^sq.,  i,  Stanley  Crascent,  KeDBingtOD  Park,  W. 
Elworthy,  F.  T.,  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  Foxdown,  Wellington,  Somerset. 
Elton,  O.,  Eiui.,  B.A.,  6,  Ueaton  Koad,  Witbington,  Manchester. 
Empeon,  C.  W.,  Esq.,  1 1,  Palace  Conrt,  W. 
Emelie,  J.  P.,  Esq.,  50,  Kestrel  ATenite,  Heme  Hill,  B.E. 
Enoch  Pratt  Library,  Baltimore  City,  U.S.A.,  per  E.  O.  Allen,  Em;.,  28, 

Henrietta  Street,  W.C. 
Erant,  A,,  Esq.,  Grammar  School,  Galway. 
Erlangen  Unirersity   Library,  per  Sampson  Low    &   Co.,  Fetter  Lane, 

E.G. 
Erans,  Arthur  J.,  Esq.,  M.A.,  P.S.A.,  Aahmolean  Idbrary,  Ozlord, 
Eraos,  E.  Tincent,  Esq.,  64,  ChaDcely  Lane,  W.C, 
B»«ns,  Sir  John,  K.C.B.,   D.C.L.,  LL.D.,  D.Sc.,  F.R.S.,  F.8.A.,  Nash 

Mills,  Uemel  Uempatead. 
Eyre,  Miss,  The  Hndnalls,  St.  Briarels,  QloDcsstershire. 

O,  Ffthie,  J.  J.,  Esq.,  c/o.  F.  A,  Milne,  Esq.,  11,  Old  Square,  Liticoln'«  Inn,  W.C. 
Faraday,  Miss  W.,  Bamsay  Lodge,  Levenshnlme,  Manchester. 
Fawcett,  F.,  Esq, ,  care  of  Messrs,  Arbnthnot  Jc  Co.,  Madras. 
Feilberg,  Ber.  H.  F.,  Askor,  Vejen,  Denmark, 
Ferryman,  Lieut.-Col.  A.  F.  Mockler,  F.R.G.S,,  F.Z.S.  Oak  Grore  Honse, 

Royal  Military  College,  Camberley,  Surrey. 
Ffennell,  Miss  Margaret  C,  172,  The  Grove,  Hammersmith,  W. 
Fitzgerald,  D.,  Esq.,  care  of  J.  Fitigerald,  Esq.,  Mayfwd  Honse,  Baniea, 

S.W. 
Forbes,  Henry  O.,  Esq.,  LL.D.,  Free  Public  Museums,   William  Brown 

Street,  Liverpool. 
Forlong,  Major-Gen.  J.  G.  B.,  F.B.G.S.,  P.B.S.E,  11,  Douglas  Cre««nt, 

Edinburgh. 
Fraser,  D.  C,  Esq.,  M.A.,  3,  Buckingham  Road,  Wallasey. 
Frazer,  J.  G,,  EBq„  M.A.,  LI,.D.,  Litt.D.,  Incb-ma-bome,  Cambridge. 
Freer,  Miss  A.  Goodrich,  The  Laurels,  Itaahey  Heath,  Herts. 
Freer,  Wm.  J,,  Esq.,  Stoneygate,  near  Leicester. 
Fresbfield,  W.  D.,  Esq.,  The  Wilderness,  Beigate, 

Gardner,  F.  L,,  Esq.,  U,  Marlboro'  Road,  Gnuuersbury,  W. 
Garrett,  A.  S.,  Esq.,  27,  Ererett  Street,  Cambridge,  Mbk.,  U.B.A. 
Goiter,  Dr.  M.,  37,  Maida  Tale,  W. 

George,  Charles  W.,  Esq.,  61,  Hampton  Road,  Clifton,  Brfstol. 
Qerisb,  W.  B.,  Esq.,  Ivy  Lodge,  Bishops  Slortford,  Herta. 
Gibaon,  W.  B.  P.,  Esq.,  3,  The  Sweep,  Clapham  Common,  S.W. 
Gladstone,  Dr.  J.  H.,  FJi.S.,  F.C.S.,  17,  Pembridge  Square,  W. 
Glasgow  UniTetuty  Library,  per  Messrs.  Mactehose,  01,  Si.  Vincent  Sti«et, 


VIU 


List  of  Members. 


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I: 


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»  ! 


Godden,  Miss  Gertrude  M.  Kidgfield,  Wimbledon. 

GoldmersteiD,  L.,  Esq. 

GolUuicz,  L,  Esq.,  M.A.,  Christ's  College,  Cambridge. 

Gomme,  G.  L.,  Esq.,  F.S.  A.,  24.  Dorset  Square,  N.W.  (  ^lee-I'^^^idemty. 

