Full text of "Man"
ttgfc
€
MAN
A MONTHLY RECORD OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCE.
PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE
ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE
OF
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
IX.
1009.
Nos. 1—1 1 3.
WITH PLATES A-M.
PUBLISHED BY THE
ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE,
50, GREAT RUSSELL STREET, LONDON, W.C.
v.^-io
OOIsTTEISTTB.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Nd.
Africa, Central: Archaeology. Obsidian Implements in Central Africa. (Illustrated.)
H. W. SETON-KARR 89
Africa : Congo. On a Carved Wooden Cup from the Ba-Kuba, Kasai District, Congo Free
State. {With Plate A: and Illustration.) T. A. JOYCE, M.A. ... 1
Africa, East. Brief Notes on the Bakene. Rev. J. ROSCOE 70
Africa, East. A Note on the Graves of the Wa-Nyika. (With Plate K.) A. C. HOLLIS ... 85
Africa, East. Kikuyu Calendar. Hon. K. R. DUNDAS 19
Africa, East. The Kikuyu Medicine Man. J. W. W. CRAWFORD, M.D. 30
Africa, East. Some Dorobo Beliefs. (With Plate M.) 101
Africa, East : Archaeology. Prehistoric Implements from Somaliland. H. W. SETON-KARB 106
Africa, East : CraniolOgy. Report on Three Skulls of A-Kamba Natives, British East
Africa. W. L. H. DUCKWORTH, M.D., Sc.D. 69
Africa : Rhodesia. A Brief Note on Two Crania and some Long Bones from Ancient Ruins
in Rhodesia. (Illustrated.') F. C. SHRUBSALL, M.D 41
Africa: Uganda. Python Worship in Uganda. Rev. J. ROSCOE 57
Africa, West. Steatite Figures from Sierra Leone. (With Plate E. and Illustrations.)
T. A. JOYCE, M.A 40
Africa. See also EGYPT.
America, North- West. On the Language of the Ten'a (iii). Rev. J. JETTE, S.J 12
Anthropology. Anthropology and the Empire : Deputation to Mr. Asquith ... ... ... 55
Archaeology. The Pigmy Implements. W. J. LEWIS ABBOTT, F.G.S 103
Archaeology: Eoliths. The Eolithic Problem. W. J. LEWIS ABBOTT, F.G.S. 88
Archaeology. See also AFRICA, CENTRAL ; AFRICA, BAST ; CEYLON ; ENGLAND ; EGYPT ;
INDIA ; IRELAND.
Asia. See BURMA ; CEYLON ; INDIA ; NICOBAR ; PERSIA.
Australia. Australian Huts and Shelters. (With Plate D.) WALTER E. ROTH 27
Australia. Beliefs and Customs of the Australian Aborigines. Prof. J. G. FRAZER ... ... 86
Australia: Totemism. Mr. Gason and Dieri Totemism. A.LANG 29
Burma. Cheating Death. R. GRANT BROWN 13
Ceylon : Archaeology. Early Defensive Works, Ceylon. J. B. ANDREWS 104
Ceylon : Religion. Note on the Bandar Cult of the Kandyan Sinhalese. * C. G. SELIGMANN,
M.D 77
Egypt. The Porridge Stirrer as an Egyptian Hieroglyph. (Illustrated.) AYLWARD M.
BLACKMAN, B.A. ' 96
Egypt: Archaeology. String Nets of the XVII Dynasty. (With Plate I-J.) W. M.
FLINDERS PETRIE, F.R.S 76
Egypt. See also FOLKLORE.
England: Archaeology. Dewlish "Eoliths" and ElepJias meridionalis. (With Plate H.)
WORTHINGTON G. SMITH, F.L.S 68
England : Archaeology. Excavation of a Barrow on Chapel Cam Brea, Cornwall. (Illus-
trated.) H. KING and the late B. C. POLKINGHORNE, B.Sc., F.G.S 87
England : Archaeology. Notes on a Late Celtic Rubbish-Heap, near Oare, Wilts. (Illus-
trated.) Mrs. M. E. CUNNINGTON 11
England : Archaeology. Palaeolithic Implement found near the British Museum. (Illus-
trated.) WORTHINGTON G. SMITH, F.L.S. 56
England : Archaeology. Remarkable Arrowheads and Diminutive Bronze Implement.
(Illustrated.) Kev. H. G. O. KENDALL, M.A 21
England: Archaeology. On a Remarkable Feature in the Entrenchments of Knap Hill
Camp, Wilts. (Illustrated.) Mrs. M. E. CUNNINGTON 28
England: Physical Anthropology. The Stature and Cephalic Index of the Prehistoric
Men whose Remains are preserved in the Mortimer Museum, Driffield. J. R. MORTIMER ... 17
England : Pigmentation. Notes on the Hair and Eye Colour of 591 Children of School Age
in Surrey. BARBARA FREIRE-MARRECO ... ... ... 63
Europe. See ENGLAND ; IRELAND.
Fiji. Two Fijian Games. A. M. HOCART 108
Folklore. The Fox as a Birth Amulet. (Illustrated.) AYLWARD M. BLACKMAN, B.A.
IV
No.
India: Archaeology. Some recent Indian Palaeolithic Implements. (Illustrated.) H. W.
SETON-KARR 79
India. See also BURMA ; CEYLON ; NICOBAR.
Ireland : Archaeology. Ancient Remains on the Rock of Cashel. A. L. LEWIS 107
Ireland: Archaeology. The Older Series of Irish Flint Implements. (With Plate F. and
Illustrations.) NINA F. LAYARD, F.L.S 54
Linguistics. See AMERICA.
Melanesia. Banks Islands Pudding-Knives. (Illustrated.) J. EDGE-PARTINGTON 105
New Guinea. A Type of Canoe Ornament with Magical Significance from S.E. British New
Guinea. (With Plate C.) C. G. SELIGMANN, M.D 16
New Zealand. Maori Burial Chests. (Illustrated.) J. EDGE-PARTINGTON 18
New Zealand. Maori Forgeries. J. EDGE-PARTINGTON ... 31
NiCQbar. Possible Traces of Exogamous Divisions in the Nicobar Islands. B. F.-M. ... ... 42
Obituary. DanielJohn Cunningham. (\VithPlateG.) Prof. ARTHUR THOMSON 62
Obituary. Otis Tufton Mason. (With Plate B.) A. C. H ADDON, Sc.D., F.R.S., and DAVID
I. BUSHNELL, Junr 10
Obituary. See also 9, 61, 75, 84, 100.
Pacific. See. FIJI ; MELANESIA; NEW GUINEA; NEW ZEALAND.
Persia. Notes on Musical Instruments in Khorasan, with special reference to the Gypsies.
( With Plate L. and Illustrations.) Major P. MOLESWORTH SYKES, C.M.G. ... ... 94
Persia. Notes on Tattooing in Persia. Major P. MOLESWORTH SYKES, C.M.G. 102
Physical Anthropology : Method. A Portable Stature Meter. (Illustrated.) J. GRAY,
B.Sc 90
Physical Anthropology. See also AFRICA ; ENGLAND.
Religion. See AFRICA ; AUSTRALIA ; CEYLON.
Sociology: Exogamy. Exogamy. A. LANG 78
Sociology. See also NICOBAR ; TABU ; TOTEMISM.
Tabu. The Incest Tabu. W. G. ASTON, C.M.G ... 95
Technology. Netting without a Knot. (Illustrated) A. VAN GENNEP 20
Totemlsm. Linked Totems. A. LANG 2
Totemism. Linked Totems in British New Guinea. C. G. SELIGMANN, M.D 3
Totemism. See also AUSTRALIA.
REVIEWS.
Africa: Congo. Johnston. George Grenfell and the Congo. RALPH DURAND 5
Africa: Congo. Starr. A Bibliography of Congo Languages. T. A. J 38
Africa: Congo. Van Overbergh. Les Basonge. T. A. J. 22
Africa, East. Hollis. The Nandi. A. WERNER 71
Africa, East. Weule. Native Life in East Africa. H. S. H 97
Africa, East. Weule. Wisxensehaftliche Ergelnisse meiner ethnographischen Forschungsreise
in den Siidosten Deutsch-Ostafrihas. A. WERNER ... 80
Africa, South. Heale. History and -Ethnography of Africa South of the Zanibesi. T. A. J. 110
Africa, South. Tongue. Bushman Paintings. T. A. J 98
Africa, South. The South African Natives. RALPH DURAND 50
Africa : Uganda. Hattersley. The Bagand,a at Home. R. W. F. 58
Africa. See. also MADAGASCAR ; TENERIFFE.
America: Mexico. Stare. In Unknown Mexico. A. P. M. ... ... ... 91
America, South. Cherwin. Anthropologie Bolivienne. A. C. H. 72
America, South. Oates. Alfarerias del Noroeste Argentina. OSWALD H. EVANS, F.G.S. ... 48
America, South. Spence : Wallace. Notes of a Botanist on the Amazon and Andes. OSWALD
H. EVANS 74
Anthropology. British Museum. Guide to the Specimens illustrating the Races of Mankind.
H. S. H 33
Anthropometry. Ernst. Das Schulkind in seiner Ttorperlichen und geistigen Entwicklung.
J. GRAY 109
Archaeology. See AMERICA ; CEYLON ; ENGLAND ; FRANCE ; THUHINGIA.
Asia. See BORNEO ; CEYLON ; INDIA.
Australia, Central. Strehlow. Die Aranda und Loritja-Stamme in Zentral-Australien.
A.LANG 14,23
Australia : Linguistics. Planert. Australische Forschtingen. S.H.RAY 43
Ho.
Australasia. Guillemard : Keane. Australasia: Malaysia and the Pelagic Archipelagoes.
E. A. PARKYN ' ... 44
Austria. Prizzi. EinBeitrag zur Anthropologie dot " Homo Alpinus Tirolensix." J. BEDDOE,
M.D., F.R.S '. 59
Borneo : Languages. Beech. The Tidong Dialects of Borneo. S. H. R 93
CerebrolOgy. Retzius. Dag Affenhirn in Bildlicher Darstellung. W. W 7
Ceylon : Stone Age. Sarasin. Ergebnisse Naturwissenshaftlichter For seining en auf Ceylon.
C. G. SELIGMANN 49
Classics. Evans and others. Anthropology and the Classics. 0. M. D 67
Culture. Frobenius. The Childhood of Man. BARBARA FREIRE-MARRECO 73
England: ArehSBOlOgy. Allcroft. Earthwork of England. A. G. CHATER 25
England : Archaeology. Gray. Report on the Excavations at Wick Barrow, Stogursey,
SomertetthAre. R. A. S. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 24
Ethics. Westermarek. The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas. R. R. MARETT, M:A. 64
Ethnology. Matsumura. A Gazetteer of Ethnology. T. A. J 47
Europe. See AUSTRIA ; ENGLAND; FRANCE; RUSSIA; SCOTLAND; THURINGIA ; UNITED
KINGDOM.
Fiji. Thomson. Tlte Fijians. A. H. Q. 36
Folk-Lore. Johnson. Folk Memory. R. A. S 46
France : Archaeology. Congress. Congres prehistorique de France. A.C.BRETON ... 92
India, North- West. Pennell. Among the Wild Tribes of tlie Afghan Frontier. M. LONG-
WORTH DAMES. 52
Ireland. See UNITED KINGDOM.
Linguistics. See AFRICA ; AUSTRALIA ; BORNEO ; NEW GUINEA.
Madagascar: Magic. Ferrand Textes M/igiques Malgaches. S. H. RAY, M.A 66
Magic. Thompson. Semitic Magic. W. L. H. 32
Magic. See also MADAGASCAR.
New Guinea : Languages. Meyer. Die Papuasprache in Niederlandiwh-^'euguinea.
S.H.RAY ... ••• ... ' 45
Pacific. See FIJI ; NEW GUINEA.
Physical Anthropology. See AMERICA; ANTHROPOLOGY; ANTHROPOMETRY: AUSTRIA;
CEREBROLOGY ; RUSSIA ; SCOTLAND : TENERIFFE.
Prehistory. Hewitt. Primitive Traditional History. W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE, D.C.L.,
F.R.S 60
Religion. Abrahams arid others. Religions Ancient and Modern. A. H. KEANE, LL.D. ... 6
Religion. Hall. The Inward Light. Sir R. C. TEMPLE 35
Religion. Marett. The Threshold of Religion. A. E. CBAWLEY 81
Religions. Van Gennep. Religions, Moeurs et Legendes. M. LONGWORTH DAMES ... ... 65
Religion. See also ETHICS ; MADAGASCAR ; MAGIC ; SUPERSTITION.
Russia : Anthropometry. Tarnowsky. Les Femmes homicides. F. S. ... 51
Scotland: Pigmentation. Tocher. Pigmentation Survey of School- Children in Scotland.
G. U. Y 15
Scotland. See also UNITED KINGDOM.
Superstition. Frazer. Psyche's Task. B. FREIRE-MARRECO 83
Teneriffe : CraniolOgy. Von Behr. Metrische Studien. an 152 Guanchenschiideln. F. S. ... 39
Thurlngia : ArchSBOlOgy. Goetze and others. Die vor- und Friihgtschichtlichen Altertiiiner
Thuringens. J. A. ... ... ... ... 82
Totemism. Van Gennep. Totemisme et Methode comparative. A.LANG ... 34
Trade. Roth. Trading in Early Days. W. CROOKE • 37
United Kingdom : Arch830lOgy. Smith. The Stone Ages in Xortk Britain and Ireland.
Prof. B. C. A. WINDLE, F.R.S Ill
Voyages. Nicoll. Three Voyages of a Naturalist. J. E.-P. ... ... ... 8
PROCEEDINGS.
Anthropology at the British Association 99, 112
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES.
See Nos. 9, 26, 53, 61, 75, 84, 100, 113.
VI
ERRATA.
No. 23. The reference in the title should be to MAN, 1909, 14, not 1908.
No. 92, page 156, line 12, for history read industry.
See aho page 48.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
A. Carved Wooden Cup from the Bakuha With No. 1
B. Otis Tufton Mason „ 10
C. Canoe Ornaments from S.E. British New Guinea ... ... ... ... ... .. 16
D. Australian Huts and Shelters ... ... ... ... ... ,. 27
E. Steatite Figures from Sierra Leone .. 40
F. Worked Flints from Raised Beach, Larne ... ... ... ... ... ., 54
G. Daniel John Cunningham ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... „ 62
H. Dewlish " Eoliths " „ 68
i-j. String Nets of the XVII Dynasty 76
K. Graves of the Wa-Nyika ... ... ... ... ... ... ... „ 85
L. Musical Instruments in Khorasan ... ... ... ... „ 94
M. Some Dorobo Beliefs .. ... ... „ 101
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT.
N.B. — All are PhotograpJu, unless otherwise ttated.
Carved Wooden Cup from the Bakuba With No. 1
Figs. 1-4. The Fox as a Birth Amulet. (Fig. 1, Drawing.) „ 4
Figs. 1-6. Pottery from Late Celtic Rubbish- Heap at Oare. (Drawings.) ... ... „ 11
Maori Burial Chests ... ... ... ... ... ... ... „ 18
Netting without a Knot ... ... ... ... „ 20
Figs. 1-3. Remarkable Arrowheads and Diminutive Bronze Implement. (Drawings.) ... „ 21
Plan of Knap Hill Camp. (Drawing.) ... ... ... ... „ 28
Fig. 1. Steatite Figures from Sierra Leone. Sketch of Stool. (Drawing.) „ 40
Skull from Old Mine. Skull from Chum Ruins ... ... ... „ 41
Fig. 1. Section of Raised Beach, Larne. (Drawing.) ... ... ... ... ... ., 54
Fig. 2. Implement of Palaeolithic type, Raised Beach, Larne. (Drawing.) ... ... „ 54
Palaeolithic Implement found near the British Museum. (Drawing.) ... ... ... ., 56
Fig. 1. Map of District (Surrey). (Drawing.) ... ... ... ... ... ... „ 63
Indian Palaeolithic Implements. (Drawing.') ... ... ... ... „ 79
Urn. Barrow on Chapel Carn Brea ... ... ... ,, 87
Obsidian Implements in Central Africa. (Drawing.) ... ... ... ... ... ., 89
A Portable Stature Meter „ 90
Figs. C. and D. Khorasan Musical Instruments ... ... ... ... ,. 94
Figs. 1-3. The Porridge Stirrer as an Egyptian Hieroglyph. (Drawings.) ... ... ,. 96
Banks Islands Pudding-Knives „ 105
Vll
LIST OF AUTHORS.
N.B. — The Numbers to which an asterisk is added are those of Reviews of Books.
A., J., 82*.
ABBOTT, W. J. L., 88, 103.
ANDREWS, J. B., 104.
ASTON, W. G., 95.
BEDDOE, J., 59*.
BLACKMAN, A. M., 4, 96.
BRETON, A. C., 92*.
BROWN, R. G., 13.
CHATER, A. G., 25*.
CRAWFORD, J. W. W., 30.
CRAWLET, A. E., 81*.
CROOKE, W., 37*.
CUNNINGTON, M. E., 11, 28.
D., 0. M., 67*.
DAMES, M. L., 52*, 65*.
DUCKWORTH, W. L. H., 69.
DUNDAS, K. R., 19.
DURAND, R., 5*, 50*.
EDGE-PARTINGTON, J., 8*, 18, 31, 105.
EVANS, O. H., 48*, 74*.
F., R. W., 58*.
FRAZER, J. G., 86.
GENNEP, A. VAN, 20.
GRAY, J., 90, 109*.
H., H. S., 33*, 97*.
H., W. L., 32*.
HADDON, A. C., 10, 72*.
HOCART, A. M., 108.
HOLLIS. A. C., 85, 101.
JETTE, J., 12.
JOYCE, T. A., 1, 22*, 38*, 40, 47*, 98*,
110*.
KARR, H. W. SETON, 79, 89, 106.
KEANE, A. H., 6*.
KENDALL, H. G. O., 21.
KING, H. C., 87.
LANG, A., 2, 14*, 23*, 29, 34*, 78.
LAYARD, N. F., 54.
LEWIS, A. L., 107.
M., A. P., 91*.
MARETT, R. R., 64*.
MARRECO, B. FREIRE-, 42, 63, 73*, 83.
MORTIMER, J. R., 17.
PARKYN, E. A., 44*.
PETRIE, W. M. F., 60*, 76.
POLKINGHORNE, B. C., 87.
Q., A. H., 36*.
RAY, S. H., 43*, 45*, 66*, 93*.
ROSCOE, J., 57, 70.
ROTH, W. E., 27.
S., F., 39*, 51*.
S., R. A., 24*, 46*.
SELIGMANN, C. G., 3, 16, 49*, 77.
SHRUBSALL, F. C., 41.
SMITH, W. G., 56, 68.
SYKES, P. M., 94, 102.
TEMPLE, R. C., 35*.
THOMSON, G. 62.
W., W., 7*.
WERNER, G., 71*, 80*.
Y., G. U., 15*.
PLATE A.
MAN, 1909.
CARVED WOODEN CUP FROM THE BAKUBA, KASAI DISTRICT.
CONGO FREE STATE.
(Restored and slightly enlarged.)
MAN
A MONTHLY RECORD OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCE,
N.B. — All communications printed in MAN are signed or initialled by their
authors, and the Council of the Institute desires it to be understood that in giving
publicity to them it accepts no responsibility for the opinions or statements expressed.
N.B. — MAN, 1909, consists of twelve monthly -published sheets, of sixteen pages
each, printed in single column; containing " Original Articles" and substantial
"Reviews" of recent publications ; all numbered consecutively 1, 2, 3, onwards.
N.B. — Articles published in MAN should be quoted by the year and the
reference-number of the article, not by the page-reference ; e.g., the article which
begins on p. 4 below should be quoted as MAN, 1909, 3.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Africa : Congo Art. With Plate A. Joyce.
On a Carved Wooden Cup from the BaKuba, Kasai District, I
Congo Free State. By T. A. Joyce, M.A.
A large ethnographical collection, comprising a great number of specimens of
unusual interest has already resulted from the labours of the expedition, under the
leadership of Mr. E. Torday, still in the Congo Free State. That part of the
collection which is illustrative of the art of the BaKuba people (or, as they should
more properly be called, Bushonge) is especially noteworthy, and of that series the
specimen figured herewith is one of the most remarkable. This wooden cup, unfortu-
nately somewhat damaged, was obtained in Misumba, a village of the BaNgongo
sub-tribe of BaKuba, from an old fetish man, who stated that it was of great age.
The cup is carved from solid, hard, dark wood ; it is vase-shaped with hemi-
spherical body, and stands on a circular foot ; it is furnished above the hemispherical
portion with a well-marked shoulder, above which is a curved lip, the curve approxi-
mating to a semi-circle ; the edge of the lip extends very slightly beyond the shoulder.
The cup is elaborately ornamented with patterns in relief as follows : — Four lizards, the
scales, indicated by lozenge diaper, are carved in high relief on the body of the vessel,
disposed at equal distances, their tails touching the stem, their hands reaching to within
a short distance of the shoulder ; the space between each pair of lizards is filled with
three series of continuous loop pattern on a ground of minute lozenge diaper ; along
the edge of the shoulder runs a band of zigzag and line pattern .divided into panels ; a
broader band of similar panels, alternating with panels of lozenge diaper, encircles
the concave portion of the lip ; vertically across this concave portion, and at four
intervals round the cup not quite equidistant, extend four weevils of the genus Brachy-
cerus, arranged so as to alternate with the lizards below, their heads pointing alternately
up and down. These are carved quite free of the lip, touching it only at two points
respectively a little below the rim and a little above the shoulder ; they are covered
with lozenge diaper. On the foot, directly below each, weevil, is carved a trapezoid panel
No. t]
MAN.
[1909.
in high relief, filled with lozenge diaper ; round the rim of the foot are four continuous
loops, separated by triple mouldings. The dimensions of the cup are as follows : —
height, 123 cm. ; diameter of lip, 117 cm. ; diameter of foot, 81 cm.
As said above, the owner of the cup asserted that it was of great age. Of course,
the statements of natives on this point are not trustworthy evidence, but the fact is
clear from a glance at the specimen ; in fact, in none of the other carvings obtained, even
those of which the ornament has nearly disappeared by wear, does the actual wood show
such evident traces of age. I think it may be concluded that the cup is a genuine
"antique" in the limited sense of antiquity which can be applied to objects from savage
Africa. Another point of interest lies in the fact that the carving of this cup evidences
a greater mastery of material than any other woodcarving obtained in what may be
termed the " provinces " of the BaKuba kingdom ; the shape is remarkably graceful
and symmetrical, and is
one proper rather to
pottery or metal than to
wood : the continuous
loop pattern is, on the
contrary, obviously de-
rived from textile art ;
while the trapezoid pro-
jections on the foot are
decidedly reminiscent of
jewel work. On the
whole the shape of the
vessel distinctly sug-
gests European influ-
ence,just as the ornamen t
of the body suggests the
art of Benin. But it
is impossible to find in
this neighbourhood even
the remotest traces of
direct European influ-
ence earlier than the
comparatively recent
date of Wissmann's vi-
sit. Of possible trans-
mitted influence at a
far earlier date I have
a trace in the volu-
minous notes collected by the expedition. This question will, I hope, be discussed
fully in the ultimate report of the expedition ; at the present time I can gire no more
than a few bald statements, omitting the evidence on which they are founded.
Culturally the BaKuba face the west ; from this quarter was introduced the game
mancala, tobacco, cloth-embroidery, &c., as early as the middle of the seventeenth
century ; this date can be fixed with almost absolute certainty. According to the native
account much was learnt from the BaPindi, a people whom we know to have been
directly or indirectly in contact with the Portuguese of the early seventeenth century ;
so it is impossible to deny that there is a possibility of some faint shadow of
Portuguese influence having been transmitted to the BaKuba. But it can have been
no more than the merest shadow.
[ 2 ]
1809.] MAN. [Nos. 1-2.
In considering the ornamentation of the cup in detail there is hardly a feature
which does not seem to belong to the indigenous local art, and there is, moreover, one
which appears to be peculiar to it ; I allude to the weevils round the edge. This insect,
often conventionalised almost beyond recognition, and nowhere else in so naturalistic
a form, occurs on more than 50 per cent, of the large series of carved boxes collected
by the expedition. The insect is evidently likened in the native imagination to a
human head with high bulging forehead, and it is called Mutu Jambi, the head of
God. In some of the conventionalised examples of this pattern, it is interesting to
note, features have been added to what is in reality the thorax of the insect, which
is supposed to represent the facial portion of the head. In conclusion, I will add
that the apparent discrepancy between the photograph and restoration with respect to
the position of the weevils relative to the curve of the lip arises from the fact that
these weevils are not disposed at regular intervals round the cup, and the restoration
and photograph show different aspects. The cup is now in the British Museum.
T. A. JOYCE.
Totemism. Lang".
Linked Totems. />'// -'• Lang. O
I am greatly indebted to Dr. Seligmann for his explanations (MAN, 1908, £
100). My difficulty was caused by his use of the word " clan," which I have only
known as applied to the clans of the Highlands, on one side, and, on the other,
erroneously, to totem kins. The paper of R. P. de Marzan has only added to my
perplexities, for he uses the words " tribe," " clan," and " family " as equivalents, and
applies them all to the same community, which also contains a " subdivision " with a
totem of its own.*
The remarks of Dr. Rivers on Fijian totemism (MAN, 1908, 75) are perfectly
lucid, if I rightly understand him as meaning " totem kin," or " totem claa " when he
writes " sept," — a term of very vague sense.
Fijian totemism, however, is remote in social characteristics from the unique
and most interesting variety discovered by Dr. Seligmaun in South-East British
Is'ew Guinea. There, if I understand him, society is organised on a hitherto unheard-of
model.
In Fiji, as I conceive Dr. Rivers to think possible, the totem of the tribe is
parallel to the African tribal Siboko, or sacred animal ; and is, as he suggests, the
original totem of the kin of the chief, imposed by him on the whole tribe. It has
no exogamous influence, and, as food, it is tabu to all members of the tribe. " The
smaller divisions which may possibly be the representatives of exogamous septs" (in
my terminology " totem kins "), " have also their special sacred animals." Thus every
member of the tribe has at least two tabu animals, the tribal (originally the chiefs)
and that of his own " smaller division " (originally his totem kin, but now no longer
exogamous). I do not understand that to each member of the tribe all the tabu
objects, of all the smaller divisions in the tribe, are equally tabu : in any case none
of these objects marks the exogamous limit. The Fijians have no totemic exogamy.
Meanwhile the causes of the " linking " of the tabu objects, or totems, are clearly
explained. Let it be added that the Fijians have male descent.
Very different is the state of society in South-East British New Guinea. Here,
as I gather from Dr. Seligmann's reply to me, the " clan " is the " unit," and
the clan is a local community, for it usually, though not invariably, has " a geo-
graphical name,'' not a totemic name, though some " clans " bear the name of one of
their totems. Descent is through females, and the " clan " is exogamous. " Every
* Antkroj)os, Vol. II. Part 3, p. 403.
[ 3 ]
Nos. 2-3.] MAN. [1909.
individual of a particular clan has the same linked totems," four in all, if the clan
has four.
As to the exogamy of the clan Dr. Seligmann writes, " There may also be a dual
" or multiple grouping of the clans, but I must ignore this here." Now the " clan,"
being exogamous and local, must marry out of its four totems, and therefore out of
its locality, like the Kurnai. With whom do its members intermarry ? Apparently
into one or more other " clans," possessing totems which are not its own totems. If
so, the intermarrying " clans," for purposes of marriage law, are phratries, whether
only two phratries in each case, as in Australia, or three or even more, as in some
American tribes.
Thus it is as if, in the Dieri tribe (exogamous, with female descent), the phratry
Kararu had but four totems, carpet snake, crow, kananguru seed, and bandicoot ;
while phratry Matteri had but four totems, cormorant, Markara fish, dingo, and
caterpillar ; and as if each member of either phratry belonged to all four totems of
that phratry. We must also suppose each phratry to be locally apart from the other,
as the New Guinea clans are local communities. This local separation of phratries
occurs in some North Central Australian tribes, as these have descent through males.
How it can occur in New Guinea, where each exogamous unit or " clan " reckons
descent through females, I am unable to conjecture.
I am anxious (as it has been laid on me to write an account of totemism for
a work of reference) to know whether I have correctly interpreted the statements
of Dr. Seligmann. It is obvious that as each " clan " may not marry into itself, and
into its own totems, it must marry into one or more other " clans," or exogamous
local communities ; and I presume that no man or woman may marry a person who-
owns even one of his or her " linked totems." The " clan " of South-East British
New Guinea is certainly very unlike any community that has hitherto been spoken of
as a " clan," and I suggest that we should call it by the native name for such a social
aggregate. A. LANG.
Totemism. Seligmann.
Linked Totems in British New Guinea. /;// ('. G. Seligmann, M.I). Q
It would be possible to reply to the particular points raised by Mr. Lang's V
note in sufficient detail to enable him to utilise my account for the " work of reference,"
but to do this would need so many lengthy explanations and reservations that it
seems that my best course is to send to MAN sufficient extracts from my worked-up
material to make clear the chief peculiarities of the totemism of South-East British
New Guinea. To this end I will describe the conditions I found at Wagawaga, a
Milne Bay community.
I must preface my remarks by stating that the dwellings of the communities of
this part of New Guinea are arranged in scattered groups (at Wagawaga they are
spread over a frontage of about 1,000 yards) which I call hamlets. The members of
each hamlet, excepting people who have married in or been adopted, are closely related
by blood, and are, in fact, a somewhat extended family group. Thus the householders
of each hamlet are, or should be, of one clan, but in the community there are many
hamlets belonging to each of its constituent clans, though each hamlet has its own
name and exercises a considerable degree of autonomy.
Omitting certain immigrant folk who are still looked upon more or less as
strangers, there are three clans in Wagawaga, the names of which are Garuboir
Modewa, and Hurana. Each of these has at least one bird totem, with, in each case,
a linked fish, snake, and plant totem, all of which are called pianai. The hamlets
and totems of each clan are as follows : —
[ 4 ]
1909.]
MAN.
[No. 3.
Clan.
Hamlets.
Bird.
Totems.
Fish.
Snake.
Plant.
f Kanabwahi
WltMiwhai (crow)
Ipl (skate).
Garuboi.
Okioki.
Suaiaro
and
Garuboi
•{ Kasaiauura
Bui (reef heron).
Wagawaga
t Wagawaga pupuna
Modewa
r Duria
Modewa
Yabarawa
Siai (Paradixea
raggiana)
and
Kurau.
Mota idai-
idaga.
Modau.
I Dobuapa
Kulokulo.
f Hehego
Wtkiwiki (a hawk).
Bahibahi.
Grt adi.
Daberima.
Hurana
Taradiu
Hurana (of Waga-
L waga)
Modewa.
Excluding the immigrants already alluded to, there is a dual grouping of the
Wagawaga clans into two clan-groups, as in the following scheme : —
CLAN. CLAN-GROUP.
Garuboi - Garuboi'.
Modewa |
Hurana j
This dual grouping of the clans regulated the terms by which each individual was
addressed, while formerly it determined who should take part in the cannibal feast
held to revenge a fellow villager killed by a hostile community. Further, until
recently it determined a particular form of exogamy, but with the extinction of war-
fare and cannibal feasts within the last few years the dual grouping has so fallen
into decay as to be largely ignored in the regulation of marriage, although totem
exogamy is still quite generally observed.*
No man or woman might contract marriage with a member of his or her own
clan-group, nor might any individual marry a member of his or her father's clan. Thus
Ipunesa, a man of Modewa clan, might not marry into either of the clans Modewa or
Hurana, since these composed his own clan-group. Nor might he marry into the clan-
group Garuboi (the other clan-group of the Wagawaga village-system), since this
contained but one clan, Garuboi, to which his father belonged. Hence, Ipunesa, in the
old days would have necessarily married out of his own village-system.t But, besides
the limitations above referred to, there was, and still is, the very real limitation imposed
by consanguinity. How far this extended was never clear, but it certainly seemed that
third cousins might not marry.
At the present day the clan-group restrictions above mentioned have broken down,
but it seems that marriage between individuals of the same clan never occurs while
* These clan-groups resemble phratries, in that a man may not marry a member of his own
clan-group and may marry a member of the other chin-group of his community if that clan-group be
not barred to him by its being the clan-group to which his father belongs. J tend to regard the
clan-groups as originally phratries, which, as the importance and avoidance of the father's totems
became marked, ceased in a very large number of instances to be inter-marrying groups, although
the old prohibition of marriage within the clan-group to which the individual belonged persisted.
t The communities of Milne Bay intermarry quite freely.
No. 3,] MAN. [1909.
the prohibition of marriage into the clan of an individual's father is still equally
observed, as are the rules of consanguinity.
It seemed that men were not usually considered to partake of any of the qualities
of their totem birds, fish, or snakes.
There are no totem shrines, and no one was supposed to have particular influence
over the birds or other animals which are his totems. There does not seem ever to have
been any ceremony which had for its purpose the increasing of the totem, nor was there
any tendency for a man to tame and keep his totem birds as pets ; in fact, it was said
that the keeping of pets was a recently-introduced habit learnt from Europeans.
It was clear that at Wagawaga a man showed more regard for his father's totem
than for his own ; that is to say, there was very much more ceremonial avoidance of his
father's totem than of his own. It was alleged that a man might kill and even eat his
own bird totem, though it seemed uncertain that he Avould eat it. In any case it may be
noted that the bird totems of Wagawaga are birds that are not commonly considered
good to eat, and that, even where this is not the case, the natives of South-Eastern New
Guinea are not keen hunters of birds except such as provide feathers for dancing
ornaments. It was said that a man would catch and eat his own totem fish, and there is
no doubt of the accuracy of this information. It was further stated that a man would
not hesitate to kill his totem snake if it lay across his track, or to destroy his totem
plant whenever it was convenient to do so.
On the other hand, it was clear that no Wagawaga man would eat or destroy his
father's' totem birds, or would even approach a fire at which they were cooking ;
further, if a man saw his father's totem bird being killed he would go away for a short
time or remonstrate with the killer, but he would not fight him nor quarrel with him,
and, with the exception of not touching the dead totem bird, he would show no special
regard for it. If in fishing his father's totem fish were caught the fisherman would ask
one of his companions to remove it from the net, but he would not suggest that it
should be returned to the water ; on the other hand, he would not touch or eat it. A
man respected his father's totem snake and would seek to avoid it ; he would certainly
not kill it.
The relation of a man to his father's totem plant was less clear ; it seemed that he
would generally avoid injuring it. A number of Modewa men whose fathers were of
Garuboi clan agreed that they would not injure their father's totem plant okioki when
met with when in the bush ; but they said that if it interfered with garden-making
they would destroy it. This partial avoidance of a father's totem plant did not, in the
case of okioki, extend to lying-in women, whose diet for some time after parturition
consists of a decoction of yams and okioki fruit or leaves. It was repeatedly and
independently asserted that every woman, no matter whether okioki were her own or
her father's totem, would eat this food during her puerperium. A man would not marry
a woman with the same totems as his father, and one informant stated that all women
of his father's totem were " half mother " to him. In the old days he would not sleep
with a woman of his father's totem, nor should he sit close to her when visiting the
girl-house (poluma) ; but in spite of this, and although in the old days no one would
marry a girl of his own totem, some of the bolder or more amorous men would sleep
with such girls. Nowadays this condition of things has changed and prenuptial
connection is not even slightly limited by the old clan rules, and, although this conduct
is not considered rigidly correct, no objection is ever raised ; certainly the non-observance
of this rule was considered too small an infringement of the clan laws to bring any
harm on the lovers or their kin. A man would eat his wife's totem fish as he
would his own, and the same rule applies to the wife's treatment of her husband's totem
fish ; it was said that a man would be no more and no less frightened of his wife's
totem snake than he would be of any other snake in which he had no special interest.
[ 6 ]
1909.] MAN. [No. 3.
No man would wear the feathers of his father's totem bird, although he would
riot hesitate to wear the feathers of his own totem bird. Indeed, these are his usual
ornaments, and there is a feeling that it is specially appropriate that a man should
wear the feathers of his totem bird, although he is not even theoretically limited to
their use. The most commonly worn feathers were those of the cockatoo ; with
these the much rarer feathers of white individuals of the reef heron (hot) were worn
when they could be obtained. During the toreha ceremonies the older men of the
community would wear round their heads two, three, or even four hornbill beaks.
A man would wear these beaks if his own totem were the hornbill, but on this, as on
other occasions, would avoid coming in contact with the bird or its feathers, if the
hornbill were his father's totem. Another instance of the avoidance of the feathers
of a father's totem bird occurs at the waiapa ceremony, when bird-of-paradise feathers
are worn by all who have not fathers with that bird as totem. Similarly a man whose
father's totem is the reef heron will avoid wearing the feathers of the rare white variety
of this bird ; while a man, whose father's totem is the cockatoo will not wear this bird's
feathers, but substitute feathers of white individuals of the reef heron when these can
be obtained. No information concerning the origin of bird, fish, or snake totems could
be obtained, but a rather trivial legend accounting for the origin of plant totems exists.
Totem birds, snakes, and fishes are commonly represented upon houses and canoe
prows, and upon lime spatulas and net floats, and, in fact, upon practically all the wooden
utensils and ornaments of the folk of South-Eastern New Guinea and the neighbouring
archipelagos. These carvings are, however, executed by any man who has the necessary
skill and art, and it is certain that no man is limited in his designs to the use of his
own totem or the totems of the man for whom he is carving. In many places, including
Milne Bay, certain totem animals have passed into art, and in this connection their
limitation to a particular group of people has been forgotten entirely. Thus, although
the dominant patterns of a district or village may be derived from an animal which is the
totem of only a few people in the village or district, and although it may be recognised
that the pattern really does represent the totem of a small group of people, it is
nevertheless used indifferently as a means of decorating the houses and utensils of folk
whose totem it is, and of those entirely unconnected with it.
In the vast majority of cases of cannibalism in the Massim district the eating
of human flesh was part of a ceremonial and solemn act of revenge which it was the
duty of each community to observe on behalf of its own members killed and eaten by
other communities with which it was at enmity.* The individual or individuals eaten
in revenge for a fellow villager who had been eaten by the folk of a hostile community
were called niaia or maiha ; and the clan organisation of the community profoundly
affected this cannibalism as is shown by the following summary of an instance occurring
a few years ago.
It became known at Maiwara, a community at the head of Milne Bay, that a
Wagawaga canoe was about to visit Basilaki (Moresby Island), so three canoes put
off quietly at night and an ambush was formed behind an island called Seraumi, close
to which the Wagawaga canoe would pass. The ambush was successful, and the
Maiwara men drove the Wagawaga canoe ashore where the majority of its crew took
to the bush, leaving, however, two prisoners in the hands of the man of Maiwara,
namely, Keori a man of clan Garuboi, and Bonadiero, a girl of about ten belonging to
Modewa clan.f The captors tied up their prisoners and flung them into one of the
* In a smaller number of cases human flesh was undoubtedly eaten for the pleasure it afforded,
and complete strangers were commonly killed and eaten ; but there was, of course, no large or
constant supply of food of this kind.
t Keori was a man of Wagawaga hamlet : his father, who had as bird-totems siai, the bird of
paradise, and kulokulo, came from Bogohodu in the bush behind Discovery Bay.
[ 7 ]
No. 3,] MAN. [1909.
Maiwara canoes, which leisurely started home, taking care to pass Wagawaga on the
way. When opposite Wagawaga the Maiwara canoes approached to within some
,200 yards of the shore, the majority of their crew drumming, shouting, gesticulating,
and blowing conch shells. Then they halted and gave the dance bcsa or boriri used
on such occasions. Their captives were made to stand up and stripped naked, while
the girl's petticoat and the man's perineal band were waved in the air by the captors,
who yelled the names of the prisoners and detailed how they would be cooked and
eaten. Bonadiero cried and made repeated efforts to escape ; Keori appeared to those
on shore to be resigned. Wagawaga was wild with anger, but nothing could be done,
and when the Maiwara men had amused themselves enough, they paddled on to their
own village, where Keori was duly eaten after the usual preliminaries which I shall
describe when considering the death of the Maiwara man, who was afterwards killed
in revenge for him. The girl was not injured, but was adopted by one Taumaia, who
did not, however, keep her long, for shortly afterwards, at a big dance, some Rabi
guests kidnapped her and restored her to her own folk.*
At Wagawaga talk ran high and revenge was determined, but nothing was done
for some six weeks ; then canoes and weapons were prepared and the necessary feast,
ogatara or losuma, was held, without which no party could seek for maiha.
