The journal of American folk-lore

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AMERICAN FOLK-LORE

VOLUME XII

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THE JOURNAL OF

AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.

Vol. :::: — january-march, 1899.— no. xliv.

THE STUDY OF ETHICS AMONG THE LOWER

RACES.1

A reviewer, Mr. Henry Sturt, in the "International Journal of
Ethics" (October, 1898), declares that "the historian of morality
has in fact not yet appeared before the world, and a most magnifi-
cent literary and philosophic opportunity still remains unseized."
Regarding this as the latest dictum on the subject, I have reason
to hope that the few suggestions and observations I am about to
present are not untimely.

I have heard a tale, but I know not where it originated, of an
English gentleman who had spent some time among wild tribes in a
foreign land, and on returning to his home wrote a book about them.
One chapter was headed " Customs and Manners," and consisted
simply of these words : " Customs, beastly ; manners, none." This
represents the mental attitude of the average European toward more
primitive people. We are apt to regard our own morals and man-
ners as standards, and to think that those who have them not have
none. It is difficult to understand that the virtues of one people
may be the crimes of another, and vice versa. Yet such is often the
case. We are apt to forget that among ourselves morals may be
vastly changed in a single generation, and that what is commendable
on the part of the father may be execrated on the part of the son.
The history of the duello, for instance, exemplifies this.

But there are many other difficulties to be encountered in the
study of savage ethics. It is difficult to determine, where authority
is lax or ill-defined, what acts are regarded as criminal. If, as
Hobbes says, " the civil magistrate is supreme in morality as well as
in politics," how shall we judge standards of morality where there is
no civil magistrate ? If punishment for neglect is a criterion of
right action, what criterion shall we establish among a race which
has no organized means of punishment ? Adam Smith tells us that

1 Paper read before the Tenth Annual Meeting of the American Folk-Lore
Society, at Columbia University, New York, December 29, 1898.

2 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

the criterion of right " is the sympathetic feeling of an impartial and
well-informed spectator," but it is not easy to select such a specta-
tor from among a crowd of savages. Writers on ethics have ex-
hausted speculation in their efforts to determine the standard of
moral action. If such a standard is hard to find among civilized
men, it is much harder to find among the uncivilized. The days of
the truly unsophisticated savage have passed, and only a meagre
record of them remains. It is not easy now to decide how much
the ethical notions of a barbarous people may be the result of
civilized teaching, example, or law.

Perhaps the safest way to discover the ethical notions of savages
is by the study of their myths and traditions ; but even here we
must proceed with caution, and employ the critical methods of
modern science. Among a civilized people, history and tradition
teach us only the ethics of the past ; this may be true also of the tra-
ditions of savages, but in a lesser degree. With us, tradition has
been unalterably fixed in type ; among savages, it still lives on the
tongues of unlettered men ; it is yet in a plastic condition. From
my own experience in collecting tales among savages, I am aware
that even in stories with well-established forms a good deal depends
on the disposition and intelligence of the narrator. He embellishes
according to his own ideas. He has the power to add or subtract
much. Then we know that oral traditions have their growths. If
one Indian tells me that the sun-god rides on a horse through the
heavens, and another tells me he walks on the holy trail of a rain-
bow, I have no hesitancy in deciding which is the ancient tale ; but
when one seems to condemn a certain course of action and another
to approve it, I cannot reach a decision so readily. The age and
character of the informant and many other things must be consid-
ered.

It is nothing to us that a horrid crime (as we regard it) is de-
scribed in a tale, for the story-tellers of all ages and of all races have
delighted to thrill their hearers with such tales, and, as civilization
advances, this delight seems to increase rather than to diminish.
But if the beneficent gods of the people are represented as approv-
ing of the act, or if the author of the myth approved of it and seemed
to expect approval on the part of his auditors, we may fairly con-
clude the action is deemed proper, no matter how repulsive it may
be to our ideas. It is fair to presume, too, that an action which
meets with a reward is regarded as virtuous. If we find that not
once only, but many times, a certain course of conduct is approved,
we may feel still more assured that it is thought righteous.

In this short article, I must confine myself, as a rule, to drawing
my illustrations from the sources with which I am most familiar. If

The Study of Ethics among the Lower Races. 3

we find a community of some fifteen thousand people wealthy and
prosperous, living harmoniously together, having few quarrels, no
murders, and yet no courts of law and no obvious punishments for
breach of law, we may feel assured that they have some system of
ethics which holds them together and makes them live like a band of
brothers. Such are the Navahoes of New Mexico. Among Indian
tribes in a lower state of advancement there were executive bands
(dog-soldiers or soldier bands, as they were variously called), who had
the right to discipline those who violated the customs of the tribe
or the orders of the council ; but I never learned that such a band
existed among the Navahoes.

One would think that among a people possessing much wealth,
and, above all, much portable property, like the Navahoes, some
rigorous punishment would be meted to the thief ; but no punish-
ment exists for him. If found with the stolen property, he is
expected to restore it, that is all. It is Bentham who says, " Utility
is the basis of morals," but it is hard to see how his law can apply to
theft among the Navahoes, for this is a custom (let us call it) which
is exceedingly common among them. The majority of the people
possess ornaments of silver and other portable wealth ; why do these
not suppress the stealing among the improvident and impecunious ?
Perhaps their present customs are a survival of the days, not long
past, when, as a people they were very poor and had to steal from
other tribes, if steal they must. To take from an enemy has been
deemed proper among all races and at all times down to the year of
our Lord 1898; but to take by force, stealth, or fraud from one of
your own friends or kindred has long been regarded as unethical
among Aryans. Let us see whether the Navaho myths approve of
theft or condemn it. In the long myth of the blind boy who bore
his crippled twin brother on his back, it is related that this miserable
pair went among the holy ones of the Chelly canyon to be cured.
The gods asked them if they brought with them the jewels and
other precious things demanded as sacrifices. The children said,
"No, we are poor and have nothing." Then the gods arranged a
conspiracy with the twins. The latter went to the Moki towns, let
loose plagues among the fields, and demanded and received gifts of
the sacrificial treasures, to stay the plague they had themselves cre-
ated. This was not theft, but a species of fraud worse than theft,
not only pardoned but suggested by gods who afterwards received
the spoils. Some extenuating circumstances are presented : the
Mokis were an alien people and they treated their visitors inhospit-
ably ; but in the myth of Narines//zani or the Self-taught, we find
no such attempt at extenuation. In this it is related that the hero
of the myth, the prophet, in order to make sacrifices to the gods and

4 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

gain their favor, stole a number of precious articles from his own
parents and brother, or induced his niece to steal them, and there-
after good fortune attends him as a reward for this action. I might
cite other similar instances from the Navaho myths. In these days
of increasing wealth, the Navahoes may look with disfavor on the
thief ; but the time is evidently not long gone by when with them,
as among the Spartans, adroit theft was deemed honorable.

Although the Indians have a system of kinship so different to
ours, they have a regard for the sacredness of kinship equal or supe-
rior to ours. If a man marries within the forbidden degrees of kin-
dred, there is perhaps no worse real punishment for him than social
ostracism. As I shall explain later, there are imaginary punish-
ments which in all probability will never come to him. Formal and
recognized marriage within forbidden degrees of kindred is perhaps
unknown among the Navahoes. The book of Genesis leaves us to
infer that consanguineous marriages took place among the sons and
daughters of Adam and Eve, but the Navaho Origin Legend pro-
vides the children of First Man and First Woman with exogamous
wives and husbands.

Clandestine intimacies among the closely related are apparently
not altogether unknown ; but the traditions leave us in no doubt
that such intimacies, if unpunished, are yet execrated. The Navaho
story of the Origin of the Utes is much like the Hebrew tradition of
the origin of the Moabites, but the Navaho shows a delicacy above
that of the Hebrew by making the father the willing transgressor
and the daughter the innocent victim. When her son is born, she
feels no maternal regard for him, but kicks him into a badger-hole
and leaves him to his fate. The Navaho scores a point against his
enemy, the Ute, just as the Hebrew scores one against his enemy
of Moab, by tracing the ancestry of the Ute to this unfortunate
child. In the myth of Na/ines^ani it is indicated that only witches
and cannibals are guilty of incest.

Marriage and divorce are both so readily effected among Navahoes
that one might easily suppose such a thing as illegitimacy was not
recognized among them, or that, if recognized, no stigma could
attach to the condition ; yet the Navahoes have a word (yutaj-ki) for
this state, and the myths indicate that the child who knows not his
father is regarded as unfortunate. Except perhaps occasionally a
slight whipping, I do not think any punishment falls to the lot of
the unfaithful wife. The position of the Navaho woman is one of
great independence. In the Navaho Origin Legend it is indicated
that severe punishments (such as amputation of the nose) for con-
jugal infidelity once existed, that they have been abandoned, that
the execution of these lay with the husband, but that he might not

The Study of Ethics among the Lower Races. 5

punish without the consent of the woman's relatives. There was no
punishment for the erring man.

Truthfulness is not inculcated in the Navaho myths, and there is
a general impression that it is a virtue not much practised among
savages. As the result of over thirty years' experience among Indi-
ans, I must say that I have not found them less truthful than the
average of our own race. With a proper understanding of their
motives and actions I know how to rely on their statements and
promises. I have evidence that after a solemn asseveration or oath
a Navaho will not lie, and I have known men of high character and
self-respect among the Navahoes whose word could always be safely
accepted. All people, in all times, have found it convenient to con-
done a certain amount of falsehood. The ethical boundaries of vera-
city have never been exactly defined. There are times when false-
hood seems commendable, especially diplomatic falsehood. If we
read in the Odyssey that Pallas Athene applauded Ulysses when he
lied to her ; if we learn in Exodus that it was not Moses who devised
the scheme to deceive and defraud the Egyptians ; if we are ready
ourselves to pardon the social falsehoods of every-day life, we need
not be shocked when we find the Navaho myths teeming with false-
hoods on the part of both gods and men. There is this much to be
said in favor of the Navaho myths : for the most part they speak of
diplomatic lies, and they make it appear that when the questioner
expresses doubt by asking his question four times, all prevarication
and evasion ceases and the truth is spoken. But the myths indicate
that a solemn promise is of a very sacred character, and that the
person who makes such a promise — one of secrecy for instance —
should be willing to die rather than violate it.

I was much surprised many years ago when I first realized that
savages often regard our customs as beastly and think we have no
manners ; but when I learned their reasons, I found the latter were
not without foundation. Many of our tribes will not eat pork. At
Zuni the hogs of the village are reserved to feast the captive eagles.
The flesh is not tabooed by any divine order, as among the Hebrews.
They say they will not eat the flesh of the hog simply because the
animal is filthy in its habits, because it is the scavenger of the town.
They cannot comprehend why white people eat pork, and yet they
eat food that would disgust us. It is all a matter of taste. The
wildest Indian would be shocked to learn that it is very common in
England for first cousins to marry one another, yet he would con-
sider it a virtuous act to marry his deceased wife's sister.

The Indian, in a state of pure paganism, does not believe in that
doctrine of rewards and punishments in a future life which is un-
doubtedly an incentive to righteousness among our people. His

6 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

religion carries the conditions of this life into the next. As already-
stated of the Navahoes, — and it is also true of other tribes, — there
is no executive power to enforce obedience to laws or to punish
offenders. I have heard of men being killed in old days for the sup-
posed crime of witchcraft among the Navahoes (this has been done
in Zuni of late years) ; but such executions were rare and seem to
have been accomplished by popular uprising rather than by an
established legal method, by a species of lynch law, in fact. Of
the punishment of adultery I speak elsewhere. What, then, it is
proper to ask, are the Indian incentives to right doing ? No doubt
loss of favor for wrong-doing is one incentive ; but we know how
lightly this weighs on many of our own race who are not of the
proud and sensitive kind. I am inclined to think that a belief in
bad luck, or, as we might say, in the vengeance of inanimate objects
(not so inanimate to the Indian mind as to ours), has a restraining
influence. We know how superstition guides action among the
unlettered of our own people, and we know that among the most
cultured a trace of its influence remains. I once asked a Navaho
what would happen to him if he married a woman of his own gens.
"I would have bad fortune," he said. "I would fall into the fire
and get burned, the lightning would strike me, the cold would freeze
me, or the gun would shoot me, — something fearful would happen
to me." In the Navaho Origin Legend we are told that when
No//oilpi the gambler, or gambling god, had been deprived of his
possessions and shot up into the sky by his conqueror, he cursed the
people as he ascended ; but he did not utter anything like the brief
convenient anathema of the Anglo-American. He did not think that
his beneficent gods had either the power or the will to damn any-
one. He knew of no process analogous to damning. He only said ;
" I will send war and disease among you. May the cold freeze you !
May the fire burn you ! May the waters drown you ! "

But there is yet another restraining influence with the Navaho,
and, strange as it may appear to some of my readers, it is his con-
science. There has been so much written on the general subject
of conscience that there is little left for me to say. I am not one of
those who believe that it can always help us to determine right
from wrong. I do not believe with Dr. Whewell in the existence of
a standard conscience ; but I do believe that the rules of right and
wrong being once established in the mind, the conscience constrains
us to comply with them. The oftener we suffer the pangs of re-
morse, the more we dread their repetition. As conscience is a sen-
timent that varies in different individuals, we have different degrees
of virtue even among those to whom the same law is given. It is
not always for offences to which established penalties here or here-

The Study of Ethics among the Lower Races. 7

after are attached that we feel the deepest remorse ; but often for
those which merit no punishment and are concealed in our own
bosoms from the eye of scorn. The asseveration of Torlino, which
I have already published elsewhere, is one of the best evidences I
possess of the recognition of conscience in the Indian. Desiring to
assure me of the verity of what he was about to relate, he said :
" Why should I lie to you ? I am ashamed before the earth ; I am
ashamed before the heavens ; I am ashamed before the dawn ; I am
ashamed before the evening twilight ; I am ashamed before the blue
sky ; I am ashamed before the darkness ; I am ashamed before the
sun ; I am ashamed before that standing within me which speaks
with me. Some of these things are always looking at me. I am
never out of sight. Therefore I must tell the truth. That is why I
always tell the truth. I hold my word tight to my breast." Here
we have in the eternal vigilance of many mysterious eyes a substi-
tute for the All-seeing Eye and a distinct conception of the inward
monitor. Torlino was a pagan priest of the old school. A passage
in the story of No//oilpi, the gambler or gambling god, shows us that
he who composed this tale knew what the pangs of remorse might
be, even for an act not criminal, as we consider it, but merely
ungenerous and unfilial. No//oilpi had won at game, from the people
of the Blue House in the Chaco canyon, two shells of enormous size,
the chief treasures of the pueblo. His father the Sun had asked
him for these shells and had been refused the gift ; the Sun was
angry, and certain gods plotted the overthrow of the gambler. But
before they began to work they wanted to find out if he was sorry
because he had refused the shells to his father. So at night they
sent first Darkness, and after him Wind, to the chamber where the
gambler slept, to search well his body and his mind. Both returned
saying that No//oilpi was sorry for what he had done.

Let us now inquire if the good actions of Indians are ever prompted
by pure feelings of benevolence. Perhaps there is no such thing as
pure benevolence, and that in its highest manifestations good-will is
but a refined form of selfishness. However this may be, we flatter
ourselves that we often do good to our fellow creatures for no other
reward than the pleasure it gives us to do it, and, unless we have
good evidence to the contrary, it is but fair to believe that the sav-
age acts at times from motives similar to ours. In the Navaho
myths we frequently find allusions to gods helping men in all sorts
of trouble. For certain specific services, such as teaching him
songs and rites, they demand sacrifices — mostly of an innocent and
inexpensive sort ; but numerous services are performed without any
hope of reward. The myths abound in instances of this kind. The
gods are shown to help man merely because they take pity on him

S Journal of American Folk-Lore.

and have the power to help, getting neither prayer nor praise nor
thanks for their good offices. Of the many beneficent gods of the
Navahoes, the chief war god, Nayenezgani is the most conspicuous.
He appears throughout his career as a disinterested philanthropist.
As a warrior he destroys the enemies of mankind, and as a trans-
former he changes things which in the past were evil to others
which " in the days to come will be useful to man." Wind and the
Little Wind People are beneficent divinities who are always ready
to whisper into the ear of man — to give him good advice when he
is in danger or perplexity.

But the legends speak not only of beneficent gods : they tell us of
benevolent actions of men. Here is an instance of pity and prompt
restitution, taken from a portion of the Navaho Origin Legend
which is almost historic. While some members of the gens of T/ia.'-
paha were sojourning at Aga/a, they sent two children one night to
a spring to get water. The children carried out with them two
wicker bottles, but returned with four. " Where did you get these
other bottles ?" the parents inquired. "We took them away from
two little girls whom we met at the spring," answered the children.
"Why did you do this, and who are the girls?" said the elders.
" We do not know. They are strangers," said the little ones. The
parents at once set out for the spring to find the strange children
and restore the stolen bottles to them ; but on their way they met
the little girls coming toward the 77/a'paha camp, and asked them
who they were. The strange children replied : " We belong to a
band of wanderers who are encamped on yonder mountain. They
sent us two together to find water." " Then we shall give you a
name," said the 77/a'paha ; "we shall call you Zb'ba^rna^ai, — Two
Come Together for Water." The 77/a'paha brought the little girls
to their hut and bade them be seated. " Stay with us," they said,
"you are too weak and little to carry the water so far. We will
send some of our young men to carry it for you."

But ethics is a wide subject and embraces the whole range of
human obligations. It includes not only the more important duties
which come under the head of morals, but those minor ones which
we designate as manners and etiquette. I might fill a volume with
a discourse on savage etiquette, but I must limit myself now to a
few illustrations. The gentleman already quoted who thought the
barbarous tribe had no manners simply found a people who did not
have his code of manners, and whom he probably impressed with
the belief that he had none, — a people whose code of manners he
violated at every turn. The savage is often incumbered with rules
of behavior as he is with observances of religion. Travelers in
America from the days of Columbus to the present day have com-

The Study of Ethics among the Lower Races. 9

mended the courtesy of our aborigines. The manners which the
Europeans brought with them to this country were vastly different
from the manners they found here, yet both must have had some
elements in common. In the smiling faces of the dark hosts, in
their prompt service, their free hospitality, and their generous gifts,
the white guests at once recognized the essentials of good manners.
I have spoken elsewhere (" Navaho Legends," p. 58) of the profes-
sional ethics of the shamans.

The Navaho myths do not tell us as much of the manners as they
do of the morals of the people, yet they are not silent on the subject
of manners, both good and bad. They indicate the deference due
to age, — even among twins, the younger must defer to the elder, —
the duties of hospitality, the modes of addressing a stranger and
applying to him the appropriate terms of kinship, the forms of greet-
ing ; and they show us, too, with evident disapproval, the language
and conduct of intentional slight and insult. Among some Indian
tribes, it is said there is no word for thanks ; but the Navahoes have
one, and employ it on all occasions which we would consider appro-
priate. It appears, too, in the myths.

Perhaps some of their seemingly senseless rules of ethics might
with profit be adopted by civilized people. I once told a young
Benedict, a friend of mine, that in many Indian tribes it was not
good manners for a man to meet, speak to, or even look at his
mother-in-law, and that neither was it polite for her to recognize in
any way her daughter's husband. " Ah," he said, with a sigh of
deep feeling, " would that such rules of etiquette prevailed among
ourselves."

Washington Matthews.

i o Journal of A trier ic an Folk-L ore.

THE COLOR-SYMBOLISM OF THE CARDINAL

POINTS.1

In attempting to make any comparison of the colors used by vari-
ous peoples as symbolic of the cardinal points, we are at once con-
fronted by several difficulties. Although such symbolism was and
is, presumably, widespread, it has been recorded, as far as I have
been able to discover, only in North and Central America, in South
and Southeastern Asia, and in Ireland. There is, therefore, not as
large a fund of material as could be desired. Again, it is in some
cases no easy matter to determine what colors are used by any given
tribe or people for the different directions, as authorities differ widely,
or make statements which may be construed in several ways. Lastly,
we cannot be sure to how great an extent colors are confounded by
the lower races. It is well known that, for instance, Blue and Green
are not distinguished in the languages of some peoples, while others
confuse Dark Blue with Black. Not that the difference between the
colors is not recognized, but that the principles of color-nomencla-
ture are different from ours. Knowing this to be the case, can we
assume, for instance, that Green = Blue when we find two systems of
colors which, except for this difference, are exactly the same ? In
the matter of Greens and Blues, it seems reasonable to consider the
two systems, if not identical, as at least very closely related ; but the
equation Blue = Black is perhaps a little more doubtful. In the
present discussion, however, no such equations are assumed unless
expressly stated.

One of the first points of interest in this matter of the color-sym-
bolism of the cardinal points is the choice of colors which was made
by the various peoples. By this I mean what groups of colors were
selected for this symbolism, irrespective of the directions which the
colors were supposed to symbolize. Out of the thirty-odd systems
of color-symbolism which I have been able to find, the most common
color group is that of White, Yellow, Red, Blue ; then in order fol-
low, White, Yellow, Red, Black, and the two groups White, Ycllozv,
Blue, Black, and White, Red, Blue, Black. These four groups to-
gether include nearly two thirds of the instances collected ; and if
we assume the equation Blue = Black, the first two groups coincide,
and would contain some thirty per cent, of the total number of cases.
This would seem to show no very startling uniformity in the choice
of color groups ; and yet, considering the large number of groups
which might be formed with six colors, this proportion is relatively

1 Paper read before Section H of the American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science, at Columbia University, New York, December 28, 1898.

The Color-Symbolism of the Cardinal Points. 1 1

quite considerable. If we consider separately the American and the
Asiatic instances, we find one important difference : whereas in the
American symbolism, out of twenty-one cases, ten have the group
White, Yellow, Red, Black or Blue ; in the Asiatic the ten cases
collected are quite evenly distributed among the various groups, and
we cannot say that there is any group which is markedly prepon-
derant.

But what has led to the choice of the especial colors used by the
various peoples as symbols of the four directions ? The factors seem
to be four : the sun, in its rising and setting ; the geographical
position of the people in question ; the climate of the region where
they lived ; and their religious ideas. Let us consider these in their
order.

The colors of the East and West are the ones, as would naturally
be supposed, in which the Sun plays the most conspicuous part.
The colors likely to be associated with the Sun in its rising and
setting are Red, Yellow, mid White. Of these three colors, two are
associated with East and West in some forty per cent, of all the
cases under consideration ; the proportion being considerably larger
in Asia than in America. In many cases, however, both East and
West are not represented by colors owing their origin to the Sun ;
and when this is the case, it is the East which, far more than the
West, is associated with one of the three colors mentioned above.
Considering the East and West separately, we find that among the
American systems East is a Sunrise color in nearly ninety per cent,
of the instances, among the Asiatic systems in about fifty per cent.,
and, taking the two systems together, East is still a Sunrise color in
something more than three fourths of the total number of cases.
West is designated by a Sunset color in something over one half of
all the instances ; and, considering Asia and America separately, we
find the former now as overwhelmingly in excess of the American as
the American was before over the Asiatic; the reason for this will
become apparent later. The colors of East and West, then, are in
the great majority of cases connected with the colors of sunrise and
sunset, and both of them are so connected very frequently. But
what is the determining factor in those instances where in Amer-
ica the West, and in Asia the East, is not represented by Red,
Yellow, or White ? This leads to the second factor, — geographic
position.

All three other colors are given for West in America, — Black,
Blue, and Green ; and it seems possible that these can all, or nearly
all, be explained by a single fact. In America, almost the only
exceptions to the prevailing Sun-colors for East and West are in the
colors ascribed to the West : in Asia, on the other hand, the excep-

1 2 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

tions are found mainly in the East. Now to the West of America,
and to the East of Asia, is the Pacific Ocean ; and may we not assume
that at least the Blues and Greens are used for West and East, in
America and Asia respectively, in reference to this ? All the Ameri-
can tribes for which an explicit color-system is given, who use Blue
or Green for the West, are situated in the southwestern part of the
United States and Mexico, where, if they have not themselves seen
the Western ocean, they have at least heard of its existence. There
is perhaps one exception to this, — namely, the Dakota ; but here it
would seem probable that the existence of a Western ocean was known
to the people also. In Asia the same general conditions hold true. It
is precisely among those peoples who abut on the Pacific, and among
no others, that East is symbolized by Green or Blue. May we make
even a broader equation, and say Blue = Green = Black ? That is, can
we say that the existence of a large body of water, West of America
and East of Asia, determined the selection of a dark color for these
points ? Such a theory offers, it is to be feared, a too temptingly
simple explanation of the matter ; for Black may be ascribed to the
West for other reasons, as will be pointed out later. The equation
Blue = Green may also be questioned, as in America Green is attrib-
uted to the West only in Mexico, and there West was, according to
some authors, connected with grass and fertility.

As for the other cases where geographic position has apparently
influenced the selection of colors, I must confess that the grounds
are much weaker. In the symbolism of the Creeks, the Hopi, the
Navaho, and in Mexico (following Acosta), South is represented by
Blue ; and the same point is symbolized by the same color in Thibet
and in the Buddhist symbolism of India and Ceylon. In one sense all
these peoples have the sea to the south of them, and it is possible that
here, too, we have the influence of the sea on the colors chosen for
the cardinal points. But this suggestion must be regarded as merely
a suggestion, and it is advanced only because no other explanation
seemed to be forthcoming. If we include Green as a sea color, we
should add to this list the Apache, Ojibwa, and Winnebago; but
with the latter two at least, and probably with the former as well,
it seems fully as likely that the Green may be connected with vege-
tation.

The third factor suggested as possibly influencing the selection of
colors was climate, and this shows most clearly in regard to the
colors for North and South. In a little less than half the cases we
find Red used as symbolic of the South ; and, with the exception of
the Northern Athabascans, all these cases are found among Southern
peoples or tribes. In the general symbolism of many peoples, Red
is symbolic of heat or fire ; and the presumption is strong that, on

The Color-Symbolism of the Cardinal Points. 1 3

account of its very natural association with fire and heat, it was
chosen as the symbolic color of the South, — particularly as the
people among whom it is found ascribed to the South are those
who would have the greatest amount of heat to endure. The other
colors attributed to the South beside Blue and Green, which have
already been considered, are Yellow, White, and Black. Of these
there are, however, but few instances. Yellow was attributed to the
South by the Mayas, according to Landa, and may perhaps, with
White, be explained as the glaring light and heat of noonday ; but
this explanation is by no means satisfactory. Black as symbolic of
the South is only found among the Omahas, I believe, and I have
been able to find no reason for this seeming anomaly except in some
particular religious significance which the South may have among
this tribe.

It would seem natural that the North should be connected with
cold and snow, and as such designated White ; but it is only in about
one fifth of the instances that it so occurs. Black, on the other hand,
is used for North in more than one third of the cases, and as such
seems to be connected more with storm and bad luck than with cold.
This is well shown, for instance, by the Irish symbolism found in the
Senchus Mor. Here the North wind is Black, and the winds interme-
diate between the North and West are Gray and Dark Brown, while
those between North and East are Dark Gray and Speckled. Yel-
low and Blue, which are in some half dozen cases used as symbolic
of the North, seem to have no natural explanation ; the Cherokees,
Apaches, and Omaha having the North Blue (the latter accord-
ing to Dorsey), and the Sia, Zufii, and Mexicans Yellow. The latter
is also used for the North by the Thibetans and the Ceylon Bud-
dhists.

The last, but by no means the least, of the factors which determine
the choice of colors, is religion. I have in this paper confined
myself to the purely natural explanations which might be offered for
the phenomena under discussion, and shall therefore not stop to
consider any of the many religious ideas which have probably influ-
enced men in the selection of the symbolic colors. I may, however,
refer to a single cause of this sort, which would perhaps explain
the ascription of Black to the West. The very frequent placing
of the Land of the Dead in the West may, it seems reasonable, be
the origin of the West being considered gloomy ; it may also be a
factor in the association of Black with North, as the North is some-
times regarded as a Land of Shades.

If we look over the list of American color-systems, and try to
determine the representative color for each point of the compass,
we find the result very unsatisfactory. There is little agreement

1 4 Journal of A mcrican Folk-Lore.

between different systems, and in some cases it is almost a matter of
choice on any one point, so evenly are the different colors divided.
But if we make such a composite as best we may, we get as a result
the following : —
N. — Black (White) ; E. = Red (Yellow) ; S. = Blue (Red) ; W. = Yellow (Blue) :

in nearly all cases the relative frequency being so close that two
colors have to be given. An Asiatic composite made on the same
lines would show a rather interesting difference. In it we should
have : —

N. = Black. E. = White (Blue). S. = Red. W. = White.

There is in this case a much greater uniformity, and only one point
(East) requires two colors, whereas in the case of the American com-
posite every point required two colors. To be sure, in the Asiatic
composite there are not nearly as many instances to make the com-
posite from, there being only China, Japan, Corea, Thibet, India, and
Java, although, from there being two or more systems for India and
Thibet, there is a total of ten cases. Such composites are of rather
doubtful value, however.

One more composite of this sort may be made, and with more
profit and reason perhaps. If, instead of taking all the American
tribes, and attempting to form a composite or representative system,
we separate them into a Northern and a Southern group (under-
standing by " Southern" all the tribes of the Southwest, Mexico, and
Central America), — if we make such a division, the task, which
before was almost impossible because of such great variation, now
becomes easy. We should have, following this plan, then, —

Northern Group, N. = Black. E. = Red. S. = White (Green). W. = Red.
Southern Group, N. = White. E. = Yellow. S. = Red. W. = Blue.

Although the Northern group has Red for both East and West, yet
the two groups are seen to be sharply contrasted ; and they may each
be said, with much more fairness than could be said of the first
composites, to be a representative system for their respective regions.
If we do the same with the Asiatic systems, we obtain a similar
result. Taking the two groups of Northern and Eastern, and South-
ern and Central, we have : —

N. and E., N. = Black. E. = Green-Blue. S. = Red. W. == White.

S. and C., N. = Black-Yellow. E. = White. S. == Blue-Green. W. = Red- Yellow.

As before stated, the comparison of such composites is of very doubt-
ful value, but it is rather interesting to note the partial agreement
of the Southern American group with the Northern and Eastern
Asiatic group, if we shift the latter East for West (on the assump-
tion of the ocean being the cause of ascribing Blue or Green to the

The Color-Symbolism of the Cardinal Points. 15

West or East respectively). If we make this change we have,
then, —

S. Am. Group = White. = Yellow (White). = Red. = Blue-Green.
N. and E. Asia = Black. = White = Red. = Blue-Green.

There is one fact which the comparison of this symbolism of col-
ors brings out, and that is, that there is little or no agreement between
the various systems. But one case has been found in America of an
exact agreement, — that, namely, of the Sia and the Zufli ; a second
case there may be, but it is doubtful, and will be mentioned pre-
sently. In practically every case, then, there is a difference between
any two color-systems ; and often greater between two tribes belong-
ing to the same stock, and living almost side by side, than between
two separated by thousands of miles, living under different environ-
ment, and totally unrelated. As an example, we may take the
Omaha1 and the Winnebago.1 We have : —

Omaha . .

. N.

— Blue.

E. = Red.

S.

= Black.

W.

= Yellow.

Winnebago .

. N.

= White.

E. = Blue.

S.

= Green.

W.

=:Red.

Apache . .

. N.

= White.

or
E. — Yellow.

S.

= Green.

W.

= Black.

Navaho . .

. N.

= Black.

E. = White.

s.

= Blue.

W.

= Yellow.

Here are two tribes of the same stock, living near each other, but
with radically different color-systems ; in the first case, even the color-
groups are quite different. On the other hand, take the Northern
Athabascans, as given by Petitot, and the Maya system according to
one author. Here we have an exact correspondence, if we take the
Athabascan system to be N. = Black; E. = Yellow; S. = Red; W. =
White. But Petitot's statements may be interpreted in several other
ways, and neither this interpretation nor any other will coincide
with Landa's order for the Maya. The color-groups are, however,
identical. In Asia there is more similarity between the systems
of different peoples, but here it seems to be easily explained as
due to the adoption of the colors of one nation by another, as, for
instance, Japan and Corea, those of China ; Thibet, the Buddhist
system, etc.

The last point to be considered is that of "shifting" and "rever-
sal." In many cases it happens that where two tribes or peoples
have the same color-group, the one system is exactly the same as
the other if one be shifted through one quarter or one half a revo-
lution. For example, the Hopi symbols are the same as the Sia, if

1 Both the Omaha and Winnebago colors are taken from Dorsey. I am in-
formed by Miss Fletcher, however, that there was some misunderstanding on the
matter, and that more careful investigations among the Omaha fail to show any
color-symbolism connected with the points of the compass.

1 6 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

these are shifted one quarter sinistrally ; similarly the Brahmanic
system in India, or the Javanese system shifted similarly one quarter
sinistrally, would be the same as Landa's Mayan symbols, etc., — the
cases of exact coincidence, shift as we will, however, being very
few. In some cases a coincidence appears if of two systems one be
reversed, — i. c. if we read one dextrally and the other sinistrally,
starting with the one point which bears the same color in both sys-
tems. Thus, for example, the Apache is the same as the Navaho if
the latter is reversed; the Mayan = the Javanese reversed, etc. Or
the two methods may be combined when quite a number of new
coincidences appear ; but the only value of these coincidences as
yet seems to be, that they show that there are often several sys-
tems in which the same colors appear in the same relative order (or
reversed) : the tribes whose color-systems thus agree in part seem
to have no apparent bond to connect them, however. If there were
cases where two systems could be made to coincide by reversing one,
and it could be shown that the ceremonial circuit of one tribe was
dextral while that of the other was sinistral, then we might be
inclined to consider the matter somewhat more carefully, but I have
failed to find any such cases as yet.

As a whole, the results of such a comparison as has been made
here are to some extent negative ; diversity and not uniformity is the
characteristic feature of the symbolism, and no general principle can
be laid down as underlying the choice of colors by different peoples.
It may be objected that this statistical method of studying such a
subject is inadequate, and that the religious motive must be taken
into account. That the religious element in the whole matter is of
the greatest importance I do not for a moment wish to deny; but by
neglecting for the time being the religious motive, which is necessa-
rily somewhat local in its nature, and differs from tribe to tribe, we
get a much clearer view of the general factors, which, modified by
local influences, have led to the choice in any one instance of the
colors associated with the cardinal points.

Roland B. Dixon.

Animal Tales of the Eskimo. 1 7

ANIMAL TALES OF THE ESKIMO.1

One of the striking features of the mythology and tales of the
North American Indians is the important part which is played
therein by animals. The share occupied by animals varies among
different tribes, being at times concentrated on a few animals, at
times distributed among a number. Sometimes animals occur
rather infrequently ; at others, the larger part of a mythology is
concerned primarily with them. On the whole, we can state that
it is a universal characteristic of North American Indian tales to
possess a considerable animal element.

There is another feature besides the frequency of animals. This
is the manner in which the animals are conceived of. Nearly always
they seem to be regarded as almost human. They speak, they
think, like men. Sometimes, indeed, they would seem to be merely
men with names of animals ; sometimes they appear to be men
who have assumed the shape of beasts, but at others they are origi-
nally animals who later become men ; and sometimes, in spite of
human reason and power of speech, they clearly are and remain ani-
mals in physical form. In this case, again, different tribes differ ;
but we shall not be far from the truth when we say that, for the
North American Indian in general, there was a time when men and
animals were not different, but alike. Between them he draws no
line in his mythology. As it has been put, " there is to the Indian
no essential distinction between man and animal " (Von den Steinen,
" Naturvolker Zentral Braziliens," 1894, p. 351).

We find, then, animals to be frequent in Indian mythology, and
we find a peculiarly human conception of them. When we turn to
the tales of the Eskimo, we find a striking difference. The animals
are almost absent.

Of course there are frequent casual references to animals in Es-
kimo tales which do not in the least invalidate this statement ; for
we are now dealing, not with animals appearing like, for instance,
houses or boats, as mere accessories in the stories, but with animals
that are the agents or characters, the personages, of the tales. For
this reason we must also exclude from our present consideration a
body of incidents telling of the origin of animals. We are told by
the Eskimo that a woman who was drowned turned into a narwhal,
her twisted tuft of hair becoming the twisted tusk of the animal
(Rink, "Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo," p. 99). We hear that
an excitable man calling for his blanket, thus constantly shouting the

1 Paper read before the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the American Folk-Lore
Society, at Columbia University, New York, December 29, 1898.
VOL. XII. — NO. 44. 2

1 8 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

word "kak," became a raven (Turner, "The Hudson Bay Eskimo,"
Eleventh Ann. Report Bureau of Ethn. p. 262). A boy who was
abused on account of his long ears ran away and became a hare
(Turner, p. 263). This sort of incident is very frequent as a con-
clusion to Eskimo tales ; and further it reminds of Indian tales, in
that at first sight it seems to obliterate the difference between man
and animal. But as in all these cases we do not have the animal
as agent in any way, and in fact the transformation seems to be
regarded as the act that ends the human qualities of the transformed,
we can omit this class of apparent animal tales. There is the more
reason for this as in many cases the transformation at the end of
the story has no connection at all with the preceding events, — is a
mere gratuitous addition. (Compare Rink, p. 232, and Boas, "The
Central Eskimo," p. 639, with Turner, "Origin of the Guillemots,"
p. 262.)

If, accordingly, we omit these kinds of animal incidents, we find
the animal tales proper of the Eskimo to be very few. Eskimo
mythology is, compared with Indian, very strongly human. Beside
a single story that is found in the identical form over a large part of
western North America, and is therefore as likely as not of Indian
origin, — and three or four others that are all rather scant, — the tales
of the Eskimo that attribute human qualities to animals, and have
animals as their characters, belong clearly to two naturally sharply
defined groups. In the first group the central incident is the mar-
riage between a human being and an animal. The tales of the sec-
ond group resemble the ordinary European beast-fable that we are
familiar with, and are all remarkable for their brevity.

The marriage between an animal and a human being, especially a
woman, seems to be a favorite motif in Eskimo mythology. It is
found no less than seven times, and the animals vary from a shark
to the petrel, from a huge reptile to a dog. To a certain extent,
these animals seem endowed with human faculties : most of them
speak ; and a few times we are told that they had assumed the shape
of men. But on the whole the opposite idea of contrast between
man and beast, and of essential difference between them, seems to
have been uppermost in the mind of the Eskimo narrators. To them
the animals are animals, as is shown by the fact that, in all cases
where there is any offspring consequent upon the union, the young
are animals. Therefore there is in this group of stories little real
resemblance with the average Indian tale containing animals. In
both, animals are agents : but the Indian forgets, ignores the dis-
tinction between animal and man ; the Eskimo tends to empha-
size it.

The other group consists of about twenty very short stories. The

Animal Tales of the Eskimo. 1 9

majority of these are composed of a few bits of dialogue between
two animals, sometimes accompanied, and sometimes not, by a little
action, — an incident or two. In others the dialogue is between a
man and one or more animals. A few examples will illustrate.

The following is from East Greenland, and has not been trans-
lated into English : There were once a Duck and a Ptarmigan which
had the shape of men. When the Duck came to the shore, he said
to the Ptarmigan, " Why do you go about with heavy stockings in
midsummer ? " The Ptarmigan answered, " Why do you go about
with itaartit in the middle of summer ? " Thereat the Duck became
angry, and said that they should wrestle. Then they took hold of
each other and began to wrestle. The Duck dragged the Ptarmigan
to the shore, and threw him out into the water. They continued to
wrestle in the water, until they got under the surface. Here the
Ptarmigan tore the Duck's breast so that he killed him. The Ptar-
migan flew ashore and cried for joy, " Kakerkaka ! " (Holm, " Sagn
og Fortaellinger fra Angmagsalik," p. 83.)

From Baffin Land : The Owl said to the Snowbird, " They say
that you have nothing to pick your teeth with." The Snowbird
replied, " And your throat is so wide that one can look right
through it." (Boas, "Journal of American Folk-Lore," x. no.)

From Baffin Land : The Lemming said, " Fox, Fox ! do you
always run along the beach ? Are you looking for something to
eat ? " The Fox answered, " What will he, with his short legs,
with his bit of a body ? Who is that round thing, that small-small-
legged one ? " (Rink and Boas, "Journal of American Folk-Lore,"
ii. 129.)

The following, which I have obtained from the party of Smith
Sound Eskimo who were in this country last winter, are, I believe,
new. A small Snowbird was crying. The Raven, who met her,
asked her why she wept. She said, " I am crying for my husband,
because he has been away so long a time. He went away to look
for food for me, and has not come back." The Raven assured her
that her husband was dead ; he himself had seen him drown. " But
/will marry you," he said. "You can sleep here under my armpit.
Take me for a husband. I have a pretty bill ; I have a pretty chin ;
I have good enough nostrils and eyes ; my wings are good and large,
and so are my whiskers." But the little Snowbird said, " I don't
want you for my husband."

A Raven flew by, above a person, carrying something in his
beak. "What have you in your beak, Raven ? " the person asked.
"A man's thigh bone," the Raven answered. "I eat it because I
like it. I shall swallow it."

Another tale tells of the attack the swordfish made upon the wal-

20 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

rus, cutting off its flippers. The walrus stabbed him in the head
with its tusks, and the swordfish swam off.

(In some of these tales that come from Greenland, it is explained
that the man who converses with the animals sees them as persons,
recognizing them in their true form only as they disappear. In the
East Greenland tale given above, however, we clearly have the char-
acteristic Indian idea of beings at once men and animals. At the
opening, the Duck and the Ptarmigan are expressly stated to have
had the form of men ; at the close, we find the Ptarmigan in the ani-
mal act of flying.)

These examples characterize sufficiently the Eskimo animal tales
proper. They are all very much alike, and clearly form a class by
themselves which is distinct from the ordinary Eskimo tale. They
are short, scant, and trivial. The action is insignificant, often
absent. The short speeches, which are often sung, are the nucleus
of the whole. They are in the form of repartee, and are generally
humorous, as are at times the situations. The characters are ani-
mals of all kinds, — mammals, birds, sea-mammals, fishes; but
birds occur most frequently, and of these most often the raven. On
the whole, they are suggestive of our European beast fables.

The relation of these tales to the animal tales of the Indians is
now clear. It is evidently a relation chiefly of dissimilarity. True,
the characteristic feature of the latter — the fact that animals are
not distinguished from men — we see that the Eskimo tales possess
also. In fact I do not wish to be understood to say that the dissim-
ilarity is complete or absolute, or even radical. On the contrary, it
is important to note that the essential feature of the Indian animal
tales is found among the Eskimo. There is no absolute break be-
tween the two mythologies. Indeed, in view of the fact that the
two races are contiguous for several thousand miles, it would be
strange if there were such a complete and radical difference.

Nevertheless, that there is a difference, and a great difference,
is indubitable. The mere paucity and brevity of the Eskimo beast
fable must differentiate it from the Indian animal tale. For in-
stance, even if we add to these beast fables the stories of the first-
mentioned group, — those dealing with the marriage of men and
animals, — we have a total of only thirty. As the whole number of
separate Eskimo tales is about 380, it is evident that less than eight
per cent, of Eskimo tales distinctly contain an animal element.
What the proportion among Indian tales may be, I cannot say ; but
it is without doubt scarcely ever so low as this, while frequently it
reaches one half. The scantiness of the Eskimo animal element
is still more obvious when we find that the twenty tales in which it
appears could all be printed in a few pages, and constitute quantita-

Animal Tales of the Eskimo. 21

tively barely more than one one-hundredth of the Eskimo traditions
we possess (about seven or eight ordinary octavo pages out of 550).
This scantiness necessarily results in, or is the result of, a treatment
very different from that which the animal element receives in Indian
mythologies.

The difference is most apparent — and this consideration may
throw some light on the causes of the difference — when we remem-
ber that among Indian tribes there is almost always more or less
association of animals with cosmogonies. The creator, the world-
preserver, the transformer, the culture-hero, whether united into one
person or not, are universal figures in Indian mythologies ; and they
are often conceived as animals. The hare (Algonquin), the raven
(all the North Pacific coast tribes), the spider (Pueblo), the coyote
(Rocky Mountain region), are familiar examples. And even when
these characters are men, many of their dealings are with animals.
Witness the widespread story of the diving of various animals in
order to reproduce the earth after the flood. In fact, the truth of
this contention is so obvious and so widely recognized as to need no
further evidence. Throughout North America, animals contribute
to cosmogony.

Equally universal and well-known is the association of animals
with the system of totemism, to which, in fact, they contribute the
foundation.

Among the Eskimo, however, totemism is totally wanting. More
than that, their cosmogonical ideas are exceedingly rudimentary.
The most thorough investigations seem to show that, while the
Eskimo may have a very definite idea of the world as it is at pre-
sent, they practically do not conceive of its origin, or the origin of
its parts. Perhaps the only strictly cosmogonical myth of the
Eskimo is that relating to the origin of the sun and moon, and that
is purely human. What else there is — and it is scanty and discon-
nected— occurs almost altogether among the small group of animal
stories mentioned above, — those of marriages of men and animals.
It seems, accordingly, as if there were some causal connection here,
as if the absence of totemism, the scantiness of cosmogonical notions,
and the scarcity of animal tales were all related ; just as the greater
development of these things among the Indians would seem to be
due to one cause or one set of causes. Corroborating this view is
the fact that, among a western Eskimo tribe, our information as to
which appears to reveal the presence (due perhaps to Indian influ-
ence) of a more definite cosmogony than that possessed by other
tribes, we find animals taking a part in the cosmogonical acts.
{Petitot, "Vocabulaire Francais-Esquimau, Dialecte des Tchiglit,"
pp. xxiv., xxxiv. Note also the introduction of animals into the sun

2 2 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

and moon myth in Greenland : Rink, " Tales and Traditions of the
Eskimo," p. 236.)

At any rate, it is clear that the animal personage of the Eskimo
beast fable, who contents himself with bandying repartee with one of
his brethren, is a very different character from the American In-
dian's coyote, or raven, or hare, who makes, or liberates, or visits the
sun, or re-creates the world. At bottom, originally, they may have
been alike ; they still have a distinct point of resemblance in their
common semi-human, semi-animal qualities. But on the whole
there is a constant and marked difference between Eskimo and
Indian tales and myths, not only in the frequency of occurrence, but
in the treatment and nature, of their animal element.

[I subjoin a list of Eskimo animal tales, which is, I believe, complete. The
occurrence of the tales is indicated by the signs used by Rink to designate
the various divisions of the Eskimo: G = Greenland; Ge=East Greenland;
C= Central Regions; L= Labrador; M = Mackenzie delta; W = Western. To
these I have added H for Hudson Bay and S for Smith Sound. The tales from
the Central Regions and Smith Sound not followed by a reference are unpub-
lished. The books referred to are : Rink, Eskimoiske Eventyr og Sagn ; Rink,
Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo (designated as Rink) ; Holm, Sagn og For-
taellinger fra A?igmagsalikj Boas, The Central Eskimo, Sixth Annual Report
of the Bureau of Ethnology ; Turner, The Hudson Bay Eskimo, Eleventh An-
nual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology j Journal of American Folk-Lore, ii.
(Boas and Rink), vii., ix. (Boas); J. Murdoch in American Araturalist, 1886.]

I. Animal Tales Proper.

The Duck and the Ptarmigan. Ge : Holm, p. 83.

The Owl and the Raven. C: Boas, p. 641 ; Folk-Lore, vii. p. 49; S.

The Snowbird and the Raven. S.

The Raven and the Geese. G : Eventyr og Sagn, i. p. 88 ; S.

The Walrus and the Swordfish. S.

The Owl and the Snowbird. C : Folk-Lore, x. p. no.

The Owl and the Lemming. C : Folk-Lore, x. p. 1 11.

The Lemming and the Fox. C : Folk-Lore, ii. p. 129.

The Lemming and the Fox. C, L : Folk-Lore, x. p. in.

The Lemming. C, L: Folk-Lore, x. p. 112.

The Raven's Song. C : Folk-Lore, vii. p. 48.

The Singing Fox. C: Folk-Lore, x. p. no.

The Raven with the Bone. S.

The Dying Raven. C.

The Talking Bird. G : Eventyr og Sagn, ii. p. 118.

The Visiting Animals. G: Rink, p. 450.

The Revenging Animals. G: Rink, p. 456.

The Raven and the Gull. C: Folk-Lore, ii. p. 128; S ; G : Rink, p. 451.

The Talking Fishes. G : Eventyr og Sagn, ii. p. 119.

II. Tales containing a Human-Animal Marriage.

A Tale about Two Girls. G : Rink, p. 126; S ; L: H. I. Smith, Folk-Lore,
vii. p. 210.

Animal Tales of the Eskimo. 23

A Woman who was mated with a Dog. G : Rink, p. 471 ; S ; C : Boas, p. 637,
Folk-Lore, ii. p. 124; W: Murdoch.

Sedna and the Fulmar. C: Boas, p. 583, Folk-Lore, ii. p. 127.

The Lost Daughter. G: Rink, p. 186.

The Children of a Woman and a Shark. G : Eventyr og Sagn, ii. p. 74 (cf. also
Rink, p. 470).

The Faithless Wife. G : Rink, p. 143 ; [S] ; H : Turner, p. 264.

Ititaujang. G : Rink, p. 145 ; S ; C : Boas, p. 615.

III. Miscellaneous.

The Blind Man who recovered his Sight. G : Rink, p. 99 ; C : Boas, p. 625 ; S.

[The Woman who became a Raven. C.]

Avigiatsiak. G : Rink, p. 450.

The Reindeer and the Animal with the Iron Tail. Ge : Holm, p. 84.

[The Bear a Woman's Son. C : Boas, p. 638 ; S.]

[The Sun and Moon. G : Rink, p. 236.]

IV. Men turned into Animals.

V. Men assuming by Magic the Form of Animals.

VI. Animals appearing as Animals.

A. L. Kroeber.

24 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

AMERICAN INDIAN NAMES OF WHITE MEN AND

WOMEN.1

In connection with an extended study of the interrelations of the
white and red races in America, the present writer has noted a con-
siderable number of names given by American Indians to white
missionaries, soldiers, and others, the record and interpretation of
which are of interest to all folk-lorists. In this preliminary paper
the Algonkian and Iroquoian Indians alone have been considered.
Exact references to authorities cited are given, and where possible
more detailed etymologies than those in the original sources of
information. As will be seen by glancing through the lists of names,
the nomenclature is very varied : adoption-names, names of deceased
celebrities, descriptive names, names suggested by accident or inci-
dent, are all represented, besides translations of European names.
Many of the missionaries, especially, have several names from differ-
ent tribes, and sometimes different names from the same tribe, etc.
As may readily be understood, some of the names conferred by one
tribe are simply translations of a name originally given by some
other tribe. Some of the names were conferred by the chiefs with
the assent of their fellow-tribesmen, others by the old women, who
so often are the name-givers among primitive peoples. Some of the
names, also, from being applied originally to individuals (e. g.
Onoutiio, Kora), have become terms of general application to officials,
governors, sovereigns, etc. Others, like Tabahsega, were given in
such beautiful fashion as to be in the highest sense poetical. Taken
all together, the names considered in this paper open up a very inter-
esting field of folk-thought and folk-speech.

ALGONKIAN.

A. Blackfoot. A far-western tribe of Algonkian stock, whose
speech, like that of the Micmacs in the far East, bears traces of for-
eign contact in its phonetics and vocabulary.

i. Apawakas, "white antelope," — from ap, "white," and awakas,
"antelope." According to Rev. John Maclean ("Canad. Sav. Folk,"
pp. 63, 361), the Indian name of Mrs. Maclean.

2. Natusiasamin. This name, which Rev. E. F. Wilson (" Our
Forest Children," iii. 9) explains as signifying "the sun looks upon
him," was given him by the Blackfoot Indians of northwestern
Canada. From natosi, "sun," and assamiaaie, "he looks at him."

B. Cheyenne. An outlying branch of the great Algonkian fam-

1 Paper presented before the Tenth Annual Meeting of the American Folk-
Lore Society, at Columbia University, New York, December 29, 1898.

American Indian Names of White Men and Woi7ten. 25

ily, whose speech has suffered somewhat, as has the Blackfoot, from
foreign influences.

1. Dosimiats, "long beard." According to Rev. E. F. Wilson,
the name given him by the Cheyenne Indians (" Our Forest Chil-
dren," iii. 123), — the boys in the Cheyenne school at Darlington,
Oklahoma.

D. Montagnais. An Algonkian tribe of northeastern Quebec,
with whom the Europeans very early came into contact.

r. Tshitshisahigan, "the broom." The name given, according to
Pilling (" Alg. Bibl." p. 281), to J. B. de la Brosse (1724-1782), mis-
sionary at Tadoussac. The name is simply a translation of the
French la Brosse, "broom, brush."

C. Mississaga. The Mississagas, a sub-tribe of the Ojibwa, are
still resident in various portions of the Province of Ontario, — Rice
Lake, Lake Scugog, Grand River, etc.

1. Annonk (anank), "star." Name given to Addie, daughter of
Mrs. Moodie ("Roughing it in the Bush," pp. 307, 311).

2. Nogesigook. This name, explained, " northern lights," was given
to Katie, another daughter of Mrs. Moodie.

3. Nonocosiqui (ndnokdsekzva), "hummingbird woman," the Missis-
saga name of Mrs. Susanna Moodie, the authoress, who lived in the
region about Peterboro, Ontario, where dwelt many of these Indians.

4. Pa! mlgi clgzvdckem, "the sun bringing the day." Name con-
ferred on A. F. Chamberlain ("Miss. Lang." p. 65) in August, 1888,
by Mrs. Susan Bolin (Nawigickoke), the doyenne of the Mississaga
settlement at Scugog Lake, who explained the name as given above.
The name is said to have belonged to a distinguished chief of the
olden time, and was conferred with the desire to perpetuate it.

E. Nipissing. The Nipissing Algonkians of the Lake of the
Two Mountains, in the Province of Quebec, speak the language
recorded in the Abbe Cuoq's " Lexique de la Langue Algonquine"
(Montreal, 1886). From that dictionary the following names have
been extracted : —

1. Ekwabitc (p. 30), "the sentinel; the one who watches," —
from akaw, "up, on," and wab, "to look, to see." Name given to
Joseph Aoustin (1816-1877), missionary at the Lake of the Two
Mountains, 1 845-1 847, a very eloquent and zealous priest.

2. Kwenatc anibic (p. 189), "beautiful leaf," — from kwenatc,
"beautiful, pretty," and anibic, "leaf." This name, a translation of
the French, was given to C. L. de Bellefeuille, missionary at the
Lake, 1824-1834, — Bellefeuille ("beautiful leaf ") = kwenatc anibic.

3. Metakweckawatc (p. 232), "he whose approach puts them to
flight," — from mitakwen, "to drive off." This name, really a war
name, was given to Montcalm and other French generals, also

26 Jotirnal of American Folk-Lore.

to M. Lenoir, missionary at the Lake, 1855-1857. Cuoq tells us
that Kijikomanito, ex-chief of the Nipissings, made a song in which
he thus explained the giving of the name to M. Lenoir : " The
demons of hell are our enemies, and the young priest is come to
stay with us to repel them."

4. Nijkwenatcanibic, "beautiful double leaf," — from nij, "two,"
kwenatc, "beautiful," anibic, "leaf." This name was given to the
Abbe Cuoq when missionary at the Lake. As we learn from the
preface of his " Lexique de la Langue Iroquoise" (Montreal, 1882),
the " N. O.," which Cuoq signed to two of his earlier publications,
stands for Nijkwenatcanibic, his Algonkian, and Orakwanentakon,
his Iroquois, name.

5. Nikik, "otter." Cuoq tells us ("Lex. Iroq." p. 214) that M.
Thavenet, missionary at the Lake, 1802- 1809, was first called by the
Iroquois tawine, "otter," suggested by its assonance with Thavenet,
and the Nipissings simply rendered this tawine into their own
tongue by nikik.

6. Wabonimiki (p. 19), "white thunder," — from wab, "white,"
and onimiki, "thunder." Name given to Colonel Napier, a govern-
ment official of the Indian Department of Canada.

7. Waianadjitehetc (p. 422), "he who has a rich heart," — from
wanat, "rich," teh, "heart." Name given to Pierre Richard (181 7—
1847), missionary at the Lake, 1 842-1 846.

8. Wakwi (p. 122), "sky." Name given to J. C. Mathevet (1717—
1781), missionary at the Lake, 1746-1778, whose knowledge of the
Indian tongue is said to have been very great.

F. Ojibwa (CJiippeway). A few only of the many Ojibwa names
of white men and women can be given here.

1. Keeshegooqua (kijigukwa). According to Rev. E. F. Wilson
("The Canad. Ind." i. 347), this name was conferred, July 26, 1891,
by Chief Buhkwujjenene of the Ojibwa Indians at Garden River,
Ontario, on Mrs. McMurray, the second wife of Archdeacon Wil-
liam McMurray, of Niagara, whose first wife was a cousin of Mrs. H.
R. Schoolcraft. The name signifies "sky woman," or "lady of the
sky," — from kijik, "sky," and ekwa, "woman."

2. Misquahbenooqua (miskwdbinukwa), " woman of the rosy dawn ;
lady of the aurora." This name, according to Rev. E. F. Wilson
("Miss. Work among the Ojebway Indians," London, 1886, p. 249),
was given to Mrs. Sullivan, wife of Bishop Sullivan, of Algoma,
Ontario, by Chief Buhkwujjenene, of Garden River, August 30, 1884.
The name is derived from miskw, "red, ruddy," wdban, "it is light,
day," and ekwa, " woman." See No. 7.

3. Nalnvegcezhegooqua (ndwegijigukwa). Name given by chief of
"pagan" Indians at Kettle Point, Ontario, to Mrs. Wilson, wife of

American Indian Names of White Men and Women. 27

Rev. E. F. Wilson, missionary. Mr. Wilson ("Miss. Work," p. 33)
renders this name " Lady of the Sky," but it evidently signifies " sun
in the centre of the sky woman," from naw, "in the middle of,"
gijik, "sky," and ekzva, "woman." The name was that of a dead
Indian woman who was much thought of, and it was the wish of the
Indians " that her name should be retained among us."

4. Neegig (nigig), "otter." Rev. E. F. Wilson ("Miss. Work,"
p. 99) informs us that Chief Buhkwujjenene conferred this name in
England on Rev. E. F. Wilson's brother Arthur, — the word sound-
ing like "otter," hence the translation. This is an interesting pen-
dant to the tawine of the Iroquois elsewhere noted.

5. Pashegonabe. Name conferred by Chief Buhkwujjenene on the
father of Rev. E. F. Wilson, by whom it is said (p. 99) to mean
"great eagle."

6. Pnhgiikahhin (pagakdban), "bright, clear day; broad day-
light," — fr -om pakak, "clear," wdban, "it is day." The name of a
much respected chief (long since dead), conferred by Chief Buhk-
wujjenene on Rev. E. F. Wilson, the missionary (" Miss. Work,"

P- 33).

7. Tabahsega. Name given by Chief Buhkwujjenene to Bishop

Edward Sullivan, of Algoma, August 30, 1884, — said to mean
"spreading or radiant light." Rev. E. F. Wilson gives the follow-
ing interesting account of the naming of Bishop and Mrs. Sullivan
by the Indian chief (" Miss. Work," pp. 248, 249) : " [The chief]
proceeded in highly poetic strains, and with a fervid, impassioned
manner, to which no description could do justice, to picture the
glory of the rising sun ; how at first the night is dark, very dark,
and the darkness clears a little, and the light looks through, and the
great sun appears, creeping up slowly higher and higher, from east
to west, till the whole heaven is filled with his bright, making all
things glad : ' so,' said the old chief, turning to the bishop, « has
your teaching been, and our hearts are glad because of the new
light, and henceforth you will be called Tabasega, i. e. spreading or
radiant light.' . . . The old chief then beckoned to the bishop's
wife to come forward, and, going back to his former figure, to bring
out the idea of the soft, roseate hue that overspreads the sky before
the rising of the sun, announced that her name should be Misqnah-
benooqita."

This is one typical mode of naming among the Ojibwa and other
Algonkian Indians.

8. Wabausenooqiia (wabasemlkwd). This name, conferred by
Chief Buhkwujjenene on a sister of Rev. E. F. Wilson, was ex-
plained by the giver as signifying "a little spot cleared by the
wind" ("Miss. Work," p. 99). Probably "wind-cleaning woman."

2 8 Jotirnal of A merican Folk-Lore.

g. Wazaivaivadoong. This name, explained as the "yellow beard,"
is said (Pilling, " Alg. Bibl." p. 403) to have been given to the Rev.
J. H. Pitzel, missionary for some years (1848-1857) among the
Ojibwa Indians of Lake Superior.

G. Ottawa. A branch of the Algonkian stock in parts of the
Province of Ontario and the State of Michigan.

1. M&nSk&e'tbk' , " he that speaks good words." Given in Pilling
("Alg. Bibl." p. 352) as the Ottawa Indian name of Rev. Jonathan
Meeker (1 804-1 854), missionary to the Ottawas on the Grand River,
Ontario. Derived from mano, "well," and kikit, "to speak, to talk."

IROQUOIS.

The Iroquois Indians in Canada, especially, have been long under
the influence of European missionaries, and have come into more or
less political contact with the French and English settlers of the
region about the Great Lakes and southward to Virginia.

1. Anoncliiasc. According to the Abbe Cuoq ("Lex. Iroq."
p. 212), the Hurons gave this name to the first governor of Montreal,
Maisonneuve; the Mohawks of the Lake of the Two Mountains
(Cuoq's "Iroquois") called him kanonsasc {kaiionsa=" house").
Both Huron and Iroquois names are translations of the French
Maisonneuve (" new house ").

2. Astra. This name, given to Guillaume Couture, one of the
companions of Pere Iogues, in his captivity, signifies, according to
Cuoq ("Lex. Iroq." p. 212), "blanket, cover," and is a translation
of the French Couture = couverture.

3. Azvennenhawi, "word-bearer." Name given to the celebrated
Francois Picquet (1708-1781), missionary among the Iroquois. It
was also conferred on Nicolas Dufresne (d. 1863), another mission-
ary among the Indians (Cuoq, p. 214).

4. Awcnnisete. This name (the Huron form is aondecliiete) has
been conferred upon several missionaries, especially upon Etienne
de Carheil (1633-1726) and H. Giien (d. 1761), both missionaries at
the Lake of the Two Mountains. The name is derived from teken-
nistonSy " to absent one's self for a time, to make a journey."

5. Dakarihhontye, "flying messenger," — the name of Major
Hayter Reid (Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Canada),
as honorary chief of the Ontario Iroquois. This name is given as
spelled above in Major E. M. Chadwick's " The People of the Long-
house" (Toronto, 1897), p. 99, and the other names cited from his
book in this article are given in the original spelling.

6. Deorounyathey " bright sky." The name of the Earl of Aber-
deen, Governor-General of Canada (1896), as honorary chief of the
Ontario Iroquois (Chadwick, p. 98).

American Indian Names of White Men and Women. 29

7. KaJuiedogonah, "among the pines." Name of Lieutenant-
Colonel R. L. Nelles as honorary chief. The name has reference
to the bearer's tallness (Chadwick, p. 100).

8. Kajijonhawe, or Katijonhawe, name given to Mrs. Chadwick,
wife of Major E. M. Chadwick, as oyaner of the Iroquois, also as
ordinary name to Mrs. K. F. Kerby. The word signifies "bouquet
carrier" (Chadwick, pp. 102, 103).

9. Kanoronhkwa, " one who loves." Name of Mrs. Merritt, wife
of Captain W. H. Merritt (Chadwick, p. 102).

10. Karakondye, "flying sun."- Name of H. R. H. Prince Arthur
(Duke of Connaught), as honorary chief of Iroquois (Chadwick,
p. 98).

11. Kariwiyo, "good news; satisfactory business," — from kari
"new, speech, affair, matter, business," and wiyo, good, beautiful,
satisfactory." Name of Mr. Allen Cleghorn, of Brantford, Ontario,
as honorary chief of the Iroquois. He is sometimes called also
kariJwwane, "great good news" (Chadwick, p. 98).

12. Ka-tci' -tcis-ia 'kwast, "the beautiful flower." According to
S. L. Lee (J. A. F.-L. v. 337), the name given to Mrs. Erminnie
A. Smith, "the first white woman adopted by a tribe of the Six
Nations, having been formally adopted by the Tuscaroras in 1880,
as sister to their chief."

13. Konwahendeks, "a leader." Name of Mrs. M. P. Cameron,
as oyaner of the Iroquois (Chadwick, p. 102).

14. Kora. This word, which with the Iroquois of the Lake of the
Two Mountains now signifies " governor, superior officer," has a
very interesting history. According to Ferland and Cuoq (" Lex.
Iroq." p. 167), it is merely the Indian pronunciation of the name of
Corlaer, the celebrated Dutch governor. From the Dutch governors
of Orange and New Amsterdam the name was extended to the Eng-
lish governors of Albany and New York, to the governors of New
England, the governor-general of Canada, and the Queen of Eng-
land, the last two also receiving the epithet kowa, "great." See
Onontiio.

15. Onontiio. The history of this word, whose present meaning
is "king," is a little different from that of kora. Cuoq tells us
("Lex. Iroq." p. 176) that this name was first applied to C. H. de
Montmagny, the successor of Champlain in the government of Can-
ada, and that the missionaries were responsible for it, "the Indians
not suspecting at all that the Iroquois word onontiio was intended
to translate Montmagny (" the great mountain "). The translation
is rather free, however, as Cuoq points out, for in Iroquois onontiio
signifies "beautiful mountain," not "great mountain," which would
be onontowaneti. From Montmagny, the name came to be applied

30 Journal of American Folk- Lore.

to all his successors, up to the time of the conquest in 1760, and,
with the adjective kowa, to the kings of France (but not of Eng-
land) as well.

16. Orakwanentakon, "a fixed star." The name given to the
Abbe Cuoq by the Iroquois of the Lake of the Two Mountains
(" Lex. Iroq." p. v.).

17. OronJiiatekha, "burning sky." According to Cuoq (p. 212),
the name given to Major de Lorimier. It is also the name of Dr.
Oronyhatekha, the most celebrated of living Mohawks, in Canada.

18. Rarihzvagasdas, "a thing that lasts." This name, in allusion
to his work, was given to Percy Wood, of London, England, the
sculptor of the Brant Memorial, at Brantford, Ontario.

19. Rasennase (the Huron form is acliiendase), the name formerly
applied to several of the old Jesuit missionaries. It literally signi-
fies "he has a new name," or "his name is new" ("Lex. Iroq."
pp. 107, 212).

20. Rawcndio, raivenniio. According to Cuoq (p. 212) this was
the name given to M. Lemaitre, priest of St. Sulpice, who was
killed by the Indians in 1861. It is a translation of Le mattre ("the
master, lord"). The name was given later to N. Du Faradon
(d. 1759), the superior of the seminary at Montreal. In the sense
of "master, lord," rawenniio (Huron, rawendiid) is now applied to
God, the Supreme Being.

21. Rohehhon, "energetic man." The name of Captain W. G.
Mutton, of the 2d Queen's Own Rifles (Chadwick, p. 100).

22. Roronowigowanc, " man of great feathers." Name of Cap-
tain W. H. Merritt, as honorary chief (Chadwick, p. 99).

23. Sakonikonhriiostha, "he consoles them." The name of A.
Mercier, missionary at the Lake of the Two Mountains, 1 861-1868
(" Lex. Iroq." p. 214).

24. Sakoienteres, "he knows them." This name has been con-
ferred on several officials of the Canadian Department of Indian
Affairs — Colonel Napier in particular (Cuoq, p. 212).

25. SJiadekareenJies, "two trees of equal height." Name given to
the late Archdeacon Nelles, principal of Mohawk Institute, Brantford
(Chadwick, p. 101).

26. SJiagoyahle, "one that beautifies men." Mohawk name of
Rev. E. F. Wilson (" Our Forest Children," iii. 9).

27. Shagotyoligzvisaks, "one who seeks a gathering of the people
[into bands]." Name given to Major E. M. Chadwick, as honorary
chief, in allusion to his " advocacy of the formation of a Six Nations
regiment of militia (p. 100)."

28. Taiorliensere, "dawn; the day comes." The name of J. C.
Mathevet (d. 1781), missionary at the Lake of the Two Mountains;

American Indian Names of White Men and Women. 31

also of another missionary at the same place, R. M. Gay (Cuoq,
"Lex. Iroq." p. 213).

29. Tawine, "otter." The name of M. Thavenet, missionary at
the Lake of the Two Mountains, 1 802-1 809. His Algonkian name
nikik is likewise a translation (through the Iroquois) of the French
lontre. Tawine is a name suggested by assonance with Thavenet
(Cuoq, "Lex. Iroq." p. 214.)

30. Teliotwistaron, " trimmed ; decked out." The name of Cap-
tain Ducharme, son-in-law of Major de Lorimier (" Lex. Iroq."
p. 212).

31. Tentcnhawitha (for tewentenhawitJid), " day-bringer, morning
star, Venus." Name given at St. Regis to J.-B. Roupe, missionary
at the Lake of the Two Mountains in 181 3 ; also, at Caughnawaga,
to R. P. Antoine, missionary there in 185 1 ("Lex. Iroq." p. 214).

32. TJiaroJiiakanere, "he looks at the sky." Name given to sev-
eral missionaries, especially to A. M. de Terlaye (d. 1777) and J.
Marcoux (d. 1855), etc. ("Lex. Iroq." p. 113).

33. Thorigowegeri, "the evergreen brake." Name given as hon-
orary chief to Hugh, second Duke of Northumberland, who, as Earl
Percy, served in the American Revolutionary War. The allusion is
to the possession of an hereditary title, which resembles "a tree
whose leaf falls only as a new one grows " (Chadwick, p. 101).

34. Yalewahnok, "our watcher." Name given to Mrs. H. M.
Converse, on her election as a chief of the Six Nations (J. A. F.-L. v.
1892, p. 147).

The present writer's knowledge of the Algonkian languages being
greater than his acquaintance with the Iroquoian tongues, the details
given above as to etymology are correspondingly greater with the
names belonging to the former.

Alexander F. CJiamberlain.

Clark University, Worcester, Mass.

2,2 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARD A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF
- FOLK-LORE RELATING TO WOMEN.1

Since the establishment of the Journal of American Folk-Lore,
in 1888, the literature of the subject has vastly increased, but no
more than the interest of women in this branch of science.

A complete bibliography of folk-lore relating to women would be
a task beyond the present intention of the writer, whose aim is to
give a selection of titles from the literature of the last ten years.
Books and reprints alone have been considered, the articles in peri-
odicals being left for future enumeration and discussion.

1. [Andersen, Hans C.]. La mere: conte de Hans Christian
Andersen en 22 langues. St. Petersbourg, 1894. This tale, so often
translated, is the woman's tale par excellence of Andersen.

2. d'Avril, A. Les femmes dans l'epopee iranique. Paris, 1888.
i6mo.

3. Bacon, Alice M. Japanese Girls and Women. London, 1891.
330 pp. 8°.

4. Bartels, Max. Die Medicin der Naturvolker: Ethnologische
Beitrage zur Urgeschichte der Medicin. Leipzig, 1893. 361 S. 8°.
Contains passim notes about women doctors and magicians.

5. Bergen, Fanny D. Current Superstitions, collected from the
Oral Traditions of English-speaking Folk in America. With Notes,
and an Introduction by W. W. Newell. Boston, 1896. viii, 161 pp.
8°. Contains very many items relating to womanhood, household
superstitions, " signs," etc.

6. Bernhoft, Franz. Verwandtschaftsnamen und Eheformen der
nordamerikanischen Volksstamme. Rostock, 1888.

7. Boas, Franz. The Social Organization and the Secret Socie-
ties of the Kwakiutl Indians. [From the Report of the U. S. Nat.
Mus. for 1895, pp. 311-737.] Washington, 1897. This exhaustive
study contains many items of legend and folk-lore relating to mar-
riage, women's societies and ceremonials, women's songs, etc.

8. Bolton, Mrs. H. I. The Madonna of St. Luke : the Story of a
Portrait. With an Introductory Letter by Daniel Huntington. New
York, 1895. x, 127 pp. i6mo. Treats of the legends concerning
St. Luke as the painter of a portrait of the Virgin Mary.

9. Bramhall, Mae St. John. The Wee Ones of Japan. New York,
1894. 137 pp. i2mo. Contains pas s im items of woman-lore.

10. von Brandt, M. Sittenbilder aus China: Madchen und
Frauen. Ein Beitrag zur Kenntniss des chinesischen Volkes.
Stuttgart, 1895. 8°.

1 Paper presented before the Tenth Annual Meeting of the American Folk-
Lore Society, at Columbia University, New York, December 29, 1898.

Bibliography of Folk- Lore relating to Women. 2>Z

ii. Brinton, D. G. Nagualism. A Study in Native American
Folk-Lore and History. Philadelphia, 1894. 65 pp. Pages 33-37
treat of the position of woman in Central American religious and
secret societies.

12. Brinton, D. G. Religions of Primitive Peoples. New York
and London, 1897. xiv, 164 pp. Pages 219-224 discuss the position
of woman in primitive religions.

13. Brinton, D. G. Maria Candelaria. An Historical Drama
from American Aboriginal Life. Philadelphia, 1897. xxix, 98 pp.
A literary treatment of the legendary and historical accounts of
Maria Candelaria, the American Indian Joan of Arc, who led the
Tzentals against the Spaniards in 171 2.

14. Brunet, Gustave. La papesse Jeanne. Bruxelles, 1880.

15. Biittner, Fr. Adam und Eva in der bildenden Kunst bis
Michel Angelo. 2. Aufl. Leipzig, 1890.

16. Chamberlain, A. F. The Child and Childhood in Folk-
Thought (The Child in Primitive Culture). London and New York,
1896. 8°. Contains passim items of woman-lore; also "lore of
motherhood," pp. 7-51, and proverbs, sayings, etc., about mother
and child, pp. 382-386.

17. Ciszewski, S. Kunstliche Verwandtshaft bei den Siidslaven.
Leipzig, 1897. 8°. Contains much interesting information about
adoption, nurse-relationship, stepmotherhood, etc.

18. Cox, Marian R. Cinderella. Three Hundred and Forty-five
Variants of Cinderella, Cat-skin, and Cap o' Rushes, abstracted and
tabulated, with a Discussion of Mediaeval Analogues, and Notes.
With an Introduction by Andrew Lang, M. A. London, 1893. 8°.
Ixxx, 535 pp. A most welcome comparative study of this familiar
tale, with good bibliography.

19. Dargun, L. Mutterrecht und Raubehe und ihre Reste im
germanischen Recht und Leben. Breslau, 1883.

20. Dargun, L. Studien zum altesten Familienrecht. Erster
Theil. Mutterrecht und Vaterrecht. Leipzig, 1892. 155 S. 8°.

21. Dietrich, Albrecht. Pulcinella. Pompejanische Wandbilder
und romische Satyrspiele. Leipzig, 1897. x, 307 pp. 3 pi. 8°.

22. Earle, Alice M. Customs and Fashions in Old New Eng-
land. New York, 1893. iii, 387 pp. 8°. Contains passim items
of woman-lore. Pages 36-81, courtship and marriage customs.

23. Faure, Andre. Le mariage en Judee et en Egypte : analogie
des deux institutions. Valence, 1897. viii, 107 pp. 8°.

24. Floessel, E. Die Schwiegermutter. Kulturgeschichtliche
Beitrage. Dresden, 1S90. Interesting data concerning the history
of the much-abused mother-in-law.

25. Frazer, J. G. The Golden Bough ; a Study in Comparative
vol. xn. — no. 44. 3

34 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Religion. 2 vols. London and New York, xii, 407, 409 pp. 8°.
The title of this book, which is also of Turner's famous picture,
takes us back to the worship of Diana, and the book contains much
concerning goddesses and their lore and legend.

26. Gamble, Eliza B. The God-idea of the Ancients ; or, Sex in
Religion. New York, 1897. vi, 339 pp. 8°. Does ample justice
to woman in religion.

27. Garnett, Miss L. M. J. The Women of Turkey and their
Folk-Lore. With Chapters on the Ethnography of Turkey, Folk-
Conceptions of Nature, and the Origin of Matriarchy, by J. S. Stuart -
Glennie. London, 1890-91. 2 vols. 461, 632 pp. 8°.

28. Groeber, Karl. Mehmeds Brautfahrt. Ein Volksepos der
sudslavischen Mohammedaner. Aufgezeichnet von Dr. F. S. Krauss.
Wien, 1890. 130 S. Kl. 8°.

29. Hahn, E. Demeter und Baubo. Versuch einer Theorie der
Entstehung unseres Ackerbaus. Liibeck, 1896. 7 7 S. 8°.

30. Hart, G. Pyramus und Thisbe Sage in Holland, England,
Italien, und Spanien. Leipzig, 1892.

31. Hartland, E. S. The Science of Fairy Tales. An Inquiry
into Fairy Mythology. London, 1891. viii, 372 pp. Pages 37-92,
fairy births and human midwives; pages 255-332, swan-maidens.
Good bibliography.

32. Hartland, E. S. A Marriage Custom of the Aborigines of
Bengal : a Study in the Symbolism of Marriage Ceremonies [re-
printed from "Asiatic Quarterly Review"]. 29 pp. 1892. Discusses
the marking of the bride's forehead with red lead by the bride-
groom, and other customs held to be symbolic of union.

33. Hartland, E. S. The Legend of Perseus : a Study of Tra-
dition in Story, Custom, and Belief. Vol. i., The Supernatural
Birth. London, 1894. xxiv, 228 pp. Vol. ii., The Life-Token.
London, 1895. viii, 445 pp. Full of most valuable data concerning
"virgin births," sympathetic magic, etc.

34. Henne am Rhyn, Otto. Die Frau in der Kulturgeschichte.
2. Aufl. Berlin, 1892. vii, 369 S. Gr. 8°. An interesting prede-
cessor of Professor Mason's book on this topic.

35. HorCicka, A. Die Saga von Susanna und Konig Wenzel.
Innsbruck, 1880.

36. Hutchinson, H. N. Marriage Customs in Many Lands. Lon-
don, 1897. 360 pp. 8°.

37. Klugmann, N. Vergleichende Studien zur Stellung der
Frau im Alterthum. I. Bd. Die Frau im Talmud. Wien, 1898.
v, 87 pp. 8°.

38. Kohler, J. Zur Urgcschichte der Ehe. Totemismus, Grup-
penehe, Mutterrecht. Stuttgart, 1897. 8°.

Bibliography of Folk- Lore relating to Women. 35

39. Kohler, J. Der Ursprung der Melusinensage. Leipzig,
1895. 8°.

40. Kovalevsky, M. Modern Customs and Ancient Laws of
Russia (Ilchester Lectures for 1889-90). London, 1891. x, 260 pp.
8°. Items of woman-lore passim.

41. Krahl, E. Ueber vier Versionen der mittelenglischen Mar-
garetenlegende. Berlin, 1889. Gr. 8°.

42. Krauss, F. S. Volksglaube und religioser Brauch der Sud-
slaven. Miinster i. W., 1890. xvi, 176 S. Gr. 8°. This book, dedi-
cated to the author's mother, treats, inter alia, of " pest-women "
(chap, iv.), vilas (chap, v.), witchcraft (chap, vi.), etc.

43. Laengin, G. Religion und Hexenprocessen. Zur Wurdigung
des 400 jahrigen Jubilaums der Hexenbulle und des Hexenbannes,
u. s. w. Leipzig, 1888. xviii, 385 S.

44. Letourneau, Charles. Evolution of Marriage and the Family.
London, 1891.

45. Letourneau, Charles. Sociology based upon Ethnography.
Translated by H. N. Trollope. New edition. London, 1893. xvi,
608 pp. Cr. 8°. Pages 327-389, marriage ; pages 389-401, the fam-
ily.

46. Letourneau, Charles. L'evolution litteraire dans les diverses
races humaines. Paris, 1894. Does some justice to woman's share
in the origin and development of song and story.

47. Letourneau, Charles. L'evolution de l'esclavage dans les
diverses races humaines. Paris, 1897. 538 pp. 8°. Has much to
say concerning woman, "the first slave."

48. Letourneau, Charles. L'evolution politique dans les diverses
races humaines. Paris, 1890. xxiii, 561 pp. 8°. Woman's position
and woman's rule passim.

49. Letourneau, Charles. L'evolution de l'education dans les
diverses races humaines. Paris, 1898. xviii, 617 pp. 8°. Items
about female education passim.

50. Letourneau, Charles. La guerre dans les diverses races
humaines. Paris, 1895. Woman in war passim.

51. Mahrenholtz, R. Jeanne Dare in Geschichte, Legende, Dich-
tung. Leipzig, 1890.

52. Mantegazza, P. Anthropologisch - kulturhistorische Studien
iiber die Geschlechtsverhaltnisse des Menschen. Jena, 1888.

53. Mason, O. T. Woman's Share in Primitive Culture. New
York, 1894. xiii, 295 pp. 8°. Valuable throughout, especially the
discussion of woman as artist, linguist, founder of society, and patron
of religion.

54 Mason, O. T. The Origins of Invention : a Study of Indus-
try among Primitive Peoples. London, 1895. 419 pp. A worthy
companion volume to No. 53.

36 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

55. McLennan, J. F. Studies in Ancient History. The Second
Series, comprising an Inquiry into the Origin of Exogamy. Edited
by the author's widow and Arthur Piatt. London and New York,
1896. xiv, 605 pp. 8°.

56. Morton, F. W. Woman in Epigram. Flashes of Wit, Wis-
dom, and Satire from the World's Literature. Chicago, 1894. The
poet and the sage often have the folk-wit.

57. Pallat, L. De fabula Ariadnaea. Berolinse, 1892.

58. Ploss, H. Das Kind in Brauch und Sitte der Volker. An-
thropologische Studien. Zweite neu durchges, und stark vermehrte
Aufl. Neue Ausgabe. Leipzig, 1884, 2 Bde. x, 394; iv, 478 S.
8°. Full of folk-lore items respecting the girl and the young woman.

59. Ploss, H. Das Weib in der Natur- und Volkerkunde. An-
thropologische Studien. Fiinfte umgearbeitete und vermehrte Au-
flage. Nach dem Tode des Verfassers bearbeitet und herausgegeben
von Dr. Max Bartels. Leipzig, 1897-98. 2 vols. 8°. A new edi-
tion of a work which is a perfect encyclopaedia of folk-lore and folk-
thought about women and their ways.

60. Porter, Rose. About Women : what Men have said. New
York and London, 1894. 207 pp. Words of male genius about the
fair sex, their thoughts and deeds.

61. Promber, O. Was wir Manner von den Frauen sagen. Aus-
spriiche von Denkern und Dichtern. Dresden, 1898. iii, 80 S. 8°.
A German counterpart of No. 60.

62. Quennc, Camille. La fete et les traditions de Ste. Rolende
[reprinted from " Wallonia"]. Liege, 1894. 36 pp. Treats of the
festival of Ste. Rolende at Gerpinnes in Hainault, and the folk-lore
relating thereto.

63. Raimund, F. K., und Alexander Manastyrski. Die Rutenen
in der Bukowina. 2 Teile. Czernowitz, 1890. Has sections on
love, wooing, marriage, married life.

64. Remy, N. Das jiidische Weib. Mit einer Vorrede von Prof.
Dr. M. Lazarus. Zweite Auflage. Leipzig, 1892. viii, 328 S.
Gr. 8°.

65. Schaible, K. H. Die Frau im Altertum. Ein kulturge-
schichtliches Bild. Zwei populare Vortrage. Karlsruhe, 1898. viii,
96 S.

66. Schlegel, Gustave. La femme chinoise. Leide, 1896. 8°.

67. von Schroeder, L. Die Hochzeitsgebrauche der Esten und
einiges anderer finnisch-ugrischen Volkerschaften in Vergleichung
denen der indogermanischen Volker. Berlin, 1888. A valuable and
interesting comparative study of marriage customs.

68. Schrott, E. L'amour et les amoureux dans les lais de Marie
de France. Lund, 1889. 66 pp. 8°.

Bibliography of Folk- Lore relating to Women. 37

69. Steinmetz, S. R. Ethnologische Studien zur ersten Entwicke-
lung der Strafe, nebst einer psychologischen Abhandlung liber
Grausamkeit und Rachsucht. Leiden, 1892-94. 2 Bde. xlv, 486 ;
xv, 419 S. Items of woman-lore passim. Protection of woman,
woman in blood-feud, mother and children, matriarchy, slavery, etc.

70. Stratz, C. H. Die Frauen auf Java. Eine gynacologische
Studie. Stuttgart, 1897. x, 134 S. 8°. The author notes the
high position of the "Dukuns," or "wise women," — midwives.

71. Strong, J. C. Wah-kee-nah and her People. The Curious
Customs and Legends of the North American Indians. New York,
1893. 275 pp. Treats of a Yakima girl's life and vicissitudes, with
many folk-lore items.

72. Volkov, Theodore. Rites et usages nuptiaux en Ukraine
[reprinted from " L' Anthropologic "]. Paris, 1893. An exhaustive
and detailed study.

7^. Wake, C. S. The Development of Marriage and Kinship.
London, 1889.

74. Westermarck, Edward. The History of Human Marriage.
With Preface by A. R. Wallace. Second edition. London and
New York, 1896. Items of woman-lore passim. Pages 417-430,
marriage ceremonies and rites; pages 430-516, the forms of human
marriage.

75. Winternitz, M. Das altindische Hochzeitsrituell nach dem
Apastamblyagrihyasutra und einigen anderen verwandten Werken.
Mit Vergleichung der Hochzeitsgebrauche bei den iibrigen indoger-
manischen Volkern [Denkschr. d. ksl. Akad. d. w. in Wien, Bd. xl.].
Wien, 1892. 114 S. Gr. 8°.

j6. Witkowski, G. J. Anecdotes historiques et religieuses sur
les seins et l'allaitement, comprenant l'histoire du decolletage et du
corset. Paris, 1898. vii, 390 pp. 8°.

yj. Wlislocki, H. von. Aus dem Volksleben der Magyaren.
Ethnologische Mitteilungen. Miinchen, 1893. 983 S. Chapter
vii., witchcraft and birth-goddesses.

78. Wlislocki, H. von. Volksglaube und Volksbrauch der Sie-
benbiirger Sachsen. Berlin, 1893. Items of woman-lore passim.

79. Yastrebov, Vladimir. Pains de noces rituels en Ukraine.
[Reprinted from "Rev. de Trad. Pop."] Paris, 1895. 12 pp. 8°.

80. Young, E. The Kingdom of the Yellow Robe : being
sketches of the domestic and religious rites and ceremonies of the
Siamese. London, 1898. 410 pp. Royal 8°.

81. Zanetti, Z. La medicina della nostre donne. Studio folk-
lorico. Castello, 1892. xviii, 271 pp. 8°. A valuable study of
folk-medicine among Italian women.

Isabel Cushman Chamberlain.
Worcester, Mass.

38 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

TRIQUE THEOGONY.1

AN ALLEGED SPECIMEN OF ANCIENT MEXICAN FOLK-LORE.

Among various objects of uncommon archaeological value which
were brought this spring from Mexico to the Museum of Natural
History by Mr. Marshall Saville, was also one of no small literary
interest. I refer to a little brochure of not more than eight octavo
pages, bearing the title "Teogonia Trique " (or Theogony of the
Trique Tribe).

Up to this day, nothing was known to us about this tribe than the
bare name ; that its people lived in the sierra of Oaxaca, in the
reduced cluster of only six villages, and that they speak a language
which but recently has been classified as being a dialect of the
Mixteco-Zapotean tongue. This knowledge we owe to the investi-
gations of Don Francisco Belmar, who has just published an essay
on the Trique language. It was, therefore, no small surprise to
learn that this hitherto practically unknown tribe should have cre-
ated a theogony of their own.

When opening the pages we found them, to our regret, without
any introductory preface, and therefore nothing that would warrant
the authenticity of the text presented, except a short inscription on
the fly-page, made by the author to a patron of his, which runs as
follows : " To Manuel Martinez Gracida, the distinguished and stu-
dious statistician of Oaxaca, this first essay on ancient folk-lore is
inscribed by his affectionate Cayetano Esteva."

Of the text I made a translation ; but for lack of time I shall only
give an abstract, which I suppose will furnish, for the present,
sufficient material to form a general idea about the said Trique the-
ogony.

In the beginning, it is said, the earth was but a mass of mud and
slime, floating in the air.

Nexhequiriac, when casting from above a glance at it, exclaimed :
" Life must be begotten on this circling body ! I must have sons to
help me in this glorious performance."

Nexhequiriac, therefore, proceeds to the creation of nine sons.
These nine sons were (1) Naac Shishec, the earth-god ; (2) Naac
Naac, the sun-god ; (3) Naac Yahui, the moon-god ; (4) Naac Cuhuf,
the god of light ; (5) Naac Cunma, the god of water ; (6) Naac
Nanec, the air-god ; (7) Naac Yuhuec, the frost-god ; (8) Naac-Nima,
the god of death ; (9) Naac Chunguy, the god of hell.

Nexhequiriac then convokes his sons and says : " Your brother,

1 Paper read before the Tenth Annual Meeting of the American Folk-Lore
Society, at Columbia University, New York, December 29, 1898.

Trique Theogony. 39

the earth-god, is not a very strong god. Which of you steps forth
to give him help and strength ? "

None of them, however, voluntarily steps forth. He therefore
addresses the god of light, saying : " You, my son Cuhui, you the
heat of my body, descend to dry and bake that heap of slime and
mud."

The god of light, obedient to the mandate, descends, but so much
does he heat the earth that Nexhequiriac begins to fear he may con-
sume it entirely. He exclaims : " You, my son Cunma, you god of
the water, make haste and help your brother to extinguish this great
conflagration. Here, take my arms, the thunder and the lightning,
and I give you also thy brother, the frost-god, for a companion."

Water and Frost go now to work as they were bidden. And,
behold, the mountains, the hills, the ravines, the forests, and the
rivers make their appearance.

But the frost-god on the summits of the sierra and the rain-god
in the valleys were seen to overwork themselves in their labors, too.
The one makes the earth too cold, too stiff, while the other makes
it too wet, and Nexhequiriac, who fears an inundation, now dis-
patches the air-god to dry up the world by the sweep of his mighty
lungs.

All this being done, Nexhequiriac declares the world is now cre-
ated.

To make the work a perfect one, the great creator then proceeds
to send down the sun-god and the moon-god, so that the earth may
also have its own light and enjoy illumination.

The sun-god takes his course and runs his aerial way without
halting. Not so the moon-god. He feels hungry. A rabbit
crosses the path. To catch it, he spends precious time. When
caught, more time is lost by stopping to eat it. He crams the rab-
bit in his mouth, it chokes his throat, he loses his breath, and, lo !
he notices his brother is far ahead of him, and that he nevermore is
able to join his company.

This is the reason, says the legend, why the sun is observed to
be always ahead, and the moon behind. It is the reason also why
the sun looks always fresh and red, while the moon looks sick and
pale, and shows a rabbit dangling from her mouth. For, as they
started on their journey, both were of the same complexion and
color.

Nexhequiriac now longs for seeing the earth embellished with a
mantle of green vegetation. To perform this work, all the nine gods
together are summoned, and all obey except the god of death and
the god of hell. They excuse themselves peremptorily to partici-
pate in so wasteful a sort of work.

40 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

The earth, it is told, was then seeded by the seven gods. They
spread on it the germs of all kinds of trees and plants, and finally
also men made their appearance. The male was called Ndaja, or
brother. The female is called Nima, which means the heart.

When men now were enjoying and making use of the benefits
presented them by the gods, the latter approach the male and tell
him : " Brother Ndaja, here is a crown for you. But never must
thou forget him who gave it to thee. If thou forgettest, thou art
lost." And the same was also said to the female. Men propagate.
They are promised eternal life as long as following the precepts of
the gods.

The god of hell, however, cannot refrain from interfering and
growing meddlesome with poor humanity. Nexhequiriac becomes
aware of it. He, of course, foresees that calamity and final ruin
must result from the influence that the fiendish interloper had been
gradually gaining over mankind. The good god decides upon inter-
vention, and how he succeeds in carrying out his benevolent inten-
tions is gracefully narrated as follows : He calls the god of hell to
his side. He tells him that he has resolved upon celebrating a great
festival. All mankind should come and attend it, the purpose being
to receive from men, on this occasion, universal thanks that he has
made them so happy as they are. To aid him in the preparations
for this festival, he charges Chunguy (the god of hell) with the hon-
orable task to convoke the chorus and the orchestra of the whole
orb. A mission, however, like this, was wholly against Chunguy's
malicious temper. He disobeys. Now Nexhequiriac, in order to
punish him and have the festival take place without him, convokes
the singers and the musicians by his own voice. He bids them put
strings crosswise before their mouths and those of their instruments,
and then to blow with all their might. Terrified by the frightful
discord that fills the air, Chunguy, we are told, rushes away to hide
in the depths of his cavern. It is only at night-time that he dares
to come forth and trouble mankind with the appearance of dreadful
visions and spectres.

Notwithstanding, in the course of time, mankind deteriorates.
Nexhequiriac, who wants to have his children pure, and grateful to
him, resolves upon the plan of a new creation. He orders the four
gods, of Water, Air, Death, Fire, to destroy mankind, and leave alive
only one male and one female. The destruction proceeds. The
two human beings are put in a wooden box. They are allowed to
provide themselves with certain seeds of plants and with some pairs
of animals. They thus escape annihilation. If the box be not big
enough to hold all varieties of plants and animals, the gods will take
care later for their reproduction. The box and its contents, we are

Trique Theogony. 41

told, were safely landed upon a mountain, and a ditch of nine yards'
depth was dug around it to keep it intact.

Of those two beings, who were saved from general destruction,
the Triques say that they had been their progenitors and those of
all inhabitants of our earth. Herewith the tale ends. Signed,
Cayetano Esteva.

Let something still be said as to the impression which this curi-
ous composition has made upon my mind.

On account of the above inscription and its brief yet somewhat
suggestive tenor, one is, of course, induced to believe that the young
folk-lorist must have gathered his material either from the lips of
the native Triques themselves, or, at least, from the mouths of other
individuals whom he supposed to be equipped with authentic infor-
mation in regard to the legends of this world-forgotten tribe.
Whether the one or the other was the case, it is difficult to elicit
from the tenor of the few inscriptive lines. But I do not think that
any of the items or compounds of his report are an arbitrary product
of his poetic turn of mind. From such reproach we must absolve
him. We only wish he would have told his tale in a language less
refined, less filled with the perfume of Castilian literary fragrance.
When he believed that this specimen of ancient Mexican folk-lore
would thereby be rendered more attractive to the ear of the cultured
reader, he was mistaken. But to his praise we must say that some-
times he felt that in his polishing he went too far. For at certain
passages we observe that he chooses to introduce the persons ad-
dressing each other just in that idiomatic and specific idiomatic
metaphorical language bred in the Mexican " t/atoaui."

As to the items of which the framework of the theogony is con-
structed, it is not my impression that the latter is a genuine product
of the Trique tribe. More than half a dozen specimens of ancient
Mexican cosmogonies are extant. Therefore we are able to make
comparisons. I mention a few that just occur to my memory. We
possess cosmogonies told by Alva de Ixtlilxochitl, by Veytia, Men-
dieta, Anales de Quauhtitlan, the Libro de Oro, the Popol Vuh. In
painting we have the cosmogony of the Codex Vaticanus, and in
sculpture that on the Calendar-Stone. Comparison leads to the
apparent result that the Trique version is but a very ingenious sum-
mary of characteristics common to the cosmogonies of the other
Mexican tribes. That which is recognizable as specifically Trique
is only the nomenclature of the gods. To enter upon the literary
anatomy, and to expound which of each Trique item may be consid-
ered a loan from the one or the other tribes, would require too
much time. Moreover, dissecting is sometimes a tedious and thank-
less affair, to be left to the professional surgeon.

42 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Let us enjoy the presentation as a whole. Whoever be its origi-
nal author, whether an early and well-read Spanish missionary, or a
Mexican of the modern school, it must be owned that he knew how
to weave the foreign fibres so adroitly together that no seam is left
visible. What made it attractive to us, at first sight, was the un-
wonted and wonderful humor with which here and there the tale is
salted.

This alone may recommend it to incorporation in folk-lore annals.
Think of that breathless moon-god plodding behind his worthy
brother, the throat choked with a kicking rabbit ! Think of the
supreme god who tries to secure men's salvation by the clever trick
of putting out of tune the instruments of the orchestra divine, and
causing such a disharmonious pitch that even vile Satanas cannot
stand the caterwauling ! He has to run away and seek rest in his
cavernous abode, the hell, in which, indeed, we wish he would have
remained bottled up — forever.

Ph. J.J. Valentini.

Note. — The foregoing paper contains the last of the contributions to Mexi-
cana made by the well-known author. Dr. Valentini passed away from this life
in New York, March 16, 1899. — Editor of the Journal of American Folk-Lore.

A Tradition of Shelter Island. 43

A TRADITION OF SHELTER ISLAND, N. Y.1

The eastern end of Long Island, New York, is divided into two
long points which partially inclose a bay. The northern point is
named Orient, and the southern, which is longer, is named Mon-
tauk. Between these points lies Gardiner's Island, and within the
bay thus sheltered from the ocean is Shelter Island.

One of the natural curiosities of Shelter Island is what appears
to be a footprint in a rock. This footprint is that of a right foot.
The impression of the heel and instep is deep and well formed, but
the toe-prints are lost where the rock slopes suddenly away. The
tradition about this is that when the Evil Spirit left the island he
took three long strides, the first on Shelter Island, the second on
Orient Point, and the third on Montauk, whence he plunged into the
sea. The rock on which there was a corresponding footprint at
Orient Point has been removed to the rooms of the Long Island
Historical Society in Brooklyn.

It is said on Shelter Island that if any one makes a wish when he
places his foot into this footprint for the first time, he will certainly
get it. This unfortunately is not true ; but another saying, that the
footprint will fit the right foot of any one from a little child to the
largest man, is a striking fact ; for as the bottom is narrow and
the top wide, and there is no limit in length, it supports comfortably
any foot that is placed in it. Finally it is said that no horse will
pass this stone without being seized with terror on drawing near
it, snorting, rearing, and trembling in every limb. A similar story
is told about another rock on Shelter Island, where the notorious
pirate, Captain Kidd, is supposed to have murdered and buried a
young woman. This rock is also said to be an object of terror to
horses, who, so the story says, cannot be safely ridden near enough
to see it.

It is these sayings about fear in horses to which I wish to draw
your attention. Why should a horse be supposed to dread the scene
of a crime, or the footprint of Satan ?

These traditions are evidently Old World stories transferred to a
new and suitable scene. The opportunity to secure a wish, the foot-
print of the Devil, and the three long leaps are all familiar to us in
English folk-lore.

If we look for a more serious cause for some of these traditions
than that of the gossip of the countryside in England, we must pass
beyond the limits of what can be proved at present.

1 Paper read before the Tenth Annual Meeting of the American Folk-Lore
Society, at Columbia University, New York, December 29, 1898.

44 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

A possible origin for these stories occurred to me lately while
reading a paper in the Saga-Book of the Viking Club of London,
named " Odinic Traces in Somerset," by the Rev. Charles W.
Whistler.

Mr. Whistler says " that the thing that is never forgotten in a
district is a terror. Often the latest terror will absorb into its own
story the legends of the older days," and " one can trace the remains
of the past beliefs in many ways as coloring the thoughts of our
people, and in nothing more than in the matter of the one terror of
our faith, — the fear of the spiritual enemy, the Power of Evil. The
fear of the old gods has been, not replaced by, but transmuted into,
the fear of Satan. And this is natural ; for to the early converts
from heathenism the sway of the pagan deities represented the
power of evil from which they had escaped, and to their minds
Satan was to a certain extent typified in the likeness and with the
ways of them, as they had been wont to fear them."

Mr. Whistler then traces several of the Somerset traditions back
to an Odinic origin. Among them is a story about footprints of the
Devil which are still to be seen on the rocks.

Two stories are about the " wild hunt." Once a man saw it pass
in the air over him. The rider stayed to speak to him, to his ter-
ror, for he saw that the huntsman was the Devil, and that he rode a
great sow.

" ' Good fellow, now tell me, how ambles my sow ? '

" ' Eh, by the Lord ! her ambles well now ! ' the man answered.
But the pious emphatic was not to be stood by the fiend, and he
vanished in a flash of fire." In this tradition Mr. Whistler sees Frey
mounted on his golden-bristled boar Gullinbursti, transmuted into
the Devil, while his boar, for the sake of the rhyme, is changed into
a sow. In another story the appearance of a headless man riding
on a black horse is supposed to have been the hooded Odin ; and in
a third, the wild huntsman riding on a headless horse suggests that
the horse was headless from his sacrifice to Thor at the Ve. Horse
sacrifice was the cause of much trouble in England in the old days,
as it was to King Olaf Tryggvason in the far North.

Is it possible that these stories about the terror of horses for the
scene of a crime, and for the footprint of Satan, may have come
down from the time of the confusion of the Christian and old Norse
faiths in England, when, if a crime had been committed, the wrath
of the ^Esir must be appeased by the sacrifice of a horse ; and like-
wise when Satan, invested with the character of the northern gods,
would be supposed to desire for himself their ancient sacrifice, a
horse ?

Cornelia Horsford.
December 17, 1898.

Items of German-Canadian Folk-Lore. 45

ITEMS OF GERMAN-CANADIAN FOLK-LORE.

Some of these superstitions may be of English or Scottish origin,
but they were all collected among German-speaking people. I have
classified these items of folk-lore under various headings, and will
begin with

DEATH SIGNS.

When the corn-shoots are of a whitish color.

When a white spider crawls toward you or your house.

If the cabbage-heads are white, or covered with white spots.

The howling of a dog is also regarded by the Germans as a death
sign.

In whatever direction a star falls, there is sure to be a death, pre-
sumably the death of some relative or friend of the beholder.

RAIN SIGNS.

If you kill a toad (will cause rain).

When there are many women on the sidewalks in a village or
town.

If a hen crows.

If it rains on Whitsunday, it will rain for seven Sundays in suc-
cession after that.

STORM SIGNS.

When geese fly high.
When the tea-kettle hums.

GOOD LUCK.

For good luck, the old German Catholics make the sign of a cross
over or on a loaf of bread before cutting it.

BAD LUCK.

To sing at table.

To spill salt ; the evil may be counteracted by burning the salt.

To look into a mirror at night.

To leave a knife on the table after retiring.

To open an umbrella in the house.

To kill a spider that crawls on your person.

To sit on a table.

To hold a loaf of bread upside down while cutting it.

To draw the window-blinds before lighting the lamps.

To sing or whistle while lying in bed.

46 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.

If it thunders before breakfast, it will thunder again before supper-
time. Some Germans believe that it is impossible to extinguish fire
caused by lightning with water, milk being the only liquid that will
do so effectually. I heard of an instance where a farmer's barn was
struck by lightning, but instead of resorting to water he very fool-
ishly carried the milk up out of his cellar, and poured it on to the
flames, but, as may be expected, without extinguishing the fire.

A survival of the mediaeval belief that the stone-age axes or celts
were thunderbolts is still current among the Germans in the county
of Waterloo. They are called gezvitter-stein, or gewitter and donder-
keidel, literally meaning "lightning stone," or "lightning" and
" thunder wedge," — the latter appellation referring to the general
form of these implements. They are supposed to cause the splin-
tered condition of a tree struck by lightning. Another absurd belief
these people have is that when one of these so-called gewitter-stein
is taken, a string tied around it, and then put into the grate of a
stove, it will prevent the lightning from striking the house. A still
more absurd belief is that one of these stones may be tied to a string,
and the string set on fire, yet the stone will not fall to the ground,
although the string may be all charred and easily broken.

It is a common belief among the Germans that if you do any work
on Ascension Day the lightning will always surround your home. I
heard of a woman who made for herself an apron on that day, and
after that the lightning always seemed to hover around her home.
She mentioned this to a friend, who advised her — on the approach
of a thunder-shower — to hang the apron on a stake in the garden.
He did this, the lightning struck it, and burnt the fabric to a crisp.

FOLK-LORE IN CONNECTION WITH OUR FAUNA.

To see a snake is " a warning of danger."

Some Germans believe that if they kill a snake, " it will take all
the trouble out of the house."

If toads are killed, it causes cows to produce blood instead of milk.
It is also said that if toads are handled they cause warts.

If a bat drops any of its excrement on top of a person's head, the
hair will come out at that particular spot.

Some of the old German settlers believed — and even some of their
descendants believe — that in the autumn, when the apples were
lying on the ground, the porcupines {stachel-schweiri) came and rolled
themselves over them, their sharp quills or spines piercing and hold-
ing the fruit, after which the animals retired to the woods and ate
them at leisure.

Items of German-Canadian Folk-Lore. 47

FOLK-LORE IN CONNECTION WITH OUR FLORA.

A rather peculiar superstition is connected with the common
knotweed or smartweed (Polygonum aviculare), which is called brenn-
nessel by the Germans. The leaves of this plant bear conspicuous
dark spots, which are supposed to be the blood of Christ, the plants
having been, it is supposed, at the foot of the cross when He was
crucified.

A certain plant, the English name of which, unfortunately, I can-
not find out, but which is known by the Germans as irreu-kraut,
found in Canadian woods, if stepped upon is supposed to bewilder a
person, and cause him to lose his way. An acquaintance told me
that one day, about forty years ago (she was about ten years old at
that time), she was sent by her employer into the woods to bring
home the cows, and, having stepped upon one of these plants, she
became so confused that she lost her way, and began to wander
around the woods, always coming back to the starting-point. At
length she emerged into a clearing, and saw, as she supposed, a
neighbor's barns. Seeing a man in a field, she went to him, and
inquired where her employer lived. As this was the man himself,
he was amazed and thought she had gone crazy.

CURES.

Hair, when inclined to split, should be cut at full moon.

A Cure for Fits. — Take the blood of a black hen, and induce the
patient to drink it.

To stop nose-bleeding, tie a string of red yarn around one of your
fingers.

The skin of a white weasel worn about the person is said to be a
preventive of rheumatism.

A cure for " side-stitch " is to spit on a pebble and throw it over
your shoulder, and then walk away without looking back at it.

For sore throat, take the sock off your left foot, turn it inside out,
and put it around your throat, and it will help to cure it.

If a bee stings you, do not let it escape, but kill it, and the wound
will not mortify.

The calcareous body found in the head of the common crayfish is
supposed by some to be useful in removing foreign substances from
the eye.

A cure for a child's irritable temper is to take it and put it head
first through the left leg of its father's trousers. I heard of a case
where this was tried about two years ago.

To prevent blood-poisoning if you step on a rusty nail, take the
nail and immerse it in oil or lard, then remove it and put it into the
bake-oven, and there let it remain until the wound is healed.

48 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

A cure for lumbago is to lie down on the floor face downward, and
have your wife tread on the afflicted part with her feet.

A Cure for a Sprain. — If you find a bone, take it and rub it on the
sprain, and then throw it over your head, and don't look back at it.

Toothache Cares. — Give a child a bread crust, at which mice have
gnawed, to chew, and it will never be subject to toothache. An-
other sure preventive is, after washing yourself, to wipe the hands
with the towel first before you wipe the face. I know an old woman
who practises this method, and she says that she has not been trou-
bled with toothache for the last twenty years.

The brain-teeth (hern-zahne) of a hog, if carried in the pocket, are
also supposed to prevent toothache.

Wart Cures. — Go into a house, steal a dishcloth and bury it under
a stone ; as the cloth rots, the wart will disappear.

Rub the warts with a piece of pork, and bury it under the eaves.
Another cure is to take a potato, cut it in two, and rub one of the
pieces on the wart ; then wrap it in a piece of paper, and place it on
the sidewalk, or other place much frequented by the public, and who-
ever finds and opens the package will get the wart. Another cure
still is, if you have more than one wart on your hand, to get some
person to count them and he will get them.

MOON SIGNS.

The Germans have also superstitions in connection with the moon,
all of them, however, the same, or only slight variants of the current
English superstitions, such as the proper time for sowing grain, kill-
ing of hogs, etc.

MISCELLANEOUS.

If you lose one of your teeth, and a hog finds and swallows it, a
hog-tooth will grow in its place.

Spitting on the stove is said to cause sore lips.

When one of a child's eyelashes falls out on its face, take the hair
and put it on the child's bare breast, and it will receive a present.

It is a common practice among some Germans here to put old
shoes among the cucumber vines to insure a good crop of cucum-
bers. Certain times should also be selected for planting the seed.
If planted in the sign Virgo, they are sure to bear false blossoms ;
and if in Pisces, you will get a good crop.

When the stove becomes red-hot, you may expect cold weather.

The rocking of a cradle, while the child is not in it, is said to cause
the child to get the colic.

If a cat washes her face, you will receive visitors.

As late as the beginning of the seventeenth century, Paulus Zac-
chias, a famous physician, writes of the virulent poison of the hair of

Items of German-Canadian Folk-Lore. 49

cats. What may be regarded as a survival of this superstition is
the belief that the hair of cats, if swallowed, will cause consumption.

If the mother (mutter) in a vinegar barrel is not strong enough, it
should be replaced by a piece of paper with the names of three cross
women or termagants, that live in the neighborhood, written on it.

The large excrescences sometimes found on the white elm, if
touched, were supposed to cause cancer.

If a person has had a cancer, and another individual, in showing
where it was located, puts his finger on the spot on his own person,
he also will get the cancer there.

" Was sick zweitte das dritte sick!' Literally meaning, whatever
happens twice will happen thrice.

Contrary to the hitherto accepted belief that thirteen is an unlucky
number, the Germans set a hen with thirteen eggs to insure good
luck.

It is unlucky to name an infant after .its dead brother or sister ;
the child will die young.

An old German woman gave me the following recipe : Take the
blood of a bat and bathe your eyes with it, and you will be able to
see in the dark as well as you can in the daytime. She attributes
her present keen sight to trying this formula.

To render yourself invisible at pleasure : steal a black cat, fill a
kettle with cold water, and set it on the stove ; put the cat into it, and
put a lid on top of it, and then, despite the cries and struggles of the
animal, you are to hold the lid firmly down on top of it until it is
dead and boiled to a pulp. During the time, you are not to turn your
head, whatever is happening behind you. When the body is thor-
oughly boiled, remove the lid and pick out the bones, and, placing
them one by one between your teeth, look into a mirror, and when
you get the right one, you will not be able to see yourself. Keep
this bone, and whenever you do not desire to be seen, put it between
your teeth and you will become invisible. The boiling of the cat
and picking out of the bones must be done at midnight.

HALLOWEEN OBSERVANCE.

To see their future husband, the young women used to take one
teaspoonful of flour, one of salt, and one of water,, and mix them
together, forming dough. This they made into a little cake, which
they baked in the ashes of the stove grate. While eating this, they
walked backwards toward their beds, laid themselves down across
them, and went to sleep lying in this position. If they dreamed of
their future husband as bringing a glass cup containing water, he
was wealthy ; if a tin cup, he was in good circumstances ; and if he
had ragged clothes and a rusty tin cup, he was very poor.

vol. xii. — no. 44. 4

5<d Journal of American Folk-Lore.

A CHRISTMAS EVE CUSTOM.

On Christmas Eve a curious custom was formerly practised by
the young women to find out the vocation of their future husband.
A cup half filled with water was provided, and about midnight a
small quantity of lead was melted and poured into the cup, and the
lead upon cooling assumed a variety of forms, such as horseshoes,
hammers, nails, etc., for a blacksmith ; square blocks for a farmer ;
and if one assumed the shape of a coffin, the person who got it would
not live very long. Strict silence was enjoined while the practice
was in progress.

WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT.

The belief in witches and witchcraft, even at this late day, has not
entirely died out.

On the last day of April the old German Catholics used to make
a cross on the door to keep the witches out, with the names (or their
initials) of three Catholic saints, — Caspar, Melicher (Melchior), and
Balthazar.

An old woman told me that one day a witch came to the place
where she was working, and asked for some food, which was refused
her. She left, much incensed at this refusal, and as she passed down
the lane she began calling the cows to her, meanwhile holding up
three fingers. The farmer did not think much of the circumstance
at the time ; but when the women began to milk the cows, they
found that on every cow only one teat produced milk, the other three
blood. The following morning the same thing happened again, and
the farmer, becoming alarmed, consulted an Amish witch-doctor, who
cured the cow by a process of charming. The old woman related
another witch story to me, which is equally absurd. One of her
employer's cows became bewitched. The milk was thick every time
the cow was milked. A witch-doctor was consulted, and he advised
them to put the milk into a pan and set it on the stove to boil, then
to give the milk a thorough whipping with a whip while it boiled.
This was done. The cow was cured, and the witch's power was dis-
pelled.

About twenty years ago there was an old woman living not far
from here who was popularly regarded as a witch. She is said to
have possessed the sixth and seventh books of Moses, and it was
believed that she could transform herself into any animal she chose.
She sometimes transformed herself into a cat, and prowled around
her neighbors' premises.

W.J. Wmtemberg.

Washington, Ont.

Annual Meeting of the American Foik-Lore Society. 5 1

TENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN
FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.

In making arrangements for this meeting, the Society associated
itself with the Naturalists and other Affiliated Societies.

The Society met in rooms of Columbia University, New York,
N. Y., on Wednesday and Thursday, December 28 and 29, 1898, the
President, Dr. Henry Wood, presiding.

The meeting was called to order at 2 p. m. The Permanent Sec-
retary read the Annual Report of the Council, which was adopted.

REPORT OF THE COUNCIL.

During the year 1898, the publication of the Society, the Journal
of American Folk-Lore, has been continued in the usual manner.

The Society has published the sixth volume of its Memoirs,
namely, "Traditions of the Thompson River Indians of British
Columbia," by Dr. James Teit, with Introduction by Dr. Franz
Boas.

As the seventh volume of the Memoirs, the Council has given
authority for the printing of a second part of " Current Supersti-
tions," collected and edited by Fanny D. Bergen. This second vol-
ume, containing superstitions connected with animal and plant lore,
will complete the work, of which the first part is formed by the
fourth volume of the Memoirs, issued in 1896.

The appearance of this series of Memoirs is rendered possible by
special contributions to the Publication Fund, under a provision
that its maintenance may be provided for by special optional pay-
ments of seven dollars annually, in addition to the required fee of
three dollars, making a payment of ten dollars for the year. A list
of such contributors is annually printed in the Journal of American
Folk-Lore, and also in each volume of the Memoirs. During the
year 1898, the amount of contributions to the Publication Fund,
made under this arrrangement, was $350.

The receipts of the Society from annual fees, and from the sale of
publications, are barely adequate to defray necessary expenses. If
the work of the Society is to be put on a solid basis, a large acces-
sion ot membership is essential.

If the responsibilities of the American people are to be increased
by the control of numerous islands in the Pacific Ocean, including
some of which the populations are still in a primitive condition, such
extension will require attention to the ethnography of the region,
and will enlarge the work of the Society. Under such circum-
stances, it ought not to be difficult to procure the necessary support.

52

Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Members are requested to do what they can to increase the mem-
bership roll, and advised to promote local organizations for such
purpose.

The following is the substance of the Treasurer's Report : —

RECEIPTS.

Balance on hand December 28, 1897 ....
Sales of publications through Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
Subscriptions to the Publication Fund

Annual dues received

Sales through Secretary

DISBURSEMENTS.

Houghton, Mifflin & Co., for manufacturing Journal of Ameri-
can Folk-Lore, four numbers

Houghton, Mifflin & Co., for manufacturing Memoirs (less cer-
tain credits) ..........

Houghton, Mifflin & Co., mailing expenses to February, 1898 .

Paid to Charles L. Edwards, for stock and copyright in vol. iii.
of the Memoirs

Salary of Clerk for the Permanent Secretary

Typewriting for vol. vi. of Memoirs .

Rebates to local branches ....

Expenses of Secretary, stamps, printing, etc.

Envelopes printed for Treasurer

Balance to new account, December 28, 1898

$1268.35

438.04

350.00

1137.00

3.00

$3i96-39

$1118.75

261.45
110.17

175.00

150.00
20.00
S5-5o

73-79
24.00

$1988.64

1207.75

$3i96-39

Notes. The expense of manufacturing vol. vi. of Memoirs was $376.25. The
publishers, in making a charge for such manufacturing, deducted the amount of
sales of Memoirs from February 1 to August I, amounting to $114.80, which
amount ought therefore to be added to the sales of publications as above given,
in order to obtain the amount of the yearly sales.

According to a vote of the Council, an annual concession of fifty cents for each
member is allowed to local societies having over twenty-five paying members.

The sum above mentioned, as paid to Charles L. Edwards, is a repayment of a
like sum advanced by him, in order to secure the publication of vol. iii. of the
Memoirs.

In the course of the meeting, the Permanent Secretary announ-
cing that he had received no nominations, as provided for by the
Rules, nominations of the Council were announced . —

President, Prof. Charles L. Edwards, University of Cincinnati,
Cincinnati, O.

Anntial Meeting of the American Folk-Lore Society. 53

First Vice-President, Miss Alice C. Fletcher, Fellow of Har-
vard University, Washington, D. C.

Second Vice-President, Mr. C. F. Lummis, Los Angeles, Cal.

Councillors (for three years), Dr. Franz Boas, American Mu-
seum of Natural History, New York, N. Y. ; Mr. J. D. Buck, Cin-
cinnati, O. ; Miss Anne Weston Whitney, Baltimore, Md.

The Permanent Secretary and Treasurer hold over.

The Permanent Secretary was instructed to cast a ballot for the
officers as nominated. The Council announced the appointment of a
Committee on the Collection and Study of Folk-Song and Folk-
Music charged with the duty of proposing plans and making pro-
visions for the gathering and publication of such material : Dr.
Franz Boas, Prof. C. L. Edwards, Miss Alice C. Fletcher, Mr. H. E.
Krehbiel.

The Permanent Secretary was given authority to arrange the
time and place of the next Annual Meeting, to be fixed about Decem-
ber 28, 1899; in making such arrangement, he was instructed to
follow the course adopted in 1898 of uniting with the Naturalists
and other Affiliated Societies.

The business being concluded, the Society listened to the Address
of the President, Professor Henry Wood, concerning " Folk-Lore
and Metaphor in Literary Style."

Other papers were presented, as follows: —

Ojibwa, Cree, and Eskimo Legends from Canada, Dr. Robert
Bell, F. R. S., Ottawa, Canada.

Some Animal Medicine, Mrs. Fanny D. Bergen, Cambridge,
Mass.

American Indian Names of White Men, Dr. A. F. Chamberlain,
Worcester, Mass.

Bibliography of Folk-Lore relating to Women, Mrs. Isabel C.
Chamberlain, Worcester, Mass.

Bahama Customs and Superstitions, Prof. C. L. Edwards, Cin-
cinnati, Ohio.

Mythology of the Chilcotin, Dr. Livingston Farrand, New
York, N. Y.

The Origin of a Tradition, Miss Cornelia Horsford, Cambridge,
Mass.

Animal Tales of the Eskimo, Mr. A. Kroeber, New York, N. Y.

The Study of Ethics among the Lower Races, Dr. Washington
Matthews, Washington, D. C.

Modern Theories of the Origin of Folk-Tales, Mr. W. W. New-
ell, Cambridge, Mass.

Who was Mother Goose ? Prof. Thomas Wilson, Washington,
D. C.

54 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Demonstration was made of Phonographic Records of Indian
Song, contributed by Dr. Franz Boas, Miss Alice C. Fletcher,
Dr. Carl Lumholtz, and Dr. Washington Matthews.

On Wednesday evening, the members of the Affiliated Societies
were invited to visit the American Museum of Natural History,
where addresses were made by Mr. Morris K. Jesup and Professor
Henry F. Osborn. After the visit to the Museum, a reception was
held at the house of Professor Osborn, 850 Madison Avenue.

On Thursday evening, the Annual Dinner of the Naturalists and
Affiliated Societies was held at the Hotel Savoy. Prof. H. P. Bow-
ditch delivered a President's Address.

Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 55

THE SEVENTH VOLUME OF THE MEMOIRS OF THE
AMERICAN FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.

CURRENT SUPERSTITIONS, COLLECTED FROM THE ORAL TRADITION
OF ENGLISH-SPEAKING FOLK IN AMERICA, BY FANNY D. BERGEN,
PART II.

As the fourth volume of the Memoirs, was published the first part
of the work which is now completed by the seventh volume. The
matter included in this second part is that relating to animal and
plant lore ; the gathering will be found at least as illuminative as
that already accessible. In the notice of " Current Superstitions "
contained in a previous number of this Journal (vol. ix., 1896,
pp. 55-66), it has been observed that no collection made in Great
Britain is in any way comparable in richness and instruction to that
of Mrs. Bergen. The British notices form only chapters of more
general works, not professing to completeness of record or scientific
thoroughness of presentation. In the American publication, the
wealth of the material is incomparably greater ; the items often
explain each other, and the book will be found to throw a flood of
light on the popular beliefs and usages of the English folk, to which
in the main the matter belongs. From the nature of the case, no
gathering made as a first essay, and by a person whose opportunities
have been limited by inability to travel, can pretend to anything like
perfection ; a great body of superstitions have doubtless been passed
over, to be added by later investigators who may glean after the
footsteps of our author ; yet, even so, the work will be found an
invaluable record of folk-thought, and will be permanently valued as
testimony of popular conditions at the end of the nineteenth cen-
tury.

In the paper above noted, attention has been called to the cor-
respondence of the beliefs and American usages recited by Mrs.
Bergen with those of England. The same relation will be found to
exist in the second part of her work. As already remarked, the
English element has been the controlling one in American folk-
thought. Mrs. Bergen has indeed added a certain number of items
obtained from negro sources. The book, however, does not profess
to enter on the extensive subject of negro superstition ; the exam-
ples cited are given only as variants of common white superstitions,
or only as shared also by the white people of the region.

The first volume of the collection not only formed a collection
superior to any predecessor, but in some respects opened up new
fields. Such, in the review mentioned, was shown to be the case

56 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

with usages relating to the movement of the sun, in some house-
holds still regulating the making of bread and the methods of other
domestic work. The second volume will appear equally instructive.
As an illustration may be noted the chapter on " Amulets and
Spells."

Well-known is the superstition, prevalent chiefly in the Southern
States and apparently of negro origin, that good fortune is secured
by wearing as an amulet the foot of a rabbit. The belief has a char-
acter tending toward mystery and horror ; the foot is to be the left
hind foot ; it is to be taken from a rabbit killed in a graveyard.
Such requirement might make us suppose that the root of the super-
stition is in that inclination to ascribe mystic power to the reverse
of the bright side of life which appears in European magic ; the
enchanter may secure his effects by setting night against day ; dia-
bolical agency acts in the inverse manner of the angelic. Such
conception appears frequently in modern popular superstition ; thus,
in Halloween usages, it is common to perform the act of divination
by walking backwards, or by hanging the garments wrong side out.
According to one formula, a girl is to go into a garden at midnight
of Halloween to steal cabbages ; the first person she meets on her
return will be her husband. A variant insists that she must go
through a graveyard ("Current Superstitions," vol. i. p. 56). The
addition has probably been made merely to secure the conditions for
awe. So with the rabbit superstition : the root is to be found in the
power exercised by the member, and the connection with the grave
is superadded. Mole-paws also may serve the purpose. If the rab-
bit superstition is of negro derivation (and this is not absolutely cer-
tain), at any rate it does not essentially differ from the conceptions
of whites ; it is only a branch of the practice of attributing super-
natural power to the desiccated member which had once been
potent, of which we have a familiar example in the dried human
hand, as in the case of the hand of a malefactor, used by thieves.
The folk-lore of the English in America supplies a series of similar
credulities with regard to the potency of the preserved parts of
other animals. We cite from the volume under examination : —

AMULETS.

1. For cramps wear a bone from the head of a cod. Newfoundland.

2. A fin-bone of the haddock (if the fish is caught without touching the
boat) will cure cramp. Green Harbor, Trinity Bay, N. F.

3. A fin-bone of the haddock, taken from the living fish without the
knowledge of other persons, and worn in a bag, will cure toothache.

Labrador, Trinity Bay, N. F. (Mountain Indians).

Memoirs of the American Folk- Lore Society. 57

4. A fin-bone of the haddock, carried in the pocket, will cure rheuma-
tism. Stilly Cove, Trinity Bay, N. F.

5. A small serrated bone, found in the head of a codfish, is carried as a
" lucky bone." New England.

6. A small bone from the head of a gar is carried as a " lucky bone."

Western Central States.

7. A smooth white " stone," found in the nest of a fishing-hawk, is car-
ried for luck. This is probably a small bone from the head of a perch or
other fish. Chestertown, Md.

8. Smoothly polished pebbles are carried for good luck, and are called
" lucky stones." Chestertown, Md.

9. Two little bones, found in the head of a certain fish, are called lucky
stones ; but the good luck comes only after they are lost.

Fort Worth, Tex.

10. A small bone, cut from a living turtle, is carried as a " lucky bone."

New England.

11. When the king-crab has a single claw (one half gone), break it off
and carry it for luck. It is called a " lucky claw." Cohasset, Mass.

12. The left hind claw (hallux) of a crow is carried about for a "luck
charm." Cambridge, Mass.

13. The globular head of the femur of a pig is kept in a box or bureau
drawer as a " lucky bone."

Petit Codiac, N. B., and Baltimore, Md. (negro).

14. A veal bone, probably the head of the femur, is kept as a "lucky
bone." Central New York.

A striking superstition of this sort is that of Germans in Ontario,
as reported in a previous article of the present number. A black
cat is to be stolen, boiled to death, and reduced to pulp ; the bones
are to be picked out from the mess with the teeth while gazing in a
mirror ; at a certain point in the operation, the performer will lose
sight of the reflection of himself. When this happens, the bone at
the time in the mouth, and to the agency of which this effect is due,
is to be preserved. At any time, by inserting the bone between the
teeth, the carrier has the power of making himself invisible. How
singular such a belief, retained to the beginning of the twentieth
century ! The underlying idea is obvious. A black cat, as a witch,
possesses the ability of transformation ; such magic power must be
due to some particular element of the organism ; the thing to be
done is to discover that element, which confers on its possessor a

58 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

like potency. Thus the survival of the present day gives a glimpse
into the prehistoric conceptions of millennials ago. No doubt the
usefulness of the cod-bone, as applied to rheumatism, is to be sim-
ilarly explained ; the fish being a free-moving animal, the trans-
fer of that locomotive power will relieve the rheumatic person. The
rabbit-foot will lend the power of swift and successful movement,
the mole-foot that of easy excavation of treasure. The special idea
will pass over into the general one of conferring good fortune. The
wider question, the explanation of the use of amulets in general,
although in a measure elucidated by such illustrations, need not
here be further considered.

The bringing together of a mass of such items of superstitions
renders the work of Mrs. Bergen thoroughly instructive. The field
of distinctively negro superstitions the collection does not profess
to enter ; the few here contained are inserted only as shared by the
whites of the region, or as variants of beliefs also belonging to
English-speaking folk. The imperfection and unsatisfactoriness of
collections made in England has been pointed out in the review of
the first volume, above mentioned, where the principal gatherings
have been noted. A full collection of British material would no
doubt in a great measure parallel the American collection.

Well-known in folk-lore are the magical powers of human saliva.
Throughout the world, from the Australian native to the English in
America, threatening demoniacal assault is guarded against by spit-
ting. In the United States generally, the belief in the evil eye has
a survival in the idea that it is unlucky to meet a cross-eyed person,
but that the evil may be averted by expectoration. Children in
Boston, according to our author, suppose that the sight of a dead
mouse will cause the food eaten at supper to taste of the animal,
unless averted by spitting thrice. It was an old New England
belief that the view of dead dogs, cats, and the like might give the
passer-by the itch if he did not protect himself by spitting three
times. In Kentucky, the sight of tawny caterpillars, called "fever-
worms," will bring fever ; one must spit on such occasions. So, in
Alabama, to spit on a cross-mark exorcises the ill luck consequent
on turning back from a journey ; and in Maryland live coals from
one fire should not be added to those of another without this pro-
tection. In like manner, in Maine, and no doubt everywhere, the
bad fortune consequent on the accidental putting-on of a reversed
garment may so be banished. So the action is used in cursing
enemies.

87. When the ear burns it is a sign that some one is talking about you.
Wet the forefinger in the mouth, and rub the ear with the forefinger and
thumb, saying about the one supposed to be talking about you : —

Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 59

If good, good betide you, and
If bad, may the Devil ride you.

or, in Baltimore, Md. : —

If it 's good, may the Lord bless you.
If it 's bad, may the Devil take you.

Saliva has not only a prophylactic but also a prophetic potency.
We cite the items illustrating this power : —

Strike the saliva with the right forefinger, and notice the direction in
which it flies ; that will be the direction of the lost article.

Missouri (negro).

92. To find lost cattle or any lost articles, strike a drop of spit on the
palm of the hand. Pennsylvania.

93. Spitting on the palm of the hand or on the inner side of the wrist
will recall to the memory where a mislaid article is. Salem, Mass.

94. Spitting on a hot shovel serves as a means of divination. One's
future home is in the direction taken by the moving bubble. If it remains
stationary, the one who is trying the oracle will remain where he is.

Northern Ohio.

Superstitious beliefs relating to animals have different roots. In
some cases the omens derived from these may belong to the class of
mere indications ; that a white dove should be a sign of marriage, a
"mourning dove" of death, may be natural. The lowing of a cow
is said to be a sign of death ; but the idea is explained by other simi-
lar items of superstition, in which it is only after darkness has set in
that the sound is dangerous. The disturbance of the domestic ani-
mals is dependent on their foresight of approaching disaster to their
master's house. That a white spider " spinning down" is a token
of good news, a black one of evil tidings, is equally in accordance
with the laws of association of ideas. That the sight of a redbird on
Saturday portends a vision of one's sweetheart on the Sunday may
be due only to the brightness of the plumage. In these cases the
prophetic character belongs to the animal only incidentally, or in
consequence of the suggestion of certain feelings.

There is, however, a mass of belief relating to animals which goes
back to the sacred quality of the creatures, as anciently worshipped
or dreaded. Thus, in the case of the snake, the ancient hostility set
forth in Genesis is fully maintained by modern practice.

351. Kill the first snake you see in the spring to bring good luck.

Cape Breton.

352. If a snake crosses one's path, that person has an enemy.

Somewhat general in the United States.

co Journal of American Folk-Lore.

353. The next person you see after meeting a snake is an enemy.

Maine.
355. Break your first brake,
Kill your first snake,
Ami you will conquer all your enemies.

Northern Ohio.
Kill the first snake you see in the spring, and you will conquer all
your enemies that year. If the snake gets away, you will be troubled with
new enemies that year. Talladega, Ala.

357. If the first snake you see in the spring is dead, you will lose a
friend. Lawrence, Kan.

On the other hand, the equally ancient friendliness of the sacred
snake is preserved in an opinion that it is lucky to have that crea-
ture frequent the house (Bruynswick, N. Y., before 1830). The
toad stands on a better footing, inasmuch as he is protected by a
theory that his slaughter is dangerous. To kill him makes the cows
go dry, or give bloody milk ; to step on him is a sign of disappoint-
ment. It is a children's saying that to kill a toad will cause you to
stub your toe ; a fortunate protection for an ugly creature. Very
likely the regard for toads is connected with an idea that they were
forms of the guardian spirit or familiar demon. The doctrine that
the murder of a cat brings ill luck is so universal that in many places
it is almost impossible to get any one to perform that office. In
general, the cat appears as the transformation of the witch. Such
reputation must have been ancient. In an old Irish hero tale we
find that the nocturnal visit of cats was sufficient to scare the
stoutest hearts ; and the chief of Arthur's encounters, according
to Welsh and French mediaeval story, was with an enchanted cat.
But the modern lore as to cats is mixed ; there are opposite views
as to the nature of the luck brought by the visit of one, or being
followed by one. Obviously, originally, if would depend on the rela-
tion : cither the witch would be pursuing with evil intent, which
would intrinsically be probable ; or she would be under the control
of the individual, in which case the luck would be good. In Massa-
chusetts, people are shy about moving cats to a new home ; and in
Kansas it is unlucky to move into a house where the cat (the genius
of the preceding family) has been kept. But in the survival, one is
likely to find diametrically opposite precepts.

1 weather prophet, the cat is known to be wise, and omens are

taken from the most commonplace movements. "Weather" formed

a topic of the first volume of "Current Superstitions;" the signs

ined from animals contribute a section to the second volume.

Such expectations are of great antiquity. In the third century

Memoirs of the American Folk- Lore Society. 61

before Christ, the Greek Theophrastus produced a treatise "concern-
ing signs." This writer was himself a person too illuminated to
give much light on the real folk-lore of his day ; but he reports
concerning the expectations of the weather sufficiently to show the
presence of endless beliefs on the subject. The hedgehog, he says,
is a prophetic animal, who makes his hole with openings north and
south, and closes, before a storm, the exposed opening. In Ameri-
can weather-lore the ground-hog appears as a prophet, but his activ-
ity is more complicated.

An interesting Introduction to the collection has been contributed
by the husband of the editor, Mr. J. Y. Bergen, well known as a
biologist. Mr. Bergen points out that animal and plant lore must
have constituted an important part of the earliest folk-lore of the
world. He examines the character of the animal weather signs,
with some inclination to believe in a foundation of fact.

But there is great diversity of opinion among those who have studied
and written concerning animal weather-lore in very recent times. Dr. C. C.
Abbott, our New Jersey naturalist, is decidedly sceptical as to the power
of animals in general to forecast the weather. While he admits that spe-
cial meteorological conditions may influence the actions of animals, he
denies to the latter that prophetic power with which they are so often
credited in regard to coming weather changes. " I have gathered," he
says, " a host of sayings referring to birds and the weather, and have tested
them all. Often they hold good, frequently they do not."

On the other hand, Charles St. John, who must certainly be reckoned
an intelligent naturalist and good observer of out-of-door life, in his "Wild
Sports in the Highlands " says, " There are few animals which do not
afford timely and sure prognostications of changes in the weather." St.
John credits wild-fowl, grouse, ducks, fish, field-mice, pigs, and sheep with
knowledge of coming weather changes, and believes that they indicate the
character of the changes by their behavior.

In his " Animal Intelligence," George J. Romanes cites as a remarkable
case of instinct an interesting account of the manner in which a swan
raised her nest, containing eggs, two and a half feet the very day before a
tremendous fall of rain, which by flooding did great damage in the neigh-
borhood.

For myself, I am somewhat credulous in regard to the whole matter, and
doubt not that in a general way many of the weather proverbs that have
arisen from observing the behavior of animals are to be trusted.

The book contains a gleaning of items relating to folk-medicine,
which will interest readers of the medical profession. Respecting
this material Mr. Bergen observes : —

Folk-medicine is one of the most important subjects in American ani-
mal and plant lore. Medicine is so largely empirical, it is so difficult to be

62 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

sun- whether a given course of treatment has proved beneficial or not, the
vis medicatrix nature* is so great and so obscure a factor in most cases, that
there has always been much chance in medical practice for what might
perhaps be called sincere quackery. Let it once be suggested that a given
substance might cure a certain disease, and let its remedial virtues be tried
in a few cases. If some of the patients recover, it is sure to be argued, by
a familiar process of reasoning, that the remedy effected the cure. In any
new region it would be easy to trace the steps by which the popular materia
medica is thus enlarged, but after the addition the process can only be con-
jectured.

The study of the considerations which suggest curative power in this or
thai animal' or vegetable product is a most interesting one. The principle
on which (to cite only one instance out of many) the little white granular
roots of a common British saxifrage were supposed to form an efficient
remedy for vescical calculi still flourishes among us. A common smart-
weed, for example, with heart-shaped marks on its leaves, is widely known
as heart's-ease from its supposed value in cardiac affections. Apparently
the possession of a disgusting smell or taste has often sufficed to give a
substance a reputation for curative properties. Burnt feathers, angleworm
oil, tar, pitch, boneset, and the host of bitters vaunted in domestic medicine,
must owe much of the esteem in which they are held to their unsavory quali-
ties. It is very evident that anything singular in the aspect of a plant,
above all if the singularity be of an unpleasant kind, is a strong recom-
mendation for its adoption into the list of remedial herbs. In many cases
this suggestiveness depends wholly or in part on the well-known doctrine
of signatures, as it does in the reputation which many plants of the Orchis
family have obtained for nervine or aphrodisiac qualities. But there are
other instances, such as that of the rattlesnake-plantain, the cow-parsnip,
and the whole list of plants with milky juice, which seem to owe their use
in folk-medicine merely to their conspicuous or peculiar characteristics.

It has been well said that "nastiness is often an element of mysteries,"
and no doubt the curious veneration for filth is responsible for some of the
excrement-cures which are still employed in a few places and meet with
implicit belief.

In folk-medicine, as in the materia medica of the schools, there is a
noticeable tendency to outgrow the use of remedies of animal origin, while
the list of herbs credited with medicinal virtues remains a long one.
General treatises on medicine two hundred years ago abounded in the
most irrational and disgusting prescriptions of animal remedies. Michael
iller, in his "Opera Medica," * devoted nine folio pages to medicinal
preparations from the human body and its excreta, of which those obtained
from hair, nails, sweat, and earwax are the least filthy. No longer ago
than the middle of the eighteenth century such substances as ambergris,
castor, civet, " man's-grease," mummy (human), vipers, and a multitude of
other equally absurd animal remedies, found a place in one of the best
dispensatories of the time, Pomet's "General History of Drugs." The

1 Francofurti, 1708.

Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 63

serious discussions in regard to the origins of such substances and the
mode of making sure of their genuineness and excellence read to-day like
mere parodies on pharmacy. One is told, for instance : " You ought to be
careful, likewise, that every Bundle or Parcel of vipers, which is usually a
Dozen, have the Hearts and Livers along with them, these being the most
noble Parts of the Animal." And again : " They are much more sprightly
and gay when they are in the Field than after they are taken, because they
then draw themselves up into a narrower Compass and contract their Pores."
The whole descriptions of the medicinal use of vipers, of the sources and
preparation of bezoar, of moss from human skulls, and so on, read like the
directions for the preparation of a voodoo charm or the rabbit-foot talis-
man. Indeed, very little reading of old treatises on materia medica and
herbals is necessary to make clear the fact that folk-medicine represents
the first step of the series which ends in the scientific pharmaceutics of
to-day.

It is necessary to say, once for all, in regard to the items of folk-medicine
contained in the following pages, that they are not inserted because they
are merely fancies. Very many of the remedies cited are certainly useful ;
tea made from butternut bark is as efficacious as tincture of aloes or of
cascara sagrada, if less expensive ; and sassafras-pith makes as grateful an
application for inflamed eyes as anything known to the most skilful oculist.
But those medicaments which are unknown or nearly so to the modern
practitioner, while they are of common use in domestic medicine among
simple people, are legitimate subject-matter for any collection of folk-
remedies. It should be added that the animal and plant remedies here
described form but an insignificant part of the list which could be collected
within the limits of the United States and Canada, since every region has
drawn largely upon its own local fauna and flora for medicinal use.

This notice may be concluded with the final passage of Mr.
Bergen's Introduction: —

As I have suggested in an earlier paragraph, much of our folk-lore is of
Old World origin. Considering that we have perhaps the most mixed
population on earth, it could not be otherwise ; our folk-lore must be a
compound of the most various ingredients. If we cannot detect in it
morsels from every country in Europe, from half the tribes of Africa, from
a large part of Asia and the great Pacific islands, as well as from many
tribes of American Indians, it is only because our analysis is not sufficiently
minute. The present is the time, while the fragments of the folk-lore of
English-speaking America are only cemented into an angular breccia, to
gather specimens of the mass from as many parts of it as may be. When
the materials shall have been worked over into a compact whole, and when
our superstitions shall have been catalogued with the fulness and care with
which those of Great Britain or of Germany have been set down, there will
be r. chance for some one to do for American folk-lore what Simrock,
Grimm, and Wuttke have severally done for that of Germany.

W. W. N.

64 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

FOLK-LORE SCRAP-BOOK.

Ghosts as Guardians of Hidden Treasure. — From the "Southern
Workman and Hampton School Record," for March, 1898, we copy two
0 -host stories. The editor remarks that "the ghost in negro folk-
's a being often misunderstood. If met with courage, he rewards
those who speak to him, as he is in many cases the guardian of concealed
treasure. The two stories here given, one from the western part of Vir-
ginia and one from southern Alabama, are alike in showing this character-
istic : " —

The Rich Ghost. — Once upon a time, in a lonely little house upon a hill,
there lived a man and his wife. The husband worked down in the town
all day, and the wife worked at home alone. Every day, at noon, when
the (lock was striking twelve, she was startled by the pale, ghost-like figure
of a man that stood in the doorway and watched her. She was very much
frightened, and told her husband that she could not stay in that house any
longer. But they were very poor, and the rent was cheaper than they could
find elsewhere. While the husband was looking for another house, the
preacher came to see the wife. She told him about the pale-faced ghost that
continually watched her. The preacher told her to sit down before her
looking-glass with her back to the door and read a certain passage from
the Bible backward. Then she must turn her chair around, look the ghost
in the face and ask him, " What do you want here ? " The very next day
she did as she was told. At first her voice trembled and she did not think
that she could finish, but strength came to her and she read it. Then she
turned upon the ghost and asked him the question. His face was frightful
to look upon, but he told her to take her hoe and follow him. He led her
to a lonely spot and rolled away a large stone and commanded her to dig.
She dug until she was exhausted and the hoe fell from her hand. He
jerked it up and dug until she had regained her strength. Then she com-
menced to dig again and at last struck something hard. He commanded
her to stop, then stooped down and with wonderful strength drew up a
large earthen pot. Upon taking off the cover, she saw, by the dim light of
the setting sun, gold and silver coins in great abundance. The ghost told
her to go home and tear the plastering from off the western corner of her
little one-room house, and she would find a package of letters. From these
she must get his brother's address and send him half of the hidden trea-
sure. The other half was for herself. She did as she was told. The pale-
faced ghost was never seen again, and she was made a rich woman and
they lived happily ever afterward.

Rosa Hunter.

y and the Ghost. — Once there was a very rich family of people and
ley all died. Everybody was afraid to go there. Finally some one set up
.-hoard which said, " Any one who will go to this house and stay over
can have the house and all that is in it."

Folk-Lore Scrap-Book. 65

A poor boy came along and read it. " I will go," said he, and he went
at sunset. He found all he wanted and went to work to cook his supper.
Just as he was ready to eat it he heard a voice from the top of the chim-
ney. He looked up and saw a leg. The leg said, " I am going to drop."
" I don't keer," said the boy, " jes' so 's you don' drap in my soup."

The leg jumped down on a chair, and another leg came and said, " I am
going to drop." " I don't keer," said the boy, " so you don' drap in my
soup." One after another, all the members of a man came down in this
way.

The little boy said, " Will you have some supper ? Will you have some
supper ? " They gave him no answer. " Oh," said the little boy, " I save
my supper and manners, too." He ate his supper and made up his bed.
" Will you have some bedroom ? Will you have some bedroom ? " said
the little boy. No answer. " Oh," said the little boy, " I save my bedroom
and my manners, too," and he went to bed.

Soon after he went to bed the legs pulled him under the house and
showed him a chest of money. The little boy grew rich and married.

Penalties for injuring Chinese Scriptures, and Rewards for their
Distribution. — In the Journal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic
Society, vol. xxviii., 1898, Rev. G. W. Clarke gives an account of the Yu-li,
or Precious Records, from which an extract has already been given. Below
are cited examples of rewards and punishments for the reverent or irrever-
ent treatment of these works (pp. 256, 257). " Mr. P'au, M. A., of Kwie-
Tong hsien, in a. d. 1750, disfigured the Yu-li by crossing out the sen-
tences he disliked and by introducing his strictures on the pages. One
evening the Goddess of Mercy visited his neighborhood. At night-time
P'au opened the front door to go out into the street, but he fell, and could
not raise himself. He ordered his son to bring out the Yu-li and give it
to a neighbor to take to the Tong Yu Miao. His son entered the room
and found it to be filled with fire, and perished in the room. Mrs. P'au
fled in her night-dress to save her life, and in her flight stumbled over her
husband. P'au confessed to his neighbors how he had disfigured the
Yu-li, and soon afterwards he died from his burns, and dogs came and ate
his flesh. Mrs. P'au was ashamed to return to her neighbors in her night
attire. She met a beggar and married him ; what became of her after-
wards is not known."

On this Mr. Clarke remarks : " Every city has its Tong Yu Miao, or
Ch'en Hwang Miao. The God of Hades, who governs a corresponding
district in the spirit world, is supposed to reside in the temple. These
temples are often used as the court of appeal by mandarins, literati, and
people. For instance, when a man is to be executed, he has his name and
his crime written upon a small flag. As soon as decapitation has taken
place, a gun is fired to notify the governor, and a yamen employee hastens
to the Ch'en Hwang temple to inform the idol that So-and-so has been
beheaded, and bid him take care of the spirit. If a robbery or murder
takes place, the mandarin or an employee will go with an offering to the idol

vol. xii. — no. 44. 5

66 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

and state the case, and beseech his help to capture the offender. When
he is caught, theatrii als are given in his honor, or a large tablet presented
to the temple."

" Mr. Hwang, of Ta-Shin hsien, was an overseer of the scholars of a
i district. He and his wife were very virtuous and delighted in
doinLj good works. During his term of office he had cut several sets of
blocks of good books, and printed several thousand copies and distributed
them gratuitously. Mrs. Hwang had the blocks of the Yii-li cut ; she had
a large Dumber printed and gave them away. She also bought and set
at liberty several thousands of birds and fishes. They had five sons, and
all of them, during the reign of the Emperor K'ang Shi (a. d. 1662-1723),
attained high honors as civil and military mandarins."

In regard to this latter extract Mr. Clarke observes that the scholars of
every city are under the charge of an overseer, by which means concen-
trated opposition can be brought against Christian missionary effort. " In
many parts of China the virtuous people have what is called a Fang Sen
Hwie, /. e. a 'Society for Liberating Life.' It is believed that animals,
birds, fishes, and insects are possessed by some one's spirit ; if their death
is prevented, the spirit obtains some mitigation of the pains of hell ; there-
fore much merit is obtained by setting at liberty living creatures. A meet-
ing of the members is convened every year. If near the water, as at
Ta-li fu, they have a picnic on the water, and fishermen do a good trade
by selling live fish cheaply, and their purchasers throw them into the lake.
Sometimes sparrows are bought, but I have never heard of an ox or horse
being bought for this purpose. First, it would be too dear, and, secondly,
it would soon be recaptured. It can be seen that the Chinese believe that
distribution of relief during a time of famine is reckoned a meritorious
act."

Extracts from the Yu-li or Precious Records (continued from
No. xliii.) : —

Reward for Preventing Suicide. (No. 6.) — " Mr. Tai Shung, M. A., of
Fuh Liang, lived in a room near a stream. One night he heard a spirit
say near his window, 'To-morrow a woman is coming to drown herself, and
I shall thereby secure a substitute.' Tai kept watch, and saw a woman
come to the stream. She was weeping bitterly, and her hair was hanging
about her shoulders. He asked her : ' What is the cause of your sorrow ? '
She replied : ' I am in great trouble. My husband is a notable gambler
and a drunkard, our house is bare, and he proposes to sell me to a life of
shame. I am well connected, and rather than disgrace my family I will
drown myself.' Hedissuadedherfromherpurpo.se and invited her into
is house. Within a short time her husband arrived, and upon seeing her
used very abusive language. Tai reasoned with him, and said : " If you
are really so very poor, do not sell your wife, I will lend you some money.'
husband and wife burst into tears, accepted the offer, and returned to
their home. The same night Mr. Tai heard some strange sounds. A
voice said : ' Curses be upon you for spoiling my chance ; ' whilst another

Folk- Lore Scrap-Book. 67

said : 'Why do you desire his injury ? Shang Ti has decreed that he shall
be a Grand Secretary, and you cannot injure him.' "

Edict of the President of the Sixth Hall of Judgment i?i Hades (p. 345).
— " Those who grumble at heaven and earth, wind, thunder, cold, heat,
rain, or clear heavens, who cry or commit nuisance toward the north ;
persons who destroy idols and steal their souls and intestines or scrape the
gold leaf off the idols, or who use the names of the gods frivolously ; who-
soever destroys characters or books, who shoots rubbish near a temple, or
worships an idol in a dirty kitchen ; persons who treasure up obscene
books, but gladly destroy good books and tracts ; those who engrave or
paint on any kind of crockery or furniture the sign of the dual principles
of nature, or the Pa-kwa, the eight signs, or sun, moon, stars, gods, the
eight genii, or the constellation of mother Wang, or embroider the sacred
sign of Buddha upon clothes ; persons who write the name of the owner of
furniture upon the seats of chairs or the tops of stools, thus defiling the
character by sitting upon it (it is proper to write or paste the owner's name
underneath) ; people who wear clothes with a dragon upon them ; who
trample upon grain and spoil it, or hoard up grain until high prices may
be had, — whoever is guilty of the above crimes shall pass a preliminary
examination at this hall, and then be passed to their proper hell for punish-
ment; when their time is expired, to be sent to the seventh hall.

" Persons guilty of the above crimes, if they will abstain from animal
food on the third day of the eighth moon, and will on the fourteenth,
fifteenth, and sixteenth of the fifth moon, the third of the eighth moon,
and the tenth of the tenth moon, not quarrel with any person, shall escape
all the torments of hell."

This proclamation is supplemented as follows : " A new decree. The
unrepentant of the above crimes shall first suffer for five years in the great
hell, and then three years in the hell for flaying. At the expiration of this
period they are to be passed to the seventh hall. The souls of those who
live in lonely places and rob and murder travellers, of innkeepers who
put poison in food to injure their guests, of banditti, and those who assault
women — when they arrive in this hall shall be cut in halves and after-
wards be sent to the great hell and suffer for sixteen years, and then five
years in each of the sixteen hells ; at the expiration of this period they
shall go the boundless hell and pass through fifteen hundred various
calamities, and after this be born as animals."

The translator remarks : " When an idol of any value is finished, there
is the ceremony of giving it a soul in order to make it have life, i. e. power
to be efficacious ; the soul is placed in a small box or hole between the
shoulders. I once extracted a soul ; there were several bits of metal to
represent the heart, liver, and lungs, the bones of a sparrow and mouse, a
bag of cereals, some silk threads, and a paper giving an account of the
putting in of the soul. In valuable idols gold and silver are put in, and
then the idols are well guarded."

( .s yournal of American Folk-Lore.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Two Witch Stories. — Of the stories given below, the first seems evi-
dently of old English origin. The second may be of negro derivation;
both agree in the feature that in each case the witch is unknown to the
husband.

i. The Brothers who married Witches — Once there was a man who kept
a store, and his wife was a witch, but he did n't know it. They kept hav-
ing things stolen from the store, and could n't find out who took them. It
was really the clerk that stole them, and the storekeeper's wife always
helped him to get away, for after he 'd stolen anything she 'd say, " Over
the woods and over the water, follow me." And then he 'd fly off with
her to some safe place, where he could hide the things, and then fly back
to the edge of the town, and from there he 'd walk to the store, so he
could n't never be caught. At last the storekeeper watched one night, and
caught the clerk stealing, and they was going to hang him for it. But
when he was on the gallows, the witch came along and said, " Off the gal-
lows, and over the water, follow me." And so he got off clear.

The storekeeper had a brother that had a wife that was a witch, too.
This brother was a miller, and he had a heap of trouble about getting any
one to tend the mill nights, because the men he 'd get would either get
scared away, or else if they stayed they surely got killed. Anyhow, the
miller got one man that said he was n't afraid to stay and watch, if they 'd
give him a sword and a butcher-knife. So they gave them to him, and he
lighted a row of lights, and took his sword and his knife and laid down to
watch. Pretty soon in came a lot of black cats, — miaou, miaou, — and one
of them began to go around and spat out the lights with her paw. The
man, he got up and cut at her with the sword, and cut off her paw, and
then they all ran out and left him. He found a hand lying there and
picked it up. and it had a gold ring on it, like one the miller's wife wore.
In the morning the miller's wife was sick, and they sent the man that
watched for the doctor. When the doctor came, he found her in bed in a
great deal of misery, and he asked her to let him feel her pulse. She put
out her left hand to him. and kept her right hand all the time under the
bed-clothes. The doctor, he asked her to put out her right hand, and
when he got hold of it he found it was cut off. And that week she died.

2. The Snake-Wife. — Once there was a man that had a snake for a

wife. But he did n't know she was a snake, till one day one of his friends

said to him : " Do you know you got a snake for a wife ? She don't look

like a snake, — looks like a woman ; but she is a snake, and I '11 tell ye

! know. When she bakes bread she allers bakes two batches, some

for you that 's got salt in it. an' some for herself that ain't got any in.

if ye want to ketch her, I '11 tell ye how to do. You jest put a pinch

of salt into the bread she makes fer herself." So he watched his chance

nd put in the salt, and sure 'nuff, when she ate a piece o' that bread she

urned into a snake, and run up the chimney fast as she could go. And

Notes and Queries. 69

when the other man see her do that he jest hollered, " Make a big fire,
an that '11 kill her sure." So they made a big fire right quick, and that
killed her.

And the man's wife had been dead a long while ; he did n't know it, but
she got killed being thrown from a hoss.

Told to Fanny D. Bergen by a young colored girl at C/iestertown, Md.

Folk-Tale of the Pansy. — That charming

"little western flower
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,"

called by maidens " love-in-idleness," but also known as " heart's-ease " and
"Johnny-jump-up " (the Viola tricolor of botanists), has given rise to many
pleasing folk-tales. One used in Germany to illustrate an episode of family
life has found its way across the Atlantic, and has been told me in the
following manner : My friend first pointed out that the perfect flower con-
sists principally of three parti-colored brilliant petals and two plainer ones,
together with a small central pistil partly concealed by the showy corolla,
and that beneath the five colored petals there are four green sepals. The
family episode herein symbolized concerns a man with his two daughters,
his second wife and her two daughters, and deals with the selfishness of
the stepmother. Holding the pansy so that the three handsome gold and
purple petals are below the two plain ones, the story-teller proceeds
thus : —

Once upon a time there lived in the Thuringian forest a family consist-
ing of a man (show the pistil), his two daughters (show the two plain pet-
als), his wife and her two daughters (show the three gaudy petals). The
father of the family was of a retiring disposition (show that the pistil is
quite hidden by the corolla), while the ladies of the household were more
showy and conspicuous ; the stepmother, being proud and selfish, arrayed
herself and her own daughters in gorgeous gold and purple gowns (show
the three brilliant petals), while she gave her step-children cheaper and
simpler garments (show the two plainer petals). And besides this, the
lady was so unkind as to secure for herself and her own children a stool
apiece for each to sit on (here remove each of the parti-colored petals, and
point out that each rests upon a green sepal beneath), whereas her two
step-children had but a single stool between them (show that the two plain
petals rest upon one green sepal). Remove the corolla and proceed :
Having taken away the ladies who overshadowed the head of the family,
the latter (the pistil) becomes visible, with his little round head and bright
red necktie, and there he sits in silent retirement with his feet in a tub of
hot water.

H. Carrington Bolton.

Ropes of Sand ; Asses ; and the Danaides. — The occurrence of a sin-
gle incident in ancient Egyptian custom, on Greek and Roman monuments,
in an Arabian story, and in English folk-lore provokes suspicion that some
one idea worth finding out may lie behind the scattered facts. Such an

-o Journal of American Folk-Lore.

incident is the of a futile rope, twisted and untwisted in festival

custom in ek and Roman art eaten by an ass, made of sand

and in English legend. Further, in more than one ancient

monument the futile rope is associated with those futile water-carriers, the

■ ondemnation it was to carry water in sieves; and in

pirit who was set to weave ropes of sand had also to empty

a lake by the aid of a shell with a hole in it. What do these coincidences

mean ?

In the hope of gaining further facts I quote, but make no attempt to
value, the following rope-makers, ass, and water-carriers : " In the city of
Acanthus, towards Libya beyond the Nile, about 120 furlongs from Mem-
phis, there is a perforated pithos,1 into which they say 360 of the priests
water every day from the Nile. And the fable of Ocnus is repre-
sented near at hand, on the occasion of a certain public festival. One
man is twisting a long rope, and many behind him keep untwisting what
he has plaited

In the painting by Polygnotus at Delphi, Pausanias describes, among
other dwellers in Hades, " a man seated; an inscription sets forth that the
man is Indolence (Oktws). He is represented plaiting a rope, and beside
him stands a she-ass furtively eating the rope as fast as he plaits it. They
say that this Indolence was an industrious man who had a spendthrift wife,
and as fast as he earned money she spent it. Hence people hold that in
this picture Polygnotus alluded to the wife of Indolence. I know, too,
that when the Ionians see a man toiling at a fruitless task they say he is
splicing the cord of Indolence." 3

In the mediaeval Arabic story, one of the tasks imposed by Pharaoh on
ir the Sage is to make two ropes of sand. Haykar says : " ' Do thou
prescribe that they bring me a cord from thy stores, that I twist one like
hen they had done as he bade, Haykar fared forth arear of the
palace and dug two round borings equal to the thickness of the cord ; then
he collected sand from the river bed and placed it therein, so that, when
the sun arose and entered into the cylinder, the sand appeared in the sun-
light like unto ropes." 4

Of Michael Scott, a note to " The Lay of the Last Minstrel " says :
" Michael Scott was, once upon a time, much embarrassed by a spirit, for
whom he was under the necessity of finding constant employment. Two
tasks were accomplished in two nights by the spirit. At length the
enchanter conquered this indefatigable demon by employing him in the
hopeless and endless task of making ropes out of sea-sand." 6

issage in the " Denham Tracts " speaks of Michael Scott as famed

of large size, used for stores, sometimes sunk in the ground
liar.

2. See J. C. Fraser, Pausanias, v. 376 ; Edinburgh Review,
: umal Hellenic Studies, vol. xiv. p. 81.

t Burton Lib. ed. xii. 24 ; orig. ed. Suppl. Nights, vol.
32.
' The Lay 0/ the Last Minstrel, ed. 1869, note 15.

Local Meetings and Other Notices. 7 r

" for having beat the Devil and his myrmidons by the well-known device of
employing them to spin ropes of sand, denying them even the aid of chaff
to supply some degree of tenacity." 1

The wild Cornish spirit, Tregeagle, brings life into these somewhat tame
accounts of futile industry. The wandering soul of a tyrannical magistrate,
Tregeagle was bound to fruitless labor on coast or moor, his toil pre-
vented and his work destroyed by storm and tide. His cries sounded
above the roar of winter tempests ; his moanings were heard in the sough-
ing of the wind ; when the sea lay calm, his low wailing crept along the
coast. More than one task was laid upon this tormented soul. On the
proposal of a churchman and a lawyer, it was agreed that he should be set
to empty a dark tarn on desolate moors, known as Dosmery (or Dozmare)
Pool, using a limpet-shell with a hole in it. Driven thence by a terrific
storm, Tregeagle, hotly pursued by demons, sought sanctuary in the chapel
of Roach Rock. From Roach he was removed by a powerful spell to the
sandy shores of the Padstow district, there to make trusses of sand, and
ropes of sand with which to bind them.8 Again we find him tasked " to
make and carry away a truss of sand, bound with a rope of sand, from
Gwenvor (the cove at Whitsand Bay), near the Land's End." 8

The Cornish pool which Tregeagle had to empty with a perforated shell
is said to be the scene of a tradition of making bundles and bands of sand.
"A tradition . . . says that on the shores of this lonely mere (Dosmery
Pool) the ghosts of bad men are ever employed in binding the sand in
bundles with ' beams ' (bands) of the same. These ghosts, or some of
them, were driven out (they say horsewhipped out) by the parson from
Launceston." 4

I place these roughly gathered facts together in the hope of gaining fur-
ther instances, especially instances of (1) Ritual use of ropes, or of perfor-
ated water-vessels ; (2) Futile rope-making in custom or story ; (3) Futile
water-carrying in custom or story ; (4) Asses in connection with any of the
above acts, and in connection with (a) water in any form, (b) death and
the underworld.

G. M. Goddcn.

Ridgfield, Wimbledon, nr. London.

LOCAL MEETINGS AND OTHER NOTICES.

Boston Branch. — The annual meeting was held at the Charlesgate
on Friday, April 22, at 8 p. m., and the election of officers resulted in the
following choice : President, Prof. F. W. Putnam ; Vice-Presidents, Mr.
W. W. Newell, Mr. Frank Russell ; Treasurer, Mr. Montague Chamber-

1 Denham Tracts, ii. 116.

2 Taken from Hunt, Popular Romances of the West of England, 3d ed. pp.

131 ff-
8 Courtney, Cornish Feasts and Folk-Lore, p. 73.
4 Ibid., quoting Notes and Queries, December, 1850.

Journal of American Folk- Lore.

lain ; Secretary, Miss Helen Leah Reed ; Executive Committee, Dr. Emily
!■'. Pope, Dr. Sarah E. Palmer, Mrs. G. W. Vaillant, Mrs. E. F. Fenollosa,
Mr. A. K. Tisdale, Mr. Ashton Willard.

Alter the Treasurer and Secretary had presented their reports, the paper

of the evening was given by Prof. D. G. Lyon, of Cambridge, the subject

nected with Babylonian mythology. Professor Lyon illustrated

aper with fine stereopticon views. This was the last meeting of the

season.

•mber. — The regular meeting was held on Friday, November 18, at
the residence of Mrs. G. W. Vaillant, 165 Commonwealth Ave. In the
absence of Prof. Putnam, Mr. Russell presided. Mr. W. W. Newell was
the speaker of the evening, and took for his subject " Fairy Tales in Gen-
eral," as an introduction to the programme of the winter, which is to con-
sist of a study of the myths of various lands.

December, — The regular meeting was held Friday, December 16, at the
residence of Dr. G. G. Englemann, 336 Beacon St. In the absence of Pro-
fessor Putnam, Mr. Russell presided, and two short papers were given, the
first by Mr. R. B. Dixon, of the Peabody Museum, who gave an interesting
account of the myths and superstitions of the Australians. The second
was by Dr. A. G. Mayer, of the Zoological Museum, and consisted of an
informal though entertaining talk on the customs of the Australians, illus-
trated by blackboard drawings and by photographs. Dr. Mayer was a
member of Prof. Alex. Agassiz's expedition to Australia a few years ago.

January. — The regular meeting was held Friday, January 20, at the resi-
dence of Miss M. A. Mixter, 219 Beacon St., Mr. W. W. Newell presiding.
The speaker of the evening was Prof. A. R. Marsh, of the Department of
Comparative Literature, Harvard University, who spoke on " The Devel-
opment of Epic Poetry."

Professor Marsh described the way in which the study of literature of
late years has been growing more scientific, there being a tendency to dwell
less on the aesthetic side of a great poem than to ask " What is the char-
acter of the theme ? " After describing the different kinds of Epics, he
showed that the student of Epic Poetry is often brought into close contact
with primitive culture.

/ ruary. — The regular meeting was held Friday, February 17, at the
Charlesgate. Prof. F. W. Putnam presided, and gave an interesting ac-
count of recent developments in American archaeology, and especially of
what the Jesup expeditions propose to accomplish.

The speaker of the evening was Mr. W. H. Schofield, of Harvard Uni-
versity, who had for his subject " Old Norse Mythology." He gave a vivid
rendering of many of the old myths, together with a few suggestions as to
their origin and interpretation.

Helen Leah Reed, Secretary.

Bibliographical Notes. 73

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

BOOKS.

The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland. With
tunes, singing-rhymes, and methods of playing according to the variants
extant and recorded in different parts of the kingdom. Collected and
annotated by Alice Bertha Gomme. Vol. II. Together with a me-
moir on the study of children's games. London : D. Nutt. 1898.
Pp. xv, 531,

This second volume of games, which forms the first part of Mr. Gomme's
proposed " Dictionary of British Folk-Lore," completes a long-postponed
and much needed task. So slender was the gathering of such games in
Great Britain, that when the writer of this notice, in 1883, made a similar
collection under the name of " Games and Songs of American Children,"
it appeared that many rhymes current in America were unrecorded in the
mother country. The inference seemed to be that colonial life had been
favorable to peculiar persistency of usage. The further collection, how-
ever, now made by Mrs. Gomme, shows that English survivals are abun-
dant, and that the correspondence of American and British custom extends
to the verbal form. No doubt there has been a constant influence through
continued emigration, tending to assimilate the former to the latter. The
same diffusion has been active in England, and alone can explain the coin-
cidence of the words of a game in districts remote from one another. If
the tradition had been isolated, and maintained without change from
ancient time, the diversity must have been far greater. The same remark,
in a wider field, must account for the resemblance of English and French
practice. In truth, the games of Western Europe, like other folk-lore, form
a whole in such wise that the habit of one district cannot be taken by
itself as spontaneous or independent.

Of the games given in this second volume, a few may be selected as sub-
jects for remark. The series begins with the song so familiar in the United
States, in the ungrammatical rhyme " Oats, pease, beans, and barley
grows." English versions are nearly identical, but the word " pease " is

not included : —

Oats and beans and barley grow !

Oats and beans and barley grow !

Do you or I or any one know

How oats and beans and barley grow ?

First the farmer sows his seed,

Then he stands and takes his ease,

Stamps his foot, and claps his hands,

Then turns round to view the land.

Waiting for a partner, waiting for a partner!

Open the ring and take one in !

The " amatory chorus " proceeds in the same way as in America : —

Now you are married you must obey,
You must be true to all you say,

-j journal of American Folk-Lore.

Vou must be kind, you must he good,
And help your wife to chop the wood!

This rhyme had scarce been recorded in Great Britain ; but Mrs. Gomme
is able to give eighteen versions. Besides these, she furnishes another
game, which is in fact no more than a variant, apparently more original,
though without the love-making at the end : —

Would vou know how doth the peasant ? {thrice)

Sow his harlcy and wheat ?

And it 's so, so, doth the peasant

Sow his barley and wheat !

The words proceed to recite how the peasant reaps his barley and wheat,
how he threshes, how he does when the seed-time is o'er, and when his
labor is o'er. This is a ring dance, in which the action is suited to the
words, the hands being unclasped at the end of each verse. Imitation of
sleeping and marching conclude the performance. This version brings the
game exactly into line with the similar French, Italian, and Spanish games,
which also describe a series of actions, beginning with sowing the seed.
The conclusion of Mrs. Gomme concerning the source of the rhyme is
identical with that adopted by the present writer, namely, that it represents
a song danced in sowing-time, with the intent of bringing a blessing on the
labors of the year. But it is apparent that the game cannot have been of
English village origin. If an origin is to be sought, this might be in ancient
Roman usage.

There is a rude American song, still used by children, in " Games and
Songs," printed under the name of "Old Grimes," as an "unintelligible
round." The English round recites that an apple-tree grows over the head
of Sir Roger; that a woman picks up the ripe apples, and (the ghost of)
Sir Roger rises and maims her, making her go " hipperty hop." The story
is acted out, one child personating Sir Roger, a second the apple-tree, a
third the thief. The game is weird enough. But what is the meaning of
the sport ? We seem to see a survival of the belief that a sacred tree
might absorb the soul of the person over whose grave it grew ; but we are
left in the dark as to the history. Some local tale must have been drama-
tized, and extended over England, and been transported to America.

In such love-rounds as " Poor Mary sits a-weeping," waiting for her
sweetheart, and is bidden to choose her lover, it seems to us doubtful if
we have anything more than a relatively modern courtship formula. Mrs.
Gomme remarks that Christian ideas do not enter into marriage games,
hence they must be very ancient. But wedding-bells are mentioned : "The
bells will ring, and the birds will sing," occurs in a rhyme given by Cham-
bers. However, in general, the idea of the purchase of the bride, or the
stealing of the bride, constitute the chief feature of courtship games. But
here again we are in the presence not merely of English but of European
custom; as already noted, the origin is to be sought, according to our
in remote usage, but not English usage : this, however, is not to say
that ancient English customs may not have been identical.

A pretty example of the permanence of New England tradition is fur-

Bib Hog raphica I Notes. 7 5

nished by the game, " Here comes a duke ; " The " duke " seeks a " fair
maid " as partner, who at first refuses, but at last consents ; the chorus
then sings : —

Now we 've got the flowers of May,

The flowers of May, the flowers of May,
To join us in our dancing.

The English formula is ruder : " Now we 've got another girl to help us
with our dancing " (p. 65). But a variant from Sussex has : " Now we 've
got our bonny bunch (/. e. of flowers) to help us with our dancing." An-
other : "Now we've got a beautiful maid to join us in our dancing"

(P- 173)-

A familiar nursery rhyme is that relating to Queen Anne, " who sits in
the sun." Mrs. Gomme furnishes an account of the manner of playing this
game-rhyme. One side stands and advances, a ball being concealed with
one of the players ; the other, among which is my lady Queen Anne, re-
mains seated. A player of the advancing line observes : " King George
has sent you three letters, and desires you to read one," or equivalent
words. The sitting queen answers, " I cannot read one unless I read all ;

so pray, Miss , deliver the ball." Mrs. Gomme thinks that the game

may refer to the ancient custom of compelling the suitor to elect between
several girls dressed like the bride.

Considered as ancient tradition, the most interesting of English games is
that of " The Witch." Mrs. Gomme gives versions closely agreeing with
American ones. She thinks that the source of the amusement may have
been in fire-stealing, the conception being that to take new fire out of a
house puts the inmates under the control of an evil spirit. But the feature
of taking fire, or asking for a light, on the part of a witch, is only an inci-
dent of this most widely spread and very ancient European amusement.
In an article on the " Game of the Child-stealing Witch," contained in this
Journal, vol. iii., 1890, pp. 139-148, it is remarked : "An attempt to discuss
the varieties of the witch-game would require a space far in excess of that
which can here be devoted to the subject ; this game-root has supplied at
least one tenth of the amusements of European children, a fact which indi-
cates its primitive antiquity. Its variations are infinite : in some forms, in
place of Mother stands an angel or saint ; in place of the Witch, the Devil ;
the sport takes the form of a game of chase, or of struggle, or of guessing,
or of a simple love-dance ; while, strange to say, its primitive character
appears nowhere so distinctly as in English versions, though there are
abundant indications that the English forms merely represent the most per-
fect survival of a world-old practice, so various and widely extended that it
would be idle to ask in what land it originated, while it may reasonably be
supposed that it has for thousands of years made the terror and pleasure
of European youth." Reference is made here to this subject merely in
order to point out how extended is the theme, and how difficult it may be
to trace with certainty the derivation of a particular dramatic usage.

In the memoir appended to this very excellent and interesting collection,
the editor analyzes and classifies, and cites evidence from many quarters

;n Journal of American Folk-Lore.

in regard to the antiquity of similar practices. She perceives that these
games were not originally invented by children, but are only a survival
maintained by children of practices once belonging to grown persons. She
considers, undoubtedly with correctness, that her gathering is so far com-
plete that a gleaning from English districts not represented would not be
likely to be completely different ; so that we may now consider that we
have .1 tolerably rich collection of this interesting kind of folk-lore. She
distinguishes two great classes, — dramatic games, and those of skill and
chance ; the latter, she remarks, have usually been regarded as the property
of boys, the former as especially practised by girls (but this rule is not to
be regarded as very ancient, or as universal). That these dramas, now
childish, might once have been ceremonial and religious, she fully recog-
nizes.

Altogether, the volumes make an excellent beginning of the great under-
taking in which Mr. Gomme has engaged.

W. W. Newell.

The Pre- and ProtoHistoric Finns, both Eastern and Western,
with the Magic Songs of the West Finns. By the Honorable
John Abercromby. In two volumes (Grimm Library, No. 9). Lon-
don : David Nutt. 1898. Vol. I. pp. xxiv, 363 ; Vol. II. pp. xiii, 400.

Of this elaborate work, the first volume is devoted to Finnish anthropo-
logy, prehistoric and early civilization, and the beliefs of the West Finns;
the second volume contains the magic songs of the Finns, with an appro-
priate introduction, and a selection of magic formulae from neighboring
races, Mordvin, Votiak, Lettish, Russian, and Swedish, given for the sake
of comparison. The magic songs are at first distributed according to
their varieties, as for defence, vengeance, deliverance from pain, or as they
proceed by attempts to expel the evil influence, through reproach, boasting
of the power of the operator, and the like ; then chapters are formed by
"words of healing power," "formulae," "prayers," and "origins or births."
The source of the material is the collection of Lonnrot, published in 1880,
under the title of " Suomen Kansan muinaisia Loitsurunoja," or " Bygone
Songs of the Finns." Lonnrot, in his difficult task, did not proceed
with the strictest modern severity of method, his songs being obtained by
the putting together of many imperfect versions ; according to the state-
ment, it was impossible to induce any one singer to give in completeness
the spell. Still, the abundance of the matter is such as to insure in gen-
eral the accuracy of the tradition. The people from whom the songs were
obtained lived chiefly in east and north Finland, and belonged to the
orthodox church. Nevertheless, the ideas of the incantations are thor-
oughly heathen in character. They do not themselves contain mythology,
but refer to mythic persons, and in some cases imply the existence of
mythic tales.

methods by which the exorciser undertakes to banish evil agencies

numerous. The reciter invokes the aid of stronger powers, deities,

animals, or inanimate objects; he simply directs the spirit of disease to act

Bibliographical Notes. 77

in a certain manner, or he advises it to remove to a more suitable place ;
he extols his own irresistible power ; or he lays upon the evil spirit an
impossible task which must be accomplished before the apprehended ill
can be done. One very curious manner of exorcism is by relating the
genealogy of the disturbing influence. It is conceived, namely, that if the
history of an evil thing is known, power is thereby acquired over the in-
truder, who may thus be shamed and exiled. Such are the spells set forth
in the chapter on Origins, in which the supposed genesis is narrated in the
most poetic and metaphorical manner. Thus, for instance, with charms
against the bear. It would appear that, according to a myth not expressly
related, the bear had originated in heaven (possibly the name of the con-
stellation may have had something to do with this belief). Having been
cradled and nursed by the forest spirits, he had received baptism, and
taken an oath not to harm any innocent person. Naturally the notification
of this contract would exercise a deterrent influence on any creature of the
ursine race inclined to be hostile.

So, in order to tame and use fire, it is recounted how the element had a
celestial birth, being a flash from the sword of the sky-god Ukko (Old
Man). The fire-baby is given to be nursed by a nymph of the air, who
carelessly drops it from the cradle ; it falls to earth, begins its evil career
by burning a house with the family, sets a lake aboil, and consumes field
and forest through half Bothnia, until it arrives at realization of its infamy,
and in disgrace takes refuge in the hollow of a rotten stump (in tinder),
whence it is taken indoors for use. It may be imagined what a wholesome
effect the repetition of its history has on the element, if disposed to be
stubborn or revolutionary.

The snake has a descent as curious. The wood-spirit, Hiisi, being
weary with running, falls asleep and drops saliva, which is eaten by an
ogress, who finds it too hot for comfort and spits it into the lake. Here
the wind blows it into a spiral and wafts it ashore ; the sun dries it, and it
excites the attention of the demons, who inspire it with life. Other for-
mulae, however, make the viper to be part of the thread spun by the
daughter of Night, or to come from the golden ring lost by the god Vai-
namoinen while proving his sword.

A simpler story derives wasps from the hair of a maiden, lost in brush-
ing ; the toothache-worm is bred from the sweepings of the divine being,
Luonnotar.

A single prayer emerges from the average formula to rise into the dig-
nity of an invocation to the orb of day : " Welcome for showing thy
countenance, for dawning forth, thou golden Sun, for rising now, thou
' morning star ' ! From under the waves thou hast escaped, hast mounted
above the clumps of firs, like a golden cuckoo : like a silver dove hast risen
up to the level sky, to thy former state, on thy ancient tour. Rise ever at
the proper time, after this very day as well, bring as a gift on coming
home ; give us completest health ; into our hands convey the game, the
quarry to our thumb's tip, good luck to our hook's point ; go on thy circuit
pleasantly ; conclude the journey of the day, at eve attain to happiness."

7 8 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore :

Such an address might be considered to indicate an original sun-worship,
probably from the practice of neighboring peoples; but the example is too
isolated to be cited with confidence.

Like every collection of this sort, the songs of the Finns raise in the
mind o\ the reader numerous questions as to origin, date, and the charac-
ter of the religion to which they properly belong. The archaeologic his-
tory of linns is discussed by the translator in his first volume with great
industry and carefulness, an examination on which only an expert could
make comments. When the vast stores of Finnish folk-lore, gathered by
many hands in recent years, shall have been sifted and classified, it may
be that additional light will be obtained in regard to the dark problems
involved. Meantime the very meritorious work of Mr. Abercromby will be
welcomed as a most valuable addition to knowledge concerning peoples to
whom small attention has been paid in Great Britain and America.

W. W. Newell

JOURNALS.

i. The American Anthropologist. (Washington.) Vol. XL No. 12, Decem-
ber. 1S9S. An Apache medicine dance. F. Russell. — On the origin of reli-
gion. C. H. HENNING. — Bibliography of anthropologic literature. R. Fletcher.

2. The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal. (Chicago.) Vol.
XXI. No. 1, January-February, 1899. Social and domestic life of the cliff-
dwellers. S. D. Peet. — Makutu or Maori witchcraft. E. Best.

3. Americana Germanica. (New York.) Vol. II. No. 1, 1898. Popular poe-
try of the Russian Jews (continued in No. 2). L. Wiener.

4. Southern Workman and Hampton School Record. Vol. XXVII. No.
12. December, 1898. The lost tree, an Indian legend as told by Jesse Hill. —
Conjuration. D. W. Davis. — Vol. XXVIII. No. 1, January, 1899. Flotsam
and jetsam from Aboriginal America. A. C.Fletcher. — The Young Dog's
dance (continued in No. 2). G. B. Grinnell. — Folk-lore and ethnology. Why
the crab has no head. Why there are moles. Why hens are afraid of owls.
The snail's smartness. Old sayings. — No. 2, February. Echoes from a plantation
party. D. W. Davis. — Folk-lore and ethnology. Sickness in slavery days.

5. Folk-Lore. (London.) Vol. IX. No. 4, December, 1898. The " High

" of Australia. A criticism of Mr. Andrew Lang's " Making of Religion."
E. S. Hartland. — The Shrew Ash in Richmond Park. With three illustrations
from photographs. M. C. Ffenxell. — Reviews : Petrie, Religion and Con-
science in Ancient Egypt; Macgowan, History of China; Hauttecceur, Le folk-
lore de Tile de Kythnos and Tile de Siphnos. Schell, Bergische sagen ; Kroll,
Antikerabergl mbe; Pedersen,Zur Albanesischen volkskunde; Inwards, Weather-
Drosihn, Deutsche kinderreime ; Wechssler, Die sage vom Heiliger Gral. —
-nee. Holy Week observance in the Abruzzi. Lincoln minster and
the Devil. May-day in Lincolnshire. Kitty-witches. The jus prima; noctis. Pins
'1 metal in Wells. Ropes of sand; asses; and the Danaides. — Miscellanea.
Nibelung treasure in English. — Some Highland folk-lore. The Black Lad
of Ashton-under-Lyne. — Bibliography. — Indexes to Vol. IX.

Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.

on.) New Series. Vol. I. Nos. 1, 2. August-November, 1898. Australian

k-lore stories. W. Dunloi-.— On the natives of the upper Welle district of the

Bibliographical Notes. 79

Belgian Congo. G. Burrows. — Notes on the Jehris, Sobos, and Ijos of the
Warri district of the Niger coast protectorate. R. K. Granville. — Remarks on
totemism, with especial reference to some modern theories respecting it. E. B.
Tylor. — Marriage laws and customs of the Cymri. R. B. Holt.

7. Melusine. (Paris.) Vol. IX. No. 6, 1898. Un vieux rite medical: VII.
Au tombeau de Saint-Menoux. H. Gaidoz. — La Fascination. (Continued.) J.
Tuchm ann. — Chansons populaires de la Basse Bretagne. LXV.— Les grues
d'Ibycus a Orle'ans. A. Loquin. — Legendes contemporaires. III. Une pre"-
tendue " Dame Blanche." H. Gaidoz. — Bibliographic Works of Mrs. Gomme,
of Zahler, and of Bottin.

8. Revue des Traditions Populaires. (Paris.) Vol. XIII. No. 11, Novem-
ber, 1898. Les cimetieres. P. Sebillot. — Jeux et formulettes du pays nantais
(continued in No. 12). Mad. Vaugeois. — Contes et legendes arabes. CLXIIL-
CLXXVII. (Continued in No. 12.) R. Basset. — No. 12, December. Les
legendes des forets de la France. P. Sebillot. — Lame separee du corps. R.
Basset. — Les chasses fantastiques. XI.-XIII. A. Harou. — Vol. XIV. No.
1, January, 1899. Les mois en Franche-comte. C. Beauquier. — Les enfants
morts sans bapteme. 1 1.-1 1 1. — La mer et les eaux. Quelques points a enqueter.
P. Sebillot. — Petites legendes locales. CCLXXXI.-CCLXXXIV. — Mede'cine
populaire arabe. A. Robert. — Contes et legendes de Haute-Bretagne. Le
monde fantastique. P. Sebillot.

9. Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradizioni Popolari. (Palermo.) Vol.
XVII. No. 3, July-September, 1898. La festa e la canzonetta di Piedigrotta nel
!898. — La metempsicosi nei fratelli gemelli nell Egitto superiore. — Credenzi,
pregiudizi, superstizioni, in Isnello. C. Grisanti. — Un giorno di mercato in
Reggio di Calabria. M. Pitre. — La festa di Santa Lucia in Siracusa. G.
Pitre. — La festa della Madonna della Providenza in Caltanisetta. F. Pulci. —
La festa della Bruna in Matera, Potenza. G. Amalfi. — Chiapparelli veronesi.
A. Ballodoro. — Danza guerriera e giuoco dei Dinka nel Sudan. — Del Salin-
cerbio o Salincervio, giuoco fanciullescho dei Toscani. F. O. Rioli. — Giuochi
fanciulleschi Maltesi. V. Busuttil. — Indovinelli mantavani. A. Trotter. —
In Valtellina. Costumi, leggende, tradizioni. G. B. Marchesi. — Miscellanea.

— Rivista bibliografica.

10. Volkskunde. (Ghent.) Vol. XL Nos. 1, 2, 1898. Meigebruiken en Vlaams-
Belgie. P. de Mons. — Nos. 3, 4. Fantastische menschen. A. de Cock. —
No. 6. Begraven. (Continued in No. 7.) A. van Werveke.

if. Wallonia. (Liege.) Vol. VI. No. 12, December, 1898. Saint Nicolas.
Bienfaiteur des enfants et des jeunes filles. O. Colson. — Usages fune'raires. —
Vol. VII. No. 1, January. Le folk-lore de la Wallonie prussienne. Le langage
des fleurs et l'ouvrage de M. Vrindts. C. Semertier. — No. 2, February. Le
carnaval de Malmedy. H. Bragard.

12. Der Urquell. (Leyden.) Vol. II. Nos. 9, 10, 1898. Von der vviedergeburt
totgesagter. W. Caland. — Notizen zur geschichte der marchen und schwanke.
J. Jaworskij. — Perchta. M. Hofler. — Der tote in glaube und brauch der
volker. (Continued in Nos. 11, 12.) — Volksmedizin aus Osterreich. J. Bok. —
Unverstimmte zeit. A. Treichel. — Judendeutsche sprichworter aus Ostgalizien.
I. Robinsohn. — Beitrage zur volksjustiz im Bergischen. O. Schell. — Fabel-
tiere in altjudischen volksglauben. L. Mandl. — Zum vogel Hein. Rabe. —
Nos. 11, 12. Ein vorrecht der volkskunde. Krauss. — Alte sagen. O. Heilig.

— Knicker-kugel-steinis. — Nachtrage zu Wolf's Niederlandischen sagen. W.
Zuidema. — Jiidisch-deutsche schnurren. M. Weissberg. — Das kind in glaube
und brauch der volker. — Von der hand, die aus dem grabe herauswachst. — Vom
bucheritsch.

Journal of American Folk-Lore.

i j, Mitteilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien. (Vienna.)
Vol. XW [II. No. 4, 1898. Beitrage zur ethnographie der siidamerikanischen
1. J. v. Siemiradzki. — Untersuchungen zur alteren flurverfassung. W.
Levec. — Literaturberichte.

14. Zeitschrift fiir Celtische Philologie. (Halle a. S.) Vol. II. No. 3, 1899.
The life of Saint Finan. K. A. Stewart Macalester.

1 5. Zeitschrift fiir deutsches Altertum und deutsche litteratur. (Berlin.)
Vol. XXIV. No. 4, 1S9S. Uber den nordischen fylgienglauben. Rieger.

16. Zeitschrift des Vereins fiir Volkskunde. (Berlin.) Vol. VIII. No.
4. [898. Die Hiittemberger volkstracht. E. Otto. — Die krankheitsdamonen
der Balkanvolker. K. L. Lubeck. — Volksmedizin in der grafschaft Ruppin
und umgegend. (Continued.) K. E. Haase. — Aberglaube in Bayern. H.
Raff. — Abzahlreime aus der grafschaft Hohenstein. R. Reichhardt. —
Uckermarkische kinderreime. M. Gerhardt and R. Petsch. — Heanzische
Schwanke, sagen, und marchen. J. R. Bunker. — Aus dem bauerlichen leben in
Nordesteimke (Braunschweig). H. Beck. — Aus Steiermark. Volkstiimliches
in alphabetischen reihe. K. Weinhold. — Islandischer aberglaube. M. Leh-
MANN-FlLHES. — Kleine mitteilungen. Weiteres iiber die holle auf Island. Das

kreuz. — Reisichtaufung in Nieder-Osterreich. Das tausendjahrige jubilaum
der wurst. Personennamen auf kamp. Geheimsprachen. Die austellung nieder-
liindischer trachten in Amsterdam 1898. Biicheranzeigen. — Aus den sitzungs-
protokollen des Vereins fiir Volkskunde.

17. Zeitschrift fiir Vergleichende Litteraturgeschichte. (Weimar.) Vol.
XII. Nos. 5, 6, 1898. Uber die sage von Siegfried und den Niebelungen. W.
Golther.