Gomme,  Mrs.  G.  L.,  24,  Dorset  Square,  N.W.  {Honorary  Memtiery 

Gottingen  Uniyersitj  Library,  per  Asher  and  Co.,  13,  Bedford  Street, 

CoTent  Garden,  W.C. 
Gowland,  T.,  Esq.,  12,  Taristock  Road,  Harlesden,  N.W. 
Green,  Frank  G.,  Esq.,  iTyhurst,  Wallington,  Surrey  {Auditor}. 
Greeren,  R.,  Esq.,   B.C.S.,  c/o    Mrs.  E.  Oldendorft,   201,   Tlia  Grove, 

Denmark  Hill,  S.E. 
Gregory,  H.  E.,  Esq.,  Boarzell,  Hawkhurst,  Sussex. 
Greig,  Andrew,  Esq.,  36,  Belmont  Gardens,  Hillhead,  Glasgow.     Glmneden, 

Bothvrell,  Lanarkshire. 
Grierson,  Geo.  A.,  Esq.,  Lyndhurst,  Camberley,  Surrey. 
Grore,  Miss  Florence,  10,  Milton  Chambers,  Cheyne  Walk,  S.W. 
GnildhaU  Library,  E.C. 
Gutch,  Mrs.,  Holgate  Lodge,  York. 
G Wynne,  James  E.  A.,  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  Folkington  Manor,  Polegmte,  ILS.O., 

Sussex. 

0.  Haddon,  Prof.,  A.  C,  M.A.,  D.Sc,  M.R.I.A.,  F.Z.S.,  Inisfail,  HiUn  Roed, 
Cambridge. 
Hamilton,  Bernard,  Esq.,  M.A.,  Hindhead  Brae,  Haslemere. 
Hamilton,  Miss  Katherine,  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  U.S.A. 

Hampton,  G.  H.,  Esq  ,  Cleveland  Brass  and  Iron  Works,  Middlesboro'-oa- 

Tee«. 
Hannah,  R.,  Esq.,  82,  Addison  Road,  Kensington,  W. 

Hardy,  G.  F.,  Esq.,  1,  King  William  Street,  E.C. 

Harris,  Miss  Emily,  14,  Tavistock  Square,  W.C. 

Harris,  Rev.  H.  A.,  Diss,  Norfolk. 

Harrison  and  Sons,  Messrs.,  59,  Pall  Mall,  S.W. 

Hartland,    E.    Sidney,    Esq.,    F.S.A.,    Highgarth,     Gloacester    ( Vufe, 

President), 
Hartland,  J.  Cole,  Esq.,  care  of  Messrs.  Hunt  and  Co.,  Yokohama,  Japan. 
Harvard  College  Library,   per  Kegan  Paul  and  C/O.,  Ld.,  Charing  Cross 

Road,  W.C. 
Heather,  P.  J.,  f^sq.,  Elthorne,  New  Maldon,  Suirey. 
Henderson,  Miss  A.  B.,  Ormlie  Lodge,  Thurso. 
Hensman,  W.  M.,  Esq.,  32,  Demgate,  Northampton. 
Uervey,    Hon.  D.  F.  A.,   C.M.G.,  The   Residency,    Malacca,   per    U.  S. 

King  &  Co. 

Hewitt,  J.  F.,  Esq.,  Holton  Cottage,  Wheatley,  Oxford. 
Higford,  Miss  K.,  23,  Eaton  Place,  S.W. 
Higgens,  T.  W.  E.,  Esq.,  1,  Edith  Terrace,  Chelsea,  S.W. 
Hinuber,  Miss,  34,  Linden  Road,  Bedford. 

Hirschfeld  Brothers,  22  and  24,  Bream's  Buildings,  Fetter  Lane.  E.C. 
C.  Hodgkin,  John,  Esq.,  12,  Dynevor  Road,  Richmond,  S.W. 


List  of  Members. 


Howard,  DuriJ,  Ktiq^  Ilevoa  lloase,  Bacthumt  Uill,  Eettex. 
Uowell,  Geo.  O.,  Ksq,,  210,  KgUntoii  Road,  Flamste*d,  Kent. 
Uowitt,   lA\sa    Mar?    K    B.,   Finch    Street,  East    Malvern,    Melbourne 

Victor^,  Aiulralia. 
Ualt,  MiBs  Eleanor,  20,  Arundel  GardenH,  W. 

Hnsaef,  A.,  Ksq.,  Clan  Road,  Tunkerton-on-Sea,  Whitetable,  K«nt. 
Uatchinaon,  Rev.  U.  N.,  F.G.S.,  37,  Vini:ent  Square,  Westminster,  ^.W. 
Hutchineon,  Dr.  Jonathan,  F.R.S.,  15,  CaTendish  Square,  W. 