Near sundown the war party started, the men being fully armed and provided with
drums and conches, called himorgo, made of Cassis and Triton shells. They set out in
ten canoes, each of which was stated to hold from twenty to thirty men, and, paddling
quietly, they entered the Maiwara river, reaching the village about midnight. Landing
noiselessly they surrounded and rushed a clubhouse, from which, however, all the inmates
escaped with the exception of a man taken prisoner by one Rerenia. This man was
securely tied up and thrust into the canoe. To avoid a possible counter-attack the
attacking party took to their canoes and gained the mouth of the river as quickly as
possible, where they lingered till daylight, when with beating of drums and blowing of
conches they danced besa, replying with shouts and insults to the Maiwara men, who
from the safety of the shore were heartily abusing them. Then the canoes returned
triumphantly to Wagawaga, where their captive was pitched into the shallow water,
speared by as many men as could reach him, and dragged ashore. The greatest care
was taken not to kill the captive, for it was necessary that he should be more or
less severely wounded by the next-of-kin of the man for whom revenge was being
taken. In this instance Bakaiya, the brother of the dead man, who was not a
member of the war party, slashed him across the shoulder with a tomahawk. If Keori
had no brother his aue (maternal uncle) would have inflicted the wound, and if, as
rarely happened, he was mortally injured at this stage it was looked upon as a
regrettable mishap. As soon as the maiha was dragged to land the next-of-kin
of the man whose death was being revenged made a considerable present, called
gudu, to the victim's captor. In the instance narrated Bakaiya paid Rerenia one
ceremonial stone adze, one shell disc (sapisapi) necklace, three shell nose ornaments,
one boar's tusk, one pig, and one bagi. It seemed clear that Rerenia received these
things not because he had given the ogatara or led the attacking party, but because he
had himself taken a prisoner who would be maiha for Keori.
The victim was then dragged to the stone circle (gahand) of the clan which was
reserved for cannibal feasts. There he was enveloped in dry cocoanut leaves and
lashed to the tree (usually a cocoanut) which always stood in these gahana and
burnt.
After the burning the victim's captor made a return present to the next-of-kin
of the man for whom maiha was taken. Thus Rerenia gave Bakaiya a bagi.
* I am indebted to Mr. E. L. Giblin for pointing out that Taumaia is not strictly a personal
name but literally means payer or redeemer and is derived from tau, "man," and maia, "to pay."
[ 8 ]
1909,]
MAN.
[Nos. 3-4.
The aue of Keori who, as was customary, had helped Bakaiya to make up the gudu
received nothing from Rerenia. It has already been stated that a dual grouping of
the clans existed hy which Modewa and Hurana could not intermarry, but together
they formed the clan group which intermarried with Garuboi or with other clans outside
the Wagawaga community. When maiha was taken for a Wagawaga man, the dual
grouping was adhered to, but in the opposite sense, i.e., neither individuals of the
intermarrying clan-group nor those belonging to outside clans might take part in the
feast, which was strictly limited to the dead man's clan-group. The same limitation
applied to the right of entry into each clan's cannibal gahana. Hence the maiha taken
for Keori was eaten only by Garuboi men, had Keori been a member of either Modewa
or Hurana clan, Garuboi would have abstained from eating his maiha, but both these
clans together forming the clan group Modewa would have shared in the feast. It
follows that in no instance should the father or the paternal relatives of the dead man
for whom maiha was exacted, take part in the cannibal feast, and this was found to
be the case. On the other hand, a mother would eat her son's maiha, as would all
relatives on the maternal side. Further, no one would eat a man of his own killing or
a prisoner he had taken, though it was said that he might eat a man of his own or even
of his father's clan killed or captured by another individual. C. G. SELIGMANN.
FIG. 1.
Folklore. Blackman.
The Fox as a Birth-Amulet. By Aylward M. Blackman, B.A. 1
In the Zeitschrift fur Agyptische Sprache (December 1907, page 75)
Dr. Borchardt publishes an article on the sign [U ms, showing by two carefully worked
examples, the one of an early and the other (Fig. 1) of a late period,
that it is made up of the skins of three foxes. The skins in these
examples are complete and hang by the mouth to a handle of some
material such as leather (?). Among the paintings, on the insides of
the wooden coffins of the Middle Kingdom, depicting the outfit for
the dead, Dr. Borchardt finds in a few instances an object apparently
made up of the hides of foxes. Its name ms-t is written above it,
and in one case a small gloss by the side reads " A m6-[t] in his
right hand."
From these examples and instances in tomb-scenes in which fox
tails fastened in a handle are shown
carried in the hands of men and
women, Dr. Borchardt concludes that the sign (Tj ms is
& sort of fly-flap, the name of which is the feminine
word ms-t, producing the word-sign value ms. The
commonest use of this sign is for writing the verb ms'y,
*' to give birth to."
From October 1907 to April 1908, when acting as
assistant in the Archaeological Survey of Nubia, in the
course of the work between Shellal and Bab el-
Kalabsheh, I came across two instances of dead foxes
used as charms, which may, perhaps, throw another
light on the reason why the sign [fi was used as
a word- sign for ms'y, to bear.
The first example (Fig. 2) comes from Godi, a
small village some few miles south of Shellal and on
C 9 ]
FIG. 2.
No. 4.]
MAN.
[1909.
the east bank of the river. Over the door of the forecourt of the Omdah's house
was suspended an entire fox. During conversation with the Omdah on one occasion
I enquired why this animal was hung over his door, and he informed me it was a
charm. After telling him of
similar practices in England to
show I was not laughing at him,
I asked what were its special
virtues, and he replied that it
was an amulet that especially pro-
tected the women of the house-
hold, preventing miscarriages,
and helping them in labour.
In a small village not far
north of Bab el - Kalabsheh,
overlooking the little temple of
Tafeh, there was a house with
three foxes, lying at full length
with extended forelegs, on the flat roof above the door (Fig. 3).
On questioning the occupants I received an answer similar to that of the Omdah
of Godi.
It appears, therefore, from these two instances, that the modern Nubians use the
fox as an amulet for protecting women in pregnancy and child-birth.
It is a possibility that Fig. 1 was a birth amulet, its use as a fly-flap being
secondary, and receiving the name ms'-t owing to its similarity to, or rather identity
as regards materials with, the former.
I put this forward as a suggestion only. There are other cases of the survival of
old Egyptian usages in Nubia, such as the method of grinding corn (Fig. 4, and see
Befit Hassan /., Plate 12).
It may be noted that
the Old Kingdom form of
the determinative of msy, to
bear, later a woman giving
birth to a child whose head
and arms protrude (W), ]
«
where [H occurs in place of
the child, possibly a case of
the woman with the birth
amulet beside her to help her
in labour (??)
Butj as Dr. Borchardt
remarks in footnote 6 of his
article, this may be only a
combination of the words " to
bear," and the sign of a FIG. -1.
woman. For a similar example see Griffith, on f 3, "to carry," Ptahhetep I, p. 14.
It is perhaps worth referring to the fox- or jackal-headed spirits, the B;w Nhw,
which are represented in the birth-scene at Deir el-Bahari. (Naville, Deir el-Bahari, II,
PL 51.)
N.B. — The animal was named cJ^J by the Omdah of Godi.
AYLWARD M. BLACKMAN.
C 10 3
1909,] MAN. [No. 5.
REVIEWS.
Africa : Congo. Johnston.
George Grenfell and the Congo. By Sir Harry Johnston. London : Hut- C
chinson, 1908. Two Vols. Pp. xviii + 497 ; xx + 498-990. 24 x 16 cm. U
Price 30*.
Probably no European has ever had better opportunity of studying the Congo
peoples than the late George Grenfell. At one time and another he explored nearly
every one of the Congo's navigable tributaries, and his acquaintance with the Congo
territory, which lasted until his death in July, 1906, began at a time when the Congo
natives were so little influenced by Europeans that he was frequently asked to sell
his Kru servants for cannibalistic purposes, and has " all unavailingly stood by open
" graves and tried to prevent the living being buried with the dead." Although
Grenfell's journals, letters, and memoranda form the framework on which the book
is written, Sir Harry Johnston has used the opportunity to place on record much
information that he has derived from other sources. He has used the records of
the British Baptist Missionary Society, and has obtained information from the
Rev. Lawson Forfeitt, Mr. Emil Torday, and others, in order to elucidate, amplify,
and supplement the information gathered by Grenfell.
The result is a compilation of the most important data concerning the Congo
territory and its inhabitants. Nearly half the book — almost all the second volume,
in fact — is devoted to a mass, and a somewhat bewildering mass, of anthropological
matter, concerning a great variety of peoples of very different stages of culture, from
the nomadic pygmies to the greatly superior Hamiticised Manbettu. So great a
number of peoples come under review, peoples whose customs differ sufficiently to
render separate notice necessary, and yet are sufficiently similar to make separate
notice tedious, that parts of the book are necessarily somewhat heavy reading.
Sir Harry Johnston would have made the book lighter if he had generalised more,
and devoted more space to comment and speculation. He has chosen instead the
less popular and infinitely more valuable course of laying before the reacler the
" raw material " of his subject, to the loss of those who read for amusement and
the gain of the serious student.
To the anthropologist, perhaps, the most valuable feature of the book is the
opportunity it gives of comparing one tribe with another, of tracing the evolution
or decay of various customs, and the growth of arts, crafts, and institutions. The
most primitive form of commerce practised in the Congo basin, for instance, is a
form of the world-old " silent trade " carried on between the pygmies and their more
powerful neighbours. Among more advanced tribes we find barter, the trade media
used being articles of definite value such as salt, smoked fish, spear heads, and
shells. From commerce of this kind has grown the use of small grass mats, that
passing from hand to hand become so tattered that they come to have no more
intrinsic value than bank notes, but retain their theoretic value as media of exchange.
The range of culture indicated by the construction of dwellings is very wide.
The most advanced type is that of the Manbettu, whose buildings surpass those of
any other tribe in Central Africa in size, arrangement, and richness of decoration.
The most primitive is that of the Balomotwa and Basanga, who live in natural
caves and artificial caverns. On the Upper Lualaba are found strongly fortified
subterranean dwellings, the plan of which has features that resemble the fortified
pit-dwellings (Niekirk ruins) discovered in Mashonaland by Dr. Randall-Maclver.
Of food tabus some are inexplicable and dependent on the whim of the doctor
who attends a child's birth, others are apparently attributable to some half -forgot ten
totemic observance. Some tribes will not eat bull frogs lest their eyes should bulge
like those of the frog. Certain kinds of food, usually the most delectable, are forbidden
Nos. 5-6.] MAN. [1909.
to women who violate this selfishly-imposed tabu on the sly. Women accustomed to
express abhorrence at the idea of eating human flesh have confessed to Mr. Torday that
they often took their share under cover of darkness. Among the Bambala, the members
of a class named Muri, that seems to be the relic of a former aristocracy, are forbidden
to eat human flesh. Among the Bayanzi human flesh is forbidden to chiefs.*
Of secret societies, guilds, and brotherhoods there is a great variety, though their
influence is declining under European and missionary inflxiences. The bond that unites
some of these is the gratification of sensual or morbid desires, such as hemp-smoking,
corpse-eating, and sexual indulgence. Other societies exist to combat these vices.
An interesting feature of the Ndembo (Initiation) Society is that initiates are supposed
to die and come to life again. During the period of initiation, in order to emphasise
the complete change that takes place in their lives, initiates behave as if they belonged
to another world. They speak a secret dialect, pretend not to understand anything that
is said to them, and are immune both from justice and from all moral restrictions.
Cannibalism is among some tribes so commonplace that a speculator will take a
carefully fattened slave into the market place and arrange for the disposal of each part
of his body by retail before killing him. Among other tribes it is confined to certain
secret societies or practised as a fetishistic rite. Among the Baluba only members of
the Bakanzanzi sect are cannibals. They eat stolen corpses with many formalities, one
of which is to imitate the actions of the hyaena as they eat. It would be interesting to
know whether they do this in order to justify their loathsome behaviour, or whether
they eat human flesh from an inexplicable desire to resemble hyaenas.
The book contains interesting notes on the connection between polygamy and
physical development, on survivals of marriage by capture (mock and real), the origin
of the blood-brotherhood ceremony, methods of signalling by drum beats, &c. One
would like to know more about the picture writing, evidence of the existence of which
seems to be furnished by carved pieces of wood found in the cataract region of the
Congo. Some of the games played present startling parallels to the parlour games to
which »we submit at Christmas time. In Congo folklore there are two stories to
account for the mortality of the body. In another the chameleon challenges the
elephant to a race and steals a victory by precisely the same dodge as that by which
Uncle Remus's Brer Terrapin defeated Brer Rabbit. The book is admirably arranged
and beautifully illustrated, but one wishes that some index system had been devised to
assist the reader in using the very complete ethnographical map of the area covered
by Bantu, semi-Bantu, and Negro tribes. RALPH DURAND.
Religion. Abrahams and others.
Religions Ancient and Modern: —
(1) Judaism. By Israel Abrahams, M.A. London : Constable, 1907. W
18 x 12 cm. Pp. 107. Price 1*.
(2) Shinto, the Ancient Religion of Japan. By W. G. Aston, C.M.G., D.Lit.
Same publishers, size and price. Pp. 83.
(3) The Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Peru. By Lewis Spence. Same
publishers, size and price. Pp. 80.
The high level of scholarship and criticism established by Messrs. Constable's
Religions Ancient and Modern is fully maintained by these latest contributions to
the series.
(1) Nothing could be more satisfactory than the Judaism of Mr. Abrahams, who,
himself a Jew, handles the subject not only with competent knowledge, as might be
* Portuguese chroniclers record that the king of the Mazimba, a cannibal tribe that devastated
the north bank of the Zambesi in 1592. did not eat human flesh in order " to be different from
his subjects."
[ 12 1
1909.] MAN. [No. 6.
expected, but with a singular absence of prejudice which takes the reader almost by
surprise. Such an attitude, not of indifference, for the personal element may still
be read between the lines, but of philosophic impartiality, was possible only for a
thoughtful student capable of standing outside his subject and contemplating it from
an absolutely objective standpoint. How rare such cases are may be inferred from the
statement often made that Thucydides is the one impartial historian ! One is almost
tempted to add, and Mr. Abrahams is the one impartial religious writer ! At any
rate this unbiassed spirit carries him far enough to " admit that Islam has absorbed
" and purified the Jewish Monotheism. Islam has certainly a pure creed ; it freed
" itself from the entanglements of anthropomorphic metaphors and conceptions of God,
" which are apparent in the early strata of the Hebrew Bible, and from which
" Judaism, because of its reverence for the Bible, has not emancipated itself yet."
The reader feels that he is safe in the hands of a guide who can write thus when
he comes to deal with the later phases of the subject, and it is the later phases that
are mainly discussed in this ideal monograph. Its starting point is taken, not at any
pre- or post-exilic period, nor even at the capture of Jerusalem by Titus, but at its
last capture and destruction by Adrian after the suppression of the revolt headed by
Bar-Kokhba about A.D. 134-5. It was then that the Jews ceased to be a nation, and,
while preserving a large measure of racial purity, sank to the position of a religious
sect dispersed in small isolated communities over a great part of the known world.
Hence the author is here concerned, not with the origin and evolution of Judaism
through the early stages of animism, totemism, and polydemonism, to monolatry or
henotheism and pure monotheism, but with the legacy bequeathed to it from the past,
a legacy which is a real syncretism of most diverse heterogeneous elements. Herein
lies the special merit of this essay, which shows in luminous language that in the
present Judaism nothing is forgotten, all the old crudities and traditions are reverently
preserved and merged in an incoherent system essentially illogical, inconsistent, and
full even of contradictions. " God, in the early literature a tribal non-moral deity,
" was in the later literature a righteous ruler," and " Judaism took over as one
" individual body of sacred teachings both the early and the later literature in which
" these varying conceptions of God were enshrined. Judaism, in short, included for
" the Jew all that had gone before." Hence " in the Jewish theology of all ages we
" find the most obvious contradictions. There was no attempt at reconciliation of
" such contradictions. They were juxtaposed in a mechanical mixture, there was no
" chemical compound. . . The Jew transferred the changelessness of God to men's
" changing ideas about him. With childlike naivete he accepted all, he adopted all,
" and he syncretised it all as best he could into the loose system in which Pharisaism
" grafted itself. The legacy of the past thus was the past." The whole essay is but
a lucid exposition of these axiomatic truths.
(2) The obscure subject of the Japanese national religion, commonly called Shinto,
could not have been placed in better hands than those of Dr. Aston, whose whole life
has been lived mainly in a Japanese environment. In dealing with Shinto as a whole
he shows clearly that, despite its Chinese name (Ch. Shinto = Jap. Kami no Michi =
" Way of the Gods "), it has no special relation with the Chinese or, indeed, with the
Korean, the Siberian, the Polynesian, or any other religious system, but "is, on the
" whole, an independent development of Japanese thought." This, however, does not
carry us very far, and when we read that the extremely vague term, Kami, is alike
applicable to such impersonal beings as the 80 or 800 myriad gods of the national
pantheon, and even to such shadowy entities as the spirits of plants and animals,
seas, rivers, mountains, or whatsoever else may be credited with hidden virtues
and powers for good and evil, we seem lost in a shoreless ocean of terrestrial and
celestial beliefs.
[ 13 ]
No. 6.] MAN. [1909.
But here Dr. Aston comes to the rescue and explains that the superhuman Kami
claiming worship, or at least reverence, are twofold, Nature-gods and Man-gods, " the
" first being the result of personification, the second of deification." This seems like
saying that Shinto is the outcome of animism and ancestor-worship, the two funda-
mental concepts which lie at the base of all primitive beliefs. Only Mr. Aston will
not have it so, and protests, to me it seems against the evidence, that the cult of
ancestors formed no part in the evolution of the Japanese national religion. He himself
speaks in one place of " the progressive development of ancestor-worship in Shinto,"
and elsewhere admits that " nine out of ten educated Japanese will declare that Shinto
" is ancestor-worship," while Mr. Daigoro Goh adds that this cult was " the creed of
" the ancient inhabitants." Hence Mr. Aston's contention that it is a later development
unknown to the primitive system appears to be untenable. He also argues that the
great deities of the older Shinto were not Man-gods (deified ancestors) but Nature-gods,
such as the Sun, the Moon, the Earth, the Sea, Fire, Thunder, &c. But there was
still a superfluity of lesser deities who may well have been regarded as Man-gods, and
so worshipped. So it was elsewhere, as, for instance, in Greece, where the " Nature-
gods " (Zeus, Apollo, Poseidon, &c.) were certainly greater than the " Man-gods "
(Hercules, JEsculapius, &c.). No religious system stands apart, and all must be
studied from the comparative platform in order to reach their inner essence.
(3) With one important reservation, Mr. Spence's Mythologies of Ancient Mexico
and Peru will be accepted as a welcome introduction to tlie religious thought of the
cultured Amerindians. The reservation has reference to the statement in the foreword
about the supposed " neglect into which the study of the Mexican and Peruvian
" mythologies has fallen." The charge of " neglect " is unwarranted, and merely serves
to mark the author's limited range of vision, which has had no eye for the astonishing
amount of work carried out by German, American, and Mexican students during the
last decade or so in this field of research. Most of the names entered in Mr. Spence's
short bibliographies are either antiquated or superseded by such specialists as Dr. Arthur
Baessler {Ancient Peruvian Art, Englished by A. H. Keane, 1902-3), Dr. Cyrus Thomas
(many papers in 16th An. Rep. Bur. Eth., and elsewhere), Dr. E. Forstemann (Neue
Maya-Forschungen), Dr. E. Seler {The Aubin Tonalamatl, and Codex Fejervdry, both
fully elucidated and Englished by A. H. Keane, 1901, 1902), C. A. Robelo (Diccionario
de Mitologla Nahoa, in Anales del Museo Nacional de Mexico, 2nd series).
How much the book must suffer from this neglect of the latest and best authorities,
may be seen in the treatment of any particular subject, such, for instance, as Tezcatlipoca,
the " Mexican Jupiter," as he is called by Sahagun. The account here given of this
bloodthirsty god appears to be taken from Clavigero, or else from his copyist, T. Payne ;
hence the mistake of translating his name " Shining Mirror," instead of " Smoking Black
Mirror," as pointed out by Robelo. Nor. was he " the god of the cold season," and
originally " an ice-god," since his feast was held in the balmy month of May with a
profuse display of fruits and flowers.
In all other respects Mr. Spence's memoir may be warmly recommended for its
sane and sober views on the Amerind cults and cultures. On the still much-discussed
question of the origin and development of the native religions and civilisations he is
strongly opposed to what I have elsewhere called the " Asiatic School," that is, those
who bring everything from the Eastern hemisphere, and will not allow the American
aborigines to have initiated any of their social and political systems. He rightly points
out that such foreign influences, did they ever exist, " must have been of the most
" transitory description, and could have left but few traces upon the religion of the
" peoples in question." Then it is added, that " almost exhaustive proof of the wholly
" indigenous nature of the American religions is offered by the ruins of the large centres
" of culture and civilisation which are found scattered through Yucatan and Peru."
1909.] MAN. [Nos. 6-8,
And the work concludes with the trenchant remark that " the origins of the religions
" of Mexico and Peru could not have been of any other than an indigenous nature.
" Their evolution took place wholly upon American soil, and if resemblances appear
' in their systems to the mythologies or religions of Asia, they are explicable by that
" law now so well known to anthropologists and students of comparative religion, that,
" given similar circumstances, and similar environments, the evolution of the religious
" beliefs of widely separated peoples will proceed upon similar lines."
A. H. KEAJSE.
Cerebrologry. Retzius.
Das Affenhirn in Bildlicher Darstellung. By Professor Gustav Retzius. T
Stockholm, 1906. Pp. 24 ; eighty-seven plates. 39 X 30 cm. I
This is a large folio volume containing upwards of sixty plates, which present
photographic illustrations of the brains of a large number of monkeys. Facing the
illustrations there are in most cases line drawings which serve as a key.
The value of the illustrations is enhanced by the care which has been shown in
the selection and preparation of the brains ; they were hardened by being suspended
in a solution of formalin, or formalin and bichromate of potash. In order to prevent
as far as possible any loss of shape, the brains were suspended by means of the
basilar artery.
The text, other than the brief description of the illustrations, consists of less than
twenty pages, and is concerned with the brains of the Hapalidte and Cebidce. The
chief fact which is brought to light is the great variation which is found in the sulci
and convolutions of closely related animals, such as, for instance, Mycetes and Chrysothrix.
It will be seen that the book is one for reference, and as such it cannot fail to
prove of the greatest assistance and value to workers in the field of comparative
cerebrology. W. W.
Voyages. Nicoll.
Three Voyages of a Naturalist, being an Account of many little-known Q
Islands in Three Oceans visited by the " Valhalla," R.Y.S. By M. J. Nicoll, 0
with an introduction by the Right Hon. the Earl of Crawford, K.T., F.R.S. London :
Witherby & Co., 1908. Pp. xxvi + 246. 23 x 15 cm. Price 7*. 6d.
The above work is an account of three voyages made by Mr. Nicoll, a naturalist
on board the Earl of Crawford's yacht ; the first round Africa, when several
uninhabited islands were visited ; the second to the West Indies ; and the last round
the world by way of the Straits of Magellan and the South Pacific Islands. It
is not often that a purely scientific work can be made interesting to the lay reader,
but in this Mr. Nicoll has been eminently successful, and his work can be read
with unflagging interest from start to finish. The keeping of scientific names to
footnotes is an idea which greatly assists the reader, as well as the fifty-six most
excellent reproductions of photographs taken by the author and his fellow naturalist,
Mr. Meade-Waldo.
In a book on natural history, however, one would have wished that the author
had adopted the correct way of spelling the fruit of the cocos palm. The French
recognise the difference between cacao and coco, why should not we ?
So many of the islands visited were uninhabited, that it is only towards the end
of the book that we get any anthropological notes. Chapter XX is devoted to Easter
Island, where some good specimens of skulls were obtained. These have been reported
on by Mr. T. A. Joyce, of the British Museum, who found in them distinct evidences
of a Melanesian type. If this is so, what a vast field of conjecture is opened.
Were they in any way related to the supposed earliest inhabitants of New Zealand,
Nos. 8-9.] MAN. [1909.
as the present New Zealanders are to the inhabitants of the Eastern Pacific ? Surely
with so much that is being done for scientific research, Easter Island ought to be
thoroughly examined before all evidence is swept away. "If anything is going to be
" done it must be done soon ; " says Mr. Nicoll, "every year makes a great difference
" to the state of the carvings and caves, as the latter are now much used as shelters
" for sheep, and in a comparatively short time all traces of any carvings will be worn
" away by the frequent passing to and fro of these animals."
Pitcairn was the next island visited (Chapter XXI), and Mr. Nicoll there collected
" records of inhabitants previous to the mutineers, in the shape of stone axe-heads,
" but these," he says, " might have been left by visitors from a neighbouring shore."
Mr. Nicoll does not figure these, or give any description as to size and shape.
In 1900 Mr. Allen-Brown exhibited before the Anthropological Institute some
absolutely unique stone implements (afterwards described and figured in Journ. Anthr.
Inst., Vol. XXX, 1900). It would be interesting to know if the ones collected by
Mr. Nicoll were of this form, or of the ordinary Tahitian type.
After leaving Tahiti, the " Valhalla " sailed for Samoa, where Mr. Nicoll describes
the dances (siva) and Kava drinking parties. These are invariably conducted by the
village virgin, or tapu (not taupau), who acts as hostess, and cannot fairly be described
as " the chief dancing girl of the village " any more than a lady who leads a cotillion
would be called a ballet dancer. It is evident that Mr. Nicoll took the spelling,
taupau, from Mrs. Churchill, who in her prospectus spells it taupau, but changed it
to toupou in the text of her work (Samoa Uma). Miss Kingston, in the Women of all
Nations, uses the word taupou. I have searched through the works on Samoa but
cannot find the word taupou. I was always under the impression that the word was
tapu, as referring to the care with which the village virgin was guarded by her
attendant girls, to preserve her intact for marriage to some chief.
In describing (p. 229) the dress of tapa (not tappa) worn by one of the villagers,
Mr. Nicoll says it was made from the bark of the bread-fruit tree ; this is the case
in Tahiti, and even there applies only to the coarser kinds, the finer and more usual
tapas are made from the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree (Broussonetia
papyrifera). In Samoa the bark of the paper mulberry alone is used.
While congratulating Mr. Nicoll 011 his appointment to the Zoological Gardens
of Giza, we sincerely hope that, although he may be unable to take further voyages
with Lord Crawford, yet he will not be prevented from continuing his investigations.
J. E.-P.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES.
THE death occurred, on November 18th, of Dr. E. T. Hamy, Professor in the Q
Museum of Natural History and Honorary Director of the Museum of Ethno- U
graphy in Paris. He was born at Boulogne in 1842, and had been President of the
Anthropological Society of Paris. He collaborated with Quatrefages, in Crania Ethnica,
but his studies covered a wide field by no means limited to that of craniology, in which
he was best known. He had been an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Anthropological
Institute since 1884.
MR. ROBERT EDWARD CODRINGTON, Administrator of North- Western Rhodesia, died
on December 16th. He was born on January 6th, 1869, and joined the Bechuanaland
Police in 1890, seeing service in the Matabele War. He became Administrator of
North-Eastern Rhodesia in 1900, and was transferred to North-Western Rhodesia in
May, 1907. He had been a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute
since 1898.
Printed by EYBE AND SPOTTISWOODE, LTD., His Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, K.C.
Pi. ATE B.
MAN, 1909.
OTIS TUFTON MASON.
1909.] MAN. [No. 10.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Obituary : Mason. With Plate B. Haddon : Bushnell.
Otis Tufton Mason. Born April lOth, 1838; died November 5th, 411
1908. By A. C. Haddon, ScD., F.R.S. IU
Our colleagues in Washington have suffered a great loss in the death of Otis
Tufton Mason, head curator of the Division of Ethnology of the United States National
Museum, who died on November 5th at the age of seventy years. Dr. Mason was well
known by ethnologists as the great exponent of the technology of the American
Indians. Most of his memoirs were published in the Annual Reports of the United
States National Museum, among which the following may be noted : The Human
Beast of Burden (1887), Cradles of the American Aborigines (1887), The Ulu
or Woman's Knife of the Eskimo (1890), Influence of Environment upon Human
Industries or Arts (1896), The Man's Knife among the North American Indians
(1899), Pointed Bark Canoes of the Kutenai and Ainu (1899), Traps of the
American Indians (1901), A Primitive Frame for Weaving Narrow Fabrics (1901),
Aboriginal American Harpoons (1902). A general summing up of much of his work
will be found in the two interesting little books, Woman's Share in Primitive Culture
and The Origins of Invention : a Study of Industry among Primitive Peoples, both
published in 1895. The great development of the art of basketry among the American
Indians induced Dr. Mason to pay a particular regard to this subject, on which he
published several papers, and in 1904 appeared his greatest work, Aboriginal American
Basketry : Studies in a Textile Art without Machinery, which consists of 377 pages,
212 figures in the text, and 248 plates : this will long remain the standard monograph
on American basketry. Dr. Mason's latest contribution to this subject, Vocabulary of
Malaysian Basketwork: A Study in the W. L. Abbott Collection, has just reached
this country. It is a very useful guide to the basketry of the East Indian Archipelago,
illustrated by forty-one figures in the text and seventeen plates. Dr. Mason arranged
some very instructive cases in the Museum illustrating the evolution and distribution of
various implements. It was an enjoyable experience to be taken round the National
Museum by Dr. Mason, as he was brimming over with information and enthusiasm, and
it was inspiriting to share his delight in the many examples of fine basketwork in that
notable collection. Indeed, it is a privilege to have known that lovable man.
A. C. HADDON.
By David I. Bushnell, Junr.
Professor Otis Tufton Mason died in Washington on Thursday, November 5th,
1908. Born at Eastport, Maine, April 10th, 1838, he, while still quite young,
removed with his parents to Virginia. There, in the south, he was educated, and,
in 1861, graduated from Columbian University, Washington, D.C. From that year
until 1884 he was principal of the Columbian Preparatory School ; but during the
latter year he severed his connection with the school to become Curator of Ethnology
in the National Museum. As early as 1872 he was interested in anthropological
research, and in 1874 was made collaborator in ethnology in the museum, his first
work being to arrange and classify the accumulated collections. At the time of his
death Professor Mason was head curator of the much enlarged department of ethnology
of the National Museum.
He was a man of distinguished bearing, though of delicate physique, whose
purely chiselled features clearly bore the imprint of culture and birth. Through life
he was just, kind, and benevolent in his dealings with others and of a personality
that endeared him to those with whom he came in contact. Thus he will be missed
by all.
[ 17 ]
Nos, 10-11.]
MAN.
[1909.
FIG. l.
By his death America has lost its most profound and ardent student of anthro-
pology. During his years of untiring labour he produced many volumes and innumerable
shorter papers, all of which reflect his high degree of learning and thorough knowledge
of his favourite subject. DAVID I. BUSHNELL, JR.
England : Archaeology. Cunning-ton.
Notes on a Late Celtic Rubbish Heap near Oare, Wiltshire. 41
By (Mrs.} M. E. Cunnington*
The chalk downs that border the Pewsey Vale rise immediately behind the village
of Oare. On this high ground and about a mile north-east from the village is Withy
Copse, in which an ancient rubbish heap, pre-
senting the appearance of a low, irregularly-
shaped mound, is now the only visible sign that
the place was ever the site of human habita-
tion. To-day the spot is lonely and secluded,
and its chief inhabitants are the rabbits who
find the mound easy to burrow in, and to whose
unaided efforts in digging out fragments of
pottery the discovery of the interesting nature
of their home was in the first place due. Withy
Copse lies on sloping ground just to the north
of the large earthwork known as Martinsell Camp ; on its upper side the copse is
bounded by the ditch and rampart of the camp, and the mound itself is only 100 yards
from the rampart.
The mound is 63 feet long by 43 feet across at the widest part, and is nowhere
higher than 2^ feet above the ground level.
On account of the large quantity of potsherds in it, it has been suggested that
the mound was the accumulated debris of a pottery, but there is no evidence of
this being so. None of the pottery shows any sign of distortion in the baking, such as
wasters from a kiln would ; nor were any objects found that are particularly likely to
have been used by a potter. The number of fragmentary bones of animals, of which
sheep, pig, and ox are by far the most common, is large ; and all the pottery is, without
a single exception, in fragments ; these facts, and the
occasional occurrence of other relics, odds and ends,
all of which, with scarcely an exception, had been
broken or rendered useless before they were thrown
away, make it as clear as any such evidence can, that
the heap is simply an accumulation of rubbish from
some dwelling that doubtless stood at no great
distance from the spot.
Although so near to Martinsell Camp, it does
not, of course, follow that the dwelling (that must
once have stood here) had any real association with the camp. It is unfortunate
that like most of the early and prehistoric camps of Wiltshire the date of Martinsell
is unknown.
The pottery found in the mound may be divided roughly into two classes, that
which is probably of native manufacture and that of foreign importation. As might
be expected, the quantity of the latter is small in proportion to that of the former. Of
the native pottery fully two-thirds of the fragments belong to one type of vessel, namely,
* The excavations were carried out by Mr. B. H. Cunnington, F.S.A., Scot., during the autumn
1907, and the spring, 1908, by kind permission of Mr. F. N. Rogers, M.P., who has also kindly allowed
the finds to be placed in the museum of the Wilts Archaeological and Natural History Society at
Devizes.
[ 18 ]
1909.] MAN. • [No. 11.
bowls with a bead rim. These bowls are of not inelegant outline, with slightly con-
tracted mouth, and with a shoulder more or less rounded from which they taper to
a base, often small in proportion to the size of the vessel, and sometimes rounded.
(Figs. 1 and 2.)
They are of all sizes, from little things a few inches in diameter, holding perhaps
a gill, to large heavy vessels the capacity of which might have been measured in
gallons. There are, however, comparatively few very small or very large ; the majority
of them being apparently from about 6 to 8 inches in diameter at
the shoulder, and from 5 to 7 inches high. Most of the bowls
are of grey pottery, varying in shade from a very pale grey to
black ; the others are brown, in shades varying from pale buff
to chocolate, breaking out occasionally in a bright red. Some
of the paste is mixed with a micaceous sand, and some with
pounded flint or quartz. The paste of some of the largest bowl-
shaped vessels is very coarse, and is mixed freely with large
FIG. 3. Q) grains of flint, pounded brick or pot, ashes, and occasionally
even with iron pyrites. The surfaces are often very smooth, finely tooled and polished.
The bowls are all quite devoid of ornament, but a few have a band of incised lines or
" cordons " round their shoulders (Fig. 6). The pottery of the other vessels of possibly
native make shows the same characteristics as that of the bowls. They include jugs
and jars with curving rims, round covers with hollow knobs, and flat plates or saucers.
All the pottery, including the boAvls, appears to bf> wheel turned, and is well baked
and well made.
The bowl with the bead rim so common at Oare is, it appears, of a purely British
type and characteristic of late Celtic pottery.* This type appears in the local ware
from Weymouth in the British Museum, and among the late Celtic pottery in the
Colchester Museum. | The bowls with round bottoms (Fig. 2) are suggestive of metal
prototypes, and it is interesting to find that they bear close resemblance to a small
bronze cup found with a late-Celtic burial at Colchester.
Among the pottery of foreign make may be noted : — A fragment of Belgic black
ware of the first century A.D., characterised by its low foot rim similar to that on one of
the pieces of Arretine ware. A similar piece of very fine grey ware with a low foot rim.
A fragment of green glazed Roman ware, very rare in this country, and no doubt
imported from Gaul early in the first century A.D.
Several pieces of very thin white and cream-coloured pottery, perfectly baked,
hard and smooth like unglazed china ; possibly imported from Rheims
in the first century A.D. This is of exceptionally fine quality.
Several fragments of similar ware, but of not quite such a fine
quality, with " roulette " or " engine-turned " ornament (Fig. 3), and
with a feathered zigzag ornament (Fig. 4).
Very fine micaceous buff-coloured ware, painted grey on the
outside, red on the inside, with " roulette " ornament. There are
FIG. 4.
examples ot a similar ware at Colchester.
Fragments of painted red pottery, some of which are of an exceptionally fine
quality. Locality unknown.
* I am much indebted to Mr. Reginald Smith of the British Museum, and to Mr. Arthur Wright
of the Colchester Museum, for their valuable notes upon the pottery, etc.
f General Pitt-Rivers found it a common type at the Romano-British villages of WooJcuts and
Rotherly, but scarce at Woodyates {Excavations, Vol. Ill, 17, 53). Evidence led him to the inference
that bead rims may have been in earlier use than other kinds of vessels (in the villages), and that they
were apparently in commoner use among the poorer than among the richer inhabitants (Exeat-ration*,
Vol. II, 144-5). This is what might be expected with a vessel of native type.
[ 19 ]
No, 11.]
MAN.
[1909.
Several pieces of fine red Arretine ware, including fragments of the bases of
two bowls, showing in each case a part of a maker's stamp. The name on one seems
to end in the letters PLEV, but unfortunately this stamp appears to be unknown. On
a fragment of a dish with a low foot rim the first two letters AT, and a part of a third
are quite clear. This stamp, Mr. Reginald Smith of the British Museum thinks may
possibly be that of ATIIIVS (ATE1VS), of whose stamp there are examples in the
British Museum.
The fragments of Arretine ware are of special interest, for not only is it rare
in Britain,* but they help also to date the find with a considerable degree of accuracy.
The Arretine potteries flourished in the first and
second centuries B.C. and in the early years of the
first century A.D. At about this latter date the art
of making this ware was carried into Gaul, and
potteries were established there. The earliest
Gaulish factories were probably started by potters
from Italy, and if the name on the fragment from
Oare is, indeed, that of Ateivs, as Mr. Smith thinks
it may be, it is particularly interesting. The name
is well known and seems to have been that of a
large and important manufacturer. The actual site
of his workshops is still uncertain, and he may have been one of the pioneers who carried
this Italian industry into Gaul. His workshops may have been in northern Italy or in
southern Gaul, one authority thinking it probable that he had works in both localities.
The date of this potter is, however, less uncertain, various discoveries going to prove
that he was in full activity during the reign of Augustus.f
The factories of La Graufesenque, the earliest centre doing a large export trade
in red glazed Gaulish ware (the so-called Samian), cover the period A.D. 30-100 ;
towards the end of this period the great factories of Lezoux entered into competition
with those of La Graufesenque, and soon superseding them carried on the trade to
the middle of the third century, when it seems
to have come to an end.J The absence,
therefore, of any of this later Gaulish ware
from the rubbish heap at Oare affords interest-
ing negative evidence confirming the early
date of the site. It is only reasonable to
suppose that people who were in a position
to use imported foreign wares, such as the
Arretine, and black and white Belgic and
Gaulish wares, would also have had some of
the red Gaulish " Samian " so (compara-
tively) common at a little later date, had it
been already in the market in their time.
The fact of its common occurrence on Romano-British sites that are of a little later
date emphasizes its absence at Oare.
Three fibulas were found in the mound, two of iron and one of bronze. One of
the specimens is too imperfect to be characteristic ; the other is of the type of La
* In a note in the Proc. Soc. Ant., Vol. XXI, No. 2, 462, Professor Haverfield says, "Arretine ware
is very rare in Britain, and the known finds are almost restricted to London and the south-east."
t For particulars respecting the potter Ateivs, etc., see Lei Vases Ceramiqv^s Ornes de la Gaule
Romainf, by J. Dechelette, 1904, page 16, and a paper by Mr. H. B. Walters, in Proc. Cambridge
Antiquarian Society, No. XLVIII, 1908.
$ See Dechelette, p. 103 ; also British Museum : Catalogue of Roman Pottery, p. xxx.
[ 20 ]
1909.] MAN. [Nos. 11-12.
Tene III and very like a bronze specimen from Aylesford. The bronze fibula is of
rather later type, the end of the bow is flattened to cover the spiral spring, and the
spring is a separate piece of metal ; the pin was of iron and worked on a sort of
hinge on the small bar of iron on which the spring is coiled.