18. The Calcutta Review. (Calcutta.) No. 214, October, 1898. A legend of
old Burma.

19. The Indian Antiquary. (Bombay.) No. 334, January, 1898. Notes on
the spirit basis of belief and custom. (Continued in Nos. 337, 338, 339.) J. M.
CAMPBELL. — Notes and Queries. Nicobar Islands. Latter-day folk-medicine.
No. 335, February. Folk-lore in Salsette. (Continued in No. 336.) G. F.
d'Penha. — A legend of the Jaina Stufa at Mathura. G. Buhler. — Notes and
Queries. Birth-customs (Musalmans). No. 339, June. Folk-lore in Southern
India. No. 45. S. M. Natesa Sastri. — Notes and Queries. Burning in
effigy. — Notes on Southern India. G. F. d'Penha. — No. 340, July. Some
remarks on the Swastika. Y. S. Vavkivar. — No. 337. A popular legend about
Valmiki. R. C. Temple.

'"mrrection of Address. — In the List of Members of the American
Folk-Lore Society, printed in No. XLIII. October-December, 1898, the
address of Dr. H. Carrington Bolton, life member, should have been given
'. ashington, D. C.

THE JOURNAL OF

AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.

Vol. XII. — APRIL-JUNE, 1899. — No. XLV.

HOPI BASKET DANCES.1

In the April number of the "American Anthropologist" for 1892
the late J. G. Owens and the author described a Hopi basket dance
celebrated at Walpi in September of the preceding year. It was
shown in the article that this basket dance was a public exhibition
closing a series of secret rites which extended over nine consecutive
days and nights, and that the whole festival was called the Lalakonti.
In a strict use of terms this public exhibition is not a dance, but
rather a posturing of the body in rhythm, with songs, during which
baskets were carried by women or thrown, as gifts, among the assem-
bled spectators. Subsequent studies have shown that this festival
is observed in four other Hopi pueblos, and it can now be defi-
nitely stated that there are four variants, three of which occur at
the Middle Mesa and one at Oraibi, in addition to that described
at Walpi. The pueblos Sitcomovi and Hano are known not to have
a Lalakonti, so that we have reliable information regarding the dis-
tribution of this ceremony.

Each one of these five pueblos has an altar in one of its kivas in
connection with the secret rites. I have already described this altar
at Walpi, and in the present article shall add an account of that at
Cipaulovi. Nothing has yet been recorded concerning the other
Lalakonti altars or the rites performed about them.

The month of October, 1898, was a particularly good one for the
study of this festival in all pueblos except Walpi, and while unable
to attend all these exhibitions I noted the dates of these variants,
which are given in the following list : 2 Micofiinovi, October 23 ;
Cunopavi, October 24 ; Oraibi, October 26 ; Cipaulovi, October 29.

1 These studies were made while connected with the Bureau of American Eth-
nology. The beautiful photographs from which the illustrations of the Oraibi
variant were made were taken by the accomplished photographer, Mr. G. L.
Rose, of Pasadena, California.

2 Tne dates here given are those of the final day of the festival, on which the
public exercises are performed. This day is called totokya, as in other great
ceremonies.

S 2 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

It will be noted that these dates are a month later than that on
which the Lalakonti was performed at Walpi in 1891. This would
seem to indicate that its place in the ceremonial year is in October
rather than in September, as at Walpi. I think, however, there were
special reasons for its tardy performance in 1898, and that its regu-
lar presentation should be in the September moon. For an account
of the secret rites connected with the Lalakonti I must, for the
present, refer the reader to my article on the Walpi performance,
having never studied any other ; but there is every possibility that
the rites, number of days, and ceremonial events in the kivas vary
in different pueblos, although there is a marked similarity in the
public exhibitions so far as known.

Although the primary aim of this article is to describe the public
basket dances, I have introduced a sketch of one of the simplest altars
of the Lalakonti, or that used in the secret rites at Cipaulovi.

PUBLIC LALAKONTI AT WALPI.

The public exhibition of the Walpi Lalakonti has been elsewhere
described, but in order to make it more convenient for the reader to
compare with those of the Middle Mesa and Oraibi I have intro-
duced this description with a few addenda. The public exhibition
occurs on the last or ninth day of the festival, and was repeated at
intervals during the day from sunrise to sunset. The successive
exhibitions closely resembled each other, the number of performers
increasing in the late afternoon performances.

With the exception of one man, those taking part were women,
who may be considered under two groups, the basket bearers or
chorus, and the basket throwers or Lakone manas.1 The only man
participant is a priest called the Lakone taka.

The basket bearers were numerous, consisting of women of all
ages, — married women, maids, and young girls. Each wore a small
feather on her head, and the maids had their hair done up in two
characteristic whorls above the ears. All were clothed in white
blankets with red borders, and wore necklaces, ear pendants, and
other ornaments. The four chief priestesses led the procession,
the girls closing the line as it enter the plaza. Each woman, adult
nr girl, carried a flat basket which she held vertically in both hands
by the rim, so that the concave side was outermost. After marching
into the plaza, a circle was formed by the women, and all sang in
chorus a song, parts of which were not audible. As the song con-
tinue! tli'' baskets were slowly raised, first to one breast, then to the
other, and then brought slowly downward to the level of the hips,
in cadence with the* songs. At the same time the body was slightly

1 Lakone maids.

Hopi Basket Dances. 83

inclined forward, but the feet were not raised from the ground. After
the basket bearers had sung their songs for a brief interval, the
basket throwers approached the circle, led by the Lakone taka, who
retired at that point.

The basket throwers were two in number, and at each presenta-
tion during the day were personated by different women. Each
woman wore two white ceremonial blankets, one wrapped about the
shoulder, the other on the loins. The latter was tied about the hips
with a knotted girdle. These women wore anklets, but no mocca-
sins, ear pendants, and a profusion of necklaces, and their faces,
arms, legs, feet, and hands were painted yellow, with black lines on
their cheeks.

Each woman wore on her head a band, to one side of which was
attached a curved split gourd representing a horn, and to the oppo-
site radiating slats of wood symbolic of a flower. Three vertical
semicircular extensions, symbols of rain-clouds, decorated with seed
grasses and feathers, are also attached to this band, and there is a
bunch of feathers in the hair. Each Lakone mana carried in her
hands corncobs in which eagle feathers were inserted, and on her
back a bundle, done up in a piece of calico, containing the objects
she later threw to the spectators. These two women entered the
plaza after the basket bearers had begun their songs and posturing,
and were led by the Lakone man. His arms, legs, and body were
painted yellow, and he wore a white ceremonial kilt with knotted
sash. He was profusely decked out with necklaces and other orna-
ments, and carried in one hand a flat basket containing yellow pollen,
with which he drew symbols of rain-clouds on the ground. Upon
these symbols the women threw their corncobs with attached feathers,
and the man picked up these objects and laid them in a row upon the
meal figures which he had made, after which, as the women advanced,
he handed these objects to them. This was repeated several times
until the Lakone manas entered the circle of basket holders. The
priest then left them, and they untied their bundles and took positions
at opposite points of the space inclosed by the basket bearers. Each
one then held a basket high in the air and crossed to the other side,
exchanging positions with the woman opposite. This was repeated
a few times, and finally the basket throwers hurled their baskets high
in the air, so that they fell in the crowd of young men, who struggled
for possession. This was repeated several times, and then the women
filed off to their kivas. The struggle of the men for the baskets
continued long after the women had withdrawn.

S4 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

PUBLIC LALAKONTI AT ORAIBI.

The celebration of the basket dance at Oraibi was one of the most
interesting which has been yet witnessed. The performers at Oraibi
were more numerous than in the other pueblos, and there were four
basket throwers instead of two. Each of these women wore on her
head a tablet representing rain-cloud symbols, as at Walpi, but the
shape and decoration of the same were somewhat different in the
two pueblos. There were about forty basket bearers, each of whom
carried the characteristic Oraibi basket.

The headdress worn by the basket throwers was more like a
tablet than a coronet, consisting of a flat or slightly curved vertical
plate attached along one edge to the band about the head. Two
incisions in the upper rim of this plate left three rounded promi-
nences representing rain-clouds.

The band about the head was crossed by a number of parallel
black lines, representing falling rain, and at the apex of each rain-
cloud symbol was fastened a small round dish and a few twigs of
seed grass.

The representation of a horn, which is so prominently attached to
the head-band in the Walpi and Cipaulovi variants, and the artificial
flower on the opposite side of the head, were not seen at Oraibi.

We have, therefore, three variations in the headdresses of known
Hopi Lalakontis. At Cipaulovi a simple band about the head, with
a split gourd representing a horn on one side and an artificial flower
on the opposite; at Walpi three semicircular attachments to this
encircling band, also with lateral horn and flower, and at Oraibi a
vertical rectangular tablet with rain-cloud symbols indicated by
depressions in the upper edge, and without lateral horn or flower.
The last-mentioned form has in addition a small circular disk
attached to the apex of each rain-cloud symbol.

As the four basket throwers came into the Oraibi plaza they
formed a platoon, led by the priest, who walked a few feet in
advance. He wore a bundle of feathers on his head and carried a
tray of meal in his hands. About his waist was a white ceremonial
blanket decorated with embroidered rain-cloud symbols and tied by
a girdle from which depended a foxskin. He was barefoot and wore
embroidered anklets.

This leader, or Lakone taka, first made figures in meal on the
ground, on which the women threw the corncobs with inserted
feathers, as shown in an accompanying plate. The corncobs fell
without regularity on the symbols, but the man picked them up and
1 them side by side, while the platoon of Lakone manas advanced
a few steps and received them from his hands. This ceremony was

THE BASKET THROWERS, OR LAKONE MANAS

PRIEST HANDING OFFERINGS TO BASKET THROWERS

DAXCE OF BASKET BEARERS

STRUGGLE FOR BASKETS

Hopi Basket Dances, 85

repeated several times at intervals as they approached the circle of
basket bearers and entered the inclosure. The priest then left
them.

The basket throwers soon after untied the bundles which they
bore on their backs, and took positions within the ring of basket
bearers diametrically opposite each other. Each held a basket
aloft, making a movement as if to hurl it in the air. She did not
cast it, however, but crossed to the opposite side of the rino-,
exchanging position with the woman facing her. Groups of men
outside the ring of basket bearers, among the spectators, shouted
to the basket throwers for their baskets. Finally they threw them,
one after another, until none was left, and with wild shouts the lads
and men struggled for the objects, as shown in an appended plate.
The basket throwers then filed back to their room, and a short
time after the basket bearers also left the plaza.

PUBLIC LALAKONTI AT CIPAULOVI.

The number of participants in the Cipaulovi basket dance was
smaller than at Oraibi or Walpi. The basket bearers entered the
plaza from time to time during the day, and sang, moving the
baskets that they carried in the same way as at the other pueblos.
The two basket throwers and the priest who led them approached
the ring of dancers in much the same way. The two women had
arms, legs, feet, and hands colored yellow, and across their temples
were painted black bands extending from the eyes and mouth to the
ears. Instead of the coronet with attached rain-cloud symbols, worn
by the basket throwers in the Oraibi and Walpi variants, those, at
this pueblo wore on the head a yellow leathern band, to the left side
of which was tied a split gourd in the form of a horn, painted green.
On the opposite side of the head or over the right ear there was a
bunch of red horsehair, and two prominent eagle feathers were
attached to the hair, rising from a bunch of plumes on the crown of
the head. Each of these women carried on her back a bundle con-
taining several baskets, a few tortillas, and small earthen bowls.
Their arms and legs were bare, but each wore two white blankets,
one over the shoulders, the other about the loins, tied with white
sashes. Each woman carried in her hands two half corncobs, to
which feathers were attached. The priest, their leader, was deco-
rated like the Lakone taka at Walpi or Oraibi. His body was painted
yellow and he wore a ceremonial kilt, moccasins, anklets, and a fox-
skin depending from his belt. At intervals on the ground he made
rude rain-cloud symbols with meal, and upon these figures the women
threw the half corncobs. After these objects had been thrown on the
ground, the priest picked them up and laid them side by side on the

So Journal of American Folk-Lore.

figures he had drawn. The women then advanced and picked them
up, after which they made their way to the middle of the ring of
basket bearers, who meanwhile were singing and posturing with
their baskets. The throwing of the corncobs was repeated in this
inclosure, and then the priest, dipping his aspergil into a bowl of
medicine which he carried, asperged to the cardinal points in
sequence, and retired.

The basket throwers then took baskets from their bundles and
held them aloft, standing on opposite sides of the space encircled
by the basket bearers, facing each other. They exchanged places
once or twice, holding their baskets aloft as if to throw them.
Meanwhile, with loud cries, many young men of the pueblo among
the spectators shouted to the Lakone manas to throw them a basket.
Their arms were raised in expectancy, but often they were deceived,
for the women only pretended to throw the basket in the direction
indicated. After a while, however, the basket was thrown, and then
took place a scramble for it which was often continued for a half
hour, the basket being sometimes torn to pieces and the clothing
of the young men becoming more or less damaged in the rough
scuffle.

The episode of the struggle for the baskets continued long after
the participants left the plaza. In some instances a fine bowl or
basket was simply handed to a friend, and relatives or others en-
tered the circle of dancers to receive them.

ALTAR OF THE CIPAULOVI LALAKONTI.

The Lalakonti altar at this pueblo is poor in fetiches as compared
with that at Walpi, a condition not unlike that of other altars of
Cipaulovi, as I have elsewhere pointed out. It was erected in the
main kiva of the village and consisted of upright wooden slats con-
nected by a transverse upon which rain-cloud emblems were de-
picted. The uprights were held in place by a ridge of sand in which
were inserted seven shorter slats, upon which symbols of corn, rain-
clouds, and other emblems were depicted.

There were no figurines on this altar and no sand picture on the
floor. A single tiponi was placed upright a little to the right of the
middle line, and near by on the floor there was a bundle of black
sticks called the koaitcoko, which correspond with the four objects
of the same name in the Walpi altar. An elaborately carved stick
of wood near by was called a natci. These objects and the medicine-
bowl, feathers, ears of maize, common to all altars, were placed in
their customary positions.

The simplicity of this altar and the poverty of fetiches are readily
explained by the small size of Cipaulovi, and the fact that it was a

Hopi Basket Dances. 87

colony from one of the other pueblos of the Middle Mesa in com-
paratively modern times.

OWAKULTI.

It often happens in the celebration of the Hopi ritual that an old
ceremonial dance which, by the death of its priests and loss of
knowledge of its rites, has become extinct, is reproduced in muti-
lated form as a burlesque. The Owakulti as now presented at the
East Mesa is a good example of such a dance. Although formerly
celebrated at Sitcomovi, it has not been performed there for a long
time and has practically become extinct, while at Oraibi it still
remains on the annual calendar of ceremonies, with altars and
accompanying rites.

The Owakulti basket dance, or that part of it which was once pub-
lic, was revived in the Monkiva at Walpi during their Paliilukonti,
or March celebration, in 1893. Three men from Sitcomovi, at that
time arrayed as women, danced in the kiva, accompanied by a fourth
called the " disk-hurler," who threw baskets among the spectators.
This episode may be interpreted as the worn-down fragment of what
was formerly a complicated ceremony, which still is celebrated in
extenso at Oraibi and possibly in other pueblos.

KOHOXIXO BASKET DAXCE.

At certain times in the Tusayan ritual the striking essential
features of foreign dances are introduced in the midst of rites with
which they have no apparent logical connection. A Kohonino
basket dance rarely performed at Walpi is a good illustration of this
tendency.

This dance as presented at Walpi is not, like Owakulti> a worn-
down fragment of what was once a great ceremony in the Hopi
pueblos, but a borrowed episode from Kohinono clans, and is instruc-
tive as showing kinship of the Hopi with this interesting people, on
the ceremonial side.

The Kohonino basket dance was introduced as an episode of the
Mamzrauti in 1893, and is not an essential part of the dance. This
is not a rare custom in Hopi ceremonies, for a similar borrowing
may be detected in several ceremonies.1

1 Thus in the antics of the clowns in Katcina dances we find many things bor-
rowed from foreign sources. One of the cleverest of these was the imitation of a
graphophone a few years ago. The stove of a tent, with its funnel, was used as
a megaphone, and a clown concealed himself under a blanket. Another clown
sang and called out into the funnel, and the hidden man responded, much to the
amusement of the spectators. A masked participant clad like an American stood
by and scribbled on a piece of paper the name of the song thus recorded.

88 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Six maids with elaborate headdresses and five others with simple
tillets of yucca on their heads participated in this dance.

The six maids were clothed in white ceremonial blankets, with
girdles and moccasins. Their headdresses consisted of a band, wound
with different colored calico, fitting over the head like a crown.
There were attached to this band, one over each ear, two representa-
tions of horns made of slats of wood curved and painted. Several
feathers from the eagle's breast (pibhii) were attached to the front
of this band, and at the rear were long feathers arranged vertically
and fan-shaped. These girls had likewise a bunch of variegated
feathers tied to the back of the head, and a bright spot of vermilion
color was painted on each cheek.

Each of these six maidens carried in her hands a basket made by
the Kohonino Indians and obtained from them by the Hopi in trade.

The other maids, five in number, wore ordinary dark blue or
black blankets, without mantle or moccasins. Their faces had been
rubbed with meal, and across the cheeks and nose from ear to ear
a curving black line was drawn with powdered shale. They had a
simple fillet of yucca fibre in place of the more elaborate headdress
of their companions, and in one hand they carried a rattle, in the
other an ear of corn, with a string of bread-cakes of different forms.
These eleven maids formed in line, the five alternating with the
six, and danced before a group of women of the Mamzrau Society,
who sang in chorus to the beating of a drum. Each basket bearer
held her basket by the rim in both hands in front of her, and about
vertical, the concave side facing outward. In dancing there was
a slight alternate movement of the feet with slow gestures of the
basket in cadence. The bread-cakes which the five maids carried
were in the course of the dance distributed among the men spec-
tators. The headdresses of the six maidens reminded me of those
worn in the Lalakonti, and the introduction of baskets is also similar
in the two performances. It is therefore possible that this dance
is a Kohonino variant, in the adoption of which secret ceremonials,
altars, etc., have been lost.

It is an interesting point that this Kohonino basket dance is intro-
duced as an episode of the dance called the Mamzrauti instead of
in the Lalakonti. This may be theoretically explained on the sup-
position that clans of the Kohoninos have some relation with those
of the Mamzrauti Society.

We often find in collections of Hopi dolls specimens with charac-
teristic symbolism which are called Kohonino Katcina.

A comparison of the symbolism of this doll with that of the head-
dress of the six maids in the dance described above shows that both
represent the same being. Thus the head of the so-called Kohonino

Hopi Basket Dances. 89

Katcina1 has lateral horns, radiating feathers, and painted band with
alternating colors representing the coronet bound with calico. We
find on the cheeks of the doll the same red spots as on the faces of
the dancers. These six girls with coronets personifying Kohonino
basket dancers have some resemblances to those called Palahikomana
in Mamzrauti, and as the women recognize this likeness it is quite
as appropriate to introduce this dance in the Mamzrauti as in the
Lalakonti.

When more is known of the clans of that interesting people, the
Kohoninos, it may be found that earlier in their history some of their
ancestors were related to the Squash (Patun) and other clans which
formerly lived along the Little Colorado and brought the Mamzrauti
to Awatobi, from which pueblo it was taken to Walpi, as I have else-
where shown. There is reason to believe that the Cipias, a people
mentioned in early Spanish descriptions of the seventeenth century,
were the Squash, Cloud, and other clans of the Hopi which at that
time lived west of Zufii on the Little Colorado, at Homolobi and
Cakwabaiyaki. At the end of the seventeenth century these Cipias
disappear from Spanish chronicles because at about that time they
left their pueblos on the Little Colorado and joined the Hopi. The
Cosninos (Koninos), at the end of the seventeenth century, lived
farther down the river, or north of the Cipias, and they were forced
by wandering nomads to the seclusion of Sakatubka, Cataract Canon,
where their descendants now live.

TANOAN VARIANT OF CORONET.

Several characteristic ceremonial dances brought into Tusayan by
Tanoan colonists are still retained in the two pueblos, Sitcomovi and
Hano. In one of these we find the coronet worn by the women so
close to that of the basket dance that it is introduced in this connec-
tion. I have never studied the dance in extenso and have been
obliged to refer to a few notes and photographs obtained a few years
ago by Mr. Raush. The two performers to whom I wish to call
attention are those who wear coronets comparable with the Lakone
manas of the Lalakonti. The dance in which they participated was
performed in Sitcomovi.

The headdresses of these two girls have a remote similarity to
that of the Lakone manas at Cipaulovi, but before I describe them
there is one interesting thing in the coiffure of the women which is

1 The doll really represents a female personation, not a male, as the word
Katcina would at first imply. The word Katcina among the Hopi has come to
be a generic one, so that any supernatural being may be called a Katcina. This
use of the term is a late development in Hopi nomenclature of supernatural
beings.

^o journal of American Folk-Lore.

significant. The Walpi and other Hopi women wear their hair, after
marriage, in two elongated oval coils tied with strings, which hang
down on their shoulders. All the hair is brought into these coils.
The women of Hano, however, in addition to these coils, wear a
bang over the forehead which is not so tied, but simply brushed
hack over the temples. The cutting of this bang is an episode in
the marriage ceremonies of the Hano brides, and the prescribed
length of the bang is the line of the lower jaw.

It is important to bear in mind that this coiffure is characteristic
of women of Hano who are of Tanoan stock and not of the Hopi.

We find, on studying the masks of men who take the part of
women Katcinas {Katcina manas), that they, too, have a represen-
tation of these bangs, the peculiarity of Tewan (and possibly of
Keresan) women. Here we have a survival indicating a relationship
to the Katcina cult.

The two Sitcomovi women wear a coronet comparable with that of
the basket throwers, but wear their hair dressed in the Tewan cus-
tom, as we would expect on the theory that this ceremony is of
Tewan origin.

This coronet consists of a band holding the bang to the level of
the eyes with an open fan-shaped attachment on the right side cor-
responding to the radiating slats on the coronet of the Lakone mana
in the Walpi dance. On the opposite side of the head-band there is a
projection representing the horn, from which hangs a string with
attached horsehair. On the head are clusters of variegated feathers.
The three semicircular rain-cloud additions to the band, were not
observed, but the clothing of these maids was in other respects
identical.

CORONETS OF TWO WOMEN IN THE MAMZRAUTI.

There are two women in the Mamzrauti festival who wear coronets
which may be instructive in this connection. They appear on the
final day of that festival, and have been described 1 in my account
of this presentation.

The Mamzrauti is a woman's celebration of nine days' duration, in
which women clothed in white blankets form a circle in the plaza
and sing, holding in their hands fiat wooden slats on which are
depicted cars of maize and various other symbols.

While they were singing in chorus and moving these slats in
cadence there approached from the kiva, in much the same way as
the basket throwers in the Lalakonti, three women, one of whom
was the leader.

The leader wore a bright-colored plume on her head and a
1 American Anthropologist, July, 1S92.

Hopi Basket Dances. 9 1

maskette over the upper face. She had a blue woven jacket and a
white kilt reaching below the thigh. The leg and arm on one side
was painted yellow ; on the other side green. The arms and legs
were banded in black. She wore a tablet on her back, and a fox-
skin was attached to her belt behind. In one hand was a prayer-
stick ; in the other a foxskin.

She led a pair of women dressed almost alike and resembling the
leader, except that they wore bands about the head, with a symbolic
ear of corn over the forehead. At each end of this object three
feathers were attached, and from the band arose a framework, at
the apex of which were feathers and other objects.

Each of these two women carried a bow and arrows and a small
package of corn husks. " They began in the main floor of the kiva
by tossing the husk package toward the ladder ; then shot their
arrows at it. They then picked it and their arrows up, and thus
casting the package before them and shooting at it, performing this
act once or twice, they reached the circle of dancers in the court.
They tossed the package into the middle of the circle and shot at it ;
then, entering the circle, they each shot their two arrows in the air,
after which they returned to the kiva. They are called Wauhitaka
. . . and their act of shooting is said to typify lightning striking in
the cornfield, an event which is regarded as the acme of fertiliza-
tion." Meanwhile a girl was mixing little nodules of sweet corn-
meal and water in the kiva, and as the Wauhitaka returned each
took a trayful and returned to the circle of singing women and cast
the nodules one by one among the spectators, by whom they were
eagerly taken.

While there is a general similarity in the acts of these two women
and those of the basket throwers, there is but a remote likeness in
the coronets which they wear.

RELATION OF THE BULINTIKIBI TO THE HOPI RITUAL.

There is a dance occasionally performed at Sitcomovi or Hano,
but not at Walpi, in which women participants wore board tablets
on their heads. This dance, called the Bulintikibi, is different from
any other in the Hopi calendar, and its relation to the ritual has
hitherto been problematical. I am now convinced that it is an extra
Tusayan ceremony brought to the East Mesa by Tewan clans and
still kept up by the descendants of those who introduced it.

Bulintikibi is, as its name signifies, the butterfly dance, but not,
as might be supposed, a personation of the butterfly. It is rather the
Butterfly clan dance, just as the Tcilatikibi is the dance of the Snake
clan, the Sio Katcina a Zuni Katcina, or the Humis Katcina a
Katcina derived from Jemez, — the name of the observance, in other

9 2 Journal of A mcrican Folk-Lore.

words, taken from the clan or people who celebrate it or from whom
it was derived.

The only three surviving members of the Buli clan, which is
grouped in the Honani or Badger phratry, now live in Sitcomovi,
but the elan is always mentioned as living in Awatobi before its
destruction. Possibly this observance was once celebrated by this
unfortunate pueblo, but my purpose in introducing a mention of it
here is to show its close resemblances to the Tablita dance of San
Domingo, Acoma, Cochite, and the Tewan pueblos of the Upper Rio
Grande. Bulintikibi is of sporadic appearance in Sitcomovi, and has
been revived from time to time since my association with the East
Mesa people. It is the only dance in my knowledge which the per-
formers can be hired to give, and is, in a way, a harvest home fes-
tival. It cannot in its recent celebrations be called a sacred dance,
although it once had that significance, and personations of beings
which once held an important place in mythology still survive in its
presentation.

The close likeness of the B?dintikibi to a dance celebrated by the
Rio Grande pueblos and its association with a clan of the Badger
phratry is instructive when we remember that this phratry is reputed
to have introduced Katcinas which are also found in the same Rio
Grande region. The Badger phratry was one of the later additions
to the populations of the East Mesa, and is said to have introduced
several elements of the Katcina cultus.1

The public Bulintikibi is celebrated by both men and women, who
alternate with each other in the line of dancers. Neither carry
baskets and both are dressed in the same way as the tablita dancers
in the Fiesta de San Estevan at Acoma.

The women wear on their heads board tablets with rain-cloud ter-
races on the upper rim. The symbols on these tablitas represent the
sun, moon, and other objects. The men are not masked, but dressed
in a Katcina costume almost identical with that in the same tablita
dances in the Keresan and Tanoan pueblos.

There is no doubt that Bulintikibi is the same as the tablita
dances of the Rio Grande, and it is performed by people who claim
that their ancestors came from the Rio Grande pueblos.

The tablita (called among the Hopi the naktci) of the Bulintikibi
resembles distantly that of the Palahikomana worn by two women in

1 The Hopi without exception object to my conclusion that the Katcina is a
modern incorporation, and call my attention to Katcinas in the Soyahuia. In the
oldest ceremonies like the Snake Dance and Flute Observance these beings are
ly not represented, but since its incorporation the term Katcina has come
to have a broad application and is often used in this se-nse. The Katcina cult is
of late introduction.

Hopi Basket Dances. 93

the Mamzraiiti. This naktci in turn is so close to that of Calako
rqana that in some of their variants it is impossible to distinguish
the two. We have very many modifications of the tablet on heads
of women or figurines in Hopi worship, and in most instances we can
trace their introduction to clans which claim that their ancestors
came from eastern pueblos.

CONCLUSION.

We have seen in the preceding pages that the annual ceremony
called the Lalakonti is not confined to Walpi, but is celebrated in
the three pueblos of the Middle Mesa and at Oraibi. We also dis-
cover that the public exhibitions connected with these variants are
practically identical.

Turning to the East Mesa, we find that only one of the three
pueblos upon it observes the Lalakonti. On searching for a reason
why the remaining two pueblos, Sitcomovi and Hano, each with a
larger population than Cipaulovi, do not have this basket dance, we
find that Hano is peopled by clans which speak a different language
from that of the Hopi pueblos. It is inhabited by descendants of a
colony from the Rio Grande region, hence its ritual, like its language,
is not the same as that of Walpi. Sitcomovi, also, does not observe
Hopi ceremonials, because the ancestors of its people were likewise
foreigners. The population of this pueblo is mainly made up of
descendants of the original Asa and Honani clans, the former emi-
grants from near the village Abiquiu on the Rio Grande, the latter
from Kicuba. It has no Lalakonti, because it has not a sufficiently
large representation of the clans which control this ceremony.
Sitcomovi has a few survivals of a ritual distinct from that observed
by Hopi clans. Thus the fundamental reason why the Lalakonti
exists in five Hopi pueblos and is wanting in two others is evident.
A clan which introduced this rite is strongly represented in the
former, and is wanting in the latter.

These new studies of the Lalakonti support earlier statements
that this ceremony was introduced by a phratry or collection of
Rain Cloud clans from the south. When their ancestors first came
into the Walpi valley, the traditionists of this clan declare the
priests who lived on the old site of Walpi knew only a few cere-
monies to bring the rain. Their chief, they declare, had much
greater powers in this direction, for by their magic they could force
the gods which control the rain and growth of corn to do their bid-
ding. The Rain Cloud clans, when they arrived at the Hopi mesas,
practised a form of the rain cult which was much more highly
developed than that of the people which they found living in this
region. They were invited to exhibit their powers in this direction,

94 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

for rain was sorely needed and a famine threatened them. The
priests of the Rain Cloud clans accepted the invitation, and, it#is
said, erected their altars not far from a spring now called Tawapa.
After they had sung their songs for some time, mist began to form,
then violent rains fell and frightful lightning, which alarmed the
women of Walpi. The legends state that after this show of power
the Rain Cloud clans were invited to join the Hopi pueblo, assimi-
lated with the original Hopi, and from that time to the present have
alwavs lived with them.

The nature of the cult which they introduced may be gathered
by an investigation of the ceremonies of the Cloud people which
survive, especially the winter solstice and spring equinoctial cere-
monies, the fire cult and that of the Great Serpent.

The Lalakonti is also one of the ceremonies which this phratry
brought with them from their southern home beyond the mountains.
It is their harvest festival, and the women chiefs in this ceremony
are near relations of those of the societies which brought the fetiches
of a high form of sun, snake, and rain worship to Walpi from
Palatkwabi.

The legends of the Rain Cloud clans declare their ancestors came
from southern Arizona, and they mention the different pueblos, now
ruins, which they inhabited in their migrations from that land. In
the light of archaeology there is no doubt of the truth of these
legends, for I have, with the help of the Indians, identified their
ancient pueblos as far south as Chaves Pass on the trail of northern
migration which they followed.

In my archaeological study of the Chevlon ruin (Cakwabaiyaki)
about fifteen miles east of Winslow, Arizona, I was astonished at
the relatively large amount of basketry found in the graves. Much
of this had the forms of plaques like those still manufactured at
Oraibi and the Middle Mesa. The inhabitants of the old pueblos at
Chaves Pass were also clever basket-makers.

Turning now to the ruin, Sikyatki, near Walpi, which was de-
stroyed before the Rain Cloud clans entered the valley, we are
struck with the paucity of specimens of basketry. Over a hundred
graves were opened and more than a thousand mortuary objects
taken from them, and yet not one, large or small, fragment of a
basket. We are certainly not justified in jumping at the conclusion
that the Sikyatkians were not basket-makers, but it is not too much
to claim that this art was not as highly developed here as at the
Chevlon ruin. In other words, archaeological facts are in accord
with Hopi legends that the Rain Cloud people in the pueblos along
the Little Colorado were expert basket-makers, and introduced this
industry, as well as the basket dance, into Tusayan.

Hopi Basket Dances. 95

We find, however, that the manufacture of baskets is confined to
the Middle Mesa and Oraibi at the present time. The basket dance
is nowhere celebrated with greater elaboration than at Walpi, and
yet the Walpi women are not basket-makers. This may be explained
either on the theory that the industry has died out or that those
clans of the Rain Cloud phratry, the women of which were basket
makers, did not settle at Walpi.

In closing, I will call attention to the fact that we have on the
East Mesa the following basket dances : The Lalakonti, introduced
from the south by the Rain Cloud clans ; the Ozuakulti, a frag-
mentary exhibition of the Awatobi basket dance ; some portions of
an obscure Kohonino basket dance, and a dance of the same nature
from the Tewan pueblos on the Rio Grande.

The Lalakonti is the harvest festival of the Rain Cloud phratry,
once celebrated at Homolobi, Chaves Pass, and other pueblos of this
group of clans, now performed in the Hopi villages as an annual
celebration by descendants of the inhabitants of those ancient vil-
lages and others whom they have admitted to membership. The
basket throwers are personations of mythic ancestral mothers of the
Rain Cloud clan represented in the kiva exercises by images carved
out of wood. They are the Rain-Cloud-Corn Maids, cultus mothers
of the Rain-Cloud, Corn, and other clans, called by their sacerdotal
names, Lakone manas. In the " mystery play," or dramatization of
the Snake-Antelope clans, the Snake woman's personification stands
back of the altar on the left side, and the Snake youth on the other.
In the Lalakonti idols are used for Rain-Cloud-Corn Maids in the
secret observances, and girls take that part in the public dance.
We might go over the other ceremonies and show similar person-
ations, showing the importance given to the cultus heroine of each
society in its ceremonies.

Like all Hopi rites, those of the Rain Cloud clans contain many
survivals of an early totemism which are not understood by present
priests. In this same Rain Cloud clan there are examples of pure
zoototemism, as the exercises of the Bird Man before the effigy of the
Great Snake in the winter solstice altar.1 The prayers which repre-
sent the present state of religion of this family are now very different
from those when this zoototemism was first developed, but notwith-
standing the change the archaic rites are still kept up. The only
truthful explanation which the Hopi priests can give for performing
the majority of their rites is that they were bequeathed to them by
their ancestors. The majority of their explanations are simply their

1 This Bird Man I regard the personation of the Sun for reasons which have
elsewhere been pointed out, and the exercises before the altar, the dramatization
of the fertilization of the Corn Maid by the Sky god.

96 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

efforts to make these rites appear logical to themselves in the light
of their present needs. Rites are thus handed down from a remote
antiquity, but the reasons for these rites die a natural death because
they fail to satisfy advancing culture. Each new generation of
priests modifies the explanations of its predecessor until the rite is
abandoned.

This immutability of the ceremony gives it a great value as a
means of studying the religious sentiment of which it is one mode
of expression.

J. Walter Fewkes,

Items of Armenian Folk- Lore collected in Boston. 97

ITEMS OF ARMENIAN FOLK-LORE COLLECTED IN

BOSTON.

The folk-lore contained in this article represents only a begin-
ning of what might be collected if any one had time and patience
sufficient for the task. For example, at wedding festivals are still
sung songs which might be recorded. These will soon be forgotten,
for, through the influence of western civilization, customs are chan-
ging in Armenia as well as among Armenians coming to America.
I have met but two Armenians who remember any such songs. One
is unable to speak English, and the other has forgotten nearly every
song he ever knew.

I have met with a number of difficulties in the prosecution of my
work. It has been hard for me either to understand my informants,
or to make myself understood. People who are able to translate
from one language into the other have usually been too busy to give
time. In order to overcome this difficulty, I paid a man to translate
thirty-four questions into the Armenian language. By the aid of
these, and of a young Armenian lady who had been in America but
one year, I have been able to obtain at least a third of the material
here presented.

Another difficulty I have had to encounter has been the belief
that I desired to accumulate material with which to make the Arme-
nians seem ridiculous. Even with the assistance of the Armenian
preacher who kindly interpreted for me in two instances, it was
difficult to induce the people to think differently.

The following items are offered simply as examples of the folk-lore
of Armenians in America, so far as they can be learned through
translators, and by one who is unacquainted with the language.

DREAMS.

1. If one dreams of digging potatoes he will have money come to
him, or some other good fortune.

2. If one dreams of money being at some particular spot, and on
awaking goes in search of it, he will find it as he dreamed. How-
ever, he must tell no one of his dream. If he does so, he will find
only coal.

3. If one dreams of the living as being dead, he may expect good
luck.

4. If one dreams of the dead as living, it is because the dead per-
son's angel has come to visit his spirit while he slept.

5. To dream of a river, or of a spring, is a good sign, provided it
is running. But if it is dry, then some one is going to die.

vol. xii. — no. 45. 7

9S Journal of American Folk-Lore.

6. It one dreams of a snake, it is the sign of some enemy under-
taking to injure him. If the snake bites him, then the troubles that
arc coming will be too much for him ; if he kills the snake, the trouble
will arise, but be will overcome it.

7. To dream of horses is always a good sign, but when the horse
is black the good fortune will come sooner than if it were white.

8. To dream of being at a wedding is always a sign of bad luck.

9. If one dreams of seeing a preacher it is a sign that he is going
to sec the devil.

10. If one dreams of a person dressing, it is a sign of coming
trouble. The person putting on the clothes is the one who will be
afflicted.

11. To dream about a baby is always a sign of misfortune. If the
babe is still in the womb, it is not as bad luck as if it is born. From
first to last, the larger the babe the worse the luck. The person who
has the babe is the one who will surfer the misfortune.1

SUPERSTITIONS.

When the left eye twitches it is bad luck. When the right eye
twitches it is good luck.

If one's left ear rings, he will hear bad news ; if his right ear, good
news.

If the palm of one's right hand itches, his debtor wants to pay him
money. If the left palm itches, then he is going to pay out money.

If one's feet itch, he is going to travel. If his face burns, some
one is speaking evil of him.

To sneeze is a sign that some one is talking about you.

When one has pimples on his face it is a sign that his mother
stole an egg while she was pregnant with him.

When one hiccoughs, it is a sign that he has stolen the dough of
the priest.

In some parts of Armenia people account for an eclipse of the sun
or moon by saying, "There is war going on somewhere." In other
parts they believe the devil to be between them and the eclipsed
ob'ect. In the places where this latter view is held they will beat
drums, tin pans, yell, and make all the noise possible, so as to drive
the devil away. As the eclipse passes away they rejoice in their
success. If the eclipse occurs in January, it is believed there will be
little produce raised the following season. If in February there will

died to sec an Armenian family one evening and found a young man crip-
pled by having a foot crushed. His sister, a young woman about nineteen years
of age, had dreamed the night previous of his having a small baby. She had
warned him that morning, but the evil was not to be averted. He was thrown out
of work for about two weeks.

Items of Armenian Folk-Lore collected in Boston. 99

be a contagious disease sweep away many people ; if in March, there
will be much loss of stock, and so on.1

Dead bodies are said to rise out of their graves in the night-time
and go about the country. They are not, however, flesh and blood
as long as the darkness lasts, but are supposed to be so far spiritual-
ized that they have power to assume any form they may choose.
Once a dead person who was strolling about in the night, and had
taken on the form of a puppy, was picked up by a man who, think-
ing to keep it, carried it home with him. Next morning the puppy
was gone, and in its place was a dead body. Armenians avoid going
by a graveyard after night, for fear the dead will follow them.

A shooting star is the sign of some one's death.

When a light is seen rising from a grave (the result of decaying
matter), they think it is an indication of holiness.

In a certain part of Armenia there are seven hills in the same
community. The Armenians account for them in the following
manner : Once upon a time Nero and his army were marching
against the city of Harpud with the intention of capturing it. On
the spot marked by one of these hills he pitched his camp. During
the night the earth opened and swallowed both him and his army.
Six other kings hostile to the Armenians have in the course of
time encamped in this same neighborhood. Each time the earth
has engulfed them. Over the places of burial of the seven armies
with their kings have come these seven hills.

The villages nestling around the bases of different hills here and
there throughout the country oftentimes have names which indicate
that they have been battle-grounds in the past. One is named
" Sharp to Sharp," having reference to the clashing of swords.
Another is called " Judgment," and so on.

At twelve o'clock on New Year's Eve all rivers and springs stop
flowing for five minutes. If one should go to a spring when it starts
again he would find gold dust pouring from it for a moment or two.
There was once a woman who went for a pitcher of water just at
this time. On coming to the light the water looked dirty, and with-
out thinking what was the matter she threw it out. Next morning
she found a little gold in the bottom of the pitcher.

If neighbor A is not friendly with neighbor B, and one desires
that he should be, all he has to do is to secure a lock of B's hair and
burn it so that A will get a scent of it. Henceforth he will be
friendly with B.

Seeds sown in the new moon will do well ; in the dark of the
moon they will not.

1 I have been unable to get the exact saying for each month.

i oo Journal of A mericau Folk-Lore.

DISEASES.

When one is sick, his friends will go to a bush which happens to
be growing near the grave of some saint, or near some spot where a
saint is once known to have been, and they will tie a rag on the bush
and pray to the saint that the sick may get well. The tree will
have so many rags sometimes, and of such various colors, that it will
look at a distance as if it were' in bloom.

Another remedy for sickness is to bathe in a stream and hang a
ma tree close by.

Still another is to place an egg in a stream of water, but back in a
little nook from the current so that it will not be swept away. Any
one who picks up the egg will get the disease it was intended to
cure.

When a baby is sick it is bathed over the grave of some martyr.
In the winter time, water is heated and carried to the grave for this
purpose.

When one is possessed with devils, a bowl of water is set in his
presence, and a fortune-teller or soothsayer then charms the demons
and gets them into the water. They are then taken one at a time
and put into a ram's horn, after which the horn is plugged and given
to the afflicted one with instructions to bury it deep in his yard.

In case of fever and ague, the sick bathes in a brook which is called
"fever and ague brook." Every community has such a brook.

Sometimes when one is sick he will have four priests come. All
of them will read aloud and at the same time, but each one will be
reading a different scriptural passage. This is expected to cure the
sick.

When one is sick he will oftentimes hunt up a fortune-teller who
is supposed to know how to charm away disease. The fortune-teller
will write something on a piece of paper (no one knows what), and,
folding it up, give it to the man with instructions to wear it over
his heart, or on his right or left arm, or on his head, or to put it in
the water at some place, or anything else which he is disposed to
tell him. His instructions faithfully carried out are to work a cure.

A piece of paper which has been blessed by a priest is sometimes
put in a silver box and carried about with one in the belief that it
will ward off disease.

Some take a blue bead which has been blessed by a priest and
carry it concealed on their persons for the purpose of warding off the
influence of witches. If there is a bright, pretty child in the family,
a blue bead is nearly always concealed in its hair at just about the
point "bregma," or a little in front of that, for fear some jealous
person will bewitch him.

Items of Armenian Folk-Lore collected in Boston. 101

When one is bewitched, if a piece of the witch's garment can be
cut off and burned so that the bewitched person may sniff the smoke
from it, he will recover.

If one person meets another individual regularly as he goes to or
from his work, and he continually has either good or bad luck, he
will attribute it to this individual ; or if on the days he meets him
his luck is the reverse of what it is on the days when he does not meet
him, then the result is the same.

Trees are prevented from being bewitched by putting the skulls of
horses or dogs on them. These protect the tree from evil influences
and insure its fruitfulness.

RIDDLES.

What is that of which the outside is silver and the inside is gold ?

An egg.

I am a small house and my navel is yellow ?

An egg.

What is that which is brought by a man, is full of nuts, has no
tongue, and yet speaks like a man ?

A letter.

When I brought it from market it was one, but when I got it home
it was more than a hundred ?

A pomegranate.

I have a grandmother who walked all day, and when she got home
took up no more space than could be covered by a penny ?

A cane.

There is a long intestine which has a flower on its end ?

A lighted candle.1

Two faucets running, and five brothers catching the water ?

Blowing the nose.

It is a long tree, but it has no shade ?

A river.

I put five pounds of peas under my head when I go to bed, but on
awaking they are gone ?

The stars.

What is that which when alive ate grass, but when dead drank
men's blood ?

Samson's jaw-bone of an ass.

All above is air, all around is water ; what is that ox from which
was born a cow ?

Adam.2

1 The above riddle is not for our wax candles, but corresponds to our old grease
torch, which had the wick curled round and round like an intestine in the skillet
or whatever vessel contained the grease.

2 Recited : Adam and Eve.

102 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

What is that of which the key is wood and the lock is water?
Moses with his wand over the Red Sea.

GAMES.

Counting-out. — Any number of people who can crowd around
some central spot will place their right hands on the object before
them. Some one of the number will then touch the hands in succes-
sion with the forefinger of his left hand. As he does so he will
repeat a jingle of words, saying one word each time he touches a
hand. His words are as follows : —

1 A'ttack, cho'otack, sha'masha'
Sha'mshe, 2che'ar, bed'inge' Za'noode';
Za'n-vertz-65-ne, a'ttack, la'rum,
Cho'otack la'rum, ba's ma's.

The hand on which the word "mas" falls is removed, and the
jingle is repeated again. This is continued, a hand being removed
at each repetition according as it is designated by the last word,
until but one hand is left. The hands which have been removed
have, at the instant of removal, been put next one's heart in order to
warm them. As soon as there is but one hand on the table the
person so remaining asks each of those with hands in their bosoms
(but asks only one at a time) if his hand is warm. He always replies
in the affirmative. The questioner, however, is not willing to take
his word, and hence has him to take the hand from his bosom and
touch the questioner's cheek. If the hand is warm, he may consider
himself free to do as he pleases while others are being questioned.
If not warm, then he is required to bury his face in his hands, and to
lean forward so as to allow his back to serve as a resting-place for
the hands of the other members of the group. One of the party now
puts his hand upon the individual's back, and the others in turn
place their hands on top of his hand. The original questioner asks
the person bending, whose hand is topmost. A guess is made, and
if wrong the guesser is pinched or otherwise tortured. The hands
are then changed and another guess is made with like conditions.
This goes on until the guess is correct, and then the party is
released.3

CLUB FIST.

A little group of people form a circle. One of the party closes his
fist and places it on the table, or his knee. Another closes his fist,

1 I have indicated the syllables to be accented by the mark ', placed over the
syllable. The sound of vowels has been indicated by Webster's system of marking.

2 Ch in chear is pronounced like Greek letter X.

1 The jingle which determines whose hands shall be taken up from the board is
meaningless to the players.

Items of Armenian Folk-Lore collected in Boston. 103

and places it on top of this last one, and so on until the last member
of the group has done in like manner. Then some one of the number
begins at the bottom, and points to each fist in turn. Each time he
touches one he says "goje " until he has reached the top one ; then
the conversation takes place as noted in translation below. The one
who has been saying " goje " begins the conversation and is answered
by the party having his hand on top : " Where is the grass ? What
did you do with it ? " " Gave it to the cow." " What did the cow
do?" "She gave me milk." "What did you do with it?" "I
drank it." " Where is my part of it ? " " I drank it."

The questioner at this point, as if in anger, slaps the party who
is answering him. All hands are now taken up and replaced again at
random, thereby giving a new order. The "goje, goje, goje," etc.,
is now gone over again, but changes are made for the sake of variety.
Another form it takes, starting from the cow, is : " Where 's the
cow ? " " In the table." " Where 's the table ? " " Under the house."
And so they go on. It is to be noted that the game symbolizes
beginning at the lowest point of the roots of the grass (goje means
"roots,") and approaching the surface of the ground, where the
gradually grass is found wanting, because the cow has eaten it.

CANDLE GAME.

In this game each one chooses a partner. Some one holds a candle,
which is usually heavy. A member of the company says : " Donkey !
donkey ! foolish donkey ! why do you hold that candle ? " The one
having the candle replies: "Who will hold it?" The party who
first spoke signifies some member of the group as the one who should
hold the candle. He does this by simply calling the name to the
individual. However, the party indicated must not reply. Instead,
his partner speaks for him, instantly saying, "No." If the party
addressed speaks, through mistake, then he must hold the candle
and be quizzed as a foolish donkey. If he does not speak, but his
partner answers correctly, then the candle remains in the same hands
as before. In this case, everything is begun again as at first, and a
new party named, with like possible results. Thus the game con-
tinues as long as there is a disposition to play.

CUSTOMS.

The nails of babies are never cut, because they would then become
robbers. The first time the nails are cut, they are buried in the
graveyard. Even the older Armenians never allow the parings of
their nails to be cast about at random. They gather them together
and bury them, or wrap them in paper or rags and hide them in a
crack of the wall, fence, or some other place which will afford storage

104 Journal of A??ierican Folk-Lore.

for them. Armenians never give fire from their hearths when it has
but lately been lighted, since it would be bad luck to do so. How-
ever, when it has been started for several hours, the privilege maybe
granted without danger.

It is the custom of Armenians always to face the east when wor-
shipping.

According to informants here, one of the spots where they go
annually to worship and say prayers is on the bank of a branch of the
Euphrates River. The stream is 120 feet wide at the spot of which
I speak, and the bank on either side consists of solid rock, and is 120
to 160 feet in height. The region of country about is mountainous.
On top of the rocks, on either side of the stream, are the prints of a
horse's hoofs. It is related that once upon a time a saint was being
pursued by his enemies for the purpose of persecuting him. He
galloped his horse to this spot. The stream was too wide to hope to
jump it, and the height of the banks too great to hope to live if he
should fall below. However, the enemy were close upon him and he
could not turn back without falling into their hands. He chose to
risk death in an attempt to escape rather than to endure the torture
which would undoubtedly be his lot should he be captured. Hence,
appealing to God, he galloped his horse to the precipice and made
the leap. Supernatural power aided him, and he landed safely upon
the opposite bank. He was now delivered, and went on his way
rejoicing. However, the exertion of the horse in making such a
leap, and the force with which he alighted, left the print of all four
of his hoofs upon each side of the stream. On the side from which
he jumped the impression of the hind feet in the solid rock is the
most prominent. On the bank where he alighted, the fore feet are
most deeply impressed. The tracks on either side are very pro-
minent, and of the exact shape of the horse's hoofs. The annual
gathering at this spot is supposed to be on the anniversary of the
day upon which the leap was made. Aside from the worship which
takes place, individuals will stand some distance from the horse's
tracks and make wishes. They will then pitch a certain number of
small pebbles, pennies, beads, marbles, or some other small pieces of
something at the tracks, naming as they do so some number. If the
number of the small objects named go into the tracks the individ-

l's wish will come true. If some other number instead, then it
will not.1

As Armenians here affirm, one of the things much prized by
an Armenian is a visit to Jerusalem. The object of the trip is to
see the tomb where Christ was buried. Every Armenian who has

1 The man who gave me the account of the foregoing has himself visited the
spot he described.

Items of Armenian Folk-Lore collected in Boston. 105

enjoyed this privilege is marked while in Jerusalem, as witness of
the fact that he has seen his Lord's burial-place. On no other occa-
sion, and for no other purpose, is an Armenian ever tattooed. The
tattooing always takes place either on the arm or on the hand, and
takes the form of a cross, or the representation of an angel. The
man who is so marked becomes in a sense holy. On returning to
his country he often retires from business, for fear he may cheat
some one. He at least endeavors ever afterward to lead a very
exemplary life. He regards himself as having been crucified with
Jesus.1

In making the sign of the cross, they always use the thumb and
two fingers, in order to represent the Trinity. The motions are
made from the forehead to the breast, then to the left, back to the
right, and finally to the centre of the breast.

On holidays they take food and incense and go to the cemetery.
They burn the incense at the graves and offer prayer. The Spirit
comes down from heaven, and rests on the grave while they are
offering their devotions. They cry, kiss the ground or stone which
marks the burial-place, and burn candles about it.

On the festival called Haik's Day, it is the custom for persons to
deluge each other with water at every opportunity. It is related
that Haik, first king of Armenia, worshipped an image, and that
sprinkling was connected with his worship. When Christianity was
accepted, the worship of the former image became obsolete. It was
deprived of its sacredness, and hence the day upon which such wor-
ship was rendered became a gala day. For the sprinkling, which
was the custom upon that day, was substituted what has already been
referred to, — the lying in wait to drench each other with water.

The story of the Cross Day is told as follows : The cross on which
Christ was crucified was left on Mount Calvary, where in time it
became covered up with dirt and rubbish. A queen who desired
to rescue it from eternal entombment came to Calvary in search of
it. She threw money on the ground, and the people scrambled to
pick it up. This action she performed over and over again, look-
ing each time that the people arose from their scrambling to see
if the cross was in sight. After a while, together with the money,
there had been picked away so much dirt, that the cross came to

1 At a soap factor}' where I was talking to a number of Armenians, an Irishman
got into a fight with one of them, and the two men were trying to strike each other
in the face with soap moulds. An Armenian bearing the mark mentioned, who
was standing near by, tried to separate them, and was struck for his interference.
The print of the mould was left upon his bare arm, and he evidently suffered
considerable pain. Nevertheless, he kept good-humored, and still continued his
endeavors to pacify the two half-brutes (for such they seemed to me).

106 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

view. The day upon which it was found was called "Cross Day."
Henceforth, the anniversary of that day has been observed. Reli-
gious services arc held in the church, and ceremonies are performed.
The crosses which are in the church are removed from their places
and put in water, where they remain for three days. After this
they are taken out and restored to their former positions.

Easter. — On Easter morning the sun dances, and there is no
other morning in the year when such is the case. Since they cannot
look directly at the sun, they have mirrors into which they look in
order to see it dance. It is said, too, that very seldom is there an
Easter morning which is not clear. Prior to Easter there is a seven
weeks of self-denial, and, in a measure, fasting. Before the fast-
time begins there is a week given up to feasting, dancing, and friv-
olity. The period of fasting has become personified, until they
imagine that a spirit oversees its observance. The name of the spirit
is " Great East." The seven weeks' fast begins at midnight, and
on the evening previous they talk of Great Fast being over behind
the mountain. At twilight they say : " Now he is on top of the
mountain." A little later, when it is dark, they will say : " Now he
is in the valley." Still later: "He is leaving the valley." Thus
they go on speaking of him as drawing nearer and nearer, until
they will finally say : " He is now on the housetop waiting to come
down." At midnight he comes down the chimney, and sits in the
fireplace. He goes to everything in the room and smells of it, to
the cooking vessels, etc. ; and even smells of the mouths of those
who are asleep, to see if they have been eating butter, grease, or
any other forbidden article of food. In preparation for this scruti-
nizing investigation, on this night after supper it is customary to
scour all the dishes with ashes. Everything must be clean. Some
people will even wash their mouths with ashes. After his examina-
tion, Great Fast goes back and takes his seat in the chimney, where
he sits for forty days in order to watch the people, and to be sure
that they do not do any of the things forbidden for that period.
However, though he sees everything, he cannot be seen himself.
He is invisible.1

For three days before Easter the Armenians will gather at a
churchyard for the purpose of breaking eggs. Two persons will

1 My informant tells me that when he was a child he awoke one morning while
it was still twilight and was frightened to see something black in the fireplace.
He asked his mother what it was. She replied that it was Great Fast, and told
him to cover up his head while she drove the spirit away. He did so, and on
being told a little later to uncover his head, he was unable to see anything out of
the ordinary. Later years, however, revealed the fact that it was a kettle he had
seen, and that on covering up his head, his mother had carried it out of the room.

Items of Armenian Folk- Lore collected in Boston. 107

each take an egg, and one of them will hold his egg stationary while
the other strikes it with the point of his egg. If A is holding the
stationary egg and B is doing the striking, then, in case A's egg
cracks, he turns the other end and lets B strike again. If the other
end is cracked, B gets the egg and A must produce another egg to
be treated as before and with like possible results. If B's egg cracks,
then he turns the other end of the egg and strikes again. If it suf-
fers in like manner, he loses his egg and must supply another, where-
upon A does the striking until he forfeits his right by losing an
egg. Thus they go on breaking eggs, until oftentimes one couple
has broken as many as a hundred. The man with the strongest
egg will of course win the most eggs from his opponent. These
cracked eggs which he has won he sells at a reduced price. Some-
times a man will pay a dollar for a strong egg before he enters into
a contest, if there is evidence to prove that he is really getting a
strong one.

Formerly, Easter eggs were always colored red in order to repre-
sent the blood of Christ. They are usually colored red now, but are
beginning to vary somewhat.

G. D. Edwards.

i oS Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

TALKS OF THE RABBIT FROM GEORGIA NEGROES.

HOW BRER RABBIT PRACTISE MEDICINE.

Ole Brj k Rabbit had a bad name for a partner, but one time he
get Mr. Wolf to work a crop on shares with him, and they have a
'greement writ out on paper, how in the harvest they gwine divide
half and half. Mr. Rabbit know Ole Mr. Wolf mighty good hand in
the field, and sure to make a good crop. But when Ole Brer Rab-
bit set in to work, he get mighty tired, and the corn rows, they
look so mighty long, and he 'gin to lag behind and work he brain.

Presen'ly he jump to the work, and make he hoe cut the air,
and soon cotch up with Mr. Wolf, and he open the subject of the
education in medicine, and he tell how he am a reg'lar doctor, and
got his 'plomy in a frame to home, but he say he don't know how
all the patients gwine get on. Now he turn over the farming, and
Ole Mr. Wolf ax how much money he get for he doctoring, and
when he hear so much, he tell Mr. Rabbit to go when he have a
call, and put by the money, and in the fall put in the crop money
and then divide. So that night Mr. Rabbit, he 'struct his chillens
how they got for to run and call him frequent, and how they got to
tell Mr. Wolf they wants the doctor.

And sure 'nough, Mr. Rabbit ain't more 'n in the front row next
clay, when here come little Rab all out of breath and say, " Some-
body send in great 'stress for the doctor." Mr. Rabbit make out
like he can't go and leave Mr. Wolf to do all the work, but Mr.
Wolf studying 'bout that big fee Brer Rabbit gwine turn in the
company, and he tell him, " Go 'long, he can get on with the work."
So Mr. Rabbit clips off in great haste, and he just go down on the
edge of the woods, and what you 'spect he do? Well, sah, he just
stretch hisself out in the shade of a swamp maple and take a nap,
while Ole Mr. Wolf was working in the corn rows in the hot sun.
When Mr. Rabbit sleep he nap out, he set up and rub he eyes, then
he loony off down by the spring for a drink, then he come running
and puffing like he been running a mile, and tell Mr. Wolf what a
mighty sick patient he got, and make out like he that wore out he
can't more 'n move the hoe.

Well, when they come back from dinner, Mr. Rabbit, he strike
and make he hoe fly, but directly here come little Rab for the doc-
tor, and Ole Mr. Rabbit, he take hisself off for 'nother nap, and
matters goes on just dis yer way all summer Ole Mr. Wolf, he
ave to do all the work, but he comfort himself with the 'flection,
that he have half them big fees what Brer Rabbit turning in to the
company money.

Tales of the Rabbit from Georgia Negroes. 109

Well, when the fodder done pulled, and all the crop done sold,
and they go for to count the money, Mr. Wolf ax Brer Rabbit
where the doctor's fees what he gvvine turn in. Brer Rabbit say
they all such slow pay, he can't collect it. Then they fell out, and
Mr. WTolf that mad, he say he gvvine eat Brer Rabbit right there,
and make an end of he tricks. But Mr. Rabbit beg that they take
the trouble up to the court-house to Judge Bar. So they loony off
to the court-house, and the old judge say it were a jury case, and he
send Sheriff Coon out to fetch the jurymans, and he say, " Don' you
fotch no mans here, 'cepter they be more fool than the parties in the
case." But Sheriff Coon 'low he don' know where he gwine find
any man what 's more fool than Brer Wolf 's in dis yer case, but he
take out down the county, and by and by he seed a man rolling a
wheelbarrow what ain't got nothing in it round the house and round
the house, and he ax him what he doing that for ? And he say, he
trying to wheel some sunshine in the house. Sheriff Coon say,
"You is the man I wants to come with me and sot on the jury."

They go 'long, and directly they see a man pulling a long rope up
a tall tree that stand 'longside a house ; they ax him what he gwine
do ? He say he gwine to haul a bull up on top of the house to eat
the moss off the roof, and Sheriff Coon say, " I '11 be bound you is
my man for the jury, and you must go long with we all to the court."
So they take their way back to the court-house, then they have a
great time taking evidence and argufying.

Ole Brer Wolf, he set up there, and 'sider every word of the
evidence, but Ole Brer Rabbit he lean back and shut he eye, and
work he brain on he own account. He settin' right close to the
door ; when the lawyer done get everybody worked up so they take
no noticement, Brer Rabbit just slip softly out the back door, and
he creep 'round the side of the cabin back to where ole Judge Bar
set wid de bag of money on the floor, and what you 'spect ? When
they all talking, Ole Brer Rabbit just slide he hand in the crack, and
softly slip out the bag of money, and take out home, and leave the
case in the care of the court. That just like ole man Rabbit.

WHY THE PEOPLE TOTE BRER RABBIT FOOT IN THEIR POCKET.

Well, sah, that 's cause Ole Brer Rabbit done killed the last witch
what ever live.

They tells how they done hang some of 'em, and burn some, till
they get mighty scarce, but there was one ole witch what was risin'
on five hundred years old, and 'cause she keep clear of all the folks
what try to catch her, they done name her Ole Mammy Witch
Wise.

Well, she do carry on to beat all them times, she 'witch all the

r io Journal of American Folk-Lore.

folks, and she 'witch all the animals, and when they go to get their
meal out some of the gardens, she just watch them animals, and
they can't get in to save 'em, and they all nigh 'bout starved out,
that they was, and they all hold a big consertation and talk over
what they gwine do.

They was a mighty ornery lookin' set, just nigh 'bout skin an'
bone, but when Ole Brer Rabbit come in, they 'serve how he mighty
plump and fine order, and they ax him, however he so mighty pros-
p'rous and they all in such powerful trouble. And then he 'low,
Brer Rabbit did, dat Ole Mammy Witch Wise can't 'witch him,
and he go in the gardens more same as ever.

Why, Ole Mammy Wise don't 'low the animals get in the garden,
she just want the pick of 'em herself, cause she don't have no garden
that year ; but when she set her mind on some Major Brayton's
pease, she just put the pot on the fire, an' when the water bile
smart, she just talk in the pot and say, "Bile pease, bile pease," and
there they come, sure 'nough, for dinner ; but you see if the animals
done been troubling them pease, and there ain't no pease on the vine,
then she call 'em in the pot.

So she just keep the creeters out till they nigh 'bout broke down,
and they ax Brer Rabbit, can't he help 'em ? Brer Rabbit scratch
he head, but he don't say nothin', 'cause I tell you, when Ole Brer
Rabbit tell what he gwine do, then you just well know that just
what he ain' gwine do, 'case he 's a man what don't tell what he
mind set on.

So he don't make no promise, but he study constant how he
gwine kill Ole Mammy Witch Wise. He know all 'bout how the
old woman slip her skin every night, and all the folks done try all
the plans to keep her out till the rooster crow in the morning, 'cause
every witch, what 's out the skin when the roosters crow, can't
never get in the skin no mo' ; but they never get the best of the Ole
Witch Wise, and she rising five hundred years old. Brer Rabbit he
go off hisself, and set in the sun on the sand bed and rum'nate.
And you may be sure, when you see the old man set all to hisself
or. the sand bed, he mind just working. Well, sah, that night, he
go in the garden and take a good turn of peppers, and tote them up
to Ole Mammy Witch Wise house, and just he 'spect, there he find
her skin in the porch, just where she slip it off to go on her tricks,
and what you 'spect he do? Well, sah, he just mash them peppers
to a mush, and rub 'em all inside the Ole Witch Wise skin, and then
he set hisself under the porch for to watch.

Just 'fore crowing time, sure 'nough, there come the ole woman,
sailing along in a hurry, 'cause she know she ain't got long, but when
she go for to put on her skin, it certainly do bite her, and she say,

Tales of the Rabbit from Georgia Negroes. 1 1 1

"Skinnie, skinnie, don't you know me, skinnie?" But it bite more
same than before, and while she fooling with it, sure 'nough the
rooster done crow, and the ole woman just fall over in a fit. And
in the morning Brer Rabbit notify the animals, and they gravel a
place and burn her. And the colored people, they find out how
Brer Rabbit get the best of the Mammy Witch Wise, and then they
tell the white folks, and that why nigh 'bout all the rich white folks
totes a rabbit foot in their pocket, 'cause it keeps off all the bad
luck, and it do that, sure 's yo' born.1

BRER RABBIT BORN TO LUCK.

You hear, sah, how Brer Rabbit's left foot fetch you luck when
you tote it constant in your pocket. It most surely do that, sah,
'cause that Ole Brer Rabbit be just born to luck. Now this yer
one time when the luck come to hisself.

Ole Miss Rabbit, she 'low she 'bliged to have a spring house; she
say, Ole Miss Rabbit did, how Miss Fox and Miss Coon have the
nice spring house, and she 'clare she plum broke down worritting
herself trying to keep house, and no spring house.

Now Brer Rabbit, he promise and he promise, but Brer Rabbit
don't have no honing to handle the mattocks, no sah, that he don't.
Brer Rabbit is pow'ful dext'rous to work with he head, but Brer
Rabbit ain't no half strainer to work with he hands.

But Ole Miss Rabbit, she kept worriting the old man constant ;
she 'low how she 'bliged to have that spring house, and she 'bliged
to have it to once.

Well, when she rear and charge on the old rrian, that powerful
that he can't put her off no more, then Brer Rabbit, he just go
off to hisself, and study what he gwine do 'bout that ornery old
spring house, but he can't see he way, till it come to he mind 'bout
Ole Mammy Witch Wise, her what were the old woman what save
up a bag of gold. Then, the night 'fore she die, she bury the bag
where the creeters can't find it. That night she pass by all the
creeters' houses and shake the bag, and they hear the chink of the
gold, and in the morning Ole Mammy Witch Wise was dead and
the gold was gone.

Well, sah, Brer Rabbit he go and see all the creeters, and he let
on how he done have a token what tell him where Ole Mammy
Witch Wise bury the gold, and that Ole Brer Rabbit, he bodaciously
'low how the token point to the bed in the spring what run 'long
side he garden, and he say, Brer Rabbit do, if they all turn in and

1 TJot only the colored people and poor whites, but a large number of the
prosperous business men, in the cities of the South, are never without a rabbit's
foot in their pockets.

! ! 2 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

make a dam and hold the water back, they most surely find the

gold.

Now Ole Brer Rabbit don't have no feelings that gold anywhere
in them parts. Well, sah, the creeters they 'low to theyselves Brer
Rabbit a mighty -onerous man to let them in, and they fetch they
mattocks and they spades, and they dig, and Brer Rabbit he sit up
on the dam and locate the spot, and he say to hisself that old spring
house getting on mighty smart, when I 'clare 'fore the Lord, Brer
Wolfs mattocks strike kerchink, an' out fly the gold, it most surely
did, and the creeters they just jump in the hole and pick up the
money. But Ole Brer Rabbit never lose he head, that he don't,
and he just push the rocks out the dam, and let the water on and
drown the lastest one of them critters, and then he picks up the
gold, and course Ole Miss Rabbit done get her spring house, but
bless your soul, sah, that only just one they times when Ole Brer
Rabbit have luck.

WHY MR. DOG RUNS BRER RABBIT.

One morning, Mr. Buzzard he say he stomach just hungry for
some fish, and he tell Mrs. Buzzard he think he go down to the
branch, and catch some for breakfast. So he take he basket, and
he sail along till he come to the branch.

He fish right smart, and by sun up he have he basket plum full.
But Mr. Buzzard am a powerful greedy man, and he say to hisself,
he did, I just catch one more. But while he done gone for this last
one, Brer Rabbit he came along, clipity, clipity, and when he see
basket plum full of fine whitefish he stop, and he say, "I 'clare to
goodness, the old woman just gwine on up to the cabin, 'cause they
got nothing for to fry for breakfast. I wonder what she think of
this yer fish," and so he put the basket on he head, Brer Rabbit did,
and make off to the cabin.

Direc'ly he meet up with Mr. Dog, and he ax him where he been
fishing that early in the day, and Brer Rabbit he say how he done
sot on the log 'longside of the branch, and let he tail hang in the
water and catch all the fish, and he done tell Mr. Dog, the old rascal
did, that he tail mighty short for the work, but that Mr. Dog's tail
just the right sort for fishing.

So Mr. Dog, he teeth just ache for them whitefish, and he go set
on the log and hang he tail in the water, and it mighty cold for he
tail, and the fish don't bite, but he mouth just set for them fish, and
so he just sot dar, and it turn that cold that when he feel he gin up,
sure 's you born, Mr. Dog, he tail froze fast in the branch, and he
call he chillens, and they come and break the ice.

And then, to be sure, he start off to settle Ole Brer Rabbit, and

Tales of the Rabbit from Georgia Negroes. 113

he get on he track and he run the poor ole man to beat all, and
directly he sight him he run him round and round the woods and
holler, "Hallelujah! hallelujah!" and the puppies come on behind,
and they holler, "Glory ! glory !" and they make such a fuss, all the
creeters in the woods, they run to see what the matter. Well, sah,
from that day, Mr. Dog he run Brer Rabbit, and when they just get
gwine on the swing in the big woods, you can hear ole Ben dar just
letting hisself out, "Hallelujah! hallelujah!" and them pups just
gwine "Glory! glory!" and it surely am the sound what has the
music dar, it surely has the music dar.

HOW BRER RABBIT BRING DUST OUT OF THE ROCK.

Mr. Fox, he have a mighty handsome daughter, and all the chaps
was flying round her to beat all.

Brer Coon, Brer Wolf, Brer Rabbit, and Brer Possum was a
courting of her constant, and they all ax Brer Fox for he daughter.

Now the gal, she favor Brer Rabbit in her mind, but she don't let
on who her favor is, but just snap her eyes on 'em all.

Now Ole Brer Rabbit, he ain't so mighty handsome, and he ain't
no proudful man, that 's sure, but somehow it 'pears like he do have
a mighty taking way with the gals.

Well, wen they all done ax Ole Man Fox for his daughter, he ax
the gal, do she want Brer Wolf ? And she toss her head and 'low
Brer Wolf too bodaciously selfish ; she say, " Brer Wolf's wife never
get a bite of chicken breast while she live."

Then the ole man, he ax her how she like Brer Possum ? and she
just giggle and 'low " Brer Possum mighty ornery leetle ole man,
and he 'longs to a low family anyhow." And Ole Man Fox, he 'low,
" Dat 's so for a fact," and he sound her 'fections for Brer Coon,
but she make out Brer Coon pass all 'durance. Then the ole man
he tell her Brer Rabbit done ax for her too, and she make out
like she mighty took 'back, and 'low she don't want none of that
lot.

Then Ole Brer Fox, he say that the gal was too much for him ;
but he tell the chaps to bring up the big stone hammer, and they
can all try their strength on the big step rock what they use for a
horse block, and the one what can pound dust out of the rock shall
have the gal.

Then Brer Rabbit, he feel mighty set down on, 'cause he know all
the chaps can swing the stone hammer to beat hisself, and he go off
sorrowful like and set on the sand bank. He set a while and look
east, and then he turn and set a while and look west, but may be you
don't know, sah, Brer Rabbit sense never come to hisself 'cepting
when he look north.

vol. xn. — no. 45. 8

1 1 4 '/ i wrnal of American Folk-Lore.

When it just come to hissclf what he gwine to do, he jump up
and clip it off home, and he hunt up the slippers and he fill them
with ashes, and Lord bless your soul, the ole chap know just what
them slippers do 'bout the dust out of the rock.

Well, the next morning they was all dar soon. Ole Brer Rabbit,
the last one, come limping up like he mighty lame, and being so, he
the last one on the land, 'cause he have last chance.

Now Brer Wolf, he take the big hammer and he fotch it down
hard, and Brer Wolf mighty strong man in them days, but he ain't
fetch no dust. Then Brer Coon and Brer Possum, they try, but Ole
Man Fox he say, he don't see no dust, and Miss Fox she to 'hind
the window curtain and giggle, and Ole Man Fox he curl the lip
and he say, Brer Rabbit, it you turn now. Brer Wolf he look on
mighty scornful, and Brer Rabbit have just all he can do to fotch
up the big hammer ; it so hard he just have to stand on tiptoe in he
slippers, and when the hammer come down, he heels come down sish,
and the dust fly so they can't see the ole chap for the dust.

But Ole Brer Rabbit, he don't count that nothing but just one of
his courting tricks.

WHEN BRER RABBIT SAVE THE PIG.

One winter, 'bout a week to Christmas, Brer Rabbit he have a
pen full of powerful fat hogs, just honing for the smoke-house.
Now you mightn't think it, sah, but Brer Rabbit was a mighty
frolicsome chap when he was a young man, attending on the gals
nigh 'bout every night.

Xow Brer Bar and Brer Wolf have they mind on them hogs con-
stant, but they feared Brer Rabbit got some trap set unbeknownst
to theyselves.

One night Brer Rabbit, he go up to pay he 'dresses to Mr. Wolf's
daughter. Now this yer Miss Wolf was a mighty prideful gal, and
she keep Brer Rabbit waiting on the porch a powerful long time,
while she get on her meeting clothes.

Well, whiles Brer Rabbit was a waiting, all to once he hear he
name round the corner the porch, and he cock up he ear, and sure
'nough dar he hear Brer Bar and Brer Wolf in cahoots for to steal
he bestest pig.

Brer Rabbit he listen, and they lay out they plans, how they
gwine dress off the pig, and leave it un'neath the black gum-tree
whilst they go for the cart, 'cause they 'spicious if they stop for to
cut it up, Brer Rabbit gwine catch up with 'em.

Well, Brer Rabbit, he shake hisself and go in, and pay he 'spects
to Miss Wolf, but right soon he say he 'bliged to say good-night,
and he clip it off to the black gum-tree, and he hide hisself in the

Tales of the Rabbit from Georgia Negroes. 1 1 5

bushes. And sure 'nough, directly here come Brer Wolf and Brer
Bar, with the pig done dressed for the smoke-house ; they lay it
down and cover it with brush, and strike out for the cart.

Then that bodacious Brer Rabbit, he go softly through the bresh,
and just creep inside that pig and lay hisself down, and he lay out
to keep he eye open and watch out for the cart, but 'fore he know
hisself he fall asleep.

De firstest Brer Rabbit know, Brer Wolf and Brer Bar, they done
lift the pig in the cart, and that ere Brer Rabbit on the inside the

Pig-
Then Brer Rabbit, he grow faint-like, and then he just turn in

and groan harder and harder ; and Brer Wolf and Brer Bar, they
make sure it am ole Satan hisself in the pig, and they just strike
out the cart and burn the wind for home, and Brer Rabbit, he drive
the cart home, and hang the pig in the smoke-house.

Emma M. Backus.

1 1 6 journal of American Folk-Lore.

NOTES ON THE FOLK-LORE OF THE WYANDOTS.

I. RELIGION.

The gods of the Wyandots were those of the Iroquois and the
Hurons, but they were stamped with a strong Wyandot individual-
ity, and in many respects differed in attributes from those of the
nations named. The Wyandot was more Iroquois than he was
Huron-Iroquois, and he was but little different from the Seneca.
It need surprise no one if it is finally determined that the Wyandots
were the oldest of the Iroquoian family. Their mythology makes
clear some things left in uncertainty and obscurity by that of other
tribes of the family. There are some things in it that are not found
in the myths of any of the other tribes. Their myths, too, are
clearer cut, more definite, and, I believe, more beautiful in form, than
those of other tribes. The Iroquoian family has been supposed to
possess little imagination, and a mythology deficient in beautiful
conceptions. This opinion is the result, I believe, of an imperfect
acquaintance with the folk-lore of this strong and bold people. The
myths of the woman who fell from heaven, the creation of the great
island, the birth of the twins, the enlargement of the great island
and the peopling of it with man and animals, the destruction of these
and their re-creation, the creation of the sun, moon, and stars, and
many others, are but little inferior in their bold originality and
beauty of conception to the Greek myths.

The words used by the Wyandots to express their conception of
the God of the white man are as follows : —

i. Hah'-mehn-deh'-zhooh. This word I have heard used by the
Wyandots more frequently than any other, when they were speaking
of God.

2. Hoh'-mehn-dlh'-zhooh. This is the proper pronunciation of the
word as it is written by Finley, in his "History of the Wyandot
Mission."

3. Tah'-mehn-deh'-zh6"oh. This is the proper pronunciation of
the word as it is written by John Johnston, in his vocabulary of the
Wyandot language published in Howe's " Historical Collections of
Ohio."

4. Shfih'-mehn-deh'-zhooh. The word is sometimes so pronounced
by the Wyandots.

These are only the variations of the same word, and they all mean
precisely the same thing. The best translations are
" You are God," or
"Thou art God," or
" Thou art the Great Spirit."

Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Wyandots. 117

The words are very ancient, but their use in this capacity and the
meaning they now bear must be attributed to the Jesuits or other
early missionaries ; they express, in their modern acceptation, a con-
ception entirely foreign to the ancient Wyandot mind. It is certain
that no single "Supreme Ruler," or "Creator of the Universe," or
of even the world, was believed in or conceived of by the ancient
Wyandots.

What is here said of God as a Wyandot concept applies with equal
force to the Devil of the white man. The Wyandots use two words
as names for the Devil : —

1. Deh'-shroh-roh'-neh. This word is now translated "The Great
Enemy " by the Wyandots.

2. Deh'-shroh-roh'-n5h. Why this word should be used in this
capacity at all is more than I have been able to find a reason for.
It means "Many Devils," or a "Devil People." It may be impos-
sible to determine the true derivation and proper ancient meaning of
these Wyandot words, for the idea of the Devil, as we conceive of him,
is as foreign to the ancient Wyandot mind as is our idea of God. And
there is no word in the Wyandot language equivalent to our word
" hell " as used to describe a place of punishment for the soul after
death. In John Johnston's vocabulary of Wyandot words, "hell"
is given as " Degh-shunt." This word is now unintelligible to the
Wyandots, and meaningless, and could never have meant "hell."

Following is a list of the more important gods of the ancient
Wyandots, together with a brief statement of their attributes and
offices : —

1 . Hooh-mah } -ySoh-wdh! '-nek \

The first name in Wyandot mythology is Hooh-mah'-yooh-wah"-
neh'. It is very difficult (if, indeed, it is not quite impossible) to
make, at this time, an accurate translation of this name. The best
renderings are

"Our Big Chief up there," or

" Our Big Chief Above," or

" He is our Big Chief that lives above the sky."

But all these renderings may be more nearly the ideas of what he
is than correct translations of his name.

Hooh-mah'-y6oh-wah"neh' ruled the world above the sky, and was
the father of the Woman who fell from Heaven. The land above
the sky was in no sense an equivalent to the white man's heaven,
for after death the Wyandot went to a place prepared for him in
the interior of the earth, and good and bad alike went to this place.
Want of space forbids any further account of Hooh-mah'-yooh-wah"-
neh' at this time.

1 , 8 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

2. Tseti '-zhooh-skati '-liali.

Tseh'-zhooh-skah'-hah was the name of the Wyandot God of the

Forest and Nature. His name means " The Great One of the Water

and the Land." He was the deification of the mythical Tseh-seh-

howh-hd6hn8k, the Good One of the Twins born of the Woman who

fell from Heaven.

3. Sk2hn-rih!-ah-tak'.

Skehn-rih'-ah-tah' was the War God of the Wyandots. The only
translation of this name that I could ever get is
"Warrior not afraid," or
"Warrior not afraid of Battle."

4. Tah-rcti-nydh-trdti'-sqiiah.1

Tah-reh'-nyoh-trah"-squah was the Wyandot God of Dreams. The
name signifies

"The Revealer," or

" He makes the Vision," or

" He makes the Dream."

He was supposed to have something to do with the supernatural
influences that acted upon this life, and he revealed the effects of
these influences to the Wyandots in dreams. All visions and dreams
came from him, for he had control of the souls of the Wyandots,
while they slept, or were unconscious from injury or disease. The
Hooh'"-keh' could detach his soul from his body, and send it to
Tah-reh'-nyoh-trah"-squah for information at any time, and during
its absence the Hooh'"-keh' was in a trance-like condition.

No god of the ancient Wyandots had more influence upon their
lives and social institutions than Tah-reh'-nydh-trah''-squah.

5. Heh'-noh.

Heh'noh was the Thunder God of the ancient Wyandots. They
called him Grandfather. By some accounts he came into the world
with the Woman who fell from Heaven. By the merest accident I
learned many additional facts concerning this god, while in the
Indian Territory a few weeks since, but cannot afford to write them
here until they are verified fully, something I am trying to do.

6. The Animals.

The Wyandot mythology endowed the ancient animals with great
power of the supernatural order. This is especially true of those
animals used by them as totems or clan insignia, and from whom

1 The apostrophe denotes a suppressed repetition of the vowel sound which it
follows. The syllable which it follows here is pronounced "trahah."

Notes on the Folk- Lore of the Wyandots. 1 19

they were anciently descended. Of the animals, the Big Turtle
stands in first place. He caused the Great Island (North America)
to grow on his back, for a resting-place and home for the Woman
who fell from Heaven. He is supposed to carry the Great Island on
his back to this day.

The Little Turtle is second in rank and importance in the list of
animals. By order of the Great Council of these animals, he made
the Sun ; he made the Moon to be the Sun's wife. He made all the
fixed stars ; but the stars which " run about the sky " are supposed
to be the children of the Sun and Moon. The Sun, Moon, and stars
were made for the comfort and convenience of the Woman who fell
from Heaven. To do this it was necessary for the Little Turtle to
go up to the sky, and this difficult matter was accomplished by the
aid of the Thunder God. The Deer was the second animal to get
into the sky ; this he did by and with the assistance of the Rainbow.
And afterwards all the other totemic animals except the Mud Turtle
went up to the sky by the same way, and they are supposed to be
living there to this present time. The animals seem to have gov-
erned the world before the Woman fell from heaven, and for some
time after that important event.

J. The Woman who fell from Heaven.

The Woman who fell from Heaven is an important personage in
the mythology of the Wyandots. I have no space here to dwell
upon the cause of her falling into this lower world, her peculiar
place in the mythology of the Wyandots, etc.

8. The Twins.

According to the mythology of the Wyandots, the Twins were
begotten in the country from which the Woman fell, and which the
myth calls heaven. I pass over their parentage, the great work
they wrought in this world, and the destruction of the Bad One by
the Good One, the destruction of all the works of the earth, and
their recreation by the Good One.

9. Tah'-teh-kch'-ah, or The Little People.

The Tah'-teh-keh'-ah, or The Little People, occupy an important
place in Wyandot mythology. Their name signifies " The Twins."
They are very diminutive in size, but they possess marvelous super-
natural powers. They lived (and they are supposed to yet live) in
stone caves in the bowels of the earth, made by the Mud Turtle,
when he was digging the hole through the Great Island for the
pathway of the Sun at night when he was going back to the east to
rise upon a new day. In these caves are forests, streams, game,

i 20 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

night and day, heat and cold, as on the surface of the earth. These
Little People are represented as living precisely like the ancient
Wyandots, and that it is their task, duty and pleasure to preserve in
all their primeval purity the ancient laws, customs, social organi-
zation, and political and religious institutions for the use of the
Wyandots after death, for this is the land to which the Wyandots
go when they leave this world. It is presided over by the Mud
Turtle, who did not go into the sky with the other animals. I have
no space here to enumerate the many achievements of the Little
People.

10. The Hooli"-keh'.

The Hooh'"-keh' was the " Medicine Man " of the ancient Wyan-
dots, and the OOh'"-keh' was the " Medicine Woman." Their office
was practically the same in all the Iroquoian tribes, and their func-
tions have been so often described that it is unnecessary to repeat
them here had we time and space.

The foregoing is the merest outline of the principal gods of the
Wyandots. The mythology of the ancient Wyandots was very com-
plete, and everything in the whole universe was accounted for.
Nothing was left in doubt. In its study I have often believed that
I could see that after man had emerged from savagery, he was in-
capable of formulating a religious system which would in all respects
satisfy the human mind. He that increaseth knowledge increaseth
sorrow, and doubt and uncertainty seem to be inseparable from ad-
vancement in knowledge.

I give a few specimens of the myths of the ancient Wyandots
which I have preserved. They are not altogether in connected order
as given here, and are intended to show the style in which they were
related by the " Keepers of the True Traditions " of the Wyandot
people. Anciently they were preserved in the form of songs.

The Woman who fell from Heaven.

The people lived in Heaven (Yah-rohn'-ylh-yeh). They were
Wyandots. The head man's name was Hooh'-mah'-yooh-wah"-neh',
the Big Chief, or the Mighty Ruler. He had a very beautiful daugh-
ter. She was the favorite of the people. She became sick. The
HoUh'"-keh' came. She could not be cured by his medicine. The
Hooh'"-keh' said, "Dig up the wild apple-tree; what will cure her
she can pluck from among its roots." This apple-tree stood near
the door of the lodge of Hooh-mah'-yGoh-wah/'-neh'.

The Hcoh"-keh' advised that while they were digging up the wild

Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Wyandots. 121

apple-tree, they should bring the young Woman, and lay her down
upon the ground under its branches, so that she might see down
where the men 1 were at work, and the more quickly pluck away the
medicine (Noh''-quaht) when it should be reached.

When they had dug there for a while, the tree and the ground all
about it suddenly sank down, fell through, and disappeared. The
lap or treetop caught and carried down the young Woman. Tree
and Woman disappeared, and the rent (K5h'-mehn-sah'-eh-zhah'-ah,
i. e. broken world, or the rent earth) was closed over both of them.

This point where the tree sank down through heaven is called in
the Wyandot mythology, Teh'-6oh-kyah'-eh, the point of breaking
through. In some versions of this account it is called the " Jump-
ing-off Place ; " for the Woman is represented as jumping or springing
from the sky. The same Wyandot term is used, though, in all
versions.

Underneath, in the lower world, was only water, — Yoohns'-tsahn-
reh'-zhooh, The Great Water. Two Swans 2 were swimming about
there. These Swans saw the young Woman falling from heaven.
Some accounts say that a mighty peal of thunder, the first ever
heard in these lower regions, broke over the waters, and startled all
the swimmers. On looking up, the Swans beheld the Woman stand-
ing in the rent heavens, clad in flames of bright lightning. She was
taller than the highest tree. Thus was she accompanied in her fall
from heaven by Heh'-noh, the Grandfather and the Thunder God of
the Wyandots.

One of the Swans said : —

"What shall we do with this Woman ?"

The other Swan replied : —

"We must receive her on our backs."

Then they threw their bodies together side by side, and she fell
upon them.

The Swan that had first spoken said : —

"What shall we do with this Woman ? We cannot forever bear
her up."

To this question the other Swan replied : —

" We must call a council of all the swimmers and all the water
tribes."

This they did. Each animal came upon special invitation. The
Big Turtle came by special invitation to preside over the Yah'-hah-
sheh'yeh, the Great Council.

1 Some versions say women were doing the digging ; others use the word
" people."

2 The Wyandot word for swan is used in this place, but the description of the
birds would seem to indicate gulls or geese. They are described as " flat-backed
birds," half a tree tall, i. e. very large.

i j j journal of American Folk-Lore.

Much discussion was had by the Great Council. But it seemed
for a long time that the deliberations would be fruitless. No plan
for the disposition of the Woman could be agreed upon. When the
Great Council was about to adjourn without coming to a conclusion,
the Big Turtle said : —

" If you can get a little of the earth which, with the Woman and
the Tree, fell down from heaven, I will hold it."

So the animals took it by turns to try to get the earth. They
dived down into the deep where the Tree had fallen. But they
could get none of the earth, which, so the Wyandots claim, shone
with a brilliant light to guide them. In this search many of the ani-
mals were drowned, and came to the surface dead. When it seemed
that none of the earth could be obtained, the Toad volunteered to go
down and try and see what success she-might have.

The Toad was gone a long time. The Great Council despaired of
her coming back again. Finally she came up, with her mouth full
of the earth ; but she was dead when she reached the surface.

There was very little of the earth, — too little, it was supposed, —
and the Great Council was discouraged. But the Little Turtle
urged that it be used. She rubbed it carefully about the edges of
the Big Turtle's shell. And from this small amount soon there was
the Great Island upon the Big Turtle's back.

The Woman was removed from the backs of the Swans to the
Great Island, which was, from that time, her home.

The Toad was the only swimmer that could get the earth. This
is why the Toad has always been called Mah'-shooh-tah'-ah — Our
Grandmother — by the Wyandots. The Toad is held in reverence
by the Wyandots, and none of them will harm her to this day.

Yodh'>z'-tsah»-dch'-kdh-reh'-zhooh, or The Great Island.
The Island grew to be a great land, — all of North America,
which, to the Wyandot, was all the earth. The Wyandot name for
the Great Island is Yoohng'-tsahn-deh'-koh-reh'-zhooh. It means,
literally, " The Land which stands up from the Great Water ; " but it
is correctly rendered "The Great Island." It rests yet on the back
of the Big Turtle. He stands deep down in the Yoohns'-tsahn-reh'-
zhooh, or the Great Water, in which the Swans were swimming when
they saw the Woman fall from heaven. Sometimes he becomes
weary of remaining so long in one position. Then he shifts his
tit, and moves (changes) his feet. And then the Great Island
trembles, and the Wyandots cry out, « Hah'-kah-shah-tehn'-dih !
Hah'-kah-shah-tehn'-dlh ! He moves the earth ! He moves the
earth ! "

Thus does the Wyandot account for the OOh'-toh-mehn-sah-zhaht',
the Earthquake.

Notes on the Foik-Lore of the Wyandots. 123

The Twins bom.

The Great Island was the Woman's home. It was not then so
large as it afterwards was made. The Woman went all about the
Great Island. Teh'-eh-toh-rahn'-tohs1 was her lot and part. But in
her wanderings she found a lodge, and, living in it, an Old Woman.
She called the Old Woman Shooh-tah'-ah, — " Her Grandmother."
In the Wyandot mythology, the point where the lodge of the Old
Woman stood is called R5hn'-yIh-shooh-tah''-tehk-trah-zhooht, —
"The place where the Woman who fell from Heaven met (or found)
her Grandmother."

The Woman lived with her Grandmother. She is well now, her
sickness having disappeared. But she is yehn-deh'-rih (i. e. with
child), however, — and with the Tah-keh'-eh (i. e. with The Twins).

The time of the Woman who fell from Heaven was full. Of her
were now born the Two Children, — The Brothers, — The Twins.
Of these Children, one was Good, — the other Bad, or Evil. Hooh-
mah'-yooh-wah"-neh' directed how The Twins should be named.
The Good One was named Tseh'-seh-howh'-hoohnsk, — i. e. made of
Fire, or The Man who was made of Fire. The Evil One was
named Tah'-weh-skah'-robhngk, — i. e. made of Flint, or The Man
who was made of Flint.2

The Deer and the Rainbow ; or, How the Animals got into the Sky.

The animals were greatly distressed and much offended by the
works of Tah'-weh-skah'-roohnsk. They saw how fortunate was the
Little Turtle, who spent most of her time " keeping the heavens."
She always came, to attend the Great Council, in the Black Cloud,
in which were the springs, ponds, streams, and lakes.

One day the Deer said to the Rainbow : —

" Carry me up to the sky. I must see the Little Turtle."

The Rainbow did not wish to comply with the request of the Deer
at that time, but wished to consult the Thunder God about the mat-
ter, and so replied : —

" Come to me in the winter, when I rest on the mountain by the
lake. Then I will take you up to the house of the Little Turtle."

The Deer looked and waited all winter for the Rainbow, but the
Rainbow did not come. When the Rainbow came in the summer,
the Deer said : —

" I waited for you all winter on the mountain by the lake ; you did
not come. Why did you deceive me ? "

1 This word signifies deep grief and sorrow ; and it carries, too, some idea of
repentance.

2 These names carry no signification of good and evil as we understand those
terms.

i 24 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Then the Rainbow said : —

" When you see me in the fog over the lake, come to me ; then
you can go up. I will carry you up to the house of the Little Turtle
in the sky."

One day the fog rolled in heavy banks and thick masses over the
lake. The Deer stood on the hill by the lake, waiting and looking
for the Rainbow. When the Rainbow threw the beautiful arch from
the lake to the hill, a very white and shining light flashed and shone
about the Deer. A straight path, with all the colors of the Rain-
bow, lay before the Deer; it led through a strange forest. The
Rainbow said : —

" Follow the beautiful path through the strange woods."

This the Deer did. The beautiful way led the Deer to the house
of the Little Turtle in the sky. And the Deer went about the sky
everywhere.

When the Great Council met, the Bear said : —

"The Deer is not yet come to the Council ; where is the Deer? "

Then the Hawk flew all about to look for the Deer, but the
Hawk could not find the Deer in the air. Then the Wolf looked in
all the woods, but the Deer could not be found in the woods any-
where.

When the Little Turtle came in the Black Cloud, in which were
the streams, the lakes, and the ponds, the Bear said : —

" The Deer is not yet come to the Council ; where is the Deer ?
There can be no Council without the Deer."

The Little Turtle replied : —

" The Deer is in the sky. The Rainbow made a beautiful path-
way of all her colors for the Deer to come up by."

The Council looked up to the sky, and saw the Deer running
about there. Then the Little Turtle showed to the Council the
beautiful pathway made for the Deer by the Rainbow. All the ani-
mals except the Mud Turtle went along the beautiful way which led
them up into the sky. They remain there to this day. They may
be often seen, flying or running about the sky.

From this circumstance, the Deer is sometimes spoken of as
DCh'-hchn-yahn'tch, — " The Rainbow," or, more properly, "The
path of many colors made for the Deer by the Rainbow." This is
one of the oldest names for men in the list of names belonging to
the Deer Clan. It is one of the Wyandot names of the writer.

William E. Connellcy}

1 The writer of this paper, author of the Provisional Government of Nebraska
Territory, member of the Nebraska State Historical Society, and chairman of
the Committee on American Ethnology, Western Historical Society, Kansas City,

Notes on the Folk- Lore of the Wyandots. 125

Mo., is an adopted Wyandot of the Deer Clan, raised up to fill the position of
Sahr'-stahr-rah'-tseh, the famous chief of the Wyandots known to history as the
Half-King. The latter was chief during the war of the Revolution, and one of
the founders of the Northwestern Confederacy of Indians, that opposed so long
the settlement of the territory northwest of the Ohio River. The Wyandots stood
at the head of this confederacy, and were the keepers of the Council Fire thereof.
The writer, who has also received the Wyandot name of Deh'-hehn-yahn'-teh,
The Rainbow, has had frequent occasion to transact business for this people, and
in the course of such duty has become interested in their language, history, man-
ners, customs, and religious beliefs. He has also written an account of the clan
system and other features of the tribal society. He has prepared an extensive
vocabulary of the language, not yet published, and made a collection of the songs
which by missionaries and others have been rendered into the Wyandot tongue.
At the present time the opportunity for such studies has passed away, inasmuch
as the old Wyandots from whom this information was received, with one excep-
tion, have died, and the present generation is wholly ignorant of the ancient
beliefs. No folk-lore could be obtained from any Wyandot now living, and few
can speak the language.

126 Journal of A merican Folk- Lore.

ENGLISH FOLK-TALES IN AMERICA.

THE BRIDE OF THE EVIL ONE.

In former times there lived, on a great plantation far out in the
country, the richest and most beautiful lady in the world. Her
name was Maritta, and she was beloved by all who knew her, espe-
cially so by her parents, with whom she dwelt.

She was so rich that one could not count her wealth in many
days ; and her home was a palace, filled with rare things from all
quarters of the globe. Rich hangings of damask and tapestry
adorned the walls, and massive and wonderfully carved furniture
filled the rooms. Instead of gilt, as is usual in splendid mansions,
the mirrors and pictures were framed in gold, silver, and even
precious stones. Then, the dining-table was a wonder to behold —
glittering with costly glass and golden service. The lady Maritta
always ate from a jewelled platter with a golden spoon ; and her
rooms were filled with wondrous vases, containing delicious spices
and rare perfumes of many kinds.

Half the brave and daring fine gentlemen of her country had
sought her hand in marriage ; but her parents always declared that
each was not rich enough. So loath were her parents to give her
up, that they finally said she should never marry unless she could
view her suitor ten thousand miles down the road.

Now, as roads in general are not straight for so great a distance,
— to say nothing of one's eyesight, — the poor lady was quite in
despair, and had almost decided to remain a spinster.

At last the Evil One, seeing the covetousness of this old couple,
procured for himself an equipage of great magnificence, and went
a- wooing. His coach was made of beaten gold, so ablaze with pre-
cious stones that the sun seemed mean in comparison with it.
Maritta beheld it thirty thousand miles off, and all the household
were called out to view it ; for such a wonder had never been seen
in that part of the world. But so great was the Evil One's power
for conjuring that he was a very short time in arriving. He drove
up to the door with so grand a dash and clatter and style that
Maritta thought she had never beheld as princely a personage.
When he had alighted most gracefully, uncovering and bowing to
the mother and father, he knelt at the feet of Maritta, kissed her
hand, and turning to her astonished parents, asked the hand of their
daughter in marriage. So pleased were they all with his appearance
that the wedding was hastened that very day. After the marriage
compact was completed Maritta bade adieu to her proud parents ;
and tripping lightly into his coach, they drove away with great
effect.

English Folk- Tales in America. 127

Then they journeyed and journeyed, and every fine house or
plantation which they approached, Maritta would exclaim : " Is that
your home, my dear?" "No, darling," he would reply with a
knowing smile, " my house is another cut to that." Still they jour-
neyed : and just as Maritta was beginning to feel very weary they
approached a great hill, from which was issuing a cloud of black
smoke, and she could perceive an enormous hole in the side of the
hill, which appeared like the entrance to a tunnel. The horses
were now prancing and chafing at the bits in a most terrifying
manner ; and Maritta thought she saw flames coming from out their
nostrils. Just as she was catching her breath to ask the meaning
of it all, the coach and party plunged suddenly into the mouth of
the yawning crater, and they sank down, down into that place which
is called Torment. The poor trembling lady went into a swoon,
and knew nothing more until she awoke in the House of Satan.
But she did not yet know that it was the Evil One whom she had
married, nor that, worse still, he was already a married man when
she had made his acquaintance. Neither did she know that the
frightful old crone was his other wife. Satan's manner had also
undergone a decided change ; and he, who had been so charming a
lover, was now a blustering, insolent master. Lifting his voice
until it shook the house, as when it thunders, he stormed around,
beating the old hag, killing her uncanny black cat, and raising a
tumult generally. Then, ordering the hag to cook him some buck-
wheat cakes for breakfast, he stamped out of the house, towards his
blacksmith shop, to see how his hands were doing their work.
While the wretched young wife sat in her parlor, looking very
mournful and lovely, wiping her eyes and feeling greatly mystified,
the old hag was turning her cakes on the griddle and growing more
and more jealous of this beautiful new wife who was to take her
place. Finally she left the cakes and came and stood by Maritta.
"My child," quoth she, "my dear daughter, have you married that
man ? " " Yes, dame," replied the pretty Maritta. " Well, my
child," said she, "you have married nothing but the Devil." At this
the wretched young wife uttered a scream and would have swooned
again, except that the hag grasped her by the arm, and putting a
rough horny hand over Maritta's mouth, said in a low and surly
voice, near her ear : " Hist ! Should he hear you, he will kill us
both ! Only do my bidding, and keep a quiet tongue, and I will
show you how to make your escape." At this Maritta sat up quite
straight, and said in trembling tones : " Good dame, prithee tell me,
and I will obey, and when I am free, I will send you five millions of
dollars." But the forlorn hag only shook her head, replying:
" Money I ask not, for it is of no use to such as I ; but listen well."

1 2 S Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

Then seating herself on the floor at the feet of Maritta, her black
hair hanging in tangles about her sharp ugly face, like so many
serpents, she continued in this wise : " He has two roosters who are
his spies, and you must give them a bushel of corn to pacify them —
but I shall steal the corn for you. He also has two oxen ; one is as
swift of foot as the wind can blow ; the other can only travel half as
fast. You will have to choose the last, as the swift one is too well
jruarded for us to reach him. The slower one is tethered just out-
side the door. Come ! " she cried to Maritta, who would have held
back, "a faint heart will only dwell in Torment." At this thought
the poor Maritta roused herself, and summoned all her strength. Her
hair had now fallen loose and she was all in tears. But she mounted
quickly, looking over her shoulder, to see if he was coming even
then. " But dame," cried she, "will he not overtake me, if his ox is
so much more fleet of foot than mine ? " " Hold your slippery
tongue," replied the hag, " and mark my words. Here is a reticule
to hang at your side ; this is a brickbat which I put in the bottom,
and on that I place a turkey egg and a goose egg. When you feel
the hot steam coming near you, drop the brickbat — for he will soon
return, and missing you, will start on your chase, mounted on the
ox. As he approaches near, you will feel the heat of his breath like
hot steam. When you drop the brickbat a wall will spring up from
the earth to the sky ; and the Devil cannot pass it until he tears
down every brick, and throws it out of sight. When you feel the hot
steam again, drop the turkey egg, and there will come a river ; and
when he reaches this river he cannot cross over until his ox drinks
all the water. Do the same with the goose egg, and a river will again
flow behind you, thus giving ycu more time in which to reach home.
Now off with you, and Devil take you, if you don't hold on tight
and keep up your spirits. But, hark ye, if he catches you, I will
poison you when you come back. At this terrible threat the lovely
Maritta was so frightened that she forgot to thank the old hag or
say good-by. In the twinkling of an eye the weird-looking creature
had raised her mighty arm, and gurgling out a frightful laugh, she
lashed the ox with a huge whip. Away he sped, verily as fleet as
the wind, with the beautiful lady clinging on, her arms wound
around his neck, and her soft face buried in his shaggy hair. On-
ward they floated, above the earth, it seemed to Maritta, over hills
and plains, through brake and swamp. Just as the lady began to
rejoice at being set free, — for it seemed a kind ox, and, after all, it
was not so very hard to hold on, as she glided along, — she heard a
piercing shriek behind her ; and suddenly a burning hot steam
seemed to envelop her. Thinking of the brickbat, in an instant she
snatched it from the reticule — almost breaking the eggs in her

English Folk-Tales in America. 129

haste — and flung it behind her, nearly suffocated with the heat.
Then she turned to look : and lo ! a great dark wall shut the awful
sight from her gaze.

Onward, onward they sped, as she urged the ox by kind words,
stroking his great neck with her delicate white hands. After they
had traversed a great distance, Maritta began to think of home and
the loved ones, when her reveries were broken by a gaunt black
hand clutching at her hair over the back of the ox ; and again she
felt the intense heat. Too terrified to put her hand in the reticule,
she gave it a shake, and the turkey egg fell to the ground. On the
instant water was flowing all about her, cooling the air and quite
reviving her. Then a harsh voice fell upon her ear, crying :
"Drink, drink, I tell you; mighty hard on you, but you must drink!"

Soon the river was left far behind, and again Maritta aroused
herself as she began to notice many familiar landmarks, which told
that she was nearing home. After urging the ox on at a great rate
for many more miles, she dropped the goose egg, in order to give
herself ample time, although as yet she had not again felt the
approach of her fiendish husband. At length the welcome sight of
her own broad fields greeted her anxious and weary eyes ; and soon
her dear home arose upon the horizon. With a few more strides
the wonderful ox halted at her own very door, and she fell from his
back more dead than alive. For some moments she was unable to
rise and embrace her alarmed parents, who had seen her approach.
They had only had time to retire into the house, when Satan rode
up to the steps. Throwing himself from the ox, he banged for admit-
tance, in a vastly different manner from that of his first visit. But
the father confronted him, and he had to content himself with talk-
ing to Maritta over her father's shoulders, — while the poor lady
was cowering in a corner of the room clinging to her mother.
However, the touch of loving parental arms soon reassured her, and
she demanded of Satan what he wished further. "I have," replied
his Satanic majesty, "three questions to propound to you; and if
not properly answered, I shall take you by force again to my realms."
Then placing his feet wide apart, with head thrown back, one arm
akimbo on his hip, and snapping the fingers of his other hand, he
sang in an impudent, swaggering manner : —

What is whiter than any snow ?
What is whiter than any snow ?
Who fell in the colley well ?

The gentle Maritta lifted her soft eyes, and raising her sweet
voice sang in a pure and tender strain : —
vol. xii. — no. 45. 9

! .0 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

Heaven is whiter than any snow,
Heaven is whiter than any snow,
Who fell in the colley well?

"Yes, ma'am," replied Satan, rather taken aback. " That 's right."
Then he continued : —

What is deeper than any well ?
What is deeper than any well ?
Who fell in the colley well ?

Maritta replied in the same strain : —

Hell is deeper than any well,
Hell is deeper than any well,
Who fell in the colley well ?

Again the Evil One took up his strain : —

What is greener than any grass ?
What is greener than any grass ?
Who fell in the colley well?

Maritta lifted her voice a third time : —

Poison is greener than any grass,
Poison is greener than any grass,
Who fell in the colley well ?

Greatly confounded at her answers, the Evil One stamped his feet
in such a manner that smoke and sparks flew upward, and an odor
of sulphur filled the room. Then turning on his heels he cried to
the mother that he had left a note under the doorsteps with the
Devil's own riddle on it.

A thousand or more acres of green corn grew about the house;
and the Devil, pulling it all up by the roots, carried it in his hands,
tore the roof off the mansion, and raising a fearful storm, disap-
peared in it. When the storm had abated, the mountains around
about were all levelled to the ground. After the panic caused by
his wonderful conjuring had subsided, the mother bethought herself
of the note, and when found it read as follows : —

Nine little white blocks into a pen,
One little red block rolled over them.

None could guess it save Maritta, who said it meant the teeth
and tongue.

Elizabeth Johnston Cooke.
Macon, Ga.

Note. — The above story was told me by " Old William," my negro gardener,
in New Orleans. He said that he was born, and mostly brought up, in Martinique
— although he had lived many years in Louisiana. He spoke, quite well for a
negro, English, French, and Spanish, and was altogether a "character." He
claimed to know a great many similar stories.

Some Mountain Superstitions of the South. 131

SOME MOUNTAIN SUPERSTITIONS OF THE SOUTH.

It would be interesting to know where superstition began, and
more interesting to know where lies the exact boundary line between
it and science, truth, philosophy. Man's wisdom will probably never
make a dot there.

In many instances the difference between superstition and sound
sense is about the same as that which Bishop Warburton defined
between orthodoxy and heterodoxy, " Orthodoxy is my doxy ; hetero-
doxy is another man's doxy."

Although so great a man as Edmund Burke says that supersti-
tion is the religion of feeble minds, a very ordinary person may be
allowed to suggest that it would be difficult sometimes to prove
whose is the feeble mind ; and certainly conviction would be seldom
secured by admission of guilt.

Burke suggests degrees of folly in superstitions, and says if a
prudent man were called to pass judgment upon them, "perhaps he
would think the superstition which builds to be more tolerable than
that which demolishes — that which adorns a country, than that
which plunders — that which disposes to mistaken beneficence, than
that which stimulates to real injustice — that which leads a man to
refuse to himself lawful pleasures, than that which snatches from
others the scanty subsistence of their self-denial."

I think it a sufficient classification to say that superstitions are
three in kind, — useful, vicious, innoxious ; as, for instance, such
as built the pyramids, such as burned the witches, and such as
suggests to a person the desirability of seeing the new moon over
his right shoulder.

Our Southern mountain superstitions are in the main compara-
tively harmless. Many of them are amusing to a degree, and a few,
unfortunately, are capable of leading on to the gravest conse-
quences.

Following are a few of widest acceptation : —

If a whip-poor-will alights upon your doorstep and sings, it is
likely to bring bad luck. You should throw fire at it, and it will
not return.

When you hear the first whip-poor-will in springtime, you should
lie down upon the ground, roll over three times, then reach over
your left shoulder and pick up the first thing that your hand rests
upon. Put this under your pillow at night, go to sleep lying on
your right side, and whatever you dream will surely come to pass.

It betokens bad luck to hear the first cooing of a dove in spring,

132 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

unless you chance to be standing at the time. If you are lying
down you will be sick during the remainder of the year ; and if sit-
ting you will have bad health all the rest of the year.

When an unmarried woman hears the first cooing of a dove in
the spring, she should take nine steps forward, and then nine steps
backward, all without speaking. Then she should take off her right
shoe, and in it she will find a hair from her future husband's head.

If an owl hoots around the house, it is a sign of death. If you
put an iron in the fire, however, when you hear it hoot, it will
immediately go away. But that may not prevent the calamity.

For a turtle-dove to flutter in front of you is a very bad sign.

You should never turn a meal sack or flour sack wrong side up
when emptying it. If you do, you will be in need of the article
which it contained, and be compelled to borrow before you can
otherwise procure any more.

You should never take a broom with you when you move, unless
you throw it clear through the house which you are about to occupy
before taking in any other article whatever.

You should not sweep before breakfast Sunday morning. If you
do you will hear of the death of a relative or friend before the week
ends.

Two persons should never sweep at the same time in the same
house. It is an omen of bad luck.

If you force the accumulations of sweeping out through the door
with a broom, you sweep away your fortune with them. If you have
no open fireplace, you should gather up the accumulations and burn
them in a stove.

If you see a broom lying across the doorway when you go to a
neighbor's house, do not step over it under any circumstances. It
is a trap to catch witches, who always step over brooms. If you
step over one, you will be inevitably regarded a witch.

Do not allow a cat to follow after you and mew. It is an ill
omen.

Never take a cat with you when you move.

Never kill your own cat. If you must get rid of it, and can think
of no other way, get somebody else to kill it for you.

If a black cat comes to your house, do not allow it to remain,
because it comes for the express purpose of bringing you bad luck.

But if a spotted cat comes, keep it by all means if you can, as it
will bring good luck.

If a chicken crows after it goes to roost, go immediately and kill
it. If you do not, you will hear bad news.

If a hen crows at any time, kill her at once. She is trying to
crow bad luck to you or some of your family.

Some Mountain Superstitions of the South. 133

If the crickets do not chirp in your hearth, go to a neighbor's
house and borrow some. If these do not remain and chirp for you,
wisdom dictates that you move out of the house at once, as you will
never know happiness there.

Do not trim your finger-nails during Friday unless you are trou-
bled with toothache. In that event trim them every Friday night
during nine consecutive weeks. This will effect a cure.

If you trim your finger and toe nails Fridays, you will not have
toothache. Neither will you if you trim them any other day and
bury the trimmings in a hole which you have bored in a tree for the
purpose.

Never begin anything either Friday or Saturday. Friday is
essentially an unlucky day ; and if you begin something Saturday
and do not finish it that day, you will not live to finish it.

Wash your warp and dye it while the moon is growing, and it
will stretch. But if you wash and dye it while the moon is waning,
it will shrink.

Never have a garment cut or made while you are sick. If you do,
you will not live to wear it.

Never tie one shoe before you put on the other, else you will be
"mad" all day. This is all the more certain to be the case if it be
the left shoe that you tie first.

If you put on a garment wrong side out, it bodes good luck if you
will but wear it that way all day. However, if you can turn it right
side out over the top of your head, without seeing it, you may do so
without danger of breaking the charm.

It is indicative of good luck to wear the left stocking wrong side
out.

Should you chance to be led around by a jack-o-lantern, take off
your stocking and turn it wrong side out ; or if that is not conven-
ient, or you have no stockings with you, turn your pocket wrong
side out, and the jack-o-lantern will go its way and molest you no
more during that journey.

If a woman starts anywhere upon an errand or for any kind of
business and the first person she meets is a woman, she should at
once turn back ; for she will not have good luck regarding her
mission. But if she meets a man first, she may confidently expect
good luck.

If a man starts upon a mission and first meets a man, he should
turn back. Ill luck awaits him. If he first meets a woman, it is a
good omen.

If a person starts anywhere and has to turn back for any reason,
he should be sure to make a cross mark in the road at the spot
where he turns back, spit in the centre of it, and then when he

! -, Journal of American Folk-Lore.

leaves the house the second time he should go out at a different
door than that by which he first left. Then he will have destroyed
the conditions which would otherwise have brought bad luck.

If you see the new moon through clouds or treetops, you will
have trouble until the next new moon.

When you get up in the morning be sure that you put both feet
out of bed exactly at the same instant. Otherwise you will have
trouble all day.

Do not sing before breakfast, or you will cry before night.

Salt and pepper should be the first articles to be taken into a new
house, or one that you are going to occupy for the first time.

If a baby has thrush, stop the first man that comes along, borrow
one of his shoes, and give the little one a drink of water out of it.
This is considered a specific.

If your right ear burns, somebody is saying good of you.

If your left ear burns, somebody is saying ill of you.

If your right ear itches, you will hear good news.

If your left ear itches, you will hear a secret.

If the palm of your right hand itches, you will shake hands with a
stranger.

If the palm of your left hand itches, you will handle money.

If the bottom of your right foot itches, you will walk on strange
ground soon.

If the bottom of your left foot itches, you will soon walk on strange
ground, to your disadvantage.

It may have been noted that some of these superstitions go hand
in hand with convenience, economy, prudence, etc. : as, for example,
" Do not sweep before breakfast ; " " Do not kill your cat, but get
somebody else to kill it, if it must be killed ; " " Do not begin any-
thing Friday or Saturday ; " " If you put a garment on wrong side
out, wear it so all day;" "Do not close a neighbor's gate;" and
"Do not loan anything to a suspected witch."

I suppose that all sections and all classes have more or less of
superstition. Even in the metropolis there are men who think that
a cocktail is good for a cold ; a drink of whiskey straight is good for
the health in December; and a glass of brandy and soda or a julep
equally as beneficial in hot weather.

The mountaineers in some sections have superstitions to bolster
up, morally speaking, their tastes and appetites.

As most people know, there are moonshiners in some of the
mountain districts. They make whiskey without consulting Uncle
Sam about it.

The people drink the whiskey.

Some Mountain Superstitions of the South. 135

They often justify both the drinking and the act of patronizing
offenders against law by such pretexts as that they need some on
hand in case of snake bites. But a more common pretext is that
when cows eat grass in certain coves with north exposures, while
the dew is on the grass, they take " milk sick," and the disease is
communicated to people by means of the milk.

Failure of the milk to foam is the first warning that milk sick is
abroad in the land. And yet when a mountain woman milks a cow
with one hand only, as she usually does, the chances are sixteen to
one that very little if any foam will appear on the milk.

Whiskey is agreed to be a specific for milk sick, and hence whis-
key must be kept on hand. " An ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure," and therefore the whiskey should be used often for
fear that milk sick may come.

As whiskey cannot be had conveniently from other sources, of
course it is permissible to buy it from the moonshiners, or make it
yourself, just for home consumption, if not a little for "the export
trade."

H. M. Witts e.

1 3 6 Journal of A merican Folk-L ore.

RECORD OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.

NORTH AMERICA.

Algonktan. Mr. W. W. Tooker, with his accustomed skill,
writes of "The adopted Algonquian term 'poquosin'" in the
"American Anthropologist " (N. S. vol. i. pp. 162-170) for January,
1899. This word, with various spellings, is in our standard diction-
aries, being used in Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas, in the
sense of "swamp, low land, marsh." Mr. Tooker explains the word,
originally poquo-es-in(g), as signifying localities "where water
'backed up,' as in spring freshets, or in rainy seasons, which, by
reason of such happenings, became more or less marshy or boggy."
Related names are Pocasset, Conn., and Poughkecpsic, N. Y. — The
" Original Significance of ' Merrimac ' " is the title of a brief paper
by Mr. W. W. Tooker in the "American Antiquarian " for January-
February, 1899 (vol. xxi. pp. 14-16), in which the author takes issue
with some of the etymologies of Dr. Gatschet in the October num-
ber of the same journal. According to Mr. Tooker, Merrimack or
Mornumack denotes "where there is a noise," or "a place of noises,"
and does not come from the Algonkian term for the " catfish " or
"spotted mackerel." This etymology, which is undoubtedly correct,
rehabilitates the Rev. John Eliot once more. — In the "Forum"
(1898, pp. 618-629), S. Pokagon, an Algonkian Indian of Michigan,
writes about " Indian Superstitions and Legends."

Athapascan. In the "American Anthropologist" (vol. xi. pp.
367-372), Mr. Frank Russell writes of "An Apache Medicine
Dance," — a ceremonial of the Jicarillas, observed in August and
September, 1898. In this case the chief "medicine-man" was a
woman, named Sotli", and the patient, another woman, is said to
have recovered from the malady from which she was suffering. It
is worthy of note that the "doctor" made "a journey of nearly 100
miles, from the Pueblo of San Ildefonso to the Jicarillas, on a
burro."

Caddoan. In the "American Anthropologist" (N. S. vol. i. pp.
82-97), Miss Alice C. Fletcher writes of " A Pawnee Ritual used
when changing a Man's Name." Pawnee text, verbal translation,
and a close translation of this "dramatic poem" are given. The
text was graphophoned from Ta-hi-roos-sa-wi-chi, a priest of the
Chau-i division of the Pawnee, of whom the author remarks : " His
unquestioning faith in the religion of his forefathers soared far above
the turbulent conditions of to-day, and gave to him a calm akin to
the serenity of childhood, which was reflected in his kindly, smiling,
and peaceful face." Naming with these Indians was epoch-marking
and sacred,

Record of A merican Folk- Lore. 137

Copehan. Mr. Jeremiah Curtin's book, " Creation Myths of
Primitive America, in relation to the Religious History and Mental
Development of Mankind" (Boston, 1898, 530 pp.), contains 22
"very interesting creation myths" of the Indians of California
Wintuns and Yanas, in literary form, with a few explanatory notes.
No native texts are given, and fuller explanations would not have
been altogether out of place. The Wintuns are reckoned as of the
Copehan stock by the Bureau of Ethnology, while the Yanan is
another independent family of speech.

Eskimo. In the "Globus" (Bd. lxxiv. S. 124-132), Friederici dis-
cusses Eskimo art — " Die darstellende Kunst der Eskimos." — In
the "American Anthropologist" (vol. xi. p. 356) for November,
1898, Prof. O. T. Mason raises the question, "Were the ancient Es-
kimo artists? " and answers the question in the negative, holding that
"the artistic expression of the Eskimo, in the line of etching, is
exactly parallel to the extent to which he has come in contact with
white men." — To the " Report of the U. S. National Museum " for
1896, Dr. Walter Hough contributes (pp. 1025-1056) an extended
and well illustrated — 24 plates, with numerous figures — account
of "The Lamp of the Eskimo." The Aleuts, we learn, have "the
most primitive lamps on earth, many of them merely unmodified
rock fragments." The lamp is, in Eskimo-land, "a social factor,
peculiarly the sign of the family unit, each head of the family (the
woman) having her lamp," and the "architecture of the house is
related to the use of the lamp."

Haida. As vol. ii. of the Archives of the " International Folk-
Lore Association," is published Mr. James Deans's "Tales from the
Totems of the Hidery" (Chicago, 1899). Most of the material in
the book has appeared in past volumes of the "American Anti-
quarian," and the general introduction is of an ethnographic and
sociological nature. — In "Globus" (Bd. lxxiv. S. 194-196), C. Hen-
ning discusses "Die Gesichtsbemalungen der Indianer von Nord-
Britisch-Columbien," — the topic treated of by Dr. F. Boas.

Iroquoian. The chief portion of Mr. David Boyle's " Archaeolo-
gical Report, 1898" (Toronto, 1898), is taken up with an account of
the " Pagan Iroquois " of the Grand River Reserve, Ontario (pp. 54-
196). Their religion, festivals, dances, feasts, music, songs, myths,
folk-lore, sociology, customs, personal names, gentes, place-names,
etc., are discussed, and the report is illustrated by numerous photo-
graphs. In his investigation Mr. Boyle had " the cooperation of
Mr. J. Ojijatekha Brant-Sero, one of the brightest and most intelli-
gent Iroquois ever born on the Reserve." The descriptions and
records of the midwinter festival, the burning of the white dog, the
Cayuga spring sun dance, the Seneca spring sun dance, the green-

i -s Journal of American Folk-Lore.

corn dance, the peace-stone game, the feast of the skeleton, the
children's new-year treat (borrowed), the spraying of heads, the
society of the false faces, marriage and funeral customs, are very
interesting and the new matter published of great value. The In-
dian texts (with interlinear translations) and free renderings of the
address of the master of ceremonies at the dog burning, of the
speech of the leader at the midwinter festival, of the general opening
address, etc., are given. In the section on Iroquois music there is
a general account of the dance songs and ceremonial chants, and a
description by Mr. A. T. Cringan, a Toronto music-teacher, of the
songs and music of Kanishondon, the Iroquois singer at the cere-
monial feasts, the music of the pigmy song, the big feather dance
song, the bear dance song, the song of the white dog, the pigeon
dance song, the green corn dance song, the women's dance song, the
war dance song, the false face dance, the fish dance song, the scatter-
ing ashes song, the god song, and the skin dance song are given, and
in addition the words and music of two songs of the New York Iro-
quois,— women's dance song and harvest dance song. The music
of the Iroquois shows clearly the influence of the white man. Mr.
Boyle detects a lack of joyousness in the Indian songs. The myths
(of which only an English record is made) reported are : false faces
or flying heads ; origin of the husky masked dances ; the pigmies
and the pigmy dance; the ohkwaridaksan (the animal never captured
alive) ; bear boy; big turtle. The list of some 15 deer-gens names,
and some 36 Iroquois place-names, is of value. Altogether Mr.
Boyle's report is a welcome addition to Iroquoiana. — In the " Proc.
Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci." (1898, pp. 477-480), C. H. Henning discusses
"The Origin of the Confederacy of the Five Nations."

Pueblos. In the " American Antiquarian " for January-Febru-
ary, 1899 (vol. xxi. pp. 17-40), Dr. S. D. Peet discusses, in an illus-
trated article, "The Social and Domestic Life of the Cliff-Dwellers."
— To the succeeding number of the same journal Dr. Peet contrib-
utes an article on " Relics of the Cliff-Dwellers " (pp. 99-122). — In
the "Bull. Soc. normande de Geographie," of Rouen, for 1898 <pp.
86-109), Mile. Jeanne Goussard de Mayolle writes of " Un voyage
chez les Indiens du Nouveau-Mexique." See Moki.

Tsimshian. To the "Popular Science Monthly" (vol. liv. pp.
1 8 1- 1 93) for December, 1898, Dr. G. A. Dorsey contributes an
illustrated article, "Up the Skeena River to the Home of the
Tsimshians."

Uto-Aztecan. Mexican. Under the title " La Contrefacon du
Christianisme du moyen Age," M. E. Beauvois discusses in the
"Museon," of Louvain (vol. xvii. pp. 223-233), the "resemblances
between the religion of old Mexico, at the time of the discovery, and

Record of American Folk-Lore. 1 39

Christianity," a topic which has given rise to much curious specula-
tion.— In the "Medical Magazine" (vol. vii. pp. 558-568), of Lon-
don, G. Sharp publishes a brief article on "The Civilization and
Medicine of the Ancient Mexicans, period 1519-1521, a. d." — A
most welcome and valuable contribution to the literature of the
Nahuatls is Prof. Frederick Starr's "The Mapa de Cuauhtlantzinco,
or Codice Campos," which appears as Bulletin III. of the Depart-
ment of Anthropology of the University of Chicago (Chicago, 1898,
38 pp.). The paintings in question consist of 44 pictures pasted on
two large frames of stretched cotton, — all of which are reproduced
in Professor Starr's article, from photographs taken on the spot, in
the Pueblo of San Juan de Cuauhtlantzinco, in the state of Puebla.
The pictures are of great historic interest, and date from a period
shortly after Cortez' return to Spain in 1527. They are a record of
daily life and customs, the thoughts of the natives after the con-
quest, and are real native works of art. Professor Starr furnishes,
besides the Spanish text of the explanatory descriptions, an English
translation with notes.

Moki. In the "American Anthropologist" (vol. xi. pp. 313-318),
Dr. J. W. Fewkes describes the " Hopi Snake Washing," as ob-
served by him in 1897 at the pueblo of Miconinovi. Dr. Fewkes
notes the simplicity of the ceremony here as compared with that at
Walpi. We also learn that "new studies of the Hopi Snake Dances
have revealed the fact that no two of the five celebrations of this
dance are identical in details." — The " Passenger Department of
the Santa Fe Route " publishes Mr. Walter Hough's " The Moki
Snake-Dance." A popular account of that unparalleled dramatic
pagan ceremony (Santa Fe, 1898, 8°). — From the "Smithsonian
Report" for 1896, pp. 517-539, Dr. J. W. Fewkes reprints (Wash-
ington, 1898) a "Preliminary Account of an Expedition to the
Pueblo Ruins near Winslow, Arizona, in 1896," illustrated with
numerous plates and figures. The symbolic and mythical bird
figures used in pottery and other decorations are very interesting. —
To the "Smithsonian Report for 1897" Dr. Fewkes contributes
(pp. 601-623) "A Preliminary Account of the Archaeological Field
Work in Arizona in 1897," the reprint being dated Washington,
1898, and well illustrated, like the previous report. Here again the
symbolism in decoration is the chief point of interest. Dr. Fewkes's
notes on the probable migrations of the old Arizonian Indians are
very suggestive and valuable.

Yanan. See Copehan.

140 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

CENTRAL AMERICA.

Bribri. The monograph of H. Pittier de Fabrega, "Die Sprache
der Bribri-Indianer in Costa Rica" (Wien, 1898, 150 S.), which,
edited by the late Prof. Friedrich Miiller, appeared in the Transac-
tions of the Viennese Academy of Sciences, contains four myths of
the relations of men with evil spirits, animals, and birds in the olden
times. The Indian texts are given, together with free and inter-
linear translations. The ethnographic introduction also contains
many items of value. Brinton considers the Bribris, a branch of
the Talamancas, of Chibcha stock.

Mayan. As a reprint from vol. vii. of the " Proceedings of the
Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences" (Davenport, Iowa),
Prof. Frederick Starr publishes an account of "A Shell Inscription
from Tula, Mexico." An irregular fragment of haliotis shell, dis-
covered at Tula, forty miles north of the city of Mexico, had its
whole inner concave surface occupied by an elaborate carving repre-
senting a seated figure, while on the reverse are four characters
" clearly related to the ' calculiform ' characters of Mayan inscrip-
tions." This discovery is very suggestive.

SOUTH AMERICA.

Calchaqui. In his brief account of " The Calchaqui," in the
"American Anthropologist" for January, 1899 (N. S. vol. i. pp. 41-
44), Dr. D. G. Brinton suggests the derivation of the name given to
this people by the chroniclers from the Ouichua 'kallchay-aiy,
"irrascible, ill-natured." The people in question are very interest-
ing, as being, according to some, the old Incasic stock itself, born of
the vales of Catamarca: certainly the art-resemblances are very
striking. According to Dr. Brinton, " the curious old man with the
long beard (un-Indian as he seems) appears on vases from the Cal-
chaqui region as well as in the legendary figure of Viracocha.

Chaco. From the " Proceedings of the American Philosophical
Society," Dr. D. G. Brinton reprints his study of "The Linguistic
Cartography of the Chaco Region"' (Philadelphia, 1898, 30 pp.
8°), which is accompanied by a very useful map showing the lan-
guage distribution according to the very latest information. The
region of the Gran Chaco lies in northern Argentina and eastern
Bolivia (lat. i8°-32° S., long. 58°-66° W.), and is inhabited by
peoples speaking many distinct languages. Some of the etymolo-
gies of the tribal names are very interesting: Guaycuru = " f ast
runners;" Tirumb<z= " naked men;" Omagua= " intelligent, supe-
rior people ; " Juri- "ostrich ; " Chanas= " my relations ; " Charrua

"my men." Dr. Brinton thinks that the Omaguas were, beyond

Record of A merican Folk-L ore. 141

a doubt, of Quechuan stock, a considerable extension of Incasic
influence. Quechuan traces exist also in the Calchaqui.

Guayaqui. In the "Revue du Musee de La Plata" (vol. viii.
1898, pp. 453-459), F. Lahille writes about " Guayaquis y Ana-
mitas." The Guayaquis are a very wild tribe dwelling near the
middle Parana.

Peru. To the "Medical Magazine" (vol. vii. pp. 636-642), of
London, G. Sharp contributes a brief paper on "The Civilization,
Institutions, and Medicine of the Ancient Peruvians, period about
1528 a. d. — Dr. Geo. A. Dorsey's "Bibliography of the Anthro-
pology of Peru" (Chicago, January, 1898, pp. 55-206), which appears
as Publication 23, Anthropological Series, vol. ii. No. 2, of the Field
Columbian Museum, contains many titles of interest to the folk-
lorist.

Querandies. Under the title " Etnografia Argentina. Segunda
Contribucion al Estudio de los Indios Querandies " (Buenos Aires,
1898, 60 pp. 8°), Felix F. Ontes makes a second contribution (the
first appeared in 1897, — "Los Querandies Contribucion al Estudio
de la Etnografia Argentina ") to the study of the Querandies In-
dians, who formerly dwelt on the right bank of the La Plata, near
the present site of Buenos Aires. Ontes makes them out to be of
Guaycuru stock ; Brinton considers them Aucanian.

GENERAL.

^Esthetics. Very interesting is Major Powell's paper in the
"American Anthropologist" for January, 1899 (N. S. vol. i. pp. 1-40),
on " Esthetology, or the Science of Activities designed to give Plea-
sure," in which there are many references to the arts of savage and
barbarous man.

Archaeology. Prof. Cyrus Thomas's " Introduction to the Study
of North American Archaeology" (Cincinnati, xiv. 391 pp. 8°) con-
tains much that is of interest to the student of folk-lore, in respect
to history, culture, etc.

Art. Prof. Thomas Wilson's " Prehistoric Art," which takes up
pages 325-664 of the "Report of the U. S. National Museum for
1896," contains, besides general information as to the art of prehis-
toric man in Europe, notes on art in stone, sculpture, pottery, copper,
gold, and silver work in America, with many plates and illustra-
tions.

Ethnography. In his account of "The Indian Congress at
Omaha" in the fall of 1898, which Mr. James Mooney contributes
to the "American Anthropologist" (N. S. vol. i. pp. 126-149),
are contained notes on various Algonkian, Athapascan, Caddoan,
Salishan, Siouan, Tanoan, Tonkawan, and Yuman Indians, together

142 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

with a brief comparative vocabulary and photographic illustrations.
A detailed account of the tipiy or lodge of the plains Indians, their
dress, is included. — In the " Mittheilungen der anthropologischen
Gesellschaft in Wien " (Bd. xxvii. S. 127-170), J. von Siemiradzki
publishes " Beitrage zur Ethnographie der siidamerikanischen In-
dianer."

Games. To the "Report of the Smithsonian Institution for
1896," Mr. Stewart Culin contributes (pp. 665-942) an elaborate
monograph, with fifty plates and more than two hundred figures, on
" Chess and Playing Cards," being a " Catalogue of Games and
Implements for Divination exhibited by the U. S. National Museum,
in connection with the Department of Archaeology and Palaeontology
of the University of Pennsylvania, at the Cotton States and Inter-
national Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia, 1895." This monograph is a
perfect storehouse of information and illustration. Pages 689-786
are occupied with a detailed description of the games of the various
Indian tribes of North America, alphabetically arranged according
to linguistic stocks, followed by a table showing the nature, number,
material, use, etc., of the gaming implements, etc. Professor Culin's
monograph is but one more of his acute studies of the gaming
activities of primitive peoples, and their correspondences among
those who are or have been civilized.

Migration. In the " Popular Science Monthly " (vol. liv. pp. 1-
15) for November, 1898, Prof. T. S. Morse discusses the question,
" Was Middle America peopled from Asia ? " Professor Morse fur-
nishes numerous and excellent reasons why Central America was
not peopled from civilized Asia, and there is little reason for
deriving American savages from uncivilized Asiatics.

Music. To the "American Anthropologist" (vol. xi. pp. 344-
346) E. H. Hawley contributes a brief paper on the "Distribution
of the Notched Rattle," a primitive musical instrument represented
by the pampunhvap of the Utes, and the truhkunpi of the Moki
Indians. These notched bones are rubbed with other bones to pro-
duce a musical sound. They have been found in Mexico, and bam-
boo and wooden instruments of like sort are found on the Amazon,
in Africa, and elsewhere. — From vol. vii. of the " Proceedings of
the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences" (Davenport, Iowa),
Prof. Frederick Starr reprints an interesting paper on " Notched
Bones from Mexico," in which he discusses the omichihuas, "strong
bone," the primitive Aztec musical instrument referred to above, the
significance of which Dr. HrdliCka in his earlier paper on notched
bones from Mexico did not make clear. Professor Starr's specimens
settle the matter beyond a doubt, and the author adds the further
information that "the notched sticks of the Tonkaways and the

Record of A merican Folk-L ore. 143

Pueblos are the exact representative, still in use among living tribes,
of the ancient notched bone — the omichihuaz — of the old Mexi-
cans."— In the "American Anthropologist" (vol. xi. pp. 280-284),
Mr. M. H. Saville writes of "The Musical Bow in Ancient Mexico,"
discussing the various musical instruments of the Mayas and Aztecs.
— Pages 512-664 of Professor Wilson's monograph on "Prehistoric
Art," referred to above, treat of " Prehistoric Musical Instruments "
in detail, with many illustrations. The prehistoric musical instru-
ments of the New World are considered in detail (pp. 561-663), —
North, Central, and South America being all well-studied. The
plates and figures are very numerous, the explanatory text very
satisfactory. In the preparation of the data relating to America the
author was assisted by Mr. E. P. Upham. The various theories of
the origin and development of music (including Rowbotham and
Wallaschek), are noted and discussed.

Sematology. In the "American Anthropologist " (N. S. vol. i.
pp. 1 55-161), Dr. A. S. Gatschet discusses the words for '" Real,'
'true,' or 'genuine' in Indian languages." The languages inves'
tigated are the Algonkian (Peoria, Miami, Shawnee, Delaware,
Nipissing, Cree, and Arapaho) ; Iroquoian (Mohawk) ; Kiowan ;
Shoshonean (Comanche) ; Tonkawan ; Kwakiutl, and Tshimsian.
The conclusion reached by the author is that "the idea of 'man/
' human being,' individualized to ' man of our own tribe,' must have
been the prototype of the terms for 'real' or 'genuine' " (p. 161).

Weapons. The doctor's thesis of H. Meyer on " Bows and
Arrows in Central Brazil" is reprinted in translation in the "Report
of the Smithsonian Institution for 1896" (Washington, 1898), pp.
549-582, with numerous plates and illustrations, together with a
distribution-map. The paper is a most interesting and valuable
one.

Zootechny. In the "American Anthropologist" (N. S. vol. i.
pp. 45-81), Prof. O. T. Mason has an extended illustrated article on
"Aboriginal American Zootechny." Methods of capture of animals
by the American Indians are described, the Indians' knowledge of
zoology discussed, the products of zootechny noted, and the influ-
ence of this art upon language, religion, society estimated. A list of
weapon-areas (bow, arrow) is given, and their relation to the geo-
graphic environment discussed. Worthy of note is the statement
(p. 79), "in every one of the 18 environments mentioned in this
paper, the savage people knew the best thing for every purpose."

A.F.C. and I. C. C.

144 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Sacrifice among the Wakamba in British East Africa. — In the
summer of 1896 a mission station was established among the Wakamba in
British East Africa.1 The facts stated below are derived from letters from
Mr. Willis R. Hotchkiss, a missionary connected with the station, and from
Mr. Charles E. Hulburt, of Coatesville, Pa., the American director of the
work, who has just returned from a trip to the mission field.

The Wakamba live in a mountainous country, about 325 miles from the
coast, but still about the same distance eastward from Victoria Nyanza.
They occupy a lofty valley, the elevation of which is about 5000 feet above
the sea. The portion of this valley where the mission is located is about
15 miles south of the equator. Northward 90 miles rises Mount Kenia,
18,000 feet high, while about the same distance to the south is Kilmia
Njaro, 19,000 feet high, — both snow-capped the year round. The nearest
town, which consists of a fort and a few houses, is Machakos, on the
line of the Uganda Railway, which is being built from Mombasa to Lake
Victoria.

The Wakamba belong to what is known as the Bantu family of Africans,
who are superior to the purely negro races. Keane describes the Bantus
as of " lighter color, larger cranial capacity, smaller teeth, and less pro-
nounced prognathism," than the negroes. "They are," he says, "distinctly
more intelligent, more civilized, and more capable of upward development
than the full-blood negro." 2

Mr. Hulburt says 8 of the Wakamba that they raise their own millet,
corn, and beans, on which they live almost exclusively. They get their
meat from the various members of the antelope family, which abound in
vast numbers in the plains, together with the zebra, which may be found in
droves of thousands, and of which the natives are very fond. They keep
cattle, goats, and the African hairy sheep. They have no towns, as the
people do not congregate, save as they live along the hillsides or valleys.
The only commerce or exchange known among them, Mr. Hulburt declares
to be the exchange of their daughters for a certain number of goats. The
men are almost universally nude, while the women wear a curious apron
made of skins, and sometimes worked with beads.

When the mission was established, the language of the Wakamba had
never been studied by the outside world. It was necessary for the mis-
sionaries to learn it by actual contact, without grammars or other helps.
The information which Mr. Hotchkiss gives of their form of sacrifice is
therefore quite new.

Writing under date of January 15, 1899, he says that, while they believe
in a God, most of their religious exercises are devoted to the propitiation of
evil spirits. They make offerings of goats, and, at certain seasons, of the

1 This mission is independent and self-governing. It is represented in this
country by the Philadelphia Missionary Council.

2 Ethnology, p. 271. s Tn a ietter to the writer.

Notes and Queries. 145

produce of their fields, but all this is, he says, offered to Aimu, the chief of
the evil spirits.

The blood is poured out as a propitiation to the demon, while the flesh
furnishes a feast for the old men. While this feast is going on, the women
engage in an indecent dance, which is continued until many go into con-
vulsions, and have to be carried away.

There are several features in this sacrifice which furnish parallels to
Semitic sacrifices. 1. The propitiation of the demon Aimu with the blood
of a goat, although it is accomplished in a different way, reminds one of
the goat with which Azazel was propitiated in the ritual of the Day of
Atonement in Leviticus xvi. 2. The festal character of the sacrifice is par-
allel to the festal character of all ancient Semitic sacrifice, as W. R. Smith
has shown us in the " Religion of the Semites." 3. That the old Semitic
scrificial feasts were accompanied with dancing, which were in the early
times religious, but which tended to assume an orgiastic character, and be-
come a sort of intoxication of the senses, Smith has also shown. {Op. cit.
260-262, and 430-433.)

Such rites in some form are, it would seem, characteristic of most reli-
gions at an early stage of development.1

George A. Barton.

Bryn Mawr, Pa.

Two Negro Witch-Stories. — I. The following story of witchcraft was
told by a mulatto or quadroon stewardess of Baltimore, on a steamer sail-
ing from Boston to Baltimore. The stewardess had learned the particulars
of her mother, who, with the mother's half-brother, the hero of the story,
lived in Salisbury, Md.

Every night a black cat came and rode on the man's chest. He was
told that it was not really a cat but a witch, and was advised to set a trap
for it in the usual way, that is, by thrusting a fork through a sieve, so that
the tines would project inside of it.

This he did, placing the sieve close beside him. The cat, in attempting
to leap on his chest as usual, was impaled on the fork, and unable to get
off.

Next morning it was found that the next-door neighbor, a woman, was
sick abed with a " misery in her breast," the location of the pain corre-
sponding exactly to the wounded place on the chest of the cat. This neigh-
bor died of the injury within a week.

II. The same woman related the following: Her mother, when a girl,
lived in Salisbury, Md., in service with two reputable and well-to-do old
maiden ladies. She noticed that one of these old ladies was frequently in
the habit of going out at 10 p. m. or later, and remaining out very late, —
perhaps all night. She told her mother of this, saying she thought there
was something queer about the old ladies, and the mother suggested that
possibly they were witches.

One night the old ladies asked the colored girl to have her mother come

1 Cf. Brinton, Religions of Primitive Peoples, pp. 180-182.
VOL. xi. — no. 45. 10

1 46 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

to stay with her, as they were both to go away that night. The mother
came, bringing a companion with her. As the evening wore on, the old
ladies sent the colored girls and the mother to bed, saying that they them-
selves would lock up the house. Then the ladies went to their chamber,
ostensibly to dress. The negroes, suspecting something, watched them
through a keyhole, and saw them go to the hearth in their chamber, and
there slip out of their human skins, appearing as two black cats, which then
scrambled up the chimney.

One of the delighted witnesses of the transformation thereupon sug-
gested putting salt and pepper on the empty skins that lay on the hearth-
rug, and this was quickly done. Afraid to stay to watch the consequences,
they ran from the house, telling the neighbors to watch in the morning,
and see what would happen. The neighbors were on hand at an early
hour, and, on peeping through the shutters, saw first one, then the other of
the black cats crawl back into the human skin that belonged to it, then
leap out in an agony of smarting, and so in and out, in and out, for a
long time.

The peals of laughter with which the stewardess told this story, and her
genuine enthusiasm over the stratagem just narrated, as well as incidental
remarks which she made in regard to the existence of witches at the present
day, showed undoubting faith in their reality.

Louisiana Ghost Story. — Told in August, 1889, by a negro man of
forty-five or thereabouts, employed as dairy-hand at Chestertown, Md. He
had come from Louisiana, where he had been a slave.

" About two years ago, I reckon, an ole man died in the place whar I
useter live. Pie lef a heap o' proputty ter his heirs ; the' was a right smart
head o' chillun, an' he give 'em ev'y one a farm, an' the' was one mo' farm
yit lef over. 'Twas a good farm an' the house all furnished up, but no
one didn' keer ter live thar, fer they all said the house was haanted.

" But one o' the heirs he said he wan't no way feared but he could lay
that ghost ef they 'd give him the farm, V they tole him the farm was his ef
he could lay the ghost so 's ter live thar. So he went ter a man o' the
name o' Peacock that lived neighbor ter him, an' 't was a church-member,
an' offered him a heap o' money ter go an' lay that ghost.

" Mr. Peacock, he went that same night ter the house, takin' his Bible
along, 'n' he set thar a-readin' it backward and forward ; he did n' mind
it none whether the ghost came a-nigh or not.1 Sho' nuff, the ghost came
along while he was a-readin', an' it went all about thro' the house, so 's Mr.
Peacock could hear it goin' inter the diffunt rooms an' a-movin' things this-
a-way an' that-a-way. But he did n' let on to hear the ghost, — no indeed,
— but he kep' a-readin' away ter his Bible.

" Arter a while the ghost blowed out his lamp, but he jes' lighted it an'
read on, V then he went inter the bedroom an' lay down. That sort o'
made the ghost mad, so 's it come inter the bedroom an' he see it, like as

1 Reading the Bible backward is supposed to keep ghosts from entering; read-
ing it forward, to prevent them (if already in the house) from harming one.

Local Meetings and OtJier Notices. 147

ef 't was an ole woman. Fer the' was an ole woman's ghost that haanted
the house anyhow ; they said it could n't rest no way, 'count o' the murder
the ole lady done when she was alive. Anyhow Mr. Peacock see her reach
out her arm, long an' skinny-like, under the bed, 'n' she jes' turned it over
so,1 with him on it. But he on'y crep' out from under it an' went back inter
the kitchen 'n' begun to read away in his Bible. An' thar he stayed all
night, on'y afore day the ghost came once mo' an' said, ' Ef yo' come back
'yer agen, yore a dead man.'

" Well, nex' night Mr. Peacock came back again, yes indeed, an' he 'd got
two preachers ter come too an' try to lay that ghost. One was a Methodis'
'n the other was a Catholic, an' they both brought their Bibles, 'n' all of 'em
kep' readin' forward an' backward. 'T wan't no time at all tell that ghost
came agen, an' then it jus' went on mos' outrageous.

" The Methodis' he did n' stay ter hear much o' the racket tell out he
run an' never come back that night. The Catholic he heF out a good bit,
but 'fore long kexnn an' lef Peacock ter stay it out by himself.

" Well, they say the ghost never spoke ter him no mo', but sho' nuff in
the mornin' thar was Peacock a-lyin' dead with his head cut clean off, —
yes indeed, sir ! — 'an the' ain't no one ever tried to lay that ghost sence."

Fanny D. Bergen.

LOCAL MEETINGS AND OTHER NOTICES.

Baltimore. — The Baltimore Folk-Lore Society has closed its meetings
for the winter of 1898 and 1S99 with the feeling that interest in the work
of the society is increasing, and that valuable results will in time be real-
ized from efforts now being made to interest the people of the State in the
matter of preserving a record of the folk-lore about them.

The first meeting of the season was held on November 25 in the Dono-
van Room, Johns Hopkins University. The papers of the evening were
given by Miss Alice C. Fletcher and Mr. La Flesche, who were guests of
Dr. and Mrs. Henry Wood. Miss Fletcher's paper was on " Song and
Story in Indian Life," and certain parts were illustrated on the piano by
Miss Jane Zacharias, and at its conclusion an Indian song was sung by
Mr. La Flesche.

Following this, Mr. La Flesche gave a paper of his own on "The Splin-
ter, the Thorn, and the Rib," in which he told in a humorous vein the
way in which certain portions of the story of the Garden of Eden struck a
group of Indian boys at a mission school, he being one of them.

After his paper Mr. La Flesche by request sang other Indian songs, Miss
Fletcher accompanying him on the piano. There was a large and appre-
ciative audience, and the evening has since been referred to as a classic
one.

The December meeting was held on the 30th in the Donovan Room,

1 With a graphic imitation of the ghost's action.

1 48 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

Johns Hopkins University. At this meeting the President, Dr. Henry
Wood, who had been present at the meeting of the American Folk-Lore
Society at Columbia College, gave an interesting report of that meeting,
with a brief resume or thought from each paper presented, to which he
added a word of his own. The second paper of the evening was presented
by Dr. Charles C. Bombaugh on " Christmas Observances," in which he
touched on the historical side of the question, besides bringing out many
of the quaint and curious customs connected with the season. This was
followed by a contribution from Mrs. John D. Early touching the same
subject.

The January meeting was held on the 27th in the usual place. At this,
an animal folk-tale was given in negro dialect by Miss Anne Virginia Cul-
berthson, after which Dr. Henry Wood presented a most thoughtful and
suggestive paper on " The Folk-Lore and the Literary Motive in Poe's
House of Usher." Mrs. Robert M. Wylie followed him with a paper on
" Street Cries of London."

At the February meeting, Mrs. Waller R. Bullock gave a paper on " The
Onion in Folk-Lore " which was suggestive, and led up to discussion of the
place of the onion and kindred subjects in folk-lore.

At the March meeting, a paper showing profound thought and careful
study was presented by Rev. Charles James Wood, of York, Pa., the title
being " Primitive Culture in the Mysteries of Eleusis."

There were three meetings in April. The first, which was held at the
home of Mrs. John D. Early, was called for the election of officers for the
ensuing year. Those already in office were reelected, after which a com-
mittee was appointed to formulate plans for future work, these plans to be
presented at a later meeting of the society. A paper was then read by
Mrs. Waller R. Bullock, written by Miss Marion V. Dorsey, which she
called " A Trace of the Taghairm." It gave the account of how an aged
negro, by the use of the hide or skin, was believed to be able to foretell
certain things.

The second meeting in April was held in McCoy Hall, Johns Hopkins
University, and was an open meeting largely attended. The first paper
was read by Prof. Paul Haupt on "The Cherubim and Seraphim," and was
listened to with profound attention by an appreciative audience. Professor
Haupt was followed by Dr. J. Walter Fewkes, who presented a most inter-
esting paper on " The Altar of the Hopi Indians." This paper was illus-
trated by stereopticon views and the graphophone.

The third meeting of the month was held at the home of Mrs. Waller R.
Bullock, and was purely a business meeting, at which certain subjects were
chosen for general discussion at the different meetings of the coming win-
ter. Besides this, subjects were chosen to be studied in "groups " or com-
mittees, while individual members pledged themselves to certain lines of
work in connection with the collection of Maryland folk-lore now in hand.
Arrangements are being made by which prizes may be offered in the
schools for more folk-lore material, much interesting matter having already
been collected through that source. Printed slips are also being prepared

Local Meetings and Other Notices. 149

for general distribution, which, it is hoped, will interest individuals and
county papers, so that they may make a record of some of the folk-lore in
their immediate neighborhood.

Anne Weston Whitney, Secretary.

Boston. — Friday, March 24. The Boston Branch met at the residence
of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hyde Dwight, 306 Commonwealth Avenue, at
8 p. M. In the absence of Professor Putnam, Mr. W. W. Newell presided,
and introduced Dr. F. N. Robinson, of Harvard University, who spoke on
"The Hero Poems of Ireland." Mr. Robinson read many fine renderings
from early Celtic literature. His paper was followed by a discussion
which turned largely on the causes of the pathos so characteristic of Celtic
literature.

Tuesday, April 18. The Boston Branch met at the Hotel Brunswick by
invitation of Mr. and Mrs. George H. Leonard. In the absence of Pro-
fessor Putnam, Mr. W. W. Newell presided, and introduced as the speaker
of the evening Mr. Albert Morton Lythgoe, of Harvard University, who
spoke on " The Arts and Crafts of the Ancient Egyptians." Mr. Lythgoe's
paper was exceedingly interesting, and was illustrated by a choice collec-
tion of lantern slides.

Helen Leah Reed, Secretary.

Cambridge. — The following report gives the titles of papers presented
before the Cambridge Branch during the year 1898-99 : —

November 7, 1898. " The Folk-Lore of the Natives of Hawaii," by Prof.
C. H. Toy, of Harvard University. Meeting at the house of Mrs. Hopkin-
son, Craigie Street.

December 3. "The Religion and Customs of Australian Aborigines," by
Mr. R. B. Dixon and Dr. A. G. Mayer, of Harvard University. Meeting
at the house of Mrs. Batchelder, Hilliard Street.

January n, 1899. "The Folk-Songs of Poland," by Dr. Leo Wiener,
of Harvard University. Meeting at the house of Miss Leavitt, Harvard
Street.

February 22. " Ancient Norse Mythological Tales," by Dr. William H.
Schofield, of Harvard University. Meeting at the house of Mr. Charles
Peabody, Brattle Street.

March 11. " Sun Myths of America," by Dr. Franz Boas, of New York.
Meeting at the house of Miss Yerxa, Lancaster Street.

April 14. "The Druids and the Ancient Celtic Religion," by Dr. F. N.
Robinson, of Harvard University. Meeting at the house of Miss Catharine
Cook, Appleton Street.

May 17. "The Folk-Tales of the French-Canadians," by Prof. J. B.
Greenough, of Harvard University. Meeting at the house of Mrs. J. B.
Warner, Brattle Street.

Sarah Yerxa, Secretary.

i^o

Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Cincinnati. — The following is a report of the meetings of this Branch
for the year 1S9S-99 : —

The work of the Cincinnati Branch of the American Folk-Lore Society
was well sustained during the year. With " The North American Indians "
for the general subject, much interest was developed in their importance
as factors in the study of folk-lore.

Papers were read at each meeting, beginning in November with " The
Origin of the Indian Races in America," by Dr. C. D. Crank, who spoke
particularly of the significance of the different cranial deformations of the
Flatheads and other Indians, and their bearing upon the question of the
origin of the Indian races of this continent. Casts were shown, and draw-
ings of the various ways adopted to accomplish the results.

At the December meeting, instead of the stated programme, which could
not be carried out on account of the illness of the speaker of the evening,
Professor Edwards read a delightful paper on " Impressionist Views of
Mexico," in which he described a trip taken by him through that country.

In January Dr. J. D. Buck presented a scholarly paper on the subject of
"The Algonkins," — " the people who live across the water." He called
attention to the fact that the ancient folk-lore of this nation must be studied
in its modern survivals, and pointed out the similarity of the myths to those
of the far East. To the already proposed theories of the origin of the
American Indian myths — that of physical contact, and that of spontaneous
sources — the doctor offered a third, an origin traced to re-birth, and sug-
gested that it might be applied with advantage to the study of folk-lore.
The argument, which was lucid and forcible, commanded the close atten-
tion of the audience.

In February, "Indian Art," demonstrated by pictographs, were ably
presented by President Edwards. The Indian manner of keeping the cal-
endar of important events by the drawing and coloring of figures on buffalo
hides was graphically described, and attention was called to the historical
value of such records. Charts of totem poles were also displayed. A
paper on the " Classification of Indian Languages " was also read at this
meeting, reference being made to the light which such study would throw
on manner of thought, customs, etc.

At the meeting in March, Mrs. Josephine Woodward recounted her own
experiences during her long residence on the " Plains," while her father
was in charge of the reservation. These experiences and impressions were
presented with much of the charm of both humor and pathos, and fully re-
paid the close attention of her large audience.

In April a symposium was held, with " Prehistoric Remains " as a topic.
" Indian Burial Mounds," with the theories of scholars as to their origin
and significance, brought out an interesting paper, full of suggestion as well
as information, from Mrs. A. C. Woods. " Pottery and Weaving," with
data from the reports of the Bureau of Ethnology, finished the study of the
subject for the year.

The year closed with promise of continued interest, and a desire to fur-
ther a deeper study of folk-lore.

Georgina D. Hopkins, Secretary.

Bibliographical Notes. 1 5 1

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
BOOKS.

The Cuchullin Saga in Irish Literature. Being a Collection of
Stories relating to the Hero Cuchullin, translated from the Irish by vari-
ous scholars. Compiled and edited, with Introduction and Notes, by
Eleanor Hull. [Grimm Library, No. 8.] London : David Nutt, 1898.
Pp. Ixxix, 316.

Miss Hull's book is the eighth in the " Grimm Library," and though it
is a less ambitious undertaking than some of the other numbers, it is likely
to be one of the most useful productions of the series. As its title in-
dicates, it is chiefly a compilation of tales from the Middle Irish. Most of
the translations here printed have appeared before separately in the learned
journals, and Miss Hull has collected them in a single volume, supplying
an introduction and brief illustrative notes. The Irish text is not given.

The tales have been selected chiefly with a view to presenting the life
and exploits of Cuchullin, the favorite hero of the Ulster Saga cycle. A
few of them do not deal with him directly, and some of the best of the Cu-
chullin stories (like the " Fled Bricrend ") have been omitted altogether.
But some limits doubtless had to be observed in making the selection, and
the reader will get from the book an excellent impression of the character
of the saga cycle.

In the introductory note to the " Tain Bo Cuailgne " Miss Hull says, " The
translation is intended primarily for English readers, not for Irish schol-
ars ; " and this statement apparently applies to the whole book, which
should be judged accordingly. It does not profess to make any new con-
tribution to Celtic scholarship, but it furnishes the general reader a valuable
introduction to a body of literature which is none too familiar and none too
accessible. Most of the existing English translations of Irish romances
were made before the study of the Celtic languages had been put on a
scientific basis. Miss Hull has therefore done the English reader a good
service in placing at his easy disposal more recent and competent versions
of some of the principal tales. The summary of the " Tain Bo Cuailgne "
will be particularly convenient for reference, since the original Irish text is
not accessible except in the facsimiles published by the Royal Irish Acad-
emy. It differs from Zimmer's analysis of the same tale (published in the
twenty-eighth volume of Kuhn's " Zeitschrift ") by being much fuller in
some sections, which are practically translated at length, and by passing
over other sections with a bare indication of the events they relate.

In a work of a different character Miss Hull's method with the transla-
tions would be open to some criticism. Thus she says in her prefatory
note to the tenth selection (p. 230) : " I have followed the translation of
O'Curry, but have adopted a few phrases from the French version where
Mr. O'Curry's version is obscure." Elsewhere she makes similar state-
ments with regard to other selections. (See pages 22 and 96.) This

i 5 2 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

eclecticism can hardly be called scientific, but it does not really impair the
value of the book in hand. Moreover, the reader is warned by the use of
brackets whenever the editor takes any liberties with the text of her trans-
lators.

Considering the purpose of the volume, the literary form of the transla-
tions is more important than their absolute accuracy, and the style, it must
be said, is somewhat irregular. The reader now and then gets the im-
pression that the versions, most of them pretty literal and originally in-
tended to accompany an Irish text in some learned journal, have not
received the careful revision they ought to have had before they were
given to the public as samples of Irish literature. One or two instances of
unfortunate phraseology may be quoted. In the " Siege of Howth "
(p. 90) we read : " A battle was fought straightway. Heavy in sooth was
the attack that they delivered. Bloody the mutual uplifting" Surely a
puzzling phrase to the English reader ! Two pages farther on we are told
that "the women of Ulster divided themselves into three" a statement which
is fortunately made clearer by the context.

The summary of the "Tain Bo Cuailgne " is contributed by Mr. Standish
Hayes O'Grady, whose vivacious style as a translator is familiar to all read-
ers of his " Silva Gadelica." Here, again, he shows much skill in adapting
the English language to Irish idioms, though his rendering is occasionally
over-ingenious, and therefore inappropriate. The reader may be excused
for pausing in some wonder at sentences like the following from the de-
scription of Setanta's fight with the watch-dog of Culann : " The child was
without all reasonable means of defence ; the dog's throat therefore down,
as he charged open-jawed, with great force he threw his ball, which mor-
tally punished the creature's inwards. Cuchullin seized him by the hind
legs, and against a rock at hand banged him to such purpose that in dis-
integrated gobbets he strewed all the ground." Is there such grotesque-
ness in the original Irish in the manuscript from which Mr. O'Grady is
translating?

Miss Hull's introduction furnishes a suitable preface to the texts. This
also is popular in purpose and method. In the first part the editor gives
some account of the age of Irish literature, and the circumstances of its
production and preservation. The latter half of the introduction discusses
the mythological significance of the tales. Cuchullin is explained as a
solar hero, and the battle of the great bulls in the " Tain Bo Cuailgne " is
interpreted as being symbolical of the struggle between summer and winter,
between darkness and light. The argument with regard to Cuchullin is
derived chiefly from Professor Rhys's " Hibbert Lectures," and the
remarks about the symbolism of the bulls are based partly on the " Mytho-
logie Zoologique " of De Gubernatis. In both instances the mycologists
may be right in their main contention, but the application of a mythologi-
cal explanation to the details of a story is always venturesome, and in a
chapter addressed to the general reader such theories cannot be too cau-
tiously stated. The trained student, of course, does not need any such
warning.

Bibliographical Notes. x53

Miss Hull's volume contains much material of value for the study of
folk-lore and popular tradition. The Middle Irish sagas illustrate a very
interesting stage of popular narrative or epic development, and furnish
many parallels to the motifs, characters, and manners and customs which
recur in such literature all over the world. Thus an instance of the com-
bat between father and son (as in the " Hildebrandslied ") is discussed on
p. xxxi of Miss Hull's Introduction ; the precocious growth of a hero is
illustrated at p. 145 of the text ; some Irish accounts of a " brig o' dread "
are mentioned on p. 291 ; the custom of drinking the blood of a dead kins-
man or friend is referred to on p. 45 ; single combats frequently take place
at fords (see particularly p. 149); the couvade is discussed in its relation
to the Debility of the Ulstermen at p. 292. The editor's notes and appen-
dices furnish very little that is new, and do not attempt a complete treat-
ment of the subjects with which they deal. But they are sufficient for the
explanation and illustration of the text.

As a whole, then, the volume is well adapted to the ends for which it was
written. It ought to prove of use in popularizing Irish literature among
English readers, and in publishing it Mr. Alfred Nutt once more earns the
thanks of all friends of Celtic studies.

F. N. Robinson.

O-gi-maw-kwe Mit-i-gwa-ki (Queen of the Woods). Also, brief sketch
cf the Algaic Language. By Chief Pokagon, author of " Red Man's
Greeting," printed in a birch-bark booklet. Biography of the Chief, by
the publisher. Hartford, Mich. : C. H. Engle. 1899. -^P* vui> 255-
This curious story is given as an English translation from the Pottawat-
tamie, in which it was written by the Indian author. Simon Pokagon died
near Allegan, Mich., January 28, 1899, shortly before the publication of
the volume. He was a son of Leopold Pokagon, whose name is connected
with the early history of Chicago, having been born in 1830. In 1896 he
finally obtained from the United States Government the balance due his
people for the sale of the land on which Chicago stands, the claim having
been finally allowed by the Supreme Court. In 1893, at the World's Fair,
he made an address, of a character very honorable to the speaker, on Chi-
cago Day. The whole life of Pokagon seems to have constituted a career
as worthy as could be open to an Indian living on a reservation. His per-
sonal appearance is said to have been of a majestic character which would
command attention in any company, and this account is borne out by the
photograph prefixed to the present work, which represents a face most
simple, honest, and winning. An aversion to strong drink, as the great
curse of the Indian awaiting civilization, was inherited by Pokagon, his
father Leopold having in 1832 lamented this vice as the cause of the back-
wardness of his people. The book now under consideration is a temperance
tract under the veil of a romance. The interest taken in the composition
by the surviving son of the writer, bearing the name of Pokagon, and the
intrinsic character of the story, appears sufficient to establish its essential
genuineness ; but in the course of rendering into an English form, the tale

1 54 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

seems to have received a linguistic garb, and also various additions incon-
sistent with original Indian conceptions. If the Pottawattamie text is in
existence, it would be desirable to have it laid before a scholar for com-
parison.

The romance purports to be an autobiography. Pokagon himself, on his
return from school in Twinsburg, while hunting, sees across the river a
white deer, that plays about a maiden, who sings in the voices of the birds
of the woods. He constructs a bark canoe, crosses the stream, and finds
the girl, with whom he has an interview, and whose trail he finally follows
to a wonderful wigwam, made of many-colored rushes, and hung with mats
adorned with quills and feathers. Here he finds the maiden and her
mother; to the latter he reveals himself as the son of Leopold Pokagon,
and is informed that his interlocutor has herself been brought up by his
grandmother as a foster sister of his mother. The woman and her daugh-
ter Lonidaw accompany Pokagon to visit his mother, the white stag acting
as their guardian. The birth of Lonidaw is related ; having seen the light
in the forest during the flight of her mother from United States troops, she
is endowed with the property of understanding the birds, and other magi-
cal gifts. Pokagon returns from school, but is unable to free his heart
from the passion he has conceived, and retires to the forest for reflection ;
he concludes that his affection is from Heaven, and goes in search of Loni-
daw. A marriage is agreed on, and consummated after two days, during
which Pokagon remains with friends of the bride ; the pair then establish
a wigwam in the woods. The white stag dies of jealousy. Two children
are born to them ; but the boy, Olondaw, at the white man's school, acquires
a passion for liquor, which costs him his life, while the girl is drowned by
a canoe steered by a drunken trapper. Lonidaw dies of grief, first extract-
ing from Pokagon a promise that he will spend his life in combating the
curse ; this vow is enforced by a vision, in which he sees the spirit of
alcohol as a gigantic demon clad in the stars and stripes, eagle on breast,
and serpents under his arms, who seize on the victims he encounters.

Sufficiently remarkable is the thread of the story, inasmuch as it forms
a counterpart to numerous European tales in which a white deer leads the
hero to the dwelling of a fairy. The conception seems connected with the
custom of keeping pet animals ; as with other races, the rare albino color
indicates sanctity. The stag, in this case, was raised from a fawn. We
read also of a pet wolf.

An episode gives the Pottawattamie legend of the arbutus, which, how-
ever is so overlaid with literary decoration that the original form cannot be
determined. The flower is here described as springing up in the track of
a beautiful maiden (spring), clad in leaves and flowers, who visits an old
man (winter), who lives in the forest, vainly seeking fuel to keep up the
fire in his lodge. The old man sleeps, dissolves in water, and the arbutus,
said to be the tribal flower, grows up in the spot.

W. W. Newell.

Bibliographical Notes. 155

More Australian Legendary Tales. Collected from various tribes by
Mrs. K. Langloh Parker, author of "Australian Legendary Tales."
With Introduction by Andrew Lang. With illustrations by a native
artist. London : David Nutt. 1898. Pp. xxiii, 104.

The first collection of Australian tales made by Mrs. Parker was printed
in 1896. In a notice of the book given in this Journal (vol. ix. 1896,
p. 303) it was observed that the gathering was gratifying as indicating that
in Australia the stream of oral tradition continues to flow, and that it will
be possible to obtain records much more complete than that furnished by
the inadequate printed documents. This opinion is emphasized by the
additional matter now communicated.

As indicated in the earlier volume, it appears that the Australian's con-
ception of primitive life is not very different from that of the aboriginal
American's. The first inhabitants of the land are supposed to have been
animal ancestors, larger and wiser than animals now existing ; it is further
imagined that these possessed human rather than animal shape, and that
the form and habits of living beasts are accounted for by the actions of
these human or semi-human predecessors, from whom they have undergone
metamorphosis. The characteristics of every animal are thus explained
by folk-tales, which often have an important part in the social life of the
tribes. Thus the Crow owes his black color to a blow from the Crane
which laid him out on burnt black grass ; while the Crane's hoarseness is
owing to a fish-bone, which in revenge was inserted in his throat by the
Crow. The Parrot's green feathers and red marks are the results of a
funeral ceremony, namely, the plastering with ashes, tying on green twigs,
and inflicting gashes in honor of the deceased. The dead in this case was
the Mocking-bird, a lover of the Parrot sisters slain by the Lizard, a con-
juror having the power of producing a mirage. In consequence of their
grief the Parrots were changed into Birds, while the Mocking-bird was
translated to the sky, where he is seen as the star Canopus. That kan-
garoos are now able to see in the dark is owing to the manner in which the
eponymic Kangaroo sent forth his dream spirit to roll away the darkness,
at a time when his wife, the Emu, was seeking at night for grass to mend
the nyunnoo or humpy.

Phenomena of nature, in this mythology, stand precisely on the same
basis as living creatures. The Wind is an invisible companion ; the cold
West Wind is pegged by the Crow into a hollow log, and only allowed
occasional exit, a restraint by which her primitive ferocity is much sub-
dued ; however, the log is now rotting and full of holes, and some day the
West Wind is likely to escape, and rush to the semi-annual corroboree, or
assembly of the winds, with disastrous results. The Sun is personified
under the feminine name of Yhi ; but inconsistently it is said that the Sun
is a fire lighted by the sky-spirit, and which burns out to embers at night.
How it gets through the sky is not related ; the myth is imperfect. The
spirits of conjurors or wirreenuns can take the forms of whirlwinds, and
destroy whatever they overtake. The Milky Way is a road travelled by

j 5 6 Journal of A mcrican Folk-L ore.

mortals, whose fires are to be seen smoking there ; the dark places are the
dens of two cannibals blown into the sky by such whirlwinds, and lying in
wait for travellers, who can get by safely only when they are pursuing the
same game of spiritual embodiment in a cyclone.

In the earlier volume, Mrs. Parker had something to say about Byamee,
who had formerly lived on earth as a man, but had departed to the spirit-
land, and was honored in a bora or initiation ceremony. In this continua-
tion 'we learn more about Byamee, a sort of Balder. The flowers followed
him to his celestial camp ; this is above Oobi Oobi, a high mountain, with
a fountain and circles of stones at top, whither resort conjurers to procure
rain. The earth being left desolate, the wirreenuns (presumably in the
spirit) resorted to Oobi Oobi, and there petitioned the spirit messenger of
Byamee ; the latter procured their ascension to Bullimah, the heavenly
paradise, where the flowers never faded, and whence they brought back
blossoms which they scattered over earth.

A remarkable story of the Gray Owl gives an account of mortuary cere-
monies. The body being put in the bark coffin, placed in the grave with
weapons and food for the journey to Oobi Oobi, dirges are sung, somewhat
as follows, says the collector : —

We shall follow the bee to its nest in the goolabah ;
We shall follow it to its nest in the bibbil-tree.
Honey too shall we find in the goori-tree,
But Eerin the light sleeper will follow with us no longer.

Wailing, mutilation on the part of the mourners, and smoking with ashes
of the rosewood-tree to keep off malignant spirits follows, and then a
remarkable rite, best given in the words of the author : " After the women
left, all the men stood round the grave, the oldest wirreenun at the head,
which faced the east. The men bowed their heads as if at a first Boorah,
the wirreenun lifted his, and, looking towards where Bullimah was sup-
posed to be, said : ' Byamee, let in the spirit of Eerin to Bullimah. Save
him, we ask thee, from the Eleanbah wundah, abode of the wicked. Let
him into Bullimah, there to roam as he wills, for Eerin was great on earth
and faithful ever to your laws. Hear, then, our cry, O Byamee, and let
Eerin enter the land of beauty, of plenty, of rest. For Eerin was faithful
on earth, faithful to the laws you left us.' " Then follows a ceremony to
detect the person who caused the death, whose clan is indicated by the
nature of the animal track observed on the swept ground round the grave.
This somewhat astonishing account, which provides the Australian sav-
age, commonly supposed to stand at the foot of the human scale, with a
paradise, a hell, prayer for the dead, an ascended protector who closely cor-
responds to the second person of the Christian Trinity, and abstract ideas
of right and wrong as affecting future destiny, naturally causes inquiry as to
the manner in which Mrs. Parker obtained her information. The result is
anything but satisfactory. According to her own account, the tales are
composites, made up of scraps of information obtained from various tribes
of New South Wales and Queensland, but by her freely amalgamated,

Bibliographical Notes. 157

paraphrased, and provided with the proper names of one single tribe, the
Noongahburrah. By such a process, allowing for the imperfect under-
standing of the language and freedom of rendering, anything might be
made out. The critic is therefore quite justified in skepticism. At the
same time, it is none the less clear that at the basis there is an intellectual
treasure of no small worth, and we are told that, of this, part is in song.
The moral therefore is, that Australian scholars ought not to lose a day in
taking the only steps by which any certainty can be obtained ; that is to
say, raising money, and employing educated young men of character and
discretion, who may study the native languages, procure initiation in their
rites, and give the world a complete and unvarnished history of the mental
stock belonging to separate tribes. Whoever undertakes this task must,
first of all, discard the heresy, repeatedly denounced in this Journal, " of
the contempt visited on folk-tales, as if these were less important to record
than ceremonies and gestures. The plain truth is, that custom, ritual, art,
and archaeology, without folk-lore, is a body without a soul."

In his Introduction Mr. Lang, who has previously given countenance to
this error, further helps to disseminate it by citing his own assertion that
religion and mythology represent quite different moods of men. This may
be so far true that the savage, in his hours of amusement, may indulge in
tale-telling when the stories represent no serious belief. But it is equally
true that the same savage always and everywhere is furnished with a body
of legendary tales, which stand to him in a sacred relation. It is by these
histories that are determined his ritual, his worship, and his social life.
Any attempt to give an account of his religion which neglects this ele-
ment leaves out the most important part, and can result in nothing but
confusion.

W. W. Newell.

Tales of the Enchanted Islands of the Atlantic. By Thomas
Wentworth Higginson. New York : The Macmillan Co. 1899. Pp.
xii, 259.

It has been from very ancient times a habit of mythologies to place
wonders of nature in outlying islands, supposed to be inhabited by spirits,
demons, giants, and monsters. This method of representation supposes
the abode of man to be itself a central island in a middles-earth surrounded
by the water-washed homes of supernatural beings. It is not clear what
influences first produced such a conception ; elementary geographical ideas
were wrought into this form, as is seen in the Homeric poems, where insular
paradises and gardens of enchantment are already familiar to the authors.
Irish narrators, moved no doubt by the outlying position of their isle, and
under the impulse of the classical notions, developed stories of naviga-
tors into marvellous accounts called bnrdma, forming sometimes frankly
extravagant fiction. Of these we have an example in the celebrated voy-
age of St. Brandan, not older than the twelfth century in its extant form.
These Irish productions had considerable currency through Europe, and

1 5 8 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

so, instead of the ancient heathen accounts of the Isles of the Blest,
the Middle Age was furnished with narratives in which a Christian color-
ing was infused. This process also took place independently of Ireland,
inasmuch as the Islands of the Dead, placed by ancient Gauls in the direc-
tion of Britain, and by Britons along the Scottish shores, may have sur-
vived in the Avalon to which King Arthur was fabled to have taken.

It is stories of this sort which the well-known author of this volume
collects for the purpose of general reading, and with attention more espe-
cially to the requirements of young persons. These begin with " The
Story of Atlantis," and continue through the Celtic tales mentioned to
the Leif Erikson and the Vinland of the Icelandic sagas, Sir Walter
Raleigh's search for Norembega, and the Fountain of Youth of Ponce
de Leon. The editor has followed in general the course of development,
beginning with the legends belonging to the European shore, then to those
of the open sea, and finally to the coast of America, to which the older
stories were finally transferred. As Colonel Higginson observes, with
every added step in knowledge the line of fancied stopping-places rear-
ranged itself, the fictitious names flitting from place to place on the maps,
and being sometimes duplicated. Where the tradition has vanished, the
names associated, as in the case of the Antilles, are assigned to different
localities. These American narratives, and the notes bearing on them,
will be found suggestive and interesting, and it is this exhibition of the
legendary interest associated with localities of the New World which con-
stitutes the important feature of the book.

Without engaging in discussions which the plan of the work makes un-
suitable, it may be noted that the Celtic stories are often modern. That
of Taliessin, in particular, the second of the collection, dealing with the
bardic kettle of Caridwen (not Cardiwen), scarce has a pedigree older
than the last century, representing an invention of neo-bardic mysticism.
While in substance the Irish tales concerning the Swan-children of Lir may
be old, the form in which it is given is very modern. The stories of Bran
and Peredur scarce antedate the fourteenth century in their existing ver-
sions, and so on. But it is not the purpose of the editor to furnish a
history of the development of legends concerning islands.

W. W. Newell.

Bibliographical Notes. 159

JOURNALS.

1. American Anthropologist. (Washington.) New Series. Vol. I. No. 1,
January, 1899. Esthetology, or the science of activities designed to give pleasure.
J. W. Powell. — The Calchaqui : an archaeological problem. D. G. Brintox.

— Aboriginal American zootechy. O. T. Mason. — A Pawnee ritual used when
changing a man's name. A. C. Fletcher. — Some recent criticisms of physical
anthropology. F. Boas. — Professor Blumentritt's studies of the Philippines.
D. G. Brinton. — The Indian congress at Omaha. J. Mooney. — Korean clan
organization. W. Hough. — "Real," "True," or "Genuine," in Indian lan-
guages. A. S. Gatschet. — The adopted Algonquian term "Poquosin." W.
W. Tooker. — Anthropologic literature. Reviews of works by Worcester,
"Philippine Islands and their people ; " Pittier-Muller, "Die sprache der Bribri
Indianer ; " Thomas, " Introduction to the study of North American archaeology; "
Hill, " Cuba and Porto Rico ; " and Frobenius, " Der ursprung der afrikanischen
kulturen." — Current bibliography of anthropology. — Notes and news.

2. Free Museum of Science and Art. (University of Pennsylvania, Phila-
delphia.) Vol. II. No. 1, January, 1899. Life in the Luchu Islands. W. H.
Furness, 3d. — Personal ornaments from Benin. H. L. Roth.

3. The Southern Workman and Hampton School Record. (Hampton,
Va.) Vol. XXVIII. No. 3, March, 1899. Folk-lore and ethnology. (Continued
in Nos. 4, 5.)

4. The Land of Sunshine. (Los Angeles.) Vol. X. No. 4, March, 1899. A
New Mexico folk-song. C. F. Lummis. — No. 5, April. An Indian fiesta at
Warner's Ranch. H. N. Rust. — No. 6, May. An Omaha tribal festival (illus-
trated). J. C. Fillmore.

5. Folk-Lore. (London.) Vol. X. No. 1, March, 1899. Australian gods:
a reply. A.Lang. — Australian gods : rejoinder. E. S. Hartland. — Annual
report of the Council. Address by the retiring president : Britain and folk-lore.

— Reviews: Works of Pitt-Rivers, Excavations in Cranbore Chase; L. Pineau,
Les vieux chants populaires scandinaves ; F. Moss, Folk-lore; G. Rua, Tra
antiche fiabe e novelle ; D. Comparetti, The traditional poetry of the Finns ; G.
St. Clair, Creation records discovered in Egypt. — Correspondence. Holy Week
observance in the Abruzzi. The game of Green Gravel. Notes on the folk-lore
of the Fjort. — Miscellanea. To discover a drowned body. Midnight children.
Auguries. Irish folk-lore. Traditions and superstitions collected at Kilcurry,
County Louth, Ireland. — Bibliography.

6. Melusine. (Paris.) Vol. IX. No. 7, January-February, 1899. Un chant
monorime de la Passion. G. Doncieux. — Les grues d'Ibycus. II. and III.
Loquin and Gaidoz. — La fascination. (Continued in No. 8.) — J. Tuchmann.

— Bibliographic de la Gorgone et du Gorgoneion. J. Tuchmann. — Biblio-
graphie. Reviews of works of Abercromby, De Mont and De Cock, Dennett and 1
Miss Kingsley. — No. 8, March-April. Saint Expe"dit. — C. Doncieux and H.
Gaidoz. — La sterilite volontaire. III. K. Nyrop. — Ldgendes contempo-
raines, IV., V. — Saint Eloi, VII. L'origine du singe. — La Courte-paille.

7. Revue des Traditions Populaires. (Paris.) Vol. XIV. No. 2, February.
La pomme et la fecondite. E. Galtier. — Legendes des forets de France.
VII.-IX. P. Sebillot. — Folk-lore astronomique. R. Basset. — Rites et
legendes de la construction. XXIX.-XXXVII. A. Harou. — No. 3, March.
La mer et les eaux : la construction des navires. P. Sebillot. — Coutumes et
usages du Carnaval. XIV., XV. A. Marguillier. — Romances populaires
franchises. G. Doncieux. — Les mois en Franche-Comte. III. Mars. C.

1 60 Jouriial of A merican Folk-Lore.

Beauquier. — Contes et ldgendes de l'Extreme-Orient. XXX.-XXXI. R.
B (lSSET. — No. 4, April. La mer et les eaux. XLVII.-LIV. — P. Sebillot. —
Les enfants morts sans bapteme. IV. Morvand. J. Stramoy. — Contes et
le'gendes arabes. R. Basset. — Moeurs, usages et superstitions du Craonnais.
C. Bellier-Dumaine. — Petites le'gendes chrdtiennes. XVII.-XIX. F. Mar-
QUI K.

8. Wallonia. (Liege.) Vol. VII. No. 3, March, 1899. Quelques coutumes
de la Famenne, il y a trente-cinq ans. F. Crepin. — Le Mardi-Gras et le dernier
marie*, a chatelet. C.Lyon. — No. 4, April. En Wallonie prussienne. IV. Les
ceufs de Paques. H. Bragard. — Sorcellerie. Les pactes avec Satan. O.
Colson. — No. s, May. En Wallonie prussienne. V. La nuit de mai. H.
Bragard. — Sorcellerie. Le rituel du pacte. O. Colson.

9. Ons Volksleven. (Brecht.) Vol. X., Nos. 10, 11, 12. 1899. Liederen,
rijmen, en kinderspelen uit Noord-Brabant. P. N. Panken. — De roos in het
volksgeloof en volksgebruik. (Continued.) A. Harou. — Kinderspelen uit het
land van Dendermonde. A. Harou.

10. Sclrweizerisches Archiv fur Volkskunde. (Zurich.) Vol. III., No. 1,
1S99. Translationen in der Schweiz. E. A. Stuckelberg. — Luzerner akten
zum hexen- und zauberwesen. E. Hoffmann-Krayer. — Noels jurassiens.
A. D'Aucourt. — Ein rhatoromanischer himmelsbrief. H. Caviezel. — Eine
sennenkilbe in der Urschweitz. C. Waldis. — Miszellen. — Biicheranzeigen. —
Bibliographie 1898. — Miltgliederverzeichnis.

11. Mitteilungen der Schlesischen Gesellschaft fiir Volkskunde. (Bres-
lau.) Vol. VI. No. 1, 1899. Volkstumliches aus dem presussichen Litauen. O.
Hoffmann. — Einige volksbrauche und volksmeinungen aus dem Wolfelsgrund.

12. Zeitschrift fur deutsches Altertum und deutsche litteratur. (Berlin.)
Vol. XLIIL, No. 1, 1899. Der dialog des alten Hildebrandslieds. Joseph. —
Der mythus des zweiten Merseburger zauberspruches. Niedner.

13. Zeitschrift des Vereins fiir Volkskunde. (Berlin.) Vol. IX. No. I,
1899. Heidnische iiberreste in den volksiiberlieferungen der norddeutschen
tiefebene. W. Schwartz. — Eine gesamtdarstellung des deutschen volkstums.
R. M. Meyer. — liber brettchenweberei. M. Lehmann-Filhes. — Quellen und
parallelen zum " novellino " des Salernitaners Masuccio. G. Amalfi. — O lass
mich dock hinein, schatz ! Vergleichung eines schottischen und eines schlesis-
chen volsliedes. P. Drechsler. — Kulturgeschichtliches aus den Marschen am
rechten ufer der Unterweser. A. Tienken. — Uber alte beleuchtungsmittel. O.
v. Zingerle. — Die krankheitsdamonen der Balkanvblker. (Continued.) K. L.
Lubeck. — Die alte gerichststatte zu Cavalese im Fleimser Thai in Sudtirol. K.
Wkinhold. — Holekreisch. A. Landau. — Geschichten aus dem Etschland
und aus dem Stubai. H. Raff. — Niederdeutsche spriiche und redensarten aus
Nordsteimke in Braunschweig. H. Beck. — Staufes sammlung rumanischer
marchen aus der Bukowina. J. Bolte. — Das Englische kinderspiel Sally
Water. K. Weinhold. — Kleine mitteilungen. — Biicheranzeigen.

14. Zeitschrift fiir Vergleichende Litteraturgeschichte. (Weimar.) Vol.
XIII. No. 1, 1899. Ein mingrelisches Siegfriedsmarchen. W. Golther.

15. The Indian Antiquary. (Bombay.) Vol. XXVIL, No. 338, May, 1898.
Notes on the spirit basis of belief and custom. (Continued in Nos. 339, 341, 342,
343) J- M. Campbell. — No. 339, June. Folk-lore in Southern India. No.
45. S. M. Natesa Sastri. — Notes and Queries. Burning in effigy. A notion as
to the plague in Bombay. Notes on Southern India. — No. 340, July. Some
remarks on the svastika. — No. 343, October. A Kalampat, a form of exorcism.
— No. 344. November. Folk-lore in Salsette. G. F. D'Penha. Miscellanea.
Notes on Maratha folk-lore. Maratha marriage in high life.

THE JOURNAL OF

AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.

Vol. XII.— JULY-SEPTEMBER, 1899.— No. XLVI.

HOLY WEEK IN MEXICO.

Several elements enter into the Holy Week celebration in Mexico.
Much of it is no doubt to be found in every Catholic land ; some is
Spanish simply ; some is peculiar to Mexico, or is so tinged with
local color as to be almost so. We make no attempt to separate
these elements ; we aim only to present a sketch of the celebration.

To describe Holy Week celebration in Mexico in detail and ade-
quately would require long study ; the results would fill a large
volume. The Passion Play alone — celebrated in hundreds of places
and varying profoundly with locality — presents an enormous field.
The observances in Casas de ejereios, "houses of exercise," — includ-
ing retreat, meditation, prayer, fasting, wearing of thorn crowns,
flagellation, etc., not here at all discussed, — deserves careful investi-
gation. This paper is merely suggestive of the opportunity the
subject presents for folk-lore study.

VIERNES DE DOLORES : FRIDAY OF GRIEF.

The celebrations begin on the Friday preceding Palm Sunday.
Notwithstanding its sad name, the day is a gala day. Floral decora-
tions are to be everywhere seen. Music is rendered in the Plaza ;
crowds of well-dressed persons are on the promenades. Enterprising
merchants send out men with great baskets full of bouquets of fine
flowers, which are given to all ladies. In the City of Mexico, a
procession of boats and canoes, beautifully decorated with flowers,
takes place on the Viga Canal. In cities, cheap decorations are sold
to the poor, — artificial flowers, miniature trees, palms, ferns, cycad
fronds, little glass globes filled with bright red or yellow water.
Men, women, and children sit in the market-place braiding flowers,
stars, and crowns of palm, which are sold for a cent or two cents
each. The articles are carried to the churches, and placed as decora-
tive gifts upon or about the altar. During the day, in thousands of
humble homes, little shrines or altars are fitted up and decorated
with these simple things ; at the centre of them all is the picture of

1 6 2 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, or of the Christ on the cross. At evening,
tapers are lighted before them, and through the open door the passer
catches many a glimpse.

PALM SUNDAY.

On Saturday and on Palm Sunday, venders of palms may be seen
everywhere in the Plaza, the market, and the churchyard. The
palms may be sold in strips, or these may be plaited and braided
into curious and quaint decorative forms. They are carried by their
purchasers to the church for blessing. The procession of persons
carrying these palms in the church is a pretty sight. After being
taken home, a part of the palm may be burned, while the rest is
fastened outside the house to door-posts or window lattices. There
it remains until the following year as a reminder, and also as a pro-
tection against lightning, pest, and bad spirits.

PASSION PLAY.

At Zapotlan the celebration, until lately, was as follows : —
On Wednesday night there was a great procession. Th^ee death
figures, made of cane and representing Ambrosio, Jesua, and the
other, were carried on a platform. The bearers were all in white.
They were led by a man walking, and ringing a great bell. After
them came a band of twenty or thirty men : each carried a long
pole, the lower end of which was supported by his girdle ; at the top
of each pole was a wooden figure of Christ, white or black, these
men carrying figures were called atolleritos. Next came large images
of Christ displayed on wooden frameworks called armazones ; these
were carefully made of fine wood, and each required for its carriage,
and steadying by ropes, some twenty men : there were some twenty
or thirty of these armazones, each representing a considerable expense.
On Thursday the priest preached a sermon from an open-air pulpit.
At the proper moment, to illustrate his sermon, — descriptive of the
Passion, — the procession appeared. It consisted of the three deaths,
the atolleritos, a band of men who were manacled, Christ, and Simon
of Cyrene bearing the cross, Pharisees, Veronica with her sweat-cloth,
and the armazones. The Pharisees were a motley crowd : they were
Indians without shirts, with brimless hats, and with their drawers
rolled up to their possible limit ; they were all smutted, and carried
lances and clubs. The preacher pointed to one and another element
in the procession and drew his lesson. In his excitement and grief
he smote his face with his hand, and the whole crowd of auditors
did the same in a paroxysm of grief. On Friday the same was done.
On Saturday the programme was varied. A procession took place, in
which the personages were images carried singly or in tableau groups.