India  Office  Library,  Whitehall,  S,W.,  per  C.  II.  Tawiiey,  EHq. 

im  Thnm,  K.  F.,  Esq.,  C.B.,  23,  EdvardeB  Sqnare,  Kensington,  W. 

lutva  State  Library,   Dee  Moioea,  Iowa,   U.S.A.,  per   B.  F.   Stevens,  4, 

Trafalgar  Sqnare,  W.C. 
Isaac,  D.,  Esq.,  Brjntavre,  Heathfield,  Swansea. 

Jaciuon,  A.  M.  T.,  Ksq.,  Bjcnilah  CInb,  Bombay  (Assistant  Collector, 
Ifasilc,  Bombay). 

Jacobs,  Joseph,  Esq.,  B.A. 

James,  C.  H.,  Esq.,  J.P.,  6*,  Park  Place,  Cardiff. 

Jailvier,Thos.A.,  Esq.,  c/o  Messrs.  Brown  Bros,  &  Co,  Bankers,  New  York, 
U.S.A. 

Jeffrey,  P.  Shav,  Eiq.,  32,  College  Road,  Clifton,  Bristol. 

JcTons,  F.  B.,  Esq.,  M.A.,  LittD., Hatfield  Hall,  Dnrbam. 

Jewitt,  W.  U.,  Esq.,  4,  Torriano  Cottages,  N.W. 

John  Uylands  Library,  Deanegate,  Mancheiter. 

Johns  Hopkins  Unirersity  Library,  Baltimore,  per  E.  G.  Allen,  28,  Hen- 
rietta Street,  Covent  Garden,  W.C. 

Jones,  Bryan  J.,  Esq.,  Wellington  Barracks,  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia. 

Jones,  D.  BrynmSr,  Esq.,  Q.C.,  MP.,  LL.B.,  27,  Bryanslon  Sqnare,  W. 

Jones,  William,  Esq.,  Abberly  Hall,  Stoarport. 

KarlowicE,  Dr.  John,  Jasna,  10,  Warsaw,  Poland. 

K^an  Paul,  Trench,  Triibner,  &  Co,  Ld.,  Paternoster   [lonse,   Charint; 

Cross  Itoad,  W.C. 
Kennedy,  Miss  L.,  Fairacre,  Concord,  Mass.,  O.S.A, 
Ker,  C,  Esq.,  1,  Windsor  Terraoe,  West  Glasgow. 
Ker,  Professor  W.  P.,  M.A.,  SB,  Gower  Street,  W.C. 
Kirby,  W.  F.,  Esq.,  F.L.S.,  F.E.S.,  Hilden,  Sntbin  Cunrt  Road,  Chiswjck. 
Kitta,  E.  J.,  Esq.,  Saharanpar,  N.W.P,,  India. 
Klincksieck,  C,  Paris,  per  Th.  WohUebeu,  46,  Gt.  Rnssell  Street,  W.C. 

Ladbnry,  Miss  E.  J.,  Qoldness,  H&rtlebnry,  Kiddenuinst«r. 
Lang,  A.,  Esq.,  M.A.,  1,  Marioes  Road,  Kensington,  W.  (  Vief-Preiiient'). 
Lee,  Mrs.  Knte,  8,  Victoria  Road,  Kensington,  W. 
Lee,  Timothy,  Esq.,  St.  John's,  Limerick,  Ireland. 

Leicester  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society,  per  G.  Hnll,  Enq.,  Chnrch 
Hill  HouM,  Clarendon  Park  Uoad,  Leicester. 


List  of  Members. 


\   1 


I 


Leland,  C.  G.,  Esq.i  Uombarg- lee-Bains,  Gemumy. 

Lemcke  &  Buechner,  Messrs.,  812,  Broadway,  New  York,  U.S. A. 

Letto,  C,  Esq.,  8,  Bartletf  s  Buildings,  E.G.    * 

Levy,  G.  £.,  Esq.,  Boundstoue  Lodge,  Famham,  Surrey. 

Library  of  the  Supreme  Gouncil  of  the  33rd  Degree,  etc.,  for  EngUu 

&  Wales,  and  the  Golonies,  33,  Golden  Square,  W. 
Lindsay,  Lady,  41,  Hans  Place,  W. 
Liverpool  Free  Public  Library,  per  Gilbert  G.  Walmsley,  60,  Lord  Stree 

Liverpool. 
Lockhart,  The  lion.  J.  H,  Stewart,  Registrar-General  of  the  Legislativ 

Council,  Hong  Kong. 
London  Institution,  Finsbury  Circus,  E.G. 
London  Library,  St.  James's  Square,  S.W. 
Lyall,  Sir  Alfred,  K.C.S.L,  18,  Queen's  Gate,  S.W. 