Both these fibuhe, in Mr. Smith's opinion, belong to the century from 50 B.C.
to 50 A.D., and thus agree perfectly with the evidence of date afforded by the
pottery. Speaking generally of the pottery sent to him, Mr. Smith remarks, " So far
" as I can judge it all dates from the early years of our era. The purely British type
*' of pottery is well represented," Nos. 24 (Fig. 2) and 26 (Fig. 5) being very characteristic
late Celtic. In the face of this evidence it would seem that there need be little
hesitation in assigning as the date of the formation of the rubbish heap the early years
of the first century A.D. The early date of the Arretine ware makes it scarcely
probable that the accumulation went on after the Roman conquest. The near neigh-
bourhood of the dwelling to the big camp of Martinsell makes one wonder if there
was any connection between these two events, the abandonment of the dwelling site
and the occupation of the country by the Romans. It would certainly be very interesting
to know to what period the camp belongs.
Among the other objects found were two iron sickle-shaped keys, a sling stone of
baked clay, an iron bridle bit, a pair of bronze tweezers, the handle of a weaving
comb, a bone gouge, several worked bones, eight pottery spindle whorls, six discs or
roundels of pottery, fragments of worn quern stones, pieces of brick and iron slag.*
M. E. CUNNINGTON.
America, North- West. Jette".
On the Language of
By the Rev. J. Jette, S.J.
On the Language of the Ten'a (iii). (Continued from MAN, 1908,37.) 4 fl
IV. — ROOT-NOUNS.
The term root-nouns, in its strictest sense, applies to those nouns that are primitive
roots, not reducible to simpler elements. These are short, monosyllabic or dissyllabic,
exceptionally trisyllabic. Such are many words designating : —
(1) Parts of the body as : tte, head ; kiit, neck ; nora, neko, nekot, eyes ; Id, lot,
mouth ; lo, hand ; ka, foot, feet ; tten, bone, leg ; dzay, heart ; ttura, hair ; sek,
body : &c.
(2) Persons of kin : to, father ; on, mother ; ten1 a, child ; kiln, husband ; W, wife ;
ura, elder brother ; kttta, younger brother ; oda, elder sister ; tadza, younger sister ;
toya, uncle (on the father's side) ; /'a, uncle (on the mother's side) ; &c.
(3) Plants and animals : keh, birch ; tseba, spruce ; ttott, moss ; ses, black bear ;
yes, wolf ; noy'a, beaver ; tiika, fish ; licit, king salmon ; &c.
(4) Various objects, natural or manufactured : dtet, mountain ; tih. hill ; tih,
strength ; kun, fire ; tu, water ; kon, rain ; so, sun ; oih, snow-shoes ; rott, sled ; ko,
bow, arrow ; tsei, tsih, canoe, boat ; &c.
In a broader sense we shall take the term root-nouns to include also nouns formed
from those of the preceding class, when these, being combined into one word, form a term
accepted in the language, as : kiitken, base of the neck ; tteken, occiput ; kattora, sole
of the foot ; menkat, lake ; ftekat, grave ; &c. These can be resolved into simpler
elements, each of which is a root significant by itself.
We shall also consider as root-nouns the words of foreign origin, mostly borrowed
from the Russian, imported to designate things unknown to the Ten'a before their
contact with the whites, as : toyon, rich man, chief, influential person ; tsay, tea ; muke,
flour ; sasi, watch, clock ; kalendat, pencil ; dinka, silver, money ; zolda, gold ; loset,
horse, horses ; &c.
* A fuller account of the " find " at Oare will be published in the magazine of the Wilts
Archaeological and Natural History Society.
[ 21 ]
No. 12.] MAN. [1909.
If the Ten'a vocabulary had no other nouns than those already described, the
common surmise of superficial observers that it is rather meagre would be fully justified.
But it also comprises a variety of suffix-nouns, formed by a regular process from other
words. The abundance of terms thus obtained and in common use among the Ten'a
often puzzles the learner. After having mastered the genuine rendering of some
common word, he finds himself at a loss when he hears the same expressed in a number
of different ways, the possibility of which had never occurred to him. Thus, to take
a common instance, " my wife " is exactly rendered by so-'ot. But a Ten'a will very
often replace the proper word by some equivalent phrase, such as : mor lesdonen, the
one with whom I cohabit ; ma ka testanen, the one whom I love ; sa ka tenetanen, the
one who loves me ; se tlo reyonen, the one who gave herself to me ; se tlo tserettanen,
se tlo raletanen, the one who was given to me in marriage ; ulesniken, the one whom
I have taken ; &c. All these are suffix-nouns, which may be used in place of the proper
designation. They are equivalent, as may be seen, to relative -clauses ; and the suffix-
nouns are in reality the only rendering which the language supplies for our relative
clauses.
The suffix-nouns will be fully treated in a subsequent paper. Only a summary
account, which will be found necessary to understand the present matter, is here
supplied.
The suffix e (after a long vowel, ye) denotes things, and impersonal beings of the
concrete gender : aba-ranide, thing for disease, i.e., medicine ; ma ka testaye, the thing
or things which I want ; ma ka te-tarasto'e, the thing or things which I shall want.
When the noun is very commonly used this e is generally changed to a : to-ledoya,
black grouse (literally rooster, thing that roosts).
The suffix en denotes one person. After a long vowel n is inserted between the
vowel and the suffix : after a short vowel there is reversed assimilation of the e to the
preceding vowel : yuftiten (from yuttit, riverward), the first wife in the bigamous Ten'a
household ; yunekoten (from yunekot, landward), the second wife, so-called from their
respective places in the house ; mor lesdonen (from lesdo), my wife, the one with whom
I cohabit ; mor rasdo'on (from rasdo), my former or late wife, the one with whom I
cohabited ; ro-tledonen, a married man, one who cohabits.
The suffix na denotes two or more persons : ro-tledona, married men (several) ;
ro-dadlettena, married men (many).
Suffix-nouns in en and na represent personal beings of the concrete gender.
The suffix ten (often shortened to te, in which the e assimilates when in position
to do so) denotes the time when or the place where : lestanten, the place where I lie
down, my bed ; nalestanten, the time when or the place where I lie down.
The suffix tor denotes the times when or the places where : lestantor, when I am
in bed ; nestaih tor, when I go to bed. It is not properly a noun-forming suffix.
The suffix tsen (often shortened to tse, in which the e assimilates) denotes the
manner in which, the being so : tsoronotsen (from tsorono, we live) our life, our living ;
kor tsitsentsen (from kor tsitsen, we are miserly), avarice ; ruzuntsen, good, goodness ;
tso-ruttakatsen, evil ; &c.
Nouns in ten and tsen belong to the abstract gender.
Suffix-nouns are capable of all the constructions of root-nouns, and there is no
difference between the two classes with regard to grammatical functions.
Number Differentiation in Nouns.
The greater majority of Ten'a nouns are not differentiated for number, and have
the same form whether they represent a singular or a plural object. There are,
however, several exceptions to this rule.
1. Suffix-nouns of the personal sub-gender normally admit number differentiation,
[ 22 ]
1909,] MAN. [No, 12.
owing to the fact that the suffixes used in their formation are so differentiated, en
representing singulars, and na plurals. Thus : kukaten, trader ; kukatna, traders ;
ketleten, steersman ; ketletna, steersmen.
2. Suffix-nouns of the abstract gender designating time or place are capable of
the same distinction, owing to the difference in meaning between the suffixes ten and tor,
ten being used for one time or place, tor for several. Thus : yudoo ko-nesfoihten, at
the time that I walk (or walked) down ; yudoo ko-nesfoih tor, during my walks down.
3. Some root-nouns representing persons can be pluralized. The pluralizers used
are ka, and the emphasizer yu.
The ka is a genuine pluralizer, serving no other purpose. It is used mainly with
names of kindred. Thus : terfa, child ; ten'aka, children (as related to parents) ; koya,
grandchild ; koyaka, grandchildren (as related to grandparents) ; 'etf, wife ; ''oka, wives ;
kiin, husband ; kiinka, husbands ; ketta, younger brother ; kettaka, younger brothers ;
oza, nephew ; ozaka (in lower dialect), nephews (children of sister) ; tetnaka, parents
(used only in the plural).
The ka is used with : kela, young man ; kelaka or kelka, young men ; Blikana,
American ; Blikanska, Americans.
The emphasizer yu is used as a pluraliser with nouns that do not admit the ka ;
as : tefi'a, man, human being ; ten'ayu, men ; ura, elder brother ; urayu, elder brothers ;
oda, elder sister ; odayu, elder sisters ; tadza, younger sister ; tadzayu, younger sisters ;
/'a, uncle (mother's brother) ; Vayu, uncles ; toya, uncle (father's brother) ; toyayu,
uncles ; &c. The word yenayu, meaning the relatives taken collectively, is used only
in the plural. The words rotana, inhabitant, and nenhoroterfa, people, are used
indifferently for singular and plural ; when representing a plural, however, they may, at
the speaker's option, take the yu : rotanayu, nenkoroteri'ayu.
4. Foreign words designating persons also admit of a plural in yu, as : kesak, white
man ; kesakyu or kesakayu, white men ; mainel, miner ; mainelyu, miners ; toyon,
chief ; toyonyu, chiefs ; sistel, sister, nun ; sistelyu, nuns ; Alusen, Russian ; Alusenyu,
Russians.
5. The noun kela, young man, besides the ka, can also take the yu : kelka or
kelkayu, young, men.
6. Two nouns have, apparently, an irregular plural ; but they are evidently
suffix -nouns, slightly altered. They are : soltan, Avoman ; soltana, women ; tenagfon,
girl ; tenagottatna, girls.
7. Of all impersonal beings, dogs are the only ones that enjoy the plural mark ka :
Ilk, dog ; tika or teka, dogs (for likka) ; tikoza, pup ; tikozaka, pups.
Apart from these exceptional cases the number of a noun is not expressed by
a modification of the noun itself, but by a modification of the verb to which this noun
stands as subject or object. When the noun stands as subject to a verb we have the
usual method of using the singular or plural persons of the verb, but even this has its
limitations, and cannot be practised as extensively in Ten'a as in other languages.
For the only subjects that can be constructed with the plural persons of a verb are
those of the personal sub-gender. Whenever an impersonal or an abstract noun is the
subject, the verb has to be in the third person of the singular, as in the well-known
Greek instance : ra £&m rpi^ei. We cannot, e.g., say : " the trees are big," but we
must say : " the trees is big," and as we have no difference between " tree " and
" trees " we must resort to some other means to make the plural known. The Ten'a
process consists in an alteration of the verb root, which is done in two ways : —
1. An altogether different root is used. Thus : lesdo, I stay ; dadlette, many
stay ; the roots do and tte express the same idea, viz., " to stay," but one conveys the
notion of singularity or non-plurality, the other that of plurality or even multiplicity.
Similarly : lestan, I lie down ; ledzet, many lie down : ko nesCoih, I walk about ;
[ 23 ]
No. 12.] MAN. [1909.
ko-idedat, many walk about. The difference in roots is also used to distinguish between
singular and plural objects, as in : ettkut, I take (one) ; ettzuih, I take (many or
several) ; etttsi, I make (one) ; esroih, I make (several, many) ; tlo esroih, I give (one) ;
tlo esla, I give (several, many) ; &c.
2. The same root is preserved, but is slightly altered to what will be described
later as the Multiple form : with this a special ye, ne, or yen, called multiplier, is added
to the verb. Thus : ettbats, I boil (one) ; ye-ettbas, I boil (many) ; eslan, I am ;
ye-dilaih, many are.
Besides these two fundamental processes, other alterations are used to the same
effect, viz. : (1) The multipliers, especially ne, are used without change in the root :
tseba ro-ni dere'o, a spruce-tree stands ; tseba ro-ni ne-dale^o, spruce-trees stand ;
ko-nesenih, I work : ko tsidenih, we work ; ko ne-tsidenih, we (many) work. (2) The
drawl is used on the root-syllable of the verb : kelet uderekat, he bought a skin, or
a few skins ; kelet udereket, he bought many skins. (3) The multiplicity or quantity
may be denoted by an adjective qualifying the noun : ranoya lone naratt'an, I saw
many deer ; dinka nekore atan, he has much money (lit. big money) ; &c. This last
process, however, is seldom used except where no one of the foregoing is available.
As the Ten'a noun, separated from the suffix, does not express the accident of
number, when it is used without specification it is always taken to represent the object
signified as it naturally is (singular if it generally is so, plural if it is generally more
than one). Hence it follows that nouns signifying objects which naturally are in
pairs, as eyes, hands, shoes, snow-shoes, &c., unless otherwise specified, are taken ito
mean the pair, not one only. These nouns, therefore, are naturally plural ; and when
only one of the two associated objects is meant the noun has to be singularised, just
as other nouns representing singulars have to be pluralised for plurals. The same
happens with other nouns representing objects that are generally plural. The object
singularised may be one of many or one of two : —
(1) For one of many the numeral " one," ketoke, is used in the form of a
suffix-noun : nenkoroten 'a ketoken, one of the people ; ranoya ket«ke sitto niyo, tse
sakaih ketoken yoko talyo : one of the deer was lost and one of the boys went to
look for it.
(2) For one of two, or of a pair. To designate one of these, excluding the other,
the word kat, one-half of, is used : se nora kat aba nelan, one of my eyes (lit. one-half
of my eyes) is sore ; ne mindaga kat rode ? where is your other mitten ? mo kona kat
kola, he has lost one arm ; &c.
The demonstratives tatsen on this side, yatsen on that side, nitkootsen on both sides,
are often used to specify one of two or both of two objects.
Construction of Nouns.
Ten'a root-nouns are never used in apposition, except, in the upper dialect, the
appellation kana, friend ; kana Henry, friend Henry ; sa kana Iluska, my friend
Iluska. In all other cases suffix-nouns must be used. Thus to say : " chief Paul " or
"Paul the chief," turn "Paul, he who is chief" : Paul toyon nelanen.
Suffix-nouns used in apposition must follow the noun which they qualify ; except
the numerals which may precede, but generally also follow it ; e.g., Paul kukaten,
Paul, the trader (never kukaten Paul} ; nenkoroteri 'a ketoken. or ketoken nenkoroterfa,
one man.
Nouns are placed in continuous construction to express some dependence or
connection between them. The three ordinary relations thus expressed also require the
same construction in English, viz., possession, material, and purpose.
(1) To denote possession, or relations similar to possession, the name of the thing
possessed or dependent follows the name of the possessor or independent term, and takes
[ 24
1909.] MAN. [No. 12.
the emphasizer a, according to the rules stated in the former part of this paper : Paul
yar, Paul's house ; itaa rotta, my father's sled.
When the second or dependent noun is really possessed as property by the first,
it generally takes the possessive article ke : Paul ke teltiidla, Paul's gun. The same
occurs if a very special attribution, though not a real possession, is meant : tena ke
toyona, our chief.
When the second or dependent noun represents a person of kin it takes the
possessive pronoun, even though immediately preceded by its noun : Paul me-to, Paul's
father, lit. Paul his-father ; su-ura me-ten'a, my elder brother's child, lit. my elder
brother his-child. I have adopted the practice of writing a hyphen between those nouns
and the pronoun preceding them, as a warning that the pronoun is not detachable.
When the second or dependent noun represents a part of the body or its whole, the
possessire pronoun may be used before it, at the speaker's option : Paul tte, or Paul me
tte, Paul's head. Some speakers extend this practice to many other nouns, but this is
ridiculed as childish by the best and most correct critics.
When the first or independent noun represents an abstract thing, the second takes
the prefix ro : Yukon rodtela, the Yukon mountains; yudoo rokanaga, the lower
dialect, lit. the language of the down-river region. If this second noun has already
the possessive article ke, the ro is prefixed to this : Nulator roke toyona, the chief
of Nulato.
(2) Nouns are also placed in continuous succession to denote that the second
represents a thing made of the material designated by the first. Thus : teken midoya,
a board canoe ; keh midoya, a birch-bark canoe ; tsobe tlut, an iron tie, i.e., a chain ;
kon tu rain water ; &c.
The words yar, konon, house, are exceptions to this rule because they designate
primarily the space enclosed, not the structure ; they are not of the material, but
within it. So we say : lo'on yi yar, a stone-house, lit. a house in the stones ; teken yi
konon, a log house, lit. in the logs ; &c.
(3) The continuous construction also marks that the second or dependent noun
represents an object used for some purpose signified by the first, as : san konon, sum-
mer house ; korudenihte yar, work shop ; norolun ttok, goggles, lit. glasses for the blink.
Nouns constructed as objects of verbs or prepositions always precede these.
Compound Nouns.
Roots may be associated to form compound nouns. The more common combinations
lire : —
(1) Juxtaposition of two nouns : menkat, lake, from men, swamp and kat, hole ;
ttakat, fire-place ; ttekat, grave, lit. bone-hole ; kaledzuihtla, toes, lit. foot-fingers.
(2) Association of a noun and preposition : kiitken, base of the neck (kiit) ;
kattora, sole of the foot ; yobara, horizon, lit. edge of the sky ; tobana, beach, lit.,
border of the water ; dzannidzet, midday ; kettitnidzet, midnight ; dzandotokot, week,
i.e., between the days ; &c.
(3) Suppression of the variable pronoun-part in verb, thus leaving a word composed
of the prefixes and root of the verb, and used as an abstract noun (i.e., representing the
abstract idea, but belonging to the concrete gender). Thus, from —
so-degetsih, I rejoice ; sotsih, joy.
su-dego'ot, I play ; su'ot, play.
rogenek, I tell ; ronek, news, report.
ko-nesenih, I work ; kolnih, work, job.
yetkoih, it dawns ; yekoih, light.
mu-utaleqeyon, I am armed ; mu-utayona, weapon.
J. JETTE.
Nos. 13-14.] MAN. [1909.
Burma. Brown.
Cheating Death. By R. Grant Brown. 4O
My Burman servant has just told me of a practice which he says is very lU
common in Burma, but which is hardly exceeded in childlike simplicity by the customs
of the most primitive savages. It is illustrated in the following account of a
ceremony at which he was present.
A few years ago his sister's husband, a Government surveyor, lost a brother at
Dabein in the Pegu district. A younger brother was taken ill at. the same time.
Some days after the death of the young man his mother dreamt that she saw him
leaving the house with the boy on his back. It was then decided that no ordinary
treatment could save the child, and that an attempt must be made to cheat the King
of Death. The boy's body was carefully measured and a bamboo cut to the exact
length. His hair, finger-nails, and toe-nails were cut and the pieces placed in the
bamboo, which was then covered with his clothing and lifted by two persons, one
taking each end, into a coffin amid silent manifestations of grief and whisperings that
the child was dead. The boy was in the room, and it was necessary, of course, to
act without his knowledge. The coffin was nailed down and carried to the cemetery
followed by a procession of mourners, who repeated again and again that the child
was dead. Passers-by who were not in the secret took the funeral for a real one.
At the cemetery a monk was in attendance, and preached the usual sermon and
offered up the usual prayers for the soul of the dead boy, .while a layman let water
fall in drops from a cup. Those present were then called upon for the usual cheers
(thadu, thadu\ and the coffin was lowered into a grave which had been prepared and
covered with earth. All this was of no avail. When the mourners reached home
the child was dead. R. GRANT BROWN.
REVIEWS.
Australia, Central. Strehlow.
Die Aranda und Loritja-Stdmme in Zentral-Australien. By C. Strehlow. 41
Veroffentlichuugen aus dem Stadtischen Volker-Museum, Frankfurt am ITT
Main. 2 vols. Frankfurt : Baer, 1907 and 1908. Pp. Teil i, 104 ; Teil ii, 84.
28x22 cm.
Anthropologists owe much gratitude to Baron von Leonhardi, who has induced
the Rev. Mr. Strehlow to write down his lore about the Arauda (Arunta) and
Loritja (Luritja) tribes, and has annotated the text. Mr. Strehlow worked as a
missionary among the Dieri (1892-95), and since 1895 has studied the Arunta, his
base being Hermannsburg on the Finke river. He is master of the Arunta and Loritja
tongues, which gives him a great advantage over Europeans Avho communicate with
the natives in pidgin-English, or through an interpreter. He has dwelt long with his
people ; he is not a mere visitor. On the other hand, his best informants are clothed
(at least the men, when they are photographed), while the Arunta of Messrs. Spencer
and Gillen offer us the truth naked. Again, many of Mr. Strehlow's men are Christian
catechumens, while, as he is a missionary, he cannot in honour patronise by his
presence the initiatory and other secret rites. But I am also in honour bound to say
that Mr. Strehlow appears to give the truth, as far as he knows it, candidly and
without prejudice. If he speaks of a " Himmelsgott " among his tribes, a " Supreme
• Being," and says that the Arunta " have raised their own fathers to the rank of
gods" (as Mr. Hartland reports in Transactions of the. Oxford Congress, Vol. I, p. 23),
I take these terms as merely showing how Mr. Strehlow himself envisages the native
beliefs. Probably they have no term answering to our " God," but as Mr. Tylor
[ 26 ]
1909,] MAN. [No, 14,
writes that " great gods make their appearance .... wherever a savage or
" barbaric system of religion is thoroughly described," Mr. Strehlow, in his use of
the word " gods," follows the example of a very cautious student (Primitive Culture,
Vol. II, p. 248). For my part I would now write, in place of " Supreme Being,"
" superior being," and in place of " God," or " god " — in Australian religion — would
put " all father." This terminology, I hope, can give no offence to the most sensitive
mind.
In Arunta tradition Mr. Strehlow finds " a highest good being " (mara being the
Arunta for " good ") named Altjira. He is " eternal " (in Arunta ngambukald) ; the
term is clearly the uvgambikala of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen. They render the word
" self-existing, or made out of nothing," and apply it to two beings who came out
of the western sky, Alkira aldorla (Native Tribes of Central Australia, p. 388).
Whether their Alkira, " sky," is connected with Mr. Strehlow's Altjira, the superior
being, who lives in the sky (alkira}, I know not.
Altjira is a huge red-haired man with emu feet, his wives (tueera, " the fair
ones ") have dog's feet : his many sons take after him, in feet ; his daughters take after
their mothers. The emu feet remind us of " the Great Ulthaana of the Heavens,
alkirra," whom Mr. Gillen found among the Arunta. Ulthaana has emu feet ; his name
means " Spirit," he is monogamous. The capital letters are Mr. Gillen's, not mine, by
the way (Gillen, Horn Expedition, Vol. IV, p. 183). I can hardly doubt that
Mr. Gillen came across a variant of the belief described by Mr. Strehlow. The land
of his Altjira, above the sky, is a paradise with plenty of water, fruits, birds, and
beasts ; the stars are Altjira's camp fires. Altjira is " the good God " of the Aruntas
known to both men and women ; he neither made nor troubles himself about men.
The Arunta neither fear nor love him. In that case it is not apparent how Altjira
can be called " the good God," but " good " (mara) he is styled. He is a powerful,
uncreated being above, with grotesque attributes ; we may infer that, as uncreated, he
is understood to be eternal, but that is only an inference.
When we compare Mr. Strehlow's account of what the native tradition is, and lay
aside his way of envisaging it — that Altjira is an eternal god— we probably understand
the facts. Altjira is much the same sort of sky-dweller as Mr. Gillen's Great Ulthaana,
or Spirit, of the Heavens. He takes even less interest in men than does the Atnatu
found by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen among the Kaitish. It is true that Messrs.
Spencer and Gillen found no sky-dweller among the Arunta, but Mr. Gillen, alone,
was more successful. It cannot well be argued that Mr. Gillen came across Aruntas
contaminated by Christian teaching, for an otiose emu-footed being, even though
styled "good," "has no certain warrant in holy writ, but is rather repugnant to
the word of God." I am therefore left to suppose either that the Arunta of Messrs.
Spencer and Gillen had a sky-dweller and lost him, or that the Arunta of Mr. Gillen
and Mr. Strehlow have advanced to the idea of a sky-dweller, while the other Arunta
have not.
Whether the Baiame of the Euahlayi and Kamilaroi is a revised, corrected, and
considerably augmented edition of Altjira, or whether Altjira is an obliterated and
obsolescent Baiame, every one will decide in accordance with his prepossessions ; or,
in Mr. Hartland's phrase, according to " the axe he has to grind." At this moment I
see but slight proof of either opinion ; still I do see a new point.
Mr. Strehlow introduces, as what he calls " totem gods," certain Altjiranga-
mitjina, " eternal and uncreated," or Inkara (deathless) beings, who, when all the
world was water, lived on emerging peaks. Finding nothing to eat they went up and
poached in Altjira's country. Meanwhile plenty of undeveloped human forms lay near
the rocks below. When Altjira forbade the Altjirangamitjina to poach in his preserves,
one of them took a stick and smote the water, saying, " Get out ! " The waters
No. 14,] MAN. [19C9,
withdrew, and plenty of Altjirangamitjina, who had been living underground, emerged.
These were mostly in human shape, and magically endowed ; they would, and did,
take bestial shapes, and every man now has his iningukua, that is, if his totem be the
kangaru, the altjirangamitjina, who is, as it were, the ideal kangaru, is his guardian
and protector. His mother's altjirangamitjina is called alijira " for short." These
creatures of long name appear to be a variant of the Alcheringa folk of Messrs.
Spencer and Gillen. All use of the term, " totem gods," causes confusion ; Mr. Tylor
has tried the term " species-deities." The souls of the A. J. (for short) live under
earth, or are connected with churinga, at certain localities like the Oknanikilla of
Messrs. Spencer and Gillen.
Mr. Hartland says that, according to Mr. Strehlow, "the Arunta have raised their
" own forefathers to the rank of gods." But I do not see that these beings are
forefathers, or ancestors, of men ; or that they are gods. To call them " totem gods "
is only Mr. Strehlow's way of speaking. Take the story of " the divine kangaru,"
which Mr. Strehlow gives in Arunta, with an interlineal translation. All philologists
must thank him for what no other man has given us, several Arunta texts. But the
kangaru of the story has nothing " divine " in our sense ; he is only an Alcheringa
kangaru, not a god, in any accepted sense of the word.
The Tukura of the Loritja is much like the Altjira of the Arunta. He, too, has emu
feet, but he is monogamous, and Mr. Strehlow surmises that Mr. Gillen picked up rather
a Loritja than an Arunta myth in the case of the sky-dweller. Like Atnatu, among
the Kaitish, Tukura patronises ceremonial rites ; Altjira does not.
Another paper would be needed for the consideration of Mr. Strehlow's chapter on
the totemic ideas of the Arunta and Loritja. If I rightly understand him to mean
that the " totem gods " (as he calls them) prosper the work done by men in the magical
ceremonies for the propagation of the totem species, animal and vegetable, still I do
not think that they better deserve the name of gods than do the Mura Mura of the
Dieri. The Mura Mura are appealed to, and ceremonies are done, when rain is
needed (Howitt, Native Tribes of South-East Australia, pp. 395, 396). They are
" supplicated," and supplications are prayers. The Mura Mura are at least as much
" gods " as the Loritja " totem gods."
The work of Mr. Strehlow seems to me essentially scholarly. He has taken great
pains in collecting and sifting evidence ; he has given us our first Loritja as well as
our first Arunta texts ; which is not much to the credit of English scholarship. His
photographs and his designs of native decorative patterns are excellent. If I do not
approve of his terminology — " god," " totem god " — it is because such words may be
attributed to bias on his part, as a missionary or as a theorist ; and we more and more
perceive the need of extreme caution. I, myself, believe that even Tukura and Altjira
are the germs, in savage thought, of the highest of all religious conceptions, while the
Altjirangamitjina may, under favourable circumstances, develop, on one side, into
the Olympians of Homer ; on the other into the Ideas of Plato. In any case, even if
some of Mr. Strehlow's terms may mislead, his narrative enables us to correct possible
misconceptions. No one should henceforth write on Mr. Strehlow's tribes who has
not mastered his valuable volumes.
I do not wish to be understood to mean that Mr. Strehlow enables us to correct
the work of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen. It is certain, I think, that Mr. Strehlow
and they never consulted the same informants. Only a few miles may have lain
between these regions, but variety, not orthodoxy, is the characteristic of myth, and
the English and German students may have come across variants. A. LANG
C 28 ]
1909.]
Scotland : Pigmentation.
MAN.
[No. 15.
Tocher.
Pigmentation Survey of School -children in Scotland. By J. F. Tocher, JC
B.Sc. (From Biometrika, Vol. VI., pp. 130-235, and Appendix of Tables lU
(pp. 67) ; 19 diagrams and 78 maps.) Cambridge : University Press, 1908. 28 x 20 cm.
The publication of this memoir by Mr. Tocher, following that by Mr. Gray in
the last volume of the Journal of the Institute (XXXVII, pp. 375-400), marks the
practical completion of the really magnificent survey of school-children in Scotland
carried out, by the voluntary assistance of the teachers, under the direction of a committee
consisting of Sir William Turner, Professor R. W. Reid, Mr. Gray, and Mr. Tocher.
How freely the aid of the teachers was given may be judged from the fact that data
were obtained for 502,155 children out of, we gather, a maximum possible of some
646,000, the lists of names and schools of the co-operating teachers occupying over
twenty-two pages of the Appendix. The main burden of the clerical work, the
forwarding and receipt of the schedules, and the reduction of the data, fell on the
shoulders of Mr. Tocher, with the assistance of a small staff, and he has fairly earned
the thanks of all anthropologists for this persevering labour. Their gratitude is no
less due to the committee for the careful and prolonged consideration that must have
been given to the organisation of the work.
As the present memoir includes some late returns, received after the completion
of the tables on which Mr. Gray's memoir is based, the general summary of the results
may perhaps be reproduced. It is based on observations of 257,766 boys and 244,389
girls between six and eighteen years of age.
HAIR-COLOUR. — PERCENT A<;E DISTRIBUTION.
Fair.
Red.
Medium.
Dark.
Jet Black.
Boys ...
24-95
5-49
43-28
25-03
1-25
Girls -
27-43
5-09
40-87
25-40
1-22
EYE-COLOUR. — PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION.
Blue.
Light.
Medium.
Dark.
Boys -
14 -6<5
30-31
32-72
22-31
Girls ... u-87
30-31
32 -OC,
22-76
The distribution of eye colours in the two sexes is, it will be seen, about the same,
but there are curious differences in the case of hair-colour. Mr. Tocher suggests that
this may be due to the earlier darkening of the hair in boys, the development of the
pigmentation being possibly stimulated by hair-cutting, or merely to differences in
judgment caused by the greater mass of hair in girls and variation in tint from the
root to the tip of the hair. The statistics have not yet been classified by age-groups,
so the first hypothesis cannot be tested. It is also possible that there may be some
difference in the average age of the two sexes.
The local distribution of pigmentation is, in certain cases, very well marked. An
excess of blue eyes and, with some exceptions, of fair hair, occurs mostly in the north
and north-east of Scotland ; of blue eyes in conjunction with dark or jet-black hair in
the western Gaelic-speaking counties. In the case of red hair the only region in which
there is a noteworthy excess is Banff and Aberdeen.
[ 29 ]
No. 15.] MAN. [1909.
Densely-populated districts generally show a slight excess of medium hair, e.g.,
47' 15 per cent, at Govan, 45*4 per cent, at Leith and Dundee, 45' 3 per cent, at Glasgow
for boys, as compared with 43 • 3 per cent, for the coilntry as a whole. The possible
reasons for this are discussed by Mr. Tocher in a special section. The hypothesis that
it may be due to an excess of the medium-haired amongst the immigrants into towns is
rejected, for reasons which we refer to again below, and three possibilities are then
discussed : (a) Darkening of the hair may occur earlier in towns. (6) The medium
class may be the most fertile, (c) The excess may be due to the blending of fair and
dark, and the greater prevalence of random mating in towns. The first theory is at
present, as Mr. Tocher admits, purely hypothetical. The second he supports by showing
that there is a considerable positive correlation between the number of births per family
and the percentage of medium-haired in the divisions of Scotland, and concludes that
" the medium-haired, medium-eyed, and populous lower classes are more fertile than the
" remaining population, and this factor is probably operating in favour of producing
" distinct excess of these classes in the more densely populated areas of Scotland
" where they are found" (p. 192). This argument does not, however, seem very strong,
for surely if it is desired to know whether any one class tends to increase more rapidly
than another, a measure of true fertility, such as Mr. Tocher has attempted to obtain,
is not required, but merely the difference between the crude birth-rate and the crude
death-rate. A correlation of such increase-rates with pigmentation data would throw
more light on the question at issue than a correlation of fertilities, though any
conclusion would have to be accepted with reserve in view of the complexity of the
factors. If Mr. Tocher is right in associating medium hair with the lower classes, his
conclusion is very probably right although unproven, as the increase-rates of the lower
classes are generally above those of the population at large. The question of death
rates is, however, quite as important as that of fertility, and Mr. Tocher makes no
reference to Dr. Shrubsall's important conclusion that urban life tells most heavily on
the blonde type (British Medical Journal, Dec. 1904), and hence would tend to create
an excess of medium and possibly of dark.
The third theory, as to blending, appears almost as hypothetical as the first.
Nothing is really known at present as to the mode of inheritance of hair-colour in
man, but, as Mr. Tocher states, " the proof or otherwise of the validity of the theory
" will be forthcoming when the results of direct observation on parents and offspring
" have been made, tabulated, and analysed." While it seems to us that the excess of
medium-haired in urban districts is probably mainly due to selective death-rate, as indi-
cated by Dr. Shrubsall's work, we venture to think that the idea that part of such excess
may be due to what may be termed " selective immigration " is worth more investigation.
" If there was any special force," Mr. Tocher says, " tending to send medium-haired
" and dark-eyed persons in from the country to towns that would explain the excess.
" But no such force is known to exist." Certainly, but it appears most improbable
that if pigmentation has a real significance as regards race, it should have no
significance as regards temperament and the consequent attractiveness of town life.
The data that he adduces to show that none of the populations from whom external
immigrants are drawn exhibit an excess of the medium class do not entirely meet the
point, and although we note his statement (p. 191) to the effect that "it has been
proved " that neither foreign immigrants nor immigrants from rural districts at home
can explain the excess of medium hair, we have failed to find the proof respecting
the latter class. The whole of Mr. Tocher's discussion is, however, somewhat lengthy,
and the reader should in fairness refer to the original. We have noticed the point
at some length, as the problems connected with the influence of town life are of
high sociological importance. Mr. Tocher's detailed discussion of the distribution
[ 30 ]
1909.] MAN. [No, 15.
of pigmentation in Glasgow, to which we can only refer, is also of great interest in
this connection.
In so voluminous a memoir there are naturally many points on which a reviewer
may differ from the author or desire further information, but we propose to refer to two
only, which are somewhat fundamental. In the first place, the value of pigmentation
data, such as are obtained from this survey, depends primarily on the definiteness of the
colour classes and the consistence of the observers. On this head the information is by
no means so full as might be desired. The use of samples or colour cards was found to
be impossible, and the observers, as in most previous surveys, had to depend on verbal
instructions. The results obtained in certain cases, we are not told how many, from the
written instructions, were compared with those obtained from the use of samples, and
" It was found that both sets of figures closely agreed, and the results were therefore
" considered very satisfactory" (p. 134). But these results, which were so very
satisfactory and on which the exact weight to be attached to many of the conclusions
of the memoir is entirely dependent, are not given. Mr. Tocher may not attach so much
importance as the present writer to the variations of personal equation in the naming
of colours, but the omission of these data is neither courteous to the reader nor fair to
himself ; the sceptic will not be reassured by Mr. Tocher's recent controversy with
Dr. Beddoe (MAX, 1907, 48, 82), and will note that observers have to judge when a
hair-colour approaches " more to red than to brown or flaxen," have to distinguish
between " very light brown " (which is fair) and " brownish " (which is medium),
between " chestnut-brown " and " dark brown," and between " black " and "jet black,"
and in the case of eye-colour between a " light blue " and a " deep or pure blue,"
between " light grey " (which is light) and " grey " (which is medium), between
" very light hazel " and " hazel-brown."
The sceptic will also note the alleged change in the pigmentation of school-
children in East Aberdeenshire between 1896 and 1903, and the fact that " the first
" survey had a wider range of medium and a slightly wider range of red " (p. 219).
It is to be hoped that Mr. Tocher will take the opportunity that will be afforded by
the further publications that are promised, to give much fuller information on this
head. The magnitude of errors of observation is of importance, in the first place
because the differences observed between small samples of a population do not depend
only on pure fluctuations of sampling as calculated by the theory of error, but also on
the differences between observers. Mr. Tocher is, of course, fully aware of this, but he
hardly appears to attach sufficient importance to the possible results.
The second criticism that we have to offer relates to the methods adopted in the
present memoir for the treatment of the data. In the first place, with all respect,
we venture to suggest that they are, within limits, misleading. The point is this :
that when writing of the difference between any one district and, say, the whole of
Scotland, Mr. Tocher is never considering the difference between the figures that have
actually been observed, but merely the chance that the observed difference might have
occurred as a simple fluctuation of sampling. The result is that when writing of a
large and populous city, like Glasgow, a comparatively small difference is spoken of
as if it were enormous, whereas precisely the same difference, in a smaller district,
would be spoken of as small. To the reader who fully realises the method, and the
strict meaning of the result, this may be all right ; but to the physical anthropo-
logist who is not skilled in modern statistical methods, and takes Mr. Tocher's words
in their literal meaning, it is most misleading. It may be as 'well to enforce the
point by an illustration. " It has been shown," says Mr. Tocher (p. 200), " from
the results of the present analysis that the great western city diverges in an extreme
degree " (my italics) " from the rest of Scotland, not only in the distribution of hair-
[ 31 ]
No. 15.]
MAN.
[1909.
" colour of its school population, but also in the distribution of eye-colour, both for
" boys and girls." These are the figures for eye-colour in boys : —
EYE-COLOUR. — PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION : BOYS.
—
Blue.
Light.
Medium.
Dark.
Glasgow ....
11-09
30-57
33-78
24-36
All Scotland •
14-66
30-31
32-72
22-31
If the difference between Glasgow and the rest of Scotland is " divergence in an
extreme degree," what superlative phrase, the ordinary anthropologist may well ask, is
left to describe the difference between the latter and the " children with foreign sur-
names" in the Adelphi Terrace School, Glasgow ?
EYE-COLOUR. — PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION : BOTH SEXES.
Blue.
Light.
Medium.
Dark.
Children with foreign sur-
names, Adelphi Terrace.
All Scotland
1-71
14-76
17-71
30-31
18-86
32-40
61-71
22-53
The phrase " extreme divergence " as applied to Glasgow is, indeed, almost absurd,
as Mr. Tocher may, perhaps, admit if he will consider the results of a rigid application
of the same method to statistics of stature. On the same principle he might speak of a
difference in average stature between two populations of only 0'05 inches as "an
enormous difference in stature," provided only that the (measured) populations were
1,000,000 each. In such a case as that of Nature he would probably give, in the first
place, the mean statures and their probable errors, or the differences between mean
statures and their probable errors, as the most important data. Why should not
pigmentation data be treated similarly ? Why should only relative figures be given ?
The exclusive use of the method of classifying differences, not according to their
magnitude but solely according to their significance, seems, indeed, very difficult to
defend, and it is used as a principal when it should be a subsidiary method. The
difference is what the anthropologist wants to know, and for that he must refer to
the tables of the appendix ; a possible interpretation of that difference is all that
Mr. Tocher's '"relative local differences," classifications into megalo-, meso-, and
micro-metropic, and "divergencies" will give him. If districts did not vary much in
size (numbers), Mr. Tocher's measures would afford fairly close indications of the
absolute differences, but unfortunately they vary largely. If the absolute figures
instead of the" relative local differences" and so forth had only been made the basis
of the work, the memoir might not only have been made much more comprehensible
— and surely perspicuity is one of the principal virtues to be attained in a Report of
the present type — but would really have been even more valuable. It is unfortunate
that an anthropologist of the older school, wishing to make himself acquainted
with the results of this survey, which has no parallel in the British Isles, should
arrive, after the first few pages only, at such a section as Mr. Tocher's Section (5)
concerning "hypergeometrical series, leptokurtosis, and other technical mysteries, and it,
is to he feared that he will merely drop the rest of the memoir and proceed to the
Appendix. Might not some of the fundamental simplicity of the Appendix have been
imported into the memoir, and some of the greater abstrusities (the word is not in the
dictionary, but is more comprehensible than leptokurtosis, which is not there either)
have been relegated to the Appendix ? G. U. Y.
Printed by EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE, LTD., His Majesty s Printers. East Harding Street, K.C.