Holy Week in Mexico. 163

The order was, — Mary Magdalene, the Holy Burial, Virgin of
Soledad, St. John, St. Peter. The figure of the Magdalene was
carried, running hither and thither, seeking a burial-place for the
Lord. The celebration ended with the burning of Judas after dark.
At San Andres, near Guadalajara, it is celebrated in an open lot,
directly in front of the church, measuring about 100 x 200 yards, and
inclosed by a low wall. On either side and at the farther end is an
elevated platform. In the centre is a pole with a cross-beam, tied
near the top and allowed to swing free at the ends. The players,
costumed and masked, begin to arrive at about noon. Among them
are members of the Jewish council, Annas, Caiaphas, Herod, and
Pilate. The Roman centurion, with red dress and brazen helmet, is
mounted and rides back and forth. Judas, in a long scarlet gown,
"passes blithely about among the crowd, making much of his thirty
pieces." The judges seat themselves on the platform. Soon a
door opens and soldiers and officers appear leading Jesus by a chain.
His long hair hangs loosely and he wears a purple robe ; he shows
signs of fatigue and suffering. He is dragged before Annas, Cai-
aphas, Pilate, Herod, and then again to Pilate. Amid great
clamor he is condemned. He is stripped for scourging, but each of
those deputed to perform the task falls helpless as if paralyzed.
Judas comes in and tries to return the money ; when it is refused,
he casts it on the floor and hastens out to hang himself. In great
excitement, all crowd around the gibbet. The rope is put over his
head, he is hoisted ten feet into the air, struggles and dies (three
minutes later he is lowered, slips off the noose, and walks away).
Meantime the cross has been brought and laid upon Jesus ; it is
barely higher than his body and of slender timbers. Making his
journey to Calvary, he falls three times. The crowd rushes and
surges around him to see. Formerly he was really hung upon the
cross, but now the play ends at the arrival at the hill.

HOLY THURSDAY.

Holy oil — oil of the Catechumens — is blessed. Twelve priests
and seven deacons assist as witnesses of the celebration. The
bishop and priests breathe three times on the oil and the chrism,
meaning by this action that the power of the Holy Spirit is about to
descend upon the oils. At the conclusion of the consecration they
salute the oils with the words, " Hail, holy oil ; hail, holy chrism."
(Guadalajara.)

On this day the candles of the Santissima are blessed. These are
greatly prized, and are burned when a person is dying, to help the
departing soul on its journey. (Guadalajara.)

After mass the bells are silent. " The spirits of the bells have

164 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

seme to Rome." This silence remains — so far as bells are con-
cerned — until the Gloria of Saturday, when they peal forth once
more. While they are silent, great wooden rattles, called matracas^
are sounded from the church towers. Small matracas, of many
materials and of various patterns, are sounded by children on the
street. The dealers in these toys carry frames or trees covered with
them which are sold for prices from one cent up to several dollars,
according to material and workmanship. Some of these, made of
silver or pearl shell, are particularly prized. Horses and other
beasts of burden are relieved, and the streets are quite bare of
vehicles. Shops and stores are closed, and little business is done
except in the selling of matracas and Judases. In many churches,
beautiful decorations are arranged, and parties of visitors — ladies
particularly — go on foot from church to church to view them.
Sometimes these are no more than a crucified Christ laid upon the
ground in front of the Virgin Mother. Very commonly a great
tableau is erected of the Last Supper, with full-sized figures of Christ
and the Twelve at the table.

SABADO DE GLORIA : SATURDAY OF GLORY.

During Holy Week, from Monday to Friday inclusive, parents do
not whip their children, no matter how naughty they may be. On
Saturday morning the children beg for matracas, Judases, and water.
If the children have deserved whipping, they all of them are given
their deserts, in place of " water" which they have asked. The
water they refer to is the blessed water mentioned below.

Early in the morning the "new fire" struck from a flint is blessed.
A candle is lighted from the spark and carried through the church
by a deacon, who shouts, Lumen Christi. The paschal candle is
blessed and then the font. "The priest breathes on the water in
the form of a cross, and plunges the paschal candle three times into
the water. Thus he shows that the Spirit of God is to hallow it, and
the power of Christ is to descend upon it. The water in the font is
scattered toward the four quarters of the world, to indicate the
catholicity of the Church and the world-wide efficacy of her sacra-
ments." The people then bring water for blessing, which is taken
home and sprinkled, in order to keep off disease, death, and devils
during the year. (Guadalajara.)

The bells wake up at nine o'clock, when the Gloria occurs in the
mass. Later in the day, Judas is burned. This is perhaps the most
popular celebration of the year. For several day's figures of Judas
have been sold on the streets. They are of all sizes and forms, and
are made of paper pulp. There are male Judases and female Judases !
They may be fine gentlemen, dudes, ruffians, ass-headed beings,

Holy Week in Mexico. 165

devils. Explosives crackers and rockets are cunningly wrought into
their anatomy. Their interior may be stuffed with meat, soap, bread,
candies, clothing, for the crowd. On Saturday morning these figures
are hung up on cords stretched across the street, and in the large
cities scores or hundreds may be suspended over a single street.
Those with contents of value are so suspended as to be raised and
lowered by ropes. The Judases are left undisturbed until after the
peal of bells ; they are then ignited or exploded, to the delight of the
rabble. After being lighted, the figures containing gifts are lowered
to the reach of the crowd, who struggle and fight to tear them to
pieces ; the fireworks in such figures are usually arranged with the
purpose of shooting into and burning the contestants. For some
years, the Jockey Club (English) of the City of Mexico hung out
several gigantic Judases stuffed with money. When these were
lighted and lowered, the club members sat in their balconies to see
the struggling crowd get coppers and burns. Nowadays these
clubmen on this day throw out handfuls of copper to the crowd.
During the latter part of Holy Week, in the City of Mexico, little
Judases, made of silver or of pottery and often less than an inch in
height, are sold by thousands. These are worn, pinned on the coat
lapel or to the waist, by gentlemen and ladies.

The Blessing of the Water usually takes place after the hanging
and burning of Judas. It is a pretty sight. Not only the profes-
sional water-carriers {aquadores), but men, women, and children
generally carry jars and vessels of water to the church ; these are
prettily decorated with flowers. The petitioners kneel in rows in the
churchyard. Two priests come out and walk up and down these
rows ; the first drops a pinch of salt and prays ; the second sprinkles
holy water. A third priest appearing at the church door pronounces
the benediction.

Frederick Starr.

1 66 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

TALES OF THE SMITH SOUND ESKIMO.

The following tales were collected during the winter of 1897-98
from the Smith Sound Eskimo then in New York city, in the charge
of the American Museum of Natural History. They are as far as
possible a literal translation of the original texts. But as the Eskimo
tell their tales in very abridged form, it has been necessary to add
occasional connecting and explanatory matter secured through an
interpreter. Since the value of these tales is chiefly for comparison,
notes have been added, though no detailed comparisons have been
attempted. The chief works referred to are : for Greenland (and
Labrador), H. Rink, " Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo," a selection
and translation from the same author's Danish " Eskimoiske Eventyr
og Sagn ;" for East Greenland (Angmagsalik), Holm, " Sagn og Fort-
taellinger fra Angmagsalik ; " for Baffin Land and the Central Es-
kimo generally, F. Boas," The Central Eskimo," in the Sixth Annual
Report of the Bureau of Ethnology ; for Labrador (Ungava Bay),
L. M. Turner, " Ethnology of the Ungava District, Hudson Bay Ter-
ritory," in the Eleventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.
Other works referred to are cited by their full titles.

I. THE TUTUATUIN.

In the house a child was awake, while the old people slept. He
stayed awake, playing with seal knuckle-bones. A Tutuatuin came
to the window and called to him from the outside : —

" Come out, human being, we will play ; come out through the
door."

His father said : —

" Put on my boots and my trousers, and your mother's jacket, and
go." He then put on his father's boots and trousers and his mo-
ther's jacket.1 He went out, and the Tutuatuin brought him into
his own house underground. The Tutuatuin said : —

" Whose boots are those ? "

" My father's boots."

" Whose trousers ? " the Tutuatuin asked.

" My father's."

" Whose jacket are you wearing ? "

" I am wearing my mother's jacket."

"Go out, go away ! "

The boy went out.2

1 In another version, mother and father are interchanged.

2 All that I could learn about the Tutuatuin was that he was a fabulous being
with tangled hair.

Tales of the Smith Sound Eskimo. 167

II. INUKPAN.1

Inukpan, also called Inukpakssua, was a very large man, who did
not really exist, but whom stories tell about. It is said that he was
so large that people could stand on his big toe, and walk about on
it, and that the flat skin-thong of his boot-string could be used as a
kayak-covering by ordinary men. It is also said that, seeing several
bears, he called them only foxes, and, picking them up between his
fingers, crushed them dead. At one time, when he was out in his
kayak, he saw five kayakers some distance away. He went after
them, soon reached them, and then scooped up all five, kayaks and
all, in the hollow of his hand. He took them to his house, which
was enormously large, and put them over the lamp. Then, however,
he fell asleep, and the men climbed down, went out, and ran home
before he awoke.

III. THE WOMAN WHO MARRIED A TUNEQ.2

A tuneq married an old woman. After he had married her, they
walked away and entered his house. The tuneq then went away to
the sea, and soon returned, carrying a ground-seal on his back. This
they cut up and lived upon, until they had eaten it all. Then they
went away until they came to a house where there were a number
of people. They entered this, went to bed, and slept. Next day
the tuneq went away. Thereupon a number of sea-gulls came to
the house and went in.3 The people caught them, picked their
feathers, cut them in pieces, put them in a pot over the fire, and ate
them.

IV. THE TORNIT AND THE ADLIT.4

Among some savage and murderous adlit, who were even canni-
bals, were two tornit, who were in consequence much afraid. One
night, when his companions had all gone to sleep, one of them got up
and went out. Then he prepared a sledge and harnessed the dogs,
and softly called his companion, the other tornit. Then they cut the
thongs that held the crossbars to the runners of the other sledges,
and, getting on their own sledge, started off. Just then, however,
the dogs barked, and the adlit, awakened by the noise, came out of

1 The same tale is found among the central tribes (Boas, p. 636). The Green-
landers also tell of Inugpait, giants that live across the sea (Rink, T. and T.
p. 47). See, also, Rink, p. 430.

2 A frequent element in Greenland tales. Cf. Rink, T. and T. p. 217.

8 In Greenland, Avarunguak visits a giant who catches auks in the same manner
(Rink, T. and T. p. 178). Cf. also the story about Aningan.

4 The Tornit feared the Inuit, and finally fled from them (in Labrador and
Baffin Land. Rink, 71 and T. p. 469; Boas, p. 634).

1 68 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

the house. They immediately prepared to pursue, but when they
started, their sledges of course broke down, and the tornit escaped.1

V. THE WOMAN WHO MARRIED A DOG.2

Near the head of Qangirdluxssuang Bay (on Inglefield Gulf)
lived a man and his daughter. The girl, however, refused to marry
any one. Finally, when she refused suitor after suitor, her father
grew angry and threatened to make her marry a dog. She warned
him that if he said this often she might take him at his word. In-
deed, one of the dogs just then broke his line and came into the
house. She soon married him. When she grew pregnant her
father and the other people drove her away, and the dog carried her
across the water to an island, named Qemiunaarving, off the mouth
of the bay. The dog used to bring her food from her father, floating
it over by means of a skin of a ground-seal, which was prepared like
an ordinary seal-skin float. One day the father, desiring to kill
him, filled the skin with stones and tied it to him, hoping thus to
drown him. But the dog was so strong that he kept on swimming
in spite of the stones (which would have drawn down any other
being), and finally, although he almost sank, reached the island in
safety.

The woman gave birth to a great many children, both persons and
dogs. When they were somewhat older, she one day ordered them
to kill their father, the dog,3 which they did, devouring him. Then
she called her children in pairs, a male and a female together. " You
two be qablunat (Europeans), and go away from here, and dress in
clean clothes, and do not inspire fear." " You two be nakassung-
naitut, and be savage, and also go away," she said to the next two.
" You two be wolves," she went on to another pair ; "do not pursue

1 The cutting of sledge-lashings to escape from cannibals is found in a Green-
land tale (Rink T. and T. p. 131), as well as in Labrador and East Greenland
(Ibid. p. 448).

2 A widespread tale. Cf. Holm, Sagn, p. 56; Rink, Eventyr, i. 90 (abstracted
in T. and T. p. 471); Boas, p. 587, 637; Murdoch, American Naturalist, 1886,
p. 594; Boas, Journal of American Folk-Lore, x. 207; Turner, p. 261. It is also
found among the Indians of Northwest America. Petitot, Traditions Indiennes
du Canada Nord-Ouest, pp. 311, 314; Boas, Indianische Sagen von der Arord-
Pacifischen Kiiste Amerikd's, pp. 25, 93, 114, 132, 263; Krause, Die Tlinkit-
Indianer, p. 269.

3 In all other Eskimo versions the woman's father is thus killed; there are
also only two kinds of beings produced, the Qavdlunat (Europeans), and the
Adlet, Timerset, or Erqigdlit (dog-men), generally five of each. The tornit
(giants) and the inuaudligat (dwarfs) are well-known fabulous Eskimo tribes,
though ordinarily not connected with this tale. What the nakassungnaitut are
I could not ascertain. The introduction of wolves is curious. See S. Rink,
American Anthropologist, 1898, p. 191, upon this tale in general.

Tales of the Smith Sound Eskimo. 1 69

people nor frighten dogs, and go away." "And you two be tor-
nit," she said, " and go away from here ; but you shall have no dogs,
and shall fear them, but you shall not make people afraid." "And
you be inugaudligat," she added to the last pair. Thus she sent them
all away. The qablunat sailed away in the sole of a boot. And then
she went back to live with her father.

Another version relates that the father wanted his daughter to
marry the dog.1 She, however, was unwilling, and in order to escape
fled to the island. The dog pursued her, however, and married her.
Her father, pitying her, brought her food in his kayak. After send,
ing off her children, she finally starved on the island.

VI. THE ORIGIN OF THE NARWHAL.2

There was a blind boy (or young man) who lived with his mother
and sister. They went to a place where there was no one and lived
alone. One day, when they were in their tent, a bear came up to it.
Though the boy was blind he had a bow, and the woman aimed it at
the bear for him. The arrow struck the bear and killed it. The
mother, however, deceived her son and told him he had missed it.
She cut it up and then cooked it. The young man now smelled the
bear-meat, and asked his mother whether it was not bear he was
smelling. She, however, told him he was mistaken. Then she and
her daughter ate it, but she would give him nothing. His sister,
however, put half her food in her dress secretly, to give him later.
When her mother asked her why she was eating so much (noticing
that she seemed to eat an unusual quantity), the girl answered that
she was hungry. Later, when her mother was away, she gave the
meat to her brother. In this way he discovered that his mother had
deceived him. Then he wished for another chance to kill some-
thing, when he might not be thus deceived by his mother.

One day, when he was out of doors, a large loon came down to
him and told him to sit on its head. The loon then flew with him
toward its nest, and finally brought him to it, on a large cliff. After
they had reached this, it began to fly again, and took him to a pond
[the ocean ?]. The loon then dived with him, in order to make him
recover his eyesight. It would dive and ask him whether he was
smothering ; when he answered that he was, it took him above the
surface to regain his breath. Thus they dived, until the blind boy

1 These two conflicting versions are known also in Greenland.

2 This tale also is of wide occurrence, being found among the Athabascan
tribes, and even among the Heiltsuk on the Pacific coast. It varies remarkably
little over this great extent of country. Cf. Holm, Sagn, p. 31 ; Rink, T. a>ni T.
p. 99 ; Boas, p. 625 ; Petitot, Traditions Indiennes, pp. 84, 226 ; Boas, Indianische
Sagen, p. 229.

1 70 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

could see again His eyesight was now very strong ; he could see
as far as the loon, and could even see where his mother was, and
what she was doing. Then he returned. When he came back, his
mother was afraid, and tried to excuse herself, and treated him with
much consideration.

One day he went narwhal-hunting, using his mother to hold the
"line. '' Spear a small narwhal," his mother said, for she feared a
large one would drag her into the water by the line fastened around
her. He speared a small one, and she pulled it ashore. Then they
ate its blubber. The next time two appeared together, a small
white whale and a large narwhal. " Spear the small one again,"
she told him. But he speared the large one, and when it began to
pull, he let go the line, so that his mother was dragged along, and
forced to run, and pulled into the water. "My knife," she cried, in
order to cut the rope. She kept calling for her knife, but he did
not throw it to her, and she was drawn away and drowned. She
became a narwhal herself, her hair, which she wore twisted to a
point, becoming the tusk.

After this, the man who had recovered his sight, and his sister,
went away. Finally they came to a house. The brother was thirsty,
and wanted water. He asked his sister for some, telling her to go
to the house for it. She went up to it, but was at first afraid to go
in. " Come in, come in ! " cried the people inside, who were mur-
derous adlit. When she entered, they seized her and ate her. She
had stayed away a long time, and finally her brother went to look
for her. He entered the house, but could not find her. An old
man there, after having eaten of her, tried to say he did not have
her, and did not know where she was. The brother, however, kept
stabbing the inmates of the house with a tusk he had, trying to
make them confess, but vainly, and finally killed them. Then her
brother put her bones together and went away, carrying them on his
back. Then the flesh grew on the bones again, and soon she spoke,
" Let me get up ! " But he said to her, " Don't get up ! " At last she
got up, however. Then they saw a great many people, and soon
reached them. By this time his sister had quite recovered ; she ate,
and went into a house. She married there, and soon had a child.
Her brother also married.

VII. THE MAN WHO MARRIED A GOOSE.1

A man who was walking, once upon a time, came to a pond,
where there were a number of geese. These geese had taken off

1 Rink, T. and T. p. 145; Boas, p. 615; Cranz, p. 262; Murdoch, op. cit. p. 595-
In all these cases, fishes are produced from the chips of wood; in Baffin Land the
worker's name is Exaluqdjung (from eqaluq, salmon). Here he is called Qajun-

Tales of the Smith Sound Eskimo. 171

their garments and had become women, and were now swimming in
the pond. The man came up to them without being seen, and seized
their feather-garments. He gave them all back but two, whereupon
the women put them on and flew away. Finally he gave one of the
two remaining ones hers, whereupon she also flew off. The last
woman, however, he kept with him, took to his house, and married.
Soon she became pregnant and gave birth to two children.

One day, when her husband had gone away, she found some
wings, which she took into the house, and hid behind the skin-
coverings of the walls. When her husband again went away, she
put these on herself and her two children, whereupon they turned
to geese and flew away. When the husband returned, they were
already far away. However, he decided to follow them, and set out.
He walked along the beach, where the tide was low, and kept
travelling in this manner a long time. Finally he came to a large
pot (Qolifsiuxssuang), where it was hot, and he had (cooked) codfish
to eat. He stepped over this, and went on his way once more.1
Then he came to a large man, named Oayungayung, or Qayungay-
uqssuaq, who was chopping with an axe, making seals and walruses.
He threw the chipped pieces into the water, saying to them, " Be a
qajuvaq," and they would be hooded seals, or " Be an uxssung," and
they would be ground-seals. Qayungayuq then offered to take him
to his wife. He took him into his boat, but told him to keep his
eyes closed, and they started off. Soon the husband heard voices
of people, and was preparing to look, when Qayungayuq forbade
him. This happened several times until they reached the shore.

Meanwhile the two children had seen their father coming, and
had gone indoors to inform their mother. She, however, said that
they were mistaken, for they had gone entirely too far for him ever
to come. The children then told her to come out and look for her-
self, but she was so certain that she did not even do this. Soon the
children came in again, saying that their father was coming, and
again she refused to believe them or to look. Then the man him-
self entered, and now she quickly feigned to be dead. Her husband
took her up, carried her away, and buried her, covering her with

gajuq, and he makes seals (Central : qairolik, Smith Sound, angakoq-language :
qajuvaq), saying to the chips : " qajuvin ! be a seal ! " Who Irqayudlung is I
cound not ascertain ; the name resembles Exaluqdjung. The last incident is also
found in the story of Qautipalung.

1 This obscure incident is made more intelligible by a version of this story from
Cumberland Sound in the possession of Dr. Boas. In this the man must pass not
only a boiling kettle, but a huge lamp, two bears, and approaching stones.
Some of these obstacles are also mentioned in the accounts of Arnarquagssaq
(Rink, T. and T. p. 41), in the tale of Giviok (Rink, p. 157), and that of Atun-
gak from Labrador (Rink, p. 447).

172

Journal of American] pjlk-Lore.

stones. Then he went back and sat ck vvn, pulling his hood down
as a sign of mourning. Meanwhile his wife arose again, and began
walking about the tent in which her husband was. Then he took
his spear and killed her. Thereupon a great many geese came,
which he also killed, but two (the two boys?) went away.

The following is added to one version : Irqayudlung had a daugh-
ter. Some people went to get her, but she did not want to marry,
and ran away. She stumbled, however, and fell, and became a great
many auks and gulls.

VIII. QAUTIPALUNG.

There was a woman named Qautipalung, who had an unmarried
daughter. One day some people came in a boat to get this daugh-
ter to be wife to one of them. But when the girl saw the suitor,
she said to her mother, " He is much too old ; don't let him have
me ! " When the man heard that his suit was rejected, he said that
he would go away, but that the girl would be turned to stone. Qau-
tipalung now was frightened and asked him to stay, but he refused
and went on his way. "The boat is going away," Qautipalung said
to her daughter, and the girl made herself ready to go out-doors.
When she got out-doors the boat was already some distance away,
and she began to run after it over the land to catch up with it.
But as she ran her feet turned to stone, so that she fell down on
her face, and the rest of her body turned to earth. As she fell, the
bag she had in her hand was spilled, and the contents, falling out,
turned into small auks, that flew away, crying tuu, tun, tuu.

IX. THE ORIGIN OF THE BEAR.

A sealskin fat-bag became a bear, when there were no bears at
all.1

X. THE ORIGIN OF THE SNOW-BUNTING AND THE PTARMIGAN.

The snow-bunting and the partridge were once persons. Then
they turned into birds, flying from the land, and crying.

XI. NAULAXSSAQTON.2

A seal-hunter was watching for a seal at its blow-hole near
Igluluaxssuin. He was not far from the land, and on shore some
children were playing at a cliff, in a large crack in the rocks. The
seal-hunter, fearing their noise would frighten his seal, said to them,
" Make less noise." They, however, did not hear him, and con-

1 In Baffin Land the angakoq-language word for nanuq, bear,, is uxsureling,
(having fat, from uxsuq, fat).

2 Cf., for the same story, Rink, T. and T. p. 232 ; Boas, p. 639 ; Turner, p. 262.

Tales of the Smith Sound Eskimo. 173

tinued. Then he called out, "Close on them, you up there," and
the cleft closed up, imprisoning the children. The people tried to
chop through the rock, to get at the children, but could not rescue
them, nor even make a hole large enough to pass food down. They
did, however, succeed in making a small hole, through which they
heard the children crying for water. They poured water down
through this opening until the children starved to death. The place
is still to be seen in Akpalearqssuk, though the hole is now alto-
gether closed up.

The fathers of the dead children then said of the hunter, " We
will kill him." They prepared and made ready, putting on their
boots, and left, going after him with dogs and sleighs. The hunter
fled, running on foot, they pursuing him. As he ran he gradually
rose from the ground, and finally reached the sky, where he was
turned into a star. This is the star Naulaxssaqton.

XII. THE PLEIADES.

A number of dogs were pursuing a bear on the ice. The bear
gradually rose up into the air, as did the dogs, until they reached
the sky. Then they were turned into stars. The bear became a
larger star in the centre of a group. The constellation (the Pleiades)
is called "nanuq," "bear." 1

XIII. THE RAVEN.

1. A raven flew above a person, carrying something in his bill.
" What have you in your bill, raven ? " the person asked. " A man's
thigh-bone," the raven answered. " I eat it because I like it. I am
going to swallow it."

2. A man, who was an angakoq, went visiting. He entered the
raven's house. The raven at once began to give orders to his
son. He said: "Go out and get excrements." His son went out
and soon returned, bringing a large excrement. The raven told
the man to eat of the excrement. The raven said, "Eat!" But
the man did not eat of the excrement. The gull said to him : " Come
over here to me." The man came and went in its house. The gull
went out and brought back trout. The man began to eat the
trout. He ate them up. Then he left the house, went away, and
arrived home.2

3. A small snowbird was crying because she had lost her hus-
band. While she was crying, the raven, who had no wife, came

1 In Greenland and East Greenland we find the same myth. It occurs also in
Labrador and the Central Regions, though there it is transferred to Orion.

2 Rink, T. and T. p. 451 (The Birds' Cliff), an abridgment oiEventyr og Sagn,
i. 335 ; Boas, Journal of A merican Folk-Lore, ii. 128.

1 74 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

along. When the raven reached her he said, " Why are you cry-
in"- ? " " I am crying for my husband, because he has been away so
long a time," said the snowbird. " My husband went out to look
for food for me, and has not come back." The raven told her that
her husband was dead ; that he had been sitting on a rock, when this
became loosened and fell through the ice, and that he had fallen
with it. " I will marry you," he said. " You can sleep here under
my armpit. Take me for a husband ; I have a pretty bill ; I have a
pretty chin ; I have good enough nostrils and eyes ; my wings are
good and large, and so are my whiskers." But the little snowbird
said, "I don't want you for my husband." Then the raven went
away, because the snowbird did not want to marry him.

After a while the raven, who was still without a wife, came to
some geese who had become persons. The geese were just going
away. The raven said, "I too, I who have no wife, I am going."
The geese, because they were about to leave, now became birds
again. One of them said, " It is very far away that we are going.
You had better not go with us," meaning the raven. " Don't come with
us." The raven said, "I am not afraid to go. When I am tired, I
shall sleep by whirling up." Then they started, the raven going
with them. They flew a great distance (having now become birds),
passing over a large expanse of water, where there was no land to
be seen. Finally, when the geese wanted to sleep, they settled and
swam on the water, and there they went to sleep. The raven also
grew very tired, and wanted to sleep, but of course could not swim.
So he whirled upwards towards the sky. But as soon as he went to
sleep, he began to drop from up there. When he fell into the water
he woke up and said, " Get together, so that I can climb on your
backs and go to sleep there." The geese did as he' told them, and
he was soon asleep on their backs. Then one of the geese said,
" He is not light at all. Let us shake him off, because he is so
heavy." Then they shook him off their backs into the water.
"Get together," cried the raven. But they did not do so, and thus
the raven was drowned.1

4. The hawk was busy marking the raven with spots. Mean-
while a man was coming from behind towards them, so that they did
not see him (especially as they were absorbed in their occupation).
The man came nearer. (An obscure passage follows.) Suddenly
the hawk was startled, and spilled the soot over the raven, so that
the latter became black, while the raven bespattered him, so that he
became marked with small spots.2

1 The last part of this story is found in Rink, Eventyr, ii. 88.

2 Cf. a similar fable of the owl and the raven, Boas, p. 641.

Tales of the Smith Sound Eskimo. 175

XIV. TERIENIAQ.1

A man named Niviuk (butterfly ?) was looking for his wife, Teri-
eniaq (fox). Finally he found her. A qogluvissin, a huge worm,
had her and would not release her. The man went into its house,
and grappled with it, wrestling. The qogluvissin said, " Who is it
that is scorching me ? who is burning me ? " The man was bend-
ing and folding it, threw it down, and burnt it, thus killing it.

XV. THE GULL.2

High up on a cliff lived a large gull. Once he saw an unmarried
girl come cut of a house. " Will you not be my husband a little," said
the girl, who was still wearing a child's hood. The gull flew down,
and, picking her up by the tip of her hood with his bill, carried her
to his habitation to be his wife far up on the cliff. But then the
gull went away to get something to eat for his wife. He flew far
away over the sea to get whale-meat. When he was gone, the girl
let herself down from the cliff by a rope, and ran home. The gull,
coming back, saw her, but was too late to catch her, and in his grief
flew about, crying, kotiuk. Thereupon a man came out from the
house, and shot him, hitting him under the wing.

This (or another ?) girl is also said to have been swallowed b a
narwhal, but to have been puffed out again by it.

XVI. THE UINGNIAQSSUQSSUIN.

Once upon a time the uingniaqssuqssuin (swordfish ?) entered a
bay where there was a walrus and cut off his flippers. The walrus
struck him on the head with his tusks, and then the swordfish swam
off. They are called " Having knives" (ssavilingaptaon).

XVII. THE BLACK BEAR.

Two brothers left their home, going far away over the sea. Fi-
nally they reached land again. Here they saw an agli (black bear),
a large animal living in a hole in the ground, and having no claws
from digging, but possessing large teeth.3 They threw stones at
him but missed him, and he retreated into his cavern. The bro-
thers entered the cavern, and one of them thrust his spear down
the agli's throat into his vitals. His young ones jumped at the men
and bit at them like dogs, and they came out again, leaving the spear

1 A wife who had originally been a fox is mentioned by Rink, 71 and T. p. 143,
and Turner, p. 264. Rink, p. 186, gives a story of a woman who married a huge
reptile, that was later attacked and slain by her brothers.

2 This tale is found in Greenland (Rink, T. and T. p. 126), and in Labrador (H.
I. Smith, Joicrnal of American Folk-Lore, vii. 211). Cf. also Rink, p. 465.

8 A fabulous animal also in Baffin Land, where it is called agdlaq (Boas, p. 640).

1 76 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

in the agli, from which wound he soon died. The two brothers now
separated. One went ptarmigan -hunting, and was lost, but the
other finally reached his home again. When his mother saw him
return (whom she believed dead), she defecated from amazement and
surprise.

XVIII. THE AGLIRTOQ WOMAN AND THE BEAR.1

A woman ran away from men. She came to a snow-house, owned
by a bear. The bear was inside, but had changed himself to a man.
This woman, who was aglirtoq (under restrictions), went into the
house. After a while the bear, who was also in the snow-house (but
whom she had not seen, as the house was a double one), got up and
went into the entrance passage, where he put on his big skin and
thus became a bear. Then he went down to the water and dived.
He stayed under a long time, but finally reappeared, carrying a seal in
his mouth. This bear then skinned it, and brought the seal into the
house. Then he cut up the seal he had caught, and gave that aglirtoq
woman some of the skin [fat ?] to eat. She gave her children some
of the skin and then went away, going home. When she arrived,
she told her story : "There is a bear who has a snow-house. I went
in. He caught a seal and I ate of his catch. He gave me its skin
to eat."

XIX. QIGEXSSUUNG.

In a house was sleeping Qigexssuung (an evil old woman) ; in an-
other near by, a woman with a child, which she was still carrying in
her hood. Into this house came Qigexssuung. The woman woke
up, and, seeing her, hurried out and away, leaving her child. Qigex-
ssuung thereupon cut off the child's head and ate some. Later she
ate the rest, too.

XX. THE BEAR.2

A woman had a bear for a child. At first it was small, but soon
it grew very large. It used to go out and hunt seals and bring them
home, thus providing for her.

One day, however, he was hunted. First the dogs caught him, and
then the men came up and speared him and thus killed him. When
his mother heard this she began to cry, and cried until she was
turned to stone. She can be seen even now at Ita.

1 Cf. Rink, T. and T. p. 462; Boas, p. 638; and also Rink, p. 413 ; and, for a
similar idea, Rink, p. 470.

2 Cf. Rink, T. and T. p. 413 ; Boas, p. 638.

Tales of the Smith Sound Eskimo. 177

XXI. KIVIUNG.1

1. A woman put a boy on the water, and he floated away, sinking
and rising. Each time that he came up he looked more like a ground-
seal, until the people who were looking for him could not distinguish
him from one. His name was Uxssung (ground-seal). The men
pursued him in their kayaks, but he caused them all to drown. He
saved only one, who had been good to him, whose name was Kiviuk.
Kiviuk came to a far distant land, where he met two women, with
whom he stayed. A large man tried to shoot him with his bow, but
was unable to.

2. Kiviung was going far away, paddling in his kayak. He was
following a woman who was travelling on the ice. Far away Kivi-
ung followed her, because he was an angakoq and knew everything.
Finally, far away at Tinussaving, he caught and cut up many nar-
whals. Then Kiviung, still paddling after her, at last caught up
with her. Then he cohabited with her. Then Kiviung went back
to his wife, going in his kayak. When he reached her, Kiviung
said : " There ! Where is it ? I see her in Tinussaving. There
she lives and cuts up many narwhals, and lives on them."

XXII. IGIMASSUXSSUQ.2

Igimassuxssuq, or Igimarassuxssuq, was a very large man, who
lived at Oangaxssut (Cape Parry), and killed and ate people. His
wife became afraid, and weeping ran away to Akpan (Saunders Is-
land). He followed her, going over the ice, until he also reached
the house. " Let me come into the house," he said. The door of
the house was small, and Igimassuxssuq was a large man, but at last
he managed to squeeze into the house. [When the people asked
him where those were whom he had eaten] he said, " Some one else
has eaten them." Then his wife tied his hands with thongs, and
the people said: "Let his wife stab him with a knife." Then his
wife stabbed and killed him.

It is also said that another man later strangled her, and slashed
her open in front.

1 This tale, though obscure and fragmentary, is given for purposes of compari-
son. A complete tale about Kiviung is found in Greenland (Rink, T. and T.
p. 157) and in Baffin Land (Boas, p. 621). The first portion also occurs in Labra-
dor (Rink, p. 469, The Swimmer) and Angmagsalik (Holm, Sagn, p. 47). See,
also, Rink, p. 222.

2 Found in Labrador and Greenland (Rink, T. and T. p. 106), the Central Re-
gions (Boas, p. 633), and East Greenland (Holm, Sagn, p. 11).

VOL. XII. — NO. 46. 12

1 78 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

XXIII. QAUAXSAQSSUQ.1

Oauaxsaqssuq was a boy that was maltreated by all. In the day-
time his mother hid him in the beds, but at night she had to take
him out. Then he slept either in the doorway or on the roof, over
the lamp-hole, in order to get at least a little warmth. He was gen-
erally lifted and carried by the nostrils, the crooked fingers being
inserted in them. He always remained small, but his feet grew very
large. He was a great angakoq (shaman), and was very strong.
Finally he grew tired of the bad treatment he received, and showed
his strength, after which, though he never killed any one, he was
much dreaded and feared.

Once he was indoors, lying on the bed without any boots on,
when a man arrived inquiring for him. " Qauaxsaqssuq has gone
into the house over there, and is inside," he was told. Then the
man called to Qauaxsaqssuq from outdoors, " Qauaxsaqssuq !
Three large bears have come over from the land, and are now on
the ice. Come out ! " " Yes," said Qauaxsaqssuq, and hastened to
dress and put on his boots. Then he came out and saw the three
bears. Holding only a knife in his hand, he ran after them. He
had no dogs to harry the bears and bring them to bay, but he soon
caught up with them. He first seized the old one and twisted off
its head, so that it was immediately dead. Then he took the cubs
and knocked their heads together, and twisted their necks until
they were dead. Then he took them up, the old one on one side,
the cubs on the other, and carried them home. He brought the
three bears to the assembled people, who proceeded to cut them up,
put them in pots, cook them, and eat them.

Qauaxsaqssuq was immensely strong, and what was heavy for
others was very light for him. In spite of his small size, he could
easily lift the largest rocks. He had enemies, who however were
afraid to do anything against him openly. So once, when he went
away to Oavanganiq, where he had a kayak, they secretly cut a hole
in the skin-covering of his kayak. When Qauaxsaqssuq got into his
boat, and out into the water, the boat began to fill with water, and
thus it was that Oauaxsaqssuq drowned.

XXIV. THE TORTURED GIRL.

A poor family had a daughter who did not want to marry. In
another family, better provided with meat than hers, were two young
men, suitors for her. When she refused them, her parents grew
angry. They hung her from her feet until they supposed she was

1 In Greenland, Kagsagsuk, Kausaksuk, Kausaksuk, etc.; in Labrador, Kaujak-
juk (Rink, T. and T. p. 93) ; in Baffin Land, Qaudjaqdjuq (Boas, p. 630). See, also,
Turner, p. 265.

Tales of the Smith Sound Eskimo. 1 79

dead. When the body was dry, they hung it in a cave. The two
brothers went to look for the body, and at last found her still alive.
When the girl saw them coming she sang : —

Tartuka issialngi
tingoga ntiyarahigi
omatiga nakturalugo.
My kidneys are my eyes,
My liver is my hair,
My heart is my belly.

The brothers then put her body on a skin blanket and carried
it out.1

XXV. AKSSAIT IQOXIE (HE CUT OFF HER FINGERS).

They were all sleeping in the house, when she began to eat her
father and mother. Her parents awoke, and went out of the house.
The people now all ran away, and entered an umiak (large skin-boat).
Her father, however, went to the house for a knife, and brought his
daughter down to the water. Because she had not wanted to marry,
he cut off her fingers when they were in the boat. The fingers
became the various kinds of seals (except Phoca barbata), and wal-
ruses, and narwhals.2

XXVI. THE SUN AND THE MOON.3

The sun and moon were sister and brother. He loved her incest-
ously. She cut off her breast, saying to him, " Tangmarma mama-
lunga" ("I who altogether taste good," or " Enjoy the taste of all of
me").4 Then she fled and he pursued. Both carried torches. He
stumbled and fell, his torch being extinguished. They gradually

1 This, the narrator claimed, was an actual occurrence. While he was still a
small boy, a visitor came to the house while he was lying on the bed between his
parents, pretending to be asleep. Then his father sang the above song.

2 I was unable to obtain any explanation of this seeming fragment, which I
have translated literally. The story undoubtedly refers to Arnaquagssaq of the
Greenlanders, or Sedna of the Central Eskimo, who is known as Nerivik at Smith
Sound ; but the Eskimo refused to identify positively the woman of this story
with Nerivik. In two points — the eating of the parents, and the woman's un-
willingness to marry — there is resemblance to the corresponding tale of the
Central tribes (Boas, pp. 584, 586). See, also, Rink, Eskimo Tribes, p. 17 ; Turner,
p. 262.

3 Cf. Rink, T. and T. p. 237; Boas, p. 597; Turner, p. 276; Holm, Sagn,p. 34.

4 In Greenland she says, " Since my body seems to please thee, pray take
these and eat them." In Baffin Land her words are, "Since you seem to relish
me, eat this; " at Point Barrow, in Alaska, " My whole person being delicious, eat
this also." (" Ta-mati'g-ma vmm-mang-mang-an'g-ma nigh'-e-ro" that is, " Tam-
arma tnamarmat dma neriuk") In Angmagsalik, she says, " Since you like me
so much, eat me."

i So Journal of A merican Folk-Lore,

rose from the ground until they reached the sky. They now live in
the sky, in a double house having but one entrance (qarcaring). In
one house lives Aningana or Aningan, the moon, with his wife Akoq,
or Aqong ; in the other, Serxineq, the sun. In front of the house
stands Aningan's sledge, piled full of seal-skins. He has a number
of large spotted dogs, with which he often drives down to the earth.

XXVII. ANINGAN.

1. A girl lived with her grandmother. One day, Aningana, the moon-
man, came down, importuning her to allow him to cohabit with her.
She first asked her grandmother for permission, who granted it.
Then she went out with Aningana. When they came in again, they
found there was nothing to eat. Aningana, however, did not go out
to get food, but said, " For the cohabitation I shall cause to present
themselves to you a great number of foxes." Having said this,
he went away, while the grandmother and grandchild remained in
the house. Soon a fox entered the house of his own account, and
then another, and still another ; and a fourth came into the house,
and a fifth, and a great many, so many, in fact, that the house was
crowded, and the old woman almost smothered. Thereupon the
women said, " Sh ! " thus driving out part of the foxes. The rest
they killed and ate. The foxes thereafter did not come in again.1

2. Aningan drove down to earth and brought back a woman, whom
he put into his house. He cut or stabbed the soles of her feet, so
that she could not leave him. Aqong (his wife) desired Aningan, and
panted, " ax, ax." He, however, did not desire her, and threw her away
from him toward the window (that is, off the bed). He forbade the
woman he had brought to look into another house. She, however,
disobeyed him, and in consequence the side of her face was burnt.
She looked down from the sky, and saw a poor little boy in ragged
clothes wandering about, unable to find his mother, and she wept to
see him.2

XXVIII. IRDLIRVIRISISSONG.

Irdlirvirisissong has a house in the sky, and sometimes visits her
cousin, Aningan. Her nose is turned up on the sides, and she carries
a plate called qengmerping for her dogs, of whom she has a number.
She waits for people who die, so that when they come she can feed
her dogs on their intestines. She dances about, saying, " Qimiti-
aka nexessaqtaqpaka " (" I look for food for my dear dogs "). If

1 Compare Rink, T. and T. p. 441. The moon-man carries off a barren woman,
and has a son by her. The moon frequently is said to have seduced unmarried
girls (Cranz, p. 295). Compare, also, Holm, Sagn, pp. 72, 75.

2 The whole tale seems mangled.

Tales of the Smith Sound Eskimo. 1 8 1

the people laugh, she cuts them open, and gives their entrails to the
clogs. Otherwise they are spared. Aningan warns the people not
to laugh. When an angakok comes up to visit Aningan, he turns
his head aside so that his laughter may not be seen. If he begins to
laugh, Aqoq says, " Qongujukpouq" ("He laughs"). Irdlirvirisis-
song goes driving with her dogs.1

XXIX. QALUTALING.

Qalutaling is a woman who lives at the bottom of the sea. She
says, " Psh, psh, psh ! " (the " sh " being pronounced through one cor-
ner of the mouth and being drawn out). She can be heard but not
seen by men. She is also known as " Amautiling " (having a hood),
and can carry men in her hood.2

XXX. FRAGMENTS.

i. A woman who was beaten by her hubsand ran away into the
wilderness. A large tuneq found her. When he felt sleepy, she
went away. On the great ice-cap she saw an old woman, and, follow-
ing her tracks, went in her house. Then she went home ( ?). When
she got back, her husband said, " Why do you come in now, when I
am no longer looking for you?" Thereupon she speared him, and,
when he ran away, followed him and speared him in the stomach, so
that he died. After she had thus killed her husband, she herself
was killed by the people.

2. Talitaxssuang, an evil man, stabbed a person while asleep. He
entered the house, killed the person, and pulled him out by the legs.

3. A little boy, named Aninang, had been killed by his mother.
One night, when every one was asleep, he came back from the grave.
Slowly he crept on, then suddenly jumped upon his father and
mother and began eating them. The rest of the people ran away
horror-stricken, on a cake of ice, and paddled away on it. Later a
man accidentally came to the house in which the boy was, and, find-
ing what had occurred, killed him with a knife.

4. An old man was sitting outdoors half asleep, when a large bear
came up and ate him. A woman who saw this occurrence called
her brother, who, though only a boy, seized a spear and speared
the bear through both eyes, thus dispatching him.

5. A little boy who had neither father nor mother, Oituaxssung

1 Erdlaveersissok in Greenland (Rink, T. and T. pp. 48, 440) ; Ululiernang in
Baffin Land (Boas, p. 598); in Angmagsalik she is the sun's mother (Jupiter).
See Holm, Sagn, p. 80.

2 Among the Central Eskimo, Kalopaling or Mitiling puts drowned hunters in
his hood. He lives in the sea, and can only cry, " Be, be ! be, be ! " (Boas, p.
620).

i S2 Jotirnal of American Folk-Lore.

by name, was playing with a number of other boys. Suddenly he
sank into the rock, but the others ran away and escaped. "My
spear ! " he cried, " where is it ? " The people tried to spear him,
but did not succeed. They also tried to tip over the stone, but only
succeeded in making it rock. Finally the boy died inside. (The
latter part of this story is very obscure, owing to a number of un-
identifiable words.)

6. Iml'ne had two wives, but was a very poor hunter. He used
to go out hunting with four other men, but though they got walrus,
he never did. His wives twitted him about this, until one day he
returned from the hunt, saying he had killed a walrus. They re-
joiced exceedingly, but when he brought his booty, it was only a gull,
and a small one at that. He had fooled them.1

A. L. Kroeber.

1 A number of anecdotes like this are collected in the Greenland story of
Kasiagsak, the great liar (Rink, T. and T. p. 291).

The Ocimbanda. 183

THE OCIMBANDA, OR WITCH-DOCTOR OF THE OVIM-
BUNDU OF PORTUGUESE SOUTHWEST AFRICA.

In July of last year the Anthropological Department of the Field
Columbian Museum secured an ethnological collection from the
Ovimbundu of the Portuguese African province of Angola. The
collection was made by Rev. T. W. Woodside, a missionary for
seven years among the Ovimbundu, and, on account of its complete-
ness and the full data which accompanied the objects, is of unusual
importance and value. Perhaps of chief interest among the series
of objects illustrating the various phases of native life in this region
is the complete "medicine chest" of a witch-doctor. This I shall
describe, making free use of the extensive notes furnished by Mr.
Woodside, supplemented by several conversations during which the
objects themselves were discussed, and much information furnished
concerning the Ovimbundu in general. The collection under con-
sideration was obtained from a single individual, and has seen long
use.

The Ovimbundu are a southern division of an extensive group of
people known as the Bundas, who, in turn, belong to the group
of Bantu populations. They occupy the territory of the Bailundu
and Bihe plateaus, from Bengualla to the Ouanza River, a table-land
400c to upwards of 6000 feet high, and in south latitude about twelve
degrees. The Ovimbundu are described by Mr. Woodside as a
dark-skinned people, varying from coffee-brown to quite black, with
thick curly hair. They are entirely uncivilized, but are a peaceable,
kindly people. Their food is chiefly vegetal, although they possess
cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and chickens. They practise polygamy,
and the women prepare the food and do nearly all the field work.
The men are famous as traders, and journey to the interior for
rubber, wax, ivory, and slaves ; the latter they secure by purchase
from the country of the Lubas. The principal medium of exchange
is a cheap cotton cloth which is obtained from white travellers.

Among the Ovimbundu, as in nearly all parts of Africa, the
witch-doctor is an important personage. He is feared by all classes,
and often has more influence and power than the chief himself.
Whenever anything is lost or stolen, they apply to the witch-doctor
to find out where the object is, or who is the thief. As no one is
supposed to die a natural death, the doctor is called in to discover
the witch who caused the death. To him they go for all kinds of
charms to protect themselves against all evils, or to cast a spell on
some one whom they wish to injure ; to him they also go for help in

184 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

case of sickness. He is also a diviner, reading both the past and
future. At all spirit feasts, at the installation of a new chief, in
preparation for war, and on almost every occasion the witch-doctor
plays a prominent part. He bears an influential position among his
people, and his art is the source of a considerable income, for always
before he begins operations the pay must be brought and laid down
before him. Thus it is that he is loth to part with even a few of his
charms, much less a full set.

The ocimbanda does not inherit his power, but must serve a long
apprenticeship to some old witch-doctor, whom he pays liberally.
He is then given a small basket with a few charms, to which he adds
from time to time. His idols and charms are not made by him, but
are purchased one by one. All of these objects are considered
powerful, cikola or sacred, and the common people are afraid to
touch them ; even the touch of a white man is sacrilegious. One
of the distinguishing features of a witch-doctor's costume is a head-
dress, ckufue, made of long porcupine quills fastened together at
one end, sewn to a cloth disk about two inches in diameter. Many
of the quills are over a foot in length. This headdress is only worn
when divining. He also occasionally wears about the loins a girdle,
uya, consisting of a strip of antelope skin sewn together along the
two edges, thus forming a pouch which contains medicines. At-
tached to the girdle are war charms and medicines, of which he eats
from time to time. There are also several kinds of small skins in
the collection, on which the doctor kneels when about to perform.
Two pigments should also be noticed. The first is a white, clayey
substance, ocikela, with which the ocimbanda paints himself, and
with which he also marks the person whom by his divining he has
discovered to be innocent, the sign of acquittal being a mark across
the forehead and down the arms. The other pigment is a red clay,
onongo, with which he also marks his own body and employs as the
sign of guilt.

Of the various objects of the ocimbanda's outfit proper, the most
important is the basket, uhamba, in which the outfit is kept. When
it is said that so and so has a "uhamba," it means that he is a witch-
doctor. The basket is thirteen inches high by nineteen in length,
and eight inches in thickness. The ends are rounded, thus giving
the basket, as seen from above, an elliptical form. The cover, three
inches in height, fits closely down over the basket, after the manner
of our telescope bag. The bottom of the basket is made separate,
and is fastened by means of an interlacing of grass braid. The
sides of the basket are simply one long strip of interlaced reed and
bark fibre, the ends overlapping and being fastened together by
the grass braid, which passes up continuously from the bottom to

The Ocimbanda. 185

the top of the basket which it circles, thus giving a decorative
effect as well as affording additional strength. The lid is built in a
similar manner.

Only second in importance is a small basket - shaped gourd,
ongombo, used in divination. The basket is ten inches in diameter
and three inches deep. Around the rim is bound two bands of
grass fibre, thus affording strength, and, by means of the manner of
binding these in place, a certain amount of decoration. The basket
has evidently seen much use, for the bottom is cracked in several
places and has been mended with cotton thread. On two sides near
the rim are two cowry shells. The contents of this basket are
extremely varied, all the objects being in the nature of charms.
Among them may be enumerated several small images made of
different kinds of wood, horn of a goat, ox hoof, piece of pig's foot,
lion's tooth ; skin from the nose of a hyena, to smell out crime ;
bone of a person, a supposed witch ; chicken bones, and a chicken
head with open mouth, which is supposed to represent a gossip; and
dozens of other trinkets, each having its own significance in the eyes
of the witch-doctor.

During the process of divination two images, ovitakas, represent-
ing male and female, are set up before the ocimbanda, that he may
cause them to be inhabited by spirits. These are not worshipped as
idols, yet are venerated in a sense by the common people, especially
by women and children. The images are carved out of hard wood,
and stand a little over a foot in height. Each one is partially
clothed in a cotton wrapper, and bears about the neck several strands
of native beads. They possess unusual interest, as on the back of
the head of each the manner of wearing the hair of each sex is
carefully portrayed. Attached to the male by a string around the
neck is a rosette of dull red and yellow feathers, one of which has
been artificially notched. To enable the ocimbanda to call the
spirits into these images, he uses a whistle, ombinga, consisting of
the horn of a small antelope inserted into an ox-tail wrapped with
beads arranged into broad bands of white, black, and red. Further-
more, when about to divine, the doctor eats a number of ants. He
also has some medicines known collectively as ovihemba, which are
kept in a skin, from which he takes and eats before and during
divining. Of rattles, ocisikilo, shaken by the ocimbanda during the
practice of his art, there are two, both bottle-shaped gourds contain-
ing cannalilly seeds.

When the ocimbanda goes to divine, he first carefully spreads his
skins one upon the other, and upon these he places his basket of
charms. He puts white and red clay on his eyebrows, cheek bones,
shoulders, and elbows ; also stripes his body with these clays, and

1 86 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

puts on his necklace and headdress, which gives him a strange,
wild appearance. Taking one of the gourd rattles, and giving the
others to the parties interested, setting up the images, he is ready
for operations. He begins by shaking the gourds and blowing the
horn whistle, at the same time chanting in a minor strain, all the
rest responding in chorus. In this way he works himself up into a
sort of frenzy. He then takes the basket of charms, and, by throw-
ing them slightly, claims to be able to read from them the past and
future, and to declare the guilt or innocence of a person. In this
way trivial matters, as well as the most weighty, even life and
death, are decided. For instance, if, while determining whether an
accused person is a witch or not, in his shaking and throwing of the
charms the little horn with the wax and red seeds should stand
upright, that would be taken as evidence of guilt ; while if, on the
contrary, the little image with the small cowry shell on the head
should stand upright, that is evidence conclusive that the person is
innocent. Not only is the question of guilt thus decided, but witch-
doctors are thought to be able to predict coming events.

An important object in the outfit is a large horn of the roan
antelope, containing a smaller antelope horn, medicines, oils, etc.,
prepared by the ocimbanda. This is known as ombinga, or " loaded
horn," and is considered efficacious in warding off from its posses-
sor all harm, lightning, disease, witches, spirits, wild animals, etc.
Carried upon journeys, it also insures a prosperous issue to the
undertaking, and affords as well protection. Somewhat similar in
construction, but used for an entirely different purpose, is the
ocifungo or rain wand. This is the tail of an ox, into which are
inserted two small horns with medicines and oils. By blowing the
horns and waving the tail, the ocimbanda is supposed to drive off
rains at will.1

Of numerous small charms, umbanda, in the collection, two are of
sufficient interest to merit notice. One consists of two four-inch-
long bottle-shaped objects made of woven string, from the mouth of
each of which projects a two-inch tuft of very tiny feathers. The
two objects are joined at the top and bottom, and singly bear a
decided resemblance to a Hopi tiponi, or religious society's palla-
dium. They contain medicines and are worn from the neck. This
is a special war charm, and affords protection against bullets and all
harm in battle. The other charm is an ox's hoof into which is
thrust a small antelope horn and medicines. In times of special
danger, it is put up somewhere in the village for protection. Still

1 Mr. Woodside also states that this same power is attributed by the Ovim-
bundu to white men ; and when they are told that we do not possess this power,
"they calmly look us in the eye and say, 'wa kemba' (you lie)."

The Ocimbanda. 187

another form of fetish for protection are two small images also
known as ovitekas. They, like the other ovitekas described above
are of wood, but are rudely carved from two round pieces of wood
about sixteen inches kmg. No attempt has been made to represent
the human form in any detail, only the face, neck, and arms being
indicated. The face of both images has been besmeared with some
reddish black pigment. These were placed where the path to the
village branches off to the caravan road. A small hut before which
they stood was built for them, about two feet square, and between
two and three feet high, with a thatched grass roof. Within was
a shelf on which from time to time was placed food, corn, and a
small gourd of beer. This was done to appease certain spirits
which were supposed to be angry with the village and were causing
sickness.

For the so-called poison test three medicines are employed. The
first and most common is known as the ombambu, a drug obtained
from the country east of the Quanza River, and represented in the
collection by a piece of bark. It has the property of a powerful
spinal irritant, and it is said that a very small quantity will produce
death. There is a current belief among the Ovimbundu that if a
bird alights upon the ombambu tree it will fall down dead. The
second drug, or ombambu, employed in the poison test is obtained
from the Bihe country, and is represented by several roots. It is
taken in the form of a decoction. The third test is known as
onsunga. This is a mixture of powdered herbs, and is obtained from
the country of the Ganguellas. With these three drugs should be
mentioned a small gourd, okopo, used by the ocimbanda in mixing
the medicines, and from which during the poison test the parties
drink. The test medicines are stirred with the foot of a small ante-
lope. Occasion for the administering of the poison may arise in
various ways. Frequently one person will accuse another of being
a witch. The accused may deny it, and appeal to the poison test to
prove his innocency. They go to the chief, who calls an ocimbanda,
who mixes up a concoction in a gourd, and both the accuser and
accused drink. If the draughts make one sick and he vomits, he is
acquitted ; and if the other one becomes very sick and does not
vomit, he is said to be the witch. This same test is often appealed
to in other matters where one affirms and another denies. A man
may drink by proxy, that is, he may have a friend drink the poison
in his stead, or, more frequently, a slave drinks for his master.

Finally, it must be noticed that the ocimbandu is also a medicine-
man. He undoubtedly possesses some really valuable remedies, but
there is so much of the fetishistic cult bound up in the administer-
ing of the remedies that when they do help a person the credit of

1 8S Jotimal of American Folk-Lore.

the cure is given to the charms and incantations. Of the medicines
contained in the collection I shall only mention four : The first is a
love medicine, ckulo, a powdered mixture of seeds. When a wife
becomes jealous of the other wives of her husband, she complains
to her mother, who advises her to cook a chicken and in the broth
to \ place some of this medicine, which, when her husband eats
thereof, will compel him forever to love her above all the other
wives. The second remedy is an emetic, asangu. This is frequently
used, as, for example, when in the poison test a person becomes
very sick, and the guilt has become fully established, the doctor will
administer an emetic to save life. In cases of difficult labor, the
woman is given a small piece of the bark of the olnvanga to chew.
For rheumatism, ovihata, a mixed powder called omatoli, is used.

George A. Dorsey.

The Legend of the Holy Grail. 189

THE LEGEND OF THE HOLY GRAIL.

v.

An account has been given of the evolution of the legend in
French romance. Before proceeding with an account of the forms
taken by the legend outside the limits of the French language, it
may be advisable to offer remarks on the manner of development of
mediaeval romances, and on the characteristics which ordinarily
belong to the later versions of a tale as compared with earlier forms
of the same story. In a literary cycle such as the Arthurian, it is
first of all to be noted, that as the compositions are generally works
of conscious art, so the manner adopted by the reconstructor in
dealing with his material depends on his own choice, and is subject
to the greatest variation. As an imitator, he may follow the data of
his original with slavish precision, or, as a recaster, may use the
greatest freedom in his rendering, to an extent which renders his
production essentially a new work : he may expand the narration to
inordinate length, or may abstract its situations, or omit certain of
its episodes ; he may confine himself to the dramatis personce sup-
plied by him, or may ornament his work with a wholly new set of
proper names ; he may, in short, use all the freedom which a
modern dramatist may employ with regard to the treatment of a
non-copyrighted theme. Furthermore, if he himself is not a cultured
person, and if he is obliged to receive his suggestions at second-
hand, he may exhibit all the variations and misunderstandings which
naturally result from the intervention of a third mind ; or he may
seize on certain floating ideas and general notions, and so construct
an independent novelette, which may thus be intermediate between
the character of an original flight of imagination and an adaptation
of a celebrated production. Mediaeval authors enjoyed the greater
freedom in this respect, because books were rare ; and, unless the
romancer belonged to the highest literary circles, his use of his
material was not likely to be questioned, and he stood in little
danger of indictment for plagiarism. The forms likely to be taken
by variations are therefore infinite, and the imagination of the
writer is not easily to be limited by definite rules. Nevertheless,
speaking generally, some observations may be offered on the criteria
characterizing later versions of a story.

(1.) The natural course likely to be taken by a narrative was
gradual expansion. Beginning, perhaps, as a brief poem capable of
being concluded within the time of a single recitation, it would
receive rapid increment in two ways. On the one hand, the addi-
tions would be external ; prefaces would represent the enfances of

1 90 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

the hero, or would lay the basis of the tale in an earlier generation
by recounting the fortunes of his parents : on the other, the brief
history would be thought worthy of a sequel carrying on the activ-
ity of the main performer. As the authors contributing these
extensions would usually be persons of moderate imagination, they
would be apt to carry out their narrative by frequent repetition of
the ideas and motives furnished by their original. Examples of
such process have been shown in the continuations of the Perceval,
elaborate fictions in which misunderstandings of an incomplete
original furnished no small part of the matter. Supposing several
such prefaces to exist in the case of any one work, then the critic
should first of all consider whether the main situations, and especially
the proper names, exhibit agreement: if so, he would infer that the
various improvers had a single source no longer extant ; but if
the outlines differed, he would suppose that the several authors were
guided solely by their respective whims. To trifling agreements in
detail, in the face of general independence, he should not attach
much consequence, because such resemblances would probably be
found explainable as common inferences drawn from situations in
the original, which the several authors had understood, or misunder-
stood, in a similar manner.

(2.) The story grows also internally, by the continued interpola-
tion of new episodes. In virtue of such increase, the tale would
require to be separated into portions capable of separate recital, and
in this way opportunity would be offered for rearrangement of the
various episodes. So long as the narrative was unwritten, this pro-
cess would proceed freely ; the record of the fiction would interpose
difficulties, but not put an entire stop to this manner of evolution.
If one tale be found to contain as its foundation epic material be-
longing to another, while including also new matter intercalated
between the divisions of the story, it may be taken as certain that
the former is a recast based on the latter.

(3.) The portions of a mediaeval romance, as already noted, usually
consist of independent episodes very loosely connected. On the
part of an editor or imitator, it is natural to endeavor to bring these
separate sections in closer relationship. One way of accomplishing
this is by uniting the characters of the action in the ties of a com-
mon genealogy. Sometimes, in place of minor personages who are
unknown or unrelated to the action, the reviser prefers to intro-
duce characters with whom the readers or hearers are otherwise
acquainted. The effort to connect, in either of these ways, one part
of a story with the rest of the plot, or with the expectations of the
audience, indicates a later production.

(4.) The subsequent and probably more sophisticated author,

The Legend of the Holy Grail. 1 9 1

finding the task of winning the sympathies of his audience a harder
one, and under the obligation of surpassing in some way the attrac-
tion of the earlier work, commonly tries to do so by the accumula-
tion of marvel and fantastic situations. In this cycle, at least, the
progress of time is accompanied with a tendency toward wilder and
wilder fiction. While the earlier poet was able to be more direct,
and more in accord with the manners of his time and the realities
of life, his successors become more and more romantic.

(5.) Where the reconstructor works for the people, he is strongly
tempted to introduce into the action primitive elements which are
already familiar to the people and likely to attract their attention,
On the other hand, in his hands the psychology and human interest
of the older author is likely to meet with complete shipwreck.
From this relation it follows that no rule can be more incorrect than
the canon of critical judgment, continually employed even by dis-
tinguished scholars, which measures the relative antiquity of two
compositions according to the degree of barbarism which the plot
may seem to exhibit. To use a figure which I have elsewhere em-
ployed, the pure gold of literature, falling into the baser metal of an
earlier stratum of thought, ordinarily becomes an amalgam. In this
case, the style and sentiment of the piece constitute a much better
guide to its antiquity than do the facts of the action.

(6.) Where a work known to be of later date and in general cor-
respondent to an earlier production contains certain independent
features, the inference must be that these features result from the
freely creative activity of the later author. The burden of proof
lies on the critic who endeavors to prove the contrary ; and in mak-
ing this essay he must appeal to minds likely to be skeptical, and
his failure to convince these doubters must be held to indicate the
failure of the argument. In general, the existence of a celebrated
work, like the appearance of a higher race of animals, has the effect
of obliterating the intermediate steps by which it rose ; earlier and
inferior works are forgotten and pass away in the new radiance.
The development, if it continues, now starts from a new centre ; the
lines of tradition converge toward the masterpiece, and are drawn
through, as through a ring ; subsequent divergences proceed from
the fancy and pleasure of improvers who work on the lines of the
new composition, and trust their own invention for its alteration ; it
is only in exceptional cases, and particularly where the material has
had a long unwritten national currency, that parallel lines inter-
weave with the process ; ordinarily, it is useless to search beyond
the new creation, or to expect the survival, in its variations, of any
ancient remains which may throw light on the method of its produc-
tion. In particular, where a generally close connection is admitted,

1 9 2 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

to assume the occasional influence of an early source is ordinarily
only the self-deception of misapplied ingenuity, as the arguments by
which such discovery is supported are apt to be characterized by
sophistry. Broad common sense will usually pay attention to the
outlines of the plot, as sufficiently indicating the relation, and lay
little stress on the citation of minute variations. Learning, when
employed to exhibit petty divergencies, is apt to become an organon,
not for discovery, but for demonstration ; with adequately minute
erudition, any theory whatever can be triumphantly demonstrated.

TRANSLATIONS OF THE PERCEVAL OF CRESTIEN.

For two centuries the work of the trouvere continued to enjoy a
European popularity ; during that time, a cultivated reader in any
country would have had no difficulty in obtaining access to the
romance, while an outline of the situations might easily have fallen
within the cognizance of unlettered persons. A Flemish rendering
bears date of 1350.

The work of a Norse translator is rendered noteworthy by the
freedom used in separating into two tales the two parts of the
romance, relating respectively to Perceval (Parceval in the saga)
and Gawain (Valver). The renderer chose to complete the former
story by adding a brief preface and sequel of his own. In regard to
the nature and functions of the dish or grail, he fell into complete
confusion, misspelling the word, and also misinterpreting it. His
error shows that a foreigner, acquainted only with Crestien's tale,
would not be likely to comprehend the term.

THE PARZIVAL OF WOLFRAM.

An unlettered Franconian minstrel produced the most interesting
of mediaeval German epic poems. Wolfram of Eschenbach, who
could neither read nor write, disclaimed for his work the title of
book ; nevertheless, his composition is essentially a product of con-
scious art, being indeed characterized by a style of peculiar individ-
uality. The poet had a considerable knowledge of contemporary
French literature, which he must have acquired by listening to read-
ing aloud, while his own poetry must have been dictated in sections
to an amanuensis. The task was undertaken in the early years of
the thirteenth century ; the character of the introductory part
shows that, before giving out any portion of the work, the author
had mentally elaborated the entire complicated plot.

That Wolfram could on occasion be a free romancer, and that he
possessed sufficient fancy to make up a story on the base of vague
suggestions, is shown by the fragments of his Titurel. In these the
treatment is as wildly romantic as the theme; in order to recover the

The Legend of the Holy Grail. 1 93

jewelled leash of a hound for a lady who sets her hand as the price of
the achievement, the hero sets out on a task understood to be attend-
ant with danger. The idea may probably have been borrowed from
some French story, like that of the "Mule sans frein," in which a
knight is sent to a (fairy) castle in order to procure a magic bridle ;
but the details of the action could have had no origin save in the
ready invention of the minnesinger. Into this tale Wolfram intro-
duced many of the new proper names, obviously of his own devising,
which occur in the Parzival, and even extended the number of such
personages ; the verse, therefore, was either subsequent to the more
epic production, or, at all events, composed after the plan of the
latter had been completed. It does not appear that the poet per-
fected any considerable part of his new undertaking ; it is likely
that his good sense perceived the inadequacy of the thin thread of
dramatic movement, too slender to allow of sustained interest.

In an account of the poem of Crestien, it has been explained that
the work consists of two portions nearly unrelated. The story of
Perceval leaves the education complete in arms, love, and ethical
insight ; the hero is thus prepared for the accomplishment of his
part in the action, but the incompletion of the poem makes his
future activity entirely conjectural. On the other hand, the adven-
tures of Gawain break off in the midst of an undecided quarrel,
leaving the knight still under the obligation of performing a series
of tasks, concerning which conjecture cannot offer the least ray of
light. Even after the accomplishment of these duties, it would still
be necessary for the poet to interweave the strands of his narration,
and unite the interests of the two heroes in a single scheme ; re-
specting the nature of this intent, no contemporary had the least
inkling. Wolfram was familiar with the tale of Crestien, but either
did not know, or else preferred to ignore, the task of the continu-
ators ; he was therefore left to finish the history in his own manner,
and proceeded to cut the Gordian knot in a very summary fashion.
The proposed combat he ended by a reconciliation ; the remaining
duties of Gawain he altogether overlooked, and went on directly to
the task of combining the sections of the narrative, and bringing the
two chief actors into relation. For this purpose he had recourse to
an expedient borrowed from another poem of Crestien (that relating
to Yvain) ; Gawain is made to meet his friend Parzival without
recognition, and to fight with him an undecided battle, terminated
by discovery. In Wolfram's mind, Parzival has not yet accom-
plished sufficient to pass for a hero of the Grail ; he has indeed
proved himself the peer of the best knight of Christendom, but
heathenesse remains (just as we find contemporary French ro-
mancers disposed to introduce into the Grail legend the heathen

vol. xii. — no. 46. 13

1 94 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

world). For the purpose, Wolfram can hit on nothing better than
to repeat the idea of an accidental encounter ; Parzival is made to
meet his pagan half brother, a king of India. Poetic necessity being
thus satisfied, nothing remains but to have Cundrie, the Grail-
maiden, conduct the brothers to Munsalvassche, where Parzival is at
last able to put the required question, and is recognized with joy as
the destined healer of the sick Anfortas, whose successor he be-
comes. The conclusion requires an introduction ; provision must
be made for bringing on the scene this half brother. Accordingly,
in a first book (to employ, for the sake of convenience, such modern
division), the poet makes Gahmuret, as servant of the caliph (the
Baruch in Wolfram's nomenclature), meet a heathen queen, with
whom he has a temporary alliance, and who bears him a son, of
color checkered between white and black. Deserting Belakane,
Gahmuret proceeds to Waleis (Wolfram's transliteration of Gales,
Wales, a country which to him was in the air), where he marries
Herzeloyde, and himself ultimately falls in the cause of the caliph,
leaving the widow to bring up her son Parzival, whom she endeav-
ors to keep from knowledge of the chivalry which has cost her so
dear.

In these ingenious additions, there appears to be nothing which
need be supposed beyond the powers of Wolfram's own invention.
The proper names, as seems to me, are quite enough to show that
no French author had part in the composition, as indeed the entire
action seems eminently characteristic of a German poet.

The portion of the poem which answers to Crestien's work
exhibits several of those features noted as characteristic of later
narratives. The persons are brought into relation by a complicated
genealogical system ; the parts of the action are carefully inter-
woven. Romantic episodes are introduced ; thus Crestien intro-
duces a lady who is mourning over her slain lover, and from whom
the hero learns the mistake which he has made in failing to put the
required inquiry ; pleased with the situation, at a later time Wol-
fram shows us this damsel in the character of a nun of love, and at
last exhibits a glimpse of her person as laid in death beside her
lover. The Frenchman represents his youthful hero as listening
with pleasure to the singing of birds in the forest ; the German
romantically represents the ambition of the childish Parzival as
awakened by these songs. In the French, the mother counsels her
departing son to observe the main rules of chivalry, to serve ladies,
obey elders, and adore God. With the minnesinger, the advice be-
comes more extravagant ; cautioned to avoid the attempt to ford
streams which are not clear, the youth, literally obedient, keeps on
one side of a runlet. The honor of wedded love is expressed in the

The Legend of the Holy Grail. 195

elevation of the heroine to the rank of wife, under the symbolic
name of Condwiramurs. Misinterpretation plays a considerable part ;
as already remarked, errors in the understanding of pronouns cause
the maimed relation whom Perceval was bound to relieve to be con-
verted from a cousin to an uncle, while a like error causes the youth
to be represented as learning his name from his cousin, instead of
communicating it to her. In these cases it is evident that the writer
has reflected on the French text ; and in the biography, with an
exception presently to be noted, there is no alteration of importance
not capable of such explanation.

In spite of this obvious relation, the German poet tells a different
story : in order to defend himself against the charge of erroneous
translation, he affirms that he has derived his version of the tale, not
from Crestien, but from a Provencal minstrel, a certain Kiot, com-
posing in French. While in Anjou, the latter had obtained his
information from an Arabic book written before the Christian era
by a certain Flegetanis, who on his part had come to a knowledge
of history in virtue of his astrological knowledge. It appears quite
unnecessary to take such statement as serious, or as anything more
than one of the inaccurate pretences regarding the sources of their
narratives usually employed by mediaeval authors.

If, however, in the biographical story, Wolfram has in general
followed the trouvere, the case is quite different in regard to the
portion of the poem relating to the Grail. It has been shown that
in the work of Crestien the dish occupies a subordinate and indeed
accidental position, while in the later French romances it becomes
the centre of the action. Now in the poem of Wolfram we find
a series of representations which correspond to these later compo-
sitions.

(1.) In the Parzival, as in the French prose romances, the Grail
is made the symbol of a spiritual kingdom intended for the hero of
the story. (2.) It is defined as the essence of all that is desirable,
as that which grants the fulfilment of human wishes ; corresponding
is the definition of Robert de Boron. (3.) It is kept in a temple
attached to the palace of Anfortas, the maimed relative whom the
hero is to relieve ; just so, in the Queste, its place is in a chapel
belonging to the palace of the Fisher King. (4,) In this temple,
apparently, it remains on the altar as the centre of a daily service ;
such is the description in the poem of Robert, where, as above set
forth, it answers to the eucharistic chalice. (5.) It magically sup-
plies the household with food ; so in the later French romancers, but
not in Crestien. (6.) Each banqueter receives such fare as he may
desire : an approach to this conception appears in the Queste, where
the Grail is said to supply all that is desirable ; but in the French

1 96 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

work the underlying symbolism is apparent. (7.) The Grail has a
curative property, and sufferers are kept alive by its influence. In
the same manner, the insane Lancelot, in the French prose romance,
recovers his sanity from the Grail ; and in the Queste we read how
a sick knight is healed by its apparition. (8.) It is invisible to un-
believers. In the Queste the sinful Lancelot loses his sight in con-
sequence of beholding the vessel, and in the Pellesvaus it refuses
to appear to Lancelot. (9.) It gives oracles which guide the con-
duct of its votaries ; these are furnished by letters of light visible
on the rim of the Grail. In the Joseph of Arimathsea, also, the
course of the servants of the Grail is guided by oracles which it fur-
nishes, either by means of a voice from heaven, or letters brought
from heaven by an angel. (10.) The service of the Grail requires
celibacy ; with Robert de Boron and the French prose romances,
celibacy is a requisite to the highest excellence. That Wolfram
excepts the king of the Grail is plainly an inconsistency of his own.
(11.) The agreement extends to at least one name: Wolfram calls
the castle Munsalvaesche, and the country Terre de Salvsesche ; in
the poem of Robert we read that the personages of the action are
to meet in the vales of Avaron (read Avalon, that is to say, Glaston-
bury) ; this is described as a savage country : —

En la terre vers Occident
Ki est sauvage durement
Es vaus d'Avaron.

(12.) The author of the history translated by Kiot is said to be the
astrologer Flegetanis. In the Grand St. Graal, among personages
connected with the race of kings of the Grail is a queen Flegetine
(or Flegentine) ; the resemblance may be accidental, or the sound
may have caught the ear of Wolfram, and served as the basis of his
name.

The correspondences pointed out, certainly, cannot be considered
as the result of independent developments. On the other hand, the
story of Wolfram offers features which seem a result of the reac-
tion of his own fancy. Thus, like the prose Galahad romances, he
names a series of kings of the Grail ; but not only the names differ,
but also the country : Wolfram makes these sovereigns belong to
the race of Anjou ; in the choice of this province, he was doubtless
influenced by the fame of the Plantagenets. So, as already noted,
he makes the servants of the Grail constitute an order of Tem-
plars, who with the lance defend against intruders the passes of
their country. These are dispatched to relieve lands in a state of
anarchy, while the damsels, also by the divine mandate chosen from
many lands, supply wives for the kings of the earth. The exigen-
cies of the poet's plot, and also his high estimate of wedlock, induce
him to relax the rules of the order in favor of its sovereign.

The Legend of the Holy Grail. 197

More remarkable is Wolfram's ignorance as to the nature of the
Grail itself. As already shown, French romances waver between
identification with the chalice of the Last Supper and the dish of
the Paschal lamb. Wolfram has no idea that the Grail is a vessel of
any sort ; he takes it to be simply a jewel, apparently flat in form,
which derives its power from an oblate deposited on Good Friday
by a dove from heaven. This gem, originally in charge of the rebel
angels, had been finally committed to kings of Anjou. Had Wolf-
ram known of the Grail as a sacred dish, it would seem unlikely
that he should have omitted that feature.

Wolfram identifies the Grail with the precious stone against which
the phcenix rubs itself, and by the heat of which it is consumed ; the
name of the jewel, he says, was lapsit (i. e. lapis) exillis. This heat-
producing stone is mentioned in the Grand St. Graal (but the bird is
called Serpilion, evidently only a name of the phcenix) ; the gem is
named pirastite (or piratiste). Wolfram must have had in mind some
such appellation, and his corruption leaves no longer recognizable
the original significance of the name. In the French romance, the
introduction of the bird is symbolic, the phcenix being from patristic
times the type of Christ ; but there is nothing to show that the
German poet intended to convey any mystic conception.

The correspondences pointed out allow only one conclusion :
Wolfram must have received information, very likely of a piecemeal
and inadequate character, concerning contemporary French romances
dealing with the history of the Grail ; the ideas thus obtained he
treated with free imagination, and introduced as much as he saw
fit into the framework of Crestien's narrative. In this manner the
minnesinger was able to produce a composition as immortal as the
story of which it is essentially an interpretation. As I have else-
where remarked, the difference between the style and spirit of the
two works is to be explained, not as a token of the superiority of
the German poet, but rather as " the contrast in taste of a generation
consciously romantic to that of a more epic predecessor : Crestien
describes education in chivalry, of which the essential duties are
charity and piety ; Wolfram enlarges, but also blurs, the outlines of
the action in favor of a presentation typically human."

HEINRICH VOM TURLIN.

About 1220, that is to say, somewhat more than a decade after
Wolfram, an admirer and imitator of the latter, Heinrich of the
Tiirlin, composed a poem of thirty thousand lines, reciting adventures
of Gawein (Gawain). The fantastic character of the work illustrates
the tendency of German romance, inclining to greater and greater
extravagance. Heinrich was acquainted with the Perceval of Cres-

1 98 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

tien and its first continuation ; in addition, he used other French
Arthurian compositions, among these " Mule sans frein," " Lai du
Corn," and " Lai du Mantel" (or variants of the extant lays). From
this material, together with reminiscences of classical mythology,
German folk-lore, and an abundant employment of free fancy, Hein-
rich produced an independent poem, called by him the Krone, which
he pretended to have rendered from a French original ; the tale he
supplied with an outfit of proper names, in great measure of his own
invention.

In the long narrative, the concluding and principal exploit is the
discovery of the Grail. For the history, suggestions were contrib-
uted by the narrative of Crestien, abundantly altered and interpo-
lated. In order to weave together the parts of his rambling and
incoherent story, he followed a frequent practice of recasters by
bringing the chief characters into relations of kinship. Thus, in the
earlier portion of the tale, the hero is made to enter into a per-
manent love relation with a certain Amurfina (the hint for whose
personality is taken from the story of " Mule sans frein ") ; having
occasion to introduce the enchanter who, in Crestien's account,
constructs the castle of Igerna (called by Wolfram Clinschor).
Heinrich represents him as a priest and magician, uncle of Amur-
fina, named Gansguoter, who, after the death of Uter Pandragon,
has bespelled Igern (Igerna), King Arthur's mother, by his playing
on the viol, and built for her a castle. It is while undergoing an
attack in a hostile castle (the Cavalon of Crestien) that Gawain is
laid under obligation to find the Grail, or return within a year (the
author is careful not to lay himself under the necessity of making
his hero revisit the spot, as in the French tale he is bound to do) ;
in this manner is introduced a quest of the Grail, which occupies
the final part of the narration. The writer sees fit to complicate his
inconsequent fiction by requiring the seeker of the Grail to carry
certain amulets, namely, a ring given Arthur by Vrou Saelde (a
German replica of the Latin Fortuna), the gem of a girdle granting
invincibility, and magic gloves ; these requirements give opportunity
for long episodes, are stolen, and recovered with the aid of the
benevolent Gansguoter. In the course of adventures, the hero
reaches the abode of an unnamed sister of Gansguoter (and conse-
quently aunt of Amurfina), qualified as a goddess, from whom he
receives directions in regard to his behavior when he shall arrive in
the castle of the Grail ; he is to avoid somnolence, and to ask a
question concerning the Grail. Gawain, now accompanied by
Lanzelet (Lancelot) and Calocreant (the Calogrenant of Crestien,
Colgrevance of Malory), is presently conducted to the hall of his
quest, where he is welcomed by an old man lying on a couch, who

The Legend of the Holy Grail. 199

offers a seat at his side, and listens to his guest's recital of experi-
ences. The meal is served, and the hall crowded with knights,
ladies, and attendants ; at the banquet a lady and knight sit side by
side. A youth brings in a sword, which he lays before the host ;
cup-bearers offer wine, which Gawain declines. After sewers with
dishes, a procession enters ; two maids with candles are followed by
two varlets bearing a spear ; two other maids bring a golden plate ;
another, what seems to be a knife ; while the last of the train, who
wears a crown, carries a reliquary of gold and precious stones ;
Gawain, looking at her face, recognizes the sister of Gansguoter,
the same who had directed him as to his duty. The spear exudes
drops of blood, which fall into the plate above which it has been
placed. The pix is set on the table, and, when the lid is removed,
appears to contain bread (presumably an oblate), of which a portion
is eaten by the host. Gawain's companions have fallen asleep, but
he himself remains awake, and puts the question, asking in God's
name what the wonders signify. At the word arises a shout of
joy ; Gawain is informed that he has accomplished the adventure in
which Parzival has failed, and set at liberty the inmates of the
castle, living and dead ; for it now appears that only the ladies are
alive, the host and his male company being no better than ghosts,
who by grace of God are once a year allowed this repast. Concern-
ing the Grail, Gawain is told that it is allowable to tell no more,
and receives as a present the sword. The host and his retinue,
together with the Grail, vanish, and Gawain is left with the ladies.
Gawain and Lancelot bid adieu, on their way find Kay, and after
half a year arrive at Karidol (Carlisle), where is held a splendid
feast.

This remarkable tale constitutes a curious pendant to the poem
of Wolfram, as an example of the manner in which a facile but
commonplace novelist was capable of varying the theme, with the
intent of constructing a popular fiction. The verse, equally wanting
in poetic and psychologic merit, has interest only for scholars, and
as giving an example of contemporary taste. As the story is
obviously artificial, self-conscious, and in great measure the inven-
tion of the author, there is no reason to suppose that the variations
of the history had any other source than in the good pleasure of
Heinrich himself. It is, therefore, to be considered as merely a
turn of his own imagination, that the Grail is conceived as a pix
instead of as a dish ; that the master of the castle takes the place
of his father as the person nourished from the sacred vessel ; and
that b)' a wild flight of fantasy the same personage is described as
an uneasy spirit compelled to forego the rest of the grave, until set
free by the successful achiever of the quest. For the rest, the

200 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

manner in which the poet weaves together the independent sections
of the tale is a sort of forecast of the way in which Wagner finally
chose to do so.

THE LATER TITUREL.

To a certain Albrecht of Scharfenburg, composing in the latter
part of the thirteenth century, belongs the discredit of leaving one
of the most unreadable productions known to literature. As an
imitator of Wolfram of Eschenbach, he appropriated all the worst
features of the minnesinger's style, together with intolerable affec-
tations of his own. His imagination was adequate to add new fea-
tures to the conception of the Grail; this he described as a jewel,
after the manner of Wolfram, but also as wrought into the shape
of a vessel, used by Joseph of Arimathaea ; an allusion showing his
acquaintance with that romance, or its offshoots.

PEREDUR.

The story received treatment also in Wales ; a tale of Peredur,
son of Evrawc, is contained in the Red Book of Hergest, a collection
written in the latter part of the fourteenth century. The problem
of the relation of this story to the French of Crestien derives inter-
est from the common hypothesis that the history, like other Arthu-
rian narratives, was ultimately of Celtic origin. The question must
be answered chiefly from a comparison of the outline of the plots. In
the following abstract, intended to elucidate this connection, nu-
merals are used to indicate sections of the tale correspondent to
the French, and letters to show those which are original with the
Welsh author. Minor additions of the Welshman are indicated by
brackets.

A. A brief introduction narrates that Evrawc, earl of the North
(that is, North Britain), with six sons, is slain in combats of chivalry.
The widow, in order to keep her remaining child from knowledge of
arms, with an unwarlike company retires to the desert, where the
boy is brought up in ignorance of knightly weapons, but acquires skill
in throwing sharpened staves. His character is marked by extreme
simplicity ; on one occasion, he mistakes hornless deer for goats,
and, to the wonder of beholders, by speed of foot drives them to the
goat-house.

I. The narration closely follows the outlines of Crestien's tale.
Peredur meets in the forest knights, whom his mother declares are
angels. He inquires the use of their arms, and resolves to become
a knight ; his mother, informed of his purpose, grieves, but finally
consents, and gives him counsels ; he plunges into the wood, and in
a tent finds a lady, whom he kisses, from whom he takes a ring, and

The Legend of the Holy Grail. 201

by whose lover he is pursued ; he rudely rides into the court, is
recognized as the flower of chivalry by a dwarf and a maiden (here
also a dwarf), who are therefore assaulted by Kei ; he kills a knight
who, has stolen a cup from Arthur, and dons the armor, with the
aid of a member of the household (here Owain), by whom he sends
back the cup, but declines to return to court until he has avenged
the insult committed to those under his protection. (Within a week
he overthrows sixteen knights, and sends them to court with the
same message.) He reaches the house of a teacher (here an uncle),
by whom he is knighted, with an injunction to put no questions
concerning the remarkable things he may behold ; he reaches another
castle (of a second uncle), where he sees carried through the hall a
bleeding spear and a salver (containing a man's head). He departs,
and encounters in the wood, mourning over the body of a slain lover,
a lady (his foster-sister), from whom he learns that he has been the
cause of his own mother's death. (He compels the slayer to marry
the bereaved lady, and sends the couple to Arthur's court ; the king
determines to go in search of Peredur.) He comes to the castle of
a beleaguered damsel, who visits him at night to implore protection,
and whom he succors by successively overthrowing the officers of
the assailant, and that enemy himself. (Nothing is said of a love
affair.) He meets the knight of the tent, defeats him, and recon-
ciles him to the lady whose ring he has taken.

B. He vanquishes one of the cannibal witches of Gloucester, and
visits the home of the witches, by whom he is taught chivalry and
supplied with arms.

II. The narrative continues in close parallelism to the French
tale, narrating how Peredur approaches the camp of Arthur, who, as
above noted, is in search of him ; how, at the sight of blood-drops on
snow, he falls into a love revery ; in this state he overthrows Kei,
but is gently accosted by Gwalchmei (Gawain), and conducted into
the presence of the king and queen.

C. Independent episodes recite the love adventures of Peredur
while at Arthur's court. On the day of his arrival, forgetful of the
lady whose beauty he had remembered in his muse, at first sight he
falls in love with Angharad of the Golden Hand, and makes a vow
never to speak until she shall bestow on him her favor. He accom-
plishes feats of valor, conquering giants and slaying a serpent ; he
becomes so wasted by sorrow that he is changed past recognition,
and at court goes by the name of the Dumb Youth, who distinguishes
himself in joust. Angharad relents, and Peredur discloses his iden-
tity ; but after this success, the lady suddenly disappears from the
action.

D. A long chapter deals with a new love affair. While Peredur

202 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

is in search of the gold-producing stone to be found in the tail of
a serpent, respecting which he has received information from a
malevlolent personage called the Black Oppressor, he has occasion
to destroy an Addanc, or water-monster, in which he is aided by a
mysterious lady who appears to him on a mound, and bestows
another stone, which has the property of conferring invisibility, on
condition of love service. Thus assisted, he kills the serpent and
gets the auriferous stone, which, however, together with the hand
of a lady deserved by feats of arms, he bestows on a follower. He
wanders to a place where is in progress a tournament, of which the
prize is the hand of the Empress of Constantinople, a beauty of
whom he forthwith becomes enamored, and who turns out to be the
very person to whom he had sworn allegiance ; during fourteen years
he lives with the empress, who imitates the example of her prede-
cessor in a sudden and permanent retirement from the scene.

III. We now have a continuation of the tale as in Crestien, — the
denunciation before Arthur by the ugly maiden, who reproaches
Peredur for his neglect to put the question which would have
restored his uncle, the lame king; the announcement of various
adventures to be performed by Arthur's knights, and the accusation
of murder brought against Gwalchmei ; the journey of the latter ; the
attack of the commons on the visitor ; his defence with a chessboard-
shield ; his succor by the daughter of his feudal enemy, and release
on the promise to return in a year : the writer assures us that his
source was silent concerning the conclusion of this adventure. On
Good Friday he comes to a hermit, who rebukes him for wearing
arms on that day, and with whom he spends Easter (the hermit
directs him to a palace where he may obtain information as to the
Castle of Wonders (i. e. that of the Lame King, in which was kept
the bleeding lance).

E. A brief episode describes how Peredur becomes a prisoner, and
is assisted by the daughter of his jailer to appear incognito in a
tournament, where he obtains distinction.

IV. The adventures of Peredur now follow the lines of Crestien's
second continuator : we read of the castle of the self-playing chess-
men, belonging to a lady called an empress ; the quest of the head
of a stag ; the loan of a hound for this purpose ; the theft of this
dog, and the encounter with the knight of a tomb, who disappears ;
the adventure is uncompleted, and the lady of the chessboard, like
her predecessors, drops out of the action.

F. The tale is cut short by a brief conclusion. Peredur a second
time reaches the Castle of Wonders, where he finds Gwalchmei, and
takes his seat beside his maimed relative (nothing is said of the
question). It turns out that the bleeding lance was the weapon

The Legend of the Holy Grail. 203

with which the witches of Gloucester had slain the cousin whose
head he had seen on the platter ; the same enemies had also maimed
his uncle. On the hero, therefore, devolves the duty of blood-ven-
geance, accomplished with the aid of Arthur. It is further explained
that the various enemies encountered by Peredur, including the
black maiden who had denounced him, were in reality the transfor-
mations of a cousin (who, as is implied, had thus acted the part of a
benevolent fairy desirous to move the youth to perform his duty as
avenger).

The sketch now given shows that the story consists of the plot of
Crestien and his continuator as the groundwork into which is in-
jected unrelated matter. According to an observation above made,
such process of intercalation is an invariable mark of the expan-
sion of a narrative.

The inference thence arising is converted into certainty by the
consideration that the work throughout contains numerous and long
verbal renderings from the French poem. Mistranslations occur;
in several places it is obvious that the Welshman had in mind the
longer and clearer French original, which his abbreviation has
confused.

As to the names of the principal characters, the writer merely
followed the usual Welsh practice in assigning to personages pre-
sumed to be of British origin appellations suitably British in sound.
This process is naively illustrated by the remarks of the Welsh
translator of the Pellesvaus : " And let the readers of this book
excuse me for not being able to find Welsh names for the French
ones, or for putting them as I am able ; but this I know, that the
name of the warrior that is commended here in French is Penef-
fressvo Galeif, which is equivalent in Welsh to Peredur."

As for the interpolated matter, the greater part consists of chivalric
fancies quite out of the line of old Welsh saga, while some portion
is genuinely ancient. Thus the idea that the obstacles encountering
the hero may turn out to be the creation of benevolently disposed
fairies, or other supernatural personages, is a feature frequently
appearing in Irish literature and folk-lore. But as these features are
obviously insertions of the Welsh author, the origin of such additions
is a question perfectly irrelevant to the present issue.

The language, costume, and character of the tale belong to Welsh
romantic literature of the fourteenth century, penetrated as that
literature was with the spirit of French romance. The treatment
exhibits that increasing extravagance already noted as belonging to
the later taste. The advice of the mother to seize food, steal jewels,
and court a woman against her will, is merely a travesty of the

204 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

tender and truthful passage of the French poet. By an inconsist-
ency, the teacher who knights Peredur is made to give instruction
only in cudgel-playing (the idea is borrowed from a line of Crestien,
who makes Perceval say that he has been used to play single-stick
with cowboys). Having thus acquired one third of his force, in a
visit to a second uncle (his maimed relative), Peredur learns the use
of the sword, and acquires a second third of his strength ; it seems
to me obvious that the narration of the trouvere is mangled, with
the intent of assimilating the plot to that of folk-tales familiar to
uninstructed readers.

In contrast to the petrification of the story is the introduction of
romantic traits belonging to the fourteenth rather than the twelfth
century. Thus Peredur, instead of tearing away the ring obtained
from the maiden of the tent, is made to kneel and humbly represent,
" My mother told me, wheresoever I saw a fair jewel to take it."
Where, in this scene is the roughness of the savage youth armed
with a wooden fork, with which he is absurdly depicted as killing an
armed knight ? The effort on the one hand to be decent, on the
other to appear primitive, has worked havoc with the psychology of
the tale.

The conclusion is, that in the Welsh story we have an example of
the manner in which a later and foreign author may alter a refined
composition into a set of extravagant and meaningless adventures.

As for the Grail, the recaster may be excused for the omission of
a feature concerning which he doubtless had no more distinct idea
than had the Norse translator of the Perceval.

SIR PERCEVELLE.

In English verse of the fourteenth century, the story of Perceval
received a treatment which differs from that last noticed, inasmuch
as the recast was no literary production, deliberately created by a
self-conscious artist writing pen in hand, but the work of some
unlettered minstrel, who produced his tale for recitation, and who
may probably have obtained his material from the oral relation of
imperfectly instructed informants.

I. A knight named Percevelle obtains the hand of Arthur's sister,
Acheflour ; in a tournament held at the christening of his son, also
named Pcrcvelle, he is slain by the Red Knight. The widow, desir-
ous to keep her son from knowledge of warfare, retires to the desert
with one maiden and a troop of goats. She carries also a throwing-
spear for the use of the boy, who becomes expert in its use. His
mother having bidden him to worship God, he employs his time in
seeking his unknown benefactor.

II. The story proceeds according to the plot of Crestien. Per-

The Legend of the Holy Grail. 205

cevelle learns from knights, whom he takes for gods, that he may
obtain knighthood from Arthur. His mother, grieved at first, con-
sents, and gives him counsels, namely, to be " of measure " (to be
reasonable), and to greet a knight, whom he is to know by the
minever in his dress. Percevelle finds a maid, whom he kisses, and
with whom he changes rings ; in order to be " of measure," he
measures out the food he finds. He rides rudely into the hall of
Arthur, who perceives the family likeness ; he slays with his dart
the Red Knight, who has stolen a cup from the king's board (thus
unconsciously avenging his father). Being unable to strip the corpse,
he is assisted by one of the household (here Gawain), and sends
back the cup, but refuses to return to court.

III. He meets the mother of the Red Knight, a witch, who mis-
takes the youth for her son, whose wounds she declares her ability
to heal ; Percevelle casts her into the fire he had kindled.

IV. He sees a horseman dressed in minever, whom he therefore,
according to his mother's advice, desires to greet ; but this rider,
recognizing only the arms of the Red Knight, flies, until Percevelle
overtakes him, and informs him of the death of the latter.

V. While the hero is at the house of this (unrecognized) uncle, a
messenger arrives from the Maiden's Land, desiring aid for Queen
Lufamour, who is besieged by the sultan Gollerotherame. Perce-
velle resorts thither, and defeats the men of the oppressor. King
Arthur comes up, and Gawain and Percevelle engage in an encoun-
ter, ended by the former recognizing " the fool of the field." In a
single combat, the hero slays the sultan. In this engagement we
have a curious trait : the simple youth, who is still ignorant of the
use of the sword, does not know how to kill his overthrown anta-
gonist, until Gawain bids him dismount from his horse ; as Percevelle
has hitherto heard these animals described only as mares, he is puz-
zled, and falls into an untimely philological revery, which comes
near being fatal. His steed swerves and saves him, the sultan is
killed, and Percevelle weds Lufamour.

VI. After a year, Percevelle thinks it necessary to go in search
of his mother. In the wood he meets the lady with whom he had
changed rings, and reconciles her to her incensed lover, the Black
Knight, an old enemy of his father : he returns the stolen ring, and
wishes to obtain once more that given in exchange, his mother's
present, but the latter has passed into the hands of a giant, whom
Percevelle kills ; he learns from the porter that the giant had been
a suitor of his mother, who had become distraught at the sight of
her son's ring as a probable evidence of Percevelle's death. He
therefore resumes his goatskin dress and resorts to the forest, where
he is able to find his mother, whom he restores by a magic draught.

206 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

The two then return to the Maiden's Land, and Percevelle lives
happily with Lufamour until he departs to the Holy Land, where he
ends his days.

This curious example of a popular rhymed novellette of the four-
teenth century assuredly can boast no more remote antiquity. The
love story may very well be explained as made up under the influence
of suggestions indirectly obtained from the extant French poem, and
the style and proper names correspond to such supposition. A lin-
gering remnant of the portion of Crestien's story, relating to the
unasked question, may be found in the untimely revery of the hero.
That the knight of the cup should be represented as the slayer of
Percevelle's father is entirely in the manner of a reconstructor ; that
the vengeance is unintentional, and even unknown, shows that the
feature is not ancient.

A considerable number of verbal coincidences attest the connection
with the French verse, which is further made clear by the proper
name of the hero, Sir Percevelle le Galayse.

The incidents of the German, Welsh, and English versions of the
story, where they vary from the tale of Crestien, also disagree with
each other ; such aberration, according to the remarks above offered,
is a plain indication that the changes must be considered as due
only to the fancy of the several recasters. Minor agreements be-
tween traits of the English poem and those, for example, mentioned
by Wolfram, are to be disregarded, being in every case explicable as
due to a common interpretation of the data of the French original.

The assumption of an early Anglo-Norman romance as the pre-
sumed source of the English verse (suggested by G. Paris) ought
not to be considered so long as the production can be explained as
a variation founded on a vera causa, on the celebrated and easily
accessible work of Crestien. The outlines of the latter composition
might easily, in the fourteenth century, come into the knowledge of
a popular poet.

NOTES.

ParcevaVs saga. The saga is edited by E. Kolbing, Riddarasbgur, 1872. The
Norseman spells graal as braid!, and defines it as textus, again explained as
ganganda greiZa. The dictionary defines gretZa as comb. It is impossible to
guess just what the Tenderer meant, or how he got his idea.

Parzival. In the abundant literature of Wolfram's poem, I have not met with
the explanation of sources above given, and which seems to be indicated by the
correspondences to Robert de Boron and his successors. As to Wolfram's notion
of the Graal, compare his definition, as the wish of Paradise (v. 351), or the abun-
dance of earthly desire (v. 354), with the lines of Robert, where it is said to be
the accomplishment of man's wish, La douceur Vaccomplissement — De leur cuers
tout entierement (2565, 2566; see, also, 3042, 3043), and his derivation from
agrder.

The Legend of the Holy Grail. 207

Crone. The work of Heinrich vom Tiirlin is edited by H. T. Scholl, Stuttgart,
1852. Of the portion relating to the Grail, an abstract is given by Nutt.

Titurel. Edited by K. A. Hahn, 1842. (For the Grail, see stanza 6172 ff.)

Peredur. See the treatises of A. Nutt and of W. Golther. As an example of
mistranslation on the part of the Welsh writer may be mentioned that of the
advice given to Perceval by his mother, to be constant in praying to Our Lord in
church: Sor toutes riens vos voel firoier — Que a glises et a moustier — Aids
proier Nostre Segnor (Potvin, 1 761-1763). The Welshman renders : lie y givelych
eglwys, kan dy pader urthi (where thou seest a church, sing thy pater at it).
Crestien makes Perceval see the red and white of his lady's complexion in the
blood-stained snow ; the Welshman adds black (following, no doubt, a situation of
folk-tales) by introducing a raven as type of her black hair ; for this feature he
made preparation at an earlier point by noting the red spots on the cheek, and
the jet-black hair. But in his passage relating the revery, translations from the
French are numerous and literal ; it is therefore evident that he set out deliber-
ately, pen in hand, to improve his source. He attributes lameness to Peredur's
teacher ; afterwards we find this characteristic assigned to another personage, the
uncle in whose house is seen the bleeding spear (the Fisher King of Crestien).
Again, he identifies the castle of the lady who owns the self-playing chessmen
with the Castle of Wonders, but presently corrects himself by noting the latter as
the mansion of the maimed king. I should regard these slips as the work of an
author who wrote currente calamo, and did not revise. He thinks it necessary to
provide the stag whose head the hero is required to obtain with a single unicorn-
like horn as long as a lance, with which he slays all the beasts he meets. The
addition belongs to the usual extravagance of the recaster. The member of
Arthur's household who aids Peredur in putting on the arms of the slain knight,
in Crestien, is Yonet, page of Gawain ; in the Peredur, it is Owain, an evident
•misunderstanding, being an example of the process above mentioned by which a
well-known personage is substituted for an obscure one. Wolfram falls into the
same mistake. In the Percevelle, the aider is Gawain. Just so the Welsh tale
makes Gwalchmei and Owain figure among the knights met by the youth in the
forest, while the English poem introduces Ewain, Gawain, and Kay. That the
Welshman makes the teacher of Peredur an uncle is, according to the general
principle, already remarked, of connecting the tale by family alliances ; so, again,
in the English verse, where the agreement is once more in virtue of a principle
of evolution common to recasts. As the outlines of the plot altogether vary, it
is clear that no attention is due to such minor agreements, explicable on usual
logical rules of development. In the language, costume, and scenery there is
nothing to indicate for the Welsh work a date much earlier than the MS. assigned
to about 1380.

Sir Percevelle. For examples of correspondences to Crestien, see the work of
W. Golther, above cited. In the English poem the name of the hero is spelt Syr
Percevelle the Galayse (1643), Sir Percevelle de Galays (1990). The subscription
has Syr Perceval de Gales, which led the editor to the name Sir Perceval of
Galles. It does not appear that the poet had any definite idea about the adjec-
tive ; just as did Wolfram, he only transliterated Perceval li galois. That neither
comprehended the epithet galois is only one of the instances of misinterpretation
which show the priority of Crestien.

W. W. Newell.

2oS Journal of American Folk-Lore.

VARIOUS ETHNOGRAPHIC NOTES.

African Masks and Secret Societies. — Secret societies and
leagues belong to the most difficult historic topics to treat scienti-
fically, because, as the name implies, they are founded for the
purpose of acting in secrecy, and therefore have to be necessarily
exclusive and opposed to publicity. " Mum is the word " is their
motto, and if it was not for their symbols many of them would be
entirely hidden from the knowledge of fellow-men and of posterity.

All this holds good also for other human races than the white, and,
as far as Africa is concerned, the researches pursued for the last
hundred years by Clapperton, Bastian, Golbery, Zenker, Spieth,
Buttikofer and others have succeeded in discovering only discon-
nected facts pertaining to this recondite but highly interesting
feature of African life. A number of European museums had their
ethnographic departments stocked with masks, symbols, and curios,
evidently festive garments and other toggery, long before plausible
explanations were or could be furnished for their use and origin.
The nations inhabiting the western coasts and slopes of that vast
continent have furnished more of these implements than those of
the obverse side, but that mask-wearing was here intimately con-
nected with secret societies has become apparent but recently. The
African mask, whether it is an imitation or a caricature of the
human face, or a reproduction of an animal's head, constantly
undergoes certain modifications by custom or by reflection ; it is
inseparable from certain ceremonials enacted by secret societies,
and also appears with regularity at funerals. After the dissolution
of these societies in a tribe, the mask-symbols of the tribe in-
crease in variety and in composing elements, the motives remain-
ing closely associated with religion. In Western Africa the human
mind is thoroughly imbued with the influence and working of the
deceased, coming near to what is commonly called ancestor worship.
When rain fails to appear in time, sacrifices are offered to propitiate
the dead ; sickness of people and cattle-plagues are due to the
spiteful influence of some one deceased, and this influence has to be
removed. These "manistic" views direct the veneration and wor-
ship of their genii : the souls of those who perished are called upon
to appear in wooden images and to be consulted as oracles ; their
spirits must be made serviceable ; parts of their bodies are carried
around to serve as amulets.

But, besides this ancestral and funeral tendency, secret societies
will favor also ideas more intimately connected with public life and
containing educational views. Ascetic views are inculcated by some

Various Ethnographic Notes. 209

of them on portions of the community, and exoteric persons have to
be forcibly excluded. Such societies are of a sexual character ; some
are formed of men only, others of women, both of whom are jealous
of the other's influence.

Some spirit may be set up as a mummery god, like Mwetyi, the
great " ghost " of the Shekiani, who lives underground. A " dark
house " is set up by masked club-members as his oracular office.
Feasts are celebrated in his honor on stated days, and the din, war,
and noise heard on such days by shouting, howling, and all kinds of
instrumental music is terrific. From the dark house Mwetyi's voice
is heard to resound like the roar of a tiger.

There are others of these freaks in other districts, called Kioke,
Amakhwa, Sowa or Mukish, who conceal their identity, but are
known as rain-makers, medicine-men, jugglers, policemen, and
ragamuffins, and are all accompanied by a number of young mas-
queraders, intent on frightening slaves and especially women.

Mumbo Jumbo is by his very name an attraction to us. The
above "character" is Mahammah Jamboh in his unabridged name,
and he is a noisy man of the woods among the Mande or Mandingos
in Western Africa. The traveller Moore was the first person to
introduce him to white folks ; he is the savage man of the forest,
and is more important through the noisy train of followers that
accompany him than by any authority of his own. This mysterious
personage always appears in a horrid disguise and at night only.
The scope of his existence, or his raison d'etre" is that of frighten-
ing the women of these West African settlements ; and, to tell the
truth, they are terribly afraid of him. Nobody who hears him first
will admit that the shouts and cries he emits are those of a human
being. He wraps himself in a long dress made of tree-barks, up to
nine feet in length, and crowned by a wisp of straw. When a man
has a quarrel with his wife, Mumbo Jumbo is asked to interfere and
pacify, but in nine times out of ten the husband is found to be right
and the wife all wrong. Persons dressed in this queer suit are free
to give any orders they see fit, and all present have to uncover their
heads. When women see him coming, they run away to hide, but
the man in the Mumbo Jumbo dress will immediately call them back,
and make them sit down or dance. Should they remonstrate or
resist, they are seized and whipped severely. His followers constitute
a society or club, with strict rules and pledges of secrecy, to which
they are bound by oath. One of these is not to divulge anything
about the "order" to any woman nor to any man not initiated.
Boys under sixteen years are not admitted. Any oath sworn to in
Mumbo Jumbo's name is absolutely binding, and contraventions

vol. xn. — no. 46. 14

2 1 o Journal of American Folk-Lore.

are punished with severity. The members are said to speak also
a dialect of their own, which is kept secret from the females ; another
stratagem by which the men seek to keep the females in awe and
subjection.

Mungo Park and other explorers noticed the use of this ragamuffin
accoutrement in most towns along the Gambia River, and always for
the drastical purpose aforementioned ; indeed, the men, decked with
this scarecrow dress, were dealing out with whips and clubs the
most unmitigated and brutal kind of "justice " against women either
guilty or suspected of guilt, always amid the acclamations of the
"mob power." No doubt this singular society acts as a sort of
police against wrong-doers, but none can define the arbitrary princi-
ples which prompt them to action.

At the mouth of the Congo River, in the Loango country, there
is a society organized chiefly for the purpose of producing rain-show-
ers, and whose masquerading pageants belong to the most burlesque
things to be seen anywhere. These "Sindungo" dress in feathers,
palm-leaves, and reeds, and look like monsters. One purpose for
which they may be hired is that of collecting outstanding debts, and,
since they ever remain unknown on account of their strange raiment,
it may well be imagined that in their exactions they are not always
moderate.

It is one of the privileges of the Mumbo Jumbo league above
mentioned to watch the young people at the time of the circumci-
sion solemnities, which in Bambuk (Senegambia) last forty days.
No person of either sex is allowed to marry before passing that
"ordeal." Then boys and girls are kept under a severe moral or
ascetic control, but when the " act " is over, none will interfere even
with the grossest licentiousness of the jeunesse doree. They leave
their villages, roam in the fields, get food and drinks wherever they
call for them, but are not allowed to enter lodges unless invited to
do so.

It is the task of the " police agents " of the Mumbo Jumbo to
keep the youngsters of both sexes separate during these forty days ;
and so they tie, as badges of their office, straw and leaves around
their bodies, take whips in hand, hide their faces behind masks, and
line their bodies with clay.

Masked men in Africa always provide themselves with the instru-
ment called bullroarer, and with sticks, twigs, or wands called spirit-
piles, and intended to be run into the ground, bearing on their upper
end an image recalling a dead man's spirit. No woman is ever
allowed to be present at a bullroarer-pageant. Dangerous spirits
are banished by the jugglers into a limb of a tree, and, when this is
done, the bough is cut off, and, with the spirit in it, planted in the
centre of the village.

Various Ethnographic Notes.

21 I

Dr. Frobenius in his publication is figuring many samples of
African masks made of wood, bark, leaves, parts of skulls, and other
substances. None of them shows any noteworthy artistic develop-
ment, or other spark of natural geuius, but they all typify the coarse
and brutish naturalism which we are accustomed to find with the
populations living within the tropics.1

The Deities of the Early New England Indians. — These
are better known to us than the so-called "gods" of most of the
present North American tribes. We owe this interesting informa-
tion to Capt. John Smith, Strachey, Roger Williams, and a few other
authors. In these parts, the teachers of Christianity called God and
Jehovah manit, mundtu, " he is God ; " manittw, which properly
stands for spirit, ghost ; for the plural number gods, they used ma-
nittowok, spirits. When manit serves to form compounds, the prefix
m-y which is impersonal and indefinite, is retrenched, and what re-
mains is -anit, -ant, -and. Roger Williams, who had settled in
Rhode Island, states that Indians around him "have given me the
names of thirty-seven, which I have, all which, in their solemn
worships, they invocate." (Chapt. 21st.) From J. H. Trumbull's
lexical manuscript, " On Eliot's Bible," I copy a list of them, accom-
panied by his own comments : —

" Kautantowwit, the great southwest god, to whose house all souls
go, and from whom came their corn and beans, as they say. This
name is found again in Keih-tannit (the ' great God,' kehte-dnit,)
and thus they called Jehovah. Capt. J. Smith says the Massachu-
setts call their great god Kiehtan ; the Penobscots, Tantum. Lech-
ford states that they worship Kitan, their good God, or Hobbamoco,
their evil God. Tantum is a contraction of Keihtanit-om, my (or
our) great God. Winslow, 1624, is of opinion that Kiehtan is their
principal God, and the maker of all the rest [of the gods], and to be
made by none ; . . . who dwelleth above in the heavens far . . .
westward, whither all good men go when they die. About Squantam
Josselyn says that ' they acknowledge a god whom they call Squan-
tam, but worship him they do not.' This name explains itself by
the verb musquantam (he is angry,) and by Roger Williams's remark,
' They (the Narraganset Indians) will say, when an ordinary acci-
dent, as a fall, has occurred to somebody : musquantam manit (God
was angry and did it).' "

The Devil, or evil spirit of Indian mythology, was called Hobba-
moco, Habamouk, Abbamocho or Chepie by the Massachusetts In-
dians. Josselyn also says that this spirit " many times smites them
with incurable diseases, scares them with his apparitions and panic
terrors, by reason of which they live in a wretched consternation,
1 Leo Frobenius, Die Masken und Geheimbiinde Afrikas. Halle, 1S9S, illustr.

212 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

worshipping the Devil for fear ; " and Winslow, in his " Relation,"
" Another power they worship, whom they call Hobbamock, and, to
the northward of us, Hobbamoqui. This, as far as we can conceive,
is the Devil." Chepie, or "separate apart," is the locality where
the soul is separated or severed from the body, and must have been
their name for Hades, or the ruler of it. Tchipaya is the soul after
death, ghost, spectre, also corpse, skeleton, in all eastern Algonkian
languages.

Another name for the Devil, obviously made by Christianized In-
dians or their teachers, was Mattanit, in the plural Mattanni'toog,
properly the "not-god, the evil-god," a contraction either of mata-
dnito, or of matche-anitto. Even now the Indians of eastern Maine
call him Matchehant, "evil spirit," the -ant, or -anit, "spirit," oc-
curring again in the last syllable.

Kesuckqu-and, or " the sun God," was, according to Roger Wil-
liams, a name of the sun, " by which they acknowledge and adore the
sun for a god or divine power."

Chekesuw-and, the " western God," from chekesu, northwest wind,
and this from cheke, "it is violent." The names for the other points
of the compass were formed in the same manner : Wompan-and, the
eastern God, " the genius of dawn or daylight," Wunnaname-anit, the
northern God, from nanumiye-u, the north ; Sowwan-and, the south-
ern God, or that of the southwest. For Roger Williams states :
" They have a tradition that to the southwest, which they call so-
wainiu, the gods chiefly dwell, and hither the souls of all their great
and good men and women go."

Other genii of beneficial influence, were the House God, We-
tuom-anit ; the woman's God, Squau-anit ; the children's God, Muck-
wathuckqu-and, properly referring to boys only ; the Moon God,
Nanepaushat, "genius of the one who travels at night;" the Sea
God, Paumpagussit, or, as Williams has it, " that deity or godhead
which they conceive to be in the sea ; " the Fire God, Yota-anit,
from yote or note, fire.

The Kalapuya People. — The Kalapuya Indians were once liv-
ing in numerous settlements throughout northwestern Oregon, and
even now the remnants of their seven tribes are not inconsiderable.
They kept strictly within the confines of Willamet Valley : and only
one section, the Yonkalla, called by themselves Ayankeld, occupied
some territory south of it in the Umpqua River basin. They were
not warlike, and are not known to have participated in any war ex-
peditions. The coast tribes of the Alsi and the other tribes now
gathered upon the Siletz or Coast reservation kept them in terror.

About the Atfalati or Tualati Indians we possess more special

Various Ethnographic Notes. 213

information than of the Yamhill (properly Yamel), the Santiam, the
Pineifu or Marysville Kalapuyas, the Lakmiuk or Eugene City In-
dians, the Ahantchuyuk or Pudding River and other Kalapuya
tribes. Their language is sonorous and vocalic, the verb excessively
rich in forms, prefixes not frequent, and most words end in conso-
nants. There is a wealth of folk-lore among them, but it awaits the
scientific collector. The only " divine being " they have is Ayuthl-
me-i, which is an abstraction only, tantamount to our term " miracu-
lous " and to the Chinook " itamdnuish."

As far as known, the earliest habitat of the Atfalati were the
plains of the same name, the hills around Forest Grove and the sur-
roundings of Wapatu Lake. Of their former village no trace has
remained, and their customs and dress has wholly assimilated to that
of the "white brother." But we know that they once were fond
of attire and personal adornment ; they wore red feathers on their
heads, long beads on the neck, and bright dentalium-shells were sus-
pended from their pierced noses. The women as well as the men
cut holes into their ear-rims to hang beads on, and thus tried to en-
circle the whole face with this sort of attire. But they did not
tattoo their skins, and even in the hottest of summer never divested
themselves entirely of their garments, as was done by the California
Indians.

As to their ideal of feminine beauty, the Atfalati thought that the
shortest women were the prettiest, and to wear the hair long in
braids was considered in good taste. To look pretty, the women had
to wear their beads on the side of the head down to the waist, which
were heard to tinkle, even at a distance. Their heads were flattened,
and the forehead heightened thereby ; the more beads were seen to
encircle the face, the more pleasant was the onlook. Even the boys
wore beads. The females thought they improved the appearance of
their eyes by passing their hands frequently over them. Their braids
were made like those of the white women, two hanging from the
backhead. Low foreheads were thought to be in better shape than
high ones. Women were unacquainted with the habit of tight-lacing,
but liked a full development of the waist, and wore the breast open,
though some of them covered themselves up to the neck with a deer-
skin chemise. With women, little feet were liked ; large feet with
men, who also showed preference for moustaches but removed their
beards by means of tin tweezers.

To "buy a woman," or to "purchase a wife," is a phrase incorrectly
worded to express a transfer of values to parents or relatives for
obtaining from them a marriageable female for the matrimonial state.
To the white people of the West who see this transfer made, even
now, before their eyes, by Indians, this seems to be the right expres-

214 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

sion. But in fact it is an indemnity given by the bridegroom to her
relations for the daily work or other services which the bride will
henceforth no longer render to her family. Some circumstances
accompanying this transfer among Indians go far to corroborate this
explanation.

The commodities most frequently surrendered by the Atfalati for
obtaining a female in marriage were slaves (azvdkasht), haiqua-beads
(adskipin), money, and horses. After the transfer, the bride's rela-
tions turned over to the groom, in reciprocation, some presents in
kind, as guns or blankets, but only to one fourth or one third of the
values they had received themselves. By a solemn pageant and
ceremony, the bride now started with a retinue of her people for
the bridegroom's lodge, to be formally surrendered to him. They
dressed her in newly made garments or wrapped her up in blankets,
painted her face red, adorned her head and neck with a profusion of
beads (akd-udshan), and placed her on a horse to be conveyed to. the
groom's dwelling. When arrived in sight of that dwelling, a robust
male relative of hers took her upon his shoulders ("packed her"),
and so brought her close to the house, stopping at a distance of
about fifty yards. Meanwhile the "suite" sang and danced festively
for one hour or longer, strewed her road full of beads, trinkets, and
similar articles, and scattered costly strings of beads on her path.

But the happy bridegroom had to surrender some of his wardrobe
when the party had arrived at his lodge. After blankets had been
spread on the ground, his new-made female relations stripped him of
his dress, shirts, and breeches, went also for his relatives and stripped
them of their coats, hats, blankets, shirts, breeches, and guns, the
women of their long dresses and shawls. This disorderly scene also
involved the dividing of the purchase-money or values paid by the
bridegroom to his wife's relatives, who through politeness returned
him at least a part of the plunder in guns, powder, shirts, coats, and
other articles of wardrobe.

Among the Oregonian tribes, the lot of slaves and bondsmen was
not so hard as with other tribes farther north. No doubt the origin
of slavery must be sought in capture through war ; nevertheless,
among the Atfalati, slaves were allowed to marry fellow-slaves, even
free persons when horses were paid to their owner for the permission.
This payment also insured them, later on, the right of personal liberty.
Slaves of the same proprietor were allowed to marry, but slaves be-
longing to different owners could marry only when the owner bought
the other slaves. After that, they were not sold away from each
other. Their children remained in slavery, but could not be sold
by the owner to other parties, or at least were not sold generally.

Albert S. Gatschet.

Washington, D. C.

In Memoriam : Daniel Garrison Brinton. 215

IN MEMORIAM: DANIEL GARRISON BRINTON.

Daniel Garrison Brinton, whose loss has been so deeply felt by
the scientists of both hemispheres, was, both as an investigator and
a man, one who had the marks of genius thick about him. Born
May 13, 1837, he died July 31, 1899, ^iter a life counting full two-
score years of literary and scientific activity, secure in fame and
beloved by all who knew him. Seldom has it fallen to the lot of any
one to serve so well, by his personal talents and social abilities, the
science to which his energies were so continuously and so consist-
ently devoted; the "science of man" has never had so genial, so
human, an apostle. The present writer, his disciple and pupil, from
frequent correspondence and personal contact, takes this opportunity
of paying tribute to this man of science and man of men. Of
charming personality, gifted with eloquence and wit such as few
scientists, unfortunately, possess, knowing by experience of the deep
things of life, sympathetic and encouraging to the younger and less
talented who sought to follow in his footsteps, broad-minded and
world-searching in his quest after truth, Dr. Brinton will remain for
all time one of the most remarkable figures of the century now
almost at an end. Dr. Brinton's death, in all probability, remotely
at least, was due to the old sunstroke at Gettysburg, from which he
never fully recovered. Of the early education of Dr. Brinton, the
present writer is unable to speak, from lack of accurate information
— this sketch begins, therefore, with his academic career.

In 1858 young Brinton received his degree from Yale University,
and the year following saw the publication of his first book, " The
Floridian Peninsula, its Literary History, Indian Tribes, and Antiqui-
ties " (Philadelphia, 1859, PP- 2°2> 8vo), in which appears the promise
of his later genius, even of his special linguistic investigations. For
in this volume — he spent the winter of 1856-57 in Florida — he
was about the first writer in English to call attention to the Timu-
quana language, and showed himself already acquainted with Hervas
and other authorities of the older day in comparative philology.
Though destined to become a physician and afterwards a soldier,
the book published when he was twenty-two really foretold the man
to be.

Two years after, he became Dr. Brinton, receiving his diploma
from the Jefferson Medical College, and the next year was spent in
European study and travel. When he returned to America the great
war between the North and South was well under way, and in August,
1862, Dr. Brinton entered the Federal army as acting assistant
surgeon, and in February of the year following was commissioned

2 1 6 Journal of American Folk- Lore.

surgeon, serving as surgeon-in-chief of the second division of the
eleventh corps, and being afterwards appointed medical director of
his corps. Dr. Brinton was present at several engagements, including
the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and, in consequence
of a sunstroke received soon after the last, was unfitted for active
service. Till August, 1866, he acted as superintendent of the hos-
pitals at Ouincy and Springfield, 111., when he was discharged with
the rank of brevet lieutenant-colonel.

It is characteristic of the man (perhaps his good old Quaker an-
cestry had something to do with it) that, when the war was over, he
devoted himself assiduously to the arts of peace, the colonel disap.
pearing in the doctor and the professor. Settling down in Philadel-
phia, in his native State (he was born in West Chester, Pa.), he
busied himself with the pursuit of medicine, but did not neglect to
cultivate the germ disclosed in his book of 1859, especially his pro-
pensity for linguistic studies.

His medical activity is represented by his redaction of "The
Medical and Surgical Reporter," and the " Compendium of Medical
Science," his editorship of " Naphey's Modern Therapeutics," and
other volumes on similar subjects, and his numerous contributions to
medical journals, especially upon subjects relating to public medi-
cine, hygiene, etc. In " The Pursuit of Happiness " (Philadelphia,
1893, 293 pp. 8vo), published after the wisdom of the anthropologist
had been assimilated with the experience of the physician, Dr. Brin-
ton, with a wealth of epigram and neat turning of speech, discusses
the search after the third and hardly achieved ideal of the Declara-
tion of Independence. His last essays of a physiological character
seem to have been three brief papers on " Variations of the Human
Skeleton and their Causes" (Amer. Anthrop., Oct. 1894), on "The
Relations of Race and Culture to Degenerations of the Reproduc-
tive Organs in Women" (Med. News, New York, 1896), and on
"The Measurement of Thought as Function" (Proc. Amer. Philos.
Soc, Dec. 1897). As a physician Dr. Brinton is said to have held
the view that " medical science should be based on the results of
clinical observation rather than on physiological experiments."

During the years 1866-67 Dr. Brinton published several articles
of an ethnological nature, and in 1868 his second book, " The Myths
of the New World " (New York, 1868, 337 pp. 8vo), appeared, the first
really scientific attempt to analyze and correlate the rich mythology
of the American Indians, a work which thoroughly justified its re-
appearance, nearly thirty years afterwards, in a third revised and
enlarged edition (Philadelphia, 1896, 360 pp. 8vo). This useful
and suggestive volume was followed (many articles on other topics
intervening) by "The Religious Sentiment: a Contribution to the

In Mcmoriam : Daniel Garrison Brinton. 217

Science of Religion" (Philadelphia, 1876, 284 pp.), and "American
Hero-Myths" (Philadelphia, 1882, 261 pp.), the last a masterly
treatment of a characteristic myth of the American Indians, the
legend of the hero-child and wonder-worker, civilizer and savior. Al-
ready in 1867 Dr. Brinton had touched upon this topic in his " Myths
of Manibozho and Ioskeha (Histor. Mag., July, 1867). The same
year (1882) Dr. Brinton began the publication of "The Library of
Aboriginal American Literature," each volume of which was to con-
tain " a work composed in a native tongue by a native," with such
translation, glosses, notes, editing, etc., as would make it intelligible
to the general student. To this series Dr. Brinton himself con-
tributed six volumes, viz: "The Chronicles of the Mayas" (1882,
pp. 279); "The Comedy-Ballet of Guegiience " (1883, pp. 146);
"The Lenape and their Legends" (1885, pp. 262); "The Annals
of the Cakchiquels" (1885, pp. 234); "Ancient Nahuatl Poetry"
(1890, pp. 176) ; "Rig-Veda Americanus " (1890, pp. 95), the other
two being furnished by Horatio Hale, " The Iroquois Book of
Rites" (1883, pp. 222), and Dr. A. S. Gatschet, "A Migration
Legend of the Creek Indians" (1884, pp. 251). The publication of
this series, in which native chronicles (such as those of Mayas and
Cakchiquels) ceremonial songs, speeches, and rituals (such as those
of the Iroquois), dialogue-dances (such as those of the Aztecs of
Central America), national and tribal legends (such as those of the
Creeks and the Delawares), sacred and profane songs (such as those
of the ancient Mexicans), were sympathetically edited and interpreted,
and a most welcome mass of native literature, made accessible to the
increasing numbers of the students of American aboriginal life and
history, was discontinued, " not from lack of material, but because I
had retired in 1887 from my connection with the publishing busi-
ness, and became more and more interested in general anthropo-
logical pursuits."

During the years 1 867-1 870 Dr. Brinton had published several brief
essays on the Phonetic Alphabet of the Mayas and the languages of
Central America; and his "Chronicles of the Mayas " (1882), and
"Annals of the Cakchiquels" (1883), — in the intervening period
several kindred essays and studies of a briefer sort appeared, — were
naturally followed by " The Native Calendar of Central America and
Mexico" (Philadelphia, 1893, pp. 56), "Nagualism: A Study in
Native American Folk-Lore and History" (Philadelphia, 1894, pp.
62), and "A Primer of Mayan Hieroglyphics " (Boston, 1895, pp. 152),
besides a number of briefer essays upon less extended topics. In
these volumes the author shows his remarkable power of interpre-
tation and synthesis, his wonderful Sprachgefiihl, and his keen eye
for resemblances and incongruities.

2 1 8 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

Among the first-fruits of Dr. Brinton's linguistic studies, which he
resumed soon after settling down for life in Philadelphia, were an
examination of the " MS. Arawack Vocabulary of Schultz " (Proc.
Amer. Philos. Soc, 1869) and "The Arawack Language of Guiana,
in its Linguistic and Ethnological Relations " (Trans. Amer. Philos.
Soc, 1871) in which he showed that the Lucayan speech of the In-
dians of the Bahamas, the native language of Cuba, and the Taino
of Haiti, were all akin to the Arawack of Guiana. His last linguistic
essay, published in 1898 (Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc, vol. xxxvii.), treat-
ing of " The Linguistic Cartography of the Chaco Region," was a dis-
tinct contribution to the literature of South American languages.
Dr. Brinton's linguistic studies and investigations are altogether too
numerous to be mentioned here, but their variety and importance
may be judged from the number of years over which they extend.
In " A Record of Study in Aboriginal American Languages " (Media,
Pa., 1898, pp. 24), which the author himself, at the suggestion of
the late Mr. J. C. Pilling, the bibliographer, had printed for private
distribution, there are titled 71 articles and books. Of these, 15 are
general articles and works, 14 deal with the Indian languages north
of Mexico, 31 with the languages and dialects of Mexico and Central
America, and 10 with the languages of the West Indies and South
America.

Many of Dr. Brinton's studies were concerned with the discussion
and interpretation of the peculiar morphological traits — Dr. Brin-
ton was a disciple of Wilhelm von Humboldt and Steinthal — which
justify the ranking of the American languages en bloc as one of the
great speech-families of the globe, and not as Mongolian dialects.
Preceded by many investigations and studies which prepared the
way for it, " The American Race : a Linguistic Classification and
Ethnographic Description of the Native Tribes of North and South
America" (New York, 1891, pp. 392), was "the first attempt at a
systematic classification of all the tribes of America on the basis
of language." It may well be described as an epoch-making book
in the literature of American linguistics. The labor alone of its
compilation must have been enormous (1600 tribes are named and
referred to one or other of 79 linguistic stocks in North and 61 in
South America). This book and the researches of the Bureau of
Ethnology are the pathfinders for the student to-day. Dr. Brinton's
original contributions in the " American Race " were the definition
of many hitherto unrecognized linguistic stocks, and the clearing
away a good deal of the fog raised by the early chroniclers. In
1892 appeared "Studies in South American Languages" (Phila-
delphia, 1882, pp. 62), consisting of essays previously published in
the "Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society," where

In Memoriam : Daniel Garrison Brinton. 219

were published also, 1897-98, several other studies on the same sub-
ject. In these studies, new vocabularies and grammatical sketches
were printed and much information of value presented, together with
the author's able discussion of its bearings ; several new languages
and linguistic stocks were also delimited. In 1885 Dr. Brinton ex-
posed the "hoax of the Taensa Grammar and Dictionary" (Amer.
Antiq., March, 1885), not the least of his services to the students of
the future. Among the other linguistic works of the author deserv-
ing mention here are : " A Grammar [Byington's] of the Choctaw
Language" (Philadelphia, 1870, pp. 56); "A Grammar of the Cak-
chiquel Language " (Philadelphia, 1884, pp. 67) ; "A Lenap^-English
Dictionary" (Philadelphia, 1888, pp. 236). Dr. Brinton, who had
served as a member of a committee appointed to examine into the
scientific value of Volapiik (Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc, Nov. 1889),
discussed, in an address before the Nineteenth Century Club, New
York, "The Aims and Traits of a World-Language" (Werner's
Voice Mag., 1889) 5 and his " Essays of an Americanist " contains the
revised form — " The Earliest Form of Human Speech, as Revealed
by American Languages " — of a study of the language of primitive
man, dating from about the same period. In " Science " (vol. x.
1887) he exposed some of the fallacies on record as to "The Rate
of Change in American Languages," proving incorrect the common
opinion that the change in unwritten tongues is much greater than
that in cultivated languages. Much of Dr. Brinton's study in Central
American languages was strengthened by his frequent visits to the
great libraries of Europe, and his possession of many manuscripts and
early writings of the Spanish chroniclers and missionaries, including
in later years a goodly portion of the collections of the late Dr. C.
H. Berendt and the Abbe E. C. Brasseur de Bourbourg. All his
manuscripts, pamphlets, and books, numbering in all some 20,000,
he presented, a few months before his death, to the Library of the
University of Pennsylvania. These, it is to be hoped, will continue
to be used, and bear fruit in the spirit of Dr. Brinton's eloquent
appeal — " American Languages, and why we should study them "
(Penn. Mag. of Hist, and Biogr., 1885) — for the scientific study and
investigation of the aboriginal languages of the New World.

In 1884 Dr. Brinton became Professor of Ethnology and Archaeo-
logy in the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and in 1886
Professor of American Linguistics and Archaeology in the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania. Needless to say, his lectures were always
suggestive and inspiring, and many of them have appeared in
printed form, from time to time, either as separate essays or as por-
tions of more ambitious volumes. In 1892 Dr. Brinton acted as
examiner in Anthropology at Clark University, Worcester, Mass.,

2 20 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

where the degree of Ph. D., in that department of science, was for
the first time conferred. His addresses on academic and historical
occasions, such as the dedication of the Columbian Museum in the
University of Pennsylvania, the Anniversary of the New Jersey His-
torical Society, etc., were models of their kind. Sui generis were
also the inaugural addresses before the numerous societies whose
president he, from time to time, was.

To the first volume of the American edition of the " Iconographic
Encyclopaedia," in 1885, Dr. Brinton contributed articles on " An-
thropology" and Ethnology, revised Professor Gerland's article
on " Ethnography," and acted as general editor of the volume,
furnishing, besides, to the second volume, an article on " General
Prehistoric Archaeology." For the American supplement to the
"Encyclopaedia Britannica" he had written, in 1883, the article
on "American Archaeology ; " and to the new edition of " Chambers's
Encyclopaedia" contributed, in 1890, the article on "The African
Race in America." He also revised and re-studied for the " Stand-
ard Dictionary" (New York, 1894), the words of Indian origin in the
vocabulary of English-speaking Americans.

The studies and writings of Dr. Brinton were not altogether con-
fined to the New World. In 1884 we find him contributing to
"Science" a brief paper on "The Archaeology of Northern Africa,"
and in 1887 he showed that " Certain Supposed Nanticoke Words,"
which had figured in several of the earlier collections of American
Indian vocabularies, were really of African origin (Amer. Antiq., vol.
ix. No. 6). Before the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, in 1887, he read a paper " On Early Man in Spain." During
the next few years he published several essays and studies dealing with
the problems of the ethnology and linguistics of the Mediterranean
Region, — " The Ethnologic Affinities of the Ancient Etruscans "
(Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc, Oct. 1889); "On Etruscan and Libyan
Names" (Ibid., Feb. 1890); "The Cradle of the Semites" (Phila-
delphia, 1890, pp. 26) ; "The Etrusco-Libyan Elements in the Song
of the Arval Brethren " (Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc, Nov. 1892) ; "The
Prcto-Historic Chronology of Western Asia" (Ibid., April, 1895);
" On the Remains of Foreigners discovered in Egypt by Flinders
Petrie" (Ibid., Jan. 1896) ; "The Alphabets of the Berbers" (Ori-
ental Studies, 1894).

In these essays, and in his " Races and Peoples," Dr. Brinton
ably demonstrated the ethnologic unity of the races inhabiting the
great basin of the Mediterranean in prehistoric times, besides the
antiquity of the possession of their present territory in Europe and
Western Asia by the Aryan race. He also sought with consider-
able success to show that northwest Africa was the primitive home

In Memoriam : Daniel Garrison Brinton. 2 2 1

of the Aryo-Semitic race, to whom, and not to any Mongolian or
Negro peoples, are really due all the ancient civilizations of the
Mediterranean. Dr. Brinton believed, likewise, that the Etruscans
of ancient Italy were close kinsmen of the Libyans and Berbers of
northwestern Africa, whose love of liberty and village and tribal
institutions proved them to be very near the primitive Aryan stock
itself. He was one of the first to clearly perceive the implications
of the " Eurafrican " theory. Asia, too, he touched. Among his
briefer studies are to be found the following : The Taki, Svastika,
and the Cross in America" (Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc, Dec. 1888);
"On various Supposed Relations between the American and Asiatic
Races" (Mem. Cong. Anthr., 1893). Almost the last writings to
leave his hands were an article in the "American Anthropologist"
for October, 1898, on "The Peoples of the Philippines," and another
in the first volume of the new series of the same journal, resumeing
" Professor Blumentritt's Studies of the Philippines." The opinions
of these two broad-minded ethnologists ought to have some weight
in the settlement of the new question in the East, and they were
both very favorably disposed towards the Filipinos, regarding them
as well fitted for self-government.

To the general subject of Anthropology and Ethnology Dr. Brinton
contributed some of the most suggestive and inspiring literature of
the last quarter of a century. The broad comprehensiveness, genial
power of concentration, and frequent anticipation of truths which
needed to wait years for their actual demonstration, make his " Races
and Peoples," published in 1890, the best brief work of its kind in
existence. No ethnologist, not even in Germany, succeeded so well
in condensing the best from a wide field embracing the chief lan-
guages of the civilized world. The " Current Notes on Anthropo-
logy," which Dr. Brinton continued, until a short time before his
death, to publish in " Science " (New Series), were admirable as brief
presentations of what was most important in the recent literature
of the subject. His reviews of books in " Science," the "Journal of
American Folk-Lore," the " American Antiquarian," etc., evidence
his ability to see the weaknesses and to discern the budding genius
-where others might have discovered only the first. One side of Dr.
Brinton's activity that can scarcely be overestimated was the will-
ingness and helpfulness exhibited in his extensive and sometimes
quite elaborate correspondence — hardly a student in the last fifteen
or twenty years of the new thought in Anthropology to whom his
kind and inspiring word did not come again and again. For them,
too, he set the example of untiring patience in research, and readi-
ness to acknowledge error when conscious of it himself. At the
time of his death, Dr. Brinton was engaged upon a general work on

222 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

"Ethnography." The election of Dr. Brinton, who in 1886 had
been vice-president of the Anthropological Section, to the presi-
dency of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
for the year 1894, was a deserved and fitly bestowed honor. His
retiring address on " The Aims of Anthropology " was a masterly
and thoroughly sympathetic presentation of the raison d'itre of the
science, and of the unitary concept of the human race and its
manifold phenomena, physical, mental, and spiritual. No devotee
of Anthropology ever held higher ideals of the science, whose ser-
vant he was, than did Dr. Brinton, and his eloquence and logical
power never failed to meet the occasion. In this spirit he made his
plea for " Anthropology as a Science and as a Branch of University
Education in the United States" (Philadelphia, 1892, pp. 15).
Worthy of all emulation is the address delivered at the Anniversary
Celebration of the New Jersey Historical Society, in 1896, on "An
Ethnologist's View of History," in which he gives expression to the
new historical genius which must characterize the future's study of
the past. His address as President of the International Congress
of Anthropology, at Chicago, in 1893, was a noble interpretation of
the thought of Browning : —

A people is but the attempt of many
To rise to the completer thought of one.

In an article in the " Forum" for December, 1893, Dr. Brinton dis-
cussed, in characteristic fashion, " The Origin of Man," inclining to
look upon the human race, like genius itself, as a " sport."

When, therefore, in 1886, Dr. Brinton was awarded — the first
American to be so honored — the medal of the Societe Americaine
de France for his " numerous and learned works on American
Ethnology," the prize was well allotted. Dr. Brinton was a member
and a contributor to the programme of the Societe Internationale
des Americanistes, and an active or honorary member of many
European learned and scientific societies and associations.

In 1 89 1 he received from the Jefferson Medical College the de-
gree of LL. D. " in recognition of his scientific researches in the
fields of Anthropology and Ethnology."

In 1890, under the title, "Essays of an Americanist" (Philadel-
phia, 1 890, 489 pp.), were gathered together in revised form many of
his scattered essays and studies of an anthropologic nature. The
volume contains 24 articles, of which 5 treat of ethnology and archae-
ology, 6 of mythology and folk-lore, 6 of graphic systems and liter-
ture, and 7 of linguistic topics.

Dr. Brinton's best work, in many respects, is his "Religion of
Primitive Peoples " (New York, 1897, pp. 264), which fitly appeared

In Memoriam : Daniel Garrison Brinton. 223

as the culmination of his mythological studies. It is certainly one
of the most genial and suggestive books of the century, and in the
interpretative sections the author is seen at his acme of thought
and expression, which does not indeed fall short of real genius.
Certainly nothing exists in such brief compass that can at all com-
pare with it for profound insight, thoroughgoing examination of
data and theories, and unexampled comprehensiveness that often
reaches the climax of epigrammatism. There is probably more of
the man in this book than in all his other works.

From religion to poetry is less even than the traditional step.
The world has seen, perhaps, few scientific geniuses who have had
nothing of the poet in them. The literary finish of much of Dr.
Brinton's best works, his "love of song and story," — the man him-
self in fact, — suggested more than once some knowledge of the
Muse's art. It was hardly a surprise, therefore, when his studies of
Browning, few of which ever saw print, were followed, in 1897, by
an original poem of no little merit, — the " swan song " of the
genius. In " Maria Candelaria : An Historical Drama from Amer-
ican Aboriginal Life" (Philadelphia, 1897), his last book, Dr. Brinton
tells in verse the story of the "American Joan of Arc," Maria
Candelaria, who led the Tzental Indians of Chiapas in their revolt
against the Spaniards in 171 2; and, ever sympathetic and apprecia-
tive of the high talents and profound religious sentiments of the
Red Race of America, recognizing in particular their ofttime keen
sense of the power and genius of woman, he demonstrates in this
poem the heights some Indians had already attained, as well as the
more distant summits they might have reached, had they been al-
lowed their own course of evolution, had they not been crushed,
brutalized, and debased by their conquerors.

The tireless industry of Dr. Brinton, exclusive of his many contri-
butions to various medical journals and his purely literary efforts,
may be seen from the distribution by years of the 150 titles in the
Bibliography (1 859-1 898) of his writings issued about a year ago
under his own direction. The yearly quotas are : —

1859, book; 1866, four articles; 1867, two articles; 1868, one
book, one article; 1869, three articles; 1873, one book, three arti-
cles; 1871, one article; 1873, one article; 1876, book; 1 881, three
articles; 1882, two books, two articles; 1883, two books, five arti-
cles; 1884, one book, six articles; 1885, three books, nine articles;
1886, one book, four articles; 1887, two books, ten articles; 1888,
one book, ten articles; 1889, four articles; 1890, three books, six
articles; 1891, one book, one article; 1892, one book, eleven arti-
cles; 1893, two books, ten articles; 1894, one book, nine articles;
1895, one book, five articles; 1896, one book, six articles; 1897, two
books, six articles.

224 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

To give here a complete Bibliography of the writings of Dr.
Brinton, did space even permit, would be impossible at the present
moment. A list of his publications, dealing more or less directly
with Folk-Lore Mythology and allied topics, may, however, not be
out of place here, although it must be remembered that in many of
his other writings, which do not bear specifically folk-loristic titles,
much more of interest in the same fields of science is to be found.
i. The Myths of Manibozho and Ioskeha. Histor. Mag., July,
1867.

2. The Myths of the New World. New York, 1868. 337 pp.

3. A Notice of Some Manuscripts in Central American Languages.

Amer. Joiirn. of Science and Arts, March, 1869.

4. The Ancient Phonetic Alphabet of Yucatan. Amer. Hist. Mag.,

1870.

5. The National Legend of the Chahta-Mukokee Tribes. Ibid.

6. The Religious Sentiment. New York, 1876. 284 pp.

7. The Names of the Gods in the Kiche Myths, Central America.

Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., 1881.

8. Notes on the Codex Troano, and Maya Chronology. Amer. Nat-

uralist, September, 1881.

9. American Hero-Myths. Philadelphia, 1882. 261 pp.

10. Chronicles of the Mayas. Philadelphia, 1882. 279 pp.

11. The Graphic System and Ancient Records of the Mayas. Con-

trib. to N. Amer. Ethnol, vol. v. 1882.

12. The Books of Chilan Balam, the Prophetic and Historic Records

of the Mayas of Yucatan. Penn Monthly, March, 1882.

13. Aboriginal American Authors. Philadelphia, 1883. 63 pp.

14. The Comedy Ballet of Guegiience. Philadelphia, 1883. 146 pp.

15. Los Libros de Chilan Balam. An. d. Mus. Nac., tomo iii. 1883.

16. The Folk-Lore of Yucatan. Folk-Lore Journal (London), Au-

gust, 1883.

17. The Journey of the Soul: a comparative study from Aztec,

Aryan, and Egyptian Mythology. Proc. Numism. and Antiq.
Soc. Philadelphia, 1883.

18. The Lenape and their Legends. Philadelphia, 1885. 262 pp.

19. The Annals of the Cakchiquels. Philadelphia, 1885. 234 pp.

20. The Chief God of the Algonkins in his Character as a Cheat

and Liar. Amer. Antiq., May, 1885.

21. The Phonetic Element in the Graphic System of the Mayas.

Ibid., November, 1886.

22. On the Ikonomatic Method of Phonetic Writing, with Special

Reference to American Archaeology. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc,
1886.

23. Ancient Nahuatl Poetry. Philadelphia, 1887. 176 pp.

In Memoriam : Daniel Garrison Brinton. 225

24. American Aboriginal Poetry. Proc. Niimism. and Antig. Soc,

1887.

25. Were the Toltecs an Historic Nationality ? Proc. Amer. Philos.

Soc, September, 1887.

26. Lenape Conversations. Jonrn. Amer. Folk-Lore, vol. L, 1888.

27. The Taki, the Svastika, and the Cross in America. Proc. Amer.

Philos. Soc, December, 1888.

28. On the " Stone of the Giants," near Orizaba, Mexico. Proc.

Numism. and Antig. Soc, 1889.

29. Rig- Veda Americanus : Sacred Songs of the Ancient Mexicans,

with a Gloss in Nahuatl. Philadelphia, 1890. 95 pp.

30. Essays of an Americanist. Philadelphia, 1890. 489 pp.

31. On Etruscan and Libyan Names. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc,

February, 1890.

32. The Folk-Lore of the Bones. Joum. Amer. Folk-Lore, January.

1890.

33. Reminiscences of Pennsylvania Folk-Lore. Ibid. vol. v. 1892.

34. On the System of Writings of the Ancient Mexicans. Trans.

Amer. Philos. Soc, 1892.

35. The Etrusco-Libyan Elements in the Song of the Arval Breth-

ren. Proc Amer. Philos. Soc, November, 1892.

36. Remarks on the Mexican Calendar System. Proc Amer. Assoc.

Adv. Sci., 1893.

37. The Native Calendars of Central America and Mexico. Proc.

Amer. Philos. Soc, November, 1893.

38. Nagualism : a Study in Native American Folk-Lore and His-

tory. Ibid., January, 1894.

39. A Mexican Obstetrical Conjuration. Amer. Antig., May, 1894.

40. The Origin of Sacred Numbers. Amer. Anthrop., April, 1894.

41. What the Maya Inscriptions tell about. Archceologist, Novem-

ber, 1894.

42. The Alphabets of the Berbers. Oriental Studies, 1894.

43. A Primer of Mayan Hieroglyphics. Boston, 1895. 152 pp.

44. The Myths of the New World. Third edition, revised and en-

larged. Philadelphia, 1896. 360 pp.

45. The Religion of Primitive Peoples. New York, 1897. 264 pp.

46. Maria Candelaria : an Historic Drama. Philadelphia, 1897.

•91 pp.

Alex. F. Chamberlain,
Clark University, Worcester, Mass.

vol. xii. — no. 46. 15

226 J otirnal of American Folk-Lore.

FOLK-LORE SCRAP-BOOK.

In the " Southern Workman " for May, 1899, are given a number of
"Irishman Stories," that is to say, tales related by American negroes con-
cerning the stupidity of the Irishman, who in their folk-lore replaces the
Welshman of the English nursery, as responsible for actions characteristic
of rustic simplicity. The collector observes that the Irishman stories form
as widespread a part of the American negro folk-lore as do the animal
stories, even although in their present form they cannot claim an African
origin.

"The Irishman and the Pumpkin. — Once there was a man driving
along the road with a pair of mules and a load of pumpkins, when an
Irishman stopped him and wanted to know what those things were that he
had in his cart. The man replied they were mule's eggs, and told the Irish-
man that, if he would put one on the south side of a hill and sit on it, it
would hatch out a mule. So the Irishman bought one, and carried it up
on the south side of a hill and sat down on it and soon went to sleep. Of
course he fell off, and the pumpkin went rolling over and over down the
hill and into the brush; out jumped a rabbit and went running off. ' Koop,
colie ! Koop, colie ! Here 's your mammy,' called the Irishman, but the
rabbit would n't stop. So the Irishman went back to the other man and
said he wanted another mule's egg ; the first one hatched into a mighty
fine colt, but it ran so fast he could n't catch it, and he would like to buy
another."

" The Sea Tick and the Irishman. — This story is told about the sea
tick, and also about the rattlesnake.

" An Irishman had heard of sea ticks but had never seen one, though he
wanted to very much. Once he was walking along the beach, and found a
watch, dropped by some one who had gone on ahead of him. The Irishman
had never seen a watch before ; so when he heard it ticking he said, ' Be
Jasus, it 's a long time I 've been hearing of sea ticks, and here I 've got
one.' Then he got a stick and beat the watch until it stopped ticking.

" In the other version the Irishman is walking in the woods, and sees a
watch with a long chain lying in his path. When he hears it ticking he
says, ' Faith, there 's a rattlesnake ! ' and gets a rock and smashes it all to
pieces."

" The Irishman and the Moon. — Once upon a time there were ten
Irishmen who were always on the lookout for something to eat. One
bright moonlight night they took a walk by the side of a river, and the
greediest one of all espied the reflection of the moon in the water, and he
thought it was cheese. So he said to his companions, ' Faith, boys, there 's
green cheese ! Let 's get it.' The others answered, ' Sure- an*we will, if
you kin find some way for us to reach it.' No sooner said than done. He
made a leap into the air and caught hold of the bough of a tree which
stood near by, and bade the rest of them make a long line by swinging one
on to the other's feet until the man at the end could reach what they thought

Folk- Lore S crap-Book. 227

was cheese. The weight was more than the first man could stand, so he
thought he would lighten up by letting go his hold long enough to rest his
hands, being perfectly ignorant of what would happen if he did so. Of
course they all fell pell-mell into the river, and stirred up the water so
much that, when they did manage to crawl out, they could not see the
reflection of the moon. Then they all declared that the last fellow had
stolen the cheese and gone. To see whether they were all there, after
every one had denied taking the cheese, they thought that they should be
counted, so the very cleverest one of all stood the rest in a row and began
to count. Instead of counting from one to ten and including himself
either as first or last, he only said, ' Me myself, one, two, three,' etc., and the
consequence was that he only counted nine. He repeated this for some
time, and getting tired of it, and calling in a slow way to find out the thief,
they all got little twigs, and, forming themselves in a row, each one stuck
a hole in the ground with his twig. After this was done, they took turns
to count the holes, and at last really saw that all ten were still there. As
to where the cheese went, they never could tell, and they lamented for
weeks afterward over the lost piece of green cheese."

"The Irishmen and the Watermelon. — Two Irishmen were walk-
ing along one day, and they came across a wagon-load of watermelons.
Neither one had ever seen a watermelon before, and they inquired of some
negroes, who were working near by, what they were, and what they were
good for. The negroes answered their questions very politely, and then,
as it was their dinner hour, sat down in the shade to eat. The Irishmen
concluded to buy a melon and see how they liked it. They went a little
distance and cut the melon, but, taking pity on the poor negroes, decided
to share it with them. 'Faith!' they said, 'guts is good enough for
naygurs.' So they cut the heart out of the melon and gave it away, and
ate the rind themselves."

"The Irishmen and the Deer. — There seem to be several stories
that might be placed under this title, all alike in recording the Irishman's
non-success in the hunt, but varying widely in detail. They may be
roughly classified into stories in which the Irishman shoots the wrong
thing, as a cow or a mule, and those in which he simply fails to take any
steps to secure the right thing when it goes by him. To the latter class
belong the following : —

"(1.) Some men went hunting, and they put an Irishman on the stand
where the deer would pass, and went off in other directions. Pretty soon
the deer passed directly by the stand, and the Irishman stood and looked
at him. The others came in at noon, and they all asked the Irishman
why he did not shoot the deer when it passed so near. The Irishman said,
' Why, it was no use ; if he kept on as fast as he was going, he 'd kill him-
self anyway.'

" (2.) Once upon a time some Irishmen went out deer-hunting. As a
rule, a deer will have a certain path along which he will run whenever he is
chased. The first time he is chased he generally gets by, because no one
knows his path, but the next time some one is apt to be on the watch in

228 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

that place. So it was with these men. They made plans for the chase,
which were as follows : The leader says to his friend, ' Pat, youse get down
yonder and sit by the road in some bushes. Don't holler, but keep right
quiet and aisy, and when the deer comes you shoot him in the shoulder,
and, faith and be Jasus, we '11 have him ! ' The leader went another way
to hark the dogs on. By and by the dogs began. ' Ough ! ough ! ' Pat
cries very softly, ' faith and be Jasus, he 's comin' ! ' He looks very hard
to see the deer, and soon it comes breaking through the woods into sight.
Pat jumps up to shoot, but in a second he stops to talk again. 'Oh,' he
says, ' that 's a man ? Say, mister, where are you going ? ' The deer says
nothing, but keeps on running. ' Why, you seem to be in a hurry ! ' No
reply. ' Are you running from the dogs ? ' No reply. ' Well, if you have
not time to talk, you had better hurry on ; the dogs are crowding you.'
After the dogs had passed, the leader came up and said, ' What is the mat-
ter with you, Pat ? Why did n't you shoot the deer ? ' ' I 've not seen the
deer,' says Pat ; ' I saw a man go along here with a chair on his head, seem-
ing to be afraid of the dogs.' ' What did you say, Pat ? ' says the leader.
' I said, go on, old man, for the dogs are close behind.' ' What a fool you
are,' says the leader ; 'you shall never hunt with us again.' "

" Two Irishmen at Sea. — Two Irishmen were once at sea in a small
boat, and they decided to get off at the first island that they reached.
They finally came to a patch of seaweed, which they thought to be land.
One of them instantly leaped from the boat to the seaweed and sank
beneath the waves. The Irishman who was left in the boat thought that
his friend was hiding from him and said, 'Faith in me Jasus! 'tis no use
to hide, for I 'm coming too.' He then leaped from the boat to the sea-
weed and sank as his companion had done. Thus perished both these
Irishmen among the seaweeds."

The same journal for March, 1899, contains a number of items relating
to " Folk-lore and Ethnology."

" The Trick Bone of a Black Cat. — Put ashes and water into a
pot, set it over a fire and let it come to a boil. Have ready a black cat
(not a strand of white hair on him), cut his head off, put him in the lye,
and let boil until all the flesh has left the bones. Take out every bone.
Wash them. Now for finding the luck bone ; take up one bone, place it in
your mouth, and ask your partner, ' Do you see me ? ' If he says yes, you
will have to try another, asking the same question every time. When you
put the witchy bone in your mouth he will say, ' I don't see you.' Then
take that bone, put it in your pocket and keep it there, and you can steal
anything you want and no one will see. In fact, you can do any kind of
trick you want, and no one will know it.

"Another informant tells us that the lucky bone will rise to the top
when the flesh has all boiled off from the bones." Note. — It is sufficiently
remarkable, and full of instruction in regard to the origins of American
negro folk-lore, that this superstition also belongs to Germans in Canada,
and is plainly of European descent. See Journal of American Folk-Lore,

Folk- Lore Scrap-Book. 229

xii. 1899, 49. With Canadian Germans, the possession of the bone, here
called the " trick-bone," confers invisibility. — Editor of the Journal of
A?nerican Folk-Lore.

" How to conjure. — Get graveyard dirt, and put it into the food or
sprinkle it around the lot. It will cause heavy sickness.

" Put a file under the step and it will break peace forever, — even make
a man leave his wife.

" Have a vial, put into it nails, red flannel, and whiskey. Put a cork in
it, then stick nine pins in the cork. Bury this where the one you want to
trick walks."

" Remedies to cure Conjuration. — If the pain is in your limbs,
make a tea or bath of red pepper, into which put salt, and silver money.
Rub freely, and the pain will leave you. If sick otherwise, you will have
to get a root doctor, and he will boil roots, the names of which he knows,
and silver, together, and the patient must drink freely of this, and he or
she will get well. The king root of the forest is called ' High John, the
Conqueror.' All believers in conjuring quake when they see a bit of it in
the hand of any one.

"Tie a snake shed around your waist, and it will help you carry any
point you wish. Tie red flannel strings around your ankles, knees, and
arms, and it will keep off conjure. Also, wear silver money around your
neck."

" A Word of Courtship. — Gentlema?i : Lady, if you should see me
coming down the road, hat sitting on three sprigs of hair, cigar in north
corner of my mouth, my coat-tail arguing with the wind, and my shoes
crying judgment, what would be the consequence ?

" Lady : My head is full of argument,
My tongue is full of chat,
Say, kind gentleman, can you tell me
What 's good for that ? "

" Why the Wren does not Fly High. — The eagle and the wren
once had a contest as to who should be king of the air. At the time
appointed for the trial of strength they began to soar, and whichever went
the highest was to be king. After they had gone a few feet up, the wren
placed herself on the back of the eagle, and she was so light that he did
not know she was there. After the eagle had flown as high as he could
go, he called out, ' Where are you, Mr. Wren ? ' Then the wren flew about
six feet above him and answered, ' I am the highest ! '

" For her falsehood she was told she should always fly low."

" Brer Rabbit beats Brer Fox. — One day Brer Fox was hungry.
As he wandered about the wood he saw a squirrel upon the branch of a
tall tree. ' Hello, Brer Squirrel ! ' he said ; ' Hello, Brer Fox ! ' replied
the squirrel.

"Then said Brer Fox, ' I once had a brother who could jump from limb
to limb.' ' So can I,' replied Brer Squirrel. ' Let me see you,' said the
fox, so the squirrel jumped from limb to limb.

2 30 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

" • Brer Squirrel, I have a brother who can jump from tree to tree.' ' I
can, too.' So Brer Squirrel jumped from tree to tree.

" ' Brer Squirrel, I had a brother who could jump from the top of a tall
tree right into my arms.' ' I can, too,' said the squirrel, and he did.
Brer Fox ate him all up.

" Brer Rabbit was lying in his bed near by, and saw all that was done.
'Brer Fox,' said he, 'you a mighty smart man, but I had a brother who
could do something you cannot do.'

" ' What was it ? ' said Brer Fox.

" ' My brother could let anybody tie a large rock around his neck, and
jump off this bridge into the water and swim out.' ' So can I,' said the
fox. Then Brer Rabbit fixed the rock and the string, and Brer Fox jumped,
but he has not been heard of since."

LOCAL MEETINGS AND OTHER NOTICES.

Eleventh Annual Meeting of the American Folk-Lore Society. —
The Annual Meeting of the American Folk-Lore Society for the year 1899
will be held in New Haven, Conn., at the same time with the meeting of
the American Society of Naturalists and other affiliated Societies, during
the week between Christmas and the New Year, probably on December 28,
1899. Members intending to present papers will please give notice to the
Permanent Secretary, W. W. Newell, Cambridge, Mass. Further informa-
tion will be given concerning the arrangements hereafter to be completed.

Presentation to the Folk-Lore Society of Objects illustrating
Mexican Folk-Lore. — During a visit to Chicago of Mr. E. S. Hartland,
President of the Folk-Lore Society, Mr. Hartland was interested in pottery
masks representing personages in a local Mexican Passion Play, exhibited
by Prof. Frederick Starr, who has made extensive studies in the folk-lore of
Mexico. Professor Starr offered to obtain such figurines for the Folk-Lore
Society ; but this original proposition was expanded by him into an offer to
present a large collection of objects illustrating folk-lore of civilized Mexi-
cans, on condition that the Folk-Lore Society would keep together the col-
lection, and print a catalogue. On June 27 was held at the rooms of the
Anthropological Institute a joint meeting of the Folk-Lore Society and the
Institute, at which the objects were presented and explained by Professor
Starr. On the previous evening the Folk-Lore Society gave a public dinner
to Professor Starr at the Holborn Restaurant, the President of the Society
occupying the chair. The health of Professor Starr was proposed by Mr.
Andrew Lang with a suitable address. It was announced that the Society
had voted to make Professor Starr an honorary member, and to present
him with a complete set of the Society's publications, now amounting to
forty-two volumes.

Bibliographical Notes. 2 3 1

International Congress of the History of Religions. — In connec-
tion with the Exposition Universelle of 1900 is to be held this Congress ;
the committee appeal to theologians, sociologists, ethnographists, folk-lor-
ists, and others interested. The Congress will be divided into eight sec-
tions, the first including the religions of uncivilized peoples ; those of
American aborigines are especially indicated. Other sections relate to
Oriental, Egyptian, Semitic, Hindu, and Iranian, Greek and Roman, Ger-
manic, Celtic and Slavic, and Christian religions. Beside French, the
Latin, German, English, and Italian languages may be used in the discus-
sions. The President of the Commission is Albert Reville ; as vice-presi-
dents appear the names of Bertrand, Breal, Maspero, Oppert, and Senat ; as
secretaries, Marillier and Jean Reville. As especial subjects for discussion
in the section of non-civilized religion are mentioned totemism, sacrifice,
condition of souls after death, festivals in pre-Columbian Central America,
especially among Mayas. At the present time, and in view of the atten-
tion excited by recent troubles in France, it is well to notice with respect
the ability of the preparations for what should be a brilliant Congress.
The date of the meeting will be from September 3 to 9.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

BOOKS.

The International Folk-Lore Congress of the World's Columbian

Exposition. (Archives of the International Folk-Lore Association.

Vol. i.) Chicago: Charles H. Sergei Company. 1898. Pp.512.

This volume, devoted to the papers offered at the International Folk-
Lore Congress of 1893, contains an extensive mass of information from all
quarters of the globe. To notice the material in detail would be quite
beyond the capacity of this Journal ; we shall therefore content ourselves
with reference to certain articles which have appeared to us to present espe-
cial interest.

Mr. MacRitchie gives additional arguments in support of the thesis that
the dwarfs of folk-lore represent primitive races of short stature. Dealing
with "The Northern Trolls," he points out that early northern visitors to
Greenland identified the Eskimos or Skroelings with the trolls. Such was
also the case with Lapps. He considers, however, that ancient under-
ground folk of still smaller stature gave originally the foundation for stories
of mythical dwarfs.

Rev. Walter Gregor gives some account of the ceremonies used in Scot-
land for purposes of divination and popular medicine. When these rites
were performed with water, this had to be drawn from a ford, or from
below a bridge, where the dead and living were supposed to pass. The
water, drawn in silence, at stated times, usually after sunset in the twilight
" atween the sin (sun) and the sky," was designated " unspoken water."
When a cow or other animal fell in, and the evil eye was suspected as a

232 Journal of American Folk-Lore,

cause, this water was administered as a cure. When not drawn at the time
above mentioned, it was taken "in the silence of the night," that is, about
midnight. Usually one person fetched the water ; if two went, they must
not speak to each other or to any person they met. Not a word must be
uttered, until the draught was administered to the ailing animal. Some-
times the rule was more complicated ; in the case of a cure for fever, the
stream sought must form the boundary between two lairds' lands, and the
water must be drawn in a wooden basin of a peculiar shape. On the jour-
ney back, the operator must turn with the sun at three spots, three times
at each spot. On reaching the door of the house where the patient was,
the operator must wait until the disk of the sun appears above the horizon,
when the water was blessed in the name of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost. In another case, three stones are lifted from the bed of the
stream, held in the hands and in the mouth, and the patient lies silent all
night.

Prof. K. Krohn offers an interesting account of the worship of the dead
in Finland. Formerly, when a new place of abode was chosen, it was
necessary to select a place for " Karsikko," that is to say, a grove of
trees; when a person died, a tree was lopped, and sacrifices were then
offered to the dead ; when a bullock was killed, the first cooked dish was
carried to the grove. In spring, the first fish must be offered ; and in
autumn the first corn. If money were received, a coin must, first of all, be
taken to the place of sacrifice. Later on, the grove was reduced to a
single tree, and finally to a mere memorial without any religious significa-
tion. The oldest form must have existed at the time when the Savolax
people emigrated from Vermland to Delaware. In 1653, two Delaware-
Finns, a man and a woman, were sentenced for sorcery. In the eighteenth
century, these first Finns in America accepted, first the Dutch, afterwards
the English language, and are now entirely blent with the rest of the popu-
lation.

From a paper of V. V. Vucasovic, on funeral customs of the Southern
Slavs, it would appear that the colossal monuments erected over the dead,
chiefly from the twelfth to the eighteenth century, constitute imitations, as
respects form, of Roman sarcophagi, but often placed on prehistoric
tumuli. On the sides is sculptured especially the funeral dance, which
they danced backwards ; the dancers are composed of men and women, in
odd numbers. Episodes of the life of the deceased are also represented.
The defunct is accustomed to hold the cross in his right hand, and is sur-
mounted by a demi-lune and star, emblems of fortune (The Bosnian coat of
arms). In his left hand he has a sword, and defends himself against a
monster which seeks to devour him. Modern funeral customs are de-
scribed.

F. F. Feilberg, in a paper called " Buried Alive," notices the custom of
making, in the gable wall of farmhouses in Jutland, a low arch filled out
with bricks, called the " corpse-door," it being the practice to carry out the
coffin through the orifice, and wall up the opening before the return of the
funeral procession, to the end, no doubt, that the dead might not be able

Bibliographical Notes. 233

to find the entrance to its old home, with the result of disturbing the
survivors. The practice of burying living animals beneath the walls of a
building survives to this day ; the usage is a survival of foundation sacri-
fice. The idea seems to be that the spirit of the victim may watch the
boundary, and exclude evil demons ; thus in Fyn, a ghost had its walk
through the gate, but a dog being interred in the entrance, the ghost was
compelled to stay outside. The same usages were anciently applied to
protect the boundary of the village, or the shore of the sea, from the en-
croaching ocean. The guardian spirit of a church is still supposed to
watch the place, and prevent profanation ; if the old custom of burying a
living animal is dispensed with, it is supposed that the first person buried
in the churchyard will be appointed as guardian. As the writer points out,
the thought of a sacrifice to a mysterious power may also have been work-
ing in the minds of the persons who have buried the animals.

Dr. Stanislas Prato discusses the symbol of the vase, noting the myth of
Pandora, and the manner in which, in a Brazilian legend, transformations
result from the prohibited opening of a tucuman kernel containing animals
of might. He sets forth the modern symbolism of the vessel, and exam-
ines the tales connected with the choice of the caskets in Shakespeare's
" Merchant of Venice."

N. B. Emerson abstracts the Hawaiian version of the Maui-legend ; in his
report Maui appears as a transformer akin to the familiar figure of Ameri-
can aboriginal mythology ; Maui obtains the secret of fire, hitherto only
known to the mud-hen, and delays the overrapid course of the Sun by
breaking off the rays which stand out from his body, like spines from a
sea-urchin, thus weakening the luminary. Maui, in spite of his beneficent
activity, appears as a very dissolute and generally worthless personage, who
is finally killed for thieving by the great gods. The activity of this trans-
former, therefore, altogether answers to the character of the American one,
according to the view set forth by Dr. Boas in the publication forming the
sixth volume of the " Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society," who
regards the purposes of the agent of transformation as purely selfish.

Brief tales recorded by W. W. Gill from the atoll of Manahiki are in-
teresting, in that they show how the general idea of the giant-queller is
modified by the environment ; Tamaro kills a white shark, and finds a
subaqueous paradise in the home of the fish-god.

Under the title of " An Ancient Egyptian Creation Myth," A. Wiede-
mann gives an account of the legend contained in the hieratic papyrus,
No. 10,188 of the British Museum, found at Thebes in i860. This
papyrus, although only dated from the year 306-5 B. c, gives a narration
which, in the view of Wiedemann, is of great antiquity, antedating other
Egyptian legends on the subject, and belonging to a period earlier than
the time of the pyramids. The myth deals with Ra, the sun-god, as
creator, from the first existing together with the primordial waters. Ra is
conceived as human in shape, the visible sun being his eye ; he raises
heaven and earth from the waters. Afterwards, from him, by a process
answering to that of male generation, arise the divine pair, Shu and Tefnut,

2 34 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

who are left in the chaotic waters, and from whom come, first Seb and Nut,
then Osiris and his race. As Shu and Tefnut are emanations of Ra, the
latter is said to have become a trinity. Ra, mutilating himself, has left his
sun-eye in the waters, issues to the earth, and makes for himself a new
sun ; Shu and Tefnut follow him to earth, and bring to Ra his former eye.
Ra weeps over it, and from the tears springs man. But Ra's eye is
incensed at being superseded, and Ra is compelled to grant it the old
place in his head ; now having two eyes, the double light from these lumi-
naries burns the plants, and Ra is obliged to restore the withered vegeta-
tion ; he then issues from the plants, and creates reptiles, good and bad.
Thus the myth. A second version carries us on to the stage of mysticism ;
Ra is now described as assuming the forms of Existence, hypostatized
under the name of Chepera ; he is the Nine-in-One. The creation of life
by self-pollution, and the divine pair, Shu and Tefnut, are alluded to in
inscriptions from 3000 b. c. Wiedemann remarks that the origin of the
myth is not from play on words, but from philosophical speculation.
Egyptian religious thought not being fixed, the present scheme represents
only one of many inconsistent speculations.

A. Haas offers interesting notices concerning Pomeranian beliefs respect-
ing death and burial. Among the superstitions noted is that of telling
the bees on the death of the owner of a farm. O. Knoop supplies a collec-
tion of tales and beliefs concerning Pomeranian house spirits. M. Drago-
mannov discourses on the " Taming of the Shrew," in the folk-lore of the
Akraine. The volume contains an account of the persons chiefly con-
nected with the Congress, and the address of Lieut. F. S. Bassett.

W. W. Newell

The Making of Religion. By Andrew Lang. New York : Longmans,
Green & Co. 1898. Pp. 380.

A review of Mr. Lang's work would come late, were it not that the book
has been the subject of discussion in recent numbers of " Folk-Lore."
The author considers the modern science of the History of Religion to
teach, that Man derived the conception of Spirit from reflection on phe-
nomena of sleep, dreams, death, shadow, and experiences of trance and
hallucination. Ghosts, thus obtained, became the first objects of belief
and worship, and were gradually magnified into gods, of which, in the end,
one became supreme ; on the other hand, from belief in the survival of the
soul grew the notion of immortality. This system he proposes to study
from fresh points of view. In the first place, he treats what he calls the
X phenomena among savages, clairvoyance, crystalomancy, second-sight,
demoniacal possession, and so on, giving examples to show the prevalence
of similar experiences; he considers that their apparently supernatural
character may have much to do with the theory of a separable soul, and ap-
parently inclines toward a belief in the verity at least of the occurrences.
The statements concerning the savage phenomena are not especially full,
the account not undertaking to exhibit a complete view of the department.
The second part of the treatise undertakes to supply a substitute for the

Bibliographical Notes. 235

animistic doctrine ; this is, that the idea of God as, to use the writer's
words, " a primal eternal being, author of all things, the father and friend
of man, the invisible, omniscient guardian of morality, belongs to the
lowest savages, who reverence this supreme deity without idol-worship or
sacrifice, as immutable, impeccable, all-seeing, benevolent, and lovable.
To establish a doctrine so widely different from received opinion, one
would expect to find an elaborate examination of savage morality in its
higher aspect ; but the scope of inquiry is limited, the most important part
of the examination being concerned with Australians as examples of the
lowest intelligence, and with their mysteries.

The views of Mr. Lang are traversed by Mr. E. S. Hartland in " Folk-
Lore" (December, 1898). With his usual clearness and common sense,
Mr. Hartland points out that the true character of Australian divine per-
sonages widely differs from the quality required by the theory. Thus
Daramulun, patron of the Murring tribes, lived on earth, died, and now
dwells with ghosts in the sky. He had a wife who was an emu, and he
himself seems to have had progeny, and to be indeed a tribal ancestor.
He presides over a cruel initiation rite, involving cannibalistic features,
the youths being at times bitten to death. The idea that religious belief is
quite a different thing from myth, Mr. Hartland maintains, is not to be
allowed ; myths are essentially sacred, although shifting beliefs. Of crea-
tion, in the Hebrew sense, savage cosmogony is ignorant ; the so-called
creators find the actual universe already in existence. As to moral char-
acter, the chief Australian spirits are little better than apotheoses of the
wizard. Mr. Lang regards the five precepts laid on neophytes of the
Kurnai as being in essence parallel with Hebrew commandments ; but
Mr. Hartland considers them as quite other in scope. The injunction to
obey elders is intended to strengthen the power of the old men ; that to
live in peace with friends is a remnant of Gentile custom ; to share with
those who are friendly is equally a survival of tribal communism; not to
interfere with married women is an injunction appropriate to a society
which has recently emerged from group marriage ; to refrain from forbid-
den food is a rule avowedly dependent on superstition. In general, in order
to comprehend Australian life, it is necessary to put aside Christian and
civilized conceptions.

To these criticisms Mr. Lang, in the following number of " Folk-Lore,"
responded in a moderate tone, affirming that his intention had been only
to affirm, that the concept of an immortal and holy deity had been among
the religious conceptions of early man, who associated with this belief
ideas quite contradictory. He maintained that the notions of divine
power, goodness, and generosity might easily occur, even to savages. In
the use of the term Our Father to denote the chief deity, love is implied.
In primitive religion appear what we call rational factors ; the fancy con-
nected with the presentation, degrading the purity of the conceptions,
resulted in myth, abounding in elements which to us are irrational. The
probability of European influence in producing the higher Australian
notions he minimizes, pointing out correspondences in the accounts of Mr.

236 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Manning, based on his experience of 1845, an^ of Mrs- Langloh Parker at
the present time. As to the origin of morality, the only difference be-
tween Mr. Lang and his critic is, that he sees natural affection as well as
the interest of the strongest as a formative cause of the morality. The
question is, whether man first conceived of an immoral medicine-man, and
later on purified the conception, or whether he first imagined a good, kind
Maker, and then degraded the idea. He asks for a case in which we
know that a dirty old medicine-man was elevated into a " kind supreme
being, guardian of tribal morality."

In a rejoinder, Mr. Hartland pointed out that Mr. Lang's qualified de-
fence is a variation from the unconditional statements of his book ; one of
his chief complaints against Mr. Lang's method is, that he has dwelt on one
set of beliefs, turning away from another set as mere myths. As to the
accounts of Mr. Manning and of Mrs. Langloh Parker, the coincidences
are just sufficient to furnish further ground for inquiry. Mr. Hartland
does not deny the existence of kinship affection in Australian morality ;
but the main purpose of the mysteries is to promote discipline, and to
preserve the social organization.

In reviewing this controversy, the grand lesson to be drawn is that
differences of interpretation of savage intelligence arise from the imperfec-
tion of record. Give us a complete and unadorned account of Australian
mysteries, such as perhaps can still be procured by supplying investigators
who will undergo initiation, with all the indecencies, savageries, and
cruelties, with the sacred legends and songs as well as the rites in detail ;
then we shall see just what degree of analogy to the higher faiths these
present. It is all a question of money ; the students could be procured.
But unluckily this generation still finds it easier to speculate on imperfect
accounts, than to make even a small outlay for the purpose of learning the
unadorned truth. As to recent observations, the imperfection of the
methods still employed has been the subject of observation in this Journal ;
pieced-out notes go a very little way toward elucidation.

In the work here under examination, it was the opinion of Mr. Lang,
that animism, so far from offering an explanation of the phenomena of
religion, comes in later on, as a force calculated to deform and degrade
the purity of the original intuitions. A basis for this position will be found
in the " Introduction to the History of Religion," by F. B. Jevons, who
holds that inchoate monotheism is the earlier stage, which is back of the
ritual of polytheistic gods (p. 391). This proposition is a deduction from
the totem theory, in which it is assumed that a single tribe has properly
only a single divine object of worship. To the mind of the writer of this
notice, such doctrine is an unfounded assumption.

W. W. Newell.

The High History of the Holy Grail. (The Temple Classics.)
Translated from the French by Sebastian Evans. London : J. M.
Dent & Co. 1898. 2 vols. pp. 305, 298.

These little volumes, very charming in appearance, present an English

Bibliographical Notes. 237

translation of an old French prose romance, edited by C. Potvin in 1866.
This story Mr. Evans has turned into very agreeable English, of somewhat
archaic phraseology ; for the manner in which the translator has executed
his undertaking, only praise can be offered.

As to the contents of the French tale, less unqualified approval can be
pronounced. The narrative belongs to the most extravagant type of the
abundantly marvellous fictions concerning the history of the Holy Grail.
In a series of articles contained in this Journal, it has been shown that the
oldest work connected with this cycle, the celebrated poem of Crestien of
Troyes, knows nothing of the Grail as a vessel of the sacrament, but only
of a mysterious dish which plays quite an accidental part in the action.
By subsequent misunderstanding, according to the view taken in the
papers mentioned, was developed the variety of later fictions, answering to
modern religious novels, in which the Holy Grail played so prominent a
part. In these stories the incidents of the French poet continued to fur-
nish suggestions, which were so altered and elaborated as to result in
completely opposite situations. In the end, the achievement of the Grail
was assigned to a chaste knight, a type of Christ according to the mediaeval
conception, named Galahad. The present romance is closely connected
with the tale relating to the latter ; the hero is represented as celibate and
religious, but is still named Perceval. The corruption of this appellation
into Pellesvaus has furnished a convenient distinctive title for the romance.
(For abstract, see vol. x. pp. 309-311.) The tale has interest for the
scholar, as throwing light on the evolution of the romances dealing with
Galahad ; how much literary value attaches to it may be questioned.
Entirely without sequence or psychologic worth, it consists of a string of
wild and impossible adventures ; in the presence of more reasonable con-
temporary stories having some relation to human life, it may be thought
that the composition is to be allowed only archaeologic merit.

The translator has added an epilogue, in which he comments on the
date of record, which he sets as between 12 14 and 1225. This is likely;
but when Mr. Evans proceeds to qualify the romance as the " first and
most authentic " version of the legend, he makes a claim which will scarce
receive the indorsement of any scholar familiar with the cycle. On the
contrary, the romance bears on every page the characteristics of the thir-
teenth century, in sharp distinction from the simpler and more poetic style
of the twelfth. A well-known mention of the chronicler Helinandus refers
to a history of the Holy Graal \ Mr. Evans well shows that the chronicler
did not write in 1204, but as late as 1227, at which time, according to
Vincent of Beauvais, Guarin, who is said to have been intimate with
Helinandus, became bishop of Senlis. But Mr. Evans is in error in sup-
posing that the notice of the chronicle of necessity refers to the romance
now in question. On the contrary, as Mr. Nutt has indicated, the refer-
ence seems to be to quite another work, the so-called Grand St. Graal.

The name of the author of this romance is not mentioned. The false
prologue to Crestien's Perceval speaks of a certain Master Blihis as an
authority on the story of the Grail ; this notice leads Mr. Evans to assume

238 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

the possible authorship of this (presumedly mythical) Blihis, and the sug-
gestion is accepted by the printer, who informs us on the inside of the
cover, in a pretty design figuring a tombstone, that the aforesaid Master
Blihis floruit circa 1200-1250. Suppose this to be the case, it is plain the
production could not present the original type of the history, and antedate
a poem composed at least a generation earlier.

The reader, however, may be left to decide on the literary merits of the
French romance; to Mr. Evans is due thanks for having put a curious
novel, so to speak, of the thirteenth century within the reach of the Eng-
lish-speaking public.

W. W. Newell.

Bird Gods. By Charles de Kay. With an accompaniment of decora-
tions by George Wharton Edwards. New York : A. S. Barnes & Co.
(n. d.) Pp. xix, 249.

Mr. de Kay very justly remarks that in the study of man's groping to-
ward religious belief, the influence of birds and beasts has been (until
lately) neglected, whereas in the daily life of savages these were and are
objects as important as the phenomena of light and air. He therefore
undertakes to call attention to remains in the early lore of Europe of a
very extensive connection of birds with gods, pointing to a worship of the
bird as representative of the deity. He follows in mythology, epic poetry,
and legends the traces of certain birds, selecting the dove, woodpecker,
cuckoo, peacock, owl, swan, and eagle, and undertakes to show how their
peculiarities and habits, observed with keenness, have laid the foundation
for elements of various religions and mythologies, and supplied the skele-
ton of plots on which have been built numerous myths and tragedies. He
points out that modern historical science supposes rather mixture of con-
quering races with their predecessors than eradication, and thinks that old
beliefs reveal the influence of non-Aryan peoples. When the origin of a
divinity or of one aspect of a divinity, depended on original bird nature,
in the natural course of things the animal became humanized, and in the
end the bird remained only as a symbol of which the meaning was forgot-
ten. Recognition of the honor once assigned to birds, he suggests, may
have some tendency to shame modern descendants of the worshippers into
taking some pains to prevent the extinction of bird life.

The method of conception of the author may be illustrated by examples.
Aphrodite is drawn by doves, because in the spring that bird shines in his
finest feather, and is especially ardent in love-making. Herodotus relates
the account of the prophetesses at Dodona, that the oracle was established
at the command of a black dove, which settled in an oak-tree ; the grove
at Dodona may have been presumed to have been a shrine of the Pelas-
gians, sacred to divinities ruder than Zeus and his daughter. In the Greek
dove-name oinas is to be found the source of the name ^Eneas, who is to
be regarded as the dove god humanized. The capture of Venus by Vul-
can in a golden net is the survival of a bird-characteristic. The prophetic
quality of the woodpecker is explained by his habit of drumming on a dead

Bibliographical Notes. 239

limb ; this was supposed to be indicative of rain, and so the creature was
made a thunder-bird. Thus Picus the woodpecker became an Italiot
deity. His custom of excavating a cavity caused him to be supposed cog-
nizant of hidden treasures. With Picus Mr. de Kay correlates the Estho-
nian Pikker ; in the temple-huts of these tribes, heathen until the twelfth
century, we should have found wooden images of such a bird god. In the
Kalevala we have a "hero with the scarlet headgear," Nyyrikki, who
blazes a path for the hunter ; this personage is the woodpecker. With
augurs ravens and crows were greater favorites, by reason of their distinct
voices.

The cuckoo is sacred to spring, because of his mysterious cry. The
cuckoo lays its egg in the nest of another bird, and is said also to remove
the eggs of the foster-mother after its own child has been hatched. He
was therefore regarded as a criminal. Mr. de Kay thinks that numerous
folk-tales and myths are to be traced to this reputation ; he ventures to sug-
gest that the story of Siegfried is the echo of a cuckoo myth. The myths
that deal with marriage within prohibited degrees, and those treating of
the devouring by a father of his own children may be explained in similar
manner. The Irish hero Cuchulainn was originally a cuckoo god ; he
bears harness at seven years of age, because a young cuckoo is fledged in
seven weeks ; his feat of driving off fifty boy-princes is a survival of the
cuckoo's exploits in ridding the nest of foster-brothers ; his distortion
in battle is the ruffling up of the feathers of the bird. The early bird-god
literature among Akkads offers parallels. The writer suggests to anthro-
pologists that the habit of couvade may have owed its origin to observa-
tion of the habits of birds and childlike imitation. The owl rids fields of
mice ; it is assigned to Pallas Athene, because it can see in the dark ;
the attribution shows that originally the goddess must have been noctur-
nal. Before wisdom was associated with the deity, Pallas may have been
evolved from an owl into a psychopompos or soul-guide.

The eagle is famous in myth, not merely on account of his power and
swiftness, but because of the great age and ability of rejuvenescence
assigned to him.

Myths belonging to the category dealt with by the writer bear every evi-
dence of belonging to a much ruder age ; parallels with Finnish mythology,
for example, seem to demand the early existence in Greece of a people
akin in mental traits to Finnish tribes, which lent important elements to
Greek mythology.

Such is an outline of the views of Mr. de Kay, who has written a brief
but suggestive book on a very difficult subject. Even the complications of
philology seem simple in comparison with the tangle of mythology. When-
ever inference enters into the discussion, when it is necessary to go beyond
the definite statements of the source, the difficulty of passing from conjec-
ture to demonstration is almost insuperable. The key offered by compara-
tive etymology based on mere assonance is almost always merely de/usive.
Only the broadest generalizations will usually be found capable of proof.
The extent to which, in ancient art, the ascription of animal tokens to dei-

240 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

ties is to be explained as a relic of ancient beast worship, and the degree
to which it is to be allowed purely symbolic, is full of uncertainty. Of
symbolism we have examples in the animal figures still associated with the
evangelists, and especially in the representation of Christ as a lamb bear-
ing the cross. The requirements of ancient art in a degree explain such
animal presentation. Equally involved are the principles of ethnological
theory. That the Aryan races had a different way of looking at the uni-
verse, or in respect to their forms of divinities were more advanced than
their non-Aryan neighbors, or that simple and rude beliefs and usages
imply the presence of lower racial elements, are propositions at least not
established. The very literary character of the material ought also to be
considered ; such is especially the case in regard to the late and highly
sophisticated Welsh mediaeval folk-lore. When, therefore, the attempt is
made to trace a particular human story to an animal origin, there are
countless probabilities of error. But these remarks are offered merely by
way of pointing out the caution to be observed, and by no means with
intent to cast doubt on the general correctness of the author's theme, that
animal mythology antedates the humanized versions of ancient literature.

W. W. Newell.

THE JOURNAL OF

AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.

Vol. XII. — OCTOBER-DECEMBER, 1899.— No. XLVII.

EARLY AMERICAN BALLADS.

Owing to the recency of collection, the history of old English bal-
lads is conjectural. At the time when ballads were first issued in
the form of broadsides, printed in black letter, literary taste had
already outgrown this species of composition. While many fine old
ballads were thus circulated, the greater number of those supplied
by the press were of new invention, and characterized by a puerility
of rhythm and expression, in sad contrast with the music and tragic
force of the ancient compositions. In the remoter parts of Great
Britain histories continued to be cast into ballad form, generally with
the result of offering a very prosaic and degenerate form of verse.
There are no direct means of determining the time at which the
taste of refined persons turned to a more sophisticated kind of poetry,
and at which, consequently, the popular ballad, left to the mercy of
the less educated and thoughtful part of the community, became a
survival instead of a living art. In accordance with data offered by
the ballads of Denmark, where collection was earlier and fuller, one
might guess that this change took place about the end of the four-
teenth century, and that most, if not all, of the extant English narra-
tive songs which possess much literary merit belong to an earlier
date. At a later time, the persistency of tradition still maintained
among the people the ancient treasure.

During the sixteenth and succeeding centuries, however, the pro-
duction of popular ballads by no means ceased ; such songs continued
to be made in numbers. But these were inferior in excellence, even
when corresponding in theme ; the decline is readily accounted for
by the consideration that the authors were now men of the people
in contrast to men of letters, whereas in the earlier period the best
minds had so occupied themselves. In place of the kings and great
lords, whose fortunes had made the theme of the early songs, the
hero might be a captain or a major, the heroine a farmer's daughter ;
the scope and dignity of the story suffered reduction. Of these
later narrations, many were brought over to the New World, and

242 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

still others composed on American soil. With a few exceptions
where the subject was historical, these more modern ballads have
remained uncollected ; perhaps such neglect involves no great liter-
ary loss, but as illustrating popular taste and folk-life the ballads
have their curiosity. In this article will be brought together a few
of these contributed from various sources ; very likely the publica-
tion will bring to light a whole crop, for the number of such songs
current in the early part of the century must have been considerable.
At the present day, similar ballads are sung chiefly in isolated moun-
tain districts, in North Carolina or East Tennessee ; but these sur-
vivals correspond to like histories formerly well known in the New
England and Middle States.

With regard to local ballads Dr. W. M. Beauchamp writes as fol-
lows : —

" The colonists of New England were fond of long and doleful
ditties on local themes ; and part of one of these has haunted my
mind for years, perhaps because of a mock discussion on its true
reading. It commenced, —

On Springfield mountains there did dwell
A comely youth, known full well,
Leftenant Curtis' only son,
A comely youth just twenty-one.

One day this lovely youth did go
Down in the meadows for to mow;
He had not mowed half round the field
'Fore a pizen sarpint bite his heeld.

"When in Springfield lately, I sought for information on the old
song, but found only one young man who knew about it. It was his
father's favorite, but as the son was sung to sleep by it of course he
did not know the whole. So I am ignorant on which of the Spring-
field mountains the lovely youth dwelt, or in which of the meadows
he went for to mow.

" On my return home a friend had rescued another ballad for me,
written on time-discolored paper, with an antique British water-
mark, being evidently the ballad in the handwriting of its author.
It is entitled, —

A Short acount of the awfull & Surprising Deth of the Child of
daniel & Sarah Beckwith, who departed this life june ye 20TH day,

AD, 1773.

1. my frends allow my febel toungue,
if I may speak my mind,
this plainly shoes to old and young
the frailty of mankind

Early American Ballads. 243

2. the child that in the wods retiar
is lost while parants moarn,
and othars are consumd by fiar
or into peses toarn.

3. permit my febel pen to rite
what has ben lanly dun,

a man who plast his cheaf delight
in his beloved son.

4. in man Chester whare he ingoys
provision for this life,

he had two dafters and three boys
by his beloved wife.

5. his second son, robbens by name,
was ten years old and moar,

on him this sad distraction came,
who was in peses toar.

6. the fathar said, my children thair
if you will clear sum land,

you shall posess all it doth bair
to be at your command.

7. the parants then did both agree,
to tinmouth took their way,

a moarning sister for to see,
but long they did not stay.

8. the prity boys, wee understand,
did lovingly agree

all for to clear the peas of land
set fiar to a tree.

9. the chunk was thirty feat in length
and was exceding dry,

so rotten it had not much strength
did burn most vemantly.

10. the boys against a log did lean
or on it setting all,

and nothing was for to be seen
untill the tree did fall.

11. but oh, alass, the dismall blow
struck robbens to the ground,

his head was masht two peses soo,
a deep and deadly wound.

244 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

12. his head and arms all broke to bits,
he in the fiar did lye,

the children scard out of their wits
aloud began two cry.

13. the elder son that yet remains,
resevd a grevous wound,

but oh, alass. poor robbens brains
did fall out on the ground.

14. thus he within the flame did lye,
the othars full of greaf,

a neighbor that did hear them cry
did run to their releaf.

15. this maid his tendar hart to ake
to see him in that case ;

he quickly hold on him did take
and drue him from that place.

16. now near the middel of the day
the neighbors thay did meat,

the corps thay quickly did convay
in to his winding sheat.

17. a frend to tinmouth took his coast
the hevey news to beair.

the tidings come to them all most
as soon as thay got their.

18. but when the parantscome two know
theair son was dead indeed,

alass, their eys with tears did flow
and homwards went with spead.