Macbean,  E.,  Esq.,  Fullarton  House,  by  ToUcross,  Lanarkshire. 
Macgregor,  A.,  Esq.,  Stamford  Brook  House,  Hammersmith,  W. 
Mackenzie,  W.,  Esq.,  Crofters'  Commission,  6,  Parliament  Square,  Edin 

burgh, 
c.  Mackinlay,  Dr.,  6,  Great  Western  Terrace,  Kelvinside,  Glasgow. 
Maclagan,  R.  Craig,  Esq.,  M.D.  5,  Coates  Crescent,  Edinburgh. 
McNair,   Major  R.  C,  C.M.G.,  F.L.S.,  F.R.G.S.,  Scotia,  Preston   Pari 

Brightt>n. 
Maitland,  Mrs.  J.  A.  Fuller,  39,  Phillimore  Gardens,  Kensington,  W. 
Major,  A.  F.,  Esq.,  Cromwell  House,  Croydon. 
Manning,  P.,   Esq.,  M.A.,  F.S.A.,  6,  St.  Aldates,    Oxford  (Beechfield 

Watford). 
Manchester  Free  Library,  King  Street,  Manchester. 
March,  11.  Colley,  Esq.,  M.D.,  Porte«ham,  Dorchester. 
Marctt,  R.  R.,  Esq.,  Exeter  College,  Oxford. 
Marriage,  Miss  M.  E.   (Ph.D.  Heidelberg),  Ellerby,  George  L^ne,  Soutl 

Woodford,  E. 
Marsh,  K.  11.,  Esq.,  Ingleside,  Epping,  E.ssex. 
Marston,  E.,  Esq.,  St.  Dunstan's  House,  E.G. 
Masson,  1).  P.,  Esq ,  Managing  Director,  The  Punjab  Bank.  Lahore,  pe 

11.  S.  King  and  Co.,  of  Comhill,  E.C. 
Matthews,  Miss  Elizabeth,  The  Hollies,  Swaffham,  Norfolk. 
Max,  J.,  and  Co.,  21,  Schweideritzerstrasse,  Breslau. 
Mendham,  Miss  Edith,  Shepscombe  House,  Stroud,  Gloucestershire. 
Mercantile  Library,  Philadelphia,  U.S.A.,  per  G.  E.  Stechert,  2,  Star  Yard 

Carey  Street,  W.C. 
Merrick,  W.  P.,  Esq.,  Manor  Farm,  Shepperton. 

Mescal,  Daniel,  Esq.,  H.M.  Patent  Office,  SouthampCcm  Baildingg,  W.CL 
Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  N.Y.,n.8.A.,  per  G.  B.  StedMrt,  fiO^  Wdling^ 

ton  Street,  Strand,  W.C. 


..Lidk 


List  of  Members. 


Mejrick    Libnuy,  JesDs    Collegs,   Oxford,    per    A.    W.    Hazel,    Eaq.. 
Librarian. 

Middleaborongh  Free  Libraiv,  per  Baker  Hndeon,  Esq.,  Middleaborongh. 

Milne,  F.  A.  Esq.,  U.A.,  11,  Old  Sqaare,  Lincoln's  Inn,  W.C.  iStcretary). 

Minet,  Mies  J.,  care  of  Mira  Jnlia  Dfke.  QloTere,  Sittingboarne,  Kent. 

Minnesota,  Uniienitj  of,  MinneaiwIiB,  U.S. A .,  per  G.  £.  Stecbert,  2  Star 
Yard,  Carej  Stjeet,  W.C. 

Mitehell  Librai7,  ai,  Uiller  Street,  Glai^ow,  care  of  P.  T.  Barrett,  Esq., 
Librarian, 
c. Mociitta.  F.  D.,  Esq.,  F.8.A., g.Connangbt  Place,  W. 

Mond,  Mrs.  Frida,  20,  Avenue  Boad,  Begent's  Park,  N.W. 

Moore,  C.  H.,  Vm^.,  Clinton,  lU.,  U.S.A. 

MorisOD,  Theodore,  Esq.,  Aligarb,  N.W.P.,  India. 

Munich  Rojal  Library,  per  Asher  and  Co.,  13,  Bedford  Street,  W.C. 

Myert,  C.  S^  Esq.,  B.A.,  M.B.,  62,  Holland  Park,  W. 
C.  Mjrea,  J.  L.,  Esq.,  M.A.,  F.S.  A.,  3,  Hanover  Square,  W. 