Pl.ATR C.
MAN, 1909.
CANOE ORNAMENTS FROM S.E. BRITISH NEW GUINEA.
1909.] MAN. [No. 16.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
New Guinea. With Plate O. Selig-mann.
A Type of Canoe Ornament with Magical Significance from 40
South-eastern British New Guinea. By C. G. Seligmann, M.D. ID
It has long been known that the large built-up canoes (waga) of South-eastern
British New Guinea are elaborately decorated, and, though I have for some time
suspected magical significance for much of this decoration, I have only recently received
convincing evidence of this.
The ornaments in question are the wooden carvings, examples of which are shown
in Plate C, and which upon Murua are called munkuris. Before describing these
munkuris I may briefly refer to other ornamentations on the canoes to which a magical
significance may, perhaps, be attributed. The fish carved upon the sides of the waga
(which were not usually regarded as totem fish) were sometimes said to have been
carved in order that the canoe might travel swiftly, and although this was more often
denied than asserted it seems reasonable to believe that their presence may have, or
once have had, magical efficacy. On the other hand, the large white cowrie shells with
which the carvings at the two ends of the waga are commonly decorated never appeared
to have any magical import. The same applies to the carvings themselves, although
the fact that hirds, some of which may be totems, are represented upon these carvings
suggested a magical purpose. Beyond the facts that the natives of Murua were not
eager to part with the munkuris carvings, and that on several occasions they absolutely
refused to remove these carvings from canoes which were at anchor, although a
tempting price was offered, no clue was obtained to suggest that these munkuris were
of special significance until I recently had the opportunity of discussing the matter
with Captain F. R. Barton, until lately Administrator of British New Guinea. Captain
Barton told me that, when at Misima in the Louisiade Archipelago, he met with three
or four Murua canoes bearing munkuris carvings. He tried to buy one of these and
offered a large price for it, but the crew of the canoe, although obviously anxious to
sell the carving, said that they could not do this as there was no one there who could
carve another that night to serve as substitute, and without the munkuris they might
experience all sorts of difficulties during their return voyage to Murua.*
It is clear that the munkuris has a magical efficacy, and, being recently engaged
in writing on the subject of totemism in South-eastern British New Guinea, it seemed
possible that I might obtain information on this subject from an examination of the
series of munkuris collected by the Daniels' Expedition, and now in the British
Museum. As regards the provenance of these, I believe that they were all made upon
Murua, though one of the specimens was obtained upon Iwa, and the label on another
has perished, so that there is now no direct evidence as to where it was collected.
There are other munkuris in the national collection, but I have limited myself
to those collected by the expedition upon Murua, since I was able to obtain the
meaning of the carving of these from natives of Murua within a short time of their
collection. All these munkuris show carving with typical bird designs.
No. 1 may be regarded as a typical munkuris^ its base is formed by the conjoined
bodies of two long-beaked birds which represent the reef heron (boi), the wings of these
two birds coalesce to form an oval black intaglio area, which represents a fish called
asiwan, said to live in mangrove swamps. The paired red (outer) and black (inner)
intaglio areas, curved like commas, which spring on each side from the tips of the
beaks of the two reef herons, represent the curve of the nautilus shell (ovagoro\
* A figure of a waga, showing the munkuris in position above the carved prow ornament
decorated with cowrie shells, is given in a paper by Seligmann and Strong, on p. 237 of the
Geographical Journal for 1906 (Vol. XX.VI1). The details of the carving of the munkuru are not
visible, but it will be recognised by the two streamers of dried palm leaf attached to it.
[ 33 ]
No. 16.] MAN. [1909.
as do the other much less strongly curved red intaglio areas above and below the
comma-shaped intaglio. The bird's head derivatives below the highest nautilus iutaglio
represent the heads of a bird called weku, and this also applies to the pierced scrolls
immediately above the lowest intaglio, supported on the head of the two reef herons.
I could not ascertain the names of the three birds which form the highest part of this
munkuris, but it is to be noted that one of these has a head at each end of its body.
No. 3 is to be explained in the same way as the last with the following exceptions.
The large intaglio area between the two heads of the supporting reef herons was stated
to represent kwit, apparently a cephalopod, the tentacles of which are not represented
in the carving. The two projections at the top corners of this carving are the
degenerate remains of the neck of a long-necked shore bird, the same being represented
in No. 1 by the small rounded projections beneath the bodies of the two outer birds
represented at its summit.
No. 5 is an interesting variant carved at Modau upon Murua, a village apparently
known for the excellence of its canoes and the beauty of its canoe carvings. The
bird supporting the whole ornament is again the reef heron and the black intaglio
forming its wing represents the fish asiwan. The three birds at the top of this orna-
ment were all called makarakea, the name for a tern ; on pointing out that terns have
not crests as the two outer birds have, my informant replied that they were never-
theless makarakea, and refused to consider my suggestion that they were, in fact,
cockatoos or cocks ; the other parts of the carving are to be explained in the same way
as the carving of No. 1.
The last munkuris (No. 10) to be figured is of a somewhat different type, all three
birds represent the cockatoo, and my attention was especially drawn to their crests.
The significance of the lines lightly carved on the flat areas beneath the highest
cockatoos could not be determined, the lines were called ginigin, the rows of scrolls
beneath the central cockatoo are obviously all derived from birds' heads, but were
given no special names. This munkuris was said to have been carved at Ruwadog,
near Suloga.
In conclusion, I may point out that although the reef heron and the cockatoo are
both totem birds, there is no evidence that makarakea is a totem, and I could hear of
no crested totem bird other than the cockatoo. Asiwan and kwit are certainly not
totems in that part of Murua in which these carvings were obtained, nor is ovagoro, the
nautilus, either upon Murua or over the much wider area of the Massim district in
which it occurs as a decorative motif. It would appear, therefore, that at the present
day the magical efficacy of these carvings is not attributed directly to the influence as
totems of the birds represented upon them, and perhaps the predominance of the reef
heron is to be explained by the ease with which this bird skims over the crests of
the Avaves.
Although this exhausts the main facts concerning the ornamentation of these
munkuris with which I am acquainted, the following short notes on the remaining
six specimens are added, since these will be on exhibition shortly in the Ethnographical
Gallery at the British Museum.
No. 2 resembles No. 1 in general character, but the necks and heads of the birds,
which are represented by mere circular excrescences in No. 1, are obvious bird heads
in this hpecimen.
No. 4. This munkuris was made at Modau and closely resembles No. 5. The
paired birds at the top, although crested, were called makarakea. The red and black
intaglio areas were called marak and kon, which appear to be the names for red and
black respectively.
No. 6 resembles No. 1 in general characters. There are the remains of three birds
at the top of this ornament, but only enough of one is left to call for anv remark. This,
[ 34 ]
1909,] MAN. [Nos. 16-17.
which is one of the outer of three birds originally present, has been shifted through
90 degrees from its ordinary horizontal position, so that it stands on its head. It was
uncertain whether or not this bird represented the reef heron.
No. 7, which is very highly conventionalised and particularly well carved, was
obtained on Iwa in the Marshall Benuet group.
No. 8 almost certainly comes from Murua, though, as its label has perished, this is
uncertain. The tails of the two birds facing in opposite directions at its top, touch and
seem to indicate the process by which the bodies of the two reef herons, which so often
form the supporters of the rest of the carving, have become fused.
No. 9. This was carved by a boy from a village called Gossop. The pierced
scroll bird derivatives were called by the name susawir, which appears to be a term
conveying some such general meaning as carved scroll or ornamental carving. In
general type this munkuris resembles No. 10, but only a portion of the plain wooden
areas at the top of each limb of the crescent, which forms the main part of the ornament,
is carved on one side ; the carving on the opposite surface was said to represent the
fish asiwan. C. G. SELIGMANN.
England : Physical Anthropology. Mortimer.
The Stature and Cephalic Index of the Prehistoric Men whose 4*7
Remains are preserved in the Mortimer Museum, Driffield. /;// If
J. R. Mortimer.
The remains fall into three groups : (a) those of the late Neolithic or early
Bronze Age ; (6) those of the early Iron Age ; (c) those of the Anglo-Saxon Period.
The remains are all from an area of about 80 square miles on the midwolds of
Yorkshire. The cephalic indices were estimated by Dr. W. Wright, Dr. Garson, and
myself. The measurements of the femora were taken in situ by myself.
(a) This series comprises 101 skulls, 34 being long, 28 short, and 39 of an inter-
mediate shape. Of the 34 dolichocephalic individuals, 28 give an average femoral
length of 18 ins., and a computed stature according to Beddoe's rule* of 5 ft. 7 ins.
Of the 28 brachycephalic individuals, 25 give a mean femoral length of 17 '7 ins., or a
stature slightly higher than 5 ft. 6 ins. Thirty -five of the 39 mesaticephalic individuals
had a femoral length of 17 '65 ins., or a stature slightly lower than 5 ft. 6 ins.
It will thus be seen that the long-headed members of the community had the
advantage in stature to the extent of one inch. This is contrary to what has been
found in other parts of the country. Dr. Thurnam, for instance, as a result of an
examination of the remains in the south of England, gives 5 ft. 6 ins. as the stature
of the dolichocephalic individuals, 5 ft. 9 ins. as that of the brachycephalic.
The cephalic indices of ten skulls are given by Professor Rolleston in Greenwell's
British Barrows. Of these skulls five are long and five are short. Of the five
long-headed individuals only the stature of two is given, it is 5 ft. 9 ins. and 4 ft. 8 ins.
Of the five round-headed individuals the stature of four is given — 5 ft. 8 ins., 5 ft. 1 in.,
5 ft. 7 ins., and 5 ft. 9 ins. The series is so small as to have little weight one way
or the other.
(i) The remains attributable to the early Iron Age mainly are from the Danes'
graves, Driffield. They comprise 53 skulls, of which 37 are dolichocephalic, 2 brachy-
cephalic and 14 mesaticephalic. Of the 37 long-headed individuals the mean femoral
length of 28 is 17*2 ins., with a computed stature of 5 ft. 4 '6 ins. ; the femoral length
of the brachycephalic examples is 17 ins., with a computed stature of 5 ft. 4 ins., whilst
that of 11 mesaticephalic individuals is as much as 17 '33 ins., with a stature of
5 ft. 5 ins. The cephalic indices and stature of 11 other individuals from these graves,
whose remains are in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, have recently
* Journal of tlie Anthropological Institute, Vol. XVII.
L 35 ]
Nos. 17-18.] MAN. [1909.
been published by Dr. William Wright.* He found 7 dolichocephalic with a mean
femoral length of 42 * 4 cm. and a stature of 5 ft. 3 ins., 1 brachycephalic with a
femoral length of 41 • 1 cm., and a stature of 5 ft., and 3 mesaticephalic with a mean
femoral length of 42 • 8 cm. and a stature of 5 f t. 3 • 5 ins. Dr. Wright's series
therefore agrees with mine in showing that the mesaticephalic individuals had a slight
advantage in stature while the brachycephalic member was distinctly short.
(c) The Anglo-Saxon remains were obtained from five cemeteries at Sledmere
Stoop, at Garton Station, at the south end of Great Driffield, the Meadows, Driffield,
and at Acklam. With the exception of the first all were rich in relics. In addition
to the above a few isolated Anglo-Saxon graves have yielded remains. The series
comprises 61 measurable crania, 31 dolichocephalic, 7 brachycephalic, and 23 mesati-
cephalic. Twenty of the dolichocephalic individuals have a mean stature of 5 ft.
5T7T ins.,"j" the 7 brachycephalic examples had a mean stature of 5 ft. 4TXT ins., while
15 of the mesaticephalic members had a mean stature of 5 ft. 3-^- ins. These
measurements show that the long-headed persons were taller than those with short
heads by more than an inch. J. R. MORTIMER.
New Zealand. Edge-Partington.
Maori Burial Chests. (Atamira or Tupa-Pakau. By J. Edge- 4Q
Par ting ton. I U
By the kindness of Mr. Alexander Turnbull of Wellington, New Zealand, I am
able to reproduce a photograph of his collection of Maori burial chests (wooden) for
containing the bones of deceased chiefs. Owing to the secrecy attached to their
disposal and to the tabu which surrounded the last resting place of the dead, these
chests are of extreme rarity, there being no specimen, as far as I know, in this
country. There are specimens both in the Dominion Museum, Wellington, in the
Auckland Museum, and in the Melbourne Museum, figured in the Album, Third Series,
Plate 156. Hamilton, in Maori Art, figures one (p. 158) in his collection, which was
found in a cave near Auckland, with the one in Melbourne. In Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic,
Vol. 37, p. 971, Herr Baessler describes and figures those in the Auckland Museum.
He says they were made of pine, and were accidentally discovered in a cave at
Waimamaku, near Hokianga, north of Auckland. When found those figured on
plates x and xii were leaning in a semi-upright position against the back wall, those
on plate xii and the covers figured in the text rested in a similar position on the two
sides of the entrance to the cave ; with them were found remains of skeletons which
had evidently fallen out of the chests owing to the lids coming off". These lids,
had been fastened by means of four holes corresponding to the four holes in the sides
of the chests, one at each corner. The chests were in such a good state of preser-
vation that it is evident they were not used at the first burial, but for the bones of
the deceased which, after being dug up and cleaned, were deposited in them for their
final interment. The covers only of these particular chests were smeared with red-ochre
(Kokowai). Mr. Cheeseman, the Director of the Auckland Museum, is of opinion that
these chests are over 200 years old.
Mr. Turnbull gives the following description of those in his collection : " The
" chests are hollowed at the back and have evidently been fitted with lids, because the
" holes are still visible in the sides where the pegs or flax fastenings were inserted for
" tying them on. There are several peculiarities to be observed in my set. In every
" specimen there is the same ' wing '-like carving at the sides with three undoubted
** claws — not fingers — and in No. 3 there are web feet, giving the impression that the
" carvings all represent birds. In Nos. 2 and 3 the tongues have serrated edges, and
" Nos. 2, 3, and 4 have the ears pierced. No. 1 has a ' heru ' or comb, and two of the
* Arclueoloffia, Vol. LX., pp. 251-322. -f Estimated by Thane's formula in Quain's Anatomy.
[ 36 ]
1909.]
MAN.
[Nos. 18-19.
" four claws are inserted in the mouth. No. 3 has a very curious carved neck ornament,
" the like of which I have never seen. Nos. 2 and 3 have each a blind right eye.
" The carvings are clearly of varying ages, and instinct leads me to place them in order
"^of time as follows, beginning with the oldest : — four, six, two, three, one, five. No. 6
" is 18 inches high, and this will give the relative sizes of the others. The larger
*' chests might hold the entire skeleton of an adult, but the smaller ones certainly
" would not ; and No. 6, the smallest, would not take the bones of an infant, still it
" had a lid at one time and was for holding something. Captain G. Mair says it
" was for the placenta. Some of the chests have been painted with red ochre."
" It is" surprising what a small amount of information can be obtained about these
" chests, and I can find no myth or legend that would explain the bird-like carvings of
" the bodies." J. EDGE-PARTINGTON.
Dundas.
19
Africa, East.
Kikuyu Calendar. />'// Hon. A. /»'. Dundas.
The Kikuyu divide the year into two seasons as under : —
1. Kimera kya Mweli : July to January.
2. Kimera kya Njahi : February to June.
Their language does not appear to possess a word answering to our word year
(i.e., all twelve months), the word Mwaka signifying merely a rainy season.
[ 37 ]
Nos, 19-20.] MAN. [1909.
The circumcision of the boys and girls occurs in the same months ; the season in
which it takes place depending on whether they live in Ruguru (the West) or Ithereru
(the East), if the former in Kimera kya Njahi, if the latter in Kimera kya Mweli.
The month commences with the first day of the new moon and lasts thirty days.
Each month has a name.
There are no names for the days of the week, but the days of the different
markets serve to signify any particular day. Each market is held every fourth day
and no two markets in the same neighbourhood are held on the same day. Appended
is what may be called a Kikuyu calendar.
The months when the circumcision takes place are carnival months ; dancing,
singing, and general rejoicing being the order of the day.
Kathanokomo (June) and Moga (January) are called the Semisu months when the
harvest is brought in.
FIRST SEASON, JULY TO JANUARY — KIMERA KYA MWEH.
First Month, Moriainyoni (July). — The grass and thicket is cleared by the men,
and the women then burn it ; it is a month of little work. The weather being cool
the boys and girls commence boring the lobes of their ears.
Second Month, Moga (August). — The shambas* are dug up, the work being
mostly done by the women.
Third Month, Kihu (September). — All the able-bodied population is at work in
the shambas preparing for the rains ; the seed is sown.
Fourth Month, Sethanano (October). — Everyone is very busy weeding in the
shambas.
Fifth Month, Kanyuahungo or Tumo (November} : Sixth Month, Keha
(December). — The men do no work ; the women and children are employed keeping
the birds off the crops that are now ripening.
Seventh Month, Moga (January). — Harvest.
SECOND SEASON, FEBRUARY TO JUNE : KIMERA KYA NJAHI.
First Month, Kihu (February}. — The whole able-bodied population is hard at
work in the shambas preparing for the rains. The seed is sown during this month.
Second Month, Sethanano or Kethathanwa (March). — Everyone is still very
busy in the shambas, the work being mostly that of weeding.
Third Month, Mothato (April). — The crops are ripening and the women and
children are busy weeding and scaring off the birds. In the Ruguru (West) this is
the circumcision month, a time .of feasting and dancing.
Fourth Month, Mogilanjara (May). — The crops are nearly ripe and there is no
work for anyone.
Fifth Month, Kathanokomo (June). — This is the Semisu (Harvest) month, and
the work of harvesting is done by the women, the men do no work.f
K. R. DUNDAS.
Technology. van Gennep.
Netting without a Knot. By A. van Gennep. Qfl
Dans le fascicule de mars 1908 de la Revue des £tudes Ethnographiques fcU
el Sociologiques, Miss A. Werner public Some Notes on the Bushman Race ou elle
parle (p. 149) de petits sacs d'une facture speciale, a laquelle elle semble disposee a
donner une signification culturelle et raciale : "I do not know whether to class
" among small arts which may have been handed down to these Angoni by their
* Shamba — field or plantation.
f The correct spelling of the names of the months was given me by Mr. MacGregor of the C.M.S.
[ 38 ]
1909.] MAN. [Nos. 20-21.
" possible Bushman ancestors, the making of string bags by a process best described
" as netting without a knot ; a row of loops is first made and increased by passing
" the end of the string through each one, going round and round till the desired size
" is reached. I never saw a bag so made by an adult, nor a specimen of more than
" a few inches in length ; the art seemed to be chiefly practised as a pastime by
" children. It is interesting to cote that when I showed one of these bags to the
" Ituri pygmies who were recently in England they recognised it at once, and said
" that they made the same kind at home."
Miss Werner a eu 1'obligeance de m'envoyer une de ces pochettes. Je 1'ai
montree a des amis ayant vecu en Afrique, notamment a Maurice Delafosse, qui m'ont
dit n'en avoir jamais vu de semblables.
D'autre part cette technique est beaucoup plus difficile qu'elle ne semble au
premier abord ; je m'en suis rendu compte en essayant d'imiter la pochette angoni ;
avec du raphia, on y arrive cependant, apres avoir eu soin de mouiller les fibres et
de les enrouler prealablement deux par deux en maniere de cordelette.
Cette technique semble reellement rare. Du moins je n'en ai pas trouve mention
dans les traites generaux d'ethnographie, ni dans les monographies d'O. T. Mason.
De meme les diverses techniques du tressage chez les Warundi enumerees, et decrites
en detail par R. Kandt (Gewerbe in Ruanday
Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic, 1904, pp. 394 et suiv.)
comprennent toutes la formation de noeuds, qui
donnent leur nom a sorte de tressage.
Par centre, voici un parallele exact releve
dans 1'Amerique du Sud, par le Dr. Theodor
Koeh-Griinberg. II a trouve en usage chez les
Indiens du Bresil nord-occidental de petits filets
de peche, que Ton fixe a une liane recourbee en
cerceau et qui different des grands filets, noues, en
ce que les cordelettes sont simplement passees les unes dans les autres (einfache
SchlingtechniK). Le dessin qui accompagne 1'article du Dr. Koch-Griinberg (Der
Fischfang bei den Indianern Nordwestbrasiliens, Globus, 9 Janvier, 1908, pp. 21-22)
et reproduit ici, montre que la technique est bien celle dont parle Miss Werner. II est
probable qu'on trouvera d'autres paralleles en consultant les mouographies sur la peche
chez les populations europeennes : mais je doute que cette technique puisse servir
d'argument pour la determination d'aires de civilisation. A. VAN GENNEP.
England: Archaeology. Kendall.
Remarkable Arrowheads and Diminutive Bronze Implement. Qf
% the Rev. H. G. 0. Kendall, M.A. L\
In MAN, 1906, 96, and 1907, 37, Mr. H. St. George Gray figured two arrow-
heads of remarkable fineness and unusual type. The base in one instance, at any
rate, was rounded, and the edges were incurved near the point. I append herewith
a drawing which shows one face and two edge views of a similar weapon. It was
found by Mr. H. J. G. Hole on a farm in Dorset, whereon, also, he has picked up
other arrowheads of usual types. It is dirty-white in colour, and slightly pale blueish
in places. Its length is 3 centimetres and breadth 18 millimetres. It weighs 21 grains.
The drawing scarcely does justice to the delicacy of this beautiful little implement,
inasmuch as the thickness of the outside line gives a very slight increase to the width.
The obtuse angle on the right-hand edge of the face view should be somewhat more
of a curve and less of an angle. Unlike Mr. Gray's, it has a blunt-pointed base, as
seen in the picture. The other drawing shows face and edge views of what appears
to be a most unusual type. It has evidently once been a leaf-shaped arrowhead, of
[ 39 ]
Ncs. 21-22.]
MAN.
[1909.
which oue end has been accidentally broken off. Its possessor, in order to render
it of service to himself again, possibly also to give it better balance, has cleverly
snicked a piece out of each of the two edges, thereby affording himself an arrowhead
slightly barbed. From each edge the piece has been taken out by a single downward
stroke or application of pressure at right angles to the face of the flint. The latter
is blackish in the middle, and of a deep amber colour towards the edges. Weight,
29£ grains.
In both the above cases an untrimmed portion of the inner face of the flake from
which the little implement was made is visible in the middle thereof.
Of the first arrowhead the outer, of the second the inner, face is shown. The
outer face of each arrowhead is much like the inner, but that of the second has an
unremoved rising near the middle.
The third drawing is of a metal implement, apparently of bronze, picked up by
Mr. Hole two miles from Marlborough, in a road newly repaired with flint, no doubt
from the Downs. In a barrow opened near Marlborough
in 1907 a miniature bronze dagger or knife (?) was
found in company with gold ornaments, &c. It was
of rather different form from the present instrument, but,
FIG. 1.
FIG. 2.
FIG. 3.
I think, of the same general type. The contents of the barrow belonged to the
Bronze Age. The weight of the little tool here figured is just over £ oz.
H. G. 0. KENDALL.
REVIEWS.
Africa : Congo.
Van Overbergh.
Les Basonge (Etat Ind. du Congo). Par Cyr. van Overbergh. Collection OO
de Monographies ethnographiques III. Brussels, 1908. Pp. xvi + 565. fcfc
26 X 17 cm. Price 10*.
The series of which this volume is the third might almost be said to mark an
era in the history of anthropology. Of course much, very much, remains to be done
in the way of scientific investigation of the ethnography of primitive peoples, but, in
order that this investigation may be as successful as possible, a knowledge of the
information already collected is necessary, especially as contact with Europeans has
wrought such differences during the past few years. The reports of the earlier
explorers have an especial value, but these reports, made at a time when anthropology
was not yet a science, are so scattered that the labour involved in their collection
is most arduous, and involves a protracted search through periodical and other literature
of almost every kind.
The system on which the series under review is arranged is as follows : each
volume deals with a particular tribe in the Congo Free State, and contains all the
passages relating to that tribe, collected from every kind of literature, reprinted at
length, and arranged under the headings adopted for the questionnaire approved by
[ 40 ]
1909.] MAN. [No. 22.
the Congres mondial de Mons in 1905. To this is added as much new information
as couid be gathered, by means of that questionnaire, from observers on the spot,
to whom were sent copies of the collected published material for comment and
amplification. The new information is printed in larger type. Each page is perforated
so that it can be torn out and the whole rearranged to suit the requirements of any
special student, and to facilitate this object no two subjects are treated on the same
page ; if the matter dealing with one given subject does not suffice to fill both sides of a
leaf, the rest is left blank. At the beginning of each volume is a complete biblio-
graphy of the literature dealing with the tribe in question, followed by a second
bibliography of all illustrations relating to it ; the latter bibliography, as the text,
is divided into headings corresponding to the sections of the questionnaire employed.
At the end is a specially prepared ethnological map, and, in the case of the volume
under discussion, a few illustrations of an ethnographical nature. An index of the
headings under which the information is arranged is also given. Thus a complete
compendium of all that is known concerning each tribe, arranged in the manner most
convenient for reference and comparison, is ready to the hand of the anthropological
student or of the administrator who wishes to know something about the social life
and institutions of the people amongst whom his work is to lie.
It would be worse than otiose to enlarge on the extreme value of such a series,
and it is of the happiest augury for the future of the Congo Free State that it should
be found possible in Belgium to issue successfully a collection of monographs which
renders administration on proper scientific lines a reasonable possibility.
Another point of interest is found in the fact that these monographs are a
vindication of the questionnaire, which has of late been attacked by some whose
opinions are certainly of weight. It is true that this particular questionnaire is capable
of considerable improvement ; but, with all its limitations, it can, judged by results, be
called a success. Volumes dealing with the Bangala, Mayumbe, and Mangbettu have
already appeared, and one on the Waregga is promised shortly. The subject of this
particular monograph, the Basonge, a tribe belonging to the great Baluba family, and
situated roughly between the Sankuru and Lualaba and 4° 30' and 6° 30' of south lati-
tude, is of especial interest to the reviewer, since the expedition under the leadership
of Mr. Torday has collected a number of notes concerning its ethnography which are
as yet unpublished, and on which he has had the pleasure of working ; these notes,
though they contain many details of the greatest importance, chiefly dealing with
religion and sociology, which do not appear in the monograph, confirm in many respects
the new material published therein, and it is this new material which naturally possesses
the greatest interest. The contributor who has in the present volume added by far
the most to existing knowledge is M. R. Schmitz, who has spent four years among
the most easterly branch of this tribe. It is interesting to note that certain important
differences exist between the sub-tribes studied by him and the Namale amongst whom
Mr. Torday's work chiefly lay, and who are situated a degree and a half further west.
For instance, belief in transmigration, which appears to exist in the east, is not
found in the west ; certain rights of asylum allowed in the west are absent in the
east ; inheritance is observed on a different system ; the methods of expressing
numerals by gesture differ in toto in the two localities ; also certain words, notably
the names of sun and stars.
A more important divergence relates to the ethnographical map accompanying the
volume. Here the village Mokunji is placed definitely within the Basonge sphere :
the information at the disposal of the reviewer shows that the Mokunji district for
some distance to the south of that village is now occupied by the Sungu tribe of
Batetela, to whom the Basonge lost part of their northern territory in the first half
of the nineteenth century. It might be useful to indicate this in future editions, or
C 41 ]
Nos, 22-23.] MAN. [1909,
in one of the supplementary pages which the editor promises to issue from time to
time as fresh information is obtained.
This series is so good that it is difficult to make any suggestions for improvement ;
but one or two points might be mentioned which occur to the reviewer. The most
important is the following. It is true that the editor in his introduction mentions
in broad terms the localities in which the contributors of new matter have worked,
but that is hardly enough : it is of the highest importance, especially in view of the
differences which appear to occur between east and west in this particular case, that the
name of the sub-tribe should be mentioned with each piece of information given ;
this might easily be inserted in brackets.
The second point concerns the perforation of the pages. It seems very doubtful
whether this is necessary or even advisable ; it renders the pages liable to become
detached unintentionally, and might cause a great deal of trouble in scientific libraries
and aggravation to individuals who wished to retain the admirable arrangement
observed in the monograph. Those who wish to arrange the pages on their own
system (and they will be a small minority) could attain the required end quite easily
by means of a penknife and a ruler. On the whole the disadvantages of the present
system appear to outweigh by far the advantages.
With regard to two grounds on which, according to the editor in the preface, the
series has been criticised already, it is almost certain that the great majority will
support M. van Overbergh. It was said that the reprinting of published matter in the
language in which it first appeared (in the case of languages other than French) was
inconvenient, but the author justly observes that the importance of preserving the
actual words is paramount, and the dangers involved in a translation are serious.
Further, it was maintained that the publication of contradictory evidence would lead
to mystification of the student ; but surely the apposition of varying statements is of
the greatest importance. Enough has been said to show the very high value of the
series of monographs, and the greatest of credit is due to M. van Overbergh for the
energy and public spirit which led him to organise and carry out in so masterly a
fashion a work which entails months of the most patient and laborious toil. To the
man who is capable of performing a task such as this, and in this fashion, the com-
pletion of the work is sufficient reward ; but to this will be added in the preseut case
the heartfelt gratitude of all students of African ethnography, which should, and
doubtless will, be supplemented by similar gratitude on the part of the government
which administers the colony in which these tribes are found. In Belgium, which
possesses one colony, means for the scientific study of the subject tribes are provided
by the Ministry of Public Instruction. What of the other European countries which
rule over, not one, but many colonies ? T. A. J.
Australia, Central. Strehlow.
Die Aranda und Loritja- Stdmme in Zentral-Australien. By C. Strehlow. ftQ
Veroffentlichungen aus dem Stadtischen Volker Museum, Frankfurt am Main. tU
Frankfurt : Baer, 1908. Second notice. Cf. MAN, 1908, 14.
In reviewing Mr. Strehlow's interesting volumes on the Arunta, or Aranda, I had
not room to describe their system of totemic beliefs. We saw that when the waters
retired from the earth at the bidding of one of the self-existing beings whom Altjira
did not allow to poach on his celestial hunting grounds, many more such beings came
forth, Alljirangamitjina. These wandered about, like the Alcheringa folk of Messrs.
Spencer and Gillen, each of them being, in Mr. Tylor's phrase, a kind of " species-god,"
and each in close rapport with the animals of their species, and capable of assuming its
form. Mr. Strehlow says that these A.J. take a part in forwarding the action of the
[ 42 ]
1909.] MAN. [No. 23.
magical ceremonies, Unbatjalkatiuma (the Intichiuma of Spencer and Gillen), wrought
by men for the plants and animals of their totem groups or totem societies.
The Alcheringa totemic spirits of the Arunta of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen do
not appear to do much in this way. They keep on being reincarnated as Arunta
children. It is not so, exactly, in Mr. Strehlow's region. His A.J. have gone back
again — that is, their spirits have — into their primal earth-holes, whence they emerge at
pleasure, while their bodies have changed into rocks, trees, and so on, such as mark the
Oknanikilla of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen.
With Mr. Strehlow's blacks it is not the spirits of the A.J. that reside in or near
the trees, rocks, pools, and in parasitic foliage (as of the mistletoe among the Euahlayi).
The dwellers in such places are ratapa, germinal spirits and bodies of children waiting
to enter into married women and be born. Thus the A.J. are not reincarnated
constantly, as with Messrs. Spencer and Gillen's blacks, it is the ratapa that are
incarnated. Not only the whole bodies of the A.J. are " sacred " (the tree or rock, &c.)
but even a portion of such bodies, thus a bird's feathers is tzarunga (churinga,
" sacred ") and is a separate totem.
Many A.J.'s have changed into actual stone churinga, and are kept in the
depositories of these objects. The ratapa have bodies and souls, are red of body, like
new-born Arunta children, which resemble dusky European babes ; only the medicine
men can see the ratapa. These ratapa — emanations from the metamorphosed bodies of
the A.J. — are each in rapport with some object totem of nature. The body of an A.J.
of the kangaru totem changed into a gum tree, and in that dwells a kangaru ratapa.
Mr. Strehlow says that the Arunta are not acquainted with the part of the male
in procreation, but, in a note, declares that the seniors do know, wie mir vezsichert
wurde, but they say nothing about it before the younger men and women. " It
" is certain that both the Aranda and Loritja know the connection of begetting with
" birth. In the case of the lower animals even the children are enlightened on
" this point."
This is precisely what Dr. Roth reports of certain Queensland tribes (Bulletin V).
Believing that the lower animals have no souls, these tribes account for their birth and
begetting in the normal way ; but as men have souls, these tribes declare that human
children do not come by procreation, but " come otherwise." I pointed out this in
Anthropological Essays, the Festschrift for Mr. Tylor, and said that it corroborated
my opinion ; namely, that it was not a survival of primal ignorance that made these
peoples deny human procreation ; the denial is a result of their philosophy of spirits.
When we find that even the Arunta children know all about the procreation of the
lower animals, while men, having souls, " come otherwise," I think that my opinion
deserves more favourable consideration than it has hitherto received, while the
argument for the " primitiveness " of the Arunta that is based on their ignorance of
procreation is " driven to an outside price." As I said from the first, they have simply
developed their amazing psychology till it has obscured their physiology ; while their
psychology is remote indeed from the " primitive."
When a woman approaches the place where the metamorphosed body of an A.J.
is, a tree, rock, or pool, called Knanakala (obviously the Oknanikilla of Messrs.
Spencer and Gillen), a ratapa that recognises in her a " class-mother " enters her body,
causing pangs, and when the child is born it is of the totem of the A.J. whose
metamorphosed body is the tree, rock, or the like, the Knanakala. The body, that
is the tree or rock, may be that of an emu A.J. : an emu ratapa enters the woman, the
child is of the emu totem (Ilia), and is named Iliakurka (little emu), or Iliapa
(emu feather).
As Messrs. Spencer and Gillen tell us, the ratapa (or, in their region, the
Alcheringa spirit) sometimes enters a plump matron who is not its " class-mother," is
[ 43 ]
No. 23.] MAN. [1909.
of " the wrong class," and thus introduces a totem into the matrimonial class, where
it has no business to be (Central Tribes, p. 125). This spiritual caprice is the only
cause of the unique fact that, among the Arunta-, the same totem may be in both
main exogamous divisions, so that, in the Arunta nation alone, totems are not
exogamous.
In Mr. Strehlow's region the whole business is either a variant of what Messrs.
Spencer and Gillen describe, or one or other version — that of these authors, or that
of Mr. Strehlow — is more accurate than the other. I shall later show that the former
alternative is the true explanation of the diverse reports.
As the Arunta are nomadic, the children of any family, as a rule, are of various
totems. This makes it hard to understand how it comes that, in any given locality,
the great majority of the people are of the same totem (Spencer and Gillen, Central
Tribes, p. 9).
This must occur, in normal totemism, when the totem passes in the male line.
But how it can occur, where totems come by sheer accident, and there may be four
or five different totems in the same set of mother, husband, and children, is the central
Arunta mystery, yet I am not aware that anyone has remarked on a circumstance that
has puzzled me from the first. Sometimes an A.J. spirit comes up from his earth-hole,
impregnates a woman with a little wooden bull-roarer, namatana, and returns to his
own place. Is she a married woman ?
When a woman feels what, to her (though not to a white specialist), are the
first signs of her pregnancy at the very moment when she sees a kangaru that
" softly and suddenly vanished away," it is not the kangaru A.J. spirit himself
that enters her body. The kangaru was no kangaru, but an A.J. spirit in kangaru
shape. When she feels the same symptoms after eating, say, the lalitja fruit, a lalitja
ratapa has entered her, but not through her mouth.
As far as I understand, these are theories to account for a pregnancy discovered
not at any given knanakala, but elsewhere, and so the question for the Arunta is,
" whence came the ratapa where no ratapa is known to be ? " The ratapa must
come from the casual kangaru, an A.J. wandering about, or from the fruit. Unless
every noticeable tree, rock, or pool, in the field of view, is a knakala, many women
must first feel proof of approaching maternity where there is no knakala. The fact
must be explained ; and any transient beast or bird, or food recently eaten, serves as a
ground of explanation. The ratapa apparently cannot come from a man or woman ;
men and women have only one soul apiece, they do not emit ratapa ; but any other
object seen or eaten may be an A.J. on the loose, and may emit a ratapa.
Men may, and do, have their mother's totems, as well as their own (which come
by accident). This maternal totem protects them, warns them of danger in dreams,
and is very helpful. Possibly this is a survival of the system by which, among the
northern tribes with male descent, a man has his mother's totem in great regard, as
well as his father's (Spencer and Gillen, Northern Tribes, p. 166). This, with the
accompanying northern descent of property in the female line, proves, of course, that
the Waramunga and the rest have passed from female to male reckoning of descent.
When the Arunta evolved their present system of acquiring the totem, which they must
have done relatively recently, for the method has left the great majority of each totem
in one or the other sex of matrimonial classes, the old northern regard for the maternal
totem survived the change. At all events this seems a plausible theory.
While the children of a woman may all be of different totems, all are blessed by
the protection of their mother's totems, which is named Altjira, like the emu-footed
being in the heavens.
The magic rites, in Mr. Strehlow's region, are named, as we saw, Unbatjalka/zMwa,
not Intichmma, as in the region of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen. The three last
[ 44 ]
1909.] MAN. [No. 23.
syllables, italicised, are the same in both districts. The difference in the name draws
our attention to an important fact. The language of the natives of the two districts is
not absolutely identical. Ratapa is a word not known to Messrs. Spencer and Gillen.
Again, for " stone churinga " their natives say churinga nanja, while Mr. Strehlow's
say talkara. There are several other notable examples, including Altjira, whether the
sky-dweller or the maternal totem, the Altjirangamitjina, and others. The nearest
approach to Altjira, in Messrs. Spencer and Gillen's vocabularies, is Alkira, " sky,'*
and Alcheringa (Altjiringa ? ).
Thus, as the natives of the two regions differ in vocabulary, there is no reason
why they should not differ in myths and beliefs. If so, both Messrs. Spencer and
Gillen are right in their reports, though these reports vary. For example, Messrs.
Spencer and Gillen do not find in their Arunta, after the most careful research, any
sky-dweller like the red-haired, emu-footed Altjira of Mr. Strehlow's people.
Mr. Hartland, remarking on this diversity, says that, while the English explorers
find no relatively supreme being, Mr. Strehlow and his German colleagues " have
" given us a widely divergent report. They tell us that the Arunta definitely believe
" in the existence of a Supreme Being, ein Himmelsgott, and that they have, in
" addition, raised their own forefathers to the rank of gods. The contradiction between
" the two statements is such that it is not to be accounted for by merely supposing "
(what is true) " that while Messrs. Spencer and Gillen visited one brancn of the
" Arunta, Mr. Strehlow and his colleagues, settled among another branch a few miles
" off", have drawn their information exclusively from the latter. This information
" represents the supernatural beings believed in by the Arunta and the Loritja as
" apotheosised to a degree beyond anything recognised by anthropologists elsewhere
" in Australia."
Mr. Hartland remarks that "few missionaries can divest themselves as completely
" as Callaway or Codrington of prepossessions in their inquiries into savage beliefs
"... ." It is fair to say that as yet we have only fragmentary statements
from Mr. Strehlow, and no hint as to where these statements may be found is given
(Oxford Congress, Vol. I, pp. 23, 24).
Mr. Hartland had probably no access to Mr. Strehlow's second volume, of September
1908. But does he call volume I of 1907 " fragmentary " ? In that volume he must have
read that Altjira is the least " apotheosised " of all the sky-dwelling superior beings of
Australia. He created nothing, he is not an ethical judge, he does nothing but eat,
hunt, and keep a harem ; he did not even, like the Kaitish Arunta of Messrs. Spencer
and Gilleu, "make the Alcheringa," "make himself; make men by sending his own
" disobedient sons to be men, send down everything which the black fellow has," and
insist, with penalties, on the initiation rites, and the use of the bull-roarer.
On the other side, Mr. Strehlow's Altjira (published in 1907) does nothing,
never did anything, and is totally disregarded by the Arunta though they call him
" good " (rnard). How can Mr. Hartland say that Altjira is " apotheosised to a
" degree beyond anything recognised by anthropologists elsewhere in Australia ? "
He is the least "apotheosised" of all known sky-dwellers, he has no place in reli-
gion, and in that fact lies his supreme importance, as I hope to prove on another
occasion.