19. the peopel came from every part
to see the awfull sight,

it grevd the parants tender hart,
alass, and well it might.

20. to see their one beloved son
in such a case indeed,

me thinks would make a hart of stone
or hart of steall to blead.

21. laid in the grave two turn to dust,
their greaf what tongue can tell,
but yet, alass, the parants must
bid him a long fair well

Early American Ballads. 245

The Sartinty of Deth.

22. see, the vain race of mortal man
are but an empty shoe,

like bubbels on the water stan
and soon two nothing goo.

23. when wee are well, alass, our breth
is easy took away,

ten thousand ways a mortal deth
can turn our flesh to clay.

24. the old and young, both high and low,
must yeald their mortal breth,

when is the time wee due not know,
but all must suffer deth.

25. to conker deth if wee contrive,
it is in vain to try,

for suarly as wee are alive,
soo suarly wee must die.
Finis.
November ve 20, 1773.

" This is verbatim, but I have slightly punctuated the verses. In
the twentieth verse, one is to be pronounced own, while some words
are almost puns in their effect."

The rhymes on the death of the child are of a literary character,
having been produced with the pen, and designed for reading. But
in the early part of the century there were in circulation in New
England many ballads more nearly representing a true traditional
literature, circulating by word of mouth, and current in different
versions. To this class belongs the following narrative, apparently
of English origin : —

The Lancaster Maid.

Oh Betsey ! Betsey ! beauty fair !
Had lately come from Lancastair,
A servant maid let herself to be,
She was fitting for a more high degree.

The old lady had an only son,
And Betsey had his favor won ;
Saying, " Betsey, I love thee as my life,
And I do intend to make thee my wife."

In the very next chamber the old lady lay,
And heard what her son to Betsey did say,

246 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Then she resolved in her mind,
To put a stop to her son's incline.

The very next morning the old lady arose,
Calling for Betsey, " Put on your clothes,
For out of town with me you must go,
To wait upon me one day or two."

The very next morning Betsey arose.
And dressed herself in her milkwhite clothes,
Saying, " Madam ! I 'in ready to go with thee,
To wait upon you one day or three."

To a very rich merchant Betsey was bound,

To sail the ocean round and round :
" Oh welcome home, dear mother," he said,
" But where is Betsey, your servant maid ? "

" Oh son ! Oh son ! I plainly see,
There is great love between Betsey and thee,
No more, no more, for 't is all in vain,
For Betsey 's a-sailing o'er the main."

Oh then these words struck her son sad !
'T was not all the world could make him glad,
In slumbering dreams he was heard to cry,
" Oh beautiful Betsey ! For thee I die." 1

The following variant of the last stanzas attests the popularity of
the song : —

For many doctors they did send,
And much upon him they did spend,
But all physicians were in vain,
For yet in love he did remain.

For many doctors they did send :
To try their skill and to try their means,
'T was not all the world could give relief,
He died out of sorrow, heartbroke with grief.

When the old lady saw her son was dead,
She pulled the hair out of her head,
Saying, " If my son could but breathe again,
I 'd send for Betsey all o'er the main." 2

1 Sung in Massachusetts about 1800. Contributed by E. S. Dixwell, Cam-
bridge, Mass.

2 Taken from the recitation of Mrs. Charles D. Davis, of West Newton,
Mass., who learned it from her mother, Mrs. Ellis Allen, born in Scituate, Mass.,
in the year 1793.

Early American Ballads. 247

The piece which follows has already been printed (vol. viii. p.

230) : —

The Lady in the West.

There was a lady lived in the west,
Whose age was scarcely twenty,
And she had suitors of the best,
Both lords and squires plenty.

And she had suitors of the best,
Who daily waited upon her,
But her father's clerk she would adore,
Above those men of honor.

Her father unto her did say,
" You fond and foolish creature,
To marry with your servant slave,
So mean of form and feature.

So mean a portion shall you have,
If this is your proceeding,
To marry with your servant slave,
So mean of birth and breeding."

" It must be so, it shall be so,
Although I have offended,
For when I break a solemn vow,
Then may my life be ended."

There being a table in the room,
A pistol on it lying,
He instantly, all in a rage,
The very same let flying,

All at his youthful daughter's breast,
Who fell down dead before him,
The very last word she did express,
" I must and will adore him." x

It has been stated that similar histories are still recited in the
more isolated districts of the South. The Eastern Shore of Mary-
land offers a curious example ; among the " poor whites," who can
neither read nor write, is sung the following ballad, which illustrates
the degradation of the ballad from the time when noble damsels
might don the garb of chivalry and accompany their lovers to war.

1 Contributed by Mrs. E. Allen, West Newton, Mass. Sung about 1S00.

248 Jotirnal of American Folk-Lore.

Polly's Love.
Down in yon country a rich farmer did live (dwell),
He had but one daughter whom he loved well,
And as soon as he found that she was in love,
He parted pretty Polly's own ardent true love.

As Polly lay musing all on her downy bed,.
A comical project came into her head ;
" Neither father nor mother shall make me false prove,
I will dress like a soldier and follow my love."

Coat, waistcoat, and breeches pretty Polly put on,
In every degree she was dressed like a man,
To her father's stables to view the horses around,
To see if there was one could travel the ground.

A case of fine pistols and a sword by her side,

With her father's best gelding like a troop she did ride,

She had rode far before she came to a town,

And called for the captain of Harry Wown (high renown ?).

The first that came forth was an English lord,

And the next pretty Polly's own true love.
" Here is a letter from Polly your friend."

He instantly taking the letter in hand. . . .
" And under the seal there 's a guinea to be found,

For you and your soldiers drink Polly's health round."

Now Polly being drowsy she hung down her head,
And calls for a candle to light her to bed.
" There 's a light at your service, a bed at your ease,
And you can sleep with me, kind sir, if you please."

" To sleep with a soldier 's a dangerous thing,
For some will want soldiers to fight for the king."

" I am a sailor on sea, and a soldier on shore,
But the name of pretty Polly I always adore."

Early next morning pretty Polly arose,

She dressed herself up in a suit of woman's clothes,

And down stairs she came, saying, " Constant I will prove,

I am pretty Polly, your own true love."

Now Polly is married, she lives at her ease,
She goes when she will, and comes when she please,
She left her dear parents behind to mourn,
" I 'd give hundreds and thousands for Polly's return." 1

1 Contributed by Mrs. E. M. Backus, Saluda, N. C.

Early American Ballads. 249

Another ballad also has Pretty Polly for a heroine. Perhaps the
two are offshoots of a single old history ; in the song already cited
the hero could be a " sailor on the sea." The version belongs to
the Blue Ridge Mountains, Henderson County, North Carolina.

Poor Jack he 's gone a-sailing,
With trouble on his mind,
He has left his native country,
And his darling girl behind.

And sing oh ! and sing oh !

So fare you well my darling.

There was a rich old farmer,
In London he did dwell,
And he had an only daughter,
The truth too I will tell.

She went into a tailor's shop,
And dressed in man's array,
She enlisted with the captain,
To carry her away.

" Your waist it is too slender,
Your fingers they are too small,
Your cheeks too red and rosy,
To face the cannon ball."

" My waist it is none too slender,
My fingers they are none too small,
It will never change my countenance,
To face the cannon ball."

And when the battle was ended,
Pretty Polly marched around,
Among the dead and wounded,
Her darling boy she found.

And she took him in her arms,
And she carried him to the town,
And she called for some physician,
To heal his bleeding wounds.

This couple now are married,
How well they do agree,
This couple they are married,
And why not you and me ?

And sing oh ! and sing oh !

So fare you well my darling.1

1 Contributed by Mrs. E. M. Backus.

250 Jotirnal of American Folk-Lore.

The next example, also from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North
Carolina (Polk County), belongs to the class of confessions of crimi-
nals, common in broadsides.

My name it is Denis, a man of high renown,
And my match in the country is hard to be found,

Is hard to be found,
And my match in the country is hard to be found.

I lived in Tennessee and there I bore the sway,
And for stealing of horses was forced to run away.

The footmen, the horsemen, they followed after me,
And straightway they carried me to the penitentiary.

And when I got over there, they welcomed me in,
They shaved off my head in the place of my chin.

They pulled off my clothes and dressed me in uniform,
Such a suit I never wore since the day I was borned.

Come all ye young horse-thieves, and warning take from me.
Never place your affections on the penitentiary.

Now I 'm getting old and my locks are getting gray,
I 'm still hammering away in the penitentiary,

In the penitentiary,
I 'm still hammering away in the penitentiary.1

The next piece has a character religious as well as sentimental.

Creation.

When Adam was first created,
The lord of the universe round,
His happiness was not completed,
Till he a helpmeet had found.

He 'd all things for food that was wanted,
To give him content in his life ;
He 'd horses and foxes for hunting,
Which many need more than a wife.

He 'd a garden all planted by nature,
To give him content in his life,
But an all wise Creator,
He saw that he needed a wife.

1 Contributed by Mrs. E. M. Backus.

Early American Ballads. 251

So Adam was placed in a slumber,
And lost a part of his side,
When he awoke in a wonder,
And beheld a most beautiful bride.

With transports he gazed upon her,
His happiness now was complete,
He thanked the most bountiful owner,
Had helped him to a mate.

She was not taken out of his head, sir,
To rule and triumph over man,
Neither was she taken out of his feet, sir,
For man to trample upon.

But she was taken out of his side, sir,
Man's equal companion to be.
When both are united in one, sir,
How happily they do agree !

A man who lives single 's a beggar
Though all the world he possess,
If a beggar has got a good partner,
Then all things in life will be blest.

Let not woman be despised by man, sir,
For she is part of himself ;
And woman by Adam was prized, sir,
Far more than a globe full of wealth.1

The humorous ballad may be represented by the following piece,
to judge by the metre not very old, but traditionally current during
the early years of the century : —

Beautiful Katie and the Gray Mare.

Young Johnny, the miller, he courted of late,
A farmer's fair daughter, called Beautiful Kate,
Whose wealth and fine fortune was full fifty pound,
Silks, ribbons, and laces, and furbelowed gowns,
Silks ribbons and laces and diamonds and pins,
With sumptuous apparel and fifty fine things.

The day was appointed, the money was told ;
It was a fine present in silver and gold.
Now Johnny unto her father then said ;
" Sir, I will not marry this beautiful maid,
Although she is virtuous, charming, and fair,
Without the addition of Tid, the gray mare."

1 Contributed by Mrs. E. Allen. Massachusetts, about 1800.

252 yournal of American Folk-Lore.

Her father then answered young Johnny with speed ;
" I thought you had courted my daughter indeed,
And not the gray mare ; but since it is thus,
My money once more I '11 put into my purse,
And as for the bargain, I vow and declare
I '11 keep both my daughter and Tid the gray mare."

The money then vanished out of his sight,

And so did fair Katie, his joy and delight,

And he like a woodchuck was turned out of doors (door),

Forbidden by them to come there any more.

Now Johnny began his locks for to tear,

And he wished that he *d never stood out for the mare.

About a year after, or little above,

He chanced to meet with Miss Katie, his love.

Said he, " My dear Katie, do not you know me ? "
" If I mistake not, I have seen you," said she,
" Or one of your likeness, with long yellow hair,

That once came a-courting to father's gray mare."

" 'Twas not to the mare a-courting I came,
But only to you, my love, Katie by name,
Not thinking your father would make a dispute,
But giving with Katie the gray mare to boot ;
But rather than lose such a dutiful son, —
Well, it 's over, — and I 'm sorry for what I have done."

"Your sorrow," says Katie, " I value it not,
There are young men enough in this world to be got,
And surely that gal must be at her last prayer,
Who would marry a man that once courted a mare.
And as for the prize, I think it not great,
So fare you well, Johnny ; go mourn for your fate." 1

The physician furnishes almost as congenial a theme for satire as
as does the miller.

Old Doctor Grey.

" Mr. A, friend B is sick,
Call the doctor and be quick."
The doctor comes with right good will,
And never forgets his calomel.

He takes his patient by the hand,
Compliments him as a man,
Sets him down his pulse to feel,
And then deals out his calomel.

1 Contributed by E. S. Dixwell, Cambridge, Mass. Sung about 1820.

Early American Ballads. 253

His high silk stock around his neck,
With old Scotch snuff is always specked,
His nankeen vest and ruffled frill,
Smells of jalap, aloes, and calomel.

He rides about in an old green chaise,
And doses patients night and day,
While many an unreceipted bill
Shows right much loss in calomel.

His good wife seldom leaves the house,
But labors for her faithful spouse,
She cooks his food and makes his pills,
With seven grains of calomel.

At last the good old doctor died,
And was mourned by people far and wide,
Yet strange to tell, when he was ill,
He would not take his calomel.1

It has been observed that, of the historical ballads formerly current
in New England, some have been printed. Among these is espe-
cially to be mentioned the song of Lovewell's Fight, which is said
to have been in its day " the most beloved song in New England."
Of this ballad two versions were published in "Collections, Histori-
cal and Miscellaneous," by J. Farmer and J. B. Moore, Concord,
1824, vol. ii. pp. 64 and 94. The first and oldest of these recounts
with considerable spirit the events of the combat in 1725 : —

Of worthy Captain Love well I purpose now to sing,
jilow valiantly he served his country and his king ;
He and his valiant soldiers did range the woods full wide,
And hardships they endured to quell the Indians' pride.

'Twas nigh unto Pigwacket, on the eighth day of May,
They spied a rebel Indian soon after break of day;
He on a bank was walking, upon a neck of land,
Which leads into a pond, as we 're to understand.

" Our valiant English," as the song calls Lovewell's men, see an
Indian, whom they approach with caution, fearing ambush ; however,
the Indian shoots Lovewell and another, but is himself shot down in
his flight.

Then, having scalped the Indian, they went back to the spot,
Where they had laid their packs down, but there they found them not ;
For the Indians having spied them, when they them down did lay,
Did seize them for their plunder, and carry them away.

1 Sung in New Berne, N. C, about 1800. Contributed by Mrs. E. M. Backus.

254 yournal of American Folk-Lore.

The " Indian rebels " appear from their lurking-place, and a battle
ensues, which lasts all day, in which eighteen out of thirty-four Eng-
lish are killed, while the Pequot Paugus is slain and his band
defeated. The chaplain particularly distinguishes himself in the
action : —

Our worthy Captain Lovewell among them there did die ;
They killed Lieutenant Robbins, and wounded good young Frye,
Who was our English chaplain : he many Indians slew,
And some of them he scalped when bullets round him flew.

A version of the second ballad relating to the same action was
communicated to the editor of this Journal by James Russell Lowell ;
but it differs from that printed by Farmer only in the order of the
verses, and indeed seems to be a rearrangement of the latter. The
ballad is very literary in character, and according to the opinion of
Dr. Samuel A. Green, Librarian of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, is probably a composition of the early part of the nine-
teenth century.

Here may also be mentioned a manuscript ballad relating to events
°f 1 75 5, printed in the " Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical
Society," April and May, 1894. The writer, who composed in the
same year, regarded the occurrences of the twelvemonth as a sign
that the Judgment Day was at hand.

And Now, O Land, New England Land,
Amased be & trembling Stand,
Because the Judge Stands at the Door ;
Forsake your sins, repent therefore.

After the preceding pages had been written, a friend pointed out
that the ballad " On Springfield Mountain," mentioned by Dr. Beau-
champ, in a form made intentionally more absurd, was included
by John Phoenix (pseudomyn of George H. Derby) in " Squibob
Papers," New York, 1865, pp. 45-52. The introductory lines are
nearly the same.

On Springfield Mounting there did dwell
A likely youth, I knowed him well ;
Leftenant Carter's only son,
A comely youth, nigh twenty-one.

The ballad itself, I am told, is still remembered, and survives as a
comic song. No doubt, therefore, it will hereafter be possible to
present a complete version.

William Wells Newell.

Water-Monsters of American Aboirigiues. 255

WATER-MONSTERS OF AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

Aquatic monsters are found in the folk-lore of every people, and
are probably as numerous as land-monsters or terrestrial prodigies,
for the sea, the lake, and all watery depths are more mysterious and
more unaccountable than the surface of dry land. The term "mon-
ster" may be taken in a double sense ; either it means an organism
exceeding others of its kind in size, power, speed, or ugliness, but
nevertheless a real product of nature ; or else it designates an im-
possible creation of human imagination, like the dragon, griffin, uni-
corn in heraldry, etc.

The Gila monster or Heloderma, salamander, inspires terror among
the people, or they would not call it the hell-bender ; the whale is
dreaded for its strength by all those who approach too near. Among
the imaginary prodigies, of which antiquity was as productive as
later epochs, might be mentioned the chimaera of Lycia in Asia Minor
(which once may have represented some spout of volcanic origin),
and Scylla and Charybdis, the living symbols of whirlpools and surfy
shores. No wonder that such curiosities were once deified. The
Krake was a floating, huge island in the folk-lore of Norway near to
the maelstrom, a huge phenomenon brought into whirling motion by
the influence of the tides. The celebrated Lorelei on the shores of
the Rhine River may be called a combination of a mountain siren
with a maid of the whirlpools.

It will be found that prodigies of this sort are always compounded
of a human and of an animal or brutish element. The animal addi-
tions are generally in the shape of organs of the body, as wings,
claws, tusks, etc., and in some instances portions of vegetable char-
acter are added to the figure. Artistic nations subordinate all these
symbolic additions to the human idea, but with primitive nations the
beastly nature prevails over the human faculties. In ancient Egypt,
zootheism is expressed chiefly by animal faces or masks enveloping
the head ; the Egyptian gods and goddesses represent rather powers
of nature than moral or intellectual qualities. Greek art tended to
idealize the beast's attributes in the human form, as we see with the
centaurs, the fauns, and the satyrs, even with the naiades and the
dryades ; but in other monsters of their creation the reverse ten-
dency of idealism is perceptible, as in the Cerberus, the Grate, and
the hydras.

Turning to our North American Indians, their monsters have in
themselves more of the animal than of the human, and this appears
usually in an exaggerated form. In the following pages it is not

256 Jotirnal of A merican Folk-Lore.

intended to present anything approaching completeness, but merely
to record some instances that have come to my knowledge.

Parallel to the horned snake, which seems to be known to all or
most Indian tribes, the Wabenaki of the northeast have a horned
snail or wiwilmiku, which occurs frequently in their mythic and
legendary tales. Within the memory of the Passamaquoddy Indians
of southeastern Maine, a renowned medicine-man and travellers'
guide, Medshelemet of the Penobscots, had a difficulty with a Mic-
mac chief, and they agreed to settle it in the waters of Boyden's
Lake, Washington County, Maine. Medshelemet transformed him-
self into a horned snail, and the Micmac chief into a huge serpent
of forty feet length or more {KtcJii at Wiusis, " large snake)." Dur-
ing the combat they whirled around in the lake, so that its waters
have remained disturbed up to the present day, and the name, Nes-
seyik, even now recalls this fact. Medshelemet came out victorious,
and killed his antagonist, then tied him to a tree standing at the
west end of the lake on a promontory called Kwissawi-dgemek.
This man is a historic person who died but forty years ago ; he is
still remembered by the hunters of his tribe, and reputed for his
singular ability of procuring tobacco for the hunting parties he
accompanied, although there were no stores there from which this
commodity could be obtained. These two form a curious instance
of modern euhemerism, which is not at all unfrequent with medicine-
men or "shamanic jugglers."

Next in order among superhuman beings come the dragons and
the huge serpents, horned or not, a class which fully demonstrates
that the Indians have no lack of snake stories and are probably
better supplied with them than ourselves.

Rev. S. T. Rand mentions a fabulously large snake believed in
by the Micmac Indians of Nova Scotia, whose name is Ktchi pitcli-
kayam ; no description is given of it, but the name implies similar-
ity with the Kinepiktva or Ktclii-Kincpikwa, "the great snake" of
the Algonkin tribes farther west. The Shawnee Indians have a
story of a one-horned snake, zvewiwilemitd mancttt, of which they
give the following particulars : A young maiden who was " eating
alone " 1 saw a fawn who had one horn red and the other blue ; it
was lying in the waters of a lake, immersed up to the neck. The
next time she saw it it had become much larger, and was moving
out of the watery element. The next time it appeared to her in the
form of a snake. A fourth time the snake had disappeared from
the lake, but the lake had increased in size, and its waters were hot
and boiling. Having informed her father of the occurrence, he held

1 This means that she was menstruating, and therefore had to eat and stay
alone in the woods or away from the settlements.

Water-Monsters of American Aborigines. 257

council with the old men of the tribe, who agreed among themselves
upon killing the snake, or trying to do so. For this purpose they
induced the young woman to go to the lake again, when her next
courses should come on. Twelve old men accompanied her, singing
and carrying a drum, taking along their shamanic "medicines" with
them. They camped out that night, and next morning sent the girl
into the lake to erect a tent-like structure or trestle in its midst.
When they sang their magic songs many kinds of snakes appeared
and laid their heads upon the (horizontal) cross-poles of the struc-
ture. The conjurers told them, "You are not the ones (wanted),"
and the waters became excited and boiled. But when a certain
snake came and put its head on the cross-poles, they said, "You
are the one." The girl was then ordered to enter the water again
and to strike its surface four times with her underwear. This she
did, and the effect on the snake was so weakening that it could
be killed by the conjurer without any exertion. The snake was
brought to the shore, cut up, and the assembled tribe voted as to
the use to be made of the snake's body. They resolved to cut it
into pieces and to give a piece to every person (to serve as talisman,
physic, or amulet), and then a name was given to the snake, calling
it Msi Kinepikiva, or " great reptile."

The Potawatomi Indians, when settled along Wabash River, had a
tradition that there was a monster serpent in Lake Manitou. "Their
superstitious dread of this lake was such that they would not hunt
upon its borders nor fish in its waters for fear of incurring the anger
of the evil spirit that made its home in this little woodland lake.
When the government officers were about erecting the Potawatomi
mills, the Indians strenuously objected to the erection of a dam at
the outlet of the lake, lest its accumulated waters might disturb
and overflow the subterranean abode of the serpent, the exasperated
demon rush forth from his watery domain, and take indiscriminate
vengeance on all those who resided near the sacred lake." 1

Among the Peoria Indians, who formerly lived in Illinois and are
now in the Indian Territory, the Lenapicha or "true tiger " is an
awe-inspiring animal of the dragon species and of enormous dimen-
sions. Although it can live on dry land, it is mainly seen on the
water, and there it shines in its brightest colors. It is a phantom
representing the lightning striking a lake or river, and the ebullition
of the water consequent upon the stroke causes it to appear as a
fire-dragon. In the popular idea it also stands for any huge ani-
mal, and its name serves as a personal name of totemic origin, cor-
responding to the Shawnee tnanetuwi msi-pissi, " great miraculous

1 From Cox's Recollections of Wabash Valley, p. 136, as quoted in R. M. Dor-
man, The Origin of Primitive Superstitions, Philadelphia, 1SS1, p. 283.
VOL. XII. — NO. 47. 17

258 Journal of A merican Folk-L ore.

tiger." Wapi-pizhi or "white tiger " is another denizen of the deep,
whom the Peorias still recollect, but now use mainly as a personal
name.

Aquatic and terrestrial prodigies of a pacific nature and diminu-
tive in size are beings akin to fairies, who are of both sexes. The
water-fairies come nearest to the sirens and naiades of old ; they sit
on river banks and lake shores, and by gesture and song allure the
passing people to approach. Indian pictographs are said to be their
work, since these tracings seem to appear and disappear according
to the state of the weather. The pictographic scratchings on Fairy
Lake, western Nova Scotia, and in Maine near Machiasport, are all
ascribed to the agency of these mysterious dwarfs, who thereby
intend to foretell events. In Passamaquoddy they are called und-
gemes, plural unagemeswuk, "spirits dwelling in the rocks," from
undk, rock, the ending es being of diminutive import.

Among the Miami Indians, a lake or river fairy or other prodigy
is called mansanzhi ; its female companion, mansanzhi kwd, is a
genius of the lakes or " fresh water mermaid," the term being at
present used only as a girl's name.

Creek Indians consider the fairies chiefly as wood-spirits, and
what I have learned about them is published in Journal of Ameri-
can Folk-Lore, 1888, No. 3 (Notes). They are called little people
or isti luputski ; some of their number are the cause of a crazed con-
dition of the Indians' minds.

The numerous tribes of the Siouan family, whose principal mem-
ber is the Dakota nation, undoubtedly had as many water-monsters
as the Algonkians, considering the large number of lakes, brooks,
and rivers in their extensive domain.

It will, however, suffice to mention UnktcJii, or Uukte'xi, their Nep-
tune or divine ruler of the waters, whose name also designated a
fabled monster of the deep and the whale of the salt-water. In fact,
UnkteJii means any large animal, for it is used also to designate some
large extinct animal, whose bones are at times found by the Indians.
The Winnebago or Hotchank Indians of Nebraska and Wisconsin
know of the WaktcJiexi, a miraculous beast of the watery element,
which had the power of imparting wonderful qualities to people who
had been fasting for ascetic purposes.

The eastern and western Cherokees have an inexhaustible wealth
of folk-lore, of which but little has been made public until now. In
his " Mythology of the Cherokees," 1 James Mooney describes some
miraculous animals that people the upper streams of the Tennessee
River. Among these figures the Dakwa, a huge fish, formerly seen
in Little Tennessee River, above the junction of Tellico, at the
1 Soon to be published by the Bureau of American Ethnology.

Water-Monsters of American Aborigines. 259

mouth of Toccoa Creek. Another of these fantastic beings was a
great leech or tlaniisi, formerly in Valley River, just above the junc-
tion of Hiawassee Creek, at Murphy, North Carolina ; this village
was called on that account Tlanusiyi, or "leech-place." A third of
these creatures was Uktena, a huge snake or water-serpent, once
holding forth at different places along streams and to be kept dis-
tinct from the "great horned uktena."

The Iroquois people of New York, rich in all kinds of mythic
folk-lore, were not delinquent in forming stories about miraculous
aquatic beings. The Onyare (in Mohawk, On-yar-he) is their lake
serpent, which traversed their country and by coiling up in domi-
nant positions near the pathways or trails interrupted communica-
tion between the settlements of the Iroquois. Onyare's breath,
diffused through the air, brought on sickness ; it was finally with its
brood destroyed by thunderbolts, or compelled to retire into deep
water. The life of Onyare is in the stories brought into connection
with the Stone-Heads or Otneyarhe, and also with the Flying Heads
or Konearaunene.

The ancient Creek Indians believed in a miraculous horned snake,
which at times appeared at the surface of water-holes, and whose
horns, used as a war-physic, were prized higher than any other fetish
within their knowledge. When the snake was seen in a blue hole
filled with deep water, the old men of the tribe sang their incanta-
tions, which brought the snake to the surface. They sang again,
and it emerged a little from the moving waves. When they sang
for the third time, it came ashore and showed its horns, and they
sawed one off ; again they sang, and it emerged for the fourth time,
when they sawed off the other horn. Fragments of the horns were
carried along in the warriors' shot-pouches on their expeditions, and
the song lines of the horned-snake referred to all the manipula-
tions connected with the capture of the snake's horns or tchito ydbi.
The refrain was " kitizvaihi, kitiwdyi, dhayi."

The Kdyowe or Kiowa Indians, now settled in Oklahoma, know of
Zemd Jigu-ani, a species of horned alligator of extraordinary size
found in deep holes in streams, and have named certain places after
it. By the Jicarilla Apaches, in the northern part of New Mexico, a
great frog is remembered, who lived in a former lake at Taos pueblo,
and has been described by J. Mooney in his article on "Jicarilla
Genesis," " Amer. Anthropologist," July, 1898, pp. 201, 202.

Especially productive of this class of " miraculous hydrozoology "
were the nations living on Columbia River and its numerous tribu-
taries. Among the Kalapuya Indians of Willamette River, Oregon,
the figure of Amhuluk, a monstrous and nondescript being which
lives in a water-basin at the Forked Mountain {tcha Waldktchi ameffu)

260 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

near Forest Grove, Oregon, is prominently popular. It is a large mon-
ster on four legs, with long horns, a spotted body, and followed by
small dogs, also spotted. It carries various things tied around its
body and is frightful in its appearance. Children are allured by it to
step over the soft and slimy banks of the lake into its waters, after
which they become helplessly entangled in the mud and weeds of
the desolate spot. When called upon by their parents to return to
the shore they reappear at times at the surface to disappear again,
the only audible words they proffer being, "we have changed bodies."
This water-basin also draws elks, deer, and other game into its
bosom and absorbs them, never surrendering them afterwards.
When a grizzly bear turns old, he goes there, and by the waters is
changed into another beast, either natural or monstrous.

Another aquatic being or spirit of the Kalapuya people is the
Atuukai, whose home is in the depth of rivers, lakes, and in deep
and sombre waters. Those who saw it describe it as resembling a
seal or sea-otter. When a grizzly or other animal is drawn by magic
into a water pool and metamorphosed into another animal, it is most
likely the atunkai that will form its future body.

Albert S. Gatschet.

Superstitions from Ceiitral Georgia. 261

SUPERSTITIONS AND BELIEFS FROM CENTRAL

GEORGIA.

SPIRITS AND WITCHES.

1. Children born with a caul see spirits.

2. Negroes say that all animals can see spirits at night.

3. Negroes contend that hogs can see the wind ; some maintain
that all animals can do so.

4. If one is riding at night and feels a warm current of air on his
face, negroes say that a spirit is passing by.

5. If you are walking or riding along, and see a mist rising from
the ground, it is a sign of the presence of spirits.

6. Dogs frequently " run " spirits at night, but spirits will whip a
dog, unless the dog has dewclaws. When the dog sees a spirit, he
will come back whining and get behind you. The dog does not
wish to fight a spirit if he can help it. I have hunted coons and
opossums at night with negroes, and, when the dogs kept running
and did not see anything, the negroes " quit " and went home, saying
the dogs were running spirits.

7. The left hind-foot of a graveyard rabbit is a talisman against
spirits, also productive of good luck generally. I asked a negro if
spirits ever bothered him. He replied, " No, sir ; I totes the left
hind-foot of a graveyard rabbit."

8. Negroes deem an ignis fatuus, or "Jack o' the Lantern," a
spirit doomed to wander in swamps, seeking something it will never
find.

9. To pass a haunted place, turn your pockets inside out ; the
haunt will not trouble you.

10. Some negroes wear the coat turned inside out, to keep off
evil spirits, or to keep witches from riding them.

11. To prevent a witch from riding a person, put a case-knife,
pair of scissors, or some mustard-seed under the bed or pillow.

262 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

12. If a horse's mane is tangled in the morning, it is a sign that
a witch has been riding him ; the little knots seen in the mane are
"witches' stirrups."

13. To prevent a witch from riding horses, nail a horseshoe over
the door of the stable.

14. Horseshoes, when nailed on doors or posts for good luck, are
placed with the round part uppermost. No witch or evil spirit can
enter when they are so nailed.

CROSS-MARKS.

15. When a negro is going from you, and you call him, making it
necessary for him to retrace his steps, he will make a cross-mark X
in the path and spit on it for good luck.

16. If you meet a stranger in the road, you must turn round,
make a cross-mark, and slightly change your direction, for good luck.

17. When a rabbit runs across the road in front of you, it is a
bad sign ; cross yourself, or make a X in the road and spit in it,
and walk backward over the place where the rabbit crossed. If a
rabbit runs across the road behind you, it is a good sign ; you have
passed the trouble.

18. If any one wishes to trouble another, he makes a X mark
on the path usually travelled by his enemy ; the only way to break
the spell is to walk round it the first time, afterwards you can walk
over.

19. To stop paths across a field, make cross-marks in it. Negroes
may step around the X marks, but they won't step over them.

20. If the right shoestring becomes accidentally untied, it is a
sign that a woman is talking good about you ; if the left shoestring,
that a woman is talking evil. To prevent the evil, make a cross-
mark, put your foot on the mark, and retie the string.

2T. Negroes keep other negroes from getting over a rail fence by
sprinkling powder or graveyard dirt on the rail.

LUCK.

22. Negroes will not carry a hoe or axe through a house, or put
one on the shoulder; to do so is very bad luck.

Superstitions from Central Georgia. 263

23. To step over a broom going forwards is bad luck ; you must
step over it backwards.

24. It is bad luck to sweep the dirt out of a house at night ;
sweep it up into a corner and sweep out in the daytime. If obliged
to sweep it out at night, take a coal of fire and throw it first in front
of you.

25. One negro will not step over another while lying down. If
he does, he must stej) over again backwards.

26. Never let the moon shine on fresh meat ; it brings bad luck.

27. To pin bad luck, drive a rusty nail in the front doorstep.

28. If a negro sees a pin, and picks it up with the point to him, it
is blunt luck ; he will walk about in order to take it point toward
him, and then it is sharp luck.

29. If a negro moves into another house, even if the house has
been swept and scoured, he will scour and sweep it again for fear of
"cunjer."

30. If a looking-glass falls from a wall and breaks, it is a sign of
death ; if any one lets it fall from his hands, of seven years of bad
luck.

31. Never lend salt or red pepper ; if you lend it, it will give bad
luck.

SIGNS.

32. For a cook to drop a dishrag is a sign that some one will come
hungry.

33. When you drop your knife and it sticks up, it is a sign of
good luck.

34. To see a measuring-worm crawling on any one is a sign that
the person will have a new suit of clothes.

35. If a butterfly lights on you, it is a sign that you will die soon.

36. To see a butterfly, catch it and bite off the head, you will
have a new dress the color of the butterfly.

264 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

37. In sitting in front of the fire, if the fire pops on you, you
are sure to get new clothes.

38. If the fire pops with a blowing noise, it is a sign that there is
going to be a fuss in the family.

39. To sit by a fire and have a " chunk " roll out is a sign of com-
pany.

40. It is bad luck for a stick of wood to roll out of the fire on
the floor.

41. A rooster crowing before a door is a sign of a visitor.

42. To hear a rooster crow when he first goes to roost is a sign
of hasty news.

43. When a hen crows, some evil will befall the family to which
the hen belongs.

44. A dog's howling is a sign of the house catching fire.

45. For a dog to go hunting at night in winter is a sign of snow.

46. To see the new moon through the trees is a sign of bad luck.

47. Wear a string round the neck with a piece of money on it
for good luck.

WEATHER.

48. When a peacock screams, it is a sign of rain.

49. When a hog squeals, it is a sign of cold weather.

50. When a whip-poor-will cries, it is a sign of warm, clear weather.
There is no more frost.

51. When a yellow-hammer sings, it is a sign of warm weather.

52. The cooing of a turtle-dove is a sign of warm, clear weather.

53. When woodpeckers come in the spring, it is a sign of warm
weather. Woodpeckers come south by night, and go north by
day.

Superstitions from Central Georgia. 265

54. When birds come in numbers around the house, it is a sign of
freezing weather.

55. When an alligator bellows, it is a sign of rain within twenty-
four hours.

56. A rainbow is a sign of no more rain on that day.

57. When a storm is coming, buzzards fly high to get above it.

58. To hear fire make a noise like a woman walking in snow
is a sign of snow.

SEASONS.

59. All things that grow out of the ground, such as peas, corn,
and the like, must be planted in the increase of the moon, from new
to full ; all things that mature in the ground, like potatoes, must be
planted in the decrease or waste of the moon, from full to new.

60. Plant watermelons when the Zodiac points to the heart, as
the best of the melon is the heart.

61. To castrate animals, the sign of the Zodiac must be in the
knee or feet.

62. If you kill a hog in the waste of the moon and cook the meat,
it will go away in grease. If in the make of the moon, it will
swell up when you boil it.

63. Negroes never begin any work for themselves on Friday that
cannot be finished the same day.

64. It is bad luck to lose Monday by not working ; the loss will
bring bad luck all the week.

65. Never start work on Friday you can't finish on that day.

66. To have good luck all the year, eat a piece of boiled meat on
the first day of January.

MEMBERS OF THE BODY.

67. When the left ear burns, it is a sign that some one is talking
about you ; when the right ear burns, that he is talking evil. You
must pull the ear and say : —

266 Journal of A merica n Folk-L ore.

•• Bad betiger, good betiger ;
Hope the Devil may ride yer.7'

"Betiger" is a corruption of "Betide you." If good is said of
you, the burning or itching will continue ; if bad, it will stop.

68. If the lower part of your ear burns, some one is talking
about you.

69. When your left nostril itches, it is a sign that some man
whom you have never seen is coming to your house. When your
right nostril itches, some woman whom you have never seen is
coming.

70. When your nose itches while coming to your own house, you
will see a stranger.

71. When your eye quivers, it is a sign you are going to cry about
something.

72. When your left eye jumps, it is a sign that you are going to
see some trouble.

73. If the palm of your hand itches, don't tell any one about it,
but put your hand under your arm and you will have some money.

74. If the right palm itches, you are going to get some money.
If the left palm itches, it is a sign that you are going to shake hands
with a stranger.

75. To cut your hair, and throw the hair where birds can get it
and build nests with it, you will have headaches.

POPULAR MEDICINE.

76. To wear one earring on the ear next a weak eye will give good
eyesight.

y/. An iron ring about the wrist will give strength.

78. A leather string tied about the wrist cures rheumatism.

79. A flannel rag round the wrist will cure pain in the arm.

80. To cure "biles," walk along and pick up the first little white
flint rock you see, as it is found sticking in the ground. Rub the

Superstitions from Central Georgia. 267

boil with the flint, then stick the flint in the ground again, in the
same position as you found it. Turn around and leave it, walking
backward for a few steps.

81. To cure chills and fever: After you have had three or four
chills, take a piece of cotton string, tie as many knots in the string
as you have had chills, go into the woods and tie the string around
a persimmon bush, then turn around and walk away, not looking
backward.

82. To wash your face in water in which eggs have been boiled
will bring warts.

83. To take off a wart, take a grain of corn, eat out the heart or
white kernel, strike or cut the wart till it bleeds, then take a drop
of the blood, put it in the corn where the heart was taken out, and
throw the grain to a chicken. The wart will go away.

84. To strengthen your wind in running, eat half-done corn-bread.

85. Negroes believe that if one borrows a hat from a diseased
person, and ther wearer sweats round the forehead where the hat
rests, he will take the disease.

86. Don't step over a child ; it will stop the child from growing.
Stepping over a grown person is a sign of death.

87. If you cut a mole on your body till it bleeds, it will turn into
a cancer and kill you.

88. To eat a peach, apple, or plum that a bird has pecked is said
to be poisonous.

89. To scratch the flesh with the finger-nails till it bleeds is said
to be poisonous.

90. The bite of a "blue-gummed negro " is said to be poisonous.

91. If a pregnant woman raises her hands high above her head,
as for instance to carry a water-bucket on the head, it will cause the
navel-string of the child to tie about the neck and choke it to death.
The child will be born dead. All children so born are supposed to
have met their death in this way.

26S Joicrual of American Folk-Lore.

92. Don't drink water out of a bucket carried on a child's head ;
to do so will stop it from growing.

CATS AND MICE.

93. It is very bad luck to kill a cat.

94. If a strange cat comes to the house, it is a sign of good luck.

95. To "move a cat," that is, to take a cat away with you, is bad
luck. Negroes never move a cat.

96. A cat will suck a child's breath, and one must not be allowed
to sleep in the same room with children.

97. It is bad luck to have a cat sleep in bed with you. A negro
told me that one night a cat almost drew all his breath away.

98. A black cat without a single white hair on it is said to be a
witch. No negro will keep a pure black cat in his house.

99. If you rub the hair of a black cat in the night, you will see
the fire it has brought from hell.

100. Never give a black cat away, but lend it.

1 01. If you kill a mouse, the others will gnaw your clothes ; if
you shoot one with a gun, their friends will overrun the house and
drive you from it. Mice are cats' food.

102. If a mouse eats a hole in a garment, and you darn it, you
will have seven years bad luck ; to avoid this, you must make a
square patch.

SNAKES.

103. It is good luck to kill the first snake seen in the spring.

104. If you find a snake in the yard about the house, kill him and
then burn him. No mouse will come about the house.

105. Negroes believe that a black snake sucks cows.

106. Negroes will not kill a king-snake, as he is the enemy of
rattlesnakes and other poisonous snakes.

Superstitions from Central Georgia 269

107. If a snake bites a man, he goes and eats some snake-weed ;
as the blood of a man is poisonous to a snake, he will die if he
cannot get the weed.

108. When a king-snake fights a rattlesnake and gets bitten, the
king-snake goes into the woods and gets a snake-root leaf as antidote.

109. A "coach-whip " will run you down and whip you to death.

BIRDS.

no. When a screech-owl "hollers" about a sick-room, the sick
person will in all probability die.

in. To stop a screech-owl from " hollerin','' turn your left hand
pants pocket inside out, or take off the left shoe and turn the sole
up, or throw "a chunk of fire " out of the window.

112. If a screech-owl flies into a room, it is a sign of sickness or
death, or of some evil. If any one kills the owl, some member of
the family will be killed or hurt.

113. It is bad luck to kill a buzzard, a mockingbird, a bluebird,
a bee-martin, or a thrush ; the last two oppose and keep off hawks.

114. If a buzzard flies over your house, you are going to get a
letter or hear good news.

1 1 5. Jaybirds go to hell on Friday, carrying a small stick as fuel
for the Devil.

116. To keep hawks from catching chickens, put a white flint
rock in the fire.

117. To break up a killdee's nest is a sign that you will break
a limb.

MISCELLANEOUS.

118. In spring, cow-lice turn to gnats ; hog-lice turn to fleas.

119. A toadstool is called the Devil's snuff-box, and the Devil's
imps come at midnight to get the snuff. In the morning you can
tell when the imps have been for the snuff, as you will find the toad-
stool broken off and scattered about. The snuff is used as one of
the ingredients of a "cunjer-bag."

2 70 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

120. If a terrapin bites you, it will never let go till it thunders.

12 r. A pregnant woman cannot assist in killing hogs, or in
handling fresh meat. The meat will spoil.

1 22. If you want a hen to hatch all pullets, put the eggs under
her out of the bonnet of a young girl.

123. To make a girl love you, take a piece of candy or anything
she is likely to eat, and put it under either armpit, so that it will get
your scent.

124. To milk a cow on the ground, she will go dry unless you
throw some of the milk on her back.

125. To make a cow take a strange calf, rub the nose of the cow
and the body of the calf with tea made of walnut leaves, so that the
scent will be the same with both.

126. To make a stray dog follow and stay with you, put a piece of
bacon in the shoe of the left foot, wear it till you see the dog and
throw it to him ; if he eats it, he will follow you and stay with you.
If he don't, get some hair off the dog's left ear and put it in the left
pocket, or rub his left hind-foot with a piece of corn-bread.

127. To keep a strange dog with you, cut some hair off the end
of his tail and bury under your doorstep.

128. If you wish a strange cat to stay with you, grease it with
any kind of grease, stick the cat to the chimney back, and throw it
under your bed.

129. If you want a cat to stay with you and not return to the for-
mer owner, grease the four feet of the cat in the house before taking
it away.

1 30. Never throw keys ; always hand them or lay them down, and
let those who want them pick them up.

131. Negroes will not throw a knife or a key to one another, for
they will certainly lose them if thrown.

132. In handing a knife to another, let the blade be shut up, and
let it be handed back shut up.

Superstitions from Central Georgia. 271

133. If the blade of a knife is soft, put the blade into a piece of
hot corn-bread, and put bread and knife into water.

134. To find water before seeking a spot to dig a well, negroes
take a switch of willow or peach, hold it in both hands near the
middle, and walk over the ground where the well is desired ; when
they come to the spot where is the water, the switch twists and
turns in the hands, sometimes rubbing off the bark, the ends turn-
ing down to the ground.

135. To get fleas out of a house, take a pine pole and skin it.
The fleas in hopping about will hop on the pole and stick to the
resin that issues. Sheep about a yard will also carry them off.

136. When the dogwood-tree blossoms, fish begin to bite. (Ne-
groes always fish with a big cork, and put the lead close to the hook
in order to keep terrapins from cutting the line.)

137. When fishing, spit on your bait for luck.

138. If any one steps across the pole of another while fishing, the
person whose pole has been so treated will catch no fish unless the
pole is again stepped over backwards.

139. You can't swear and catch fish.

Roland Steiner.
Grovetown, Columbia Co., Ga.

272 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

CHRISTMAS CAROLS FROM GEORGIA.

The Christmas songs of negroes, given below, are examples of
the true carols, or noels, still sung in that State. Unhappily we can-
not add the melody : —

1.

De leetle cradle rocks to-night in glory,

In glory, in glory,
De leetle cradle rocks to-night in glory,
De Christ-chile born.
Peace on earth,

Mary rock de cradle,
Peace on earth,

Mary rock de cradle,
Peace on earth,

Mary rock de cradle,
De Christ-chile born in glory,

In glory, in glory,
De Christ-chile born in glory.

11.

De Christ-chile am passin',

Sing softly,
De Christ-chile am passin',

Sing low.
Don' yo' hear he foot on de treetop,
Sof ' like de south win' blow ?

Glory hallelu !

Glory, glory, glory,

Glory hallelu !

Emnia M. Backus.

Items of Maryland Belief and Custom. 273

ITEMS OF MARYLAND BELIEF AND CUSTOM.

That the belief in charms as a means of preventing and curing
disease is not a thing of the past, at least in Maryland, and that it
is not even there confined to the negro, has been convincingly-
proved recently. One proof came in the spring when Druid Hill
Park, in Baltimore, was infested with moles. Through the efforts
of the Park Board to get rid of them, it was discovered that a
Dutchman, who was very successful in catching them, was cutting
off the feet while they were alive, and thereby increasing his in-
come ; for he found ready sale for these feet among fond mothers
who believe that, if worn round the neck of a child in a bag, they
will prevent diseases incident to teething. In one part of the State,
it is " the left hind-foot " of the mole that is used " to cut teeth on."

A charm against whooping-cough has also been brought promi-
nently into notice lately in Maryland. It is asserted that the mother
of twins has power to drive the disease away from a child by giving it
a piece of bread and butter. That the efficacy of this is most firmly
believed in was proved when whooping-cough broke out in Annapo-
lis last winter. The " Governor's Mansion " was soon besieged by
children who came to ask bread and butter of the governor's wife,
she being the mother of twins. At first these requests were com-
plied with, but soon the demand became so great as to be a tax upon
the giver, and it was found necessary to put a stop to the whole
thing.

Maryland has another cure for the same disease that is some-
what similar. This time it is a woman who has married without
changing her name who "has the power," and who at any time is
likely to be called on, as was the governor's wife. In this case it is
said that if a child with the whooping-cough goes to her for a piece
of bread and butter, and if she spreads the butter on the bread her-
self, and the child takes it without thanking her, " there will be no
more 'whoop' to that cough."

A CURE FOR "FLESH DECAY," OR WASTING DISEASE, IN A BABY.

To cure this disease, a baby is measured by a seventh son or a
seventh daughter three days in succession, before sunrise or after
sunset, being passed through the measuring string each day ; while,
during the process, an unintelligible charm is repeated over the child.
After the third measuring, the string is doubled and tied to the
hinge of a door or window, and if it rots out in a certain time the
baby will recover ; but if the child is " foot-and-a-half gone," there
is no possible cure.

vol. xii. — no. 47. 18

274 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

To cure the same disease in Pennsylvania, the baby, wrapped in
blankets, is put in the oven after bread has been taken out and
the oven has cooled down. Then, with the oven door open, the
baby is " baked " for one hour.

surveyors' custom.

An interesting custom was formerly practised by surveyors in
marking out the boundaries of estates. It was usual for the sur-
veyor, at a certain point, when surveying land, to give the smallest
child in the party that followed him, whether black or white, a severe
whipping. Trees, it was claimed, might be struck by lightning or
otherwise destroyed, and stones might disappear, but the child, who
was likely to outlive the others present, would never forget the spot
where he received the whipping. A gentleman whose childhood's
home was in Calvert County writes of this custom as follows : —

" I recollect when quite a small boy, perhaps five or six years old,
I was staying at my uncle's when Mr. King was sent for to survey
a lot of ground." Mr. King, he explains elsewhere, was the son of a
surveyor, and father and son together had not only surveyed all the
land in Calvert County, but much in the counties adjoining. "He
had great difficulty," he continues, " in finding the starting-point
from an old deed which he had in his possession. After the start-
ing-point was found and the compass adjusted, he told me that in
his younger days, the youngest boy around was severely whipped on
that spot, so that all his life he would remember where the survey
began. He cut a switch from a near-by tree, and told me that he
would not be hard on me, but struck me a few licks gently that I
might tell the place when I grew up; but I am afraid I could not
find it now, it has been so long ago."

Another gentleman, who is a surveyor, writes of the same custom
as having been practised by his father and grandfather, who were
surveyors in and around Baltimore.

WHY TTIE DEVIL NEVER WEARS A HAT.

The Maryland collection gives many quaint and curious " reasons
why" certain things are, or are believed in. Here we find out why
the devil never wears a hat, as told by one of African descent : —

" De debbil, he am jes' chuck full ob fire an' steam an' brimstone,
an' all dese jes' keep up a pow'ful workin' an' goin' on together ; an'
to keep from jes' nater'ly 'xplodin', he got a hole in de top o* he
haid — a roun' hole — an' de steam an' fire jes' pour out 'n dere all
de time. No cullud pusson ever see de debbil when de steam an'
fire warn't rushin' out, 'n so 't warn't no use fur him to wear a hat."

Anne Weston Whitney.

The Legend of the Holy Grail. 275

THE LEGEND OF THE HOLY GRAIL.

VI.

TALES RELATED TO THE ENFANCES OF PERCEVAL.

Notice has now been taken of the stories directly connected with
the legend of the Grail. Brief mention, however, may be made of
certain narratives which have to do with the history of a simple
youth brought up in the wilderness, and unacquainted with the
manners of chivalry.

(a.) Li Biaus Desconuefus. (The Fair Unknown). A story very
common in mediaeval Europe, as in other quarters of the globe,
recited the adventures of a son in search of a father, whom he meets
without recognition, and with whom he fights a battle, either tragic
or peaceful in issue. In the first continuator of Crestien's Perceval,
such an experience is assigned to an illegitimate son of Gawain ;
when questioned, the youth can say no more than that he is ignorant
of his name, having only been called in his home, where his father
is hated, the nephew of his uncle. We learn that the boy has been
stolen in youth, brought up by a fosterer, and taught by a teacher,
who instructed him to value his arms. The incoherent tale shows
him in the company of a wandering damsel, who is obliged to give
him lessons in the use of lance and shield. In a joust he slays his
opponent, but, being ignorant of death, wishes the latter to renew
the encounter ; he prefers to expose his body rather than his shield.
It seems safe to set down these last-mentioned traits as belonging to
the mass of floating jests concerning the fortunes of a simpleton.
Other adventures of the hero have no resemblance to that of Perce-
val. The second continuator knew that the son of Gawain was
called the Fair Unknown ; Renaud de Beaujeu, an imitator of Cres-
tien, made him the hero of a poem, and gave him the name of
Guinglain. The English version of the tale has an introduction, in
which the mother is made to keep her son from the knowledge of
arms, and to call him nothing but Fair Son. This idea, as already
remarked, appears in Wolfram, being with him a misinterpretation
of Crestien, and I see no reason to suppose that a different mode of
explanation should be adopted in the English production.

(b.) Carduino. With the poem of Renaud is connected an Italian
poem of the fourteenth century, constituting a very free treatment
of the theme. The mother of the hero, after the murder of her
husband by knights high in favor at Arthur's court, retires to the
wilderness. The boy, who is told that his mother and himself are
the only human beings, finds two javelins in the wood, and obtains
food and clothing by their use. He sees the knights of the king,

2 j6 Journal of American Folk- Lore.

and insists on leaving the wood ; his mother gives him the arms
of his father, and advises him to seek Arthur. Here he is unable
to name his father, but is retrained by the king. Then follow
adventures somewhat answering to Renaud's tale. In the end,
Carduino avenges his father by killing his poisoners, who are none
other than Gaheries and his brother Gawain. After receiving
knighthood, the hero continues to use throwing-spears as his only
weapon : such extravagant representation is quite out of the old
manner, as is the character of traitor assigned to Gawain. I can
therefore see no reason for supposing the tale to be anything else
but a freely imaginative treatment of ideas obtained at second-hand
from Renaud and Crestien.

(c.) Tyolet. A French poem contained in a collection of lais
recites how Tyolet, the son of a widowed dame of the forest, has
skill in calling beasts by whistling. While pursuing a white stag,
the latter turns into an armed knight, from whom he inquires the
uses of hauberk, sword, and so on. He asks what kind of an animal
is a knight, and is told that it is a beast who eats others. Accord-
ingly he resolves to become a knight-beast ; his mother is at first
troubled, but provides her son with his father's arms, and sends him
to Arthur's court, where he rides rudely into the hall, and announces
himself as a knight-beast ; he says that his mother has sent him to
learn courtesy, and is retained by the king. A lady appears, the
daughter of the king of Logres, who offers her hand to the knight
who can get the foot of the white stag guarded by seven lions. This
adventure is accomplished by Tyolet, who weds the princess and
becomes king.

The language and rhythm of this poem, in conformity with the
plot, indicate it as relatively late. The writer supposes Logres
(Loegria, Arthur's kingdom) to be some outlying district. He
knows that Evain (i. e. Yvain) is the son of the fairy Morgain, as
represented in the later Arthurian romance. The idea that a stag
turns into a knight, and offers instruction to a youth, seems charac-
teristic of later extravagance. I see no reason to regard the story
as anything more than a romantic invention of the thirteenth
century, in which the writer has imitated certain features of Cres-
tien's poem.

The compositions mentioned do not exhaust the number of those
in which the youth of the hero exhibits some analogy to that of
Perceval. Thus Meriadeuc, a youth educated in solitude, is ignorant
of his father's name, and has been called only le beau valet. Hav-
ing learned from his mother of his father's death at the hand of
Gawain, he seeks to avenge that injury. Through the mother a

The Legend of the Holy Grail. 277

reconciliation takes place. Meriadeuc is a two-sworded hero ; this
possession of two swords, as well as the incidents noted, is obviously-
only borrowed from Crestien, of whom the writer of Chevalier as
dens espees was an unblushing imitator.

So, in a version of the Chevalier au Cygne, we find the Swan-
knight, when about to do battle, instructed by a wandering damsel,
after the example of the son of Gawain in the continuator : as the
older version of the poem does not contain these features, it is plain
that their introduction is only another example of the manner in
which a popular tale gave occasion for decalcomanie on the part of
the average poet.

FOLK-TALES REPRESENTING THE HERO AS SIMPLETON.

It has been observed that the conception of a disinherited and
outcast hero, who begins life as a rude and simple lad, is a common
one in folk-tales. The connection between this theme and the story
now under consideration is too general to be illuminative ; it has
been thought, however, that certain narratives present a nearer ana-
logy.

(a.) Peronnik Vidiot. In his Le foyer breton, St. Souvestre in-
cluded a tale of this sort. Peronnik is a boy dependent on charity,
and regarded as wanting in intelligence. As the story says, he can
eat when he is hungry, sleep when he is tired, and sing like a bird.
A knight appears at his dwelling, and asks the way to Kerglas (the
Green Castle), where are kept the Gold Basin, which supplies food,
cures sickness, and awakes the dead, and the Diamond Lance, which
is able to slay all whom it touches. According to the instructions
given the knight by a hermit, in order to reach the castle it is
necessary to traverse the Deceitful Wood, take an apple from a tree
defended by a dwarf armed with a fairy spear, and obtain the Flower
that Laughs, guarded by a lion ; to pass the Lake of Dragons ; do
battle with a Black Man armed with an iron ball which never misses,
and of itself returns to the hand ; to encounter the temptations of
the Vale of Pleasures, and receive directions from a lady attired in
black, who will mount behind. The sorcerer, who is the lord of the
Green Castle, happens to pass on his mare followed by a colt, carry-
ing basin and lance. Peronnik learns the spell which summons
the colt, and, under pretence of being a servant of the castle, is able
to accomplish the adventure. The black lady turns out to be the
Plague. The apple, fruit from the tree of Good and Evil, makes the
enchanter susceptible of death, after which the Plague puts an end
to his career. The Laughing Flower acts as a key to open the gates
of the castle, which vanishes in an earthquake, and Peronnik escapes
with basin and lance, which enable him to dispose of the enemies

278 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

of the king of Brittany : he conquers Anjou, Poitou, and Normandy ;
goes to the Holy Land, and forces the emperor of the Saracens to
give him his daughter in marriage.

The editor notes the resemblance of this narration to Arthurian
romances ; this likeness is obvious, though the tale has no near
affinity to Crestien's. Unhappily, however, the history has little
similarity to genuine Breton folk-tales, and it is scarcely to be
doubted that in the account we have only a literary recast, answer-
ing to the inventions of Hersart de la Villemarque.

(b.) Laoidh a?i Amadan Moir (Lay of the Great Fool). A Gaelic
ballad, which differs from the preceding in being genuine and ex-
actly reported, possesses all the mystic character of such verse. It
is recited how an enigmatical personage known as the Great Fool,
while engaged in an unexplained expedition to Lochlann (Scandina-
via), becomes enveloped in a magic mist, meets a Gruagach (demonic
being), and is induced to drink from a cup offered by the latter, with
the result that the demon deprives him of both legs below the knee.
In spite of this loss, he continues his journey with rapidity, and is
able to overtake and capture a hound, white, with red ears (dogs of
hell or fairyland are of such hue), belonging to another Gruagach,
who demands return of the animal in exchange for hospitality, and
conducts the youth to his castle, the Golden City, where the guest is
left to guard the wife and treasure of the host, who goes hunting.
The house is visited by a lover of the wife ; the intruder is seized by
the Fool, and forced to surrender the legs of the latter, which he
has annexed. In the end, the Gruagach of the cup returns, and
according to a common and no doubt ancient feature of Gaelic tales,
we learn that the master of the house, in transformation, was also
the enchanter and the interloper, his object in arranging these dif-
ferent appearances being to test the courage and worth of the hero.

It occurred to Campbell that the cup of this wild legend might
have some relation to the Grail ; but, for my part, I am unable to
discover any similarity.

(c.) Story of the G?'eat Fool. The lay was explained to Campbell
by a tale professing to give the history of the Fool ; but, as usual in
such explanations, it is very doubtful whether the prose and the
verse have in reality any connection. The Great Fool is represented
as a posthumous son of a foe of the king. To preserve his life, his
mother flies with her son to the wilderness, where the youth grows
up in ignorance, distinguished by ferocity and strength. He runs
down wild deer, and his mother makes him a dress of the hides ; he
barbarously kills his foster-brother for making him the subject of
jests ; he catches the king's horse, rides to the palace, kills the
king's son, and obliges the king to recognize him as heir. He is
afterwards sent to rescue a lady from a dragon.

The Legend of the Holy Grail. 279

Mr. Nutt has pointed out that the story of the Irish and Scotch-
Gaelic hero Fionn has similar traits. The latter is also a posthu-
mous son whose life is in danger, is reached in the desert by Druid-
esses, exhibits extraordinary strength, and overtakes wild deer by
speed of foot. He has no proper name of his own, receiving his
appellation from the whiteness of his skin. I can see in these traits
no resemblance to the story of Perceval, further than that some of
the subordinate incidents, like the running down of the deer, floating
adventures common to mediaeval folk-lore, do appear, not in the tale
of Crestien, but in certain of its popularized forms.

Beyond these, it seems scarce worth while to cite folk-tales for the
purpose of illustrating the story. According to the analysis previ-
ously given, the incidents of Crestien's plot do not belong to any
single folk-tale, but represent separate elements, such as floated in
solution in the folk-lore of all European countries, threaded together
in purely literary fashion.

As respects the Grail, examples of healing and food-producing
vessels might be cited in abundance from the popular belief of every
age and country ; but, as already observed, the dish of Crestien's
tale has none of these properties ; the analogy, such as it is, belongs
solely to the later variants, which are nothing more than free inter-
pretations of a theme made continually more and more mysterious.

Brief mention may be made of the two modern compositions
which have made the Holy Grail a household word. Tennyson's
idyl, "The Holy Grail," follows the outlines of the French prose
romance, the Queste ; as in the latter, the quest begins with the
apparition at Camelot of the sacred vessel. A quest is vowed, in
which, as in the French work, Galahad, Percivale, and Bors are the
most honored participants ; but whereas in the Queste these three
remain together and journey to the Spiritual City, the English
author makes Galahad depart alone. Percivale is subject to delu-
sive visions, and ultimately returns to court to tell the story. It is
explained that the duties of the king forbid his taking part in the
search. The insight of the poet induced him to represent the Grail
as the cup of the eucharist, a function which, as above shown, it had
performed in the tale of Robert de Boron. In Tennyson's account,
the moral and religious ideas connected with the Grail are not essen-
tially changed from the mediaeval history.

On the other hand, the Parsifal of Wagner exhibits a complete
reconstruction. The composer based his drama on the work of
Wolfram of Eschenbach, whose proper names he uses ; but while in
Wolfram the story still consists of two independent narrations,
Wagner wove the adventures into one whole. In Crestien, Arthur's
queen has retired of her free choice into the desert, where, by

2 So yonmal of American Folk-Lore.

the aid of an astrologer, she builds a manor ; in Wolfram, the
magician, who receives the name Clinschor, is represented as an
evil-minded enchanter, whose spells have made the inmates of
the castle his prisoners, but who has no connection with Parzival
or with the Grail ; Wagner, following the artistic impulse tending
toward unity, already noted as characteristic of reconstructors,
makes Klinsor the adversary of the knights of the Grail, while
Kundry is described as his agent in the task of seduction, to whom
Amfortas has fallen victim. Opportunity is taken to bring Parsifal
to the enchanted castle of Klinsor, containing the flower-maidens,
where he himself is subject to the temptations of Kundry, and by
experience becomes able to sympathize with the tempted Amfortas.
Wagner, like Tennyson, was led by his artist's instinct to identify
the Grail with the chalice of the eucharist. For the psychologic
meaning, he accepted suggestions taken from Christian and Bud-
dhist story ; he set forth the conception that the generous pity of a
simple heart is the best remedy for human suffering. Beyond this
general idea, it would be idle to seek in the drama for philosophic
lessons ; the action is to be taken, not as mystical symbolism, but
as fancy which pleases to move in a faery world, and is emancipated
from necessary adherence either to fact, probability, or tradition.
Of the musical and poetic genius with which the theme is developed,
there is here no need to speak.

We are now in a position to take a comprehensive view of the
evolution. One of the most universal themes of folk-tales consists
in presenting the fortunes of a simple youth, who from a despised
and indigent position attains success and honor. In the middle of
the twelfth century, when romantic histories were commonly re-
ferred to the heroic age of Britain, it was natural that a story of
this nature should receive Arthurian setting. Current jests set
forth the ridiculous mistakes of a lad suddenly introduced into the
great world, with whose usages he is unacquainted ; the repute of
barbarism attaching to Wales led to the designation of this tyro as
belonging to this race. Hence the hero of the Arthurian narration
was called Perceval the Welshman, not as really belonging to the
country, but only as unjustly identified with a Welsh rustic. The
title indicates that the tale, which from the first dealt with the
education of simplicity, must have been in the nature of literary
invention, not of traditional currency. This history came to the
knowledge of the most celebrated of French trouveres ; that Cres-
tien at an early time had marked it out for future treatment may be
concluded from his mention, in previous works, of Perceval li galois
as among the chief knights of the Round Table. What may have
been the nature of this antecedent story it is impossible to conjee-

The Legend of the Holy Grail. 281

ture ; Crestien, an imaginative artist, so transformed the narratives
he treated, that his beautiful and fanciful poems, animated by psy-
chologic principles which form their constitutive elements, must be
presumed to have borne little resemblance to the lost compositions
which supplied their germs ; while, in turn, these preceding produc-
tions were probably themselves artistic and literary, remote from
the character of folk-tales out of the debris of which they were
constructed. In respect to locality and nomenclature, such fictions
are to be considered as purely the arbitrary addition of cultivated
romancers, who elected to lay the scene in a conventional British
antiquity.

It is with the work of Crestien that the known history of the tale
begins ; he may have obtained suggestions from the European variant
of the history of the Buddha ; in his hands, the part of the narrative
dealing with Perceval describes the education of a simple youth in
the three fields of arms, love, and ethics. For the first section, he
set out from the popular jest ; the ignorant youth, enamored of the
radiance belonging to knights, seeks that dignity at the hands of
Arthur; successively by his mother and teacher Perceval is in-
structed respecting the central duties of knighthood, namely, the
service of ladies, charity, and piety. For the love story, the poet
had only to utilize the familiar theme reciting the rescue of a be-
sieged damsel. There remained the necessity of learning to be " of
measure," of attaining self-control ; for this, the trouvere had re-
course to a literary material of which the roots go back to Hellenic
literature of the best Athenian period, setting forth reticence in
speech as chief of virtues. Whether, in this essay, the author re-
constructed a situation given by his predecessors, or whether the
portion of the poem dealing with the idea is of his own construction
as respects the skeleton as well as the flesh, will always remain a
matter of conjecture ; in any case, the psychologic conception con-
stitutes the determining influence, which has gathered about it, as
filings arranging themselves around the pole of a magnet, the tradi-
tional elements, attracted as separate atoms.

In the course of his narration, the poet had occasion to mention a
vessel used to hold the oblate, which, according to a favorite concep-
tion of the time, constituted the sole food of a personage devoted to
religion. In this story, the graal had a place only accidental ; but
it so happened that, in consequence of the incompleteness of the
romance, the author's intent was open to misinterpretation ; the
vessel was expounded as identical, first with the eucharistic cup,
afterwards with the paschal dish. These explanations gave oppor-
tunity to romancers affecting a conventional piety, though in the
main animated by literary motives, who undertook to produce fash-

282 J ournal of American Folk-Lore.

ionable fiction, and appealed to the religious sentiment, dissatisfied
with poetry which exalted the splendors of the world ; in their
recasts, fancy was converted into myth, and chivalry resolved into
asceticism. In the end, it proved necessary to exchange the origi-
nal hero for a new actor who shpuld present a type of the Re-
deemer ; the erring but interesting Perceval was banished in favor
of the sinless and colorless Galahad. The pietistic essay was suc-
cessful ; in place of warm and living humanity, the persons of the
action became mythologic figures, vague, vast, and cold as reflections
cast by a mirage. Thanks to the disappearance of intermediate
steps, the process is not altogether discernible ; all that remains is a
much-edited result. Of this reconstructed fiction, some portion
came to the knowledge of the most interesting of German mediaeval
poets, and by him was fused with the earlier narrative in such
manner as to form a poem intentionally typical of human life. The
composition of Wolfram was employed by Wagner, who, with
abundance of the free imagination which has characterized every
step of the evolution, produced a work distinctively modern in its
spirit, though mediaeval in its setting. The early history of the
theme in Wales and England consists in the degradation of psycho-
logic fiction to the popular tale.

As respects the general theory of human thought, the growth of
the legend of the Holy Grail furnishes a lesson of caution in laying
down general rules. The process is not always from gods to heroes,
from a mythic to an heroic stage ; the development is quite as often
in the other direction. In the Arthurian cycle, as I have elsewhere
observed, "literature preceded myth, humanity came before miracle."

W. W. Newell.

NOTES.

Biaus Desconneus, Carduino, Tyolet. Necessary references will be found in
the treatise of G. Paris, Romans en vers, etc. The English variant of Renaud's
work is discussed by W. H. Schofield, Lybeaus Desconus, in {Harvard) Studies
and Notes in Philology and Literature, vol. v., 1895. As bearing on the general
question whether romances of the Arthurian cycle are to be regarded primarily as
of literary invention, or rather as of traditional currency, it is of interest to deter-
mine whether the English poem is a rehash of Renaud's Guinglain, or is bor-
rowed from some independent and presumably earlier version of the same theme.
To my mind, the relation of proper names determines the correctness of the
former view ; arrangement in parallel columns demonstrates the priority of the
French. The English forms are either corruptions of those of Renaud (and that
of names borrowed from Crestien : Gifflet li fius d'O, altered into Giffroun le
fludous; Orguillos de la lande, given as Otes de lile) or else commonplace appel-
lations substituted for names difficult to anglicize (hence the change of la lande
into Tile, of Cue" perilleus into Pont perillous, reproduced as Point perilous). The
author of Carduino omits proper names; the writer of Wigalois invents a new
set. Renaud's names also were probably of his own invention.

The Legend of the Holy Grail. 283

Peronnik Vidiot. Related in the work of E. Souvestre, Le foyer breton, Paris,
1874, ii. 137 ff. The sophistication of the story is shown by a comparison with
a similar but genuine folk-tale given in Le conteicr breton of A. Froude and G.
Millin, Brest, 1870, pp. 133-180. In the latter also the hero rescues a lady from
an enchanter's castle by the aid of a soporific herb, which puts to sleep the lord
of the mansion ; but the atmosphere of the narrative answers to that of European
tales dealing with the rescue of a heroine from the hands of a cannibal ogre, and
is quite remote from the chivalric and artificial coloring of Souvestre's story.

Lay of the Great Fool. The reader will find an account of this and kindred
productions in the book of Mr. Nutt.

Parsifal. The literature of Wagner's drama is noted by H. T. Finck, War-
ner and his Works, New York, 1893. The treatise of E. Wechssler, Die sage
vom Heiligen Gral, in ihrer entwicklnng bis auf Richard Wagner's Parsifal,
has come to my notice only through the review in Folk-Lore, ix. 1898, pp. 346 ff. ;
the position taken, as stated in the review, does not appear to me to require any
modification of the theory offered in these articles.

Pellesvans. The French prose romance, of which an account has been given
under this name, is translated into English by S. Evans, — The High History of the
Holy Graal, London, 1898. See review in fournal of American Folk-Lore, No.
XLVI., 1899. A Welsh translation of the fourteenth century has been published,
with English version, by R. Williams, " Y seint Greal," in vol. i. of his Selections
from the Hengwrt MSS., London, 1876-1892. For the passage above cited, in
regard to the translator's treatment of proper names, see p. 548 of the English
version.

284 Journal of A merica n Folk-L ore.

FOLK-LORE SCRAP-BOOK

Osakie Legend of the Ghost Dance. In the " Harvard Monthly,"
Mr. William Jones, of Harvard University, a member of the Sac and Fox
tribe, gives an account of the origin of the " Ghost Dance," or as the
Osakies call it, Anoska Niwimina, the Dance of Peace, as related to him
by the Osaka chieftain. He prefaces his narrative by relating the manner
in which, while the religious enthusiasm which began about ten years ago
was at its height, bands of Kiowas, Comanches, Caddoes, Shawnees, Dela-
wares, and Kickapoos came on a friendly visit to a village of the Osakies,
on the Canadian, in the Indian Territory. The arrival of the strangers is
described, who appeared before the village at sunset. In the centre of the
village was a circular space, inclosed by an embankment knee-high. The
muffled boom of a drum gave the summons, at which the warriors and
male children filed in and placed themselves in a circle against the em-
bankment, while the women and girls sat in the middle and a great throng
stood outside. When silence was obtained, the Osakie chieftain rose,
urged his brothers and sisters to receive with friendship the visitors, and
put up a prayer to " Our Father, Gisha Munetoa : As thou didst show to
the young woman who once brought the spirit of peace upon earth, so wilt
thou fill now with the same spirit the hearts of our girls, our women, our
wives, and our mothers. Then they can show our men how to live, and
there shall be no more war among the nations." A dance followed, and
whenever a strange dancer sat down to rest, an Osakie young man stepped
before him with a long peace-pipe in his hand. After the Osakie had in-
voked the spirit of Gisha Munetoa by pointing a stem of the pipe succes-
sively in the four directions, the dancer received to his lips and held for a
moment the stem of the pipe, in the red stone bowl of which was lit, with
a live coal, the sacred tobacco. Such, says Mr. Jones, is the ceremony
which has been scornfully branded as the " Ghost Dance " and the " Mes-
siah Craze." But to the Osakies, and those who join with them in singing
its songs, in dancing its dance, and in praying its prayers, it is the Anoska
Niwimina, a dance of peace. The accompanying legend, relating the man-
ner in which Shaskasi brought from Gisha Munetoa the spirit of peace
into the lodges of men, is then related : —

" Many winters ago, during the war in the north, in the course of an at-
tack on a village, a girl escaped and wandered until she issued through
hollows on a high prairie, where she abandoned herself to grief, remember-
ing the destruction of her people.

" Suddenly, in this great despair, she caught the faint sound of a voice
calling from afar, 'O my daughter!' Instantly she raised her head, and,
pressing her clasped hands between her knees, she listened, doubting all
the while whether the call were but a ringing of the imagination. And
while she listened she heard again, nearer and more distinctly, 'Omy
daughter ! ' She leaped at once to her feet, and, as her eyes swept the
prairies round about to find whence the sound came, she heard even yet

Folk-Lore Scrap-Book. 285

the same voice and the same call. Still she saw no one. She stopped
and looked into the sky ; and, lo ! as she stood there motionless, Gisha
Munetoa, the Master of Life, who spoke to her thus : —

" ' Wipe away the tears from thine eyes, my daughter, and listen to the
message which I shall tell thee ; for I shall intrust many things upon
thee, because I have seen thee loved above all the young women of thy
nation. I wish thee to return to thy lodge and to thy village, which thou
shalt find standing as in the days of peace.

" ' Now do these things which I shall tell thee as thou hearest them, and
all shall come out well. First, pluck four stems from the long grass wav-
ing at thy side, and then return the way whence thou hast come. On that
way is the camp of the foe. Be not afraid, but enter straight into the
camp as thou wouldst into thine own. Thou shalt find the chiefs and the
warriors feasting. I shall direct thy footsteps to the place where the two
head chiefs are eating. There sit thyself down and eat till thy hunger is
gone. Warriors shall place food before thee, and thou shalt see everything
that passes before thine eyes ; but no one shall see thee, nor shall any one
know that thou art there. After thou art done eating, rise ; and as thou
turnest thy back upon the chiefs and the warriors, and startest on thy way
home, thou shalt see at thy feet a large wooden vessel. Lift up the vessel
and bear it upon thy shoulders, for thou shalt find it light. And when
thou hast come into the village of thy people, go and sit by thy lodge.
There play upon the drum which thou shalt have, and, in time to the
measure, sing the songs which I shall cause thee to sing. And while thy
people sing with thee, show them how to dance to the new songs. Then
tell them that there shall be no more war. Be brave in thine heart, my
daughter ; for I shall be with thee in all that I have asked thee to do.'

"Gisha Munetoa disappears behind the clouds, and the girl, while think-
ing over what she has heard, slowly plucks four grass-stems, which change
in her hand into four Anoska drumsticks. She is then moved by a mys-
terious power, and begins to retrace her steps ; she passes into the camp
of the enemy, but is enveloped in a cloud of faint blue mist, and mingles
v/ith the warriors unobserved, partaking of food placed before the appar-
ently empty seat. When she has sated her hunger she rises, and, as she
does so, observes at her feet the wooden vessel which she has been
ordered to take up. She does so, and it is transformed into an Anoska
drum, beautifully decorated with porcupine quills, beads, and eagle feathers.
She lifts it to her shoulder and goes on to her viljage, which she finds de-
serted, and, without any conscious volition, begins to beat the drum and
chant an old war-song. Attracted by the sound, the warriors return, find
the girl, and summon the people, who look with wonder on the maiden sit-
ting alone and singing in time with the drum. By and by, three men,
to whom she had handed the other three drumsticks, sit down by the drum
with her. They followed the time she had set to the beating of the drum,
and presently joined in the song she was singing. After she found that the
men could play the drum and sing alone, she slowly lowered her voice
until it was hushed. Then, handing her own drumstick to a man standing

2S6 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

by, she rose and gave him her place at the drum. After she had formed
an open circular space in the middle of the wondering crowd, she beckoned
to the boys and the men to join with her in dancing to the music of the
song and the drum ; and while the boys and the men fell to dancing the
step she taught them, the girls and the women went and sat down beside
the drummers and singers.

" Now the booming of the drum, the singing of the great chorus of men
who had joined with the four singers at the drum, and the whoops and the
yells of dancers were all heard in the distant camp of the foe. Quickly,
in the firelight, the warriors of the enemy sprang to their sacred war bags,
and rubbed a pinch of magic paint over their cheeks and upon their
weapons. Then, leaping upon their bare-back ponies, they disappeared in
the darkness with the war-chiefs in the lead. On reaching the top of the
butte above the wigwams of the village, they stopped and listened, but
only long enough to locate the place where the singing and the dancing
were going on. Then the chiefs yelled the war-whoop, the warriors gave
it back, and all, bending far over on the backs of their ponies, rode at full
speed down the slope.

" Meantime, in the village below, the dance went on. Nearer and
nearer sounded the heavy tramp of many horses, and louder and fiercer
grew the yells and whoops of the enemy. But all the while the boom of
the drum increased, the singing grew more spirited, and the number of
dancers swelled. Like a big, black cloud suddenly rising, the enemy
loomed out of the darkness. But at the very moment when the ponies
were about to dash into the throng to scatter it, at the very moment when
the noses of the ponies struck the backs and the shoulders of the people
who were looking on at the dance, that very moment the ponies halted —
stopped stiff in their tracks. Their riders in anger lashed, clubbed, and
kicked them, but the only movement the ponies would make was to turn
their heads and their necks to one side or the other. Finding their ponies
would budge no farther, the men leaped to the ground. But the moment
they alighted, the spirit of hatred left their hearts. They flung aside their
shields, their war-clubs, their bows and their quivers of arrows, and joined
in the dancing and in the singing with the men whom they had come to
slay. And the warriors of the two nations, while smoking together the
pipes of peace, listened to the words of Shaskasi, telling them that war
between them was over."

Passion Play at Coyoacan. — The " Herald," of the City of Mexico,
Mexico, gives an account of the Passion Play, as performed in 1899 at
Coyoacan, where the environment is said to be more picturesque than at
other villages in the neighborhood of the capital : —

" It was at Coyoacan that Madam Calderon de la Barca saw the Passion
Play, and really, in reading her excellent description of it, one is struck
with the little variation wrought by a lapse of fifty-five years. In one part
she says : ' The padre's sermon was really eloquent in some passages, but
lasted nearly an hour, during which time we admired the fortitude of the

Folk- Lore Scrap-Book. 287

unhappy Cyrenian, who was performing a penance of no ordinary kind.
The sun darted down perpendicularly on the back of his exposed head,
which he kept bent downwards, maintaining the same posture the whole
time without flinching or moving. Before the sermon was over, we could
stand the heat no longer, and went in under cover. I felt as if my brains
were melted into a hot jelly. We emerged upon hearing that the proces-
sion was again moving towards the pulpit, where it shortly after formed
itself into two lines. In a few moments a man with a plumed helmet,
mounted on a fiery horse, galloped furiously through the ranks, holding
a paper on the point of his lance, — the sentence pronounced by Pontius
Pilate. His horse bolted at the end of the lines, and occasioned a laugh
amongst the spectators.'

" Yesterday afternoon precisely this same scene was enacted. The horse,
ridden by the pregonero, or crier, Manual Rivas, performed just the antics
described by Madam Calderon, and there was the same hilarity amongst
the spectators. But the part of Simon of Cyrene, instead of being taken
by an old man ' with hair as white as snow,' was enacted by a really good-
looking youth of the name of Cruz Rivas.

" The open-air religious display is quite contrary to the law, but the mat-
ter is compounded beforehand, as the Mayor of Cayoacan informed the
' Herald ' representative, by payment of a fine of twenty-five dollars. Du
reste the affair is quite innocent, and it is to be regretted that the laws lay
their ban on it.

" There is a generic resemblance among the representations of the Pas-
sion enacted on Good Friday in the neighboring villages. An image of
the Saviour, dressed in a purple velvet robe, crowned with thorns and
bearing his cross, is carried on a platform round the churchyard, sur-
rounded with Roman soldiers, Jewish priests, and crowds of the faithful
bearing lights. On the same platform with the Saviour are the Cyrenian,
a part taken yesterday by a young boy, Cruz Rivas, dressed in crimson
and white, and a little girl representing an angel. The part of the latter
was represented yesterday by a child of the name of Manuela Mariscal,
who was dressed in white muslin, with silver gossamer wings. She held
her handkerchief to one eye, as if grieving over the sorrows of the Re-
deemer, while with the other she calmly surveyed the crowd. A kind
relative walked alongside, shading this little angel with a parasol. In front
of the procession walked two bands, the first performing the monotonous
music of the indigenous race, consisting only of the beating of the drum
and the piping of the chirimia, the second rendering modern selections in
excellent style. Only these selections were somewhat incongruous. For
example, after the pathetic scene where Jesus meets his Mother, the band
yesterday struck up the well-known two-step, the 'Washington Post.'

" Apolonio Rivas, the manager of the representation and one of the
most substantial residents of Coyoacan, kindly gave the text of the sen-
tence to the ' Herald ' representative. The following is the translation
of a part : ' I, Pontius Pilate, President of Lower Galilee, and governor
under the Roman Emperor, do judge and sentence Jesus of Nazareth, as

288 Journal of American Folk- Lore.

a seditious man and an enemy of the mighty Emperor Tiberius Caesar.
And I determine that his death be on the cross, fixed there with nails, in
the manner customary with criminals. For, gathering round him many
men, both rich and poor, he has not ceased to provoke tumults throughout
the whole of Judea, proclaiming himself the Son of God and King of
Israel, and prophesying the downfall of Jerusalem and the destruction of
the Temple of Solomon. I ordain that the first centurion, Quintus Cor-
nelius, shall lead him through the streets of Jerusalem to be a scoff and a
byword. After having been scourged he shall be dressed in mock state,
so as to be known by all, and the cross to which he is to be nailed he shall
bear on his shoulders. And he shall walk through the most frequented
streets, between two thieves who have been condemned to death for rob-
bery and murder. And I, furthermore, ordain that, as an example to
malefactors, he shall issue from the Antonine gate, preceded by a public
crier who shall proclaim all his misdeeds, and on arriving at the hill of
Calvary, where evil-doers and other miscreants receive their meed, he shall
be nailed to the cross, and over his head shall be placed an inscription in
the languages most widely spoken, viz., Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, saying,
"Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." '

" After Manual Rivas had vociferated this sentence, he handed it to the
priest in the pulpit, who, as in Madam Calderon's day, ' received it with a
look of horror, tried to read it, and threw it on the ground with an air of
indignation.

" Next came the final procession to the hill of Calvary, an artificial
mound in the centre of the churchyard. The two thieves were crucified,
one on either side of the Saviour, the penitent on his right, who, to the
appeal, ' Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom,' received
the answer, ' To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.'

" When the cross with the figure of Christ had been erected, the other
scenes mentioned in the sacred narrative were enacted, — the casting of
lots for the seamless garment, the offering of the sponge soaked with
vinegar and gall, the opening of the side with a spear. After this, Padre
Avila preached another sermon, and then the whole crowd knelt bare-
headed in prayer at the foot of Calvary. During the scene of crucifixion
the drums were beaten and the chirimia kept up its pathetic wail. With
the descent from the cross and the burial, the representation terminated."

Cures by Conjure Doctors. — The "Southern Workman and Hamp-
ton School Record," August, 1899, gives some interesting information,
obtained from a teacher attending a course at Hampton, in regard to the
methods and effects of treatment by " conjure doctors : " —

" When I was about eight years old a little girl threw a brick at my head,
which cut it very badly, and when I showed the wound to my mother she
became very angry, and took the broom, ran out to the girl, and gave her
several raps over the head. In about three months I began to have chills,
and they lasted me eight years. The strange part of my story is how they
were cured.

Folk- Lore Scrap-Book. 289

" My mother was instructed that the chills were put on me by the hand
of the wicked, and she, being anxious about my welfare, employed a con-
jurer to take them off me. When he came he demanded part pay before
entering in business, and, that part being settled, he went to work. The
first thing he did was to take out of his pocket the ' walking boy ' which
was to assist him in finding the direction of enemies or friends, — in this
case, the one who put the chills on me. The ' walking boy ' is a bottle
with a string tied to its neck, deeply colored, that you may not see what the
doctor puts in it — something alive, you may know, which enables it to move
or even flutter briskly, and this makes you certain of whatever fact the
doctor is trying to impress.

" The treatment for my chills was a tea, and an ointment of his own
preparation. The tea was made of roots, which looked like potatoes, and
silver money. The ointment was made out of herbs fried in hog's lard.

" After being thus treated, as I had good faith in the ' doctor ' the chills
vanished.

"An old man once was ill with palsy, as they thought, and, after spend-
ing much money employing medical doctors and getting no relief, he was
advised to change treatment. He employed a conjurer, who came with his
' walking boy.' The doctor, with 'boy' in hand, ordered a man to bring a
hoe and dig where he would order him to, that he might earth up the thing
that caused the man's illness.

" After he had walked over and around the yard several times with the
' boy ' suspended, it was thought by many that he would not be able to find
the buried poison ; but as they were about to give up their pursuit, the
' boy ' fluttered and kicked as though he would come out of the bottle.
Then the doctor ordered the man to dig quickly, for the ' trick-bag ' was
there. On the order being obeyed, the poison was found. It was rusty
nails, finger and toe nails, hair and pins sewed up in a piece of red flannel.

"The 'doctor' carried this to the patient, and convinced him that he had
found the cause of his illness, and that he would surely get well. Not
many days elapsed before he was walking as well as ever."

Modern Conjuring in Washington. — It is to be expected that the
advance of scientific knowledge should affect the practice of " voodoo."
A curious example of such progress is given by the " Washington Post,"
March 7, 1899, in an account of a case tried in the police court of that
city : —

" Mrs. Sarah Smith, a colored woman, who has been employed as cook
in some of the most exclusive homes of Washington, is the complainant
against Johnson. She told a story of deceit in the police court yesterday,
which accuses Johnson of working first upon her hopes and then upon her
fears, with the net result of the transfer of six hundred dollars from Mrs.
Smith's possession to Johnson's. Larceny by trick on six different occa-
sions, and the possession of a revolver when arrested by Policeman Duvall,
are the specific charges against Johnson.

" Mrs. Smith said yesterday that, several months ago, Johnson called

vol. xii. — no. 47. 19

290 yournal of American Folk-Lore.

upon her and volunteered to regain for Mrs. Smith the affections of a man
in whom she was interested. She did not entertain the love-charmer's pro-
posals, she said, though he told her he could get her swain back quicker
and cheaper than any one else, and called often to repeat his offers. Fi-
nally, Johnson is alleged to have told the woman that he had bought a
vault from some New York people, in which to keep the names of people
for whom he was working charms. Into this vault, he informed Mrs.
Johnson, he had put her name, though without her consent. Johnson is
said to have further advised Mrs. Smith that the placing of her name in
this vault with a certain kind of gas was a secret process, and love-matches
could be infallibly arranged by the juxtaposition of the names of the lovers
in this vault, under the influence of the magic gas.

" This system does not appear to have accomplished the effects desired
on Mrs. Smith's pocket-book, the woman surmising that, if the charm
would work at all, the placing of her name and her friend in the vault
would be sufficient without the transfer of any negotiable securities to
Johnson. This impression Johnson is said to have speedily designed
means to remove. Mrs. Smith says that when he had failed to collect for
his unauthorized subjection of her name to the vault process, he changed
his tactics and called on her one evening with a horrible story. A leak
had been discovered in the precious vault, according to the necromancer,
and the lovers whose names had been placed in it were dying off rapidly
instead of finding mutual bliss. The gas was escaping faster than he
could supply it, according to Johnson, and Mrs. Smith was in a fair way
to escape to a better world with it. This change in the situation terrified
the colored woman, and when Johnson let her understand that money was
needed to buy the very expensive gas needed to keep the lovers alive,
Mrs. Smith found the cash. News from the vault was a trifle more en-
couraging for a while, but Johnson's troubles with the gas seemed to be
unending, and soon he needed more coin to meet the drain of gas by the
leak. Mrs. Smith again and again found comparatively large sums to pre-
vent herself becoming a victim of the leaky meter. Once she had no
money at hand, but Johnson called with such a tale of horror about what
was happening to the other lovers in the vault, that she went out and
borrowed sixty-five dollars, and fainted after handing it over to buy more
gas. After this experience, Johnson told her that the outlook was a trifle
better, and he had succeeded in getting her name out of the vault, but it
was necessary to bury it to save her life. Mrs. Smith provided funds for
the interment."

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Survival in New England of Foundation Sacrifice. — In 1824, or
thereabouts, when some repairs or changes were making in my grand-
father's, Thorndike Deland's, house at the corner of Essex and Newberry
streets in Salem, a china image was placed, or replaced, in the brickwork.

Notes and Queries. 291

As my mother, who was born in 1808, recalls this incident of her childhood,
the image was eight or ten inches in height, and was inserted, not in the
foundations of the chimney, but on the first floor, at about the level of a
person's head. Inquiries made of the antiquarians of Salem and New-
buryport have failed to elicit information of any other case of the survival
of foundation sacrifice in either of those towns.

N. D. C. Hodges.
Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass.

Folk-Names of Animals. — In Vol. VII. of the Memoirs of this So-
ciety, " Animal and Plant-Lore," there is an exceedingly brief chapter on
folk-names of animals. Since the book went to press, two additional
names have come to me. A young naturalist friend, in collecting mam-
mals in northern New Hampshire, encountered the name wo?its for shrew-
mice. His provisional theory in regard to the meaning of the name was,
that it might have been given because of the well-known fact that cats
won't eat these little animals. It seems to me, however, that I have seen
the name, in the form oont, among animal-names from the north of England.

A common pest in dwelling-houses is the Lepisma saccharina, commonly
known as slick-fish and silver-fish. These common names are not found
in most of the larger dictionaries.

If any of the readers of the Journal can give me folk-names of animals
which are not recognized in books, but are more or less local in their
application, I shall be very glad to receive and use them.

Fanny D. Bergen.

Cambridge, Mass.

Rhyme relating to the Battle of New Orleans. — Can any one
furnish information in regard to the following rhyme, apparently connected
with the battle of New Orleans ?

Cotton-bags are in the way,
Fire, Allalingo, fire away ;
General Jackson's gained the day,
Fire, Mallingo, fire away.

Charles Welsh.
Boston, Mass.

A Nursery Rhyme. — The following version of a nursery rhyme,
which in variant form appears in books for children, was communicated to
me many years ago by an English lady, who reached the age of ninety-
six years, and who had learned the rhyme in her childhood : —

THE MOUSE, THE GROUSE, AND THE LITTLE RED HEN.

One day, the little red hen was pecking about, and she found a grain of wheat.
" Oh ! see here, see here," she said, " I have found some wheat : who will carry
it to the mill to be ground, and we can have a cake ? "

" Who '11 carry it to the mill ? "
" Not I," said the mouse,

292 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore,

" Not I," said the grouse.
" Then I '11 carry it myself,"
Said the little red hen.

" Who '11 bring home the flour ? "
" Not I," said the mouse,
" Not I," said the grouse.
" Then I '11 do it myself,"
Said the little red hen.

" Who '11 make the cake ?"
" Not I," said the mouse,
" Not I," said the grouse.
"Then I '11 make it myself,"
Said the little red hen.

11 Who '11 bake the cake ? "
" Not I," said the mouse,
" Not I," said the grouse.
" Then I '11 do it myself,"
Said the little red hen.

" Who '11 eat the cake,"
,; I will," said the mouse,
" I will, said the grouse.
" I will eat it myself,"
Said the little red hen.

A Game of Children in Philadelphia. — The following rhyme is
still danced by girls in the streets of Philadelphia : —

Water, water, wild-flowers,

Floating up so high ;
We are all young ladies,

And we 're sure to die,
Except :

She is a fine young lady.

Fie ! fie ! fie ! for shame !
Turn your back and tell your beau's name.
(The girl must name her " beau.")

's a fine young man,

He stands at the door with his hat in his hand,

Down comes , all dressed in white,

A flower in her bosom, and herself so white.

Doctor, doctor, can you tell

What will make poor well ?

She is sick and like to die,

And that will make poor cry.

-, don't you cry,

Your true-love will come by and by,
Dressed in white and dressed in blue,
And after a while she '11 marry you.

Philadelphia, Pa.

Talcott Williams.

Notes and Queries. 293

This rhyme furnishes a curious example of the continual admixture and
degradation incident to children's songs. The essential feature is found
in the third stanza, which condenses into three lines a history formerly
much more elaborated ; thus at the beginning of the century the verse
went : —

He knocks at the door and picks up a pin,

And asks if Miss is in.

"She neither is in, she neither is out,
She 's in the garret a-walking about."

Down she comes, as white as milk,
A rose in her bosom as soft as silk.

She takes off her gloves and shows me a ring:
To-morrow, to-morrow, the wedding begins.

The verse bears marks of antiquity. Instead of the words "picks up a
pin," originally must have stood " pulls at the pin," according to ancient
ballad phraseology. The idea of the story is not clear, but obviously
refers to the reappearance of a long-lost lover ; recognition is effected in
the usual manner by means of a ring. The " garret " here takes the place
of the " high-loft " in Scandinavian antiquity ; the upper story, in every
considerable house, contained the apartments of the family. According to
what appears to have been an ancient practice, the ballad was preceded by
a game-rhyme. The song, " Little Sally Waters," was used in this way in
order to determine the heroine ; the words, " Water, water, wildflowers,"
show a confusion resulting from this combination. In England, we find
the line running, " Willy, willy, wallflower ; " a Philadelphia variant has
" Lily, lily, white flower." The fourth and fifth stanzas, again, belong to
a separate game ; it was an ancient piece of satire that the illnesses of
young women were best treated by the prescription of a lover. Finally,
the last lines belong to an old Halloween rhyme : —

And if my love be clad in gray,
His love for me is far away ;
But if my love be clad in blue,
His love for me is very true.

(See "Games and Songs of American Children," Nos. 12, 13, 35, 36.)

W. W. Newell.

A Dance-Rhyme of Children in Brooklyn, N. Y. — A circle having
been formed, the children move slowly, singing as follows : —

Mamma bought me a pincushion, pincushion, pincushion,
Mamma bought me a pincushion,
One, two, three.

At the words, " One, two, three," the children break the circle ; each
claps hands and turns once round. (This movement appears to make the
charm of the game.) The song then proceeds, with repetition, as in the
first stanza : —

294 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

What did Mamma pay for it?

Paid with Papa's feather-bed.

What will Papa sleep on ?

Sleep on the washtub.

What will Mamma wash in?

Wash in a thimble.

What will Mamma sew with?

Sew with a poker.

What will Mamma poke with ?

Poke with her finger.

Supposing Mamma burns herself?

This is the end. Imagination apparently fails to answer the last question.

May Ovingto7i.
Brooklyn, N. Y.

The song is a corruption of that belonging to the English game of
" Milking-pails." In this amusement, a mother is confronted by a row of
daughters, who announce : —

Mary 's gone a-milking,

Mother, mother ;
Mary 's gone a-milking,

Gentle, sweet mother of mine.

The mother then bids the child, " Take your pails and follow ; " whereon
the disobedient daughter asks her to "buy me a pair of new milking-pails."
The question is then asked, " Where 's the money to come from ? " whereon
the reply is, that it may be obtained by selling the father's feather-bed,
and a dialogue follows similar to that above printed. The washtub being
sold, it will be necessary to wash in the river ; in that case the clothes may
be carried away, and the mother will be obliged to follow in a boat ; the
conclusion is, " Suppose the boat should be upset ? " " Then that would
be the end of you." A variant requires the mother to swim after the
clothes. The fun consists in the pursuit of the unmannerly children, and
their punishment. The game does not seem of very ancient character,
and apparently has only been played in America in consequence of im-
portation by recent immigrants. (See " Traditional Games," by Alice B.
Gomme, London, 1894, pp. 376-388.)

W. W. N.

Negro Superstitions of European Origin. — The farther proceeds
the collection of negro superstitions in America, the more clearly it appears
that a great part of their beliefs and tales are borrowed from the whites.
In the preceding number of this Journal (p. 228) it has been remarked
that a particularly primitive superstition, according to which it is believed
that the " trick bone " of a black cat confers the gift of invisibility, is
identical with that of Canadian Germans ; in both cases the belief has led

Notes and Queries. 295

to a practice. According to a common English expression, a black cat is
said to be a witch. This opinion is indicated in a negro tale given on
p. 68 of this volume, as collected by Mrs. Bergen in Maryland, " The brothers
who married witches." One of the brothers, a miller, found it hard to obtain
watchmen for his mill, those who undertook that office being driven away
or killed. One man agrees to remain if he is given a sword. Black cats
enter and extinguish the lights, and the watchman cuts off a paw, on which
the cats fly. There remains a hand which has on it a gold ring, and this
proves to belong to the miller's wife. In the old Irish tale of " Fled
Bricrend," the hero, Cuchulainn, is set to watch in the hall of Cruachan,
the royal house of Meath. Kittens are let into the house, who are beasts
of enchantment ; and the rivals of the hero, Conall Cernach and Loegaire,
take to the crossbeams of the hall, leaving their food ; a cat extends its
paw to seize the provision of Cuchulainn, but he kills the creature with a
blow from his sword. It is not said that the cats are witches, but that may
be inferred. Thus the English tale now related by colored folk is con-
nected in theme with ancient heroic saga.

W. W. N.

"Buffalo Chips" as a Remedy. — In a case of gangrene, which
many years ago came under my notice, a doctor of local reputation, who
had passed a number of years at a frontier post as post surgeon, stated
that if " buffalo chips " could be obtained, applied to the injured part after
being charred and frequently changed, the effect might prove beneficial,
the effect being both absorbent and healing. This advice was acted on
with advantage, and, if tried earlier, might have proved efficacious. The
remedy is employed by Indians to facilitate the healing of abrasions and
sores, and may be worth noting in connection with the popular medicine of
American aborigines.

Seneca E. Truesdell.

Dakota, Minn.

An Aztec Spectre. — To "Blackwood" for December, 1898, Mr.
Andrew Lang contributed " A Creelful of Celtic Stories," — beliefs and
experiences gathered by himself in remote parts of Scotland and Ireland.
One old seer in Glencoe enlightened him about an ill-omened spectre
named Flappan : Flappan, whose " steps sound like those of a large web-
footed bird. He is of the stature of a short boy, but his face it is difficult
to see distinctly."

Rather singularly, a paper by Mrs. Nuttall, in this Journal (April-June,
1895), quoting from Sahagun superstitions of the Aztecs, mentions " a
small female dwarf, whose apparition at night was a presage of misfortune
or death. This spectre is described as having long, loose hair to its waist,
and as waddling along like a duck. It also evaded pursuers, and vanished
and reappeared unexpectedly;" traits which suggest Flappan's half-seen
face.

L.K.

296 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

LOCAL MEETINGS AND OTHER NOTICES.

Eleventh Annual Meeting of the American Folk-Lore Society.
— The Annual Meeting for 1899 will be held in New Haven, at Yale Uni-
versity, Thursday and Friday, December 28 and 29. The Society will
meet for the transaction of business on Thursday morning. The business
meeting will be followed by an address of the President, and by reading of
papers. On Friday the Society will meet jointly with Section H (Anthro-
pology) of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Papers will be read in morning and afternoon sessions.

At the same time (December 27-29) will meet in New Haven the affili-
ated societies, including the Society of Naturalists, the American Psy-
chological Association, the American Physiological Society, also the Ameri-
can Archaeological Institute. The Psychological Laboratory will be open
at all times as a central meeting-place for the anthropologists and psy-
chologists, with such arrangements for comfort and sociability as can be
devised.

In order to obtain the advantage of reduced fares it will be necessary to
procure a certificate at the office where the ticket is purchased.

Members intending to present papers will please give notice to the
Permanent Secretary, \V. W. Newell, Cambridge, Mass.

Baltimore. — The Baltimore Folk-Lore Society, being desirous to pro-
mote the collection of folk-lore in Maryland, has offered prizes (1) for the
largest collection of negro folk-lore ; (2) for the largest collection of any-
thing coming under the general head of folk-lore. The competition is to
close on January 1, 1900. All the material must be found within the State.
The Society further offers prizes of books, intended especially for teachers :
" 1. For the largest general collection of superstitions, of every kind and
variety, to be found in Maryland. 2. For the largest collection of singing-
games and counting-out rhymes; as, ' King William was King James' Son,'
and ' Eeney, meeny, miny, moe,' and the like. 3. For the largest and best
collection and account of charms, mascots, amulets, and luck-bringers.

4. For the largest collection of harvest customs and crop superstitions.

5. For the largest collection of manners and customs, and the observance
of certain times and seasons in the State. 6. For the largest and best col-
lection of witch tales and superstitions, hoodoo customs and practices.
7. For the largest collection of superstitions or sayings in regard to fish
and fishermen. 8. For the largest collection of tales, legends, or super-
stitions connected with birds and animals. 9. For the largest collection of
strange happenings or superstitions connected with old Maryland families.
10. For the largest and best collection of what is known as 'sign lan-
guage.' This is to be found in all walks and stations of life. The child uses
it when he crosses his heart to indicate that he is telling the truth, or puts
his hand over his left shoulder to indicate that he is not telling 'the whole
truth and nothing but the truth.' Our electric cars furnish instances of the

Local Meetings and Other Notices. 297

use of sign language, — the raising of the fingers, one, two, or three, to
denote the number of tickets wanted when a transfer is to be made • the
raising of the hand and pointing forward, to tell the conductor to stop at
the next corner."

The following topics are given as to be discussed at the monthly meet-
1S99-1900: October meeting, Harvest customs and crop super-
stitions ; November meeting, Personal superstitions respecting families and
individuals : December meeting. Games, rhymes, and riddles ; January
meeting. Cross-roads, running water, and holy wells j February meeting,
Sailors* and soldiers" superstitions ; March meeting, Easter superstitions ;
April meeting, Maryland day. Aside from this, it is proposed to take up
certain studies in " groups " or committees ; and it is hoped that every
member of the Society will join one of these groups, and notify the secre-
tary of his or her desire to do so. The group subjects already planned
for are as follows : " Sign language amongst all peoples and through all
time;*' "Folk-lore of animals;'' "The evil eye/' Other "group sub-
jects " may be added at any time.

The officers of the Society for the year are as follows : Prcs
Professor Henry Wood. Vice-President, Mrs. John C. YVrenshall. Secre-
tary, Miss Anne Weston Whitney. Treasurer, Dr. Henry M. Hurd.
Members of the Council. Mrs. Waller R. Bullock, Mrs. John D. Early, Miss
Mary Willis Minor, Prof. Maurice Bloomfield, Prof. Kirby F. Smith, Dr.
Charles C. Marden, Miss Mary Worthington Milnor.

Cincinnati. — The programme for the year 1S99-1900 is as follows, the
general subject being " The Folk-lore of Different Nations : " Novem-
ber S. "Mexico," paper by Prof. P. F. Walker; December 13, "Japan,"
Mrs. Etsu Sugimoto ; January 10, open meeting at the Woman's Club,
"The Relation between Indian Story and Song." Miss Alice C. Fletcher;
February 7. "Sweden." Josua Lindahl, Ph. D. ; March 14, "Islands of
the Pacific,'' Miss Florence Wilson: April n. "Africa."' Mrs. A. C. Woods.

Books especially recommended for 1S99-1900 are : Journal and Memoirs
of the American Folk-Lore Society : The American Anthropologist ; Brin-
ton : Races and Peoples, new edition ; Ratzel : the History of Mankind ;
Quatrefages : Histoire ge'nerale des races humaines ; Spencer : The Prin-
ciples of Socio"

The officers of the Branch for the year 1S99-1900 are as follows : Presi-
dent. Charles L. Edwards. Ph. D. First Vice-President, J. D. Buck, M. D.
t Vice- Preside,:;. V. A. King. Secretary. Mrs. C F. Hopkins. Trea-
surer. Mrs. A. P. McLeod. Advisory Committee. Miss Annie Laws, C. D.
Cr.mk. M. I).. Mrs. A. C. Woods, Miss Field.

The Branch reports thirty-one active and twenty-five associate members.

Ixtf.rxatioxal Coxgrfss of Folk-Lorists. Exposition ok 1900. —
An international congress of folk-lorists, and of all scientific students of
popular traditions, is to be held under the patronage of the French govern-
ment in the series of official congresses of the Exposition of 1900. The

298 J otimal of American Folk-Lore.

date of opening has been fixed at the 10th of September, 1900, immedi-
ately following the kindred congresses of prehistoric anthropology and
archaeology and history of religions, and preceding that of the American-
ists. This arrangement will allow of members wishing to take part in all
these congresses to do so without too great waste of time.

The honorary president of the committee of organization is M. Gaston
Paris, of the French Academy. The acting president is M. Charles Beau-
quier, president of the French Folk-Lore Society ; and the secretary-general
is M. Paul Se'billot, the well-known writer on folk-lore, and editor of the
" Revue des Traditions Populaires."

It is desired that the preparation of the work of the congress should be
begun as soon as possible, as it consists largely in the gathering of docu-
ments. For this purpose, a general programme of questions to be submitted
to the congress has been outlined. Since the first congress in 1889, masses
of new material have been collected, especially in Central Africa, and in
various other savage or uncivilized countries. Much still remains to be
done, and certain points of scientific folk-lore have scarcely been touched.
Still it is already time to try to gather together and compare these materials
of various origin, and to draw from them general conclusions. The idea of
the organizing committee is that the congress should devote itself rather
to synthetic and comparative work than to analytic and documentary in-
vestigation. It is to such general studies, or to those which have an
international character, that the full sessions will be given. The special
meetings will be divided between two sections : —

I. ORAL LITERATURE AND POPULAR ART.

(a) Origin, evolution, and transmission of tales and legends. Exposition
and discussion of the various systems which are now advocated.

(b) Origin, evolution, and transmission of popular songs, both from the
point of view of poetry and that of music. Reciprocal influence of
learned poetry and music, and popular poetry and music. The popular
theatre : its relations, ancient and modern, with the literary theatre.

(c) Origin and evolution of traditional iconography (pictures, sculpture,
etc.) : its relations with classical art ; mutual borrowing.

(d) Origin and evolution of popular costume. Investigation, in monu-
ments and documents, of the parts of costume which have been preserved
more or less completely up to our own day. Origin and evolution of jewels
and ornaments.

II. TRADITIONAL ETHNOGRAPHY.

(a) Survival of customs connected with birth, marriage, death (marriage
by capture, "bundling," funeral offerings, etc.).

(b) Survival of animal worship in the customs of modern peoples. Sur-
vival of the worship of stones, trees, and fountains.

(c) Traces of ancient local cults in the devotions to saints. Popular
hagiography (rites and traditions).

(d) Popular medicine and magic, (amulets, rites for preservation, laying
spells, fascination and the evil eye, etc.).

Local Meetings and Other Notices. 299

General survey of the folk-lorist movement from 1889 to 1900.

French will be the official language of the congress. Communications
may be made in English, German, Italian, and Latin, but they must be
accompanied by a resume in French. They should be in the hands of
the Secretary-General before the first of July, 1900. The length of such
communications is restricted to a quarter of an hour's reading. No tale
will be read at the general sessions, but those which have universal inter-
est may be printed in the report.

Membership subscription is fixed at twelve francs. Members receive the
printed reports of the sessions of the congress, and any other publications
which may be issued.

The address of the Secretary-General is M. Paul Sebillot, 80 Boulevard
Saint-Marcel, Paris.

The Twelfth International Congress of Orientalists. — This
congress is to be held at Rome, October 12, 1899, under the presidency of
Count Angelo de Gubernatis. Among the twelve sections into which it will
be divided, may be here noted the third, " Comparative history of the Ori-
ental religions, comparative mythology and folk-lore," and the twelfth, " The
languages, people, and civilization of America." Cards of membership
entitle the holder not only to the publications of the congress, but also to
a reduction of fares, amounting to one half, for all railroads in Italy, and
for the railroads in France communicating with them. Americans may se-
cure cards by sending the amount of the subscription ($4.00) to Mr. Cyrus
Adler, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.

Note. — It may here be allowed to deprecate the use of the expression,
now somewhat out of date, "comparative folk-lore." — Editor of the Journal
of American Folk-Lore.

Congress on Basque Studies. — Among the congresses of the Expo-
sition of 1900 is one to be organized by the " Socie'te' d'Etudes Basques."
The organizing committee appeals for support to all " basques and basco-
phils," to historians, philologists, ethnographers, and folk-lorists. The
work laid out for the congress includes investigation of customs and of
Basque music. The subscription is ten francs. The Secretary is M.
d'Abartiagus, Osses, Basses-Pyrenees, France.

300 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

BOOKS.

Explorations in the Far North. By Frank Russell. Being the
report of an expedition under the auspices of the University of Iowa
during the years 1892, 1893, and 1894. Published by the University.
1898. Pp. vii, 290.

The immense region lying between Hudson's Bay on the east and the
Rocky Mountains on the west, and stretching from the Peace River north
to the Arctic, is one of peculiar fascination alike to the scientist and the
traveller. The difficulties of travel have, however, been such that few
men, other than those connected with government expeditions, have pene-
trated to the remoter parts. Dr. Russell, in the course of the three years
which he spent in the Fur Countries, may therefore be considered fortunate
in that he was able to push a considerable distance northeast of the Great
Slave Lake, crossing the route followed by Hearne in 1771-72, and nearly
reaching Bathurst Inlet. On his return from this extremely arduous trip,
the author descended the Mackenzie to its mouth, and returned to San
Francisco by one of the Herschel Island fleet of whalers, visiting the Sibe-
rian coast on the way.

As Dr. Russell states in his preface, the main object of his trip was " to
obtain specimens of the larger Arctic mammals," and, as this was a task
requiring the greater part of his time and energies, he was able to collect
but little in the way of folk-lore from the tribes belonging to the Atha-
bascan stock. He does, however, give some details as to distribution and
population. From the figures it is evident how extremely thin the Indian
population of the region is, and by comparing the figures for previous
years, it is evident that no marked change has taken place in their num-
bers for long periods. Some linguistic material was collected, but except
for the names of the months, the numerals, and a few other words, the bulk
of this has been reserved by Dr. Russell for further elaboration.

While at Grand Rapids, however, in the autumn and winter of 1892, Dr.
Russell collected from the Wood Crees a number of myths, which will be
most welcome to students of Algonkian mythology. With few exceptions,
the myths are of the common Algonkian type, and vary only in details
from those of other northern Algonkian tribes. The stories of how Wisa-
gatchak's brother was turned into a wolf ; how he himself secured a wife ;
how he brought on the Deluge and recreated the earth, — all find their
counterparts in the tales of the Ojibwa, Menomeni, etc. Of those stories
which deal with the more humorous side of Wisagatchak, most are very
close to the same stories told of Nanabojo. He is caught by the tree, and
his dinner eaten by an enemy; he captures the water-fowl by strategy
while they are dancing ; and is pinned to the earth by the rock with which
he runs a race. In the first of the myths given (the familiar story of the
woman and her serpent lovers), the ending differs considerably from the
two versions given by Petitot (and called by him " mixed Dene and Cree ")

Bibliographical Notes. 301

in that we have the incident of the " Magic Flight." This, if not trace-
able to the influence of the French Canadian voyageurs, will add another
to the list of " stations " at which this very interesting story-incident is
found.

The major part of Dr. Russell's book is taken up by the journal of his
experiences during the period of his northern trip, and as a record of
travel will be found most entertaining. He has been successful in secur-
ing for his university a large and valuable collection of Arctic fauna, and
a considerable mass of ethnological specimens illustrating the life and
customs of the natives. Should he make a second journey to the north,
as he declares is his intention, it is to be hoped that he will bring to the
folk-lorist a harvest equally great.

Roland B. Dixon.

The Home of the Eddic Poems, with Especial Reference to the
Helgi-Lays, by Sophus Bugge. With a new Introduction concerning
Old Norse Mythology, by the author. Translated from the Norwegian
by William Henry Schofield. London : D. Nutt. 1899. Pp. lxxix, 408.

The volume which bears this title is a translation of Professor Bugge's
" Helge-Digtene i den ^Eldre Edda, Deres Hjem og Forbindelser," which
appeared in 1896. The Norwegian original formed the second series of
Bugge's " Studier over de Nordiske Gude- og Heltesagns Oprindelse," of
which the first series was published at Christiania in 1881-89; the earlier
volume was translated into German by Professor O. Brenner under the title,
" Studien iiber die Entstehung der Nordischen Gotter- und Heldensagen"
(Munich, 1889), and now Dr. Schofield has made the second series acces-
sible to the larger European public by preparing an English translation
of it. Dr. Schofield's volume contains, in addition to the treatise on the
Helgi-lays, a new introduction on Old Norse Mythology, written by Bugge
especially for the English edition.

Professor Bugge is the chief exponent of the theory formerly held, though
very slightly worked out, by Vigfusson, that the poems of the elder Edda
were composed in a large part in the British Isles, and show in both style
and subject-matter the influence of the foreign literatures with which the
Scandinavian poets came in contact. In the first series of his " Studier "
he investigated the myths of Baldr and of the hanging of Odin, and traced
their origin largely to Christian and classical tradition. In the new Intro-
duction to the English volume he recapitulates in part the conclusions of
his earlier book, and extends the same method of inquiry to other myths
and traditions. He once more draws in detail the parallels between the
life of Christ and the story of Baldr ; he attempts to find the origin of
Loki's name, and of many of his characteristics in Lucifer (understood by
Scandinavians as Luci fur) ; he derives the wolf Fenrir from infernus lupus
by a process of popular etymology ; and he sees the prototype of the Mith-
garthsorm in the Leviathan of the Scriptures. To prepare the way for
these identifications, he attempts to show on various grounds that most of
the Eddic poems were written in the British Isles by poets who were familiar

2,02 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

with the Christian literature of both Saxons and Celts. He argues that
even in matters of language and style many difficult passages in the Norse
poems can be explained only in the light of Anglo-Saxon or Irish, and he
discusses such passages with some detail. Thus the Introduction furnishes
a convenient exposition of Bugge's method of work, besides being the best
statement in short compass of his present opinions on Norse mythology.

The body of the book (the translation of the " Helge-Digtene ") is a study
of the sources, history, and literary relations of the lays concerning Helgi
Hundingsbani and Helgi the son of Hjorvarth. Bugge comes to the con-
clusion that all three were composed in the British Isles by poets who had
lived in the Scandinavian court at Dublin, and who were familiar with the
epic traditions of both Irish and English. He seeks to show the extent to
which foreign saga-material has been worked over in the poems, and on
the basis of certain comparisons with Irish he even undertakes to date the
composition of the first lay of Helgi Hundingsbani within twenty years of
1020. The second lay (according to the usual title) he would put about
half a century earlier. The lay of Hrimgerth (in the poem on Helgi, the
son of Hjorvarth) he holds to have been written by the same author as the
first lay of Helgi Hundingsbani ; the rest of the story of Helgi and Hjor-
varth he attributes to an earlier skald who also lived in Britain.

While it is difficult to feel that Bugge always has evidence enough to
support his conclusions, his comparisons are certainly in the highest degree
significant. One may be skeptical, for example, about any actual influence
of the Irish " Battle of Ross na Rig " on the first Helgi lay, but one cannot
fail to be impressed by the similarities Bugge has pointed out, in both saga-
material and style of treatment, between the Irish and Norse literatures.
The facts that he has collected cannot be explained on any other theory
than that of contact and interchange of ideas. In the same way, one may
hesitate to follow him at all lengths in his linguistic arguments ; one may
be doubtful about constructing a theoretic Anglo-Saxon wiersinga in order
to account for a difficult Norse fjorsunga '■; but the evidences he has put
together of intercourse between Saxons and Norsemen make such word-
borrowing possible, and the comparisons he has drawn between their epic
traditions cannot be neglected in any competent study of either literature.

One of the least persuasive chapters in the book is that which deals with
the relations of the lay of Hrimgerth and the story of Wolfdietrich and
the hag. In the first place, the connection between these two tales them-
selves is not by any means obvious, and the explanation of the Wolfdie-
trich episode by reference to the classical stories of Scylla, Circe, and
Calypso seems very far-fetched. A more likely theory with regard to both
the incidents in question has been proposed by Dr. G. H. Maynadier in
his Harvard dissertation (soon to be published) on the sources of Chaucer's
" Tale of the Wyf of Bathe." Dr. Maynadier tries to bring the adventures
of Wolfdietrich and the hag into relation with the stories of the " loathly
lady " preserved in several forms in Irish, and best represented in English
by the " Tale of the Wyf of Bathe " and the ballad of " King Henry." The
lay of Hrimgerth, if connected at all with the .others, he suggests, may
come directly from Irish tradition.

Bibliographical Notes. 303

In other places too, perhaps, Bugge's argument fails by excess of in-
genuity, but this very quality has enabled him to make scores of compari-
sons and combinations which would have eluded a less keen-sighted scholar.
It is unnecessary to say that his work has contributed much toward a
better understanding of the literary relations of the Celtic and Germanic
peoples in the Viking age. Dr. Schofield in his preface disavows responsi-
bility for the theories set forth in the book, but he has shown how highly
he estimates its value by undertaking the long labor of translation. All
readers of the English edition will share the translator's opinion in this
matter, and will be proportionately grateful to him for having made the
work accessible in such attractive form.

F. N. Robinson.

Harvard University.

Laos Folk-Lore of Farther India. By Katherine Neville Fleeson.

With illustrations from photographs taken by W. A. Briggs, M. D.

Fleming H. Revell Company: New York and Chicago. Pp. 153.

This little volume contains a number of tales, for the most part very
brief, professing to be derived from Laos. The rendition is so free, and
so wanting in local character, that the stories might belong anywhere, and
give next to no instruction concerning the people they undertake to repre-
sent. Names of informants and localities are wanting j of the manner in
which they came into the possession of the author no explanation is given.
There is in the narratives nothing to show that the collector is acquainted
with the language, country, or population. So many books have appeared
which may serve as examples to the student, that there is no excuse for
such deficiencies, which are the more provoking in that a genuine gather-
ing of folk-belief from Laos would be of extreme interest. In an Intro-
duction, Dr. W. G. Craig informs us that the translator has had the
advantage of long residence and an unrivalled opportunity for understand-
ing the history, customs, religious ideas, and aspirations of the people. If
this is the case, she has certainly made an unsatisfactory use of such
advantages. The opinion of the writer of the Introduction, that the scholar
may be assured that he has before him the Laos tales unobscured, cannot
be indorsed. A few stories, versions of well-known popular tales, serve to
show that a part of the book has a traditional basis. Thus the story called
"The Faithful Husband " (p. 51) is a variant of the world-wide tale which
has been called "The Bird-wife" (p. 2).

It is well that missionaries, who have such excellent opportunities, are
interesting themselves in the observation of the peoples among whom they
labor ; but it is desirable that they should pay some sort of attention to
the conditions of a useful record.

IV. IV. Nnoell.

Folk-Lore in Borneo. A sketch by William Henry Furness, 3D,
M D., F. R. G. S. (Privately printed.) Wallingford, Delaware County,
Pennsylvania. 1899. Pp. 30.
In a little publication entitled " Folk-Lore in Borneo," Mr. W. H. Fur-

304 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

ness, 3d, gives interesting notices of the traditions of that island, in which,
as he observes, universality of legend or custom is prevented by inter-
tribal warfare, and by the absence of written language. He bears testi-
mony to the quiet government of the common houses, sometimes inhabited
by as many as four hundred people : in residence of weeks at a time, he
has not seen a violent quarrel between two inmates, head-hunters though
they may be ; the orders of the chiefs are implicitly obeyed, without need
of any attempt at enforcing the authority. The creation story of the
Kayans of northwestern Borneo derives existence from the union of a tree
and a vine, the first springing from a sword-handle dropped from the sun,
the second falling from the moon. The offspring are at first semi-human,
and gradually acquire resemblance to man, while chickens and swine arise
from the exuded gum. The female child is married to an old man, who
enters the narration without pedigree, hence the genealogy of the chiefs.
On the other hand, the Dayak version of creation seems to have been
affected by foreign influence ; two large birds are said to have made man
first from clay, then from hard wood (whence Dayak bowls are fashioned).
The origin of head-hunting, still the ruling passion of Kayans, is also
explained by legend. The taking of a head is supposed to grant entrance
to the pleasant regions of departed spirits, that subterranean country being
attained by passing a ditch crossed by a fallen tree-trunk, guarded by the
demon Maligang, who shakes off all comers who have not a record for
bravery into the ditch below, to be devoured by worms. Another demon
assigns the souls to their proper places, the regions being determined
according to the manner of death. The most advantageous abode is that
assigned to the souls of young warriors who have died a violent death,
while the state of suicides is especially wretched. A particular region is
allotted to the spirits of stillborn children, and another to those who perish
of drowning. Those who die from sickness retain the lot they had in the
present world. The geography of this underground country is matter of
dispute ; but all medicine-men have been among the spirits of the dead,
and bring back their charms, which are usually buried with them. Con-
versely, ascent to the lands above the earth is accomplished by climbing
up on vines. Augury is the habit of Borneans, omens being derived from
the flight of birds. A fruit-tree is guarded by planting about it cleft sticks
with stones inserted, which have the office of afflicting with disease any
pilferer. A form of baptism is employed. Names are kept secret, and
changed in a case of ill luck. Mr. Furness says that he has observed no
definite forms of religious worship. It is the custom, however, among the
Bukits, one of the most primitive tribes, for youths who arrive on the bank
of a new river to divest themselves of apparel, toss ornaments into the
stream, and, scooping up water, to invoke the spirits for permission to enter
the territory. Only then do they dare bathe. No doubt the writer has not
had opportunity to observe the ritual dances and other religious ceremonies
of the island.

W. W. Newell.

Bibliographical Xotes.

ouo

JOURNALS.

1. The American Anthropologist. New York. Vol. I. No. 2. April, 1899.
Hawaiian games. S. Culin. — The winter solstice altars at Haro Pueblo. J. \Y.
Fewkes. — The Xanticoke Indians of Indian River. Delaware. W. H.
COCK. — The harmonic structure of Indian music. J. C. Fillmore. — Anthro-
pologic literature. — Current bibliography. — Xotes and news. — No. 3.
1899. The Alaska cuit of the Hopi Indians. T. W. I — Origin of the
name -Indian." F. F. Hilder. — Anthropologic literature. — Current biblio-
graphy.— Notes and news. A1 - I iian myth. White Russian folk-rv.

2. The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal. Chicago.^ Vol.
XXI. Xo. 4. July— August. Initiation among the Australian blacks. J. Fraser.
— An old Kwanthum village, — its people and its folk. R. R. C. Webber. —
Xo. 6. Xovember-December. The cliff-dwellers and the wild tribes. S. D.
Peet. — Xotes on the Indians of Washington. J. Wickersham.

3. Le Courrier du Livre. Quebec. Vol. IV. Xo. 39. July, 1899. Canadian
exile's song. B. Sulte.

4. The Land of Sunshine. Los Angeles.) YoL XI. Xo. 2. 1S99. Among
the Yaqui Indians in Sonora. Y. Granville. — X :•. 4, September. 'Continued
in Xo. 5.) — My brothers keeper. C. F. Ldioos, — The myth of "queen"
Xochitl. O. Wallace.

5. The New World. Boston.) Vol. VIII. Xo. 29. March, [899. How gods
are made in India. E. Washburn Hopkins.

6. The Southern Workman and Hampton School Record. Hampton,
Va. VoL XXVIII. Xo. S. August, 1S99. Folk-lore and ethnology. A ••crazy
spell." — Chills cured. Palsy cured.

-. Folk-Lore. London VoL X. No. 2. June, 1899. Ethnological data in
folk-lore: a criticism. G. L. Gomme. — Ethnological data in folk-lore: a reply.
A. Nutt. — Folk-lore from the Southern Sporades. W. H. D. Re
Christmas mummers at Rugby. W. H. D. Rouse, — K Sqakthtquaclt/' or the
Benign-Faced, the Oannes of the Xtlakapamuq, British Columbia. C. Hill-
Tout. — Reviews. Works of E. Hull, The Cuchullin saga; H. A. Tunod, Les
chants et contes des Baronga : C. de Yaux. L'abrege des nerveilles : K. L. Par-
ker. More Australian legendary tales: B. Spencer and F. T. Gillen, The native
tribes of Central Australia: F. H. Groome. Gypsy folk-tales: A. M. Alcover,
Aplech de rondayes mallorquines : E. C. Eliice, Place-names in Glengarry ; F. E.
he secrets of the night. — Correspondence. Kitty-witehes. Mr. St.
Clair's u Creation records." Death-warnings. Wind and weather holes. — Mis-
cellanea. Superstitions relating to the newt. A Sicilian festival. Burial cus-
toms.— Bibliography. — List of members for 1S99. — Xo. 3, September. The
powers of evil in the outer Hebrides. A. Goodrich Frere. — The tar-baby
story. A. Werner. — Japanese myth. W. G. Aston. — I
T. A'cercrcrr.by. The pre- and proto-historic Finns: P. Se*billot. Litterature orale
de l'Auveigne : E. Clodd, Tom Tit Tot ; A. B. Gomme. Traditional Games : R.
Brown. Semitic influences in Hellenic mythology: J. Curtin, Creation myths of
primitive America: A. Lang, Myth, ritual, and religion: R. Blakeborough, Wit,
character, folk-lore, and customs of the Xorth Riding of Yorkshire : Bye-gones
relating to Wales and the Border counties. — Correspondence. Christmas mum-
mers. White cattle in British folk-tales and customs. Lincoln Minster. Lincoln
College, Oxford, and the Devil. Wall-burial. The little red hen. Days of the
week. Miscellanea. Some Wexford folk-lore. More notes from Cyprus. Cure
for ague. Superstition regarding women. Exposition Universelie. — Biblio-
graphy.

VOL. XII. — NO. 47. 23

306 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

8. The Nineteenth Century. (London.) November, 1899. A devil-dance
in Ceylon. C. Corner-Ohlmus.

9. The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ire-
land. (London.) Vol. I. Nos. 3, 4, February-May, 1899. On the tribes inhabit-
ing the mouth of the Wanigela River, New Guinea. R. E. Guisse. — The hill
tribes of the Central Indian hills. W. Crooke. — Some remarks on totemism as
applied to Australian tribes. B. Spencer and F. J. Gillen. — On Micronesian
weapons, dress, implements, etc. F. W. Christian.

10. Bulletin de la Societe" Neuchateloise de Geographie. (Neuchatel.)
Vol. XL 1899. Au Ba-Rotse. E. Beguin. — Le fe"tichisme. E. Perregaux.

— Encore a propos des osselets divinatoires au Sud de l'Afrique. H. A. Junod.

— Un pelerinage a Notre-Dame de Lujau. H. Delachaux.

11. Melusine. (Paris.) Vol. IX. No. 9, May-June, 1899. Les pieds ou les
genoux a. rebours, IV. (Continued in No. 10.) P. F. Perdrizet. — La fascina-
tion. (Continued in No. 10.) J. Tuchmann. — Dictons et proverbes bretons.
V. E. Ernault. — Le marriage en Mai. P. F. Perdrizet. — Bibliographie.
Reviews of works by R. M. Lawrence. The magic of the horse-shoe ; J. Teit
(Vol. VI. of the Memoirs of the American Folk- Lore Society); Mrs. K. L. Par-
ker, More Australian legendary tales. — No. 10, July-August. Le chien noir. G.
Doncieux and H. Gaidoz. — Le jeu des lignes verticales. E. Ernault. —
Quelques publications irlandaises. H. Gaidoz. — Bibliographie. Review of
work of E. Rolland, Flore populaire.

12. Revue des Traditions Populaires. (Paris.) Vol. XIV. No. 5, May.
Romances populaires franchises. (Continued in No. 7.) G. Doncieux. —
Petites legendes locales. (Continued in Nos. 6, 7, 8.) H. Ouilgars. — Contes
et legendes arabes. (Continued in Nos. 7, 8.) R. Basset. — Legendes et
superstitions prehistoriques. Les monuments me'galithiques. H. Quilgars. —
No. 6, June. Notes sur le livre de Sendabad. J. A. Decourdemanche. — La
mer et les eaux. (Continued in No. 7.) P. Sebillot. — Notes de folklore
Mordvine et Mdcheriak. J. de Baye. — No. 7, July. Les mois en Franche-
Comte". Juillet. C. Beauquier. — Les me'te'ores. IV. R. Basset. — Nos. 8, 9,
August-September. Notes sur le culte des arbres. P. Sebillot. — Les em-
preintes merveilleuses. CLXIX.-CLXX. R. Basset. — Les mois en Franche-
Comte'. Aoiit Septembre. C. Beauquier.

13. Revue de l'Histoire des Religions. (Paris.) Vol. XL. No. 1, July-
August, 1899. La doctrine de la reincarnation des ames et les dieux de l'an-
cienne Irlande. L. Marillier.

14. Volkskunde. (Ghent.) Vol. XL No. 12, 1899. Begraven. A. van
Werveke. — Tooverij in liefdezaken. A de Cock. — Spreekwoorden en zegs-
wijzen afkomstig van oude gebruiken en volksszeden. A. de Cock. — Vol. XII.
Nos. 1, 2. Ketelmuziek. A. de Cock.

15. Ons Volksleven. (Brecht.) Vol. XL Nos. 4-6, 1899. Godsplanten.
I. Teirlinck. — Kinderspelen uit het land van Dendermond. (Continued in
No. 7.) P. van den Broeck and A. d'Hooghe. — Kinderrijmen en kinderspelen
uit Vlaanderen. (Continued in No. 7.) J. van den Zeekant. — Nos. 7-9.
Bijdrage tot de folklore der Vlaamsche zeekust. A. Harou. — De Runders in
het volksgeloof. A. Harou.

16. Wallonia. (Liege.) Vol. VII. No. 6, June, 1899. Le serment de St.-
Georges. A. Grez-Doiceau. — L'Alion retrouve". Fete boraine. L. Urbain.

— No. 8, August. Rondes a baisers. A. Tilkin. — No. 9, September. Le folk-
lore de Spa. A. Body. — No. 10, October. La procession de la Pucelette, a
Wasmes. L. Urbain.

17. Archivio per lo Studio Delle Tradizioni Popolari. (Palermo.) Vol.

Bibliographical Notes. 307

XVIII. No 1, January-March, 1899. Folk-lore di San Paulo nel Brasile. (Con-
tinued in No. 2.) A. Nardo-Cibele. — I giuocho delle delinquents A. Nice-
foro. — Quelques croyances et usages napolitains. J. B. Andrews. — La caduta
della grandine e i pubblici incantantori nelle credenze popolari marchigiane. D.
Spadoni. — Poesie popolari sacre mantovane. A. Trotter. — Le antiche feste
di S. Rosalia in Palermo descritte dai viaggiatori italiani e stranieri. (Continued
in No. 2.) M. Pitre. — No. 2, April-June. Della villotta. L. Marson. — Usi
e costumi del popolo chiaramontano per la raccolta delle ulive. C. Melfi. —
Zuual, essere imaginario in Assuan (Africa). P. C. Tassi. — Le storie popolari
in poesia siciliane messe a stampa dal secolo XV. ai di nostri. S. Salomone-
Mario. — Usi venatorii nel Folignate (Umbria). F. Filippini. — Canti manto-
vani popolari. A. Trotter.

18. Allernania. (Freiburg i. B.) Vol. XXVII. Nos. 1-2, 1899. Eine teufels-
austreibung aus dem jahr 1701. F. Pfaff. — Die euphemismen und bildliche
ausdriicke unserer sprache iiber sterben und totsein und die ihnen zu grunde
liegenden vorstellungen. F. Wilhelm. — Altdeutsche segen aus Heidelberger
handschriften, V. O. Heilig. — Spruchwort und lebensklugheit aus dem XVIII.
jahrhundert. C. T. Weiss.

19. Internationales Archiv fiir Ethnographie. (Leiden.) Vol. XII. Nos.
2-3, 1899. The Lepchaps or " Rongs " and their songs. L. A. Waddell. —
Die samoanische schopfungssage. W. vox Bulow. — Die anthropophagie der
siidamerikanischen Indianer. T. Koch. — No. 4. Beitrage zur ethnographie
der Samoa-inseln. W. vox Bulow. — Die verbreitung des Tiwabfestes in
Indonesien. H. H. Juyxboll.

20. Zeitschrift der deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft. (Leipzig.)
No. 2, 1899. Chansons populaires turquois. I. Kuxos. — Turkische volkslieder
aus Kleinasien. E. Littmaxx.

21. Zeitschrift des Vereins fiir Volkskunde. (Berlin.) Vol. IX. No. 2,
1899. Das Hutterlaufen. W. Hein. — Heidnische iiberreste in den volksuber-
lieferungen der norddeutschen tiefebene. (Continued in No. 3.) W. Schwartz.
— Das frautragen im Salzburgischen. M. Eysx. — Kulturgeschichtliches aus
den Marschen. (Continued in No. 3.) A. Tiexkex. — Ein paar merkwurdige
kreaturen. (Continued in No. 3.) M. Bartels. — Vergleichende mitteilungen
zu Hans Sachs Fastnachtspiel, Der teufel mit dem alten weib. (Continued in
No. 3.) S. Prato. — Die krankheitsdamonen der Balkansvolker. (Continned
in No. 3.) K. L. Lubeck. — No. 3. Volksastronomie und volksmeterologie in
Nordthiiringen. R. Reichhardt. — Tiroler teufelsglaube. A. F. Dorler. —
Uckermarkische kinderreime. M. Gerhardt and R. Petsch. — Hausspriiche
aus dem Stubaithal in Tirol. F. Wilhelm. — Sanct Kummernuss. K. Wein-
hold. — Eiserne weihefiguren. W. Hein.

22. Zeitschrift fiir Vergleichende Litteraturgeschichte. (Berlin.) Vol.
XIII. Nos. 2-3, 1899. Das wasser des lebens in der marchen der volker. Eine
marchenvergleichende studie. A. Wunsche.

23. The Indian Antiquary. (Bombay.) No. 345, December, 1898. Notes
and queries. Murder in order to procure a son. — No. 348, February. Brahman
eating from the hand of a dead man. — No. 349, March. A popular Mopla song.

F. Fawcett. — Notes and queries. Telugu superstitions about spittle. Wor.
ship of Narsingh in Kangra. — No. 360, April. Superstitions among Hindus in
the central provinces. — No. 361, May. Superstitions and customs in Salsette.

G. F. d'Penha. — Notes and queries. Superstitions among Hindus in the cen-
tral provinces.

3o8

^Journal of American Folk-Lore.

OFFICERS OF THE AMERICAN FOLK-LORE SOCIETY (1899).

President : Charles L. Edwards, Cincinnati, O.

First Vice-President: Alice C Fletcher, Washington, D. C.

Second Vice-President : C. F. Lummis, Los Angeles, Cal.

Council: Alice Mabel Bacon, Hampton, Va. ; Robert Bell, Ottawa, Can.; Franz Boas,
New York, N. Y. ; *Daniel G. Brinton, Philadelphia, Pa.; J. D. Buck, Cincinnati, O. ;
Alcee Fortier, New Orleans, La. ; Stansbury Hagar, Brooklyn, N. Y. ; Otis T. Mason,
Washington, D. C. ; Frederic W. Putnam, Cambridge, Mass.; F. N. Robinson, Cam-
bridge, Mass. ; Gardner P. Stickney, Milwaukee, Wis. ; Anne Weston Whitney, Balti-
more, Md. ; Henry Wood, Baltimore, Md.

Permanent Secretary : William Wells Newell, Cambridge, Mass.

Treasurer: John H. Hinton, 41 West 33d Street, New York, N. Y.

MEMBERS OF THE AMERICAN FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.

(for the year 1899.)
HONORARY MEMBERS.

John Batchelor, Sapporo, Japan.

*Daniel Garrison Brinton, Philadelphia, Pa.

Francisco Adolpho Coelho, Lisbon, Portu-
gal.

James George Frazer, Cambridge, England.

Henri Gaidoz, Paris, France.

George Laurence Gomme, London, Eng-
land.

Angelo de Gubernatis, Rome, Italy.

Edwin Sidney Hartland, Gloucester, Eng-
land.
Jean Karlowicz, Warsaw, Poland.
Friedrich S. Krauss, Vienna, Austria.
Kaarle Krohn, Helsingfors, Finland.
Giuseppe Pitre, Palermo, Sicily.
John Wesley Powell, Washington, D. C.
Paul Sebillot, Paris, France.
Heymann Steinthal, Berlin, Germany.
Edward Burnett Tylor, Oxford, England.

LIFE MEMBERS.

Eugene F. Bliss, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Henry Carrington Bolton, Washington,

D. C.
Hiram Edmund Beats, Flemington, N. J.
Mrs. Henry Draper, New York, N. Y.
Willard Fiske, Florence, Italy.

Joseph E. Gillingham, Philadelphia, Pa.
John H. Hinton, New York, N. Y.
Henry Charles Lea, Philadelphia, Pa.
J. F. Loubat, New York, N. Y.
William Wells Newell, Cambridge, Mass.
Miss Mary A. Owen, St. Joseph, Mo.

ANNUAL MEMBERS.

John Abercromby, Edinburgh, Scotland.
James Truslow Adams, New York, N. Y.
I. Adler, New York, N. Y.
Miss Constance G. Alexander, Cambridge,

Mass.
Rev. T. Pi. Angell, ITarrisburg, Pa.
Richard L. Ashhurst, Philadelphia, Pa.
Samuel P. Avery, Jr., New York, N. Y.

Miss Alice Mabel Bacon, Plampton, Va.
Francis Noves lialch, Cambridge, Mass.
Mrs. Mary M. liarciay, Milwaukee, Wis.
Charles T. Barney, New York, N. Y.
Miss Mary E. Batchelder, Cambridge, Mass.

W. M. Beauchamp, Baldwinsville, N. Y.
William Beer, New Orleans, La.
Robert Bell, Ottawa, Ont.
Miss Charlotte Benedict, Cambridge, Mass.
Miss Cora Agnes Benneson, Cambridge,

Mass.
Mrs. Fanny D. Bergen, Cambridge, Mass.
Charles T. Billom, Leicester, England.
Clarence J. Blake, Boston, Mass.
Francis Blake, Auburndale, Mass.
Frank E. Bliss, London, England.
Franz Boas, New York, N. Y.
Miss Madeleine Bocher, Cambridge, Mass.
Reginald P. Bolton, Pelhamville, N. Y.

Members of the American Folk-Lore Society. 309

C. C. Bombaugh, Baltimore, Md.

Mrs. John G. Bourke, Omaha, Neb.

Charles P. Bowditch, Boston, Mass.

George P. Bradley, Mare Island, Cal.

Miss Lily A. Braman, Boston, Mass.

H. C. G. Brandt, Clinton, N. Y.

James R. Brevoort, Yonkers, N. Y.

W. T. Brewster, New York, N. Y.

Miss Margaret Brooks, Cambridge, Mass.

Miss Jeannie P. Brown, Cambridge, Mass.

Philip Greely Brown, Portland, Me.

Mrs. W. Wallace Brown, Calais, Me.

Loys Brueyre, Paris, France.

Gustav Briihl, Cincinnati, O.

J. D. Buck, Cincinnati, O.

Miss Ethel Quincey Bumstead, Cambridge,

Mass.
Edward S. Burgess, New York, N. Y.
Miss Amy Burrage, Boston, Mass.
Mrs. Frances B. Burke, Cambridge, Mass.
Miss Mary Arthur Burnham, Philadelphia,

Pa.

John Caldwell, Edgewood Park, Pa.

Thomas Carson, Brownsville, Tex.

Mrs. J. B. Case, Boston, Mass.

A. F. Chamberlain, Worcester, Mass.

Montague Chamberlain, Cambridge, Mass.

Miss Mary Chapman, Springfield, Mass.

Miss Ellen Chase, Brookline, Mass.

Miss Marion S. Chase, Roxbury, Mass.

Walter G. Chase, Brookline, Mass.

Heli Chatelain, Angola, Africa.

Miss Helen M. C. Child, Cambridge, Mass.

Clarence H. Clark, Philadelphia, Pa.

Richard A. Cleeman, Philadelphia, Pa.

Robert Clement, Boston, Mass.

Mrs. Otto B. Cole, Boston, Mass.

Mrs. Elizabeth Johnston Cooke, Macon, Ga.

George W. Cooke, East Lexington, Mass.

William Corner, Nottingham, Eng.

Thomas F. Crane, Ithaca, N. Y.

Mrs. Oliver Crane, Boston, Mass.

Charles D. Crank, Cincinnati, O.

J. M. Crawford, Cincinnati, O.

Miss Sarah H. Crocker, Boston, Mass.

Stewart Culin, Philadelphia, Pa.

John Cummings, Cambridge, Mass.

Roland G. Curtin, Philadelphia, Pa.

Mattoon Munroe Curtis, Cleveland, O.

Herbert E. Cushman, Tufts College, Mass.

Charles P. Daly, New York, N. Y.
Reginald A. Daly, Cambridge, Mass.
Charles E. Dana, Philadelphia, Pa.
William G. Davies, New York, N. Y.
Charles F. Daymond, New York, N. Y.

James Deans, Victoria, B. C.
Robert W. De Forest, New York, N. Y.
Mrs. Amelie Denegre, New Orleans, La.
George E. Dimock, Elizabeth, N. J.
Roland B. Dixon, Cambridge, Mass.
George A. Dorsey, Chicago, 111.
Andrew E. Douglass, New York, N. Y.
Charles B. Dudley, Altoona, Pa.
Arthur W. Dunn, Cincinnati, O.
R. T. Durrett, Louisville, Ky.

John L. Earll, Utica, N. Y.
Carl Edelheim, Philadelphia, Pa.
Charles L. Edwards, Cincinnati, O.
James W. Ellsworth, New York, N. Y.
L. H. Elwell, Amherst, Mass.
Mrs. Thomas Emery, Syracuse, N. Y.
G. J. Engelmann, Boston, Mass.
Dana Estes, Boston, Mass.

Livingston Farrand, New York, N. Y.
Mrs. Ernest F. Fenollosa, Boston, Mass.
Merritt Lyndon Fernald, Cambridge, Mass.
J. Walter Fewkes, Washington, D. C.

F. D. Field, Jamaica Plain, Mass..
Miss Frances Field, Cincinnati, O.
John Fiske, Cambridge, Mass.
Miss Emma J. Fitz, Boston, Mass.

G. W. Fitz, Cambridge, Mass.

Miss Alice C. Fletcher, Washington, D. C.
Robert Fletcher, Washington, D. C.
Wyman Kneeland Flint, Milwaukee, Wis.
Henry W. Foote, Cambridge, Mass.
Robert J. Forsythe, Cambridge, Mass.
Alcee Fortier, New Orleans, La.
J. N. Fradenburgh, Greenville, Pa.

Alfred C. Garrett, Cambridge, Mass.
Albert S. Gatschet, Washington, D. C.
Frank Butler Gay, Hartford, Conn.
Arpad G. Gerster, New York, N. Y.
Wolcott Gibbs, Newport, R. I.
W. W. Gibbs, Philadelphia, Pa.
Mrs. John C. Gray, Boston, Mass.
Jesse Moore Greenman, Cambridge, Mass.
Byron Griffing, Shelter Island Heights, N.Y.
George Bird Grinnell, New York, N. Y.
Louis Grossmann, Detroit, Mich.
Victor Guillou, Philadelphia, Pa.

Stansbury Hagar, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Lewis Coleman Hall, New York, N. Y.
Charles C. Harrison, Philadelphia, Pa.
Mrs. Edward Haskell, Boston, Mass.
Miss Millicent Hayes, Cambridge, Mass.
H. W. Haynes, Boston, Mass.
C. R. Hebble, Cincinnati, O.

3io

Jo7irnal of American Folk-Lore.

D. C. Henning, Pottsville, Pa.

Mrs. Esther Herrmann, New York, N. Y.

Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Cambridge,

Mass.
Don Gleason Hill, Dedham, Mass.
Mrs. Thomas Hill, Baltimore, Md.
Mrs. Holmes Hinckley, Cambridge, Mass.
Henry L. Hobart, New York, N. Y.
Frederick Webb Hodge, Washington, D. C.
Richard Hodgson, Boston, Mass.
Robert Hoe, New York, N. Y.
Mrs. Lee Hoffman, Boston, Mass.
Miss Amelia B. Hollenback, Brooklyn,

N. Y.
Mrs. C. F. Hopkins, Cincinnati, O.
Miss Leslie Hopkinson, Cambridge, Mass.
Miss Cornelia Horsford, Cambridge, Mass.
Walter Hough, Washington, D. C.
Miss Leonora Howe, Cambridge, Mass.
Mrs. Lucien Howe, Buffalo, N. Y.
C F. W. Hubbard, Buffalo, N. Y.
Henry M. Hurd, Baltimore, Md.
Theodore D. Hurlbut, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Percy A. Hutchison, Cambridge, Mass.
Clarence M. Hyde, New York, N. Y.
Miss Elizabeth A. Hyde, New York, N. Y.
*E. Francis Hyde, New York, N. Y.
Frederick E. Hyde, New York, N. Y.

Miss Margaret R. Ingols, Cambridge, Mass.

A. Jacobi, New York, N. Y.

Thomas A. Jaggar, Cambridge, Mass.

Edward C. James, New York, N. Y.

Henry F. Jenks, Canton, Mass.

Miss Isabel L. Johnson, Boston, Mass.

*William Preston Johnston, New Orleans,

La.
Miss Marion Judd, Boston, Mass.
Thomas V. Keam, Ream's Canon, Ariz.
Frederick W. Relly, Milwaukee, Wis.
John Goshorn Relley, Philadelphia, Pa.
Josephine M. Rendig, Philadelphia, Pa.
George G. Rennedy, Roxbury, Mass.
Miss Louise Rennedy, Concord, Mass.
Homer H. Ridder, Cambridge, Mass.
Frederick A. Ring, Cincinnati, O.
Landreth H. King, Dobbs Ferry, N. Y.
George Kinsey, Wyoming, O.
A. H. Rirkham, Springfield, Mass.
George L. Rittredge, Cambridge, Mass.
Rarl Rnortz, Evansville, Ind.
Henry E. Rrehbiel, New York, N. Y.
Alfred L. Rroeber, New York, N. Y.
George F. Kunz, New York, N. Y.

Robert M. Lawrence, Boston, Mass.

Miss Annie Laws, Cincinnati, O.
Frank Willing Leach, Philadelphia, Pa.
Walter Learned, New London, Conn.
Miss Margaret C. Leavitt, Cambridge, Mass.
Mrs. William LeBrun, Boston, Mass. *
George E. Leighton, St. Louis, Mo.
George H. Leonard, Boston, Mass.
Josua Lindahl, Cincinnati, O.
John U. Lloyd, Cincinnati, O.
Benjamin Lord, New York, N. Y.
Charles A. Loveland, Milwaukee, Wis.
Charles F. Lummis, Los Angeles, Cal.
Miss Ratharine M. Lupton, Cincinnati, O.
Benjamin Smith Lyman, Philadelphia, Pa.

Mrs. Thomas Mack, Boston, Mass.

Thomas MacRellar, Philadelphia, Pa.

Renneth McRenzie, Cambridge, Mass.

Mrs. A. U. McLeod, Avondale, O.

Mrs. Alex. H. McLeod, Wyoming, O.

Mrs. John L. McNeil, Washington, D. C.

Miss Jeannette Sumner Markham, Cam-
bridge, Mass.

Mrs. W. Ringsmill Marrs, Saxonville, Mass.

Arthur R. Marsh, Cambridge, Mass.

Artemas Martin, Washington, D. C.

Otis T. Mason, Washington, D. C.

Albert Matthews, Boston, Mass.

Washington Matthews, Washington, D. C.

Alfred G. Mayer, Cambridge, Mass.

Miss Frances H. Mead, Cambridge, Mass.

Lee Douglas Meader, Cincinnati, O.

William F. Merrill, New York, N. Y.

J. Meyer, New York, N. Y.

Thomas E. Miller, Orangeburg, S. C.

Miss M. A. Mixter, Boston, Mass.

James Mooney, Washington, D. C.

C H. Moore, Clinton, 111.

Miss Agnes Morgan, Osaka, Japan.

James L. Morgan, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Lewis R. Morse, Boston, Mass.

Lewis F. Mott, New York, N. Y.

Willis Munro, Cambridge, Mass.

Mrs. Jeannette Robinson Murphy, New
York, N. Y.

P. V. N. Myers, Cincinnati, O.

William Nelson, Paterson, N. J.

D. J. O'Connell, Rome, Italy.
Oswald Ottendorfer, New York, N. Y.

Mrs. E. S. Page, Cleveland, O.
Nathaniel Paine, Worcester, Mass.
Charles Palache, Cambridge, Mass.
Sarah G. Palmer, Boston, Mass.
Miss Mary Park, Elmira, N. Y.

Members of the American Folk-Lore Society. 311

Mrs. C. Stuart Patterson, Philadelphia, Pa.
J. W. Paul, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa.
Mrs. Charles Peabody, Cambridge, Mass.
William F. Peck, Rochester, N. V.
James Mills Peirce, Cambridge, Mass.
Henry E. Pellevv, Washington, U. C.
Thomas Sargent Perry, Boston, Mass.
David Philipson, Cincinnati, O.
Perry B. Pierce, Washington, D. C.
Dr. C. Augusta Pope, Boston, Mass.
Dr. Emily F. Pope, Boston, Mass.
Stanislas Prato, Sessa Arunca, Italy.
Edna Dean Proctor, Framingham, Mass.
T. Mitchell Prudden, New York, N. Y.
Miss Ethel Puffer, Cambridge, Mass.
W. H. Pulsifer, Newton Centre, Mass.
Frederic Ward Putnam, Cambridge, Mass.
Mrs. Frederic Ward Putnam, Cambridge,
Mass.

Benjamin Rand, Cambridge, Mass.
Mrs. H. E. Raymond, Brookline, Mass.
John Reade, Montreal, P. Q.
Miss Helen Leah Reed, Boston, Mass.
William L. Richardson, Boston, Mass.
Everett W. Ricker, Jamaica Plain, Mass.
R. Hudson Riley, Brooklyn, N. Y.

D. M Riordan, Atlanta, Ga.
Craig D. Ritchie, Philadelphia, Pa.

Mrs. Horace W. Robbins, New York, N. Y.
Benjamin L. Robinson, Cambridge, Mass.
F. N. Robinson, Cambridge, Mass.
Frank Russell, Cambridge, Mass.
Charles J. Ryder, New York, N. Y.

Stephen Salisbury, Worcester, Mass.
Mrs. W. L. Sampson, Cincinnati, O.
Frank M. Savage, Cincinnati, O.
W. S. Scarborough, Wilberforce, O.
Charles Schaffer, Philadelphia, Pa.
Otto B. Schlatter, Hartford, Conn.
W. H. Schofield, Cambridge, Mass.
James P. Scott, Philadelphia, Pa.

E. M. Scudder, New York, N. Y.
Horace E. Scudder, Cambridge, Mass.
Benjamin F. Seaver, Brooklyn, N. Y.
John K. Shaw, Baltimore, Md.

C. Bernard Shea, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Joseph F. Sinnott, Rosemont, Pa.
Mrs. Annie Trumbull Slosson, New York,

N. Y.
De Cost Smith, New York, N. Y.
E. Reuel Smith, New York, N. Y.
Harlan I. Smith, New York, N. Y.
Herbert W. Smith, Chicago, 111.
J. J. Smith, New York, N. Y.
R. B. Spicer, Cincinnati, O.

Frederick Starr, Chicago, 111.
George E. Starr, Germantown, Pa.
Roland Steiner, Grovetown, Georgia.
Mrs. Matilda Coxe Stevenson, Washington,

D. C.
Gardner P. Stickney, Milwaukee, Wis.
R. M. Stimson, Marietta, O.
Mrs. F. R. Stoddard, Boston, Mass.
Miss Olivia E. P. Stokes, New York, N. Y.
George Alfred Stringer, Buffalo, N. Y.
Mrs. J. P. Sutherland, Boston, Mass.
Brandreth Symonds, New York, N. Y.

Louis S. Tesson, Fort Ethan Allen, Ver-
mont.

Benjamin Thaw, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Mrs. George A. Thayer, Cincinnati, O.

S. V. R. Thayer, Boston, Mass.

Miss M. C. Thompson, Cincinnati, O.

Edward A. Thurber, Madison, Wis.

Miss Katharine C. Tileston, Milton, Mass.

John S. Tilney, Orange, N. J.

Archibald Reed Tisdale, Jamaica Plain,
Mass.

Crawford Howell Toy, Cambridge, Mass.

Henry H. Vail, New York, N. Y.

Mrs. George W. Vaillant, Boston, Mass.

Mrs. Margaret Wade, Bath, Maine.
Rev. A. C. Waghorne, Jamaica, W. I.
P. F. Walker, Cincinnati, O.
Horace E. Warner, Washington, D. C.
Miss Florence Warren, Felton, Del.
Samuel D. Warren, Boston, Mass.
Ethan Allen Weaver, Philadelphia, Pa.
W. Seward Webb, Lake Champlain, Vt.
P'rederick Webber, Washington, D. C.
David Webster, New York, N. Y.
George N. Whipple, Boston, Mass.
Francis Beach White, Cambridge, Mass.
Mrs. Morris M. White, Cincinnati, O.
Miss Anne Weston Whitney, Baltimore,

Md.
Mrs. C. A. Whitney, New York, N. Y.
Leo Wiener, Cambridge, Mass.
Frederick P. Wilcox, Grand Rapids, Mich.
Mrs. Ashton Willard, Boston, Mass.
Miss Stella G. Williams, Cincinnati, O.
Henry J. Willing, Chicago, 111.
Mrs. Henry J. Willing, Chicago, 111.
C. C. Willoughby, Cambridge, Mass.
James G. Wilson, Baltimore. Md.
R. N. Wilson, Macleod. Alberta. N. W. Ter.
Thomas Wilson, Washington, D. C.
Rev. Charles J. Wood, York, Pa.
Henry Wood, Baltimore, Md.

3 1 2 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

Mrs. A. C. Woods, Cincinnati, O. Miss Sarah D. Yerxa, Cambridge, Mass.

Miss Eda A. Woolson, Cambridge, Mass. William Young, Philadelphia, Pa.

C. H. C. Wright, Cambridge, Mass. F. W. Youmans, Cincinnati, O.
Joel F. Wright, Hartford, Conn.

LIST OF LIBRARIES OR SOCIETIES, BEING MEMBERS OF THE
AMERICAN FOLK-LORE SOCIETY, OR SUBSCRIBERS TO THE
JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE, IN THE YEAR 1899.

Amherst College Library, Amherst, Mass.

Athenaeum Library, Minneapolis, Minn.

Boston Athenaeum, Boston, Mass.

Buffalo Library, Buffalo, N. Y.

Carnegie Free Library, Allegheny, Pa.

Central Library, Syracuse, N. Y.

Chicago Literary Club, Chicago, 111.

Columbia College Library, New York, N. Y.

Forbes Library, Northampton, Mass.

Free Public Library, Jersey City, N. J.

Free Public Library, Sacramento, Cal.

Free Public Library, San Francisco, Cal.

Free Public Library, Newark, N. J.

Free Public Library, Worcester, Mass.

Hackley Public Library, Muskegon, Mich.

Hartford Library Association, Hartford, Conn.

Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.

Howard Memorial Library, New Orleans, La.

Iowa State Library, Des Moines, Iowa.

John Crerar Library, Chicago, 111.

Johns Hopkins University Library, Baltimore, Md.

John Thomson Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa.

Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, Kans.

Library of Chicago University, Chicago, 111.

Library of Congress, U. S. A., Washington, D. C.

Library of Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.

Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

Library of Parliament, Ottawa, Ont.

Library of Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Library of Trinity College, Hartford, Conn.

Library of University of Illinois, Champaign, 111.

Library of University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kans.

Massachusetts State Library, Boston, Mass.

Mechanics Library, Rev. C. B. Dudley, Altoona, Pa.

Mercantile Library, New York, N. Y.

Morrisson-Reeves Library, Richmond, Ind.

Newberry Library, Chicago, 111.

Newton Free Library, Newton, Mass.

New York State Library, Albany, N. Y.

Peabody Institute, Baltimore, Md.

Philadelphia Library, Philadelphia, Pa.

Public Library, Boston, Mass.

Public Library, Buffalo, N. Y.

Public Library, Cambridge, Mass.

Members of the American Folk-Lore Society. 313

Public Library, Chicago, 111.

Public Library, Cincinnati, O.

Public Library, Detroit, Mich.

Public Library, Evanston, 111.

Public Library, Galesburg, 111.

Public Library, Indianapolis, Ind.

Public Library, Kansas City, Mo.

Public Library, Los Angeles, Cal.

Public Library, Maiden, Mass.

Public Library, Milwaukee, Wis.

Public Library, New London, Conn.

Public Library, New York, N. Y.

Public Library, Teoria, 111.

Public Library, Portland, Me.

Public Library, Providence, R. I.

Public Library, Racine, Wis.

Public Library, Rockford, 111.

Public Library, St. Louis, Mo.

Public Library, St. Paul, Minn.

Public Library, Toronto, Ont.

Reynolds Library, Rochester, N. Y.

State Historical Library, Madison, Wis.

State Historical Library, St. Paul, Minn.

State Library, Harrisburgh, Pa.

State Normal School, Greeley, Colorado.

University of Nebraska Library, Lincoln, Neb.

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.

Women's Anthropological Society, Washington, D. C.

Young Men's Christian Association of the City of New York, N. Y.

3i4

Journal of American Folk-Lore.

SUBSCRIBERS TO THE PUBLICATION FUND OF THE
AMERICAN FOLK-LORE SOCIETY, 1899.

In the year 1892 it was voted by the Council of the American Folk-Lore Society that a Publication Fund
should be formed by annual contributions of ten dollars, subscribers making such contributions to receive all
publications of the Society. For the year 1899 subscriptions of ten dollars (a sum including the annual fee of
three dollars) have been received from the following members : —

John Abercromby, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Samuel P. Avery, Jr., New York, N. Y.
Mrs. Mary M. Barclay, Washington, D. C.
Boston Athenaeum, Boston, Mass.
Charles P. Bowditch, Boston,' Mass.
Philip Greely Brown, Portland, Me.
John Caldwell, Edgewood Park, Pa.
Clarence H. Clark, Philadelphia, Pa.
Charles P. Daly, New York, N. Y.
Charles F. Daymond, New York, N. Y.
George E. Dimock, Elizabeth, N. J.
Carl Edelheim, Philadelphia, Pa.
John Fiske, Cambridge, Mass.
E. Sidney Hartland, Gloucester, England.
T. W. Higginson, Cambridge, Mass.
Richard Hodgson, Boston, Mass.
Miss Amelia B. Hollenback, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Miss Cornelia Horsford, Cambridge, Mass.
Clarence M. Hyde, New York, N. Y.
*E. Francis Hyde, New York, N. Y.
Frederick E. Hyde, New York, N. Y.

A. Jacobi, New York, N. Y.
Edward C. James, New York, N. Y.
Miss Louise Kennedy, Concord, Mass.
Walter Learned, New London, Conn.
Albert Matthews, Boston, Mass.
J. Meyer, New York, N. Y.
C. H. Moore, Clinton, 111.
J. W. Paul, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa.
Charles Peabody, Cambridge, Mass.
Frederic W. Putnam, Cambridge, Mass.
Mrs. H. E. Raymond, Brookline, Mass.
William L. Richardson, Boston, Mass.
Charles Schaffer, Philadelphia, Pa.
Otto B. Schliitter, Hartford, Conn.
E. M. Scudder, New York, N. Y.
C. Bernard Shea, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Brandreth Symonds, New York, N. Y.
Mrs. Margaret Wade, Bath, Me.
Samuel D. Warren, Boston, Mass.
Henry J. Willing, Chicago, 111.
Mrs. Henry J. Willing, Chicago, 111.

Additional subscriptions to the Publication Fund are : —

I. Adler, New York, N. Y $2.00

Miss Ellen Chase, Brookline, Mass. 3.00
Charles P. Daly, New York, N. Y. . 3.00

J. W. Paul, Jr., Philadelphia Pa. . . 53.00
Henry H. Vail, New York, N. Y. . 3.00

INDEX TO VOLUME XII.

Africa, 144, 183.

American Folk-Lore Society :

Tenth Annual Meeting, 51 ; Report of
the Council, 51 ; Treasurer's Report,
52 ; papers presented, 52 ; officers, 307 ;
honorary members, 307 ; life members,
307 ; annual members, 307 ; libraries sub-
scribing, 312; subscribers to Publication
Fund, 314.

Animals, in folk-lore and myth :

Alligator, 259; bat, 49; bear, 115, 172,
173, 175, 176; cat, 4S-50, 57, 60,68, 127,
132, 145, 146, 228, 268, 286; coon, 109,
113; deer, 119, 123; dog, 112, 168;
duck, 19; eagle, 85, 229; fox, 19, 113,
229; goose, 171; gull, 175; hawk, 175;
hog, 261 ; jaybird, 269 ; louse, 269 ; lem-
ming, 19; mouse, 268; narwhal, 169;
owl, 19, 132, 269; porcupine, 46; possum,
113; ptarmigan, 19, 172; rabbit, 56, 108,
115, 229, 261; raven, 19, 173; salaman-
der, 255; snake, 46, 60, 256, 257, 259,
268; snowbird, 19, 172, 174; swan, 121 ;
swordfish, 175; terrapin, 269; toad, 46,
122; wolf, 108; turtle, 119, 121; worm,
175 ; wren, 229.

Backus, E. M., Christmas Carols from
Georgia, 270.

Backus, E. M., Tales of the Rabbit from
Georgia Negroes :

How Brer Rabbit practise medicine,
108 ; Why the people tote Brer Rabbit
foot in their pocket, 109; Brer Rabbit
born to luck, in; Why Mr. Dog runs
Brer Rabbit, 112; How Brer Rabbit
bring dust out of the rock, 113; When
Brer Rabbit save the pig, 114.

Beings, imaginary :

Devil, 43, 126, 212 ; Eskimo giant, 167 ;
Jack-o'-the-Lantern, 261 ; water-monsters,

255-
Books Reviewed :

Abercromby, J., The Pre- and Proto-
rrstoric Finns, 76 ; Bugge, S. (translated
by W. H. Schofield), The Home of the
Eddie Poems, 301 ; De Kay, C, Bird
Gods, 238 : Evans, E., The High History
of the Holy Grail, 236 ; Fleeson, K. N.,

Laos Folk-Lore of Farther India, 303;
Furness W. H., Folk-Lore in Borneo, 303 ;
Gomme, A. B., The Traditional Games
of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 73;
Higginson, W. W., Tales of the En-
chanted Islands of the Atlantic, 157;
Hull, E., Cuchullin Saga in Irish Litera-
ture, 151 ; The International Congress
of the World's Columbian Exposition,
231 ; Lang, A., The Making of Religion,
234 ; Parker, K. L., More Australian
Legendary Tales, 155; Pokagon, Chief,
Ogimaw-kwe Mit-i-gwaki (Queen of the
Woods), 153; Russell, Frank, Explora-
tions in the Far North, 300.
Brinton, D. G., Memorial Notice of, 215.

Ceremonies and Customs :

Animation of idols, 67 ; consecration,

163, 165; courtship, 229; divination, 231 ;

funeral, 232; judicial, 3; marriage, 4 ;

orientation, 104; sacrificial, 144; taboo,

5; whipping at boundary, 274; worship,

105, 161.
Chamberlain, A. F., American Indian

Names of White Men and Women :
Algonkian, 24; Iroquois, 28.
Chamberlain, A. F., In Memoriam : Daniel

Garrison Brinton, 215.
Chamberlain, A. F. and I. C, Record of

American Folk-Lore, 136.
Chamberlain, I. C, Contributions toward a

Bibliography of Folk-Lore relating to

Women, 32.
Charms and Incantations, 49, 56, 100, no,

133, 22S, 229.
Connelley, W. E., Notes on the Folk-Lore

of the W van dots :

I. Religion, 116; list of gods, 117; r.

Hooh mah'-yooh-wah//-neh", Big chief

that lives above the sky, 117; 2. Tseh-

zhooh-skah'-hah, Great one of the water

and land, 11S; 3. Skehn-rih'-ah-t'ah', War

god; 4. Tah-reh-nyoh-trah"squah, god

of dreams; 5. Heh'-noh, thunder god ;

6. the animals, 118; 7. the woman who

fell from heaven ; 8. the Twins ; 9.

Tah'-tehkeh'-ah. the Little People, 119;

10. the Hooh'"-keh', or medicine-man

3i6

Index.

myths; the Woman who Fell from
Heaven, 120; the Great Island, 122;
the Twins born ; the Deer and the Rain-
bow ; or, how the animals got into the
sky, 123.
Cooke, E. J., English Folk-Tales in Amer-
ica: The Bride of the Evil One, 126.

Dances, Si.

Days and Festivals :

Christmas, 50; Easter, 106; Hallow-
een, 49, 56; Holy Thursday, 163; Palm
Sunday, 162.

Dixon, R. B., The Color-Symbolism of the
Cardinal Points :

Difficulties arising from imperfect infor-
mation, choice of colors, 10 ; factors in
the choice, sun-colors of East and West,
11 ; effect of geographic position, climate
as factor, 12; color of north, various, re-
ligion as factor, comparisons of color-
systems, 13; shifting and reversal, 15;
diversity, not uniformity, characteristic of
symbolism, 16.

Dorsey, George A., The Ocimbanda, or
Witch-Doctor of the Ovimbundu of Por-
tuguese Southwest Africa:

Importance of the witch-doctor, 183;
art acquired by apprenticeship, outfit, 184 ;
basket-shaped gourd used in divination,
images employed in ceremony, method of
diviner, 1S5 ; antelope horn, small charms,
1S6; poison test, 187; remedies used, 188.

Dramatization, 95, 162, 164.

Edwards, G. D., Items of Armenian Folk-

Lore collected in Boston :

Dreams, 97; superstitions, 9S ; diseases,

100 ; riddles, 101 ; games, club fist, 102 ;

candle game, customs, 103 ; Easter, 106.
Eskimo, 17, 166.
Ethical conceptions, 1.

Fewkes, J. W., Hopi Basket-Dances :

Variants of basket-dance, Si ; dates,
public Lalakonti at Walpi, 82 ; public
Lalakonti at Oraibi, 84 ; public Lala-
konti at Cipaulovi, 85 ; altar of the
Cipaulovi Lalakonti, 86 ; Owakulti, Ko-
honono basket-dance, 87 ; Tanoan vari-
ant of coronet, 89 ; coronets of two women
in the Mamzrauti, 90 ; relation of the
Bulintikibi to the Hopi ritual, 91 ; con-
clusion, 93; nature of the cult introduced,

94-

Figures and Symbols, 10, 233.
Folk- Lore Scrap Book :

Ghosts as guardians of hidden treasure,

the boy and the ghost, 64 ; penalties for
injuring Chinese scriptures, and rewards
for their distribution, 65 ; extracts from
the Yii-li or Precious Records (continued
from No. XLIII.) ; Rewards for prevent-
ing suicide, 66 ; edict of the President of
the Sixth Hall of Judgment in Hades, 67 ;
Irishman stories : The Irishman and the
pumpkin, The sea-tick and the Irishman,
The Irishman and the moon, 226 ; The
Irishmen and the watermelon, The Irish-
men and the deer, 227 ; Two Irishmen at
sea, The trick bone of a black cat, 228;
How to conjure, Remedies to cure conju-
ration, A word of courtship, Why the
wren does not fly high, Brer Rabbit beats
Brer Fox, 229 ; Osakie legend of the
Ghost Dance, by W. Jones, 2S4 ; Passion
Play at Coyoacan, 286; cures by conjure
doctors, 2S8 ; modern conjuring in Wash-
ington, 2S9.

Games, 74, 102.

Gatschet, A. S., Various Ethnographic
Notes :

African masks and secret societies,
20S ; Mumbo Jumbo, 209 ; the deities of
the early New England Indians, 211 ; the
Kalapuya people, 212.

Gatschet, A. S., Water-monsters of Ameri-
can aborigines :

Animal prodigies universal, made up of
human and brutish elements, 255 ; horned
snake of Wabenaki, 256; snake of Mic-
macs, 256; Potawatomi serpent of Lake
Manitou ; "tiger" of Peorian Indians,
257 ; dwarfs, river fairies, wood-spirits of
Creeks, of Siouan family, of Winneba-
gos, of Cherokees, 25S; of Iroquois,
horned snake of Creeks, horned alligator
of Kiowas, monster of Indians near Wil-
lamette River, 260.

Hawaii, 233.

Horsford, Cornelia, A Tradition of Shelter
Island, N. Y., 43.

Indian Tribes :

Apache, 13, 16, 219.
Aztec, 294.
Blackfoot, 24.
Cherokee, 13, 258.
Cheyenne, 24.
Chinook, 213.
Creek, 12, 258, 259.
Hopi, 12, Si.
Iroquois, 28, 259.
Kalapuya, 212, 259, 260.

Index.

317

Kiowa, 259.
Massachusetts, 211.
Maya, 13, 15, 16.
Miami, 258.
Micmac, 256.
Montagnais, 25.
Mississaga, 25.
Navaho, 2, 12.
Nipissing, 25.
Ojibwa, 26.
Omaha, 13.
Oregonian, 214.
Ottawa, 28.
Peoria, 257.

Pottawattamie, 154, 257.
Sac and Fox, 284.
Sia, 13, 15.
Siouan, 258.
Trique, 38.
Wyandot, 116.
Zuni, 13, 15.
See also " Record of American Folk-
Lore."

Journals, Indexed, 7S, 158, 305.

Kroeber, A. L., Animal Tales of the Es-
kimo :

Animals frequent in Indian mythology,
but absent in Eskimo, 17; genuine ani-
mal tales few, marriage between animal
and human being a favorite theme, tales
similar to European beast-fables, 18; Es-
kimo animal tales proper form a class by
themselves, 20; animals not associated
with cosmogony, totemism wanting, 21 ;
list of Eskimo animal tales, 22.

Kroeber, A. L., Tales of the Smith Sound
Eskimo :

I. The Tutuatuin, 166; II. Inukpan;

III. The woman who married a Tuneq;

IV. The Tornit and the Adlit, 167; V.
The woman who married a dog, 168; VI.
The origin of the narwhal, 169; VII. The
man who married a goose, 170; VIII.
Quatipalung; IX. The origin of the bear;
X. The origin of the snow-bunting and the
ptarmigan ; XI. Naulaxssaqton, 172 ; XII.
The Pleiades; XIII. The raven,i73; XIV.
Terieniaq; XV. The gull; XVI. The
Uingniaqsuqssuin; XVII. The black bear,
175; XVIII. The Aglirtoq woman and
the bear ; XIX. Qigexssuung; XX. The
bear, 176; XXI. Kiviung ; XXII. Igi-
massuxssuq, 177; XXIII. Qauaxsaqsuq;
XXIV. The tortured girl, 178; XXV.
Akssait Iqoxie (He cut off her fingers) ;
XXVI. The sun and the moon, 179;

XXVII. Aningan; XXVIII. Irdlirviri-
sisong, 180; XXIX. Qalutaling ; XXX.
Fragments, 181.

Local Meetings and Other Notices :

Annual Meeting of the American Folk-
Lore Society, 1899, 230, 287 ; Baltimore
Branch, 147, 296; Boston Branch, 71,
149; Cambridge Branch, 148; Cincinnati
Branch, 150, 297; Presentation to the
Folk-Lore Society of objects illustrating
Mexican folk-lore, 230 ; International Con-
gress of the History of Religions, 231 ;
International Congress of Folk-Lorists,
297 ; Twelfth International Congress of
Orientalists, 299; Congress on Basque
Studies, 297.

Louisiana, 146.

Luck, 45, 132.

Magic and Witchcraft, 50, 93, 109, 132, 145,
1S3, 201.

Matthews, Washington, The Study of Eth-
ics among the Lower Races :

European prejudices, 1 ; absence of
definite standard, use of myth and tradi-
tion for determining ethical ideas, 2 ; Na-
vahoes, absence of punishment among, 3;
sacredness of kinship, 4; Navahoes not
untruthful, 5 ; savages shocked by civi-
lized customs, no system of rewards and
punishments in future life, 5 ; sense of
shame, 6 ; unselfish morality, 7 ; good
manners of aborigines, 8 ; courtesy, 9.

Medicine, popular, 47, 62, 100, 186.

Mexico, 12, 13, 161, 230.

Nature, phenomena of :

Earth, 40; four directions, 10, 13; fire,
104 ; lightning, 46, 91 ; moon, 39, 47, 48,
179 ; rainbow, 123 ; raincloud, 83, 84, 94;
seasons, 265 ; stars, 173 ; sun, 11, 39, 106;
179, 212 ; thunder, 46.

Newell, W. W., Early American Ballads,
241:

Ancient English ballads, older than the
fifteenth century, continued composition
of ballads in inferior style, 241 ; local bal-
lads of New England, W. M. Beauchamp
on, account of the death of a child, 242;
The Lancaster maid, 245 ; The Lady in
the west, 247 ; Polly's love, 248 ; variant
of theme, 249; confession of a criminal,
250; Creation, 250; Beautiful Katie and
the gray mare, song of Lovewell's fight,
253 ; manuscript ballad of 1755, 254-

Newell, W. W., The Legend of the Holy
Grail :

iS

Index.

V. Manner of development of medieval
tales: (i) Expansion, 1S9; (2) interpola-
tion of uew episodes ; (3) process of con-
necting these by genealogical ties ; (4) ac-
centuation of the marvellous element ;
(5) popularization of tales; (6) creative
imagination of the later authors, 191 ;
translations of the Perceval of Crestien ;
the Parzival of Wolfram, 192 ; Heinrich
vom Tiirlin, 197 ; the Later Titurel ; Pe-
redur, 200; Sir Percevelle, 204; Notes,
206. VI. Tales related to the enfances of
Perceval, 275 ; folk-tales representing the
hero as simpleton, 278 ; new develop-
ment of the legend, 280.
Notes and Queries :

Two witch-stories : 1. The brothers
who married witches ; 2. The second wife,
68, F. D. Bergen ; Folk-tale of the Pansy,
H. C. Bolton ; Ropes of sand ; asses ; and
the Danaides, G. M. Godden, 69 ; sacri-
fice among the Wakamba in British East
Africa, George A. Barton, 144 ; Two
negro witch-stories, black cats as witches,
Fanny D. Bergen, 145 ; Louisiana ghost
story, Fanny D. Bergen, 146; survival
in New England of foundation sacrifice,
290 ; folk-names of animals, rhyme relat-
ing to the battle of New Orleans, a nur-
sery rhyme, the mouse, the grouse, and
the little red hen, 291 ; a game of children
in Philadelphia, a dance-rhyme of chil-
dren in Brooklyn, N. Y., 292 ; negro
superstitions of European origin, 294 ;
" buffalo chips " as a remedy, an Aztec
spectre, 295.

Omens and signs, 45.

Paraphernalia and Implements of Worship :
Altars, 86 ; baskets, 82, 184; cakes, 88;
costume, 82, 85, 184; dolls and images,
88, 185; masks, 208; pictures, 84.
Plants in Folk-Lore and Myth :

Bean, 211; corn, 86, 91, 211; gourd,
183 ; irrenkraut, 47 ; knotvveed, 47 ; pansy,
69 ; toadstool, 269.

Record of American Folk-Lore :

North America, Algonkian, Athapas-
can, Caddoan, 136; Copehan, Eskimo,
Haida, Iroquoian, 137 ; Pueblos, Tsim-
shian, Uto-Aztecan, 138; Moki, 139;
Central America, South America, 140 ;
aesthetics, archaeology, art, ethnography,
141 ; games, migration, music, 142 ; sema-
tology, weapons, zobtechny, 143.

Religion :

Hopi, 81; Trique, 38 ; Wyandot, 116.
Riddles, 101.

Seventh Volume of the Memoirs of the
American Folk-Lore Society :

Richness of the collection, English ele-
ment controlling, 55 ; rabbit-foot as charm,
amulets, 56 ; saliva, 58 ; superstitious be-
liefs relating to animals, sacred quality of
some of these, 59 ; snake as friendly, cat-
omens, 60 ; introduction by J. Y. Bergen,
61.

Spirits and Ghosts, 64, 70, 146, 233.

Starr, F., Holy Week in Mexico:

Viernes de Dolores : Friday of Grief,
162 ; Palm Sunday, Passion Play, 162 ;
Holy Thursday, 163; Sabado de Gloria:
Saturday of Glory, 164.

Steiner, R., Superstitions and Beliefs from
Central Georgia :

Spirits and witches, 261 ; cross-marks,
luck, 262 ; signs, 263 ; weather, 264 ; sea-
sons, members of the body, 265 ; popular
medicine, 266 ; cats, 267 ; snakes, birds,
268 ; miscellaneous, 269.

Superstitions, 45, 98, 265.

Tales and legends, 17, 108, 120, 226, 229.
Totemism, 21, 95.

Valentini, P. J. J., Trique Theogony, an
alleged specimen of ancient Mexican
folk-lore, 38.

Weather, 61.

Whitney, A. W., Items of Maryland Belief
and Custom :

Charms believed in, a cure for "flesh
decay," or wasting disease, in a boy, 271 ;
surveyors' custom, why the Devil never
wears a hat, 272.

Wiltse, H. M., Some Mountain Supersti-
tions of the South :

Superstition, boundary of, uncertain,
signs and superstitions, 131 ; use of the
superstitions, 134; "milk-sick," 136.

Wintemberg, W. J., Items of German-Can-
adian Folk-Lore :

Death signs, rain signs, storm signs,
good luck, bad luck, 45 ; thunder and
lightning, folk-lore in connection with our
fauna, 46; folk-lore in connection with our
flora, cures, 47 ; moon signs, miscellane-
ous, 48; Halloween observance, 49; a
Christmas Eve custom, witches and witch-
craft, 50.

Wishes, 43, 104'.

THE JOURNAL OF

AMERICAN FOLK-LORE

VOLUME XIII

I

BOSTON AND NEW YORK

$ubli£j)cti for €jjc American f o\fe%avt £octetp 6p

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY

LONDON: DAVID NUTT, 270, 271 STRAND

LEIPZIG: OTTO HARRASSOWITZ, QUERSTRASSE, 14

M DCCCC

Copyright, 1900,
By THE AMERICAN FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.

All rights reserved.

Tlie Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A.
Electrotyped and printed by H. O. Houghton and Company.

THE JOURNAL OF

AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.

Vol. XIII. — JANUARY-MARCH, 1900. — No. XLVIII.

THE CHEROKEE RIVER CULT.1

From the beginning of knowledge, Fire and Water, twin deities
of the primitive pantheon, have occupied the fullest measure of man's
religious thought, holding easy precedence over all other divinities.
Others were gods of occasion, but these twain were the gods of very
existence, and in a hundred varied and varying forms, whether as
beneficent helpers in the cheering blaze and the soft-falling rain, or
as terrible scourges in the consuming conflagration or the sweeping
torrent, they were recognized always as embodiments of power, mas-
ters and conservators of life itself. If they differed in degree of
honor, the first place must be given to water, without which life was
impossible. In every cosmogony the world itself is born from the
water, and the symbolic rite of purification by ablution was so much
a part of the ancient systems that even the great teacher of Galilee
declares that except a man be born of water he cannot enter the
kingdom.

As the reverence for fire found its highest and most beautiful
expression in sun worship, so the veneration for water developt
into a cult of streams and springs. From the east to the extremest
west, primitive man bowed low to the god of the river and the foun-
tain, and a newer religion consecrated the rite that it could not
destroy. The sacred river of the Hindu, the holy wells of Ireland,
have their counterpart in the springs of the Arapaho and the Navajo,
with their sacrificial scarfs and pottery fastened upon the overhang-
ing branches or eposited upon the sandy bank.

In Cherokee ritual, the river is the Long Man, YiVfnvi Gunahita,
a giant with his head in the foothills of the mountains and his foot
far down in the lowland, pressing always, resistless and without stop,
to a certain goal, and speaking ever in murmurs which only the
priest may interpret. In the words of the sacred formulas, he holds
all things in his hands and bears down all before him. His aid is

1 Read before the Columbus meeting of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, August, 1899.

2 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

invoked with prayer and fasting on every important occasion of life,
from the very birth of the infant, in health and sickness, in war and
love, in hunting and fishing, to ward off evil spells and to win suc-
cess in friendly rivalries. Purification in the running stream is a
part of every tribal function, for which reason the town-house, in the
old days, was always erected close to the river bank.

We shall speak here of ceremonial rites in connection with the
running stream, saying nothing of the use of water in the sweat-bath
or in ordinary medico-religious practice, beyond noting the fact that
in certain cases the water used by the doctor must be dipt out
from a waterfall. Two distinct formulistic terms are used for the
rite, one of which signifies " plunging into the water," the other
" dipping up the water," nearly corresponding to our own " immer-
sion " and " sprinkling " in baptism. Whenever possible, the priest
selects a bend in the river where he can face toward the east and
look up-stream while performing the ceremony, which usually takes
place at sunrise, both priest and petitioner being still fasting.

When the new-born child is four days old, the mother brings it to
the priest, who carries it in his arms to the river, and there, standing
close to the water's edge and facing the rising sun, bends seven
times toward the water, as though to plunge the child into it. He is
careful, however, not to let the infant's body touch the cold water,
as the sudden shock might be too much for it, but holds his breath
the while he mentally recites a prayer for the health, long life, and
future prosperity of the child. The prayer finisht, he hands the
infant back to the mother, who then lightly rubs its face and breast
with water dipt up from the stream. If for any reason the cere-
mony cannot be performed on the fourth day, it is postponed to the
seventh, four and seven being the sacred numbers of the Cherokee.

At regular intervals, usually at each recurring new moon, it is
customary among the more religiously disposed of the old conserva-
tives, for the whole family to go down together at daybreak, and
fasting, to the river and stand with bare feet just touching the water,
while the priest, or, if properly instructed, the father of the house-
hold, stands behind them and recites a prayer for each in turn, after
which they plunge in and bathe their whole bodies in the river. One
of my interpreters, whose father was an acknowledged medicine-man,
told me, with shivering recollection, how, as a child, he had been
compelled to endure this ordeal every month, even in the depth of
winter, when it was sometimes necessary to break a hole in the ice
for the purpose. Following is a literal translation of one of the regu-
lar ritual prayers used on this occasion : —

" Listen ! O, now you have drawn near to hearken, O Long Man
at rest. O helper of men, you let nothing slip from your grasp. You

The Cherokee River Cult. 3

never let the soul slip from your grasp. Come now and take a
firmer grasp. I originated near the cataract, and from there I stretch
out my hand toward this place. Now I have bathed in your body.
Let the white foam cling to my head as I go about, and let the white
staff be in my hand. . Let the health-giving dya await me along the
road. Now my soul stands erect in the seventh heaven. Yil ! "

The declaration that the suppliant himself originated " near the
cataract " is intended to emphasize his claims upon the assistance of
the Long Man, who is held to speak to the initiated in the murmurs
of the stream and the roar of the waterfall. The idea intended to be
conveyed by the latter part of the prayer is that the petitioner, hav-
ing bathed in the stream, comes out with the white foam still cling-
ing to his head, and taking in his hand the " white staff — symbolic
of old age and a long life — begins his journey to the seventh upper
world, the final abode of the immortals. At first his progress is slow
and halting, but strengthened by the health-giving dya (ambrosia)
set out for him at intervals along the road, he is enabled at last to
reach the goal, where his soul thereafter stands erect.

It is well-nigh impossible to render into English all the subtle
meaning of the Cherokee formulistic original. Thus the verb
translated here, stands erect, implies that the subject is now at last
standing erect, after having for a long time staggered or crept along,
like a sick man or an infant. Philologists acquainted with Indian
languages will appreciate this difficulty. Moreover, many of the
formulistic expressions occur only in the sacred rituals and are
unintelligible to the laity. In the color symbolism of the tribe,
white is emblematic of peace and happiness ; red, of power and suc-
cess ; blue, of trouble and defeat ; and black, of death.

When a member of a family dies, it is believed that the spirit is
loath to leave the scenes of life and go alone upon the long journey
to the Darkening Land in the west. It therefore hovers about for
a time, seeking to draw to it the souls of those it has most loved on
earth, that it may have company in the spirit land. Thus it is that
the friends of the lost one pine and are sorrowful and refuse to eat,
because the shadow-soul is pulling at their heartstrings, and unless
the aid of the priest is invoked their strength will steadily diminish,
their souls will be drawn from them, and they too will die. To
break the hold of the spirit and to wash away the memory of the
bereavement, so that they may have quick recovery, is one of the
greatest functions of the medicine-man.

Following is one of the prayers used for this purpose, the address
being to the Ancient White (the Fire), the Long Man (the River),
and Ge'hyaguga (the Sun) : —

4 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

"THIS IS TO TAKE BEREAVED ONES TO WATER."

Sge ! O Ancient White, where you have let the soul slip from
your grasp, it has dwindled away. Now his health has been restored
and he shall live to be old. Kit !

Sge ! O Long Man, now you had let the soul slip from your
grasp and it had dwindled away. Now his health has been restored
and he shall live to be old.

In the first upper world, O Ge'hyaguga, you have the tables. The
white food shall be set out upon them. It shall be reached over
and pushed away (i. e., the client shall eat of the " white " or health-
giving food, reaching across the tables in his eagerness, and pushing
the food away from him when satisfied). His health has been
restored and he shall live to be old.

In the second upper world, O Ge'hyaguga, you have the tables.
The white food shall be set out upon them. It shall be reached over
and pushed away. His health has been restored and he shall live
to be old.

In the third upper world, O Ge'hyaguga, you have the tables.
The white food shall be set out upon them. It shall be reached over
and pushed away. His health has been restored and he shall live
to be old.

In the fourth upper world, O Ge'hyaguga, you have the tables.
The white food shall be set out upon them. It shall be reached over
and pushed away. His health has been restored and he shall live
to be old.

In the fifth upper world, O Ga'hyaguga, you have the tables.
The white food shall be set out upon them. It shall be reached over
and pushed away. His health has been restored and he shall live
to be old.

In the sixth upper world, O Ge'hyaguga, you have the tables.
The white food shall be set out upon them. It shall be reached over
and pushed away. His health has been restored and he shall live
to be old.

In the seventh upper world, O Ge'hyaguga, you have the tables.
The white food has been set out upon them. It has been reached
over. It has been pushed away. His health has been restored and
he shall live to be old. Yil !

The first paragraph, addressed to the Fire, the "Ancient White,"
is recited by the priest inside the house of his clients, while stand-
ing in front of the fire and looking down into it, with his back
turned to the members of the family, who stand in line with their
backs turned toward him and their eyes looking out the door. He

The Cherokee River Cult. 5

has with him an assistant, who, at the conclusion of the final para-
graph, ejaculates Kit ! when the members of the family start in
procession to go down to the water, followed by the doctor and the
attendant.