National  Library  of  Ireland,  per  Uodges,  Figgis,  and  Co.,  104,  Orafton 

Street,  Dublin. 
Najlor,  Mrs.  F.  L.,  Crypt  Qrammar  School,  Gloucester. 
C.  Neslield,  J.  P.,  Esq.,  Stratton  Uoose,  2,  Madley  Bood,  Ealing. 

Newark  Free  Pnhlic   Library,   New   Jersey,  U.S.A.  per   G.  E,  Stecbert, 

2,  Star  Yard,  Carey  St.,  W.C, 
Newberry  Library,  Chicago,  per  B.  F.  Stevens,  4,  Trafalgar  Square,  W.C. 
Newcastle  Literary  and  Philoeopbical  Socie^,  Newcastle -on- Tyne. 
New  Jersey,  The  College  of,  Princeton,  N.J.,  U.S.A.,  per  E.  C.  Osbom, 

Esq.,  Treasurer. 
New  Jersey  Free  Pnblic  Library,  per  G.  B.  Stecbert,  2,  Star  Yard,  Car^ 

Street,  W.C. 
Newton,  Mrs.  Arthur,  28,  Crondace  Road,  Fulhaoi,  &W. 
New  York,  College  of  the  Ci^  of,  per  G.  E.  Stecbert  Z,  Star  Yard, 

Carey  Street,  W.C. 
New  Y(vk  Pablii:  Library  (Astor,  Lenox,  &  Tilden  Foundation),  per  B.  If. 

Stereos,  4.  Trafalgar  Sqnan,  W.C. 
New  York  State  Library,  per  O.  B.  Slechert,  2,  Star  Yard,  Carey  Street, 

w.a 

NicbolsoD,  C.  N.,  Esq.,  SB,  Hanrington  Gardens,  S.W. 

Ninnii,  Belgrade,  Esq.,  H.D.,  F.8.A.,  F.B.A.S.,  F.R.G.S.,  Brockenhnm, 

AldringtoQ  Road,  Streatham,  S.W. 
Nottingham  Ftw  Fnblie  library. 
Nntt,  Alfred.  Biq.,  ST-«S  Long  Acre,  W.C.  (  Vitn-Pruident). 

CWmr,  H.  Kq,  UJL,  PhJ>.,  81,  HoUuid  TlUaa  Koad,  Kendngton  W. 
OUML  (L,B!B.,8aattlibOoiMerTatiTeanb,  Edinbnrgb. 

1  Hmhij,  >,  Oopmhagao,  Denmark. 


i    I 


,    ! 
I 

■    I 

^ 


k  : 


Xll 


Ltsi  of  Members. 


Ordish,  T.  Fairman,  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  16,  Clifford's  Inn,  E.C. 
Owen,  Miss  Mary  A.,  306,  North  Ninth  Street,   St.  Joeeph,  Misaoi 
U.S.A. 

G.  Paris,  M.  Gaston,  Membre  de  I'Institnt,  Directeur  da  College  de  KraiM 

Rue  des  Ecoles,  Paris. 
Parker,  Mrs.  K.  Langloh,  Banyate,  Walgett,  New  South  Wale8. 
Paton,  W.  R.,  Esq.,  Ph.D.,  Calymnos,  Tnrkey,  via  Smjrna. 
Peabody  Institute,  Baltimore,  U.S.A.,  per  £.  G.  Allen,  Kaq^  28,  Henri 

Street,  W.C. 
Peacock,  E.,  Esq.,  F.S.  A.,  Danstan  Uouse,  Kirton-in-Ijiudaej,  Lincolnsi] 
Peoria,  Public  Library  of,  per  G.  E.  Stechert,  Esq.,   2,  Star  Yard,  O 

Street,  W.C. 
Percy,  Lord  Algernon,  Guy's  Cliff,  Warwick. 
Philadelphia,  The  Library  Company  of,  U.S.A.,  per  E.  G.  Allen,  Esq., 

Henrietta  Street,  W.C. 
Philpot,  Mrs.  J.  H.,  61,  Chester  Square,  S.W. 
Phipson,  Miss,  64,  Bell  Street,  Reigate. 

Pineau,  Mons.  Leon,  60,  Boulevard  Beranger,  Tours,  France. 
Pitts,  J.   Linwood,   Esq.,  M.J.I.,  F.S.A.,   Curator  Gaille-AUes  Libn 

Guernsey. 
Plymouth  Institution  and  Devon  and  Cornwall  Natural    Historr  Sodi 

per  C.  S.  Jago,  Esq.,  Plymouth  Public  School. 
Pocklington-Coltman,  Mrs.,  Hagnaby  Priory,  Spilsby,  Lincolnshire. 
Powell,  Professor  F.  York,  M.A.,  F.S. A.,  Christ  Church,   Oxford  (  Vi 

Prcftuhnt). 
0.  Power,  D'Arcy,  Esq.,  M.A.,  M.B.,  F.S.A.,  10A,Chandos  Street,  CavenJ; 

Square,  W. 
Price,   F.   G.   Hilton,  Esq.,    F.S.A.,   F.G.S.,  F.R.G.S.,     17,    Collinghi 

Gardens,  S.  Kensington,  S.W. 
Price,  Mrs.,  W.  E.  Pen  Moel,  Chepstow. 