Mr. Hartland says, very fairly, that Mr. Strehlow and his colleagues (the work of
the colleagues I scarcely know) " may have conquered these impediments," such as
their " prepossessions." If Mr. Strehlow's prepossessions inclined him to credit the
Aruuta with a highly " apotheosised " beinj;, lie has certainly triumphed over his bias
in a style worthy of imitation. Meanwhile Mr. Strehlow's variants from the beliefs
of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen's people, and the variants in vocabulary, cannot be
attributed to the "prepossessions" of missionaries (who are not the only prepossessed
I 45 ]
Nos. 23-25.] MAN. [1909.
students in the world). He has struck on a divergent branch of the Arunta, and
we can receive with equal confidence his reports and those of Messrs. Spencer and
Gillen, which is a highly satisfactory conclusion. A. LANG.
England : Archaeology. Gray.
Report on the Excavations at Wick Barrow, Stogursey, Somersetshire. By H. 0 1
St. George Gray. Taunton, 1908. Pp. iv + 78, with Appendices. 22 x 14 cm. fcT
This addition to the list of Mr. Gray's reports on excavations in various parts
of the country will appeal especially to those who interest themselves in the Bronze
Age of Britain. The share taken by the Viking Club in this undertaking is partly
due to local traditions, and partly to the fact that the position of the barrow suggested
a ship-burial of the Viking period. The primary interments proved to be about
2,000 years older, and were each accompanied by a beaker or drinking-cup of normal
appearance ; but, to judge from the associated finds, of late neolithic date rather
than of the early Bronze Age. Such vessels have, however, frequently been found
together with simple bronze relics, and were no doubt in fashion during the transition
from stone to bronze in this country, though frankly neolithic abroad. A special
feature was the ring-wall of lias slabs, about 3^ feet high, enclosing the barrow, and
covered by the material of the mound ; and there were clear indications that the barrow
had been opened in Roman times, probably by treasure-hunters. The report is well
illustrated ; and the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society is to be
congratulated on its enterprise as well as its choice of an excavator. R. A. S.
England : Archaeology. Allcroft.
Earthwork of England : Prehistoric, Roman, Saxon, Danish, Norman, and OC
Mediceval. By A. Hadrian Allcroft, M.A. London : Macmillan, 1908. Pp. xix fcU
•f 712. 23 x 15 cm. Price 18*.
The appearance of this standard text-book marks a very important advance in the
study of the earthworks of this country. Hitherto the student has had to search
through scores of volumes of Transactions, &c., and to use considerable discretion in
piecing together some serviceable prolegomena ; now he will only have to assimilate
Mr. Allcroft's book — an easy task and a pleasant one, so excellent are the arrange-
ment and the literary workmanship — to put himself in possession of all that is known
on the subject at the present day. And the extent of this knowledge, even at this
early stage, is not inconsiderable. Roman, Norman, and mediaeval' works have been
already separated from the mass. Saxon and Danish remains are for the most part
vague and comparatively feeble ; and those at present identified are surprisingly few.
Behind them all are the unnumbered " camps " of the prehistoric ages, still shrouded
in the glamour of mystery, but ripe for the spade which is to change this for the more
legitimate fascination of knowledge.
Mr. Allcroft's book is the most eloquent appeal that could be made for the prosecu-
tion of the work begun by Pitt-Rivers ; what has already been done shows how much
is still to be learnt from systematic excavation. " It may be doubted," says the
author, " whether any area of the same size can offer a more varied series of problems
" ethnological and archaeological." " The tools and the method have been determined ;
" well-nigh the entire field lies open to all who care to peg out a claim."
The arrangement of the book follows in its main lines the classification adopted
by the Congress of Archaeological Societies. Beginning with promontory forts we
pass to " contour camps " and " plateau camps " — convenient terms which sum up the
more elaborate definitions of the classification. Between the first and the second
class, but included in the latter, is an interesting variety, which, for want of a better
term, may be called the hill-promontory type (where a spur or the end of a ridge
[ 46 ]
1909.] MAN. [No. 25.
is cut off from the main hill aud surrounded on the steeper sides by a slighter work
than that which crosses the neck) ; these works the author calls " transitional."
Transitional in form is probably all that is implied, since it will be impossible to
maintain the view that the hill-top (contour) forts are as a class later than this
" transitional " variety. Three of the transitional type have now been excavated —
Mount Caburn (Sussex) and Winkelbury (Wilts) by General Pitt-Rivers, and Oliver's
Camp (Wilts) by Mr. and- Mrs. Cunnington (MAN, 1908, 4) — and a comparison of
the results goes far to establish this as a type of camp in vogue during the prehistoric
Iron Age, down to the Roman invasion. Something might be said, on the other
hand, for the hill-promontory camp as a transitional form between the contour camp
and the promontory fort properly so called — taking them, that is, in the reverse
order. It would be unwise, however, to strain any theory of the sort, as the develop-
ment of native fortification was, of course, arrested at the coming of the Romans ; and
the construction of many, if not most, of the promontory forts may be due to wholly
different conditions.
The book will do good service in clearing the ground of many preconceptions
and obsolete theories. It will help, for instance, to establish the view that the great
hill-top strongholds were not " refuge camps," but places of permanent habitation —
during the period of their construction, at all events — like the earlier Maori pahs, and
similarly waterless. As to the question of water-supply, which has troubled so many
investigators, Mr. Allcroft has some very pertinent remarks. He devotes a whole
chapter to dew-ponds, which would certainly have been unnecessary but for the extrava-
gant and unsupported claims that have been made for the high antiquity of existing
specimens. To show how wide is the field covered, including almost every known
description of earthwork, defensive or otherwise, it may be mentioned that in his
discussion of the primitive homestead the author notices in passing dene-holes, dis-
missing the various theories that have been put forward about them and favouring the
.only reasonable conclusion — that they are nothing but excavations for chalk and for
the most part indubitably modern. It may be hoped that by the time a second edition
appears dene-holes and dew-ponds will be no longer worth powder and shot.
Mr. Allcroft has the gift of writing — there are pages in his book which bring
the atmosphere and colour of the downs vividly before one, and seem calculated to
turn many a lover of nature into an open-air archaeologist. The most attractive
chapters are those with which the book concludes, where the author, by way of
object-lesson, takes his reader along the South Downs from end to end and then to
Dolebury on the Mendips.
For a work of this scope it is probable that the inaccuracies of detail are remark-
ably few and unimportant, nor are there many points on which one is inclined to
challenge Mr. Allcroft's judgment. He suggests (p. 136) that the work at Hawridge,
Bucks, may have been an outpost of the pre-Roman camp at Cholesbury. Perhaps it
is more likely to be a Norman work of somewhat unusual type ; there is a similar
example at Renhold, Beds ; see also Viet. Co. Hist. Northants, II, 409. Another
circular funnel-shaped pit similar to those mentioned on p. 284 is to be seen within the
lines of Caer Caradoc, Clun. Pits of this kind are probably not very rare in camps,
though whether they were all made with the same purpose is another question. Chun
Castle, Cornwall (p. 237), is better preserved than the Ordnance plan would imply.
Cotton's plan (Archteologia, XXII, PI. XXIX) still gives u fair idea of the remains,
though the outer wall has lost much of its height since 1826. Trencrom (p. 239), an
irregular rocky summit defended more by nature than by art, cannot be classed with the
regular, dry-walled Chun ; but it is likely enough that both date from the same period.
As regards the remarks (p. 387) on Tempsford and Willington camps, it should be
noted that Tempsford was the Danish base in 921, and, therefore, would be presumably
[ 47 ]
Nos. 25-26.] MAN. [1909.
the larger work of the two ; Wellington is not mentioned in the " Chronicle," but
Mr. Goddard's reasons (Saga Book of the Viking Club, Vol. Ill, Pt. Ill) for regarding
it as an expeditionary camp of the same campaign are very convincing. " Caesar's
Camp," Wimbledon, though mutilated, like many others, by the golfer, is not yet
" destroyed by the modern builder." It may be questioned (p. 403) whether a stockade
usually surmounted the outer bank beyond the fosse of a Norman motte ; at all events
the Bayeux tapestry shows none in this position. As to the Danework (p. 510),
reference should be made to the monograph by Sophus Miiller and Carl Neergaard,
published by the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, Copenhagen (1903). One or
two suggested etymologies must be left to the tender mercies of philologists ; but
surely "botchers" (p. 247), the Buckinghamshire name for gypsies, is nothing but
the equivalent of the Northern " tinkers."
The text is amply illustrated by plans, and these, being the result of the author's
own observation, add greatly to the value of the book. A. G. CHATER.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES.
THE fifth Congres Prehistorique de France will be held at Beauvais (Oise) from AIJ
July 26-31. Excursions will be made to places of interest in the neighbour- fcO
hood, including the Dolmens and Menhirs at Trie-Chateau, Boury and Serifontaine, to
Caesar's Camp at Hermes, and to Compiegne and Mont-Sainte-Genevieve. A special
prehistoric exhibition will also be organised.
THE National Trust has an opportunity of purchasing White Barrow near Tilshead,
Wilts, with some 2| acres adjacent, for £60, towards which sum the owner is willing
to contribute £20. Subscriptions for the balance are invited.
WThite Barrow is one of the chief Long Barrows of Wiltshire. In the middle of
the nineteenth century there were said to be sixty Long Barrows in the county, but
many of these have suffered severely, and some have been entirely destroyed by misuse.
The very fine Long Barrow at Winterbourne Stoke was much damaged a few years ago,
in order that the materials of which it was composed might be used to fill up holes in
a neighbouring training ground for racehorses. It is to make such misuse impossible
that it is desired that White Barrow should be vested in the National Trust. The
Barrow is 255 feet long, 156 feet wide, and 8 feet high.
It is proposed that the vendor, Mrs. Cunningtou of Devizes, should reserve to
herself and her husband for life the right to excavate the Barrow. Having regard to
the long experience in such work which Mr. and Mrs. Cunnington have had, the
National Trust has raised no objection to this proposal. It is, however, understood
that, in the event of such excavation, anything of interest which may be found in the
Barrow shall be offered to the county museum.
The National Trust, which now owns many properties of historic, architectural, or
geological interest or of great natural beauty, had not yet preserved any property of
purely anthropological importance. It is hoped, therefore, that those who are interested
in the study of anthropology will support the Trust in its effort to secure this Barrow.
Cheques, &c., should be sent to Nigel Bond, Esq., the secretary of the National
Trust, at 25, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W. ; they should be made payable to the
order of " The National Trust," an»l crossed " National Provincial Bank of England."
ERRATUM.
In MAN, 1909, 3, in the table on p. 5 the horizontal line under the word
*' Totems " should extend to the left as far as the vertical line between the words
" Hamlets " and " Birds." As the table stands at present it is not clear that the birds
mentioned are as much totems as the fish, snakes, and plants. C. G. S.
Piiuted by EVKE AND SPOTTISWOODE, LTD., His Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, K.C.
fe
PLATE D.
MAN, 1909.
FlG. I. FRAMEWORK OF HUT, NORTHERN TERRITORY. FlG. 2. — COMPLETED HUT, NORTHERN TERRITORY.
FlG. 3.- HTT FRAMEWORK.
FIG. _|. — Htrr OF CABBAGE-PALM LEAVES.
FlG. 5. BARK SHELTER.
FlG. 6. — BARK SHELTER.
AUSTRALIAN HUTS AND SHELTERS.
1909,] MAN. [Nos, 27-28.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Australia. With Plate D. Roth.
Australian Huts and Shelters. By Walter E. Roth, Local Corre-
spondent of the Royal Anthropological Institute.
The huts illustrated in Figs. 1—3, PI. D, were originally designed for withstanding
rain but are now devoted to indiscriminate uses. They are almost always constructed
on a piece of high ground, any little hillock or mound, so as to insure the more rapid
dispersal of the water. The framework is made of two naturally bent saplings fixed
opposite to one another below, but locked in a fork on top ; logs rest against this
arch on both sides, a somewhat larger intermediate space between two of these
ultimately constituting the entrance. In the intervals in the framework are placed
and intertwined some light bushes, the foliage downwards. These are followed by
tussets of grass, and a coating of mud, and, last of all, another layer of bushes is
added. The ground-space enclosed by the hut-wall is roughly circular in the smaller
kinds, but somewhat elliptical in the larger. The level of the ground inside is not
purposely lowered, although constant use and treading often give it the appearance of
being so, but in huts designed especially for warmth and use in the winter months
the floor space may be excavated to a depth of 18 inches. While the wooden troughs,
bags, boomerangs, &c., of the occupants may be kept, when not in use, on the ground,
inside or outside, it remains to be noted that all spears are always stuck vertically,
with their butt-ends downwards, in the hut walls.
Where the local "cabbage-palm" is plentiful, nothing can give more grateful
shade than a hut, thatched with its leaves. Fig. 4 represents such a hut, from the
hinterland of Princess Charlotte Bay. It was tenanted by the two wives of the
leading man of the tribe. This cabbage-palm is of great economic value to the natives,
as a very fine and strong fibre can be obtained from it. The picture also shows two
domestic implements which are rapidly falling into disuse, — a mallet and water-carrier.
This type of mallet in shape resembles a cricket bat. It consists of an elongated flattened
body, and a shorter circular handle, with the demarcation between them distinct.
One of the principal uses to which it may be put is to break open the hard-shelled nuts
of the screw palm. The bark water-carrier, at the right of the kneeling figure, is
made from the gnarled excrescence on the butt of a certain species of gum-tree. Such
a bulging knot, at suitable seasons of the year, is hacked around at the base ; a pointed
stick is used to loosen its edges and its bark shell is thus bodily removed. The
roughnesses within are scooped away by charring with fire and then scraping with
shell or stone, while any cracks, splits, or holes are mended with a cement substance.
To obtain shelter from the rain the most primitive artificial structure is a long
sheet of bark bent mid-way and fixed at both ends into the sand (Fig. 5). An advance
is the addition of some upright canes along one of the open sides, up against which
foliage or more bark may be placed, the shelter thus developing from a temporary to
a more permanent structure (Fig. 6). A very simple kind of wind-break is made of
a sheet of bark fixed lengthways in the ground and propped up with two or more
sticks. W. E. ROTH.
England : Archaeology. Cunning-ton.
On a Remarkable Feature in the Entrenchments of Knap Hill
Camp, Wiltshire. By (Mrs.) M. E. Cunnington.
Recent excavations (1908*) on the site of the small entrenchment known as Knap
Hill Camp in Wiltshire revealed a feature which, if intentional, appears to be a method
of defence hitherto unobserved in prehistoric fortifications in Britain.
* The excavations were carried out by Mr. and Mrs. B. H. Cunnington, of Devizes, with the
kind permission of landlord and tenant.
[ 49 ]
No. 28.]
MAN.
[1909.
Knap Hill is a bold conical-shaped hill, one of the series of capes or promontories
standing out on the edge of the chalk plateau that borders, to the north, the Vale of
Pewsey. On the south side, overlooking the valley, the hill is very steep and descends
in one continuous slope from the summit to the level of the valley below, and on this
side there is no evidence of defence, except that afforded by the natural steepness of
the hill. But round the other side, where the hill slopes more gradually back to the
level of the Downs that spread out behind it, is an entrenchment consisting of a single
rampart and ditch, and this forms what is known as Knap Hill Camp.
The ditch has become silted up level, and there are six openings or gaps through
the rampart. It was thought at first that, as often happens on ancient banks, some of
these gaps were due to cattle tracks, or possibly had been made for agricultural purposes.
PLAN OF KNAP HILL CAMP.
There was, however, a certain regularity about them, and it was difficult to see why on
such an isolated spot so many tracks should have been made.
The difficulty of accounting satisfactorily for these breaks in the rampart and for
the ridges corresponding to them that were noticeable on the surface of the silted-in
ditch suggested excavation at these points, and thus led to the discovery of the
remarkable features to which it is desired to draw attention.
These excavations clearly showed that none of these gaps in the rampart are the
result of wear or of any accidental circumstance, but that they are actually part of
the original construction of the camp. The proof that the gaps are not the result of
accident is that outside of, and corresponding to, each gap the ditch was never dug ;
that is to say, a solid gangway or causeway of unexcavated ground has been left in
[ 50 ]
1909.] MAN. [No. 28.
each case. Thus the entrenchment, consisting of the rampart and ditch, instead of
being continuous, except for what might be deemed reasonable provision for ingress
and egress, is broken up into short and irregular sections.
The ditch of the main entrenchment is divided into seven sections. The unex-
cavated ground forming the causeway between each section is of a uniform width of
18 feet, although the length of the various sections of the ditch vary considerably.
The first section, from the west, is 46 feet in length ; the second, 92 feet ; the third,
121 feet; the fourth, 98 feet; the fifth, 98 feet; the sixth, 122 feet; the seventh,
42 feet.
The main entrenchment ends on the eastern side of the hill at the seventh section
of the ditch ; this eastern side has been a good deal cut about by later settlers on the
spot, and the rampart may originally have been carried further round the hill, but there
never could have been a continuation of the ditch at this point.
But some little distance further round the hill, where the hill juts out and forms a
shoulder, the ditch begins again, and there is a noticeable rampart. From end to end
the shoulder is only some 130 feet in length, yet even here the ditch is not continuous,
but is divided into two sections with a causeway of unexcavated ground between them
of the usual width of 18 feet. The two sections of the ditch measure respectively
65 feet and 45 feet in length.
Given. the need for an entrenchment at all, it seems at first sight inexplicable why
these frequent openings should have been left, when apparently they so weaken the
whole construction.
It has been suggested, by way of explanation, that the work of fortification was
never furnished, that the ditch was being dug and the rampart piled up by gangs of
men working in sections, and that for some reason the work was abandoned before the
various sections were completed, with the result now to be seen.
There is, however, considerable evidence in favour of these causeways being an
intentional feature of the original design of the camp.
It is too improbable that on the isolated shoulder, as well as on the other side of
the hill, the causeways should have been left accidentally as the result of an unfinished
undertaking, and the position of the shoulder on the very steep side of the hill quite
forbids the idea of an entrance there in any ordinary sense.
In every case the causeways are cut at a slight skew to the corresponding gap in
the rampart, so that standing on or just outside the causeway, only an oblique view can
be obtained into the camp. A line drawn through the gaps and out across the
causeways indicates on the plan in which direction in each case the skew lies. The
uniform width of the causeways alone almost affords sufficient proof of design.
The fact, also, that similar causeways have been noticed on several other sites,
though not yet proved by excavation, strongly points to the conclusion that they were
left for some definite purpose. It has been suggested that, as General Pitt-Rivers
thought of the wide flanking ramparts at Winkelbury Camp (Excavations, II., 234),
the causeways were intended in cases of emergency to admit a large number of cattle as
rapidly as possible to the interior safety of the camp. But it would certainly be easier,
and therefore quicker to drive a number of cattle through one or two wide openings
than over half-a-dozen such narrow bridges as these.
It is then impracticable to regard these breaks in the entrenchment as due to an
unfinished undertaking, or as entrances in any ordinary sense, and the only other
feasible theory seems to be that they had some distinct purpose in the scheme of
defence ; that they were, indeed, a strengthening and not a weakening factor in this
seemingly not very strongly defended place.
The causeways may have been left as platforms from which to enfilade the ditch,
the defenders being stationed upon them for this purpose. The distance from one
[ 51 .1
Nos. 28-29.] MAN. [1909,
causeway to another is not greater than would be within reach of hand thrown missiles.
Any determined attempt to scale the stockade Avith which the rampart was presumably
strengthened could probably be more effectually prevented from the gangways than
if the defenders were themselves shut up behind the stockade, or forced to come
out from some more distant entrance at risk of having their retreat cut off. These
causeways would be, in fact, sally ports admirably adapted for defence of the ditch.
Even if the top of the rampart were not stockaded the same method of defence could
have been adopted. A stockade or paling carried across each causeway on a line with
the outside edge of the ditch would have served to shut out the enemy, and to protect
the men standing on the causeways. The gaps in the rampart need not have been
barricaded, but could have been left open to allow the defenders to pass readily to and
fro as they were needed at different points.
There is no sign of a beaten track leading to either of these causeways, but there
is a much worn roadway leading to the eastern side of the hill, and it is thought
probable that the main entrance to the camp was on this side to which the old road
leads, but that the features of the actual entrance have been obliterated by the later
people who are known to have lived on the spot.
Flint flakes and rude pottery have been found on the floor of the ditch, and it is
believed that the camp is of early date, that it belongs to the bronze, or even to the late
neolithic period.
The possible use which the gangways may have served is put forward with all
diffidence, and any suggestion on the subject would be welcomed.*
M. E. CUNNINGTON.
Australia : Totemism. Lang1.
Mr. Gason and Dieri Totemism. By A. Lang. OQ
In Mr. Frazer's Totemism (1887, p. 74) we read, "In some Australian •**
u tribes sons take their totem from their father and daughters from their mother."
The totemism of the Dieri is then described briefly, and, " if a dog man marries a rat
" woman, the sons of this marriage are dogs and the daughters are rats." A footnote
says, " Letter of Mr. S. Gason to the present writer."
The later researches of Mr. Howitt and the Rev. Mr. Siebert are understood — I
doubt not correctly — to have demonstrated that Mr. Gason was wrong on this point.
He was not a trained savant, he was merely an officer of police who was intimately
acquainted with the Dieri before their present melancholy decline, and it is not denied,
I think, that he knew their language. Thus it may be guessed that the unscientific
policeman did not invent his account wholly without provocation or excuse. Can the
cause of his error be found in this most important and rather neglected statement of
Mr. Howitt ? "A step further " (in the great step from reckoning descent in the
female to reckoning in the male line) " is when a man gives his totem name to his son,
" who then has those of both mother and father. This has been done even in the Dieri
" tribe. Such a practice leads directly to a change in the line of descent " (Howitt,
Native Tribes of South-East Australia, p. 284).
Mr. Howitt cites no authorities, and here mentions no tribes of female descent save
"even the Dieri," in which this practice existed. He had, I think, hit on a most
important fact — he was the last man to record it without good evidence — a fact
showing how the change of line of descent would naturally arise. He does not tell us
how the young man of two totem names behaved towards his two totems. Could he,
as of his father's totem name, marry into his mother's phratry ?
* It is hoped that a further exploration of the site will be found possible, and that a fuller
account will appear later.
[ 52 •]
1909,] MAN. [Nos. 29-30.
Probably not, but a continuance on this line would bring us to the state of affairs
among the Warramunga and other northern tribes, who revere the maternal totem,
and inherit property in the maternal line ; but, in the affairs of marria'ge, are of the
paternal totem and exogamous division.
It is most unfortunate that Mr. Howitt did not develop his knowledge of this
matter. But if some Dieri sous proclaimed to Mr. Gason that they were of the paternal
totem name — " given " by the father — while daughters were not, Mr. Gason's mistake
is intelligible.
Mr. Frazer quotes another case in which sons take the paternal, while girls take
the maternal totem name, in the Ikala tribe, " at the head of the Great Australian
Bight" (Journ. Anthr. Lift., XII, pp. 45, 509); in this case there are "certain
exceptions." A. LANG.
Africa: East. Crawford.
The Kikuyu Medicine-Man. By J. W. W. Crawford, M.D. Oft
One of the most interesting personages to be met with among the Akikuyu Ull
is that of the medicine-man. In this tribe, as in many of the Bantu tribes of Africa,
the medicine-man combines in himself the offices of prophet, priest and physician.
He is therefore much in evidence in the religious and social life of this primitive
people. He is frequently consulted, and his advice invariably is followed by his clients,
so that in his life and work he exerts a powerful influence over the people, as he is
supposed to be guided in his official acts by the Almighty. He is known to the
Akikuyu by two names : 1st, Muraguri, which means fortune-teller or prophet ;
2ndly, Mundu mugo, which includes the offices of priest and physician.
The " Mundu mugo " is supposed to be called to this vocation by God, who
appears to him in a vision, and asks him to become a medicine-man. The next
morning he tells the people of his village of his dream, and at sundown he goes
away into the woods, seemingly insane, and continues all night holding communion
with " Ngai " (God). The following day he returns to his village and announces that
he has been called by " Ngai " to be a medicine-man.
He provides himself with a quantity of native beer and a he-goat, at the same
time sending for another " Mundu mugo." This personage arrives on the scene
equipped with his bag of medicines, and his " mwano," a calabash filled with small
stones, bits of iron, beans, &c. With this " mwano " he professes to foretell future
events. This is presented to the candidate for the office, and he is instructed to go
to the river and gather more small stones to augment the outfit. The goat is then
sacrificed, and a small piece of the skin is fastened round the neck of the calabash as
a charm. The flesh of the goat is cooked and eaten by all in the village, and the
beer drunk by the elders alone.
The candidate is then instructed in the use of the " mwano," and the art of
fortune-telling and prophecy. He is also shown how to compound medicines from
native herbs, &c. He may himself add to this knowledge from time to time as his
experience increases. He is now looked upon as a member of the profession and is
often consulted.
In his office of " Muraguri " he spreads the skin of a goat upon the ground,
shakes up the stones in the gourd, and casts them out like dice, professing in this
way to forecast future events.
He may be consulted by a young warrior who is about to buy a wife, and his
client will be guided by his advice. If goats or sheep die without an apparent cause
he is consulted as to the reason. If a man is sick for a long time and does not
respond to treatment the " Muraguri " casts the " mwano " to ascertain the cause. If
[ 53 ]
No. 30.] MAN. [1909.
a friend is away for a long time the " Muraguri " is consulted as to his whereabouts,
state of health, and the possible date of his return, &c.
The client may wish to take a journey, so he goes to the " Muraguri " to find
out the most suitable season. In fact, in every detail of life in which they need advice
and guidance this important personage is consulted. The fee for these services is a
small one, usually from two to three pice (equal to two or three farthings) or their
equivalent in kind.
A medicine-man may be consulted in ordinary cases of illness, and medicine be
given at the time, but in every instance he collects his fee before he leaves the village.
He is also called in to " guthiurura " (go round) a A'illage. By this is meant the driving
away of all evil spirits which are supposed to hover near, and the bringing of good
luck to the locality.
If an owner of a village is afraid of thieves, sickness, witchcraft, or poison, the
" Mundu mugo " is consulted. Or should he desire an increase of cattle, flocks,
good crops, and children the medicine-man is summoned and the wishes of the
elder explained to him. The " Mundu mugo " standing erect in the middle of the
village elevates his bag of medicines, and looking towards the summit of the snow-
capped mountain, Keuia, where God is supposed to dwell, and also to Mount
Kinangop, which is likewise supposed to be a dwelling-place of " Ngai " (God),
he prays that he may be given wisdom that his medicines may be used in overcoming
the evils which exist in the village, and that good luck and prosperity may result.
He then seats himself on his stool, and placing several pieces of dried banana bark
before him on the ground, he puts medicine from his gourds upon each piece, the
patient meanwhile sitting opposite to him. He then produces the horn of a goat,
and, mixing the different medicines together upon the banana bark, pours the
whole concoction into the goat's horn. The open end of the horn is sealed up
with bees' wax, and the outside of the wax studded with beads. The small end
of the horn is then pierced with a boring instrument, and through this hole a small
native iron chain is introduced. This is given to his client to be worn around his
neck as a charm, a means of warding off impending evils, and as an aid in bringing
prosperity.
The owner of the village now gives the medicine-man a ram or a he-goat, which
he proceeds to march around the village and the gardens in the vicinity. When the
circle is completed he returns to the village, and the animal is sacrificed, cooked,
and eaten by all present.
The " Mundu mugo " then collects his fee, which for this service may be two,
three, or even four sheep, according to the ability of his client to pay and the
professional standing of the medicine-man.
Among the Akikuyu any sort ot ceremonial uncleauness, such as touching a dead
body, eating the flesh of any wild bird, animal or fish, proscribed by tribal custom,
handling poison, digging a grave, arson, or a sickness for which there seems no
apparent cause, and a whole host of other things, is called " thahu." The man or
woman thus defiled sends at once for the medicine-man and asks to be cleansed. The
" Mundu mugo " thus solicited visits the patient at his village, and a sheep or goat
is sacrificed at once. Taking his bag of medicines in his hands he lifts it above his
head, and turning towards the mountains he invokes the assistance of " Ngai." The
contents of the stomach and intestines of the animal that has been sacrificed are
reserved and placed on banana leaves in a small hollow in the ground, prepared by
the medicine-man. To this offal is added some medicine from the gourds. The
" Mundu mugo " then collects a number of twigs from the thicket near the village ;
these he ties in a bundle, like a small broom, and lays it beside the hole. The front
foot of the sheep is removed at the knee joint and placed beside the twigs. These are
[ 54 ]
1909.] MAN. [No. 30.
then dipped into the offal in the hollow of the ground, the patient opening his mouth
that the twigs may be applied to his tongue. The order is pronounced, " Vomit ! "
whereupon the person spits out. This process is repeated several times, while a long
list of actions supposed to cause ceremonial uncleanness is repeated. When this is
exhausted the sheep's foot is dipped into the offal and applied to the patient's tongue,
and he again spits out several times. The twigs are then divided into two bundles and
dipped again, the " Mundu mugo " and his patient standing up. Commencing at the
top of his head, the medicine-man, with a bundle of twigs in his hand, rubs his patient's
body all over, ending with the feet. When this is finished the medicine-man tells him
that his " thahu " is expelled.
Leaving his patient he now takes the twigs dipped in offal and enters each hut in
the village in turn, and, proceeding to brush the walls with them, he pretends to sweep
out the " thahu."
Finally he collects the sheep's offal together and carries it away from the village
into the thicket, at the same time saying, " I drive ' Thahu ' out of this village ! "
On returning he again sits before his patient and requests him to stretch forth his
hands, palms upward, and close together in the attitude of receiving. He pours out
some white substance like chalk from one of his gourds and draws a line with it on
the outstretched palms and on the patient's forehead, nose, throat, and abdomen ;
afterwards drawing similar lines on his own body. Some of the contents of the
medicine gourds are mixed in the palms, and the man is told to swallow it. The
flesh of the sacrifice is then cooked and eaten by all except the patient himself ;
if he were to eat any of the meat the uncleanness is supposed to return.
The " Mundu mugo " now collects his fee, which may be either in money or in
kind, and takes his departure.
Witchcraft is said to be practised by agents of the evil spirits in human form,
and misfortune, disease, and sometimes even death itself, are attributed to their evil
influence. When witchcraft is suspected the medicine-man is called, and after the
usual ceremony of prayer he pulls from his bag the horn of a wild animal (probably
that of an antelope) which has been previously filled with medicines and sealed with
bees' wax. With this horn in his hand he searches in and around the village,
digging in the ground with it at the roots of trees, in the gardens, at the sides of
the huts, &c. Finally he brings forward something which he pronounces to be the
cause of the trouble. This may be some debris wrapped in leaves, or a piece of a
human skull, the hairs of a man's head, or a piece of stick or stone surrounded with
leaves. A sheep is then sacrificed and eaten, and the " Mundo mugo " makes some
mysterious passes with his horn, and declares the spell of the witchcraft to be
broken and the village purified. The fee for this service is a high one, generally
two or three sheep.
In many of these sacrifices bits of the skin of the animal sacrificed are cut off
and worn upon the wrists as bracelet charms.
As with many other African tribes the ordeal ceremony is practised to determine
the guilt or innocence of a suspected party. For instance, a crime such as murder,
theft, or arson has been committed, and the perpetrator is unknown. It may be that
several suspected parties are arrested and brought before a council of elders with the
local chief. The " Muudu mugo " is then asked to prepare a " muma " or ordeal
and several tests may be applied. In minor cases the suspected party is asked to
incise his leg with a knife until blood appears, and then to lap up his own blood
from the wound with his tongue. If he is guilty he will die in a short time, if
innocent nothing happens.
Another test is to tell the suspected person to plunge his bare arm into a large
pot of boiling water into which the "Mundu mugo" has poured medicine, and take
[ 55 ]
Nos. 30-32.] MAN. [1909.
out an axe-head. If guilty, he will be badly scalded ; if innocent, he will not be
injured.
Yet another test is to heat a sword red-hot in the fire, putting medicine upon
it, and telling the suspected person to lick it with his tongue. If innocent, the
tongue will escape injury.
A goat is sometimes sacrificed, and its blood retained in a banana leaf, to which
the medicine-man applies medicine. The suspected one is told to lap up the blood,
and if guilty he will shortly die, but if innocent he will escape.
J. W. W. CRAWFORD.
New Zealand. Edg>e-Parting>ton.
Maori Forgeries. By J. Edge-Parting ton. Ql
The frequent occurrence of forged ethnographical specimens, more especially Ul
from New Zealand, turning up at sales in London, makes it necessary for collectors and
others to examine with special care any specimens brought to their notice, more
particularly as many of these have changed hands at very high prices. I have lately
had a letter from Mr. Turnbull, of Wellington, New Zealand, warning me that a
great number of extremely well-made forged greenstone Maori " antiquities " are in
circulation in New Zealand, a very clever workman there making most of them ; the
man has excellent patterns to work from, and his forgeries are very hard to detect.
I was told in London by a dealer that some years ago a forger in Germany carried
on a very lucrative business for over five years in carving both Tikis and Meris. One
is naturally led to ask what has become of all these forgeries ?
J. EDGE-PARTINGTON.
REVIEWS.
Magic. Thompson.
Semitic Magic: Its Origins and Development. By R. Campbell Thompson, Qft
M.A. London : Luzac & Co., 1908. Pp. Ixviii + 286. 24 x 16 cm. Price Ofc
10s. 6d. net.
Early Semitic magic makes, of course, its primary claim upon our attention because
of the effects it has produced upon three great contemporary religions, but it makes a
second — and very important — claim in respect of the influences it has undoubtedly
exercised upon other magical systems. Eastern magicians and astrologers were busily
plying their trades in Rome during the early years of the present era, and later, during
the period when most of Europe was sunk in mediaeval darkness, Semitic peoples —
congregated in the Peninsula, scattered in groups elsewhere on the Continent — kept
alive the ancient learning, and with it much of the ancient magic. Of this magic some
of the marks of which may still be traced, especially where demonology enters, filtered
through to the peoples amongst whom these Semites dwelt. Then, again, there was
the strong direct influence brought to bear upon the Christian nations in the Biblical
descriptions of magical acts and processes, while probably there was always extended —
as there is yet extended — a ready welcome to anything mystical arriving from the East.
Eastward even in early times the great trade routes must have carried the Semitic
magic, and we may yet find even in the Far East customs which hint at, at least, a
contact with it. Mr. Thompson's book, therefore, is a welcome addition to the scientific
studies of magic, not alone because of its direct application to Biblical studies and to
studies of Semitic magic in its proper homes, but because also of the light it may, in
the hands of competent students, help to shed upon the origins of, or influences involved
in, various European, Indian, and Far Eastern magical practices.
The book concerns itself principally with the ancient Mesopotamian magic, as
recorded upon the clay tablets of some 3,000 years or less ago, with which the author
[ 56 ]
1909.] MAN. [No, 32.
compares, for illustration and explanation, comparatively recent, or modern, Semitic
practices recorded by others or by himself. At the period, remote from us as it
is, at which these tablets were written, magic had, of course, in common with other
arts, advanced very far beyond the savage stage, so that it is only by analogy that
we may trust to find here the ultimate origins of the practices to which the tablets refer.
As the author says in his preface : " The parallels afforded by Aryan and Hamitic
" nations show how close are the grooves in which savage ideas run, and that the
" principles of magic are, broadly speaking, coincident in each separate nation, and yet
" as far as we know of independent invention." It is, therefore, rather the particular
developments of Semitic magic, and the influences of those developments upon later
magic (including the magic described in the Bible), in which we should interest
ourselves.
The most important features of Mr. Thompson's work are his study of tabu as
revealed in the tablets, and the deductions to which his study of the evil spirits
mentioned in them have led him. His deductions, briefly stated, are as follows : —
(1) All evil spirits could inflict bodily hurt on man. (2) Offspring, either semi-divine
or semi-demoniac, could be born of intermarriage between spirits and human beings.
(3) From this belief arose the tabu on certain sexual functions. The contaminated
person was segregated (according to the author's theory) because of the fear of the
jealousy of the marriageable demons which were supposed to be near or present during
the period of the functions. (4) A person having unconsciously broken some tabu,
would fall sick from the attack of a resentful spirit. The priest then exorcised the
demon by transferring its influence from the patient to some other body. (5) This is
the basis of the atonement principle. Having brought the demoniac influence into a
wax figure or a slaughtered kid, for example, the priest destroyed it. Later, the most
probable theory is, the original idea of the slaughtered kid became merged in that of the
ordinary sacrifice representing a common meal with the god, and the carcase of the k d
then became a "sin offering" instead of a receptacle for the exorcised demoniac
influence. (6) The principle of substitution for the firstborn apparently originated in
cannibal feasts amongst primitive and savage Semites ; with milder natural conditions
and a rise in culture it became natural to substitute a beast for a tribesman at the tribal
cannibal feast.
These deductions are worked out in five chapters, to which is prefixed a long
introduction giving a general description of the tablets and the series in which they
occur, extracts from a number of the tablets, general remarks as to the components of
the ceremonies and concerning the purposes to which the magic was applied, and some
information as to the priests and sorcerers by whom the ceremonies were performed.
These latter were of three varieties : seers, a kind of wizard who repeated incantations
and performed exorcisms, and " chanters " of the ceremonials allotted to them. A minor
point of interest is that the medical texts often contain short incantations for aiding
the effect of prescriptions of drugs or herbs, "for the Babylonian medicine-man was
" but a witch-doctor with a herbalist's knowledge of simples combined with an
" ingenuous belief in abracadabra." Another is the manner in which the book illustrates
the modern survivals, it may be in professional magic, it may be in folk-magic, of many
of the minor conceptions (as distinguished from the greater concerned with the
spirits and their natures) of the magicians of twenty-five or thirty centuries ago.
The first chapter deals with the various spirits, numerous in variety, by which
diseases or other misfortunes may be caused. " The ideas which are still current show
" us that the more ancient forms of hobgoblins, vampires, spooks, and devils exist
" under various titles with the several attributes that were assigned to them by the
" Babylonians, who cultivated one of the most elaborate and intricate systems of
" ancient magic that we know." With these premises the author, by means of more
[ 57 ]
Ncs. 32-33.] MAN. [1909.
or less modern folklore, endeavours to determine the natures of the many spirits
mentioned in the incantations upon the tablets. Disembodied spirits, the unquiet
ghosts of persons who have died in various circumstances ; purely supernatural beings,
such as the many devils who haunt unclean places or waste areas, and the devils who
afflict children in particular or pregnant women, or kindly, guarding spirits ; and semi-
human, semi-supernatural spirits, which form the basis of certain of the author's theories
concerned with tabu, are in their modern forms compared and identified by him with
the spirits of the incantations. As is so often the case elsewhere, certain diseases
were personified ; thus, " Fever " and Headache, amongst others, were quoted in the
tablets as demons coming from the underworld.
Next tabu is discussed. " Hundreds of tablets . . . have been made available
" to scholars . . . they represent a series of beliefs probably far more ancient than
" the epoch at which the tablets which we now possess were actually written
" it is in the arcana of exorcisms and magical invocations that we may hope to find
" material to explain some of the more difficult questions of the tabus of uncleanness
"... besides the tabus on the dead, the uncleanness that rests with all sexual
" functions was most marked." The cuneiform tablets vouch for the tabu of a corpse
among the Assyrians : — " To look upon a dead body demanded a purifying ceremony,
" and if a wizard laid the waxen effigy of a man near a corpse subsequent evil was sure
" to attack the victim." Crimes, such as murder, adultery, and theft, or the stirring
up of strife were considered tabu.
The third chapter deals with sympathetic magic, and shows principally how there
obtained amongst the ancient Semites the usual beliefs as to the substitution of a part
for the whole, or of an image for a victim or a patient, with subsequent injurious or
curative treatment. In the fourth chapter the author presents his theory as to the origin
of the atonement sacrifice amongst the Semites, tracing it to " a primitive system of
" providing a substitute victim [as distinct from the primitive redemption of the first-
" born] for the devil whose connection with the man has brought down a tabu . . .
" This ... is emphasised by the study of the Assyrian exorcisms ; that the
" disease demon must be gently or forcibly persuaded to leave the human body to
" enter the dead animal or wax figure which is placed near and so be brought into
" subjection."