On arriving at the stream, the persons for whose benefit the cere-
mony is intended stand in line side by side close to the water's
edge, with their eyes intently fixed upon the stream, while the priest
stands behind them with his hands outstretcht and his eyes looking
straight forward. He then recites the prayer to the " Long Man,"
the River, followed by the seven paragraphs addressed to Ge'hyaguga,
the Sun, represented as the owner of tables spread with "white," or
peace-bringing food, which the client eats and is restored to health.
During this part of the ceremony the attendant is closely watching
the appearance of the water in front of the clients for the distance
of a " hand-length " {awa!Jiilii, a formulistic term, not always to be
taken literally) from the shore. Should a stick, fish, or other object
come within this limit during the recitation of the prayer, it is a
sign that the death in the family was due to witchcraft. By certain
signs in connection with the appearance of the object, the priest is
enabled to guess the whereabouts, or even the name, of the secret
enemy, who must then be proceeded against in another ceremony
to neutralize any further evil conjurations. On the other hand,
should the water appear clear, the death was due to ordinary circum-
stances, and no further ceremony is necessary.

As the priest mentions each in turn of the seven upper worlds, —
each of which is figuratively said to be a " hand-length " above the
last, — he raises his hands gradually higher, until, at the concluding
paragraph, they are stretcht high above his head. At the final
Yti ! his clients bend down with one accord, and, dipping up the
water in their hands, lave their heads and breasts, or else, wading
out into the stream, plunge their bodies completely under seven
times.

Each "upper world" or heaven {gaWtdati) symbolizes a definite
period, usually one year or one month, according to the nature of the
formula. In ceremonies for obtaining long life, the period is com-
monly one year. Should the omens in the water be propitious up to
the mention of the third, fourth, or fifth upper world, the client will
live three, four, or five years longer. If all goes well until he is
raised up to the seventh or highest heaven, he may expect at least a
seven years' lease of life, for beyond this limit the mental vision of
the seer is unable to pierce the future. If, on the contrary, an unfa-
vorable omen is perceived in the water during the recital, for instance,
of the paragraph which raises the client to the fifth upper world, the
priest knows that some great danger, possibly death itself, threatens

6 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

the man in five months or five years to come. This necessitates the
immediate performance of another ceremony, accompanied by fast-
ing and going to water, to turn aside the impending peril. The final
result is generally successful, as the priest seldom ceases from his
labors until the omens are propitious. Should it still be otherwise,
after all his effort, he informs his client, who is often so completely
under the force of the delusion that he not infrequently loses all
courage, believing himself doomed by an inexorable fate, broods,
sickens, and actually dies, thus fulfilling the prediction.

Chief among the sacred paraphernalia of the priests and conjurers
are the beads used in connection with certain water ceremonies,
more especially those for counteracting the evil spells of a secret
enemy, or for compassing the death of a rival. The beads formerly
used were the small glossy seeds of the Viper's Bugloss {EcJiium
vidgare), superseded now by the ordinary beads of glass or porcelain.
They are called by the formulistic name of sti'mkta, the regular term
being adela. They are of different symbolic colors, and are kept
carefully wrapt in buckskin — or in cloth, in these degenerate days
of calico — until needed in the ceremony, when they are uncovered
and laid upon a whole buckskin spread out upon the ground, or,
more often now, upon a piece of new cloth furnished by the client,
and which is afterward claimed by the priest as the fee for his
services.

There are many formulas for conjuring with the beads, and differ-
ences also in the details of the ceremony, but the general practice is
the same in nearly all cases. Let us suppose that it is performed
for the benefit of a man who believes himself to be withering away
under a secret spell, or who desires the death of a hated rival.

Priest and client go down together at early daybreak to the river,
and take up their position at the point where they can look up-stream
while facing the rising sun. The client then wades out to where,
in ceremonial language, the water is a " hand-length " in depth and
stands silently with his eyes fixed upon the water and his back to
the shaman upon the bank, while the latter unfolds upon the sand a
white and black cloth, and lays upon the first the red beads — typi-
cal of success and his client — and upon the other the black beads,
emblematic of death and the intended victim.

The priest now takes a red bead, representing his client, between
the thumb and index finger of his right hand, and a black bead,
representing the victim, in a like manner, in his left hand. Standing
a few feet behind his client he turns toward the east, fixes his eyes
upon the bead in his right hand, and addresses it as the Sii'nikta
Gigagdi, the Red Bead, invoking blessings upon his client and clothing
him with the red garments of success. The formula is repeated in

The Cherokee River Cult. 7

a low chant or intonation, the voice rising at intervals, after the man-
ner of a revival speaker. Then, turning to the black bead in his left
hand, he addresses it in a similar manner, calling down withering
curses upon the head of the victim. Finally looking up, he addresses
the stream, under the name of Yfi'iiwi Gtlnahita, the " Long Man,"
imploring it to protect his client and raise him to the seventh heaven,
where he shall be secure from all his enemies. The other, then stoop-
ing down, dips up water in his hand seven times and pours it over
his head, rubbing it upon his shoulders and breast at the same time.
In some cases he dips completely under seven times, being stript, of
course, even when the water is of almost icy coldness. The priest,
then stooping down, makes a hole in the ground with his finger,
drops into it the fatal black bead, and buries it out of sight with a
stamp of his foot. This ends the ceremony.

While addressing the beads the priest attentively observes them
as they are held between the thumb and finger of his outstretcht
hands. In a short time they begin to move, slowly and but a short
distance at first, then faster and farther, sometimes coming down as
far as the first joint of the finger or even below, with an irregular
serpentine motion from side to side, returning in the same manner.
Should the red bead be more lively in its movements and come
down lower on the finger than the black bead, he confidently predicts
for the client the speedy accomplishment of his desire. On the other
hand, should the black bead surpass the red in activity, the spells of
the shaman employed by the intended victim are too strong, and the
whole ceremony must be gone over again with an additional and
larger quantity of cloth. This must be kept up until the movements
of the red bead give token of success, or until it shows by its sluggish
motions or its failure to move down along the finger that the oppos:
ing shaman cannot be overcome. In the latter case the discouraged
plotter gives up all hope, considering himself as cursed by every im-
precation which he has unsuccessfully invoked upon his enemy, goes
home and — theoretically — lies down and dies. As a matter of fact,
however, the priest is always ready with other formulas by means of
which he can ward off such fatal results, in consideration of a suffi-
cient quantity of cloth.

Should the first trial prove unsuccessful, the priest and his client
fast until just before sunset. They then eat and remain awake until
midnight, when the ceremony is repeated, and if still unsuccessful it
may be repeated four times before daybreak, both men remaining
awake and fasting throughout the night. If still unsuccessful, they
continue to fast all day until just before sundown. Then they eat
and again remain awake until midnight, when the previous night's
program is repeated. As the enemy and his shaman are supposed

8 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

to be industriously working counter-charms all the while, it now be-
comes a trial of endurance between the two parties, each being
obliged to subsist upon one meal per day and abstain entirely from
sleep until the result has been decided one way or the other. Failure
to endure this severe strain, even so much as closing the eyes in
sleep for a few moments, or partaking of the least nourishment
excepting just before sunset, neutralizes all the previous work and
places the unfortunate offender at the mercy of his more watchful
enemy. If the priest be still unsuccessful on the fourth day, he
acknowledges himself defeated and gives up the contest. Should
his spells prove the stronger, his victim will die within seven days,
or, as the Cherokees say, seven nights. These " seven nights," how-
ever, are interpreted figuratively, to mean seven years, a rendering
which often serves to relieve the conjurer from a very embarrassing
position.

With regard to the oracle of the ceremony, the beads do move ;
but the explanation is simple, although the Indians account for it by
saying that the beads become alive by the recitation of the sacred
formula. The priest is laboring under strong though supprest
emotion. He stands with his hands stretcht out in a constrained
position, every muscle tense, his breast heaving and his voice trem-
bling from the effort, and the natural result is that, before he is done
praying, his fingers begin to twitch involuntarily and thus cause the
beads to move. As before stated, their motion is irregular, but the
peculiar delicacy of touch acquired by long practice probably im-
parts more directness to their movements than would at first seem
possible.

We give one of the formulas used in connection with the beads
when performing the purification rite for a family preparatory to
eating the new corn. It will be noted that the form of the prayer
is assertive rather than petitional. In this case, as always in con-
nection with the Green Corn Dance, the principal bead is white,
symbolic of health, happiness, and gentle peace ; instead of red, sig-
nificant of triumph over another. The ceremony is performed for
each membei of the family in turn, and should the movements of the
beads foreshadow sickness to any one of them, the priest at once
takes the necessary steps to avert the misfortune.

" THIS IS FOR USING THE BEADS."

Sge! O now you have drawn near to listen, O Long Man, in re-
pose. You fail not in anything. My paths lead down to the edge
of your body. The white cloth has come and is resting upon the
white seats. The white beads are resting upon it (the cloth). The
soul restored has now ascended to the first upper world.

The Cherokee River Cult. 9

In the second upper world, where the white seats have been let
down, the white cloth has come and rested upon them. The white
beads are resting upon it. The soul restored has now ascended to
the second upper world.

In the third upper world, where the white seats have been let
down, the white cloth has come and rested upon them. The white
beads are resting upon it. The soul restored has now ascended to
the third upper world.

In the fourth upper world, where the white seats have been let
down, the white cloth has come and rested upon them. The white
beads are resting upon it. The soul restored has now ascended to
the fourth upper world.

In the fifth upper world, where the white seats have been let
down, the white cloth has come and rested upon them. The white
beads are resting upon it. The soul restored has now ascended to
the fifth upper world.

In the sixth upper world, where the white seats have been let
down, the white cloth has come and rested npon them. The white
beads are resting upon it. The soul restored has now ascended to
the sixth upper world.

In the seventh upper world, where the white seats have been let
down, the white cloth has come and rested upon them. The white
beads are resting upon it. He is called thus {iyiisti, mentioning
name). His soul, made pleasing, has now been examined. His soul
has now gone to the seventh upper world and appeared there in full
view. He shall recover by degrees. Yil !

The next formula, used also in connection with the beads, is
rather peculiar, and is intended to ward off the evil presaged by
dreams of sudden death, as by falling from a cliff, drowning in the
river, or any similar accident. Such dreams are regarded as the
result of the hostile conjurations of some secret enemy, and it is
believed that the calamity shadowed forth will actually befall
unless the proper ceremony is performed to avert it. The client is
specially mentioned by name and clan, and the prediction is read
from the appearance of the water and the movements of the beads.

"this is when they have bad dreams."

Sge ! His clan is this (insert name). He is called thus {iyiistt —
name). Evil things were being allotted for him. Where is the
assigner of evil located ?

Sge ! Oh, now you have drawn near to listen, O Brown Beaver.
Evil was being allotted for him, but now it has been taken away.
The body is called thus. The evil has been taken away. Where

i o Journal of A merican Folk- Lore.

people are many, there you have gone and allotted that evil shall re-
main. He is called thus. His soul is now released. His soul has
now been lifted up. His soul has become renewed. His soul
has now been lifted up.

Sge ! His clan is this. He is called thus. Evil things were being
allotted for him. Where is the assigner of evil located ?

Sge ! O White Beaver, reposing up the stream, quickly you have
arisen. Evil things were being allotted for him, but now it has been
taken away. The evil allotted has now been turned aside. It has
been scattered about where people are many. It shall utterly dis-
appear. His soul has now been renewed. His pleasure-filled soul
has now been lifted up. In the seventh upper world his soul has
now arisen to its full height. Y-fo !

The priest stands upon the bank, while the client, stript of all
clothing excepting his shirt, wades out into the shallow water. Be-
fore beginning the prayer, the priest inquires of his client to what
place he wishes to send the evil foreshadowed in the prophetic
dream, for it is held that such dreams must be fulfilled, and that all
that the priest can do is to divert their accomplishment from the
intended victim. The client names some distant settlement as the
place where he wishes the blow to fall, and the priest at once sum-
mons the Beaver to bear the " evil thing " (tsasta) to that place and
leave it there, "where people are many." As every Cherokee set-
tlement is situated upon a stream, and the " evil thing," when exor-
cised, is thrown into the water, it is quite natural that the Beaver
should be chosen to assist in the matter. Should the priest find
himself unable to send the calamity so far, the client names some
nearer settlement, and a second attempt is made, and so on until a
resting place is found for the tsdstd, even though it be necessary to
send it to another clan or family within the settlement of the client
himself. These successive trials are made by working the beads,
using one color for the client and the other for the vicarious victim,
as already described. After each recitation the client stoops and
laves his face in the water. When the beads show that the evil is
finally banisht, he wades far out into the stream and plunges under
seven times. At the seventh plunge, while still under water, he
tears the shirt from his body and lets it float down the stream,
carrying with it all the evil of the dream, to go where the Beaver
wills.

James Mooney.

Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, D. C.

Athabascan Myths. n

ATHABASCAN MYTHS.1

LOUCHEUX TRIBE.
I. LITTLE HAIRY MAN.

The Loucheux Indians once cached a quantity of meat, which the
Polar Bear (So) discovered and began to eat. The people were
unable to kill the animal themselves, so they called upon the Little
Hairy Man. The bear came to rob the cache (tsi) at night, and the
Little Man concealed himself in a tree to await the coming of the
thief. The people were to give the Little Man a big knife if he
killed the bear ; he took this knife with him into the tree, and when
the bear appeared he jumped down upon and easily killed it, thus
gaining possession of the knife. The Little Man left the place, and
continued his wanderings as usual. As he went along, he came
upon two brothers who were separated from the rest of the tribe, so
he asked them what they were doing. They replied that they were
just travelling about, and in turn they asked the Little Man what he
was doing. "I am wandering about also ; let us journey together."
The Little Man called one of his companions " Breaking Mountain "
and the other "Breaking Sticks." They asked him what his name
was, and he replied that he had no name, but that anything that
they asked of him would be granted. They decided to call him
Little Hairy Man. As they went along together, they came upon
two deserted houses, which they occupied for a time. Little Man
and Breaking Mountain went off to hunt and cut wood, while Break-
ing Sticks stayed at home to attend to the cooking. When the hunt-
ers returned they found no dinner cooked, but Breaking Sticks was
lying in his blanket groaning. The following day Little Man and
Breaking Sticks went out, leaving Breaking Mountain to take care
of the camp, but as he repeated his brother's experience Little Man
said, " You two go and cut wood and I will stay at home and get the
dinner." As soon as they were gone a strange pigmy entered the
house and said, " What are you doing here ? Who gave you permis-
sion to stop here ? " The stranger tried to whip Little Hairy Man,
but the latter was too quick for him, snatched the whip away and
drove the fellow out and into a hole under the other house. When
the two brothers returned a dinner was awaiting them, and the
Little Man said, " So that is what troubled you two. The pigmy
gave you a whipping." " You must have caught it yourself to-day,"
they replied. " No, I whipped him and chased him into his burrow

1 Told by a Loucheux woman at McPherson, the northernmost Hudson's Bay
trading post, to Captain J. W. Mills.

1 2 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

under the other building." After they had dined they went to
examine the retreat of the mysterious stranger. By means of a
strong cord and an old kettle, Breaking Mountain was lowered into
the hole. He came back saying that he had seen a door at the bot-
tom of the pit. Breaking Sticks next went down and reported the
finding of the corpse of the pigmy. Little Hairy Man then went
down, taking his big knife with him. He knocked on the door
which he found and a voice answered, " Come in ! " On entering
he was met by a two-headed individual, who asked, " Are you the
person who killed my son ? " " Yes," replied the Little Hairy Man.
At this the monster rushed upon him, and tried to kill him. Little
Man succeeded in cutting off both the heads with his big knife. He
then noticed another door to the apartment, on which he knocked,
and received the invitation to enter as before. This time he was
met by a creature with three heads, who asked the same question,
and upon receiving an affirmative reply tried to kill him. Little
Man overcame his opponent and chopped off his three heads. To
this apartment there was a door, at which he knocked and entered
to find a four-headed being, whom he killed after a severe struggle.
Before him stood yet another door, through which he passed to find
three pretty women. He was much pleased with the appearance of
the prettiest one, who gave him a ring. He took them to the en-
trance, and sent them up one by one in the kettle. When it came
the turn of the Little Man to be hauled out, Breaking Sticks, who
thought Little Man would want all the women for his own wives,
said, " Let us cut the line." " No," said Breaking Mountain, " he
helps us very much, and does things which we cannot do." But
before he had finished speaking his brother had cut the line, allow-
ing the kettle to fall with the Little Hairy Man to the bottom of the
shaft. A small dog that had belonged to the pigmy came and licked
the wounds of Little Man, brought him bread, and finally showed
him the way to escape. Little Man found that the brothers and the
women whom he had rescued were gone, so he took his big knife
and set off after them. As he was passing through some thick
woods, he heard the sounds of a struggle, and soon came upon the
dead body of a moose, ting-ik, over which a woodpecker, a wasp, and
a little wood-worm were fighting. Little Man wished to settle their
differences for them, so he divided the carcass, giving the meat to
the wasp, the fat to the woodpecker, and the bones to the wood-
worm. Then he started off, but the woodpecker flew after him, and
called him back. They all thanked him, and told him if he ever got
in trouble he might turn into a woodpecker, a wasp, or a little worm.
He thanked them and went on his way. Little Man came to a big
lake ; to avoid the long journey around, he wished himself a wood-

Athabascan Myths. 13

pecker, and in that form flew out over the lake. When he was half
way across he became very tired, and, seeing a stick of driftwood,
wished to be a worm. He crawled into the stick, where he remained
until he felt it strike against the shore. Then he came out and
found a large quantity of fresh chips around him. He soon caught
sight of a small house and wished to be transformed into a wasp.
In this guise he entered the house and found the brothers and the
three women inside. The girl whom he had chosen was cooking
food. Little Man went back into the forest and resumed his natural
shape, then he returned with his big knife to the house. He asked
the girl what she was doing, and she said she was cooking. " May
I help you?" "Yes," said she, after consulting her master. Little
Hairy Man helped her place the food, and he arranged it in six por-
tions. "Why do you set six places?" said she; "the cooks do not
eat with their masters." But he replied, "We will eat with them
this once to talk about old times." Her master said, "Very well."
When they sat down to eat, he placed the ring she had given him
beside the plate of his sweetheart, who recognized it at once, and
turned pale as she concealed it. Breaking Mountain began to tell
the story of their desertion of Little Man, and said he was sorry,
because Little Man was so useful. Breaking Sticks laughed and
said, " Well, I laughed when I heard the kettle rattling down, and
the Little Man squealing." At this the Little Man jumped up and
killed them all. Little Man left the house and went on his way
again.

He found a small house in the forest, and on entering discovered
a pretty woman in it. He asked her to marry him, but she said
that she was married and her husband was away. She was afraid of
her husband, and dared not run away with Little Man. He said,
" I will kill him," but she declared that no one could do that. When
the husband returned she asked him how any one could kill him, and
he answered : " First, there is a mountain-lion ; if you kill it, a bear
will come from the carcass, then a wolf will come from the bear, a
wolverine from the wolf, a rabbit from the wolverine, a partridge
from the rabbit, an egg from the partridge : only by striking me on
the forehead with that egg can you kill me." The next day, when
the man was away, the woman told Little Hairy Man how he could
kill her husband. He killed the mountain-lion and all the other
animals, and obtained the egg, which he took to the woman. When
her husband came home she wanted to hunt lice in his head ; while
his head was in her lap she struck him with the egg and killed him.
She and Little Hairy Man were married and lived [happily] together.

1 4 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

II. THE RAVEN (tE-TCI*).1

There once lived an old couple who wished to see their only
daughter married to a rich man. When any one arrived at their
camp, the old man sent his son down to the landing to see if the
stranger was provided with the necessary bone beads upon his cloth-
ing, in order that he might be received according to his rank. One
day the boy came running in, saying that some one had come whom
he would like to have for a brother-in-law, for he had a great number
of fine beads. The mother went down to the river bank, and saw a
richly dressed stranger, whom she also thought would make a suit-
able husband for her daughter. She noticed that the shore was wet
and muddy, so she procured some bark and tore it into strips for the
stranger to walk upon. He was invited to enter their tipi and was
seated next the girl. A dog was tied in the corner of the lodge,
and the visitor said, " I cannot eat while that dog is in here ; " so
the woman, thinking the man must be a very great personage to
be so particular, took the dog away into the forest and killed it.
The next morning as she went for wood, she noticed that the earth
around the body of the dog was marked with bird tracks, and that
its eyes had been picked out. When she returned to the camp she
told what she had seen, and insisted upon having all present take off
their moccasins that she might see their feet, as she had heard of
the Raven deceiving people by appearing in the human form. The
stranger, who was really the Raven, took his moccasins off, and
slipped them on so quickly that his feet were not noticed. The
girl had promised to marry him, and he insisted upon having her go
away with him at once, as he feared that his true character would be
discovered. He arranged to return in a few days, and took his bride
down to his canoe. As soon as they set off down the river it began
to rain. The Raven was seated in front of the woman, who noticed
that the falling rain was washing out something white from his back ;
this made her suspicious, and she determined to escape from the
canoe. Reaching forward, she succeeded in tying the tail of the
Raven's coat to a cross-bar of the canoe. She then asked to be set
ashore for a minute, saying that she would come right back. He
told her not to go far, but she started to run for home as soon as she
got behind the trees. The Raven also tried to get ashore, but his
tail was tied, and he could not succeed in his human form ; so he

1 The common raven, Corvus corax americanus, is quite abundant at McPher-
son and throughout the Loucheux country. It is usually called the " crow " by
the whites in the far north, but the true crow, C. americanus, is not found in the
Loucheux territory, the northern limit of its distribution being the mouth of the
Liard River.

Athabascan Myths, 15

resumed the form of the raven and cried out to the girl, " Once more
I cheat you," then he caw-cawed and flew away.

When the girl reported this to her mother the old woman asked
her what she meant, and the girl answered that the rich son-in-law
was the Raven, who had come to them dressed in his own lime,
which the rain had melted, and so exposed the trick.

The Raven was always cheating the people, so they took his beak
away from him. After a time he went away up the river and made
a raft which he loaded with moss, and came floating down to the
camps upon it. He told the people that his head was sore where his
beak had been torn off, and that he was lying in the moss to cool it.
Then he went away for two or three days, and made several rafts ;
as the people saw these coming down the river, they thought that
there were a large number of people upon the rafts, who were com-
ing to help the Raven regain his beak ; so they held a council and
decided to send the beak away in the hands of a young girl, that she
might take it to an old woman who lived all alone at some distance
from the camp. The Raven concealed himself among them and heard
their plans, so when the girl came back he went to the old woman,
and told her that the girl wished to have the beak returned. The
old woman suspected nothing and gave him his beak, which he
put on and flew away, cawing with pleasure at his success. The
supposed people that had been seen upon the rafts proved to be
nothing but the tufts or hummocks of bog moss which are commonly
known as tetes de femmes.

III. THE WOLF AND WOLVERINE.

There was once a Wolverine who married a Wolf, and for some
time he was very faithful in providing beaver for food. In the course
of time he stayed longer upon his hunting trips, and brought home
fewer beaver for his wife to cook. She reproached him for this, and
he said that he had to go farther for beaver now, and that was why
he was detained so long. His wife thought there was surely some-
thing wrong, and decided to watch him. One day, as he set out on
one of his hunting trips in his canoe, she followed along the river bank
under cover of the forest. At length she saw her husband go ashore
with a beaver which he had killed, and with which he entered a tipi
that stood by the riverside. When he went away again, the wife went
into the camp and saw a Wildcat sitting before the kettle in which
the beaver was cooking. She saw that her husband had been un-
faithful, and determined to kill the Wildcat. She told the Cat to
look into the kettle and she would see herself there ; when the Wild-
cat looked into the kettle the Wolf pushed her in, so that her face
was burned so severely that death resulted. The Wolf then dragged

1 6 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

the Wildcat to the top of the bank overlooking the landing-place,
and hid herself in the adjoining bushes. Her husband came back
with more beavers, and as he came up the bank he said to the Wild-
cat which he saw above him, "Are you waiting for me ? What are
you laughing at me for ? " for the shrivelled and grinning head ap-
peared to be laughing. But when he saw that the Cat was dead, he
exclaimed, " Ah, that is what the trouble is," and he began to weep.
He stayed a long time at the camp, and finally carried the Wildcat
away into the forest. At last he started for home, and his wife ran
back in time to be at work carrying wood when he arrived. The
Wrolverine asked, "Why is there no fire ? " " I have been out all day
gathering wood," replied his wife ; " why are you back so soon
to-day?" "Because I have found a new place where there are
plenty of beaver," said the Wolverine. But he was very sad and
unhappy for some time afterward. " Why are you so different
lately ? " asked the Wolf. But he would not tell her, and hunted
very faithfully and brought home many beavers, so that they lived
very contentedly together ever afterward.

SLAVEY TRIBE.

Told by Tenegorley. (Simpson, winter of 1897-98.)

IV. THE GREAT BEAVER (TSE-Nl' TCl').

A family of very large beavers lived on the Great Slave Lake,
long ago, and the lodge is still there. Well, they all started down
the Mackenzie River, and when they had gone a long distance, one
of them killed one of his companions and roasted the flesh, but left
it hanging before the fire while he fell asleep. While he slept a
wolverine came along and took the roasted beaver and left a roll of
moss in its place. After a time the sleeping beaver awoke. When
he found that the roasted flesh was gone he was vexed, so he took
the bark dish that he had placed under the roasting meat to catch
the fat and emptied it into the fire, saying, "Burn, and never go
out." And so the fire burns to this day.1

Then he went down-stream until he came to some high rocks,
where he met a wolverine, with whom he wished to fight ; but the
wolverine said, " No, I will not fight with you, and you cannot
catch me." He then tried to escape by running up the face of the
cliff. Then the beaver said, "Stay there, and never come down."
And the wolverine was turned into stone, and can be seen there to
this day.2

1 Beds of lignite along the banks of the Mackenzie a few miles above Bear
River, have been burning for a century at least.

2 Roche Carcajou, an anticlinal uplift of Devonian limestone, one thousand
feet high.

Athabascan Myths. 17

As he continued his journey down the river he went so fast at one
place that he created the " Sans Sault " Rapid.1 As the beaver
went on down the river he was discovered and pursued by a giant,
to whom he said, " If you can clear all the rocks from the river, you
may kill me, but if you cannot clear the river you will never kill
me." In his efforts to clear the channel the giant overturned his
canoe, which turned into stone, and to this day forms an island in
the bed of the stream.2 Failing to accomplish his task, the giant
said, " I cannot kill you ; but never mind, there will soon be plenty
of men here who will always hunt you and all your tribe." The
beaver replied, " Since you cannot kill me, keep still a while, and I
will paint your picture." Then the beaver painted the picture of
the giant on one side of the ramparts,3 where it may be seen to this
day. After this the giant left the country.

V. ORIGIN OF THE PINE (TSE-Vl).

There were a number of Indians in a camp who went away one
by one and were lost. At last only one remained, and he also de-
cided to leave the camp. He soon encountered a wolverine, which
said, " I know who you are ; you will have to go before me." As
they went along they came out upon the river at a point where the
bank was very steep. The wolverine said, " You must slide down."
So the Indian slid down the bank, and the wolverine ran around
through a ravine. When the man reached the bottom, he caused
his nose to bleed, and put some of the blood on a spear, and then
laid down and feigned death. When the wolverine reached the spot
where the man lay, he took him up and carried him to his camp
across the river. After placing him in the middle of the camp he
began to sharpen his knife. The man soon opened his eyes and
looked for a stick ; when he found a stick he sprang up and killed
all the wolverines except one young one which ran up a tree. The
man blew his nose and threw the phlegm at the tree, and it was
transformed into a pine. The wolverine then said, " That will do for
your arrows ; now you must leave me alone."

1 The only rapid in the Mackenzie River of any consequence, and one that is
easily passed by the steamers in any but the lowest stages of water.

2 An island at the Sans Sault Rapid divides the stream into an eastern and a
western channel, the latter being " the steamboat channel."

8 At the ramparts the Mackenzie, much contracted in width, flows between
vertical cliffs of Devonian limestone varying from one hundred to two hundred
and fifty feet in height. This gorge is but a few miles south of the Arctic circle,
and is one of the most interesting features of the great river.

VOL. XIII. — NO. 48 2

1 8 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

VI. WHY THE WOLVERINE BECAME A THIEF.

A man went out hunting with a wolverine. They were out three
nights, and during the third night the wolverine rose and threw the
man's shoes into the fire. In the morning the wolverine deserted
the man, leaving him unable to travel. The wolverine then went
out with another man, and served him in the same treacherous
manner. He went hunting with a third man, and during the first
and second nights he was very careful to provide for the man's
wants. The third evening they took off their shoes and hung them
before the fire, as is the custom of the country. The man soon rose
and put on his shoes and again laid down. Later the wolverine got
up, and, seeing a pair of shoes, thought they belonged to the man,
and threw them into the fire. The next morning, as they rose, the
wolverine said, " Where are your shoes ? " " On my feet," replied
the man. " I have lost mine," said the wolverine ; " lend me yours,
and I will go and get a pair for you." But the man refused. Just
as he was leaving the camp the wolverine put his forefoot in the fire
and burned it. " I will never hunt for myself again, but will always
live by robbing the caches of the people." And that is why the
wolverine is such a thief.

Frank Russell.

Folk-Tales from Georgia. 19

FOLK-TALES FROM GEORGIA.

I. WHEN BRER RABBIT GET BRER BEAR CHURCHED.

One year Brer Bear he have a pen of fine hogs just ready for the
smoke-house. But just before the Christmas season come on, every
morning when Brer Bear fotch out his corn to feed the hogs, Brer
Bear he done count them, and he find one gone ; and the next morn-
ing Brer Bear done count them, and he find one more gone ; and so
it go twell nigh 'bout the lastest one of Brer Bear's fine fat hogs done
gone.

Now Brer Bear he 'low he bound to find out who the thief what
steal his hogs ; so all enduring the Christmas holidays Brer Bear
he visit 'bout among his neighbors constant, and they all say, What
come over Brer Bear, he getting that sociable.

But when Brer Bear visiting, Brer Bear he be a-looking, and he
be a-smelling for them fine hogs.

Well, Brer Bear he go to visit Brer Fox, and he don' see nothing
and he don' smell nothing ; and then Brer Bear he go visit Sis Coon,
but he don' smell nothing and he don' see nothing ; then Brer Bear
he call on Brer Wolf, but he don' see nothing and he don' smell
nothing.

Then Brer Bear he call on Brer Rabbit. Brer Bear he knock on
the door, and Miss Rabbit she open the door, and invite Brer Bear
in. Brer Bear he say, " Where Brer Rabbit ? " and Miss Rabbit she
say, "Brer Rabbit gone to quarterly meeting," being as he one of
the stewards of the church. Miss Rabbit say, " Brer Rabbit just feel
bound to 'tend quarterly meeting."

Brer Bear he say he want a fresh drink, and he go out to the
well-house, and he see where they been killing hogs. Now Brer
Bear he know Brer Rabbit did n't put no hogs up in the pen. Brer
Bear he walk round and round, and he say, " I smell the blood of
my land."

And Brer Bear he fault Miss Rabbit with Brer Rabbit stealing all
his fine hogs, and Brer Bear he say how he going straight up to
quarterly meeting to church Brer Rabbit, and he a steward of the
church, and Brer Bear he roll his hands and arms in the blood
and he say he going take the proof.

Now Miss Rabbit certainly are a faithful wife. When Brer Bear
start off down the big road towards the quarterly meeting, Miss
Rabbit she take a short cut through the woods, lipity clipity. She
get there before Brer Bear.

Miss Rabbit she go in and take a seat longside Brer Rabbit. She
whisper in his ear, " Trouble trouble, watch out. Brer Bear he say

20 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

he smell the blood of his land, trouble trouble." Brer Rabbit he say,
"Hush your mouth," and he go on with the meeting. Now Brer
Bear ain't the onliest man what been losing hogs that Christmas.
Brer Wolf he done lose some o' his fine shotes ; somebody done take
his onliest hog outen Brer Fox pen. They take it up in meeting and
make it subject of inquiry. They put it on old Brer Rabbit, so the
old man don' know which way he going to get to, when Brer Bear
walk in, and his hands and arms covered with the blood, what he
take to prove up old Brer Rabbit before the meeting.

Directly Brer Bear walk in the door with the blood on his hands,
Brer Rabbit he clap his hands and he shout, " Praise the Lord,
brethren ! The Lord done deliver me and bring forth his witness ! "
and the people all that distracted they don' listen to a word poor old
Brer Bear say, but they all talk, and take votes, and they church old
Brer Bear right there ; and that why old Brer Bear ain't no church-
man. But Brer Rabbit he run the church yet, and they say how he
never miss quarterly meeting.

II. WHEN BRER RABBIT WAS PRESIDIN* ELDER.

Now Brer Rabbit he never get to be no sure 'nough presidin'
elder. Brer Rabbit he always been a meeting going man, but it all
along of his trifling ways that he never get no higher than a steward
in the church. Brer Rabbit he never get to be a preacher, not to say
a sure 'nough presidin' elder.

But one year Brer Rabbit he get powerful ambitious. He see all
his neighbors building fine houses, and Brer Rabbit he say to his-
self he going to have a fine house. So Brer Rabbit he study and he
study how he going get the money for his house, and one day he
say to Miss Rabbit, " You bresh up my meeting clo's."

So Miss Rabbit she get out Brer Rabbit's meeting clo's, and bresh
em up, and take a few stitches, and make the buttons fast.

One Saturday Brer Rabbit he put on all his meeting clo's, and
his churn hat, and take his bible and hymn-book, and cut hisself a
fine walking cane, and Brer Rabbit he start off.

Brer Rabbit he take the circuit, and he preach in every church,
and Brer Rabbit he say how he be the presiding elder of the district,
and how he taking up a collection to build a new parsonage ; and
being as Brer Rabbit am a powerful preacher when he aim to try
hisself, and preach in the spirit, the people they give with a free
hand.

Brer Rabbit he know what he doing, Brer Rabbit do, and he ride
the circuit just before Christmas, and they tells how nigh 'bout the
lastest one enduring the whole circuit done rob his Christmas for
Brer Rabbit's parsonage.

Folk-Tales from Georgia. 21

Well, when they see Brer Rabbit's fine house going up and hear
how Brer Rabbit done used they alls money, well, there was a time,
you may be sure, and they church Brer Rabbit ; but Brer Rabbit he
don't trouble hisself, he just go on and build his fine house. But
bless you, the last shingle ain't laid before here they come begging
Brer Rabbit to come back in the church, 'cause Brer Rabbit be a
good paying member. So Brer Rabbit he go back in the church
and he live in his fine house and hold his head powerful high, and
what the people done say they done say, but you may be sure they
don' say a word when Brer Rabbit listen.

III. WHEN BRER WOLF HAVE HIS CORN SHUCKING.

Brer Wolf he make a powerful crop of corn one year, and he
turn it over in his mind how he going to get all that corn shucked,
cause Brer Wolf mighty unpopular man with his neighbors, and
when Brer Wolf have a corn shucking the creeters don't turn out,
like they do when Sis Coon have a corn shucking.

But Brer Wolf he have a powerful handsome daughter on the car-
pet. All the chaps about the county has their heads set to step up
to Brer Wolf's daughter. So Brer Wolf he send out word how the
chap what shucks the most corn at his shucking shall have his
handsome daughter.

Well, the chaps they come from the fur end of Columbia County,
and some come over from Richmond County, and they set to work,
and they make the shucks fly, and each chap have a pile to hisself.
Brer Coon he mighty set on Brer Wolf's daughter, and Brer Coon
he know hisself are powerful likely corn shucker, and Brer Coon he
'low to hisself how he have a right smart chance to get the gal.

Brer Fox his head done plum turned when Miss Wolf roll her
handsome eyes at hisself ; and so Brer Fox he get a pile to hisself
and fall to work.

Now old Brer Rabbit his heart set on the gal, but Brer Rabbit
he are a mighty poor corn shucker. Brer Rabbit he jest naterally
know he don' stand no chance shucking a pile of corn and making
time against Brer Coon.

So Brer Rabbit he don' waste hisself, Brer Rabbit don', but Brer
Rabbit he take his hat off and he go up to Brer Wolf, and he make
his bow, and he ask Brer Wolf, If he learn his daughter to dance,
can he have her ? But Brer Wolf he say, "What I said I said."
Well, Brer Rabbit he feel terrible put down, but he fall to, and he
act most survigorous. He sing and he dance, and he dance and he
sing, and he amuse the company most 'greeable like ; and he sing
before the gals, and he dance before the gals, and he show them the
new step and the new shuffle, Brer Rabbit do. Brer Coon he just

2 2 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

turn his eye on Brer Rabbit 'casionly, but he don't pay no 'tention to
his acting and frollicking. Brer Coon he just make time with his
corn shucking, twell Brer Coon's pile it make three times the pile of
the other chaps.

When it come time for Brer Wolf to come round and count his
piles, Brer Rabbit he set down long side Brer Coon, and he fall to
shucking corn to beat all. When Brer Wolf come round, Brer Rab-
bit he certainly do make the shucks fly powerful, 'cause the old ras-
cal just been cutting up and acting all the evening, and he ain't
tired like the other chaps.

When Brer Wolf see the great pile so much bigger than what all
the other chaps got, Brer Wolf he say, " What for both you chaps
shuck on one pile ? " Brer Coon he 'low that all his pile. He 'low,
Brer Coon do, how Brer Rabbit been cutting up and frollicking all
the evening, and he just now come and set down 'longside his
pile.

Brer Rabbit he say he swear and kiss the book, this my pile.
Brer Coon he just been frollickin and going on all the evening to
beat all ; he make us laugh nigh 'bout fit to kill ourselves, while I
done work my hands plum to the bone. Now he set hisself down
here and say it his pile.

Brer Wolf he say he leave it out to the company. But the chaps
they don't want Brer Rabbit to have the gal, and they don't want
Brer Coon to have the gal, so they won't take sides ; they 'low they
been working so powerful hard, they don't take noticement of Brer
Coon or Brer Rabbit. Then Brer Wolf he 'low he leave it out to
the gals.

Now Miss Wolf she been favoring Brer Rabbit all the evening.
Brer Rabbit dancing and singing plum turned Miss Wolf's head, so
Miss Wolf she say, " It most surely are Brer Rabbit's pile." Miss
Wolf she say she " plum 'stonished how Brer Coon can story so."
Brer Rabbit he take the gal and go off home clipity, lipity. Poor
old Brer Coon he take hisself off home, he so tired he can scarcely
hold hisself together.

IV. BRER RABBIT'S COOL AIR SWING.

Mr. Man he have a fine garden.

Brer Rabbit he visit Mr. Man's garden every day and destroy
the lastest thing in it, twell Mr. Man plum wore out with old Brer
Rabbit.

Mr. Man he set a trap for old Brer Rabbit down 'longside the
big road.

One day when Mr. Man going down to the cross-roads, he look in
his trap, and sure 'nough, there old Brer Rabbit.

Folk-Tales from Georgia. 23

Mr. Man he say, " Oh, so old man, here you is. Now I '11 have
you for my dinner."

Mr. Man he take a cord from his pocket, and tie Brer Rabbit high
on a limb of a sweet gum tree, and he leave Brer Rabbit swinging
there twell he come back from the cross-roads, when he aim to fotch
Brer Rabbit home and cook him for his dinner.

Brer Rabbit he swing thisaway in the wind and thataway in the
wind, and he swing thisaway in the wind and thataway in the
wind, and he think he time done come. Poor old Brer Rabbit
don't know where he 's at.

Presently here come Brer Wolf loping down the big road. When
Brer Wolf see old Brer Rabbit swinging thisaway and thataway in
the wind, Brer Wolf he stop short and he say, " God a'mighty, man !
what you doing up there?" Brer Rabbit he say, "This just my
cool air swing. I just taking a swing this morning."

But Brer Rabbit he just know Brer Wolf going to make way with
him. Brer Rabbit he just turn it over in his mind which way he
going to get to. The wind it swing poor Brer Rabbit way out this-
away and way out thataway. While Brer Rabbit swinging, he work
his brain, too.

Brer Wolf he say, " Brer Rabbit, I got you fast ; now I going eat
you up." Brer Rabbit he say, " Brer Wolf, open your mouth and
shut your eyes, and I '11 jump plum in your mouth." So Brer Wolf
turn his head up and shut his eyes. Brer Rabbit he feel in his
pocket and take out some pepper, and Brer Rabbit he throw it plum
down Brer Wolf's throat. Brer Wolf he nigh 'bout 'stracted with
the misery. He cough and he roll in the dirt, and he get up and he
strike out for home, coughing to beat all. And Brer Rabbit he
swing thisaway and thataway in the wind.

Presently here come Brer Squirrel. When Brer Squirrel he see
the wind swing Brer Rabbit way out thisaway and way out thata-
way, Brer Squirrel he that 'stonished, he stop short. Brer Squir-
rel he say, " Fore the Lord, Brer Rabbit, what you done done to
yourself this yer time ? "

Brer Rabbit he say, " This yer my cool air swing, Brer Squirrel.
I taking a fine swing this morning." And the wind it swing Brer
Rabbit way out thisaway and way back thataway.

Brer Rabbit he fold his hands, and look mighty restful and happy,
like he settin' back fanning hisself on his front porch.

Brer Squirrel he say, " Please sir, Brer Rabbit, let me try your
swing one time."

Erer Rabbit he say, "Certainly, Brer Squirrel, you do me proud,"
and Brer Rabbit he make like he make haste to turn hisself loose.

Presently Brer Rabbit he say, " Come up here, Brer Squirrel, and

24 Jotirnal of American Folk-Lore.

give me a hand with this knot," and Brer Squirrel he make haste
to go up and turn Brer Rabbit loose, and Brer Rabbit he make
Brer Squirrel fast to the cord. The wind it swing Brer Squirrel
way out thisaway and way out thataway, and Brer Squirrel he think
it fine.

Brer Rabbit he say, " I go down to the spring to get a fresh drink.
You can swing twell I come back."

Brer Squirrel he say, " Take your time, Brer Rabbit, take your
time." Brer Rabbit he take his time, and scratch out for home fast
as he can go, and he ain't caring how long Brer Squirrel swing.

Brer Squirrel he swing thisaway and he swing thataway, and he
think it fine.

Presently here come Mr. Man. When Mr. Man he see Brer Squir-
rel, he plum 'stonished. He say, " Oh, so old man, I done hear of
many and many your fine tricks, but I never done hear you turn
yourself into a squirrel before. Powerful kind of you, Brer Rabbit,
to give me fine squirrel dinner."

Mr. Man he take Brer Squirrel home and cook him for dinner.

V. WHEN BRER FOX DON'T FOOL BRER RABBIT.

Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox was courting the Possum gal. Brer
Rabbit were a mighty taking chap among the gals, and he have the
gals nigh 'bout all to hisself. It Mr. Rabbit this, and Mr. Rabbit
that, and the balance of the chaps have to stand back.

One night Brer Fox he go up to pay his respects to the Possum
gal, and the servant fotch down word Miss Possum have an engage-
ment, and Brer Fox he just naterally know Brer Rabbit am sitting
up in the parlor with Miss Possum, and Brer Fox he jes' can't stand
it, and he study, Brer Fox do, how he going fotch Brer Rabbit home.
Now Brer Rabbit are a doctor. Brer Rabbit are a right smart of a
doctor, sure 'nough.

Brer Fox he go home and he make like he have a fit and die, and
he stretch hisself out on the floor like he plum dead, and Miss Fox
and the little Foxes they rush round and cry and they say, " Send
for the doctor ! send for the doctor ! " So the little Fox boy he put
out hard as he can run for the doctor. He knock at Miss Possum's
door ; he say, " Where the doctor ? A man dead and done send for
the doctor." And Brer Rabbit he ask, " Who dead ? " And when he
say it Brer Fox, Brer Rabbit he don' want to go, but Miss Possum
she take on, and call Brer Rabbit a cruel man, so Brer Rabbit he
put on his hat and put out for Brer Fox house.

When Brer Rabbit get to Brer Fox house, sure 'nough he fines
Brer Fox stretched out plum dead, but Brer Rabbit he have his
s'picions. He feel of Brer Fox heart, it right warm. Brer Rabbit he

Folk-Tales from Georgia. 25

say, " I never believe nobody deadtwell I hear em give a big groan."
Brer Fox he give a monstrous powerful groan " Ounk ! " Then Brer
Rabbit he just kick Brer Fox, and call him "a deceitful old man,"
and Brer Rabbit he put out back to Miss Possum's house. Brer Rab-
bit he tell Miss Possum 'bout Brer Fox mean deceitful ways. From
that time, when Miss Possum meet Brer Fox on the big road, she
make like she don' know him, and she favor Brer Rabbit more con-
stant.

VI. WHEN BRER FROG GIVE A BIG DINING.

Brer Frog he think he give a big dining to all his friends, so he
send out invitations to all his friends to come down and eat fried fish
with him.

Brer Frog he invite Brer Fox and his wife, and Brer Wolf and his
wife, and Brer Coon and his wife, and Brer Possum and his wife, but
he don' invite Brer Rabbit, Brer Frog don', 'cause there be hard feel-
ings between Brer Frog and Brer Rabbit from way back.

When the creeters all went past Brer Rabbit's house on their way
to the dining, they ask Brer Rabbit, " why he don't go to Brer
Frog's dining ? " Brer Rabbit he say, " he ain' invited," and he
'low "he ain' powerful fond of fried fish nohow." So they pass on,
and when they come to the branch, they find Brer Frog frying fish
over twenty little fires. Brer Frog he hop round from one frying-
pan to the other, like a spry old man like he is.

Tereckly Brer Rabbit he smell the fish frying where he set on
the porch. It smell so powerful good, Brer Rabbit he just can't
stand it. He take his way down to the branch, and he see Brer Frog
taking off the fish from his twenty little fires, and set it on the
table. Brer Rabbit he slip into the swamp and make a big noise.
The creeters they say, " What that ! " Brer Rabbit he make er
big noise. Once more Brer Fox he say, " Where we going fly
to ? " Brer Frog he say, " I know the best place for me to get at."
He just give one jump over all the creeters' heads and go plunk into
the water. Brer Tarrapin he go slippin' and slidin' one side, then the
other, and he go splash in the water ; the other creeters, they just
strike out for home.

Brer Rabbit he go up to the table and he eat his fill of fried fish.

Now Brer Frog are a mighty cold-blooded kind of a man ; nobody
ever see Brer Frog in a passion. Brer Frog's eyes on the top of his
head. All the time while Brer Rabbit was eating that fried fish,
Brer Frog he set down in the water looking straight up at Brer Rab-
bit, and Brer Frog he was studying ; but Brer Rabbit he don't know
that.

Brer Frog he take it mighty hard, 'case Brer Rabbit break up his
dining, and he study to hisself how he going punish Brer Rabbit.

26 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Sure enough, that day week, Brer Frog he send out invitations to
all the other creeters to another dining.

So the creeters all set out, and as they go past Brer Rabbit's
house they stop, and ask Brer Rabbit " why he don' go to Brer
Frog's dining ? " Brer Rabbit he say his mouth ain' set for fried
fish, and he 'low he powerful busy anyhow, and can' leave home.

The creeters they make haste, and when they get to the branch
they see the bank all covered with little fires, and a pan of fish fry-
ing on every fire, and Brer Frog hopping from one frying-pan to the
other, and turning the fish ; and Brer Frog he hop up and whisper in
the ear of each one of his guests. Then Brer Frog he set the table.

Brer Rabbit he set upon his porch smoking his pipe, and the
smell of the fish frying come up on the wind, and Brer Rabbit he
just can't stand it. He say he bound to set a tooth in that fish. So
Brer Rabbit he go clipity clipity down to the branch, and he find
the table done set, and it certainly do look powerful tempting.

Brer Rabbit he go in the edge of the swamp and make a big
noise ; the creeters they just strike out and fly for home. Brer Frog
he say, " I know the nighest place for me to get," and he jumped
plum over the table and go in the water kersplash.

Then Brer Rabbit he jump on the table. Now that just what
Brer Frog know Brer Rabbit going do, and Brer Frog he done set
the table on a plank, on the edge of the water, and he done put
leaves and bresh all round the plank, so Brer Rabbit ain' see how it
done set on the water; and when Brer Rabbit jump on the plank,
over it go, and Brer Rabbit and all the fishes go kersplash down to
the bottom.

Brer Frog he right down there, and Brer Frog he say, " Oho, Brer
Rabbit, you is mighty kind to fotch my dinner down to me," and
Brer Frog he say, " You is my master many a day on land, Brer
Rabbit, but I is your master in the water." And Brer Frog he kill
old Brer Rabbit and eat him up.

VII. WHEN SIS COON PUT DOWN BRER BEAR.

Brer Coon and Sis Coon they have a mighty fine house up in the
big woods. They mighty good livers ; poor, industrious people. They
have right smart of chillens, and they leave the chillens every day,
Brer Coon and Sis Coon do, and go to work soon in the morning.

Brer Bear he know how Brer Coon and Sis Coon done leave the
chillens, and go to work soon every morning ; and when Brer Bear's
way lay past Brer Coon's house, Brer Bear he smell the good cooked
victuals.

Now Brer Bear he know nobody ain't to home exceptin' the chil-
lens, so Brer Bear he go knocking on the door, and the chillens they

Folk-Tales from Georgia. 27

say, "Who there ? " Brer Bear he say in a heavy voice, " Revenue,
Revenue, where my hole ? Revenue, Revenue, where my hole ? " And
the little coon chillens, they all that frightened, they run up in the
loft and hide, and Brer Bear he go in and eat up the lastest one of
the victuals.

When Brer Coon and Sis Coon come home, they find the chillens
frightened nigh 'bout outer their senses, and all the victuals done
gone, and they fault the chillens, and the chillens done tell them how
a big black thing done come and knock on the door and say, " Rev-
enue, Revenue, where my hole ? Revenue, Revenue, where my
hole ? " and how he done eat up all the victuals.

Next day Brer Bear he come just the same, and the chillens run
and hide, and Brer Bear he eat up all the victuals.

That night Brer Coon and Sis Coon they talk what they going do.
Sis Coon she say how she "going stay home and watch with the
axe ; " and Brer Coon he say, Sis Coon go to work, and he going stay
home hisself and watch with the axe. Sis Coon she hold to how she
going stay home ; and Brer Coon he say, " Ain' you my wife ? Well,
you do like I tells you." So Sis Coon she 'bliged to go to work, and
Brer Coon he stay home and watch with the axe.

Just as they get the table set for dinner, sure 'nough here come a
great black thing knocking at the door. Brer Coon he powerful
scared, but he call out, " Who there ? " Brer Bear he say in a mighty
heavy voice, " Revenue, Revenue, where my hole ? Revenue, Rev-
enue, where my hole ? " Brer Coon he give one look at him and he
drop the axe right where he 's at, and Brer Coon he just fly up in the
loft, and the little coon chillens they all fly up in the loft with their
paw, and Brer Bear he go in and eat up all the victuals.

When Sis Coon get home she find the family all hiding in the loft,
and nothing in the house to eat ; and when Brer Coon tell her how
the big black thing frighten hisself, Miss Coon she scared, and she
say she don't want to stay home and watch.

Next morning Brer Coon he say he go way to work, and Sis Coon
she say she don' want to stay home and watch. Brer Coon he say,
" Ain't you my wife ? Then you do like I tells you." So Brer Coon
he go off to work, and he leave Sis Coon to watch with the axe.

Sure 'nough, just soon as they get the table set for dinner, here
come a great black thing knocking at the door. Sis Coon she say,
" Who there ? " Brer Bear he say in powerful grum tone, " Revenue,
Revenue, where my hole ? Revenue Revenue, where my hole ? " Sis
Coon she crack the door, and when Brer Bear he step in, Sis Coon
take the axe and split his head open. And so Brer Coon he don't
order Miss Coon round these days, but from that day Brer Coon he
done been a plum henpecked man.

28 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

VIII. HOW COME THE MOOLY COW DON* HAVE NO HORNS.

Sis Cow, Switch, and Mooly have a fine grazing patch of rye down
by the branch, but Brer Rabbit he go down soon every morning
before Sis Cow and Switch and Mooly get up, and Brer Rabbit he
feed it plum clean, so when Sis Cow and Switch and Mooly gets
down there they don't have no breakfast.

Brer Rabbit he do that every day, twell Sis Cow and Switch
and Mooly mighty nigh perished.

One day Brer Tarrapin he say if Sis Cow will give him a ride for
twelve months on her alls horns, Brer Tarrapin he say he will give
Brer Rabbit such a fright as he won't trouble the rye patch no
more.

So Sis Cow say she '11 give Brer Tarrapin a ride on her horns for
twelve months.

Brer Tarrapin he talk with Brer Frog, and Brer Tarrapin he ask
Brer Frog how he going frighten Brer Rabbit.

Brer Frog he tell Brer Tarrapin to just watch out and see how
Brer Frog frighten Brer Rabbit.

Well, the next morning, 'bout a hour to day, Brer Frog he call all
his family together. The frogs they gather from up the branch,
from the lower creek, and they tells how they done come from the
mill-dam pond ; but I don't make sure of that myself, seeing as how
they have to cross dry land to get there from the mill-dam pond.
But if they don't come from the mill-dam pond they was there, —
they surely was there, — and just about the time Brer Rabbit come
down in the rye patch, Mr. Frog and Miss Frog and the little frogs
done set up such a fuss, the peoples say they could hear them a mile.
They say, " Brer Rabbit ! Brer Rabbit ! Cut his head off ! Cut his
head off ! "

Brer Rabbit be that 'stonished he look thisaway, and he look that-
away. Brer Rabbit he don' see nothing. The frogs they keep on,
"Brer Rabbit! Brer Rabbit! Cut his head off! Cut his head
off ! " But Brer Rabbit he don't stop ; he just turn and fly for home.

Directly when Sis Cow and Switch and Mooly come down to
feed, Brer Tarrapin come up out the water, and he tell 'em how he
done frighten Brer Rabbit off, and Brer Tarrapin he ask Sis Cow
for his ride ; but Sis Cow she sorry she done promise, and so Sis
Cow she 'low she have a powerful headache.

But Mooly say she give Brer Tarrapin a ride on her alls horns
for twelve months, and Mooly she hold down her head for Brer
Tarrapin to get on ; but Brer Tarrapin he can't hold on, and he fall
off.

Brer Frog he right jealous of Brer Tarrapin, and Brer Frog he

Folk-Tales from Georgia. 29

say he fix Brer Tarrapin so he can hold on. So Brer Frog he take
a pebble, and he break two little holes in Brer Tarrapin's shell, so
Mooly can stick her horns through, and make Brer Tarrapin fast.
And Brer Tarrapin he ride off and he feel mighty proud.

Presently Brer Tarrapin he feel powerful hungry, and he feel
powerful thirsty, and he tell Mooly he bound to get down and get a
fresh drink.

But when Brer Tarrapin set out to get down he find he done fast
and can't get down.

Well, poor old Brer Tarrapin he ride, and he ride, but he can't
eat, and he can't drink, and he ride twell he done starve to death,
and the twelve months done past, and old Brer Tarrapin still done
fast to Mooly's horns twell she done wore out with toting old Brer
Tarrapin, and Mr. Man he tired of seeing Mooly toting Brer
Tarrapin about the place. And one day Mr. Man he cut Mooly's
horns off close to her alls head, and she never have no horns no
more to this day, and all along of that old Brer Tarrapin riding
twelve months on her horns.

IX. WHEN MR. PINE-TREE AND MR. OAK-TREE FALL OUT.

Mr. Pine-tree and Mr. Oak-tree used to be great friends and live
in peace side by side, twell Mr. Oak-tree he get jealous of Mr. Pine-
tree 'cause Mr. Pine-tree he keep his fine green clothes on all win-
ter ; but jest as sure as cold weather come Mr. Oak-tree's clothes
they fade out a most ugly sort of color and fall off, and that make
Mr. Oak-tree jealous to see hisself and his family with just few
faded old clothes on their backs, while his neighbor, Mr. Pine-tree
and his family, stand up proudful with all their fine green clothes on.

Mr. Oak-tree he grow more jealous year by year, but he keep it
all to hisself, 'case Mr. Oak-tree he don't know just what he going
do about it.

One year the people was looking for a place to have the camp-
meeting. Now they always have the camp-meeting on big grove
hill, where Mr. Oak-tree and Mr. Pine-tree grow side by side, and
Mr. Oak-tree and Mr. Pine-tree, both powerful prideful, 'case they
have the camp-meeting there.

But one time the people come, and instead of placing round the
seats and breshin' up the grounds, they go 'bout tearing everything
up and toting them over in the big pine grove, where Mr. Pine-
tree live all by hisself.

Mr. Oak-tree he hear the people talking, and they say it am much
nicei in Mr. Pine-tree's house, 'case he have a nice carpet on the
ground, while Mr. Oak-tree's house all covered with dirty old
leaves.

30 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Well, it nigh 'bout break Mr. Oak-tree's heart, that it do, 'deed
and double 'deed it do ; and Mr. Wind, he done see how Mr. Oak-
tree drooping and mourning, and Mr. Wind he ask Mr. Oak-tree
what his trouble.

Mr. Oak-tree he tell Mr. Wind all 'bout it, and Mr. Wind he say
to Mr. Oak-tree, " Cheer up, cheer up ! " and Mr. Wind he tell Mr.
Oak-tree how he going help him get the best of Mr. Pine-tree.
So all winter Mr. Wind, every day, and all enduring the night, he
take the dirfy old leaves from Mr. Oak-tree's floor and carry them
all over and spread them all over Mr. Pine-tree's fine carpet. Mr.
Pine-tree he don't like it, but he can't help hisself : 'cause what Mr.
Wind want to do he going to do it, Mr. Wind is.

But when camp-meeting time come, Mr. Oak-tree he stand there,
and he see the people come and rake off all his leaves, what Mr.
Wind done carry on Mr. Pine-tree's carpet.

Then Mr. Oak-tree he say he can't bear it no more, and Mr. Oak-
tree he tell Mr. Pine-tree how they can't live together no more ; and
Mr. Oak-tree he say, he will go to the plains and Mr. Pine-tree
can go to the mountain ; or he say, Will Mr. Pine-tree take the
plains and let Mr. Oak-tree go to the mountains ? Mr. Pine-tree
he 'low how he will take the plains and let Mr. Oak-tree go to the
mountains ; and Mr. Pine-tree he go to the plains, and Mr. Oak-
tree he take the up country, and they don' live together no more.
But they still on the watch-out ; for when Mr. Oak-tree leave a field,
directly here come Mr. Pine-tree, and when Mr. Pine-tree leave a
field, sure enough up come Mr. Oak-tree ; but they don't live
together friendly like no more.

X. HOW THE LITTLE BOY WENT TO HEAVEN.

A little boy's father died, and went to heaven. Little boy
wanted to go to heaven too. He wandered round in the woods and
wanted all the birds to take him to heaven, but the birds all laughed
at the little boy. He keep on begging the birds to please take him
to heaven. At last the little red-bird she take pity on the little
boy. She say she " take him to heaven as high as she can go ; " she
say " she can't take him clean up to heaven, 'cause she can't fly
high enough."

The little boy think if the red-bird get started, he can beg her to
keep on twell she get clean to heaven.

So the little boy he get on the red-bird's back, and little red-bird
fly very high, and little boy feel happy. Presently the little red-
bird say she can't go no higher. The little boy he look and he look,
but he don't see no heaven. The little boy he beg, he cry and cry,
and he beg the little red-bird to go higher ; but the little red-bird she

Folk-Tales from Georgia. 31

say she can't go no higher, and she fly round and round. Presently
Sis Crow come sailing along and she hear a great fuss, and she ask
little red-bird, " What the matter ? " Little red-bird tell Sis Crow how
the little boy crying for her to take him to heaven, and she beg Sis
Crow to take him on.

Sis Crow say she take him far as she can go, but she can't take
him clean to heaven. Little red-bird say, Sis Crow might fall in
with King Eagle, and King Eagle can take him to heaven. Sis
Crow she say, " Yes, King Eagle can take him to heaven, 'case
King Eagle am the onliest bird what can look in the face of the
Lord without winking."

So the little boy get on Sis Crow's back, and he feel very happy,
'case he get started again. Presently Sis Crow say she can't go no
higher. The little boy he look and look, but he can't see no heaven.
He cry and cry, and beg Sis Crow to go higher ; but Sis Crow she
say she can't go no higher, and she sail round and round, while
she watch out for King Eagle. Presently King Eagle come sailing
along and he hear a mighty fuss up there, and he ask Sis Crow,
"What the matter ? " Sis Crow she tell King Eagle how the little
boy crying 'case he want to go to heaven to see his daddy, and she
beg King Eagle to take him to heaven.

King Eagle he say he take him, but he can't fotch him back.
He tell the little boy he "will take him to heaven, if he won't ask
him to fotch him back."

Then the little boy he get on King Eagle's back, and they go
higher and higher, twell they get in the glory of the Lord, when the
little boy have to shut his eyes, it shines so bright. But King Eagle
never shut his eyes at all, and he put the little boy inside the pearly
gates, and the little boy was very happy.

But after a little bit the little boy begin to grieve mighty for his
mammy. He cry and he cry, and when the Angel ask him what the
matter, he beg him to take a message to his mammy.

He beg the Angel to tell his mammy to spin him a cord long
enough so he can tie it on the gate-post and come down to her.
So the Angel she came down to earth, and she take the little boy's
message to his mammy, and when she enter the house, she fill it
with a great white light. And the little boy's mammy she say when
the cotton done picked she surely spin the cord for him, but his
mammy she say "she have to work in the field by day, and she can
only spin by night, and she have no light."

And the Angel she feel so sorry for the little boy crying, she tell
his mammy "she stand in the door for a light to spin by."

So Mammy Carline all that season she keep her place in the field
with the hands by day, and by night the people hear her spinning-
wheel all night long, and a bright light in her cabin.

32 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

And all that season the people going along the big road, they hear
her spinning-wheel going all night long, and see a bright light in her
cabin, look like her house on fire.

So Mammy Carline she spin every night along night after night
by the light the Angel make, twell the Angel tell her the cord long
enough. Then the Angel take the cord up to the little boy, and he
tie it to the gate-post, and slide down to his mammy.

Emma M. Backus.

Editor's Note. — With regard to these tales, inquiries suggested themselves,
which have been answered substantially as follows: In regard to titles, these
have been supplied by the recorder ; few of the reciters would be able to give
such, and further inquiry will be needed to show if the pieces are commonly
distinguished by titles. As to manner of recitation, the grown people are usually
so diffident that they tell the adventures with little more expression than is shown
by the printed text. When, however, a narrator is found who is willing to present
the tales in their proper delivery, the presentation is extremely amusing. A man
will seldom forget his bashfulness, but a woman will sometimes do so. " I don't
know how they do it, but they will say ' lipity clipity, lipity clipity,' so you can
almost hear a rabbit coming through the woods. They talk animatedly, espe-
cially in the dialogues, and change the voice to represent the different animals,
but not in a chanting tone. Before me they do not use many gestures ; but when
a woman tells a story in this way, she becomes so animated as to be somehow
' going all over.' " It is an especially important point, as to whether tales are
ever made up for the benefit of a collector. In the majority of cases, the charac-
ter of the narratives is sufficient to settle the genuineness and popularity of the
story. " One little girl of about twelve years old came to ' tell a tale,' but it was
only a rabble of words. I said, 'AVho told you this? ' She replied, 'Nobody;
I just thunk it up.' " Usually, however, after they have declared their ignorance
of more stories, no amount of coaxing will induce the reciters to continue, even
though they may be willing. It is seldom that more than four or five tales can
be obtained from one narrator.

In some cases the tales have been obtained in a number of different versions,
varied in every conceivable way. The divergence lies in the detail, and in the
expansion of the narrative, the actions being identical. In reply to the question
"Who told you this?" they always answer, usually saying: "My father," or
" My grandfather." The collector is of opinion that the men tell the tales to one
another much more than do the women.

Animal Myths and their Origin.

ANIMAL MYTHS AND THEIR ORIGIN.1

The embryonic stages of man sketch his race origin with impres-
sionistic truthfulness in regard to the chief outlines, if not with pho-
tographic accuracy as to all the details. So in the development of
the individual mind appear the hereditary vestiges left from the past
mental evolution of the race. Since we no longer divorce the mind
from the body in working out the descent of man, but recognize the
common brotherhood of protoplasm in whatever form it may exist,
we know to-day even better than our primitive ancestors guessed
our kinship to the plants and animals about us.

The child holds communion with every living thing in his back-
yard world. The same voices speak to him in the dawn of the
twentieth century a. d., as spoke to his cave-dwelling ancestors in
the twilight of the twentieth century b. c. To the child the sym-
pathetic wind moans with anguish over some painful cut or bruise
or sighs its sad life away in unison with the sobs from his broken
heart. The lily gives him its perfume distilled by the fairies who
work deep down under the golden dusted anthers, and the song of
the wood thrush bears to him a message which no one else may hear
or know. When as a child I lay stretched out on the ground watch-
ing the ants of my own particular colony in their endless marching
to and fro, their varied industries in times of peace, and their re-
markable valor and extraordinary strategy in times of war, these
insects became to me the ant-people.

If in those days I had read Ovid I should have believed him
implicitly when he tells us2 that in days of old Jupiter transformed
the ants in an old oak-tree into the Myrmidons, — that "thrifty race,
patient of toil." As Ovid relates, the ants "suddenly grew, and
seemed greater and greater, and raised themselves from the ground,
and stood with their bodies upright; and laid aside their leanness,
and the former number of their feet, and their sable hue, and as-
sumed in their limbs the human shape."

So after all these centuries, in the broad sunlight of modern life,
the miracles of transformation believed by the ancients are effected
again in the imagination of childhood. In order to test this well-
known phenomenon in a surer way than through memory, which so
soon grows old, I asked my boy John to tell me what he sees in the
clouds and trees, and these are the words of his answer : " Once
in a while I imagine that I see forms in the clouds and trees.

1 Address delivered at the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the American Folk-
Lore Society, New Haven, Conn., December 28, 1899.

2 Book vii. fable 6.

vol. xni. — no. 43. 3

34 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Once I imagined that I saw a man driving a flock of sheep in the
clouds. Then when I was sick I thought I saw a baby in a cradle
in a tree, and a mother was sitting over the baby. Then on my
way to school I thought that a long pile of leaves was a snake.
Once when I looked at a tree a long way off, it seemed to be a castle
with two birds on the top of it. One night when I was out by a bon-
fire I saw two bushes that looked like a yak with long hair. One
night coming home I saw a tree that seemed to be a man with a
horse beside him. That same night I saw a big stone that was the
shape of a turtle. At another time when I was sick, every morning
I saw some trees close together ; they looked like a lot of fairies
dancing. Then once in a while I look up at the sky and try to find
a wagon with twenty horses. Once I imagined I saw it, but every
other time I could not make it out." So we see in the child, as in
primitive people, the projection of his own fancies born of fear, or
love, or desire, into the things about him which then become per-
sonified.

Before trying to unravel the origin of animal myths, it would be
well to consider briefly the theories accounting for the origin of the
animals themselves. The doctrine of spontaneous generation has
been accepted in every age, including our own. From old meat
maggots are born, and from the gall the gall-fly springs forth like
armed Minerva from the head of Zeus. Anaximander,1 the first
great teacher of abiogenesis, held that eels and other aquatic ani-
mals arise in such equivocal manner. Anaximenes, the pupil of
Anaximander, gave a much more extended theory, when he taught
that the sunlight streaming upon a slime, made up of earth and
water, generates organisms. Aristotle also advanced the opinion
that frogs, snakes, eels, and smaller organisms are automatically
developed from the mud, while Lucretius says, " Plants and trees
arise directly out of the earth in the same manner that feathers and
hair grow from the bodies of animals. Living beings certainly have
not fallen down from heaven, nor, as Anaxagoras supposed, have
land animals arisen from the sea. But as even now many animals
under the influence of rain, and the heat of the sun, arise from the
earth, so under the fresh youthful productive forces of the younger
earth they were spontaneously produced in larger numbers."

Ovid says in his Tenth Fable, " And although fire is the antago-
nist of heat, yet a moist vapor creates all things, and the discordant
concord is suited for generation ; when, therefore, the Earth, covered
with mud by the late deluge, was thoroughly heated by the astherial
sunshine and a penetrating warmth, it produced species of creatures

1 This, and the three following citations from Osborn, From the Greeks to
Darwin.

Animal Myths and their Origin. 35

innumerable; and partly restored their former shapes, and partly
gave birth to new monsters."

Coming down to more modern times, we find that Mons. Duret
in 1609 published the conceit that many aquatic birds and insects
are generated from rotten wood. Myths often lead to science and
frequently science becomes mythic. The latter happened when
such distinguished zoologists as Needham and Buffon advanced the
theory that an organism may die as an individual, but its constituent
molecules reappear as infusorial animalcules. Such organic mole-
cules are on the authority of Buffon the indestructible elements
which, now in one form, now in another, pass in endless transmigra-
tion through the manifold forms of living things. Moved by such a
spirit the natives of Tahiti planted iron nails given them by Captain
Cook, in the hope of raising young nails.1

Sir Thomas Browne2 accepted the abiogenesis of animals from
" the putrefying juices of bodies," and conceived a scale of more and
more noxious generation ; " the putrefying materials producing ani-
mals of higher mischiefs, according to the advance and higher strain
of corruption." At the present time as reflected in Mrs. Bergen's3
very complete collections of animal and plant lore, there are eleven
items concerning the transformation of hairs into either worms or
snakes.

So this fancy, which has come to us from ancient days, is still
held in all parts of the United States as well as in other countries.
Even within the last two or three years, people have asked the ed-
itor of the " Scientific American " if the horsehair makes an eel, and
the editor has solemnly assured them that it does not. It is an
easy step from the conception of the origin of organisms by abio-
genesis to their origin from one another by heterogenesis. This is
shown in the primitive ideas concerning the gods as represented in
the strange Metamorphoses of Ovid. How vivid the picture when
Latona, going to drink from a pool, and finding that some rustics
have muddied the water, in revenge transforms them into frogs.
"Their voice too is now hoarse, and their bloated necks swell out ;
and their very abuse dilates their extended jaws. Their backs are
united to their heads ; their necks seem as though cut off ; their
back-bone is green ; their belly, the greatest part of their body, is
white ; and, as new-made frogs, they leap about in the muddy
streams."4 Equally striking are the lines when jealous Pallas
changes her rival Arachne, victorious in the weaving contest, into

1 Clodd, Myths and Dreams.

2 Ed. Simon Wilkin, book ii. chapter vii. 1836.

3 Op. at., Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. vii. 1899.
* Book vi. fable 3.

36 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

the ugly spider, in which body she is destined to work on at her
beautiful web forever,1 or in that instance where the Father of the
Gods, abhorring the fraudulent Cercopians, transforms them into
monkeys.2

Each race, as De Gubernatis emphasizes, uses the animals most
familiar in imputing to the gods their transformations. Thus in
India it is the serpent, or perhaps the elephant or ape that plays the
title role. While in Europe the hero is the fox,3 in Japan the cat,4
in the United States the rabbit, and among the American Indians5
the bird, particularly the American eagle and the serpent. Primi-
tively these disguised gods acted their parts among the clouds, while
the arch enemy lived in some foul subterranean cavern.

It is natural that the pastoral Aryans should conceive of the vast
all-producing vault of heaven as a cow, the wind as the omnipotent
fecundating bull, and the stars as cows which are driven off in flight
by the sun's rays.6 Not only the gods but, as Apuleius 7 relates, the
minor spirits, like witches, may by the use of ointments assume the
forms of owls, wolves, and other animals. Here must be placed
the phenomena of lycanthropy, that terrible aberration in which men
suppose themselves transformed into wolves or other animals, and as
such do violence to their fellows. Not only in the Middle Ages did
these werewolves run riot during bloody lycanthropic epidemics,
but the disease still exists with occasional outbreaks.

From the minor mythic creations and men, as subjects of trans-
formation, to the animals and plants themselves in such a role is a
natural step. The oft-quoted famous trees of Scotland and the
Orkney Islands, whose remarkable fruit, resembling geese, would
upon touching the water become feathered and swim off, and the
marvellous Tartarian shrub upon whose top grows a lamb, were testi-
fied to by many eyewitnesses in the credulous days of Pope Pius II.
of the last half of the fifteenth century. In Japan 8 when a tree at-
tains the age of one thousand years, its spirit takes on the human
form.

In 1678 Father Kircher 9 demonstrated the transformation of or-
chids into birds, apes, and men, and in 1749 De Maillet 10 published
his belief that all the animals on land and the birds of the air are
born of creatures who live in the sea. In the mind of this philoso-
pher there must be a likeness between parent and offspring, so the
birds arise from flying-fishes, lions from sea-lions, and man himself

1 Book vi. fable 1. 2 Book xiv. fable 2.

3 Zoological Mythology, New York, 1872. 4 Mrs. Etsu I. Sugimoto.

5 Brinton, The Myths of the New World. 6 De Gubernatis /. c.

7 Bohn's ed. pp. 62, 63. s From Mrs. Etsu I. Sugimoto.

9 Mundus Subterraneus, Amsterdam, 167S. 10 Telliamed, Basle, 1749.

Animal Myths and their Origin. 37

from the husband of the mermaid. There is a myth in Japan,1
founded upon history, that a princess went into the mountains to
care for the silk-worms, and finally her body itself became meta-
morphosed into such larvas. In Japan it is supposed that the snake
and the tortoise are converted into one another.

Through eleven learned chapters, Sir Thomas Browne 2 discourses
on the causes of common errors, from " the common infirmity of
human nature, and the erroneous disposition of the people," "false
deduction," " credulity and supinity," " obstinate adherence unto
antiquity" and " unto authority," to "the last and great promoter
of false opinions, the endeavours of Satan." All folk-lorists will
agree with the sagacious author of the Pseudodoxia epidcmica in the
terms of his diagnosis except, perhaps, as to the last one. Three
centuries of growth have for the most of us placed his Satanic Ma-
jesty within the mythic shades so congenial to his soul, where his
chief occupation, whatever else it may be, is scarcely the promotion
of " false opinions " among the descendants of Pithecanthropus.
Even among modern zoologists, discoveries amounting to veritable
cases of heterogenesis have been gravely recorded. As an example
of caution to such enthusiasts is the procedure of Dallinger,3 who
once observed a totally different infusorian AmpJiihptus emerge
from the bell of a Vorticella, and swim away. In a few years this
zoologist happened to see the first-mentioned infusorian eat up a bell-
animalcule and then encyst itself within the bell. Thus a hasty
theory upon the first observation would have created a case of heter-
ogenesis from a phenomenon which later discovery showed to be
perfectly natural and easily explained.

Let us turn now to some zoological myths which, while possibly to
be regarded as twigs from the wide-branching Aryan tree, still have
the appearance, at least of rebirth, in our own times, in answer to that
human curiosity which would wrest from every natural phenomenon
the secret cause of its being. The fishermen of the west coast of
Sweden fancy that the "jelly-fish " are the mothers of the herring.
The late Dr. A. W. Malon,4 superintendent of the fisheries of that
coast, decided to find out what had suggested to them such a quaint
idea. Allowing his boat to float among the jelly-fish when the
water was perfectly quiet, he saw several fishes of the species
Motella argeuteola swimming among the Medusae. Often one of
the fish would dart into the stomach of a jelly-fish, where it seemed
to feel perfectly at home, while the temporary host was not in the
least disturbed by this visitor going in and out of its stomach at
will.

1 Mrs. Etsu I. Sugimoto. 2 L. c.

3 Parker, Elementary Biology, p. 103, 1891.

4 From Dr. Josua Lindahl.

38 yournal of American Folk-Lore.

Another item of zoological folk-lore still extant is the hibernation
of swallows in the dark recesses of caves, or at the bottom of ponds
and pools. Pliny 1 recognized the fact of the migration of swallows,
and does not mention a belief on the part of any one in their hiber-
nation. Following those classic letters constituting the " Natural His-
tory of Selborne," we find that Gilbert White, who united the imagina-
tion of the poet with the patience and accuracy of the naturalist, was
troubled for twenty years with the question of the hibernation of
swallows. At one time he believes in migration, but then a report
from " a man of great veracity " comes in, and White's mind is
turned toward hibernation. So back and forth sways belief until
finally he is convinced in favor of hibernation by the following argu-
ment : " There is a circumstance respecting the color of swifts which
seems not to be unworthy our attention. When they arrive in
spring they are all over of a glossy, dark, soot-color, except their
chins, which are white ; but by being all day long in the sun and
air, they become quite weather-beaten and bleached before they
depart, and yet they turn glossy again in the spring. Now ; if they
pursue the sun into lower latitudes, as some suppose, in order to
enjoy a perpetual summer, why do they not return bleached ? Do
they not rather perhaps retire to rest for a season, and at that junc-
ture molt and change their feathers, since all other birds are known
to molt soon after the season of breeding ? " In Sweden 2 the swal-
lows remain until late in the fall, when they become gregarious, often
appearing in countless numbers near some body of water. In the
dead of the night they all disappear, and so the folk believe they are
at the bottom of the water, to remain under the ice during the cold
weather.

The swallow as the harbinger of spring has been regarded as a
propitious omen from Aryan times up to the present. But in the
gloom of winter this bird disappears, and then, like all forms of the
evil one, works in darkness. It is the old antithesis of the Veda,
which has reappeared in Hellenic myths, the sagas of the Northmen,
and the folk-lore of the present. The powers of day are in eternally
recurrent warfare against those of night. The solar hero, bold,
strong, and beautiful, at dawn breaks away from the foul hosts who,
having captured him in the evening twilight, have kept him impris-
oned in the dungeons of the nether world. Under the spell of this
myth the folk have given erroneous interpretations of many natural
phenomena. The belief in the hibernation of the swallows may be
the atavistic reappearance of the ancestral Aryan conception of this
swallowing up of the light by darkness.

1 Natural History, book x. chap. 34. Bohn's ed. 1855.

2 From Dr. Josua Lindahl.

Animal Myths and their Origin. 39

Besides Jonah, with his adventures in the belly of the whale, an-
other instance of such atavism may be that of the viper temporarily
swallowing its young in times of danger. Sir Thomas Browne *
relates this ancient supposition, while Cuvier 2 denies that the viper
has such a habit. However, Cuvier quotes M. Palisot de Beauvois as
having seen a rattlesnake,3 in Martinique, when about to be struck,
open its mouth and receive its young, and then later, when the
danger had passed, disgorge them unharmed. There is a current
superstition in Japan4 that the harmless snake Uwavami thus pro-
tects its young. Most zoological authorities conclude that none of
the snakes have this power. In the Bahaman story of De Big Wor-
rum,5 this dragon-like animal swallows many people, including at
the last two boys, whose father follows them and cuts open "de
worrum " with his lance, thus liberating all the people, who made
"a big city right dere."

In line with the temporary disappearance of animals is this item
from Swedish folk-lore.6 The birds of the crow family, particularly
the raven7 and the magpie,8 are "Odin's birds." Since Odin was
deposed as the God "Allfather," upon the introduction of the
Christian religion, he became gradually identified with the biblical
Satanas. So the crows are now consecrated to the Devil, though
still often called "Odin's birds." It is the popular impression that
these birds visit " Blokulla," 9 the headquarters of Satanas Odin,
one week in every year, when they must appear before this poten-
tate to be inspected and to give him their tribute in feathers. The
fattest bird must remain as a choice piece for Satan's broth, and the
others return deprived of a considerable portion of their feathers.
This visit to Blokulla coincides with the regular molting season in
the summer. While the members of the crow family are vociferous
and active during the other weeks of the year, they keep silent in
their retreats during the first days of their molting. When again
showing themselves they have only partially developed the new
growth of feathers and look much worse than before the molting
took place. The week of their retirement is thus noticed by the
people, who explain it in accordance with tradition.

Considering again the transformations of ancient mythology, we
find the toad an animal famous in the lore of the folk. The toad

1 L. c, book iii. chap. xvi. 2 Transl. by Griffith, vol. ix. pp. 344, 356.

3 Crotalus horridus. 4 Mrs. Etsu I. Sugimoto.

5 Edwards, C. L., " Bahama Songs and Stories," Memoirs of the American
Folk-Lore Society, vol. iii. p. 72, 1895.

6 Dr. Josua Lindahl. 7 Corvus corax. 8 Pica candata.

9 Blokulla — in Swedish spelled Blakulla and pronounced Blow4cullah — is
equivalent to the German Hartz, the rendezvous of the witches in Easter week.

40 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

was at times a beautiful maiden resting under a curse, only to be
released by marriage. At other times in the forbidding shape of
this animal some good and powerful fairy would do deeds of love, or
again Satan would transfer his foul spirit therein, to lay a spell on
people, and do them other evil. However bad a name this devil's
host has been given, there are some who appreciate his good quali-
ties, for the people of Jersey and of various parts of France believe
that the toad absorbs the poisonous gases from the air.1 The live
body, the different parts of the body, the secretions and various
"oils " from this amphibian constitute items in folk-medicine.2 In
Japan 3 the oil of toads is considered a poison. Pliny 4 says that
" authors quite vie with one another in relating marvellous stories
about these poisonous animals ; such, for instance, as that if they
are brought into the midst of a concourse of people, silence will
instantly prevail ; as also that by throwing into boiling water a small
bone that is found in their right side, the vessel will immediately
cool, and the water refuse to boil again until the bone has been
removed." So the toad has been feared and despised, and used as
a synonym of contempt ; or on the other hand venerated, and the
killing of it considered wicked and unlucky.

In Mexico it is believed that if a toad jumps on one's stomach it
so chills the person that he dies, and if a toad spits on people it
poisons them. With regard to the toad's venom Gilbert White said
" that it is a strange matter that the venom of toads has not been
settled. That they are not noxious to some animals is plain, for
ducks, buzzards, owls, stone curlews, and snakes eat them with im-
punity." In 1825 Dr. John Davy affirmed and tried to prove before
the Royal Society that the toad is venomous. Even at the present
time it is a current superstition that this animal is poisonous, either
through its saliva or its urine. While neither of these secretions is
harmful, yet the toad, in common with other Amphibia, secretes from
cutaneous glands a milk-white, mucilaginous, foul-smelling fluid of
a toxic nature. Injected subcutaneously into an animal, this secre-
tion, like strychnine, affects the nerve centres, causing convulsions,
and when applied to the surface of a tender skin it may produce
erysipelas.5 Although innoxous to members of its own species, it is
fatal to closely related forms. The poison from a toad kills the frog,
and vice versa. In the toad these toxic glands are particularly aggre-
gated along the neck to form the parotoids, and they are also found

1 Rolland, Faune Populaire de la France, tome iii. p. 51, Paris, 1881.

2 In Gilbert White's time the toad was a specific for cancer. 8 L. c.
4 ATatnral History, book xxxii. chap. 18.

6 Wiedersheim Lehrb. d. Vergleich Anat. d. Wirblethiere, p. 25, Jena, 1886;
Packard, Zoology, p. 475, New York, 1883.

Animal Myths and their Origin. 41

upon the anterior and posterior limbs. That there is any causal
connection between toads and warts is doubtful. Victims of the
poisonous secretions of this animal coincidently may have developed
warts, or perhaps only the suggestion of its warty skin, on the law
of like begetting like, may have given rise to the notion. Since a
knowledge of cutaneous glands is not widely distributed, the natural
inference would be, once the idea is entertained, that either the
saliva or urine of the toad is the cause of the warts, or other mis-
fortunes suffered.

Another curious myth concerning toads, along with frogs, earth-
worms, and other animals, is that they come down in showers.
After larval development, the young toads leave the water in large
numbers and migrate, hiding by day and usually only at night hop-
ping from place to place. At this time, if rain fall, the toads come
out from concealment, and thus being seen by the people in such
large numbers in a locality where but few, if any, had been observed
previously, the supposition of the toad-shower naturally arose.1 In
spite of this zoological explanation the mythologist may turn to
Ovid and read that the Curetes, the ancient inhabitants of Crete,
sprang from earth after a shower, and thus interpret these animal
showers as but other instances of the release of the imprisoned light
from its enemy darkness.

The origin of myths of spontaneous generation, or of transforma-
tion, either comes from erroneous observation or as a result of
imperfect induction from phenomena carefully and properly observed.
In the history of zoology before the days of careful dissection and
microscopic analysis, it was the general custom to relate any won-
derful story about animals with the expectation of unquestioned
acceptance of the tale. Then later on as skeptics arose and ex-
pressed their doubts, it became essential to collect the animal itself
in proof of the statements. With the animal or its principle parts
as a voucher, the narrative necessarily must be believed, just as the
picture of this morning's battle in South Africa, printed in the last
edition of to-day's paper, is given to a credulous public as incontest-
able evidence of the truthfulness of everything depicted !

The field of animal myths is so large that in the short time at my
disposal only a few cases within one section have been considered.
A large province of our general territory, that of totemism, must
be dismissed with but a word. The totem, as the sign manual of
the clan, is generally taken to indicate a descent from the animal or
plant referred to,2 and the friendly ghost of the ancestor hovers

1 E. D. Cope, in Standard Natural History, vol. iii. p. 328, Boston, 1885. See,
also, Gilbert White, Natural History of Selborne.

2 J. G. Frazer, Encyc. Brit, xxiii. 471.

42 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

about the tepee, to guard the faithful clansman who has kept the
vows of respect for the spirit of the totem and total abstinence from
its body. Tylor 1 has shown that at least among the Haidas and the
Tlingit of the Pacific coast totemism is chiefly social, having to do
only with hospitality and the prohibition of marriage between mem-
bers of the same clan, and does not imply the hypothesis of the
totem as an ancestor, but rather alludes to the totemic species as
having been so closely associated with the real human ancestor that
ever afterwards it should be just as closely associated with his
descendants. So according to Tylor the theory of Lang, Frazer,
and others that the totems represent the gods themselves therein
incarnated is erroneous.

All of the fascinating fiction in which the characters are animals
cleverly endowed by the story-teller with human attributes must
also be left aside. Regarding the various familiar theories for the
origin of these tales, we may believe that they are derived as a com-
mon heritage from our cave-dwelling and perhaps arboreal ancestors ;
that they were first expressed as literature of which we have record,
in the Aryan Veda, then handed down from generation to genera-
tion, modified ever and anon in adaptation to new environment and
often taking short cuts from one race to another through borrow-
ing. On the other hand, we may accept the independent origin
of the stories in widely separated regions and that the striking
resemblances one to another are the natural results of the common
inventiveness of the human mind. Indeed, it is an easy and sensible
conclusion to these much discussed doctrines to accept both the-
ories as not necessarily antagonistic and as working together in the
development of folk-lore. At the base of any of these hypotheses
there is a common human ancestry and an evolution of the myths
concomitantly with that of the mind and body of man.

We must remember that the origin of myth was in the pliocene,
when the ancestors of the races of apes and of the races of men
were one and the same race. Individuals then had common needs,
common hunger, and the consequent thirst for blood. When in the
struggle for existence they held one another throat by throat, it was
possible to read each other's simple thoughts. So these ape-men
instinctively realized their intimate relationship not only with one
another but with the animals and plants and other elements of
nature surrounding them. It was the easiest explanation of any
manifestation of force in whatever form it appeared to project their
own impulses and powers into that form.

Then when all men were animals, and all animals were climbing
through forests, or roaming over plains, their mental pictures were
1 Journ. of the Anthropological Inst. Aug.-Nov. 1898.

Animal Myths and their Origin. 43

mainly concrete. In outwitting his foes, instead of throttling them
the diverging elementary man began to make plans of strategy.
From the concrete face to face expression of cause he began to pro-
ject the force concerned farther and farther away, until, many ages
after the genesis of reason, these forces took form in the gods who
dwelt beyond the clouds, and the myths of cosmogony and transfor-
mation arose. Then love was born and faith and hope. Figments
of the imagination gave birth to legends, and these grew into myths,
which were told to the children in the starlight. Ideals were con-
ceived worthy the ages of intense effort required for their later
attainment. Civilization had begun and the first men with their
first notions had faded away into the unremembered and undreamed
of past.

Charles L. Edwards.

44 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

IN MEMORIAM: WALTER JAMES HOFFMAN.

By the death of Dr. W. J. Hoffman, which occurred at Reading,
Pa., November 8, 1899, folk-lore in America lost an able and schol-
arly investigator. He was born May 30, 1846, at Weidasville, Pa.
Studying medicine with his father, the late Dr. W. F. Hoffman, of
Reading, he followed in his footsteps as a physician. After graduat-
ing (in 1866) from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, he devoted
himself to the practice of his profession in Reading. At the out-
break of the Franco-Prussian war he was commissioned surgeon in
the Seventh Army Corps, and at the close was decorated by the
Emperor for distinguished services. In 1871, upon his return to
America, Dr. Hoffman was appointed acting assistant surgeon in
the U. S. Army, and naturalist to the expedition for the exploration
of Arizona, Nevada, etc. From August, 1872, till the spring of 1873,
he was post surgeon at Grand River Agency (N. Dak.). After a
short service with General Custer and Colonel Stanley he returned
to Reading in November, 1873, and resumed the practice of medi-
cine, which he kept up for four years. Late in 1877 he was given
charge of the ethnological and mineralogical collections of the
U. S. Geological Survey; and in 1879, when the Bureau of Eth-
nology was created, he was made assistant ethnologist, which posi-
tion he held for many years, a goodly portion of his time being
devoted to field-work among the Mandans, Hidatsa, and Ankara,
in 1 88 1 ; the tribes of California and Nevada, 1882; the Algonkian
Indians of Michigan, 1883 ; the Indian tribes of Vancouver Island,
Washington, Oregon, California, and Nevada, 1884; the Ojibwa of
Minnesota, 1887- 1890 ; the Menomoni of Wisconsin and Ojibwa of
Minnesota, 1 890-1 891. Dr. Hoffman's special studies were largely
concerned with sign language, pictography, secret societies, primitive
ritual and primitive art, in all of which subjects he contributed
notable papers to governmental and other scientific publications.
Since his retirement (1895) from the Bureau of Ethnology Dr. Hoff-
man served as United States consul at Mannheim, Germany, which
position he held at his death. The cause of death is stated to be
lung disease.

A list of Dr. Hoffman's principal publications having to do with
folk-lore subjects, with appreciations of some of them, follows: —

1. Notes on the Migrations of the Dakotas. Proc. Amcr. Philol.

Assoc, 1877, pp. 15-17.

2. Comparison of Eskimo Pictographs with those of other Amer-

ican Aborigines. Trans. AntJirop. Soc. of Washington, vol.
ii. (1883) pp. 128-146.

In Memoriam : Walter James Hoffman. 45

3. Ein Beitrag zu dem Studium der Bilderschrift. Das Ausland

(Stuttgart u. Munchen), 1883, pp. 646-651, 666-66g.

4. Selish Myths. Bull. Essex Inst. (Salem, Mass.), vol. xv. (1884)

pp. 23-40.

5. Bird Names of the Selish, Pa Uta, and Shoshoni Indians. Auk

(Boston), vol. ii. (1885) pp. 7-10.

6. Pictography and Shamanistic Rites of the Ojibwa. Amer.

Anthrop., vol. i. (1888) pp. 209-229.

7. Folk-Lore of the Pennsylvania Germans. I. Journ. Amer. Folk-

Lore, vol. i. (1888) pp. 125-135.

8. Folk-Lore of the Pennsylvania Germans. II. Ibid., vol. ii.

(1889) pp. 23-35.

9. Folk-Lore of the Pennsylvania Germans. III. Ibid., pp. 191-

202.

10. Notes on Ojibwa Folk-Lore. Amer. Anthrop., vol. ii. (1889)

pp. 215-223.

11. Grammatical Notes and Vocabulary of the Pennsylvania Ger-

mans. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. (Phila.), vol. xxvi. (1889) pp.
187-285.

12. Folk-Medicine of the Pennsylvania Germans. Ibid., pp. 329-

353-

13. Remarks on Ojibwa Ball-Play. Amer. Anthrop., vol. iii. (1890)

PP- 133-135-

14. Mythology of the Menomoni Indians. Ibid., pp. 243-258.

15. Poisoned Arrows. Ibid., vol. iv. (1891) pp. 67-71.

16. Shamanistic Practices. Univ. Med. Mag. (Phila.), vol. iii. (1890-

189 1) pp. 73-79-

17. Shamanentum bei den Ojibwa und Menomoni. Globus (Brauns-

chweig), vol. lxi. (1892) pp. 92-95.

18. The Midewiwin, or "Grand Medicine Society" of the Ojibwa.

Seventh Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol., 1891 (Washington, 1892),
pp. 143-300. Plates ii.-xxiii. Figs. 1-39.

19. Notes on Pennsylvania German Folk-Medicine. Science (N. Y.),

vol. xxi. (1893) p. 355.

20. The Beginnings of Writing. N. Y., 1895.

21. The Menomoni Indians. Fourteenth Ann. Rep. Bur. of Ethnol.,

1 892-1 893 (Washington, 1896), pp. 1-328. With plates
i.-xxxvii. Figs. 1-55.

22. The Graphic Art of the Eskimos. Rep. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1895

(Washington, 1897), pp. 739-968. With 82 plates and 154
figures in text.

Dr. Hoffman's German ancestry and residence in Pennsylvania
make his studies (Nos. 7-9, 11, 12, 19) of the speech, folk-lore, and

46 Jotimal of American Folk-Lore.

folk-medicine of the Pennsylvania Germans of particular interest
and value. His " Comparison of Eskimo Pictographs with those of
other American Aborigines " (No. 2), together with the much more
elaborate and extended " Graphic Art of the Eskimo " (No. 22), are
scientific studies of the highest importance, the last being a perfect
mine of information about and reproduction of aboriginal graphic
art. The author's studies of the folk-lore and shamanism of the
Ojibwa (Nos. 6, 10, 13) naturally led to the publication of his com-
prehensive and authoritative account of the " Grand Medicine So-
ciety " of the Ojibwa (No. 18), perhaps his magnum opus, a work of
great research and acumen. A valuable study of the mythology of
the Menomonis (No. 14), another Algonkian tribe, was followed
by the remarkably complete and connected account of these Indians
appearing in the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Eth-
nology, — the chief part is devoted to folk-lore and mythology. The
"Beginnings of Writing," published in 1895, is an excellent study of
the development of pictography and the graphic art, chiefly among
the aborigines of America.

Besides the works noted above, Dr. Hoffman was also the author
of several papers on aboriginal linguistics, archaeology, etc. He was
an active or an honorary member of many learned societies in

America and in Europe.

Alex. F. Chamberlain.

Annual Meeting of the American Folk-Lore Society. 47

ELEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN
FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.

The Eleventh Annual Meeting was held in rooms of Yale Uni-
versity, New Haven, Conn., on Thursday and Friday, December 28
and 29, at the same time with other affiliated societies, namely, the
American Society of Naturalists, the Association of American Ana-
tomists, the American Physiological Society, the American Psycho-
logical Association, the Society for Plant Morphology and Physio-
logy, Section H, Anthropology, of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science.

The Society met for business on Thursday, at 11 a. m., the Presi-
dent, Prof. Charles L. Edwards, in the chair. The Permanent Sec-
retary presented the Annual Report of the Council, which was
adopted.

REPORT OF THE COUNCIL.

At the conclusion of the twelfth year of the organization of the
American Folk-Lore Society, the usual duty devolves upon the
Council, to point out the inadequacy of the means of recording
primitive tradition as compared with the magnitude of the oppor-
tunity now rapidly vanishing. The number of qualified workers in
this field is all too few, while every year has brought the loss of some
eminent collector or investigator, whose place remains unfilled. On
this occasion we have to lament the absence of one of those who
have been most prominently identified with the Society from its
origin, the honored Daniel Garrison Brinton. The advance of an-
thropological research, and its rapid extension in the universities,
will indeed supply a number of qualified and enthusiastic young stu-
dents ; but a few brief years will end the chance which still exists,
to observe aboriginal life in its survivals, and to obtain new material
for solving the most important facts of mental history, problems
which are difficult only on account of the lack of adequate informa-
tion, and which in the absence of such record will forever remain
the uncertainties of philosophical conjecture.

Even in the closing years of the century, a rich gleaning remains
for the collector ; but the value of such gathering depends upon its
accomplishment by capable and trained workers, possessed of lin-
guistic knowledge. On the other hand, the remnants of the Indian
tribes have now arrived at the point where contributions to ethno-
granhy may be expected from educated members of those tribes.
The Council would suggest, that in view of the importance to local
history of proper acquaintance with the races that our forefathers

48 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

found on the continent, it is not too much to ask that, in view of the
deficiency of means of enlightenment, the legislatures of the States
in which remnants of the aboriginal population still exist, should
make special appropriations for examination into the languages, his-
tory, place-names, ethnology, art, and folk-lore of these interesting
peoples. If such sums were expended under the supervision of the
universities, and in accordance with sound anthropological theory, it
is not to be doubted that the results would not only be adequate to
justify the expenditure, but would give occasion for gratitude on the
part of future citizens of these States, who must of necessity find no
small part of their romance and historical interest in memories of
the various aboriginal stocks now fast disappearing. The Eastern
States would be thankful for the opportunity still open to California,
Oregon, and Colorado ; but even as regards eastern tribes, there is
still the possibility of enlarging knowledge from the descendants of
the original population, now far removed from their old homes. It
cannot be too forcibly impressed on the people of the United States
and the Dominion of Canada, that small sums of money properly
applied may bring results which posterity will consider inestimable.
If young students can be shown that at least a temporary support
can be provided for investigators, competent persons can be found
who will pursue such researches in the true spirit of scientific self-
sacrifice.

With regard to the negroes of the Southern States, the Council
earnestly urge that immediate means be provided to make a proper
collection and study of negro music, which, to the reproach of musi-
cal science in the United States, is perishing without proper record
or study.

During the year 1899, the Society has added to the number of its
memoirs a seventh volume, namely, "Animal and Plant Lore," by
Mrs. Fanny D. Bergen, being a sequel to the collection of " Current
Superstitions," already made by Mrs. Bergen, and published as the
fourth volume of the Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society.

To accomplish the important duties, which in regard to collection
as well as publication ought to devolve on a folk-lore society in
America, the means at the disposal of the Society are altogether
insufficient. The total membership does not exceed four hundred,
while during the current year the number of withdrawals has ex-
ceeded that of additions. There seems to be no way in which the
comprehension of the importance of the task can be brought home
to the American people, save by the formation of local societies. It
is therefore recommended that some sort of organization be effected
in each State, with a view of completing local record.

The Council continued the Committee, appointed at the previous

Annual Meeting of the American Folk-Lore Society. 49

Annual Meeting, for the Collection and Study of Folk-Lore and
Folk-music, namely, Dr. Franz Boas, Prof. C. L. Edwards, Miss
Alice C. Fletcher, Mr. H. E. Krehbiel.

The following is the substance of the Treasurer's Report : —

RECEIPTS.

Balance from last Report

Subscriptions to Publication Fund

Sales through Houghton, Mifflin & Co. (Journal and Memoirs)

Sales through the Secretary

Annual dues

DISBURSEMENTS.

Houghton, Mifflin & Co., for manufacturing Journal of American

Folk-Lore, five numbers (Nos. 42-46) .
Houghton, Mifflin & Co., for manufacturing vol. vii. of Memoirs
Houghton, Mifflin & Co., volumes supplied to Secretary
W. W. Newell, Secretary, salary of clerk .
W. W. Newell, Secretary, postage and printing
G. A. McLeod, Treasurer of Cincinnati Branch
M. A. Fernald, Treasurer of Cincinnati Branch
M. Chamberlain, Treasurer of Boston Branch
F. Boas, postage and printing, expenses of Tenth Annual Meet-

Stamped envelopes, and other expenses of Treasurer

Balance to new account

#1207.75
290.00

338.74

6.00

957.00

$2799.49

$1252.38

451.66

6.00

150.00

42.50

12.50

16.00

30.00

23.80
J7-95

$2002.79
796.70

$2799.49

Note. The payments to local Treasurers are in accordance with a rule adopted
by the Council, allowing to local Branches for necessary expenses a rebate of
twenty-five cents on each membership fee.

In the course of the meeting, the Permanent Secretary announced
that he had received no independent nominations as provided for
by the rules. The nominations of the Council were therefore an-
nounced : —

President, Dr. Franz Boas, American Museum of Natural His-
tory, New York, N. Y.

First Vice-President, Dr. Frank Russell, Harvard University,
Cambridge, Mass.

Second Vice-President, Mr. Stansbury Hagar, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Councillors (to serve three years), Dr. Robert Bell, Director of

VOL. XIII. — NO. 48. 3

50 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Geological Survey, Ottawa, Can. ; Miss Alice C. Fletcher, Fellow
of Harvard University, Washington, D. C. ; Mr. Gardner P. Stick-
ney, Milwaukee, Wis. ; Dr. G. J. Engelmann, Boston, Mass. ; Prof.
Frederick Starr, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111.

The Permanent Secretary and Treasurer hold over.

The Permanent Secretary was instructed to cast a ballot for the
officers as nominated.

The business being concluded, the Society listened to an Address
of the President, Prof. C. L. Edwards, concerning "Animal Myths
and their Origin."

Other papers on the programme for Thursday were read by title.

Onondaga tale of the Pleiades, Dr. W. M. Beauchamp, Baldwins-
ville, N. Y.

The Cherokee River Cult, James Mooney, Washington, D. C.

Early American Ballads, Mr. W. W. Newell, Cambridge, Mass.

In the afternoon, the affiliated societies held a joint discussion, the
subject being "The Position that Universities should take in regard
to Investigation."

At seven o'clock the Annual Dinner of the societies was held at
the New Haven House.

On Friday, December 29, the Society held a Joint Meeting with
Section H, Anthropology, of the American Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science. Papers were read as follows : —

The Counting-Out Rhymes of Children, William S. Monroe.

Fly-Leaf Rhymes and Decorations, Mrs. Fanny D. Bergen, Cam-
bridge, Mass.

American Sun-Myths, Franz Boas, New York, N. Y.

Star-Lore of the Micmacs, Mr. Stansbury Hagar, Brooklyn,
N. Y.

An Arapaho Creation Myth, Mr. A. L. Kroeber, New York,
N. Y.

Negro Song, illustrated by phonographic cylinders, Miss Alice
M. Bacon, Hampton, Va.

Taboos of Tale-Telling, Alexander F. Chamberlain, Worcester,
Mass.

The Devil's Grandmother, Mrs. Isabel C. Chamberlain, Worces-
ter, Mass.

The Society adjourned, the Permanent Secretary having received
authority to arrange the time and place of the next Annual Meet-
ing.

Record of American Folk-Lore. 5 1

RECORD OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.

NORTH AMERICA.

Algonkian. Cree. Dr. Frank Russell's " Explorations in the Far
North," published by the Iowa University (Iowa City, 1898, ix+290
pp. 8vo), the record of explorations carried out during the years
1892-94 in the Arctic region of northwestern Canada, contains
much of interest to the folk-lorist and the ethnologist. Among other
things a chapter on the mythology of the Wood Crees.

Onomatology. In the " American Anthropologist " (vol. i. N. S.
pp. 586, 587) for July, Mr. W. R. Gerard criticises some of the
statements of Mr. Tooker, in the January number of the same peri-
odical, concerning the etymology of poquosin and its cognates and
derivatives.

Caddoan. In the " American Anthropologist " (vol. i. N. S. pp.
592-594) for July, F. F. Hilder publishes from the MS. of a Fran-
ciscan friar, dating circa 1781, a myth of " the Tasinais or Texas
Indians," concerning the origin of their supreme being, Caddi-Ayo.
The legend is one of the hero-child variety, and some of the incidents
recall the Bloodclots Boy myth of the Sioux and Blackfeet, others
the birth of Manabozho. The Caddaja, or "Devil," also figures
prominently in the story.

Eskimo. In a paper on " Southern Visits of the Eskimo," which
appears in the "American Antiquarian" (vol. xxi. pp. 201-203) for
July-August, 1899, Rev. W. M. Beauchamp finds "a suggestive re-
semblance to northern articles in the modern wampum belts of the
Iroquois." Other evidences of Eskimo-Iroquois contact are "the
broad wooden spoons still found in Iroquois houses," and certain
stone implements.

Haida. In the " Journ. Anthr. Inst." (vol. i. N. S.), of London,
Dr. E. B. Tylor publishes three brief articles, " On the Totem-Post,
from the Haida Village of Masset, Queen Charlotte Islands, now
erected in the grounds of Fox Warren, near Wey bridge " (pp. 133—
I35)> "On two British Columbian House-Posts with Totemic Car-
vings, in the Pitt-Rivers Museum, Oxford" (p. 136), and "Remarks
on Totemism, with especial reference to some modern theories re-
specting it" (pp. 138-149). The articles are illustrated by two
plates. The first totem-pole discussed represents the "totemic
myth " of an individual of the Bear clan, Raven tribe — the promi-
nent figure in the others is that of the killer whale. In the third
article, Dr. Tylor discusses the totemic theories of MacLennan,
Frazer, Robertson Smith, Jevons, Wilken, etc. He objects to clas-
sifying all theromorphic gods as totems, holding to the essential

5 2 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

independence of totems and gods as shown by the instances of Yetl
and Kanuk in Haida mythology. Nor are all the gods and divine
animals of sacrifice totems. Dr. Tylor favors Wilken's connection of
totemism with the ancestral cult, in favor of which view he cites data
from Melanesia and Australia. — In the " American Antiquarian "
(vol. xxi. pp. 309-314) for September-October, 1899, Ellen R. C.
Webber writes of " An old Kwanthum Village — its People and its
Fall." Concerning a mound on the north bank of the Frazer River,
about 25 miles from its mouth, an old Indian tells the story em-
bodied in the article. Their enemies, the Haidas, and the small-pox
("the breath of a fearful dragon "), were the cause of the extermina-
tion of the inhabitants of the ancient village now represented only
by the mound.

Pueblos. Dr. F. C. Spencer's " Education of the Pueblo Child :
A Study in Arrested Development" (N. Y., 1899, pp. 97), which
forms vol. vii. No. 1 of the " Columbia University Contributions to
Philosophy, Psychology, and Education," is one of the few recent
valuable essays in pedagogical anthropology. It is based largely on
personal investigation, and the four chapters treat of the following
topics respectively : Geography and History of the Land of the
Pueblos, Social and Industrial Life of the Pueblos, Institutional and
Religious Life of the Pueblos, Education of the Pueblo Child. A
bibliography for each chapter terminates the essay. Dr. Spencer
considers that the Pueblos " represent a true type of arrested devel-
opment," and that the civilization they have produced is the natural
and necessary result of their environmental conditions, which have
been : (1.) An arid climate, a fertile soil, and a scarcity of food
plants and animals, which forced them to turn to the soil for liveli-
hood ; (2.) A human environment of savages whose continued at-
tacks led them to segregate and construct fortress dwellings to pro-
tect themselves when their agricultural life had more or less unfitted
them to cope successfully in battle with their savage foes ; (3.) A
sedentary agricultural and village life necessitated cooperation, a
long train of social relations, and more systematic organization. In
so far as education is concerned, it is held that " the methods em-
ployed by the Pueblos are exactly suited to perpetuate a static con-
dition," the apprentice method obtaining "in both their industrial
and religious instruction, and being reinforced by their superstitious
beliefs to such an extent that variation is practically impossible."
Trained to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors, the Pueblo
children never leave the beaten path. The power of the priesthood
and their manipulation of rite and ceremony are emphasized. Dr.
Spencer's essay is of a great interest to the folk-lorist, and it is to
be hoped that he will some time give us a more elaborate study of

Record of A tnerican Folk-Lore. 5 3

the question involved in the statement on page 71 : "The transfer
of all this lore and power from the ancient wiseacres of the tribe to
the keeping of the priest societies must have been a very gradual
process, which was made possible only by the close community life
adopted by the people, but the transfer was completed centuries ago,
and since that time the priesthood has been in control." — To the
"American Anthropologist" (vol. i. N. S. pp. 251-276) for April,
1899, Dr. J. Walter Fewkes contributes an illustrated article on
"The Winter Solstice Altars at Hano Pueblo." The people in
question are immigrants (among the most recent arrivals in Tusa-
yan), who " have not yet, as the others, lost their language, nor been
merged into the Hopi people, but still preserve intact many of their
ancient customs." The object of the Hano Tuntai rites or Winter
Solstice ceremony seems to be, like that of the SoyaluTia of the
Hopis, " to draw back the sun in its southern declination, and to
fertilize the corn and other seeds and increase all worldly posses-
sions." Dr. Fewkes also informs us that "the Tilntai at Hano
differs more widely from the Winter Solstice ceremony at Walpi, a
gunshot away, than the Walpi observance differs from that at
Oraibi, twenty miles distant." In the course of the article the
author gives a list of the Tewa names for months current at Hano
(p. 261), also the names (pp. 255-256) of the 136 individuals (men,
women, children) belonging to Hano Pueblo. We learn, besides,
that at Hano almost every one has a Hopi and a Tewa name.
— In the " American Anthropologist " (vol. i. N. S. pp. 523-544) for
July, 1899, Dr. J. Walter Fewkes discusses "The Alosaka Cult of
the Hopi Indians." The Alosakas, as their name reveals to us, are
"horned beings " whose worship still survives in Hopi ritual. The
Alosaka cult is "a highly modified form of animal totemism," the
Alosaka really representing the mountain-sheep. The purpose of
the cult-rites seems to be " to cause seeds, especially corn, to germi-
nate and grow, and to bring rain to water the farms." Dr. Fewkes's
article is illustrated, and much interesting information concerning
the sun-symbolism of the Hopi Indians is given. — To the July-
August number of the " American Antiquarian " (vol. xxi. pp. 209-
232) Rev. S. D. Peet contributes an interesting illustrated article on
" Agriculture among the Pueblos and Cliff -Dwellers." The author
believes that the key to the culture of these peoples lies in the fact
that they were agriculturalists, improved by long-continued sedentary
life. — In the March-April number of the same journal (pp. 99-123)
Dr. Peet has another illustrated article on " Relics of the Cliff-
Dwellers." He emphasizes the "uniqueness" of the stone relics in
question, their pottery and other implements. — The November-De-
cember number also contains (pp. 349-368) an illustrated article by

54 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Dr. Peet on " The Cliff-Dwellers and the Wild Tribes." The author
concludes that "at the very outset of their history a very great
difference between the location and social condition of the wild
tribes and the Pueblos existed, and still exists." The peaceable
character, industry, and high regard for women which now mark the
Pueblos distinguished them from the beginning. In their art (bas-
ketry, pottery, etc.), architecture (houses, tents, etc.), their dress and
their physical appearance, the Cliff-Dwellers and the Pueblos differ
from the wild tribes, and with the former distinct advance and pro-
gress can be shown to have occurred.

Salishan. Bella Coola. As vol. ii., Anthropology I, of the " Me-
moirs of the American Museum of Natural History (N. Y. 1898, pp.
25-177, plates vii.-xii.), Dr. Franz Boas publishes " The Mythology of
the Bella Coola Indians," — the treatise forming part of the series
of memoirs whose publication is made possible by the Jesup Fund.
The Bella Coola, or Bilqula, are a mixed people of Salishan stock,
and their mythology is here characteristically summarized by Dr.
Boas. The five worlds, the supreme deity, the solar, lunar, and
other divinities of lesser sort, the thunder-bird, family traditions,
crests, and ceremonial masks are all considered, and the philological
and psychological acumen of the author appears to advantage in his
attempts at interpretation. — In the "American Antiquarian " (vol.
xxi. pp. 146-149) for May-June, 1899, Mr. C. H. Tout reviews
briefly Dr. Boas's volume on the mythology of the Bella Coolas,
and prints under the title "Tradition of Aijultala — a Legend of
the Bella Coola Indians," a fuller and longer version of the myth of
Se'lia, in which the number four plays an important role. The
Kwakiutl element in the proper names of this and other myths
points to the source of the borrowing that has taken place.

Uto-Aztecan. Mexican. With a commentary by Dr. E. T.
Hamy, there has recently been published the " Codex Borboni-
cus. Manuscrit mexicain de la Bibliotheque du Palais-Bourbon "
(Paris, 1899), — the production of this valuable addition to the work-
ing-materials of the Americanist being due to the munificence of
the Due de Loubat and the Mexican government. This divinatory
and sacerdotal record as now printed can hardly be told from the
original. The tonalamatl or horoscopic book of the Codex resembles
a good deal the MS. of Boturini. — In the "Verh. d. Berl. Ges. f.
Anthr." for 1898 (pp. 164-177), Dr. E. Seler discusses " Das Tona-
lamatl der alten Mexikaner," and in " Globus " (vol. lxxiv. pp. 297,
3 1 5) the " Codex Borgia." — To the generosity of the Due de Loubat
is due also a new edition, with an introduction by Dr. E. T. Hamy,
of the " Codex Telleriano-Remensis," imperfect reproductions of
which had already appeared in the works of Kingsborough and de

Record of American Folk-Lore. 55

Rosny. This Codex, resembling (but less perfect than) the " Codex
Vaticanus," contains a ritual calendar, a tonalamatl or astrological
part, and a historical section treating of the events in the Mexican
empire during the period 1197-1561 A. d. The MS. itself seems to
be a copy of the native paintings dating (to judge by the paper and
other evidences) from about 1562.

CENTRAL AMERICA.

Mayan. In the " Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft fur
Anthropologic" (Jahrgang, 1898, pp. 346-383), Dr. E. Seler dis-
cusses " Die Venusperiode in den Bildschriften der Codex Borgia-
Gruppe." — Part x. ("Archaeology," text 31-38 pp., plates 74-93)
of the " Biologia Centrali-Americana," by A. P. Maudslay, published
in London in the month of January, 1899, is devoted to the consid-
eration of the Temple of the Cross, the Temples of the Sun and the
Foliated Cross. Previous numbers dealt with other Palenque re-
mains and with the sculptures at Copan. The plates and drawings
are most welcome to the archaeologist and enable comparisons to be
made between the two series of hieroglyphic and architectural
remains. Satisfactory interpretation of the inscriptions is, however,
very far from achievement. — In the " American Anthropologist "
(vol. i. N. S. pp. 552-561) for July, 1899, Prof. Cyrus Thomas discusses
" Maudslay's Archaeological Work in Central America," or rather
that portion of it relating to Copan. It is interesting to learn that
" at neither Copan nor Palenque are there any indications of war or
military achievements," the cities being evidently "sacred centres."
It appears, also, that we must "give a still higher estimate of the
culture of the Mayas than heretofore." — In the " Zeitschrift fur
Ethnologie " (vol. xxx. p. 377) Dr. E. Seler has an illustrated article
on " Quetzalcoatl-Kukulkan in Yucatan." The author holds, and
supports his thesis with great skill, that Kukulkan represents the
influence of Mexico in the Maya country, that he is, in fact, neither
more nor less than the Mexican Ouetzalcoatl transplanted into Yu-
catan. Dr. Seler detects much evidence of Mexican influence in the
architecture and sculptures of Chichenitza and Mayapan.

SOUTH AMERICA.

Araucanian. As a reprint from the " Afiales de la Universidad
de Chile," Dr. Rodolfo Lenz publishes " Critica de la Lengua Auca
del Senor Raoul de la Grasserie" (Santiago, 1898, pp. 21, 8vo), the
same article appearing as " Kritik der Lengua Auca des Herrn
Dr. iur. Raoul de la Grasserie," reprinted from the "Verh. des
Deutschen wissensch. Vereins in Santiago, Bd. IV." (Valparaiso,
1898, pp. 53, Svo). These articles are a scathing criticism of the

5 6 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

Auca linguistic labors of the distinguished French philologist. — To
the "Afiales," Tomas Guevara is contributing a series of articles
on the " Historia de la Civilizacion de Araucania," which are of
considerable value and interest. The articles which have already
appeared (from November 1898 to June 1899) occupy vol. ci. (1898)
pp. 615-653, 865-908; vol. cii.-ciii. (1899), pp. 279-317, 499-560,
691-698, 753-782, 1025-1040, and treat of geography, — a long list
of place-names, with their signification, is given at pp. 875-908, be-
sides many native names of trees (pp. 868-872), — archaeology and
physical anthropology (pp. 279-317), language and literature (pp.
499-543), ethnology (pp. 544-560), political and social organization
(pp. 691-698, 753-782), mythology and religion (pp. 1025-1040).
An excellent map of the Araucanian region and many engravings
accompany the essay. Besides the list of geographical names, there
are given a sketch of Araucanian phonology and morphology, based
on missionary data, with some references to Dr. Lenz's studies,
from which the author also transcribes (p. 517) a Pehuenche story;
several specimens of Araucanian in prose and verse, with trans-
lations (pp. 522-536) ; a list of words of Araucanian origin in mere or
less use among the population of Spanish stock (pp. 538-543), — in
this respect the Araucanian is in northern Chile a more important
element in Castilian speech than the Ouechua ; a list of relationship-
terms, male and female (pp. 771-775), forms of address, etc. The
Araucanians, besides erotic poetry, war-songs, satires, funeral songs
and verse of the common sort, possess innumerable brief ballads of
a historical nature, inspired by the lives of famous caciques, like
Lorenzo Colipi, Mariluan, Manil and Quilipan, Namincura, etc.
Following is the translation of one of these ballads telling how a
cacique made war on Colipi, boasting that he would marry his favor-
ite wife : —

1. I am going to kill Colipi, you said, to take away from him his property, and his

best wife.

2. Why do you sleep all the time ?

You were going to marry the wife of Colipi.

3. The sun is high.
Why do you not wake ?

4. Your red hair is scattered on the ground.

5. The couch of the woman is very soft.
Why do you not wake ?

The irony at the expense of the chief, who fell in battle, is very
noticeable here. Among the chief figures in the mythology of the
Araucanians, according to the old chroniclers, are Pillan (the god of
thunder) and his malign imps the Huccuvus ; a maleficent deity
called Epunamuiiy a sort of goblin, apparently ; Cherruve, a deity of

Record of A merican Folk-L ore. 5 7

fire, originator of the comets and of meteors ; Meulen, a personifi-
cation of the whirlwind ; Anchimallen, wife of the sun, an amiable
and protecting deity, — a deification of the moon. The sun himself
seems not to be worshipped by these Indians. Anchimallen, it is
believed, still appears to travellers in the form of an evasive llama.
Besides, there is quite a modern deity, Ngune mapun, " lord of the
earth," a sort of Fortunatus for invisibility, and probably a making
over of missionary ideas about God. Other creatures of a mytho-
logical nature are Huitranalhue, a. protective deity of flocks and
herds ; Perimontum, a sort of surrogate deity, who appears in the vil-
lages to announce great events ; Alhue, a goblin-phantasm ; Am, the
ghosts of the dead ; Colcolo, a subterranean lizard, whose germ is
found in bad or very small hen's eggs, or " cock's eggs " as they are
called ; Nguruvilu, a cat-like monster of the deep waters ; Trelque-
huecuve, a cuttlefish, whose arms have claws — the word means
" skin of the Huecuvu ; " Huciillepen, a water-monster with the head of
a calf and the body of a sheep ; ChonchoU, a human-head monster,
that uses its ears to fly by night. Indeed, these Indians' imagina-
tion is very fertile in goblins, sprites, and monsters of all sorts, and
their beast-mythology is very extensive. The oldest caste of priests
among the Araucanians seem to have been the huecuvuyes, evi-
dently connected with the belief in huecuvu. It was these whose
opinion decided war, peace, etc. They seem also to have led a soli-
tary or hermit life.

Brazil. Under the title " Nei dentorni della sorgente dello
Schingu : Paesaggi e popoli del Brasile centrale," Dr. Herrmann
Meyer publishes in the " Arch, per 1' Antrop. e la Etnol." (vol. xxix.
pp. 41-53) a brief account of the region about the source of the
Xingu in Central Brazil and the people inhabiting it. The author
notes the great diversity of peoples and languages in the region in
question, and the way in which they have adapted themselves to
local environment ; also the generally pacific relations which seem
to exist between the tribes. It is interesting to learn that with the
Indians on the Xingu " hunting is considered neither more nor less
than a sport, for, by reason of their very defective weapons, these
savages cannot count upon a constant and certain booty, sufficient
to keep them in food." Not so, however, with fishing, for they all
were supplied with instruments. Nevertheless, the mandioca root
forms the staple of their subsistence. In one of the villages of the
Kamayura Dr. Meyer met an Akuku-Yamarikuma man, who had
travelled five days away from his home after urucu, the well-known
body-dye. Noteworthy, also, are the friendly flute-concerts given in
honor of strangers and other visitors, and the inter-tribal festivals,
songs, dances, etc. The art of these people bears unmistakable evi-

58 yournal of American Folk-Lore.

dence of local environmental influence, — aquatic animals, not beau-
tiful flowers, or noble trees, are the chief motif.

Catuquinaru. In the " Archivio per 1' Antropologia e la Etno-
logia" (vol. xxviii. pp. 381-386) Dr. Giglioli gives an account (after
that of G. E. Church in the London " Geographical Journal," for
1898) of the remarkable primitive telephone discovered by Dr. Bach
among the Catuquinaru, a nomadic Indian tribe of the northeast
frontier of Bolivia and Peru. These Indians are the Katukina of
Ehrenreich and the Catoquina of Brinton. The cambarysu, as this
instrument is called, is of a very ingenious construction, the details
of which must be read in the two articles referred to. It is said
that every house among these Indians possesses one of the instru-
ments, by the beating of which, in various ways, signals are given,
and that the sound is transferred subterraneously for more than a
mile. This remarkable invention certainly deserves the most
thorough investigation. Dr. Giglioli gives a plan of its construction.

Guarano. In the Parisian " Journal d'Hygiene" (vol. xxiii. pp.
505-508), M. H. Chastrey writes of " L'hygiene et la medecine chez
les Indiens Guaranos."

Patagonia. Domenico Melanesio's " La Patagonia. Lingua, in-
dustria, costumi e religioni del Patagonia" (Buenos Aires, 1898, 8vo)
is another evidence of the activity of Italian ethnographers and
writers in the meridional countries of South America.

Peru. In the " American Antiquarian " (vol. xxi. pp. 271-277)
for Sept.-Oct, 1899, Mr. A. F. Berlin writes briefly of " Terra-cotta
Antiquities from the Land of the Incas," describing certain speci-
mens in the collection of the late Dr. T. W. Detwiller, of Bethlehem,
Pa. The pottery of Peru representing human and animal forms is
of great interest. The author notes the occurrence of the swastika
on one of the clay stamps.

GENERAL.

Anthropophagy. In the " Internationales Archiv fur Ethnogra-
phic" (vol. xii. 1899, pp. 78-110), Theodor Koch publishes a thor-
oughgoing study on " Die Anthropophagie der Siidamerikanischen
Indianer." After a general discussion of allied customs and the
belief in the transference of the qualities of an animal or a human
being to another by the eating of his flesh, or a part of it, the au-
thor discusses in detail the past and present cannibalism of the
various tribes of South American Indians. The author distinguishes
eating one's enemies and eating one's own people. The spirit
of revenge, heightened by the shedding of blood and the hand to
hand combat, incites to the use of the old-time natural weapons of
man, his teeth, and lust and revenge are satiated by cannibalism.

Record of American Folk-Lore. 59

Later on, however, psychological motives prevail. The savage eats
his enemy, or some part of him, to gain his prowess, or to assimilate
to himself his soul or souls. The dead are eaten in order that their
spirits may not wander about to the disadvantage of the living. The
psychological motive also is at the basis of the eating of one's own
fellow-tribesman or relative, the drinking of their pulverized bones,
and many other like customs, which, as Mr. Koch points out, are often
very closely connected with the food-regulations before and after
birth. Dr. Koch also emphasizes the ceremonial-element in canni-
balism. The article is a most valuable contribution to the limited
scientific literature of the subject.

-■■ Medicine. In the " Medical Magazine," London (vol. viii. N. S.
pp. 79, 346), G. Sharp treats of " The Civilization and Medicine of
the less advanced American Indian Races."

Music. A valuable paper on " The Harmonic Structure of Indian
Music," prepared by the late Prof. J. C. Fillmore for the Boston
meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science,
appears in the "American Anthropologist " (vol. i. N. S. pp. 297-318)
for April, 1899, having been edited by Miss Alice C. Fletcher. The
author gives the musical notation of several Navaho, Kwakiutl, Yaqui,
Tigna, Omaha, Fiji, Dahomey, and Arab songs. Professor Fill-
more's general conclusion is of great interest (p. 318) : "In short,
there is only one kind of music in the world, but there are vast dif-
ferences between the stages of development represented by the sav-
age and by the modern musician ; and there are also ethnological
differences resulting from the physical and mental peculiarities of
the races ; yet, essentially and fundamentally, music is precisely the
same phenomenon for the savage as it is for the most advanced
representative of modern culture." The author's extended investi-
gations in primitive music enable him to declare : " I have yet to
find a single song of our aboriginal peoples which is not as plainly
diatonic and harmonic as our own." Between these aboriginal musi-
cal compositions, the children's play-songs ("This is the way we
wash our clothes "), and the old hymn-tunes ("When I can read my
title clear "), the differences are " merely of an ethnological charac-
ter, that is, they are differences of style and manner, not differences
in essential structure." It is evident, according to Professor Fill-
more, that "the forms assumed by primitive songs are determined
(unconsciously to those who make them) by a latent sense of har-
mony," and that the " question of the scale on which any given song
is built is a wholly subordinate matter, and really resolves itself into
the auestion of what is the natural harmony implied or embodied in
the song." — In "Globus" (Braunschweig), vol. lxxv. (1899), pp.
14-16, Dr. Richard Andree writes of " Alte Trommeln indianischer
Medizinmanner."

60 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Religion. In the " Monist " for April, 1899 (vol. ix. pp. 381-415),
Dr. Paul Cams has an illustrated article on " Yahveh and Manitou,"
in which are discussed the resemblances between the Jahveh of the
ancient Israelites and the " Great Spirit " of the Indians. Mr.
Mooney's account of the " Ghost Dance Religion," in the Report of
the Bureau of Ethnology for 1892-93, is drawn upon for many inter-
esting details.

Technology. Under the title " Amerindian Arrow Feathering,"
Prof. O. T. Mason writes in the " American Anthropologist " (vol. i.
N. S. pp. 583-585) for July, of the various methods of arrow-feather-
ing in use among the aborigines of America.

Tobacco. To the "Rep. U. S. Nat. Mus." for 1897 (Washing-
ton, 1899), Mr. Joseph D. McGuire contributes (pp. 351-645) an
extended and profusely illustrated account of the " Pipes and Smok-
ing Customs of the American Aborigines, based on Material in the
U. S. National Museum." This essay is of value to the student of
folk-lore, on account of the numerous items of folk-lore and folk-
custom which it contains passim. According to Mr. McGuire, in
Europe, Asia, and America, " up to a period probably as recent as
the first half of the seventeenth century, the employment of smoke
appears to have been chiefly, if not entirely, due to its supposed
medicinal properties, added to which the Indians used it in their
functions of every kind, attaching at times mysterious properties
to the plants from which the smoke was produced " (p. 623). Its
supposed power to allay hunger or fatigue added to these alleged
medicinal properties led the Spanish, French, and English in turn to
acquire the habit of drinking or smoking tobacco. Smoking " as a
pastime," Mr. McGuire thinks, is a creation of the white race, the
successor of the panacea-idea. Smoking tobacco in pre-Columbian
times in America seems to have been less widespread than commonly
supposed, for the leaves of many other plants were employed, then
as now, for the same purpose. It is only through commerce and
trade with the Russians, French, and English that the use of tobacco
has come to prevail among certain North American Indian tribes
at all.

A. F. C. and I. C. C.

Readings. 6 1

READINGS.

Ashanti Fetishes and Oracles. In the " Bulletin de la Socie'te' Neu-
chateloise de Geographie," vol. xi. 1899, E. Perregaux, missionary at Abe-
tifi in Ashanti-land, under the head of " Le fe'tichisme," gives an instructive
account of Ashanti belief. The idea of a creative deity, he says, is found
among all peoples of the Gold Coast, the same name, Onyame, or the Su-
perior Being, being applied to the heaven. It has been maintained that
the conception has been borrowed from Europeans ; the writer, on the con-
trary, thinks that the locutions in which the name is employed show it to
have an ancient origin.

" The Ashantis recognize the existence of a Superior Being whom they
adore, but in a vague manner. They commonly consecrate to him the
trunk of a tree which they have cut down in the forest and transported to
the inner court of their huts ; they call it Onyame dua, tree of God, place
at its summit a sort of earthen pan in which they pour their offerings, con-
sisting of palm wine, eggs, feathers of hens, and like objects. Whenever
they drink palm wine, they pour on the ground some drops before carrying
it to their lips, and do the same thing when they eat their fufu. If you
inquire the significance of this action, they answer that they are thanking
God. They have, for the rest, singular traditions to explain the origin of
the cult offered to fetishes.

" At the commencement of the world, in the night of time, Onyame (God)
was in daily relations with men. He came on the earth, conversed with
mankind, and all went well ; but one day the women, in pounding their
fufu, used too long pestles and struck God, who in anger retired from the
world, leaving its management to subaltern divinities. These are spirits
(fetishes), who dwell everywhere, in waters, woods, rocks, and it is neces-
to conciliate them, unless one is willing to encounter their displeasure.
Hence the worship rendered to fetishes. . . .

"Every native has his personal god, his sumavi, which might also be
called amulet, talisman, or charm. Anything may serve the purpose, —
feathers of different birds, pearls, a piece of wood, a stone, a piece of
leather bought at a high price from a priest of fetishes. And you will see
him offer to his fetish libations of palm-wine or brandy, palm-oil, maize,
fowls, or anoint his fetish with the blood of a ram or a sheep. He invokes
it in all the circumstances of his life, and always expects to see his prayer
granted. He devotes himself also to rites and customs of all sorts which
have no connection with the object of his prayer. For example, in order
to obtain the cure of a beloved personage, or success in any enterprise,
you will see him, according to his own account, under the influence of the
fetish, surround his huts with a palisade of twigs, stretch lianas from one
hut to another, suspend rags to boughs, surround two pieces of wood with
a bi': of cloth and fix them in the ground, crucify birds in earth, rub with
eggs the door-posts of his house, and accomplish every kind of similar
ceremonies."

62 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

In order to show the confidence entertained in the sumavi, M. Perregaux
cites the case of a woman who had destroyed many lives by witchcraft
through the aid of her fetish, which in consequence was ordered to be
burned. The woman preferred to keep her sumavi, and abandon to slavery
her daughter and four little children.

" Beside the sumavi there is also the bosoum, the tutelar god of a city or
family. This is either a river, as the Afram in Okwaou, or the Tano in
Ashanti, or a rock, as the Buraka, or only a heap of clayey earth whitened
with chalk, as the Deute. This bosoum is served by a qualified priest, the
osofo. Recourse is had to him in the serious circumstances of life. When
everything goes well, when existence follows its usual course, they are con-
tent with the sumavi, but in the event of an extraordinary emergency, an
epidemic, a war, a grave malady, it is to the bosoum that they resort.
They then address the priest, the osofo, who consults the fetish. Offerings
are brought to him, which he places before his fetish, then, after ceremonies
one more absurd than another, intended to attract the attention of the
fetish, the priest pretends to receive directions which he transmits to his
solicitors.

" Let us take a concrete example, and see how things pass when one
goes to consult the fetish Deute, at Krakye, the most known and most
powerful on the Gold Coast.

" This fetish is served by two priests. One lives in public and is well
known, while the other remains concealed, is known to nobody, and con-
sidered as the great priest of the fetish. For the rest, all the inhabitants
of Krakye are affiliated to the fetish and labor to augment his prestige and
renown. If a stranger arrives in the town to consult the fetish, he is made
to talk, interrogated, information is obtained concerning the object of his
journey, his family circumstance, all this without display, and these details,
it is unnecessary to say, are carefully communicated to the priest, who de-
rives from them all possible profit. In the night, when all the world is
asleep, he goes to find his secret companion, relates to him all he knows,
and prepares with him the seance of the morrow. In fact, it is not possible
to interrogate the fetish every day ; monsieur has his hours of consulation,
and that but once a week. He inhabits a great cavern, in which, during
the day, is kept his secret priest, and thither come the people to consult
him, under the direction of the public priest.

" The procession arrives with the priest at the head, to the sound of
tambourines and horns, and places itself at the entrance of the cave, but
turning the back to it ; none dares gaze. I relate this verbally after the
report of a native. Then in the cavern is heard something like the sound
of a bell, — wuui-wuui-wuui, — and every one feels as if a pail of cold water
were poured down his back ! Then come salutations, the throng presents
to the fetish its homages, crying out the most flattering epithets : Nana e,
nanae (grandfather), ape-ade-ahu (seer), opam-boy (stone-uniter), and the
like. The entry of the cave is closed by a great curtain ; then stands the
public priest and transmits to the multitude the answers of the fetish.
The latter, utilizing the details which he has found means to collect during

Readings. 63

the week, unveils to his astonished listeners their antecedents, their family
secrets, and gives them thus a high idea of his science.

" Finally the solicitors bring their offerings, which consist of palm-wine,
couries, fowls, or sheep ; the fetish fixes a day when he will receive them to
give his response. Remarkable answers are cited, which denote much
finesse and judgment.

" I will also mention Atia-Yaw, the most important fetish of Okwaou.
He was known and feared for leagues about. Up to the time of the arrival
of the missionaries, none contested his power, none had the idea of doubt-
ing his existence and potency.

" Some affirmed that he was a spirit, others saw in him an animal.
These last, for a period, were right ; it is said that during several succes-
sive years a gorilla played the part of the fetish. In fact, no one had seen
him, none had touched him, except the king or the chiefs, to whom at times
he extended a little hand, hairy and unrecognizable, without revealing
himself."

This divinity also lived in a cage, where he gave responses, after the
manner of Virgil's Sibyl.

" He made, for example, great use of leaves from trees, the different
properties of which he had recognized. Sometimes he chewed them, and
contrived to produce with them as much smoke as the most furious
smoker ; at other times he threw them into a calabash full of water, passed
and repassed a leaf of white paper on a burning brazier, soaked it in a
calabash, and drew it forth covered with signs which resembled Chinese or
Japanese characters, all accompanied with mimicry intended to deceive the
public. These characters, professing to be printed, were supposed to give
the answer of the fetish to the questions which had been put to him."

The writer shows that the arts of the juggler are employed, that the priest
is put to death and brought to life again, that poison is used, and that it is
the habit of the fetish to emerge at night.

" Atia-Yaw, however, did not remain confined in his cavern : he allowed
himself promenades. Preceded by a forerunner, who announced his ap-
proach by means of a shrill whistle, and cried, ' Here is the father ! ' he
traversed the town in every direction, and woe to those who encountered
him ! A stab, a shot, made them comprehend that it is never well to be
curious. He generally arrived at the fall of night, between six and a half
and seven in the evening. At such times every one fled into his house and
put out his fire, for it was supposed that the fetish could not bear fire. At
other times he took malignant pleasure in chasing the inhabitants out of
the city to dung-heaps, where they became the victims of the ants con-
stantly found there. He presented himself under all sorts of forms.
Sometimes he came furious and made every one tremble ; sometimes he
tranquilly promenaded the streets, even presented himself before the king
and discussed politics, naturally always through the medium of his priest."

M. Perregaux gives an account of the initiation of a candidate to the
secret society formed by the priests. This rite, according to the account,
includes transfusion of blood, and is supposed to give the power of giving

64 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

life to the dead. Priestesses also are found who take part in the dances,
and appear possessed by the demon.

M. Perregaux's account throws light not only on African but also on
ancient European oracles.

Yaqui Witchcraft. — In "The Land of Sunshine" (Los Angeles) for
July, 1899, in an account of a visit to the Yaqui Indians by V. Granville,
mention is made of the manner in which a widow, for the sake of the sup-
port of herself and her children, deliberately becomes a witch by profes-
sion : —

" That witchcraft and idol worship are not yet dead among the Yaquis I
soon discovered while wandering among the people of the small villages
along the river. At an Indian hut I was shown a ' bruja,' or witch doll,
by an unusually intelligent Yaqui woman, the mother of seven children,
whose husband had been put to death, she averred, on the accusation of
having the ' evil eye.' The doll was ten inches long, made of black cloth
and stuffed with wool. It was stuck full of the sharp thorns of the maguey
plant, and it was believed that the enemies of the family suffered excruci-
ating pain so long as the thorns remained in the doll. The story that the
mother told me was pathetic. She said, in excellent Spanish : • My hus-
band was a good man, a miner at the placer diggings on the Rio Aros. He
was away from home most of the time, and came to see us only two or three
times a year. I lived at the village with the little ones, so that they could
go to the padre to learn to read. It cost almost all my husband earned at
the mines to buy us food and clothes and pay the padre. But there were
those in the village who were jealous of me and the little ones because we
had more than they, and the reason was that we drank no tequila, and they,
our enemies, spent all their money for drink. One day when my husband
came to see us and brought money, old Pedro and some of the other men
came and asked him to join them at the cantina, where other miners were
drinking and spending the money that should have gone to the wives and
little ones. My Diego refused to go, and the men went out and one of them
fell down on the ground and declared that he was hurt in his head, and that
my Diego and I and all the little ones had the evil eye ; that we were all as
the people that they used to burn as witches. And that night, when Diego
went to the corral after dark to look after the burros and cow, some men
seized him and dragged him to the river, where they tied rocks to him and
threw him into the river to drown. And when I and the little ones tried to
save him, the men beat us and drove us back to the house. After that
they made us leave our house in the village and come here, half a mile
away. And then it was that I made the bruja to protect us, and the people
are now afraid of us, and each one in the village gives us so much of his
corn and frijoles not to name the bruja for him ; for when it is named for
any one and the thorns stuck in, the person suffers great pain and soon
dies. They killed my Diego, and they must support his wife and little ones,
so I scare them all the time with the witch doll.'

" I wished to purchase the witch doll, but nothing would tempt her to
part with it, as she said it would bring me bad luck."

Readings. 65

The writer observes that at Onovas she saw two Mayo Indians with fair
hair, red beards, and light blue eyes, resembling Swedes, and found that
they were descendants from the survivors of a Danish ship wrecked on the
coast, who had been kept as captives.

Traditionary American Local Dishes. — In the " American Kitchen
Magazine," November, 1899, Mrs. F. D. Bergen takes occasion to give an
account of peculiar dishes confined to a limited territory, and in popular use
here and there in the United States. After making mention of " apple-
butter " and " peach-butter," as made in Ohio, she adds : " Many years ago,
while living in that part of the country, I was familiar with pear, plum,
grape, quince, and tomato butter, and most of these were very palatable,
As a rule, all were sweetened with sugar, though occasionally, for economy's
sake, sweet cider was substituted.

" An uncanny substitute for butter, where garden and orchard fruits were
far from plentiful, was a dark, smooth sauce made of common field pump-
kins. ... I do not know whether elderberry-butter still holds its place in
the larder in Ohio and westward, but twenty years ago many families, by
no means poor, during every year consumed gallons of this unsavory sauce,
made by boiling elderberries in sorghum molasses. Jelly, too, made from
elderberries and flavored with lemon, was accounted a delicacy.

" The ' pie-belt ' is generally supposed to be best developed in New Eng-
land, but I doubt if in quantity or kinds of pies any State therein can quite
equal some of the Middle States. Marvellous ingenuity has been shown in
the invention of certain pies that are more or less local, and that in a few more
years will doubtless have become absolutely unknown. It is only in locali-
ties too remote from railroads to have a variety of foreign fruits brought at
all seasons of the year, that such recipes as some I am about to describe
will survive. In farming districts, where pie is considered a necessary
article of diet in at least two out of three meals, when the season of small
fruits has passed, housewives have only apples and dried fruits to fall back
upon with which to make pies. So it is not strange that some recipes quite
unknown to urban families should have been devised. There, too, in pies
as in preserves, variety is counted of consequence. In localities where
elderberries are made into jelly and marmalade, they are also used for pies.
Even in the summer, when other more palatable fruits abound, quantities
are stewed for this purpose. They are also dried or canned to use in the
same way in winter and spring. The odor of the fruit was to me always
nauseous, and I knew without tasting that I should dislike the flavor.

" Pies made of dried apples, stewed and mashed, are common in spring-
time in various parts of the United States, but, as far as I can learn, it is
less customary to make them of a mixture of dried-apple sauce and green
currants. As a little girl, many a quart of green currants have I picked
and stemmed, some for plain currant-pie, others to sprinkle in the dried-
apple pie filling, and others to stew for sauce. Where fresh fruits, save
apples, are rare or unknown, any acid flavor, I suppose, is grateful after a
long winter. I have been told that the sour leaves of both wood and field

vol. xiii. — no. 48. 5

66 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

sorrel (Oxalis and Rumex) are sometimes pressed into service in pie-making
in some of the Canadian provinces. In parts of the West, farmers' wives
gather the green fruit of the wild frost-grape for pies, though I think this
is more 'to make a change,' as they say, since the grapes blossom and
mature so late that in most places there must be other fruits before the
grapes are large enough to cook.

" Speaking of these wild grapes, I wonder if country housewives still pre-
serve them according to a fashion I well knew a generation and more ago.
It was always called ' laying down.' You would hear one neighbor say to
another, ' I 've been laying down my grapes.' One or two frosts were con-
sidered necessary to ripen the fragrant clusters hanging from the wild vines
that gracefully clambered over our Virginia rail fences, or festooned tall tree
trunks on the edge of the woods. A stone jar or milk crock was filled with
fine bunches of the wild fruit, which was then almost covered with molasses
and put away in some cool closet or down cellar. After some weeks, or
even months, both fruit and liquid had a sweet-sour, spicy tang that was
very pleasant. The grapes, with a little of the rich juice, were served as a
sweet pickle, or in some families the grapes were removed from the stems,
and, covered with the juice, used to make pies.

"Another dessert I remember in Ohio was vinegar-pie. A pie-pan was
lined with crust as for custard-pie. This was filled with a mixture of cold
water, richly sweetened, slightly thickened with flour, to which was added
sufficient vinegar to give a strongly acid flavor. A pinch of cinnamon was
sprinkled over the liquid after it was poured into the crust, then slender
strips of pie dough were fastened across to make a tart. If baked in a
properly heated oven, the liquid, as it cooked, thickened into a sticky paste.

" The cream-pies of my day, still surviving in the part of Ohio where I was
reared, were very different from the cream-cakes of the bakeries. The
pie-pan was lined with crust, then it was filled with rich cream that had
been well sweetened. Into this was sifted very slowly from a dredging-box a
little flour, — perhaps a dessert-spoonful to one pie. About a dessert-spoon-
ful of butter was cut up into small bits and scattered over the cream. A
pinch of cinnamon was added. This made an indigestibly rich but delicious
dessert. Another queer northern Ohio dish is known as cheese-pie. A
cup of the curd obtained from sour milk by draining off its whey is beaten
with two eggs, a little sweet milk and ' sugar to taste.' Then flavor with
cinnamon and bake in a crust in a deep pie-plate."

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Cure for an Aching Tooth. — About twenty years ago, when spend-
ing the winter in Virginia, I suffered torments from an aching tooth. No
trustworthy dentist being accessible, I determined to await the action of
simple remedies which had often afforded relief, but which this time com-
pletely failed. While enduring the pain as best I could, I was visited by
one of the old colored servants, who had come, as she said, expressly to
cure my ailment. When I asked how she expected to accomplish the

Notes and Queries. 67

result, she replied : "You jes' wrap yer head up in a warm shawl, honey,
an' follow me 'cross de ole fiel' to de ole cem'tery yonder 'mong de pines an'
de oaks, an' ole Sylvy will show you how- Youm jes' trus' me, honey, an'
come right 'long." Now, the cemetery, or old family burying-ground, such
as belonged to all Southern plantations, was about half a mile distant from
the " house," that is, the family residence. The weather was cold, and the
ground covered with light snow. Now for a week past I had not dared to
let any air breathe on me. My friends showed amused smiles, and the
children laughed openly. However, I determined to brave the ridicule,
and, putting on a stout pair of walking boots, we went together "'cross de
ole fiel'," and reached the ground in time to see the setting sun cast red
lights on the snow. I was told to kneel down at the foot of a slender pine,
facing the blazing sunset. My dusky friend took a sharp knife from her
pocket. I began to wish for a companion, but this had been refused, on the
ground that it would break the " spell " if any third person were present or
aware. I watched with surprise as she quickly made in the tree three deep
incisions on the northern side. My guide then bade me drop the shawl
and throw back the head. " Now open your mouf, quick, honey ! De
blessed sun 's gone down." She cut round the tooth, and deftly transferred
the blood from the knife to the tree into the three incisions already made.
The bark was then replaced, leaving the trunk apparently unscarred. Then
she turned to me, with injunctions to tell no soul of what had been done,
and especially to cultivate faith. From that time, I was relieved of the
pain, and the tooth has never ached since.

Mrs, L. H. C. Packwood.
Maitland, Fla.

Sol Lockheart's Call. — A few words in regard to Sol Lockheart may
not be amiss. He is well known in Grovetown, Ga., and its vicinity. He
has been in my employ for many years, and during his long term of ser-
vice I have never had cause for any complaint. He attends to feeding a
large number of mules, horses, and cattle, carries the keys, and has never
abused my confidence. He is regarded by all, white and black, as a man
of integrity ; is sober, honest, truthful, attentive to his duties, courteous and
obliging in manner, and charitable as far as his limited means will admit.
Nevertheless he is very superstitious, believes in ghosts, the signs of the
moon and stars, does not believe in cunjer. He has odd remedies for
diseases ; to wit, having an attack of chills and fever, he took a cotton
string, and, after he had three chills, tied three knots in the string, went to
the woods, and fastened the string around a persimmon-tree, then turned
and walked away; he has not had a return of the disease. He is a
licensed preacher, not an ordained one ; that is, he can preach when no
ordained minister is present. He is always attired in his purple gown and
with bare feet when he preaches at his church, Mt. Pleasant, near Grove-
town, Ga. Every year he goes off preaching when the ladder appears to
him, and always goes in the direction the ladder points. I have written
out his case as he gave it to me ; it is free from what is known as the
" negro dialect :" —

68 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

" When a man starts to pray, he has a conscience to tell him when and
where ; then he has at the same time a conscience to tell him not to go
and pray. The first is a good spirit, the last is a bad spirit. Maybe you
may be lying in bed at midnight, eating breakfast or dinner, or between
meals. The good spirit may say, ' Go in the swamp to pray,' night or day.
If you follow the good one, you will receive good ; if the bad one, you will
get nothing.

" I have to work out and find the difference between the two spirits. I
felt sometimes like obeying the good spirit and sometimes the bad, and I
continued to live to obey it better, and was one morning, just at daylight,
called out by it into a gully ; and when I got there and sat down, I lost my
sight, and I heard a voice at my head saying : ' When a child learns to read
it don't forget for seventy-five or eighty years ; write and send your mistress
word and give her thanks for teaching your lips to pray, and tell her to get
right, if she ain't right ; ' and then there rose a dead head before me, with
rotten teeth ; the head seemed all torn up, a terrible sight ; the sight made
me sick and blind for three days. A woman in the presence of me said,
' Give me a pipe of tobacco ; ' another one said, ' You don't use tobacco,
just use at it ; ' a voice said, ' Go and set you out a tobacco plant, and let it
grow to about one and a half feet, and there is a little worm on the plant.'
And he showed me the plant, a pretty green plant, and I never saw as
pretty a tobacco plant — the worm eats it and lives on it. Methodists
live by the power of God, the Baptists live off of grace ; go and tell all the
Methodists they are wrong.

" Three days after that I was in the field ploughing, a sunshiny morning ;
there came a west wind as a fire and lifted me up, and showed me a ladder
from the northwest, that passed right along by me, about two miles from
me ; the voice told me to go to it and be baptized. I saw the church, and
in it twelve people, and in the pulpit a colored man preaching. I could
see half his body ; the twelve people were in front of him, and I saw myself
sitting behind him in the pulpit, and by that spirit and that sign I was
showed I was called to preach. The end of the ladder at the church was
light and bright ; the end away from the church ran up into the sky and
was dark ; if it had a been bright I would have seen into heaven.

" I told my experience in April eleven years ago, and was baptized the
third Sunday in May. As my experience I told the three deacons and our
minister what I had seen and heard. When they carried me to the water
I lost my sight again, got into the water about waist deep ; my breath left
me ; a voice spoke at my right ear, ' Brother Lockheart, I baptize you.'
I was sick all the time from the time I saw the head till I was baptized.
Tuesday night, after I was baptized, I fell from my chair dead, and when I
fell back a cloud passed over me darker than any black night, and from
that I got well ; that night was the best night's rest I ever had.

" Two days after that I was ploughing in the field, turned my mule round
and sat on my plough-stock ; a voice spoke in midday, ' What makes me a
nigger ? ' The skin and hair shows it ; if you look upon a hill and see two
black men standing, you say there stands two niggers ; if you see two white

Notes and Queries. 69

men, you say there stands two white men ; that is to show the difference
between the two, skin and hair. I saw the master and servant walk out
one day ; the master got snake-bit, but by the help of God he got well, and
he found the servant, the nigger, knew the snake was there before it bit
him, but would not tell him. The master would never like the nigger no
more for not telling him.

" The nigger wants the master to tell him the terror that is in death and
hell, but he won't tell him on account of the snake. Now you can see
clearly to pull the mote out of your brother's eye.

" Two days after that I saw the heavens open and a white cloud come out
about the size of a man's hand ; it spread to the size of a table-cloth,
closed to the size of a man's hand again, then again spread out to the size
of a table-cloth and then closed out of sight, like a door closing in the
heavens : then the next day, early in the morning, I saw the spirit of God,
like a bird, like a rain-crow in shape, but the color of a dove : it had wide
wings ; as it passed by on the right side, it burnt inside of me like a flame of
fire, and run me nearly crazy for about five minutes, and then I was all right
again. About a week after that I was walking along from the field, when
the horn blew for dinner. I walked right up to a coffin on two little
benches ; it was painted a dark red, and on each side were silver handles,
and when I first saw it I was badly frightened and stopped and looked in
it, till when I got quiet, it was empty, but lined, with a pillow at the head.
When I got over my fear a voice spoke at the head of the coffin and said,
' Your body shall lie in that and rest in the shade,' and then, as soon as
the voice ceased speaking, the coffin disappeared, and then I began
preaching.

" About a year after I was called, I went on a journey preaching. I walked
all the way for about forty miles. I walked, for the commandment says you
must not use your critter on the Sabbath day. When I was coming home,
I felt great pain, as if some one was driving nails in me. It was nine
o'clock Saturday morning. Sunday morning about the same time, I saw in
the road before me the likeness of a man, clothed in a long white gown ;
he turned my mind round, just like a wheel turning round. The next day,
at the same time, I saw the same spirit again, who said to me, ' You have a
purple gown made like mine.' The spirit looked like a young white man,
clean-faced ; his hair was kinder straw-colored, and hung down to his
shoulders. For three days he kept after me till I had one made, and on a
Friday I felt something in my shoes. I could n't keep them on, until Sat-
urday evening, and then a voice spoke and said, ' Take off those shoes
and go to Cermonia church to-morrow barefoot and preach.' I now
preach like the Apostles, with my purple gown on and barefoot, at my own
church, Mt. Pleasant, near Grovetown, Ga.

" One night I prayed to the Lord to let me visit Heaven, and then fell into
a deep sleep, and then I began a journey up in the sky. I soon came to a
fine building, and it was paled round with white palings. I walked up in
front of the gate ; the gate was shut. I looked through the gate, and saw a
white man standing in the door of the house. The house was built round,

jo Journal of American Folk-Lore.

of white stone, and the house was full of windows, as high as I could see.
I could not see to the top of the house. All the windows were full of little
children. I didn't see any grown folks there I expect, what I see and
know in this world, they are powerful scarce up there in Heaven."

Roland Steiner.
Grovetown, Ga.

The Ballad of Springfield Mountain. — In reply to the request for
further information regarding this ballad, of which two verses were given
in an article on " Early American Ballads," printed in No. 47 of this
Journal (vol. xii. p. 242), a number of versions have been communicated
the printing of which is of necessity deferred until the next number.
Transcripts of the melody are particularly desired.

LOCAL MEETINGS AND OTHER NOTICES.

Cincinnati. — December, 1899. The Cincinnati Branch of the American
Folk-Lore Society met at the house of Prof. Charles L. Edwards on the
evening of December 13. The secretary being absent, the President ap-
pointed Mr. Hahn as secretary pro tern. The minutes of the previous meet-
ing were read and accepted. The programme for the evening consisted
in a presentation of Japanese melodies, ceremonies, and folk-lore.

Japanese airs were rendered on the violin by Miss Thral, with piano
accompaniment by Mrs. Edwards. The consecration ceremony customarily
performed over the hearth of a new home in Japan was carried out by Mrs.
Sugimoto over the hearth of the house. The paper, also by Mrs. Sugimoto,
was devoted to Japanese mythology.

In the ceremonies of house-consecration, the man of the house, whose
place the celebrant took, kneels before a very low table, after the Japanese
pattern, on which are placed three bowls, one of wine, two of salt. The
wine is sprinkled on the hearth, the breath of the performer being purified
by sacred paper. After this, the master of the house, followed by a priest
of the temple and by the other members of the family, whose breath has
been made pure in a similar manner, in succession throw a pinch of salt
over each shoulder twice, clap their hands three times, and withdraw to
another part of the room.

The paper on mythology set forth that, according to Japanese myth, there
are in the highest heaven five gods. The first is called the Centre God ;
the second, the High Spirit God ; the third, the Heavenly Spirit God ; the
fourth, the Evermore God ; the fifth, the Beautiful Reed God. These seem
to symbolize periods of time in the material development of the people.

There are seven gods of Heaven ; namely, the Beginning-Nature God,
the Hammering-Nation God, the Marsh God, the Boiling-Earth-and-Sun
God, the Great-Gateway God, the Reverent God, the Izanagi God and
Izanini Goddess. The first three or four are thought to represent stages in
the history of men ; the others are associated with conditions of the earth,
or with mythical characters and events.

Local Meetings and Other Notices. 71

There are five gods who are forefathers of the emperors, whose names
by interpretation signify the Rich Rice Ear God, the Pestle God, the Fire
God, the Not-yet-thatched God, the Jinimy God, who was the first Mikado,
said to have reigned 2559 years ago.

The stories of these gods and goddesses resemble in great part the Greek
myths, both in their close portrayal of human life and in the nature of the
superhuman feats they accomplish.

The effect of such a presentation as that of Mrs. Sugimoto could not but
be to create a broader judgment of human affairs, and to enforce a percep-
tion of the common end and purpose of the religions of humanity.

January 10, 1900. The Cincinnati Branch assembled at the rooms of
the Woman's Club. The meeting, which was open to visitors, was well
attended. After the business session had been concluded, the President
introduced the speaker of the evening, Miss Alice C. Fletcher, of Washing-
ton, whose subject was " The Relation between Indian Story and Song."
The musical illustrations of each emotion and sentiment were played on the
piano by Mrs. Edwards. Miss Fletcher showed how the ear of the people
corresponds to the complex harmony of overtones when they sing in unison,
and explained that worship and rehearsal of heroic or pathetic events by
accurately reproduced story and song, often handed down from generation
to generation, permeate their life, speech, and custom. It was shown that
they sing on the hunt, when in danger, when seeking healing herbs, and
when planting. The permanence of the songs is proved by comparing
records taken at long intervals. Each type of song was illustrated, with the
assistance of Mrs. Edwards ; namely, songs of heroes, of tribal prayer, of
the maturing child, of women on behalf of the fighting warriors, and descrip-
tive of events.

C. W. Ha/in, Secretary pro tem.

American Association for the Advancement of Science, Section
H, Anthropology. — The forty-ninth meeting of this association will be held
in New York, N. Y., June 25-30, 1900. Mr. Amos W. Butler will preside
over the section of Anthropology. Titles of papers should be sent to the
secretary of the section, Mr. Frank Russell, Cambridge, Mass., at an early
date, in order that they may be included in the provisional programme to
be issued in May.

American Folk-Lore Society. — An opportunity will be given to mem-
bers to present papers in joint session with Section H, A. A. A. S. Titles
of papers may be sent to the Permanent Secretary, W. W. Newell, Cam-
bridge, Mass.

72 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
BOOKS.

The Native Tribes of Central Australia. By Baldwin Spencer and

F. J. Gillen. London : Macmillan & Co. 1899. Pp- x> 671.

With this remarkable and epoch-making work comes a flood of long-
desired illumination. Both authors are members of the important Arunta
tribe, and one has spent the greater part of the last twenty years in the
centre of the continent. In 1896-97 they witnessed at Alice Springs a
series of ceremonies which occupied more than three months. The desert
country is inhabited by tribes distributed into small local groups, each of
which takes its name from some one animal or plant, and each of which
has its sacred storehouse in a cleft or cave, where are concealed the sacred
objects. At intervals of time are performed ceremonies designed to multi-
ply the animal or plant of the group to which the performers belong. It is
with regard to the philosophy connected with these groups that the book is
especially instructive.

As with North American Indians, traditional history begins with a period
at which the land is supposed to be inhabited by mythical ancestors con-
ceived as animal or plant men, more powerful than their living descendants,
and who are conceived as inconsistently fluctuating between human and
animal characteristics. To this age is given the name of Alcheringa. The
ancestors, in course of migrations, carried with them amulets, sacred stones
called Churinga ; where they went into the ground, at the term of their
activity, the spirit part remained in these amulets, while a rock or plant
also rose to replace the body ; in the shrine so formed, a number of other
Churinga were deposited. The spirits present in these holy places are
disposed to take second birth, and, the idea of natural conception being
unknown, it is conceived that the first perception by a woman of the future
birth of a child is due to the entrance into her person of a spirit, whose
totem is determined by the spot ; for if the Oknanikilla belongs, for instance,
to spirits of emu men, then the child will be an emu, without regard to the
totem of its mother. The tribe being divided into two exogamous groups,
the child, among the Arunta, will follow the class of its father ; but the
Alcheringa men of the totem will have belonged mainly to one or other of
the two groups, and the class chiefly represented will have the first chance
in the choice of headman. The child is therefore the reincarnation of an
ancestor who was also animal, plant, cloud, water, or fire, the native mind
having no difficulty in conceiving that the spirit embodied in any of these
may be incarnated in a human body. (On the other hand, as may be
observed, the essence of the beast or element is thought of as human, and
may and does appear and act in human form, this being the mental root of
polytheism, a method of imagination reverting to the most primitive mental
conditions.)

When the spirit is born as a babe, he has no further use for the Churinga

Bibliographical Notes. 73

stone, which accordingly is dropped in the locality ; this is searched for,
and becomes the amulet or Churinga of the babe. If not found, then
another is made from the Nanja, that is, the tree or stone in which the spirit
formerly resided. The Nanja tree is connected with the life of the child ;
if it were cut down, some evil would befall him : any creature on the tree
is sacred. The Churinga of the child is deposited in the cave or crevice
called the Ertnatulanga, which belongs to each totem centre, along with the
other Churinga of members of the totem, and is called the Churinga nanja ;
no woman may approach the place, or even take a path passing in the
neighborhood. The Ertnatulunga become havens for wild animals, which
in their locality may not be injured. The spot is also the rudiment of a
city of refuge, for a person pursued by others may not be touched while he
remains near. A resemblance to modern European usage may be noted, in
that the scrapings of the Churinga, mixed with water, are used for medicine
(as in Ireland is grave-dirt from the resting-place of a holy man). Robbery
of an Ertnatulunga is a rare occurrence ; where such removal has taken
place, mourning ensues as if for the dead.

With the totems are associated certain sacred ceremonies called Inti-
chiuma, performed at the season associated with the multiplication of the
totem animals or plants, and having for their object the promotion of such
increase.

In connection with the rites of the kangaroo totem it is made clear that,
according to native conception, in the Alcheringa existed animals as well as
men : an aged man of the Okira totem is taken to be the reincarnation of
a famous kangaroo of the ancient time, who was hunted by wild dogs, killed,
and reanimated ; in the rites this event is celebrated. Two blocks of stone
supposed to represent kangaroos are rubbed, and a rock-painting made to
indicate the fur and bones of the animal. Veins are opened in the arms of
young persons, and the blood made to spirt on the ceremonial stone.

Each totemic group, say the authors, is supposed to have a direct control
over the numbers of the animal or plant the name of which it bears, and in
theory at least have the first right to the animal or plant. But eating of
the totemic animal is done sparingly, and as a rite calculated to confer
power rather than with the purpose of giving sensual pleasure. The authors,
however, conceive that originally there was no tabu against consumption of
the totem, such freedom being indicated by the traditions.

An elaborate account is given of initiation ceremonies, which include
circumcision. In these may be noted that the candidate is instructed in the
events of his totem in the Alcheringa ; thus, in a kangaroo ceremony, the
youth was informed of the manner in which, in a given place, the ancestral
kangaroo man died, his spirit at a later time passed into the body of a
woman, and was born again as a man of the totem having the ancestral
name ; it is for the old men to decide what particular spirit is embodied in
any given individual, and has the secret and sacred name corresponding.
These Alcheringa histories are represented in the sacred pole or cross-
framework, by decoration thoroughly conventional, and changing meaning
according to the ideas to be represented, as also by dramatic action and

74 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

costume. At Alice Springs, the evening star is considered to descend into
the earth at a particular spot where went down a woman of the Alcheringa ;
and a child born near that stone will belong to the evening star totem, and
be a reincarnation of the original evening star woman, and accordingly
receive the same name.

Accounts of the Alcheringa traditions are furnished, by which it appears
that these include, as usual with primitive faiths, narrations respecting the
chaotic period, the transformations by which the earth was made habitable,
effected by beings who are described as " self-existing," the interference of
demonic beings, and the defeat and slaughter of the latter. The marital
relations in this period seem not to have been restricted by totem. Long
migration legends are related, and no doubt contain intermingled historical
elements.

In Arunta burial customs, the habit of feeding the ghost does not appear.
Speaking generally, nothing except the Churinga amulets are interred with
the dead. The camp in which death occurred is burned and the contents
destroyed. During the period of mourning, the name of the dead is not
mentioned, or only in a whisper, lest the spirit, which walks abroad, should
consider that his relatives fail in respect. The spirit, however, is supposed
to pass the greater part of the time in the cave which is the Alcheringa
birthplace, and here, underground, is a region closely answering to a para-
dise. From the Nanja, that is, stone or tree marking the abode of any
Alcheringa ancestor, arises a double called Arumburinga, which serves to
watch over the spirit tenanting the Churinga, and which becomes the guar-
dian spirit of the human personage who is the reincarnation of the ancestor
(we have thus both a counterpart and an explanation of the Roman genius) ;
these doubles, together with the spirits, form collectively a group, Iruntari-
nia, the nearest approach to an Australian pantheon. With these Irun-
tarinia medicine-men may communicate ; the like privilege is bestowed on
certain children, who have the "open eye," and who must be serious and
sedate. The Iruntarinia are in appearance youthful and smooth-faced ;
their bodies are shadowy, and they decorate themselves with a precious
down. They have no fires, but kill game and eat it uncooked. They may
carry off women, and are in general beneficent, though frequently cruel ;
they destroy by shooting pointed sticks into the body, which can be removed
only by a skilled medicine-man. Sometimes they play pranks on wander-
ing travellers. They make medicine-men by communicating new organs
to such persons as sleep in certain caves.

The mythology includes nature-myths ; thus it is conceived that the sun
issued from the earth in the form of sisters, one carrying a newly-born
child. The race of the sun-women is alive, being reincarnated in descend-
ants who dramatically represent the original advent. The account is far
from clear ; it would seem that the visible sun is formed by the headdress
of the younger sister.

The authors do not find in the beliefs or ceremonies invocation of superior
beings ; yet certain of the acts they describe, such as the cleansing of the Chu-
ringa and the use of blood in ritual, appear to be acts of worship ; also, with

Bibliographical Notes. 75

reference to the spirits who animate and direct medicine-men, it would seem
that there must be performances of expressions which reflect the reverence
with which they are regarded. If certain of these ancestral spirits should
be found to resemble veritable deities, it would be no more than is indi-
cated by the accounts obtained from other parts of Australia, and would be
in no way inconsistent with the theory of origins as set forth by the writers.
At any rate, the dramatic presentations of myths constitute a form of wor-
ship, and the writer of this notice ventures to regard such relation as
corroborating views previously expressed by him in regard to the place in
ritual of myth-representation.

W. W. Newell.

Die Zeugung in Sitte, Brauch und Glauben der Sudslaven (vol. vi.

of KpvTrTdSia, pp. 193-381). Paris, 1899.

Folk-lore is a serious science, but unfortunately it has become the fad
and pastime of society. Callow youths and gentle maidens assume an air of
seriousness and dabble in matters that often ought to be left only to the
ripe scholar who is devoid of all pruriency, and who can approach his sub-
ject in the spirit of an alienist and medical practitioner. The result of this
society interest in folk-lore is that, while no case of psychopathy and
degeneracy is ever excluded from medical works, the student of popular
customs and beliefs has to betake himself to secret publications, that cannot
be procured through the ordinary channels of trade, when he wants to study
a subject such as the present book contains. The author, F. S. Krauss,
justly remarks in the introduction that "the title KpwTaSia is incorrect for
this collection, for texts are given that are sung in public, generally during
the performance of the round dance. The facts that are offered here are
no secrets." Above all, it must be noticed that the philologist will find
here a valuable vocabulary of words for which he will in vain look in any
of the dictionaries of the southern Slavs. The texts themselves with their
explanations throw a light on many dark points in the marriage ceremonies
of various nations, particularly on the common custom of stealing the
bride. For a common understanding of similar matters contained in
Krauss's Sitte und Brauch der Sudslaven, the present little volume is in-
dispensable ; it also clears up some doubtful facts in Krafft-Ebing's " Psy-
chopathia Sexualis." Probably the most interesting part is that which
treats on the songs and ballads of the round dance ; the sexual nature of
these is incontrovertibly proved, and one can understand why anathemas
should have been pronounced against them in the Middle Ages, as for
example in Iceland. In conclusion, the author says a few sympathetic
words for the Croatians, or rather for the country population of Croatia and
Slavonia that is being rapidly Serbianized by a coterie of learned men at
Agram.

Leo Wiener.

j6 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

Allgemeine Methodik dEr Volkskunde. Berichte iiber erscheinungen in

den jahren 1890-1897. By L. Scherman and Frederich S. Krauss.

(Reprinted from Kritischen Jahresbericht iiber die Fortschritte der Ro-

manischen Philologie, vol. iv., No. 3). Erlangen : F. Junge. 1899.

Pp. 134.

The part of L. Scherman in this report consists in a notice of the contri-
butions made during the year 1890 (pp. 1-2 1), and is largely occupied with
discussions concerning the scope and use of the words "folk-lore" and
"volkskunde," which have now terminated in favor of a wide definition of
such terms. The remainder of the report has been prepared by F. S. Krauss,
who has undertaken not so much to give an account of the important publi-
cations of the period as to indicate the ideas which have animated the
researches of this time. As the fundamental principle of modern scientific
theory, he recommends the doctrine of Bastian, as summed up by Stein-
meitz, that humanity is to be considered as a single species unequally
developed and living under different environments. He refuses to admit
the existence of any distinction between folk and nation, as if, in treating
the ethnographic material, modern institutions ought to be left out of view ;
as to likening folk-lore to a branch of ethnography, he remarks that it ought
rather to be called a jungle. He agrees with A. H. Post that, according to a
new discovery of the last few years, like morals and ideas arise independently
under like conditions, and that the individuality of ethnic groups is annihi-
lated, mankind moving in lines of development little affected by historical
occurrences, while all psychic activities fall into the frame of natural laws ;
the national genius, formerly held regulative for each separate people, dis-
appears together with those formerly supposed to regulate the courses of
the stars. Folk-lore, therefore, is a detailed account of the life of one
people, as included in the frame supplied by the life of all peoples.

Krauss does not attach much value to question-books as a means of
obtaining a record of folk-lore; in his experience, the invention of new
customs, as well as explanations of custom, constitutes an amusement for
the imaginative narrator. On distinctions once made between races in a
state of nature and civilized he lays small stress ; the former are no more
"primitive," or immediately related to nature, than the latter, and the latter
only in a degree less " fetishistic " than the former. Of the accuracy of
folk-memory he has a poor opinion, opining that its retentiveness is limited
to a few centuries. As to the theory of folk-tales, he assents to the opinion
according to which such are viewed as a complex of tale-elements arranged
by one narrator and propagated in innumerable variants from one centre ;
but he holds that a free exchange takes place between cultured and uncul-
tured races.

The last forty pages are devoted to a mention of publications sent for
review to the Jahresbericht, under the following heads: Introductions to
folk-lore, mythology, funeral customs, theory of numbers, popular medicine,
folk-songs, games of children, riddles, proverbs, general and special mono-
graphs, societies and journals of folk-lore. In the course of his work, the
author makes frequent and kindly mention of the Journal of American
Folk-Lore.

Bibliographical Notes. 77

Catalogue of a Collection of Objects illustrating the Folk-Lore
of Mexico. By Frederick Starr. With thirty-two figures. (Pub-
lished for the Folk-Lore Society.) D. Nutt : London, 1899. Pp. ix, 132.
Notice has already been taken in this Journal (vol. xii, p. 230) of the
generous contribution of illustrative objects made to the Folk-Lore Society
by Professor Starr, whose assiduity in the investigation of Mexican folk-
lore is well-known ; the catalogue before us carries out a condition of the
gift. In a preface Professor Starr enforces the wide field of study and
collection offered to the folk-lorist in Mexico : " Here are dialect develop-
ments ; here are proverbs, witty and wise ; here are folk-songs, sweet and
touching ; here are folk-tales untouched by skepticism ; here are charms and
formulas ; here are witches and fairies in the full height of their power ;
here are popular street celebrations and dramas ; here are a hundred Ober-
ammergaus, with passion-plays and miracle-plays unspoiled by the crowds
of visitors; here are a thousand strange survivals of pagan barbarism in
the midst of Christian civilization." The first section, on " Local Indus-
tries," illustrates this richness of custom and conservatism of usage.
Such diversity exists even in modes of work. At Aguas Calientes, a mis-
sionary, building a schoolhouse, had workmen from the locality and others
from a neighboring town. The two parties had to be kept at labor on dif-
ferent walls, as they did their work in different manners, and each considered
the other's method inferior. Water-carriers in different cities have charac-
teristic water-jars, differing in form, size, and mode of carrying. The evi-
dence of archaeology goes to show that analogous local differences marked
the pre-Conquest Mexican life. In the collection, such peculiar industries
are illustrated by toys of horsehair, drawn-work, silver figures, inlaid iron,
lustred pottery, straw pictures, rag and pottery figures. Among toys for
children, the most curious are the naguales. These represent a four-legged
animal with no tail, a woolly fleece, and a human face. It is usually sup-
plied with some sort of a cap, and bears upon its back the booty which it
has stolen from some house. Children are frightened into good behavior
by threats of naguales. From examples of common belief, cited by
Professor Starr, it results that these figures are often used as masks by
actual robbers, who profit by the superstition. (As the word is known to
be connected with ancient ideas of sorcery, it may here be suggested that
the practice may be the survival of a habit of masking on the part of
ancient medicine-men, who were taken for spirits, and who might thus
extend their own influence and inspire terror.) In one section, on chil-
dren's games, the words are given in detail, the sketch occupying thirty
pages. In many cases the formulas recorded correspond to those em-
ployed elsewhere in similar amusements. It can hardly be said that they
are characterized by extraordinary antiquity of phrase or idea; often the
vigor of the survival has itself occasioned a more complicated develop-
ment. Thus, in the game answering to our Hopscotch, the diagrams em-
ployed are more various and intricate than usual in the European game ;
one figure represents a snail-shell, another the body of a giant. Among
the games we find, as in English, one representing different kinds of work,

j8 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

another the struggle of angels and devils. It is natural that Mexican
children perform mimic bull-fights. Popular celebrations furnish a valuable
and curious series of illustrations. The clay of the three kings is generally
celebrated ; these personages are believed to represent three races, Cauca-
sian, Negro, and Mongolian. Cascaroncs, made of empty eggshells, often
filled with square bits of bright-colored paper called " amores," are broken,
and masked figures promenade with all sorts of antics. During Holy
Week, from Thursday to Saturday, matracas, or rattles, where a cogged
wheel is made to strike against a narrow projecting strip by whirling in
such manner as to produce a loud rattling sound, are employed ; the church
bells cease ringing, and great matracas take their place. The figures of
Judas sold at this season are illustrated in the catalogue. The Feast of
the Dead survives in full vigor ; at Tezontepec, for example, offerings are
set out, consisting of an abundance of bread, fruit, dulces, wax candles,
flowers, and liquors for grown persons, the doors being left open to give
admittance to spirits. On the last day of the feast, the family and neigh-
bors meet, and eat and drink the offerings. Popular medicine survives in
the fullest force ; the stock of the woman who sells remedios may include
two hundred remedies, embracing materials from the animal, vegetable,
and mineral kingdoms. The illustrations show an interesting collection of
votive offerings in silver and wax. Under the head of religious pictures is
exhibited the manner in which old pagan shrines have been adopted by the
new religion ; thus Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico,
takes the place of the Mother of the Gods, the Aztec Tonantzin. Profes-
sor Starr has shown how excellent an idea of the richness of Mexican
folk-life may be given by a collection of objects representing, not the pure
Indians of the South, but only the Mestizos of northern and central
Mexico.

Professor Karl Knortz, an industrious collator of traditional material,
has gathered a number of discursive essays in a volume called " Folklor-
istische Streifziige" (G. Maske : Oppeln and Leipzig, 1900, pp. 431).
The subjects of the several papers exhibit a wide range of literary as well
as traditional themes, such as Low-German American literature, American
proverbs and expressions, usages of the New Year and of first of April,
together with notes on saliva, salt, games, the evil eye, and signs. In a
paper on the schoolmaster in literature and folk-lore, the writer shows,
from popular rhyme as well as literary allusion, how generally our fathers
believed that the principal ability required in a teacher was a talent for
wielding the rod. In an account of the White Stag, offered as commentary
on a song of Uhland's, Dr. Knortz explains the fabulous creature, sup-
posed to be single in his kind and supernatural, as a survival of a solar
myth setting forth the uninterrupted course of the sun. A notice of sur-
names and nicknames (Bei- und Spitznamen) offers for the amusement of
Germans a number of American epithets applied to nationalities or to
political parties.

Bibliographical Notes. 79

The "Maliseet Vocabulary" of Mr. Montague Chamberlain (Harvard
Cooperative Society : Cambridge, Mass., 1900, pp. 94), being entirely
linguistic, lies outside of the province of this journal, and can here be
mentioned only as a contribution to knowledge made by a student who is
deeply interested in the preservation of legendary lore. An introduction is
contributed by Professor W. F. Ganong.

JOURNALS.

1. American Oriental Society. Section for the historical study of religions.
II. 1S99. Economics of primitive religion. W.Hopkins. — Psychology of the
Vedanta and Sankhya philosophies. C. C. Everett. — Historical study of reli-
gions in universities and colleges. M. J^strow.- — Relation between magic and
religion. C. H. Toy.

2. The International Monthly. (Burlington, Vt. ; by the Macmiilaa Co.,
New Yoik and London.) Vol. I. No. 2, February, 1900. Recent work in the sci-
ence of religion. C. H. TOY.

3. The Land of Sunshine. (Los Angeles.) No. 2, July, 7899. Among the
Yaqui Indians in Sonora. V Graxvilxe. — Vol. XII. No. 2, January, 1900. A
mission saints' day in 1868. — A fiesta at Mesa Grande. C. G. DuBoi2,

4. Folk-Lore. (London.) Vol. X. No. 4, December, 1S90. The place of
totemism in the evolution of religion. F. B. Jevons. — The folk-lore in the le-
gends of the Panjab. R. C. Temple. — Reviews : works of M. H. Kingsley, West
African studies; S. Bugge, The home of Lhe Eddie poems ; R. M. Lawrence, The
magic of the horseshoe; P. Sebillot. Legendes locales de la Haute Bretagne, and
La Veillee de Noel; W. A. Craigie, Scandinavian folk-lore; N. Marr, Fables of
Wardan; T. F. Thiselcon-Dyer, Old En dish social life: M. Hurler. Deutsches
krankheitsnamenbuch. — Correspondence. The Niebelung treasure in English.
Burial customs. — Miscellanea. Dorset folk-lore collected in 1897. A crown of
thoms. Australian religion. Folk-tales from the Greek islands. — Bibliography.

5. M^lusine. (Paris.) Vol. IX. No. 2, September-October, 1899. Les super-
stitions popuJaires et !a sorcelicrie en Alsace au XVIIe siecle. R. Rf.USS. —
La fascination. (Continued in No ?.) J. Tuchmann. — Dictons et proverbes
bretons. E. Ernaulx. — No. s, I uvember-Deccmber Renaud le tueur de
femmes, chanson populaire. G. DONClEUX. — Dictons et proverbes bretons,
VII. E. Ernault.

6. Revue dea Traditions Fopn.laires. (Paris.) Vol. XIV. No. 1*0, October,
1899. Notes sur le culte de la terre. P. Sebillot. — Contes et legendes de
i'Extreme-Orlent. R. BASSET. — Folk-lore des romains de h Hongrie. Enchante-
ments ou incantations. O. Mailaxd. — No. t E, November. Le culte des fontaines.
P. Sebillot. — Contes et Agendas aiabes. R. Basset. — Les niois en Franche-
Comte. Novembre. C. Beai;quier. — No. 12. December. Les mois en Frauche-
Comtek Ddcembre. C. Beauqcjier. — Le comte et la fee, le roi Renaud. E.
Ernaui.t. — Devinettes du Poitou. R. M. Lactjve. — Contes et legendes arabes.
CCLXVII.-CCLXXVL P.. Basset.

7. Mittheilungen cler Schlssischen G-esellsehaft Hit Volkakunds. (Bres-
lau.) Vol. VI. No. 2, 1899 Pint: auffuhruriEj schJesischer weihnachtsspiele. F.
Vogt. — Schlesische legerden. O. WARUATSCH.---Anekdotenhafte sagen. A.
Eichxer. — Besprechungsformelm. O. Senor.z. — No. 3. Dritter bericht fiber
oberscMesische erzahlungen. W. Nehrixg. — Buntes aus der s iclost< ■.'-.. Ober-
schlesiens. E. Olerich. — Schlesische redensar ten. W. Patschovsky.

So Journal of American Folk-Lore.

S. Wallonia. (Liege.) Vol. VII. No. 1 1, November, 1899. Le pelerir-age de
St.-Marcoul. C.J. Schepeks. — Le folk-lore de Spa. IX. Les fetes pop u'aires.
A. Body. — No. 12. December. Hameaux et lieux-dits walious. L. Delattre.
— Les trairies de Noel. R. DUSKPULCHRE.

9. Archives Suisses des Traditions Populaires. (Zurich.; Vol. III. No. 4,
1S99. Chants patois jurassieas. A. Rossat. — Luzerner akten zura hexen- und
zauberwesen. IV. E. Hoffmann-Krayer. — Gebrauche im Birseck. II. G.
Sutterlin. — Sagen aus dem Sassthal im Wallis. B. Ret.er.

10. Arcluvio per lo Studio Delia Tradizioni Popolari. (Palermo.) Vol.
VIII. No. 3, July-September, 1899. Esopo, ovvero della rappresenianza allegcr-
ica deila favola. G. LiGNANA. — Anticke leggeride sul diavolo. M. Dl Mae-
tixo. — Le antiche feste di Sa. Rosalia in Palermo. M. Pttre. — Usi e ccstumi
di Aveliino. G. Amai.fi. — Leggende popolari senesi. G. B. CORSr. — -Novel-
line tcscane raccolte a Lucca. R. Nerucci. — Indovhielli-aneddoti ve-onesi. A.
Balladoro. — Feste. canfi sacri, preghiere in Sardegna. G. Ferraro. — Leg-
gende chiusine. M. Ostermann. — Impronte maravigliose in Italia. A. Rac-
CUGLIA. — Usi e costumi afr.cani in Massaua, C. Rossi.

11. A Tradioa'.;. (Serpa, Portugal.) Nos. i-ii, January-November, 1S99.
This journal is devoted to the collection of ethnographical materials from Portu-
gal, including language, folk-lore of all kinds, songs, tales, jests, customs, and
superstitions: also costume, methods ci labor, furniture, habitations, in short
everything that belongs to the ethnography of a race. The first year of the pub-
lication, which is issued monthly and will form a volume of about 200 pages,
thows the unlimited supply of material open to a collector in Portugal. The num-
bers contain noted music, and are illustrated. The editors are Ladislau Picarra
and M. Dias Nunes. Price 60 reis a number; 600 reis the volume. The collec-
tion particularly concerns the province of Alemtejo. Following is the table of
contents of No. it: Ertatinga Estantiga? CM.deVasconcei.los. — Modas-
tstribilhos alemtejauas. I). NlJNES. -- Danca- populares do Baixc- Alemtejo. D.
Nu::r.r>. — Therapeutica mystica : Benzedi-ras. A. d'Oliveira.. — Jogos popu-
lates: Esconderelos. L. Picarra. — Festas do sacrameuto em Beia. A.
Tavares.

12. Zeitschrift d.<n Vureins far Volk&kunde. (Berlin.) Vol. IX. No. 4,
1899. Volksk'indlicbes aus J. W. Wots kolner jugenderinnerungen. L.
Frakttl Tirolci Teufclsglaubo. A. F. Dorler. — Kriegs und Sclachten-
sage aus dem Marchreide. If. Scnais >vmy.. — Uc'kmnarkisch< kin derreime.
M. Gef-Hardt and R. Petsch. — Mahrische martern und rumanische erriuer-
ungskreuz*1. R. F. Kainxl — Alter deutsche weihnachtslieder aus dem Lungau.
A. Petak. — Kleine mitteilungen. — Biicheranzeigen. (Among die notices, re-
views of Schermaa und cvir.uss, Berichte 'iber erscheiuungen, Robertson Smith;
Religion der Senuten (translation), Max-Mtiller; Nouvelles etudes dt-r mythologte,
Sophus Bugge (translated by W. H. Schofield), Home of the Eddie poems.)

13. i\yara Clara? till karnidosi orn do Svenuka Lansmolsn ock
SvenskS Fciklif. (Stockholm.) Vol. XV. No. !, 1899. Novska Stev samlade-
ock utgivna av Rickasd Steffen, pp. 3-204. Melodies, pp. 203, 204.

THE JOURNAL OF

AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.

Vol. XIII. — APRIL-JUNE, 1900. — No. XLIX.

IROOUOI3 WOMEN.

There are many incidental references to the social and political
standing of women among the Iroquoian nations. The summary
here to be presented will embrace only those in New York, Canada,
and near Lake Erie. In this territory were included the Eries,
Hurons, Neutrals, Petuns, and the Five Nations or Iroquois proper.

Although 01 the same stock, these differed greatly in many ways.
In the opinion of the French; Huron and thief might well be con-
vertible terms, such dexterous thieves were they. As among the
Spartans, it was disgraceful only to be detected, and this was often
thought a good joke. On the contrary, the Iroquois were and are
scrupulously honest in this way. Both sexes of the Hurons were
notoriously licentious, but Charlevoix says in his journal, "The Iro-
quois in particular had the reputation oC chastity before they had any
commerce with the Illinois and other nations in the neighborhood of
Louisiana." Somewhat corrupted by these as they were, there is ao
instance on record of assault on any female captive. In political rights
and social influence the women had everywhere much the same high
standing.

As in civilized communities, there was a division of work between
men md women, and the worn- u s rork was often assigned lo men
who had become slaves of the Iroquois. They had lost their rank
as warriors, unless adopted by some family or clan. The work of
the women was tc collect fuel, usually only dry sticks gathered in
the woods : to cultivate the ground, a very light and rather jolly task ;
to carry the necessary baggage en the trails, while their husbands
held axe and bo?/ ready for defence against any sadder assault ; to
prepare clothing iroii\ the hides and furs the men brought in from
the weary hunt ; to cook the meat that had been found in the woods.
There was lighter and tasteful employment in weaving ncj embroid-
ery, but the Iroquois woman's daily lot was by no means hard. It
wai- considered light by them. With the use of irou axes, rue' was
more oas'ly ob-'ained, but the primitive mode was not very laborious.

82 J ozirnal of American Folk-Lore.

When large pickets were required for a palisade, David Cusick said,
"They set fire against several trees as required to make a fort and
the stone axes are used to rub off the coals, as to burr quicker ;
when the tree burns down they put fires to it about three paces apart
and burns it down in half a day.'' With a host of people this be-
came a frolic, and such it is yet. I was recently on the Onondaga
reservation on a winter day. The men were busy getting in the
year's supply of wood. First they chopped for one family, and then
for another. When the logs were drawn home — for they do not
cut it in short lengths in the woods — the men met from house to
house, and cut it up for the stove. In the woods and at home they
had a merry time.

The women carried the burdens, but not in all cases. When Chau-
\ monot and Menard went from Onondaga to Oneida in 1656, at night-
fall in the forest the chief addressed his band as usual. " He also
\ made a speech complimentary to the women, who were carrying the
provisions of the journey, praising their courage and constancy."
On many occasions the men carried quite as much. This depended
on circumstances. When the town of Onondaga was removed six
miles in 1682, jean de Lamberville said, ''This is not done without
difficulty ; for inasmuch as carts are not used here and the country
is very hilly, the labor of the men and v/omen, who carry their goods
on their backs, is consequently harder and of longer duration. To
supply the lack of horses the inhabitants of these forests render
reciprocal aid to one another, so that a single family will hire some-
times eighty or one hundred persons." The burden strap acioss the
forehead, the basket or back frame behind, all aided much.

While wives often accompanied their husbands on the war party
or in embassies, this was only when the journey was much of it by
water. Ordinarily they were at home, though sometimes helping
in the hunting camps. Thus the care of the fields naturally fell to
them. Corn, pumpkins, and beans were eosilv raised, and reouired
no greai care at any time. The ears >• ■ 0 0 -ver ueatly l>rai< d
and hung in long festoons, within and without the cabins, as is done
to this day. Rushes and corn-husks formed mats, the customary
resting-places. " On my mat ' was a well known hospitable
phrase. Pumpkins were dried, and thus were ready for use at any
time. Beans entered into many things, and are yet an ingredient of
Indian corn bread. All these gave origin to various phrases appli-
cable to female industry, indoors and out. In the old Mohawk
tongue, Asennonte was a little sack attached to the girdle, in which
the women carried their seed corn. Ondrale was the wooden hoe,
to which the poorer Indians long adhered. The native weeds were
not hard to subdue, and of many modern Dests they knew nothing.