Providence  Public  Library,  per  G.E.  Stechert,  2,  Star  Yard,  Carev  St..  W. 
Pulling,  Alexander,  Esq.,  The  Croft,  Hitchin. 
Pusey,  S.  E.  Bouverie,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S.,  18,  Bryanston  St.,  Portman  Sq.,  ) 

Rankinj^,  D.F.  del'IIoste,  Esq.,  49,  Primrose  Mansions, Battersea  Park,  S.^ 
Uaynbird,    11.,  junr.,    Esq.,    Garrison   Gateway    Cottage,     Old     Basic 

Biisingstoke. 
Keade,  John,  Esq.,  270,  Laval  Avenue,  Montreal,  Canmia. 
Rees,  J.  Rogers,  Esq.,  l*cnarth,  Cardiff. 

Hennos  University  Library,  per  H.  Welter,  4,  Rue  Bernard,  Palisoy,  Paris 
Reynolds,  Lljwarch,  Esq.,  B.A.,  Old  Church  Place,  Merth^-r  Tydvil. 
Rhys,    Professor    John,  M.A.,    LL.D.,    Jesus    College,    Oxford    {Vic 

Prcii'uhmt). 
Rislcy,  The  Hon.  II.  II.,  M.A.,  C.I.E.,  care  of  Messrs.  Thacker,  2,  Cre€ 

Lane,  Ludgate  Hill,  E.C. 


List  of  Members.  xiii 

Rivera,  W.  H.  R.,M.D.,  SL  John's  College,  Cambridge. 
Robncheid  tod  Ebbecke,  Messrs.,  BachhtuidlQaK,  Am  Hof,  SB,  Bonn. 
Rom,  H.  a.,  Esq.,  I^hore,  Ponjab,  India. 
Rossall.  J.  H.,  Esq.,  Cbarleville,  Roscrea,  Ireland. 
Kotb,  H.  Ling,  Esq.,  32,  Prescot  Street,  St.  Halifax. 
3.  Ronie,  W.  H.  D.,  Esq.,  M,A.,  4,  Billon  Road,  Rngbj. 
Rofsl  Irish  Academy,  per  Hodges,  Figgii,  and  Co.,  104,  QraftoD  Street, 

DDblin. 
Riicker,  Mien,  4,  Vwibmgh  Terrace,  Blackheatfa,  S.E. 
Radmose-Brown,  T.  B.,  Esq.,  62,  Beaconsfield  Place,  Aberdeen. 


Salford  Public  Library,  Manchester. 

Sanoders,  J.  E  Esq..  F.S.A.,  F.Q.S.,  4,  Coleman  Street,  B.C. 

Savage,  Rev.  Canon  E.  B.,  M.A.,  F.S.A.,  St.  Thomas'  Vicarage,  Dunglos, 
Isle  of  Man. 
C.  Sa;ce,  Rev.  Prof.  A.  H.,  M.A.,  LL.D.,  D.D.,  Queen's  College,   Oxford 
(4,  Whitehall  Conrt,  8.W.)  (  VKce-PrttHmt'). 

Scbolten,  Mrs.,  6,  Milton  Cbomberit,  Che:nie  Walk,  Cbelsea,  S.W. 

Scott,  J.  G.,  Esq.,  per  R.  F.  Scott,  Esq.,  St.  John's  Colleitu,  Cambridge. 

S^billot,  Mons.  Pan!,  80,  BouleTard  St  Marcel,  Paris. 

Seebohm,  F.,  Esq.,  LL.D.,  F.S.A.,  The  Hermitage,  Hitehin,  Herts. 

Seligmann  C.   G.,   Esq.,  33,  Vincent  Square,  S.W. 

Sessions,  F.,  Esq.,  Monkleighton,  Alexandra  Road,  Oloncceter. 

Sheffield  Free  Public  Library,  Surrey  Street,  Sheffield,  per  S.  Smith,  Esq. 

Shewan,  A.,  Esq.,  Seehof,  St.  Andrews,  Fife. 

Shirley,  R.,  Esq.,  Heath  Cotttge,  Weybridge. 

Signet  Library,  Edinbnrgh. 