In the last chapter the author attempts to trace the origin of the custom of the
redemption of the firstborn, rejecting the theories that the custom originated in a
sacrifice of a nature to avoid future dangers, or in the idea that the firstborn was of
supernatural parentage, and deciding that, as stated above, it probably originated in
their sharing, by a primitive and savage people wandering in a harsh and barren land,
of their cannibalistic feasts with their deities. The book concludes with an appendix
devoted mostly to a study of the tabus mentioned in the tablets, a list of Biblical
quotations, and an excellent index. W. L. H.
Anthropology. British Museum.
Guide to the Specimens illustrating the Races of Mankind (Anthropology) Ofl
exhibited in the Department of Zoology, British Museum (Natural History). UU
London, 1908. Pp. 31. 21 X 14 cm. Price 4</.
The writer of this guide has adhered to the conservative classification of mankind
as Caucasian or White Races, Mongolian or Yellow Races, and Negro or Black Races.
For the purposes of a short and popular book this course is probably the most
appropriate, provided always that the necessary reservations are clearly indicated. It
is a shock, however, to find in the Contents the native Australians and the Hamites.
amongst others, appearing without qualification as members of the " Caucasian or White
[ 58 ]
1909.] MAN. [Nos. 33-34.
Races." The point may seem a small one, but it is characteristic of the book. It is
a guide in a hurry.
The strict anthropologist may be content to find practically no reference to man's
relationship to the apes, though it is arguable that the evolutionist owes a duty to
his ancestors. It is a meagre crumb of comfort to learn that there is a case in the
gallery in which are " exhibited many of the structural differences distinguishing the
" man-like apes from man himself." No bishop could be more discreet.
The criteria of race are in the main left for the reader to glean from the text, and
it is probable that such an expression as the "elliptical hair" (of the Tasmanians) will
not be fully appreciated.
The inset section headings, which alone indicate the sub-divisions of the subject-
matter, are in the same type throughout, so that the " Aryans," the " Semitic group,"
the " Toalas," the " Polynesians," the " Maoris," and others, appear as of equal rank,
and their subordination to the author's " Caucasian or White Races " is not suggested
oD
by any variation of type. Again, although all other section-headings indicate racial
divisions, in one case the Aryan obsession has prevailed, only to be discredited, though
by no means completely exorcised, in the text. It may be noted that the Berbers are
called upon to figure in this non-racial racial section. In this connection also, a logical
deduction from the author's statements is, that not only the Dravidians and the Veddas,
but probably also the Ainus, the Maoutzi, the Australian natives, and the Polynesians,
are "Aryans." The reader is left in uncertainty as to the real position of the Bisharin,
since they appear both as Semites and Hamites within the space of a few lines.
It may be mentioned that the Guide appears to be, in the main, a reprint of the
labels in the museum cases, with the intercalation of some recent theories on racial
origins and relationships.
The plates are of considerable interest, and worth preserving. H. S. H.
Totemism. Van Gennep.
Totemisme et Methode comparative. Par A. van Gennep. From the Revue O J
de VHistoire des Religions. Paris, Leroux, 1908. Pp. 44. 26 x 17 cm. UT
M. A. van Gennep's brochure of forty-four pages consists of a polemic against
M. Toutain, M. Renel, M. Amelineau, and others, who have written on Egyptian
religion and on Roman ensigns in connection with totemism ; and a statement
of the differences between the " comparative " and the " historical " methods of
enquiry into totems and tabus. Unfortunately I have not read the book of M. Renel
(Cultes militaires de Rome, tome I, 1903).
The essay of M. Toutain on the book of M. Renel is in L'Histoire des Religions
(1908, pp. 333-354). M. Toutaiu is rather adverse to the totemic theory as a key-
to peculiarities in Egyptian and classical religion : nor can it be denied that the key
becomes a crowbar, or "jemmy," in the hands of some enthusiasts. But, as M. van
Gennep argues, there are more sober students, and there is more in totemism than
M. Toutain is inclined to allow.
M. van Gennep complains that M. Renel has not defined totemism ; has not (as I
understand) allowed for the advance in knowledge since the appearance of Mr. Frazer's
pioneer work, Totemism (1887) ; and that M. Renel assumes that totemism has been
proved for ancient Egypt, and modern Europe, and has identified toteraism with some
isolated practices, such as " the cult of standards." As a matter of fact neithei
Greek, Celtic, Italian, Egyptian, Semitic, nor Arab totemism is historically demon-
strated. Here I, for one, agree with M. van Gennep, but I do think that the theory
of a very remote past of totemism, far behind "Early Minoan," best explains certain
features in the religions, or rather myths, of the ancient peoples mentioned, while I
Nos, 34-35.] MAN. [1909.
conceive that many theorists have overrun the scent, as when Orpheus is recognised
for a " sex totem " of the Thracians !
The complaint is that M. Renel, M. G. Reinach, M. Amelineau (for Egypt), and
others, "have found out Mr. Frazer's book of 1887," and have "used the facts as they
" use historic documents." By " historic documents " I mean inscriptions, charters,
contemporary correspondence, and so forth. In prehistoric times, and among savages,
these are not to be found ; we must make the most of what we have, and, unlike the
savants censured, must keep abreast of discoveries in custom and tradition ; and it is
absolutely essential, as M. van Gennep insists, that we should employ a definite
terminology; not tossing about "clan," "tribe," and "family" at random ; nor using
" totem " for dozens of things perfectly different and distinct ; for " clan masks," gods,
the familiar of each individual, and so forth. The word " clan " ought not to be used
at all in matters totemic, and " totem " ought not to be used for enseigne protectrice.
The Napoleonic eagles were not totems ! M. Loret and M. Amelineau are criticised
for making confusions ; for speaking of what the Euahlayi call the yunbeai of the
individual, as if it were the same thing as the dhe of the totem-kin. I can agree
almost wholly with M. van Gennep's " Four Principles of Totemism," but scarcely
with the second, " the belief is expressed in the religious life by positive rites," for
I am not aware of positive religious totemic rites among most of the South-East
Australian and North American tribes whose totemism seems to me most normal.
With M. van Gennep I recognise that such terms as sibokisme and sulaisme would
be useful, and all other sciences have what a Scottish critic of psychology calls their
"jargon." To say "jargon" is to be very popular, yet even games have their techni-
cal terms. M. van Geonep proposes an international congress to settle the tenns.
Meanwhile each writer might explicitly define the meaning which he attaches to the
terms he employs ; say, in the study of Australian marriage, the word " class."
M. van Genuep applauds Mr. Hartland's valuable paper (Folk-Lore, Vol. XI»
pp. 22-37), and thinks that it would have been useful to M. Amelineau, in his
Prolegomenes a I' Etude de la Religion egyptienne (1908).
That totemism is "primitive" no one can really maintain, as M. van Gennep
insists, but among some tribes it exists without ancestor worship, and appears to be
earlier. The word " primitive " might as well be expunged from the scientific
vocabulary. M. van Gennep also stigmatises the vague way in which the word
" tabou '' is used. I must differ from M. van Gennep when he says, " Totemism seems
" to have for its aim, at least in some groupements, the restriction of the depopulation
" of animals and vegetables." He appears to refer to the Arunta " close-time," by
which, as I understand, the members of each totem-group decide when the " season "
for each plant or animal opens. This appears to me to be a late utilisation of totemic
ideas, not the original but du totemisme. But M. van Gennep may not mean to
assert' anything about the original aim of totemism, he has no theory of the origin
of totemism, and he can have no theory of its aim. A. LANG.
Religion. Hall.
The Inward Light. By H. Fielding Hall. London : Macmillan, 1908. QC
Pp. viii + 252. 23 x 14 cm. Price 10*. 03
I have had this book by me for a long while, because I have felt some delicacy
in saying of it what I think ought to be said. It seems to me to be a particularly
dangerous book and likely to remain popular. I have^ therefore, read it carefully from
end to end to see what is actually in it.
It is apparently intended to be the climax of a series of books by the author on
the same subject, the inner religion of the modern Burmese Buddhist, seemingly, in the
writer's opinion, the highest form of religion in existence. It is obviously intended to
[ 60 ]
1909.] MAN. [Nos. 35-36.
be a philosophical work. " It is to explain and illustrate really what Buddhism is that
" I have written this book." But I do not think it should be too clearly stated by a
critic with experience of things Oriental that it does nothing of the kind. It is, in
plain fact, a presentation, in modern western language and in modern western garb, of the
philosophy of the Indian Vedanta, which is not Buddhist, though no doubt a good deal
of that philosophy has been absorbed by the inmates of Buddhist monasteries in Burma.
The doctrines of the Vedanta are presented in this book as if they were something
newly discovered in the philosophy of the East, and admirable beyond those of any
philosophy that the West has thought out. Perhaps that would not matter much,
were it not for the beautiful and seductive language in which the book is written.
It is herein that the danger lies. It is a highly poetical book, couched in language
throughout eminently calculated to captivate the mind and render it uncritical — and yet
it is misleading from cover to cover. The author is a born poet and a past master in
poetical expression — a man with whom the forms and sounds of words are an obsession.
The poetry in him — the mere love of picturesque description — always carries him away
and makes him incapable of correctly stating what he observes or learns. He is never
more wrong than in his allusions to the mental attitude of the West, whence he is
derived. A most charming guide, but withal a most dangerous one.
I wish to give Mr. Hall all the credit I can. To anyone desiring to pass some
pleasant hours in company with imagery of wonderful beauty, and to give himself up
for a while to fairyland to be enthralled with scene after scene of surpassing loveliness,
I strongly recommend this book ; and I would specially draw such an one's attention to
pages 91-2 and 165-8 as well worth reading and thinking over. But if the reader of
these alluring and often exquisite pages rises up from the perusal with the idea that
he has thereby learnt anything that is not as old as the hills or anything of the real
Buddhism or the real Burman, I can assure him that he will be entirely mistaken, and
have done himself a mental injury.
The book is, indeed, an appeal to the imagination and not to the reason, and
for practical purposes quite valueless. R. C. TEMPLE.
Fiji. Thomson.
The Fijians : A Study of the Decay of Custom. By Basil Thomson. O Q
London : Heinemann, 1908. Pp. xx + 396. 23 X 15 cm. Price 10*. UU
No one can read this study of the Fijians without reflecting how different would
have been the history — the often shameful history — of conquered native races, had
their administrators possessed the sympathy, insight, and, above all, the anthropological
knowledge of Mr. Basil Thomson. For the best-intentioned efforts, if not guided by
this knowledge, may have an unexpected effect and produce conditions far worse than
those they strive to ameliorate. In Fiji, for example, the missionaries' endeavours to
inculcate " family life " on the English plan produced a surprising result. The ill-
advised work of the early missions in abolishing the mbure-ni-sa (unmarried man's
house) has ended in moral laxities practically unknown in heathen times, in a far higher
birth-rate and an enormous increase in infant mortality, which is having a disastrous
influence on the future of the race. Even church festivals and school treats of the most
innocent intention have results other than were anticipated. And in government the
mistakes made are no less serious*; an attempt to understand native laws and customs
would save years of conflict and perhaps hundreds of lives.
Mr. Thomson's indictment of our method of dealing with native races is severe :
" We do not, as a rule, come to native races with the authority of conquerors ; we
" saunter into their country and annex it ; we break down their customs, but do not
" force them to adopt ours ; we teach them the precepts of Christianity, and in the
'* same breath assure them that instead of physical punishment by disease which they
[ 61 ]
Nos. 36-37,] MAN. [1909.
" used to fear, their disobedience will be visited by eternal punishment after death — a
" contingency too remote to have any terrors for them ; and then we leave them, like
" a ship with a broken tiller, free to go whithersoever the wind of fancy drives them,
" and it is not surprising that they prefer the easy vices of civilisation to its more
" difficult virtues. In civilising a native race the suaviter in mode is a more dangerous
" process than the fortiter in re."
Nevertheless, for those who lament the gradual extermination that seems inevitable
when the " progressives " invade the lands of the " stagnant " peoples, it is reassuring
to read the author's belief " that in the centuries to come there will be representatives
" even of the smallest races now living on the earth, and that the proportions between
" civilised and what are now uncivilised peoples will not have greatly altered." But
since the political and social ideas which underlie Western civilisation will then have
permeated the whole of mankind, such a book as this under review, being a study in
detail of a "stagnant" people is of the greater value, and the Fijians, owing to their
isolation, are peculiarly well fitted for such a study.
Thus we turn confidently to the index to direct us to points of social interest.
But in vain. Childhood, Infancy, Kinship, Mother-right, Father-right (or Agnatic and
Uterine descent, which are the terms used in the text) are all omitted, although, owing
to a chance comparison in the introduction, Essomeric, de Bethencourt, Pocahontas,
the Eskimo, and the Copts are given a line apiece. Only one reference to Tabu is
given, although it is mentioned more than twenty times in the first 200 pages ; and
even with such a conspicuous entry as the Strangling of Widows only one reference
is given, on p. 132, and the ten earlier references are ignored. On the other hand,
Yaws, which is described on pp. 270-6, is accorded five lines of indexing.
The table of contents forms a fairer view of the value of the book. The first
chapters deal with the Transition, the Ages of Myth and of History, the Constitution
of Society, Warfare, Cannibalism, Religion, Polygamy, Family Life, and the Marriage
System. These titles speak for themselves, and when to an intimate knowledge of the
subject is added the direct simplicity and charm of style, together with touches of
humour with which readers of Mr. Thomson's earlier works are familiar, the result is
a book containing much information produced in a most delightful form.
The account of the kinship system is somewhat disappointing, as the author seems
to have confined his attention to one form, and writes of that alone as if no others
existed, although Dr. W. H. R. Rivers (see Nature, August 27th, 1908) found in the
interior of Viti Levu " an entirely new system of kinship of the most complicated and
" interesting kind, and quite different from the system previously recorded as the Fijian
" system." Mr. Basil Thomson had the advantages of lengthy residence, daily inter-
course with the natives, and all the facilities granted to official status : Dr. Rivers
was in Fiji for less than a month. Do the latest methods of anthropological research
need further vindication ?
Later chapters are devoted to various customs, prevalent diseases, native character
and capabilities, and after separate notices of games, food, yankona (kava), tobacco,
and a most interesting chapter on land tenure, the book ends with conclusions, in
which the new is compared with the old, and the transition period is shown to
combine in many ways the evils of both. A. H. Q.
Trade. Roth.
Trading in Early Days. By H. Ling Roth. Halifax, Yorks, 1908.
Pp. 45. 21 x 14 cm. Price 1*.
Mr. H. Ling Roth, Honorary Curator of the Bankfield Museum, Halifax, has
issued, as one of his Museum Notes, a lecture on the Early History of Trading. He
suggests that the earliest form of inter-tribal commerce is to be found in the custom
[ 62 ]
1909.] MAN. [Nos. 37-38.
of presenting articles in the hope of receiving an equivalent. This view is illustrated
by the customs of the Andamanese, and by the Yutchin which prevails among the
natives of South-east Australia. Following this comes a second transitional stage,
when it was recognised that exchange must be adopted as a substitute for force, this
being due to the developing regard for human life. In this connection he describes
the intertribal relations of the aborigines of Queensland, who use message sticks ;
and of the natives of the shores of the Gulf of Papua and British Guiana. Passing
from these various forms of inter-tribal trade, he describes the beginnings of exchange
with strangers, which leads to the use of an elementary form of currency, such as
hanks of wool, bars of salt, and shell money. Another development is the habit of
silent trade, prevailing, as Herodotus states, among the Carthaginians in Libya, and
in more modern times among the races of the Niger Delta and other parts of Western
Africa. Analogous to this are hidden negotiations or dumb barter, first noticed by
Cassar Frederick in Pegu. This leads to a review of early forms of transport and
of the more elementary kinds of maps. Markets, he believes, generally begin with
tribal meetings for the performance of religious rites. He next discusses the more
primitive varieties of notation, and the rise of commercial integrity. This is followed
by an account of the earliest media of exchange, and by a description of the most
primitive coins. Finally, he discusses the evolution of the system of credit. It will
be seen from this summary that Mr. Ling Roth covers an exceedingly wide field
within the limits of a single lecture. The only criticism that I would be inclined
to make is that the subject, as a whole, is too extensive for summary treatment ;
and that he would be well advised to extend this review into a more comprehensive
treatment of the question. As it stands, however, the lecture is interesting and
suggestive, and it is illustrated throughout by photographs and drawings of specimens
from the collections under his charge. W. CROOKE.
Africa : Congo. Starr.
A Bibliography oj Congo Languages. By Frederick Starr. University of QQ
Chicago, Department of Anthropology, Bulletin V. Chicago, 1908. Pp. 97. 00
24 x 17 cm.
The laborious task of preparing a bibliography of any sort is one from which the
majority of mankind shrinks, and yet bibliographies are perhaps more needed just now
by students of anthropology than any other class of literature ; at present the young
science is, as far as its material is concerned, in a very disjointed condition, and the
amount of research in literature of every sort which must be undertaken by the student
who wishes to generalise on any particular subject can be realised only by him who
has made the attempt. Next to personal experience, or even before it for the induc-
tive writer, the greatest part of knowledge is knowledge of the bookshelf, and every
bibliography marks a definite step in progress.
The task so ably performed by Mr. Starr, a compilation of a bibliography of
Congo languages, was no easy one, as may be gathered from the following passage
taken from his introduction : — " The only significant list heretofore printed is the
" section ' Linguistique ' in Wauter's general Bibliography of the Congo. That list
" is the foundation upon which the present catalogue has been built. The only other
" sources from which any serious amount of material has been secured are the
" various bibliographic lists of the British Museum and the catalogue of the British
" and Foreign Bible Society and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. All
" these together have, perhaps, yielded less than one-half the titles here presented."
The collection of the larger half of entries was a matter of peculiar difficulty, owing to
the fact that many works of great value are the produce of local presses established
by various missions in the Congo Free State, and are very difficult to procure.
[ G3 ]
Nos. 38-39.]
MAN.
[1909.
It is easily gathered from the introduction that many of this class of philological
publications would have escaped the compiler but for the fact that his travels in the
State brought him in contact with them. In some cases the missions seemed anxious
to hide their light under a bushel, and, with regard to one active mission press,
" Neither letters to the mission nor hours of search in Brussels have enabled us to
" secure copies of its publications or information regarding them."
It is interesting to note one particular class of work, which is more numerous
than may be supposed and which the compiler confesses may not be fully represented,
viz., those books of local production written by Africans for Africans, consisting chiefly
of manuscripts in Swahili written in Arabic character. Closely akin to these is an
interesting Guide to Swahili, printed in the Gujerati character, which is the direct
outcome of the contact between Hindu and Swahili.
However useful and interesting bibliographies may be, it must be confessed that
there is something very unattractive about the appearance of their pages, but the
present work is an exception. Professor Starr has hit upon the very happy idea of
incorporating in the text small portraits of the authors of three or more items in the
list. These portraits, twenty-five in number, are supplemented by a number of plates,
mainly reproductions of the title-pages of early works, and an excellent portrait of
Robert Needham Gust as frontispiece.
The items are arranged in the alphabetical order of the authors' names, and there
are two indices, one of the dialects represented, and a second of the presses. The
unexpected size of this bibliography and the number of the illustrations show the care
which Professor Starr has expended on its preparation. He has added greatly to the
obligation under which his previous work has laid anthropology. T. A. J.
Teneriffe : Craniology. von Behr.
Metrische Studien an 152 Guanchenschddeln. Von Detloff v. Behr.
39
Stuttgart : Stucker und Schroder, 1908. Pp. 83. 28 x 17 cm.
This paper contains detailed measurements of eighty-three male, forty-four female,
arid fourteen children's skulls from caves in the island of Teneriffe, which must therefore
be dated prior to the conversion of the islanders in 1496.
By means of seriatiou diagrams the various indices of the Guanche skulls are
compared with those of a series of Spanish skulls dating from the early metal period
and with the early Egyptian series described by Thomson and Maclver in the Ancient
Races of Thebaid. The author finds some resemblance between the Guanche and
the Spanish series, but not between the Gaunche and tho Egyptian. The paper
gives no tables of average dimensions or indices and makes no reference to previous
workers in the same field, and is important only from the complete list of measurements
it contains. To render these more immediately accessible for purposes of comparison
with other groups the following averages have been calculated by the reviewer : —
AVERAGE INDICES.
MALE.
FEMALE.
Length-Breadth - -
77-3
78-9
Length-Height
70-6
72-2
Breadth-Height -
91-4
91-3
Upper Facial (Kollmann)
62-0
52-8
Orbital - ...
82-6
84-2
Nasal - -
46-4
47-4
These agree very closely with the averages of previous observers, but the additional
numbers will reduce the probable error materially. F. S.
Printed by EYRE AND SPOTTiswooDE, LTD., His Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, E.G.
PLATE E.
MAN, 1909.
0 1 2 3 A 5 CM.
I..MI I < I I 1 1 I • I
FIG. i.
FIG. 2.
FIG. 3-
FIG. 4.
FIG. 5. FIG. 6. FIG. 7.
STEATITE FIGURES FROM SIERRA LEONE.
1909.] MAN. [No. 40.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Africa, West. With Plate E. Joyce.
Steatite Figures from Sierra Leone. By T. A. Joyce, M.A. if)
In MAN, 1905, 57, I described a small series of these interesting sculptures, • U
and gave such information concerning them as I had been able to collect through the
kindness of various correspondents in West Africa. In that note reference was made
to a paper by Professor Riitimeyer, of Basel, who was the first to publish anything
concerning these nomori. Shortly after the appearance of my note the British Museum
was fortunate enough to acquire from Lieutenant Boddy a long series of some
forty specimens, perfect and fragmentary, which he had collected on the spot and of
which some exhibit new characteristics. Still later a few other specimens have been
added to the National Collection, the most recent series being the gift of Major Anderson,
District Commissioner, Makondo Central District, who also was able to furnish some
new and interesting information. Fresh details concerning these figures also reached
me in 1906 through the courtesy of the Rev. A. E. Greensmith, of Bo, Sierra Leone.
Quite recently Professor Riitimeyer has described and figured in the Internationales
Archiv fur Ethnographic, Bd. XVIII, p. 167, a second collection which he has
obtained, and has incorporated in his article further information, much of which he
obtained from Mr. Greensmith, and is therefore similar to that which the latter
gentleman was kind enough to send me.
It may be worth while, since Professor Riitimeyer has published his results to
date, to place on record the more important specimens which have reached this
country. Many of the latter are similar in type to some already figured (notably
Figs. 4 and 5 in Riitimeyer's first article, Fig. 7 in his second, and Fig. 1, a and rf, in
my note in MAN), and some appear to have been carved by unskilful hands in quite
recent times, and the artist has not always been able to free himself from the
conventions of the present-day art of wood-carving. A few of the most interesting
are shown on Plate E.
Fig. 1 represents a man in a standing position, with hands on either side of a
very finely-developed chest (though it may be that the figure is represented as carrying
some rounded object pressed close to the body). A number of lines drawn horizon-
tally from the ear to the mouth represent tatu similar to that of the figure illustrated
in MAN, 1905, PI. G. The top of the head is cut off flat and a wide conical hole is
bored vertically in the "crown" to a depth of 2*3 cm. The carving, with the exception
of the legs, is very good. Height of figure, 13 '4 cm. (Boddy Collection.)
Fig. 2 is interesting, chiefly owing to the fact that, though considerably weathered,
it exhibits in the features of the face and method of hair-dress, many of the charac-
teristics of present-day wood-carving. It represents the head and bust of a Avoman,
the arms lacking, the hair is dressed in a crest running from forehead to nape of neck,
two plain vertical bands in relief from temple to angle of jaw in front of each ear
represent tatu, and a large necklace of spherical beads is shown in relief encircling the
neck. The whole surface, except the face, is ornamented with incised lines grouped
to form triangles. Height of figure, 14 '7 cm. (Boddy Collection.)
Fig. 3 is a fragment, representing the head and shoulders of a man ; the arms,
one of which is broken, are raised, and the hands laid flat upon the cheeks, as Fig. 6
of Riitimeyer's second article ; the hair is trimmed in a circular fringe of braids with
a tonsure on the crown ; and a short beard follows the line of the chin. Height of
fragment, 8-8 cm. (Duke Collection.)
Fig. 4 is in some ways the most interesting of this series ; it represents a bearded
male figure with a kind of turban on his head, bearing in his right hand a spear, in his
[ 65 ]
No, 40.] MAN. [1909.
left a circular shield, and surrounded by six diminutive figures of varying heights. A
somewhat similar figure (not illustrated) forms part of the same collection ; viz., a man
with spear, and circular shield which he rests upon the head of a diminutive figure ;
the latter, which is very rudely carved, is cut free from the larger figure. Fig. 4 is
perhaps the most weathered of the whole collection ; the surface is quite black and
very smooth. The circular form of the shield is very interesting as it is extremely rare
amongst negro tribes. Height of figure, 17 '8 cm. (Boddy Collection.)
Fig. 5 represents a woman with pendant breasts standing and holding a staff in
her right hand. In her head, the hair on which is shaved in patterns, is a vertical
hole 2 '8 cm. deep. Vertically down her body, above and below the navel, is a band
of guilloche pattern in relief, representing tatu somewhat similar to that on the body of
the figure illustrated in MAN, 1905, PI. G. Height, 22 -6 cm. (Boddy Collection.)
Fig. 6, which is somewhat battered, represents a head only, with very coarse
features and widely everted lips. There is a flat circular projection on the top of the
head about the region of the bregma but inclined to the right, the ear lobes and the
ala of the left nostril are represented as ornamented each with a ring. A string
with two cowries encircles the neck. Height, 14 '0 cm. (Duke Collection.)
Fig. 7 is quite unlike any other I have yet seen ; it represents a man seated on a
peculiarly shaped stool (see Fig. 1 beiow) and carrying a bowl. On his head is a
conical turban with a lobed border ;
the face is grotesque, the features
sharply cut, the nose prominent and
pointed, but with exceedingly broad
alee; the lips are parted in a wide and
Side Back ... • u • f • j , i
„ . cat-like grin, showing a formidable array
of teeth (obscured by the shadow in
the photograph) ; the ears are placed unnaturally high, immediately under the border
of the headdress, the hair is shown in a fringe on the forehead, and a series of knobs on
the neck may represent either curls or ornaments. On each temple is a band of tatu
(JfJf Round the shoulders is cast a cloak, one end of which hangs down
fJJJJ in a bunch behind the left shoulder (just visible in- the photograph).
Height, 21 '5 cm. (Boddy Collection.)
As to the fresh points of information which I have received, I will first quote
Mr.' Greensmith's letter : —
" I have one or two observations to make which may be helpful to you :
" (1) In addition to being found in Sherbroland, Mendiland, and over the Liberian
" border, they are also found in those parts of Timniland that lie contiguous to Men-
" diland. It may be that you will possibly hear of them being found much more
" to the east than has yet been suspected.
(2) I have not observed you make any mention in your note, nor have I indeed
" heard from any civilised person, black or white, of certain metallic rings that the
" natives say are discovered, i.e., dug up, with these farm devils, and which are never
" separated or rather kept apart once they are found.
" Although I had heard of them more than two years ago, it was only a month
" ago that I saw, and actually came into possession of, one of these rings. It was
" very black with exposure to the weather apparently. On scratching it with a knife,
" it appeared to me to be either brass or bronze. The ordinary image is called, as
" you observe in your article, ' nomoli ' or ' nomorri,' but when accompanied by one
" of these rings is then known as ' mahai-yafei,' king spirit or king devil — I suppose
" so called because they are employed in the courts of the chiefs for the witnesses to be
" sworn upon. These mahai-yafeisia or maha-yafanga, although but the ordinary
[ G5 ]
1909.] MAN. [No. 40.
" nomolisia with a ring accompanying them, are regarded with much more dread than
" the simple nomoli, and are regarded as of much greater value.
" The metal rings are sometimes six, seven, and eight inches in diameter, and the
" nomoli is placed in the middle, but the one I secured was only about 2 inches, and
" fitted so close to the nomoli that it served to prop it up in an upright position.
" (3) The word ' nomoli ' appears to me to be derived from nu = person, and
" muli = soapstone. Soapstone, of course, is still to be found in the country.
" Before the end of the year, possibly in a few weeks hence, I may find time
" to go off on a little expedition, to investigate the truth of the native reports about
*' the ' little hills ' I previously mentioned to you."
Major G. d'A. Anderson, District Commissioner, Makondo, is the source of the
following interesting information regarding the localities where these figures are found ;
he has not come across any rumour as to the, possibly mythical, tumuli concerning which
other enquirers have received reports. His account runs as follows : " I cross-
" questioned many chiefs — Konnoh, Mendi, and Timni — and their answers were almost
*' identical. In substance it was : — With the exception of a few figures handed down
" for generations as guardian ' good fairies ' of a town and a few found in old farms,
" all the Nomoris were found in caves or recesses in worked-out veins of steatite. I
" warned all the Court messengers and officials that I wished to see one of these ' pits,
" as they called them, and by chance I came across one and investigated it, and could
" see at once the manner of manufacture. I was crossing from the Konnoh country to
" the Kuniki chiefdom, and, as we were passing a newly-made farm, one of the boys
" ran back and said the man had found a Nomori pit. I found a gully or ravine in the
" side of a steep hill, which, on investigation proved to be a long tunnel or chamber
" with the roof fallen in ; as far as I could judge it had been about 9 feet wide tapering
" to 3 feet, 15 feet long and 8 feet [high] at the entrance, tapering to about 4 feet.
" The sides were of steatite but badly veined with sand, mica and iron oxide. There
" were remains of several figures roughly blocked out but abandoned when a vein of
" sand or mica was encountered. Clearing away debris I found one small incomplete
" figure still adhering to the side ; numbers of fragments were scattered about. The
" natives told me that when they found figures in the pits, these were always attached
" to the rock and had to be cut out. I came to the conclusion that the steatite was
" not first quarried and then sculptured, but that the figure was carved in the rock
" in situ and not removed until complete and perfect. If a vein or pocket of quartz or
" mica was encountered, which would spoil the sculpture owing to finer parts breaking
" or crumbling away, the figure was abandoned and another started. This is borne
" out by the fact that most of the figures now obtained are imperfect, the hair, fingers,
" or portion of ornament being unfinished, and always at the blemished spot mica or
" sand will be found."
Unfortunately no information is forthcoming at present as to the makers of these
figures ; it is possible that a comparison of the tatu marks may shed a little light on
the subject, but I have not yet had the opportunity of pursuing any enquiry in this
direction. I feel convinced that some of them are quite modern, since they correspond
so closely with present-day wood-carvings, and it seems likely that the natives may
have taken once more to the carving of this easily worked material. Professor
Riitimeyer is inclined to attribute to the nomori an age of " many centuries " ; this
may be correct, but there is absolutely no evidence to show this. When it is
remembered that tribal memory in savage Africa is extremely short, and that the
whole of the west coast has been the scene of continual migrations from the interior,
of tribes wishing to avoid the depredations of slave raiders, or pressing seawards in
quest of salt, and when it is realised that these migrations usually resulted in the
annihilation of either the immigrants or the people whose territory they tried to seize,
[ 67 ]
. 40-4t]
MAN.
[1909.
it will be readily understood that a very few years might suffice for a craft to fall
into absolute oblivion. On the whole I cannot see that the facts as we yet know
them warrant us in attributing any great age to these carvings. Nor can I see that
these figures can be considered on the same footing with ordinary stone sculpture ;
some of them are so soft that they can be scratched with the nail, none that I have
seen are so hard that they could not readily be shaped with an instrument of soft
iron, and the fact that steatite possesses no grain renders it more easily worked with
a blunt knife than wood, provided that the details are not to be very minute. They
stand far below the very remarkable basalt sculptures discovered by Captain Partridge
some twenty degrees of longitude distant in Southern Nigeria, and, indeed, have
nothing whatever in common with them except the mystery which surrounds their
origin. T. A. JOYCE.
SKULL FROM OLD
MINE.
SKULL FROM CHUM
RUINS.
Africa : Rhodesia. Shrubsall.
A Brief Note on Two Crania and some Long Bones from Ancient
Ruins in Rhodesia. By F. C. Shrubsall, M.D.
The date to which the construction of the ruins in Rhodesia should be assigned
has been a matter of controversy since their discovery. Some investigators regard
them as having been built by the
ancient cultured peoples of Southern
Arabia, and would assign them to the
early centuries of our era, if not indeed
long prior to this. Others maintain
that no objects have been demonstrated
from any site which can be shown to
be more ancient than the fourteenth or
fifteenth century, that in the archi-
tecture there is no trace of Oriental or
European style of any period soever,
and that there are imported articles of
contemporary date with the buildings
which are mediaeval or post-mediaeval. Those who maintain the earlier dating
conclude that the settlers who built the ruins were acquainted only with natives of
the Bushman type ; the others appear to maintain that the structures might have
been constructed by negroes. Any evidence from human remains is therefore of
some importance.
In the Natural History
Department of the British
Museum there are two
skulls and some long bones
which were found in these
ruins and presented to the
Museum by H. W. Moffat.
One, catalogued as 97.2,
13.1, is described as having
been found buried in an old
ruin. With this were found
some long bones. The other,
97.2, 13.2, is described as having been found in an old shaft 30 feet under the
ground in a mine nearer Buluwayo.
These records would scarcely serve to date the remains, but on tracing their history
it appears that these are the specimens referred to by Hall (Ancient Ruins of Rhodesia)
[ 68 ]
SKULL FROM OLD
MINE.
SKULL FROM CHUM
RUINS.
1909.]
MAN.
[No. 41.
and Keane (Gold of Ophir) as " ancients," so that they presumably would maintain
that they are the remains either of the builders of the present ruins, or at least of
their contemporaries.
With regard to the first skull the following particulars are taken from Hall's work.
It was found in the Chum ruins, situated on the summit of a kopje, 200 yards to
the west of the junction of the Malema and Tuli rivers in the Gwanda district of
Rhodesia. The present ruins were built on a mass of intrusive diorite, but are
constructed of granite brought from a distance. Hall classifies them as belonging to
the first Zimbabwe period, the inside walls being of as good construction as the outside,
the main and divisional entrances being rounded and not squared, the plan of the walls
showing an elliptical form and there being no straight walls or angular corners. He
states that there is no sign of reoccupation and no trace of Portuguese articles. The
original cemented floor with levelled edges remains the present floor. The description
of the site in which the remains were found is as follows : — " Under the cement floor
" in No. 1 enclosure were found the skeletal remains of a man with gold bangles round
" the ankles. Altogether sixteen ounces of plain gold ornaments were found with this
" ancient." Under the cemented flooring of enclosures 2, 3, and 4, skeletal remains of
ancients were found also with plain gold ornaments.
The evidence for the site of the second skull is less satisfactory, but it is one of
those remains of " ancients " stated to have been sent originally to Professor Thane and
later placed in the British Museum.
Crania. — The skull from the Chum ruins has been considerably damaged. Both
skulls are of adults, the one from the old mine shaft undoubtedly belonged to a male,
the sex of the other is more uncertain, the small size of the mastoids, the fullness of tho
conceptaculae cerebelli and the shape of the forehead more resembling the female, though
the size suggests that it is a male.
The chief dimensions so far as they could be ascertained were : —
—
Skull from
Chum
Ruins.
Skull from
Old Mine
Shaft.
Skull from
Ohum
Ruins.
Skull from
Old Mine
Shaft.
Dimensions in milli-
metres.
Dimensions in milli-
metres.
Glabello occipital length
184-5
182
Frontal curve
130
117
Maximum breadth -
136
131
Parietal curve
125
129
Basi-bregmatic height
138 ?
131
Occipital curve
126
105
Basi-nasal length
103?
107
Total sagittal curve -
381
351
Basi-alveolar length -
101 ?
108
Total horizontal curve
522
507
Naso-alveolar height
70?
66
Biauricular curve
295
290
Bizygomatic breadth
136?
132
Nasal height -
Nasal breadth
54?
36 ??
50
30
Indices.
Orbital height, right
—
33
Length-breadth
73-7
72-0
„ left -
35
33
Length-height
74-8?
72-0
Orbital breadth, right
—
40
Breadth-height
'101-5 ?
100-0
„ „ left -
40-5
39
Alveolar -
98-1 ?
100-9
Bidacryc breadth
—
26-5
Upper facial ...
51-5?
50-0
Internal palatal length
„ „ breadth
~
54
43
Orbital
86-4 {
R. 82-5
L. 84-6
„ biorbital breadth -
—
101
Nasal ...
66-1 ?
60
Naso-malar curve
—
110
Naso-malar -
—
108-9
No. 41.]
MAN.
[1909.
The accuracy of the dimensions marked with a ? is somewhat uncertain owing
to the damage the skull has received. The bizygomatic breadth and nasal breadth
have been calculated by projection from the mid line of the skull to the appropriate
points on the sound side, the measurement thus recorded being doubled. The results
are sufficiently accurate to give a general idea of the size of the skull.
If these dimensions be compared with those obtained from an average of a large
series of skulls from the various races of southern Africa it will be seen that these
skulls resemble the Bantu negroes and not the Bushmen. The photographs show
the negro type of the skull and the lack of resemblance to those of European, Hamitic,
or Semitic origin.
AVERAGE DIMENSIONS OF MALE CRANIA OF OTHER AFRICAN RACES.
—
Bushmen.
Hottentots.
Kaffirs.
Zulus.
Angoni
and
Anganja.
Djagga.
Western
Bantu.
Predynastic
Egyptians.
Glabello-occipital length
178-8
183-2
190-6
184-1
184-0
186-8
179-1
184-5
Maximum breadth
134-7
133-5
137-3
137-0
133-4
132-6
135-7
133-0
Basi-bregmatic height -
126-4
130-6
137-4
138-1
135-1
132-7
133-7
133-6
Bizygometric breadth -
121-3
125-8
134-1
133-1
126-9
129-5
128-6
126-9
Naso-alveolar height -
60-2
65-5
69-1
69-5
69-7
67-3
66-4
70-1
Nasal height
42-8
46-2
48-7
47-2
48-1
45-7
47-5
50-7
Nasal breadth -
25-9
26-3
27-3
27-3
27-3
27-8
26-8
25-5
Basi-nasal length
94-9
98-3
105-3
101-8
102-0
—
100-9
101-8
Basi-alveolar length
94-9
99-6
105-1
101-9
103-7
—
103-9
98-4
The shape of the nasal bones in the second skull and lower margins of apertura
pyriformis in both is characteristically negroid.
Long Bones. — The long bones sent from the Chum ruins consist of a left femur,
radius and ulna and a right tibia, with parts of other bones, notably a humerus with a
perforated olecranon fossa.
Their lengths are : —
Femur, maximum - 470 Radius - 284
„ oblique - 469 Ulna - 303
Tibia - 418
The three latter are quite disproportionate to the former, hence it seems probable
that they may not all be from the same skeleton.
Calculations based on the length of the femur would give a stature of about
1 m. 70, while from the other bones the estimate would be from 1 m. 80 to 1 m. 90
according to the formula employed. In any case the bones must be those of a man
or men of above the ordinary stature, which entirely excludes any question of the
remains being those of Bushmen.
Taking all the features into consideration it may be concluded that these remains
are those of negroes of a similar type to those now found in Rhodesia. If the
statement as to the situation in which the bones were found be accepted then it
must be concluded that at the time of the construction of the buildings the negro
race had already occupied Rhodesia.
While it does not show that the negroes built the present ruins it is at least
important to note that the remains found are not those of more northern peoples.
My thanks are due to the authorities of the British Museum for permission to
measure and photograph these specimens. F. C. SHRUBS ALL.
[ 70 ]
1909.] MAN. [No. 42*
Nicobar. Fontana.
Possible Traces of Exogamous Divisions in the Nicobar Islands. JO
The following extract is from Nicolas Fontana's work, On the Nicobar Tfc
Isles and the Fruit of the Mellori (Asiatic Researches, Vol. Ill (1802), Article VII,
in Selections from the Records of the Government of India, No. LXXVII. Calcutta,
1870, p. 61). Fontana visited the Nicobar Islands in May, 1778 : —
" They unite in matrimony through choice, and if the man is not satisfied with
the conduct of the woman, either from her inattention to domestic concerns, or sterility,
or even from any dislike on his part, he is at liberty to discharge her, and each unites
with a different person, as if no such connection had taken place. Adultery is
accounted highly ignominious and disgraceful, particularly icith persons not of the
same caste: should it be proved, the woman would not only be dismissed with infamy,
but on some occasions even put to death ; although, by the intervention of a small token
given publicly and consisting of nothing more than a leaf of tobacco, the reciprocal
lending of their icives of the same caste is exceedingly common."
No other writer that I am aware of speaks of " castes " among the Nicobarese.