Iroquois Women, S3

There are terms for various dishes and their preparation, and the
men were cooks when occasion required. The probability is that
they often lent a hand in household work.

Women dressed sumptuously when they could afford it, and they
naturally had the first choice of materials. Our early chronicles often
speak of the beauty and costly nature of their apparel. Colonel
Thomas Proctor visited the Onondagas at Buffalo, in 1791, and said
that some of the women were " dressed so richly with silken stroud,
etc., and ornamented with so many silver trappings, that one suit
must have been of the value of at least thirty pounds.'' Quite as
costly were their earlier dresses, though made of native materials.
One is tempted to enlarge on this; so curious and beautiful was their
holiday attire.

It must be remembered that all were not equally rich, nor did all
women rank alike. Some were brought up delicately. In the Rela-
tion for 1670 we have an account of the recent death of a voun^
Seneca woman of high rank who had been baptized. To the com-
forting word; of the missionary the mother replied, "Thou wast not
acquainted with her ; she was mistress here, and commanded more
than twenty slaves who are still with me. She knew not what it was
to go to the foreot to bring in wood, or to the river there to draw up
water. She was not able to trouble hersek with all that which con-
cerns housekeeping-. Now I doubt not but that being now the only
one of our family in Paradise, she may have much trouble to accus-
tom herself to it , for she will be obliged to do her cooking herself, to
go tc the wood and the water, and to prepare all with her own hands
for eating and drinking." If cniy one of her slaves could go to the
same place it would be all right.

Colden said the Iroquois had no f.iaveSj but they not only fre-
quently appear but are classified in the Relation for 1657. There
were three kinds. The first were admitted into families, and some-
times became chief;, though still considered slaves. The second
v/ere given to the richer Indians, and had food and shelter, but
nothing more. The third were young women and girls, continually
exposed to every danger. Often, however, they were saved from
death to become wives As slaves the treatment of these girls
depended on the temper of their mistress, and this was often cruel.
In 1656 an Erie girl displeased her Onondaga mistress, who hired a
yonng man to kili her. The life of the slave was absolutely in the
power of the owner.

Mr. Horatio Hale rither strangely says in his " Iroquois Book of
Riter.," page 9;, -'The Iroquois never burnt women at the stake," and
considers this but an occasional death for their male prisoners. He
looked at their character through his own benevolent eves. The

N

8-t Journal of American Folk-Lore.

f instances of their both burning and eating women in the seventeenth
century are so many that it is hardly worth while to discuss this.
Four Andastes women were burned at Oneida alone in i663, and
another was burned and eaten at Cayuga the same year. Jogues*
account of the burning and eating of a female prisoner in sacrifice,
by the Mohawks, is well known. She was first burned all over the
body, then thrown into a great fire, taken out in due season, and
then " her body was cut up, sent to the various villages and devoured."
<* Similar things were common.

I do not now remember any instance of polygamy among the Iro-
quois, though il was common among other races. Marriages could
be dissolved at pleasure as they yet are, but in early days this seems
to have been rarely done. Informal as Indian marriages usually
were, there were some points more definitely observed by the Iro-
quois. Among the Mohawks Gakwarinna was the portion of the
woman who gets married ; Gakwarinniontcn the ceremony of carry-
ing her into the cabin at this time. For the time being, at least, she
then had reserved rights. The union was arranged by mutual
friends, and wife and husband lodged together at his home. During
the day they were with their respective relatives, the husband not
daring to enter his wife's cabin until she had children. At Onon-
daga, in 1657, it was observed that for the time being "the only
community of goods there is between the one and the other is that
the husband gives all the fruits of the chase to his wife, who renders
him some services in recompense, and is obliged to cultivate his
fields and make his harvest."
, Men and women of the same clan might not marry, all these being
teemed near relations. For a long time clan burial prevailed, so
that husband and wife were not in terred together but in the ground :
of their respective clans. The children were of the mother's clan
and nation. Thus the noted Logan was a Cayuga because his
mother was one, though his father was a distinguished Oneida chief.
This feature of Iroquois life is a great bar to the division of their
lands in severalty. Marriage into another clan or nation might
bring personal advantages to a man if he desired them. T'wo ex the
leading framers of the Iroquois League were reputed Onondagas
by birth, but Dekana.widah or his father and Hiawatha married
Mohawk wives and became chiefs of that nation. In 16.37 a young
Seneca was displeased because his people had made peace with the
Hurons. He ;; married am ys\% the Onondaga:-,, in order always to have
liberty to bear arms against them."

Men might change their nationality in order to build up a nation
or clan. This is sometimes done now by both men and women. In
the Relation for 1645 it appears that nearly all the Oneida men were

Iroquois Women. 85

at one time slain by the Hurons. The Oneidas had made peace
with the Mohawks, and sent to them " for some men to be married
to the girls and women who had remained without husbands, that
the nation should nor. perish. This is why the Iroquois name that
village their child."

Charlevoix said, " Among the Iroquois the woman never leaves
her cabin, she being deemed the mistress, or at least the heiress of
it ; in other nations she goes at the expiration of a year or two after
her marriage to live with her mother-in-law." This must be under-
stood with some reservation, but in all marriages the woman was the
principal person concerned, the one after whom the cabin was usually
named.

In Canada the Hurons had an annual custom of marrying two
young girls to their fishing nets, or rather to the genius of the nets.
The reason for this custom was by no means creditable to the
character of the Huron women, and it was found nowhere else.
The girls were but six or seven years old, and the ceremony is de-
scribed in the Relation for 1636. " The seine is placed between these
two virgins ; this is to make it lucky in taking fish." In general the
women had less to do with the unseen world than the men, but they
sometimes were given to magic arts, and have some share in medi-
cine societies yet.

If they had no great prominence in magical arts at an early day it
was not because they were undervalued. They might belong to the
Iroquois Agciandr.rsy or nobility. In 167 1 a Christian Mohawk
woman left her country to live in Canada. On this her family
" degraded her from the nobility, in an assembly of the chiefs of the
town, and took away the name and title of Oiander, that is to say,
esteemed, a quality which they much estee-h and which she had
inherited from her ancestors, and deserved by her own good spirit,,
her prudence and wise conduct, and at the same time they installed
another in her place. These women are much respected ; chey hold
council, and the Ancients complete no affair of consequence without
their advice."

Lafitau said, " There is nothing more real than this superiority
of the women. It is they who constitute the tribe, keep up the
genealogical tree and the order of inheritance, and perpetuate the
family. They possess all real authority ; own the land and the fields,
and their harvests , they are the soul of ail councils, the arbiters of
peace and war : thev have care of the public treasury: slaves are *
given co them : tney arrange marriages ; the children belong to
theni, and tc them and their blood is confined the line oi descent
and the order of inheritance," He believed that the council simply
aided woman in matters in which it was not becoming tor them tc
act.

86 journal of A merican Folk-Lore,

Charlevoix expresses a much more moderate opinion. In speak-
ing: of the right of the Huron women to name counsellors, who were
sometimes women, he adds, " The women have the chief authority
amongst ail the nations of the Huron language, if we except the
Iroquois canton of Oneida, in which it is in both sexes alternately.
But if this be their lawful constitution, their practice is seldom
agreeable to it. In fact, the men never tell the women anything
they would have to be kept secret ; and rarely any affair of conse-
quence is communicated to them, though all is done in their name,
and the chiefs are no more than their lieutenants." He mentioned
an instance to show " that the real authority of the women is very
small. I have been assured, however, that they always deliberate
first on whatever is proposed in council, and that they afterwards
give the result of this to the chiefs, who report it as a matter of
form. On some occasions the women have an orator, who speaks in
their name, or rather acts as their interpreter."

The story of the peculiar Oneida government was a fable told the
French by the Neutrals in 1640. They said, "The men and the
women there manage affairs alternately , so that if there is a man
who governs them now, after his death it will be a woman who,
during her lifetime, will govern them in her turn, except in what
pertains to war ; and after the death of the woman it will be a man
who will take anew the management of affairs/'

One woman of rank has been mentioned, and in the Relation for
1656 another several times appears. Teotonharason was an Onon-
daga woman who went with the ambassadors to Quebec, and was
highly esteemed for her nobleness and wealth. She may have been
the one mentioned in the Relation for 1671. " It was one of these
principal persons who formerly first brought the Iroquois of Onon-
daga, and then the other nations, to make peace with the French.
She descended to Quebec for t us pi -pose, aeco'xn >anied by some o
her slaves." The influence of the Iroquois women was of great use
to the missionaries. In the Relation for 1657 we read, " The women
having much authority among these people, then virtue produces as
much fruit as anything else, and their example finds as many more L
imitators."

If the women could not or would not always prevent war they i
often caused it co stop. At a conference at Niagara in 1767, the
commissary " was informed that the old women of the Sinecas had
stopc their young men from going to war." They are credited with
more power of this kind than they probably had, but they always
claimed a share in public affairs. At a council in Albany in 1788,
Good teter an Oneida chief, rftei speaking for the men. delivered
the women's message. " Sfeu have heard oar voice ; we now entreat

Iroquois Women, Sy

you to open your ears and hear a speech from our sisters, the
governesses.

" Brother, our ancestors considered it a great offence to reject the \
counsels of their women, particularly of the female governesses.
They were esteemed the mistresses of the soil. Who, said our fore-
fathers, bring us into being? Who cultivate our lands, kindle our
fires and boil our pots, but the women? . . . They entreat that the
veneration of their ancestors, in favor of women, be not disregarded,
and that they may not be despised ; the Great Spirit is their Maker.
The female governesses beg leave to speak with the freedom allowed
to women, and agreeably to the spirit of our ancestors. They entreat
the great chief to put forth his strength and preserve them in peace,
for they are the life of the nation." ,*-

A later instance occurred in May, 1S02, which is described in ,j
Stone's " Life of Brant." The Mohawk women held a council,
called the chiefs to it, and spoke by strings of wampum. They
said, "Uncles, some time ago tne women of this place spoke to you,
but you did not answer them, as you considered their meeting not
sufficient." They remonstrated against the use of ardent drinks,
and also against domestic feuds and dissensions. Brant's reply to
the latter refers to woman's influence in the past : " Nieces, with
respect to your request to bury all difference:, we heartily comply
with It, and thank you for the wisdom you showed in here interfer-
ing. It was the custom of our ancestors for the women, by then" '
moderation, to heal up all animosities."

At a council at Grand River, June 30, 1804, "the sachems and
principal war chiefs, warriors and principal women of the Six.
Nations," carefully considered some matters, and signed a report.
Four of the signers were women, out of twenty-four in all. Names
of the governesses md j ; ">;:p-il women appeal in some New Y< 3
land sales, but not in all alike.

At Canajohaiie, in 1/53, the chief women came to Sir William
Johnson with a belt of wampum, the principal chiefs saying they had
a message for him, apparently delivered by the chiefs. They wished
him not to risk his life in gomg to Onondaga, and saidJ*'We flatter
ourselves you will look upon this our speech, and take the same no-
tice of it as all our men do, who, when they are addressed by the
women, and desired to desist from any rash enterprise, they imme-
diately give -way, where, before, everybody else tried to dissuade '
them from it and could not prevail."/

The" eiders of the Indian women at Buffalo, May 14. 1791, came
to Colonel P rector, and said through their speaker, "Y&u ought to
hear and listen -to what we women shall speak, as well as to the
sachems, for we are the owners of this land, and it is cars. It is

38 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

we that plant it for our and their use. Hear us, therefore, for we
speak of things that concern us and our children, and you must not
think hard of us while cur men shall say more to you. for we have
told them."

One right the Iroquois women always had, though inclined to re-
linquish it now. As children were theirs especially, following their
nation and clan, so it was and is their business to nominate the
chiefs. Lafitau said the chief matron of the clan conferred with
these of her own cabin, and nominated the new chief from among
the children of the aunts, sisters, or nieces on the maternal side.
It is much the same now, but some changes have already come, and V
others will soon follow. In one of the condoling songs woman's
importance in perpetuating a noble line is recognized. The dead
chief is bewailed, " but it is still harder when the woman shall die, j
because with her the line is lost." ~F

On this was founded one remarkable Huron and Iroquois custom.-*
There are some notes on atonement for murder among the Hurons,
in the Relation for 1648. '• For a Huron killed by a Huron thirty
gifts are commonly deemed a sufficient satisfaction. For a woman
forty are required, because, as they say, the women are less able to
defend themselves ; and, moreover, they being the source whence
the land is peopled, their lives should be deemed of more value to N
the commonwealth, and their weakness should have a stronger supr
port in public justice."' Loskiel said, " For the murder of a man ico
yards of wampum, and for that of a woman 200 yards must be paid
by the murderer."

Allusion has been made to the fact that Iroquois women, however
influential politically and socially, did not speak in their courxilsr " '
Early writers take notice of this, and the custom continued. In
179* Colonel Proctor attended a Seneca feast, where he saw a
wooden, statue before which they danced. "Under this statue were
placed two chiefs, termed the women's speakers. . . . The old and
the young women danced around in a circle/' etc. The same gentle-
man went to a council in Buffalo that year, to "hear what would be
said by the women speaker, the young prince of the Turtle tribe
(Red Jacket). . . . Being arrived, the first, matter unusual that pre-
sented itself were the elders of the women seated near the chiefs."
Red Jacket gave their plea for peace.

Miss Powell gave an account of an Indian council at Buffalo in
1785. She probably exaggerated the number of chiefs, of whom she
said 200 wc e seated in proper order, representing the Six Nations.
Each natier formed a motionless circle under its own tree, against
which its speaker stood. The women walked in one by one., and
seated themselves behind the men. They are often quiet attendants

Iroquois Women. 89

at councils now. At one to ■-vhich I was invited in Canada last year,
there was a goodly number of women present, but only chiefs spoke.

Perhaps from this pacific influence may have come the story of a
peaceful female monarch, usually much changed from the form in
which David Cusick gave it. The ultimate origin was in the relation
in which the Neutral nation stood to the Iroquois and Hurons, freely
sheltering both alike. According to Cusick, " a queen, named Yago-
wanea, resided at the fort Kauhanauka," now on the Tuscarora re-
servation. She had much influence, and the war between the Five
Nations and Missasaugas " was regulated under her control. The
queen lived outside the fort in a long house, which was called a
peace house. She entertained the two parties who were at war with
each other ; indeed, she was called the mother of the nations. Each
nation sent her a belt of wampum as a mark of respect," but she
betrayed the Iroquois, was herself conquered, and sued for peace.
There have been fanciful additions to this.

In one notable instance a woman caused a war, instead of pre-
venting it, by a stubborn assertion of her rights. The Onondaga
chief, Annenraes, had" been taken b> the Eries irrt654r Ti oping to
avert war, they gave him to the sister of one who had been slain,
thinking she would gladly accept him. She came home while they
were treating him handsomely; and demanded that he should be
put to death. In vain did the chiefs plead with her and show the
terrible consequences to her nation. She wept and protested, and
insisted on his torture. Public safety yielded to her woman's right.
The captive died and the Eries perished.

. While Iroquois women rarely restrained their children, they had
much affection for them. One story toid of them by the Hurons has
no foundation. In 1640 the latter said that the Iroquois "some-
times lake" a new-born child, pierce "i with arrbwsyand cast it uta
the fire. The flesh having been consumed, they take the bones
which they grind to powder ; and when they wish to go to war, they
"drink a iitcle of this powder, believing that this beverage- increases
their courage. They.also make use of these ashes for their lots and
other superstitions," The mother was rewarded for her patriotic
sacrifice. The only truth in this If. the ceremonial use of- ashes.

The Qnondagas have always used vegetable poison-:, and the poi-
soning was sometimes ascribed to witches, but the venom was as
often taken intentionally. The Relation of 1657 takes note of this.
"They kill themselves by eating certain venomous herb? that they
know rr be a poison, which the married women much more often
■v.-se to avenge themselves for the. bad ..Irea t mcn.t-.of J;hejxjiusbanils,_
leaving them thus the reproach of their death." Fursh saiJ that in
1807 Cicuta viae u kit a was much used by the Onondagas as a poison.

go Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Oa ordinary occasions now men and women eat together, but
when there is company, the women eat last. When Le Moyne left
Onondaga in 1654, the principal men and women were invited to his
feast of adieu, according to their custom, but this custom seems to
have changed at a later day.

Some things may be summarized. Women were represented on
bark with braided hair and waist cloths. The Mohawks sometimes
called them Te hondatkentiogen, because the hair was divided above
the forehead, but braiding was always a custom. Lahontan said,
"The hair of the Iroquois women is rolled up behind with a sort of
ribbon, and that roller hangs down to their girdle.'' When the Iro-
quois came to the Lancaster council in 1744, "several of their squaws
or wives, with some small children, rode on horseback, which is very
unusual with them." It became quite customary a hundred years
ago. Circumstances changed clothing also. I still see blankets
over the head, but shawls are more common, and these are drawn
down over the face in anger or grief. Old women delighted in
men's hats, and all wore moccasins and leggings.

Indians in general reckoned " the paying of tribute becoming none
but women and children." The Iroquois gave none, but their women
made the tasteful council belts. They were experts in star gazing,
and they now have a place in medicine societies, and some rela-
tions to the False Faces. Some dances and games belong to them.
Bruyas assigns to them the game of the eight bones or buttons. In
1656 we have an account of their prominent part in a medicine dance
at Onondaga. L. H. Morgan assigns 14 out of 32 dances to men
and women, and seven for women alone.

The French at Onondaga in 1657 said that "the children there
were docile, the women inclined to the most tender devotion:"
Their funeral rites were as important'.as those of the men. A woman
buried in f/62 had new garments, "set off with rows of silver
brooches, one row joining another. Over the sleeves of her new
ruffled shirt were broad silver arm spangles," etc., and wampum. and
silver ornaments appeared elsewhere. Their part in funerals is now
less conspicuous than in earlier days. David Zeisberger described
an Onondaga funeral in 1752. The female friends of the dead man
gathered at sunrise and sunset to bewail him before burial. Old
squaws dug the grave, which was lined with loose boards." Suitably
prepared, he was borne to the grave amid the howls of the v/omen,
who wept there morning and evening for some time longer. Rev.
Mr. Kirkland saw a Seneca warrior's funeral in T/64, an hour after
sunrise. Iso man was present but the grave-digger, but 150 women
and girls sang a mournful song as they here the body in their pro-
cession .0 the grave. Some screamed and yelled. At the" primary

Iroquois Women. 91

burial among the Hurons, in 1656, "the mother or the wife will be at
the foot of the tomb, calling the deceased in singing, or rather com-
plaining in a lugubrious tone." This kind of mourning lasted a year
with them. Condoleuces were made for distinguished women as
well as men.

Father Poncet has left us one pretty episode of his captivity
among the Mohawks in 1653. Some Mohawk women had paid his
captor several thousand beads, and one wished to adopt him in place
of her dead brother. " So soon as I entered her cabin, she began to
sing the song of the dead, in which she was joined by her two daugh-
ters. I was standing near the fire during these mournful dirges ;
they made me sit upon a sort of table slightly raised, and then I
understood I was in the place of the dead, for whom these women
renewed the last mourning, to bring the deceased to life again in my
person, according to their custom."

Clan names are the rule among nations of Iroquois stock, and in
some. the women have the sole right of bestowing these. In adop-
tion they often have a prominent part, and this was a characteristic
feature in early days.

One curious thing appears in a change of language, as when an
uneducated Iroquois attempts to speak the English tongue. In most
cases he will speak of a man as she, and a woman as he. There
seems no reason for this beyond that of custom, but a custom it is.
I have before spoken ot a teacher's experience with the fifth com-
mandment, where the children persistently said "thy mother and thy
father." Female influence is the controlling newer. "A widower
with children has no title to them among those who observe the old
ways, if his wife's mother is living. They belong to her.

Girls marry young. In 1866 a missionary's wife among the Green
Boy Oneidas spoke in her diai v of G .rrent.Ua. ' Falling B< k." " She
is considered an old maid ; people say, ' Oh, Garreniha will never
marry now ; she is too old V She is in fact nineteen, but the
Oneida girls are married so early, at fourteen or fifteen, that nine-
teen is considered an advanced age." It often happens, however,
among the Onondagas, that young men marry elderly women, with
' the idea that their experience may be valuable to those who have
litfe, and the rule works both ways. This early wisdom is less
shown new than in times of old, nor-do-the older people now. have so .
much to do with match-making.

W. M. Beauckamp.

Note. — On the general subject, see also Lucier. Cavr, "The Social and Politi-
cal Position oF WoaieiVahiong die H urcn-Iroquoss Tribes;" rrr die* Sixtetnth —
R-'.pori of ike Peabody Museum cf American Archeology and Ethnology. Cam-
bridge, Mass., 18S3. Pp. 207-232.

92 Journal of American Folk-Lore,

THE CELESTIAL BEAR.1

It is probable that in no part of the world has the observation of
the stars exerted a greater influence over religion and mythology
than amongst the native civilized peoples of Central and South
America. With the possible exception of the Pueblo Indians of our
Southwestern States, the ruder tribes of North America have
naturally shown much less progress in astronomical knowledge, but
throughout their mythology the most beautiful legends are those
associated with the heavens.

The two stellar groups which seem to have played decidedly the
most conspicuous part in these legends are the Pleiades 2 and the
Great Bear. Turning our attention to the latter group, we can
easilv imagine the astonishment of the early missionaries when they
pointed out its stars to the Algonkians, and received the reply,
" But they are our Bear Scars too."

The minds of these worthy men were already impressed by the
discovery in other parts of America of native traditions of a deluge,
a passage through divided water, and a hero miraculously born, as
well as a ritual, including baptism, confession, communion, and the
use of the cross as a sacred symbol. Doubtless, therefore, they
regarded the identity of the Algonkian Bear and their own as only
another proof that an apostle had at some time visited this conti-
nent. While that explanation is not tenable to-day, the interesting
question remains as :.o what this identity does mean.

The answer is best found by an examination of the traditions
associated with this stellar group. Its stars seem to have been
called the Bear ovei • «.riy the whole of our continent when the first
Europeans, of whom we have knowledge, arrived. They were known
as far north as Point Barrow, as far east as Nova Scotia, as far west
as the Pacific Coast, and as far south as the Pueblos.

Some tribes within these boundaries, however, seem to have called
the group by other names. When we seek legends connected with
the Bear, we find that in spite of the widespread knowledge of the
name there is by no means a wealth of material.

The best known legend is that common to the tribes of the Algon-
kian and Iroquois families. It has been related to me many times,
in what is perhaps its most complete and extensive form, by the

- From papers read bc^or^. the American Folk-Lore Society, Annual Meeting,
December 28. 1S99, and before the British Association for the Advaicemem-of
Science.

- See the researches of Mr. R. G. Haiiburton, whose nvne will ever be con-
nected with this group.

THE DEN
( CORONA BOREALIS )

.ia}nuipi]£

P a

B 2"
c —

b-5

• ^

' * "

V**8

&

to

it,

-

BEAR *

A J o B

Midsummer

The Celestial Bear.

93

Micraacs of Nova Scotia, as we sat beside the camp-fire in the glo-
rious summer evenings of that land, and they pointed out overhead
the stars of which they spoke. Let us preface the legend with the
following table : —

DRAMATIS PERSONS.

ENGLISH.
The Bear,
The Hunters,
The Robin,
The Chickadee,
The Moose Bird,
The Pigeon,
The Blue Jay,
The Owl,
The Saw-whet,
The Pot,
The Den,

MICMAC.

Mooin,

Ntooksooinook.

Quipchowwech,

Chugegess,

Mikchagogwech,

Pules,

"Wolowech,

Kookoogwess,

Kopkech,

Wo,

Mskegwom,

SPECIES.

Ursus Americanus,

Merula migratorius,
Parus atricapillus,
Perisoreus Canadensis,
Ectopistes migratorius,
Cyanurus cristatus,
Strix cinerea,
Nyctale Acadica,

STARS,
a, 0, y, 8, Ursae Majoris.

e Ursae Majoris.
£ Ursae Majoris.
7) Ursae Majoris.
7 Bootis.
e Bootis.
Arcturus.
7] Bootis.
Alcor.
fi, 8, Bootis.
a, /3, y, 8, e, (, 6, k, A, p,
Coronas Borealis.

Comparing the above list with the accompanying chart, we observe
that the Bear is represented by the four stars in the bowl of what
we call the Dipper. Behind are seven hunters who are pursuing
her. Close beside the second hunter is a little star. It is the pot
which he is carrying, so that, when the bear is killed, he may cook
the meat therein. Just above these hunters a group of smaller stars
form a pocket-like figure — the den whence the bear has issued.

Late in spring, the bear waking from her long winter sleep,
leaves her rocky hillside den and descends to the ground in search
of food. Instantly the sharp-eyed chickadee perceives her, and,
being too small to undertake the pursuit alone, calls the other
hunters to his aid. Together the seven start after the bear, the
chickadee with his pot being placed between two of the larger birds
so that he may not lose his way. All the hunters are hungry for
meat after the short rations of winter and so they pursue eagerly,
but throughout the summer the bear flees across the northern hori-
zon and the pursuit continues. In the autumn, one by one, the
hunters in the rear begin to lose their trail. First of all the two
owls, heavier and clumsier of wing than the other birds, disappear
from the chase. But you must not laugh when you hear how Kop-
kech, the smaller owl, failed to secure a share of the bear meat, and
you must not imitate his rasping cry, for if you disregard either
warning, be sure that wherever you are, as soon as you arc asleep
he will descend from the sky with a birch bark torch and set fire to
whatever clothing covers you. Next the blue jay and the pigeon
also lose the trail and drop out of the chase. This leaves only the
robin, the chickadee, and the moose bird, but they continue the pur-
suit, and at last, about mid-autumn, they overtake their prey.

94 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Brought to bay, the bear rears up on her hind feet and prepares to
defend herself, but the robin pierces her with an arrow and she falls
over upon her back. The robin being himself very thin at this
season is intensely eager to eat some of the bear's fat as soon as
possible. In his haste he leaps upon his victim, and becomes
covered with blood. Flying to a maple-tree near at hand in the
land of the sky, he tries to shake off this blood. He succeeds in
getting all off save a spot upon his breast. " That spot," says the
garrulous chickadee, "you will carry as long as your name is robin."1

But the blood which he does shake off spatters far and wide over
the forests of earth below, and hence we see each autumn the
blood-red tints on the foliage ; it is reddest on the maples, because
trees on earth follow the appearance of the trees in the sky, and the
sky maple received most of the blood. The sky is just the same as
the earth, only up above, and older.

Some time after these things happened to the robin, the chick-
adee arrived on the scene. These two birds cut up the bear, built
a fire, and placed some of the meat over it to cook. Just as they
were about to begin to eat, the moose bird put in his appearance.

He had almost lost the trail, but when he regained it he had not
hurried, because he knew that it would take his companions some
time to cook the meat after the bear was slain, and he did not mind
missing that part of the affair so long as he arrived in time for a
full share of the food. Indeed, he was so impressed with the advan-
tages of this policy, that ever since then he has ceased to hunt for
himself, preferring to follow after hunters and share their spoils.
And so, whenever a bear or a moose or other animal is killed to-day
in the woods of Megumaage, Micmac Land, you will see him appear
to demand his share. That is why the other birds named him Mik-
chagogwech, He-who-comes-in-at-the-last-moment, and the Micmacs
say there are some men who ought to be called that too.

However that may be, the robin and chickadee, being generous,
willingly shared their food with the moose bird. Before they ate, the
robin and moose bird danced around the fire (nesko?tadijik), while
the chickadee stirred the pot. Such was the custom in the good old
times, when Micmacs were brothers all to all and felt it a duty to
share their food together, and to thank each other and the Universal
Spirit for their present happiness.

But this does not end the story of the bear, though one might
think so. Through the winter her skeleton lies upon its back in the

1 The only variation of this legend which I have heard from Yarmouth to Why-
cococomagh, over three hundred miles distant, occurs at this point. According to
it the robin is said to have fallen into the fire in which the bear was being cooked,
hence the red burn on his breast.

The Celestial Bear. 95

sky, but her life-spirit has entered another bear who also lies upon
her back in the den, invisible, and sleeping the winter sleep. When
the spring comes around again, this bear will again issue forth from
the den to be again pursued by the hunters, to be again slain, but
again to send to the den her life-spirit, to issue forth yet again, when
the sun once more awakens the sleeping earth.

And so the drama keeps on eternally. And so it is, the Micmacs
say, that when a bear lies on her back within her den she is invisible
even to those who might enter that den. Only a hunter gifted
with great magic power could perceive her then.

When we attempt to interpret this legend, we cannot fail to be
impressed by the singular fidelity with which its details present, often
simultaneously, the habits of birds and animals and the movements
of the stars. Such accuracy, it is plain, can only result from long
and careful observations of the objects described, and, indeed, who-
ever is acquainted with even our northern Indians knows well that
very little in nature that can be seen with the naked eye escapes
their observation. Brasseur de Bourbourg, who, in spite of his reck-
less theories, knew the Indians well, has said that they do nothing
without a reason for it, and his statement has been echoed almost
word for word by several other authorities. Nor, he might have
added, do they think anything without a reason for it. The Micmacs
of to-day do not pretend to know why the four stars of their Bear
were so called. They only say that they know the Celestial Bear
never dies, because she is always in sight, and that is why her earthly
descendants never die of natural causes, but only fall asleep each
autumn and come to life again in spring. For all earthly animals
are the descendants of the ancestor animal in the sky, and their
appearance and habits are but the reflection of hers. In all things as
it was and is in the sky, so it is on earth. It is the bear's apparent
power of dying and coming to life again which has impressed the
imagination of the Indians, just as, for an identical reason, they have
been impressed by the serpent's habit of shedding its skin. Hence,
and because of its general resemblance to man, especially when
walking erect on its hind paws, the bear was regarded by the natives
of this continent as a highly mystical and sacred animal, endowed
with extraordinary powers. These facts are of interest because they
may assist us towards a possible explanation of the question why
these stars were called the Bear. But the zoological elements of the
legend become of secondary interest when we begin to note how
well it agrees with the movements of the stars. We are well aware
thai: the four bear stars never set in our latitude, and that this is
what the Indians mean by saying that the bear is always in sight.
If now we turn to our chart and observe the position of these stars

g6 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

in mid-spring, we shall see that the bear does actually seem to be
climbing clown out of her den (which appears higher up) to the
northern horizon. The hunters, circling over her, prepare to start
the pursuit.

Next, in midsummer the chart shows us the bear running along
the northern horizon with the hunters following, as described. Then
in mid-autumn we see her standing erect, prepared to defend herself
from the hunters. All but three of these hunters, however, have
disappeared below the northern horizon, together with the den, which,
the Micmacs say, has been left behind in the pursuit. Now we see
why only the first three hunters are called " the hunters who are
always hunting." It is because only three hunters remain always
visible in our latitude. The other four disappear below the northern
horizon just before the bear assumes an erect position. This explains
why these other four hunters are said to lose the trail just before the
bear is overtaken ; also why the moose bird is said to have been "last
in at the death," having nearly met with a like misfortune. For at
this latitude and season the moose bird star nearly touches the
northern horizon ; and that brings out the interesting point that this
form of the legend could only have originated in the latitudes where
we now find it, for north of 500 N. there would be four " hunters
who are always hunting," while south of 400 N. there would be only
two. Yet it is a noticeable fact that south of 400 N. we find three
hunters connected with this group. Returning to our chart, soon
after the bear assumes the erect position last referred to, she will be
seen to topple over on her back " slain by the arrows of the hunters "
who have overtaken her, just at the season when the earthly bears,
now fattened in preparation for the winter sleep, become logy and
are most easily killed by the hunter. Then it is also that the autumn
foliage is painted with her blood. Finally, when midwinter comes
we see her lying dead on her back in mid-sky, but the den has reap-
peared with the bear of the new year, lying therein, invisible. Thus
this group of stars served to mark the divisions of the night and of
the seasons for the Micmacs much as the position of the Pleiades
marked them for tribes farther south, and as the stars of the beautiful
Southern Cross marked them in Central and South America.1

In a Blackfoot myth we read, " The Seven Persons (the Dipper)
slowly swung around and pointed downward. It was the middle of
the night," 2 showing that they too marked time at night by the posi-
tion of these stars. So the Zunis tell, when winter comes, how " the
bear lazily sleeps, no longer guarding the Westland from the cold of

1 Almost everywhere the Pleiades seem to have been the preeminent time-
markers.

2 George B. Grinnell, Blackfoot Lodge Tales, p. 66.

The Celestial Bear. 97

the Ice gods, and the white down of their mighty breathing, and how,
when the bear, awakening, growls in springtime and the answering
thunders mutter, the strength of the Ice gods being shaken," the
reign of summer begins again ; 1 a story which demonstrates that in
Zuni mythology there was a marked association between the terres-
trial bear and the seasons.

The Chinese say that in spring the tail of the bear (the Mic-
mac three hunters) points east ; in summer, south ; in autumn, west ;
in winter, north, — a correct statement for the forepart of the
evening.

The Basques are said to believe that when the Bear is above the
pole the season is hot and dry, when below it, the season is wet.

The Ojibways relate how a southern star came to earth in the
form of a beautiful maiden, bringing the water lilies. Her brethren
can be seen far off in the north hunting the bear, whilst her sisters
watch her in the east and west.2

Astronomically, this legend is of considerable interest, because
the mention of stars in the four quarters of the heavens in connec-
tion with the stars of the Bear suggests that the Ojibways at some
time were accustomed to mark their seasons, not only by the posi-
tion of the stars of the Bear, but also by the rising and setting of
various fixed stars. This supposition, if correct, would redound
considerably to their credit as astronomers. They also saw in the
Bear stars the figure of a fisher with an arrow sticking in his tail
(the star Alcor).3

Continuing our interpretation of the Micmac legend of the Bear,
the authorities of that tribe say that the first hunter was called the
robin because that star has a reddish tinge, the second hunter the
chickadee because its star is smaller than the others, the fifth hunter
the blue jay because its star is blue. Arcturus becomes the owl be-
cause of its large size, and the star of the seventh hunter, the saw-
whet, because its reddish hue suggests the brilliant red feathers
which mark the head of that bird. This feature accounts for its
birch bark torch mentioned in the legend. It must be confessed
that the elements of this description do not appear altogether accu-
rate. Possibly there has been some confusion in the naming of the
stars. The choice of the group of stars which represent the den
needs no explanation, for their alignment could hardly depict a den
more accurately than it does. Admitting that this legend is of pre-
Columbian origin, the two figures of the Bear and the Den show
conclusively that even our northern Indians had divided parts of the

1 F. H. Cushing in The Song of the Ancient People, pp. 39, 40.

2 Mrs. Emerson, Indian Myths, p. 69 (quoting Copway).

3 Schoolcraft, Hiawatha Legends, pp. 121, 128.
vol. xin. — no. 49. 7

98 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

sky at least into true constellations. Though the Bear was known
to so many and so widely separated tribes, the Seven Hunters, so
far as I have been able to ascertain, are peculiar to the Micmacs and
the Iroquois. Elsewhere the group seems to be limited to the stars
of our Dipper. The Den has been correctly pointed out to me by
an Onondaga on the reservation near Syracuse, and Mr. John R.
Swanton informs me that it is known to other tribes of the Iroquois.
He adds that they sometimes call the star Alcor a dog instead of a
pot. Such was its name amongst the Basques, the two front stars
of the Micmac legend being two oxen which two robbers are driving
off. These robbers are, in turn, pursued by the son and daughter
of the owner with their dog.1 The Cherokees of North Carolina
assert that there is a den somewhere in the sky, but none of them
could point it out to me.2 The Iroquois Bear legend describes how
a party of hunters pursue the bear, but a stone giant kills all save
three of them. These three and the bear are carried up to the sky
by invisible spirits and become stars. The first hunter pursues,
with a bow, the second with a kettle, while the third is farther
behind gathering sticks for the fire. In fall their arrows pierce the
bear, whose blood tinges the foliage. She then becomes invisible,
but reappears the following spring.3 When we add to this account
the knowledge of the den, we see plainly that this legend is practi-
cally identical with the Micmac. The common origin of the legend
seems beyond doubt in the case of these tribes, which have been in
frequent contact with each other within historic times. The Housa-
tonic Indians related the same story of the pursuit from spring to
autumn and the blood-dyed foliage.4 In fact it is evident that the
legend was known to all the intervening tribes between Nova Scotia
and New York, probably much more widely. The Cherokees also
knew the three hunters who pursue the bear. After killing him in
fall they lose the trail and circle helplessly around till spring. The
honey dew which is noticeable in fall comes from the bear's fat which
they are trying out over a fire.5 It is worthy of remark that they
know nothing of the hunters who are always hunting. In their lati-
tude all these stars and even part of the Bear dip below the horizon.
The use of such a phrase among them would be strong evidence of
a migration or transmission of the legend from more northerly lati-

' 1 Vinson, Le Pays Basque, p. 29.

2 Sir William Dawson {Acadian Geology, p. 67s), referring to the Micmac
legend, locates the Den in Berenice's Hair. This is, I believe, the only mention
of the Den in print.

8 Mrs. Erminie A. Smith, Second Report of the U. S. Bureau of Ethnology, pp.
80, 81.

4 R. H. Allen, Star Names, p. 423.

6 Stansbury Hagar, Stellar Legends of the Cherokees.

The Celestial Bear. 99

tudes. As it is, we may perhaps consider significant the mention of
the lost trail, where there is no contrast with stars which do not lose
the trail. Nor is it less suggestive that mention is made of the bear's
fat, which is also referred to in the Micmac legend. It is substituted
for the autumn foliage of the northern version, a singular example of
the combination of like objects with dissimilar explanations, as if one
had jumbled together the elements of a faintly remembered story.
The Point Barrow Esquimaux recognized the stars of the Bear with
the hunters around him,1 the Zunis call the group the Great White
Bear of the Seven Stars ;2 and they seem to have played a not incon-
spicuous part in Pueblo mythology. Other names for these stars
appear. The Blackfeet know them as seven boys, all of whom had
been killed by their sister save the youngest (the star Dubbe), who
killed her in turn.3 Another Western tribe knew the stars of Ursa
Minor as a bear, its head being composed of " the three stars in a
triangle," and its back of seven other stars.4 The Thlinkeet of the
Pacific Coast seem also to have associated the Bear with the stars of
Ursa Major.5 One Micmac informs me that his tribe once thought
there was another bear hidden under the sky near the pole, and
that the neighboring stars were hunters circling around in a vain
endeavor to locate its den. This statement finds some support in
Le Clerq's assertion that the Micmac Indians of Gaspe knew the
constellations of both the Great and Little Bear and so called them.
This author seems to give us the earliest reference to these groups
in America. He adds that the Gaspe Indians said " that the three
guardians of the North Star are a canoe in which three savages have
embarked to surprise this Bear. But unfortunately they have not
yet been able to overtake the animal.6 He makes no mention of
the bird hunters, but such negative testimony means little. The
worthy father paid scant attention to legends. He refers to only
these two constellations, yet it is evident that the Micmacs named
several other groups and related elaborate tales concerning them.
Possibly in an older form of the legend the bird hunters were sup-
posed to pursue the bear in canoes, though it seems unlikely that the
Indians indulged in such mixture of attributes. Charlevoix wrongly
supposed that the teachings of Lescarbot were responsible for the
names Great and Little Bear.7 Other early mention of them is

1 Dr. Franz Boas in the Amer. Antiq. vol. xviii. p. 121.

2 Mr. Frank H. dishing, statement to author.

8 R. N. Wilson in the Amer. Antiq. vol. xv. p. 200.

4 Rev. S. D. Peet, quoting Tanner in Amer. Antiq. vol. xvii. p. 123.

5 Dr. A. F. Chamberlain in the Amer. Antiq. vol. xvii. p. 70.

6 Pere Chretienne Le Clerq, Nouvelle Relation de la Gaspesie, Paris, 1691,
pp. 152, 153.

7 Charlevoix, Travels in North America, p. 297.

i oo Journal of American Folk-Lore.

found in the works of Cotton Mather, 171 2, and Lafitau, 1724. In
Yucatan, Polaris was called the North Star, Star of the Shield,
Guide of the Merchants.1 Under the last title it is possible that
this star was associated with Ekchuah, the god of travellers and
merchants. Ek may be translated either "black" or "star;" the
meaning of chuah seems to be uncertain.2 Describing the worship
of Ekchuah, Landa says : " Travellers carried with them on their
journeys a supply of incense and a little pan in which to burn it;
thus provided, in whatever place they might happen to be when
night overtook them, they set three little stones upright in the ground,
depositing upon each a few grains of this incense ; before these
they placed three other flat stones, upon which they poured more
incense, and then [perhaps gazing at their ever faithful guide shining
brightly in the northern sky] they addressed their prayers to the god
whom they named Ekchuah, that he might grant them a happy
return to their homes. This ceremony they repeated every evening
until they were again seated on their own hearths ; meanwhile those
at home were doing as much or more on their behalf."3

In the classic mythology the same four stars formed the body of
the bear as in the Micmac legend, but instead of the first three
hunters a long tail was most inaccurately attached to the animal.
According to Mr. Haliburton, an early English writer sought to
explain this incongruity by supposing that Jupiter had stretched out
the bear's short tail by holding that appendage while raising the
animal to the sky. It is somewhat singular that the Oneidas believe
that the bear originally had a long tail, which was frozen fast while
he was fishing through the ice with it, and was alienated from its
owner during his struggles to escape.4 The bear in certain Greek
versions of the myth is identified with Callisto (Kalliste, the most
beautiful, usually taken to be a form of the goddess Artemis). In
some versions the animal is pursued by hunters.

We come now to the question why the same stars have been
chosen to represent the bear and the hunters in so many and widely
separated regions, when those stars suggest the form of a bear no
more than that of any other quadruped, while almost any other stars
would serve as well for hunters. We may at once dismiss the idea
of coincidence. Even if the nature of the analogies connected with
this star group were not sufficient in themselves to disprove such an
explanation, a further comparison of the stellar legends of the In-

1 Brinton, Primer of Mayan Hieroglyphs, p. 34.

2 Vide Brasseur de Bourbourg, Maya Dictionary.

3 Landa, Relacion des las cosas de Yucatan (Brasseur ed.), pp. 156-159. See,
also, Cogolludo, Hist, de Yucatan, lib. vi. cap. 6.

4 Martin Wheelock, a Carlisle student, in the Red Man, February, 1900.

The Celestial Bear. 101

dians — especially of Central America and Peru — reveals analogies
to the star-lore of other continents so widespread, so numerous, and
so striking that no room is left for chance. But may not these
analogies have resulted from the teachings of the early missionaries
and explorers ? One objection to this is that everywhere alike the
earliest writers state that these legends were related to them on
their arrival as being already well known and long known. That
some of the most important of these stellar legends of Ancient
America are very old is beyond doubt. Let us also notice the
marked disagreement in details which the most similar American
legends reveal either in comparison with each other or with those of
other continents. Had they sprung from recent teaching, or had
they been of recent and single origin, they would surely have pre-
sented greater similarity. Again, the distribution of these analogies
is too extensive to be accounted for by missionary teaching, arid the
internal evidence shows practically no element of European thought
within the legends. Examined with reference to this point, the
Micmac Bear legend is markedly primitive. The only feature to
which suspicion can possibly be directed is the pot in which the
bear meat was cooked. It is probable that the Micmacs knew how
to boil their food in pre-European times, either in stones which
they hollowed out or in the birch bark dishes which I have seen
them manufacture and use for this purpose in the woods. There is
reason to suppose that they boiled many of their medicinal prepara-
tions long before the coming of the whites. Wo, their word for pot,
seems to be purely native in origin.

Let us pass on, then, to the real question which confronts every
inquiry into the cause or causes of the numerous similarities which
exist between the continents in human thoughts, habits, and cus-
toms. Did these similarities originate independently, or were they
transmitted from one continent to another in times so remote that
not only all memory of a common origin has been lost, but other
peoples have intervened who knew nothing of these analogies ?
Beyond doubt, as some authority has well put it, the fact that primi-
tive peoples on different continents build wooden huts is not evidence
that one has taught the other, for everywhere it rains, everywhere
man is by his nature impelled to construct a shelter, and generally
wood is the most available material for that purpose. In other
words, like causes acting independently on the mind of man (which
is everywhere the same) produce like results. It is this principle
which, applied to such subjects as the world-wide story of the solar
hero, for example, offers such a plausible explanation of its numer-
ous and striking analogies. Just in proportion as the concepts in-
volved in these analogies are of a general nature — i. c dependent

102 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

on world-wide causes and producing world-wide effects — the prob-
ability that they are rightly explained by this theory of independent
origins is increased, and in matters similar to the wooden huts we
are, of course, practically certain that it is correct.

But, on the other hand, as the nature of the concept narrows, and
the element of individualism or of arbitrary choice increases, it be-
comes more and more difficult to explain analogies on this basis. It
is for this reason that those scholars who have studied the similari-
ties in the star lore and constellations of the different continents,
while by no means denying the probability of independent origins
for general analogies, have almost unanimously declined to accept
that explanation as a solution of their difficulties. For many of the
concepts in the stellar legends are of such a purely arbitrary charac-
ter as to seem quite beyond the reach of explanation by general laws.
One needs no better example of this than is supplied by noting the
forms of our constellations and the degree of imagination required to
see in the star groups the figures which are assigned to them. Re-
inforce this observation with the question as to how many other
shapes your imagination would apply to the stars in question with
equal readiness, and then, I think, the force of a similar or identical
name applied to those stars on different continents will hardly sug-
gest independent origins. But this must not blind us, on the other
hand, to the difficulties in the way of transmission between the con-
tinents, such as intervening oceans, arctic climates, and dissimilar-
ities in other concepts which apparently should also have been
transmitted if communication took place. Most of these objections
can be met, but not in a space reasonable for the purposes of this
paper. I am acquainted with but one attempt to explain the iden-
tity of the Bear stars on the basis of independent origins. This sup-
poses that they were so named independently because they are the
most conspicuous group near the pole, and the bear ventures farther
north than any other familiar animal. But this would imply trans-
mission south as far as the Arabians and the Zunis from the very
few tribes who have ever reached a point far enough to the north
to have observed this fact. Again, the stars of Cassiopeia are not
appreciably less conspicuous nor less far north than those of Ursa
Major. The Micmac legend, however, suggests another method of
explaining this particular analogy on the basis of independent ori-
gins. It is that the primitive hunter from thirty degrees of latitude
northward used these stars as a compass and timepiece by night,
because their position was peculiarly well adapted to serve these
purposes, for they were high up in the sky, during the greater part
of the time, yet sufficiently low to indicate direction and — most im-
portant of all — rarely or never invisible on a clear night. Observa-

The Celestial Bear. 103

tion suggested to his mind that four of these stars look like a four-
footed animal seen in profile, but what animal ? Gradually he may
have noticed that the alignment of certain stars behind them resem-
bles the form of a den, that the animal seems to be descending from
this den in spring just when the bears, which he had hunted, de-
scend from theirs, that it falls over in autumn just at the time when
bears are most easily killed, etc. In a sentence, he then noticed all
the similarities between the positions of the stars and the habits of
the bear which the Micmac legend so faithfully portrays, and these
similarities once noted, when he again asked himself the question,
" What animal do those four stars represent ? " the answer came
readily, " It must be the bear, because its stars act so like a bear,
and besides there is its den ; no other animal has a den of that shape."
This is a general concept. It would be quite as likely to be reached
by a native of Europe or Asia as by a native of America, for in equal
latitudes on all those continents the positions of the stars have the
same relations to the habits of the bear. It is almost certainly the
true explanation of the naming of these stars by the Micmacs ;
whether it explains the name elsewhere is for the reader to judge.
If it does, the argument for intercommunication loses a promising
example, and must meet the question : why may not other seeming
instances of intercommunication be explained on a similar basis ?
But it will be observed that the farther south we go the less marked
become the seasons, and therefore the less satisfactory becomes this
explanation. It may also be objected to this explanation, as applied
to the classic Ursa Major, that we have no evidence that these stars
were ever associated with the seasons in the parts of Europe and
Asia where they were so called. If this statement be correct, we
can only suppose that this association was forgotten there when ad-
vancing civilization diminished both the necessity for hunting and
the number of the bears. But at least both the mythology and the
grouping of the classic constellations indicate that the pursuit of
the bear was the main concept in Ursa Major and Bootes. Such
are a few of the points of interest connected with the legend of the
Stellar Bear, after all only a small chapter in the grand and wonder-
ful book of stellar mythology.

Stansbwy Hagar.
7 Lefferts Place, Brooklyn, N. Y.

1 04 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

AN ANCIENT GAME OF COURTSHIP FROM NORTH

CAROLINA.

The following song is contributed by Mrs. E. M. Backus, as re-
membered by grandmothers in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North
Carolina. The recorder remarks that no herders of swine have been
known in the State : —

" Swine-herders, swine-herders, swine-herders we are,
A-courting your daughter so neat and so fair,
Can we get lodgings here, O here,
Can we get lodgings here ? "

" Swine-herders, swine-herders, swine-herders ye are,
A-courting my daughter so neat and so fair,
And ye can't get lodgings here, O here,
And ye can't get lodgings here."

" You have a fair daughter, you 're ugly yourself,
We '11 travel on farther and seek better wealth,
And we don't want lodgings here, O here,
And we don't want lodgings here."

" I have a fair daughter, she sits by my knee,
And some young man can get her from me,
And he can get lodgings here, O here,
And he can get lodgings here."

The verses belong to a very ancient game of European diffusion
and manifold variations, the idea of which consists in the dramatiza-
tion of an offer of marriage, as presented by ambassadors who
demand a wife on the part of their master, and who at first make
small offers, or assume a mean disguise, but gradually augment their
promises, and allow their true rank to become known. A variant of
the present rhyme is found in the West Virginian game of " Three
Kings" ("Games and Songs of American Children," No. 2) : —

" Here come three soldiers three by three,
To court your daughter merrily ;
Can we have a lodging, can we have a lodging,
Can we have a lodging here to-night ? "

The lodging is refused, until the suitors reveal themselves as kings,
and such must have been the sequence of the game in North Caro-
lina. The manner of playing was no doubt by the row of suitors
alternately advancing and retiring to meet the mother and her
daughters, who proceeded similarly. English variants are given in
"The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland," col-
lected by Alice Bertha Gomme, London, 1898, ii. 282-286.

Early American Ballads. 105

EARLY AMERICAN BALLADS.
in

Mention has been made of the change in taste which took place
during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with the result that
English popular ballads of the ancient type ceased to be composed,
while there was a continuous production of ballads of later character,
possessing less poetic value. Examples were given of songs belong-
ing to this later class, of which some have been imported into Amer-
ica, while others owe their composition to the new world. Among
the latter was a ballad entitled " Springfield Mountain," of which two
verses were given, with a request for additional information. In
reply to this desire a number of communications have been received,
which help to illuminate the history of the ballad in question.

Before giving these versions, it will be well to recur to the curious
" Account of the deth of the child of Daniel and Sarah Beckwith "
(vol. xii. p. 242), written in 1773, and preserved only in manuscript,
which has been printed in the previous paper. In this communica-
tion, no note is made of the locality to which the youth belonged,
nor does it appear under what circumstances the elegy was com-
posed. But the verses now to be cited are so nearly parallel as to
constitute a probability that those relating to Beckwith were also
associated with mortuary custom, and perhaps recited at the funeral
of the young man.

Isaac Orcutt.
This ballad is communicated by Miss Julia D. Whiting, of Deer-
field, Mass., who relates the circumstances of composition as fol-
lows : "About one hundred years ago, my grandmother, then a
young woman of thirty, was living in Amherst, Mass. A young
man by the name of Isaac Orcutt went to Westfield to work, and
was there killed in an accident, and brought home to be buried. An
old lady, whose name is unknown to me, composed these verses, and
they were sung at his burial by six young women (of whom my
grandmother was one), dressed in white, who stood around his grave.
I dare say the old lady composed the tune as well as the words ; at
any rate, words and tune go well together."
1 See vol. xii. pp. 241-255.

io6

Journal of American Folk-Lore.

i

IS

One I - saac Or - cutt was his name, Who late - ly in - to Westfield came

I

t

m

To cut some tim - ber for a sled ; The snow was deep, he had to wade.

One Isaac Orcutt was his name,
Who lately into Westfield came,
To cut some timber for a sled,
The snow was deep, he had to wade

Some forty rods to an ash tree.
The top was dry as you may see
He cut the tree off from the stump
The top was dry threw back a chunk

Which flew and struck him in the head
And stunned him though he was not dead
There the poor senseless creature lay
All the remainder of that day

No search was made by any one
Until the setting of the sun
When Mr. Manly and his son
Alarmed set out upon the run

They soon beheld him with surprize
And gazed on him with stedfast eyes
The blood had issued from the wound
And thawed a passage to the ground

They took him up and bore him home

Put him to bed in a warm room

They washed his limbs and dressed his wounds

And tried to force some medsin down

All useful remedies was tried
Yet in the evening he died

The word "evening" is pronounced as a trisyllable. The verses
are sung with a doleful drawl.

The words offer a curious correspondence to those relating to
Beckwith. In the latter song we also read of a dry " chunk " or
piece of wood, which by falling caused the death of a woodcutter.

Early American Ballads. 107

The chunk was thirty feat in length
and was exceeding dry,
so rotten it had not much strength
did burn most vemantly.

It has been assumed that the rhymes to which this latter verse
belongs were designed for reading rather than oral recitation ; but
the popularity of those presently to be cited may alter this view.

Springfield Mountain.

It has been pointed out to me that the original version of this
ballad is to be found in the " History of Western Massachusetts,"
by Josiah Gilbert Holland, Springfield, 1855. In an account of Wil-
braham, to which town the song seems to belong, Dr. Holland re-
marks : "On the 7th of August, 1761, occurred an event which has
been celebrated in song. It is doubtful whether any piece of Amer-
ican doggerel has been so fortunate in the term of its perpetuation.
It relates to the death of Timothy Merrick, from the bite of a rattle-
snake, and has been added to and modified, until the versions of it
are numberless. The verses are said to have been written by a
young woman to whom the unfortunate man was engaged to be
married. A gravestone still marks the spot where he sleeps, but
the ballad, of which the following is an authentic copy, preserved in
the family, bids fair to outlast the marble."

On Springfield mountains there did dwell
A likeley youth was known full well
Lieutenant Merrick onley son
A likeley youth near twenty one.

One friday morning he did go
in to the medow and did mow
A round or two then he did feal
A pisen serpent at his heal.

When he received his deadly wond
he dropt his sythe a pon the ground
And strate for home wase his intent
Calling aloude still as he went,

tho all around his voys wase hered
but none of his friends to him apiere
they thought it wase some workmen calld
And there poor Timothy alone must fall.

1 08 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

So soon his Carfull father went
to seak his son with discontent
And there hes fond onley son he found
ded as a stone a pon the ground.

And there he lay down sopose to rest
withe both his hands Acrost his brest
his mouth and eyes Closed fast
And there poor man he slept his last.

his father vieude his track with greate concern
Where he had ran across the corn
unevin tracks where he did go
did apear to stagger two and frow.

The seventh of August sixty one
this fatull axadint was done
Let this a warning be to all
to be prepared when god does call.

It may probably have been the quaintness of the melody which
gave the ballad a wide popularity ; as already mentioned (vol. xii.
p. 242), it has obtained currency as a favorite lullaby for children.
The composition must therefore have been originally sung rather
than composed for reading or even recitation. The parallel case of
Isaac Orcutt justifies a suspicion that the verses treating the fate of
the Merrick youth were also prepared for chanting at the funeral,
and constituted a dirge.

The versions which follow will serve to show in what manner the
song was altered in the course of its wide diffusion.

B.

r^H~n — f^_ a

N-^l "r

J — 1 n -1

— 1^~\~

1

L^s ttLi— J *• ° d J d-

• d -#-*-

J- J

— 1 —

— d '

On Spring -field Moun-tain there did dwell A love - ly youth, I

knew full well Ri tick a rick

a Ri tick a rick a ra

On Springfield Mountain there did dwell
A lovely youth, I knew full well

Ri tick a rick a ra

Ri tick a rick a ra de ri de ro.

de ro.

One Friday morning he did go
Down in the meadow for to mow.

Early America7i Ballads. 109

He had not mowed across the field
Before a black snake bit him on the heel.

When he received this deadly wound

He dropped his scythe right on the ground.

They took him to his Sally dear

Which made him feel quite wondrous queer.

" Oh, Johnny dear, why did you go
Down in the meadow for to mow ? "

" Oh, Sally dear, and don't you know
'T is daddy's grass and must be mowed ? "

At last he died, gave up the ghost,
To Abraham's bosom he did post.

Now all young men, a warning take
And avoid the bite of a big black snake.

Ri tick a rick a ra

Ri tick a rick a ra de ri de ro.1

The informant remarks : —

" I think it is only fair to say that my spelling varies from the
original, as I heard it ; but as I cannot minutely make the facts,
it seems to be best not to tamper with the orthography of the ballad.
It is probable that ' mountain ' should be pronounced mounting, that
' heel ' should rhyme with ' field,' ' wound ' with ' ground,' and that the
word 'deadly' should be pronounced as if written dcadli, 'lovely,'
love li, etc.

" For the melody I can vouch in a general way only, as my musical
ability — if it can be called that — is not of an executive order. The
gentleman who has recorded it thinks it to be correct, or as I have
given it to him, but it seems to me to lack something. Perhaps the
proper expression can be given to the transcript which I send you,
if one has a slight knowledge of ballad singing, or knows aught of,
or loves, olden days and olden ways."

C.

In Springfield mountain there did dwell
A love-/y youth I knew full well.

Ri tu da day, ri tu da day,

Ri tu da day, tu da day.

1 Contributed by Mr. John L. Earll, of Utica, N. Y., who learned it according
to the recitation of a lady from Vermont.

no Journal of American Folk-Lore.

One fine May morning he did go
Down in the meadow for to mow.

He had not mowed half re-ound the field
When a pizen sarpint bit his heel.

He lay right daoun upon the ground,
Shut up his eyes and looked all around.

They sent right in for Sal-/y dear,
Which made him feel so mighty queer.

" Oh John-«y dear, why did you go
Down in the medder for to mow ? "

" Oh Sal-/y dear, you always know
'T is dad's grass and it must be mowed." 1

D.

In Springfield-town there once did dwell
A lovely youth that I knew very well,
Lalalu, lalalu, lalalu, lalalu,
Lalalu, lalalu, lia.

One day this lovely youth did go
Down in the meadow for to mow.

He mowed it all round, but at length did feel
A pizen serpant bite him on the heel.

They carried him home to his mother dear,
Which made that old gal feel very queer.

Oh Johnny dear, why did you go
Down in the meadow for to mow ?

O mother dear, did you not know

'T was dad's own field and must be mowed.

And so he died and gave up the ghost,
And down to the devil he did post.

1 Contributed by Mrs. Chase, Washington, D. C. ; the sequel has escaped her
memory. The song was one that was sung to the children in the first reader by
the district school-teacher of the West Bethany district schoolhouse, in Genesee
County, New York, about six miles north of Batavia, the county seat. At the
time the informant wondered why " teacher sang such a ' homely ' " song ; the
teacher was never in New England, but lived on the southeast edge of the county.

Early American Ballads. 1 1 1

A crying, crying as he went,
That cruel, cruel, sarpient.
Lalalu, lalalu, lalalu, lalalu,
Lalalu, lalalu, lia.1

E.

On Springfield mountains there did dwell
A comely youth, known full well,
Leftenant Curtis' only son,
A comely youth just twenty-one.

One day this lovely youth did go
Down in the meadow for to mow ;
He had not mowed half round the field
Fore a pizen sarpint bit his heel.

He looked around, but looked in vain,
No one came nigh, for to ease his pain ;
So he made up his mind his time had come,
And laid his head on a cold stun.

So this young man gave up the ghost,
And forth to Abraham's bosom did post,
Out of the meadow where he came to mow,
With nubbody nigh for to see him go.2

He took the sarpint in his hand,

And straightway went to Molly Bland ;

Now Molly had a holler tooth,

And the poison entered and killed them both.3

G.

In the preceding paper, I have noted that the song had been
printed by George H. Derby, or, according to his pseudonym, John
Phoenix, author of the " Squibob Papers," New York, 1865. In
this version the ballad went as follows : —

On Springfield mounting, thar did dwell,
A likely youth, I knowed him well ;
Leftenant Carter's only son,
A comely youth, nigh twenty-one.

1 Contributed by Mr W. H. Payne, of South Haven, Mich., as learned fifty
years ago.

2 Contributed by Mrs. J. E. Dunham, Muncie, Ind., whose father, a native of
Vermont, used the song as a lullaby.

3 Contributed by Mrs. M. L. Debarry, Rockford, 111., as the last verse of a song
learned more than fifty-five years ago from an old servant ; the melody impressed
her as quaint and striking.

1 1 2 yournal of American Folk-Lore.

One Monday morning, he did go
Intew the meadow for to mow,
And all ter once, he thar did feel
A pizen sarpint bite his heel.

Quick as he felt the sarpent bite
He raised his scythe, with all his might
He struck ter once a deadly blow,
That lay the pizen creeter low.

He tuk the riptyle in his hand,

And straightway went tew Molly Bland ;

Oh ! Molly, Molly, here you see

A pizen sarpent, what bit me.

Zerubbabel, why did ye go

Intu the meadow for to mow ?

Oh ! Molly Bland, I thought you knowed

'T was Daddy's field, and must be mowed.

Then Molly Bland, she squatted down,
And sucked the pizen from the wound ;
But oh ! she had a rotten tewth ;
The venim soon affected both.

Oh, then they ware all spotted o'er
With all the colors that the sarpent wore ;
They laid 'em both upon a bed,
And they swelled up and di-i-ed !

Then when they had gin up the ghost,
From " Springfield Mounting " they went, post ;
And they larfed, and sung, as up they went,
As chipper as if there wa'nt no pizen szx-pent.

It will be seen that nearly all the variations found in the version
of Mr. Derby, and which at first sight appear as designedly ludicrous,
nevertheless had a popular origin.

Absurd as the piece may be thought, when regarded from a liter-
ary point of view, it is none the less valuable and suggestive, when
considered in relation to theoretical knowledge. We have a striking
example of a song composed in a particular place, on a definite occa-
sion, with regard to circumstantial accuracy, and by a person of some
literary education, which nevertheless, almost in our own time, has
passed into folk-lore, and obtained popular currency. The example
makes clear that any ballad, no matter how ancient and universal,

Early American Ballads. 113

might very well have originated in one mind, at one place, and been
accompanied by distinguishing circumstances, which in course of
time it abdicated with the result of becoming more vaguely human.
Unless we had the original version, we should not be able to speak
of any particular author of the New England ballad ; in the course
of its currency it has received additions and undergone changes
which cause its variants to represent different minds ; it has, in this
respect, had many authors. None the less, the composition had its
birth in one mind, composing with perfectly clear consciousness,
and in the ordinary literary manner. So far, the ballad of Isaac
Orcutt or of the Merrick youth may be taken to represent the entire
ballad literature. The theory that ballads were born out of a men-
tal state quite independent of any conditions familiar to literature,
that they represent an unconscious cerebration, that, to use a phrase
which to my mind conveys no distinct meaning, they possessed
" communal origins," has no more application to the songs of old
England than of New England, no more place in the twelfth century
than the eighteenth. So far as the existing stock is concerned, and
that is all of which we have knowledge, such mystical phrases are
calculated to promote nothing save confusion of thought and ex-
pression.

Again, the history of the song forcibly illustrates the manner in
which popular tradition, setting out from a basis more or less an-
swering to real life, ordinarily absorbs romantic elements, loses rela-
tion to the original surroundings, and may develop into a fanoiful
narrative ; while again, the sentiments, which originally were pro-
foundly serious and even solemn, in a more cultivated and sophisti-
cated period are vulgarized and rendered prosaic, until at last the
primitive earnestness survives only as a jest.

In regard to custom, we have encountered a usage which seems
at least to have been local in western Massachusetts, the habit of
chanting at funerals, and in the form of a dirge, the death story of
the departed. There is not at hand sufficient evidence to permit
the assumption that such observance, if indeed it should prove to
have been frequent in this neighborhood, represented a general prac-
tice. It is nevertheless obvious that the probabilities are all in favor
of an ancient origin for such a usage existing in a remote and isolated
community. In all probability the chant would not have been
allowed on a solemn occasion, unless it had old precedent. The
New England village communities were exactly those in which we
might expect to encounter relics of a habit abandoned in Great Brit-
ain. Very likely, if the whole truth could be known, the rite ob-
served in the case of Orcutt, and perhaps also of Merrick and Beck-
with, may have had roots extending to the times at which it was

vol. xm. — no. 49. 8

1 1 4 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

customary for minstrels to chant at a funeral feast the manner of
departure of the dead man and the exploits of his ancestors. But
on this head opinion must be tentative ; perhaps further information
and inquiry may bring light.

These songs, of which the history can definitely be traced, may
very well represent what took place on a larger scale. A whole
class of ballads might owe their origin to similar practices. But in
the case of English ballads, the matter is complicated by the consid-
eration of their international quality. Any important and widely
diffused song, not too definitely attached to the soil, is liable to mi-
grate from tongue to tongue, and ordinarily does so migrate. We
have a situation answering to that of language, or of the games of
children. Words and plays may be constructed indefinitely, but it
is not necessary to invent them, because a stock answering all pur-
poses already exists. New words and new games are continually
coming into being, but are repressed by the existing growth which
already occupies the ground. There are many old English ballads
which describe the circumstances of the death of the hero, and which
might have originated as did the song of Isaac Orcutt ; but it by no
means follows that they did so originate. It is something, however,
to exhibit the inventive capacity which would be adequate to supply
the existing stock, even though its presence may otherwise be ex-
plained ; such productiveness is illustrated by the New England
ballads, which therefore offer an important contribution to ballad
literature ; and it is to be hoped that a more complete gathering may
be made of such compositions.

Passing to ballads of the ancient type, and presumably composed
in the fourteenth century or earlier, it may be said that the pages of
this Journal, as well as the collection of Professor Child, have con-
tained a sufficient number of American versions of such ballads to
show that they survived in considerable number among the English
in the new world.

The ballads which have hitherto been cited are of modern origin.
It has already been set forth that English ballads deserving the title
of ancient must be considered, in general, to have an origin earlier
than the sixteenth century. These songs have usually been consid-
ered to belong exclusively to Scotland, or to the border country.
For the most part, however, they are in reality English, and have
been familiar in England ; that they have been recorded in Scotland,
and are characterized by Scottish dialect, depends only upon the
greater persistence of tradition in an isolated region ; they have sur-
vived in Scotland, and been forgotten in English counties, where
they once were familiar. Whether as the result of old English in-
heritance, or in consequence of communication by Scotch immigrants,

Early American Ballads. 1 1 5

— and both modes of preservation have cooperated — the ancient
ballads have been freely sung in America ; indeed, they have lasted
in the United States rather longer than in the mother country.
Even at the present day some are current in districts marked by
simplicity of manners, especially in the mountainous portions of the
Southern States. As late as 1820 such ballads were still sung at
gatherings of young people in New England, as shown by a remark-
able version of " Fair Margaret and Sweet William," communicated
to Professor Child (" English and Scottish Ballads," v. 293).

Lord Randal.

The song of this name (Child, No. 12), like the history of the
Merrick youth, deals with a death caused by the venom of a serpent.
In this case, however, the hero is destroyed by the agency of his
" true love " or betrothed bride, who administers the poison. The
ballad is of wide diffusion through Europe, and is connected with a
class of similar histories, including the celebrated Italian ballad of
" Bella Lombarda," which, with no very good reason, has been sup-
posed to owe its origin to the story of the Lombard queen Rose-
munda of the sixth century. This English ballad has become pop-
ular in a nursery song, very familiar in this country. A number of
American variants are given by Child, to which may be added the
following : —

A.

" Where have you been, Charlie, O Charlie my son ?

Where have you been, Charlie, my dear and sweet one ? "
" Been a-courting Pretty Polly, mother, make my bed soon,

For I 'm sick at my heart, and fain would lie down."

" What had you for supper, O Charlie my son ?

What had you for supper, my dear and sweet one ? "
" We had eels fried in butter ; mother, make my bed soon,

For I 'm sick at my heart, and fain would lie down."

" What color were they, Charlie, O Charlie my son ?

What color were they, my dear and sweet one ? "
" They were black with white speckles ; mother, make my bed soon,

For I 'm sick at my heart, and fain would lie down."

" O, she 's poisoned you, Charlie, O Charlie my son !

O, she 's poisoned you, Charlie, my dear and sweet one ! "
" Yes, she 's poisoned me, mother, make my bed soon,

For I 'm sick at my heart, and fain would lie down." *

1 From Mrs. Fanny D. Bergen, as formerly current in Mansfield, northern Ohio,
where it was known to her as the familiar sone of a child named McCulloch.

1 1 6 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

B.

" O, where have you been, my dear little one ?

O, where have you been, my dear little son ? "
" To visit my grandma, mother, make my bed soon,

For I 'm sick to my heart, and I fain would lie down."

" What did you have for supper," etc.
" Speckled eels and fresh butter," etc.

" What will you will to your brother," etc.
" Coat, jacket, and trousers,"

" What will you will to your father ? " etc.
" Horse, saddle, and bridle," etc.

" What will you will to your grandmother, my dear little one ?

What will you will to your grandmother, my dear little son ? "
" The torments eternal ; mother, make my bed soon,

For I 'm sick to my heart, and fain would lie down." 1

C.

" Mother, make my bed soon,
For I feel a pain in my heart, and I fain would lie down."

" What will you leave to your father, dear lord duke ? "

" Four horses and a carriage, mother, make my bed soon," etc.

" What will you leave to your mother," etc.
" Three horses and a carriage," etc.

" What will you leave to your brother," etc.
" Three horses and a carriage," etc.

"What will you leave to your sister," etc.
" My gold and silver," etc.

" What will you leave to your true love," etc
" A rope to hang her with," etc.

"What was it she gave you, young Henry, my son ?"
" Three little freckled fishes, mother, make my bed soon,
For I 'm sick at my heart, and I fain would lie down." 2

D.

With these versions may be compared a Scotch variant, obtained
in America, but the history of which I am not now able to explain :

1 Related to Mrs. Bergen by Mrs. Amanda M. Thrush, now of Plymouth, Ohio,
as heard in her girlhood in northern New York.

2 Contributed by Mrs. Bergen, from the recitation of Mary Brown, Miramichi,
N. B.

Early American Ballads. 117

" O, whar hae ye been a' day, Lord Donald, my son ?

O whar hae ye been a' day, my jollie young man ? "
" I 've been awa' courtin', mither, mak' my bed sune,

For I-'m sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down."

" What did ye get for your supper, Lord Donald, my son ?

What did ye get for your supper, my jollie young man ? "
" A dish o' sma fishes, mither, mak' my bed sune,

For I 'm sick at the heart, and fain wad lie down."

" O, I fear ye are poisoned, Lord Donald, my son,
O, I fear ye are poisoned, my jollie young man."

" O yas, I am poisoned, mither, mak' my bed sune,
For I 'm sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down."

" What will ye leave to your true-love, Lord Donald, my son ?

What will ye leave to your true-love, my jollie young man ? "
" A tow and the halter, for to hang on yon tree,

And lat her hang there for the poisoning o' me."

The many versions of the ballad offer an interesting example of
variations in a song which must of necessity have had origin in the
mind of a single English reciter, who doubtless gave it form as the
translation of some version of the Continental ballad. The introduc-
tion of fishes instead of serpents, as the means of poisoning, goes
back to the European ballad.

Lam kin.

This savage history relates (Child, No. 93) how a mason (who
may originally have himself been a knight) builds a castle for a
nobleman, fails to obtain his pay, utters threats against the defaulter,
and succeeds by the aid of a nurse in entering the castle of the lat-
ter, where he stabs first a babe, and then the lady of the house, who
is brought downstairs by the screams of her child ; the murderer is
finally hanged, and the nurse burned at the stake. An American
version has been furnished to Professor Child by Mrs. Emma M.
Backus, as sung in North Carolina (v. 295). The ballad has also been
sung by negroes of Prince William County, Virginia, who learned
it from Scotch settlers (Child, iii. 515). The following variant is
furnished by Mrs. M. L. Debarry, Rockport, 111., as sung in Central
New York half a century ago, by an old servant. The tune is re-
membered as quaint and doleful.

1 1 8 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

False Simpkins was a good mason

As ever laid stone ;
He built Lord Donald's castle,

But Lord Donald paid none.

[A verse wanting.1]

Said the lord to his lady,

" I 'm going away from home,
And what would you do

If false Simpkins should come ? "

" I fear not false Simpkins
Or none of his kin ;
I will keep my doors bolted
And my windows barred in."

She kept her doors bolted

And her windows barred in,
All except one kitchen window,

Where false Simpkins got in.

[A verse wanting.2]

False Simpkins did rock

While false nurse she did sing,
And the blood from this little babe's heart

To a silver basin did spin.

[A verse wanting.8]

False Simpkins was hung

On a gallows so high,
While false nurse she was burning

In a fire near by.

1 John Lankin then swore,

If the lord did not pay him,
He would break into his castle,
And murder all his kinsmen.

Version of Mrs. Backus.

2 He took out a penknife,

Baith pointed and sharp,
And he stabbed the babie
Three times in the heart.

Motherwell MS.

3 In the fuller versions, the lady is lured downstairs by the cries of her babe,
and killed in spite of her pleadings.

Early American Ballads. 1 19

The Wife of Usher's Well.
These ballads do not contain much poetry to redeem their sav-
agery ; I cannot, therefore, deny myself the pleasure of citing the
version of the " Wife of Usher's Well " (Child, No. 79) communicated
to his work by Mrs. E. M. Backus, as sung by " poor whites " of Polk
County, N. C. (Child, v. 294). The ballad, in its original form,
seems to have recited that the three sons of a noble lady have been
sent to a distant land, according to the usual rule of chivalric educa-
tion, which prescribed foreign service for young men ambitious of
distinction. The youths fail to return, and the mother grieves over
their absence to a degree which prevents the spirits from lying tran-
quilly in their graves ; in the season of the long nights they return,
and present themselves in the form of life, are received with joy,
entertained, and bedded, but before morning are compelled to obey
the law of ghosts, and retire to their distant graves. It seems to
be a touch of modern change which has altered the lads from the
period fit for acquiring knighthood to babes ; in this form the ballad
made a warmer appeal to the maternal heart. Otherwise, however,
the version excites astonishment by its antiquity and completeness.
There are touches of mediaeval manners; the table is "fixed," that
is placed on its trestle, according to the practice of the Middle Age,
and we read of the golden cloth with which the bed was formerly
covered.

There was a lady fair and gay,

And children she had three :
She sent them away to some northern land,

For to learn their grammaree.

They had n't been gone but a very short time,

About three months to a day,
When sickness came to that land,

And swept those babes away.

There is a king in the heavens above,

That wears a golden crown :
She prayed that he would send her babies home

To-night or in the morning soon.

It was about one Christmas time,

When the nights was long and cool,
She dreamed of her three little lovely babes,

Come running in their mother's room.

The table was fixed and the cloth was spread,
And on it put bread and wine :
" Come sit you down, my three little babes,
And eat and drink of mine."

1 2 o Journal of American Folk-L ore.

" We '11 neither eat your bread, dear mother,
Nor we '11 neither drink your wine ;
For to our Saviour we must return
To-night or in the morning soon."

The bed was fixed in the back room ;

On it were some clean white sheet,
And on the top was a golden cloth,

To make those 'little babies sleep.

" Wake up ! wake up ! " says the oldest one,
" Wake up ! it 's almost day.
And to our Saviour we must return
To-inight or in the morning soon.

" Green grass grows at our head, dear mother,
Green grass grows at our feet :
The tears you shed for us three babes,
(They) wet our winding sheet." 1

The Elfin Knight.

The ballad to which this name has been given (Child, No. 2)
recites, in the Scottish versions, how a maiden hears the magic horn
of a fairy knight, and wishes to possess the horn and be embraced
by its owner. The elf accordingly appears, and makes enigmatical
demands, which are successfully evaded by the girl. In its original
form the song no doubt described the fairy as claiming over the
maid rights which her incautious wish had given him ; her clever-
ness defeats this essay, for in the dealing of men and fiends it is a
recognized principle that superior knowledge is an element of safety.
The ballad itself is European, while the theme has an ancient his-
tory. Games of riddle-guessing, from the time of Samson, fur-
nished a means of amusement and opportunity of betting. Just as
an ingenious guesser might back his talent by reckless wagers ex-
tending even to the risk of personal freedom, so spirits would be
inclined to engage in such contests as a means of obtaining the souls
and bodies of mortals. The ballad continues to be traditionally sung
in America, without the introductory piece of fairy lore ; the versions
have every appearance of English, rather of Scottish descent, and
may have been current from early colonial times. A variant still
traditional in Boston has been printed in this Journal (vii. 228).

As I walked out in yonder dell,

Let every rose grow merry in time ;
I met a fair damsel, her name it was Nell ;

I said : " Will you be a true lover of mine ? "

1 As recited : Won't wet our winding-sheet.

Early American Ballads. 121

This version gives only the first half of the ballad ; the following,
still sung in Georgia, is more complete ; the refrain shows the ori-
ginal form, curiously altered in the Boston variant : —

" As you go up to yonders town,
Rosemary and thyme
Give my respects to that young girl,
And she shall be a true lover of mine.

Go tell her to make me a cambric shirt,

Rosemary and thyme
Without a seam of needlework,

And she shall be a true lover of mine.

Go tell her to wash it in yonders well,

Rosemary and thyme
Where water never flowed nor rain ever fell,
And she shall be a true lover of mine.

Go tell her to hang it on yonders thorn,

Rosemary and thyme
That never has budded since Adam was born,
And she shall be a true lover of mine."

" When you go back to yonders town,
/ Rosemary and thyme
Give my respects to that young man,
And he shall be a true lover of mine.

Go tell him to buy ten acres of land,

Rosemary and thyme
Betwixt the salt sea and the sand,
And he shall be a true lover of mine.

Go tell him to plant it with one grain of corn,

Rosemary and thyme
And plough it all in with a mooly-cow's horn,
And he shall be a true lover of mine.

Go tell him to mow it with sickle of leather,

Rosemary and thyme
And carry it all in on a peafowl's feather,
And he shall be a true lover of mine.

Go tell him to take it to yonders mill,

Rosemary and thyme
If every grain a barrel shall fill,
He shall be a true lover of mine.

122 Journa I of A merican Folk-L ore.

Go tell him when all this work is done,

Rosemary and thyme
To come to me for his cambric shirt,
And he shall be a true lover of mine." 1

1 Contributed by Mrs. E. M. Backus, as obtained from recitation in Columbia
County, Ga.

William Wells Newell.

Forgotten Indian Place-Names in the Adirondacks. 123

SOME FORGOTTEN INDIAN PLACE-NAMES IN THE
ADIRONDACKS.

The mountainous district known as the Adirondacks, comprising
parts of Lewis, Herkimer, Fulton, Hamilton, St. Lawrence, Franklin,
Clinton, Essex, and Warren counties in northern New York State,
takes its name from a well-known Mohawk word, ratirontaks, ' they
eat trees ' or ' those who eat trees ' (masc. plur.). This term is in reg-
ular use at the present day among the Mohawks at Caughnawauga,
P. Q., and elsewhere, to denote the so-called " Algonquin " * tribe
who formerly had their headquarters at Oka (Lac des Deux Mont-
agnes), not far from Montreal, but who are now, with the exception
of a few families still resident at Oka, scattered throughout the
whole of eastern Canada. These Algonquins, who are really a
branch of the Ojibwe-Ottawa division of the Algic family, were wont
in former days to hunt extensively in the Adirondack region, which
was accordingly named after them by the Mohawk-Iroquois, who also
ranged through the same territory.

The term Ratirontaks, 'tree' or 'wood eaters,' as applied to this
sept, simply indicates that the Algonquins, like the rest of their
eastern Algic congeners, were essentially forest Indians, in contra-
distinction to the Iroquois, who called themselves Ratinonsionni,
' those who build cabins.' 2 There can be no doubt that Ratirontaks
was originally a term of opprobrium in the mouth of the Iroquois,
whose whole history shows an unceasing warfare with the Algic
clans. A curious but probably incorrect tradition still exists among
the Mohawks of the St. Regis Falls Reserve, that the Algonquins
were called ' tree-eaters,' owing to their habit of clearing streams for
their canoes by cutting trees and logs which had fallen across the
water-ways. This is of course not a distinctively Algonquin trait.

1 For the language of the " Algonquins," cf. J. A. Cuoq, Lexiqtie de la langue
Algonquine, Montreal, 1886; " Grammaire de la langue Algonquine " in Me-
moires S. R. Canada, 1891. The Rev. J. Guillaume Forbes, Roman Catholic
missionary at Caughnawauga, P. Q., kindly informs me that ratirontaks is a poly-
synthetic combination of ktironta, ' tree, wood,' and ikeks, ' I eat.' The following
examples of the conjugation of the verb ' I am an Algonquin ' will illustrate the
Iroquois grammatical method : —

KSrontdks, ' I am an Algonquin,' e. g. ' I eat wood.'
sSrontdks, ' thou,' etc.
rarontdks, ' he,' etc.
ttwardntaks, ' we, you, and I,' etc.
iakviardntaks, 'we, they, and I,' etc.
ratirontaks, ' they,' etc.
Cf. also on this word, Cuoq, Lexiqtie de la langue Iroquoise, p. 39.

2 So Forbes. This is a verbal form from kdnonsa, ' house, cabin.'

1 24 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

During a recent visit to Long Lake Village, Hamilton County, I
called upon Mr. Mitchell Sabattis of the Abenaki tribe (Algic family),
the oldest living Indian in the Adirondacks, who gave me the follow-
ing Abenaki names of localities, most of which are in the neighbor-
hood of Long Lake. My informant's father, the late Peter Sabattis,
dead fifty years ago, but still remembered familiarly as Captain Peter,
was a native of St. Francis, P. Q., the ancient reserve of the remnant
of the Abenakis in Canada. Peter Sabattis and his Abenaki wife
removed to the Mohawk community at St. Regis Falls late in the
last century, where Mitchell was born about ninety years ago. The
father and son were accustomed to hunt in St. Lawrence, Franklin,
and Hamilton counties in company with other Abenakis, who gave
names to a number of the Adirondack lakes and rivers, only a few
of which, however, are now recalled by the aged Mitchell.

Of these the most important is the name Saranac, which is, ac-
cording to Sabattis, a corruption of an Abenaki form Snhdlo'nek,
which he explains as meaning 'entrance of a river into a lake.' The
same word appears in Laurent's " Abenaki and English Dialogues,"
p. 52, in the form Son-Halonek as the native name for Plattsburg.
As the Saranac River debouches at Plattsburg into Lake Champlain,
there can be no doubt that the name was applied to the river at that
point, rather than to the two lakes now known as Upper and Lower
Saranac.

The Abenaki term as given both by Sabattis and Laurent presents
many difficulties to the philologist. The Very Rev. M. C. O'Brien,1
of Bangor, Me., an excellent authority both on the ancient Abenaki
and its modern Penobscot dialect, believes that S'n (Sou) halo'uek is
either not an original Abenaki word, e. g. that it may be an Indian
corruption of Saranac, or else that it must be a mutilated modern
form. Owing to the following evidence, I am inclined to the latter
hypothesis. The word may be a derivative from the two elements :
1. sa'rigSk? ' mouth of a river,' of which sn or son in this combina-

1 Fr. O'Brien, the Roman Catholic Vicar-General of Maine, has in his posses-
sion the manuscript dictionaries of the Abenaki by Pere Aubery (171 5), mentioned
by Gill in his brochure, Vieux Manuscrits Abenakis, pp. 5 ff., 1 1 ff., Montreal,
1886. These works are very valuable for the study of the ancient Abenaki lan-
guage. The references to Father O'Brien in this article are to letters from him
to me concerning the place-names herein treated.

2 The systems of noting the ancient and modern Abenaki differ slightly. In
the ancient language the missionaries used the numeral 8 to denote the ■zf-sound.
The nasal n, always after a—a'n, is now represented by <?=6ri (as in French mon).
I use the apostrophe ( ' ) to indicate a very short vowel similar to the Hebrew s/i'va
mobile, and the sign ' to denote a guttural voice-stop not unlike the Semitic
Ayin. This is unfortunately not shown in the system of writing the modern
dialect. Where the ancient speech had r, I now universally appears. In the
modern words cited in this treatise the quantity of every vowel is marked. Note

Forgotten Indian Place-Names in the Adirondacks. 125

tion is either a modern variant, or a slovenly pronunciation for sog
(see below); 2. h'ld, 'comes' (ci.sogdd-h'td, 'it comes in,' said of a
river). The regular modern equivalent of sdhg8k would be sog, ac-
cording to the spelling of Laurent, op. cit., but it is probable that in
sogdd-hlld we have a fuller form of sog, e. g. sogdd + h'/d ; cf. sdiik-
ede-'teggSe, 'embouchure d'une riviere' (Rasle, Aben. Diet. p. 442) and
the ancient name Sdiikede-'rdilk, 'outlet,' applied by the early Abena-
kis of Maine to the mouth of the Kennebec. The modern Sagada-
hoc is an evident corruption of this form (so O'Brien). In the form
S'n (Son) hdlonek, -hdlonek, or more properly -h'lonek, appears to be
the locative verb form of sjh'ld, e. g. ' the place where it comes in ; '
viz., ' the outlet into a lake,' as explained by Sabattis. In this con-
nection may be compared ari-'rannek, ' the place where one goes by
canoe ' (O'Brien).

In spite of the difficulties of interpretation, then, we are justified
in regarding Saranac — S'nhdlo'nek as a genuine Abenaki word, first,
because of the apparent possibility of resolving it into known com-
ponent elements, and secondly, because of the evident appropriate-
ness of the meaning ' outlet ' to the Saranac River at Plattsburg.

Some Abenakis derive Saranac from Salonak, " Sumach buds,"
which are very common in the neighborhood, but this is doubtful, as
the term is not exclusively applicable to the Saranac region and,
moreover, smacks of popular etymology.

Very interesting also is Pdpolpdgd'mdk, the Abenaki name for
Racquette Lake. According to O'Brien, this may be a derivative
from an ancient root p8rbi, or reduplicated, pap8rbi, ' doubtful, deceit-
ful, treacherous,' which is prefixed to the regular termination -gd'mdk,
meaning 'at the lake; ' -gdmd + \oc. k. With -gd'md should be com-
pared the Ojibwe ending -gdmi, 'water, sea,' as in KicJilgdmi, 'big
water ; ocean.' The separate Abenaki word for ' lake ' is nepes (see
below). The ancient form of Pdpolpogd'mdk, then, would have been
PapSrbangamak, ' deceptive lake.' Sabattis gives its meaning as ' in
and out ; full of bays,' which would be in harmony with this deriva-
tion, as a lake full of bays and points is deceptive to the navigator.

According to Sabattis, the ancient name of Tupper Lake was
Pdskdngdmdk, ' side ' or ' branch lake.' This is perfectly clear. The
word consists of the well-known root pdsk- (ancient pesk- or psk-),
generally signifying ' break, cut oft,' + -gd'mdk. We should compare
here the present river-names Piscataquis (Maine) and Piscataqua

that a is almost like ii in but, while 2, i, and o are obscure short vowels. The
other vowels have the Italian values. The consonants are pronounced as in Eng-
lish except that^ is always hard. The combination kh is not a guttural, but is to
be pronounced separately k-h. The consonant n is a voiceless tenuis. The syl-
lables in Abenaki receive almost equal accentuation as in modern French.

126 Journal of A merican Folk-L ore.

(New Hampshire), 'river branching off,' from ancient Abn. pske +
teg8e, the termination for ' river' (mod. pdskd + tekw). The separate
word for ' river ' is sibo. To this same stem belong anc. peskua'tekSn,
'branch of a tree,' and the modern verbs poskwenomuk, 'break with
the hands ; ' poskwkazvomuk, ' break with the feet ; ' poskwzomuk, ' cut
with a knife/ and poskwtahomuk, ' cut with an axe.' The verb pas k-
komuk, ' shoot ' {pask-higan, ' gun '), is undoubtedly a variant of the
same root.

The name Pdskdngd'mdk is peculiarly appropriate to the geo-
graphic position of Tupper Lake, which flows into the Racquette
River between Long Lake, where the river begins its course, and
Racquette Pond. Tupper Lake thus appeared to the Indians to be
a branch of the river. It is really, however, the last of a chain which
commences with the series of ponds just north of Little Forked Lake
in Hamilton County. The lake now known as Little Tupper was
called by the Abenakis Pdskdngd'mdsik, the regular diminutive of
Pdskdngd'mdk.

The name Long Lake, now given to the narrow river-like body of
water, thirteen miles in length, which is the source of the Rac-
quette River, is probably, as Sabattis states, a translation of the
Abenaki Kwenogd'mdk, from kwend, 'long,' +gd' mdk . The root
kwend appears in Kweni'tcgok, e. g. kwenT, ' long,' + #&w, ending
meaning ' river,' + ok, the locative termination. The name Connecti-
cut is a corruption of the allied Massachusetts term, which differed
only in having the -/ locative termination. The same root kwenl-,
1 long ' appears also in Kwenbddk, * Long Pond,' kwendkueso, ' he is
tall,' kwenl, 'during, while,' etc.

Forked Lake, not far from Blue Mountain Lake, was named in
Abenaki Nigltdwogd! mdk, evidently with the same meaning as the
English term, which is probably a translation from the Indian. As
O'Brien points out, the stem here is undoubtedly the same as that
seen in Niketous, used to denote the confluence of two branches of
the Penobscot. In old Abenaki I find from the same stem nikc-
ta8teg8e, ' riviere qui J rourche' (Rasle, Diet. p. 523). O'Brien gives
the same word from Aubery as nik8da8atteg8c, ' confluent de deux
rivieres.' That this stem niketa or nik8da8 is identical with that
seen in Sabattis's form Ntgltd-wo-gd'mdk is evident.

The Abenaki name for Mt. Marcy, which probably included its
neighboring peaks, was Wawobadenik, literally, ' white mountains '
from wawobi-, reduplication (pi.) of wobi, ' white,' + aden, the ter-
mination for ' mountain,' + the locative -ik. The separate word for
mountain is wajo (see below). It is interesting to note in this
connection that Wawobadenik is also the Abenaki term for the White
Mountains of New Hampshire.

Forgotten Indian P lace-Names in the Adirondacks. 127

A curious instance of an Abenaki popular etymology of a purely
foreign term is seen in the name for St. Regis Reserve, P. O. and
N. Y. ; i. c. Po'hrfzds'ne, which Sabattis interprets ' half-shriek,'
explaining it as referring to victories gained by his people over the
Iroquois at that point. He also gives the name of the St. Regis
River as Po'kulzasnetckiv, and of St. Regis Lake near Paul Smith's,
Franklin County, as Po'kulzds ne-nepes. There can be no doubt
that Pd'ktuzdsne'is an " Algicised " form from the original Mohawk
name for St. Regis Reserve; viz., Akwesdsne, 'the place where the
partridge drums,' a word compounded of dkwesds — ivdkwesds x + the
locatixe suffix -ne. Wakwesas itself is a compound of okwesen, ' par-
tridge,' + -ds, which expresses the idea 'strike many blows,' as a
drumming partridge does with its wings. In the Abenaki form
Po'kulzdstie, the first element is the well-known, po'kui, 'half;' cf.
Rasle, p. 561, p8'k8ie, ' nne moitie en large.' -The second element,
•zdsne, as given by Sabattis, is undoubtedly from the stem of the
verb ne-sessinan, 'I bewail it' 2 (inanimate), Rasle, p. 508.

All the terms just treated were given to me as original Abenaki
names of the localities, applied independently of any English nomen-
clature, and I see no reason to doubt this. In the following names
my informant seemed a little uncertain as to whether the Indian
terminology was independent of the English or not. He was unable
to say whether the names in question were given first by his own
people, or whether they were subsequent translations of English
names. I cite them, however, as being of philological value for the
study of Abenaki.

Bog Lake, Mukwd'kwdga! mdk, and Bog River, Mukwa'kwtekw,
contain mukwa'kw, ' bog,' anc. meg8ak (Rasle, p. 483, ' marccage ').
This word is perhaps connected with mek8-, mod. mkul, 'red,' and is
an allusion to the color of the bottom (so O'Brien).

Round Lake, Pdtegwogd'mdk, and Round Pond, Pdtcgzvogd 'mdszk
(dim.), are perfectly clear. For pdtcgun-, ' round,' cf. mod. pet'gwe-
lomsai, ' whirlwind,' e.g. ' wind blowing in a circle,' and the verb form
ti petcgibcnd, ' we turn, return ' (inclusive we).

1 Forbes gives the inflection of akwesds— wakwesas as follows : —
kdkwesas, ' I drum with my wings like a partridge.'

sdkwesds, ' thou,' etc.
rdkwesds, ' he,' etc.

2 The change of original s to z in Po'knizds'ne' is due to the preceding vowel.
Precisely the same phenomenon is seen in sibosis, 'brook,' dim. of sibo, ' river,' but
siboslzik, 'in the brook.' I find also k'chl zibo, 'big river,' for Weill sibo. The
principle seems to be that when s is preceded by an /-vowel, and followed by a
vowel, it softens to z. A similar softening of / to d is seen in the phrases New
York tali ' at N. Y.,' but yu dali 'at this place,' e.g. 'here.' This is not repre-
sented in the modern system of writing Abenaki.

128 yournal of A merican Folk-Lore.

Lake Clear near Paul Smith's is Wdsdbdgdk, lit. ' clear liquid,' from
wasa + bdgd + loc. k. Wdsd is descriptive of light of any kind, cf.
■wdsdnmogdn, 'candle, lamp.' The ending -bdgd is an adjectival and
verbal suffix used only of liquids ; thus, mkdzdwbdgd, ' it is black '
(used of ink or water).

Finally, Black Lake, M'kazawi nepes, Cranberry Lake, Popokud
nepes, and Blue Mountain Lake, Wilowi wdjoi nepes, are perfectly
plain and require no comment.

It should be remarked in this connection that in all these latter
cases the names are so descriptive of natural features that they
might easily have arisen independently and simultaneously both in
Indian and English.

It may be interesting to note that the Mohawk name Ne-ha-se-ne,
applied to a large preserve not far from Little Tupper Lake, means
' that is so ; ' ' cest bien ca,' and has no connection with the word
' beaver,' as is popularly supposed (so Forbes).

J. Dyneley Prince.

In Memoriam : Frank Hamilton Ciishing. 129

IN MEMORIAM : FRANK HAMILTON CUSHING.

The man who is born with a talent which he is meant to use, finds his great-
est happiness in using it. — Goethe.

Frank Hamilton Cushing (born July 22, 1857, at Northeast,
Pa. ; died April 10, 1900) was an anthropologist "born and made,"
if there ever was one. His boyhood was spent on a farm at Barre,
Orleans County, N. Y., a district rich in Indian remains and relics.
Before he was ten years old, a flint arrow-head, which his father's
hired man picked up one day while ploughing, and tossed to him
over the furrows, with the remark, "The Indians made that ; it is one
of their arrow-heads," aroused his interest as nothing else had ever
done before. As he himself tells us, in the autobiographical para-
graphs contained in his paper on " The Arrow," this was the turn-
ing-point of his genius : "That little arrow-point decided the purpose
and calling of my whole life. It predestined me, ladies and gentle-
men, to the honor I have in addressing you here [before the Anthro-
pological Section of the American Association at Springfield, August
29, 1895] to-day on Arrows ; for I have studied archaeology far more,
alas, than anything else — ever since I treasured that small arrow
blade on the lid of an old blue chest in my little bedroom, until the
cover of that chest was overfilled with others like it and with relics
of many another kind." Not long after he discovered with delight
a place where flint arrow-heads had been made, and, before many
years were over, he had gathered " a collection of some hundreds of
relics from all over central and western New York," and soon "be-
gan a series of experiments to learn how these arrows had been
made " — all this before he had ever looked into a book on anthro-
pology. Through the gift of aneighboring farmer, who, in his youth,
had been a " Forty-Niner," young Cushing became acquainted with
obsidian-tipped arrow-heads, which he sought to imitate by hammer-
ing pieces of bottle and window glass. When about fourteen years
of age, he discovered in the woods south of the town of Medina
(whither his father removed in 1870) an old Indian fort, and then
his enthusiasm knew no limit. He built a hut there, and "used to
go there and remain days at a time, digging for relics while the sun
shone, and on rainy days or at night, in the light of the camp-fire,
studying by experiment how the more curious of them had been
made and used." How with a toothbrush flaking-tool (he had sac-
rificed the article in the effort to reproduce a harpoon blade he had
dug up) he discovered how flint arrow-heads were made, and how in
the joy of invention he " made arrow after arrow, until his hands
were blistered and lacerated, — in one place so deeply that the scar

vol. xiii. — xo. 49. 9

1 30 Journal of American Folk- Lore.

remains to this day," he has himself described. And from this sim-
ple beginning — in reality a magnificent discovery — he " elaborated
some seven or eight totally distinct methods of working flint-like
substances with Stone Age apparatus," finding subsequently that " all
save two of those processes were absolutely similar to processes now
known to have been some time in vogue with one people or another of
the ancient world." All this the intuitive anthropologist accomplished
before science called him authoritatively to his life-task. In the
spring of 1875 he entered as a student at Cornell University, but in
the same year he was called to the Smithsonian Institution at Wash-
ington, D. C, where he became assistant to Dr. Charles Rau in
arranging the Indian collections of the U. S. National Museum, and
preparing them for exhibition at the Centennial, in Philadelphia, the
next year. At Philadelphia he acted as curator of the collection, and
at the close of the Exposition was appointed curator of the Ethno-
logical Department of the National Museum. During the summer
of 1876 he began his investigation of the Pueblo Indians, which after-
wards assumed such magnitude and thoroughness. Three years later
he was with Major J. W. Powell's New Mexico expedition, which
spent two months at Zuni, and, at his own request, was left there,
where he remained until 1882. During his second year among the
Zuni Indians, " he had so far made himself one of the tribe, and
gained the esteem of the chiefs, that he was formally adopted and
initiated into the sacred esoteric society, the ' Priesthood of the
Bow.' " His zeal and what he went through for the sake of science,
to the detriment of his health, may be judged from the popular
account of his " Adventures," which he published shortly afterwards
in the "Century." It was the boy Cushing over again with his
delightful recklessness in the search after knowledge. But science
reaped the benefit of his insight into the speech, habits, folk-lore,
and religion of the Zufiis, a people as interesting to the student of
man as any in the wide world. In 1882 he was with the six Zuni
Indians who, under his auspices, travelled to the far East to take water
from the " Ocean of Sunrise " (Atlantic) and religiously, as they had
taken it up, carried it with them to their sacred house at Zuni, —
one of the most remarkable pilgrimages on record. With two of
these Indians, who did not return at once to their homes, he spent
the summer in Washington, and from them obtained much material
for his paper on " Zufii Fetiches." Back at Zuni by September of
1882, he remained there until ill health made his return to the East
necessary in the spring of 1884. With him came three Zufiis, "to
aid him in the preparation of a dictionary and grammar of their
language and in translations of myth and beast stories, songs, and
rituals." Two years later he organized, through the liberality of Mrs.

In Memoriam : Frank Hamilton Cushing. 1 3 1

Mary Hemenway, of Boston, the " Hemenway Archaeological Expe-
dition," and as its director the next year " discovered and excavated
extensive buried cities in Arizona and New Mexico." During the
progress of these researches Mr. Cushing was taken sick, which
interfered with his personal labors in the investigation. An account
of the aims, objects, etc., of this expedition was communicated by
him to the Congres International des Amdricanistes in 1888. From
this time until his death, except when ill health prevented it, he was
engaged in the arrangement and publication of portions of the vast
amount of information accumulated by him during his stay among
the Zunis, and the corroboration of it by further studies and inves-
tigations, the years 1 891- 1897 being fertile in more or less extended
essays on all sides of Indian life and beliefs. In the midst of his
devotion to ethnology, mythology, and folk-lore Cushing never for-
got his early love for archaeology, as his studies of " Primitive Cop-
per-Working " (1893), "Shoreland Pottery" (1894), the "Arrow"
(1895), "Implement Making" (1897), etc., prove. In 1895 he was
at the head of the Pepper-Hurst expedition in Florida, and discov-
ered on the Gulf Coast of that State extensive remains of a sea-
dwelling people. Mr. Cushing was one of the original members of
the American Folk-Lore Society, and served as one of its first assist-
ant secretaries in 1888. In 1894 he was elected vice-president of
Section H (Anthropology), and at the Springfield meeting the fol-
lowing year delivered his noteworthy address on the " Arrow." He
was an active member of the Anthropological Society of Washington,
D. C, and in 1895 was vice-president (Section D, Technology). Mr.
Cushing married, July 10, 1882, Miss Emily Tennison McGill, of
Washington, D. C.

In Mr. Cushing anthropological science in America loses one of
its most remarkable figures. A tireless investigator, a " brother "
of the Indian, an eloquent talker, and a charming writer, he had a
personality entirely sui generis. Add to his make-up absolute health,
and we have an ideal student of uncivilized man ! The present
writer, whose acquaintance with Mr. Cushing was not intimate but,
in the brief periods of meeting, most helpful and inspiring, will long
treasure the remembrance of an hour's talk now and then with him
on the "deep things" of the life of the barbarian and the savage.
Both in private and in public he was one who impressed his audience
as a man having " authority " to speak whereof he might. As his
essays, from time to time, revealed, he had much of the poet in him
and the deep eloquence of faith. It is difficult to compare him with
his peers and fellow-laborers in anthropological science. In a sense,
he stands apart and alone. He must be judged by his works and
his life.

132

Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Following is a list of the chief works of Mr. Cushing which have
more or less to do with folk-lore : —

i. Zuni Fetiches. Sec. Ann. Rep. Bur. of Ethnol, 1880-1881
(Washington, 1883 [1884]), pp. 3-45. Plates i.-xi. Figs.

1-3-

2. My Adventures in Zuni. Century Magazine (N. Y.), vol. xxv.

(N. S. vol. iii.) 1882-1883, pp. 191-207, 500-511 ; vol. xxvi.
(N. S. vol. iv.) 1883, pp. 28-47.

3. A Study of Pueblo Pottery as Illustrative of Zufii Culture

Growth. Fourth Ann. Rep. Bur. of Ethnol, 1 882-1 883
(Washington, 1886 [1887]), pp. 467-521. Figs. 490-564.

4. Zuni Breadstuff. The Millstone (Indianapolis), Jan., 1884, to

Aug., 1885.

5. Preliminary Notes on the Origin, Working Hypothesis, and

Primary Researches of the Hemenway Southwestern
Archaeological Expedition. Congr. Intern, des American-
istes. Compte Rendu de la Scptihne Session, 1888 (Berlin,
1890), pp. I5I-I94-

6. Outlines of Zuni Creation Myths. Thirteenth Ann. Rep. Bur.

of Ethnol, 1 891-1892 (Washington, 1896), pp. 320-447.

7. A Zuni Folk-Tale of the Under World. Journ. of Amer. Folk-

Lore, vol. v. (1892) pp. 49-56.

8. The Villard-Bandelier South American Expedition. Amer.

Anthrop., vol. v. (1892) pp. 273-276.

9. Manual Concepts : A Study of the Influence of Hand-Usage

on Culture Growth. Ibid., pp. 289-317.

10. Habitation as affected by Environment. Great Divide (Den-

ver), vol. ix. (1893) p. 78.

11. The 'Great Cloud Swallower,' a Zuni Tale of the Canon de

Chelley. Arcluzologist (Waterloo, Indiana), vol. i. (1893)
pp. 241-244.

12. Primitive Copper- Working : An Experimental Study. Amer.

Anthrop., vol. vii. (1894) pp. 93-117. Also: Archczologist,
vol. ii. (1894) pp. 97-I05-

13. The Germ of Shoreland Pottery: An Experimental Study.

Mem. Intern, Congr. Anthrop., 1893 (Chicago, 1894), pp. 217^

234-

14. The Arrow. Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1895 (Salem, 1896),

pp. 199-240. Also: Amer. Anthrop., vol. viii. (1895) pp.

307-349-

15. A Case of Primitive Surgery. Science, N. S., vol. v. (1897)

pp. 977-981-

16. Exploration of Ancient Key-Dwellers' Remains on the Gulf

Coast of Florida. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. (Phila.), vol.
xxxv. (1897) pp. 329-448, 11 pi.

InMemoriam: Frank Hamilton dishing. 133

17. Remarks on Shamanism. Ibid., pp. 183-192.

18. Scarred Skulls. Avier. Anthrop., vol. x. (1897) pp. 17-18.

19. Primitive Motherhood. Proc. First Nat. Congress of Mothers

(Washington, 1897), pp. 21-47.

20. The Genesis of Implement Making. Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv.

Sci., 1897 (Salem, 1898), pp. 337~339-

As the above list shows, the passion for experimentation so marked
in Cushing's boyhood remained with him to the last. The essays on
"Primitive Copper- Working " (No. 12), " Shoreland Pottery" (No.
13), and the "Arrow" (No. 14), present brilliant examples of this
faculty for the discovery of unknown methods by actual experiment-
ing. How great this was in him the diverse labors of " flint-flak-
ing," " copper-working," and " pit-made pottery " indicated. Crush-
ing was himself the proof of one of the theories he held to most
strongly ; viz., that many human arts have been discovered and for-
gotten, rediscovered in diverse ages and different peoples, found and
lost and refound time and again, invented and reinvented not once,
but many times.

His studies of primitive life (Nos. 1, 2, 6, 7, 19) reveal to us how
far he penetrated into the arcana of primitive society and aboriginal
thought. His essay on " Zufii Fetiches" (No. 1), in which he had
the help of the Zuflis themselves, exhibits a breadth of philosophy, a
sympathetic interpretation of the ideas of another race, and a grasp
of the things beneath the surface, which so many observers miss,
appearing again and again in his masterpiece, the " Zuiii Creation
Myths " (No. 6). This last is an undying monument to his zeal, his
genial insight, his poetic fervor, and power to shape our language
to portray the Iliad of a race as wonderful as the Greeks of old.
His address on " Primitive Motherhood " is the most glowing and
yet never untruthful tribute paid by any white man, poet or prosaist,
to the " better halves " of primitive man, whose essential humanity,
affection, and true womanliness lift the races below ours into the un-
mistakable kinship of all mankind. Interpretative studies like those
on " Pottery" (No. 3), and " Manual Concepts " (No. 9), exhibit Cush-
ing's remarkable talent in coordinating the various elements of primi-
tive life, the rise of some of which, or of all of which, marks progress
in culture. The article on " Manual Concepts " evidences also his
wonderful grasp of the psychology of Zuni speech, examples of which
also appear in his mythological studies. As an explorer where the
living are absent, he appears to advantage in his Floridian Archaeo-
logical Studies (No. 16).

To sum up : In Cushing, archaeologist, linguist, folk-lorist, science
has lost an anthropologist of the highest order. His death, at the

T 34 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

comparatively youthful age of forty-three, removes from the world
one of the most brilliant of that group of students of man whose
researches have been one of the crowning glories of the century

now about to close.

Alex. F. Chamberlain.

Clark University, Worcester, Mass.

Record of A merican Folk-L ore. 135

RECORD OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.

NORTH AMERICA.

Algonkian. Onomatology. In his note on " The adopted Indian
Word ' Poquosin,' " in the " American Anthropologist " (vol. i. N. S.
pp. 790, 791) for October, 1899, Mr. W. W. Tooker replies rather
successfully to the criticisms of Mr. W. R. Gerard in a previous
number of the same Journal.

Athapascan. In his brief account of the Chilcotin (Rep. Brit.
Assoc, for 1898, London, 1899), Prof. Livingston Farrand notes, re-
garding their mythology, a " surprising receptivity to foreign
influences."

Eskimo. In the "American Anthropologist" (vol. i. N. S. pp.
601-613) for October, 1899, Dr. Franz Boas publishes an interesting
article (with illustrations) on " Property Marks of Alaskan Eskimo.''
Attention to such marks seems to have been first called by Lubbock
in 1869, and Dr. Boas' examination of the collections in the U. S.
National Museum at Washington and the American Museum of
Natural History, New York, "shows that property marks are used
very frequently by the Eskimo tribes of Alaska," and that " they
occur almost exclusively on weapons used in hunting, which, after
being dispatched, remain in the bodies of large game." Tools do
not seem to have property marks. Sometimes, as often occurs in
the case of harpoon-heads, form and ornament are sufficient to indi-
cate ownership, without property marks. Since property marks, so
far as present evidence goes, have not been recorded from any other
division of the Eskimo except the Alaskan, Dr. Boas considers that
"this fact, taken in connection with the form and occurrence of such
marks among the northeastern tribes of Asia, suggests that this cus-
tom, like so many other peculiarities of Alaskan Eskimo life, may
be due to contact with Asiatic tribes" (p. 613).

Haida. Under the title " Hidery Prayers," Mr. James Deans
publishes (with comments) in the "American Antiquarian" (vol.
xxii. pp. 31, 32) for January-February, 1900, three Haida prayers,
one of the Masset tribe for fair weather, addressed to the sun ; a
Skidegate prayer to the sea, when caught in a storm ; and a Skide-
gate prayer to the " goddess of the mountains " for rain. The an-
cient belief of the Haidas was that everything had a spirit, and they
had many prayers, not alone dances and sacred ceremonies. — As
Appendix I. to the Second Report of the Committee on an Ethno-
logical Survey of Canada (Rep. Brit. Assoc, for 1898, London, 1899),
Mr. C. Hill-Tout publishes an article on " Haida Stories and Beliefs."
The cosmogonic and tribal origin myths and brief abstracts of some

1 36 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

ten animal myths are given, together with several short songs. —
Appendix III. to the Twelfth (and final) Report of the Committee
on the Northwestern Tribes of Canada (Rep. Brit. Assoc, for 1898,
London, 1899) consists of a valuable and interesting discussion of
the " Social Organization of the Haida." The greater importance
of the "village community" in earlier times is pointed out, and an
instance of totem borrowing noted.

Iroquoian. General. In the Ontario " Archaeological Report "
for 1899 (Toronto, 1900) appears (pp. 124-151) a translation, by
Mrs. Mary E. Rose Holden, of M. Benjamin Suite's article on " La
Guerre des Iroquois " (" The Iroquois War " of the seventeenth cen-
tury with the French).

Seneca. {Music and Song). The same " Report " contains (pp.
166-189) a valuable paper (with an introduction by Mr. Boyle) by
Alex. T. Cringan, of Toronto, on the "Music of the Pagan Iro-
quois," the "Pagan Dance Songs of the Iroquois" in particular.
The dance-songs in question are all of Seneca origin, sung by two
native singers, Kanishandon and Dahkahhedondyeh, and grapho-
phone records were taken. The graphophone experiment was so
successful that 47 "authentic records of typical Indian melodies"
were taken. The musical notation of these 47 songs is given (pp.
176-189). These songs consist of: Hunting songs (2), scalping
songs (2), chiefs' songs (2), discovery dance-songs (3), wake songs
(3), four nights' dance songs (8), women's dance song, war-dance
songs (2), hit stick song, change body song, bean song, death-feast
song, joining dance song, ahdonwah, or " Songs of Joy " (5), making
chief songs (2), lonesome woman's songs (3), joining hands' dance
song, green-corn dance song (old and new forms), naked dance songs
(3), old man's favorite song, young man's favorite song, and naming
of the boy. Among the points noted by the author are : The sim-
plicity of the song-themes ; the conspicuous absence of the "leading
note ; " commencement on the upper and ending on the lower tones
of the scale ; the frequency of the vibrato or tremolo, etc. As Mr.
Cringan observes (p. 170) : "The majority of Indian songs are em-
ployed as an essential adjunct to the various ceremonies so inti-
mately interwoven into the life-fabric of these primitive people."
Another remark of the author is worth noting (p. 175) : "When it is
considered that these songs have been produced by a people among
whom musical notation is utterly unknown, the unprejudiced inves-
tigator must be surprised at the nascent musical ability which they
exhibit." It is just possible that the Indian woman is "possessed of
a finer musical instinct " than is the man. Mr. Cringan's work has
been most carefully and thoroughly done.

Onomatology. The final paper in the Ontario " Archaeological

Record of A merican Folk-Lore. 137

Report " for 1899 is by General John S. Clark on "A Study of the
word Toronto" (pp. 190-198). The author holds that " Toronto is an
abbreviated compound word, somewhat disfigured, but based on
kaniatare, 'lake,' and iokaronte, 'a gap, breach, or opening'" — it
always having been "the name of Toronto Bay considered simply as
a bay " (p. 191). According to General Clark, Caniaderi gnarunte
(" the mouth or door of the country," i. e. Canada), an Iroquois name
of Lake Champlain ; Kania-toronto-gonat, an Iroquois name of Iron-
dequoit Bay (near Rochester, N. Y.), and the Toronto-like names of
Toronto Bay and Lake Simcoe, have all a common origin. Consid-
erable evidence in favor of the author's view is presented, but he has
hardly made out his case.

Wyandot. To the Ontario "Archaeological Report" for 1899
(Toronto, 1900), Mr. W. E. Connelley contributes (pp. 92-123) an
article on " The Wyandots." The topics treated of are : Migration
legends, clan system, government, proper names, myths of the ori-
gin of the Delawares, and of wampum (wampum-bird). According
to the author : " Both the myths and the traditions of the Wyandots
say they were created in the region between James Bay and the
coast of Labrador. All their traditions describe their ancient home
as north of the mouth of the River St. Lawrence " (p. 93). Mr.
Connelley is, however, a little venturesome in fixing their primitive
home in the Ungava district, nor can one quite agree with some
other ethnological pronouncements which he makes. His Iroquoian
synonymy, too, does not altogether agree with the best authorities.
But his paper is, nevertheless, an interesting and valuable one. The
idea that Toronto, the present name of the capital of Ontario, " is
only the modern pronunciation of the Wyandots of their word [Toh-
roohn'-t5h'^] for ' plenty,' and the modern pronunciation of their an-
cient name for their beloved settlement " (p. 95) must not be taken
too seriously. In his " Clan System of the Wyandots " Mr. Con-
nelley touches on a subject previously discussed by Major Powell in
his " Wyandot Government." The list of 12 clans of the Wyandots,
— Big Turtle, Little Turtle, Mud Turtle, Wolf, Bear, Beaver, Deer,'
Porcupine, Striped Turtle, Highland Turtle (Prairie Turtle), Snake,
and Hawk, — differing somewhat from previous lists, is given accord-
ing to Mr. Split log and George Wright, Wyandots. Explanations
of the various clan-names are given, with other items of information
concerning them. The Mud Turtle, Beaver, Striped Turtle, Prairie
Turtle, and Hawk clans are said now to be extinct. The Mediator
or umpire-chief was elected from the Wolf tribe. According to the
author " all the proper names of the Wyandots were clan-names," the
child belonging to its clan first, then to its parents. A list of 68
proper names (with etymologies and explanations, where possible) is

138 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

given by Mr. Connelley. Some of these names are very interesting.
A certain woman of the Deer clan is called " Her words float like
clouds ; " another of the same clan " Echo," or " The Wonderful
Talker (her word goes a long way and then comes back again) ; " a
man of the Big Turtle clan " Twisting the Forest " (i. e. as the wind
moves, waves, and twists the willows along the banks of the stream
in which the turtle lives). The myths of the origin of the Snake
and Hawk clans are given in brief (p. 118). The story of the
"wampum-bird" (p. 122) tells how a young Delaware won a Wyan-
dot wife (the chief's daughter) by killing the cranberry-destroying
wampum-bird, and secured the wampum, which ever since has been
associated with treaties. In the face of the statement on p. 114:
" White men were eagerly adopted, and to such an extent had this
practice been carried by the Wyandots that after the year 1820 there
was not a full blood Wyandot alive," and considering the residence
of the Wyandots in the State of Nebraska, with its changed environ-
ment, one cannot but feel that some of the author's statements and
criticisms of other investigators hardly represent the old Wyandot
life and society, and there is reason to suspect Delaware influence,
as well, among the Wyandots. However, the paper is a very sug-
gestive one, and it is to be hoped Mr. Connelley will continue the
good work he has begun.

Pueblos. From the "Monumental Records" Mr. G. H. Pepper
reprints his article on " Ceremonial Deposits found in an Ancient
Pueblo Estufa in Northern New Mexico, U. S. A." (N. Y., 1899, pp.
6, 6 figures and 1 plate, 4to). The deposits in question were discov-
ered in and beneath the floor of a kiva in the ruin of Pueblo Bonito
in the Chaco canon, New Mexico. They were probably the remains
of a dedication ceremony. This discovery is very interesting in con-
nection with the antiquity of these rites.

Salish. Ntlakapamiiq. In " Folk-Lore " (London), Mr. Charles
Hill-Tout publishes (vol. x. 1899, pp. 195-216) his detailed version
of " ' Squaktktquaclt ' or the Benign-Faced, the Oannes of the Ntla-
kapamiiq, British Columbia." This Salish tribe inhabits the region
about the junction of the Thompson and Fraser rivers, and the myth
is one of the culture-hero sort, and of the " younger brother " va.
riety. He is culture-hero, animal transformer, and befriended by the
fish, whence the Mesopotamian parallel.

Uto-Aztecan. Mexican. Prof. Frederick Starr's " Catalogue of
a Collection of Objects Illustrating the Folk-Lore of Mexico " (Lon-
don, 1899, pp. ix. + 132), published for the Folk-Lore Society to
which Mr. Starr gave the objects in question, is a most welcome
little book to the folk-lorist. Toys, games, festivals, votive offerings,
religious pictures, and a wide range of folk-fabrications are repre-

Record of American Folk-Lore. 1 39

sented. Particularly interesting are the lore of the Mestizos and the
boys of Mexican children. The survival of "the past in the present "
is amply illustrated here. — In the " American Anthropologist "
(vol. ii. N. S. pp. 66-74) for January-March, 1900, Dr. Walter Hough
writes of " Oriental Influences in Mexico," a theme of considerable
importance in view of the well-known commercial relations between
New Spain and the Philippines in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, during which period many exchanges of products, and
even of peoples took place. In this way Mr. Hough explains the
presence on the coast of Mexico of the cocoanut-palm (with its toddy,
called tuba, a Tagal name) ; of the banana (which came by way of
Manila within the last 300 years) ; of the mango (one species is ac-
tually called mango de Manila) ; of the pina-nona (the fruit of the
Monstera deliciosd). The Chinese umbrella-tree, the pepper-tree,
etc., came from the East Indies also, as may have done, too, the
rain-coat, the wood-club, the machete, the primitive rope-twisting
tool of wood. The house architecture of Mexico, according to Mr.
Hough, is not without traces of East Indian influence. Per contra,
the Philippines seem to have received from Mexico the century plant,
the prickly pear, and the pineapple, from which latter comes the
famous pina cloth. — In the " American Anthropologist " (vol. ii.
N. S. pp. 145-154) for January-March, 1900, Mr. C. P. Bowditch
publishes a paper on "The Lords of the Night and the Tonalamatl
of the Codex Borbonicus." The author thinks that, if the Codex
Borbonicus is correct, " the Lords of the Night did not have the im-
portant place which they have been supposed to hold," and that
there is "no proof in the Mexican picture-writings that the Indians
used the Tonalamatls and the Lords for differentiating the days in
any longer period of time than a solar year." It would appear that
" the Tonalamatls succeeded each other, while the Lords of the
Night accompanied the Tonalamatls, and lost one of their number
with the ending of each Tonalamatl." The tonalamatls (from Pal-
matl tonalli, "birth-sign," and amatl, "paper") are among the most
interesting monuments of primitive astrology we possess. — In " The
Land of Sunshine," for July, 1899, V. Granville has a brief paper,
"Among the Yaqui Indians in Sonora."

Moki. In the "American Anthropologist " (N. S. vol. ii. pp. 80-
138) for January-March, 1900, Dr. J. W. Fewkes publishes a detailed
account, with numerous illustrations, of "The New-Fire Ceremony
at Walpi." Among the topics treated of are: Personnel of the cere-
mony, kivas, ceremonial days and the events connected with them,
dances, feasts, societies, and their organization, full and abbreviated
ceremonies, ceremonial paraphernalia, etc. Four priest-societies, of
which Dr. Fewkes gives interesting accounts, unite in the celebra-

1 40 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

tion of the Walpi New Fire ceremony, and the public dances are con-
ducted mainly by two of these, whose actions are of a phallic nature."
There are also four sacred rooms or kivas occupied in the ceremony.
Every fourth year " these November rites become very elaborate,
and are then called Naacnaiya, from the importance of the initiation
of novices into the priesthoods at that time." Although the cere-
mony is celebrated in five of the Hopi pueblos, " we have not a
single fact in regard to the ceremony in any Pueblo except Walpi,"
and, moreover, "the same obscurity envelops the rite at Zufii, Jemez,
and the Rio Grande Pueblos." The Walpi ceremonies, Dr. Fewkes
thinks, are, in a general way, "fire worship," but "more specifically
sun and germination worship." He also concludes that "the rites
described were brought to Walpi by clans which once lived in Gila
valley," and suggest a comparative study of the Walpi ceremonies
and the New Fire rites of the aborigines of Mexico. The article is
a very valuable one and adds much to our knowledge of the details
of these rites and ceremonies.

Zapotec. In the "Journal of the Anthropological Institute"
(London) for August-November, 1899 (vol. ii. N. S. pp. 29-50), Mr.
William Corner writes of " Mitla : An Archaeological Study of the
Ancient Ruins and Remains in that Pueblo." The paper, which is
illustrated with seven plates and ten figures in the text, deals with
" the Tzapoteco remains and ruins at Mitla [Zapotec Lyo-baa] in the
State of Oaxaca, Mexico." These " beautiful remains, situated about
300 miles from the city of Mexico, the author regards as "one of
the most notable proofs of the prevalence of an almost level advance
amongst the other [z. e. than 'Aztec '] Mexican races " (p. 31). Mitla
is especially worthy of study, since it is really " a half-way house be-
tween Nahuatl and Maya territories." In the discussion on this
paper Mr. Maudslay observed that "he would gladly welcome evi-
dence that the Toltecs and the Mayas were the same people — a
peaceful race who, after spreading over Mexico, were driven by the
invading Nahuatls from that country to Central America, where they
make still further progress in civilization " (p. 47), and Colonel Church
called attention to the fact that the danger of invasion of northern
barbarians, so acutely felt in pre-Columbian times, has practically
continued (e. g. Yaquis, Apaches, etc.) down to to-day.

CENTRAL AMERICA.

Mayan. In the " American Anthropologist " (vol. ii. pp. 53-62)
for January-March, 1900, Prof. Cyrus Thomas discusses " Mayan
Time Systems and Time Symbols." The chief object of the paper
is to call attention to "the strong similarity, if not absolute identity,
of the time systems or calendars of the different Mayan tribes,"

Record of A merican Folk-L ore. 141

particularly as evidenced by the recent discoveries of Mr. J. T.
Goodman and Dr. Forstemann. All the recent evidence seems to
indicate that "when the inscriptions were chiseled, the Mayan group
was much more homogeneous, and the tribal distinctions far less
marked than when the Spaniards arrived on the scene," a view pre-
viously advanced, on linguistic grounds, by Dr. D. G. Brinton. If
this be true, " the inscriptions and codices will form a fixed basis for
further research into the history of the Mayan tribes."

SOUTH AMERICA.

Araucanian. In the " Anales de la Universidad de Chile" for
November, 1899 (pp. 1009-1030), Guevara continues his studies of
the "Historia de la Civilizacion de la Araucani'a," bringing the first
part of his work to a close with chapter x. on " Military Art, — war
preparations, implements of war, battle, war and battle customs,
war-songs, treatment of prisoners, peace customs, physical constitu-
tion of the Indians, etc. According to the author, the Araucanians,
in contrast to the partially industrial tribes, were essentially warlike.
Arrows, lances, slings, clubs, etc., were used, and they built certain
primitive forts. Soon after their early encounters with the Span-
iards they seem to have modified their battle array in imitation of the
Europeans, and from the latter (captives, fugitives, etc.) they early
learned much concerning the use of firearms and the like. Their
military art, indeed, seems to have undergone a second evolution,
aided by the introduction of the horse. In honor of victory the
dance called pruloncon, " head dance," was danced around a newly
planted tree — on the branches of which the heads of the dead ene-
mies were hung. Peace treaties were celebrated with certain for-
malities : orations on behalf of both parties, dances, etc., — a drinking-
bout generally following. — In the December issue (pp. 1265-1289),
the author begins his second part with chapter i., " Descubrimiento
de Arauco," treating of the pre-Columbian invasions of Chile by the
Incas, the discovery of Chile by Almagro, Pedro de Valdivia and his
exploits (a sketch of his life and a portrait is given), etc. The first
Inca invasion of Chile is said to have taken place somewhere be-
tween 1430 and 1470 a. d., under the Inca Tupac Yupanqui, in an
expedition lasting some six years. The various Peruvian invasions
of Chile seem not to have been mere destructive forces, but, as was
so often the case with Inca rule, helped to establish and improve the
growing civilization of the country. Traces of this Peruvian influ-
ence are still discernible in the country of the Araucanians.

Guaicuru. To the "Mem. Soc. Geograf. Ital." (Roma), G. Bog-
giani contributes (vol. viii. 1899, pp. 244-294) a lengthy article on
the Guaycurii or Guaicuru of the Chaco region of South America.

142 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

The paper contains information of an ethnological, geographical, lin-
guistic, etc., nature concerning these and some other Indian tribes
of the part of the continent in question.

Patagonia. In the "Deutsche Rundschau" (Berlin), J. Greger
publishes (vol. xxi. 1899, pp. 206-219) an account of " Patagonien
und dersen Benohner."

GENERAL.

Captives. In "Globus" (vol. lxxv. 1899, pp. 256-261), Friederici
writes of " Die Behaudlung weiblicher Gefangener durch die In-
dianer von Nordamerika " — Indian treatment of female captives.

Dolls. In "Globus" (vol. lxxv. 1899, pp. 354-356), C. Steffens
writes about "Die Indian erpuppensammlung von FrauA. L. Dicker-
man."

Ethnology. A work of considerable value to students of folk-
lore is J. Deniker's " The Races of Man : An Outline of Anthro-
pology and Ethnography" (London, 1900, pp. xxiii. + 611, with 176
illustrations and 2 maps). The chapters on " Ethnic Characters "
(pp. 123-143) and "Sociological Characters" (pp. 145-279) treat of
gesture, sign-language, writing, food, firemaking, industries, stimu-
lants, houses, utensils, clothing and ornaments, tools, hunting and
fishing, agriculture, domestic animals, games and recreations, arts,
dance, music, religion, primitive sciences, family and social life.
The part of the work relating to America is the least satisfactory.
— With Deniker's work should be read Prof. A. H. Keane's " Man
Past and Present " (Cambridge, 1899), though there is less of folk-
lore in it.

Folk-Lore. To the " American Anthropologist " (vol. ii. pp. 1-
36) for January-March, 1900, Major J. W. Powell contributes an
interesting and suggestive article on " The Lessons of Folk-Lore."
The author tells how " the study of folk-lore has come to be the most
practical and valuable of all the sciences, for it reveals the origin and
nature of superstitions, and makes the grand scientific distinction
between valid concepts and uncanny visions " (p. 24). The opin-
ions set forth are strengthened by references to the lore of Ameri-
can savages, which the author has so well under control.

Houses. In the " American Antiquarian " (vol. xxii. pp. 84-100)
for March-April, 1900, Rev. S. D. Peet has an illustrated article on
" The Earliest Constructed Dwellings and the Locality in which Man
made his First Home."

Mathematics. Some interesting facts and speculations as to the
origin and development of human thought and lore about numbers
are to be found in the article on " The Beginning of Mathematics,"
which Prof. W. J. McGee contributes to the October number (vol. i.

Record of American Folk- Lore. 143

N. S. 1899, pp. 646-674) of the "American Anthropologist."
Primitive counting, mystical and symbolical numbers, and the alma-
cabala, traces of which still exist in Aryan culture, are discussed with
illustrations drawn from China, Polynesia, Australia, and America.
Worthy of note in America are " the barefoot Mexicans with their
vigesimal system," the "Cult of the Quarters," and "the fetishistic
Middle."

Museums. In " Science " (vol. xi. N. S. pp. 19-21) for January 5,
1900, Prof. F. W. Putnam describes " The Mexican Hall of the Amer-
ican Museum of Natural History," in New York, where are stored
or reproduced in models many of the most important Nahuatl and
Mayan monuments, — The Tablet of the Cross, The Mexican Cal-
endar Stone, Statue of Chac-Mool, " Great Turtle of Quirigua, the
Quiriguan stele known as the ' Dwarf,' " Tarascan terra-cotta figures
and stone sculptures, stone sculptures from Copan (originals), Casas
Grandes pottery, ancient Mexican implements, copies of Mexican
and Mayan manuscripts, etc. Altogether a collection of great inter-
est to folk-lorists.

Music. Under the title, "Recent Outlooks upon Music," Charles
K. Wead discusses in " Science " (vol. xi. N. S. pp. 206-215) for
February 9, 1900, the recent books of Klauser, Parry, Wallaschek,
Miss Alice C. Fletcher, — the folk-musical literature of 1893 chiefly.
The author seems to believe that Professor Fillmore's position as to
the nature of savage music cannot be maintained, and that Miss
Fletcher's aim is artistic to the exclusion of the physical or scientific
presentation. Mr. Wead asks why, if complete knowledge of one's
mother tongue by no means implies ability to grasp a foreign lan-
guage, should our high musical training be held per se a means of
understanding savage music ? — To the " American Anthropologist "
for January-March, 1900, the same writer contributes a brief article
(PP- 75-79) on " The Study of Primitive Music," in which he makes
some suggestions regarding the investigation of the music of savage
and barbarous people. The notation of primitive music by civilized
observers is far from being more accurate than the record of the
languages of primitive peoples. The song-record of the civilized
observer is often as full of his errors as has often been that of the
phonetician. In music he should " strive always to obtain and to
report the objective truth, free from all subjective interpretations."
— A model in more than one way is Mr. Henry Balfour's "The
Natural History of the Musical Bow. A Chapter in the Develop-
mental History of Stringed Instruments of Music. Primitive Types "
(Oxford, 1899, pp. 87, 61 figures and map). The author's summary
of known facts is admirable, as one might reasonably expect from
the Curator of the Pitts-Rivers Museum. The author takes the view

144 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

that the " musical bow " spread through the West Indies, Central
America, and South America, by reason of the introduction* of slaves
from Africa, its real home.

Myths and Legends. An interesting, if not an absolutely sci-
entific book is Mr. C. M. Skinner's " Myths and Legends of our
New Possessions and Protectorates" (Phila., 1899, pp. 154), where
some little lore of the Caribs is to be found, some more of the races
of the Philippines, and much more of the Hawaiians, etc. Like Mr.
Skinner's other books, this one cannot be overlooked by the folk-
lorist, but is a collection to be used, as such popular volumes so often
need to be, with a harking back to the authorities.

Ornaments. What the so-called "bird stones" were intended
for has not yet been discovered, but a plethora of theories about
them has been set forth. In his "The Bird-Stone Ceremonial"
(Saranac Lake, N. Y. 1899, pp. iv. + 3i, and 53 figs.), Mr. W. K.
Moorehead has given us an interesting illustrated monograph on the
subject. In the ultimate solution of the problem the folk-lorist not
less than the archaeologist is interested.

Pictographs. Under the title, " Indian Pictographs on the Da-
kota Sandstone," Prof. C. N. Gould, of the University of Nebraska,
writes of the numerous pictographs still existing on the soft sand-
stone cliffs (especially in the neighborhood of springs) in the Kansas-
Iowa-Nebraska region (" Science," N. S. vol. xi. pp. 630, 631). The
vandalism of man seems to have been more destructive of some of
these relics than the ravages of time, the scrawling letters of some
wayfarer's name often obliterating the older Indian inscriptions.
Some of the best specimens of these pictographs are situated on the
north bank of Smoky Hill River, near the mouth of Alum Creek,
and near Belvidere, Kansas.

Symbolism. In the " American Antiquarian " (vol. xxii. pp. 83-
84) for March- April, 1900, Mr. Lewis W. Gunckel discusses briefly
" The Symbol of the Hand," referring to the Indians of Utah, Cen-
tral America, etc.

Sociology. To the " American Anthropologist " for July and
October, 1899 (vol. i. N. S. pp. 475-509, 695-745), Major J. W.
Powell contributes a characteristically suggestive discussion of " So-
ciology, or the Science of Institutions," in which there are many
items of interest to the student of American folk-lore. Particularly
worth noting are the remarks on the old and the young in relation
to social institutions and customs among the American Indians (pp.
700-702). And the discussion of Indian marriage customs, the stages
of culture, aesthetics, ethics, etc. — The article of Prof. L. M. Keas-
bey, of Bryn Mawr, in the " International Monthly " (vol. i. pp. 355-
358) for April, 1900, on "The Institution of Society," contains many

Record of A titer lean Folk-L ore. 145

items of a folk-lore sort, in the discussion of the life of primitive
man, its motives and resources. The author, however, seems more
than once to accept too readily generalities concerning barbarous and
savage peoples, which more thorough research will perhaps demolish.
Most interesting is the author's contention that, in " the funda-
mental difference " between family and clan, " we can discover the
sought-for antithesis between domesticity and sociality " (p. 395).

A. F. C. and I. C. C

VOL. XIII. — NO. 49. 10

1 46 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Taboos of Tale-Telling. — To discuss in detail the innumerable ta-
boos found in primitive stories, tales, legends, etc., would demand a long
essay, if not, indeed, a bulky volume. Here one variety only, viz. : the
taboos of the time of telling can be considered.

1. Day-taboo. — As the celebrated "Arabian Nights" reminds us, night
(or evening) is the time for tale-telling over a very large portion of the
globe. The camp-fire and the story seem to belong together with many
peoples, — the invention of fire, indeed, may be said to have been a very
important factor in stimulating primitive literary development. With Gaels,
Teutons, American Indians, and Mongolians, alike, the long winter even-
ings created literature and authors of a by no means insignificant sort.
Nor is night-time the tale-time for adults alone, for the tale-telling ability
of the children in the Punjab after they have gone to bed is well known.
Night, with its moon and stars, has also great suggestive power, and its
general quietude is another advantage. The primitive poet and story-teller
know full well : —

u Night hath made many bards ; she is so lovely.
For it is beauty maketh poesie,
As from the dancing eye come tears of light.
Night hath made many bards ; she is so lovely.
And they have praised her to her starry face
So long that she hath blushed and left them, often."

Night is the time of spirits that move in sky, earth, and sea ; then the
owl, the loon, the wolf, the beetle, and other ominous creatures speak. At
night, too, the gods and devils decide the fates of men. Night is the
" witching-time." Mythopoeic always have been " the shepherds watching
their flocks by night." Religion, largely, is the daughter of night. Night
was also the first schola (leisure) of mankind. In a sense, night made man.
It is natural, then, that, for many reasons, night should be the tale-telling
season. That a taboo of day-telling should exist is, however, quite another
thing.

Yet, with the Omaha Indians, we find indications of such a taboo. Rev.
J. Owen Dorsey * tells us : " Myths must not be told during the day, nor in
summer, as violation of this rule will cause snakes to come." There are
traces of a day-taboo among other Indian tribes, but the data in proof of
the statement are not yet forthcoming.

2. Summer-taboo. — Many of the circumstances that make for night as
the season par excellence of tale-telling make also for winter. The winter
camp-fire is one of the most creative of human environments wherever it is
found. A " winter's tale " is known to every primitive people of North
America and the other colder regions of the globe. Whether winter is the
time of leisure or the time of hunting, tale-telling seems to keep its com-
pany everywhere.

1 Journal of American Folk-Lore^ vol. ii. p. 190.

Notes and Queries. 147

With not a few primitive peoples there exists a taboo of tale-telling in
summer. The Ojibwa and certain other Algonkian tribes of the Great
Lakes1 give as a reason for not telling the "tales of the fathers " in sum-
mer, that "frogs and other disagreeable things would enter into the camp ; "
moreover, during the winter, the great Nanibozhu is at leisure, and can
listen to the tales of his own mighty deeds. Concerning the Winnebago
Indians, Mrs. F. D. Bergen2 observes: —

"The old people do not like to tell their stories after the spring opens.
The children are told that they would see snakes if they should listen to
tales during warm weather."

Among the Omaha Indians, where " story-telling is an important part of
home-life," the favorite season is winter, and there is " a superstition which
prevents the telling of stories in the summer season, as the snakes may
hear and do mischief." But, as Miss Fletcher8 further informs us, this
taboo is lifted for the children, who " carry the songs out among the sum-
mer blossoms, and the snakes do them no harm."

This brief note is offered with the object of obtaining information as to
the nature and prevalence of the "day-taboo" and the "summer-taboo.''
It is interesting to note the agreement of the Indian tribes mentioned in
the matter of snakes, as the disturbing factor in summer-time and in day-
time.

Alex. F Chamberlain.

Worcester, Mass.

The Bear in Hellenic Astral Mythology. — A passage of the
Odyssey (v. 271-277) relates in what manner Odysseus, returning from the
isle of Kalypso in the extreme west, determines his direction by observa-
tion of the heavens. " No sleep fell on his eyes, gazing on the Pleiads,
and the tardily setting Bootes, and the Bear also named the Wain, who
yonder revolves, and watches Orion, and who alone hath no part in the
baths of ocean. For Kalypso, divine among goddesses, commanded him
to keep it on the left as he voyaged." Hence it appears that Greek mari-
ners determined the north by observation of the Great Bear. On the other
hand, a mention of Aratus says that the more skilful Phoenician sailors
consulted the Little Bear, that is to say especially the polar star. The
three stars in the tail of the smaller bear (the north star at the end) appear
to have originally received the name of the Dog's Tail, a title given because
they made the impression of the lifted tail of that animal. It may have
been the respect paid to the greater bear which induced observers to trans-
fer the same name to stars which also were used for marks of direction ;
fancy was able to create a second bear, while the intermediate circle of stars
was compared to a serpent. According to the passage of the Odyssey, the
Great Bear is said to keep an eye on the hunter Orion ; but this introduc-
tion of a distant group is probably only the fancy of the poet. The lines
show that the Wain was an equally ancient name for the constellation.

1 Journal of American Folk-Lore, vol. iv. p. 195.

2 Ibid. vol. ix. p. 54.
8 Ibid. vol. i. p. 120.

148 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Beside these two Roman star-lore knows a third appellation ; the stars are
called Septemtriones, the seven threshing-oxen, who are conceived to travel
round and round the area, or threshing-floor, trampling out the grain. It
is usually supposed that the name Bootes, or Ox-man, answers to the
wagon, inasmuch as the stars represent a driver with outstretched hand. G.
Thiele ("Antike Himmelsbildung," Berlin, 1898) thinks that the reference
may be to the oxen, and that the comparison with the threshing-floor is
thereby proved to be as ancient as that to the bear and the wagon ; the
three stars extending from the Wain must, he thinks, have been conceived
as the pole of the cart, not as the draught-oxen. However this may be, the
designations must originally have depended on obvious appearance, and
been given with respect to the seven bright stars ; the astronomical figures,
in which the visible aspect is subordinated to an artificial construction,
must have come later. The Bear, therefore, must have been thought of as
having a body formed of four stars, and with an extended tail of three stars
(just as the three stars of the Dog's Tail were turned into the tail of Ursa
Minor.) This tail is a puzzle ; what has a bear to do with a long bushy
appendage of this sort ? The incongruity rather makes against the prob-
able primitiveness of the name. It is presumably a later change, when
Hesiod gives to Bootes, the Ox-goader, the name Arctouros, or Bear-ward,
(subsequently also Arctophylax) ; the idea of a bear-keeper, perhaps a trav-
elling performer, is decidedly more sophisticated.

To a late stage also may belong the identification of Callisto with the
group. Callisto seems to have been an epithetic name of Artemis. We
are told by Hesiod that she was changed into a bear by that goddess, as a
penalty for her pregnancy. She becomes mother of Arkas, hero epony-
mous of Arkadians. Again, Atalante, also connected with the same deity,
was suckled by a bear. The inference to be drawn from these stories is,
that in the Arkadian Artemis, at least, we have to do with an early bear-
goddess, who, in virtue of the usual complications of mythology, came to be
identified with various other personages, and so became the centre of a
complicated mythology. The connection of these tales with the constella-
tion seems to have resulted from the ursine character of the goddess and
her variously named doubles, and have been quite secondary and acci-
dental. It is true that the hunter Orion is said to have been killed by
Artemis ; but the myths explain this as the punishment of excessive boast-
fulness, or of insults offered to the virginity of the deity ; the true root of
the tale may have been aversion, on the part of a goddess of the forest, to
the hunters who destroy, without making atonement, animals of the wood,
who are under her protection, and in their pursuit of these violate her
sanctuary. As already remarked, the Homeric connection of Orion and
the Bear has the appearance of being no more than a poetic fancy, the in-
spiration of the moment ; the author pictures the animal as naturally sus-
picious of the mighty hunter. So far as appears, therefore, Greek star-lore
knows nothing of a bear-hunt.

On the other hand, the American star-myth, as shown by Mr. Hagar,
describes the pursuit of the bear in a manner clear, vivid, and standing in

Local Meetings and Other Notices. 1 49

obvious relation to the celestial phenomena of which the tale is an inter-
pretation. The story is just such as would suggest itself to a hunting-folk.
The Indian tale corresponds to the Greek in the usual manner, as much
more direct and simple ; the Greek fables, in the course of culture develop-
ment, have become inextricably interwoven.

Of parallelism between the American and Hellenic myths, there is no-
thing left to be explained save identity of name of the constellation ; but in
the latter, the Bear was only one out of many appellations. Thiele under-
takes to show that the greater number of Greek star-names, including those
of the Zodiac, are by no means primitive and traditional in their origin, but
for the most part the inventions of later observers and mythopceists. At
all events, it is certain that these names, and the stories attached to them,
were in continual process of expansion and alteration. On the other hand,
Thiele, like other scholars of Greek thought, forgets that the Hellenes
stand not at the beginning of an independent development, but at a term of
a mental activity of thousands of years, during which savage fancy was as
freely imaginative as was that of the poets and mythographers whose fic-
tions alone are extant. Perhaps if we knew just why the constellation was
called the Bear, and all that was signified in the description, we should find
ourselves in contact with a realistic picture something like that of American
Indians. However this may be, the coincidence of name appears to me
altogether too casual an indication for its explanation to require the sup-
position of any intercourse of diffusion between the continents.

W. W. Newell.

LOCAL MEETINGS AND OTHER NOTICES.

Boston. — Tuesday, April 18. The regular meeting was held at the
Brunswick by invitation of Mr. and Mrs. George H. Leonard. The speaker
was Mr. A. M. Lythgoe, of Harvard University, whose subject was " Arts
and Crafts of the Ancient Egyptians." His lecture was illustrated by fine
lantern slides.

Tuesday, May 23. The annual meeting (postponed by vote from April)
was held at Miss Reed's, 184 Commonwealth Avenue. No paper was
offered, in order that sufficient time might be allowed for the transaction of
business. In the absence of Professor Putnam, Mr. Frank Russell pre-
sided, and the reports of the Secretary and the Treasurer were read. The
former showed that though the membership gain (13) exceeded the losses
by death, resignation (10), a revision of the list made the membership
smaller than a year ago. The Treasurer reported that the expenditure of
the year had practically equalled the income.

The resignation of the Treasurer, Mr. Chamberlain, was accepted with
regret, and the election of officers which followed resulted in the following
choice : President, Prof. F. W. Putnam. First Viee- President, Dr. G. J.
Englemann. Second Vice-President, Mr. W. W. Newell. Treasurer, Mr.
R. B. Dixon. Secretary, Miss Helen Leah Reed. Council, Mrs. E. F.

150 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Fenollosa, Mrs. Lee Hoffman, Dr. S. E. Palmer, Dr. E. F. Pope, Mrs. G.
W. Vaillant, Mr. Ashton Willard.

Tuesday, December 5. The first meeting of the season was held at the
Grundmann Studios. Dr. Englemann presided, and introduced Prof. F.
W. Putnam, who treated of the " Pueblos of Colorado and New Mexico."
This was a vivid account of Professor Putnam's recent visit to the scene of
operations of the Hyde Expedition. His hearers were much interested in
his description of the Pueblos, and in the photographs which he had
brought back with him.

Tuesday, January 9. The regular meeting was held at the Grundmann
Studios. Dr. Englemann introduced the speaker, Mr. R. L. Garner, whose
subject was " Customs and Traditions of Central Africa."

Friday, February 16. The regular meeting, by invitation of Drs. E. F.
and C. H. Pope, was held at the Grundmann Studios. Dr. Frank Russell,
of Harvard University, introduced by Mr. W. W. Newell, was the speaker
of the evening. He gave a description of the " Moki Snake Dance,"
elaborately illustrated by lantern slides. This lecture is unusually fine,
and was recently given by Dr. Russell before Yale University and the Uni-
versity of Iowa.

Tuesday, March 20. The regular meeting was held at the residence of
Mrs. Hoffmann and Miss Cross at 184 Commonwealth Avenue. Dr. Franz
Boas, of New York, took as his subject, " The Science and Ethics of Prim-
itive. Man." The conclusion of his most interesting lecture was that in
folk-lore we have the embodiment of ancient and bygone customs. We
are not conscious of the origin of these customs, and yet through folk-
lore they have an influence upon us.

Tuesday, April 17. The regular meeting was held at the Grundmann
Studios. An amusing paper on " The Experiences of a Folk-Lore Collec-
tor," by Mrs. Fanny D. Bergen, was read by Mr. Bergen. A second brief
paper was given by Mr. W. W. Newell on " Old English Ballads in Amer-
ica," showing the changes in form which some of these ballads had under-
gone in crossing the ocean. An interesting discussion followed this paper,
and some of the more famous ballads were sung by Mr. James W. Calder-
wood.

Helen Leah Reed, Secretary.

Cambridge. — The papers offered at meetings of the Cambridge Branch
of the American Folk-Lore Society, since the last report, have been as
follows : —

November 1, 1899. Mr. W. W. Newell, " Fairy Tales."

December 6. Mr. William Jones, of Harvard University, " Sacred Myths
of the Sacs and Foxes."

January 3, 1900. Prof. G. L. Kittredge, of Harvard University, " The
Dancers in the Churchyard."

February 7. President G. F. Moore, of Andover Theological School,
" The Legendary History of Alexander the Great."

March 10. Prof. Barrett Wendell, of Harvard University, "Some Neg-
lected Demands of Literature in its Relation to Folk-Lore."

Local Meetings and Other Notices. 151

April 13. Mr. Roland B. Dixon, of Harvard University, "Totemism."
May 9. Mr. A. G. Mayer, of Harvard University, " Savages of the
Southern Pacific."

The officers elected for 1900-1901 are as follows : President, Mr. C. H.
C. Wright. Vice-President, Miss Ethel D. Puffer. Treasurer, M. L. Fer-
nald. Secretary, Miss Leslie W. Hopkinson. Executive Committee, Miss
Sarah Yerxa, Miss Margaret Brooks, Dr. F. W. Robinson.

Leslie W. Hopkinson, Secretary.

Cincinnati. — The American Folk-Lore Society, Cincinnati Branch, met
at the house of Mrs. G. A. Thayer. In the absence of the President, the
Vice-President, Dr. Buck, presided. A nominating committee was ap-
pointed to nominate officers at the ensuing meeting.

Owing to a change of programme, the paper of the evening on African
folk-lore was by Mrs. A. C. Woods. The speaker pointed out the vastness
of the field, and inadequacy of information. She described the chief North
African religious ceremonial with its superstitions and rites. African folk-
lore was regarded as closely connected with that of other continents. In
the discussion following, Dr. Buck spoke of the shadow cast by man as
related to a belief in the immortality of the soul. Dr. Thayer pointed out
the resemblance of some of the myths to those of Genesis. The report of
the Treasurer was read and accepted, and the Society enjoyed the hospital-
ity of Mrs. Thayer.

Edna Hopkins, Secretary pro tern.

April 11. The Society met at the house of Dr. Crank in Mt. Auburn.
The meeting being the last af the season, officers were elected for the fol-
lowing year, as follows : President, Dr. J. D. Buck. First Vice-President,
Dr. J. Lindahl. Second Vice-President, Miss Florence Wilson. Secretary,
Mr. Clarence W. Hahn. Treasurer, Mrs. A. D. McLeod. Advisory Com-
mittee, Dr. C. D» Crank, Miss Anna Laws, Dr. D. Philipson, Mrs. Warren
Rawson.

The new President, Dr. J. D. Buck, expressed the regret of the Society
in the loss sustained by the approaching departure of its past leader, Prof.
Charles L. Edwards. It was owing to his efforts that the Branch was
established, and to him is due its present success.

The paper of the evening on " The Islands of the Pacific " was presented
by Miss Florence Wilson. An interesting discussion relating to the cus-
toms of Hawaii followed, and the guests were entertained by their host and
hostess.

Clarence W. Hahn, Secretary pro tern.

Brinton Memorial Chair in the University of Pennsylvania. —
The Brinton Memorial Committee of Boston have issued an address,
setting forth the services to the cause of science rendered by Daniel Gar-
rison Brinton, and explaining the conception of anthropology, to which
especially he had devoted his life. The address recites : —

152 Journal of American Folk- Lore.

" Scholars the world over are appreciative of the achievements of the late
Daniel Garrison Brinton, for he established on a firm basis the branches of
learning to which he devoted his life. He is justly named the ' Founder
of American Anthropology.'

A close student of the intricate problems of his science, he possessed the
rare art of clearly and concisely presenting facts at their true values. He
believed in " the general inculcation of the love of truth, scientific, verifiable
truth," and that knowledge should subserve usefulness.

A keen observer, a classical scholar, an adept in the methods of logic
and philosophy, Dr. Brinton had ever the practical application of truth in
view. To the systematic study of man he brought to bear his all rounded
culture to further the happiness and fulness of the individual life. He
regarded the individual as the starting-point and goal of anthropology.
Upon individual improvement, he claimed, depended group or racial im-
provement, social amelioration, and the welfare of humanity.

Anthropology, the new Science of Man, in Dr. Brinton's own words, " is
the study of the whole of man, his psychical as well as his physical nature,
and the products of all his activities, whether in the past or in the present."

This broad comprehension indicates the significance of anthropological
study. Its limits of attainment are limited only by the nature of man him-
self, and Dr. Brinton asks, " Who dares set a limit to that ? "

Although the youngest of the modern sciences, anthropology is none the
less one of the most important of the sciences, for in its development is
bound closely the progress of society. To carry out the aims of anthropo-
logy are required the results obtained from the study of ethnography, ethno-
logy, psychology, folk-lore, and archaeology, — more especially prehistoric
archaeology, which concerns itself not only with the ancient, but with " the
simplest " and " most transparent and therefore the most instructive."

Notwithstanding the extension of this work in America, comparatively
few professorships of anthropology or its branches exist, and the limited
opportunity afforded students to qualify themselves for investigation in
these various subjects is manifest. Dr. Brinton pointed out the insuffi-
ciency of facilities for students to acquire the necessary preliminary train-
ing to fit them for research, and he advocated and urged that anthropology
should be studied generally in our colleges. Provost Harrison referred to
this in his address at the Brinton Memorial Meeting held in Philadelphia
in January last, and stated that Dr. Brinton had the utmost confidence in
anthropology as a science and also in its practical worth as an applied sci-
ence in politics, education, and legislation.

It is proposed in recognition of the great services he rendered to the
world by his teachings, numerous publications, and untiring zeal in un-
earthing the false and proclaiming the true, to establish in his memory a
Brinton Chair of American Archaeology and Ethnology in the University
of Pennsylvania.

This proposition has received the universal commendation and approval
of anthropological scholars both in Europe and America.

At the Memorial Meeting the plan was favorably mentioned, and grate-

Bibliographical Notes. 153

ful recognition accorded to Dr. Brinton's unselfish devotion to his chosen
life work. Provost Harrison thought that to honor his memory no more
worthy tribute could be given than the foundation of a Brinton Memorial
Chair in the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Putnam, following
these remarks, said that he trusted the suggestion would not be dropped,
but that something tangible would come from Provost Harrison's words.

The choice of this place for the seat of the Brinton Memorial seems
especially appropriate, since the University of Pennsylvania now possesses
Dr. Brinton's valuable library, his own gift shortly before his death. The
association of Brinton's name with the University from 1886, when the
Chair of American Archaeology and Linguistics was created for his occu-
pancy, may in this way be made permanent.

In order to accomplish the proposed plan it will be necessary to secure
an endowment of fifty thousand dollars from individual sources.

Patrons of science and others interested in the endowment may apply to
the Brinton Memorial Committee, 44 Mt. Vernon Street, Boston, Mass.,
where further information is to be obtained if desired.

Messrs. Drexel & Co., bankers, Philadelphia, have kindly consented to
act as treasurers on certain conditions which will be explained to contrib-
utors on application to the Brinton Memorial Committee."

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

BOOKS.

The Mythology of the Bella Coola Indians. By Franz Boas.
(Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History. Vol. II.
Anthropology. I. The Jesup North Pacific Expedition.) November,
1898. Pp. 127. Plates vii.-xii.

The brief work which forms the second issue of these magnificent me-
moirs adds a remarkable chapter to the mental history of American races.
The Bilxula, or by euphonic alteration Bella Coola, a small tribe linguisti-
cally belonging to the Salishan family, inhabit the coasts of Dean Inlet and
Bentinck Arm, two fiords situated in about latitude 520 north. At the
present time, disease has reduced the tribe to a few hundred souls. The
peculiarity of the mythology is described as its systematic character, in con-
trast with the usually unsystematic form of mythologies belonging to the
northwest coast.

The Bella Coola cosmogony assumes five worlds, a middle earth between
two heavens and two hells. In the centre of the lower heaven is the house
of the gods, called "The House of Myths," whence descends animate life.
In this heaven the sun moves on a trail over a bridge ; in the summer he
keeps to one side, in the winter to the other, and the bridge is wide enough
to explain his annual variation. The solar rays are his eyelashes. This
heaven is accessible from mountains. In some part (where is not men-
tioned) is a skyhole, permitting to winged creatures passage to the upper

1 5 4 Journal of A merican Folk-L ore.

heaven. This is conceived as a treeless prairie ; a great wind continually
blows, and sweeps all things toward the house of the goddess who here
reigns, and who in the beginning acted as a world-maker, warring with the
mountains, and reducing their height. In this heaven is also a river (per-
haps the milky way ?) which flows through the lower heaven, and by ascend-
ing which the upper sky may be gained. The earth floats as an island in
an ocean, and is moored by stone ropes fast to a stone bar held by a giant.
When he is tired, his movements cause earthquakes. The first hell or
underworld is the region of ghosts ; these, it is stated, cannot return to the
earth (but their world may be visited by shamans). A peculiar feature is
a rope ladder, communicating with the first heaven, whither the ghosts may
ascend, and be once more sent down to earth from the house of the gods,
to be reborn in the same families. Not all ghosts, however, feel the desire
to ascend ; some are content with their lot, and sink to the lower hell,
where in the end they suffer a second and final death.

How far is this elaborate cosmology peculiar to the Bella Coola, how far
in part the property of other races ? In his account of the Kwakiutl, con-
tained in the Report of the National Museum for 1895 (Washington, 1897),
Dr. Boas does not elucidate their cosmogonic ideas, and perhaps these are
not very distinct. However, we note one or two correspondences. Thus,
with regard to the winds of the upper region, we find that in the sacred
dance of the Na'naqaualil (Report, p. 471), the movements of the dancers
and the lively motions of their blankets represent the effect of the winds of
the higher atmosphere, the region in which the original initiation is sup-
posed to take place. So with the Bella Coola, the spirit who initiated the
ancestor of the tribe Se'nxlemx, and whose proper abode is the lower
heaven, takes the youth into the upper heaven, where a wind blows the two
to the house of Qama'its, the goddess of that region (Mythology, p. 35).
Again, with regard to the rebirth of ghosts, we are told in a particular song
of the Kwakiutl that the dancer for whom the words were modified was
considered as the reincarnation of her deceased brother (Report, p. 485).
The Bella Coola take the moon in eclipse to be painted black for the sake
of the rites ; now with the Kwakiutl we find the blackened moon repre-
sented by a dancer (Report, p. 455). So the idea of a floating earth seems
familiar ; at least we read of a fabulous people supposed to live on a float-
ing island (p. 468). With the Kwakiutl, the great cannibal spirit lives in
the north, but in the sky, where his post is the Milky Way (p. 459). With
the Bella Coola a similar spirit has only a room in the House of Myths,
which is placed in the zenith. The sun-house, one would think, should be
in the east ; and in heaven should be many houses. The Bella Coola may
have brought these various habitations into one. With the Kwakiutl we
find the phrase " centre of the world " used poetically, as representing that
spot which is the centre of divine life, without regard to the direction of
the compass (Report, p. 457). May it not be that this has originally been
the case with the House of Myths ?

The winter ceremonial of the Bella Coola is plainly identical with that
of other tribes. These rites are initiatory as respects the youth, histori-

Bibliographical Notes. 155

cal as regards the representation of ancestral experience ; the underlying
idea is that the person seeking initiation must live in the wilderness, where
he will be visited by one of the spirits belonging to his clan, from whom he
may obtain supernatural power, and in whom he will find a divine helper.
That the ceremonies are connected with cannibalism has naturally led
civilized observers to an erroneous conception of their significance.

With respect to the origin of the beliefs and practices, general remarks
are offered. Dr. Boas has done more than any other investigator to show
the interfoliation of American myths and rites, and the effect of culture
contact in producing continual and often rapid diffusion. He has made
the existence of this process so evident, that doubt must be set down as an
exhibition of ignorance or prejudice. It is plain that the several tribes
have appropriated a mass of tales, customs, doctrines, which have come to
them from without, or which are communicated from one to another. Such
reception does not exclude mental reaction on the material ; the borrowers
bestow on the information an interpretation answering to their state of
mind, and to this extent the ideas or usages may be considered as an inde-
pendent expression of mentality, irrespective of originally foreign deriva-
tion. The materials of the structure being supplied, these may be elab-
orated to an edifice built up by ingenuity and free speculation ; this Dr.
Boas supposes to have been the case with the Bella Coola, who from
whatever reason appear to have systematized their mythology to an un-
usual degree. We cite the concluding words of the account : —

" The mind of the Bella Coola philosopher, operating with the class of
knowledge common to the earlier strata of culture, has reached conclusions
similar to those that have been formed by man the world over, when oper-
ating with the same class of knowledge. On the other hand, the Bella
Coola has also adopted ready-made the thoughts of his neighbors, and has
adapted them to his environment. These two results of our inquiry em-
phasize the close relation between the comparative and the historic methods
of ethnology, which are so often held to be antagonistic. Each is a check
upon rash conclusions that might be attained by the application of one
alone. It is just as uncritical to see, in an analogy of a single trait of cul-
ture that occurs in two distinct regions, undoubted proof of early historical
connection as to reject the possibility of such connection, because some-
times the same ideas develop independently in the human mind. Ethno-
logy is rapidly outgrowing the tendency to accept imperfect evidence as
proof of historical connection ; but the comparative ethnologist is hardly
beginning to see that he has no right to scoff at the historical method. Our
inquiry shows that safe conclusions can be derived only by a careful analy-
sis of the whole culture."

W. W. Newell.

156 Journal of American Folk- Lore.

The Thompson Indians of British Columbia. By James Teit. Ed-
ited by Franz Boas. (Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural
History. Vol. II. Anthropology. The Jesup North Pacific Expedition.
IV.) April, 1900. Pp. 163-392. Plates xiv.-xx.

This memoir relates to the same tribe whose traditions, also gathered by
Mr. Teit, and supplied with an introduction by Dr. Boas, have been pub-
lished as the sixth volume of the Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore So-
ciety. The account, exhibiting intimate knowledge of the people, is an
excellent example of what such a record should be. The manufactures,
households, dress, means of subsistence, warfare, pastime, and art of the
tribe are clearly explained and fully illustrated. In this notice can only be
remarked statements in regard to life and folk-lore which may serve to sup-
plement the information given in the Memoir of this Society.

The cosmogony of the Thompsons presents some analogies to the more
elaborate system of the Bella Coola. The earth is supposed to have a
square form, the corners being toward the cardinal points. The centre is
naturally on the Thompson River, being at Lytton (Traditions, p. 104).
The land rises toward the north, hence rivers flow southward ; the earth is
level in the middle, but mountainous near the edge. It is surrounded by
water, forming a sort of ocean-stream, according to the plan of a native
(p. 343). The upper world, as shown in the Traditions, is regarded as a
prairie of steep-sided plateau over which constantly blows a cold wind (as
with the upper heaven of the Bella Coola). The stars are transformed
persons who are rooted in the sky. No account of the trail of the sun is
here given ; but the sun-house is described as situated in the far east
(Traditions, p. no). In regard to star-lore, we find the widely diffused
story of the bear and the hunters, elsewhere remarked in the present num-
ber of this Journal. The three stars of the handle of the Dipper pursue
the Grizzly Bear ; the first is swift, the second is accompanied by a dog
(the companion star), the third is timid. We find the idea that rain and
snow are caused by the natural operations of a deity who lives in the sky
or upper mountains j the like opinion exists even among modern Greeks,
and is responsible for the impersonal character, in the Latin language, of
verbs relating to the weather.

An interesting account of the ghostland is given. In regard to the man-
ner of approach, ideas vary ; such was the case also with Greeks. One
opinion makes it necessary in the first instance to voyage over the inter-
vening sea, then to follow a trail on which are stationed wise guardians to
repel the approach of over-hasty souls, then to cross a river by a log (the
very common bridge of the dead). The spirit comes to a moundlike lodge,
which is entered on the eastern side ; emerging from the western gate, it
arrives in the land of souls, which has the usual characteristics of para-
dises, in possessing perpetual sunshine, an equable climate, and spontane-
ous fertility. Now appears a curious piece of speculation, whether or not
original with the Thompsons ; the soul like the man has its shadow, and
this is the ghost, that stays behind on earth, either for a brief term or many

Bibliographical Notes. 157

years. Ghosts are naked or clothed, and light gray in color. The blue
fires sometimes seen near graves are their breath. They may be shot with
an arrow, and in such case shriek and evanesce, leaving behind some relic
to show what part of the body was struck, and then return to the place
where the corpse has been laid. Fortunately for the living, they never leave
trail, so that to escape their pursuit it is only necessary to turn aside. All
persons go to the land of souls, except those who are drowned, respecting
whose fate exists a difference of opinion. Some think that a good man
reaches the spirit-country much sooner than a bad one. As to rebirth, this
takes place chiefly with the souls of infants. But as such belief is said to
be on the wane, it seems likely enough that formerly reincarnation may
have been very much more common, as above remarked in relation to the
Bella Coola. The souls of Christians do not go by the old trail, but ascend
to the sky, where they confess to a chief ; respecting their ultimate destiny
there is difference of opinion. Suicides do not get to the land of souls, but
disappear. Sickness may be due to the taking away of the soul, and in
this case a shaman must be sent in pursuit within two days, or it will be too
late. The shaman examines the graveyards till he finds the track of an
escaping soul, and takes advantage of a shorter route in order to intercept
it. Having caught the soul, he takes flight, pursued by the other souls,
whom, however, he scares away with his rattle, or clubs off.

In regard to the ethical character of the faith of this people, it is stated
that some elderly man of a household, or some chief, would often speak
until late at night, admonishing and advising the youth, and giving them
the results of his experience and his own ideas of the future life. It is
interesting to observe that prayers were habitually offered to the Dawn ;
every morning one of the oldest members of the household acted as priest,
to the extent of issuing at daybreak, and offering such prayer. In certain
cases the Dawn was supposed to be able to heal, if addressed through the
medium of an adolescent girl (maidenhood as the embodiment of inno-
cence ?). " O Day-Dawn ! thy child relies on me to obtain healing from
thee, who art mystery. Remove thou the swelling of thy child. Pity him,
O Day-Dawn ! " Nor is prayer confined to material blessings. Thus,
when the first fruits (berries, roots) are eaten, the Sunflower Root is
accosted. " I inform thee that I intend to eat thee. Mayest thou always
help me to ascend, so that I may always be able to reach the tops of moun-
tains, and may I never be clumsy ! I ask this from thee, Sunflower Root.
Thou are the greatest of all in mystery." Of course the Sunflower is holy,
because it turns toward the light. Thus we have in this especially un-
tutored and simple people the germ of light-worship in its higher aspect.
To develop such ideas into a religion of the higher order needed only a
series of literati, able to coordinate and exclude. This treatise, like every
account of the sort, serves to show that the explanation of the human mind
is to be found in the ideas most primitive of existing races.

W. W. Newell.

158 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

JOURNALS.

1. American Anthropologist. (Washington.) Vol. II. No. 1, January-
March, 1900. The lessons of folk-lore. J. W. Powell. — Mayan time systems
and time symbols. C. Thomas. — Linguistic families of Mexico. O. T. Mason.

— Oriental influences in Mexico. W. Hough. — The study of primitive music.
C. K. Wead. — The new-fire ceremony in Walpi. J. W. Fewkes. — The Toara
ceremony of the Dippil tribes of Queensland. R. H. Mathews. — The lords of
the night and the Tonalamatl of the Codex Borbonicus. C. P. Bowditch. —
Book reviews. — Periodical literature. — Notes and news.

2. The American Antiquarian. (Chicago.) Vol. XXII. No. r, January-
February, 1900. In Memoriam of Dr. D. G. Brinton. A. F. Chamberlain. —
No. 2, March-April. The evolution of ethics. C. W. Super. — Anthropological
notes. A. F. Chamberlain. — No. 3, May-June. The archaeology of ethical
ideas. C. F. Super.

3. The Land of Sunshine. (Los Angeles.) Vol. XII. No. 4, March, 1900.
The cities of the dead. Washington Matthews.

4. The Southern Workman. (Hampton, Va.) Vol. XXIX. No. 3, March,
1900. Alabama folk-lore. S. H. Showers.

5. Folk-Lore. (London.) Vol. XL No. I, March, 1900. The legends of
Krishna. W. Crooke. — Annual report of the Council. — Presidential address.
Totemism and some recent discoveries. E. S. Hartland. — Reviews : works of
H. M. Chadwick, The cult of Othin; A. C. Lyall, Asiatic studies; E. Durkheim,
L'anne"e sociologique ; H. Balfour, The natural history of the musical bow ; A.
Manwaring, Marathi proverbs; T. K. Cheyne and J. S. Black, Encyclopaedia
biblica ; J. Mathew, Eaglehawk and crow ; J. Bolte, R. Ktihler Kleinere schriften.

— Correspondence : Alphabet used in consecrating a church. Giants in pageants.
Customs relating to iron. The Little Red Hen. — Miscellanea : Dorset folk-lore.
Folk-tales from the yEgasan. Medical superstition in Cyprus. Exposition Uni-
verselle (Paris) de 1900. — Bibliography. — Rules and list of members.

6. The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ire-
land. (London.) Vol. II. Nos. 1 and 2, August-November, 1899. The secret
societies of West Africa. A. P. F. Marriott. — Ju-ju laws and customs in the
Niger Delta. C. N. de Candi.

7. Journal Asiatique. (Paris.) Vol. XV. No. 1, January-February, 1900.
La legende de Sateh Boghra Khan et l'histoire. Grenard.

8. Le Courrier de Livre. (Quebec.) Vol. IV. No. 47, February, 1900. French
Canadian songs. R. Renault.

9. Meiusine. (Paris.) Vol. X. No. I, January-February, 1900. L'inspiration
verbale. E. Ernault. — Saint Expe"dit. IV. Au tribunal bollandiste. R.
Gaidoz. — Contes d'animaux du Lavedan. I. Les aventures du chat et de
l'agneau. M. Camelat. — La fascination. J. Tuchmann. — Dictons et pro-
verbes bretons. E. Ernault.

10. Revue de l'histoire des religions. (Paris.) Vol. XLI. No. 1, January-
February, 1900. Sur le pre"tendu monothe'isme des anciens Chinois. M. Cour-
ant. — Notes sur ITslam — Maghribin — les marabouts. E. Dantte.

11. Revue des Traditions Populaires. (Paris.) Vol. XV. No. 1, January.
1900. Traditions populaires des Roumains. X.-XVIII. A. Gorovel. — Tradi-
tions et anciennes coutumes du pays messin. A. Benoist. — Les villes englou-
ties. XLI. Savoie. L. Jacquot. — Contes et le"gendes arabes. (Continued in
Nos. 2, 3.) R. Basset. No. 2, February. Folk-lore de Tahiti et des iles voi-

Bib Hog raphical Notes. 159

sines (1829-1898). (Continued in No. 3.) J. Agostini. — Contes et legendes
de la Haute-Bretagne. XX. La petite oie. — No. 3, February. Trois contes
cambodgiens. A. Leclere. — Folk-lore des Romains de la Hongri. O. Mail-
land.

12. Volkskunde. (Ghent.) Vol. XII. Nos. 6-7, 1899. Het huwelijk (Oude
Vlaamsche gebruiken). A. Van Werveke. — (Continued in Nos. 8, 9.) Nos.
8, 9. Volkstaal en volksgeloof.

13. Wallonia. (Liege.) Vol. VIII. No. 2, February, 1900. Le latin et Phu-
mour populaire. J. Defrecheux. — Moyens abusifs pour reconnaitre les sor-
ciers. E. Matthieu. No. 3, March. Les fetes de Mars, a Ardenne. R. Duse-
pulchre. — Le folk-lore de Spa. X. Enfantines et jeux. A. Body. — No. 4,
April. Ldgende de la belle dame au cochon. L. Delattre. — Le jeu de crosse
au pays de Charleroi. J. Dewert. — Le culte de St. Gdrard a Jehay en Hesbaye.
J. Schoenmakers. Sauteuses. Formulettes de jeux. O. Colson.

14. Bulletin de la Socie*te* Neuchateloise de Geographic Les Yezidi ou
les adorateurs du Diable. J. Spiro. — A propos de la polyandrie chez les Thibe-
tains. E. Pitard.

15. Schweizerisches Archiv fur Volkskunde. (Zurich.) Vol. IV. No. 1,
1900. Die henker und scharfrichter als volks und vieharzte seit ausgang des mit-
telalters. F. Heinemann. — Volkstiimliches aus dem Frei- und Kelleramt. S.
Meier. — Volkstiimliche notizen. A. Kuchler. — Das Berner " Matten-Eng-
lisch." Umfrage. E. Hoffmann-Krayer. — Autres cloches, autres sons. E.
Muret. — Miszellen. — Biicheranzeigen.

16. Archivio per lo Studio Delle Tradizioni Popolari. (Palermo.) Vol.
XVIII. No. 4, 1900. Credenze popolari toscane. R. Nerucci. — Lu conzu :
attrezzi ed usi per la pesca fluviale in Sicilia. P. Viola. — Impronte maravi-
gliose in Italia. G. B. Corsi. — L'arte dei negri. — Usi e costumi dei zolfatari in
Sicilia. F. Pulci. — Proverbi e modi proverbiali riguardanti persone e cose di
Sicilia. S. Ragguglia. — Nuovi motti dialogati veronesi. A. Balladoro. —
Canzonette infantili veronesi. A. Trotter. — Sedici canti raccolti in Tegiano.
G. Amalfi. — Le feste dell' Assunta in Messina descritti dai viaggiatori italiani e
stranieri. M. Pitre. — Usi nuziali di popoli primitivi. — Gerghi, frasi furbesche
e modi di dire nel dialetto torinese. A. Viriglio. — Motti dialogati senesi. G.
B. Corsi. — Le campane del comune di Pavia. G. Filippini. Miscellanea. —
Rivista bibliografica. — Bulletino bibliografico. — Recenti pubblicazioni. — Som-
mario dei giornali. — Notizie varie.

17. A Tradicao. (Serpa, Portugal.) Vol. I. No. 12, 1899 Dancas populares
do Baixo-Alemtejo. D. Nunes. — Therapeutica mystica. L. Picarra. — Lendas
e romances. A. T. Pires. — Crengas e supersti^oes. Pentitencias nocturnas.
Contos algarvios. A. d'Oliveira. — Contos populares Alemtejanos. A. Alex-
andrino. — Proverbios e dictos. Vol. II. No. 1, 1900. Notas historicas £cerca
de Serpa. Conde de Ficalho. — Artes e industrias tradicionaes. D. Nunes.

— Apparicoes. — Cancioneiro musical.

18. Mittheilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien. (Vienna.)
Vol. XXIX. No. 5, 1899. Das siebenburgischsachsische bauernhaus (with 52
illustrations.) J. R. Bunker.

19. Mittheilungen der Schlesischen Gesellschaft iiir Volkskunde. Vol.

VI. No. 4, 1899. Des schlesischen bauern werkzeug und hausgerat. P. Drechs-
ler. — No. 5, Eine altschlesische bauernhochzeit. G. PoPIG. — Sanct Kiim-
mernis in Schlesien. K. Gusinde. — Zur schlesischen Pfingstbitte. K. Gusinde.

— Liebesklage. — Volkstiimliches aus Goldberg in Schlesien. F. Paradel. Vol.

VII. No. 1, 1900. Chrestkendla-spiel. Aus Grulich in Bonmen. W. Oehl. —

160 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Bcmerkungen zu dem vorstehenden weihnachtspiel. F. Vogt. — Schlesisches
Kreschamleben. P. Drechsler.

20. Zeitschrift dea Vereins fur Volkskunde. (Berlin.) Vol. X. No. i,
1900. Goethe und die deutsche volkskunde. R. M. Meyer. — Zur geschichte
der bienenzucht in Deutschland. K. Mullenhoff. — Vier briefe W. Mann-
hardts ab W. Schwartz und ein brief von W. Schwartz an W. Mannhardt. — Ber-
gische hochzeitsgebrauche. O. Schell. — Von den tieren und ihrem nutzennach
gossensasser meinung. M. Rehsener. — Braunschweigische segen. O. Schutte.
— Faschingsgebrauche in Prutz im Oberinnthal. F. P. PiGER. — Zur volkskunde
aus Anhalt. O. Hartung. — Kleine mitteilungen. — Biicheranzeigen. Aus den
sitzungs-protokollen des Vereins fiir Volkskunde. M. Roediger.

21. Zeitschrift fiir Franzosische Sprache und Litteratur. (Berlin.) Vol.
XXII. Nos. 1-3, 1900. Bemerkungen zur sage und dichtung von Tristan und
Isolde. W. Golther.

22. Zeitschrift fur Vergleichende Litteraturgeschichte. (Berlin.) Vol.
XII. Nos. 4, 5, 1900. Der Ursprung der Don Juan-sage. J. Bolte. — Anklange
an das Nibelungenlied in mingrelischen marchen. W. Nehring.

23. The Indian Antiquary. (Bombay.) No. 252, June, 1899. Some notes
on the folk-lore of the Telugus. G. R. S. Pantulu. — No. 253, July. Folk-lore
in the Central Provinces of India. M. N. Venketswami. — No. 257, November.
A folk-tale from Central India, M. R. Pedlow. — Superstitions among Hindus
in the Central Provinces. (Continued in Nos. 360, 361.) — No. 360, January,
1900. Devil = whirlwind. — No. 361, February. Notes on the spirit basis of
belief and custom. J. M. Campbell.

Corrections. — On p. 49, M. A. Fernald appears as Treasurer of Cincinnati
Branch instead of Cambridge Branch. On same page, in note to Treasurer's
report, for twenty-Jive cents read fifty cents.

THE JOURNAL OF

AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.

Vol. XIII.— JULY-SEPTEMBER, 1900. — No. L.

CHEYENNE TALES.1

The following tales were collected at the Cheyenne Agency in
Oklahoma in 1899, on a journey undertaken for the American
Museum of Natural History, the means for which were provided by
the generosity of Mrs. Morris K. Jesup. They were all secured in
English. Some were recorded from dictation, and others written out
by the Indians. The versions thus obtained have been altered as
little as possible even though uncouthness of style resulted at times.
This roughness may seem unnecessary, especially as the tales were
not even told in the narrator's native tongue. But the less of the
original character remains, the greater the need for its preservation.
It is always possible to clothe the nudity of a primitive tale in the
drapery of modern paraphrase, should our conventionality see fit to
demand it ; but it is impossible ever to reconstruct the original
frame, the living body, if at its first presentation we have only its
encasings and swathings.

1.

When first created, the people gathered to see if they were to live
or to die. If a stone floated in water, they were to live ; if it sank,
they were to die ; but to a buffalo chip opposite conditions were
attached. The stone was thrown in. For a moment it remained at
the surface, and all the people rejoiced, thinking to live forever ;
then it sank. So the chip was thrown in, and for a moment it sank
out of sight, and again they rejoiced ; but then it rose and drifted
away. The short time that the stone floated and the chip sank
represents the shortness of man's life before lasting death.2

11.

The buffalo formerly ate men.3 The magpie and the hawk were

1 Published by permission of the Trustees of The American Museum of Natu-
ral History.

2 Found also among the Arapaho. Cf. G. B. Grinnell, Blackfoot Lodge Tales,
pp. 138, 272. See, also, W. Matthews, ATavaho Legends, p. 77.

8 Cf. Grinnell, op. cit. p. 140.

1 6 2 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

on the side of the people, for neither ate the other. These two flew
away from a council that was being held between the animals and
men, and brought it about that there was to be a race, the winners
to eat the losers. The course was a long one, around a mountain.
The swiftest of all the buffalo was a cow called Neika" sanniiaume-
yox"sts (swift-head). She thought that she would win, and consented
to race. On the other hand, the people were afraid, on account of the
long distance. They were trying to get medicine to prevent them
from becoming tired or winded. All the birds and animals painted
for the race, and since that time they are colored. Even the water
turtle put red paint around his eyes. The magpie painted himself
white on head, shoulders, and tail. At last all were ready and stood
in a row. Then they ran, all making some noise, in place of singing,
to help them. All the small birds, the turtles, rabbits, coyotes,
wolves, flies, ants, insects, and snakes were soon left behind. When
they approached the mountain the buffalo-cow was ahead ; then
came the magpie, then the hawk, then the people ; the rest were
strung out. So thickly did the dust rise that nothing could be seen.
All around the mountain the cow led, but the two birds knew that
they could win, and merely kept up with her until they got near the
starting-place, and then both went by her and won the race for
man. When they arrived, they saw animals and birds all over the
course, running themselves to death, and the ground and rocks
turned red from the blood of these. Then the buffalo told their
young to hide, as the people were going to hunt them, and told them
to take some dried human flesh with them, for the last time. They
did this, and stuck the meat in front of their chest, under the
throat. Therefore the people do not eat that part, saying that it is
human flesh. From the day of the race men began to hunt. But
as hawks, magpies, nighthawks, crows, and buzzards were on their
side in the race, they do not eat them, but use their feathers for
ornament.

Another version says that when the coyote, who was on the side
of the buffalo, came in, the magpie, who beat even the hawk, said to
him : "We will not eat you, but we will use your skin."

in.

The animals and birds held a council, in order to have friendship
and be as kind to each other as if they were brothers. This meet-
ing was called the birds' council of friendship. The majority were
willing to live in peace ; but the birds of prey — the eagle, the hawk,
the magpie, the crow — opposed the rest. The hawk said that war
was the nobler thing, and then flew off to find his food among other
birds. Then the eagle also spoke against friendship. So at last the

Cheyenne Tales. 163

council broke up. The various animals and birds went to find hid-
ing-places, and since that day have been food for the birds of prey.

IV.

There was a large camp near a spring called old-woman's spring.
The people were amusing themselves by games, and were playing
the " buffalo-game " with rolling hoops. Two young men were
standing by, watching. They were painted alike and dressed alike,
and wore the same headdresses, and both wore buffalo-robes. Fi-
nally one of them told the people to call every one, and that all
should watch him ; that he would go into the spring, and bring back
food that would be a great help to the people ever after. The other
young man also said that he would bring them food. There was an
entrance to the spring, formed by a great stone, and by this the two
young men descended into the spring, both going at the same time.
They found an old gray-headed woman sitting, and she showed
them on one side fields of corn and on the other herds of buffalo.
Then one of the young men brought back corn, and the other
buffalo meat, and the people feasted on both. And that night the
buffalo came out of the spring ; and there have been herds of them
ever since, and corn has been grown too.

v.

A long time ago men had not yet learned to use the eagle for
their war-ornaments. A man climbed a high mountain ; there he lay
for five days, crying, without food. Some powerful being, he hoped,
would see him and come to him, and teach him something great, and
so he would receive help and rest from his trouble. He was glad
when a voice spoke to him. It said : "Try to be brave, no matter
what comes, even as if to kill you. If you remember these words,
you will bring great news to your people, and help them." After a
time he heard voices, and seven eagles came down as if to take him.
But he was brave, as he had been told. He continued to cry, and
kept his eyes closed. Now the great eagles settled and surrounded
him. And one said : " Look at me. I am powerful, and I have
wonderful feathers. I am greater than all animals and birds in the
world." This powerful eagle showed the man his wings and his
tail, and he spread out his feathers. He told him how to make war
headdresses and ornaments out of eagle-feathers ; and he said that
his people must use only eagle-feathers, and it would be a great help
to them in war. At that time it was a hard thing to get eagle-feath-
ers ; but the seven eagles shook themselves, and their feathers fell
out, and the man picked them up and took them home. On that
day eagle-feathers were first seen ; and the man made war-ornaments

1 64 Journal of A7nerican Folk-Lore.

as he had been told. After this he became a great man, for others
thought it wonderful to bring eagle-feathers and make war-orna-
ments. And he was leader of his people, and when they went to
war, he wore war-ornaments.

VI.

A man had once gone out on the warpath. Finally he started
home. But a blizzard came, he lost his way, and nearly perished.
At last he was met by some one and taken into a tent. This was
full of a large company, all of them dressed up, while their dancing
apparel hung on every tent-pole. It was the fox company. They
commenced to teach the man their dance. They showed him how
to paint, and what to wear, and the songs to be sung. They had
four young girls with them in their company. On the fourth morn-
ing, when he had learned all, the storm was over, and it had grown
warm. The dance broke up, and some one was sent to guide him
home. As the company scattered, he saw they were wolves and
coyotes. A wolf guided the man, and he returned in safety. Then
he instituted the fox-company, whose dance has continued to the
present day.

VII.

The Sun and the Moon disputed as to their superiority.1 The
Sun said that he was bright and light ; that he ruled the day, and
that no being was superior to him. The Moon in answer said to
the Sun that he ruled the night, and was without a superior ; that he
looked after all things on earth, and that he kept all men and animals
from danger. The Sun said : " It is I who light up all the world.
If I should rest from my work, everything would be darkened ; man-
kind could not do without me." Then the Moon replied : " I am
great and powerful. I can take charge of both night and day, and
guide all things in the world. It does not trouble me if you rest."
Thus the Sun and the Moon spoke to each other ; but both were
great rulers. The day on which they disputed became almost as
long as two days, so much did they say to each other. At the end
the Moon said that there were a great many wonderful and powerful
beings on his side. He meant the stars in the sky.

VIII.

The earth rests on a large beam or post. Far in the north there
is a beaver, as white as snow, who is a great father of all mankind.
Some day he will gnaw through the support at the bottom ; we shall
be helpless, and the earth will fall. This will happen when he be-

1 Cf. J. O. Dorsey, " The ^egiha Language," Contributions to North American
Ethnology, vi. p. 328.

Cheyenne Tales. 165

comes angry. The post is already partly eaten through. For this
reason one band of Cheyennes never eat beaver, or even touch the
skin. If they do touch it, they become sick.

IXa.

White-man 1 was travelling, with nothing to eat. He came to a
large lake, on which he saw numbers of birds. At the edge of
the pond was a prairie-dog town ; the inhabitants were sitting up,
all of them fat. White-man was very hungry, and very anxious to
catch some of these animals, but he knew he could not get to them.
So he went off into a hollow, and thought out a plan. He got a
stick, peeled off the bark, and painted it. He also painted a pretty
buffalo horn that he found, and stuck it on the end of the stick.
This he pretended was powerful against disease. He went back to
the lake, and said : " Great danger and sickness are coming behind
me, but whoever comes up to touch this stick will be safe." The
birds believed this, and all asked to be allowed to touch the horn.
He told them to follow him to an open place. Then he went to
the prairie-dog village, and said the same that he said to the ducks,
so their leader told all the prairie-dogs to follow him, with their
whole families. White-man ordered them to shut their holes tight,
on account of the danger. They worked hard and did this. Then
they all followed him — prairie-dogs, ducks, geese, and other birds
— while he led the way to an open plain, carrying his horn so that
all could see it. Then he stuck the pole in the ground. In a cir-
cle around it he placed the prairie-dogs, around them the ducks,
then the geese, and inside the cranes. Inside of all he put the
white-nosed ducks. He told them to shut their eyes, as they would
get red eyes if they looked. He would sing powerful songs, and
dance among them, but they were not to look or move until he
told them to. Then he commenced to sing. With a pole he knocked
down and killed the dancers, meanwhile singing : " Your eyes will
turn red, your backs will become twisted, your necks will be twisted,
if you look." At the end was a white-nosed duck ; as White-man
came near him, he was trying to touch his neighbors, but could not.
At last he opened his eyes and saw one of his friends being knocked
down and others lying dead. He cried out, and the rest of the birds
flew away. But since then that duck has had a red eye and crooked
back and neck. The man went to the river, built a fire, and made
sausages of his meat. Near him were two great willows ; the wind

1 Vihuk or Vihu, White-man, is the Ojibwa Manabozho and the Blackfoot
Nap (Old Man, " man -yellowish- white "). Among the Arapaho also he is
called White-man. Here he appears only in his so-called " degraded " form : that
of the trickster, corresponding to the Omaha Ictinike.