Sikes,  E.  E.,  ^.,  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge. 

Simpkins,  J.  E.,  Eaq.,  Musenm  of  Antiquities,  F.dinbui2h. 

Sinclair,  The  Hon.  Mrs,,  1,  Brunawick  Gardens,  Keniington,  W. 

Singer,  Professor,  9,  Falkesplats,  Bern,  Switzerland. 

Skeat,  Walter  W.,  F^.,  2,  Salisbury  Villaa,  Cambridge. 

Skilbeck,  J.  H.,  Esq.,  6,  Carlton  HU1,  N.W. 

Skipwith,  G.  H.,  Esq.,  The  Polytechnic  Institute,  William  Street,  Wool- 
wich, S.E. 

Skiine,  H.  D.,  Esq.,  ClaTerton  Manor,  Bath. 

Sneddon,  O.  P.,  Esq.,  8,  Merr;  Street,  Motherwell,  N.B. 

Speakman,    Mrs.    J.    O.,    presso   Signora  Rusconi,  30c,  ria   di    Porta 
Piuciana,  Rome. 

Speight,  Ernest  E.,  Esq.,  Temple  Hoose,  London.  E.C. 

Speth,  G.  W.,  Esq.,  La  Tnya,  Edward  Road,  Bromley,  Kent. 

Stanbery,  Miss  E.  8.,  433,  Adair  Arenne,  Zaneevtlle,  Ohio,  U.S.A. 

Stephenaon,  C.  H.,  Esq.,  84,  Kew  Road,  Birkdale,  Lancashire. 

St  Helen's  Corporatioii  Free  Libraif,  per  A.  I^mcaster,  Esq.,  Lihruian 
Toiwii  Hall,  Si  H«l«nV 


XIV 


List  of  Members. 


W 


I, 


Stockholm,  Royal  Librarj  of,  per  Sampton,  Low  and  Co.,  St  Bunikaii' 

House,  Fetter  Lane,  EC. 
Stokes,  Whitley,  Esq.,  C.S.L,  CLE.,  D.C.L.,  LL.D.,  F.S.A^  16,  GrenTil] 

Place,  S.  Kensington,  W. 
Struben,  Mrs.  E. 
Sorgeon.General's  Office,  Washington,  U.S.A.,  per  Kegan  Paul,  Traocfa 

Triibner,  and  Co.,  Ld.,  Charing  Cross  Road,  S.W. 
Swainson,  Rer.  C,  The  Rectory,  Old  Charlton. 
Swansea  Public  Library,  per  S.  E.  Thompson,  Esq.,  Librarian. 
Swynuerton,  Rev.  C,  Port  St  Idary,  Isle  of  Man. 
Sydney  Free  Public  Library,  per  Young  J.  Pentland,  38,  West  Smitl 

field,  E.C. 


Tabor,  C,  Esq.,  The  White  House,  Knotts  Green,  Leyton. 

Tate  Library,  University  College,  Liverpool,  care  of  J.  Sampson,  Esq. 

Taylor  Institution,  Oxford,  per  Parker  and  Co.,  6,  Soathamptou    Stiee 

Strand,  W.C. 
Taylor,  Miss  Agnes,  115,  Ladbroke  Grove,  W. 
Taylor,  Miss  Helen,  Avigpnon,  France. 

Temple,  Lieut-Colonel  R.  C,  CLE..,  F.R.G.S.,  Government  House,  Po 

Blair,  Andaman  Islands,  India  (parcels,  per  H.  S.  King  and  Co.,  & 

Comhill,  London,  E.C). 
Thomas,  N.  W.,  Esq.,  Anthropological  Institute,  3,  Hanover  Square,  "V! 

{Hon.  Avditor). 
Thompson,  Miss,  7,  Newport  House,  Great  Newport  Street,  W.C. 
Thompson,  Miss  Skeffington,  Glenelly,  Chislehurst  Common,  Kent. 
Thorp,  T.,  Esq.,  4,  Broad  Street,  Reading. 
Todhunter,  Dr.  J.,  Orchardcroft,  Bedford  Park,  W. 
Tolhurst,  J.,  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  Glen  brook,  Beckenham,  Kent. 
Toronto  Public  Library,  per  C  D.  Cazenove  &  Son,  26,  Henrietta  Streei 

Covent  Garden,  W.C. 
Toronto   University   Library,  per  C.  D.  Carenove  &  Son,  25,  Henrietti 