Pere Faure (1711) specifically denies their existence (Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses,
Vol. XL Toulon, 1810).
This indication of the former existence of classes regulating marriage in the
Nicobar Islands seems to deserve comment. Mr. E. H. Man allows me to make the
following quotations from his unpublished notes : —
" There is no trace of exogamy or endogamy among the Nicobar Islanders. A
few cases of polygamy have been known, but the practice is regarded with disfavour
by the general community. In such cases as I have known, the wives (to the best
of my recollection) lived in separate huts and were not related to one another. As
to polyandry, I was able to discover only a single case. . . . On enquiry I
found that the woman's bigamous conduct was due to her disappointment in having
no children by her first husband . . . Though there are many cases of married
couples living together for many years and even till death do them part — especially
when they have been prosperous and have been blessed with satisfactory children —
there is practically no limit to the frequency of divorce ... It by no means
rests with the husband to determine the separation. It frequently happens that,
owing to her dissatisfaction with his habits or treatment of her, the wife severs the
connection, and either returns to her relations or marries someone else.
" Marriages between first cousins — and of course, therefore, between relations of
yet closer consanguinity — are not permitted. Only one such case (i.e., between first
cousins) is cited as having occurred : it was at Nancowry Island and was regarded
as somewhat scandalous. There are no restrictions in respect to marriage between
individuals of the same name or community, provided there be no blood connection
between them. As a matter of fact, however, probably no case has ever occurred
among them of the same name having been borne by a man and a woman . . .
A man may marry his deceased wife's sister or brother's widow, or even his brother's
wife if he has deserted her ; but it is not customary to do so . . . I would add
that among the Shorn Pen . . . marriages between first cousins are said to be
permitted, and one case was brought to notice in that community where a man had
married a widow and her daughter. This tribe, being evidently the representatives
of the primeval inhabitants of these islands, is in a distinctly lower social scale than
those occupying all the remaining islands of the group.
"I cannot understand Fontana's use of the word ' Caste.' The Moravian
missionaries, who were 19 years in those islands (1768-87), and who probably met
Fontana during his visit in 1778, do not support him in this. . . . Had a 'caste'
system existed among the Nicobarese only a century before my first acquaintance
[ 71 ]
Nos. 42-44.] MAN. [1909.
with them, forty years ago, some trace would surely have remained ; but I have
never discovered anything to give colour to any such belief." B. F.-M.
REVIEWS.
Australia : Linguistics. Planert.
Australische Forschungen. I. Aranda- Grammaiik. II. Dieri-Grammatik.
Von W. Planert. Aus der Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic, Heft 4 u. 5, 1907, und
Heft 5, 1908.
The languages of the Australian aborigines have so rarely been discussed in a
scientific manner that the appearance of these two articles should prove very acceptable.
They relate to the south central portion of the continent, which is already fairly well
known linguistically by the Parnkalla Grammar and Dictionary of Teichelmann and
Schurman, and the Narrinyeri Studies of the Rev. G. Taplin.
The Aranda (or Arunta) of these grammars is already familiar to anthropologists
as the principal language of the peoples dealt with in the work of Messrs. Spencer and
Gillen on the native tribes of Central Australia, in which, however, little was to be
learned of the language. The Dieri language of the tribes about Cooper's Creek is
slightly better known and has the distinction of being the only native language of
Australia in which a complete version of the New Testament has been printed. This
was translated by the missionaries, J. G. Reuther and C. Strehlow, in 1897.
Both Dr. Planert's papers deal with the details of grammar, which differ con-
siderably in the two languages, and texts are given. In Aranda there are specimens
of folklore, and in Dieri the parables of the Prodigal Son, the Piece of Money, and
the Ten Virgins from the New Testament translation.
A dictionary of the languages is promised, and this with the grammars will
prove a valuable and reliable contribution to the philological study of this part of
Australia. S. H. RAY.
Australasia. Guillemard : Keane.
Australasia : Malaysia and the Pelagic Archipelagoes. Vol. II. By F. H. H. 11
Guillemard, M.D. Second edition, revised by A. H. Keane, LL.D. (Stanford's TT
Compendium of Geography and Travel. New issue.) Pp. xvi + 574. 20 x 40 cm.
Price 15*.
Islands must always have a peculiar interest for Britons, and a work solely devoted
to an account of a vast number of them, from the largest to the smallest, may well
claim their attention. Such is the book before us. It is a treatise on islands which
by their size, number, character, variety, distribution, and inhabitants afford a fascinating
study for the students of geography and ethnology. The first edition of the work was
very appropriately written by the distinguished author of The Malay Archipelago and
Island Life. It formed the latter part of the one volume then deemed sufficient for
the whole of Australasia. Dr. Russell Wallace made the subject so interesting that
the original volume ran through five or more editions in a few years.
In 1894 this latter part of the original volume was re-issued separately under the
editorship of Dr. Guillemard. It was much enlarged and embellished with fourteen
coloured maps, two charts, and forty-seven illustrations.
After fourteen years, during which time important additions have been made to
our knowledge of some of the islands and considerable political changes have occurred,
a new issue has been considered desirable. It is, in the main, Dr. Guillemard's edition ;
the maps and illustrations remain the same, but it has been revised by Dr. A. H. Keane,
and the revision has given opportunity for embodying the results of recent exploration,
more especially in Borneo, Celebes, and New Guinea. The fuller knowledge of the
[ 72 ]
1909.] MAN. [Nos. 44-45.
river systems of Borneo, the researches of the cousins Sarasin in Celebes, including
their account of the Toalas of South Celebes, and the nature of the mountain chains
of New Guinea revealed by several explorers — Dutch, German, and English — have all
been included.
Since the last edition the Hispano- American War has transferred the Philippines
to the United States, and Spain has also ceded the Carolines to Germany. The United
States have taken possession of the Sandwich Islands. The devouring spirit of the
Great Powers has divided the Solomon Islands between Great Britain and Germany,
and Samoa between Germany and America.
Notwithstanding recent additions to our knowledge, no doubt a large and rich
field still remains for the explorer and ethnologist. There is still much to be learnt
regarding Borneo, Celebes, New Guinea, to say nothing of smaller islands both in the
Malay Archipelago and in the Pacific.
Considering that, scattered over the islands described in these pages, there are
representatives of the Malay, Indonesian, Negrito, Melanesian, and Mahori races, with
an invading Mongol host from China, this part of Australasia presents a veritable
galaxy of problems and puzzles for the ethnologist. These questions are naturally
only lightly touched upon in the present work, but they are by no means ignored, and
as might be expected from the wide and profound knowledge of the reviser, what is
given is clear and much to the point. In a short introductory disquisition on the
Malay race and language, Dr. Keane's views, published as long ago as 1880 in the
•Journal of the Institute on the origin of the races of Malaysia, are restated. Although
Dr. Keaue has naturally a leaning to his own conclusions, yet most ethnologists will
probably admit that they give the best explanation yet offered of this difficult
problem.
The treatment of ethnological topics is, perhaps, best illustrated by the brief but
sympathetic account of the Polynesian race, to which Dr. Keane has added a useful
note on the Mahori language. It is, however, matter for regret and gives a want of
proportion to the work that Polynesia is treated at so short a length. The whole of
Polynesia (including Micronesia) is disposed of in 70 pages out of 550, about the same
number as are given to the Philippines alone. We should like to have seen included
in the Polynesian section what may well be termed the romance of the Pacific — the
exploration of that ocean by the early voyagers. What an interest is aroused — an
interest assuredly very germane to geography and to ethnology — by recalling the
voyages of Magellan, Mendana, Tasman, Torres, Queiros, Bougainville, La Perouse,
Wallis, Cook and Wilkes. A map showing the routes of these celebrated captains of
the sea might be usefully added. On the other side, a longer account of the early
Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch voyagers who struggled for the riches of the spice
islands, would not have made the geographical story any the less interesting.
It goes without saying that Messrs. Stanford's coloured maps are admirable, but
the value of the work would be considerably enhanced by the addition of maps in the
text similar to the chart on page 7, showing the submarine bank of South-east Asia.
Such maps would be particularly valuable in connection with the Polynesian groups.
E. A. PARKYN.
New Guinea : Languages. Meyer.
Die Papuasprache in Niederldndisch-Neuguinea. Von A. B. Meyer. Berlin.
Sonder-Abdrnck aus dem Globus, Bd. XCIV. Nr. 12. 24 September 1908.
In the third volume of the Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition
to Torres Straits it was shown that the existence of Papuan or nou-Melanesian languages
in British and German New Guinea might be definitely asserted, but that the existence
of similar languages in Netherlands New Guinea was not yet clearly proved. In the
[ 73 ]
Nos, 45-46.] MAN. [1909,
above paper Dr. Meyer discusses this question, and distinguishes certain languages of
Netherlands New Guinea as Papuan. Those selected are : —
1. Arfak, in the north-west peninsula.
2. Hattam, also in the north-west.
3. Kapaur, in the south-west.
4. A dialect spoken on the south coast between 138° and 141° E. long.
(This is called Tugeri in the Cambridge Reports.)
5. Sentani, in the north of Netherlands New Guinea.
A table is given of forty-six words (including the numerals 1 to 6 and 10).
This shows the languages to be distinct from each other, with a very few loan words
from the Malayo-Polynesian. This want of likeness between one language and another
is a marked Papuan characteristic. Another feature, that of the failure of the Papuan
numerals to express more than "two "is indicated only by one language, that of the
south coast, where zakod = 1, and ina = 2, and 3 = ina-zako, and 4 = ina-ina.
The non-appearance of this formation in the other languages is not remarkable, as,
considering the imperfections in the lists, the words given as numerals may possibly
be the names of parts of the body used as tallies. Dr. Meyer quotes from Van der
Sande the numerals of Angadi and Nagramadu, near Lake Jamur, south of Geelvink
Bay. These show the Papuan 2+1=3, 2 + 2 = 4.
In some remarks on the position of the Mafur language Dr. Meyer strongly urges
its claim to be considered a mixed language. It was called Papuan by Fried. Muller,
but Dr. H. Kern, in 1886, in discussing its relationship found about 300 words identical
or related to the Malayo-Polynesian, and hence concluded that the Malayan and Papuan
languages have had, and still have, in part the same grammatical iorms. But viewed
in comparison with the Papuan languages illustrated in Vol. Ill of the Reports of the
Cambridge Expedition, Dr. Meyer contends, as he and Georg v. d. Gabelentz stated
in 1882, that Kern's conclusions are untenable, and that the Mafur is a mixed language
consisting of an originally Papuan element with a large influx of Malayo-Polynesian
words. That this is doubtless the correct view is shown by similar phenomena where
Papuan and Melanesian languages have come into contact, as e.g., Savo (Solomon
Islands), Mailu (British Papua), Tagula (Louisiades), Jotafa (Humboldt Bay). In his
conclusion Dr. Meyer briefly refers to the existence of Papuan languages as premising
the existence of a Papuan race, and the possibility of a future discovery of aborigines
in the interior of New Guinea. These, he considers, may be found either to be one
race with great variation, or, as he thinks more likely, a mixed race of " Negritos "
and " Malays," using the latter term in its broadest sense.
The paper is suggestive of a rich field of enquiry which requires investigation
in Netherlands New Guinea and the neighbouring islands. S. H. RAY.
Folklore. Johnson.
Folk-Memory, or the Continuity of British Archceology. By Walter Johnson,
F.G.S. With illustrations. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908. Pp. 416.
22 x 14 cm. Price 12s. Qd.
The researches of Sir Arthur Mitchell into Scottish survivals from prehistoric
times have evidently served as a model for the present volume, which applies the same
methods to England, though the sub-title suggests the inclusion of Scotland. " Folk-
memory " is not a very happy phrase, though most will probably divine its relation to
folk-lore, and the author is careful to begin by defining the term : " By folk-memory
" we mean the conscious or unconscious remembrance, by a people collectively, of
" ideas connected with the retention of rites and superstitions, habits, and occupations."
Those who read through Mr. Johnson's present work will be enabled to understand the
[ 74 ]
1909.] MAN. [No. 46,
definition, and perhaps frame a better one themselves, though it is difficult to cover so
wide a field in one view. The author's previous investigations have made him familiar
with certain phases of prehistory, and he devotes several chapters to the ages of stone,
bronze, and iron. He is confessedly more concerned with popular traditions as to our
earliest monuments than with their scientific exploration and classification, but in a
table that is said to be compiled from various named authorities he should have been
careful to quote correctly, and it would be difficult to find any recognised authority
for some of the assertions on p. 51. About the earliest remains of man there may well
be some difference of opinion, but at least Dr. Rutot and his followers would be surprised
to find Puy Courny parallel to the Kent plateau, the former being generally regarded
as Upper Miocene and the latter as Middle Pliocene. Mildenhall is a misleading site for
English examples of the Moustier type, and it would be better to specify High Lodge,
as other types have been found at Mildenhall itself.
According to Mortillet (another of the authorities mentioned), the pigmy (or rather
pygmy) flints belong to the beginning, not to the end, of the neolithic period, but
the most remarkable equation is the next in order : bronze is associated with the
Hallstatt period (which really opened the Iron Age on the Continent), and the Bronze
Age is omitted altogether. In these days of cheap and multitudinous handbooks there
is little excuse for blunders of this kind ; and the author is safer and more convincing
on matters of folklore and personal observation. Several large subjects that have
been hotly debated from time to time are conscientiously summarized in such chapters
as those on dene-holes, linchets, dew-ponds, old roads, white-horses and other figures
on the chalk downs ; but, in spite of much research and argument, little fresh light
is thrown on these problems, and most readers would be inclined to regard them as
insoluble.
The main object throughout is to show a continuity of habit and observance
from the earliest times to the present, and in a general sense few would be disposed
to maintain the contrary ; but the instances chosen are not always the most convincing,
and more than once the author is constrained to note the fallibility of tradition, and
incidentally the weakness of his argument. Thus on p. 260 he shows that all correct
notions about a gun at Old Sarum had vanished within little more than a century,
and on p. 318 the discontinuity of tradition is made clear on the subject of dew-ponds.
Dene-holes, again, evoke the following remarks on pp. 231, 233 : "The folk-memory
" of the Chislehurst mines is of an unsound character," and " folk-memory is, unfortu-
" nately, in both cases, a broken reed." Far too much weight also is laid on fairy-tales
in connection with barrows and megaliths, and justice is hardly done to the archaeo-
logical aspect.
Among obvious slips may be mentioned the confusion of two sites forty-five miles
apart — Winklebury near Basingstoke and Winklebury in Cranborne Chase explored
by Pitt-Rivers. A more serious error occurs in a quotation on p. 163, as the Mold
" corselet of Etruscan design, probably of the Romano-British period," has been for
some time known to be a peytrel (breast-armour for a pony) of native work, dating
from about the end of the Bronze Age.
In spite of such drawbacks, the volume contains much interesting and out-of-the-
way information, and the attempt to make the dry bones live is to be commended. The
mental effort required to assimilate information that must necessarily be somewhat
disjointed is considerably alleviated by the excellent type and handiness of the book ;
but the collection of the notes at the end is not an unmixed blessing, and, apart
from the photographs, the illustrations leave much to be desired. Age is the only
merit of the print chosen for the frontispiece. R. A. S.
Nos, 47-48.] MAN. [1909.
Ethnology. Matsumura.
A Gazetteer of Ethnology. By Akira Matsumura. Tokyo : The Marusen- 1 T
Kabushiki-Kaisha, 1908. Pp. xiv + 495. 20 x 13 cm. Tf
The author of this handy little book of reference has made a bold attempt at a
difficult task. The need of a dictionary of tribe-names has long been felt by students
of ethnology, but compilers have hitherto shrunk from a task which is not only exces-
sively laborious but which must of necessity meet with severe and searching criticism
— criticism which, from its very nature, it challenges.
The contents of the volume are as follows : — First comes an alphabetical list of
8,000 tribe-names, with the locality stated after each ; next a series of appendices,
giving respectively a table of races and peoples arranged under the political divisions
of the world ; a bibliography of works used in the preparation of the volume ; an index
of race-names written in Kana ; an index of the Chinese names of races and peoples ;
and finally six ethnological maps of the various continents and Oceania. One of the
chief difficulties which the author had to face in the preparation of the first and main
portion of the book is that afforded by the exasperating variation of names applied to
the same tribe by authors of different nationalities. The differences of spelling seen in
the works of English and French and German authors are puzzling enough, but in that
most difficult of continents to catalogue — Africa — the fact that many travellers have
adopted the Swahili names of tribes makes confusion worse confounded, because in this
case it is the initial letter which is changed. As far as possible the author has taken
pains to enter a definite tribe under more than one of its appellations. For instance,
there is a heading Danakil (the plural form), and again Dankali (the singular), as well
as the totally different name Afar applied to the same people. It would be easy enough
to point out omissions, most of all with respect to Africa, and next with regard to South
America, but the author would be the first to admit that the list is imperfect ; in fact
it is impossible that a first edition of a work of this kind should be without fault,
especially when it is of such an eminently handy compass as this small volume.
Anthropologists will rather be grateful to Mr. Matsumura for the labour he has under-
taken in preparing a work which will be of the greatest use to anthropologists of all
classes ; the rectification of omissions and the addition of further names in accordance
with the advance of exploration will be a far more simple matter than the work
already accomplished. T. A. J.
America, South. Outes.
Alfarerias del Noroeste Argentina. By Felix F. Outes. (Anales del Museo
de La Plata, Tomo 1, Segunda Serie.) Buenos Aires, 1908. Pp. 5-49.
38 x 28 cm.
If, in the words of Professor Flinders Petrie, pottery " constitutes the essential
" alphabet of archeology in every land," the author of this beautiful treatise on the
pottery of the North-west of the Argentine Republic deserves the gratitude of every
student of South American antiquities. The work is in every respect creditable to the
institution which has made possible its publication in so handsome a form, the printing
is excellent, the numerous coloured plates of great beauty, and the work of Professor
Outes amply testifies to the adequacy of the language of Cervantes as a medium for the
expression of scientific thought.
The material on which the work is based is, for the most part, preserved in the
National Museum at La Plata ; much of it was collected by Methfessel and Ambrosetti
in the provinces of Catamarca and Tucuman, whilst many of the examples described
form part of the collection of Senor S. A. Lafone Quevedo.
It is unfortunate that so many of the specimens lack definite antecedents — that they
should be, in fact, " drift " material. The derivation of many examples is highly
[ 76 ]
1909.] MAN. [No. 48.
doubtful, and in comparatively few instances is any record available as to the precise
locality, circumstances of discovery and associated artifacts. This is the more to be
regretted since precise information of this character is sorely needed at the present day
in order to advance the science in all parts of South America. Fully appreciating this
difficulty, the author has generally resisted all temptation to theorise, limiting his work
to a careful examination and detailed description of each specimen, only allowing his
views on the wider aspects of the subject to appear in the brief but extremely interesting
Observaciones appended to every chapter.
Broadly grouping his material into " vessels for domestic use " and " funerary
urns," the author has subdivided the pottery according to form and character of its
decoration. Dealing first of all with an interesting class covered with designs of textile
derivation painted in red, white, and black, which he considers to be of archaic type,
he proceeds to describe pots painted in red and black and the very characteristic
" footless vases " (vasos apodos) bearing zoomorphic and occasionally phytomorphic
patterns. Among the former, a serpent having a head at each extremity of the body,
the Rhea and a batrachian are commonly presented in a somewhat conventionalised
style. The urns of yellow clay, painted with strangely schematic anthropomorphic
designs in black, are especially interesting, and doubtless could tell us much of primitive
religion if we knew their secret.
The peculiar little boss, or projection, not infrequently moulded into the shape of
an animal's head, usually to be noted on " footless vases," is explained in a satisfactory
manner by reference to a quaint little " portrait pot " from Pachacamac, and is shown
to be a point of support for the rope which bound the vessel to the shoulders of the
bearer. The wide diffusion of these " footless vases " is commented upon, for they
range far afield from the Peruvian culture centre supposed to be their place of origin.
One notes the rarity of incised ornamentation, the crude beginnings of moulding in
relief, and entire absence of elaborate double and triple pots, such as are common in
the Peruvian coast region and in Ecuador.
Professor Outes very rightly, in the present writer's opinion, deprecates the
unfortunate tendency which has at times arisen to describe the pottery of the New
World in terms derived from the archaeology of the Mediterranean region. In the
present very imperfect condition of our knowledge of South American technical
development it would seem preferable to avoid the use of all descriptive expressions
which by reason of their classical associations tend to confuse the mind, and from this,
perhaps, extreme point of view it may even be regretted that such words as
" climankistron " and " ankistron " have been made use of in the work under con-
sideration. Apart from this mild criticism, nothing but praise can be given to this
admirable contribution to the study of Man in America.
One seeks in vain, it is true, for information on the chemical nature of the pig-
ments employed in the decoration, but it may be presumed that powdered haematite
and oxide of manganese, as determined by the present writer in certain Chilian examples,
furnished the palette of the Indian artist. The pigments, the method of building the
pottery, and means by which such excellent baking was secured, will, however,
doubtless be fully dealt with in the important work now in course of preparation by
the author, Sobre la Evolution de las Artes plasticas entre los primitivos habitantes
de la Republica Argentina.
However impressed he may be by the thoroughness of the work under considera-
tion, the reader cannot fail to be struck with the backward state of South American
archaeology. As yet no " corpus " of Argentine or Chilian pottery exists, nor is such
an aid to study likely to be available for many years to come. So predominant has
been the interest of Peruvian culture that the wider field stretching afar beyond the
widest bounds attributed by enthusiasts to the " Inca Empire " has suffered neglect.
Nos. 48-50.] MAN. [1909.
As matters stand, a work like the present raises a host of tantalising problems, and
cannot in the nature of things answer any of them. Thanks to scientific excavation
in Peru we begin to see that the past was even more wonderful than the picture
drawn of it by Garcilasso, and who can doubt that a rich harvest of knowledge awaits
the investigator amid the broad pampas of the Argentine and quebradas of Chile ?
OSWALD H. EVANS.
Ceylon : Stone Age. Sarasin.
Ergebnisse Naturwissenschaftlicher Forschungen auf Ceylon. Von Dr. Paul 1 Q
Sarasin und Dr. Fritz Sarasin. Vierter Band : Die Steinzeit auf Ceylon. ^U
Wiesbaden, 1908. Pp. 93. 37 x 29 cm.
Under this title Drs. Paul and Fritz Sarasin have published a description of their
work in Ceylon during the winter of 1907, consisting of the systematic excavation of a
number of Vedda caves undertaken with the view of determining whether the then
commonly accepted view that there was no Stone Age in Ceylon was in fact accurate.
Particulars are given of a number of rock shelters explored ; these were situated at
Kataragam in the south of the island where no Veddas now exist, and in Uva in the
present Vedda country. Not all the caves investigated yielded evidence of prehistoric
habitation, but from a certain number were obtained quartz, chert, and shell implements
which put the matter beyond doubt and conclusively show that Ceylon formerly
possessed a Stone Age. The greater part of the work is taken up with a discussion of
the quartz and chert artifacts found and their significance, and good illustrations of the
implements themselves are given. These show that the quartz implements discovered
by the Drs. Sarasin belong to the same type as those figured by the writer in MAN
(1908, 63), but in addition to these the Sarasins found hammer-stones, a few pieces of
worked bone, and a series of shells of the large land snail (Helix phcenix\ the outer
whorl of each shell being broken away to form a circular hole large enough to allow
its sharp edge being used as a scraper. These shells, in fact, constitute a primitive
plane, and in every way resemble those found by Roth in use in Queensland at the
present day.
Much of the book is occupied by a comparison of the quartz implements with
those found in Europe ; indeed, the frequency as well as the abrupt manner with
which throughout the book parallels are cited is distinctly distracting.
Finally, since the authors found neither pottery nor axe-heads associated with
their other prehistoric material they conclude that the Ceylon implements belong
to the palaeolithic age, though they apparently admit that in many respects the best
implements approach the neolithic.
The writer has already expressed his opinion (MAN, loc. cit.) that these Ceylonese
quartz implements must be regarded as neolithic, and in this view he has the support
of Mr. Reginald Smith.
Further, it is important to note that the implements under discussion when
not found free on the surface of the soil, as on the Bandarawela patanas, are associated
only with the bones of animals still plentiful in Ceylon.
In conclusion, reference must be made to the beauty of the illustrations, which are
in every way worthy successors of those illustrating the authors' previous works.
C. Gr. SELIGMANN.
Africa, South. Native Races Committee.
The South African Natives : Their Progress and Present Condition. Edited Cfl
by the South African Native Races Committee. London : Murray, 1908. vU
Pp. xii + 247. 22 x 14 cm. Price 6s.
There is little in this book of special interest to the anthropologist, for it is not
so much a treatise on the South African native as an analysis and summary of the
[ 78 ]
1909.] MAN. [Nos. 50-51.
laws which have been made for his control and the schemes that have been devised
for his welfare. What little there is that concerns the anthropologist is, however, of
<rreat interest. The book reveals the effects on the weaker race of the clash of
O
cultures in South Africa. It shows that the virtues of thrift and enterprise and the
vices of greed, selfishness, disloyalty and lawlessness are encouraged by the disintegra-
tion of the tribal system aud the replacement of communism by individualism. The
loss of the old ethical code has been compensated by the adoption of a higher code
in only a proportionately small number of cases and in the case of the- majority of
the natives the weakening of native laws tends to increase immorality. It is
unquestionable that for the time being at least the natives as a whole from an
ethical standpoint suffer from the change half unconsciously forced upon them by
Europeans. The wonder is that a virile and exceedingly conservative race rudely jerked
across forty centuries of time has not suffered still more in the process. A
chapter on the Ethiopian movement is of great interest. It reveals the confused
gropings of men who have accepted Christian doctrine but seek to evolve a system
of worship better adapted to the native temperament than those of the various
English sects. To the churchman and the politician the Ethiopian movement causes
grave uneasiness (though it is reassuring to learn that most of the turbulence and
sedition of which the Ethiopians have been accused was not of spontaneous growth
but was instigated by negro agitators from the United States of America), but to
the anthropologist the movement is of intense interest for, in that it affords a bond
for the unification of different tribes, it is a sign of the dawn of natural self-
consciousness in a race that has scarcely yet realised its homogeneity.
The members of the South African Native Races Committee deserve thanks for
the production of a volume which as a work of reference will prove itself indispensable
to all interested in the political, social and economic position of the South African
native. RALPH DURAND.
Russia : Anthropometry. Tarnowsky.
Les Femmes homicides. Par Dr. Pauline Tarnowsky. Paris : Alcan, 1908. CJ
Pp. viii + 591. 25 x 16 cm. Price 15 francs. Ul
The work comprises a detailed anthropornetrical and physiological study of 160
Russian women under sentence for murder. They are compared with other series of
observations by the same author on women of the vicious and criminal classes and with
groups of others both educated and illiterate who had manifested no criminal tendencies.
The result is a great addition to our knowledge of the dimensions and physiological
psychology of the women of Central Russia.
The group of murderesses present somewhat smaller head dimensions than the
others, particularly in head length and horizontal circumference, the differences being
rather greater than could be accounted for by random sampling. In facial characters
no significant differences exist between the members of the criminal classes and the
illiterate peasants with whom they are contrasted. The educated women, however,
present distinctly longer faces and longer and probably narrower noses. In stature,
weight, and most bodily dimensions no characteristic differences are shown. The
criminal and vicious groups are significantly darker both in hair and eye colour than
the non-criminal groups.
The various features have been studied in relation to the supposed motive for the
crime, without, however, in most cases yielding any statistically significant result, owing
to the comparatively small numbers available. It is interesting to note that dark traits
are most prevalent amongst those who committed murder under the impulse of jealousv
and least in the group whose motive was avarice. The heredity of each murderess has
[ 79 ]
Nos, 51-53.] MAN. [1909.
been investigated as far as possible and a list of all the stigmata of degeneration
presented by each individual is given. Although nervous disorders, alcoholism, and
insanity are shown to be common antecedents, there is no evidence that these stand in
a causal relationship to the mental state of the individual prisoner. This work will be
welcomed as a most complete study of individuals and should find a place in the
library of criminologists. F. S.
India, North- West. Pennell.
Among the Wild Tribes of the Afghan Frontier. By T. L. Pennell, M.D., C A
with an introduction by Field-Marshal Earl Roberts, V.C., K.G. London : Ufc
Seeley, 1909. Pp. 324. 23 x 15 cm. Price 16*.
Dr. Pennell in this interesting book gives an account of his experiences as a
medical missionary on the north-west frontier of India, and incidentally throws a good
deal of light on the customs and social system of the tribes with which he came in
contact. The book is not, and is not intended to be, scientific ; but Dr. Pennell is
evidently well qualified for more strictly anthropological work, and if he finds time
and opportunity, perhaps he may in future record the result of his observations
on the structure of the Afghan tribe, for instance, or other kindred subjects, or
even take some anthropometrical observations duly classified according to tribe or
locality. Such observations, perhaps, would be found not to clash with his hospital
work.
Dr. Pennell takes a wide and liberal view of the religious question, and does not,
like some missionaries, consider that the value of his teaching is to be tested by counting
nominal converts. The influence of judicious and courageous medical missionaries of
the type of Dr. Pennell, who do not try to break down all aboriginal customs and
ideas, cannot but be good.
The author's experiences in his wanderings as a sadhu or friar in native garb, but
making no secret of his Christianity, are very interesting. He depended, as other
sadhus and faqirs do, on alms for his maintenance, and generally met with success.
This is a form of religious practice which appeals with great force to the Oriental
mind, and it may yet produce startling results when followed by a man with the proper
qualifications.
The narrative is plain and unaffected, and the many interesting stories it embodies
are told in effective style. I may add that I recognise an old friend of mine in the
Christian landowner mentioned on page 309, and had twenty-five years ago to settle
several disputes in which he was concerned. M. LONGWORTH DAMES.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTE.
WE are glad to hear that, owing to another munificent donation of £2,000 from CQ
Mr. C. F. Foster and Mrs. Rawlings, the fund for the building of the new UU
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Cambridge now amounts to over £10,000,
and, consequently, it is proposed at once to begin the erection of the first portion of the
building. It is estimated that the cost of this portion, known as block I, will be
rather more than £11,000. The building has been designed by Mr. T. G. Jackson,
R.A. The main galleries of the completed building (blocks I and II) will probably be
utilised as follows : — On the ground floor there will be an educational series arranged
on the Pitt Rivers system ; the first floor will contain the archaeological collections,
the Cambridge Antiquarian Museum, and the Walter Foster bequest ; on the third
floor the ethnological collections will be arranged.
Printed by EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE, LTD., His Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, E.C.
9*
PLATE F.
MAN, 1909.
I
O
LU
m
Q
LU
CO
O
cc
1909.] MAN. [No. 54.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Ireland : Archaeology. With Plate F. Layard.
The Older Series of Irish Flint Implements. * By Nina F. Layard, C 1
F.L. S. U41
In bringing these Irish flint implements to the notice of the Royal Anthropological
Institute, I do not pretend to he either the first to have found them in co. Antrim,
or even to be introducing a subject that has not already had much attention paid to it
in Ireland. In England, as far as I can ascertain, but little notice has been taken of
this particular series.
More than forty years ago Mr. Du Noyer recognised roughly-worked tools in and
below the raised beaches which are to be found in various parts of the north-east coast
of Ireland, especially where it is broken into bays, estuaries, and marine loughs. Both
he and Professor Hull believed them to be of Palaeolithic type. Later Mr. Knowles of
Ballymena read a paper on the subject before the British Association at Dublin, and
again drew attention to these flints in an address before the Royal Irish Academy in
1883. He, Mr. Gray and others, have made collections of them at various times, and
more than once committees of investigation in connection with the Belfast Naturalist's
Field Club have examined these raised beaches, to try and determine the real origin
of the flints, as well as the geological conditions under which the beaches attained
their present height.
My first acquaintance with these rich deposits came about in the following way.
While waiting at Larne last October with Miss Loraine, we took a stroll along the
borders of the lough, and were greatly surprised to find flint flakes, spalls, and a
finished tool of unusual form, lying on the shore at our feet. It was evident that we
had chanced upon the debris of some prehistoric flint factory, but I was quite unaware
that this spot was the battle-field of the Irish anthropologists. Possibly the first
impression of an English collector may not for this reason be of any the less value,
as the striking difference in the appearance of these flints, compared with the tools to
which we are accustomed in England, is probably more noticed by English than Irish
antiquaries, the latter having been acquainted with them for many years.
Some twenty English collectors, many of them eminent experts, to whom I have
already shown the specimens obtained at Larne, have with few exceptions declared the
type to be something new and unfamiliar. Taken as a whole the flints certainly do not
correspond at all closely either to the Palaeoliths or Neoliths so far found in England.
To show the extreme richness of the deposit, in sixteen hours spent on the shore at
various times, I collected nearly 1,200 worked flints. They lay thickly strewn along
the beach, the smaller flakes higher up, and many of the heavier cores and spalls, &c.
only to be found at low water. The flints at the higher level which do not come in
contact with the seaweeds, have a white porcellanous patination, which in some cases
is so thick as to have entirely taken the place of the flinty substance, that is to say,
the whole flint is changed by chemical action and exposure.
Lower down, where the flints are more constantly covered by the water, and where
seaweeds are found growing on the worked stones, a warmer colour is noticed, varying
from creamy yellow to a deep iodine red. Here the flints are more rolled and disguised
than higher up, but such a complete series in the process of obliteration can be found,
that to anyone working actually on the spot it is soon as easy to recognise the human
touch on a tool almost at its last stage before becoming a mere rolled pebble, as it is
to be certain of the sharper outlines of the less rolled flints.
In the collection at Ipswich I have a large series of fine cores which clearly
demonstrate this point.
* Extract of paper read before the Royal Anthropological Institute, March 23rd, 1909.
[ 81 ]
No. 54.] MAN. [1909.
Although artificially fractured flints abound on the spot, carefully shaped
implements are more rarely to be found. Among them I have a good end scraper, much
larger and clumsier than the usual Neolithic scrapers of the same type. It closely
resembles a tool which I gave to Sir John Evans, found in the gravels of my garden
in Ipswich, and which he identified as Palaeolithic (PI. F, 9). Another implement,
which is triangular, is also somewhat Palaeolithic in outline, but it is worked on one
side only and is much abraded (PI. F, 11). Others are strongly reminiscent of well-
known Drift types, being roughly pointed, and with the crust left on for the hand
grasp (PI. F, 1-7, and Fig. 2). Again, there are shapes that bear a closer resem-
blance to some of the earliest Neolithic types, such as the so-called Larne Celt, a long,
narrow, unground tool. The spoon-shaped implement which I found on my first visit
(PI. F, 12) corresponds somewhat to a specimen from the Yorkshire wolds, which is
figured by Sir John Evans in his book on stone implements. I am not aware that
another of this form has been found at Larne. Flakes and chips of various shapes with
conspicuous bulbs of percussion abound. I have a few leaf-shaped flakes apparently
made for pointing weapons, but anything in the shape of a true arrow head or the
usually accepted Neolithic scraper is entirely absent. Four-pounders will be seen on
PI. F, 14-17.
Before I had had the opportunity of referring to any Irish literature, I secured a
geological map of the district to see if it would throw any light on the subject.
Noticing that raised beaches surrounded parts of Lough Larne I concluded that the
flints had been denuded out of these gravels, as they appeared far too ancient for mere
surface finds, and I have since found that this is the case. Although there can be
no doubt that we have on this coast the remains of very extensive flint workings,
where weapons were manufactured not only for the makers themselves, but for others
farther removed from the sources whence flint could be obtained, it is difficult to
believe that all the shapes found were merely wasters or roughed out tools intended
to be finished elsewhere. Among the coarse spalls and flakes lying about, doubtless
at first the mere debris of the flint workings, many appear to have subsequently
received specially directed blows in order to fashion them into rude tools, and some are
distinct celts, chisels and pointed implements.
It is noticeable that, notwithstanding the many acres of land covered by these
raised beaches, every foot of which is crowded with worked flints, nothing in the shape
of a ground weapon has yet come to hand. From this we may infer that the art of
grinding was unknown to the workers on this site, although the dwellers among the
sand hills not far distant, who must have been later comers, have left plenty of traces
to show that they had attained to it.
It appears to be the general opinion of geologists that the 25-foot raised beaches
to which these flints belong were elevated to their present height during Neolithic
times, but it does not necessarily follow that the flints embedded in them were freshly
made and left in the gravels at the time of their first laying down. To decide this
point it is all-important to examine the condition of the worked flints found at the
lowest levels in the gravels. This I have had the opportunity of doing since exhibiting
the flints at the Royal Anthropological Institute, and some of the observations made
during the month of April are here included.
Through the kindness of Mr. Chaine, the owner of Larne Harbour, who put
workmen at my disposal, and allowed me to cut down a section of the gravels on his
property, the flints have been studied in situ (Fig. 1). I also had the great advantage
of the help of Mr. Knowles and Miss Outram, and together we made a careful exami-
nation of every foot of the section as it was cut down. The contents of each level
were inspected, and every worked flint gathered out and numbered to prevent any
possible mixing of the specimens.
[ 82 ]
1909.]
MAN.
[No. 54.
The results were not altogether similar to those arrived at by Messrs. Praeger and
Coffey when they examined a similar section in 1904, from which it will be seen that
there is a want of uniformity both in the laying down of these gravels, as well as in
the condition of the flints in various parts of it.
In the report of Mr. Praeger's work in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy
78 flakes, 4 cores, slightly abraded ;
pa t inn t ion ttiin, bluish-white ;
majority iron stained.
J- 33 flakes, 10 cores, 1 large pointed
tool ; patination creamy white ;
flints in lower portion much
abraded and rolled, no iron stains.
18 flakes, 4 cores, 1 large pointed
tool (Drift type); patination thick
pure white ; crust creamy, no iron
stains ; all rolled and abraded ;
pointed tool is less rolled and deep
cream.
1 flake with good bulb ; patination
bluish ; perhaps fallen from
surface.
12
13 -1ft
14
FlG. 1. — SECTION OF RAISED BEACH, I.ARNK, EXAMINED APBIL, 1909.
1. Surface soil, dug and turned back ; 2. Coarse black sand and pebbles varying in size ; 3. Coarse gravel, consisting of
-closely-packed small-rolled stones mostly limestone not mixed with earth ; 4. Rolled and angular pebbles ; 5. Well-defined
band of dark brown earth, no stones ; 6, 7. Earthy bands with rolled pebbles of basalt and limestone ; 8. Well-defined band of
large rolled stones; 9. Chocolate-coloured fine gravel; 10. Band of large boulders of basalt and limestone; 11. Pine iron-
stained gravel ; 12. Dark earth devoid of itones ; 13. Red boulder clay with large boulders penetrating No. 12; 14. Blue
'boulder clay seen in section close by.
I find the following remarks : — " Our experience is, and it appears to have been that of
u the Field Club committee, that the flints with abraded crust occur chiefly in the higher
" layers, and for the most part in the disturbed surface portion. Lower down the
•" flints are sharper and often unpatinated, or only partly patinated." The writers also
[ 83 ]
No. 54.]
MAN.
[1909.
add, " The evidence of the unrolled flakes in the lower beds points to the working of
" the flints having been contemporary with the laying down of the gravels." That
these conclusions differ from those formed by Mr. Knowles and myself in our work last
April, a glance at the drawing and description of the section opened on Mr. Chaine's
property will show. (Fig. 1.)
To a depth of three feet from the surface, though numerous flakes were found, the
majority were so slightly patinated as to show the colour of the flint through, producing
a bluish effect, while in some the surface of the flint was hardly changed at all. Most
of the specimens at this level were stained with iron in blotches, and also following the
lines of the ridges. Below this level the iron stains ceased entirely, while the flints
became even more thickly coated with a white porcellanous patination. At a depth of
9 feet 2 inches, the lowest level at which any number were found, the flints were much
abraded and rolled, and as this condition could not possibly be reached after they were
included in the present gravels, we can but infer that they had been exposed for a great
length of time on a shore before the sinking, which preceded the subsequent elevation,
took place. This is presuming that the gravels were laid down in the usual way,
which may possibly be open to question.
Moreover, as the raised beach is almost entirely composed of rolled stones of basalt
and limestone, with hardly one per cent, of unworked flint, it would seem that these
remnants left by the flint workers are really as foreign to the raised beach in which
they are em-
bedded as those
which lie at the
present time on
the lough border
are foreign to
the shore. Ap-
parently we have
yet to find their
real birthplace.