1 66 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

waved them, they rubbed together, and made a noise. White-man
spoke to them, telling them not to fight, for he was very hungry.
Finally he climbed up. " My brothers must not fight." He held
them apart, putting his hand between them ; the wind stopped, and
he was fast. The coyote smelled the meat and came. White-man
told him he need not come around. He called him names and ridi-
culed his shape : he had a sharp nose, he was too slim. He told him
to go about his own business ; he said that he himself had climbed
up in order to be cooler in the shade. The coyote came close ; then
he knew that White-man was fast. Then the man said to the coy-
ote : " Brother, eat half, and I will eat half." While the coyote ate
his meat, White-man reviled him, but he spoke kindly to the tree.
The coyote looked at the fire, and there he saw a fine sausage, of fat
and heart. He ate it. Then he covered it up again, and ran off, but
as he was full he was soon tired and went to sleep. The wind rose,
and the man was once more free. Very angry, he climbed down. He
saw only the sausage. " It is good that he did not eat all," he said.
He bit in the centre of it, and got his mouth full of ashes. This
made him still angrier. He followed the coyote's tracks, and found
him. " If I hit him with a club, I might spoil his flesh by bruising
it," he thought. So he made a tent of weeds around and over the
coyote, intending to burn him alive. He lit the brush. When the
fire became high, the coyote jumped out. Again he followed his
tracks and found him. Three times this same thing happened.
The fourth time he determined that he would catch the coyote by
the hind legs. He seized him thus, and tried to scare the coyote to
death by shouting. He nearly succeeded. But the coyote defecated
over his clothes, into his mouth, and into his eyes. White-man
could see the coyote no longer, let him go, and the coyote ran off.
But White-man vomited to death.1

IXb.

A man was travelling up along a river, carrying a bag. He met
some ducks, who asked him what he had in the sack. He said,
songs. Then they begged him to sing for them. At first he de-
clared that he had no time to stop, but at last he consented, and the
ducks all gathered about him. He pretended to be lame and leaned
on a stick. Then he sang, and the ducks danced, and he told them

1 Arapaho. Cf. S. R. Riggs, " Dakota Grammar, Texts, and Ethnography,"
Contributions to North American Ethnology, ix. p. no ; S. T. Rand, Legends of
the Micmac, p. 263 ; C. G. Leland, Algonquin Legends of New England, p. 186 ;
W. J. Hoffman, "The Menomoni Indians," Fourteenth Annual Rep. Bur. Ethnol.
pp. 163, 263; Schoolcraft, Hiawatha, pp. 30, 34 ; L.M.Turner, " Ethnology of
the Ungava District," Eleventh Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol. p. 327; J. O. Dorsey,
op. cit. pp. 67, 579.

Cheyenne Tales. 167

to keep their eyes closed until he stopped singing. He sang : tse
munmakuyets (your eyes will be red) ; therefore they were afraid of
getting sore eyes, and did not look at him. He took his stick and
hit them with it. As they danced, one duck did not feel its neigh-
bors any longer, and at last opened its eyes, and saw the man hitting
away, and a pile of dead ducks. So he cried out to the rest to
escape, and all that were left flew away. Then the man rejoiced.
He went to the shade of some trees, made a fire, and spitted and
roasted his ducks. He also made a sausage of them, and this he
laid in the ashes. Then he sang and danced for joy. A hungry
coyote heard him and smelled the meat, and drew near. Overhead
two trees were rubbing together, and making noise. The man said
to them : " Stop fighting ! Don't disturb me, for I am going to
have a good dinner." The screeching continued. He went to the
foot of the trees and again told them to stop. Finally he climbed
up. The wind rose, and again the trees screeched. The man put
his hand between them to hold them apart. Suddenly the wind
fell, and his wrist was held fast. The coyote came nearer, wonder-
ing. The man ordered him to go away, and tried to conceal his hand
that was caught. The coyote at last understood the situation and
took a duck. " Yes, you may take one duck ; that one at the end
there," said the man. As the coyote took a second, the man called
to him, " You may take another." Thus it went on, until all the
ducks were eaten. The wind began to come again, the trees rubbed
together, and the man's wrist hurt so much that he no longer
thought of the coyote. The coyote meanwhile found the sausage
and ate it. Then he filled it with ashes, put it back, and went away.
At last the wind rose, and the man became free. "This is bad," he
thought, "but it is lucky that he did not find the sausage." He took
it out, bit info it, and the ashes flew into his eyes. He stumbled
about, until he fell into the river. Then he washed his eyes out.
Now he was angry. He followed the coyote's trail, and found him
asleep, with distended belly. He determined to eat both ducks and
coyote, but he thought : " If I choke him, I may bruise his meat ; if
I hit him on the head I may bruise and spoil his meat." While he
was deliberating, the coyote jumped up and ran away. Again he
followed him and found him asleep. He made a great fire, having
decided to seize the coyote by his ears and tail, throw him into the
fire, and roast him whole. He seized him, but as he threw him, the
coyote jumped forward through the flames, and ran off, singed but
safe. The man could not see him through the flames and thought
he was in the fire. He waited until it burnt down ; then he looked
for the coyote and could not find him.

1 68 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

White-man was travelling. He caught some rabbits, made a fire,
and cooked them. When he had had enough, but there was still
much left, the coyote came limping along. He was hungry, and
asked for something to eat. White-man refused to give him any-
thing. The coyote said he was starving. Then White-man proposed
to run him a race for the food. They started off, and the coyote
suddenly lost his lameness. He ran far ahead of White-man, came
in, and ate all the rabbits before the other came back.1 Then he
went off. Now he felt sleepy from his good meal, and lay down.
White-man followed his tracks, and found him. He thought : " If I
hit his head, I will spoil it ; " and so on of the different parts of his
body. Finally he decided to roast him whole, as then no portion
of him would be bruised. So he made a fire. The coyote, only
feigning sleep, was ready to escape. He only waited to see what
White-man would do. White-man seized him to put him on the fire.
But suddenly the coyote was out of his hands, jumped over the fire
at one bound, and was off.

XI.

There was a man that could send his eyes out of his head, on the
limb of a tree, and call them back again, by saying nacxansts hinni-
cistaukvaa (eyes hang upon a branch). White-man saw him doing
this, and came to him crying ; he wanted to learn this too. The
man taught him, but warned him not to do it more than four times
in one clay. White-man went off along the river. When he came
to the highest tree he could see, he sent his eyes to the top. Then
he called them back. He thought he could do this as often as he
wished, disregarding the warning. The fifth time his eyes remained
fastened to the limb. All day he called, but the eyes began to
swell and spoil, and flies gathered on them. White-man grew tired
and lay down, facing his eyes, still calling for them, though they
never came; and he cried. At night he was half asleep, when a
mouse ran over him. He closed his lids that the mice would not
see he was blind, and lay still, in order to catch one. At last one
sat on his breast. He kept quiet to let it become used to him, and
the mouse went on his face, trying to cut his hair for its nest.
Then it licked his tears, but let its tail hang in his mouth. He
closed it, and caught the mouse. He seized it tightly, and made it
guide him, telling him of his misfortune. The mouse said it could see
the eyes, and they had swelled to an enormous size. It offered to
climb the tree and get them for him, but White-man would not let it
1 Cf. G. B. Grinnell, op. cit. p. 155.

Cheyenne Tales. 169

go. It tried to wriggle free, but he held it fast. Then the mouse
asked on what condition he would release it, and White-man said,
only if it gave him one of its eyes. So it gave him one, and he could
see again, and let the mouse go. But the small eye was far back
in his socket, and he could not see very well with it. A buffalo
was grazing near by, and as White-man stood near him crying, he
looked on and wondered. White-man said : " Here is a buffalo, who
has the power to help me in my trouble." So the buffalo asked him
what he wanted. White-man told him he had lost his eye and
needed one. The buffalo took out one of his and put it in White-
man's head. Now White-man could see far again. But the eye did
not fit the socket ; most of it was outside. The other was far inside.
Thus he remained.1

XII.

There was a man whose leg was pointed, so that by running and
jumping against trees he could stick in them. By saying naiwa-
toutawa, he brought himself back to the ground. On a hot day he
would stick himself against a tree for greater shade and coolness.
However, he could not do this trick more than four times. Once
while he was doing this, Vihuk (White-man) came to him, crying,
and said : <( Brother, sharpen my leg ! " The man replied : " That is
not very hard. I can sharpen your leg." White-man stood on a
large log, and the other, with an axe, sharpened his leg, telling him
to hold still bravely. The pain caused the tears to come from his
eyes. When the man had sharpened his leg, he told him to do the
trick only four times a day, and to keep count in order not to
exceed this number. White-man went clown toward the river,
singing. Near the bank was a large tree ; toward this he ran, then
jumped and stuck in it. Then he called himself back to the ground.
Again he jumped, this time against another tree ; but now he
counted one, thinking in this way to get the better of the other
man. The third time, he counted two. The fourth time, birds and
animals stood by, and he was proud to show his ability, and jumped
high, and pushed his leg in up to the knee. Then coyotes, wolves,
and other animals came to see him ; some of them asked how he
came to know the trick, and begged him to teach it to them, so
they could stick to trees at night. He was still prouder now, and
for the fifth time he ran and jumped as high as he could, and half
his thigh entered the tree. Then he counted four. Then he called
to get to the ground again. But he stuck. He called out all day ;
he tried to send the animals to the man who had taught him. He
was fast in the tree for many days, until he starved to death.2

1 Arapaho. Cf. G. B. Grinnell, op. cit. p. 153; M. C. Stevenson, "The Sia,"
Eleventh Ann. Rep. Bur. Etlinol. p. 153.

2 Arapaho.

1 70 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

XIII.

It was spring, and the grass was green along the riverside, and all
over the land. A buffalo bull was having a fine time eating the
fresh grass, while a white man near by had a. hard time to make his
living. Day after day he watched the bull and wished to be a buf-
falo. So one day he approached him and stood near him, and cried,
thinking that if he were a buffalo he would enjoy himself all his life,
and all winter he would have a good robe on him, and he would not
have to pay for his clothing and food. The buffalo looked at him
and said to him : " What can I do for you ? " But the man continued
to cry, and answered that he wanted to be a buffalo. The bull told
him not to be afraid, and to stand at a little distance away. Then
he charged at the man four times, and the man was not afraid of
him, because he wished to become a buffalo. At the fourth charge
the man turned into a buffalo, and then the bull taught him how to
live. But at once the white man thought he could make money by
teaching his friends to become buffalo. But a white man, whom he
approached, ran away from him in fear.

In another version White-man is hunted after he has become a
buffalo. He tries to tell the hunters that he is a man, but cannot,
and is shot.1

XIV.

Matceit (Little-man) was a poor orphan boy. An old woman took
care of him, and they lived at a large camp. It was winter, snow-
was on the ground, buffalo were scarce, and the people were nearly
starved. One day Matceit told his grandmother to make him a bow
and arrows. These are ordinarily made by men, but she did the
best she could, and made him a bowand arrows. Then he told her to
make him a wheel used for the buffalo game. She cried, and asked
him where he expected her to get the hide that was necessary. He
told her to soak a parfleche bag, and when it was soft to cut a string
from it, and then paint it. She did this. When the hoop was fin-
ished, he sat on the bed, and she at the door ; he told her to roll the
wheel, saying to him: "There is a buffalo calf." When she said
this, he shot the wheel through the heart (the central interstice),
and there sat a buffalo calf, swaying and dying. The old woman
skinned it, cut and dried the meat, and stretched the skin. He told
her to save the fat as salve for his sore eyes. Next morning he told
his grandmother to roll the wheel again, and this time he shot a
grown calf. She packed away the first meat, and hung up what they

1 Evidently a modernized or corrupted version of a tale about " White-man," and
similar to that given by J. O. Dorsey, op. cit. p. 105. See, also, Dorsey, pp. 67,
73, and Schoolcraft, op. cit. p. 62.

Cheyenne Tales. 171

had just got. Next morning he shot a fat cow in the same way, and
the old woman was still prouder of him. The meat she hid in a hole,
the refuse she threw into a bush, where the snow covered it. Mean-
while the rest of the camp were starving, and cooking hides and sad-
dles for food. On the fourth day the boy shot a very fat well-aged
cow. All the meat of this his grandmother dried, and of the mar-
row she made sausage, and of the bones soup.

Their tent was apart, off on one side of the village. The princi-
pal chief had two daughters, of whom the youngest was very pretty.
The boy was in love with her ; but his belly was large, his legs short,
his eyes sore and running ; and every one called him Little-man.
Now he told his grandmother to go to the principal chief, taking with
her some fat in a piece of gut ; and when going away, to drop it, as if
by accident, so that it would be seen. If the chief asked her about
it, she should say it was salve for his eyes. She did accordingly, and
the starving chief and his family asked for some of the fat. She
gave him all, saying that she had more ; and the chief was pleased.
She came home and told the boy what had happened. Next day he
sent her to buy the youngest girl for him, taking a part of their meat
to the principal chief. The chief asked her how she obtained the
meat, and she said that the boy had the power to make game. So
the chief gave his daughter, and a large tent was put up for Matceit,
and everything made ready for him to come at night.

Almost all the young men of the camp were in love with the
chief's daughters, and even the younger girl was marriageable ; but
the boy was too young to marry. Her friends made fun of her,
saying that her son went to sleep with her. She was also ashamed
of the ugliness and sore eyes of her husband. At the same time
White-man married the elder daughter, but he was given no tent,
and slept in the same lodge as the boy. White-man told his wife
to give the boy a separate vessel of water, as he did not want to
use the same one with him. The boy heard this, and observed the
ridicule of himself, and felt sorry. That night he became differ-
ent : he was a young man, clean, with long dark hair, yellow skin,
and bright eyes. Every one heard of his change and wondered.
Now his sister-in-law tried to get him to drink of White-man's water,
but he paid no attention to her. At night, when he coughed,
bright shining colors came out of his mouth, and the two women
saw it. White-man saw it too, and wondered. Next night, he went
out to the cooking-place and got two brands. When he coughed, he
hit the two sticks together, so that the sparks flew. But the boy
and his wife continued to sleep. And in the morning it was found
that White-man's blanket was burned, his wife's lip scarred, and
himself burned on the cheek.

172 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

Before daylight, the boy got up and went eastward. He gathered
buffalo chips, and piled them on himself, so that they appeared as if
they were a string of buffalo going south before the wind. Finally
the sun rose, and he sent his wife to tell her father that there was
a herd of buffalo. The chief cried out that his son-in-law had seen
buffalo. The starving people prepared hastily. They went east, on
a high hill, and then on the next hill, and there they saw a long line
of buffalo. They headed them off, and killed every one. They
butchered them, ate the raw meat, rejoiced, cried, and sang about
what Little-man had done and the great help he had been to the
tribe. The boy went by all the buffalo, pretending to take the best
parts and put them in his shirt ; but he only took hair. He went
to his father-in-law, threw down the hair, and it turned to ribs,
tongues, and all the best pieces. He went out again with his wife,
and a red-bird flew up and sat on his wife's head, and occasionally
on his, and sang, and fluttered about. All saw this and wondered,
especially White-man. The next day the very same thing happened.
The buffalo were killed, and from their hair the boy made hides,
pieces of meat, or whatever he wished. White-man also got hair
from the buffalo, in imitation of Matceit, and he and his wife went
home without carrying any meat, but with a great mass of hair.
He had caught a red-headed woodpecker, and tied it with a string to
his wife's hair. But the woodpecker sat on her head and pecked
at it. When they arrived home, he told his wife to order his mother-
in-law to prepare the hides and the meat ; but all the hair remained
hair. The older sister was in love with her brother-in-law. One day
he touched her on the skin of her shoulder, and his fingers, which
were colored, left colored marks there. She was proud of this, and
tore her dress open, to show the marks to every one, until her
shoulder froze. That night the boy coughed again. Then White-
.man also coughed, and struck his brands. A spark fell into his eye,
and one into his wife's, so that their eyes spoiled and turned white.1

xv.

There was a great camp, facing toward the sun (east). In the
tent farthest on the right there lived a young girl. One morning
she was missing. Every sunrise a girl was missing from the camp.
An old man went around, inquiring who was gone. The village
became frightened, and suddenly moved that very morning. They
were so hasty that they left an old woman, forgetting her in their
panic. When she was left behind, she looked for food and water
for herself, but she had none and could find none. She went down
to the river and drank. Looking up the river she saw something
1 Cf. Dorsey, op. cit. p. 604.

Cheyenne Tales. 173

rolling or floating down, shining like looking-glass. She sat on the
bank, watching; it came close, then dived under in deep water. A
boy about eight years old came out of the river. He was rough and
needy-looking, and his eyes were sore. " Grandmother," he said,
"why are you sitting here?" She told him why the village had
moved and how she had been left behind. He said he would fol-
low the tracks which led to where the girls had been taken. She
tried to dissuade him, but he was determined. Going back to the
camp, they went to the sleeping-places of the lost girls, and he found
a mouse trail. He said he was about to set out. The old woman
asked him to provide for her, as else she might starve. He told her
to make a round tent of willows at the edge of the river Then he
asked for a large knife, but the old woman said she had none. He
went over the camp-site, looking, and succeeded in finding a hide-
scraper. Then he told the old woman to make him bow and arrows,
and she did so. Then he told her to say to him : " Two yearling
heifers are near you." He shot into the ground, and there was a
heifer-buffalo bleeding to death from her mouth. So the old woman
butchered and dressed it. The boy told her to await his return, and
set out. He followed the trail until it went under water ; he dived
in, and came out on the other side of the river. He found a plain
path now, and it continued to grow plainer, until it was a hard, level
road. He walked fast, making a terrible noise, as if something big
was rolling along. A man came to meet the person making this
noise. This man it was who had taken the girls, and the path was
his trail ; he had a large iron sword. He said " If I had known you
were only a little boy, I should not have come out ; but I thought
some one great was coming to rescue the girls. I can knock you
down with my fist." The boy answered that he could knock him
down. The man said : " You cannot be as strong as this large tree,"
and he hit a tree once with his sword, and it fell over. The boy
reached into his pocket and took out a square book, and asked the
man if he had so powerful a book. By looking into it one could see
all the various kinds of animals, and plants too, all living, and mov-
ing. So the man proposed that they should be great friends. The
boy agreed, and then he exchanged his book for the sword ; but he
insisted on having the sword handed to him first. Then they went
toward the man's tent. He was two-faced ; and he walked ahead.
The boy wanted to strike him with the sword, but whenever he
raised it, the man said, ".Don't hit me with the sword." But when
the man looked sideways, the boy cut him in two across the middle.
Then he took back his book and threw away the sword. He went
on, and again he met a person, like the preceding, and also with a
sword. The same happened, except that this man, to show his

1 74 yournal of American Folk-Lore.

power, did not cut down a tree, but cut the earth in two, splitting
it like ice. Again the boy showed his book, and again they ex-
changed. He killed this man in the same way, and took back his
book and left the sword. Then he came near a tent, standing alone.
One of the girls came out to get water. He went to meet her. He
turned into a young man, bright in appearance, with quilled leggings
and robe, and a quiver made of panther skin, and otter fur around
his hair. When he met the girl, she was frightened, for she did
not know that he had killed the two persons. She told him to
run away, for many men who were on the warpath were killed and
plundered here. She said that in the tent there were an old man
and an old woman, and that she brought water for them whenever
they were thirsty. If a leaf or stick floated on the water, they threw
it in her face. The young man said to the girl : " I will go with you
and fight for you. Put a bunch of weeds into the bucket. If they
say anything, throw the water in the old woman's face, and run out
to me." She did so, and the old man pursued her with a large toma-
hawk. The boy had a large cedar whistle. This he blew, and all
the people of his tribe came out. The old man knocked them down,
but the boy continued whistling, and more and more people came,
until they killed the old man. Then the old woman came out with
a tomahawk, and she was killed in the same way. Then the boy
made a sweat-tent, and put in it the skulls of all that had been killed
here previously. The girl heated rocks, and every time water was
poured on them, the skulls moved ; the last (fourth) time the people
came out alive. They were of many different tribes. The young
man told them to find their property and return each to his people.
Then he started with the girl, turning into a rough boy again. He
took his book and opened it ; and there was a house, with food,
tables as the white people have them, and two chairs. After eating,
he closed the book, and the house was gone. Finally he came to
the place at which he had emerged from the river, and there he lived
in a house of sod. He saw three persons coming up the river. They
were the girl's parents, and her brother White-man. White-man ran
ahead, looking for the girl ; then he went back, telling his parents
that he had found his sister, but that an ugly boy was her husband.
They all came in. They did not like their son-in-law, he was so
ugly. White-man went fishing with his brother-in-law, in deep
water. When a fish caught on his bait, he got the boy to take his
line, and then shoved him in. The boy walked along in the river.
He came to where a great camp stood, facing east. Here he got
out of the water, and went into an old woman's tent. With her
lived an orphan boy, of his own age, who was much surprised to see
him. The boy was hungry, but they could give him nothing to eat,

Cheyenne Tales. 175

and he slept. The orphan boy asked him if he had any news ; then
he told him of his own rescue of the girl as he would tell the exploit
of another person. Then the orphan told him that every morning a
beautiful red eagle flew along, almost touching the tent-poles. Who-
ever killed the eagle was to marry the prettiest girl in the village.
Both determined to try, as they might have good luck. The girl
offered was the younger daughter of the same man that had lost the
other girl ; he wanted the eagle to hang at his tent-door, to show
that he was a great chief. In the morning the eagle came ; all shot
at him but missed. The boys told their grandmother to open the
tepee top, as they were going to try to shoot. They shot, and the
eagle fell right into the tent. All ran in to find out who had done
it, and the old man came with his daughter ; but when he saw the
two orphan boys, he took the eagle and kept the girl. But the boy
kept a small bunch of the eagle's feathers. There were two fish in
the river, one of silver, one of gold ; when they turned in the water,
their reflection shone so brightly that they could not be seen. The
old man offered his daughter to whoever should catch one of the fish.
The young men all fished, but the fish only looked at the bait. The
boys used a sinew without a hook, but with a large chunk of meat.
The golden fish passed by all the baits and bit theirs. The boy
told his companion to hide it if they caught it, as the man might
take it away from them. They caught it, and there was a great
light in the prairie, so that every one ran to see who had caught the
fish. The orphan told that his friend had caught it. The old man
came, but he said he did not want so ugly a son-in-law. He took the
fish, but the boy kept a piece of skin from it. As all came and
stood by, the girl he had rescued was there, and she noticed her hus-
band. At night she ran off to his tent again. When she had thus
disappeared again, the chief, her father, told the men to make search
for her. White-man knew that this boy was the same one that he
had pushed into the water, and suspected where she was. At
night he peeped into the tent and saw her, and reported to his father.
Then his father caused an old man to announce that all men were
to come to urinate and defecate over the boy's tent. This was done.
White-man climbed up on the tent-poles, and dropped excrement
down on his brother-in-law.

The boy told his friend that next morning the women who went
out to dig prairie-turnips would be murdered. So it happened. The
camp prepared to go to war. The boy told his wife to get a horse
from his father-in-law so that he could fight. When the chief saw
his daughter, he made her stop, and stand off, and tell her purpose.
Then he told her " Take that white one ; " but it was a pig. When
they went to battle, they crossed a creek. Here the pig stuck in

1 76 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

the mud. The boy tried all day, apparently, to get it out, while the
others fought. But somehow he got a good white horse. He, too,
now became a bright young man with a war-bonnet, otterskin, and
eagle tail-feathers on his spear, while his clothes were all beaded. He
rode right among the enemy, killed seven with his spear, and drove
the rest away. Then he ran back and got on his pig. When the
people returned, they saw him still there, ridiculed him, and threw
mud at him. They tried to find out who had ridden into the battle ;
but they could not. That night the boy made the same prediction to
his friend as before. Everything happened as on the preceding
day, except that he was given a black and white pig, and rode a
black and white painted horse in the fight. The third time he had
a black horse. Now it was agreed that the horse of this unknown
should be cut on the buttock, so that he might be recognized. The
fourth day the boy rode a bay painted horse. White-man rode the
same kind of horse as the boy, and when the fight was over, he
rode down to the creek and cut his horse, and wounded himself a
little. So they thought that it was White-man, and he married the
girl, though she was his own sister. Next morning the boy came
into camp, handsome, finely dressed, with feathers on his spear,
otterskin, and so on. All saw him coming and ran up. He got off
and led his horse, for it was quite lame. The people spread blankets
to carry him, but he walked. His wife ran out to meet him and took
his arms from him. The people cleaned the place they had soiled.
So they found that White-man was an impostor. Four men seized
him by the hands and legs, to throw him into deep water. He was
strong and resisted, but at last they dragged him to the bank and
threw him in. They could see the fish eating him, until only bones
were left. Then the chief wanted his daughter and his son-in-law
to leave the old woman's dirty place and to live with him, and even
prepared a tepee for him. But they refused. The boy took out his
book, and they had a house. But the boy felt bad about his treat-
ment. That night he blew his whistle, and white men came out, and
at daylight they killed the whole tribe. (This shows that the whites
have more power than the Indians.) 1

1 This curious tale is evidently not altogether of Indian origin. The portion
relating to the war is identical with part of a European (Norse) folk-tale. Yet
stories similar to this one are found among the Omaha (Dorsey, op.cit. pp. 114^^.;
see, also, p. 604), the Thompson Indians (J. Teit, Traditions of the Thompson River
Indians, xxxiv.), and the Chilcotin (collected by Dr. L. Farrand). In all these tales
a boy has a book, picture, or paper, that gives him magic power. He travels, does
deeds, wins a wife, is deprived of her by treachery or deceit, but at last triumphs
and regains his wife. All these tales agree in containing un-Indian elements. Yet
they differ enormously in detailed incident. It is remarkable that what is appar-
ently the same tale should assume such varying forms, and that while it always

Cheyenne Tales. 177

XVI.

There was a great medicine-man, who was powerful and did injury,
but who had a good daughter. He lived near a geyser, in an earth-
lodge. Several young men lived with him, and went out hunting
for him. He had great quantities of dried buffalo meat hanging all
around his lodge. When meat was scarce in a village near by, he
sent his young men to summon the people to him, and then he gave
a feast to the various companies. Then this great man told the
companies to dress, and dance before him. When the dance was
almost over, he announced that he would pick out a young man to
be his son-in-law. So he selected a young man, but after the mar-
riage he sent the village away again. He was malicious, and did not
treat his son-in-law rightly. Every night he had a fire, and slept
close by his son-in-law and daughter. When they moved, he raised
his head, and said : " Don't stir ! Sleep ! " When they talked, or
even whispered, he made them be quiet, and ordered them to sleep.
Even when they were outside, and spoke against him, he was so
powerful that he knew it. The first morning he sent his son-in-law
out to cut arrows. He told him that if he brought no smooth,
straight sticks, he need not come back. The young man wandered
through the woods, but he found only rough sticks, and he was dis-
couraged, and tired, and cried. A person called to him, and asked
him why he wept. The young man related his trouble, and the per-
son told him to cut bulrushes of the right length. So he got as
many bulrushes as he could carry, and they turned to smooth sticks.
Then he went on up a mountain, and cried again. The birds heard
him, and asked him why he cried. He said that he could not get
the eagle-feathers that his father-in-law wanted for feathering the
arrows. So the eagle shook himself, and feathers flew out, and he
got as many as he could use. Then he returned, carrying the sticks
and feathers. His father-in-law had four men who could make bows
and arrows, and they began to make the arrows for him. Then he
sent his son-in-law to get plums for the arrow-makers. It was nearly
winter, and there was no fruit of any sort left, but he told him to get
fresh plums, and bring none that were rotten or dried. He knew
this was impossible. The young man took a bag, and went out, cry-
ing. Again a person asked him why he wept. The young man said
it was because he was to get plums for the arrow-makers of his
father-in-law. The person told him to go to a plum-bush, and that

contains foreign elements, these are not the same in different tribes. It seems
probable that we have not a case of adaptation and corruption of a European
original, but a native story which for some reason has attracted European addi-
tions, perhaps because exceptionally European in spirit.
VOL. xiii. — no. 50. 12

1 78 yozimal of American Folk-Lore.

the tree would shake itself, and only fresh plums would fall from it.
All this happened. When the great medicine-man saw his son-in-
law returning well loaded, he was pleased and went to meet him.
So they made the arrows, and ate the plums. Next morning the
great man wanted to play at throwing arrows at a hoop with his son-
in-law. They played near the geyser, and the medicine-man pushed
his son-in-law into it. Only his bones came out again.

Three times the great man had selected a son-in-law, and all this
had happened. His daughter did not like his acts; but even when
she went far off to tell her husband of his danger, the great man
could hear by the wind or the earth what she said. The fourth time
he got a very fine young man for son-in-law. He sent him out to drive
a buffalo of good age immediately in front of his house, so that he
could shoot him with his new arrows. The son-in-law went far off,
crying. Seven buffalo were about him, and one asked him what he
wanted. The young man told him, but they said they were power-
less against this great man, and told him to go farther south. He
went on, and met four buffalo, who asked him what he wished. But
they also were powerless, and sent him farther south. He went on
and came to two buffalo. With them the same happened. As he
again went on southward, he was so discouraged that he walked with
his head down, and when he met a single buffalo, did not stop even
when the bull asked him what he wished. Finally he turned around,
and told his story. He was hopeless, for the great man could not
be cut or burnt or wounded in any way. " He is like this rock," he
said, and pointed to a large black stone. Then the buffalo said : " I
will try on this whether I can do anything to him." He went off
east, and charged against the stone, but did not injure it. He
charged from the south, from the west, from the north — all vainly.
The fifth time he went toward the northeast, and this time he broke
a piece out of the rock. Then he told the young man to drive him
toward his father-in-law's house. They arrived there, both seeming
completely tired out ; the buffalo pretended to be trying to escape,
while the young man headed him off. At last, after a long chase,
he drove him near his father-in-law's door. The medicine-man came
out with his new arrows, and shot at the bull. When the arrows
neared the buffalo, they turned to reeds again, and did not injure
him ; but to the medicine-man they appeared to enter the bull, and
disappear in him. The bull staggered and seemed nearly dead, and
the man approached him. The bull staggered farther and farther
away from the house, leading the medicine-man with him, so that he
might not escape. Then he turned, charged, and tossed him. As
the man fell, he tossed him again and again, so that he never touched
the ground. Thus he tossed him until he was completely bruised

Cheyenne Tales. 179

and unable to move. Then they put him in his lodge, covered him
with brush and wood, and lit it. The flames burnt higher and
higher, but they only heard the medicine-man inside the fire cursing
and threatening them with death when he should come out. Then
suddenly there were poppings, and explosions, and beads, diamonds,
and precious stones flew out of the fire. They were afraid to touch
these, for fear the man might then come to life again, and put them
back into the fire. But the whites to whom some of them flew kept
them, and thus became richer.

XVII.

Far away there was a large camp-circle. Food was very scarce,
and some persons had starved. One day one of the old men went
about inquiring whether the people wanted to travel to a large lake,
where ducks and game abounded. They moved camp, packing their
goods on dogs. Two young men were sent ahead, but they returned
with the news that they had found no game whatever. The children
were all crying for food, and the misery was extreme. The people
selected two strong young men able to travel four days without food,
and told them that they must find something for the whole tribe,
and bring back good news. The young men set out and travelled
steadily for two days, until they were worn out and slept from the
middle of the night until the morning star rose. Then they went on
northward again. Finally they came near a large river, and beyond
it they saw a blue mountain. The river was slow, smooth, wide, and
sandy on both sides, but beyond it rose bluffs, and close behind these
the mountain. The two scouts put their clothes on their heads, and
entered the river. In the centre, one of them got fast. He shouted
that some powerful thing under water was taking him ; and he asked
his friend to tell his parents not to weep too much for him. The
other man crossed in safety. Then his friend called to him to come
back and touch him as a farewell. So the other went back into the
river, and touched him. Then he went out again, and cried all day,
wandering about. A person came to the top of the bank above the
river, and asked him why he cried, and whether he could do anything
for him. The young man replied that a powerful animal was holding
fast his friend in the river, and pointed to him. The person who had
come was powerful ; he wore a wolfskin, painted red, on his back ;
it was tied around his neck and waist, so that he looked like a wolf ;
and he carried a large knife. He dived into the river, and the water
moved and waved, and finally an immense snake with black horns
came up, and he cut its throat. The man who had been held fast
was already cold and stiff in his legs, but the two others dragged
him off, and floated him ashore, and laid him in the sun. The

1 80 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

rescuer told the other young man : " Go to the mountain, to its stone
door, and tell your grandmother that I have killed the animal that I
have been after so long." The young man ran to the foot of the
mountain, stood before a flat stone door, and called as he had been
told, telling the woman to bring a rope with her. The old woman
was glad that the animal had at last been killed. The young man
ran back, and was told by the man to help him butcher the snake ;
then they would carry his friend to his house. They dragged the
snake on shore by its horns, and cut it in two, and then into many
smaller pieces. They made many trips to the mountain, carrying
the meat. Inside, the mountain was like the interior of a tepee,
with tent-poles, beds, and so on. Then the young man carried his
friend to the mountain, taking him on his back, and holding his
hands. The woman made a sweat-house, and he was put into it.
The woman told him to try to move. The second time they poured
water on the hot rocks he moved a little, the third time more, and
after the fourth time he was perfectly well. Then they went into
the mountain, and the man told his daughter to cook food, — corn
and buffalo meat. This was the first time the young men had seen
the daughter, who was very handsome. They ate all the food given
them, and were well satisfied. Then the woman asked them why
they had come. They told her that they were looking for game for
their starving people. The woman said : " It is well, you will have
something for your tribe." Then she asked them what kin they
would be to the girl ; whether they would be her brothers. While
they conferred, she said that they could marry her. The other
young man proposed to the one that had been fast that he should
marry her ; and the latter agreed. They were then all very grate-
ful to each other, and the young man married the girl. The woman
told her daughter to take the two young men to the herd of buffalo,
and the girl showed them large herds of buffalo, and on the other side
wide fields of corn. Then the woman told them to cross the river in
the same place as before, and not to look backwards, and to rest four
times on their way home. So they travelled for four days. Then
an old man cried through the village that they were coming. All
their relatives and many others came forward ; but when they saw
that there were three persons, they held somewhat aloof. They
entered a tent, and the new husband told an old man to cry to the
people to come to shake hands with his wife and embrace her. This
was done, and then the young man said that he brought good news,
and that that same night his wife's herd would come from the moun-
tain. At night long strings of buffalo came, and the people heard
them on all sides. Early in the morning they saw the buffalo, as
far as they could look. It was announced that the dogs were not to

Cheyenne Tales. 181

disturb the game. Then the hunt commenced. The buffalo ran
when pursued, but always came back. As many were killed as could
be used, and there was abundance of meat. The chiefs gathered,
and resolved that they were thankful to the girl for her kindness,
and every family was to bring her a present, the best that they had ;
and they asked her to take the presents to her parents. So all gave
to her, and she started back to her parents with her husband and his
friend. When they arrived at the mountain, the man stood there,
calling to his wife to come out, for their son-in-law had returned.
She embraced the two young men from joy and gratitude. When
they returned, the tribe was still hunting successfully, and they were
again given presents to bring to the girl's parents. When they
brought presents a second time, the man was still more grateful, and
asked his daughter to take a few ears of corn to the tribe. But she,
thinking that they had enough with the buffalo, was silent. When her
parents asked her why she did not answer, she told them the reason.
So they returned, after her parents had warned her not to feel sorry
for any buffalo killed in her sight. . Soon after, the children drove a
young calf toward the village, and the boys shot at it, and it died in
front of her tent. As she came out, she said to herself that she
pitied the calf. But as she said it, the herd ran back toward the
mountain, and nothing could be seen but dust. A crier went about,
saying that presents must again be sent to the old man in the moun-
tain. After prayer and with blessings, the two young men and the
girl started once more. After four days they arrived. At once the
old man told his daughter that she ought to have been careful. But
he would not let them return to the tribe. The parents of the young
men and their relatives felt lonely at the long absence, and went out
alone to cry. But the young men never returned.

XVI 1 1.

A chief had a fine-looking daughter, who had a great many admir-
ers. At night she was visited by a young man, but did not know
who he was. She worried about this, and determined to discover
him. She put red paint near her bed. At night he crawled on her
bed, wearing a white robe. She put her hand into the paint and then
on his back. The next day she told her father to call all the young
men to a dance in front of his tent. They all came, and the whole
village turned out to see them. She watched all that came, looking
for the mark she had made. As she turned, she saw one of her
father's dogs, with the mark on his back. This disheartened her,
so that she went straight into her tent. This broke up the dance.
The next day she went into the woods near the camp, with the dog
on a string, and hit him. He finally broke loose. She was very

1 82 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

unhappy. Several months later she bore seven pups. She told her
mother to kill them, but her mother was kind toward them, and
made a little shelter for them. They began to grow, and at night
the old dog sometimes came to them. After a time, the woman be-
gan to take interest in them, and sometimes played with them.
When they were big enough to run, the old dog came and took them
away. When the woman went to see them in the morning, they
were gone. She saw the large dog's tracks, and several little ones,
and followed them a distance. She was sad, and cried. She came
back to her mother, and said : " Mother, make me seven pairs of
moccasins. I am going to follow the little ones, searching for them."
Her mother made seven pairs of moccasins, and she started out,
tracking them all the way. Finally, in the distance, she saw a tent.
The youngest one came to her, and said : " Mother, father wants
you to go back. We are going home ; you cannot come." She said :
" No. Wherever you go, I go." She took the little one, and carried
him to the tent. She entered, and saw a young man, who, however,
took no notice of her. He gave her a little meat and drink, which
did not grow less however much she ate. She tied the little pup to
her belt with a string. Next morning, she was left alone, and the
tent was gone. She followed and again came to them. Four times
this happened in the same way ; but the fourth time the tracks
stopped. She looked up, and there she saw seven pups (Manootox-
tcioo) ; they were stars (the Pleiades).1

xrx.

Seven men were on the warpath. As they went along, they
found a young woman who lived alone, in a solitary tent. These
seven men were brothers. They remained with her and called her
sister. They hunted and killed much game. The girl made seven
buffalo robes for her seven brothers. She embroidered them all
with porcupine quills ; and she embroidered moccasins also. She
worked very much for her brothers, and they were very kind to her
and loved her very much. Six of the brothers used to go out hunt-
ing, and the youngest, who was only a boy, always stayed with his
sister. When his brothers returned with game, he always ran to
meet them and welcome them. Once the brothers went hunting
again. The boy was outside, a little way from the tent where his

1 Arapaho. An almost universal myth in western British America and among
all Eskimo tribes. Cf. Boas, Indianische Sagen der Nord Pacifischen Kiiste
Amerikd's, pp. 25, 93, 114, 132, 263 ; Krause, Die Tlinkit Indianer, p. 269; Peti-
tot, Traditions Indiennes du Canada Nord-Ouest, p. 314 ; Rink, Tales and Tradi-
tions of the Eskimo, p. 471 ; ~Boa.s, foztmal of American Folk-Lore, ii. p. 124, and
elsewhere in Eskimo collections ; Chilcotin ; J. Teit, op. cit. p. 62.

Cheyenne Tales. 183

sister was. He had a bow and arrows, and was hunting birds. He
aimed at a red-bird, and shot it through the breast. The bird flew
away, carrying with it his arrow. The boy ran after, to get both
the bird and his arrow. Thus he pursued, always thinking he was
going to catch the bird, until he had gone far from the tent. Then
a powerful buffalo came to the tent and took the girl to be his wife,
and made her go along with him, for she was afraid of his power.
He took her westward, where there were many buffalo. The bro-
thers returned, bringing game, but they did not see the boy coming
to meet them. So they knew at once that something had happened.
At the same time the boy came back, and told his brothers what
had happened : how he had run after a red-bird which he had shot,
and which flew away with his best arrow. The brothers looked
all about the tent until they found their sister's tracks, and saw
that she had been taken away when she was alone. So they went
in the direction in which she had gone. The boy shot off one of
his arrows toward the west. When they got to where it fell,
there was a large village. The boy went to it, and found an old
woman living in a tent by herself. He asked her if she had heard
any news. She told him that she had heard that a powerful buffalo
had passed that day, taking a fine girl with him to the westward.
The boy returned to his brothers and told them what the old woman
had said to him. Thus they passed through four villages, always
learning the same, until they found where their sister was. They
saw a large tepee, in which she was with the powerful buffalo ; but
all about the tent were buffalo. They stopped and considered what
it was best to do. The boy was powerful too. He turned himself
into a ground-rat, and dug a hole to where the tent stood. In a
short time he dug to where his sister sat alone and sad. Then the
boy received her in his hole and took her back to his brothers, who
kissed her. Then they returned. As soon as they arrived at their
home, they made an iron fence or wall. This inclosure surrounded
them fourfold. Then the boy shot an arrow far up toward the sky,
and there stood an iron tree in the middle of the inclosure. The
sister climbed up first, and then, one after another, all the brothers.
Then the whole herd of buffalo came, and surrounded the iron fence,
intending to get back the powerful buffalo's wife. They tried to
batter down the fence, but they broke their horns. At last they
succeeded in breaking it down. Then the great bull tried to over-
throw the tree. But now the boy at last succeeded in killing him.
These seven men then were raised to the sky, and are said to be a
group of seven stars (the Pleiades).1

1 Arapaho. Cf. Schoolcraft, op. cit. p. 274 ; Dorsey, op. cit. pp. 82, 224 ; Riggs,
op.cit. p. 115.

1 84 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

XX.

Nearly every night a child disappeared from a camp. A young
man wondered who stole the babies. One dark night he said to
himself : " I will watch to-night. I will watch every tent where the
people are sleeping. If any one takes a child to-night, I may hear it
cry out." So he watched the whole village, and looked outside. He
found that the thief was Two-Faces, who had one face in front and
one at the back of his head, so that he could look on both sides of
him. The. young man found him fast asleep. Near him were many
dead babies that he had stolen. Most of them had their ears cut
off, and Two-Faces had a long string of ears on a line, for he lived
on human ears. The young man ran to the river and looked for
shells. He gathered a great number of shells, which looked almost
like human ears, and strung them, and bloodied them. Then he cut
a piece of meat, and shaped it like an ear. When Two-Faces awoke,
he saw a person sitting near him eating an ear. It was this young
man eating the meat. Two-Faces asked him where he learned to
eat ears. The man said to him : " I live on ears. I always steal
children and cut off their ears. The only thing that I am afraid of is
that if I eat salt, it will kill me." Then Two-Faces said : " I should
at once die if any one beat a gourd (?) and fat was thrown in the
fire." When night came, they both went to the camp. The young
man then told Two-Faces to wait for him ; he would go ahead. Then
he went to his friends and told them to prepare : he was bringing
Two-Faces, who had stolen all the children. He directed that a
gourd be beaten and fat meat thrown at the fire. So at last they
succeeded in killing Two-Faces. Then he was burned.

XXI.

Some men were on the warpath. They were near a lake, and
there they saw a large water-turtle coming toward the water. But
they did not know that the turtle was a great powerful being of the
lake. So they ran to the turtle, and — there were four of them in
all — got on its back. The turtle carried them toward the lake.
But they were fast to it, and at last in their distress cried out for
help. The turtle still took them toward the water. The men now
feared that they would never come back home and see their families
and friends again. But a great help came to them at last. A great
heaviness and darkness came upon them, and the thunder's rain fell,
and then lightning struck the turtle's head. And finally they were
saved.

XXII.

In a solitary tent lived a lone family, — a man, his wife, and two

Cheyenne Tales. ' 185

children. When the man went out hunting, he always painted his
wife's face and body before he started in the morning. His wife
went for water to a lake near by. She always went to the same
place ; and when she came to the lake, she took off her clothes, as if
to bathe. Then a large snake rose out of the lake, after the woman
had spoken to it and told it to appear. The snake asked her to come
out to him, since her husband had gone away hunting. The woman
did as the snake said. Every morning she went to the lake. Her
husband brought back meat, and she and the children were glad.
The man did not know what happened. He did not know that
his wife went after water to the lake and met a large snake. But
one day he asked her what made the paint come off her. She said that
she took a bath. Next morning he started as if to hunt ; but dug a
hiding-place near the lake to see what his wife did. She came to
the shore and called to the snake : " Come, I am waiting." Then
he saw a big old snake rise from the water, and ask her if her hus-
band had gone hunting. She answered : " Yes, I am coming." She
took off her clothes and entered the lake, and the snake was soon
around her. The man had watched them, and now, leaving his hid-
ing place, he jumped on the snake, and with a large knife cut it in
pieces and at last killed it. Then he caught his wife and killed her.
He cut her up and took her meat home and gave it to his children.
He cooked his wife, and the children unknowingly ate their mother.
Then the man said to them: "Tell your mother when she comes
home that I went to get more meat which I left hanging on a tree so
that the wolves cannot reach it." And he went away. The younger
child said : " Our mother is merely teasing us (by staying away)." But
the older girl answered: "Do not say anything against our mother."
Then their mother's head came rolling to them ; and it said : " I am
very sorry that my children have eaten me up." The two children
ran away, but the head pursued them. At last they were worn out,
but their mother's head still rolled after them. Then the older girl
drew a line or mark on the ground and so deep a hole opened that
the head could not cross. The younger girl was very hungry. She
said to her sister : " Look at that deer." The older girl looked at
the deer, and it fell down dead as if shot. So they ate of it. Then
some one was kind to them and helped them, and they lived in a
large lodge and had much food of various kinds to eat. Two large
panthers and two large black bears guarded them against all wild
animals and persons.

A camp of people was starving. Neither buffalo nor smaller game
could be found. The people heard that the children had abundance
of food of all kinds, and they all moved to them. When they arrived
the children invited them, and the various companies came and ate

1 86 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

with them. Finally they all went out again ; only the children's
father now stayed with them again. But they regretted what he
had done to them. So they caused the lions to jump upon their
father, and he was killed.1

XXIII.

A certain " ghost" had a body like a man's, but he had two faces,
one looking forward and one backward. He was immensely large,
and could almost step over the greatest rivers when he came to them
while walking. He was a great hunter, for he could catch and take
hold of the game. He found a tent standing by itself, in which lived
a man with his family, including a handsome daughter. The ghost
fell very much in love with the girl, and determined to supply the
family with meat. Every morning before daylight he brought game
to the tent. The man did not know who was so kind to them. He
dug a hiding-place, and entered it while it was still dark. Then
he saw the ghost come, bringing game. But he was very much
afraid now, and after the ghost had gone, he started off to hide with
his family. The ghost followed them, and came to their tent. But
the man would not give him his daughter. They decided to play
"hand-game" (hiding-button) for her. So they played for five
nights. But the man won, so that the ghost lost both the girl and
his meat.

XXIV.

Among the people who lived generations ago there was a young
man as handsome as might be. Almost all the girls and young
women liked him very much, and always talked of him. Once, as
night came on, there came a very beautiful girl. She had come
from the sky, and was a bright star in the west. But the young
man did not know this ; and at night they both ran off together.
He told his family that he was married, and they were glad to hear
this. But she was a star just come from the sky to be a woman.
So they married. Then the girl took him far off, and she told him
that she was a bright western star. They both went to the sky, and
the man also became a star. His name had been Beaver, and so a
star in the western sky is still called Beaver.

xxv.

A man had two wives. One was called Corn-woman, and the
other White-buffalo-woman. This second wife was really a buffalo,
but the man was ignorant of this. He had two children by her.

1 Two tales, the Snake-Lover, and the Abandoned Children, seem to be united
here. The latter is also Arapaho. Cf. Leland, op. cit. p. 273 ; Rand, op. cit.
p. 46; Schoolcraft, op. cit. p. 265 ; Teit, op. cit. xxxi.

Cheyenne Tales. 187

One day he grew angry at her, and she, too, became angry. She said
nothing, but when her husband was away, she took her two children,
and went toward the west, where the buffalo were. When the man
came home, he found that they were gone. He was afraid of losing
them, and prepared to follow them. He looked for their tracks, and
then he found the path which they had taken toward the west.
When he had gone part of the way, he found that his wife was a
true buffalo, and knew that she had run off with his two children.
So as he went, he cried, feeling sorry about his wife and children.
He got to a large herd of buffalo, and he looked all among them.
But he could not distinguish his wife and children ; and he never
found them again.1

XXVI.

A man named Black Hawk had married Medicine-woman, and
had a child called Stone-walker. Medicine-woman was very hand-
some to see, and as fine as the sun ; and the child was pretty, too.
Medicine-woman was a great help to her husband and very kind to
him. She used to embroider all his robes and moccasins. But
Black Hawk was desirous of another woman. He thought his wife
would not know of this. But one day she discovered his love-affair.
She became so angry that she ran off with her child. They went
on a hill, and stayed there until they were turned to stone, just as
they were sitting in grief. Black Hawk found out that, they had
been turned to stone ; and then he, too, wished to become stone. He
cried at the place until he died. Many Cheyennes have passed the
Woman and Child turned to stone. It is in the Rocky Mountains.

XXVII.

There was a handsome woman, called Rainbow-woman. A num-
ber of young men wanted to marry her. Every spring one or two
tried to buy her. But she did not want to be married until later,
when she could marry Young Eagle, a brave and handsome young
man of whom she was very fond. But he was killed in war. When
Rainbow-woman heard this, she was so grieved that she wanted to
hang herself. She wanted to go where Young Eagle's soul had
gone. She went to the river, looking for a place to hang herself.
As she came near a cottonwood-tree, it suddenly called to her :
" Come up quickly!" But she ran back home, and told her family
that she was trying to hang herself, when she was so frightened by
hearing a tree speak to her that she fled. She continued to fear
that the tree would pursue her and take her as his wife. Finally she
really became pregnant, though without having married (except in
her imagination, as she feared the tree). One night a young tree
1 Cf. Dorsey, op. cit. p. 147.

1 88 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

grew out of her abdomen, and took root, and she grew fast to it, and
became part of the tree. Therefore formerly cottonwoods were
much worshipped. And women, after they learned this story, no
longer hung themselves. This woman used to sing a great deal, and
she was still heard singing up in the tree.

XXVIII.

A man went eagle-catching. He dug a hole, covered it with brush,
and put a skinned buffalo calf on top. Then he hid in the hole. An
eagle saw the calf, and flew down. As soon as he settled and began
to eat, the man seized both his legs. But the eagle flew up with
him to a very high mountain near by, from which he knew that the
man could not climb to the ground. The man soon began to be
very hungry, and he cried all day. He worshipped the sun, and
prayed to it to help him to go down safely. At last the whirlwind
carried him down. So he was saved by the sun.

XXIX.

Some men were travelling. As they came near a river, and entered
the timber, they heard, some one singing. This was the song : —

The world is large and wide and long.
A great many wolves have been in the world.
But I alone have been all over the world.
To-day I am so old that at last my old age is over.

The men found an old gray wolf, so feeble that he was unable to
move, and hungering. They fed him. When he was satisfied, the
wolf said : " I will give you my life. You will live on this world
your full lives. You will go all over the world, and have success in
war. You will live free from danger and sickness, until your old
age is passed." The wolf also told them to get up before sunrise, if
they were to have his life. It is said that if a wolf or coyote sleeps
until the sun, he dies at once.

XXX.

Some hunters found some young bears. They amused themselves
with them, and cut their ears and tails. Then one of the cubs sang
that his father and mother were away, while he was maltreated, and
that they- might know it. As soon as he sang, the old bears heard
his voice. The mother stood up, and tried her might on a large tree,
and broke it in two. The father said to himself : " I am great and
powerful. Who has come to take away my child ? " And he rolled
a huge stone, and broke it in two. At once they both ran to their
hole. This hole is called the Bears' Lodge, and is in Yellowstone
Park. The bears arrived here, and saved their young. But ever
since,. bears are tailless.

Cheyenne Tales. 189

XXXI.

Three animals went on the warpath : the turtle, the grasshopper,
and the skunk. On the way the grasshopper, in trying to jump a
river, stuck in the mud with his legs, and could not go on. The
skunk and the turtle continued on their way, and finally came to a
large camp. At night they entered the chief's tent, and cut his
throat. Next morning the deed was discovered, and the people
started in pursuit. The skunk had escaped ; but the turtle had
crawled under a bucket ; and in this hiding-place he was found. He
was taken to a council, and it was decided to burn him. A fire was
lit, and he was seized. The turtle knew what awaited him if he
were put in the fire. So he ran toward the fire himself, as fast as
he could go. The people at once thought that he was anxious to
enter the fire in order to explode, or do them some other harm ; so
they quickly stopped him. Then they poured a little water on him,
and he pretended to faint and be near death. When they brought
a bucket of water, he seemed to try to run away from it. The
people accordingly thought that he was afraid of water because he
could easily be killed with it,1 and they all went to see him drowned
in a lake, rejoicing over the fate in store for him. A warrior took
him into the lake. As the turtle pretended to be trying to keep
away from the water by catching the bushes and clinging to them,
the people all shouted, but he knew that he was about to be saved.
The warrior dragged him into deep water, and then suddenly the
turtle bit him hard, dived with him, and held him under the water
until he was drowned. The people stood about, weeping and howl-
ing and looking at the lake. At last they got wooden buckets and
pails made of buffalo-intestine ; everybody, even children, was to
carry water, until the lake was dry. At last they came to the body
of the warrior ; he was scalped. But the turtle had escaped with the
scalp, and reaching home, found the skunk, who had brought the
chief's scalp with him. So the animals celebrated a scalp-dance.2

XXXII.

The coyote was very hungry and looking .for food. He could
catch no rabbit, nor any bird, and could find nothing to eat. At last
he met a hard-shelled prairie turtle. The coyote knew that he was
unable to kill the turtle outright, but he tried to find some way to
get him for his food. So the coyote said to him : " I am a great
friend of the turtle people ; and the turtles used to call me by the
name of Turtle Chief, because I am a friend to the life of all turtles."
In this way the coyote tried as hard as he could to succeed in killing
1 Cf. Leland, /. c. p. 56. 2 Cf. Dorsey, op. cit. p. 271.

190 J ournal of American Folk-Lore.

him. The turtle said that his name was Medicine Turtle. The
coyote said, " Well, turtle, we have had a good meeting as friends,
and we must remember our meeting." When they were about to
leave each other, the coyote thought he could kill the turtle. So he
went to kiss him, and as he kissed him, he tried to bite him. But
the turtle bit him, and the coyote ran off.

XXXIII.

A hunter had killed a buffalo. A crow came flying to where he
was butchering. When the man saw him, the crow said : " I am
very hungry, and I have never eaten buffalo's eyes. I know very
much about troubles of the eyes. Will you let me eat the buffalo's
eyes, and as much meat as I wish ? " The man said to the crow :
" I will let you have all the meat you wish, and I will kill more buf-
falo for you, so that you can eat their eyes." The crow said : " I will
go back after my family, and bring my wife and my young crows. And
I will instruct you in my power concerning the eyes, so that you will
have remedy if any one has trouble in his eyes." The man thought
it would be good to learn this power, for his wife was blind on one
eye, and the other was very weak. The crow came back with his
family to where the man was cutting meat, and they ate. Then the
crow and his wife proceeded to teach the man about the eyes. They
told him to lie on his back, and close his eyes tight. Then both of
them sat on his breast, and the crow began to sing. The medicine-
song was : " I have great knowledge of troubles of the eyes." The
man believed firmly in what the crow had said to him ; but from the
crow's teaching he at once lost both his eyes. He tried to go home,
but was lost. At last he fell down a steep and deep place. He
howled and cried out that he was in great trouble. So now there
was only one eye in his family.

A. L. Kroeber.

The Origin and Value of Weather Lore. 191

THE ORIGIN AND VALUE OF WEATHER LORE.

During the past twenty years there have been published a score
of collections of weather proverbs and sayings, most of which are
out of print to-day. These have culminated in an exhaustive treatise
on weather lore by the President of the Royal Meteorologic Society
of England, in the form of a book containing three thousand pro-
verbs. So far as I can determine, authors have vied with each other
in grinding out the largest possible list of weather sayings, but no
attempt has thus far been made to trace this lore to its origin, or to
give it an approximate value. The importance of such a study may
be easily seen when we reflect that of current weather lore at least
half is entirely worthless and half the remainder of very doubtful
service. For ten years I have been preparing material for a book on
this general subject, and present herewith a preliminary study of
the questions involved.

Weather folk-lore is based on the knowledge of the common
people acquired through the ordinary observations of nature, animals,
plants, etc., unaided by instruments. This knowledge was the first
obtained by primeval man. Before the study of the stars must be
placed that of the weather, and traces of such knowledge may be
found, perhaps, in the names of the signs of the zodiac given at least
two thousand years before our era. Aquarius (the Water Man),
and Pisces (Fishes) are both considered meteorologic or watery
signs.

In order to be of value, a weather saying should be based on a suf-
ficient number of coincidences between the sign and the supposed
resulting weather to make it represent a law. The general tendency
of mankind is to give undue prominence to a single marked coinci-
dence, and to ignore entirely the numerous instances where there
are none ; after a saying based on such hasty generalization is once
started, it may be handed down to later generations, but its mere
age can never add anything to its worth.

It is needful, in the first place, to mention a certain class of weather
sayings or alleged rules for forecasting the weather which have no
foundation in facts. It is easy to fancy that at the beginning of a
new year the first twelve days ought to show the character of each
of the following months. From such expectation arises the opinion,
that as the weather is on January 1, so will it be through the month ;
as it is on January 2, so will it be through February, and so on.
That is, if the temperature is low, or below the normal of that sea-
son, on any one of the twelve days, so the corresponding month will
be cold ; if any one of these days is stormy, so will be the month in

192 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

its order. Of somewhat the same character are sayings regarding
the weather which is likely to follow that of special days ; for exam-
ple, " If Candlemas day (February 2, instituted 542 a. d.) be fair and
bright, winter will take a second flight ; " or, as current in this coun-
try, " On February 2, the ground hog (wood-chuck) comes out of his
den, and if he sees his shadow, he goes back and stays six weeks,
knowing that the winter will be thus prolonged." One would natu-
rally conclude that a bright sunny day should be token of an early
spring and not the opposite.

The same may be said of the saying relative to St. Swithin's day :
"If it rains July 15, it will continue raining for forty days." The
legend is that for some reason there was a delay in removing the
body of the saint for a second sepulture, and as a result the rain con-
tinued forty days at the time. Such forecasts might be quoted by
the hundred, and it is easy to see their worthlessness. One objec-
tion urged against the validity of such sayings, however, does not
seem well founded ; namely, that since the reform in the calendar
all these days come out of joint, so to speak, and are growing far-
ther and farther away from their proper place as originally suggested.
If the position of the day, as regards the annual swing of the earth
about the sun, be the all-important consideration in determining the
day of the supposed influence upon the weather, then by the reform
in the calendar the day has been put back and rigidly fixed in its
proper place in the annual march of the earth, and hence the pro-
verb applies properly to the day, provided, of course, that its origin
was during the early years of the Julian calendar.

Much of our pseudo weather lore may be traced directly to the
astrologer and his vagaries. The moon changes almost before our
eyes, hence the weather changes with the moon. Mars is a red
planet and relatively near the sun, hence as fire is red and hot, Mars
must be heating and drying and productive of fires. Saturn was to
the astrologer the most distant of the planets from the sun, hence
his influence was to produce cold (we speak of a Saturnine disposi-
tion). In like manner through the whole gamut of shooting stars,
eclipses, comets, and so on. Shooting stars must be supposed to
drive the wind before them, hence we should expect wind from the
direction in which they are seen. The moon disappears from view
three days before and after it is new, and these must be regarded as
especially unlucky days and causing storms and wind.

An eclipse casts a shadow, or causes darkness over the earth,
hence an eclipse portends storms and winds. Cardan has improved
upon the ordinary astrologic view about eclipses, and has unwittingly
introduced some truth in his interpretation of their influence, as fol-
lows : " Some eclipses of the luminaries at the time or even before

The Origin and Value of Weather Lore. 193

they happen raise showers and rain, others great droughts, some vio-
lent winds, others earthquakes, some a scarcity of fruits of the earth,
others terrible fires." The curious thing is that Cardan and hun-
dreds of other philosophers like him, while recognizing the diverse
character of the conditions following each eclipse, utterly failed to
see the proof that the eclipse itself can have absolutely no effect
upon our weather, and, in like manner, that the position of a planet
or star or any change in the moon can have no effect. It ought not
to take much erudition to show that one eclipse cannot produce a
severe drought and the very next one a heavy rain. Strange to say,
in this evening of the nineteenth century, there are planetary
weather prophets who believe and teach that Vulcan (there is no
such planet) will make hot weather in a part of his orbit, but cold in
another part.

It must be admitted that the universality of the belief that the
moon affects our weather to a very marked degree is difficult of ex-
planation. Has this belief been handed down from a common origin
in the dim past, or have the different nations arrived at the same
conclusion independently ? It is quite difficult to learn just exactly
what the common idea is. Out of perhaps fifty questions of as
many persons in New England, it was gathered that most considered
there to be a greater likelihood of rain at the time of new than of
full moon, and observations along the North Atlantic coast seem to
show a slight preponderance of rain near new moon. This, however,
entirely fails in the interior of the United States, and on the Pacific
coast the full moon seems to be the time of greater rainfall.

This belief in a lunar effect upon the weather has touched the
world of science as well as of astrology. I find the following lunar
table ascribed to the great Herschel, "constructed upon a philo-
sophical consideration of the great attraction of the sun and moon in
their several positions respecting the earth, and confirmed by the
experience of many years' actual observation : " —

LUNAR TABLE.

If it be new or full
moon or the moon
enters into the
first or last quar-
ters at IN SUMMER. IN WINTER.

Noon Very rainy, Snow and rain.

From 2 to 4 p. M., Changeable, Fair and mild.

4 to 6, Fair,' Fair.

6 8 < Fair, wind N. W., Fair and frosty, N. or N. E.

\ Rain, wind S. W., Rain, S. or S. W.

( Fair, if wind N. W., Fair and frosty, if wind N. or N. E.

8 t0 I0' 1 Rain, if wind S. W., Rain, if S. or S. W.

VOL. XIV. — NO. 50. 13

194 Journal of American Folk-Lore*

io to midnight, Fair, Fair and frosty.

o to 2 A. M., Fair, Hard frost, unless wind S. or S. W.

2 to 4, Cold with showers, Snow and stormy.

4 to 6, Rain, Snow and stormy.

6 to 8, Wind and rain, Stormy.

8 to io, Changeable, Cold rain, wind W., snow, E.

io to noon, Frequent showers, Cold with high wind.

I am aware that serious attempts have been made to prove that
this table was not published till after Herschel's death. After a
long hunt, however, I found the original publication in the " Euro-
pean Magazine" for July, 1811, and as Herschel did not die till
eleven years after that date, the usual and only argument I have
ever heard against his authorship falls to the ground.

It should be noted that the saying, "The moon at or just after its
full has power to eat up clouds," has a curious scientific backing.
It is probable that many have noticed a gradual breaking away of
clouds near full moon, especially if the moon is seen through a thin
veil of clouds. The full moon rises just as the sun sets, and at this
time the heat of the sun is so moderated that its tendency to pro-
duce clouds is at a minimum ; two or three hours later nocturnal
cooling will begin another regime of clouds, but at this time most
observers are asleep. We find from a long series of observations
that the minimum of cloudiness in the twenty-four hours is from
8 p. m. to midnight.

Auguries professing to have an astronomical basis may be no more
reasonable than those derived from natural objects. In a German
scale published as early as 1507, if one would forecast the future, he
is directed : If you would know the future, " cut a gall apple into
two or three pieces ; if you find therein flies, it betokens war the
next year ; if you find a little worm, the year will be fat and fruitful ;
if you find there a spider, so there will be deaths."

Equally untrustworthy are the forecasts of a coming winter, which
are so frequently made from observations of planets, the behavior
of animals, and so on. In the winter of 1893-94 there were made
special notes of such predictions which were directly opposite each
other. In New York, Chenango County, was published the state-
ment that the thick husks of corn of a deep orange tint ; the goose
bone being larger and whiter than usual ; the crops of nuts immense
in quantity and squirrels laying in great stores of them ; the par-
tridges and woodcocks fearlessly approaching farmyards ; and ducks
flying in U shaped instead of V shaped flocks toward the south, —
all indicated an unusually early and severe winter. Two weeks
later a farmer in Pennsylvania predicted a mild winter from the fact
that toads were hopping about in November; meadow moles were

The Origin and Value of Weather Lore. 195

rooting up little mounds ; the fur of coons and skunks was thinner
by half than usual. The same view was published in Virginia based
on the fact that there were very few persimmons, and that hornets'
nests had been built in the tops of the trees. It is plain that the
condition of the plant and animal gives absolutely no indication of
the coming season, but is due rather to good nourishment or lack
of it.

There are also found the following in England and Germany as
early as the sixteenth century : " If Christmas day be on Sunday,
that year shall have a warm winter. If on Monday, there shall be a
mild winter. If on Tuesday, it shall be a cold winter and moist,"
and so on through all the days of the week. There is often a good
deal of rhyme about such sayings, but there is absolutely no reason
in them.

If there was a single spring or source from which the stream of
weather lore had started, and if into this stream other smaller rivu-
lets have flowed from time to time, on following back the main
stream we would naturally expect to find it gradually narrowing to
its source. This, however, is not the case, and it is not difficult to
see that if there is any relation between the appearance of clouds,
the behavior of animals and plants, and the ensuing weather, such
relationship could be discovered independently by observers in all
parts of the world and all along the passing centuries. The origin
of a good deal of our weather lore is dependent upon the climate of
the country in which it began, and in many cases the weather of the
country will be a valuable criterion by which to trace such sayings.
For example, all the weather sayings regarding rain or the rainy
season in Greece or Palestine must harmonize with the fact that all
the precipitation in those countries falls between November and
March.

There is a kind of weather lore that has been greatly misinter-
preted, in many cases, from a failure to recognize its origin. Before
the establishment of the calendar and the setting in order of the
months and seasons of the solar year, it was very necessary to deter-
mine the approach of each season in order to facilitate farming oper-
ations. At the first this could be done only by watching the rising
and setting of the constellations. Thus Hesiod says that when the
Pleiades rise, the harvest begins. Such sayings have been inter-
preted as indicating an actual benefic or malevolent influence from
stars, but seem, in the first instance, to have depended simply on
the necessities of the observer. So the piece of weather lore con-
tained in Job, referring to the sweet influences of the Pleiades,
depends on nothing more than the indication of the coming season
as shown by the appearance of these stars.

1 96 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Hesiod, in his " Works and Days," tries to encourage the laggard
farmer by saying, " But if you shall have ploughed late, this would
be your remedy : When the cuckoo sings first on the oak foliage,
and delights mortals over the boundless earth, then let Zeus rain
three days and not cease, neither over-topping your ox's hoof nor
falling short of it ; then would a late plougher be equal with an early
one." There would seem to be a grim humor in this advice, for
such a rain would help the forward farmer even more than the lag-
gard. The reference to the cuckoo is interesting, inasmuch as it has
come down through the centuries as the best-known animal sign of
rain. We have the cuckoo pluvialis, and, in our own country, it is
called the "rain crow." It has a mournful, monotonous cry once
heard never to be forgotten. It is a rare bird, though noticed by
myself in New England, and again after reaching Washington.
Hesiod also points out that the first call of the crow as it migrates
northward is an indication that spring is nigh.

The earliest large collection of weather signs we owe to Theophras-
tus, belonging to the fourth century b. c. He says, after speaking
of signs derived from domestic and other animals, "but for the most
part signs derived from the sun and moon are the most important."
In this he refers, in part at least, to the waxing and waning moon,,
but mostly as to the appearance of the sun and moon, when clouds
are hovering near. He says : "The ends and beginnings of lunar
months are apt to be stormy, because light fails from the fourth day
before to the fourth day after new moon. The obscuration of the
moon occurs in a similar way to an eclipse of the sun." He gives the
call of the tree toad as a precursor of rain, and this has come down to
us as another valuable prognostic. He also says : "An ass shaking
its ears is a sign of storm." A modern version of this sign is given.
as follows : An English philosopher, while driving out with a friend,
stopped to ask a shepherd boy the way. As he was about to drive
on, the boy warned him that it was going to rain, but the philo-
sopher, not seeing a cloud in the sky, drove on. Sure enough, in an
hour and a half the rain came in torrents. The next day the philo-
sopher determined on learning the boy's secret. On seeing him, the
boy refused to divulge, but on clutching the proffered guinea in his
hand he said, " Do you see that old black wether over there ? Well,
when he stands facing the wind, shakes his head, stamps his foot,
and snuffs up the wind, it is a sure sign that it will rain in an hour
or two." Of course, if we are to give credence to such a sign, there
should be more than one sheep in a large flock having the same or
like impulses.

There are many who believe that animals have a finer sense in
distinguishing coming weather changes than man can have, even

• The Origin and Value of Weather Lore. 197

with the aid of the finest instruments ; for example, a hunting clog
has a wonderfully developed sense of smell ; the insects with their
extremely delicate organisms would be susceptible to the slightest
variations in weather ; plants with their chlorophyl and living prin-
ciple may change very readily with weather changes, and so on.
Not long ago a statement was published in the " American Meteor-
ologic Journal " that certain snails in Georgia changed color on the
approach of rain. A letter was immediately dispatched, making
fuller inquiries, but no response was ever received. . It cannot be
shown that a storm ever makes its presence felt by changes in mois-
ture, pressure, or temperature which animals will notice before our
more delicate instruments. In the case of moisture it is quite cer-
tain that the change comes simultaneously with the storm and not
before it. The evidence seems strong that there may be an influ-
ence emanating from a storm other than that which can be ascribed
to moisture, pressure, temperature, or any other commonly recog-
nized condition. Nor do we need to go to animals to discover such
an influence. Many persons who have lost limbs, or are subject to
rheumatic pains, recognize such a condition. Captain Catlin, who
has made a most interesting and scientific study of this whole ques-
tion, has decided that there are certain thunderstorms and electric
conditions which alone are responsible for the pains in nerves.
Probably many have known persons who are extremely uneasy and
nervous on the approach of a thunderstorm, but who are instantly
relieved on the first clap of thunder.

Many readers will have noted in the summer twilight the sharp
hum of the nighthawk as he strikes the air with his wing in darting
for prey, also swallows as they skim just above the ground. These
are both signs of coming storms ; the insects are driven down by
the condition of the atmosphere, and the birds are forced to follow
them.

Many ancient weather signs, more valuable than any derived from
animals, are based on the appearance of clouds and fogs at sunrise
and sunset, and other optical phenomena. One of the best of these
is quoted in the New Testament, Matt. xvi. 3 : " When it is evening,
ye say, fair weather : for the heaven is red. And in the morning,
foul weather to-day: for the heaven is red and lowring."

The same idea is popularly expressed in the rhyme : —

Evening red and morning gray
Will speed a traveller on his way ;
But evening gray and morning red
Will pour down rain upon his head.

In this case, if the red seen at evening extends round the horizon,
it is not a good sign of fair weather on the next day.

19S yournal of American Folk-Lore.

The rhyme which affirms that

A rainbow in the morning
Will give a sailor warning,
A rainbow at night
Is the sailor's delight,

has something of a scientific basis. The morning light reflected and
refracted from drops to the westward causes the rainbow. In the
afternoon the drops have passed by toward the east, and hence a
rainbow in the east shows that the storm has passed, as all our
storms in the temperate regions travel from west to east.

Aratus says : " If there be a single red circle about the moon, it
betokens a storm ; if two circles, a severe storm ; and if three, a very
severe storm." In a part of this statement, he undoubtedly has
reference to a corona, which is very near the sun or moon, and shows
prismatic colors, but he must also intend to include the halo of
twenty-two degrees radius. The popular saying is that the number
of stars within the ring around the moon shows the number of days
before the storm. The halo, being due to the presence of crystals
or much vapor, is a fair precursor of a storm, but the addition relat-
ing to the number of stars is fanciful, as the storm will come within
thirty-six hours if at all.

H. A. Hazen.

Washington, D. C.

Editor's Note. — Henry Allen Hazen, the author of the preceding paper, died
in Washington, D. C, January 22, 1900, at the age of fifty-one years. He was
born in Sirim, India, being a son of Rev. Allen Hazen. In 1881 he entered the
Signal Service at Washington, and in July, 1891, was attached to the Forecast
Division of the Meteorological Bureau. He was the author of a great number of
publications, scattered through periodicals, a complete list of which would extend
to several hundred titles. Mr. Hazen, who was greatly interested in the study of
weather signs and traditional weather lore, had made collections looking to a
classification of these; but although his preparations had made such progress
that he had undertaken to seek a proper medium for the publication of his mate-
rial, his death left the work in a state too incomplete to permit the use of his
notes. The paper here printed was given in the form of an address before a sci-
entific society.

The Worship and Folk- Lore of Meteorites. 199

THE WORSHIP AND FOLK-LORE OF METEORITES.1

Few natural objects have more generally been worshipped by the
human race than meteorites. From the dawn of history to the pre-
sent there has probably never been a day when there was not being
carried on somewhere upon the globe the worship of a "sky stone."

That savage and barbarous people should do this does not seem
strange when one considers the extraordinary phenomena of dazzling
light and violent sounds which usually accompany the fall of a
meteorite.

But when one finds that similar worship was carried on by the
Greeks and Romans, and even probably forms a part of the Moham-
medan ritual of the present day, it is evident that the worship of
these bodies takes a deeper hold upon mankind than that of most
other material things, and makes an inquiry into the nature and
causes of such worship seem desirable. Certainly for scientific pur-
poses a catalogue made as complete as possible of the cases where
such worship has been carried on is needed. Instances of the wor-
ship of meteorites among ancient peoples, especially the Greeks and
Romans, have been carefully collected and exhaustively studied by
Professor H. A. Newton, the results of his study having been pub-
lished in the " American Journal of Science " soon after his death.2

There are many instances, however, not enumerated by Professor
Newton, which should be added to the list. The writer's endeavor
will be therefore to enumerate as many well-authenticated cases as
he has been able to discover, of meteorites which have been wor-
shipped, or which have been the subjects of legends or folk-lore, and
to draw any conclusions from the collected records which may seem
justifiable.

Ignoring the hazy records of the Chinese and Arabians in regard
to the worship of meteorites as being too indefinite for study, there
may be first mentioned a stone whose worship, beginning at a very
early period, has endured to the present day. This is the meteorite
of the Kaaba at Mecca? The worship of this stone by Arabian
tribes is first spoken of by Greek writers of early times. So firmly
had its worship become established when the Arabs became con-
verts to Mohammedanism, and Mohammed took Mecca, and de-
stroyed the 360 idols within the temple, that the great prophet dared

1 Revised from a paper read before the Chicago Academy of Sciences, March
28, 1808.

2 Amer. Jour. Sci. 4th ser. vol. iii. p. I.

3 Fletcher, An Introduction to the Study of Meteorites, 1S94, p. 18 ; also New-
ton, /. c. p. 4.

200 jfoumal of American Folk-Lore.

not or cared not to abolish it. Saluting the idol with his staff, he
made the sevenfold circuit of the temple court, and returned and
kissed it. Having thus sanctioned its worship, the Mohammedans
have regarded it with the utmost reverence ever since. It is built
into the corner of the Kaaba or temple, and toward it each devout
Moslem is bidden to look five times a day as he prays. Its name is
The Right Hand of God on Earth. By one tradition it is said to
have dropped from Heaven with Adam, by another to have been
given by Gabriel to Abraham to attest his divinity, and by another
it is said that when Abraham was reconstructing the Kaaba that had
been destroyed by the deluge, he sent his son Ishmael for a stone
to put in its corner, and Gabriel met Ishmael, and gave him this
stone. By the tradition the stone was originally transparent hya-
cinth, but became black through being kissed by a sinner. In the
day of judgment, it is said, it will witness in favor of all those who
have touched it with sincere hearts, and will be endowed with sight
and speech. That this wonderful stone is a meteorite has not been
positively proved by observation, since of course no one has ever
been able to obtain a fragment of it for study. There can, however,
be little doubt that it is a meteorite. Not only did it according to
tradition fall from heaven, but it is described by travellers as having
a black color and basaltic character, qualities which correspond ex-
actly to those of meteoric stones. Coming next to the instances of
meteorites worshipped by Greeks and Romans, it will be found dif-
ficult to separate the imaginary from the real. Yet a few cases may
be cited with comparative assurance.

Venus of Paphos, Island of Cyprus} — This was one of many
"heaven descended images," and is described as a rude triangular
stone.

The Statue of Ceres? — This is referred to by Cicero in his oration
against Verres as being "not made by hands" and "fallen from the
skies."

The Earliest Image of Pallas at Athens? — Tradition gives this a
like origin with that just quoted.

The Stone of Delphi} — This is described by Pausanius as being
a stone of moderate size " which they anointed every day, and cov-
ered during every festival with new shorn wool." They are of the
opinion respecting this stone, he says, " that it was the one given by
Cybele to Saturn to swallow as a substitute for the infant Jupiter,
which Saturn after swallowing vomited out on the earth."

The Needle of Cybele? — This meteoric stone attained great celeb-

1 Fletcher, /. c. p. 18; Newton, /. c. p. 5.

2 Newton, /. c. p. 6. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid.
5 Fletcher, /. c. p. 18 ; Newton, /. c. p. 8.

The Worship and Folk-Lore of Meteorites. 201

rity and importance in Roman history, and was worshipped through
long centuries as the image of Cybele. It was described as conical
in shape and ending in a point ; brown in color and looking like a
piece of lava. It fell at some unknown early time near Pessinus
on the border line between Phrygia and Galatia. The worship of
Cybele being carried on there, the stone was set up and adored as
her image. At the time when Hannibal was maintaining his army
in Italy, and threatening the Roman state, a shower of stones occurred
which alarmed the Romans as to their future, and caused them to
consult the sibylline books as to what should be done. The response
was that whenever a foreign enemy had carried war into Italy, he
could be expelled and conquered if the Idasan mother (this meteoric
stone) be brought from Pessinus to Rome. Accordingly with the
greatest ceremony the stone was brought to Rome. A new ship
was built to carry it, and it was received in the city with elaborate
rites and festivals of many days' duration. Before another year had
passed, Hannibal had been forced back to Africa. In gratitude for
deliverance a temple was erected to Cybele. In it a silver statue of
the goddess was placed, and the stone was made to serve as her
head. For more than 500 years thereafter the stone was an object
of public worship. In the course of time, however, the worship was
discontinued, and the stone disappeared from view, probably, alas !
never to be found again. It has been searched for most industri-
ously by modern excavators, but no trace has ever been found of it
except an account of its probable rejection. The chances of its ever
being discovered seem now therefore exceedingly small.

Heliogabahis} — This meteoric stone was worshipped in the time
of Emperor Macrinus as the image of the Sun God. According to
tradition, it fell from heaven, and is described as " a large stone
rounded on the base, and gradually tapering upward to a sharp
point ; it is shaped like a cone. In color it is black, and they show
certain small prominences and depressions in the stone." Such a
description accords well with those of the peculiar features of a
meteoric stone. The stone was first worshipped in Asia on the
banks of the Orontes between Damascus and Antioch, a magnificent
temple being built over it there. Macrinus, on becoming emperor,
had the stone brought to Rome, where its worship was carried on
with the most costly and elaborate ceremonies as long as he reigned.
After his death, however, the worship was probably discontinued, as
nothing more can be learned of the stone or of this form of wor-
ship.

The Image of Artemis at Ephesus? — This image was the central

1 Newton, /. c. p. 11.

2 Fletcher, /. c. p. iS; Newton, /. c. p. 13.

202 Journal of American Folk- Lore.

object in the great temple at Ephesus, which was reckoned one of
the seven wonders of the world. It was said to have fallen from
heaven, and its name, Diipetes, signified "fallen from the sky."
While the copies which were made of it and widely circulated during
the first century are not representations of a stone, they are, in the
opinion of Professor Newton, idealized forms of what was originally
a stone having the characters of a meteorite.

In addition to the above seemingly well-defined instances of the
worship of meteorites by the Greeks and Romans, there are others
indicated by coins known to have been struck by different rulers.
Many of these coins bear the figure of a stone mounted as if on a
shrine, while the accompanying inscription tells of the fall. The
fact that the occurrence was commemorated by a coin indicates that
the object was considered one of ominous import. The Imperial
Museum at Vienna possesses much the largest collection of these
coins known. The coins there shown tell of the fall of meteorites in
Macedonia, Attuda, Cyprus, Cyrrhus, Emisa, Mallas, Perga, Pola,
Sardis, Pierian Seleucia, Sidon, Synnada, Tripolis, and Tyre.1 They
were struck by the following rulers or their associates : Philip II.,
Alexander III., Augustus, Caligula, Vespasian, Trajan, Antoninus
Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus, Commodus, Septimius Sev-
erus, Julia Domna, Caracalla, Elagabalus, Annia Faustina, Maesa,
Julia Soaemias, Alexander Severus, Maximinus, Gordianus Pius,
Tranquillina, Philippus pater, Phillippus filius, Valerian, Gallienus,
Salonina, Aurelian, and Tacitus. It is to be hoped that the history
of these individual coins will be some time carefully investigated.

Coming now to more modern times, many instances of meteorites
held in reverence may be recorded in the Old World.

Durala, India. — Here a stone weighing about twenty-five pounds
fell February 18, 1815. The natives believing it to be of heavenly
origin procured means to have a special temple built over it,2 but the
East India Company took possession of the stone, and sent it to the
British Museum, where it is now largely preserved.

Saonlod, India? — A shower of about forty stones fell here Janu-
ary 19, 1867. The terrified inhabitants of the village seeing in them
the instruments of vengeance of an offended deity, gathered all the
stones they could find, and having pounded them to powder, scat-
tered them to the winds.

Nedagolla, India. — This meteoric iron fell January 23, 1870, with
brilliant light and explosive sounds. The people of the village were
much alarmed, carried the mass to their temple, and made punja

1 Annalen des k. k. Naturhist. Hofmuseums, Wien, Bd. x. p. 236.

2 Buchner, Die Meteoriten in Sammlungen, p. 36.

3 Flight, A Chapter in the History of Meteorites, p. 150.

The Worship and Folk-Lore of Meteorites. 203

(ceremonial worship) to it. Some time after it was taken possession
of for the collections of the British Museum.

SabetmaJimet, India} — This stone was decked with flowers,
anointed with ghee, and subjected to frequent ceremonial worship
and coatings of sandal-wood powder. It was placed on a terrace
constructed for it at the place where it struck the ground, and a sub-
scription was made for the erection of a shrine.

Ogi, Hizen, Japan? — Two stones which fell here, according to
one account, December 10, 1744, were used for more than 150 years
as offerings annually made in the temple in Ogi to Shokujo on the
festival of that goddess the 7th day of the 7th month. The belief
among the Japanese was that the stones had fallen from the shores
of the Silver River, Heavenly River, or Milky Way, after they had
been used by the goddess as weights to steady her loom. One of
these stones is now largely preserved in the British Museum.

Kesen, Iwate, Japan? — A meteorite which fell here in 1850 was
preserved in a temple many years, and worshipped as an idol. Por-
tions of it are now to be found in many collections.

Krasnq/arsk, Siberia. — Here a mass of iron weighing 1500 pounds
was long in place. The first European to visit it was the traveller
Pallas, in 1771. He reported that the mass was regarded by the
Tartars of the vicinity as "a holy thing fallen from heaven."4 Ex-
amination of the mass made since Pallas's day proves it beyond ques-
tion to be meteoric.

Ensisheim, Alsace, Germany. — Here a stone weighing about 300
pounds fell November 16, 1492.

The Emperor Maximilian had the stone brought to the neighbor-
ing castle, and a council of state was held to consider what message
from heaven the stone fall had brought them. As a result the stone
was hung up in the church with an appropriate legend, and with the
strictest command that it should ever remain there intact. It was
held to be an omen of import in the contest then in progress in
France and in the contest impending with the Turks.6 At the time
of the French Revolution it was taken down by iconoclasts, and
broken into a number of pieces. One large piece, however, is still
preserved in the Town Hall of Ensisheim.

Duritma, East Africa? — This stone weighing about a pound fell
March 6, 1853. It was picked up by some shepherd boys, and of
these some German missionaries tried to buy it. The barbarous
tribe of Wanikas, however, hearing of the fall, took the stone to be

1 Records of the Geological Survey of India, 1885, vol. xviii. p. 237.

2 Flight, /. c. p. 166.

3 Brezina, Ann. k. k. Naturhist. Hofmtscnms, Wien, Bd. x. p. 257.

4 Fletcher, /. c. p. 20. 6 Newton, /. c. p. 3. 6 Buchner, /. c. p. 86.

204 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

a god, obtained possession of it, and refused to part with it. They
anointed it with oil, clothed it with apparel, and built for it a kind
of temple. Three years later the wild Masai came down upon the
Wanikas, burned their village, and killed large numbers of the
people. The Wanikas thereupon concluded that their god was a
poor protector, and, having lost all respect for it, gladly sold it to
the missionaries. The stone is now to.be seen in the collection of
the Academy of Sciences of Munich.

In the New World several instances of worship of meteorites may
be cited. The greatest antiquity is probably to be assigned to those
worshipped by the mound-builders.

Tttrner Moicnd, Hamilton County, Ohio} — Upon a brick altar in
this mound were found several objects made of meteoric iron. They
were accompanied by other ornamental objects, such as figurines,
dishes, copper ornaments, and bones of deer and elk. All gave evi-
dence of having been subjected to the action of fire, and this, to-
gether with their position upon the altar, indicates that all these
objects were considered more or less sacred by the people who
placed them there. A study of the peculiar features of the iron
makes it very probable that it had been brought from Kansas by the
aborigines, showing all the more plainly the high esteem in which it
must have been held.

Hopewell Mound, Ross County, Ohio. — Here were also found, in
connection with a skeleton upon an altar, part of a headdress, beads,
and other ornaments all made of meteoric iron. As in the case just
quoted, worship of these objects is indicated.

Oktibbeha Co?inty, Mississippi.2 — A mass of what is probably
meteoric iron was found in an Indian mound here.

Casas Grandes, Mexico. — An account of a mass of meteoric iron
probably worshipped here by the aborigines is given as follows by
Mr. M. Pierson, United States vice-consul at El Paso del Norte : 3
" Some three or four years since a party of the inhabitants of the
town of Casas Grandes, as a matter of curious speculation, com-
menced excavating in the old ruins there. One more fortunate than
the others drifted into a large room, in the middle of which there
appeared a kind of tomb made of adobe brick. Renewing his excava-
tions, he found a large mass of meteoric iron in the middle of the
tomb, carefully and curiously wrapped with a coarse kind of linen.
Twenty-six yoke of oxen were mustered, and as many more strong
log chains, and the meteorite was hauled to the town of Casas
Grandes. ' It measured 2 feet 6 inches square, and is supposed to

1 Kinnicut, Rep. Peabody Museum, 1884, p. 381.

2 Taylor, Proc. Acad. Phil. 1857.

8 Smithsonian Report for 1873, p. 419.

The Worship and Folk-Lore of Meteorites. 205

weigh 5000 pounds." The present whereabouts of the mass are not
known, unless a meteorite now in the collection of the United States
National Museum be the one described by Mr. Pierson.

Wichita County, Texas. — A mass of meteoric iron first seen here
by white men in 1836, and weighing 320 pounds, was an object of
worship to the Comanche Indians. It was set up at a point where
several trails met, and the Indians in passing by it were accustomed
to deposit upon it offerings of beads, pipes, and tobacco.1 Portions
of the mass are now to be seen in several collections.

Ckarcas, Mexico. — This mass of meteoric iron weighing 1500
pounds was seen by Humboldt in the above place in 181 1.2 It was
then, he states, built into the wall of a church (or churchyard),
and was worshipped by women in the belief that they would thus be
cured of sterility. The mass was brought in 1885 to Paris.

San Grcgorio, Chihuahua, Mexico. — On this mass of meteoric
iron weighing twelve tons, which lay in its original position until
1 89 1, was cut in 1 82 1 this inscription: —

" Solo Dios con su poder este fiero destruira
Pues en el mundo no habra
Quien lo pueda de hacer."

(" Since no one in the world could make it, only God with his power
this iron can destroy.") These words at least indicate that a sacred
character was given the iron in the eyes of some one, though we
have no evidence that any worship of the mass was ever carried on.
The mass is now in the museum of the National School of Mines,
City of Mexico.

FOLK-LORE OF METEORITES.

Under this head may be classed cases in which meteorites were
the source of some legend or belief not involving worship. In these
cases something of awe or reverence for the object is indicated, but
not of so profound a nature as was felt where worship was carried on.

Elbogen, Bohemia? — Here a mass of meteoric iron weighing 200
pounds was preserved for centuries (and may still be seen) in the
Town Hall. It is said to have fallen about the beginning of the
fifteenth century. It was long invested by the people with an ex-
traordinary character, and was known among them as the enchanted
or bewitched burggrave (a burggrave being a court official). The
popular tradition in regard to the mass was. that if at any time
it were thrown into the castle fountain (which was twenty-two
fathoms deep), it would come back to its former place. In 1742 the

1 Mallet, Am. Jour. Set. 3d ser. vol. xxviii. p. 285.

2 Humboldt, Essai politique, vol. ii. p. 582.

3 Buchner, /. c. p. 151.

206 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

French, being in temporary control of the country, in mockery of
the saying, threw the iron into the fountain. But it proved true to
its reputation, for in 1776 the French rule being ended, the towns-
people lifted it out of its pit, and set it back in the place to which
tradition had said it would return.

The Gibbs Meteorite. — This is a mass of meteoric iron weighing
1690 pounds now in the Yale Museum. The first white man to see
it was Captain Anthony Glass, who in 1808, when trading among the
Pawnees in Texas, was shown the mass by the Indians. He states
that they regarded the mass with great veneration, and attributed to
it singular powers in the cure of diseases.1

Ncjed, Central Arabia. — The belief that meteorites are the solid
substance of thunderbolts has been not uncommon, and is quite
natural when one considers the phenomena attending their fall.
One of the most interesting records of such a belief is found in a
letter which accompanied the Nejed meteorite now in the British
Museum :2 —

In the year 1282 after the death of Mahomed, when Mame Faisale Ben
Saoode was governor and general-commander-in-chief of the Pilgrims,
residing in a valley called Yakki, which is situated in Nagede, in Central
Arabia, Schiekh Kalaph Ben Essah, who then resided in the above-named
valley, came to Bushire, Persian Gulf, and brought a larger thunderbolt
with him for me, and gave the undermentioned particulars concerning it.

In the spring of the year 1280, in the valley called Wadee Banee Khaled,
in Nagede, Central Arabia, there occurred a great storm, thunder and
lightning being particularly prevalent ; and during the storm an enormous
thunderbolt fell from the heavens, accompanied by a dazzling light, similar
to a large shooting star, and it imbedded itself deeply into the earth.
During its fall the noise of its descent was terrific. I, Schiekh Kalaph Ben
Essah, procured possession of it, and brought it to you, it being the largest
that ever fell in the district of Nagede. These thunderbolts as a rule only
weigh two or three pounds, and fall from time to time during tropical
storms.

The above concludes the narrative of Schiekh Kalaph Ben Essah.

I myself saw in Africa four years after the above date a similar one,
weighing 133 pounds, to that which Schiekh Kalaph Ben Essah brought to
me, and the Sultan of Zanzibar, Sayde Mayede, obtained possession of it,
and forwarded it to Europe for the purpose of having it converted into
weapons. For this reason I have forwarded my thunderbolt to London
(as when melted and made into weapons, they were of the most superior
kind and temper), considering it one of the wonders of the world, and may
be a benefit to science.

1 Amer. Jour. Set. 1st ser. vol. viii. p. 218.

2 Fletcher, Min. Mag. vol. vii. p. 179-

The Worship and Folk-Lore of Meteorites. 207

The said Schiekh Kalaph Ben Essah, who brought me this thunderbolt,
is still alive and under Turkish government control at Hoodydah, near

Jeddah.

Yours truly,
(Signed) Hajee Ahmed Khane Sarteep.

In order to judge properly of the above instances, it is desirable to
note some in which meteorites have been treated with no regard at
all.

Some of the most remarkable are those of the meteorites of Kiowa
County, Kansas, which, until their meteoric nature was discovered,
were put to all sorts of base uses. They were used to hold down
stable roofs and covers to rain-barrels, and were buried by hogs and
struck by mowing-machines. In fact, they were considered general
nuisances. The Staunton County, Virginia, meteoric iron, when
first found, a colored man tried to sell for a dollar. Being unable
to do this, he threw it into a back yard, where it remained until it
was built into a stone wall. There a dentist discovered it, and
found it very useful to hammer metals and crack nuts on. Then it
was built into the curbing of a cistern. There it's meteoric nature
was discovered, and it has since occupied a more worthy place.
The Tucson, Arizona, iron, in many respects one of the most re-
markable meteorites in the world, for many years served as a public
anvil in the town of Tucson. In many other instances meteorites
have been used for anvils, for nut-crackers, and weights, and one
served for many years as a base in a stamp mill.

It is evident, therefore, that the regard in which meteorites have
been held depends wholly on whether their fall was observed or not.
It was always the fall and the phenomena attending it which im-
pressed the observer, and not any peculiarity in the stone, if found
alone. To the finding of a piece of peculiar stone or even metal the
average man attached little importance, and used the mass for what-
ever purpose it proved most serviceable. When, however, he saw a
stone fall from the sky, often with terrifying phenomena, all his feel-
ings of awe and reverence were aroused, and he often set the stone
up as an object of worship, or regarded it as possessing magic quali-
ties. The instances prove that such a feeling of awe was not con-
fined to savage peoples, but has often been shared by those possess-
ing a high degree of civilization. Indeed, the degree of regard in
which the object was held was apparently the more intense the
higher the degree of civilization. The worship of these bodies by
the Romans was evidently far more elaborate and enduring than
that by any other people.

In striking contrast to this worship of sky stones by the Romans
have been the incredulity and scorn with which, up to the beginning

208 youmal of American Folk-Lore.

of the present century at least, the accounts of the fall of stones
from the sky have been treated by modern civilized peoples. They
have generally refused to believe that stones could fall from the sky,
and have echoed the remark of President Jefferson when told that
Professors Silliman and Kingsley, of Yale, had described a shower of
stones as having taken place at Weston, Conn. " They may be
right," he said, " but it is easier for me to believe that two Yankee
professors would lie than to believe that stones would fall from
heaven."

The true mental attitude is undoubtedly to be found between the
two extremes thus indicated. While the intelligent man no longer
regards the stone as a god, he is convinced that it is a messenger
from space, a patient and even reverential study of which will dis-
close to him not a few of the secrets of the universe.

Oliver C. Farrington.

Field Columbian Museum, Chicago, III.

In the Southern Field of Polk-Lore. 209

IN THE SOUTHERN FIELD OF FOLK-LORE.

The effort to extend folk-lore investigations in the South will no
doubt bear valuable fruit, but the work is going to be somewhat slow
and difficult, I fear.

The importance of the material is not sufficiently appreciated,
even among cultured people. If they can be made to understand
that the folk-lore of a people is part of the history of that people,
they will doubtless awaken to active appreciation.

The publication, some months since, in this Journal, of an article
entitled " Some Mountain Superstitions of the South," brought to me
several contributions of folk-lore, and from them I have selected the
following.

Mr. William T. Howard, of Lancing, Tenn., was reared in the
Cumberland Mountains. I know him as a reliable man. He writes
that some years since, while collecting for a sewing-machine com-
pany, he passed three days at the home of a Mr. Massengale, in Scott
County. Mr. Massengale was then about eighty years of age, but
was as physically and mentally vigorous as most men in middle life.
He was a strong believer in witchcraft, and some of the stories which
he related Mr. Howard has given me in the old gentleman's own
language, as nearly as he can recall it.

A BEWITCHED GUN.

" For many years," said he, " I made my living by hunting, and
many deer, bear, turkeys, and all sorts of varmints to be found in
these mountings, have I killed:

" I was considered a powerful good shot with a rifle, and that I
certainly was.

" One morning, howsom'ever, I went out, and the first thing I
knew I had a fine shot at a big deer, which was standing stock-
still, broadside toward me. I raised my gun, took good aim, and
expected of course to drop him dead in his tracks. But I missed
him, point blank. He made a few jumps and then stood stock-
still until I had wasted three shots on him, and had n't cut a hair.
Then he ran off.

" This sort of thing went on for several days. I had lots of power-
ful fine close shots, but could n't hit a thing. .

" I told my wife that there was something awful wrong, either
with me or with the gun. She told me I had better go to the witch-
doctor, as it was likely my gun was bewitched.

" I went to the witch-doctor, who told me to go into the woods
near a certain house, pick out a tree, and name it after the woman

vol. xiii. — no. 50. 14

2 1 o Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

who lived there. He said she was a witch, and had bewitched my
gun. He said after I had named the tree as he directed I must
shoot' at it, and listen to see if there- was any noise made at the house
— for if I hit the tree the witch would be hurt, and then my gun
would be all right.

" I did as he said, and at the first crack of the gun I heard the
woman cry out, as if she had been hit instead of the tree. I went
to the tree and found that it was hit. From that time on my gun
was as good as ever, and my shooting was as reliable as it had ever
been."

This same old man told Mr. Howard a story of

A BEWITCHED CHURNING.

" I was working for a man," he said, " whose wife was regarded as
a witch. One day I saw her put a very small quantity of milk into
the churn and go to churning. There was not over a teacupful, or
such a matter, of it. But after a while I saw her put some white
powder into it. She got a big lot of butter. I noticed where she
put the powder, and the first chance that I got I stole some of it
and went home.

" I asked mother to let me have some milk. She thought I
wanted it to drink, and gave it to me. But I put it in the churn,
put in some of the powder, and I got more butter than she usually
got from a whole churnful of milk.

" On my way back to the farm where I worked I met a very small,
dark-haired, red-complected man, that I had never seen before. He
said to me, ' You have used some of my material, and now you must
put your name in my book.'

" I asked him what he meant, and he said I had made butter with
his material, and I 'd got to put my name down in his book. I hated
like the mischief to do it, but was afraid of him, and decided to do
what he said. So, following his directions, I scratched my arm until
the blood came, and with it I wrote my name in a little book which
he handed to me. He then went away, seeming to feel satisfied,
and I have never seen him since."

The old man told Mr. Howard that the witches had several times
turned him into a horse and ridden him off' to their night frolics.

He could remember distinctly looking at himself and thinking
with pride what a fine horse he was.

He said that on one of these occasions they rode him through a lot
of brier-bushes, and the next morning his hands were full of briers.

He also claimed to have learned the secrets of witchcraft, and de-
clared that he could do anything with Mr. Howard that he pleased
by simply thinking it, and offered to demonstrate his ability to do so
by practical experiments.

In the Southern Field of Folk- Lore. 2 1 1

But Mr. Howard frankly confesses that he has sufficient supersti-
tion in his nature to have inspired him with fear of the old man, and
he begged him not to experiment upon him.

His host assured him that he could feel perfectly easy in his mind,
as he would do nothing against the will of his guest.

Mr. Howard says that the old man's manner throughout these
recitals was such as to inspire the belief that he was deeply in ear-
nest in all that he related.

THE MYSTERIOUS DEER.

There is quite a prevalent belief among mountaineers in the exist-
ence of a mysterious deer, of which they stand in no inconsiderable
awe. I have heard of a hunter in upper East Tennessee, who claims
to have shot at this deer, or one of these deer, under a misapprehen-
sion. The bullet came back and lodged in his own leg, and he
shows the scar in apparent confidence that the evidence is con-
clusive.

Dr. A. S. Wiltse, who has for many years practised his profession
in the Cumberland Mountains, and who takes a deep interest in the
mountain people and their peculiarities, writes me this version of
the deer myth, secured from a celebrated hunter named Jackson
Howard. The language of the. original relator is reproduced as
nearly as practicable : —

" El Moore is a good hunter, and a splendid good shot, too. But
he got into a streak o' mighty ornery luck one time jes' on ercount
er one er them thar white deer. He tole me all erbout hit with 'is
own lips, an' El is a mighty truthful man.

" He said he war out a' huntin' one mornin', an' he come onter a
white deer, an' hit war not more 'n fifteen er twenty feet frum 'im.

" He fired at hit, but never toch a hair. That deer jes^ stood still
untwel he 'd a-wasted seven or eight shots on hit. Then hit run off,
an' he tried his gun on a spot in a tree, an' the bullet went straight
to ther mark.

" He got his dander up then, an' laid fer thet white deer, an' he
wasted a powerful lot more ammunition on hit, untwel fin'ly 'e
plugged hit in ther shoulder.

" But he was mighty sorry fer that, right then an' for a long time
atterwards. He said hit made the sorrowfulest noise 'at he ever
hearn in all of his life. An' from that day twelvemonth hit war im-
possible fer El ter kill any kind of er deer whatsomever. He could
kill ofher kinds of varmints all right ernough, but kill a deer he
couldn't."

212 yournal of A merican Folk-Lore.

A HOODOO CHARM.

Mr. S. P. Gardner, who was reared in Louisiana, has furnished me a
fine collection of the superstitions of that section. For the present
I shall give only a recipe for making a hoodoo or voodoo charm : —

" Take a dried one-eyed toad, a dried lizard, the little finger of a
person who committed suicide, the wings of a bat, the eyes of a cat,
the liver of an owl, and reduce all to a powder. Then cut up into
fine pieces a lock of hair from the head of a dead (natural) child, and
mix it with the powder. Make a bag of a piece of sheet that has
been used as a shroud, put all of the material into it and put it into
the pillow of the intended victim, when nobody is aware of your
action. He will pine away and die. A few feathers run through
the bag will expedite matters."

Henry M. Wiltse.

Chattanooga, Tenn.

Record of American Folk- Lore. 2 1 3

RECORD OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.

NORTH AMERICA.

Algonkian. General. Under the title, " The Northern Nations,"
Mr. Joseph Eclkins, of Shanghai, China, endeavors, in the " Amer-
ican Antiquarian " (vol. xxii. pp. 254-257) for July-August, 1900, to
prove some connections between the northern languages of Asia and
America. He compares certain Cree and Ojibwa words with words
in the Mongol language, Chinese and Japanese. His treatment of
Algonkian roots is only on a par with his treatment of Mongol roots.
Such attempts are exercises in philological atavism, hardly aught
else. — In the "Transactions of the Canadian Institute " (vol. vi.
pp. 285-312), Mr. J. C. Hamilton writes of "Famous Algonquins :
Algic Legends." Among other noted Indians of Algonkian lineage,
the following are discussed at more or less length, many interesting
facts about them being recorded : Shinguakongse ("Little Pine," a
half-breed Chippewa, famous in the war of 18 12), who is remembered
in Chinguacousy, the name of a township in the county of Peel,
Ontario ; Pegwis (a Cree chief, who signed a treaty with the Earl of
Selkirk in 1817); Iandwahwah (" Thunderbolt," a Cree chief, who
looked remarkably like the late Sir John A. Macdonald, the Canadian
premier) ; Crowfoot (the famous Blackfoot chieftain, who died in
1890, and over whose grave Canada has erected a modest monu-
ment) ; Poundmaker (the Cree chief, a really great man) ; Mikasto
(' Red Crow," a Blood chief of considerable repute as a native states-
man) ; Gitchi Naigou (better known by the French translation of
his name, Le Grand Sable, a Chippewa chief, who figured at the
taking of Mackinac in 1763 ; Waubojeeg ("White Fisher," son of a
Chippewa chief who was with Montcalm at the taking of Quebec,
but afterwards went over to the British side; of his granddaughters,
— their mother was the wife of Mr. Johnston, an Irish gentleman, —
one married Rev. Mr. McMurray, an Anglican clergyman, another
Schoolcraft, the ethnologist). Pages 299-303 of Mr. Hamilton's
paper are taken up with an account of the "Blackbirds," an Ottawa
family which has produced some notable characters, from the Assi-
kinack or Assignac, who, as a boy, was at Mackinac in 1763, down
to F. Assikinack (died 1863), who, after distinguishing himself at
Upper Canada College, spent several years in the government ser-
vice, in the Indian Department. The concluding pages of the essay
are devoted to a general discussion of Algonkian legends — " Algic
legends and Hiawatha myths." Mr. Hamilton is one of the few
Canadians who are enthusiastic enough over the Indian to make
permanent record of valuable and interesting historical data concern-

214 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

ing individual Red Men. — Arapaho. To the " Bulletin of the Amer-
ican Museum of Natural History " (vol. xiii. 1900, pp. 69-86) Mr.
A. L. Kroeber contributes a valuable and interesting article (illus-
trated) on the " Symbolism of the Arapaho Indians." The author's
investigations were carried on during the summer of 1899 in Okla-
homa Territory, where some of the members of this outlying branch
of the Algonkian linguistic stock now reside. According to Mr.
Kroeber, "every decorative design of the Arapaho is also pictorial,"
so realistic is even what seems to be purely ornamental. Arapaho
art is also " strongly imbued with the symbolic tendency," which is
indeed its most marked feature. Its decorative value is mediocre.
Arapaho art (pottery and textile fabrics not occurring) is confined to
"embroidering with colored beads, quills, or fibres ; carving in out-
line or bas-relief ; and painting." While suggesting picture-writing,
it is not real pictography. With the Arapaho "designs of animal
origin are abundant, but they by no means predominate." The buf-
falo and things associated with it naturally furnish a good many
symbols. An interesting fact is that " separate parts of the body,
animal and human, are not infrequently represented." Plant-designs
are not very common, as indeed they are not with most primitive
peoples. Symbols numerous and very varied are furnished by in-
animate nature, — sun, rainbow, lightning, rain, stars, Milky Way,
clouds, etc. The earth, lakes, mountains, etc., have also their sym-
bols. The human figure (generally in profile) " is not often repre-
sented, except in painting and carving." Mr. Kroeber informs us
also that " symbols of abstract ideas have been developed by the
Arapaho," as with the closely related Cheyennes, according to Ehren-
reich. Perhaps the most common abstract symbol is " that called
' hii teni,' which denotes abundance or the prayer for plenty." This
symbol "varies considerably, but all the forms are connected with
the square or rectangle," — also the symbol for earth and buffalo.
The use of color in Arapaho art is also very interesting ; and " we
may have a shape symbolism and a color symbolism in the same dec-
orated object, each totally independent of the other." — Onomatology.
The new "History of Westchester County," shortly to be issued,
will contain a valuable article by Mr. Wallace W. Tooker on " Amer-
indian Names in Westchester County," in which some 100 place-
names of Algonkian origin are discussed with his usual skill in inter-
pretation. In looking over the list one is struck by the considerable
number of place-names which perpetuate the name of some chieftain
or other individual. The corrupt form of not a few of these names
makes it possible for only a ripe scholar like the author to detect the
etymology. Cohomong is, e. g., Mr. Tooker suggests, possibly "a
survival of Chaubun-Konganmang, ' the boundary fishing-place,' " a

Record of American Folk- Lore. 2 1 5

word familiar in New England as one of the appellations of the large
and long-named lake at Webster, Mass. Among others, the deriva-
tions are given in this paper of : Croton, Mamaroneck, Mokegan, Chap-
paqua, Sing Sing, Tuckahoe, Tanracken. Another interesting fact
about some of these names is the way in which local tradition has
preserved the general or particular signification of the Indian term
in the Dutch or English name. Incidentally Mr. Tooker points out
some of the errors of Schoolcraft, who was all too ready, with his
knowledge of Ojibwa, to interpret Algonkian place-names anywhere.
Athapascan. Dent. In the " Transactions of the Canadian In-
stitute " (vol. vi. pp. 75-83), Rev. A. G. Morice discusses " The
Classification of the D6ne Tribes." — The same number of the
Transactions contains another paper by Father Morice on " The Use
and Abuse of Philology" (pp. 84-109), which contains some inter-
esting derails of D6ne phonetics and word-formation. Both papers
are in the nature of a severe criticism of the " comparative philology "
of Professor John Campbell, of Montreal, whose efforts to connect the
American Indian tongues with the ancient and modern languages of
Asia are no less industrious than mistaken. Father Morice also
criticises Petitot's interpretation of certain names occurring in Dene
legends, and points out some of the mistakes, which even the best
writers about the Dene have made. Among other things, the author
notes that the -proportion of " truly Dene words " in* the Navaho
"Mountain Chant" of Dr. Washington Matthews "cannot be less
than 75 per cent." This is remarkable when we consider that the
Dene are "perhaps 2000 miles from the nearest Navaho." Father
Morice utterly rejects Professor Campbell's idea that Dene and
Otomi are connected, not a single item of proof existing. — Navaho.
Dr. A. Hrdlicka's paper on " Physical and Physiological Observa-
tions on the Navaho," in the "American Anthropologist" (vol. ii.
N. S..pp. 339-345) for April-June, 1900, contains a few items of
folk-lore. According to the author, " each Navaho man makes his
own moccasins and leggings," and the " regular and often beautiful
designs " on the blankets woven by the women are "individual crea-
tions, produced without .the aid of actual patterns." The water-
gourds " are said to be derived from the Utes, among whom they
are common," and are only occasionally used by the Navaho. Among
these Indians " hoarding is unknown." The Navaho has an " almost
phenomenal" knowledge of his country, is an endless improviscr of
short songs, has a keen sense of humor, and is very fond of racing
and gambling. The Navaho creation-legend makes them come into
this world from an underworld, and the opening into this world is
pointed out by some as situated in the La Plata mountains. Accord-
ing to some authorities, "the early history of the tribe is intimately

2 1 6 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

associated with the Kisani or ancient Pueblos." Dr. Hrdlicka's
paper contains a portion of the results of his activity as a member
of the Hyde Expedition to the Pueblo region in 1899, under the di-
rection of Professor F. W. Putnam.

Iroquoian. In the " Transactions of the Canadian Institute "
(vol. vi. pp. 245-272), Professor John Campbell, under the title, "The
Oldest Written Records of the Iroquois," prints a remarkably useless
essay. The author's thesis is that the Sinaitic inscriptions contain
records of the ancestors of the Iroquois and of the League Founders.
Of twenty of these inscriptions Professor Campbell gives " trans-
lations," and the interpretation of them is in accordance with his
imaginativeness as displayed in many other similar attempts. This
one, however, is sui generis in many respects.

Keresan. In the " American Antiquarian " (vol. xxii. pp. 219-
223) for July- August, 1900, Prof. Frederick Starr writes about
" Shrines near Cochiti, New Mexico." Ten shrines are mentioned
(eight of these were visited), all within a short distance of Cochiti,
one of the Keres Pueblos. They are all circles or heaps of stones at
which " prayer-sticks " or " prayer-feathers " and other offerings are
made, — the offerings being prepared with due attention to cere-
monial details. The finest of these rude shrines " is now little vis-
ited, as Mexicans passing by delight to disturb the offerings." This
stone circle is some fifteen feet across. Mexican disturbance seems
to have affected others of these shrines as well. Professor Starr
gives the Indian names of the shrines.

Kulanapan. In the "American Anthropologist" (vol. ii. N. S.
pp. 346-353) for April-June, 1900, Professor O. T. Mason describes
" The Hudson Collection of Basketry." The collection in question,
" the best scientific collection of basketry known to the writer from
any people on the earth," was acquired in August, 1899, by the U. S.
National Museum from Dr. J. W. Hudson, of Ukiah, CalN The
people represented are the Pomo Indians, of the Kulanapan linguis-
tic stock, on the Russian River, California. The plants and animal
substances used are mentioned with their scientific and their Indian
names ; the varieties of twined weaving and coiled weaving noted
in detail with their Indian designations ; and the prevailing patterns
of ornamentation described. According to Professor Mason, " the
ornamentation on the Hudson basketry is all in the weaving; even
the feather-work is caught into the stitches or meshes in coiling."
There is thus " no such embroidery or overlaying as in the Tlinkit
and Klikitat ware." Another interesting point is that, "according
to Dr. Hudson, all but one of the basket patterns, tattoo marks, in-
scriptions, pictographs (ba-shi') refer to Pomo cosmogony and totem-
ism." Some of the ornamentation is very rich, and some of the
designs are of great beauty and complexity.

Record of A merican Folk-Lore. 2 1 7

Pujunan. To the " American Anthropologist " (vol. ii. N. S. pp.
266-276) for April-June, 1900, Mr. Roland B. Dixon contributes an
illustrated paper on the " Basketry Designs of the Maidu Indians of
California." The baskets described (now in the American Museum
of Natural History, New York) were collected among the northern
Maidu in the summer of 1899. In a series of some forty baskets
nearly two dozen different designs appear, for about twenty of which
satisfactory explanations are forthcoming. Fully half of the designs
are representations of animals, while "plants and inorganic objects
are shown in the designs in about equal numbers, both together
about equalling the animal patterns." The feather design is, how-
ever, the most commonly occurring single pattern. According to
Mr. Dixon, "it would not be surprising to find as many as fifty
distinct designs used on their baskets by Indians of the Maidu stock."
It appears also that " the knowledge of the designs is almost exclu-
sively confined to the older women, the younger generation knowing
only very few." This paper is a valuable contribution to the study
of rapidly vanishing primitive arts.

Salishan. As pages 163-392 (with plates xiv.-xx.) of vol. ii. of
the "Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History" (April,
1900), appears James Teit's "The Thompson Indians of British
Columbia, edited by Franz Boas," which should be read in connec-
tion with the same author's earlier volume on the " Traditions of the
Thompson River Indians," which forms vol. vi. of the Memoirs of
the American Folk-Lore Society. Much valuable information as to
the life-activities of these Indians, their arts, industries, etc., food,
social devices, and general folk-lore is to be found in this excellent
essay.

Siouan. Osage. Under the title, " The Osage Indians in France,"
Miss Alice Fletcher gives in the "American Anthropologist" (vol.
ii. N. S. pp. 395-400) for April-June, 1900, an account of the visit
to France, in 1827 of six Osage Indians. The account is derived
from two rare French pamphlets printed in Paris in 1827. The visit
is said to have been induced by the earlier visit of an ancestor of
Kishagashugah, the chief of the six Osages, to King Louis XIV.
The pamphlets testify to a lively interest in the Indians, their man-
ners and customs, since one of them was already in its third edition
in 1827. One of the pamphlets has a colored frontispiece represent-
ing the six Indians.

Uto-Aztecan. Mexican. Mr. M. H. Saville's brief article on
"An Onyx Jar from New Mexico, in Process of Manufacture," in the
"Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History" (vol. xiii.
1900, pp. 105-107) is very interesting, because the specimen de-
scribed (found several years ago near the city of Tlaxcala, and now

2i8 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

in the American Museum) clearly shows the way in which the jar
was hollowed out — the method employed being the use of a " bow
or pump-drill, the shaft of which was a hollow otlatl, the common
reed found generally in Mexico." According to the author, " the
use of a reed or a bone for a hollow drill was common in other parts
of North America, as shown by unfinished gorgets and banner
stones." The jar represents a coyote on his haunches. — From
"Monumental Records" for May, 1900 (pp. 139, 140), the same
author reprints an illustrated account of " A Votive Adze of Jadeite
from Mexico," belonging to the Kunz collection in the American
Museum of Natural* History, New York. The specimen "*was de-
scribed, but not figured, by Mr. Kunz in his " Gems and Precious
Stones of North America." The object seems to have been an idol.
or to have been used for ceremonial purposes, and " the mask-like
face, with the upper jaw represented pressed upwards against the
nose, is characteristically a feature of southern Mexican art, and, from
the presence of sharp canine teeth, apparently represents a tiger-
mask." Moreover, the " edge has what appear to be teeth, possibly
symbolizing the biting or cutting nature of this part of the votive
adze."

Moki. In the "American Anthropologist " (vol. ii. N. S. pp. 238-
246) for April-June, 1900, Mr.. H. R. Voth writes about " Oraibi
Marriage Customs." Oraibi is the largest and most primitive of
the villages of Tusayan. Among the Hopi Indians " marriage by
purchase does not exist," and the " choice of a life companion is left
almost entirely to the couple contemplating marriage, coercion on
the part of the parents or guardians being exercised only in rare
instances." We learn also that " marriages rarely, if ever, take place
during summer, and seldom in late spring, when the Hopi are busy
in their fields, but in autumn or winter, the time of leisure, of gam-
ing and frolic, of ceremonies and katcina dances." Details of the
bride's conduct after her betrothal, descriptions of her wedding
apparel, and of the ceremonies in which she and her future husband,
separately or together, take part are given, and the paper is accom-
panied by two plates representing the " Hopi Bridal Costume " and
the " Hopi Bride going Home." An interesting item is the silent
prayer of each on the eastern side of the Oraibi mesa, which takes
place after the head-washing. Until they have a house of their own,
the young couple live at the house of the wife's mother, Where they
may reside for several years.

Zapotecan. Mr. M. H. Saville's valued article (illustrated) on
the "Exploration of Zapotecan Tombs in Southern Mexico," in the
"American Anthropologist" (vol. i. N.' S. pp. 350-362), contains
several matters of interest to students of folk-lore. The tombs

Record of American Folk-Lore, 219

described are at Xoxo, some two leagues south of Oaxaca. As the
author notes, " the great importance attached to mortuary rites is
shown by the elaborately constructed tombs containing mural paint-
ings and hieroglyphic inscriptions." Moreover, the terra-cotta fig-
ures and the funeral urns attest a high development among the
Zapotecs of the art of modeling earthen objects. Mr. Saville also
informs us that " the mural paintings of Xoxo are widely different
from those of Mitla," and "the excavations give additional proof
that the ancient palaces of Mitla are not to be attributed to Zapote-
can culture, but are the remains of a city built by the great Nahuatl
tribe." Some terra-cotta tubing found in one of the mounds "may
perhaps be explained as serving some mythological purpose — per-
haps to form an outlet for the escape of the shade of the dead."
The remains of the paintings found, " were they complete, would be
of great value in a comparative study of the old Zapotecan codices."

CENTRAL AMERICA.

Costa Rica. In " Globus " (vol. Ixxvi. 1900, pp. 348-353), Dr.
KarlSapper describes " Ein Besuch bei den Guatusos in Costa Rica."
Houses and domestic life, burial customs, marriage, clothing, weapons,
etc., are treated of briefly. Some items of folk-lore and songs are
recorded. The Guatusos are a very interesting people, and among
them the couvade survives, also polyandry and communal houses,
and hut-burial. — In the same Journal (vol. lxxvii. pp. 1-8, 28-31)
the same authority publishes an illustrated article on " Ein Besuch
bei den Chirripo und Talamanca-Indianern von Costa Rica." Houses
and house-life, clothing, weapons, musical instruments, food, burial
customs, songs, etc., are described, and some of the native tunes
recorded.

Mayan. Imposing in its evidence of laborious industry and active
imagination is Professor John Campbell's paper on the " Decipherment
of the Hieroglyphic Inscriptions of Central America," which occupies
pages 101-244 of vol. vi. of. the " Transactions of the Canadian In-
stitute." After a general discussion of " Palenque and its Ruins,"
" The Tablet of the Cross," " Maya-Quiche Documents and the
Material for their Decipherment," the author takes up the consid-
eration of " The New System of Reading the Hieroglyphs " (pp. 123-
143). The Palenque inscriptions, those on the Copan altars, and
those at Chichen-Izta are •" interpreted," text and literal and free
translations being given. The author also discusses the " historical
bearings " of the " facts " revealed by his interpretations of these
monuments. Pages 206-217 are devoted to the consideration of
what the author terms the Malay-Polynesian affinities of the Maya-
Quiches, and pages 232-239 contain a " Comparative Vocabulary of

220 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Maya and Malay-Polynesian Words." Out of these much-discussed
inscriptions Professor Campbell makes quite a connected story,
which must be read as he has written it in his own pages. — In the
" Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History " (vol. xiii.
pp. 99-103), Mr. M. H. Saville publishes an account of " A Shell
Gorget from the Huasteca, Mexico." The specimen described and
figured was found in the Huastecan region (in the vicinity of Tux-
pan) of Vera Cruz, Mexico. This carved shell evidences a high state
of culture among the Huastecas and " a near relationship with the
Mayan mythology, which is indicated by the close resemblances
noted between this figure and those of the codices." Mr. Saville
compares the seated figure on the gorget with the Maize God of the
Mayas. An interesting detail is the Swastika on the ear ornament.

GENERAL.

Domestic Animals. In "Globus" (vol. lxxvi. 1900, pp. 361-
365), Friederici writes about " Der Indianerhund von Nordamerika."
The article describes the various species of dogs in use among the
North American Indians and their employment by the aborigines.

Ethics. In the "American Antiquarian" (vol. xxii. pp. 149-156)
for May-June, 1900, Mr. C. W. Super writes on " The Archaeology
of Ethical Ideas." The essay elaborates the fact that "all modern
languages contain a considerable number of words that have been
in use for ages with but little change of form, but of which the ethi-
cal significance differs widely from that which it originally had."
Compare, e. g.y the present significations in the various languages of
Europe of the representatives of the Latin virtus, conscientia, hu-
manitas, honor; etc. And when one considers synonyms the field is
widened indefinitely. The author appeals for careful studies on this
head of non-Aryan tongues.

Language and Religion. To vol. vi. (pp. 273-284) of the
"Transactions of the Canadian Institute" Rev. John Maclean con-
tributes a paper on " Language and Religion," wherein the close re-
lations of these two human institutions, among primitive peoples
especially, are rightly emphasized. As the author remarks, " The
religious ideas may be crude, and the system very imperfect, yet
there is some form of religion of whose meaning we learn by a study
of the native tongues." According to Mr. Maclean, the sense of
God now attached to the Blackfoot Kinon (our father) is due to mis-
sionary teaching.

Nature-Lore. Under the title, " Primitive Nature Study," Dr.
A. F. Chamberlain publishes in the "Transactions of the Canadian
Institute " (vol. vi. pp. 313-344) a paper dealing with the evidence
that primitive peoples, the American Indians especially, had a deep

Record of A merican Folk- Lore. 221

and abiding sense of the beauties and wonders of nature and a love
for and interest in them. Language, religious institutions, calendars
and other records, animal and plant nomenclature, folk-speech, litera-
ture, myths and legends, are cited in support of this contention.

A. F. C. and I. C. C.

22 2 • Journal of American Folk-Lore.

FOLK-LORE SCRAP-BOOK.

Fox Possession in Japan. — The "Japan Evangelist," May, 1900, fur-
nishes a curious account of a case of this disease, taken by the reciter of
the occurrences, Miss Harriet M. Browne, to be a case of actual demoni-
acal possession. The patient, Nishiyama Tsugi, fifteen years old, was
adopted in infancy by a man and his wife named Nishiyama. At the age
of nine years she ran away from home, desiring something more exciting
than the lonely country ; after a year she returned, only to steal and once
more take her flight ; after this, according to her own account, she was
servant and nurse girl in a prostitute house, and, leaving this, took to the
life of the lowest beggars, sleeping in the mountains, in graveyards, or in
beggars' huts, a companion of thieves and pickpockets as well as vagrants,
and associating herself with a young man in the commission of a burglary.
She then came to the orphanage, from which she had been kept by the
popular belief that the blood of the children was taken from them while
alive, and here manifested tokens of epilepsy and dangerous mania. The
sequel may be told in the words of Miss Browne : —

" We found that she greatly feared the well god and the rice god, Inari,
and his messengers, the foxes. She told us that, the first year after she
ran away, a kind landlady told her that she had inquired of the oracle at a
temple to tell her what was the matter with O Tsugi, and that it had said
that O Tsugi's mother's spirit had possessed her child because the blind
woman she was with had treated her cruelly.

" On the afternoon of the fifth of January she had a much worse attack
than before. We tried to bind her, but could not, as she showed such
strength, and it took several to manage her. She would not pay the least
attention to what was going on around her, nor could she be roused^ nor
would she turn her face toward any one. During the two former attacks
she had acted in dumb pantomime, but during this one she talked inces-
santly. At first the words and actions were those of an infant just learning
to walk. Then after a time she changed and said, as if it were a third per-
son addressing herself, 'Your father has come on an errand from your
mother j ' and she replied angrily, ' What do I want with my father ? ' with
other abusive words. Then, changing again, after further talk she said,
personating the patron god of Chofu, ' You stole offerings from me, you
did ! I saw you steal food from- Inari in Bakan, and I kept still, but now
you have come to Chofu and stolen three eggs that were offered up to me.
You return them at once, I tell you ! ' * I have n't any eggs. Please for-
give me.' ' Return them, I tell you, or I will do something dreadful to
you.' 'Well, forgive me, and I will work hard and replace them.' 'Mind
that you present them as offerings. Just bringing them to me won't an-
swer. If you don't, I '11 pinch you,' suiting the (invisible) action to the
words ; at which she cried out, ' Aa itai ! [O, it hurts !] Do forgive me !
I '11 replace them.' ' Well, I '11 forgive you if you make me the offering,
but if you don't, I '11 pinch you well.' Saying this, she fell as before and

Folk- Lore Scrap-Book. 223

waked as usual in a few minutes. During this attack also, as soon as the
members of the household recovered from the fright, and collected their
thoughts to kneel and pray, she soon became quiet, and the demons left
her. It may sound only amusing written down ; but I assure you to see
the evil face and actions, and hear the evil spirits as they in turn use a
human being to say and do what they will, the face and voice changing
with the speaker — to have indisputable, visible, and audible evidence before
one that demons are in one's house, tormenting and using at their will one
of us, who but a half hour ago was laughing and talking with the rest, is a
fearful experience that is apt to shake even pretty strong rierves.

" The next attack was on the evening of the eighth, when suddenly
While happily engaged with knitting, she began laughing a fearful laugh
and her features changed, becoming distorted into a resemblance to foxes
She called out and beckoned as to some one at a distance with great de
light, saying, ' Oh, come ! I'mso glad you 've come ! ' ' Yes, I 've come !
breathlessly, as if she had been running ; and then the evil spirits who per
sonated foxes had a fine time together, laughing and talking and joking
One said : ' I know where there are some nice offerings in Bakan, eggs and
fish and rice. Let's go and get them,' and off they went apparently.
1 Don't talk so loud ; they '11 hear us.' ' Oh, here they are. Put them in
your sleeve.' 'We must cook them. You go and buy some oshitaji [soy]
and I '11 make the fire. Put on your hat' and go through the graveyard,
arid hide it under your hat.' ' How well it burns ! Now it 's boiling. Ah,
you 've come back, and now it will soon be done.' ' Yes, oh how good it
tastes ! How jolly this is ! ' . . . ' Well, let 's go home and we '11 come
again.' Saying which, she bounded out of the room as if about to leave
the house. We brought her back to the dark room, and then she became
possessed by a demon personating her dead mother's spirit. First she said
several times ' Gomen nasai!' as if a visitor at the door; then, 'I am the
mother of the girl you call O Kane. Her name is O Tsugi. I have come
100 r/from Amakusa. She was treated so badly that I entered into her,
and went with her to Kumamoto and to Hiroshima and back again ; but
now she is so well cared for here I will leave never to possess her again.
But you must give me an offering of a bunch of rice-balls — enough to last
for three days on the journey back. It will take a good many, for I have
many maidservants (koshimoto) for whom I find it hard to provide food.
Then you must put them in a bundle on my back. It will not do just to
give them to me.' No one replying to her repeated request, she angrily
exclaimed : ' The master of this house is deaf in his ears ; he won't listen.
I tell you I shall not leave unless you give me a rice-ball. Do you hear ?
If you do that, I will leave never to come again.' The girl could hardly be
hungry, for she had just eaten a hearty supper. It must have been a half
hour that she kept repeating this demand, at last pounding the floor, and
shouting it out in a voice that we heard clear out on the street. At this
time I returned from prayer meeting. God had been preparing my heart
for months, showing me the personality and presence of evil spirits about
us and impressing deeply on my mind his promise to his disciples that

224 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

He has given us authority over all the power of Satan. In the strength of
this I spoke to the evil spirits in his name. We had been unable to quiet
her before, but she listened while I said : ' This house and all in it belongs
to our God Jehovah. We will never give so much as one rice grain to such
as you. Go and get offerings from those who worship you.' I commanded
the evil spirits in the name of Jesus to come out of her and never come
again."

The demon was exorcised by prayer, and by reading appropriate pas-
sages from the New Testament, namely Mark ix. 14-29, Matthew xvii. 14-
20, Mark v. 1-20, and after struggles, in which the patient exhibited intense
fear, she recovered, and proved herself in the future an obedient pupil.

In noticing this case, the editor of the " Japan Evangelist " cites from
the " Japan Mail " the notice of a series of articles by Mr. Haga Yaichi,
now appearing in the " Teikoku Bungaku."

" A series of articles on ' The Fox in Japanese Literature ' is appearing
in the ' Teikoku Bungaku.' The writer is Mr. Haga Yaichi. . The general
conclusion which Mr. Haga reaches is that in the main the qualities attrib-
uted to this animal, and the symbolic expressions which Reynard has
given to literature are the same in the East and the West. Mr. Haga gives
a large number of examples, a few of which we quote : Just as in English
the fox is used as a symbol of craft in ' foxy, fox-like, foxish, and foxiness,'
etc., so we have Kogi, suspicion, lit., to suspect like a fox. A lattice door,
because in Japan things are often hidden behind it, is called Kitsune-do.
An arrow that glances off into the air without striking the object aimed at
is called Kitsune-ya. False fires are called Kitsune-bi in Japan and ' fox-
fires ' with us. Weather that is made up half of sunshine and half of rain
is called in Japan Kitsune-no yome-iri (a fox's wedding) and ' fox-weather '
in England. The word is used to describe certain plants in both England
and Japan. There is in Japan the Kitsune-bana, the Kitsune-mame, the
Kitsune-azami, the Kitsune no chabukuro, and others, as there is in English
the 'fox-glove, the fox-grape, the fox-tail,' and so on. yEsop's fable about
the fox deceiving the lion has its counterpart in the Japanese tale (borrowed
from China) about the fox that made use of the tiger in the same way.
Hence the Japanese expression Tora no i wo karu kitsune. Where the
East differs from the West is in the wonderful transformations that are
ascribed to the fox in China and Japan and the power to bewitch people
said to be possessed by it. As far as my knowledge goes, says Mr. Haga,
there is no instance in Western literature of foxes transforming themselves
into human shape for the sake of obtaining human offspring. But this
practice has constantly been resorted to by our Japanese foxes according
to certain authorities. Mr. Haga is of opinion that most of Japan's fox-
lore is borrowed from China. In that country, however, Mr. Haga ob-
serves, the fox is by no means exclusively used as a symbol of various types
of wickedness. It is often spoken of in terms of praise, and a very high
destiny is assigned to it. After fifty years it is said to transform itself into
a woman and to beget children; at the age of a hundred it assumes the
form of a very beautiful woman, or becomes a man, according to fancy. It

Notes and Queries.

22=;

is said to have great foresight and in all matters to be far more knowing
than man. At the age of iooo it is transformed into a god. Mr. Haga
explains that in very ancient Japanese literature, though there is mention
of almost every conceivable kind of transformation, there is no instance of
a fox being described as transforming itself into a human being with a dis-
tinctly sexual object in view in the way that it is habitually said to do in
China. This abomination of literature ancient Japan was free from, ac-
cording to Mr. Haga. But in later days these revolting transformations
are constantly said to have taken place in Japan, and all the supernatural
powers attributed to the animal in China were ascribed to it here. Reli-
gious teachers helped to perpetuate the superstitious awe felt for the animal,
and often represented themselves as possessing power to counteract its
influence. Serious incurable diseases are often called Kitsa-ne-tsuki yamai,
originating with the story of a fox whose spirit entered the body of the man
that had killed it, and caused the man to contract a mortal disease. Mr.
Haga has collected a very large amount of material bearing on the subject,
and his essay is well worthy of being published in pamphlet form."

NOTES AND QUERIES.

The Celestial Bear. — Since the publication in the preceding number
of this Journal (p. 92) of the paper thus entitled, the author's attention has
been drawn to Mrs. Zelia Nuttall's valuable paper on American Astro-
nomy, in which is suggested an origin of the svastika in the circular motion
and four seasonal positions of the stars of this asterism. If I rightly
remember, the same suggestion has been made as to the source of the
svastika in the eastern continent by Hewitt, in his " Ruling Prehistoric
Races of Asia." When we recall that many authorities regard the svastika
as a symbol of celestial motion or revolution, the suggestion becomes at
least worthy of careful consideration. It is neither difficult nor unjustifiable
to consider, for example, the probability that the elements of the primitive
Bear legend would, when conventionalized in art, give rise to such a figure.
The fact that the svastika has not been found among the less advanced
Indian tribes of the north is of little account as an objection, when bal-
anced against the use of the symbol by the Pueblos and other tribes who
were acquainted with a form of the Bear legend. Nor does Dr. Brinton's
objection as to the svastika as a symbol of revolution — that it presupposes
the knowledge of the wheel — hold good against this conspicuous and
easily observed revolution of the celestial Bear, which we find has played
a part so important in myth and legend.

Stansbury Hagar.

Map exhibiting the Stars of the Celestial Bear (p. 92). — In con-
sulting this map should be taken into consideration the following remarks,
intended by the author to appear on the map, and omitted through mis-
apprehension : —

vol. xiv. — no. 50. 15

226 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

" Stars of the Celestial Bear legend.

" Chart showing their approximate position in lat. 45 N.

"To find the position of the stars at midnight in the middle of any sea-
son, turn the chart until the name of that season is at the foot of the
page."

Editor Journal of American Folk- Lore.

Why the Poplar Stirs — Superstition of Miners in Michigan. —
Near Marquette, Mich., a mining superintendent, having occasion to lay out
a road near a mine, suggested to the foreman, who, like his gang, was Irish,
that the men should cut down some neighboring poplar-trees for corduroy.
The foreman said that not a man of them could be hired to chop down one
of those trees, that the men would as soon think of cutting off their own
hands. " Don't you know," said he, " that the Saviour's cross was made
of that tree ? " and added that you will never see a poplar-tree perfectly
still. The idea apparently is that the tree is perpetually agitated or trem-
bling because of the terrible use made of it at Golgotha.

H. R. Kidder.

Braziel Robinson possessed of two Spirits. — Braziel Robinson, re-
cently deceased, is a negro of about seventy-five years of age, and came
to our plantation immediately after the war to test the question whether he
was really free or not, and had the right to move from his former master's
place. He soon established a reputation as a foreseer of events, as a root-
doctor, would advise negroes when to plant their garden, when to expect
rain, administered in a medical way to the many wants of the community
in which he lived. Braziel had a peculiar habit, when any one asked him
a question, of asking you please to give him a chew of tobacco, so that he
could collect his thoughts before answering you.

The following statement is given in his own words : —

" I am not a preacher, but a member of the church, but I can make a
few remarks in church, I have a seat in conference, I can see spirits, I
have two spirits, one that prowls around, and one that stays in my body.
The reason I have two spirits is because I was born with a double caul.
People can see spirits if they are born with one caul, but nobody can have
two spirits unless they are born with a double caul, very few people have
two spirits. I was walking along and met a strange spirit, and then I
heard a stick crack behind me and turned round and heard my prowling
spirit tell the strange spirit it was me, not to bother me, and then the
strange spirit went away and left me alone. My two spirits are good
spirits, and have power over evil spirits, and unless my mind is evil, can
keep me from harm. If my mind is evil my two spirits try to win me, if
I won't listen to them, then they leave me and make room for evil spirits
and then I 'm lost forever, mine have never left me, and they won't if I
can help it, as I shall try to keep in the path."

Here he took the quid of tobacco out of his mouth, and rolling it in his
hand for a few minutes, resumed : —

Notes and Queries. 227

" Spirits are around about all the time, dogs and horses can see them as
well as people, they don't walk on the ground, I see them all the time, but
I never speak to one unless he speaks to me first, I just walk along as if I
saw nothing, you must never speak first to a spirit. When he speaks to
me and I speak back I always cross myself, and if it is a good spirit, it
tells me something to help me, if it is a bad spirit, it disappears, it can't
stand the cross. Sometimes two or more spirits are together, but they are
either all good, or all bad spirits, they don't mix like people on earth, good
and bad together.

" Good spirits have more power than bad spirits, but they can't help the
evil spirits from doing us harm. We were all born to have trouble, and
only God can protect us. Sometimes the good spirits let the evil spirits
try to make you fall, but I won't listen to the evil spirits.

" When a person sees a spirit, he can tell whether it is a good spirit or a
bad spirit by the color, good spirits are always white, and bad spirits are
always black. When a person sees a bad spirit, it sometimes looks like a
black man with no head, and then changes into a black cat, dog, or hog, or
cow, sometimes the cow has only one horn and it stands out between the
eyes. I never saw them change into a black bird ; a man told me he saw
one in the shape of a black owl ; but I have seen good spirits change into
white doves, but never saw one in shape of a cat, have seen them in the
shape of men and children, some with wings and some without, then I
have seen them look like a mist or a small white cloud. When a person is
sick and meets good spirits near enough to feel the air from their bodies,
or wings, he generally gets well. Any one can feel a spirit passing by,
though only a few can see it. I 've seen a great many together at one
time, but that was generally about dusk. I never saw them flying two or
three along together. Good and bad spirits fly, but a bad spirit can't fly
away up high in the air, he is obleeged to stay close to the ground. If a
person follows a bad spirit, it will lead him into all kinds of bad places, in
ditches, briers. A bad spirit is obleeged to stay in the body where it was
born, all the time. If one has two spirits, the one outside wanders about,
it is not always with you. If it is near and sees any danger, it comes and
tells the spirit inside of you, so it can keep you from harm. Sometimes it
can't, for the danger is greater than any spirit can ward off, then one 's
got to look higher.

"I 've heard spirits talk to themselves, they talk in a whisper like, some-
times you can tell what they're saying, and sometimes you can't. I don't
think the spirit in the body has to suffer for the sins of the body it is in, as
it is always telling you to do right. I can't tell, some things are hidden
from us.

"People born with a caul generally live to be old. The caul is always
buried in a graveyard.

"Children born with a caul talk sooner than other children, and have lot
more sense.

" I was conjured in May 1898, while hoeing cotton, I took off my shoes
and hoed two rows, then I felt strange, my feet begun to swell, and then

22S Journal of American Folk-Lore.

my legs, and then, I could n't walk. I had to stop and go home. Just as
I stepped in the house, I felt the terriblest pain in my jints, I sat down
and thought, and then looked in my shoes, I found some yaller dirt, and
knew it was graveyard dirt, then I knew I was conjured, I then hunted
about to find if there was any conjure in the house and found a bag under
my door-step. I opened the bag and found, some small roots about an
inch long, some black hair, a piece of snake skin, and some graveyard dirt,
dark-yaller, right off some coffin. I took the bag and dug a hole in the
public road in front of my house, and buried it with the dirt out of my
shoes, and throwed some red pepper all around the house. I did n't get
any better, and went and saw a root-doctor, who told me he could take off
the conjure, he gave me a cup of tea to drink and biled up something and
put it in a jug to wash my feet and legs with, but it ain't done me much
good, he ain't got enough power, I am gwine to see one in Augusta, who
has great power, and can tell me who conjured me. They say root-doctors
have power over spirits, who will tell them who does the conjuring ; they
gineraUy uses yerbs gathered on the changes of the moon, and must be
got at night. People git conjur from the root-doctors and one root-doctor
often works against another, the one that has the most power does the
work.

" People gits most conjured by giving them snake's heads, lizards, and
scorpions, dried and beat up into powder and putting it in the food or
water they drink, and then they gits full of the varmints ; I saw a root-
doctor cut out of a man's leg a lizard and a grasshopper, and then he got
well. Some conjur ain't to kill, but to make a person sick or make him
have pain, and then conjur is put on the ground in the path where the per-
son to be conjured goes, it is put down on a young moon, a growing moon,
so the conjur will rise up and grow, so the person stepping over it will git
conjured. Sometimes they roll it up in a ball and tie it to a string and hang
it from a limb, so the person to be conjured, coming by, touches the ball,
and the work's done, and he gits conjured in the part that strikes the ball,
the ball is small and tied by a thread so a person can't see it. There are
many ways to conjur, I knew a man that was conjured by putting graveyard
dirt under his house in small piles and it almost killed him, and his wife.
The dirt made holes in the ground, for it will always go back as deep as
you got it, it goes down to where it naturally belongs.

" Only root-doctors can git the graveyard dirt, they know what kind to git
and when, the hants won't let everybody git it, they must git it thro' some
kind of spell, for the graveyard dirt works trouble 'til it gits back inter the
ground, and then wears off. It must git down to the same depth it was
took from, that is as deep as the coffin lid was from the surface of the
ground."

Roland Steiner, M. D.

Grovetown, Columbia County, Ga.

An Old English Nursery Tale. — The following version of a famil-
iar nursery tale was obtained by the editor of this Journal many years ago

Notes and Queries. 229

from Miss Lydia R. Nichols, of Salem, Mass. (now deceased), and repre-
sents the story as current in New England at the time of the earliest mem-
ory of the reciter, about 1800 : —

THE CAT AND THE MOUSE.

i. The cat and the mouse went into the oven together. The cat bit off
the mouse's tail, and the mouse bit off the cat's thread.

2. The mouse said, " Aye gi' me my own taiil again.

3. I woont without you go the cow and get me some milk.

4. Titty mouse hop, and titty mouse run, to the cow I come.

Do cow gi' me milk, I give cat milk, cat gi' me my own taiil again.

5. I woont without you go to the barn and get me some hay.

6. Do titty mouse hop, and titty mouse run, to the barn I come.

Do barn gi' me hay, I give cow hay, cow gi' me milk, I give cat milk,
cat gi' me my own taiil again.

7. I woont without you go to the blacksmith and get me a lock and key.

8. Titty mouse hop, and titty mouse run, to the blacksmith I come.

Do blacksmith gi' me lock and key, I give barn lock and key, barn
gi' me hay, I give cow hay, cow gi' me milk, I give cat milk, cat gi' me my
own taiil again.

9. I woont without you go to the sea and get me some coal.

10. Titty mouse hop, and titty mouse run, to the sea I come.

Do sea gi' me coal, I give blacksmith coal, blacksmith gi' me lock
and key, I give barn lock and key, barn gi' me hay, I give cow hay, cow gi'
me milk, I give cat milk, cat gi' me my own taiil again.

11. I woont without you go to the cock and get me a feather.

12. Titty mouse hop, and titty mouse run, to the cock I come.

Do cock gi' me feather, I give sea feather, sea gi' me coal, I give black-
smith coal, blacksmith gi' me lock and key, I give barn lock and key, barn
gi' me hay, I give cow hay, cow gi' me milk, I give cat milk, cat gi' me my
own taiil again.

13. I woont without you go to the miller and get me some corn.

14. Titty mouse hop, and titty mouse run, to the miller I come.

Do miller gi' me corn, I give cock corn, cock gi' me feather, I give sea
feather, sea gi' me coal, I give blacksmith coal, blacksmith gi' me lock and
key, I give barn lock and key, barn gi' me hay, I give cow hay, cow gi'
me milk, I give cat milk, cat gi' me my own taiil again. The miller gave
him some corn, and he gave it to the cock, the cock gave him a feather, and
he gave it to the sea, the sea gave him some coal, and he gave it to the
blacksmith, the blacksmith gave him a lock and key, and he gave it to the
barn, the barn gave him some hay, and he gave it to the cow, the cow gave
him some milk, and he gave it to the cat, and the cat gave him his own
taiil again.
*But after all his trouble, the tail was of no use to the poor mouse.

The Twelve Days of Christmas; a Nursery Soxo. — This rhyme,
once in use as a carol, has been very popular in New England, where it cir-

230 J ournal of American Folk-Lore.

culated in numerous variants. The following version was obtained from
Miss Nichols (Salem, Mass., about 1800): —

TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS.

1. The first day of Christmas my true love sent to me
A parteridge upon a pear tree.

2. The second day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Two Turtle doves and a parteridge upon a pear tree.

3. The third day of Christmas my true love sent to me

Three French hens, two Turtle doves, and a parteridge upon a pear tree.

4. The fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me

Four Colly birds, three French hens, two Turtle doves, and a parteridge upon
a pear tree.

5. The fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me

Five gold rings, four Colly birds, three French hens, two Turtle doves, and a
parteridge upon a pear tree.

6. The sixth day of Christmas my true love sent to me

Six geese a laying, five gold rings, four Colly birds, three French hens, two
Turtle doves, and a parterigde upon a pear tree.

7. The seventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me

Seven squabs a swimming, six geese a laying, five gold rings, four Colly birds,
three French hens, two Turtle doves, and a parteridge upon a pear tree.

8. The eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me

Eight hounds a running, seven squabs a swimming, six geese a laying, five gold
rings, four Colly birds, three French hens, two Turtle doves, and a parteridge
upon a pear tree.

9. The ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me

Nine bears a beating, eight hounds a running, seven squabs a swimming, six
geese a laying, five gold rings, four Colly birds, three French hens, two Tur-
tle doves, and a parteridge upon a pear tree.

10. The tenth day of Christinas my true love sent to me

Ten cocks a crowing, nine bears a beating, eight hounds a running, seven
squabs a swimming, six geese a laying, five gold rings, four Colly birds,
three French hens, two Turtle doves, and a parteridge upon a pear tree.

11. The eleventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me

Eleven lords a leaping, ten cocks a crowing, nine bears a beating, eight
hounds a running, seven squabs a swimming, six geese a laying, five gold
rings,- four Colly birds, three French hens, two Turtle doves, and a parte-
ridge upon a pear tree.

12. The twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me

Twelve ladies a dancing, eleven lords a leaping, ten cocks a crowing, nine
bears a beating, eight hounds a running, seven squabs a swimming, six
geese a laying, five gold rings, four Colly birds, three French hens, two
Turtle doves, and a parteridge upon a pear tree.

An Old Nursery Rhyme. — I have heard my mother repeat the fol-
lowing rhyme as familiar from her childhood (she was born in 1797) : —

Little Johnny Wattles he went to Whitehall,

(Hem, haw, he went to Whitehall)
And there he fell sick among them all,

(Hem, haw, among them all.)

Notes and Queries. 231

When Johnny was dead and laid in his grave,

(Hem, haw, laid in his grave)
The Devil came after him, but could n't him have,

(Hem, haw, he couldn't him have.)

And out of his grave there sprang up a tree,

(Hem, haw, there sprang up a tree)
Which bore the best apples that ever you see,

(Hem, haw, that ever you see.)

When the apples were ripe and beginning to fall,

(Hem, haw, beginning to fall)
Old Mother Pinkleton picked them up all,

(Hem, haw, she picked them up all).

Her apron was blue and her bonnet was straw,

(Hem, haw, her bonnet was straw)
And she was the worst woman that ever you saw,

(Hem, haw, that ever you saw.)

She carried home the apples and put them on the shelf,

(Hem, haw, she put them on the shelf)
If you want any more, you must sing it yourself,

(Hem, haw, you must sing it yourself.)

Pamela Mc Arthur Cole.
East Bridgewater, Mass.

The Golden Bird. — In reply to inquiries concerning a fairy tale of
this name, once familiar in my family, I have received the following reply
from a correspondent (Mrs. Amanda M. Thrush, Plymouth, O.), who only
imperfectly recollects the story : —

" Once there was a rich gentleman who had three daughters. The two
oldest were gay and frivolous. They cared for nothing but grand dresses,
and gay parties, and disliked their youngest sister very much, as she was
very beautiful, and entirely different from them, caring nothing for their
pleasures, but was devoted to, and a companion for her father. At last he
thought he would travel ; so he called them together, and asked what he
should bring them when he came back The two said a silk, and a new
bonnet. The youngest said a ' Gold bird.' ' But what will I bring if I
can't find one ? ' ' Not anything,' she replied. After travelling a long time,
their father came back, and brought the presents the oldest ones had
wanted, but nothing for the youngest. They laughed at her for her choice,
but she was just as amiable as ever. After staying at home for a while, he
wanted to travel again, and asked them as before what he should bring
them. The two, as before wanted some finery, and the youngest said a
gold bird. But again he came home, bringing presents the oldest ones
wanted, but no gold bird. Well, the third time he went away, and they all
made the same reply. This time he thought he would find the gold bird,
for he loved his beautiful daughter more than the others, as they cared
nothing for him, only for the money he had. This time he stayed so long

232 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

they thought he was dead, and used the property as they wanted to, and
made the youngest daughter's life very lonely and miserable. The father
went everywhere, seeking for the gold bird, but could not find or hear of
any. At last, in his wanderings, he got lost. After trying a long time to find
his way, he came to a large house. It was all dark, but he thought there
might be some one there. But no one answered, so he tried the door, and
it opened, and he went in. Everything seemed prepared for him, a table
with a good supper, and a room with a good bed, but he could hear or see
no one in the house. . . .

" Now I am lost. He found the gold bird there, but I forget whether it
talked to him, or some other invisible person. But he could be released
only by his daughter's coming, and taking his place. I forget whether a
messenger was sent for her, or, after a promise to come back, he was per-
mitted to go for her. But in some way she arrived, and the spell was taken
off the prince, and the beautiful youngest daughter married the king's son,
and the father was happy with them, and the two sisters nearly died of

envy at her good fortune."

Fanny D. Bergen.

Editor's Note. — As no corresponding European fairy tale, so far as we know,
is recorded, it may be presumed that the story is of literary origin. The palace
in which a banquet is found spread, but where no men are seen, is a familiar fea-
ture of mediaeval romances. The fundamental idea of the trait seems to be that
spirits are invisible to mortals. So in American stories, the visitor to the house
of ghosts sees no one. But the present tale is too imperfectly preserved in dic-
tion and substance to admit of any certain conclusion as to its character. The
introduction constitutes a variant of that familiar in the German Aschenputtel, but
is not therefore of necessity borrowed from such source.

LOCAL MEETINGS AND OTHER NOTICES.

Tennessee. — Mr. Henry M. Wiltse, of Chattanooga, Tenn., having con-
sented to act as representative of the American Folk-Lore Society in that
State, has issued the following explanatory circular letter : —

Dear Friend, — The American Folk-Lore Society is making an earnest
effort to extend its work in the South, and with that object in view has ap-
pointed a State Secretary for Tennessee, whose pleasure it will be to
attempt the work of increasing the membership in this State, and assist in
the collection of the long neglected folk-lore of the South.

You are respectfully and earnestly requested to interest yourself in the
work —

First. By joining the Society, the annual fee being only three dollars.
This would entitle you to The Journal of American Folk-Lore, which is
published quarterly.

Second. By subscribing, if you feel so inclined, ten dollars to the Pub-
lication Fund. This would entitle you to all of the publications of the So-
ciety for the current year, and the publication of your name in the Memoirs

Local Meetings and Other Notices. 233

and in the Journal. But your best reward would be the consciousness of
having assisted in a good and long neglected work — the preservation of
Southern folk-lore.

Third. Whether you are willing to become a member of the Society or
subscribe to the Publication Fund or not, by contributing whatever infor-
mation you can concerning the folk-lore of this or any other section of the
United States, sending your contributions to the local secretary.

As you are aware, the scope of folk-lore study is very broad. The fol-
lowing special features are merely suggested to you, without the desire to
limit your investigations in our behalf in the least : —

Will you please report all of the information and details that you have
or can ascertain relating to the following subjects ?

Negro songs and melodies, as nearly in their original forms as possible.
(A committee on folk-music has been appointed by the Council of the So-
ciety, and it is hoped to obtain the cooperation of celebrated experts in the
work. A subscription has been opened for the collection and publication
of this material, which, unfortunately for musical science and lovers of
music, is being allowed to perish unexamined. This undertaking is espe-
cially a Southern enterprise, and ought to enlist wide collaboration in the
South.)

The gathering of a complete and verbally accurate collection of negro
tales, including the animal stories of the type usually known as " Uncle
Remus " stories.

(The progress of folk-lore research will soon bring about a comparison
of these tales with a sufficient body of African material to demonstrate
whatever relation exists between the folk-lore of the American negro and
that of his original home.)

The hoodoo, or voodoo beliefs and practices of the negroes.

Negro beliefs in conjuring and conjure doctors, charms, etc.

Negro superstitions, legends, fears of supernatural things, especially
during the days of slavery.

Any and all plantation beliefs, practices, ceremonies and observances of
a peculiar character.

Popular beliefs in witchcraft, and the methods of defeating the witches.

Indian legends and traditions, and the origin of Indian names. (It is
not to be forgotten that there are in the South remains of Indian tribes,
which afford rich fields for investigation. It is expected that material
assistance will be given in this field by the celebrated expert, Professor
Putnam.)

The dialect, habits, and folk-lore of the mountain whites of the Cumber-
lands and the Alleghanies, including the class sometimes known as the
"Clay Eaters."

The superstitions of all classes, including all " signs " — such as that
it betokens bad luck to see the new moon for the first time over the left
shoulder, and good luck to see it over the right shoulder.

Superstitions and signs relating to planting, harvesting, and crops in
general.

234 Journal of A mcrica n Folk-L ore.

Omens and signs in general, including death signs, moon signs, rain
signs, sun signs, etc.

Beliefs in animals which possess mysterious or supernatural qualities,
such as the deer that can be killed only with a silver bullet.

Popular stories which attribute personality, power of speech, etc., to ani-
mals and birds.

Popular beliefs relating to fire as an instrumentality in warding off evil
or danger, as when used to charm away birds of evil omen.

Beliefs relating to peculiar virtues of particular kinds of wood, such as
that a "battlin' stick" should be made of sassafras.

Water-witches, or persons who discover the whereabouts of water under
the surface of the ground by the use of hazel, peach, or other divining-rods,
and are employed to select places whereat to dig wells.

Peculiar customs, ceremonies or observances at births, weddings, deaths,
funerals, etc.

Popular stories, as told by the masses, giving, if possible, their supposed
origin.

Personal interviews with aged people, especially women, can almost
always be made to elicit valuable items of folk-lore. With the death of
every person who lived in the South ten years or more before the Civil
War there passes beyond reach much that would be of inestimable value to
the student of folk-lore, and the student of our history proper, as well.
Will you not kindly interview some of those whom you know, and report
the results to the undersigned ?

All contributions from you will be most gratefully received, and proper
acknowledgment will be made.

Any other particulars that you may desire regarding the Society and its
work will be cheerfully furnished, upon application, by either the Perma-
nent Secretary or the Local Secretary.

Earnestly hoping for an early response, I am,

Yours very truly,

Henry M. Wiltse, State Secretary.

It is the desire of Mr. Wiltse to form in Tennessee a regular State organ-
ization, to be known as the Tennessee Auxiliary.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

BOOKS.

The History of Yiddish Literature in the Nineteenth Century.
By Leo Wiener, Instructor in the Slavic language at Harvard Univer-
sity. New York : Charles Scribner's Sons. 1899. Pp. xv, 402.
In this remarkable and learned work, Professor Wiener introduces to the
reader a literature and folk-lore in which America has a considerable share,
yet which has hitherto remained entirely unknown. Since the frightful and

Bid Hog rap hie a I Notes. 235

ill-advised persecutions began in 1881 by the Russian government, in contra-
vention of the, liberal policy adopted by the emperor Nicholas I., a great emi-
gration has flooded the United States with Russian and Polish Jews, of whom
the city of New York now contains not less than three hundred thousand.
This population, although settled in Russia, was German by earlier resi-
dence, language, and ideas. In the beginning of the sixteenth century a
large number of Jews established themselves in Bohemia, Poland, and
Russia, whither they were imported with a view to creating an urban pop-
ulation, the Slavs being essentially agricultural in habit. These German
immigrants retained their speech and conceptions, but in their separation
were no longer affected by the currents of German intellectual life, and
kept up a mediaeval condition of culture, out of which their German co-
religionists emerged. Their language was essentially a German dialect,
founded on the manner of speech prevalent in the region of Frankfurt, the
centre of Jewish learning. While the language of the folk developed in
several independent groups, the printed form continued uniform up to the
nineteenth century, in which it first began to be employed for literary pur-
poses. Increased by Hebrew and Slavic words, disguised by German
orthography, the speech assumed a chaotic character, though such confu-
sion, as the author observes, is common to all tongues in which historical
continuity has been interrupted. The people speak of their vernacular as
Jiidisch, of which designation Yiddish is the accepted English corruption.

The Jews, as Professor Wiener remarks, have been the most important
element in the dissemination of folk-literature. In relation equally with
the East and the West, travellers by profession, and addicted to story-tell-
ing, they appropriated with equal facility the popular narratives of Egypt,
Spain, Germany, and Russia. Printed literature of Yiddish fiction was
designed in principal measure for the women, who received no serious
instruction, and whose minds were in the same condition in the eighteenth
century as in the fourteenth. " Time and space are entirely annihilated in
the folk-lore of the Russian Jews. Here one finds side by side the quaint
stories of the Talmud, of Babylonian, Persian, Egyptian origin, with the
Polyphemus myth of the Greeks, the English ' Bevys of Hamptoun,' the
Arabic ' Thousand and One Nights.' Stories in which half a dozen motives
from various separate tales have been moulded into one harmonious whole
jostle with those that show unmistakable signs of venerable antiquity."
As varied are the superstitions and rites associated with every act of life,
in which the ancient Oriental basis is overlaid with the ceremonies of Eu-
rope. According to popular belief, Elijah frequently descends from his
heavenly habitation to assist believers in distress ; during the ceremony of
the circumcision, a chair is set for him to occupy. Moses and David are
equally active ; the latter presides over a repast at the conclusion of the
Sabbath. Thus Jewish monotheism has not prevented personages of the
Bible from elevation into the position of patron saints. As with the m
val Virgil, the rabbi Maimonides has become an enchanter. The founder
of the fanatical sect of the Khassidim, Bal-schem-tow, lived only a century
and a half ago ; yet it is now impossible to reconstruct the true career and

236 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

personality of the pious mystic, whom his adorers revere as a seer and
miracle-worker, foreseen by prophets and encircled by a nimbus of fire.

An interesting chapter is given to the folk-song. Polish Jews are essen-
tially an urban population ; their songs have little to do with nature, and,
from the position of the Jew in his adopted country, possess no patriotic
tinge. The oppression and gloom of the intellectual atmosphere gives to
song a pessimistic character ; the passion of love has been so completely
suppressed by the preference for didactic composition, and the custom of
youthful marriages, that the word does not exist in the Yiddish vocabulary,
and was borrowed from the German only about the middle of the century.
The tribulations of the orphan and the widow, the terror of enforced mili-
tary service, satire of the fanatical Khassidim, form common themes of the
folk-song. In the case of Morris Rosenfeld, a poet of the first capacity has
been wearing out his life in the sweat-shops of New York, of whose horrors
he has furnished dreadful pictures.

The rapidity of development of this short-lived literature is illustrated
by the history of the wedding jester or badchen. In mediseval time the
function of this personage was to amuse the guests at the wedding, while
the serious discourses were delivered by the rabbi and the bridegroom.
In Russia he had come to usurp these functions ; but in the fifties it
occurred to Zunser, then only in his teens, to make the badchen a singer of
songs. Zunser had talent as a composer, and his words and tunes imme-
diately became popular in Russia, Galicia, and Roumania ; in a short time
the former jester became a minstrel, who, if he could, produced original
compositions of his own. The song-writer who had such an effect on the
customs of his people now is a printer in New York.

It is impossible here to follow Professor Wiener through his sketch of
the rapid evolution of Yiddish literature in its swiftly changing periods. A
complete bibliography would be enormous, the authors of the present cen-
tury numbering at least four or five thousand ; but as the works have been
thrown out with no care for preservation, and disappear with wonderful
rapidity, completeness in this task is impossible, nor would the undertak-
ing have interest except for its scientific side. In America, this literature
is in rapid decay, the solvent of American institutions speedily absorbing
independent Jewish folk-life, and the theatre, especially, having sunk to
the lowest level. The patience and learning of Professor Wiener has fur-
nished, in the form of notes, an abundance of references for the use of any
one who may desire to make a study of the subject.

The latter part of the book is devoted to a chrestomathy, from which the
reader may form some idea of the speech and the compositions for which
it has furnished a medium.

W. W. Newell.

Peasant Lore from Gaelic Ireland. Collected by Daniel Deeney.
London : D. Nutt. 1900. Pp. vii, 80.

This little book contains a curious gathering of Irish superstitions, and,
like every gleaning from that inexhaustible source, serves to cast new light

Bibliographica I Notes. 237

on certain points of primitive belief, common in a measure to ancient Eu-
rope, but which have survived more completely in an isolated country.
Gaelic peasants, as the collector observes in his preface, are surrounded by
a region of mystery, peopled with beings divided into good and bad, there
being no intermediate class. These spiritual personages are continually
passing and repassing, especially at night ; some of them are evil-disposed,
and will work harm unless their influence is guarded against by certain
rules or rites. Some individuals on this earth are supposed to be in com-
munication with the " bad class " of the mystic world, and in this connec-
tion red-haired people are especially suspected. In the dark it is neces-
sary to accompany a friend who may be leaving the house as far as a
running stream, which acts as a barrier to everything bad. A sick cow is
supposed to have been " shot," and is treated by making the sign of the
cross on her sides and nostrils, and by measuring with arm from elbow to
finger-point, proceeding from tail to horns. If the cure is to succeed, the
third measurement will be the shortest. If the remedy fails, it is necessary
to give the animal to St. Martin ; such a cow so given is consecrated by a
nick in the ear, and should be killed and eaten at a feast on the eve of the
saint, it may be years afterwards. In the north of Ireland the usage is not
so strict, and cows may be seen at fairs whose ears have repeatedly been
incised and whose value is thereby lowered. Dead relatives are believed
to spend their nights in their old home, and, since the presence of mortals
would exclude the ghosts, for this purpose it is usual to retire before
twelve, to tidy the hearth, and to arrange the stools in a semicircle for the
guests. After midnight a traveller is in danger of being carried off by the
" wee folk," among whom are taken to be the souls of the departed, and
who at this hour may be encountered marching in procession with music.
On St. Bridget's Eve it is customary to bring in St. Bridget's mantle, which
is a rag previously placed in a bush outside the house. The formula is :
" Go ye on your knees, and close ye your eyes, and -let Blessed Bridget in."
Those within comply with the request, and on the third repetition cry
out simultaneously, " Come in, come in, and welcome." A piece of the
"mantle" is then bestowed on every one of the family, and must be
kept twelve months for luck. The mashed potatoes, in which a hole has
been made for the melted butter, are then eaten. The bush in this case
may be presumed to be holy, seeing that tree worship survives in the honor
paid to particular bushes looked on as sacred to sheeogs or fairies, and
which no Irish peasant would destroy or injure. In one case such a " fairy
bush " grew in the way of a wall to be built along the shore road in
Spiddal, county Galway ; no inducements would move the workmen to re-
move the bush, and it was finally left undisturbed, in a niche made for the
purpose. The stones of certain cairns are also sacred to the "wee folk,"
as the fairies are called. The practice of sacrifice to fairies continues in
force The first drops of a cow's milk must be dropped on the ground ;
the smuggler gives the fairies the first and best part of his liquor, and failure
in such present is sure to be followed by disaster, while in case of a proper
offering he will be warned against the approach of the revenue officers.

238 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

The cake must be nipped before stowing away in the cupboard, a usage
kept up with no comprehension of its origin. On St. Martin's Eve the
blood of three cocks must be drawn, an act performed in every Gaelic
household. This is sprinkled about the house, and a little daubed on the
forehead of every member of the family. Salt is regarded as prophylactic
against evil, and is eaten before going to a funeral, whither a little salt
should be taken in the pocket. If milk is to be given away, salt must be
put in it. Belief in the evil eye is in full vigor. When a ploughman
reaches the end of a field, if he observes any person to whom he desires to
speak, he must not allow the horses to stand until he has turned their faces
toward the other end, so that the tails are presented to the person ; in
this position they will be safe. If in driving any animal to market, a per-
son is encountered, who does not " bless " them, it is necessary to say,
before the person passes on, " God bless your heart, your eye, and my
share ; " the evil eye cannot then " blink " the animals. If the blinker
has looked on the beast, the latter must be struck three times with " the
tail of your coat," next the ground. In travelling at night, it is wise to
tread in the tracks of horses, for the path is secure from harm. If milk
is given from the dairy, the receiver must bless the milk and the cow.
Manure must not be removed after sunset, nor ashes put out on New
Year's Day. On New Year's Eve, water for domestic use must be made
ready before dark. Injury from a spirit may be received in the form of
a blow from an invisible hand.

In presenting these extracts from a brief but amazing picture of Irish
peasant life, it may be asked what comments would be made if such wild
and ancient superstitions had been obtained from negroes in the Southern
States of the Union ? Yet at no remote day the rural life of England
would have presented beliefs as strange.

Popular Studies in Mythology, Romance, and Folk-Lore. London :

D. Nutt. 1899-1900. Nos. 1-6.

Under this head the firm of David Nutt is publishing a series of little
pamphlets, issued at the price of sixpence each, intended to furnish read-
ers with sketches of the subjects to which they relate, and provided with
suitable bibliographic information.

No. 1 offers an account of " The Influence of Celtic upon Mediaeval
Romance," by Alfred Nutt. The writer considers that the " matter of
Britain," including especially Arthurian story, derives its " circumstance,
form, and animating spirit " from the older Celtic traditions, which are best
represented by the extant remains of Irish legend. His view is that the
romantic spirit, as we now understand the term, is especially of Celtic
origin. As to the disputed point of Welsh or Breton sources for French
romances, he considers that the evidence furnished by proper names favors
derivation from both sources, orally through Bretons, and in a written form
from Welshmen.

No. 2, called " Folk-lore : what is it ? and what is the good of it? " is an
admirable paper, in the form of an address by Mr. E. Sidney Hartland,

Bibliographical Notes. 239

President of the Folk-Lore Society for 1899. The writer defines folk-lore
as the science of tradition ; its problem is therefore to determine the laws
by which tradition is determined. For example, the passing of a babe
through a young ash-tree, split for the purpose, and afterwards bound up,
is still in country places a common remedy for hernia, it being believed
that the health of the child is bound up with the life of the tree. This
very ancient remedy Mr. Hartland explains as connected with the prim-
itive idea that union with a god, in this case the tree-god, is effected
so long as any object associated with the person remains in touch with the
deity. For a similar reason pins are cast into wishing-wells, or shreds
of garments suspended on the bushes which overhang these, and which
once were considered as sacred. So again it is possible for a witch to con-
jure any one by obtaining possession of objects belonging to him. In this
manner Mr. Hartland shows that the most absurd superstitions are not
arbitrary, but the logical result of principles accepted by people in a state
of savagery. The importance of comprehending the ideas of races in a
backward condition of culture is exhibited in the contrast of the treatment
of India and Ireland ; the disaffection of the latter country is due to a
course of government which has constituted the most pernicious tyranny,
yet which was pursued with good intentions, as the result of complete mis-
conception of the social state and legal usages of a race which maintained
ancient customs out of touch with the more advanced civilization of Great
Britain. As regards missionary effort, also, the writer points out the ab-
surdity of remaining in complete and wilful ignorance of the true character
of the culture which is to be improved.

No. 3, "Ossian and the Ossianic Literature," by Alfred Nutt, furnishes
an account of the Irish material connected with the name of Oisin (in Eng-
lish spelling, Ossian). This he divides into three classes of texts, the second
being truly mediaeval, while the first antedates that period, and the third is
relatively modern. In spite of differences of style, a singular uniformity is
exhibited in the literature, the ideas of modern compositions being some-
times identical with those appearing in texts a thousand years older. The
most ancient texts, of very limited compass, are wildly mythical. These form
only a small part of Irish fiction in their time ; but in the middle age Ossi-
anic story comes to be preponderant. In the later tales Ossian is turned
into a reckless pagan. Mr. Nutt questions whether this character may not
be a survival. The recent fictions exhibit elements obviously derived ulti-
mately from French romance. Up to the fifteenth century, Ireland and
the Scottish Highlands formed one literary domain, so that controversy
regarding the place of origin has no point. Macpherson's Ossian, it should
be understood, is as much his own composition as was the Paradise Lost of
Milton.

In No. 4, "King Arthur and his Knights," Jessie L. Weston (translator
of the Parzival of Wolfram of Eschenbach) mentions the chief mediaeval
works of the cycle, and gives opinions in regard to the evolution of the
romances, which cannot here be critically considered.

No. 5, "The Popular Poetry of the Finns," by C. J. Billson, supplies

240 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

explanations regarding the vast mass of poetry traditionally current in
Finland. Of Lonnrot's three collections, the Kalevala has found world-
wide acceptance ; but this epic narrative was a reconstruction of Lonnrot
himself, who cast into a continuous series disconnected lays. In some
portions of the recast, however, the original episodes are closely followed.
The other collections, Loitsurunoja, or magic songs, and Kanteletar, or lyric
and ballad verse, are also considered.

In No. 6, Alfred Nutt examines " The Fairy Mythology of Shakespeare."
The poet derived his ideas concerning fairy lore in part from the popular
ideas of Englishmen in his own day, in part from earlier romantic litera-
ture. Mr. Nutt considers these two modes of representation to have ori-
ginally depended on the same source, namely, the peasant's belief in natural
powers which he was in the habit of placating by traditional rites. The
picture of a fairy realm reproducing the external aspect of a mediaeval court
was borrowed from French fiction similar to that of Huon of Bordeaux;
Mr. Nutt points out that to a certain degree Irish fairy mythology was
similar. The superior part which fairy lore continued to play in English-
literature as compared with continental is explained by the popularity of
Arthurian romances in the island where Arthur was at home.

The foregoing remarks will be sufficient to show that in this series of
little treatises we have a collection of papers which may be bound together,
and which ought to be found in all well-appointed libraries, as a convenient
introduction to a number of subjects respecting which correct information
is not easily accessible.

Wyandot Folk-Lore. By William Elsey Connelley. Topeka, Kans. :
Crane & Co. 1899. Pp. 116.

This treatise includes the matter already printed in the writer's contribu-
tion to this Journal (vol. xii. 1899, pp. 1 16-125). Prefixed to myths and
stories collected by Mr. Connelley are notes on the history, government,
and religion of the tribe, including some mention of the gentes, marriage
laws, and councils. At the present time, we are told, marriage restriction
applies only to union of men and women of the same clan, and this is
going out of use. The Wyandots are now farmers in Missouri near Seneca,
maintaining schools for their children, and keeping their land in a good
state of cultivation. Mr. Connelley announces a more extensive work to
contain existing folk-lore, an account of the organization and government,
and a full vocabulary of the language.

THE JOURNAL OF

AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.

Vol. XIII. — OCTOBER-DECEMBER, 1900.— No. LI.

LAIEIKAWAI: A LEGEND OF THE HAWAIIAN

ISLANDS.

Introductory Note. — Dr. John Rae, the recorder of the follow-
ing legend, was born at Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1796. He studied
at the universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh. In 182 1 he went
to Canada, where he lived until 1849. From July, 1850 to 1871, he
made his home in the Hawaiian Islands. He died in July, 1872, in
Staten Island, N. Y. Dr. Rae was especially occupied with geolo-
gical studies. His only published work is the " Statement of Some
New Principles on the Subject of Political Economy," Boston, 1854.
The notes left by Dr. Rae do not include further information in
regard to the folk-lore of the islands.

The material here given appears to have been included in a dis-
course, the date and place of which are not apparent. The manner
in which a work of Sir George Grey is noticed would lead to the
opinion that the period of the lecture was not much after 1855. The
legend here treated has been given in its entirety, but also in abstract,
in " The Legends and Myths of Hawaii," by King Kalakaua, New
York, 1888, pages 455-480. The story appears to have been obtained
by the editor of that work, Hon. R. M. Daggett, who presents the
account as the condensation of the legend as more elaborately told
by Haleole. The version of Dr. Rae, obtained a quarter of a cen-
tury before, is not so much a variant as a different edition and ab-
stract of the same tale, is apparently translated from the Hawaiian,
and perhaps may have proceeded from the same narrator. The
account of Dr. Rae is only a fragment, extending perhaps to less
than a third of the tale, which must evidently have been very volu-
minous. In the portion which it does cover, however, it is more
full and literal, and appears to give a clearer idea of the literary
character of the heroic legend. The two versions serve to complete
each other, and Dr. Rae's narrative therefore forms a welcome addi-
tion.

As will appear by the conclusion, the legend belongs to mythology

242 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

in the strict sense, as dealing with persons who have actually received
divine worship, and as connected with a lost ritual. It is concerned
also with divinities of nature, with spirits of the moon, sun, and
mountain. But these appear and act as human personages. How
far the story is founded on elements of natural symbolism, how far
it is only a fanciful elaboration of tribal life, is difficult to determine ;
in this respect the legend presents the difficulties which belong to
all mythological systems, even the most primitive. Most striking is
the manner in which virtue and faithfulness exalt the human agent,
not only into the place of the gods but above them. The way in
which earth and heaven are finally left in feminine control savors of
the matriarchate ; to women belonged at least an equal share in
magical knowledge and consequent authority ; clearly in old Hawaii
there could be no question concerning their rights.

From a literary point of view, the story, possessing the compass of
a modern novel, is remarkable. It is easy to understand what ob-
stacles are thrown in the way of comprehending the excellence of a
tale known only by outlines, and where even the force of the signifi-
cant names is lost, to leave only long and unintelligible appellations
for the understanding of the foreigner. Yet among the barbaric
ideas and practices belonging to all ancient (or mediaeval) thought, a
spirit of gentleness and culture seems to breathe. To this amiable
race the course of modern change brought a people of sterner and
more energetic quality, whose iron hand brought them into subjuga-
tion, who dispossessed them of their territory, and who forced on
them a civilization, manners, customs, and modes of thought for
which they were unprepared, and which they may be unable to sur-
vive. Their language at least will perish, and the loss of language
is the loss of everything. There will be no descendants to regard
these histories with the honor which a German concedes to the poems
of the poetic Edda, or which modern scholarship, nourished on the
literature of Greece, accords to Hellenic myth. Yet surely in ful-
ness of imagination and delicacy of conception the Hawaiian legend
need not fear comparison.

It can only be hoped that now that the islands are definitely con-
nected with the United States, as a matter of national honor, steps
may be taken to complete, so far as possible, a record still unhappily
so imperfect. Perhaps at least a full and correct text can be obtained
of the present narrative.

My hypothesis that the Polynesians are the remnants of a people
who were great in the remote day in which they flourished, and from
whom other races have sprung, seems to be receiving support from
various quarters. I hear that the Governor of New Zealand has

Laieikawai. 243

published a book,1 in which he traces many analogies between the
rites, superstitions, and habits of thought of the Maori, compared
with the Greeks and other ancient nations. Viewed in this aspect,
the old legendary tales and poems of the Hawaiians have consider-
able interest. I cannot doubt but that they bring down to us much
derived from a very remote antiquity. It is also to be remem-
bered that before the introduction of writing, the brains of living
men were the only records that nations had. There were deposited
the genealogies of the chiefs, there alone were to be found the chron-
icles of their wars, the boundaries of their possessions, and every-
thing which it was desirable to secure from oblivion. A diligently
cultivated and retentive memory, therefore, gave a man position and
abundance ; the memory was diligently cultivated, and became
capable of performing feats which to us who lean on writing and
books seem very surprising. Maui, one of the Hawaiian islands, is
about seventy miles long, and from thirty to forty wide, with some
deep indentations proportionally extending its seaboard. At the
beginning of this century, the whole coast, and much of the interior,
was cultivated and inhabited. Then tracts were divided into lands
of one hundred or several hundred acres. I have known a man who
could begin at any part of the island, and go round the whole of it,
naming each possession in its order, and giving its boundaries. We
must not, therefore, wonder at the accurate knowledge of the geo-
graphy of Greece which Homer displays in his catalogue of the ships
and leaders. That strength of memory was rather an attribute of his
age than a merit peculiar to himself. It is more than probable that
many of his contemporaries could have performed the same feat.

Furthermore, we find that when the imagination has once shaped
a picture in which men delight, that picture is subsequently taken as
the model from which after ages copy. Virgil is not Homer, very
far was he in time, farther if possible in position, in the habitual feel-
ings and actions of the men among whom he lived. But Virgil is so
full of Homeric ideas, that had the Greek poem perished we should
yet have been able to have conceived from the yEneid how men con-
ducted themselves in what are termed the heroic ages of Greece.
Nay, such has been the mastery of the Homeric lay over the minds
of men, that its form, which we term epic, and the train of ideas
running through it, has been taken almost to the present day as the
model for every lengthened poem. Even in Milton's " Paradise Lost"
the Christian God figures as a sort of Agamemnon, great in bis might,
and the prince of Hell is an Achilles unconquerable in his pride.

1 The Polynesian Mythology of Sir George Grey was published in 1855. The
manner of reference would lead to the opinion that the lecture of Dr. Rae could
not have been delivered very much later.

244 yournal of American Folk-Lore.

Still more pertinent, perhaps, is it to remark that in an advancing
society new ideas are continually springing up from within or find-
ing their way from without, and overshadowing and obliterating the
old. Men pride themselves on being superior to their fathers, and
consequently are inclined to look down on them and on their works.
Whereas, when a people has ceased to advance, and are going down-
hill and degenerating, they feel that all the strength that is in them
has come down from the great and glorious olden time, and it is
their ambition to preserve as much of its influence as they possibly
can.

These considerations induce me to think that, as I have said, the
old legendary tales and poems of the Hawaiians bring down to us
much of a very remote antiquity. Unfortunately, in very recent
years they have been somewhat vitiated and corrupted. Before the
arrival of the missionaries, the recital of these tales was a great source
of amusement both to chiefs and people. All flocked to hear them.
But as the names of the ancient gods were frequently mentioned in
them, their recital appeared to these reverend gentlemen an act of
idolatry, a grievous sin, and was strictly prohibited. Nevertheless,
there were here and there ungodly people who secretly indulged
themselves in listening to them, and thus, though they were banished
from what may be termed polite society for more than forty years,
they maintained an obscure existence among these outcasts. A
rational curiosity and more enlightened views have recently drawn
them out from the obscure shelter they had found, and through the
medium of the press have presented them to the view of all who
sufficiently understand the language. As was to have been expected,
they have come forth from the lowly abodes in which they have
lurked somewhat mutilated and defaced. For nearly two genera-
tions they have passed out of the hands of skilled reciters, receiv-
ing honor and reward for their labor, and subject to intelligent criti-
cism, and as floating waifs have been taken hold of by men unskilled
in their use and careless in their preservation. Hence the old lan-
guage has been somewhat altered, as is shown in the number of
English terms introduced, and hence, also, as I conceive, many epi-
sodes have been appended foreign to the main thread of the story,
and often of a different character. Still, that main thread stands out,
and to us foreigners the change in language in itself probably is of
trifling importance.

These kaavs are not merely short snatches of song, they are
lengthened narrations with a plot running through them, requiring
prolonged attention. The race seems always to have had a great
taste for these recitals. The bard, as in the days of Homer, was an
attendant on the banquets of his chief, and the people, for night after

Laieikawai. 245

night, eagerly listened to the tales he told them of the heroes and
demigods of old. In the larger islands and groups of islands these
audiences were very numerous, for until a comparatively recent
period the population was dense. They were also critical, for the
chiefs prided themselves on preserving the purity and expressiveness
of their language.

The object of the bard is to give pleasure to those who listen to
him. He must bestow his rewards and punishments in a measure
and manner that may seem to his audience according to desert. In
the tale of which I am about to make some abstracts, the actors are
dealt with pretty much as they deserve.

I have one word to say before I begin. We are in the habit of
speaking of the naked savages of the Pacific as if the form of their
garments or want of garments of necessity placed them in the lowest
ranks of humanity. This is a prejudice, and one of which I myself
was only disabused shortly after arriving at the Hawaiian Islands.
I will tell you how that came to pass. I had taken up my abode at
a tavern in Honolulu, and dined at the public table ; he who for a
day or two sat next to me was one whom, from his darkish complex-
ion, I took to be a Portuguese, of whom there are many on the
islands. He was of robust proportions, dressed in black broadcloth
and black hat, after the general fashion of Englishmen, and spoke
English passably well, so that we had some little conversation. I
had the curiosity to ask the landlord who and what he was. He told
me he was a native, a man of some property in houses and land in
Honolulu, and that he had been in town for a day or two, collecting
rents and the like. Meantime I had formed the acquaintance of a
young American, who told me he lived a couple of miles out of town,
and invited me to call on him. I went accordingly, and having fol-
lowed his directions, I thought I must have arrived near his resi-
dence, and was looking round for it. I felt myself overcome by the
heat, the thermometer being nearly ninety degrees in the shade, and
thought I would shorten my search by going to one of the clusters
of native houses and seeing if I could get information. I went to
the door of one, and knocked. I was answered by a voice from
within, and as I was pursuing my inquiries by the aid of the few na-
tive words I had picked up, I heard a second voice apparently giving
directions. Tired of standing in the sun, I thought it better to
abridge ceremony, and open the door. I found myself in a tolerably
large chamber ; before me stood a boy of about twelve, with a feather
fan in his hand. He handed me a chair, so I took a scat and began
to look around. My attention was attracted by the figure of a man
stretched out on a mat, with no clothing but the ntaro. I was struck
by the massive and regular proportions, and fully developed muscles,

246 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

and the smooth, marble-like surface of his body; he seemed a fit
model for a statue of Hercules. When casting my eyes on his face,
I felt certain that I had seen it before, and a smile coming over it, I
recognized my friend of the tavern. " Ah," he said, " I was waiting
to see if you would find me out. I cannot think how you foreigners
contrive to live in the clothes you wear ; they have nearly killed me
by having them on only for a day or two, and I have kept the boy
fanning me ever since I have come home, to see and get the heat
out of me. But come, I will myself show you the house of him you
are inquiring for ; I know him well." So saying, he rose, and taking
hold of a large oblong square of white native cloth,1 and arranging
it about his person in the form of a Roman toga, or rather perhaps
of the Greek pharos, he led me out. Near the door his people were
beginning to prepare a native oven. He said : " Perhaps it is worth
your while to see the way in which we cook our food, so different
from yours:" and accordingly showed me the preparations and
explained the whole process. Then he walked on before me to show
the path, which led through a grove of the pandanus tree, taking
care to point out to me that its long leaves were sharply serrated,
and might cut me badly if I rubbed face or hands incautiously
against them. While thus employed, I could not help envying the
ease and freedom with which he moved, and comparing it with my
own sweltering garments confining every motion. On emerging
from the pandanus grove he carefully pointed out to me the house
I was in search of, and then bade me good day. When he was gone
I said to myself, so this is a naked savage of the Pacific islands ; why,
he is clad far more sensibly, and therefore better, than I am. His
garments are made for ease and comfort, allowing the free play of
the limbs, and are really graceful.

That you may have a complete idea of what these are, I must
describe the viaro. It is a strip of cloth some yards long, and six or
eight inches wide, passed several times between the thighs, and
round the hips and waist with one end hanging down in front for
eight or ten inches. It was de rigueur that in the male sex all this
should be covered ; there was no conception of impropriety in the
exposure of other parts. Women, besides this, had the pan, formed
of one or more pieces of cloth,2 so arranged as to jut out all around
the waist, and cover about a fourth of the person.

It is evident that this fashion of dress was suited to a tropical cli-
mate, and is there convenient and healthful. But when men came
to live nearer the poles, they required garments adequate to cover and
protect the whole person. Hence there is a natural reason for the

1 The kilici.

2 Invariably five thicknesses, according to King Kalakaua.

Laieikawai. 247

different modes of dress. That there is anything in itself indecent
or indelicate in either, I cannot see. A more liberal exposure of the
person seems only a greater extension of the region we call face, and
the conception of this region has been so various among different
races and at different times, that it seems to be regulated by fancy
rather than by reason. Among the Turks and other Oriental nations
it was confined to one eye ; with us it comprehends that part of the
head not covered by hair ; but in full dress of women in capital cities
apparently extends to about a fourth of the person ; at the same
time, a man appearing in a similar state would be considered to
offend against decency ; yet the Scotch kilt is admitted to such
assemblies, and, as far as my observation goes, the " philabeg aboon
the knee " seems rather to attract than repel the fair sex. In the
beginning of the last century, a man showing himself in such attire
would have been considered odious and speedily expelled.

I conceive, therefore, that the matter of dress is an affair of cli-
mate and fashion, and consequently constitutes no legitimate cri-
terion of the character of any people. It seems, therefore, unjust
by calling the people inhabiting the Pacific islands naked, to assume
that they were of necessity savage.

In illustration of what I have said, I am tempted to give you a
specimen of what is to be found in the tales, by sketching the merest
outline of a story, and citing more at length the parts of the legend
having some relation to ancient beliefs known to us through Greek
and Hebrew narrative. It is entitled, from the name of the heroine,
Lai-e-i-kawai. It must have been composed at least three hundred
years ago, taking as the element for this computation the time ne-
cessary for the sea to effect the changes of the coast line which have
occurred since it was framed. It cannot have a very remote anti-
quity, for Tahiti, which was once frequently visited by Hawaiians,
had then receded into the region of the supernatural and of fable.

LAIEIKAWAI.

Once on a time, there was a chief living in Oahu, who held the
low lands on the north of that island, named Koolauloa and Kaulan-
poko. This chief took to himself a wife, and soon after their union,
at a favorable moment when they were quite alone, said to her :
" Listen, my wife ; as yet we have been living happily together, but
there is something more which I have to tell you. Should you have
a child, and should that child be a boy, it would be a happy thing ; he
would aid us when we are old, cover our bones when we are dead,
and portion out our boundaries, and if you had daughters he might
protect them.1 But if a daughter is your first-born she must die, or

1 We see here the reason for the decision of the chief. An unprotected maiden

248 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

if you have two or more, they also must die ; only when you have
borne a son, shall the daughters who may afterwards be born be
allowed to live." Some time afterwards, the woman became with
child. It was born when the chief was absent fishing, and was a
girl. From her surpassing beauty, the mother thought that the chief
might change his mind and allow it to live; so she had it wrapped
in the clothes usual for infants and waited his return. But when he
came, he gave it into the hands of the executioner to dispose of.
Afterwards, she bore several children, all girls, and beautiful ; but
they, according to the relentless will of the chief, were all put to
death. When she found herself with child for the fifth time, she
went to the priest, and said to him : " Look at this body of mine,
for exhausted am I from bearing children only for death from the
exceeding sternness of my husband ; four children have we had, four
children only for death. Look, then on me, and tell me how it is,
for if I am to bring forth a female, it is better for me to destroy it
while yet in embryo than to allow it to come to the full time. But
if I am to have a male child, its fate will be different."

The priest replied : " Return, and when you are near your time,
come back to me, and I will then see about this birth of yours."
Accordingly, when she was near her time, once more she came to
the priest and said : " I have come as you commanded. I am near
the birth ; tell me now about the child I am to have." The priest
said : " I must have a sign from you ; give me what I ask, give me
your hand." In reply, she stretched out her left hand, and as it
happened, with the palm upward. Then he said : " You have given
me your left hand with the palm turned up ; you are to have a female
child."

Hearing this speech, she was exceedingly grieved, for she lamented
the former children whom her husband had caused to be put to death.
Therefore she begged of the priest to reflect, and devise some plan
by which this fresh misfortune might be averted, and the child might
live. He replied : "Attend to what I tell you : return to the house,
and when your pains come on say to the chief that you have a great
desire for the fish called ohua, and further tell him that it is only
caught by himself that will satisfy your longing ; for your husband
is skilled in the taking of that fish, so he will go fishing, and will not
know when the birth is ; and when the child is born, it shall be mine
to take charge of it, so that when he returns it will be under my

would be dispossessed. In the Middle Age, the protection of damsels who might
chance to be " uncounselled " (whence by misconception our modern epithet
"disconsolate ") was a duty of the true knight, a duty which implies the existence
of the same state of things. The situation may probably imply a primitive cus-
tom of exposing the daughters.