Street,  Covent  Garden,  W.C. 
Torquay  Natural  History  Society,  care  of  A.  Somervail,  Esq. 
Townshend,  Mrs.  R.  B.,  Derry  Illawn,  Banbury  Road,  Oxford. 
Tozer,  W.  H.  Esq.,  67,  Elms  Road,  Clapham  Common,  S.W. 
Traheme,  G.  G.,  Esq.,  Coedarhydyglyn,  Cardiff. 
Traherne,  L.  E.,  Esq.,  Coedriglan  Park,  Cardiff. 
Travancore,  His  Highness  the  Maharajah  of,  Huzier,  Cutcherry,  Trevan 

drum,  India. 
Turubull,  A.  11.,  Esq.,  Klibank,  Wellington,  New  Zealand,  per  A.  L.  Kldoi 

and  Co.,  7,  St.  Helen's  Place,  E.C. 
Tylor,  Professor  E.  B.,  LL.l).,  D.C.L  ,  F.H.S.,  The  Muneum  House,  Oxford 

( Vioc-PreMent). 


List  of  Members.  xv 

Udal,  The  Hon.  J.  S.,  Antigua,  Leeward  Islands,  West  Indies. 
Upsala  Uniyersity  Library,  per  C.  J.  Lnndstrom,  Upsala,  Sweden. 
Usener,  Professor,  Bonn,  Germany. 

Van  Stocknm,  W.  P.,  and  Sou,  36,  Bnitenhof ,  The  Hagne,  Holland. 

Van  Genneppe,  Professor  A.>  Crenstockowa,  Rnssia,  per  A.  Schnlz,  4, 

Kae  de  la  Sorbonne,  Paris. 
Vassar  College  Library,  Pongnkeepsie,  N.Y.,  U.S.A.,  per  H.   Sotheran 

&  Co.,  14C,  Strand,  W.C. 
Venkataswami,  M.N.,  M.R.A  S.,   Esq.,    The    Hermitage,   Secnnderabad, 

Beccan. 
Voss*  Sortiment  (Herr  G.  Haessler),  Leipzig. 

Walhouse,  M.  J.,  Esq.,  28,  Hamilton  Terrace,  St.  John's  Wood,  N.W. 
Walker,  Dr.  Robert,  Budleigh-Salterton,  Deron,  per  E.  W.  Watson,  Esq., 

22,  Highbury  New  Park,  N 
Wallis,  Mrs.,  Burnbrae,  19,  Fairhazel  Gardens,  London,  N.W. 
Walpole,  Sir  H.  G.,  India  Office,  Whitehall,  S.W. 
Warner,  S.  G.,  Esq.,  Elmside,  Bolingbroke  Grove,  S.W. 
Watkinson  Library,  Hartford,  Connecticut,  U.S.A.,  per  E.  G.  Allen,  28, 

Henrietta  Street,  Covent  Garden,  W.C. 
Weimar  Grand  Ducal  Library,  per  Dr.  P.  von  Bojanowsky. 
Weston,  Miss  J.  L. ,  Banavie,  Lansdown  Road,  Bournemouth. 
Wheatley,  Henry  B.,  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  2,  Oppidans  Road,  Primrose  Hill,  N.W. 
White,  Miss  Diana,  Old  Priory,  Sydenham. 
Williamson,  Rev.  Charles  A.,  14,  Upper  Mount  St.,  Dublin. 
Wills,  Miss  M.  M.  Evelyn,  Heathfield,  Swansea. 
Wilson,  R.  H.,  Esq.,  23,  Cromwell  Crescent,  S.W. 
Windle,  Professor  B.  C.  A.,  M.A.,  M.D.,  D.Sc,  Dean  of  Queen's  Faculty  uf 

Medicine,  Mason  College,  Birmingham. 
Wisconsin  State  Historical  Society,  per  H.  Sotheran  k  Co.,  140,  Strand, 

W.C. 
C.  Wissendorff,  H.,  19,  Nadeschkinskara,  St.  Petersburg,  Russia. 
Woman's  Anthropological  Society,  Washington,  D.C.,  U.S.A.,  care  of  Mrs. 

M.  P.  Seaman,  1424,  Eleventh  Street,  N.W.,  Washington,  D.C.,  U.S.A. 
Wood,  Alexander,  Esq.,  Thomly,  Saltcoats,  N.B. 
Woodall,  E.,  Esq.,  Wingthorpe,  Oswestry. 
Worcester  Free  Public  Library,  Mass.,  U.S.A.,  per  Kegan  Paul,  Trench, 

Triibner,  and  Co.,  Ld. 
Wright,  A.  R.,  Esq.,  H.M.  Patent  Office,  Southampton  Buildings  W.C. 
Wright,  W.  Aldis,  Esq.,  LL.D.,  Trinity  College,  Cambridge. 
Wyndham,  George,  Esq.,  M.P.,  35,  Park  Lane,  W. 


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Stanford,  California 


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