Laieikawai. 249

care, and when he makes inquiry you must tell him that the birth
was deformed, and that you had it put away."

This communication over, she returned to her home, and shortly
afterwards the first pains of childbirth came upon her. So soon as
she felt them increasing, she called for the chief, and said to him :
" Oh, my husband ! I see before my eyes the fish called ohua, there-
fore go you with all speed to fish, for it seems to me if I had one,
the child desired would soon be born. Never before have I had a
difficult delivery, never before have I so longed for an ohua. There-
fore go you the fishing with all speed along with your men." This
fish the chief was skilled in catching ; it is taken in numbers, and
requires the combined efforts of many hands to make sure of it.

On the instant the chief left the house, and set out with his men.
While they were absent a child was born ; it was a girl and was
given in charge to Waka, the grandmother, who gave to her the
name of Laieikawai ; but while they were attending to her another
child was born, also a girl, and the latter passed to the priest, who
named her Laielohelohe. When these two had departed with the
infants the chief returned, and asked his wife how she now felt.
She answered : " I have been delivered of a helpless, deformed thing
which they have put away." But the chief already knew that this
had happened, for while he was at sea it had twice thundered.

Waka and the priest had now proceeded some distance from the
house, when she said to him : " What shall we do with the infants
that have fallen to us, in order to conceal them from the chief ? "

By the advice of the priest, Waka, who has supernatural power,
makes choice of a place of concealment for her charge. This hiding-
place belonged to a class of which there are many instances in the
Hawaiian islands, which have arisen from the peculiar structure of
the volcanic rocks of which these are composed. The ancient flows
of lava, piled one on another to a height of many thousand feet,
which make the mass, have been very extensive and regular, stretch-
ing out in smooth sheets for miles, and sloping very gradually and
usually seaward at an angle of about seven degrees. These strata
differ greatly in composition ; for example, the uppermost may be of
a firm basaltic rock having a thickness of but a few feet ; the one
next below may be composed of partially rounded stones, held to-
gether by a claylike mass, and much thicker than that above it. The
frequent rains of the upper regions form themselves into a stream,
which gradually works out a channel in the upper rock, however
firm. Still excavating downward, it penetrates to some chink, down
which a portion of its waters sinks, and aided by the great pressure
slowly forces an underground way to the sea in the form of a tiny
rill. Time, the great agent in all such changes, enlarges its volume,

250 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

so that a large, perhaps the larger portion of the stream, passes that
way. The original chink becomes enlarged to a great hole and
then to a wider chasm, the solid rock operated on below by the fail-
ure of the foundation on which it rests, and above by occasional
floods rolling along its surface, is shaken, breaks up, and gives way.
The stream, which originally flowed smoothly, is transformed into a
mass of troubled waters rushing through a deep, wild, and broken
channel. Meantime, all above the original orifice may remain as
before, and then the waters run evenly until they reach the great
chasm, over the upper lip or brim of which they glide in a thin sheet,
and fall like a curtain into the large and deep pool which they have
been hollowing out for themselves. No one who passed, unless on
attentive examination, would suppose there was anything more than
the large deep pool bounded by steep, rocky banks and the curtain-
like waterfall, but in reality there is something hidden from his view,
for in their process of excavation the rushing, whirling waters have
dug not only downward and sideways, but also upward, and formed
a large cave beneath the smooth basaltic sheet which now roofs it
in. This the screening waterfall quite hides from view. I myself
was for years in the habit of passing a small cavern of this sort
almost daily, and never suspected its existence, until informed by a
native. We entered it together, when he said : " I once lived here
for a long time, with some others ; it was perfectly dry ; we could
spread our mats, and live comfortably, — stay, I put by a stone
pestle, and did not take it away ; I may as well have it," and stretch-
ing his hand over a ledge of rock he took it up.1

Such was the place of concealment in which Laieikawai was nur-
tured by her grandmother, Waka, until she was approaching woman-
hood. About that period, the great seer of the island of Kauai, in
making a circuit of the island, ascended a high mountain, and ob-

1 Early in the spring of 1885 the pool of Waiapuka, said to be connected with
other legends beside that of Laieikawai, was visited by Mr. Daggett, editor of the
Legends and Myths of Hawaii, with a party of ladies and gentlemen, accompanied
by a number of natives. One of these plunged into the pool and disappeared in
the cavern, after which his eyes were visible through an orifice. It is said that
none of the party had ever before seen the passage attempted, and that the natives
were overjoyed at the discovery. The visitor cast mystery about the method of
his entrance. The pool is described as follows : " Entering the district of Koolau-
loa the next day, and approaching the coast over a broad stretch of grassy meadow
but slightly above the level of the ocean, our party was suddenly brought to a
halt beside a pool of clear water, nearly round, and perhaps a hundred feet in
diameter. The surface of the pool was ten or twelve feet below the level of the
surrounding plain, and its even banks of solid rock dropped almost perpendicu-
larly into water of unknown depth. The volcano of the pool is affected neither by
rain nor drought, and the native belief is that it is fed by springs at the bottom,
and has a subterranean drainage to the ocean, some two or three miles distant."

Laieikawai. 251

served a rainbow hanging from a particular spot of the island of
Oahu. He watched it for a day or two, and saw that it did not
depend on the weather, for it was there whether the day was misty
or in clear sunshine. To fully satisfy himself, he made another tour
of the island, and on returning and again ascending the mountain,
saw that the rainbow retained its place. He became convinced by
his art that the rainbow marked the abode of some one who was or
would become a great alii (king or chief, queen or chieftainess), and
on whom his own fortunes would in a great measure depend, lie
therefore resolved to visit Oahu, and discover who this alii might be.
He does so, and, guided by the rainbow, comes to the deep pond and
waterfall. " This," he exclaims, " is no place for an alii to inhabit ;
what can be the meaning of what I beheld ? " At this moment he
observes in the smooth waters of the pond a swirl like that left by a
swimmer or diver, and concludes that such a one had been present,
and fled at his approach. He therefore resolves to wait and watch.
In reality, Waka had just visited her grandchild, and had reached her
by diving under the waterfall, the only passage to her habitation.

I may observe, that according to the ancient belief of the Hawai-
ians, a rainbow was an attendant on great chiefs, especially such
as were descended from the gods, and that to my mind it seems a
probable supposition that the halo with which painters encircle holy
persons had its rise from this superstition.

After a while Waka set out on her return ; but while still under
the surface of the water, she sees a man on the top of the precipice
bordering the pond, and fearing that it was the father of Laieikawai,
who had obtained some inkling of the deceit practised on him, she
retreats. Toward evening she makes a second essay, but finds that
the stranger retains his place, and defers any further attempt until
night, when she manages to escape together with her grandchild,
and begins a search for a more secure abode. She has a great
charge, but by this time Laieikawai has grown to be a young girl of
surpassing beauty, and with the Polynesians of that period beauty
was all powerful. With them Mr. Darwin's principle of natural
selection seems to have reigned supreme. Waka is therefore con-
scious that in her grandchild a great treasure has come to her, and
when she shall have come to riper years is ambitious to wed her to
the head chief of Kauai. In this scheme she is aided by the priest
who has undertaken to care for the twin sister. Her first object,
therefore, is to find a safe retreat, her second to conceal Laieikawai
from all eyes. The seer of Kauai again determines to follow the
great alii, in esse or in posse, whom the rainbow has discovered to
him. This pursuit Waka dreads, and aided by the priest of Koolau,
who appears to her in dreams, manages to throw him out, and to

252 yournal of American Folk-Lore.

establish herself on the southeast of the island of Hawaii, the
largest of the group, at Paliuli, the dark precipice.1 The seer does
not abandon the pursuit, but continues to move from place to place,
continually offering sacrifice and praying to his god. Waka, how-
ever, had not effected her retreat without misadventure, for in pass-
ing from one island to another, the man paddling the canoe had
caught a glimpse of the face of Laieikawai, and admiring her extreme
beauty, had besought Waka to bid her lower a little the mantle in
which she was muffled, in order that he might see something of her
person. Waka replies that it is the girl's own desire to be hid from
the sight of men, and that she cannot interfere. This being not at
all in accordance with her real inclination, Laieikawai contrives to
unveil so much of her charms as to dazzle and astonish the man,
who sets out to proclaim everywhere her surpassing charms. The
fame of her beauty goes abroad, and suitors go in quest of her from
various parts. The legend is chiefly occupied with the account of
the pursuit, and the adventures thence arising.2 I give you such

1 Hulumaniani, the prophet of Kauai, after having observed the rainbow for
twenty days, has obtained a canoe and fifteen men from the chief of Wailua, pro-
vides himself with a black pig, white fowl, and red fish for sacrifice, and sets sail
at the rising of the star Sirius. After the departure of Waka, he ascends Mount
Kaala, and sees the rainbow over the island of Molokai ; Waka is finally
advised in a dream to remove to Hawaii, and dwell at Paliuli. The seer arrives
at Hana, and there erects a shrine for the worship of his patron deity ; in the
seventh month of the year he sees the rainbow on the windward side of Hawaii.
On the third day of the next month he offers fervent prayer in his oratory, and
sees the shadows of Waka and her charge, whom he is informed by his god are
living in Paliuli, in the forest of Puna, in a house thatched with the yellow feathers
of the 00 j he reaches Kaiwilahilahi, where he remains some years without being
able to obtain further information. It is during this sojourn that takes place the
episode of the wooing of Aiwohikupua. Such is the course of the story as
related in Legends and Myths.

2 While the seer is at Kaiwilahilahi, the king of Kauai returns from his wedding
journey and holds a great feast. At this festival he describes his meeting with
the princess of Paliuli, and extols her supernatural beauty. The extraordinary
circumstances of the visit are related. The king sends his kahu or counsellor
with a request for a meeting. The approach of the princess is announced by the
singing of the bird iiwipolena. Here the account becomes literal: "Then a
shadow fell on the door, and we were enveloped," said the king, " in a thick fog,
and when it cleared away, the princess was seen in her glorious beauty, borne on
the wings of birds." It is by listening to this story that the interest of Aiwohi-
kupua is awakened. Again, when the sisters of the latter have finally reached
the bower of Laieikawai, they find her resting on the wings of birds, with two
iiivipolenas perched on her shoulders. The sisters are received as her compan-
ions, and fed by birds. In the case of the seer, a bird also appears to take the
place of a chariot.

According to the glossary of Legends and Myths, kahu signifies " a nurse or
guardian of a child." It would seem, therefore, that, as in mediaeval romances, the
"governor" (we still say governess) remains with the full-grown lord or lady as
servant, adviser, and friend.

Laieikawai. 253

fragmentary portions as seem more particularly illustrative of the
beliefs and manners of the time.

Aiwohikupua, a chief of the island of Kauai, had vowed never to
form any intimate connection with a woman of the islands, inasmuch
as he had been deceived in those on which he had already entered,
and concluding from information which he had received about her
that Laieikawai must be from Tahiti, this was one great motive for
his desire to form a union with her. Her reported beauty was the
other. He therefore selects one of his followers as counsellor and
companion, and embarks in a double canoe with a crew of twenty to
make the voyage. They arrive at Kipahulu on the island of Maui,
where he lands, and determines to proceed by land to Hana, a dis-
tance of about twelve miles.

His counsellor accompanies him, while the canoe goes on by sea.
As he walks along, his great personal beauty attracts all eyes, and
gathers round him a throng of followers. Arrived at Haneoo, at
that time the harbor of Hana, which has since been laid open by the
encroachments of the sea, they find all the people engaged in the
sport of hunalu, "gliding on the waves," which they generally do on
surf-boards. Among the players is a lovely girl, the daughter of a
chief, Hinaikamalama by name. While they are admiring her, the
counsellor whispers to his chief that it would be better to withdraw
a little, lest they be entangled by her charms into some adventure
prejudicial to their main enterprise, but when they are about to do
so, Hinaikamalama, who seems to have been fascinated by the manly
beauty of Aiwohikupua, calls the two distinguished strangers to
join in the sport, and afterwards partake the hospitality of her father's
house. This they consent to do, and when the hunalu is over, Hi-
naikamalama invites the chief to play with her a game of chance
called Kanane. Before beginning, she asks him what the stakes shall
be. He proposes to venture his double canoe ; she objects and says :
" Here is an easily managed stake, our persons. If I gain them, you
must do whatever I command, that is not inconsistent with pro-
priety. If I lose, then I shall be in like manner under your com-
mand. He agrees. They play, and he loses. Finding himself in
difficulty, he endeavors to escape by speaking as follows (but I
abridge his words) : "lam well pleased with the issue of our wager,
but I cannot now remain and be your servant, for I am under oath
to make the circuit of the island of Hawaii before entering into any
engagement with any woman. When I return, I will be your ser-
vant. Until then, I require of you to keep yourself secluded from
all intercourse with men, else I shall hold that you have forfeited
your claim on me." He then takes his leave, and on the day after
arriving at Kauhola on Hawaii, he sees a great concourse of people

254 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

gathered together at a place far upland. On inquiring the cause, he
is told that they have assembled to hold a boxing-match. He desires
to look on, and, having had the double canoe made secure, ascends
to the spot, together with his counsellor and attendants. On his
approach the assembly breaks up, inasmuch as all present are anxious
to obtain a view of his handsome person. Presently they assemble,
and in an orderly manner take their places in a circle, while Aiwo-
hikupua remains standing under the shade of a near and widely
branching tree. Presently a chief named Ihuanu steps into the
ring, and boastfully challenges any one present to the combat. None
dares accept. While moving about inside the ring, he sees Aiwohi-
kupua standing under the tree, and calls out to him : " Oh, stranger,
shall you and I have some sport?" " Yes," replies Aiwohikupua,
" if you take two others with you, then I shall think it worth while
to engage you." Hearing this, a man approaches him from behind,
and says : " Speak not thus to Ihuanu ; no one has ever contended
with him without serious injury." Aiwohikupua turns round on his
interlocutor, and gives him a slap with the open hand, which, how-
ever, lays him dead on the earth. On seeing this, the friends of
Ihuanu crowd round him, begging him not to engage an opponent
of such force. Their prayers only further excite the boastful humor
of Ihuanu, who answers angrily, and on looking round, sees Aiwo-
hikupua approaching, and also observes a boy on the outskirts of the
assembly who has taken an indecent attitude. Him he points out
to Aiwohikupua, saying: "Here is your fit opponent." So enraged
is Aiwohikupua at the grossness of the affront, that his blood rushes
to the surface of his body, and reddens the skin all over. He steps
aside, kneels down, and naming his gods, offers prayer to them. " Oh
ye heavenly ones, this day look down on me your child, the flower
that remains to you on earth, shed down strength upon me ! Cause
Ihuanu's sport to pass harmless by, and I pray you give me his head
for my men to sport with, that all this assembly may see that I am
the conqueror (amamd) ! May it be accomplished quickly and with
power ! " He then stands up, and facing Ihuanu, tells him to strike
first. This Ihuanu does, aiming at the face, but Aiwohikupua, by
a swift movement, eludes the blow, feeling only its wind on his cheek.
Instantly follows the return blow of Aiwohikupua, which falls on the
chest of his opponent with such force as to break through it, and fell
him dead on the spot. Then ensues a great crowding and lamenta-
tion for his death, in the midst of which Aiwohikupua cuts off the
head and gives it to his attendants, as he had prayed he might be
able to do.1

This, you will say, is exceedingly savage ; but the Greeks scarcely
1 This interesting episode is barely noted in Myths and Legends, p. 461.

Laieikawai. 255

fall behind it in that respect, as you may see in all the battles of the
Iliad. It appears to me that the prayer has a certain likeness to the
straightforward petitions which are found in Homer, nor is it unde-
serving of notice that the whole crowd of spectators, though bitterly
lamenting the fate of one who had become their hero, make no
attempt to prevent the mutilation of his body, apparently from a
chivalric principle which holds it dishonorable to come between the
victor and his rights.

Aiwohikupua reembarks, and coasting along, sees another numer-
ous assembly, which also turns out to be a boxing-match. The fame
of his mastery, however, has preceded him, and the chiefs, instead of
combat, propose intimate friendship, an offer which he accepts. Still
proceeding, he unexpectedly meets the seer of Kauai, who, in the
course of his wanderings, was at that time resident on the coast of
Hawaii. Unexpectedly he finds all things prepared for his recep-
tion ; in fact, the seer was endowed with second sight. I now trans-
late verbatim. On that evening, before the setting of the sun, the
seer was sitting at the door of the house looking at the vapor resting
on the clouds which were rising out of the sea, as is the custom of
seers, and has been so from old times downward. He suddenly spake
aloud : " The canoe of a chief this, nineteen men and a great chief ;
it is also a double canoe." On hearing him those around him were
startled, as they could see no canoe, and asked him : " Where is that
canoe of yours?" "It is not a real double canoe," he replied; " I
only saw in the cloudy vapor ; to-morrow we shall see a chief's
canoe." During the night he had another and more distinct vision,
and knew that it was the chief of Kauai who was approaching. He
therefore made a sacrifice for his god. Being questioned as to these
preparations he said : " I am making ready for my chief, him of
whom I told you last night, and there is his double canoe on the sea,
enveloped in the mist you behold." As Aiwohikupua approached
the harbor, it thundered twenty times.1 This brought the people
together, and they saw the double canoe, the awning overhead, and
the chief as the seer had foretold. As the canoe touched the shore
the seer stood up, and offered prayer and sacrifice to the god of Ai-
wohikupua. As he was thus employed, his chief recognized him,
and was moved with strong affection toward him, and so soon as the
prayer was over, told his counsellor to present the gifts to the gods.
The seer ran, embracing the limbs of the chief, and leaning his head
on the neck of the latter, begins to wail. In like manner, the chief
embraces the shoulders of the seer, and wailing recounts his many
virtues. When this ceremony was over, which is customary with

1 According to Myths ami Legends, here much less definite, he sacrifices with
black pig, white fowl, and bunch of a-wa, after which follows the thunder.

256 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Polynesian friends who have long been separated, and who pour forth
the aloka which had filled their hearts during the period of separa-
tion, the two turned to converse with each other and to enjoy them-
selves.

Aiwohikupua did not tell the seer what was the real object of his
voyage, but pretended that he was merely making the circuit of
Hawaii. After a stay of a few hours he resumes his route, and in
no long time, directed by the rainbow, reaches the dwelling of Laiei-
kawai, which he finds far upland, and only to be approached by a
long and difficult path. He is struck with astonishment to see that
the house is covered with thatch, as were all houses of those days,
but instead of the grass called piti, or the long and broad leaves of
the pandanus, it is formed of the feathers of the bird named 00. Now
these feathers were the riches of the land. Only chiefs of conse-
quence could afford to have cloaks made of them. Such a cloak he
had brought with him as a magnificent present that would serve to
propitiate his lady love, and behold ! it must appear contemptible in
her eyes, since the walls of her house were formed of the same ma-
terial. It was as if a lover of our own days had provided himself
with a bracelet of gold to present to his mistress, and had found that
all the furniture of her house was of gold. He cannot think of offer-
ing a thing that must in her eyes seem too paltry to produce a favor-
able impression, and notwithstanding the remonstrances of his coun-
sellor, determines to return to Kauai without attempting to obtain
an interview. As they are coasting along Hawaii and near its north
shore, he falls asleep, and is startled from his slumber by the loud
outcries of his people ; when he wakens and demands the cause of
the uproar, they point to a woman of exceeding beauty seated on a
cliff overhanging the sea, and robed in a white cloak. He orders
them to advance toward her. As they approached the shore, he
learns from some fishermen that it is Poliahu, who has come down
from the mountains. As he approaches, he beckons, inviting her to
descend. She does so and steps on board his canoe. He then
addresses her : " Oh, beautiful woman of the precipice, most fortu-
nate am I in having met with you. Thus have I the happy chance
of praying you to accept me as your spouse, and your servant, who
executes all the commands you give him. I entreat you to come
with me to Kauai." She replies : "Iara not from the precipice ; I
am from the peak of the far-off mountain, which is always clad in
white, as myself am. As for your desire that I should take you for
my spouse, tell me, are not you the chief who stood up and swore
by his god that you would never unite yourself with any woman of
the islands from Hawaii to Kauai, but would seek a wife in foreign
lands ? Are not you he who has entered into engagements with

Laieikawai. 257

Hinaikamalama, the beauty of Hana? As for your desire to form a
union with me, I will say this, if you free yourself from all the
entanglements in which you are involved, and then come for me, I
will consent." Aiwokikupua is overwhelmed with wonder and con-
fusion. At length he replies : " What you say is true, I cannot
deny it ; but tell me, whence have you all this knowledge, and who
has informed you?" "I am descended," she answers, "as you are,
from the gods, and they have given me power to see things afar off,
as if they were close by. I consent to accompany you in your voyage
along the coast, provided you give me a seat apart, and do not
approach or touch me. I also will keep separate from you." He
willingly agrees ; she sails with him for about twenty miles, and then
returns to her mountain, leaving him to strike off, and pursue his
way to Kauai.1 But he seems born to exemplify the maxim, " Men
are deceivers ever," inasmuch as he makes for Hana, but does not
land, keeping his canoe afloat in the harbor of Haneoo. Hinaika-
malama perceives him approach, and is rejoiced at the thought of
meeting him, but seeing him remain on the canoe, she goes to the
shore, and asks him why he does not land. He replies that he can-
not do so. She tells him he must, for he has become hers by the
issue of the game at Konani, and that if he does not come ashore,
she will send a party to capture him. He replies : " Not so, O lady ;
I have no intention of breaking the contract I have formed with you,
but the time is not yet come for fulfilling it. I have not yet been
able to make the island of Hawaii, for a messenger was sent after
me, to inform me that a disturbance had broken out at Kauai which
requires my immediate presence. I have turned out of my way to
inform you of this, that you may remain as we agreed, in expecta-
tion of my arrival/' Hearing this, Hinaikamalama is pacified and he
departs. Before he arrives at Kauai, feeling that he would be put
to shame if the ill success of his voyage became known, he warns
his followers, on pain of death, to keep silence concerning their jour-
ney. Toward evening he arrives at Kauai, calls together his five
sisters, informs them that he has been at Hawaii, and what was his
object in going there, and tells them that he returned in order to
request their assistance in gaining the object of his desire, and to
return with him to Hawaii, to employ whatever influence they may
acquire over Laieikawai in furtherance of his suit. They consent,
and returning to that island, ascend with him the stark precipice of
Paliuli to the abode of Laieikawai. The four elder sisters derive
their names from different modifications of a sweet-smelling shrub
called maile, the youngest and wisest is known as the Breath of
1 She changes mantles with him, as sign of betrothal. Her own mantle is
snow-white. She evidently impersonates the snowy mountain.

VOL. XIII. — NO. 51. 17

258 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

Many Flowers. The four first, one after the other, make the attempt
to gain admittance to the abode of Laieikawai,1 but are repulsed, the
latter loudly declaring that she will never wed Aiwohikupua. Hear-
ing this, he is irritated at the repulse, resolves immediately to return
to Kauai, and vents his vexation on his sisters by declaring that he
will leave them behind until they can move Laieikawai to accept his
suit. Breath of Many Flowers protests against the wrong, more
especially in her own case, as she has had no opportunity of using
her influence over Laieikawai. Aiwohikupua tells her that she may
come with him if she likes, but that her sisters must remain. She
refuses to leave them. On this he and his counsellor depart. The
sisters follow in hope that their brother will relent and take them on
board the canoe when they reach the seashore, but he leaves them
behind. They follow him along the shore, each in turn composing
and chanting such an appeal as she thinks may best move him.
They are much alike. I give the greater part of that sung by Breath
of Many Flowers : —

Brother ours, and chief all-hallowed,

Are we thus to part for aye ?

Leave you us to wander wildly

On this strange and distant shore ?

Has then love your breast forsaken

That you know not you are followed,

Followed over all the seven seas,

Over small seas, over great seas,

Over short waves, over long waves,

Over long-backed waves of ocean ?

Turn you then with gentle visage,

Hear my outcries, hear my wailing,

Look upon your sisters mourning,

Far away fly rage and passion,

Far away each angry thought,

Once again embrace your darlings,

And with circling love enfold us,

You would we return to look on,

Look upon our parents' faces,

See them seated close beside you,

Bear my deep love to my island,

And to small and great upon it,

There return to those I love best,

To my darling sisters four.2

John Rae.

At this point the manuscript of Dr. Rae comes to a conclusion.
The sequel of the history may be indicated after the abstract given

1 They send forth at night the fragrance of the flowers whose names they bear.

2 This is the mele of the sisters only alluded to in Legends and Myths. The
chief is willing to take with him the youngest sister, but she refuses to desert the
others.

Laieikawai, 259

in the work of King Kalakaua. After the conclusion of his second
voyage, Aiwohikupua returns to Kauai, and at a feast, under the in-
toxicating influence of awa, is so imprudent as to reveal his suit to
the princess of Paliuli. A young chief of Mana wagers that he will
succeed where the other has failed ; but in the end he loses his land,
which is restored by Aiwohikupua. The latter now undertakes a
third expedition, with the resolution to obtain Laieikawai by force.
He is repulsed, however, through the efforts of his own sisters, who
are supported by their patron god (familiar demon, as would have
been said in the Middle Age), a huge lizard. The frustrated wooer
prepares to console himself with Poliahu, and performs expiatory
ceremonies in order to release himself from his vow never to wed a
lady of the islands. He meets Poliahu, accompanied by mountain
goddesses, and as the company of Aiwohikupua suffers from the cold
of the upper regions, the bride and her friends remove their white
mantles, which has the effect of lowering the snow on the summits.

It has so happened that the birds whom Aiwohukupua had sent
as messengers to his inamorata had mistaken their road, and arrived
at the house of Hinaikamalama, to whom, as already related, Aiwo-
hikupua had lost in the game, and who possessed the right over his
person. Enraged at the unfaithfulness of her debtor, this lady
makes a visit to Kauai, and at the wedding feast, in a game, becomes
the prize of the bridegroom. She then openly declares his perfidy ;
Aiwohikupua is discredited, and the angry Poliahu returns to her
mountain.

Waka now conceives a plan for uniting her granddaughter to the
newly made king of Kauai ; it is arranged that the couple shall meet
in the surf, use one surfboard, float on one roller, and touch noses
(such contact being symbolic of continued union), after which the
great birds of the heroine are to carry the pair to the feather-house
in Paliuli. A young libertine, Halaaniani, who has a sister gifted
with magic powers, desires the beauty, by the help of the sorceress
is able to take the place of the king, and is taken up to the feather-
house. The enraged Waka casts off her granddaughter, and turns
her attention to the sister who had been left with the priest, Laiclo-
helohe, on whose behalf she makes a similar contract with the king
of Kauai. The new lover of Laieikawai, not satisfied with one suc-
cess, endeavors to obtain also this lady, but is finally foiled. Laiei-
kawai retires into obscurity, while the dissolute youth is left to
general contempt.

The sisters of Aiwohikupua, who are now devoted to Laieikawai,
consider in what manner they can restore their mistress to honor,
and determine to wed her to another brother, Kaonohiokala. Now
this family is divine, the father living in the moon, while the brother

2 60 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

last mentioned has his residence in the sun, his name signifying
Sun-Eyeball. The youngest sister, Kahalaomapuana by name, but
who may here be called by the translated title given by Dr. Rae,
Breath of Many Flowers, undertakes a pilgrimage to heaven. She
is carried on her lizard, who swims with her for four months, until
at the ends of the sea she finds her uncle, who takes her to the place
of ascent. He utters a call, and a ladder composed of spider's web
is let down on which the lady mounts to the moon. Here dwells
the aged man who is her father ; she follows directions, finds him
asleep, leaps on his back and grasps his beard, then chants the mele
of supplication in which she is instructed. She and her mother
mount on a great bird, by whom they are carried up to the sun,
where they find Noon acting as porter. Noon admits her, disperses
the clouds, and she sees her brother, whose brilliant body gleams
like flowing lava, asleep in the centre of the orb. He is awakened,
accepts the proposal of Breath of Many Flowers, and his descent to
earth is heralded by various signs. To Laieikawai, as betrothal
present, he sends a rainbow robe. At rising of the full moon he
descends, and the couple mount to heaven on a rainbow. Waka is
killed by a thunderbolt, and Aiwohikupua reduced to merited poverty
and scorn, being now placed in the tutelage of Breath of Many
Flowers ; the sisters are made regents of the other islands, the king
of Kauai and his wife being left undisturbed in their possessions.

One would think that the story might end here, with the heroine
exalted, not merely to a throne, but to the central glory of the celes-
tials. But apparently Hawaiian thought, like Hellenic, had little
confidence in the permanence of sexual attachment. The Eye of
the Sun, in the course of a tour of his earthly domain, casts eyes of
desire at the fair sister of his wife, while the king of Kauai, on his
part, roves after the beauty of Hana, who of the three rival ladies
alone has not yet been mated. On this intrigue he descends to
earth, and consoles the forsaken spouse. The jealous Laieikawai, by
gazing in the bowl of knowledge, is able to observe the conduct of
her husband, and reports his offences to the father and mother !
These descend on a rainbow, and pronounce sentence on Eye of the
Sun, who is banished from heaven, and condemned to live on butter-
flies as a wandering ghost. Breath of Many Flowers is exalted to his
place, as heir apparent of the solar realm. Laieikawai, at her own
petition, rejoins her sister on earth ; but the government of the
group of islands is intrusted to the faithful prophet of Kauai. Laiei-
kawai, it is to be presumed, gave birth to a child, for she continued
to be adored by certain gentes under the title of The Lady of the
Twilight.

Giving Thanks: A Pawnee Ceremony. 261

GIVING THANKS: A PAWNEE CEREMONY.1

During my recent visit to the Pawnee tribe I was so fortunate as
to be present at a ceremony which, I was told, had never before
been observed by one of my race. I am not sure that this statement
is correct, but, as far as my own reading goes, I do not recall any
account of such a ceremony.

As I was driven up to the lodge of Ti-hi'-roos-sa-wi-chi, the old
priest with whom I was to hold a conference concerning a rite I
was studying, I noticed that he was naked save for the breech-cloth
and his black moccasins of buffalo hide. Knowing his careful ob-
servance of all ritualistic forms, I concluded that his attire indicated
a preparation for some ceremony, and so it proved to be.

After greeting me, he said : " I am about to thank Ti-ra'-wa for
the power granted to the medicine I gave the wife and child of that
young man [pointing to a gayly dressed Indian who stood not far
off]. He has just brought to me the two ponies which you see under
that tree. If you wish, you can go into the lodge with us."

Thanking him for his invitation, and looking toward the doorway
of the earth lodge, I could just discern, in the dim light of the inte-
rior, the wife of the priest sweeping the floor and making ready for
the ceremony. When she came out, she went to the tree under
which the ponies were standing, unfastened their lariats, and led
them to the entrance of the lodge, where she tied one to each side of
the doorway. Then she carried three mats into the lodge, and spread
one at the west, one at the north, and one at the south of the fire-
place. The priest now entered with a bundle in his arms, and soon
after came to the door, and called me. Carrying my little camp,
stool, I followed him down the long projecting passageway into
the circular room. As we entered, he signified where on the right
I was to sit. I placed my stool against one of the large posts, and
awaited the ceremony.

I observed at the west side of the lodge, facing the entrance, be-
tween two of the larger posts which formed the inner circle about
the fire, the sacred buffalo skull, symbolically decorated, lying upon
a gayly colored blanket, folded to make a pillow, in front of which
stood a wand with eagle feathers attached. Between this wand and
the fireplace lay the bundle which I had seen the priest carry into
the lodge. This he now proceeded to open and to spread the vari-
ous articles it contained upon the skin of a buffalo calf upon which
the hoofs were intact. This skin seems to have been the inner
wrapping of the bundle.

1 Paper read before Section H, Anthropology, at the meeting of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science at New York, N. Y., June 27, 1900.

262 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

The wife now entered, bearing a kettle of corn mush, which she
placed near the fireplace at the southwest. The mush was made of
corn, dried in the milk after the native manner, crushed in a wooden
mortar of aboriginal type, and boiled in water drawn from a running
stream. She next brought two wooden bowls, a wooden ladle, and
a number of buffalo-horn spoons threaded on a strip of leather ; these
she placed on a mat near the kettle of mush. These bowls and
spoons were of Indian manufacture.

The fireplace was encircled by a ridge of earth, flattened on the
top and broad enough to receive offerings of food which might be
placed upon it. The fireplace was empty, and no kettle hung from
the tall crotched stick leaning over it from the east. The sunshine
falling through the central opening of the lodge made a bright round
patch upon the hard earth floor, and touched the edge of a gayly
colored mat, while in the diffused light, at the back of the sombre-
hued dwelling, could be seen against the walls the old divans of
springy saplings with curtains of reed mats, and the lodge roof now
sagging with age and the hard usage of wind and rain.

Three men entered ; two sat down on the mat spread at the south,
and one on that at the north side of the fireplace. All were wrapped
in their blankets, but when they were seated, these were thrown
back, revealing their embroidered buckskin leggings, decorated
shirts, and bead necklaces. Their glossy hair carefully parted in
the middle, hung in two braids interwoven with colored bands.
None were painted.

After a pause the priest took from the open bundle a small pipe
with a black bowl and round wooden stem, filled it with native
tobacco, and passed it to one of the young men at the south, who lit
it, and returned it to the priest. The priest pointed the stem up-
ward, then placed it to his lips, and sent a puff of smoke up to the
blue sky seen through the central opening, A second whiff was
blown downward toward the fireplace, and a third was wafted over
the buffalo skull to the west. Then the priest handed the pipe back
to the young man, who offered smoke upward and downward, and
passed the pipe on to the other men, who observed the same cere-
mony. The pipe then came back to the priest, who finished it, and
carefully emptied the ashes in front of the skull. He then passed
his hands four times over the pipe and stem, and stroked his head,
arms, and body. Rising from his position a little south of the wand,
he stooped over the skull, and stroked it four times with both hands
from the jaw to the tips of the horns ; passed his hands four times
around the feathered wand with a spiral motion ; and touched with
both his hands all the articles that lay open on the calf-skin. With
bowed heads all present gave the word of thanks, " Na-wa-i-ri ! "

Giving Thanks : A Pawnee Ccremo7iy. 263

And under the blue line of lingering smoke drifting upward to the
bright central opening in the roof, the priest stood with uplifted
hands, silently facing the east.

After a few moments he gathered his robe about him, passed by
the south side of the fireplace out through the entrance way where
the horses stood tied to the door-posts. Introducing his hands into
the mouth of the animal, he passed them down the back from the
head to the tip of the tail, then clasping his hands tightly to-
gether he returned to the lodge, going straight, by the north, to
the buffalo skull. There he unclasped his hands, and, beginning at
the jaw, passed them over the sides of the skull to the tips of the
horns, while he said : " Father, I am thankful, thankful that you
watch over the medicine you have given, and that it has had power
to make the people well. That is what I want you to do. That
is why I take care of you, why I offer you the tobacco and food
which Ti-ra'-wa has given to you and to me."

After a pause he continued : " I have received presents [the
horses] which I ornament you with, but now do not let your spirit
touch my spirit to hurt me, for I am about to return to this young
man the horses which he in good faith brought as an offering. I
want him to be remembered, and I desire that we have a long life
together."

Then the old priest turned to the young man, and said : " My
nephew, you see how very painstaking I am in caring for and pre-
serving this skull, and how often you find me in this lodge alone
with this skull, thinking of the people whose words are standing in
front of us, although they who spoke are dead and are no longer
here ; to whom the buffalo made known the medicines which de-
scended to me, and which I have given to your wife and child. When
gifts were brought to these old men in the past, they gave thanks
to the skull, and after prayer to Ti-ra'-wa for long life, they some-
times returned the gifts to the person who had been cured of sick-
ness, and who had brought them to show thankfulness. Sometimes
the old men kept these gifts, as given to Ti-ra'-wa. Such were their
ways of doing, and I desire to do as they did."

Once more addressing the skull, the priest said : " Do not let your
spirit touch my spirit to do me harm because I return the gifts made
in good faith to you. You have looked upon me and upon them."

Addressing the young man, he said : " I return you the horses
you have brought." Then he took his seat at the south of the
skull.

The young man arose, placed his hands upon the skull, and
stroked its sides upward to the tips of the horns, then, as he stood,
bending over and with his hands lightly touching it, he said :

264 Journal of American Folk- Lore.

" Father, I desire that you remember our family, and that the medi-
cine may continue to be good. I have learned from this venerable
man that there was once a man who stood upon a hill praying, and
that Ti-ra'-wa gave you power to make known mysteries to this man,
and that this knowledge has been handed down until now my uncle
has charge of you. I have often been around and about you, and have
had the feeling that you are set apart and holy. I have in times
past brought gifts to you [offerings at ceremonies, not fees], and you
have done right by us. When sickness was in our family, the medi-
cine given by my uncle has had the power to cure. These gifts I
receive back from my uncle. I am glad in my heart that I receive
them, not from my uncle, but from the gods who gave the medicines
that are in the care of my uncle, and that these gifts which I receive
back have been brought to the notice of the gods."

Then all present gave the word of thanks : " Na-wa-i-ri ! "

The young man stepped in front of the old priest, grasped his
hands, then stroked his arms, and again grasped his hands, stood
for a moment, and then silently took his seat.

Meanwhile the wife and child who had been sick, her mother, and
the wife of the priest entered the lodge, and took their seats toward
the southwest. The priest walked to the kettle of mush, ladled it
out into the two wooden bowls, and put two buffalo-horn spoons in
each bowl. Taking some of the mush in a spoon, he offered it to
the east, flipping a particle with his finger in the direction of the
rising sun ; then at the north he poured a little on the ridge of the
fireplace ; passing round to the west, he bowed his head, and raised
the spoon to Ti-ra'-wa, and lowered it very slowly, dropping some on
the rim of the fireplace ; then, a little was placed in front of the
skull. This ceremony over, he set one of the bowls before two of the
women, and the other in front of two of the men. Two persons ate
from the one bowl, and each laid a small offering on the rim of the
fireplace before partaking of the corn. The bowls were passed
around the circle a few times. The little child was given of this
sacred food by its mother, and when the bowl reached its father, he
motioned to the child, who ran to him, and there received a second
portion.

The dishes having been gathered up and taken out of the lodge
by the wife, the priest spoke upon the help he had received through
the observance of ceremonies connected with the buffalo cult. Then
he gathered up the articles spread out before him into a bundle, tied
it up, arose and went out of the lodge, all the others following.

This simple ceremony throws light upon the native belief as to
the causes which promote the efficiency of the administered medi-

Giving Thanks : A Pawnee Ceremony. 265

cine ; the intermediary position of the doctor ; and the meaning and
purpose of the fees given him for his service.

Knowledge of the roots, herbs, bark, etc., used by this priest in
his role of doctor had been handed down to him together with the
rituals belonging to the ceremonies connected with the buffalo skull.
This knowledge is said to have been given to the person who, gen-
erations ago, instituted this cult, and who received it in a vision from
a mysterious being. This being was both man and buffalo, and had
been empowered by Ti-ra'-wa to bestow the knowledge upon this
person, whose supplications had reached the gods.

Ti-ra'-wa is the Pawnee name given to the invisible permeating
force which animates all things, giving them form and efficiency.
We are told that this power is of such a nature that it cannot directly
approach man, or be seen by him, but must act through intermedi-
aries, and reach man in a mysterious way, through animate or in-
animate forms, seen in a vision. These forms transmit knowledge
of various kinds to those men who seek thus to be instructed by
observing certain rites and ceremonies.

There seem, therefore, to be certain degrees of approach to be
observed between Ti-ra'-wa and man, and these same degrees are to
be observed whenever man would approach Ti-ra'-wa.

The curative principle of medicine is believed to be a manifesta-
tion of power coming from Ti-ra'-wa, but this power could not be
brought near to man by simple, external, or internal physical appli-
cation of the root or herb. This curative power must pass through
these degrees of approach ; in other words, the medicine must be
given by one who, in a vision, had been taught its use by a mysteri-
ous being sent directly from Ti-ra'-wa, or he must have gained this
knowledge, with due form and authority, from one who had so re-
ceived it, for in no other way could power from the invisible Ti-ra'-wa
reach man.

In the line of descent, the doctor stood next to the patient, but,
depending in his turn upon the faithfulness of the intermediary next
above him, represented in this instance by the buffalo skull, to secure
from Ti-ra'-wa the fresh power required to make the medicine effec-
tive:

The fees are the signs of the patient's thankfulness. They must
be given to the priest-doctor, as only through him can the ascent be
made, and the gifts be brought " to the notice of the gods," and the
patient receive continued help from the source of life. The final
disposition of the gifts, after offering them to the gods, seems to
have been at the option of the doctor.

Speaking with the old priest about his action in returning the
gifts to the young man, he said : " Some doctors keep all fees for

266 Journal of A merica?i Folk-Lore.

themselves. I have watched such men, they do not prosper, their
children die, they have trouble. I have many times given back the
presents, after they have been brought to the notice of Ti-ra'-wa-hut.
I am now an old man, and I have not been in want. Such things
used to be done in the past, the men who did them always had
plenty, and were given long life."

Alice C. Fletcher.

Some Coyote Stories from the Maidu Indians. 267

SOME COYOTE STORIES FROM THE MAIDU INDIANS
OF CALIFORNIA.1

(The Coyote stories here given were collected as part of the work
of the C. P. Huntington Expedition during the summer of 1899,
among the " Koyoma" or Maidu of the higher Sierra in the vicinity
of Genesee and Taylorsville, Plumas County, Cal. The Maidu, both
of the Sierra and of the Sacramento Valley, have a large number of
such stories in addition to others of a more serious nature, in which
the Coyote acts as a marplot to the plans of Kodoyanpe, the
Creator.)

THE COYOTE AND THE GRIZZLY BEARS.

Long ago the Coyote and the Grizzly Bears had a falling out.
There were two Bears who had a couple of small birds, called Pit-
sititi. Whenever the Bears went down to the valley to get berries,
they left these two birds at home. Once, while the Bears were away,
the Coyote came to the Bears' camp, and asked the two little birds
whether the Bears gave them enough to eat. Said the little birds,
" No, they do not ; we are always hungry." The Coyote then asked
whether there was any food in the camp, and the birds told him that
there was, the Bears keeping a large supply on hand. Said the
Coyote, " If you will show me the food, I will get up a fine dinner,
and then we can all eat." The little birds agreed, and the Coyote
prepared the food, and all had a great feast. When they were all
through, the Coyote took up a small stick from the ground, thrust it
into his nose to draw blood, and then with the blood marked a red
stripe on the heads of the birds, and said, " When the Bears come
back and ask you two who did this, say, 'The Coyote did it.''
Then the Coyote went off down the hill into the valley where the
Bears were picking berries, and shouted from the side-hill, " Get out
of there! That ground belongs to my grandmother." Then he
went back up the hill to his own camp.

The two Bears came home, and when they saw the birds, asked
them who had been there, and painted their heads with red. The
two little birds answered that it was the Coyote. The Bears
were very angry. They wanted to have their revenge, so they set
out for the Coyote's camp. Before they reached it, however, the
Coyote had made all his preparations to receive them. He let the
fire go out, cluttered up the camp with filth, then lay down beside
the fireplace, and blew the ashes up into the air, so that they settled

1 Published by permission of the Trustees of the American Museum of Natural
History, New York.

268 y our na I of American Folk-Lore.

on him as he lay there, and made it appear as if he had not been out
of the camp for a long time. He meant to deny everything that
the two little birds had said, and claim to have been sick for a long
while.

The Bears on their part had made plans also. Said one, " I will
go in after him, while you stay by the smoke-hole outside, and catch
him if he tries to escape by that way." They both carried sharp-
pointed digging-sticks. The first Bear went into the hut, and found
the Coyote lying by the fireplace, groaning. The Bear asked him
what the trouble was, and the Coyote replied, " Oh, I 'm sick." To
this the Bear said, " I don't believe you. You have been down at
my camp, and made trouble there." " No, I have n't," said the
Coyote, " I 've been sick up here for a long time." " But the birds
said that you had been down at the camp, and had marked their
heads with red, and eaten up all the food," replied the Bear. The
Coyote, however, stoutly denied that he had been to the Bears'
camp, and repeated the statement that he had been lying sick in his
hut for a longtime. "I've been here sick," he said, "and have
heard the children playing round outside, but no one has come in
to see how I was." At this moment the Bear made a thrust at the
Coyote with the sharp stick. The Coyote dodged, crying, as he did
so, " Whee." The Bear struck again, but this time the Coyote
jumped up through the smoke-hole, and escaped. The other Bear,
who was stationed at the smoke-hole, struck at the Coyote as he
passed, but missed him.

As soon as he was clear of the hut, the Coyote ran to a big log,
where he had hidden his bow and arrows. The Bears followed as
fast as they could, crying, " Hurry up, there, hurry up ! We '11 catch
him, and make a quiver out of his skin." The Coyote jumped over
the log to where his bow was, and got it and his arrows all ready.
He waited for the Bears to jump up on the log. The one that had
been at the smoke-hole reached the log first, jumped up on it, and
was shot by the Coyote at once. The other Bear came next, and
was likewise shot by the Coyote. When he had killed both the
Bears, he came out from behind the log, and said, " All people can
call me Coyote."

COYOTE AND THE FLEAS.

The Coyote was walking along a road one day, and came to where
a Mole was working. He stood and watched the Mole for a while,
then stuck his foot down in front of the Mole, and kicked him out
of the ground, saying "Hello, Cousin." The Mole had a little sack
that he was carrying, and the Coyote, thinking that it contained
tobacco, said, " Here, give me a smoke." The Mole replied, " No,

Some Coyote Stories from the Maidu Indians. 269

I have no tobacco." The Coyote answered, "Why, yes, you have;
you have some in that little sack." The Mole repeated that he had
no tobacco, that there was none in the sack. " Let me look in the
sack," said the Coyote. "No, you can't look at it," said the Mole.
" Well, then, if you won't let me, I will take it away from you," and
the Coyote grabbed the sack, and took it away. He opened it, and
found that it was full of fleas. They jumped all over him, and began
to bite him. The Coyote cried out, " Take it back, Cousin, take it
back," but the Mole had run to his hole, and disappeared. The
Coyote was left to howl alone. After a while he looked around, and
said, " People can call me Coyote."

COYOTE AND THE GRAY FOX.

The Coyote was going up over a hill into a valley that lay on the
far side, when he saw a Gray Fox coming down the valley along the
foothills. The Fox kept crying out, as he thought that the Coyote
would not come into the valley while he was there. The Coyote
said to himself, " What can he be crying out so loudly for ? " In
order to see what was the trouble, the Coyote trotted down the hill
towards the Fox, and coming within a hundred yards of the Fox,
said, " 1 11 bet that is my cousin." He caught up with the Fox, and
asked what had been the cause of his crying and hallooing so loudly.
The Fox answered that he had been gambling, and had lost his hide,
which the winner had taken to make a quiver of. (This was a lie,
but the Fox knew that the Coyote always believed everything he
was told.) The Coyote said, " How do you fellows take your skin
off in that way ?" " I cannot tell you how it is done," said the Fox,
"but I could show you if I only had some one to work on." " Does
it hurt much ? " asked the Coyote. " Oh, no, not generally ; if it
does,' however, you have to keep perfectly still," replied the Fox.
" Well, if it does not hurt much, you had better try it on me ; I want
to see how it feels." Now this was just what the Fox wanted, so he
said, " All right, lie down here, and I '11 see if I can do it for you."
Pretty soon the Fox had all the Coyote's hide stripped off. except
the tip of his nose ; when he got this far, he just broke the end of
the nose off, thus killing the Coyote. Then the Fox laughed and
shook the skin, saying, " I '11 make me a Coyote-quiver for my arrows
out of this," and went off, leaving the Coyote lying there. By and
by the Buzzard came along, and picked out the Coyote's eyes.
While he was eating them, the Coyote came to life, jumped up, and
cried, "Who is that that is digging my eyes out?" But his
were both gone, and he could not see anything. He crawled about
in despair, but soon came to a pine-tree where he found a lot of gum.
He took two pieces of this, stuck them in his eye-sockets, and made

2 jo Journal of American Folk-Lore.

a pair of eyes of them. When he had done this, he found that he
had lost his tail. So he picked up a bit of a branch that was lying
on the ground near by, and stuck it on for a tail. As he went off,
he said, " People can call me Coyote."

HOW THE COYOTE MARRIED HIS DAUGHTER.

One of the Coyote's daughters was a very beautiful girl. The
Coyote was very fond of her, and was always scheming as to how he
might succeed in marrying her. One day a plan occurred to him.
He made believe that he was sick, and lay there, groaning. He told
his family that he was going to die, and instructed them to prepare
a scaffold three or four feet high of boughs, etc., to burn his body
on. The Coyote's wife and daughters prepared everything accord-
ing to directions, and gathered a great quantity of sage-brush to put
under the scaffold when the time came to burn the body. The
Coyote told them that when they had once started the fire, they
were to go away at once, and not look back. Soon after telling them
this, the Coyote made believe he was dead. His family carried out
his orders, and having lit the fire under his body, went away, crying.
As soon as they were gone, the Coyote jumped down from the scaf-
fold, and went off. Two or three days after he came back, and meet-
ing his daughter, made love to her. After a while he married her.
A week or two after they were married, the old woman who had
been the Coyote's wife before suspected that there was something
wrong. She suspected that the man who had married her daughter
was really her own husband whom they had thought dead. One
day, when the Coyote had gone out hunting, the old woman said to
her daughter, " I think that you have married your father." The old
woman knew that the Coyote had a scar on the back of his head,
which was due to an old wound. So she told her daughter to try to
get her husband to let her hunt for lice on his head, when she
would have an opportunity to see if he had a scar. After several
days the young girl succeeded in getting her husband to let her
hunt for lice on his head, and in a minute she found the scar. She
said, " Now I have found you out ; you are my father." The Coyote
jumped up and laughed till his sides ached, then he said, " People
can call me Coyote."

Roland B. Dixon.

Some Items of Algonkian Folk- Lore. 271

SOME ITEMS OF ALGONKIAN FOLK-LORE.

Dictionaries of the languages of savage and barbarous peoples
often contain many interesting and valuable items of folk-lore. The
present writer, having had occasion to familiarize himself with the
late Abbe Cuoq's 1 dictionary of the Nipissing dialect of the Algon-
kian stock, has noted the following, which, with the Indian words
relating to them, are worthy of attention : —

1. Agonakwens, "the little woman of the sacrifice" (p. 17), from
agoj, "to suspend, to hang," and ikwens (diminutive of ikwc), "little
woman." Concerning this word Cuoq observes : "Before the intro-
duction of Christianity, these Indians used to place upon an elevated
platform a young woman as a sacrifice to the god of war, in order to
obtain his protection in a military expedition." See No. 46.

2. Agwatcing potawe, "she kindles her fire outside" (p. 18). This
expression is said by euphemism of menstruating women. With the
heathen Indians, women in that condition were not allowed to asso-
ciate with anybody, and had to cook for themselves apart from all
the rest.

3. Aiabe opikwan, "the back of a male" (p. 20). Cuoq says of
this expression : " C'est en realite" une longe de dicvrcuil (a loin of
venison)." He cites Thavenet, one of his predecessors among the
Algonkins, as remarking : " At the birth of boys a curious ceremony
takes place, during which they sing continually : aiabc opikwan."

4. Ajawisikanendamawicin, "pour me out of your mouth into
mine" (p. 25). This was formerly "a great mark of affection," but
only "a vague remembrance of it now survives."

5. Akoskowewack, "herbe de Venus" (p. 34). A plant which,
" according to the superstition of the Indians, has the power of in-
spiring the passion of love."

6. Apanjinaman (p. 56). This word Cuoq defines as "a sort of
blackish face-paint which the pagan Indians used in their fasts."
The word is still in use among the Christian Indians in the sense of
"stove-polish." See No. 21.

7. Atawaamok, "they navigate together" (p. 64). The name
given to the three bright stars in the belt of Orion. They are looked
upon, as the name signifies (from atawaam, "to travel on the water
together,"— ata, "together," nam, "to travel on the water"), as three
Indians who are canoeing along the waters of the sky.

8. Atcitatikwan, "a tree planted upside clown on tl of a
dead man," from atcitc, "upside down," and atik, "tree" (p. 66).
According to Cuoq, this practice is still observed at the obsequies
of pagan Indians.

1 Lexique de la langue algonquine (Montn5.il, 1886).

272 Journal of American Folk- Lore.

9. Cacacakinindjini, "to bend the hands back," from cacaki,
" bent backwards," and nindj, " hand " (p. 79). Formerly the young
Algonkins thought it an honor to be able to do this.

10. Cacacakaami, "to toe out in walking" (p. 79). According to
Cuoq the Iroquois formerly used to "toe out," while the Algonkins
affected to " toe in." The young people kept up the custom longest,
but "reciprocal ridicule" induced them to drop it (p. 50). Cuoq
cites the expression aianimasitekazo, " to mimic those who ' toe out '
in walking." Cacacakaami is from cacaki, "in the contrary direc-
tion," and aami, " to step."

1 1. Cacipanamowin, " a sort of game, in which the one who holds
his breath the longest wins the prize" (p. 80). The word is derived
from cacip, "lengthened," and attain, "to breathe." The formula of
beginning is : Atzvatita awekwenitok nitamke nasamokwen = " Let
us play to find out who will breathe first."

12. Esimik, "a sort of gorget used by the Indians" (p. 102).
Formerly these gorgets were made of shell (es), hence the name.
Now the material is of an entirely different sort.

13. Haiti ! This is "a cry of grief in funeral songs" (p. in).
Says Cuoq: "If a chief has distinguished himself during life by
some brilliant act, he is given after death solemn obsequies. A sort
of bard sings praises of the hero in a mournful voice, and the haJii,
repeated three or four times by the audience, forms the refrain of
the song."

14. HeJi ! This word (very strongly inhaled) is the choral response
to the warrior's song, the dance-song at name-giving, etc. (p. in)..

15. (Ni)iazv. This term, which signifies literally "my person, my
homonym," is used in salutation between persons who bear the same
name (p. 113). Even children use it to their grandparents. The
original signification of iaw seems to be "body, visible form."

16. Kijikokek (plural of kijikoke), "the invisible beings with whom
the 'medicine man' is thought to have dealings in his 'medicine
lodge'" (p. 159). Ka kijikokctc is rendered "the god of day
(ki/ik)."

17. Kikaigan, "broken branches, which the Indians stick in the
ground, bent in the direction in which they have gone, in order to
mark their path for those who may follow" (p. 160). The word is
derived from kik, "mark, sign," and the instrumental -gan.

18. Kikinonowin. This word Cuoq defines as "prognostic derived
from observation of the stars" (p. 163). In answer to the question :
" How do you know when the sap will run in the maple-trees ?" the
Indians reply : Kitci anangoc isa nind ani kikinononanan = " The
great star tells us it." Kikinonowin contains the radical kikino,
" sign, mark " (a derivative from the simpler radical kik, " sign,

Some Items of Algonkian Folk-Lore. 273

I mark "). Among the Sauteux, Cuoq tells us kikinonowin signifies
J "annual course, completed year," while some other Algonkian tribes
' use it in the sense of " the first day of the year."

19. Kitcikanakwat, "the sky has wavy (dappled) clouds" (p. 177).
To see such clouds in winter is a sign of rain. The Indian saying
is : Kitcikanakwat, ta sokipo = " The sky is dappled, it is going to
rain." The roots of kitcikanakwat are kitcik, "dappled," anakwat,
"cloud."

20. Konas, "cover, blanket" (p. 184). These Indians have an-
; other weather-proverb. When the ice begins to crackle they say :
i Andaokonasi mikzvam, ta sokipo = "The ice is seeking its blanket,
I it is going to snow."

21. Makatekewin, "the fast of the pagan Indians to obtain good
hunting from the manitou" (p. 199). The word is derived from
makateke, " to blacken the face," — face-blackening was the sign of
the fast. See No. 6.

22. Memegwcsiwak (plural of memegwesi), "a sort of sirens or
water-nymphs, which, the Indians believe, live in the water and in
hollow rocks '* (p. 43). They are said to steal very much and to
speak with a nasal twang. There are many sayings about them.
Cuoq tells us that "when, by mischance, when travelling by water,
one has let fall anything into the river or lake, it is the custom to
say memegwesi 0 kat aian = " the memegwesi will have that," or
"that is for the memegwesi." Certain rocks or stones having some
resemblances to parts of the human body are called memegzvesi-
wabik= " memegwesi-rock ; " and, in passing by these, the canoe-men,
even now, " either in jest or in superstition, toss at them a piece of
tobacco," etc. Of these "nymphs " the saying goes : Memegwesi ta
kimotasapi, nitakimotiwak, memegwesiwak, " the memegwesi will rob
the net; they are thieves, the memegwesi." The "nasal twang" of
these creatures has furnished an expression of a figurative sort to
the language in memegwesiko, " to speak with a nasal twang," liter-
ally " to imitate the memegwesi."

23. Micipicitok, "a species of 'lion' said to live in the water"
(p. 215), — the "water-tiger" of many myths and legends. The word
is derived from mici, "big," and piciw, "lynx." Another fabulous
creature is the micikinebik, "the great serpent," which is said to
possess horns.

24. Minagosi, "to exhale (a bad) odor" (p. 224). Cuoq points
out the curious fact that of a dead dog, or other carrion, the animate
form of the word must be used — minagosi = "it smells (bad)," while
of a dead man (whom one respects) the inanimate form must be em-
ployed,— minagzvat, "it stinks."

25. Mindazvekackwe, "his nails say that he is discontented"

VOL. XIII. — NO. 51. l8

274 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

(p. 226). The Indian belief is that the little white spots, so often
seen on the finger-nails, are a sign of discontentedness. The word
is derived from mindawe, "to be discontented, to sulk," and kackwe,
"nail."

26. Mosewabite, "to have bad teeth, to have toothache" (p. 241).
This word signifies literally "to have a worm in one's teeth {bit)."
The name mose is given to a worm that gnaws wood.

27. Nakwetagewin, "the chorus, or refrain in response to the
orator's song" (p. 252). The word is derived from nakwetage, "to
respond, to chant heh ! heh ! " An older name for such responses
is tcingtvaamagezvin. See No. 14.

28. Nangandama, "to lighten one's load by eating it" (p. 258).
This is said of the Indians on the hunt, " who, when they arrive at a
portage, have not the courage to carry their provisions on their
backs, but try to dispose of as much as possible by eating before the
voyage is resumed."

29. Nenabojo (see No. 51). This word is used figuratively also:
Nenabojonsiwi Sivionh = " Simon is a little Nenabojo."

30. Nogweivitamok, " the thunder stops, is not prolonged in its
rumblings" (p. 285). This is a sign of cold. The saying is : Nog-
wewitamok, ta kisina, " the thunder stops rumbling, it is going to be
cold." When the thunder is prolonged, they say "it will be fine
weather."

31. Nonimotewesi, "chrysalis of a butterfly" (p. 287). When the
Indians find one of these they say : Audi k'okomis endate ?— " Where
is your grandmother?" In figurative language nonimotewesi is ap-
plied to a taciturn individual.

32. Nwatcimangwete, "the loon-hunter" (p. 289). The name of
a certain constellation, — from notcimangive, " to hunt the loon
(mang)."

33. Odjikanang, " star of the fisher " (p. 294). The constellation
of the Great Bear is called by these Indians after the "fisher"
{odjig), — Martes canadensis.

34. Onwadfikewin, "prognostic from trembling" (p. 305). Among
the prognostics from the trembling or shuddering of parts of the
human body are the following : Head, one will have a heavy burden
to bear ; upper lip, one will get angry ; lower lip, one will have a feast ;
eyebrows, one will receive a pleasant visit ; eyelids, one will shed
tears ; clieeks, it will be very cold ; ears, there will be snow ; hands,
one will skin an animal ; legs, one will make a long voyage. Con-
cerning these, Cuoq observes that "they exist now only in the
remembrance of a few old people " (p. 306). The " medicine-men "
made much of these things.

35. Opikwanic, "the constellation of the Little Bear" (p. 307). This

Some Items of Algonkian Folk-Lore. 275

! word seems to be composed of opikwan, " its back," with ic, suffix
I used with the names of certain celestial phenomena.

36. Pakesiwin, " the so-called ' dish game ' or jeu du plat of the
Indians" (p. 321). So-called because played with a plate or bowl
and "plum-stones" (pakesanak).
/ 37. Pakwatcininins, "the little man of the woods" (p. 325). A
sort of Indian elf or fairy. The word is derived irompakzjatc, " be-
longing to the woods" and ininins (diminutive of inini), "little
man." These creatures figure much in myth and legend.

38. Panabe, "a water creature of Algonkian mythology" (p. 327).
The word signifies literally " quasi-ma.n," or " not-quite man," from
pan, "almost, quasi" and abe, "man." It is said to be half-man
half-fish.

39. Pipakice, "his ears tingle" (p. 344). The Indian saying is:
Ni pipakice, ta sokipo — " My ears tingle, there is going to be snow."
See No. 34.

40. Piskwatawin, "a former national game of these Indians"
(p. 347). It received its name from the fact that one of the great
intestines {piskwat — rectum) of the bear or deer was employed in
the game, and the players cried : Aiabe opiskwat ! aiabc opiskivat I—
"The male, his piskwat ! the male, his piskwat ! " Cuoq vouchsafes
no more than this about the game.

41. Sasakiwidjigan, " sacrifice in the old pagan fashion, immola-
tion of a victim " (p. 363). Cuoq gives also sasakiwidjiganatik, " tree
of sacrifice," — the pagan Indians suspend on a tree certain objects
to obtain the good-will of the manitou. See No. 1.

42. Sipingon, "tears" ("river of the eyes"). Cuoq points out
(p. 370) that "the Sauteux attribute life to 'tears,' saying [in the
animate form] ni sipingweiak ; while the Nipissings leave the word
in the inanimate form, saying sigisen ni sipingon =" my tears run,"
" I shed tears."

I 43. Tcipaimikan, "the way of the dead" (p. 391), — from tcipai,
} "corpse," and mikan, "path, road." The name given to the "Milky
\ Way," the path by which the dead pass to the other world.

44. Tcipeiwak, "part of the leg a little above the knee" (p. 392).
Cuoq informs us that "these Indians formerly believed wounds in
this part of the body to be incurable, and most often fatal." The
word is derived from tcipai, " corpse," and iwak, " flesh, muscle."

45. Tcipesak, "the rotten wood from which comes the will-of-the-
wisp" (p. 392), —literally " wood of the dead " (from tcipai, "cor]
and sak, " wood "). Cuoq says the name was given " because it is
in or near graveyards especially that the Indians have noticed this
phenomenon."

46. Tesanaivi, "to live in celibacy " (p. 398). This word signifies

276 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

literally "to be elevated above the ground," "to have the body {-na)
extended horizontally above the ground and projecting forward [all
this in the radical Us-]." Tesanakwe, according to Cuoq, is "a
woman who has her body above the earth, whose body being ex-
tended does not touch the earth ; a woman who has nothing to do
carnally with men, — qncz ccelibalem agit vitam." The Virgin Mary
is styled Kakik taiesanakwewitc Mani=" the ever Virgin Mary."
This word tesanakwe (which contains the root ikwe, "woman") is
evidently built up in contrast with agonakzvcns, the name the pagan
Indians gave to the young woman who was immolated on an elevated
platform as a sacrifice before entrance upon a war expedition (see
No. 1). Cuoq calls agonakwens, " the pagan virgin," and tesanakwe,
"the Christian Virgin." The history of these two words is very
suggestive. The word for " virginity, chastity," used of both sexes,
is from the same root tesanawiwin.

47. Waban, "it is day, it is getting light" (p. 413). The radical
j of the word is wab, "white." As Cuoq points out, it is interesting
I to note how "these Indians attribute the color white to the light of
' day [compare the Latin a/bescere], while most European tongues

ascribe the color black or dark to the shades of night." In French,
e. g., one can say indifferently il fait noir or il fait unit. The Aryans
seem to have emphasized night as much as some primitive peoples
(the Algonkins, e. g.) have emphasized day.

48. Waceiabi, "to have a speck or white spot on the eye " (p. 416),
— from wace, "to shine," and -ab "to see." As Cuoq notes, it is
hard to see the justice of this name, since such a spot must obscure
rather than enlighten the eye. He informs us further that the Iro-
quois call such a speck in the eye a " star." This may suggest the
origin of the appellation.

49. Windigo, " an anthropophagous giant, and fabulous monster "
(p. 440). From the windigo have been named windigo-wakon, " a
sort of edible moss, the famous tripe de roche," — wakon = il moss ;"
and windigo-pinecinjic, a bird so called from its voracity and the
way in which it attacks and devours other birds.

50. Wingzvak (plural of an obsolete wing), "the winged genii of
sleep ; a sort of somniferous butterflies, which figure in Algonkian
mythology" (p. 441). Among the sayings in which the word wing-
tvak appears are the following : Ni nisigok wingwak (literally, " the
zvingzvak kill me "), " I am overwhelmed with sleep ; " zvingwak
ondjita manek (literally, " there are many wingwak "), " everybody
is asleep." According to some of the Indians the wingzvak (butter-
flies or flies), which cause sleep, are ordinarily five for each indi-
vidual. Cuoq cites from Mathevet, a missionary of the middle of the
last century, this legend : "The Indians say that a man playing in

Some Items of Algonkian Folk- Lore. 277

• the sky accidentally fell through a hole and reached the earth un-
hurt. He was surprised to find that the people were asleep, and
noticing one who slept more than the others, he made a little bow
and arrow. Then, approaching the man who slept, he let loose an
arrow at a cloud of insects that were flying about him, and were the
cause of his sleeping too much. Some of these flies were killed and

! others driven away. The sleeper awoke and the celestial visitor then
gave the Indians much advice. He foretold that when the bearded

*> men should come amongst them they would commence to die off,
and that when the women of the bearded race settled in their
country they would be near their ruin."

51. Wisakedjak, "the great Manitou of these Indians, to whom
they attributed the formation of the earth," also known as Nenabojo
(p. 442). To-day, however, these Indians " no longer pronounce the
name of Wisakedjak, except in derision, since they have been Chris-
tianized. With them Wisakedjak, as well as Nenabojo, is now almost
a synonym of monkey, in the figurative sense of that word. Of any
one who imitates what he sees done, it is said : He is a wisa-
kedjak.''

Particularly interesting in the above list are those items relating
to sacrifice (Nos. 1, 41) ; fairies, elves, spirits, and other fabulous
creatures (Nos. 22, 23, 37, 38, 49, 50, 51) ; games (Nos. 11, 36, 40) ;
rites, ceremonies, etc. (Nos. 3, 4, 8, 15, 21) ; superstitions, omens, etc.
(Nos. 19, 20, 25, 30, 34, 39). A point of considerable importance is
the meaning which many of the Indian words have acquired since
the aborigines have been more or less Christianized. Examples of
such change are seen in Nos. 6, 46, 51. A comparative study of the
Indians before and after Christianizing would be of great value to
the psychologist and to the folk-lorist.

; Alex. F. Chamberlain.

1 Clark University, Worcester, Mass.

2 yS Journal of American Folk-Lore.

THE DEVIL'S GRANDMOTHER.

Although Satan is the hero of Milton's epic, we learn nothing
from that great poem about his female relatives. Shakespeare, how-
ever, speaks some half-dozen times of "the devil and his dam." In
the " Comedy of Errors " (Act IV. sc. iii.), where the person spoken
of is a courtezan, we read : —

Antipholus of Syracuse : Satan, avoid ! I charge thee, tempt me not.

Dromio of Syracuse : Master, is this Mistress Satan?

Antiph. : It is the devil.

Drom. : Nay, she is worse, she is the devil's dam.

But it is to folk-lore, with its general, if crude, and sometimes
savage humanity, that we must go for a more or less complete gene-
alogy of the devil.

Of all peoples, the Teutons, the modern Low Germans especially,
seem to have had the most kindly feeling towards the devil, fur-
nishing him at times with a wife, a mother, and a grandmother, the
last, who is often indistinguishable from the second, being the most
important and interesting character. Following are some of the
proverbs and folk-sayings in which these personages appear : —

i. The devil is beating his mother (said when rain and sunshine follow
quickly after each other).

2. You have brought the devil and his mother (said of unwelcome com-
pany).

3. If you are the devil, I am his mother.

4. Who are you, the devil or his mother ?

5. Is he the devil, or his wife?

6. The devil and his mother (= all the world and his wife).

7. Inseparable, like the devil and his mother.

8. To ask after the devil and his mother.

9. You can go to the devil and his grandmother (= you can go where
you please).

10. The devil should have had him long ago, but is waiting to find his
fellow, for his grandmother wants a new pair of coach-horses.

11. Where the devil cannot come, he sends his grandmother.

12. The devil is dancing with his grandmother (said when a whirlwind
occurs).

13. The devil's grandmother can dance on it (said of very thick soup).

14. As if the devil had ploughed with his grandmother (=awry).

15. As fast as the devil dragging his grandmother along ( = very slow
and unwillingly).

16. When the devil's grandmother has cleaned up hell, he goes off on a
journey (said when the husband flees before the scrub-broom of his wife).

The Devil's Grandmother. 279

17. The devil and his grandmother are the best guests in the house (said
when loud quarrelling takes place).

18. That must go with the devil as freight and his grandmother as deck-
load.

19. The devil is bleaching his grandmother (said when rain and sun-
shine rapidly follow each other).

20. The devil beats his mother till the oil comes (said when it thunders
while the sun shines).

Nos. 2, 12, 13-18 in the above list, as Wossidlo1 tells us, are well-
known in Mecklenburg ; No. 10 is Swiss ; some of the rest are
known all over Germany and Teutonic Switzerland ; a few in Hol-
land and England.

For No. 19, we find in Switzerland, "The devil is beating his
mother ; " for No. 20, in Holland, " The devil is beating his wife ; "
and in France, "the devil is beating his wife" (when it rains amid
sunshine).

Some of these sayings are of considerable antiquity. According
to Grimm,2 the following are very old, some being earlier than the
thirteenth century : —

1. The devil brought me to you, and his mother brought you to me.

2. To run a race with the devil's mother.

3. Is it the devil riding here, or his mother, or his son ?

4. The devil or his grandmother.

5. A widower a widow wedded, the devil to his dam was added (= things
got worse).

6. The devil with his mother (= all sorts of evil at once).

7. I fear not the devil and his dam.

A very interesting group of folk-sayings about the devil and his
grandmother consists of conversations of the latter about or with the
former. Following are examples : —

1. "Old people are stiff," said the devil when he danced with his grand-
mother.

2. " Fundus," said the devil when he found his grandmother drunk in
the gutter.

3. " No matter," said the devil when he had to mourn his grandmother.

4. " That might be a joke," said the devil as he ran his fork through his
grandmother.

As may be seen from the sayings here recorded, the giants, gob-
lins, and deities of heathen times have helped to color folk-thought

1 Wossidlo, R., Cott tind Teufel im Munde des Mecklenburgischcn Volkes.
Korrespbl. d. Ver. f. niederdeutsche Sprachforschung, 1891, pp. 18-32. 44~4S.
espec. pp. 30, 31.

2 Grimm, J., Teutonic Mythology (Transl. Stallybrass), vol. iii. (Lond.. 1SS3),
pp. 1007-1009; vol. ii. (1888), pp. 1606, 1607.

2 So Journal of American Folk-Lore.

about the devil. The devil's mother, or grandmother, often has the
popular sympathy, and does not always appear as an evil-doing or as
an ugly individual.

Enough has been given here to indicate the general character of
the folk-lore in question, and it would be interesting to follow up in
America among the people of German, English, and other nation-
alities, the folk-thought concerned with " Gotts diiwel un sin gross-
mudder."

Isabel Cushman Chamberlain.

Worcester, Mass.

Onondaga Tale of the Pleiades. 281

ONONDAGA TALE OF THE PLEIADES.

The Huron-Iroquois seem to have taken little note of the stars,
though the sun and moon had a prominent place in their mythology
and customs. The north star could not well escape their attention,
and they called it the star which always stands still. The Great
Bear was not entirely overlooked, but the Pleiades formed their favor-
ite constellation.

Indeed, the Indians along the Atlantic coast displayed much the
same judgment. Roger Williams says they called the Great Bear
by its familiar name, and they had another for the belt of Orion.
Some called the Pleiades the Seven Stars, and others the Brooding
Hen, or literally, " They sit apart from others," or are grouped to-
gether. Wassenaer said of the Indians of New York, "The women
there are the most experienced star-gazers ; there is scarcely one of
them but can name all the stars ; their rising and setting; the posi-
tion of the Arctos, that is the wagon, is as well known to them as to
us, and they name them by other names."

Among the Onondagas a single star is O-chis-tan-00-kwa, adding
i-nune in the plural, "Spotting the sky." I have been promised
other star stories, but so far have but one from original sources, not
greatly differing from one told by Mrs. E. A. Smith. It is of the
Pleiades, or Oot-kwa-tah, "There they dwell in peace."

A long time ago a party of Indians went through the woods
toward a good hunting-ground, which they had long known. They
travelled several days through a very wild country, going on leisurely
and camping by the way. At last they reached Kan-ya-ti-yo, " the
beautiful lake," where the gray rocks were crowned with great forest
trees. Fish swarmed in the waters, and at every jutting point the
deer came down from the hills around to bathe or drink of the lake.
On the hills and in the valleys were huge beech and chestnut trees,
where squirrels chattered, and bears came to take their morning and
evening meals.

The chief of the band was Hah-yah-no, " Tracks in the water,"
and he halted his party on the lake shore that he might return
thanks to the Great Spirit for their safe arrival at this good hunting-
ground. " Here will we build our lodges for the winter, and may
the Great Spirit, who has prospered us on our way, send us plenty of
game, and health and peace." The Indian is always thankful.

The pleasant autumn days passed on. The lodges had been built,
and hunting had prospered, when the children took a fancy to dance
for their own amusement. They were getting lonesome, having
little to do, and so they met daily in a quiet spot by the lake to have

2S2 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

what they called their jolly dance. They had done this a long time,
when one day a very old man came to them. They had seen no one
like him before. He was dressed in white feathers, and his white
hair shone like silver. If his appearance was strange, his words
were unpleasant as well. He told them they must stop their dan-
cing, or evil would happen to them. Little did the children heed,
for they were intent on their sport, and again and again the old
man appeared, repeating his warning.

The mere dances did not afford all the enjoyment the children
wished, and a little boy, who liked a good dinner, suggested a feast
the next time they met. The food must come from their parents,
and all these were asked when they returned home. "You will
waste and spoil good victuals," said one. " You can eat at home as
you should," said another, and so they got nothing at all. Sorry as
they were for this, they met and danced as before. A little to eat
after each dance would have made them happy indeed. Empty
stomachs cause no joy.

One day, as they danced, they found themselves rising little by
little into the air, their heads being light through hunger. How this
happened they did not know, but one said, " Do not look back, for
something strange is taking place." A woman, too, saw them rise,
and called them back, but with no effect, for they still rose slowly
above the earth. She ran to the camp, and all rushed out with food
of every kind, but the children would not return, though their par-
ents called piteously after them. But one would even look back,
and he became a falling star. The others reached the sky, and are
now what we call the Pleiades, and the Onondagas Oot-kwa-tah.
Every falling or shooting star recalls the story, but the seven stars
shine on continuously, a pretty band of dancing children.

In Mrs. Smith's story one of the seven children sings as he rises
in the air, and becomes the faintest star of the group. She gives
some other very brief tales, the most notable being that of the
Great Bear. While I had hoped to add others, it seemed best to
delay no longer the pretty tale of the lost children, brief as it is.
Moral : feed children well.

W. M. Beatichamp.

Record of A merica n Folk-L ore. 283

RECORD OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.

NORTH AMERICA.

Algonkian. Mohegan. The life of Samson Occom, " the pious
Mohegan," will always be of interest to students of the contact be-
tween the Red Man and the White in America. Rev. W. De Loss
Love's recent volume, " Samson Occom and the Christian Indians
of New England " (Boston, 1899, pp. xiii. -f- 379), is a valuable contri-
bution to the literature of the subject. The author seems to place a
high estimate upon the character of this Indian preacher and his
achievement.

Chinantecan. Pages 68-71 of Professor Starr's paper (titled
below) treat of the Chinantecs of the districts of Cuicatlan and Villa
Alta in Oaxaca, whose language is probably of independent stock.
Houses, dress, agriculture, intoxicants, superstitions are briefly noted.
The red cloth worn about the neck or head by the men is character-
istic, also the hairdressing of the women. Witchcraft and super-
stitious treatment of diseases prevail.

Iroquoian. A curiosity in its way is the " Iakentasetatha kahn-
wakeha tsini kahawis nonwa ioserate, 1900," etc., or " Iroquois
Almanac for the year 1900" (Tiohtiake — Montreal, 1899, pp. 71),
published by G. Forbes, Cure" of Caughnawaga. The main part of
the pamphlet is in Indian, but pages 57-66 are in French and pages
67-70 in English. The Indian text is concerned with an account of
Kateri Tekakwitha, the " Lily of the Mohawks " (pp. 32-50), — the
famous "saint" of the Iroquois, — and general notes about the Iro-
quois population in Canada and the United States. The rest of the
pamphlet deals with the history of the Caughnawaga mission, etc.
Although Iroquois is still spoken generally at Caughnawaga, there
does not exist " a single family of pure Iroquois blood," indeed only
a couple of individuals even lay claim to such descent. If we believe
the statements in the Almanac, there are among the Iroquois at the
present time 125 descendants of Eunice Williams, of Deerfield,
Mass.; 1350 descendants of Silas Rice, of Marlboro, Mass. ; 1100
descendants of Jacob Hill, of Albany ; and 400 descendants of John
Stacey, another white youth captured during the Indian wars of the
eighteenth century. No wonder white blood is so common among
these Indians. — Cherokee. Of more or less interest to folk-lorists
is "The Story of the Cherokee Bible" (N. Y., 1900, pp. 173). by G.
E. Foster, which contains some items of tradition, etc., besides biblio-
graphical notes. — Wyandot. Under the title " Wyandot Folk-Lore "
(Topeka, 1899, pp. 116), Mr. W. H. Connelley publishes a collection
of myths and stories, with brief account of the sociological condi-

2S4 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

tion of the Wyandots of Seneca, Mo. Much of the material has
already appeared in the Journal of American Folk-Lore and the
"Report of the Provincial Archaeological Museum of Ontario."
The author promises in the near future a much more elaborate treat-
ment of the subject.

Juavan. The Juaves, discussed by Professor Starr (pp. 63-67
of paper titled below), who dwell on the Pacific shore of the Isthmus
of Tehuantepec, speak a language, classed by Brinton and others as of
independent stock. Dress, net-making, canoes, commerce, supersti-
tions are noted. The dress of these Indians is very primitive, and
they have the general reputation of going naked. Net-making is
here a work of the men, and "as they walk, or sit talking, men are
always busy at their nets." The alligators of the lagoons are consid-
ered naguals, and are always treated well by fishermen, who throw
back into the water some of the fish they have caught.

Mixtec-Zapotecan. Mixtec. Pages 37-41 of Professor Starr's
essay titled below, deal with the Mixtecs of Oaxaca, Puebla, and
Guerrero, their houses, dress, pottery-making, funerals, etc. At
Tilantongo, where Spanish influence has been greatest, " none of the
men and few of the women retain native dress." The tenates, or
palm-strip mats, made at Yodocono, etc., are famous ; likewise the
pottery of Cuquila. Cairns are not uncommon in the Mixtecan coun-
try, and "each Indian passer-by usually adds his contribution," the
belief prevailing that " foot-weariness may be removed by rubbing
the foot with one of these pebbles." — Zapotccan (pp. 45-52). Houses,
dress, arts and industries (cotton-weaving, shoemaking, pottery,
etc.), superstitions, etc., are discussed. These Indians appear to be
intelligent, industrious, acquisitive, and progressive, and they have
produced "men eminent as political leaders, soldiers, and scholars,
— Juarez was a full-blood Zapotec." In the Tehuantepec region
" the women appear to have more energy and quicker intelligence
than their husbands." The legend concerning Tehuantepec, "the
hill of the man-eaters (pumas) " is very curious. Beliefs about
naguals, evil eye, etc., and ex-voto cairns abound. It is also believed
that " deformities like harelip and defective members are due to the
eclipsed moon," and women about to give birth to children are
advised to " bind a key or any piece of iron next their body, under
the belt, to protect against this misfortune." — Triqui. The Triquis
(pp. 41-45) of the high mountains of Tlaxiaco and Juxtlahuaca, speak
a language considered by some authorities to belong to the Mixtec-
Zapotecan family, but which is perhaps independent. House, dress,
and industries are described. The carrying-cloths for tortillas have
sometimes designs worked in " highly formal and conventionalized
human figures." — Cuicatecs. To the same family belongs the Ian-

Record of A merican Folk-L ore. 2 S 5

guage of the Cuicatecs of Oaxaca (p. 68). — Popoloco. The language
of the Chochos (pp. 71-74), of Oaxaca, Puebla, etc., which is termed
popoloco, is by some authorities considered to belong to the Mixtec-
Zapotecan family. Houses, dress, cairns, etc., are briefly described,
and a list of town-names is given. It is said that the Chochos dance
for good luck as they pass the cairns on the road. Also when they
gather sap to make mescal, they " spill some on the ground ; other-
wise the plants will cease to yield sap." — Mazatec. The Mazatecs
(pp. 74-79) of the mountain regions of Cuicatlan and Teotitlan be-
long by language to the Mixtec-Zapotecan stock. Dress, houses,
silk-culture, superstitions are briefly noted. Here the women are
" gorgeous with their gay apparel," and the houses are in a way sui
generis. Connected with the rearing of silk-worms, there are many
curious beliefs, such as not handling tomatoes or chillis, etc. A
green powder called pislete (made of the leaves of a plant) "is uni-
versally carried," to take away fatigue and to protect against witch-
craft. Many curious superstitions are connected with the dead.

Otomi. Pages 4-8 of Professor Starr's paper deal with the Otomis,
one of the oldest peoples of Mexico, and second only to the Aztecs
in the area they occupy. Houses, wool-spinning, dress, carrying-
cloths, etc., are briefly noted. Here, too, "the women are far more
conservative in the matter of dress than the men." Few of the men
still retain the ancient fashion of wearing the hair in a braid down
the back. The ayate, or carrying-cloth of ixtli fibre is characteristic
and employed for all but the most awkward burdens. The women
often spin ixtli as they walk, and ancient pottery spindle-whorls,
found in the fields, are used, the Otomis not making them now.

Salishan. As part of the Report for 1899 of the Committee on
the Ethnological Survey of Canada, Mr. C. PI ill-Tout publishes in
"Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci.," vol. Ixix. (Dover, 1899), pp. 50x5-584,
" Notes on the N'tlakapamaq of British Columbia, a Branch of the
great Salish Stock of North America." The subjects treated of are
ethnography, social organization, weapons, marriage customs, sha-
manism, names, mortuary customs, birth customs, tattooing and paint-
ing, games, clothing, sweat-houses, food, utensils, customs, canoes,
archaeology, physical characteristics, linguistics (pp. 518-534), and
folk-lore (pp. 534-584). According to the author Cpuzum or Spuz-
zum, the name of one of the villages of these Indians, refers to a cus-
tom formerly prevalent, — " the people of one place would go and
sweep the houses of the people in another, and they would return
the compliment next morning at daybreak ; this was a constant prac-
tice." Of the chiefs of these Salish Indians we are told " they were,
as a rule, peace-loving men, always more anxious to prevent wars
than to bring them about " (p. 502), and " the grandfather of the

286 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

present Lytton chief would go out after a battle and purchase the
prisoners taken captive in the fight, who were held as slaves by
the captors, and set them free and send them back to their own
people again." Their customs reveal the fact that "their whole lives
were much simpler and more natural than those of their congeners
elsewhere," — particularly is this true of their marriage customs.
Birth and death customs have been " much modified by missionary
influence. A very interesting fact is that when roots are to be
baked, "women only must do it." Interesting also is the fact that
the youths of the present day are very different from those of the
past, the old-time " tests " having been given up. The section of
Mr. Hill-Tout's paper which deals with folk-lore, contains : The
Story of the Elk-Maiden (pp. 534-540) ; The Forgotten Wife Story
(pp. 540-551) ; The Story of the Adventures of the Coyote and his
Son (pp. 551-561); The Fire Myth (pp. 561-563); Painted Blanket
Myth (pp. 563, 564) ; Husband Root Myth (pp. 564-566) ; Oftcut
Story (she burns herself) (pp. 566-574) ; Beaver Story (pp. 574, 575) ;
Story of Coyote, Magpie, Diver, and Black Bear (pp. 575-579) ; Story
of Hanni's Wife and the Revenge of her Son (pp. 579-581). There
are also added some "General Remarks" (pp. 582, 583), and a note
on the " Marriage Customs of the Yale Tribe " (pp. 583, 584). These
myths are largely " observation " myths. Says the author, estimat-
ing highly the imaginative character of these Indians as seen in
such stories (p. 582) : " There is not a single peculiar feature of the
landscape which has not its own story attached to it. There is no
conspicuous object of any kind within their borders but has some
myth connected with it. The boulders on the hillside, the benches
of the rivers, the falls, the canons and the turns of the Frazer, the
mud slides, the bare precipitous cliffs, the sand-bars, the bubbling
spring and the running brook, the very utensils they use, all have a
history of their own in the lore of this tribe. Every single pecul-
iarity in bird, or beast, or fish is fully, and, to them, satisfactorily
accounted for in their stories. The flat head of the river cod, the
topknot of the blue jay, the bent claws and dingy brown color of the
coyote, the flippers of the seal, the red head of the woodpecker, and
a host of other characteristics, all have their explanation in story."
As a reflex of the former life of the people these tales are exceed-
ingly valuable for the sociological data they contain. In conjunction
with them ought to be read the tales recorded in Dr. Boas' " India-
nische Sagen," published in 1895.

Siouan. Catawba. Dr. A. S. Gatschet's valuable " Grammatic
Sketch of the Catawba Language " in the July-September number
of the "American Anthropologist" (N. S. vol. ii. 1900, pp. 527-549)
will interest the folk-lorist by reason of the etymologies cf compound

Record of A merica n Folk-L ore. 287

nouns and other words contained therein. Among these the follow-
ing may be cited: cotton {scraksuoi) is literally "grass flower;"
wolf {tonsi suri-e), " wild dog ; " panther (ncpe'-tusc-hdpre), " some-being-
tail-long ; " tear {it yd), "eye water;" gunpowder ipuhi hiu), "dust
of gun ; " finger {iksa itchd), " of the arm its end." The color-names
also ought to be noted.

Tarascan. The Tarascans, who live chiefly in the State of Mi-
choacan, their houses, pottery, canoes, dress, lacquer- work, etc., are
discussed by Professor Starr (pp. 9-13). An interesting point
brought out by the author is the notable localization of Tarascan
industries. In matters of dress the rebosos of Parracho are famous.
The women's belts are admirably woven and worked with wonderful
patterns in bird, animal, and human figures. Men make and mend
the nets ; women make the celebrated lacquer-work of Umapan.
Women and men paddle, and " when several paddlers move together,
excellent stroke is observed." In ancient times the Tarascans were
renowned for feather-work. The Otomis of Hidalgo and Pueblo are
treated of at pages 81-83, where their paper-making and the use of
bark-paper in witchcraft are described.

Totonacan. The Totonacs (pp. 86-88 of Professor Starr's paper)
of the States of Puebla and Vera Cruz are classed by Brinton as an
independent stock ; other authors (Professor Starr favors this view)
ally them by speech with the Huastecans of the Maya family.
Houses and dress are briefly noted ; also festivals, a detailed account
of the Costtanbrc at Santa Maria being given. Among other things
of interest at Santa Maria is "the santocalli (saints' house) as they
call their wretched little church, where the old woman (leader of the
Costiimbrc) and her assistants, male and female, conduct curious
pagan rites before the Virgin and Senor San Jose with prayers, some
of which are Latin and others Totonaco. — Tcpcliua. For the Tepe-
huas of Vera Cruz, Hidalgo, and Puebla, whom some of the best
authorities class with the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family, Professor
Starr (pp. 83-86) suggests a relationship with the Totonacs, in so far
as speech is concerned. Dress, night fishing, dancing, superstition
are briefly touched upon. Recently these Indians, with havoc as
the result, "have learned to explode dynamite in fishy waters." An
interesting " snake dance " occurs here. Idols are still venerated
and figure in semi-religious ceremonials, rain-making, etc.

Uto-Aztecan. Professor Frederick Starr's " Notes upon the
Ethnography of Southern Mexico" (pp. 98), reprinted from vol. viii.
(1900) of the "Proceedings of Davenport Academy of Natural Sci-
ences," contains a mass of new and valuable information obtained
by the author during his visits to Mexico in 1898, 1899, and 1900.
Professor Starr visited sixteen or seventeen tribes, and made good

28S Journal of American Folk-Lore.

use of his time and opportunities everywhere. The essays are accom-
panied by a comparative vocabulary of 71 words in 9 languages (Tri-
qui, Mixe, Juave, Chontal, Chinantec, Mazatec, Chocho, Tepehua,
Totonac) and 72 figures of various ethnological objects. — Aztec.
Pages 33-37 of Professor Starr's essay treat of Aztec dress, weaving,
musical instruments as seen at Cuauhtlantzinco, Cholula, Lake Patz-
cuaro, etc. The decorations on the camisa are one of the things
that have remained for a large part characteristically Indian. The
drum called liuehiietl is " still used on festival occasions at many
Tlaxcalan and Pueblan towns." At pages 79-81 the Aztecs scat-
tered in Hidalgo and Puebla are discussed. The mingled population
of these regions is remarkable in many ways. Here witchcraft still
flourishes. — Tlaxcalan (pp. 14, 15). Houses (and their construc-
tion), dress, the mountain of Malintzi, natural phenomena, witches,
"blood-suckers," "rain and hail bringers," naguals, birth, marriage,
death, proverbs, numeration, etc., are discussed. The population of
the State of Tlaxcala is almost purely Indian, the speech is Aztec,
and the governor is a pure-blood Aztec. Upon Mt. Malintzi (usu-
ally connected with Malina, Marina, the favorite of Cortez) a beau-
tiful woman, who controls the atmospheric phenomena, has her home
in a cave. Witchcraft is in full flourish in Tlaxcala, and folk-medi-
cine goes everywhere. The " blood-suckers " are female beings who
suck the blood of infants ; the " bringers of rain and hail " are pub-
lic personages who have to do with Malintzi. Among the favor-
ite wedding-songs are the Malintzi and the Tlaxcaltecatl (text and
music are given). The moon has a great influence over pregnant
women in popular belief ; unmarried persons are looked upon as
vagabonds ; and the Feast of the Dead is very elaborate. The Tlax-
calans, who preserve much of the metaphor and poetry of old Aztec,
have also " a sense for dry humor," as their proverbs, etc., prove.
The present Aztec and Tlaxcalan method of counting seems to be a
curious "mixture of Aztec words and Spanish ideas." One of the
popular superstitions is that " unusual howling of coyotes presages
national disaster." — Huichol The Huichols of the State of Xalisco
speak a language related to Nahuatl (Aztec), according to Dr. C.
Lumholtz, whose " Symbolism of the Huichol Indians " (Mem. Amer.
Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. iii. Anthropol. ii. i. N. Y. May, 1900, pp. 228.
Maps ; plates i.-iv., 298 figs.) is one of the most important of recent
contributions to the study of the mind and art of primitive man.
Among subjects discussed, in great detail, are : The Gods and their
paraphernalia, ceremonial arrows and crosses, votive bowls, shamans'
plumes and objects connected with feast-making, facial paintings,
etc. Dr. Lumholtz's study of these Indians and the development of
their symbolism suggests comparison with Dr. Fewkes's Tusayan

Record of A merican Folk- Lore. 2 S 9

studies, " rain and the necessity of raising corn " figuring so strongly
in both. Dr. Lumholtz's paper is creditable both to the author and
the publishers of the Museum. — General. " The Obsidian Razor of
the Aztecs " is the title of a brief paper by Dr. G. C. MacCurdy in
the "American Anthropologist" (N. S. vol. ii. pp. 417-421) for July-
September, 1900. In ancient Mexico obsidian razors were used by
tailors, bookmakers, etc., as well as by those who shaved. In a land
" where the clergy, the nobility and the army alone had the right to
wear the hair long . . . the demand for obsidian razors must have
been great." The paper deals with specimens in the Museum of
Yale University. — In the " American Antiquarian " (vol. xxii. pp.
301-309) for September-October, 1900, Professor Frederick Starr
gives a detailed account of " Mexican Paper." It is interesting to
learn that bark paper " is still made over a considerable area in the
warm mountainous parts of the States of Hidalgo and Puebla." It
is the Otomis who do the manufacturing, and the paper " is not used
for writing, nor wrapping ; it is employed in pagan ceremonials and
in witchcraft." Professor Starr is inclined to see more than an ac-
cidental resemblance in the bark-beaters of ancient Mexico, the
Tlingits of Alaska, and the Polynesians, — figures of these imple-
ments accompany the article. — In the same number Rev. S. D.
Peet has (pp. 311-326) an illustrated article on "Ancient Aztec
Cities and Civilization." The author thinks these " cities " differed
more from pueblos and Indian villages than many modern authorities
admit."

Zoque-Mixe. Mixe. Pages 52-63 of Professor Starr's paper
treat of the Mixes of the districts of Yautepec, Villa Alta, and Te-
huantepec, their house-architecture, dress, pagan survivals (witch-
craft, magic, etc.), fiestas. The Mixes are very conservative linguis-
tically and religiously, but "surprisingly non-conservative in dress."
Witches are so common that some towns (Alotepec, e.g.) are full of
them. Some of the pagan practices even find shelter in the native
churches, where heathen idols have more than once been discovered.
Magic practices are still much in vogue. Cannibalism is said to
have prevailed at several places within the present century.

GENERAL.

Animism. Dr. Theodor Koch's elaborate r/sumf of our knowledge
concerning "Animism among the Indians of South America" (" Zum
Animismus der Sudamerikanischen Indianer"), which forms the sup-
plement to vol. xiii. of the "Internationales Archiv fur Ethnographie,"
is noticed elsewhere in this Journal in detail. It deals with the be-
liefs and practices of the Indians concerning the soul (its nature and
activities), particularly in relation to disease and death, and the other

VOL. XIII. — NO. 51. 19

2 90 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

world. In fact, all questions relating to immortality are here in-
volved and discussed.

Linguistics. A valuable contribution to the Bibliography of
American Indian Languages is Prof. Frederick Starr's " Recent Mexi-
can Study of the Native Languages of Mexico " (Chicago, 1900, pp.
19), which appears as Bulletin iv., Department of Anthropology, Uni-
versity of Chicago. This paper, which is embellished with portraits
of Leon, Belmar, Penafiel, Robelo, de la Rosa, Molina, and Palma, cata-
logues, with explanatory notes, 75 titles of books, treatises, pam-
phlets, etc. Of these 47 relate to Nahuatl (Aztec), 7 to Zapotec, 2 to
Mixtec, 2 to Huastec, and one each to Tzotzil, Zoque, Mixe, Trique,
Mazatec, Otomi, Cahita, and Chocho. Among the titles particularly
interesting are : Peiianel's edition of the Fables of ^Esop in Aztec
(from a MS. attributed to Sahagun), published in 1895 ; Molina's La
Rosa del Amor (1894), which "contains eight lessons of love phrases
in Spanish and Zapotec for lovers," — of this book Professor Starr
remarks " it was published and sold by the author, and was intended
for actual use." In the list of authors figure several Indians : A.
Valeriano, who wrote about the miracle of the Virgin of Tepeyac in
the sixteenth century, — the work has been several times reprinted ;
M. T. Palma, a full-blood Aztec, author of a good grammar of his
mother tongue; F. Chimalpopoca ; M. Alexandre, a Huastec, who
wrote a primer of that language, etc. Several of the works men-
tioned treat of geographical names.

A. F. C. and I. C. C.

Readings. 291

READINGS.

Garments of the Dead. — The obstinacy with which savage beliefs
are retained by the rural population of Europe is illustrated by an item
presented in the " Revue des Traditions Populaires," 1900, p. 323.

" In the part of the arrondissement of Dinan which lies near the sea, it is
believed that people will rise dressed after the manner in which they have
been interred ; for this reason, when a very poor person dies, demand is
made on charitable souls to furnish a garment suitable to replace his rags.
Lately a well-to-do peasant ordered his heirs to put at his side in the coffin
a large umbrella of blue cotton. To pass to the other side is to cross the
sea, and many suppose that the coffins float on an interior sea in order to
go to the other world ; the good man wanted his umbrella to use for a
sail."

Love-Charms at Wishing- Wells. — On page 490 of the same Journal,
some account is given of the practices usual in the department of the Var.

" At Ollioules, maidens dip in the hollow of their hand a little water from
the spring called Bonnefont, and present it to the young men. In case the
latter so much as touch the lips, they are forced to love their unsuspected
enchanter.

" At Montrieux, the girl who desires to take a husband offers an oak-
leaf to the capricious current of a brook. If the water carries off her frail
burden, it means happiness in the union ; if, on the contrary, the leaf de-
lays its course, and revolves in uncertainty, the presage is one of misfor-
tune, it is the austere coif of Saint Catherine which appears on the horizon.
At the well of Capeau, the beliefs and practices are identical ; but the leaf
is replaced by a prosaic pin."

Fairies as Fishes. — A story of superstition narrated in the same Jour-
nal, p. 549, appears to retain of a trace of the animal nature of spirits be-
lieved to exist in fairy wells. The collector has entitled the tale " Le pois-
son merveilleux."

" Long ago, in the youth of my grandmother's great-grandmother, the
youths and maidens met together in order to fish in the ponds of Guebriand,
where was to be found a marvellous fish, which was a fairy. This fish was
brilliant, and illuminated the neighboring water with the brightness of ten
candles. No one attempted to capture him, for they knew that this was
impossible, but such as had the luck to see him were fortunate during a
whole year, and any one who could put his finger in the water, brightened
by his rays, would be so his life long. One night 0 malefactor attempted
to get possession of the fish, thinking that such ownership would procure
him infinite riches. He was punished, for he drowned himself ; but from
that day the beautiful fish of light has never been seen; it is known
throughout the country that he drew into the subterranean water the per-
son who attempted to take him ; the proof is that the body has never been

292 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

discovered, and that for years the water in the place where it disappeared
remained black. Assuredly it was that the gate of the subterranean waters
would not close, and demanded other victims. From that time the fairy
fish has never been, but in the country it is believed that he will return
when the world shall be better than it now is."

A note informs us that in many parts of Brittany it is believed that
below the surface of the earth exists an underground sea.

Some Homely Viands. — In " The American Kitchen Magazine " (Bos-
ton), October, 1900, Mrs. F. D. Bergen gives information concerning cer-
tain traditional sorts of food, which, as belonging to a state of society
which has so rapidly passed away, may have interest as folk-lore.

" Many persons have heard of the famous Maryland biscuit or beaten
biscuit. Some years ago I boarded for a time in a great mansion farm-
house on the eastern shore of Maryland. We not only had these biscuits
served daily at table, but we were fortunate enough to witness the entire
process of making. The dough is made of wheat flour, mixed with lard,
with a very small quantity of cold water. The ingredients, whose exact
proportions I do not know, are mixed together, then the mass of dough is
put on a clean block of wood, and the whole is pounded vigorously with an
axe for a considerable time. The initiated can tell by the appearance of
the dough when it has been sufficiently beaten. I well remember hearing
a dull, intermittent thumping that lasted throughout a good part of a late
summer afternoon. At last I asked what was the occasion of the muffled
thud. Upon being told it was the pounding of the dough, we went to see.
There stood Pete, the most indolent mulatto boy on the premises. He
struck one heavy sluggish blow, then took a long rest, then gave another
blow, and so on and so on. My question caused our hostess to step out
into the back yard and hurry the boy with his work, as the biscuits were to
be baked in time for the early farm supper. They were served hot soon
after they were baked, but those that remained were afterwards put on the
table cold. The Marylanders are very fond of these biscuits either hot or
cold, and certainly when fresh they are very toothsome, though undoubtedly
hygienic objections might properly be urged against them as a frequent
article of diet.

" The hoe-cake of the old plantation days is still made in many parts of
the Southern States, though on account of the general substitution of cook-
ing stoves for the open fireplaces of earlier times, modifications naturallv
have come about in regard to baking this simple cornbread, of which, when
made by the hand of cunning, one seldom tires. The name, it is said, was
given because the cake, made of meal, salt, and water, was often done
brown on a hoe held in front of the glowing coals or possibly over a bed of
these. I have heard men from the North, who travelled through Arkansas
before the introduction of railroads, say that no ordinary bread could ever
compare with the hoe-cake baked on a hot board stood aslant before a
great, blazing wood fire, with which they had been entertained in her log-
cabin by some old mammy. To-day cakes made in the same way are com-

Readings. 293

monly, throughout the South, baked on round griddles heated and set on
top of the stove. In the backwoods of Missouri, a quarter of a century
ago, the general mode of cooking cornbread was to empty the mixture of
corn-meal and water, with a little salt, into a large, heavy cast-iron frying-
pan (the ' skillet ' of the South and West, the ' spider ' of New England) which
for this use was provided with a cast-iron lid. The coals and ashes of the
fire-place were then scraped aside, and the covered skillet was placed on
the heated bricks where they had lain. Hot coals and ashes were then
heaped on the skillet, and it was left so covered until its contents were
judged to be sufficiently baked. Cornbread made in this way was some-
times fairly good, but it lacked the crisp browned surface and the flavor of
the pone or hoe-cake baked by exposure to the direct radiation from an
open fire.

"Wheaten griddle cakes of a kind very common in Northern Ohio thirty
years and more ago and still in somewhat general use are called 'flannel
cakes.' The ingredients are about the same, I think, as for waffles, but
the cakes are baked on a hot griddle on top of the stove. The yolks of
many eggs are beaten into the thin batter of flour and sour milk, while the
whites of the eggs, after being beaten to a stiff froth are not stirred in until
the moment before the cooking begins. The batter is of course lightened
with either soda or saleratus, and the beaten white of the eggs puffs up as
the cakes quickly cook. Possibly it is these light soft lumps, scattered
through the cakes, that gave the name of 'flannel' to them. I have often
seen a tall stack of these thin cakes each one buttered and sprinkled with
sugar as it was put in place, served as a company dish for supper. Usu-
ally, however, they are made for breakfast, and are brought on to the table
hot, a few at a time, fresh from the griddle. In one rural household I recall
how oftentimes a kind old domestic would tempt the appetite of a child
who was not hungry by saying, ' let me bake you dollar-coke.' Then she
would return to the kitchen and soon reappear with a tiny cake, really of
about the dimensions of a silver dollar.

" In our own family I remember a sort of a fritter which we often had as
a breakfast dish. The original name, I believe, had been ' lengthened
eggs.' The recipe had been obtained either from some almanac or farmer's
paper. Some one had misunderstood the name, and had quoted it as
• linkum davies,' and forever after the dish was known in the family and
among relatives and neighbors by that name. The fritters were made by
beating together eggs, sweet milk, and flour into a thin batter. The batter
was seasoned with salt, then it was fried, a spoonful at a time, in a deep
skillet of hot lard. I have often wondered whether the recipe survives else-
where under the local name which arose by accident.

" Here is an Ohio recipe for a kind of fried cakes known as wafers.
' Beat well three eggs. Add a pinch of salt and knead with flour into a
stiff dough. Take a little bit of the dough, a piece perhaps the size of a
hickory nut, roll this very thin and fry in hot lard just as one fries dough-
nuts. As each cake or wafer is lifted from the kettle of fat powdered
su°-ar should be sifted over it.' Usually these thin, round cakes are piled

294 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

one on top of the other. They are eaten instead of cake at supper, or are
often served as lunch between meals or at picnics. As the very thin, round
piece of dough cooks, the surface puffs up into little blisters. When we
were children, we liked to watch the preparation of these wafers and to see
the blisters puffing up over the surface of the dough. We used to call
them toad-cakes, on account of this warty appearance."

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Dakota Legend of the Head of Gold. — In a posthumous work,
" Dakota Grammar, Texts, and Ethnography " (" Contributions to North
American Ethnology," vol. ix.), J. Owen Dorsey has presented this legend,
an Indian myth written in the Dakota language by Walking Elk, a Yank-
ton Dakota. Mr. Dorsey's translation is as follows (pp. 105-109) : —

A man had four children. And they were all young men, but they were
poor and seemed as if they would die of thriftlessness. And the old man
said, " Behold, old woman, my youngest child I have the greatest pity for,
and I dislike to have him die of poverty. See here ; let us seek the Great
Spirit, and if we find him, lo, I will give him to train up well for me."

The old woman replied, " Yes, old man, you say well, we will do so."
And so immediately they went to the westward, seeking the Great Spirit,
and they came on to a very high hill ; and as they came to it, behold,
another man came there also.

And this man said, " For what are you seeking ? " And the old man
said, " Alas, my friend, my child whom I pity I want to give to the Great
Spirit, and so I am seeking him." And he said, "Yes, friend, I am the
Great Spirit. My friend, give him to me, and I will go home with him."
(That is, " I will take him to my home.")

And so when he (the father) had given him, he (the Great Spirit) took
him home with him to a house that seemed to stand up to the clouds.
Then he said, " Examine all this house as much as you like, and take good
care of these horses, but do not look into the little house that stands here."
Having said this, he gave him all the keys, and he added, " Yes, have a
watch of this. Lo, I am going on a journey." He said this, and went
away.

It was evening, and he had come with a great many men, who sat down,
filling the house. When they had been there a good while,, one of the
men said : " The boy is good ; that is enough." And saying this, he went
out. In like manner all the men went home.

Then again, the man said : " Behold, I go again on a journey. Do you
stay and keep watch." So again he departed.

While he was watching, it happened that one of the horses said, " Friend,
go into the small house into which you are commanded not to look, and
within, in the middle of the floor, stands something yellow, dip your head
into that, and make haste — we two are together. When he brings home
a great many men, they will eat you, as they will eat me, but I am unwill-
ing — we two shall share the same," he said.

Notes and Queries. 295

So the boy went into the little house, and in the middle of the floor stood
a round yellow thing, into which he dipped his head, and his head became
golden, and the house was full of shining and light.

Then he came out and jumped on the horse that had talked with him,
and they fled.

Now when they had gone a long way — they went very fast — behold,
there came, following them, the one who called himself the Great Spirit.
And he said, " You bad rascals, stop ; you shall not live, whither will you
go in such a small country as this ? " Saying this, he came toward them,
when they were much frightened. And again he said, " You are bad ras-
cals, stop ; you shall not live."

Then the horse said, " Take the egg you have and throw it rearward."
And he did so, whereupon the whole breadth of the country became a sea,
so that he who followed them came to a standstill, and said, " Alas, my
horse, have mercy on me and take me to the other side ; if you do, I will
value you very much." And the horse replied, " Ah, I am not willing to
do that." But he continued to urge him ; whereupon he threw himself
above the water, and so that, when he came to the middle, he went down,
and both were drowned. By this means the boy passed safely on.

So it was they came to the dwellings of a people, and remained there.
But from behind they came to attack, and fought with them ; but the boy
turned his head around, and his head was covered with gold, and the horse
also that he sat upon was golden, and those who came against them, he
caused to be thrown off, and only a few remained when he left them.
Again, when they returned to the attack, he destroyed them all. And so
the boy was much thought of by the people.

The story deals with the incidents of the Forbidden Chamber and the
Enchanted Horse, which appear in many tales of the Old World. In his
" Mythology of the Aryan Nations" (London, 1897), G. W. Cox considers
that " The Treasure of the House of Ixion, which none may enter without
being destroyed like Hesionicus, or betrayed by marks of gold or blood,
reappears in a vast number of popular stories, and is the foundation of
the story of Bluebeard " (vol. ii. p. 36). Whatever truth there may be in
this statement, the myth seems to have had antiquity and wide currency.

Thus in " Popular Tales of the West Highlands," No. 41 (vol. ii. pp. 265-
275), J. F. Campbell recites a tale of the three daughters of a poor man
who successively enter a forbidden chamber full of dead gentlewomen. In
each case they are carried off by a king's son, who has by enchantment
been changed into the form of a horse ; after two of the sisters have stained
themselves with blood, and been decapitated, the third is assisted by a cat,
and is able to restore the prince to his original shape.

In an Italian story recorded by A. de Gubernatis, " Mythologie Zoolo-
gique " (Paris, 1874, ii. 36), we also have an abduction of the heroine,
entry into the forbidden chamber, and resuscitation of the king's son.

In a series of similar tales magic animals, especially the horse, serve as
the means of punishment for uncontrolled curiosity.

In the "Arabian Nights," we read in the story of the "Third Royal

296 Journal of A merica n Folk-L ore.

Calander " how the hero is forbidden to enter the closet with a floor of red
gold, and in that chamber finds a black horse, which he mounts, and which
strikes out an eye. In the " Katha sarit sagara " it is related that the fairy
bride of Saktideva prohibits him from ascending to the middle terrace of
the palace, in which, however, he finds a horse with a jewelled saddle ;
trying to mount, he is thrown into a lake, and to his surprise, finds himself
in a garden-lake of his own city.

The magic horse and the pool of gold appear in a Greek story mentioned
by J. G. v. Hahn (Leipzig, 1864, i. 197), in a form closely analogous to that
of the Dakota tale. A prince is carried by a drakos or demonic serpent to
the castle of the latter, opens a forbidden chamber, where he finds a horse
which advises him, drops his finger in a pool of liquid gold. The drakos
immerses him in the pool, he flies on the horse, and is pursued. We then
have the usual incidents of the " magic flight/' in which the hero is advised
by the steed to throw down objects which magically change to interspersed
obstacles ; these are soap, comb, and mirror, which last becomes a lake.

Instead of the puddle of gold variants introduce a well of magic water,
as in Grimm, Kinder und Haus-Marchen, No. 136. In a Norwegian tale,
G. W. Dasent, " Popular Tales from the Norse," 1859, p. 358, the finger
of the young man is dipped in a copper caldron, in which he is afterwards
immersed ; we have the usual flight and pursuit, the magic objects being
stone, bramblebush, and pitcher, which produces a lake.

The citation of narrations belonging to this class might be indefinitely
extended, and it is clear that the Indian story has affiliation with the
European.

Thomas Wilson.

Washington, D. C.

Note. — This tale has been ably discussed by E. Cosquin in his "Contes
populaires de Lorraine," Paris, 1886, No. 12,1. 133, " Le prince et son
cheval." In the story of Lorraine we have, as is common in marchen, a
combination of incidents which may have previously existed in separate
form. A prince forbidden by his departing father to enter a certain cham-
ber, does so with the result that he finds a fountain of gold in which his
finger is dipped, and on a second visit is entirely immersed. Then follows
the magic flight (in this case it is not definitely stated that the horse is ob-
tained from the forbidden chamber) ; thus is concluded the first part of the
narration. A sequel continues the adventures of the hero after his deliver-
ance ; he arrives in disguise at a foreign court, at a public competition is
accepted by a princess as her husband, lives despised with his father-in-
law, but on occasion of public danger is able to resume his gilded garments
and save the kingdom, preserves his incognito, but is discovered through a
wound inflicted by the king himself in order to identify his savior. The
two parts which in mutilated form appear also in the Dakota story, make
up the tale, and it would seem that it has become diffused throughout the
world in this complex shape, while the starting-point and date of the com-
position, which must have had a single author, are not clear. A class of

Notes and Queries. 297

variants differs from the type of the French tale by introducing the feature
that the hero has been promised before his birth to a demon or enchanter ;
the latter thus offers offspring to a childless father, on condition of receiv-
ing one ( two twins, a feature occurring in versions Czech, Mesopotamian,
Hindu, and Swahili (Zanzibar). Obviously it is this form which has in-
spired the Dakota version, in which the magician is represented by the
Great Spirit. The source (presumably European) of the Dakota tale is not
evident. It is curious to find the egg as one of the magical objects of the
flight among Kafirs (Cosquin, p. 154) ; in this case it produces a fog.

Editor.

Death Signs and Weather Signs from Newfoundland and Lab-
rador. — 1. Three lamps lighted together mean death.

Harbor Grace, N F

2. The striking of an old and disused clock signifies death.

Bay Robert and New Harbor, N F, Labrador.

3. If a blind falls down, some one in the house will soon die.

Carbonear, N. F., Labrador.

4. The meeting of congregations coming from church and chapel is a

sign of death.

Carbonear, N. F.

5. Rapping on the side of a house means death.

Nciufoundland.

6. The enlarging of a house by joining together two houses or any en-
larging or lengthening, and not widening, signifies death.

Venison Tickle, Labrador.

7. If a girl is married in black, one of the couple will soon die.

Newfoundland.

8. Leaving part of a potato bed unplanted means death within the year.

Venison Tickle, Labrador.

9. A hollow square resembling a coffin seen in a boiled pudding signifies

death.

Bay Robert, X. /•'.

10. The frequent popping out from a lamp in the evening is a sign of

death.

Bay Robert and Trim Bay, N. F.

11. Seeing an absent friend is a " vision " or " token " that one will die

within the year. Seeing him at sunset, however, signifies long life ; at

midday, short life.

Bay R '. X. F.

12. Seeing one's self is a token of long life if you live over that year.

Bay Robert^ X. F.

13. On the death of a first child in a family, all its clothes must be given
away, or the succeeding children will die.

New Harbor and Bay Robot, X. F.

298 J ournal of American Folk-Lore.

14. Some article of clothing intended for an unborn baby must be left
unfinished or unbought, or the child will die.

Newfoundland.

15. If a baby is measured within a year, it will die.

Dildo and Carbo?iear, IV. F.

16. It is unlucky for a father to make a coffin for his first child. The
child would die.

Carbonear and New Harbor, N F, Labrador.

17. It is unlucky to put the baby to the looking-glass before a year old.
The child will die.

New Harbor and Harbor Grace, N F, Labrador.

18. It is unlucky to cut an infant's nails before a year old. The child
will die.

Trinity Bay and Carbonear, N. F.

19. The higher the day-dawn the more wind, the lower, the less wind.

Newfoundland and Labrador.

20. A sky red before sunrise and the color disappearing before sun is up
means wind ; if the red continues after sunrise, a fine day.

New Harbor and Heart's Delight, N F.

21. Sunset with a pink hue in the eastern sky is a sign of rain.

Newfoundland.

22. Northern lights, if whistled to, will come near (so half-breeds say).

Labrador.

23. Northern lights working to the west mean storm or bad weather (in
winter).

Topsail Bay, N F, Labrador.

24. The fire burning blue means rain.

New Harbor and Carbonear, N. F.

25. Smoke falling is a sign of bad weather, rising of fine weather.

New Harbor and Carbofiear, N F.

26. The cracking of ice in cold weather is a sign that mild weather is
coming.

Newfoundland.

27. Frost coming out of rocks and boards is a sign that mild weather is
coming.

Newfoundland.

28. A smoky chimney is a sign of mild weather.

Trinity Bay, N. F.

29. If seal nets in winter " shingle," i. e. rise, from say ten fathoms or
more, to the top of the water, coated with ice, it is a sign that mild weather
is coming.

Labrador.

30. Thunder ends in the quarter the wind is coming from.

Labrador.

31. If a squall lasts longer than the calm, the wind is increasing, if the
reverse, decreasing.

Carbonear and New Harbor, N F.

Notes and Queries. 299

32. Spots on the back of the fireplace in winter mean mild weather.

New Harbor and Carbonear, X. F.

33. Ground swell, heaving in, is a sign of mild weather (in winter).

Newfoundland.

34. If the land is low, it is a sign that wind will be on it.

New Harbor and Carbonear, N. F.

35. The sea " burning" is a sign of a northwest wind.

Heart's Content, N. F.

36. A tide unusually low means south wind, a high tide north wind.

New Harbor and Labrador, N. F.

37. Mountain Indians point toward a high hill called Great Knife to
cause wind.

Labrador.
A. F. Waghorne.

The Game of the Child-Stealing Witch. — In " Folk-Lore," vol. x.
1900, M. Gaster has discussed the history of a Roumanian charm against
the child-stealing witch. With great learning and acuteness, he traces the
career of this particular piece of superstition for two thousand years. The
charm, directed against the cataract, is cast into the form of an incident.
The sufferer is said to meet certain evil spirits, known as the " Windmaids
and the Beautiful," who blacken his countenance and blind him. The
Holy Virgin meets certain sisters whom she bids clear away the mist from
the eyes of the afflicted person. In another variant the pernicious spirit
goes to Bethlehem in order to steal the child of the Virgin Mar}', but is
repulsed by the archangel Michael. She confesses her various names,
which constitute a protective charm. Mr. Gaster shows that the basis is
identical with that of a love-charm contained in a MS. of the sixteenth
century, connected with the name of Sisoe. This saint has a sister, Mele-
tia, whose four children the Devil has swallowed. The sister hides herself
with her fifth child ; but when Sisoe begs that the door shall be opened to
him, the Devil enters the house in the shape of a millet-grain, and carries
off the last child. The saint pursues, and by the advice of friendly trees
discovers the route taken by the Devil, who is drawn out of the sea with a
hook, and forced to vomit up the children. In Greek texts published by
Leo Allatius is found the story as that of Sysynnius and Gylo, who cha
into a fish ; and this Gylo is the Gello of classic antiquity, a child-stealing
demon. In Hebrew folk-lore the counterpart of Gello is Lilith, who is re-
presented as living in the waters, and as a stealer of little children ; against
her exist early charms which are in origin identical with the one still ex-
tant. That the names of the demon, in the modern charm, are used as
prophylactic against her, is only a corruption of the more ancient form, in
which the names of guardian angels served this purpose. Mr. Gaster justly
observes that he has followed this charm from the heights of the Carpa-
thian mountains through Roumania, the plains of the Balkans to old Byzan-
tium, through Palestine, and as far as the valley of the Nile. Probably

300 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

additional knowledge might further extend its antiquity, possibly carry it
back to the most ancient Babylonian period. We have thus an example of
a superstition, very likely of literary origin, which has emigrated from the
Orient, and acclimatized itself among modern European peasants.

The explanation which Mr. Gaster demonstrates for one charm will, I
am convinced, be found to apply to a vast body of folk-lore, including many
popular European tales which have passed from land to land.

In his discussion, Mr. Gaster has not mentioned the existence of a very
widely diffused game of children, dependent upon the same circle of ideas,
and in all likelihood of equal antiquity. Under the title of " Old Witch,"
I have offered a number of American and English versions (Games and
Songs, 1883, pp. 215-221, 141; Journal of American Folk-Lore, ii. ; see
*also Mrs. A. B. Gomme, " Traditional Games," 1898, ii. 391-396). Here the
scene is precisely that of the tale connected with the name of Sisoe ; the
child-stealing demon lurks at the door of the mother, obtains entrance
under false representations, and steals the children ; a pursuit and recovery
takes place, and the children are reanimated. One curious feature con-
nects the game with classic antiquity ; the demon is represented as limp-
ing. Now in the glossary of Hesychius, Gello is said to be an eidolon of
Empusa (one-foot). The game in Europe exists in a vast variety of ver-
sions, the children being represented as leaves, pots, colored pieces of
cloth, or colors. The mythologic basis is indicated by the name of Saint
Catharine of Sienna, given in an Italian version to the mother, just as in
the charm it is the child of the Virgin that the witch endeavors to steal. I
have estimated that one tenth part of the traditional games of children,
played with words in Europe, are nothing more than altered versions of
this same game, of which the English forms preserve the original idea. As
Mr. Gaster observes, the attempt to explain such relations on the doctrine
of independent origins is altogether inconsistent with the facts. I do not
doubt that if we could revert two thousand years, we should find chil-
dren in Greece performing the same dramatic action with reference to
Lamia (the Swallower, lamos, throat), and one of the goddesses ; that in
Palestine and Assyria we should similarly find children performing the
capture by the sea-demon Lilith of infants of divine race. We have, in
the charm and the game, only different developments of the same theme ;
and while the general idea of a child-robbing spirit may be universally
human, in this particular case we are confronted, not with such independent
developments, but with very ancient Oriental customs, which have wan-
dered into Europe, and have replaced, it may be, similar local usages.
Such is the history of folk-lore in general ; while the underlying ideas are
common to humanity, the expression of those ideas is constantly taking
new forms, which are determined by continued diffusion from centres of
culture. In this manner the ideas and literary productions of ancient
civilizations are continually blending themselves with folk-lore.

W. W. Newell.

Local Meetings and Other Notices. 30 1

LOCAL MEETINGS AND OTHER NOTICES.

The Congres International des Traditions Populaires, held in con-
nection with the Paris Exposition of 1900, met from the 10th to the 12th
of September, at the Palais des Congres. The presiding officer was Mr. C.
Beauquier, president of the Socie'te des Traditions Populaires. One of the
vice-presidents was Mr. G. Kunz, a delegate of the American Folk-Lore
Society. Mr. P. Sebillot acted as General Secretary, and read a letter
addressed to him by Mr. G. Pitre, in which the latter expressed his confi-
dence that the Congress would add another proof of the variety of themes,
and importance of objects belonging to a study still young. " Young per-
sons will learn to value as it deserves this new branch of science, which
is intermediate between ethnography and linguistics, and which furnishes
an important support to anthropology, sociology, and history. Those who
have been their predecessors in this career will be rejoiced in the apprecia-
tion of their herculean labors, which only the other day were regarded as
of little consequence, and considered almost as dreams and illusions."
Mr. Pitre then went on to urge the necessity of preparing a bibliography
of the folk-lore of the various nations. " The final results of science will
be attained only by virtue of a knowledge of similar traditions and customs
among different peoples, a work which no one can usefully undertake with-
out the aid of such a bibliography." A resolution was ultimately adopted
recommending that in each country a committee should be chosen to for-
ward the preparation of a bibliography of the folk-lore of that country, to
be in one of three languages, French, English, or German. It was also
resolved that provision should be made for the classification of tales found
in publications not devoted to traditional studies. A resolution was fur-
ther adopted, that the different societies might through their secretaries
communicate the results of researches, or undertake labors in common.

Among papers presented at this Congress, cursory mention may be made
of a few. Mr. Vouletich-Voukassovitch gave an account of the moreska, a
Dalmatian heroic dance, in which the More, king of the negroes, is repre-
sented as endeavoring to carry off a girl beloved by the white king. An-
other ceremony of the same country, performed in the season of the Car-
nival, bears the title of the " King of the village." The king enters a
church, and after mass the "mostra" is danced, then an ox decapitated,
which is destined for the feast of the king and queen. In the same coun-
try, the Novikatchces are mourners who, like the Vocerat rices of C01
improvise songs in honor of the dead. Mr. Sebillot gave an analysis of
his memoir on the "Evolution of Costume." The difficulty of this study is
owing to the absence or rarity of documents preceding the present century.
The disappearance of the ancient manner of dress follows a regular law. it
bemg, among women, the coif which is the last to yield. He gave it as
his opinion that, on the shores of the channel, the coiffure stands in rela-
tion with race, and has been influenced by emigrations from Great Britain.
With regard to the costume of Poitou, Mr. H. Gelin had already affirmed

302 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

the necessity of caution in drawing conclusions ; thus, a certain coiffure,
which had been referred to the fourteenth century, had in fact only attained
its present amplitude during the nineteenth.

Mr. R. Rosieres attempted to formulate certain laws for the develop-
ment of legends ; such he thought were, that among all peoples of the same
mental capacity the imagination worked in the same manner, and often
gave birth to similar legendary creations ; again, that in proportion as the
reputation of any hero declines, the legend which had been created in his
honor attaches itself to another more famous personage • further, every
legend which alters its medium transforms itself in such manner as to cor-
respond to the ethnographic and social conditions of the new medium.
Mr. M. Tcheraz discussed the "Origin and Development of Legends in
Armenia," arriving at the following conclusions : the reservoir from which
these legends have issued is not India, but Bactriana ; each tale had for
author some man of genius, who at a later period had interpolators and
imitators. These views were naturally objected to by partisans of the
theory of independent origins. The Comte de Charencey read a memoir
on "Negro Folk-Lore in America," in the course of which he analyzed two
tales, one found among negroes in Africa, the other in Guiana, which had
the common trait of " the decapitated by persuasion." The story of Cay-
enne he considered to be formed by a combination of an aboriginal ele-
ment with elements Indian and civilized. Mr. S. Prato read a specimen
of a " Comparative Study of Popular neo-Greek Songs and of European
and Oriental Songs." Mr. Kunz presented a printed memoir on the folk-
lore of the precious metals exposed in the section of the United States.
Mr. Hoffmann-Krayer read a study on " Folk-Lore in Switzerland," and
also gave an account of the formation of the Swiss Folk-Lore Society,
which now numbers nearly 500 members. He exhibited a magnificent
album of Swiss costumes, published by the Polygraphic Society of Zurich.
Mr. T. Volkov exemplified the primitive and traditional processes by the
aid of which the peasants of the Ukraine make their arithmetical and geo-
metrical calculations. In the course of discussion, similar methods of
peasants in Poitou were pointed out.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

BOOKS.

Zum Animismus der Sudamerikanischen Indianer, von Theodor Koch
(Supplement zu Band XIII. Internationales Archiv f. Ethnographie).
Leiden: E. J. Brill. 1900. Pp. viii, 146.

In this elaborate essay, which is provided with an excellent index (135-
145, three columns to a page) and a less satisfactory bibliography (pp. vii.-
viii.), the author confines himself to the record and discussion of animistic
phenomena among the Indians of South America alone, not venturing upon

Bibliographical Notes. 303

comparisons with similar phenomena in other regions of the globe. The
value of his compilation is increased by the fact that Dr. Koch was himself
a member of the Meyer Expedition to the sources of the Xingii, being thus
enabled to add to his material many data obtained by him on the spot.
The topics treated of are : The Indians' idea of the soul ; the transition of
the soul into the bodies of animals ; the souls of the dead as spirits ; the
soul as the cause of disease and death and defences against these ; protec-
tive measures against the spirit of the dead ; the other world. Rejecting
the earlier view (shared by Bastian) that death gave rise to the primitive
theories of soul-phenomena, Koch adopts the Peschel-Tylor view that the
belief in a soul was reached by savages through observation of dream-
occurrences. In support of this theory he utilizes the rich material re-
cently published by von den Steinen, Ehrenreich, and others concerning
the " dream-life " of the Brazilian Indians. He points out that the Indians'
idea of the nature of the soul during sleep and during the narcosis of the
" medicine-man " is the same, and that several tribes denote this narcosis
by the same word as that for "death." The Otomacs call the condition
induced by tobacco-smoke "day-dreaming," "dreaming with open eyes,"
etc. Dreams are so real to some of these Indian tribes that their theory
of the soul and of the future life seems to rest upon as positive knowledge
as lies at the bottom of any of their beliefs.

In the transition of the soul (during sleep, in the narcosis, after death)
into the bodies of beasts and birds, the natural predilections of certain tribes
for certain creatures often crop out. The great power of the " medicine-
man " arises from the belief that he can change himself into animals, birds,
etc., during his lifetime, and can traffic with all sorts of souls, bestial or
aviform. Another very common belief is that the souls of the dead, which,
though human-like in shape, are invisible to those awake, appear in sleep
and dreams, most frequently as evil spirits, who can be conjured up also
by " medicine-men." Most to be feared of all such spirits are the souls of
the " medicine-men," whose graves even are greatly dreaded.

Hardly any native tribe of South America, if we believe the author, attrib-
utes disease and death to natural causes. They are ascribed to the power-
ful "medicine-men," to the evil-minded souls of the dead, who hover about
the living eager to work ill. Needless to say that in South America it is
the fundamental idea of innumerable ceremonies to prevent the dead from
coming back to earth to plague the living. To that end, special pains are
taken with the funeral, etc. ; sometimes companions, wives, relatives, are
buried with him; sacrifices of infinite variety are made; a scapegoat is
employed; self-mutilation, etc., of the survivors is ordained, likewise tast-
ings and similar procedures; fires are kept up on the grave, etc. Other
more forcible means, too, are often employed: The hut in which the man
died is cleansed, abandoned, or destroyed ; the return of the dead is !
(he is buried a long way from home ; obstacles are put in his path ; loud
cries and noises are made to drive him off; the corpse, the grave, etc.. are
treated in a fashion likely to hinder or prevent the movements of the spirit ;
the name of the dead is left unspoken, etc.) in a hundred diverse ways.

304 yournal of American Folk-Lore.

The section on " Mourning for the Dead" (pp. 101-117) is very interest-
ing. Among other things Dr. Koch notes that mourning often continues
for a very long time, the funeral songs and ceremonies being repeated
sometimes until nature can no more ; that these ceremonies are mostly left
to the women; that the mourning, weeping, etc., are not infrequently "put
on," the funeral ceremony often quite formal, with set phrases, etc. ; that
the mourning is often begun before the death of the patient ; that strangers
and parties not at all connected with the dead often join in " loud and
long." Sometimes it is probable we have in this " mourning " a custom
originally dictated by fear, practised as a means of protection, but sunk in
the course of time into an empty ceremonial. The existence of such
" reductions " among primitive peoples is a matter that merits further
investigation.

Another interesting section of the essay is that which treats of " the
other world and the future life " (pp. 117-132). That the "other world "
lies in some part of the earth is a belief common to many tribes ; others,
like the Matacos, place it underground ; others, still, located it in the stars,
the sun, etc. Worthy of remark is the Bakairf idea that heaven and earth
lay once beside each other, and the transit was easy ; but too many people
died in heaven, so they settled on the earth, causing the sky to rise up
where it now is. As to the manner of life in the other world, opinions dif-
fer among the South American Indians. Many tribes believe it to be a
continuation (sometimes intensified) of life on earth with the same actions,
institutions, etc. ; others hold that only the " good " or " brave " go to
heaven, or have the best places there. Often the passage into the next
world is thought to be very difficult, with many obstacles in the way, so
that the " medicine-man " has to be called upon to " make the path
straight." Some tribes, like the Marauhas, e. g., show, according to the
author, the results of missionary influence. Dr. Koch believes that no in-
dependently developed " theory of recompense," in our sense, exists among
any South American Indians, although many tribes have the idea, more or
less, that the condition of life in the next world is in some way or other
connected with actions during life in this.

The author has not fully digested his material, which needs further study
and consideration. His essay is, however, a collection of folk-lore data of
the highest value, and will be welcomed by all students of the mind of
primitive man.

Alex. F. Chamberlain.

Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History. Volume III.
Anthropology II. I. Symbolism of the Huichol Indians. By Carl
Lumholtz. New York, May, 1900. Pp. 228. Maps, Plates i.-iv., 298
figures. Fol.

This well-printed and profusely illustrated study is a credit alike to the
author and to the Museum. The author visited the Huichols in 1895-
1896, and again in the spring of 1898, spending altogether more than a
year amongst them and their neighbors the Coras. After a " Brief Sketch

Bibliographical Notes. 305

of the Country and Tribe " (pp. 5-23), the author discusses in detail : Gods
and their Paraphernalia (pp. 24-82); Ceremonial Arrows (pp. 83-107);
Shields (pp. 108-153); "Eyes," or crosses of bamboo-splints or st
interwoven with colored twine or yarn in the form of a square (pp. 154-
160) ; Votive Bowls (pp. 161-168); The Ark of the Deluge Legend (pp.
169-173) ; The Shaman's Plumes, and Objects connected with Feast-
Making (pp. 174-196); Facial Paintings (pp. 196-203); Miscellaneous
Symbolic Objects (pp. 204-208). Pages 209-217 are occupied with the
" Conclusion," and the work ends with three good indexes (not alphabeti-
cal but topical), — one of " Prayers, with their representative Symbols,"
one of " Symbols and their Significance," and one of "Objects and Ideas,
and their representative Symbols."

The Huichol Indians (their Mexican name Huicholcs seems to be a cor-
ruption of the tribal designation Vlrdrika, Visalika) occupy at present a
territory some 40 miles by 25, exceedingly rugged and difficult of access,
watered by the Chapalagana River, in the district of Colotlan, State of
Xalisco, Mexico. They number some 4000 souls, speak a language akin
to Nahuatl, and while some have put on an external show of Christianity
for selfish purposes, "their ancient beliefs, customs, and ceremonies all
remain in their pristine vigor, these Indians jealously guarding their coun-
try against encroachment by the whites" (p. 5). In spite of the mission-
ary work of the past we are told : " 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. The introduc-
tion of sheep, cattle, and iron implements has modified to some extent
their mode of life, but not so much as one would expect." It is of such a
people, whose life is religious, and " from the cradle to the grave wrapped
up in symbolism ; " who spend a great deal of their time at ceremonies and
feasts ; and whose idea of the perfect life was expressed by one of them-
selves in the words "to pray for luck to Tatevali [the god of fire], and to
put up snares for the deer," that Mr. Lumholtz has so much that is valua-
ble and interesting to relate. Among the deities of the Huichols are :
Grandfather Fire (Tatevali), to whom belong the macaw, the royal eagle,
the cardinal-bird, the tiger, the lion, and the opossum, — also herbs and
grass ; Great-Grandfather Deer-Tail (Tatdtsi Mara Kwari), a second god
of fire, who is also a singing shaman, to whom the white-tailed hawk be-
longs ; Father Sun (Tayau), to whom belong the turkey, the rabbit, the
tiger, the red-tailed hawk, the quail, the giant woodpecker, the swallow, and
the cardinal-bird ; The Setting Sun (Sakaimoka), the assistant of Father
Sun ; Elder Brother, the god of wind or air, the messenger of the gods, —
to him belong the deer, the rattlesnake, the rabbit, the gray squirrel, the
hummingbird, all parrots, certain hawks, the owl, the hen, the cock ;
Grandmother Growth (Takdtsi Nakawe), the producer of all vegetation,
and the Corn Mother, to whom belong squashes, beans, and sheep. — she is
also the mother of the gods; Mother East- Water (Tate' Naaliwami), whose
baton is the lightning, and whose skirt is the flowers that follow the rain,
— to her belong cattle, mules, and horses ; Mother West- Water (Tate Kye-

vol. xm. — no. 51. 20

306 Journal of American Folk- Lore.

wimoka), to whom belong deer, corn, and the raven ; Mother South- Water
(Tate Rapawiyema), to whom belongs the seed-corn ; Mother North-Water
(Tate Haiitse Kupuri, " mother cotton-wool, rain and fog hanging in the
trees and grass "), to whom belong corn, squashes, beans, flowers, cattle,
mules, horses, and sheep ; Young Mother Eagle (Tate Velika Uimali), whose
dress is the stars, and who holds the world in her talons. The moon (not
highly venerated by the Huichols) is a grandmother, and has to do chiefly
with making native beer and protecting against the god of death (Toka-
kami). The stars are all gods or goddesses and the morning-star (these
Indians bathe in the morning at dark) is the one from which they "gain
knowledge " and " medicine " for rain. Another figure in Huichol mytho-
logy is Grandfather Kauyumali, the god who " put the world into shape."
The motif oi Huichol religion is "the desire of producing rain, and thus of
successfully raising corn, their principal food" (p. 24). According to their
myths, " corn was once deer, the deer having been the chief source of food
in earliest times," hence they have come to look upon their later acquisi-
tions, cattle and sheep, as corn also, — hikuli (Anhalonium lewinsii) is like-
wise corn. The mythology of the Huichols moves about "a conception of
the four elements, — fire and air (male), earth and water (female)." The
main thought of their prayers is "food, corn, beans, and squashes." Even
in hunting the deer, " the primary consideration is that the success of the
chase means good crops of corn." An interesting point brought out is
that " arrows and back-shields seem to convey mostly individual (or per-
sonal) prayers, while front-shields mostly serve to convey tribal ones.
' Eyes ' cover both purposes to an almost equal extent." The richness and
elaborateness of all this symbolism, with its ambiguity, etc., is well por-
trayed in the shields, discs, drums, bowls, arrows, sticks, " toy " imple-
ments, etc., of which figures with detailed explanations are given in the
text. The following comment of the author deserves reproduction here :
" Although the gods are obviously natural phenomena personified, and
besides represent the four elements, they are also, to the Indian, human ;
in fact, ancient Huichols engaged in much the same occupations as the
tribe of to-day, whose customs and religion they originated" (p. 212). Of
the front-shield we are told that it is " the most important symbol of the
Huichols, and specially adapted to serve as a kind of sign-language be-
tween man and god, conveying prayers and adoration, as well as religious
and cosmic ideas." The comprehensive use of the word nealika = " front-
shield," " face," " appearance," " picture,," suggests, Dr. Lumholtz thinks,
that " the Huichols have in it a veritable word for ' symbol.' " Dr. Lum-
holtz points out some interesting resemblances between Huichol symbolism
and that of the Zunis, besides a striking likeness between the Dresden
Codex God of Death and the Huichol God of Death, — the locust and
tiger being associated with each. These facts open the way for further
comparative study which it is to be hoped Dr. Lumholtz will undertake.

Alex. F. Chamberlain.

Bibliographical Notes. 307

JOURNALS.

1. American Anthropologist. (Washington.) Vol. II. No. 2, April-June,
1900. Oraibi marriage customs. H. R. Voth. — Basketry designs of the Maidu
Indians of California. R. B. Dixon. — Mythical monsters. D. S. LAMB. — Pe-
riodical literature. (Continued in No. 3.) — No. 3, July-September. The Sedna
cycle : a study in myth evolution. H. N. Wardle.

2. The American Antiquarian. (Chicago.) Vol. XXII. No. 4, July-August,
1900. The ethnic variations of myths. J. Fraser. — Shrines near Cochite, New
Mexico. F. Starr. — No. 5, November-December. Anthropological notes.
A. F. Chamberlain.

3. The American Kitchen Magazine. (Boston.) Vol. XIV No. 1, Octo-
ber, 1900. Some homely viands. F. D. Bergen.

4. The Open Court. (Chicago.) Vol. XIV. No. 10, October, 1900. Certain
aspects of the Eleusinian problem. I. Primitive rites of purification. C. J.
Wood. — No. 2, November. II. Primitive rites of purification. C. J. Wood.

5. Folk-Lore. (London.) Vol. XI. No. 2, June, *i 900. Two thousand years
of a charm against the child-stealing witch. M. Gaster. — Pre-animistic reli-
gion. R. R. Marett. — Obituary : Lieut.-Gen. Pitt Rivers. — Reviews : Works
of H. Ling Roth, The Aborigines of Tasmania; Archaeological Reports, Ontario,
1898 and 1899; Saga of King Sverri of Norway, translated by J. Sephton ; A. S.
Palmer, Sketches on biblical subjects, No. II.; A. Lang, The Homeric hymns;
M. Rosenfeld, Der Midrasch-Deuteronomium Rabba par. IX. and XL, 2-10; H.
Zahler, Der krankheit im volksglauben des Simmenthals; Rugensche skizzen ; O.
Daenhardt, Naturgeschichtliche volksmarchen ; C. Zibrt, Literatura kulturne-
historicka; L. A. Fisa, Merry Suffolk; F. Starr, American Indians; J. Deniker,
Races of Man. — Correspondence : Month names. May-Day. Burial customs.
— Miscellanea: Welton farmhouse. Devonshire folk-lore. Hindu notes. Fu-
neral processions. First foot in Lancashire. Folk-lore from Calymnos. — Biblio-
graphy.— No. 3, September. Animal superstitions and totemism. N. W.
Thomas. — The ancient Teutonic priesthood. H. Munro Chadwick.— Re-
views: Works of F. Boas, The mythology of the Bella Coola Indians; W. W.
Skeat, Malay magic; C. G. Leland, Aradia; A. H. Sayce, Babylonians and As-
syrians ; W. L. Ripley, Selected bibliography of anthropology and ethnology of
Europe ; L. Scherman and F. S. Krauss, Allgemeine methodik der volkskunde ;
R. Petsch, Neue Beitrage zur kenntniss der volksrathsels : Works on Slavic and
Roumanian tales, by W. W. Strickland and L. Kitzo; H. Chauvet, Folk-lore
Catalan; W. Crooke, The talking thrush; J. Spence, Shetland folk-lore 1'.
Deemey, Peasant lore from Gaelic Ireland; T. Wilson, Bluebeard. — Corre-
spondence : Pre-animistic religion. Medical superstitions ; snakes. More snake-
lore. Horses' heads. Weathercocks, etc. Inscriptions on Roman lamps.—
Miscellanea: Korean beliefs. Folk-tales from the ./Egean. Death and burial
customs in Wiltshire. Obituary: Mary N. Kingsley.— Bibliography.

6. L' Anthropologic. (Paris.) Vol. XL No. 4, 1900. Quelques observations
sur le tabou. S. Reinach. — Sur les traces probable de civilisation egyptienne
et d'hommes de race blanche a la cote d'ivoire. — M. DELAFOSS1 .

7. Me"lusine. (Paris.) Vol. X. No. 2, March-April, 1900. Mirages visuela et
auditifs. Lefebure. — Les pre'fe're's du bon Dieu. H.GAIDOZ.— La fascination.
(Continued in Nos. 3-4.) J. Tuchmann. — Bdotiana. F. S. KRAUSS. — Lea
noye's. — Contes d'animaux du Lavedan. Camelat. — Dictons et proverbes bre-
tons. IX. E. Ernault.

308 J ournal of American Folk-Lore.

8. Revue des Traditions Populaires. (Paris.) Vol. XV. No. 4, April,
1900. Usages et coutumes du pays nantais. E. Vaugeois. — Contes et legendes
arabes. R. Basset. — Les redevances fdodales. IX. Fin du xviii. siecle. (Con-
tinued in No. 5.) L. Desaivre. — No. 5, May. Traditions populaires relatives
a la parole. Chevrin. — Usages et chansons de Mai. IX. Haute-Bretagne.
F. Marguer. — Nos. 6-7, June-July. La mer et les eaux. CVII. L'appareil-
lage. P. Sebillot. — Objets enterre's avec le mort. XXX. L. de V. H. —
Coutumes et superstitions de la Casamance. P. Arnaud-Regis. — No. 8, Au-
gust. Coutumes et superstitions du Loir-et-Cher. F. Houssay. — Contes et
legendes de la Haute-Bretagne. XXXI I. -XXXVI I. L. de V. H. — No. 9, Sep-
tember. Congres Internationale des Traditions Populaires. P. Sebillot. — Le
culte des fontaines dans le Var. S. de Kersaint-Gilly. — Pelerins et pelerin-
ages. XLII. La fontaine sacrde du Vignal. F. Pommerol.

9. A TradiQao. (Serpa.) Vol. II. No. 5, May, 1900. Os proverbios e a medi-
cina. A. Pimentel. — O Senor Sete. T. Coelho. — O tamborileiro. A. de
Mello Breyner. — As BSasfestas. P. A. d'Azevelo. — A caca no concelho
de Serpa. A. de Mello Breyner. — Modas-estribillos alemtejenas. M. Dias
Nunes. — Contos Algarvios. A. d'Oliveira.

10. Schweizerisches Archiv fur Volkskunde. (Zurich.) Vol. IV. No. 3,
August, 1900. " Eve'nements particuliers." O. Chambaz. — Kirsche und kirsch-
baum im spiegel schweizerdeutscher sprache und sitte. A. Seiler. — Novellette
morali raccolte a Bedano (Ticino). V. Pellandini. — Der Ring des Gyges in
der Schweitz. T. v. Liebenau. — Volkstiimliches aus dem Frei- und Kelleramt.
S. Meier. — Einige sagen und traditionen aus dem Freiamt, im Aargau. B. Re-
ber. — Miszellen. Fragekasten.

11. Alemannia. (Freiburg i. B.) Vol. XXVII. No. 3, 1900. Volkskunde von
Miichenloch bei Neckargemeinde. K. Arnold.

12. Hermes. (Berlin.) Vol. XXXV. No. 4, 1900. Der cult der winde. P.
Stengel.

13. Zeitschrift des Vereins fur Volkskunde. (Berlin.) Vol. X. No. 3,
1900. Schlesische Pfingstgebrauche. P. Drechsler. — Tom Tit Tot. Ein bei-
trag zur vergleichenden marchenkunde. G. Polivka. — Verschwindende erntege-
brauche. R. Mielke. — Napoleons-gebete und spottlieder. R. F. Kaindl. —
Bauerische geschichten. E. H. Raff. — Eine heanzische bauernhochzeit. J. R.
Bunker. — Von dem deutschen grenzposten Lusern in walschen Siidtirol. J.
Bacher. — Der klausenbaum. M. Hofler. — Kleine mittheilungen. — Biicher-
anzeigen.

14. The Indian Antiquary. — (Bombay.) No. 362, March, 1900. The folk-
lore in the legends of the Panjab. R. C. Temple. — Notes and Queries : Super-
stitions among Hindus in the Central provinces. An explanation of intermarriage
between the families of saints and kings in India. Some marriage customs
among the Khatris of the Panjab. — No. 364, May. The thirty-seven Nats (spirit
of the Burmese). (Continued in Nos. 266, 368, 369.) R. C. Temple. — Notes
and Queries : Indian children's bogies. The Janeu, its formation and use. Child-
burial. — No. 365, June. Notes and Queries : Form of swearing friendship and
brotherhood. Use of censers in India. No. 366, July. Notes and Queries : The
bloody hand at Mandalay — the rise of a myth. No. 367, August. Notes on the
spirit basis of belief and custom. J. M. Campbell. — Notes and Queries : Mar-
riage customs and Hindus. — No. 368, September. Notes and Queries : Aspect
of Hindu worship. Phallic worship in the Himalayas. Bath-customs. — No. 369,
October. Notes and Queries: Months in which Hindu marriage is forbidden.
A list of the Hindu godlings of Bombay.

Members of the American Folk-Lore Society. 309
OFFICERS OF THE AMERICAN FOLK-LORE SOCIETY (1900).

President : Franz Boas, New York, N. Y.

First Vice-President : Frank Russell, Cambridge, Mass.

Second Vice-President : Stansbury Hagar, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Council: Alice Mabel Bacon, Hampton, Va. ; Robert Bell, Ottawa, Can.; J. D. Buck,
Cincinnati, O. ; Alice C. Fletcher, Washington, D. C. ; tCharles L. Edwards, Hartford,
Conn.; G. J. Engelmann, Boston, Mass.; tAlcee Fortier, New Orleans, La. ; Otis T. Mason,
Washington, D. C. ; tFrederic W. Putnam, Cambridge, Mass. ; tF. N. Robinson, Cam-
bridge, Mass. ; Frederick Starr, Chicago, 111. ; Gardner P. Stickney, Milwaukee, Wis. ;
Anne Weston Whitney, Baltimore, Md. ; t Henry Wood, Baltimore, Md.

Permanent Secretary : William Wells Newell, Cambridge, Mass.

Treasurer : John H. Hinton, 41 West 33d Street, New York, N. Y.
t As Presidents of Local Branches.

MEMBERS OF THE AMERICAN FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.

(for the year 1900.)
HONORARY MEMBERS.

John Batchelor, Sapporo, Japan.

Francisco Adolpho Coelho, Lisbon, Portu-
gal.

James George Frazer, Cambridge, England.

Henri Gaidoz, Paris, France.

George Laurence Gorarae, London, Eng-
land.

Angelo de Gubernatis, Rome, Italy.

Edwin Sidney Hartland, Gloucester, Eng-
land.

Jean Karlowicz, Warsaw, Poland.
Friedrich S. Krauss, Vienna, Austria.
Kaarle Krohn, Helsingfors, Finland.
Giuseppe Pitre, Palermo, Sicily.
John Wesley Powell, Washington, D. C.
Paul Sebillot, Paris, France.
Heymann Steinthal, Berlin, Germany.
Edward Burnett Tylor, Oxford, England.

LIFE MEMBERS.

Eugene F. Bliss, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Henry Carrington Bolton, Washington,

D. C.
Hiram Edmund Deats, Flemington, N. J.
Mrs. Henry Draper, New York, N. Y.
Willard Fiske, Florence, Italy.

Joseph E. Gillingham, Philadelphia, Pa.
John II. Hinton, New York, N. V.
Henry Charles Lea, Philadelphia, Pa.
J. F. Loubat, New York, N. Y.
William Wells Newell, Cambridge, Mass.
Miss Mary A. Owen, St. Joseph, Mo.

ANNUAL MEMBERS.

John Abercromby, Edinburgh, Scotland.
James Truslow Adams, New York, N. Y.
I. Adler, New York, N. Y.
Miss Constance G. Alexander, Cambridge,

Mass.
F. S. Arnold, Cambridge, Mass.
Mrs. Monroe Ayer, Boston, Mass.

Miss Alice Mabel Bacon, Hampton, Va.
Francis Noyes Balch, Cambridge, Mass.
Mrs. Mary M. Barclay, Milwaukee, Wis.
Charles T. Barney, New York, N. Y.
Miss Jessie Beals, Boston, Mass.
W. M. Beauchamp, Syracuse, N. Y.
William Beer, New Orleans, La.

Robert Bell, Ottawa, Ont.

George W. Benedict, Providence, R. I.

Miss Cora Agnes Benneson, Cambridge,

Mass.
Mrs. T. W. Bennet, Boston, Mass.
Mrs. Fanny D. Bergen, Cambridge, Mass.
Charles T. Billom, Leicester. England.
Clarence J. Blake, Boston, Mass.
Francis Blake, Auburndale, Mass.
Frank E. Bliss, London, England.
Franz Boas, New York, N. V.
Reginald P. Bolton, Pelhamville, N. Y.
C. C. Bombaugh, Baltimore, Md.
Mrs. John G. Bourke. ( >maha. Xeb.
Charles P. Bowditch, Boston, Mass.

Journal of American Folk-Lore.

310

George P. Bradley, Mare Island, Cal.
Miss Lily A. Braman, Boston, Mass.
H. C. G. Brandt, Clinton, N. Y.
James R. Brevoort, Yonkers, N. Y.
Miss Margaret Brooks, Cambridge, Mass.
Miss Jeannie P. Brown, Cambridge, Mass.
Philip Greely Brown, Portland, Me.
William Garrot Brown, Cambridge, Mass.
Mrs. W. Wallace Brown, Calais, Me.
Loys Brueyre, Paris, France.
Gustav Bruhl, Cincinnati, O.
J. D. Buck, Cincinnati, O.
Miss Ethel Quincey Bumstead, Cambridge,

Mass.
Edward S. Burgess, New York, N. Y.
Mrs. Frances B. Burke, Cambridge, Mass.
Miss Mary Arthur Burnham, Philadelphia,

Pa.
Miss Amy Burrage, Boston, Mass.

John Caldwell, Edgewood Park, Pa.

Thomas Carson, Brownsville, Tex.

Mrs. J. B. Case, Boston, Mass.

A. F. Chamberlain, Worcester, Mass.

Miss Mary Chapman, Springfield, Mass.

Miss Ellen Chase, Brookline, Mass.

George H. Chase, Cambridge, Mass.

Miss Marion S. Chase, Roxbury, Mass.

Walter G. Chase, Brookline, Mass.

Heli Chatelain, Angola, Africa.

Miss Helen M. C. Child, Cambridge, Mass.

Clarence H. Clark, Philadelphia, Pa.

Richard A. Cleeman, Philadelphia, Pa.

Robert Clement, Boston, Mass.

Mrs. Otto B. Cole, Boston, Mass.

Miss Katherine I. Cook, Cambridge, Mass.

Mrs. Elizabeth Johnston Cooke, Macon, Ga.

George W. Cooke, Wakefield, Mass.

Mrs. Kate Allen Coolidge, Cincinnati, O.

Thomas F. Crane, Ithaca, N. Y.

Mrs. Oliver Crane, Boston, Mass.

Charles D. Crank, Cincinnati, O.

J. M. Crawford, Cincinnati, O.

Miss Sarah H. Crocker, Boston, Mass.

Stewart Culin, Philadelphia, Pa.

John Cummings, Cambridge, Mass.

Roland G. Curtin, Philadelphia, Pa.

Mattoon Munroe Curtis, Cleveland, O.

Reginald A. Daly, Cambridge, Mass.
William G. Davies, New York, N. Y.
Charles F. Daymond, New York, N. Y.
Mrs. John Deane, Boston, Mass.
James Deans, Victoria, B. C.
Robert W. De Forest, New York, N. Y.
Mrs. Amelie Denegre, New Orleans, La.
George E. Dimock, Elizabeth, N. J.

Roland B. Dixon, Cambridge, Mass.
Richard E. Dodge, New York, N. Y.
George A. Dorsey, Chicago, 111.
Andrew E. Douglass, New York, N. Y.
Charles B. Dudley, Altoona, Pa.
Arthur W. Dunn, Chicago, 111.
R. T. Durrett, Louisville, Ky.
Mrs. H. H. Dwight, Boston, Mass.

John L. Earll, Utica, N. Y.

Charles L. Edwards, Hartford, Conn.

L. H. Elwell, Amherst, Mass.

Mrs. Thomas Emery, Syracuse, N. Y.

G. J. Engelmann, Boston, Mass.

Carl Enkemeyer, Yonkers, N. Y.

Dana Estes, Boston, Mass.

Livingston Farrand, New York, N. Y.
Mrs. Ernest F. Fenollosa, Boston, Mass.
Merritt Lyndon Fernald, Cambridge, Mass.
J. Walter Fewkes, Washington, D. C.
John Fiske, Cambridge, Mass.
Miss Emma J. Fitz, Boston, Mass.
G. W. Fitz, Boston, Mass.
Miss Alice C. Fletcher, Washington, D. C.
Robert Fletcher, Washington, D. C.
Wyman Kneeland Flint, Milwaukee, Wis.
Henry W. Foote, Cambridge, Mass.
Alcee Fortier, New Orleans, La.
J. N. Fradenburgh, Greenville, Pa.

Alfred C. Garrett, Cambridge, Mass.
Albert S. Gatschet, Washington, D. C.
Frank Butler Gay, Hartford, Conn.
Arpad G. Gerster, New York, N. Y.
Wolcott Gibbs, Newport, R. I.
W. W. Gibbs, Philadelphia, Pa.
Miss Bessie C. Gray, Boston, Mass.
Mrs. John C. Gray, Boston, Mass.
Byron Griffing, Shelter Island Heights, N. Y.
George Bird Grinnell, New York, N. Y.
Louis Grossmann, Detroit, Mich.
Victor Guillou, Philadelphia, Pa.

Stansbury Hagar, Brooklyn, N. Y.

C. W. Hahn, Cincinnati, O.
J. L. Harbour, Boston, Mass.
Charles C. Harrison, Philadelphia, Pa.
Mrs. Edward Haskell, Boston, Mass.
Miss Millicent Hayes, Cambridge, Mass.
H. W. Haynes, Boston, Mass.

D. C. Henning, Pottsville, Pa.

Mrs. Esther Herrmann, New York, N. Y.
Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Cam-
bridge, Mass.
Don Gleason Hill, Dedham, Mass.
Mrs. Thomas Hill, Baltimore, Md.

Members of the American Folk-Lore Society. 31 1

Henry L. Hobart, New York, N. Y.

Frederick Webb Hodge, Washington, D. C.

Richard Hodgson, Boston, Mass.

Robert Hoe, New York, N. Y.

Mrs. Lee Hoffman, Boston, Mass.

Miss Amelia B. Hollenback, Brooklyn,

N. Y.
Mrs. C. F. Hopkins, Cincinnati, O.
Miss Leslie Hopkinson, Cambridge, Mass.
Miss Cornelia Horsford, Cambridge, Mass.
Walter Hough, Washington, D. C.
Jerome B. Howard, Cincinnati, O.
Miss Leonora Howe, Cambridge, Mass.
Mrs. Lucien Howe, Buffalo, N. Y.
C. F. W. Hubbard, Buffalo, N. Y.
Henry M. Hurd, Baltimore, Md.
Theodore D. Hurlbut, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Clarence M. Hyde, New York, N. Y..
Miss Elizabeth A. Hyde, New York, N. Y.
Frederick E. Hyde, New York, N. Y.

Miss Margaret R. Ingols, Cambridge, Mass.

A. Jacobi, New York, N. Y.
Thomas A. Jaggar, Cambridge, Mass.
Edward C. James, New York, N. Y.
Henry F. Jenks, Canton, Mass.
Miss Isabel L. Johnson, Boston, Mass.
Robert Ralston Jones, Cincinnati, O.
Miss Marion Judd, Boston, Mass.

Thomas V. Keam, Ream's Canon, Ariz.
Frederick W. Kelly, Milwaukee, Wis.
John Goshorn Kelley, Philadelphia, Pa.
Josephine M. Kendig, Philadelphia, Pa.
Mrs. A. L. Kennedy, Boston, Mass.
George G. Kennedy, Roxbury, Mass.
Miss Louise Kennedy, Concord, Mass.
Homer H. Kidder, Cambridge, Mass.
Landreth H. King, Dobbs Ferry, N. Y.
George Kinsey, Wyoming, O.
A. H. Kirkham, Springfield, Mass.
George L. Kittredge, Cambridge, Mass.
Karl Knortz, Evansville, Ind.
Henry E. Krehbiel, New York, N. Y.
Alfred L. Kroeber, San Francisco, Cal.
George F. Kunz, New York, N. Y.

Robert M. Lawrence, Boston, Mass.
Miss Annie Laws, Cincinnati, O.
Frank Willing Leach, Philadelphia, Pa.
Walter Learned, New London, Conn.
Miss Margaret C. Leavitt, Cambridge,

Mass.
Mrs. William LeBrun, Boston, Mass.
George E. Leigh ton, St. Louis, Mo.
George H. Leonard, Boston, Mass.

Josua Lindahl, Cincinnati, O.
John U. Lloyd, Cincinnati, (J.
Benjamin Lord, New York, N. V.
Charles A. Loveland, Milwaukee, Wis.
Charles F. Lummis, Los Angeles, Cal.
Benjamin Smith Lyman, Philadelphia, Pa.

Kenneth McKenzie, Cambridge, Mass.
Mrs. A. D. McLeod,*Avondale, O.
Mrs. Alex. H. McLeod, Wyoming. O.
Mrs. John L. McNeil, Denver, Colo.
Miss Jeannette Sumner Markham, Cam-
bridge, Mass.
Lionel S. Marks, Cambridge, Mass.
Mrs. W. Kingsmill Marrs, Saxonville, Mass.
Arthur R. Marsh, Cambridge, Mass.
Artemas Martin, Washington, D. C.
Otis T. Mason, Washington, D. C.
Albert Matthews, Boston, Mass.
Washington Matthews, Washington, D. C.
Miss Frances H. Mead, Cambridge, Mass.
Lee Douglas Meader, Cincinnati, O.
William F. Merrill, New York, N. Y.
J. Meyer, New York, N. Y.
Mrs. Garret S. Miller, Peterboro, N. Y.
Thomas E. Miller, Orangeburg, S. C.
Miss M. A. Mixter, Boston, Mass.
James Mooney, Washington, D. C.

C. H. Moore, Clinton, 111.

Miss Agnes Morgan, Osaka, Japan.

James L. Morgan, Brooklyn, X. Y.

Lewis K. Morse, Boston, Mass.

Lewis F. Mott, New York, N. Y.

Mrs. Hugo Munsterberg, Cambridge, Mass.

P. V. N. Myers, Cincinnati, O.

William Nelson, Paterson, N. J.

D. J. O'Connell, Rome, Italy.
*Oswald Ottendorfer, New York, N. Y.

Mrs. E. S. Page, Cleveland, O.

Nathaniel Paine, Worcester, Mass.

Charles Talache, Cambridge, Mass.

Sarah G. Palmer, Boston, Mass.

Miss Mary Park, Elmira, N. Y.

Mrs. C. Stuart Patterson, Philadelphia,

Pa.
J. W. Paul, Jr., Philadelphia. Pa.
Mrs. Charles Peabody, Cambridj
Miss Josephine Preston Peabody, Cam-

bridge, Mass.
William F. Peck, Rochester, \. Y.
James Mills Peirce, Cambri
Henry E. Pcllew, Washington, D. C.
Thomas Sargent Perry, Boston, Mass.
David Philipson, Cincinnati, < ».

312

Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Dr. Lincoln Phillips, Cincinnati, O.
Perry B. Pierce, Washington, D. C.
Mrs. C. H. Poor, Brookline, Mass.
Dr. C. Augusta Pope, Boston, Mass.
Dr. Emily F. Pope, Boston, Mass.
Stanislas Prato, Sessa Arunca, Italy.
Edna Dean Proctor, Framingham, Mass.
T. Mitchell Brudden, New York, N. Y.
Miss Ethel Puffer, Cambridge, Mass.
\V. H. Pulsifer, Newton Centre, Mass.
Frederic Ward Putnam, Cambridge, Mass.
Mrs. Frederic Ward Putnam, Cambridge,
Mass.

Benjamin Rand, Cambridge, Mass.
Mrs. Warren Rawson, Cincinnati, O.
Mrs. H. E. Raymond, Brookline, Mass.
John Reade, Montreal, P. Q.
Miss Helen Leah Reed, Boston, Mass.
Eliot Remeck, Boston, Mass.
William L. Richardson, Boston, Mass.
Everett W. Ricker, Jamaica Plain, Mass.
R. Hudson Riley, Brooklyn, N. Y.

D. M. Riordan, Atlanta, Ga.
Craig D. Ritchie, Philadelphia, Pa.

Mrs. Horace W. Robbins, New York, N. Y.
Benjamin L. Robinson, Cambridge, Mass.
F. N. Robinson, Cambridge, Mass.
Frank Russell, Cambridge, Mass.
Charles J. Ryder, New York, N. Y.

Stephen Salisbury, Worcester, Mass.
W. S. Scarborough, Wilberforce, O.
Charles Schaffer, Philadelphia, Pa.
Otto B. Schlatter, Hartford, Conn.
W. H. Schofield, Cambridge, Mass.
James P. Scott, Philadelphia, Pa.

E. M. Scudder, New York, N. Y.
Horace E. Scudder, Cambridge, Mass.
Benjamin F. Seaver, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Dr. C. J. Sharretts, Astoria, N. Y.
John K. Shaw, Baltimore, Md.

C. Bernard Shea, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Joseph F. Sinnott, Rosemont, Pa.

Mrs. Annie Trumbull Slosson, New York,

N. Y.
De Cost Smith, New York, N. Y.
E. Reuel Smith, New York, N. Y.
Harlan I. Smith, New York, N. Y.
Herbert W. Smith, Chicago, I1L
J. J. Smith, New York, N. Y.
R. B. Spicer, Cincinnati, O.
Frederick Starr, Chicago, 111.
George E. Starr, Germantown, Pa.
Roland Steiner, Grovetown, Ga.
Mrs. Matilda Coxe Stevenson, Washington,

D. C.
Gardner P. Stickney, Milwaukee, Wis.

R. M. Stimson, Marietta, O.
Miss Olivia E. P. Stokes, New York, N. Y.
Mrs. J. P. Sutherland, Boston, Mass.
Brandreth Symonds, New York, N. Y.

Louis S. Tesson, Fort Ethan Allen, Vt.

Benjamin Thaw, Pittsburgh, Pa.

S. V. R. Thayer, Boston, Mass.

Miss M. C. Thompson, Cincinnati, O.

Edward A. Thurber, Madison, Wis.

Miss Katharine C. Tileston, Mattapan,

Mass.
John S. Tilney, Orange, N. J.
Archibald Reed Tisdale, Jamaica Plain,

Mass.
Crawford Howell Toy, Cambridge, Mass.

Henry H. Vail, New York, N. Y.

Mrs. George W. Vaillant, Boston, Mass.

Mrs. Margaret Wade, Bath, Me.

Rev. A. C. Waghorne, Jamaica, W. I.

P. F. Walker, Cincinnati, O.

Horace E. Warner, Washington, D. C.

Miss Florence Warren, Felton, Del.

Samuel D. Warren, Boston, Mass.

W. Seward Webb, Lake Champlain, Vt.

Frederick Webber, Washington, D. C.

David Webster, New York, N. Y.

Mrs. Walter Wesselhoeft, Cambridge, Mass.

George N. Whipple, Boston, Mass.

Francis Beach White, Cambridge, Mass.

Mrs. Morris M. White, Cincinnati, O.

Miss Anne Weston Whitney, Baltimore,

Md.
Frederick P. Wilcox, Grand Rapids, Mich.
Mrs. Ashton Willard, Boston, Mass.
M:ss Stella G. Williams, Cincinnati, O.
Henry J. Willing, Chicago, 111.
Mrs. Henry J. Willing, Chicago, 111.
Miss Constance B. Williston, Cambridge,

Mass.
C. C. Willoughby, Cambridge, Mass.
Miss Florence Wilson, College Hill, O.
James G. Wilson, Baltimore, Md.
R. N. Wilson, Macleod, Alberta, N. W. Ter.
Thomas Wilson, Washington, D. C.
Henry M. Wiltse, Chattanooga, Tenn.
Rev. Charles J. Wood, York, Pa.
Henry Wood, Baltimore, Md.
Mrs. A. C. Woods, Cincinnati, O.
Miss Eda A. Woolson, Cambridge, Mass.
C. H. C. Wright, Cambridge, Mass.
Joel F. Wright, Hartford, Conn.

Miss Sarah D. Yerxa, Cambridge, Mass.
F. W. Youmans, Cincinnati, O.
William Young, Philadelphia, Pa.

Members of the American Folk-Lore Society. 313

LIST OF LIBRARIES OR SOCIETIES, BEING MEMBERS OF THE
AMERICAN FOLK-LORE SOCIETY, OR SUBSCRIBERS TO THE
JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE, IN THE YEAR 1900.

Amherst College Library, Amherst, Mass.

Athenaeum Library, Minneapolis, Minn.

Boston Athenaeum, Boston, Mass.

Buffalo Library, Buffalo, N. Y.

Carnegie Free Library, Allegheny, Pa.

Central Library, Syracuse, N. Y.

Chicago Literary Club, Chicago, 111.

City Library, Lincoln, Neb.

Columbia College Library, New York, N. Y.

Forbes Library, Northampton, Mass.

Free Library of Philadelphia, 1217 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pa.

Free Public Library, Jersey City, N. J.

Free Public Library, Sacramento, Cal.

Free Public Library, San Francisco, Cal.

Free Public Library, Newark, N. J.

Free Public Library, Worcester, Mass.

Hackley Public Library, Muskegon, Mich.

Hartford Library Association, Hartford, Conn.

Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.

Howard Memorial Library, New Orleans, La.

Iowa State Library, Des Moines, Iowa.

John Crerar Library, Chicago, 111.

Johns Hopkins University Library, Baltimore, Md.

John Thomson Free Library of Philadelphia, Pa.

Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, Kans.

Library of Chicago University, Chicago, 111.

Library of Congress, U. S. A., Washington, D. C.

Library of Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.

Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

Library of Parliament, Ottawa, Ont.

Library of Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Library of Trinity College, Hartford, Conn.

Library of University of Illinois, Champaign, 111.

Library of University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kans.

Massachusetts State Library, Boston, Mass.

Mechanics Library, Rev. C. B. Dudley, Altoona, Pa.

Mercantile Library, New York, N. Y.

Morrisson-Reeves Library, Richmond, Ind.

Newberry Library, Chicago, 111.

Newton Free Library, Newton, Mass.

New York State Library, Albany, N. Y.

Peabody Institute, Baltimore, Md.

Philadelphia Library, Philadelphia, Pa.

Public Library, Boston, Mass.

Public Library, Buffalo, N. Y.

Public Library, Cambridge, Mass.

Public Library, Painesville, Ohio.

Public Library, Chicago, 111.

Public Library, Cincinnati, O.

Public Library, Detroit, Mich.

Public Library, Evanston, 111.

Public Library, Indianapolis, Ind.

1 4 yonrnal of American Folk-Lore.

Public Library, Kansas City, Mo.

Public Library, Los Angeles, Cal.

Public Library, Maiden, Mass.

Public Library, Milwaukee, Wis.

Public Library, New London, Conn.

Public Library, New York, N. Y.

Public Library, Peoria, 111.

Public Library, Portland, Me.

Public Library, Providence, R. I.

Public Library, Rockford, 111.

Public Library, St. Louis, Mo.

Public Library, St. Paul, Minn.

Public Library, Seattle, Wash.

Public Library, Toronto, Ont.

Public Library, Omaha, Neb.

Reynolds Library, Rochester, N. Y.

State Historical Library, Madison, Wis.

State Historical Society Library, St. Paul, Minn.

State Library, Harrisburgh, Pa.

State Normal School, Greeley, Colo.

University of Nebraska Library, Lincoln, Neb.

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.

Watkinson Library, Frank B. Gay, Hartford, Conn.

Women's Anthropological Society, Washington, D. C.

LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THE PUBLICATION FUND, 1900.

Mrs. Mary M. Barclay, Milwaukee, Wis. Walter Learned, New London, Conn.

Boston Athenaeum, Boston, Mass. Albert Matthews, Boston, Mass.

Charles P. Bowditch, Boston, Mass. Public Library of New London, New Lon-

Philip Greeley Brown, Portland, Me. don, Conn.

John Caldwell, Edgewood Park, Pa. T. Mitchell Prudden, New York, N. Y.

Clarence H. Clark, Philadelphia, Pa. F. W. Putnam, Cambridge, Mass.

William G. Davies, New York, N. Y. W. L. Richardson, Boston, Mass.

Charles F. Daymond, New York, N. Y. Charles Schaffer, Philadelphia, Pa.

George E. Dimock, Elizabeth, N. Y. C. Bernard Shea, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Miss Amelia B. Hollenback, Brooklyn, N. Y. Brandreth Symonds, New York, N. Y.

Miss Cornelia C. F. Horsford, Cambridge, C. H. Toy, Cambridge, Mass.

Mass. Samuel D. Warren, Boston, Mass.

Clarence M. Hyde, New York, N. Y. Henry J. Willing, Chicago, 111.

Miss Louise Kennedy, Concord, Mass. Mrs. Henry J. Willing, Chicago, 111.

ADDITIONAL SUBSCRIBERS.

Mrs. Lee Hoffman, Boston, Mass., $3.00. R. Hudson Riley, Brooklyn, N. Y., $5.00.
Benj. Lord, New York, N. Y., $3.00.

INDEX TO VOLUME XIII.

American Folk-Lore Society :

Eleventh Annual Meeting, 47 ; Report
of the Council, 47 ; Treasurer's Report,
49 ; papers presented, 50 ; officers, hon-
orary members, life members, annual
members, 309 ; libraries subscribing, 313 ;
subscribers to Publication Fund, 314.

Animal deities, Huichol, 305.

Animals, in folk-lore and myth :

Alligator, 284; bear, 19, 92, 147, 225,
267; beaver, 10, 16; bird, 252, 259;
blue jay, 97; buffalo, 161, 163, 170, 183,
186, 261, 265; butterfly, 276; cat, 229;
chickadee, 94 ; corn, 21, 26; cow, 28, 36;
crow, 31, 190; coyote, 166, 168, 189, 267 ;
dog, 98, 147, 182; duck, 165; eagle, 30,
162, 163; flea, 269; fox, 19, 24, 25, 164,
222, 269; frog, 25; golden bird, 231;
golden fish, 175, 291; grasshopper, 189.
herring, 37; horse, 295; lizard, 259;
mouse, 229; owl, 97; rabbit, 19-28;
raven, 14, 39; red-bird, 30; robin, 94;
skunk, 189; snake, 95, 185, 228; squir-
rel, 23 ; swallow, 38 ; terrapin, 28 ; toad,
39,40,41,212; turtle, 184, 189; wildcat,
15; wolf, 15, 21, 23, 179; wolverine, 15,
18.

Apparitions, 69.

Backus, E. M., An Ancient Game of Court-
ship from North Carolina, 104.

Backus, E. M., Folk-Tales from Georgia :
I. When Brer Rabbit get Brer Bear
churched, 19 ; II. When Brer Rabbit
was presidin' elder, 20 ; III. When Brer
Wolf have his corn shucking, 21 ; IV.
Brer Rabbit's carl an' swing, 22 ; V.
When Brer Fox don't fool Brer Rabbit,
24 ; VI. When Brer Fox give a big din-
ing, 25 ; VII. When sis Coon put down
Brer Bear, 26; VIII. How come the
Mooly cow don' have no horns, 27 ; IX.
When Mr. Pine-tree and Mr. Oak-tree
fall out, 29 ; X. How the little boy went
to heaven, 30; Editor's note, 32.

Ballads, 70.

Beauchamp, W. M., Iroquois Women :

Reputation of, division of labor be-
tween men and women, 81 ; dress, rank,
83 ; polygamy, marriage restrictions, S4 ;
prominence, 85 ; right of nominating
chiefs, 88 ; love of children, 89 ; various
customs, 90; youthful marriages, 91.
Beauchamp, W. M., Onondaga Tale of the
Pleiades :

Star-lore, 281 ; Pleiades as dancing
children, 282.
Beings, imaginary : ■

Buffalo woman, 1S6; demons, Japan-
ese, 223; devil, 279; fairies, Indian, 278 ;
fetish, African, 63; giant, 277, hairy
man, 11; river-monster, 179; Two- Faces,
184.
Books :

Boas, F. The mythology of the Bella
Coola Indians, W. W. Newell, 153; Con-
nelley, W. E., Wyandot folk-lore, 240;
Deeney, D., Peasant lore from Gaelic
Ireland, 236; Kruptadia: Die zeugung
in sitte der Siidslaven, L. Wiener, 75 ;
Popular Studies in mythology, romance,
and folk-lore, 238; Scherman, L., and
Krauss, F. S., Allegemeine methodik der
volkskunde, 76; Spencer, B., and Gillen,
F. J., The native tribes of Central Aus-
tralia, W. W. Newell, 72 ; Starr. I .,
Catalogue of objects illustrating the folk-
lore of Mexico, 77; Teit, J., The Thomp-
son Indians of British Columbia. W. W.
Newell, 156; Wiener, L., The history of
Yiddish literature in the nineteenth cen-
tury, W. W. Newell, 234, K01 h, T.. Zur
animismus der sudamerikanischen In-
dianer, A. F. Chamberlain, 302 ; Lum-
holtz, C, Symbolism of the Huichol In-
dians, A. F. Chamberlain, 304.

Ceremonies and customs :

Ablution, 2; adoption, 91; avertive,
9, 10; baptismal, 2; betrothal,
consecration, 70; divination, 5, . . 1 .
251, 255, 273, 275; eating, So. 90;
ing, 7 ; funeral, 3, 303 ; marri.<.
85, 91, 218; naming, 91; prayer, 3, 5;

316

Index.

purification, 8 ; sacrificial, 61, 89, 255,
271,276; taboo, 146; thanksgiving, 261.

Chamberlain, A. F., Some Items of Algon-
kian F"olk-Lore :

Suspension of human beings as sacri-
fice to war-god, blackening face in fasts,
planting trees upside-down on graves,
271; encomiums of bards in funeral
songs; prognostics derived from stars,
272 ; weather-signs, water-nymphs, 273 ;
worms in teeth, star-names, signs from
affections of parts of the body, 274 ;
diminutive elves, water-men, immolation
of victims, Milky Way as path of the
dead, 275 ; celibacy, whiteness as sign of
day, giants, genii, 276; sleep-butterflies,
degradation of names of gods, 277.

Chamberlain, A. F., In Memoriam :

Frank Hamilton Cushing, 129; Walter
James Hoffman, 44.

Chamberlain, A. F., and I. C, Record of
American Folk-Lore :

North America: Algonkian, 51, 135,
213, 283; Athabascan, 135, 215; Cad-
doan, 51 ; Chinantecan, 283 ; Eskimo,
135; Haida, 51, 135; Iroquoian, 136,
216, 283; Juavan, 284; Keresan, 216;
Kulanapan, 216; Mixtec-Zapotecan, 218,
284; Otomi, 285; Pueblos, 52, 138; Pu-
junan, 217 ; Salishan, 54, 217, 285; Siou-
an, 217, 286; Totonacan, 287; Uto-Azte-
can, 54, 217, 287; Central America:
Costa Rica, 219 ; Mayan, 55, 140, 219;
South America: Araucanian, 55, 141;
Brazil, 57 ; Catuquinarii, 58 ; Guaicuru,
141; Guarano, 58; Patagonia, 58, 142;
Peru, 58; General, 58, 142, 220, 289.

Chamberlain, I. C, The Devil's Grand-
mother :

Devil's dam in Shakespeare, German
proverbs relating to, 278 ; folk-sayings
concerning, 279.

Charms, 8, 61.

Color symbolism, 10.

Costume, 90.

Dances, 136, 164, 301.

Dishes, local, 65.

Dixon, R. B., Some Coyote Stories from

the Maidu Indians of California :

The Coyote and the Grizzly Bears,

267 ; Coyote and the Fleas, 268 ; Coyote

and the Gray Fox, 269 ; How the Coyote

married his daughter, 270.
Dreams, 303.

Edwards, C. L., Animal Myths and their
Origin :

Embryonic stages of man preserved in
childhood, 23 ! theories of spontaneous
generation, 34; belief in animal trans-
formations, 36 ; ancient zoological myths,
survival of, yj ; swallow, crow, toad in
folk-lore, 38 ; myths originating in er-
roneous induction, 41.

Farrington, O. C, The Worship and Folk-
Lore of Meteorites :

Universality of worship, 199 ; Kaaba,
cases of Greek and Roman worship, 200 ;
instances from the Old World, 202 ; from
New World, 204 ; folk-lore of meteorites,
205 ; interest depends on observation of
fall, 207.

Figures and symbols, 214, 215.

Fletcher, A. C, Giving Thanks : a Pawnee
Ceremony:

Ritual nakedness, sacred buffalo skull,
sacred bundle, 261 ; corn mush as offer-
ing, ritual smoking of tobacco, 262 ;
prayer to skull, return of sacrificial gifts,
263; thanksgiving, offering, and eating
of mush, address of priest, 264 ; trans-
mitted knowledge of herbs and ritual,
meaning of name Ta-ra-wa, fees sign of
thankfulness, 265.

Folk-Lore Scrap-Book, see Readings.

Games, 162, 300.

Hagar, S., The Celestial Bear:

Observation of stars, 92 ; Micmac leg-
end of Great Bear, 93 ; interpretation of
legend, 95 ; parallels, 97 ; Iroquois leg-
end identical, 98 ; explanations of cor-
respondences, 100; difficulties of hypo-
thesis of independent origins, 102.

Hazen, H. A., The Origin and Value of
Weather-Lore :

Ancient character of lore, 191 ; worth-
less sayings, 192 ; belief in lunar influ-
ence, 193; forecasts from behavior of
animals, 194; signs from optical phe-
nomena, 197; editor's note, 198.

Indian Tribes :
Abenaki, 124.
Algonkian, 272.
Algonquin, 123.
Athabascan, 11.
Arapaho, 50, 161, 183.
Cheyenne, 161.

Index.

317

Dakota, 44.
Huichol, 305.
Huron, 84, 91.
Iroquois, 82, 123.
Loucheux, 11.
Maidu, 267.
Micmac, 50, 93, 166.
Menomoni, 45.
Mohawk, 123.
Ojibwa, 45.
Omaha, 176.
Onondaga, 50, 84.
Pa-Uta, 45.
Pawnee, 261.
Pueblos, 225.
Salish, 45.
Seneca, 86.
Shoshoni, 45.
Slavey, 16.

South American, 302.
Wyandot, 260.
Yaqui, 64.
Zuni, 130, 132.
See also Record of American Folk-Lore.

Kroeber, A. L., Cheyenne Tales:

Divination respecting life of man, buf-
falo why eaten, 161 ; why war among ani-
mals, 162 ; how buffalo called out from a
spring, why eagle-feathers used as orna-
ments, 163 ; fox-company, dispute of Sun
and Moon, earth supported by post
gnawed by beaver, 164 ; stories of Coyote
and White-Man, 164; of orphan boy,
170; young man and helpful buffalo,
177 ; young men who journey to land of
buffalo, 179; woman who bears pups,
181 ; origin of Pleiades, 182 ; Two-Faces,
water-turtle, 184; snake-lover, 185 ; ghost-
lover, star-maid, buffalo wife, 186 ; woman
and child turned to stone, woman mar-
ried to tree, 187 ; Sun as savior, gray
wolf as blesser, why bears tailless, 188;
turtle escapes by trick, Coyote and tur-
tle, 189; crow as deceiver, 190.

Journals, 79, 158, 307.

Local Meetings and Other Notices :

Boston, 149; Cambridge, 150; Cin-
cinnati, 70, 151 ; Congres International,
301 ; Tennessee, 232 ; Brinton Memorial
Chair, 151.

Magic and Witchcraft, 7, 64, 67, 209, 210,
226, 299.

Medicine, popular, 66, 78.

Mooney, J., The Cherokee River Cult :
Cherokee worship of river as the Long
Man, 1 ; ceremonial rites in connection
with the running stream, presentation of
new-born child to river, immersion of
youths, 2 ; color symbolism, soul of de-
parted draws after it the living, 3 ; prayer
to the sun for long life, 4 ; omens drawn
from the water, 5 ; use of colored beads
in divination, imprecatory ceremony, 6 ;
repetitive character of rite, 7 ; formula of
purification, 8 ; against calamity presaged
by dream, 9; diversion of foreshadowed
evil, 10.

Music, 59, 106, 108, 143.

Nature, Phenomena of :

Earth, 164, fire, 1, 29S, 305; heavens,
5, 69; lightning, 305; meteorites, 199;
moon, 164, 259; rainbow, 251 ; river, r,
62; sky, 277; star, 92, 147, 282; stone,
274; sun, 3, 53, 164, 260, 305; twilight,
260 ; water, 1, 305 ; wells, 1 ; world, 54.

Newell, W. W., Early American Ballads,
II.:

Isaac Orcutt, 105; music of, 106;
Springfield mountain, 107; music of,
108; possible source of ballads in dirges,
112; migration of ballads, 114; survival
of ancient ballads in America, 114; Lord
Randal, 115; Lamkin, 117; the wife of
Usher's Well, 119; the Elfin Knight,
120.

Notes and Queries :

Cure for an aching tooth, L. II. C.
Packwood, 66 ; Sol Lockheart's call, R.
Steiner, 67 ; taboos of tale-telling, A. F.
Chamberlain, 146; the bear in Hellenic
astral mythology, W. W. Newell, 1 \J :
the celestial bear, 225; why the poplar
Stirs, superstition of miners in Michi-
gan, II. K. Kidder. 226; lira/ul K
son possessed of two spirits, K. Steiner,
226; an old English nursery
the twelve days of Christmas; a nui
song, P. M. Cole, 2:0; the Golden Bird,
F. D. Bergen, 231 ; Dakota legend of
the head of gold, T. Wilson, 201 ; death
signs and weather signs from Newfound-
land and Labrador, A. F. Wagh
297 ; the game of the child-stealing witch,
W. W. Newell, 299.

Oracles, 61.
Ornaments, 163.

I.

Index.

Paraphernalia of Worship :

Amulets, 61 ; beads, 6; bowls, 264
buffalo skull, 262 ; doll, 64 ; hearth, 262
masks, 77; meteorites, 199; pipes, 262
prayer-sticks, 216; tree-trunk, 61.

Plants, in folk-lore and myth :

Corn, 163; cottonwood, 187 ; echium
vulgare, 6; oak, 29; pine, 17, 29, 67;
persimmon, 67; poplar, 226; willow, 166;
tobacco, 60, 262.

Polygamy, 84.

Prince, J. Dyneley, Some Forgotten Place-
Names in the Adirondacks :

Derivation of the name Adirondacks,
123; of Saranac, 124; Abenaki name for
Racquette Lake, Tupper Lake, 125;
Long Lake, 126; Forked Lake, Mount
Marcy, St. Regis Reserve, Indian name
of Bog Lake, Round Lake, 127 ; Lake
Clear, Black Lake, 128.

Rae, John, Laiekawai : a Legend of the
Hawaiian Islands :

Introductory note, 241 ; antiquity of
Hawaiian legend, memory of bards, 243 ;
tales are long narrations with elaborate
plots, 244; nakedness of islanders no
mark of savagery, 245 ; tale, 247 ; ex-
posure of female children, 248 ; geologi-
cal character of Hawaiian caverns, 249 ,
rainbows attendant on chiefs, 251 ; Ha-
waiian admiration of beauty, 252 ; persons
of main actors as stake in a game, 253 ;
boxing-match, 254; second-sight, 255;
goddess of the mountain, 256; chiefs of
divine extraction, 257 ; sisters as sup-
porters of their brother, song of sisters,
258 ; continuation of tale, familiar ani-
mal demons, forms of marriage contract,
259; hero as sun-god, his degradation,
heroine worshipped as deity of twilight,
260.

Readings :

Ashanti fetishes and oracles, 61 ; Yaqui
witchcraft, 64 ; traditionary American
local dishes, 65 ; fox possession in Japan,
222 ; garments of the dead, love charms
at wishing-wells, fairies as fishes, 291 ;
some homely viands, 292.

Record of American Folk-Lore, see Cham-
berlain. A. F.

Russell, F., Athabascan Myths :

Loucheux tribe : I. Little Hairy Man,
11; II. The Raven, 14; III. The Wolf
and Wolverine, 15; Slavey tribe; IV.
The Great Beaver, 16; V. Origin of the
pine, 1 7 ; VI. Why the wolverine be-
came a thief, 18.

Signs :

Death, 297 ; weather, 297.
Slavery, 83.
Spirits, 146, 226.

Transformation, 14, 224.
Tribes, Indian:

Abenaki, 124.

Algonkian, 271.

Algonquin, 123.

Arapaho, 50, 165.

Athabascan, 11.

Cheyenne, 161.

Dakota, 44.

Huron, 84, 91.

Iroquois, 82, 123.

Loucheux, 11.

Maidu, 267.

Menomoni, 45.

Micmac, 50, 93, 166.

Mohawk, 123.

Ojibwa, 45.

Omaha, 176.

Onondaga, 50, 84.

Pawnee, 261.

Pa-Uta, 45.

Pueblos, 225.

Selish, 45.

Seneca, 86.

Shoshoni, 45.

Slavey; 16.

Wyandot, 240.

Yaqui, 64.

Zuni, 130, 132.
See also Record of American Folk-Lore

Visions, 67.

Weather, 191.

Wiltse, H. M., In the Southern Field of

Folk-Lore :

A bewitched gun, 209; a bewitched

churning, 210 ; the mysterious deer, 211 ;

a hoodoo charm, 212.
Woman, position of, 81, 85, 242.

DEC o

GR The Journal of American

1 folk-lore

J6

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