It is also
perhaps worthy
of remark that,
the flints found
on the Curran
Larne, and on
Island Magee,
are at a con-
siderable distance from the position in which the natural flint occurs, for it is above
the other side of the lake that the limestone rocks with their bands of flint are to
be found.
In the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy (Series II, Vol. II, p. 437)
Mr. Knowles had already stated that he had found flints in this rolled condition at
great depths, and had inferred from this that they were older than the formation in
which they are found, and certainly our researches so far go to confirm this view. At
the same time the extreme irregularity of the deposition of the gravels to some
extent nullifies the value of conclusions formed from these facts. As a permanent
record of the investigation I have preserved material from every level as the raised
beach was cut down, with the flints included in it, an examination of which will be
more convincing than mere written records. A very comprehensive collection of the
various types of tools from the raised beaches of Larne, Island Magee, and Kilroot>
is in Mr. Knowles's possession. Contrasting them with the later work of the Neolithic
[ 84 ]
Front view. \ Side vieu.
FIG. 2. — IMPLEMENT OF PALAEOLITHIC TYPE, RAISED BEACH, LARNE.
1909.] MAN. [Nos. 54-55.
dwellers of the Irish sandhills, he has designated these rougher specimens " the older
series," and, following his lead, I have also adopted this title for them. The fact of
finding flints, which by many are considered Neolithic, at such enormous depths in
gravel is subversive of all our experience so far in England. Considering this, as
well as the crude appearance of the workmanship, I think, even if we are convinced
that they belonged to the later Stone Age, it would be an advantage to apply some
such distinctive name as that suggested. The most remarkable instrument found in
our recent excavation was a large tool of Palaeolithic appearance, which came from a
depth of seven feet. It is worked on both sides, and carefully shaped at the butt for
the hand-grasp. The colour, unlike the rest of the flints, is yellow, as though gravel-
stained (Fig. 2).
In conclusion, the following quotation from Mr. Knowles's paper, read before the
Royal Society of Antiquaries in Ireland, will give some idea of the antiquity which
must be assigned to these relics. He says : " Since the time when these implements
" were lying about the shore, &c., the following events have happened : —
" 1st. The gradual sinking of the shore and the formation of the gravels 20 feet
" in thickness, which include the worked flints.
" 2nd. The elevation of the shore till the surface of the gravel stands 20 feet
" above high- water mark." NINA F. LAYARD.
Anthropology. Deputation.
Anthropology and the Empire : Deputation to Mr. Asquith. C C
On March llth the Prime Minister received, in his private room at the UU
House of Commons, a deputation supporting a memorial, signed by a great many
distinguished administrators in India and the Colonies and others, urging the necessity
of establishing an Imperial Bureau of Anthropology within the Royal Anthropological
Institute.
The members of the deputation were Mr. Russell Rea, M.P., Professor William
Ridgeway, Sir Richard Temple, Sir Edward Candy, Professor Myres, Mr. G. W.
Neville, Sir Thomas Holdich, Sir Harry Johnston, Sir W. Anson, M.P., Mr. S. H.
Butcher, M.P., Mr. Hart-Davies, M.P., and Mr. Annan Bryce, M.P.
Mr. Asquith was accompanied by Mr. Hobhouse, M.P., Financial Secretary to
the Treasury, Sir Francis Hopwood, Colonial Office ; Sir T. Holderness, India Office ;
Lord Dufferin, Foreign Office ; and Mr. Nash and the Hon. E. S. Montague, M.P.,
private secretaries.
The memorial, which is published in full in Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst., XXXVIII,
p. 489, pointed out the importance of anthropology to administration and trade and
prayed that the Government would make a small annual grant for the establishment
of an Imperial Bureau of Anthropology within the Institute.
MR. RUSSELL REA, who introduced the deputation, said they had a little demand
to make of the Prime Minister, who, he thought, seldom received a demand so small
in itself and at the same time promising so much good if granted.
PROFESSOR RIDGEWAY, in explaining the object of the deputation, said that the
science of anthropology was now sufficiently advanced to be used as an applied science,
and it was for its use in that way, and in that aspect only, that they asked for the
assistance of the Government. Their request fell under two heads : They were of
opinion that anthropology could be made of the highest possible value for the service of
the State for training administrators for the Indian, Colonial, and Consular services ; and
secondly, they regarded it as a factor in commercial success. As to the first something
had already been done. Some great administrators of the Empire, including Sir
Reginald Wingate, had asked them to provide training for officials ; and probationers
for the Soudan were now being trained at the Universities in this science. On the
[ 85 ]
No. 55.] MAN. [1909,
other hand, our trade was suffering from the want of training in anthropology. The
Germans were quite clear as to its value in trade, and were spending £10,000 a year on
the teaching of ethnology. As much as £800 a year had been spent in this way in
China for the purpose of advancing trade. Both in China and Japan merchants had
pointed out the drawback to our trade caused by the lack of this knowledge in our
Consular service and traders. A case in point was the business done in India in the sale
of travelling bags and holdalls. In this trade English firms had been ousted by German
firms, who knew the habits and prejudices of the people, and who, unlike their English
rivals, avoided the use of leather in manufacturing these articles for the natives of India.
One German firm was making a large fortune in this way. What the Royal Geographical
Society had done for geographical science, what the Royal Society had done for science
in general, this Institute proposed to do for anthropology. It already included most
distinguished men, and had correspondents in all parts of the world. Their reports
ought to be carefully indexed for reference to each race. The need for this might be
illustrated by the case of an official untrained in anthropology, whose action led to a
misunderstanding on the part of a border tribe. A military expedition followed, the
cost of which was probably ten times as much as the Institute asked for in the next
hundred years. Professor Ridgeway proceeded to deal with the need of anthropometry,
an important branch of the science, whose claims he advocated. Meastirements and
other details of physical characteristics should be taken in every school.
MR. ASQUITH : That would cost a lot of money.
PROFESSOR RIDGEWAY : Not as we propose to carry it out. It might be made
part of the duty of schoolmasters and medical inspectors to measure the children.
Continuing his statement on the main proposal Professor Ridgeway said that
they could make a good start with £500 a year. Some years ago the Royal
Geographical Society received a similar grant on condition that they placed their
collection of maps at the service of the public. The effect of such a grant would
be to increase the efficiency of the empire in all directions ; to lessen friction with
native races and stimulate and help our commerce.
SIR EDWARD CANDY supported the objects of the deputation from the point of
view of the Indian official. He called attention to the fact that among the voluntary
subjects which the Civil Service probationer took up was Indian Civil Law.
MR. ASQUITH : Would you make anthropology a compulsory subject ?
SIR EDWARD CANDY : Certainly.
SIR HARRY JOHNSTON said that the study of anthropology was almost a
necessity for an empire like ours. We ought to be the first in the field in this
science. Missionaries had carried on an unofficial instruction in anthropology for
which we could never be too grateful. As a race, we were very snobbish, and once
a grant were made and the institute called " Royal " by the permission of the King,
anthropology would receive an enormous impetus.
SIR RICHARD TEMPLE said that if a man was going to command alien troops
with success he must have willing obedience, and to secure that he must have a
knowledge of the race and of the social training of the men who Avere under him.
Replying to Mr. Asquith, Sir Richard said that whether or no anthropology were
made a compulsory subject in examinations it ought to rank high in the scale of
importance.
MR. ASQUITH : The Institute is not a teaching body.
SIR RICHARD TEMPLE : We would collect information and disseminate it, and
we should think ourselves in a position to advise the Government upon the best
subjects to teach.
MR. ASQDITH, in replying, said that he was very glad to meet the members of
the deputation. He fully recognised the high authority of the names appended to the
[ 86 ]
1909,] MAN. [No. 55.
memorial ; they were those of men of great administrative experience. He was entirely
with the deputation in their proposition that anthropology had become, and was
becoming more and more every year, not only an important, but an indispensable branch
of knowledge, not merely for scholars, but for persons who in an empire like ours were
going to undertake — whether in the consular service in India or in the Crown colonies
— the work of administration. In his day at Oxford they studied scholarship with very
little reference to anthropology. Professor Ridgeway and others had now made that
state of things impossible. A young man at a university was now compelled to equip
himself with a mass of knowledge from this science, which was once unknown. Much
more was this the case when they came to deal with an enormous variety of tribes,
customs, and usages of a more or less imperfectly developed civilisation. On that
point there was no dispute. He hesitated to express a final or considered opinion as to
whether anthropology should be made a compulsory subject in examinations, but he was
quite satisfied it was highly desirable it should be a recognised subject of study in the
normal equipment of a young man who was going to outlying regions of the empire,
where he would encounter strange conditions of life. Therefore, so far as their
object was to arouse an expression of sympathy on the part of the Government in the
teaching of anthropology and the development of it as a study and one especially
germane to the work of administration, he could assure them of the Government's
hearty sympathy. But the Royal Anthropological Institute, whose claim they were
there to advocate, was not itself a teaching body.
PROFESSOR RIDGEWAY explained that it was proposed to grant diplomas to those
who had done good work in anthropology.
MR. ASQUITH said that the actual work of giving tuition in anthropology would
be left to the Universities. Whether or no this grant were made it would make no
difference once interest in the subject was aroused in the Universities. But when they
asked for a grant to this Institute for the purpose, he supposed, of giving it better
accommodation, larger space, greater facilities for acquiring and storing books and
other materials, then arose critical questions. It would be said, " What about others ? "
He supposed there must be 50 or 100 — certainly 50 — institutions and societies
carrying on most excellent work, all on a voluntary basis, and contending with great
plausibility that their work would be much facilitated if an annual subvention were
granted. There were, he thought — and he spoke subject to correction — only three insti-
tutions at that moment on a basis similar to that of the Royal Anthropological Institute,
which received Government subventions. These were the Royal Geographical Society
— and how this society obtained a grant he did not know, but it was so many years
ago that no one could dispute its title — and the two British schools of Athens and
of Rome, which had come in of late years, and as to whose title he thought it better
to say nothing. There were only these three out of the whole of the splendid agencies
of the country, on a voluntary basis, which had effectively established their title to these
subsidies, and therefore he must walk very warily, and could not consider the claims of
one without considering the claims of others. All he could say to them on this point
was that he would bring to the notice of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was the
person really and directly responsible, all that they had said that afternoon, and the
representations they had put forward, backed with such high authority, would receive
that respectful consideration which they deserved. But he could not hold out any-
thing in the nature of an assurance or expectation that the pecuniary grant for which
they asked would in the end be given. For himself he should be very glad from the
point of view of imperial administration if it could be given.
The Deputation thanked Mr. Asquith and withdrew.
Nos. 56-57.]
MAN.
[1909.
England : Archaeology. Smith.
Palaeolithic Implement -found near the British Museum. By CQ
Worthington G. Smith, F.L.S. UU
The accompanying illustration, drawn to half scale, represents a fine palaeolithic
implement, found by an exca-
vator whilst repairing a drain in
Woburn Place, near the British
Museum, in 1902. The digger
knew nothing of implements, but
preserved the flint on account
of the pebble at the base. The
tool remained in the digger's
possession till July, 1908, when
another man acquainted with
stone implements happened to
see it. This second man happily
had my name and address, and
he advised the finder to send
the stone to me. The owner
acted on this advice and for-
warded the implement by parcel
post, giving particulars of the
finding, and asking that I would
send him any sum I thought
proper.
The implement was found
at a depth of 10 to 12 feet ; it
is somewhat abraded, blackish,
clouded livid, and lustrous all
over. It agrees well with the
famous Gray's Inn implement
found in the seventeenth century.
It is petrologically interesting
on account of the oval flint
pebble which forms part of the
base. The maker of the tool by clever flaking designedly left this pebble intact.
The implement is larger than the Gray's Inn example and weighs 1 Ib. 8 ozs.
WORTHINGTON G. SMITH.
Africa : Uganda. Roscoe.
Python Worship in Uganda. By the Rev. J. Roscoe. C"f
Python worship was confined almost entirely to one clan in Uganda, and Uf
had a limited sphere of influence.
The place where this worship was carried on was on an estate called Bulonge,
in Budu, a district of Uganda to the south bordering on the west shores of the lake
Victoria Nyanza. The temple (sabo) was situated in a forest on the shores of the
lake by the bank of a river called Mujuzi. The land near the temple was culti-
vated with plantains by the members of the Heart (Mutima) clan. This clan had
charge of the temple, which was a large conical hut built of poles and thatched with
grass ; the base was some 20 feet in diameter, and 24 feet or 25 feet high at the
apex. The floor of the temple was carpeted with a sweet smelling grass like the
lemon grass ; on one side of it was the sacred place of the snake and his guardian,
C 88 ]
1909.] MAN. [No. 57.
who was a woman who might never marry ; her name was Nazimba. A log of wood
lay on the floor and a stool near it for the python ; over these a barkcloth was
spread for the snake to lie upon. Through the side of the hut a round hole was cut
for the ingress or egress of the python. On the other side of the hut was the
bedstead of the Medium (Mandwa) and his assistant, who also lived in the temple.
The chief of the estate had to keep the temple in good order, and called the members
of the clan to rebuild it when it was necessary.
The python had by some means been trained to come into this hut and live
there ; it drank freely inilk which had some white clay mixed with it, and also was
given fowls and small goats. The Medium daily brought a large bowl of milk from
some sacred cows which were kept for the sole use of the python. This large wooden
bowl was taken by the woman Nazimba and held for the python to drink from ; it lay
with its head over the stool and drank the milk. From time to time the Medium took
fowls or goats and tied them on the bank of the river and the python went down and
devoured them. These offerings were made whenever the Medium wished to have a
successful fishing expedition, because the python was supposed to have power over the
river and all the fish in it. Without the offering to obtain the deity's favour the expedi-
tion was supposed to be of no value. After each successful fishing expedition the
Medium called all the people from the estate to a sacred meal of the fish ; they had to
provide the cooked vegetables and beer, and the Medium prepared the fish for the meal.
The names of the python were Selwanga and Magobwe, which are names used
for men. The chief duties of the python were to give increase of children. Newly-
married men or those whose wives did not have children went to seek his blessing,
an assistance to obtain them. Other requests were also made to him, but he was
called the giver of children.
The time for worship was at the new moon ; for several days before the moon
became visible the people made preparations because there was no work allowed to
be done on the estate for seven days. Directly the moon appeared the drums were
beaten and the people gathered for the worship ; those who had requests to make
brought offerings for the god ; they were chiefly beer, cowry shells, and a few goats
and fowls. The priest always came with a large following of smaller chiefs ; the
priesthood was hereditary, and the holder of it was always the chief of the estate.
When the priest had received the offerings from the people and told the python what
had been brought and the number of requests, he dressed the Medium in the sacred dress
ready for the python to take possession of him. The dress consisted of two bark-
cloths, each one tied at two corners, and slipped over the head with the knot of the one
on the right shoulder, and that of the other resting on the left shoulder and hanging
down below the knees. Round the waist were two goat-skin aprons from white goats,
the skins beautifully dressed. One of them hung in front and the other hung down
behind. Round his chest was a leopard skin, and on his head he wore a crown made
of a strip of goat's skin decorated with beads and the seeds of the wild banana. In
his hand he held two fly whisks made from buffalo tails. When the priest had thus
dressed the Medium, he gave him a small gourd cup full of beer to drink, and afterwards
some of the milk mixed with the white clay from the python's bowl ; the spirit of the
python then came upon the man, and he went down on his face and wriggled about
upon his stomach like a snake, uttering peculiar noises, and speaking in a tongue which
required an interpreter to explain to the people. The people stood around and looked
on whilst the drums were beaten and the python gave its oracle. The interpreter,
named Lukumirizi, stood by listening until the Medium had ended his speech ; when
he finished his talk he fell down or lay down like a person in a sound sleep for a
long time utterly overcome with his exertions. Lukumirizi the interpreter then
explained what had been foretold, and told the fortunate persons whose requests had
[ 89 ]
Nos. 57-58.] MAN. [1909.
been granted what they were to do in order to obtain their desire, and what was the
medical treatment which the wife was to undergo, &c. This ceremony was repeated
each day during the seven days feasting. The people were then free to return to their
homes and look forward to the fulfilment of the promises. When children were born
according to the promise of the python the parents had to take an offering of either a
goat or fowls to the temple ; if they neglected to do so their children were stricken
with some disease, and the parents were soon driven to the medicine men for advice to
save their families, and he ordered them to pay the proper offering to the python, and
also told what herbs to use to restore the sick person.
From time to time the Medium went over to the island of Sese for cows from the
god Mnkasa to supply the python with milk. His reason for going to Mukasa was
because the wife of Mukasa was a female python named Nalwanga, sister of Selwanga.
The brother-in-law according to the usual custom of the nation has to give presents
from time to time to his wife's brother. The terms used for possession are to take
hold of the head (kukwata kumutwe) and to marry (kutvasa). These cows were always
brought decorated with creepers around their bodies to show they were sacred animals ;
They were kept close by the temple and were milked daily for the python.
The kings used to send the chief of the district (pokino^) to the python to ask
for his blessing so that they might have children.
Once each year the Medium also took a gift of fish to the king from the
python. J. ROSCOE.
REVIEWS.
Africa : Uganda. Hattersley.
The Baganda at Home. With One Hundred Pictures of Life and Work in CO
Uganda. By C. W. Hattersley, Secretary, Board of Education, C.M.S. UU
Uganda. Author of Uganda by Pen and Camera. London : Religious Tract Society,
1908. Pp. xvi + 227. 22 x 14 cm. Price 5s.
This exceedingly well-illustrated book is well calculated to serve the purpose for
which it is apparently written, namely, to interest the public at large in the mission
work which is being so successfully carried on by the Church Missionary Society in
Uganda and the adjacent tribes. Mr. Hattersley, the author, is secretary to the
Board of Education, and seems to have given some attention to the natives, their
habits and customs.
The results of his observations are set down with clearness and are likely to be
very useful to the Cook's tourists who are now in increasing numbers visiting Uganda,
as well as traders and officials. The book will also prove of great use in showing
the influence which a mission may have in a land where the people are so amenable
to instruction as the Baganda are.
Looking at the book from the anthropological point of view, although there is
nothing very new to be found in its pages, yet we can glean many interesting details
as to the people, their customs and mental characteristics, and we can see how they
have reacted to the foreign influences which have been at work in the country during
the past quarter of a century.
The men seem to progress with much greater rapidity than the women, the latter
not taking so very kindly to the new order of things. The advent, however, of lady
missionaries is making a gradual change in this as well as the medical work in the
excellent hospital administered by the mission.
Apart from the natural aptitude of the Baganda, the mission must have great
credit for the way in which they have taught the people. They seem to be working
on the very satisfactory and commonsense lines of not aiming at giving the people
a veneer of civilisation but in trying to develop an educated native race.
C 90 ]
1909.] MAN. [Nos. 58-59.
The High School for the chiefs' sons is admirably conceived and is well
carried out, as we are convinced on reading the details of the instruction which is
given.
The numerous illustrations are well reproduced and are most useful. A quotation
will indicate the style of the book : —
" Uganda is a country the habits of which, when compared with England, appear to
be entirely reversed. The men do the sewing and washing, they visit the friends of
the family, they buy their wives, or in other words find the dowry, the bridegroom must
in all cases provide the wedding presents and the feast. On the other hand, a woman
may propose marriage to the man of her choice, and, indeed, goes off on a tour of
exploration for that purpose even though the year be not leap-year. This is, however,
quite reasonable, for she engages to provide food for the household, collect the
firewood, carry the water, and do all the cultivating besides attending to the duties of
motherhood.
" The conditions of life for babies are not at all comfortable under such an
arrangement, as one can readily see on any journey by noticing the number of babies
lying each on a little scrap of bark-cloth with a banana leaf as a tent to protect
them from the sun's rays, whilst their mothers are cultivating. The women look
after the tobacco supply, and smoke it, too, and they make the beer for the family
unless it is wanted in large quantities, when the men's help is called in. The women
weave baskets and mats, though in this department a few good-natured men
occasionally help."
The book shows clearly the need of true anthropological study in these regions
before it is too late. Even now, to one who knew the country thirty years ago, the
account of many of the habits and customs of the people and their religious beliefs
looks a faded picture, so rapidly do natives change when brought into touch with
strenuous civilisation.
The only thing we regret in the book is several needless remarks upon a form
of religion the author does not happen to like. The country has suffered too much
from the disharmony of so-called Christians ; surely it is time for different denomi-
nations to join hands in brotherhood. R. W. F.
Austria. Frizzi.
Ein Beitrag zur Anthropologie des "Homo Alpinus Tirolensis." Von Dr. CQ
Ernst Frizzi (Sonderabdruck aus Band XXXIX der Mitt, der Anthrop. UU
Ges. in Wien). Vienna, 1909. Pp. 65. 31 x 21 cm.
Thirty or forty years ago craniometry occupied a larger province in the anthro-
pological realm than it does now. But it is not so much thrust into a corner as it
was when the Cretan discoveries began, when I recollect saying, at the Liverpool
meeting of the British Association, that I had never once heard in the section that
blessed word brachycephalic. In our own country Thomson and Duckworth, on the
continent Sergi, Ruggieri, Pittard, and many others, besides some of the veterans
of the past generation, continue to labour in this field.
Dr. Frizzi's last paper shows him inferior to none as a persevering and accurate
worker, who shrinks from no amount of wearisome detail in his labours. One's first
impression is that he has left little or no room for any subsequent investigation of
the Tyrolese, so far as their skulls and skeletons are concerned. Sucli is not the
case, of course ; there is plenty for future students of anthropology to do in the
comparison of the different districts, not only in the two great divisions of German
and Italian Tyrol, but in the several subdivisions of each. Frizzi has selected the
village of Laas in the Vintshgau for especial study ; and it is evident, or at least
highly probable, that he has had to deal there with a population more tinctured with a
[ 91 ]
No. 59,] MAN. [1909.
dolichocephalic northern strain than in sundry districts further north, and even in the
south of Bavaria. Speaking generally, however, and having embraced in his own
personal measurements as many as 1,064 crania from very many districts of Tyrol,
he confirms and extends the observations of John Ranke, Holl, Toldt and Tappeiner,
demonstrates the great resemblance of the prevailing type in the Tyrol to that in
Switzerland and Upper Bavaria, and definitely assigns it to the " Alpine " race.
Except in the case of Laas, he does not usually attempt to determine the sex of his
crania, herein following John Ranke. Perhaps they are right in abstaining from
guessing : one of the distinctions on which one relies as between the sexes in the
Germanic races, to wit, the comparative verticality of the forehead and absence of
glabella in the female, is by no means conspicuous in the Swiss and Tyrolese — where
these characters are very common also in the male — whereas in Francothuringia Ranke
notes the prominent glabella and receding forehead, as characters correlated with a
reduction of the cranial capacity.
Frizzi demonstrates clearly enough the resemblance, the almost identity in racial
characters, of the Tyrolese and the Bavarian mountaineers. The stature may be a little
higher in the former. Frizzi puts it at 1,673 mm. in the living ; but, on applying
Manouvrier's rule to some skeletons, he got only 1,631 mm. in males and 1,512 mm.
in females.
In colour he does not claim to be a practised observer, but he notes a huge
proportion of green eyes, which Mr. John Gray or I would probably call medium or
neutral. In the hair he finds, as Schimmer did, a very great difference between the
German and Italian Tyrolese, the German being lighter in eye, and still more so in
hair. The line of demarcation is almost as well marked as that of Vanderkindere
between the Flemings and the Walloons, but it bulges northwards to include in the
Italian area the rural parts of Bozen, where the German element is probably retreating
before the Italian (see my map in Colour and Race and those of Schimmer). Frizzi
carries out a careful comparison of the Tyrolese with Ranke's Upper Bavarians, and
Wettstein's Disentis folk, a comparison extending to many minute details. He is
cautious in coming to positive conclusions ; but on the whole it may be said that he
finds a common element prevailing among all these Alpine people, the brachycephalic
and leptoprosopic, which is, perhaps, most pure in the Disentis series. Frizzi derives
it from the Rhaeti, so far as his own province is concerned. There seem to be greater
local differences in Tyrol than in Bavaria proper, as might be expected in a country
of valleys separated by almost impassable mountain ranges. It would seem that some
of the more secluded glens, or the heads of valleys, such as the Oetzthal, the
Taufererthal, the Martelthal, the Miinsterthal, retain a population more hyperbrachy
than even that of the Vorderrhein valley, with mean indices over 85. On the
other hand, the Zillerthal, the Val Sugana east of Trent, and Laas in the Vintzgau,
and some other places in less degree, are at most sub-brachycephalic, and would seem,
either from the circumstances of their original conquest by the Germans or from
what one can only call accidents, to have retained a notable proportion of the Marcoman
or Swabian element. In this connection one may be forgiven if one recalls the fact
of the persecution of the Zillerthalers, and the expulsion of many of them from their
native homes, on account of their stedfast adherence to the Protestant religion.
The low index (80) of the Valsugana folk may possibly result from the smallness
of the number measured. The index for Fassathal, another Italian locality, is 84 • 5 ;
yet there is a kind of likeness in other points. The modern Lombards have a high
index ; but their racial elements are not exactly the same as those of the Bavarians and
Tyrolese. Frizzi measured the capacity in his Laas people with millet ; the result
was small — 1,358 for men and 1,260 for women. This fact Frizzi himself ascribes to
the method, but I think his personal equation may also have a little to do with it. Still,
[ 92 ]
1909,]
MAN.
[No. 59.
his Laas folk must surely have smaller heads (with one extraordiuary exception) than
the Tyrolese in general. By Welcker's Table C the former should have a capacity of
1,344, the latter one of 1,462 ccm., agreeing fairly with Ranke's Upper Bavarians.
I have calculated the probable capacity of most of the divisions of Frizzi's
Tyrolese, but the results I have obtained are obscured and rendered of smaller value
by the unsolved question of sex. My own peripheral plan yields rather high figures as
a rule — often over 1,500 — but almost always between those gotten by the Manouvrier -
Flower process for males and for females, and fairly comparable with Ranke's — if I
read him rightly — as well as with Welcker's Table D, the circumferential one. Pearson's
processes all give smaller results, as a rule — too small, as I believe. Considering the
desirability of getting the best possible process for the estimation of capacity (for our
best one, Manouvrier's, is nearly perfect only in his own practised hands), I may dwell
a little on this point. Frizzi's circumference for 90 Innthal skulls, male and female, is
528*4 ; Ranke's for 100 from the same valley is 515 ; Frizzi measures as low down on
the glabella as he can ; Ranke, I suspect, over the ophryon. This would increase my
estimate by about 2^ per cent. Frizzi measures his Q arc from the top of the earhole
over the bregma ; and his heights are bregmatic, which Pearson's are not. How that
would affect Pearson's results I am not sure.
More important, probably, is the question of sex-relations, of the probable proportion
of male to female capacity in skulls of the same measurement. Now Manouvrier says
that in such a case the female skull will have the larger capacity, the mean difference
averaging in different races from about 2 to nearly 5 per cent., and on the whole, as I
read, about 3. Mme. Pelletier makes it 3, i.e., she divides the product of length,
breadth, and ear-height by 202 for males and 196 for females to get the respective
capacities. But Professor Pearson and Dr. Lee, on the other hand, have constructed
formulae which in most cases, from identical measurements, would bring out a smaller
capacity for the female. Professor Pearson has blamed me because, having little
experience in female skulls, I have not devised any special plan for measuring their
capacity, but simply used my masculine one. Ranke's and Frizzi's labours yield fair
opportunities for testing whether Athanasius is in the right as against the anthropometric
world, which follows Manouvrier.
The following are Ranke's figures, arranged in the simplest form : —
MALE.
FEMALE.
No. of Cases.
Average Circum-
ference.
Average
Capacity.
No.
Average Circum-
ference.
Average
Capacity.
6
513 6
1,321
21
511
1,374
11
26
9
519
526
530
1,371
1,470
1,508
12
5
6
518
521
528
1,431
1,457
1,520
Four male and four female skulls from Laas, measured and gauged by Dr. Frizzi,
are available, not counting outside sizes : —
MALE.
FEMALE.
Modulus.
Circumference.
Capacity.
Modulus.
Circumference.
Capacity.
417
435
444
438
480
496
497
498
1,080
1,110
1,200
1,175
438
430
426
433
483
484
488
490
1,320
1,220
1,160
1,200
Averages, 434
493
1,141
432
486
1,225
[ 93 ]
Nos. 59-60.] MAN. [1909.
Here the females average 84 c.cms. of capacity over males of even larger cir-
cumference and modulus. The greater thickness so often found in the male cranium,
the stronger muscular impressions, the less vertically of the forehead, would all lead
one to expect some such difference.
Yet Pearson's multitude of formulae, so far as I have examined them, almost always
reverse this difference, so that with the same dimensions they assign to a feminine skull
a smaller capacity, sometimes very much smaller ; the degree of diminution varying
prodigiously in his several formulae. Thus, in the neighbourhood of Innspruck I find,
on applying his 12-13, or basi-bregmatic scheme, to Frizzi's figures (the same figures),
a difference so great as between 1,473 and 1,369, according to whether we suppose the
same skulls to be male or female. Manouvrier's estimate (supposing them female),
even when reduced to Flower's standard, would be 1,597, or more than 200 above
Pearson's. The latter's German formula, No. 9, is much better, the difference of male
and female coming out as that between 1,472 and 1,462 ; but still it also is on the
wrong side. J. BEDDOE.
Prehistory. Hewitt.
Primitive Traditional History. By J. F. Hewitt. James Parker, 1907. Ofl
2 vols. Pp. 977, 4 plates. DU
This work deserves more attention than it seems as yet to have received. Whatever
may be said about the theories of the author, his extensive acquaintance with present
primitive life in India and with ancient Indian literature, and his wide reading otherwise,
must render the forty-five pages of index of these volumes a valuable mass of references
to such subjects. It is difficult to grasp the matter presented, owing to the great
mixture of statements which are not essential to the case in question ; and which,
though illustrative, are yet irrelevant to direct proof which the reader may seek. If the
work were a tenth of the length it would probably succeed far better in gaining
acceptance of its main propositions. Here we will try to give such an outline as will
show other students how far this work may bear on their researches.
The essential basis seems highly probable. Many different kalendars are found
to have been used by different peoples ; and as the kalendar is not changed without a
great upheaval of civilisation and habit, so each kalendar may be taken as the most
obvious brand of one type of civilisation, and by its transference it gives good evidence
of a mixture of race. Moreover, each kalendar by the number of days, weeks, and
months which it employs, stamps the use of these numbers on the religion and social
life. And the observation of the stars for the purposes of the kalendar induces a
mythology and cosmogony which is also characteristic of each civilisation. Our own
observation of historical instances certainly bears out these principles. In Indian ritual-
literature there appears to be a great mass of references to numbers connected with the
kalendar ; but it would need a first-hand knowledge to criticise the applications of the
Rigveda and other documents to this subject. It is regrettable that on the Egyptian
side I certainly could not bear out the statements and their applications in manv parts.
But the Indian material is very different, and is known by the author much better than
the Egyptian ; moreover, there are express documentary statements of the ritual
adoption of numbers of objects and of measures as referring to kalendar numbers, and
the superposition of one ritual upon another in historical order seems well attested.
The author's position is summarised thus : —
" In short, the whole ritual of the Indian Church as expounded in the Rigveda
and the Brahmana ritualistic manuals was that of the worship of the gods who measure
time, and it was the successive phases assumed by the forms of worship altered with
[ 94 ]
1909.]
MAN.
[No. 60.
.So
8*
11
1 >>
-si
a-8
1
as
in
.> .S -H O
S s s s «
C8 •— S r>--^
g3!^ Sa
'S-a m1 3 cr
bol
crifi
Sym
»
QQ
QC f"1
Sacred
nimals
~ of
S ts
"3 S >>
G.S.2
ip
§!
ill
''-
S,
«
"I S I
e
O
tt
t -- C
i^tO
ecco
M— •*«
+
'?
4-> v
O
Nos. 60-61.] MAN. [1909.
the changing computations of the year which distinguished the epochs of national
chronology, and these changes were, as we have seen, all connected with the advent
of new immigrant races who became in course of time united in one composite
nationality with those who had preceded them" (p. 959).
To enter on detail here is impossible, or even to give any idea of the enormous mass
of suggested connections with the beliefs of most of Asia and Europe, and parts
of Africa, America, and Australia. But a tabular synopsis of the principal ideas
connected with each kalendar will enable readers to grasp the outline, and to see how
far other known facts will corroborate or contradict it. If only a tenth of the state-
ments made in the work prove sound there is enough to be of prime value for a
systematic treatment of the prehistoric ages.
Referring to the tabular view, we may note that the earliest year is of five-day
weeks, thirty-six of which occupy each of the monsoon seasons. Next lunar influence
appears in the making twelve months of such weeks. Then a lunar month of twenty-
nine days is used separately from the week, and is levelled up with the year by a twelve
days' festival at the year's end, found from northern Europe to India. Five weeks of
six days in the month is then adopted as an approximate month. The week of seven
days, four in the month, and thirteen months of the year is the next, along with a curious
form of reckoning in lunar days, nine of which form a week, and twelve months of three
weeks make up a year. The strange week of eleven days and year of eleven months
seems to break away altogether from lunations, as also do the years of fifteen and of
seventeen months. The month of four five-day weeks, or twenty days, repeated six
times in each of the three seasons scarcely touches the lunations. But the ten-day
week, three of which made the month, is about as near as our present kalendar.
The Babi system is a curiosity as showing an entirely new departure ; nineteen days
to the month, nineteen months to the year, and nineteen years to the lunar cycle has an
attractive uniformity. We may add another form of year, that of the early Arab, which
was of ten lunations, ignoring the solar year. This is shown by there being only ten
names of months, and two of them duplicated to make up the solar twelve months.
The adherence to lunar months still, and shift of the whole of the months every
thirty-three years, shows how entirely lunar is the Arab system.
The other columns scarcely need any explanation, though a long account would be
needed to show the evidence for each statement. The last column contains the dates
suggested by the connections of the constellations with the seasons. Such dates may
be possible for the rise of the primitive ideas, but cannot be linked with the whole of
each system. For instance, bronze was probably unknown till 1500 or 2000 B.C., and
so must be a much later incident in the system of 11000 B.C. Even copper cannot be
dated earlier than 7000 or 8000 B.C. The evidence for these dates is intricate, and not
at all inevitable ; but yet they may well be true of the rise of the astrology with which
they are stated to be connected.
The work deserves to be analysed by several specialists, and if each would say
how much is probable and possible we might register a considerable advance in our
ideas of prehistoric ages. W. M. FLINDERS FETRIE.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTE.
WE regret to hear of the sudden death, at the age of seventy years, of IM
Dr. J. D. E. Schmeltz, who had been director of the Royal Ethnographical Ul
Museum at Leyden since 1897, and was editor of the Internationale Archiv fiir
Ethnographic. He was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Institute in 1892.
Printed by EYBE AND SPOTTISWOODE, LTD., His Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, E.C.
PLATE G.
MAN, 1909.
Photo: Horsburgh, Edinburgh.
DANIEL JOHN CUNNINGHAM.
1909.] MAN. [No. 62.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Obituary. With Plate G. Cunningham.
Daniel John Cunningham. Born April 15th, 1850; died June CO
23rd, 1909. By Professor Arthur Thomson. Ufc
By the death of Professor D. J. Cunningham of the University of Edinburgh, at
the age of fifty-nine, not only has the world of science lost a distinguished ornament,
but many of us a valued friend. A son of the manse, he was born at Crieff, where
his father, afterwards the distinguished Principal of St. Andrew's University, was parish
minister. In the academy school of the Perthshire town he received his early education,
subsequently passing to the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated with honours
in medicine in the year 1874. During his undergraduate career young Cunningham was
noted for his brilliant talents, and in most, if not all, of his classes obtained the highest
distinctions. In 1876 he took his doctor's degree, being awarded a gold medal for the
excellence of his thesis. It was then that he entered on the career which he has
pursued with such distinction. Appointed a demonstrator on the anatomical staff of
the University under Professor W. Turner, he threw himself into his work with an
energy which was amazing. In spite of the arduous nature of his teaching duties he
yet found time to engage in laborious research, and the early results of his tireless
industry are to be found in the reports of the " Challenger " expedition, to which he
contributed the article dealing with the Marsupialia. In those days Cunningham soon
gave evidence of marked ability as a teacher : possessed of a clear and lucid style, he
reduced the most complex subjects to terms so simple as that all might understand.
He had the knack of enlisting the sympathy of his audience and so keeping their
attention fixed. Frequently demonstrating, as he had to do, late in the afternoon,
he succeeded effectually in maintaining the interest of his class. Seldom, indeed, did
the worn-out student succumb to the influence of slumber when Cunningham was
lecturing.
As the results of his accomplishment as a teacher, and his recognised ability
as an anatomist, he quickly attained promotion. In 1882 he was appointed Professor
of Anatomy in the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, a Chair which he occupied
but for a year, being translated to the corresponding Chair in Trinity College, Dublin,
on the resignation of Professor Alex. Macalister, then called to Cambridge. With
what distinction and success Professor Cunningham held that office for a period of
twenty years those conversant with medical education in Ireland can best testify.
But, in 1903, the Chair of Anatomy in Edinburgh becoming vacant through the
appointment of Sir William Turner to the Principalship of the University, Professor
Cunningham, ever loyal to his Alma Mater, accepted the invitation to succeed to the
illustrious line of anatomists who have adorned that University. At what personal
sacrifice he entered on the duties of his new office those alone who knew him
intimately can appreciate. It was wholly from a sense of duty to the University
he loved so well that he undertook the responsibilities of so arduous a position. He
had been looking forward to the time when, possibly, he might be able to take
things a little more easily, and so find opportunities for the furtherance of those
researches to which hitherto he had had so little time to devote. But these con-
siderations never weighed with him ; he went where duty called — too soon, alas! to
be snatched from us in his prime just when probabilities of other and higher
distinctions seemed well within his grasp.
It is outside the scope of this article to deal with his work as an anatomist, it
is rather with the anthropological aspects of his work that we are most concerned.
Among the memoirs which he wrote, none, perhaps, has attained wider recognition
than that produced on " The Lumbar Curve in Man and Apes," published by the
[ 97 ]
No. 62,] MAN. [1909,
Royal Irish Academy in 1886. It may be said to be the classic on the subject.
Therein he submitted the data obtained from the measurement of the vertebrae of the
columns of men and apes to a searching analysis : he proved how erroneous conclusions
drawn from the macerated skeleton might be, because of the necessary neglect of the
intervertebral discs in the constitution of the curves. Whereas the inspection of the
macerated vertebral column of an Australian might lead to the supposition that a
characteristic of that race was an apparent absence of the lumbar curve, he clearly
demonstrated, by the examination of recent specimens with the discs still in position,
that their vertebral columns displayed as pronounced curves as those exhibited by the
higher races. He thus enforced the necessity of considering the close correlation which
exists between structure and function in the vertebral columns, and was able in
consequence to guard against the error of supposing that the osseous structure of the
column in the lower races was a sign of inferiority ; whereas, in fact, it was only proof
of their greater range of mobility.
His studies in relation to giantism as embodied in his memoir on " Cornelius
" Magrath, the Irish Giant " (1891), were an important addition to our knowledge of the
subject. Of not less importance, in regard to the question of head form, was his paper
on the " Brain and Head of the Microcephalic Idiot," published in the transactions of
the Royal Irish Academy in 1895. Nor must we omit to mention the illuminating
address delivered on the occasion of the Huxley memorial lecture in 1902, when he
expounded in detail the anatomical evidence bearing on the subject of " Right-
" handedness and Left-brainedness." His address, as President of the Royal
Anthropological Institute in 1908, dealt in a scholarly way with the influence exercised
by the pioneers of physical anthropology in the eighteenth century, and provides in
useful form an admirable record and criticism of the genius and labours of such men as
Camper, White, Blumenbach, Pritchard, and Lawrence. Not less interesting, though
possibly not so well known, was his address to the graduates in medicine of the
University of Edinburgh in 1904 on " The Evolution of the Graduation Ceremony,"
wherein he treated of the symbolism and survivals retained in the various ceremonies
adopted by the universities throughout the world.
Of other contributions to the literature of anthropology we may note his presi-
dential address at the Anthropological Section of the British Association at Glasgow
in 1901, his memoir in the transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1906)
on " The Varying Forms of the Stomach in Man and the Anthropoid Ape," and his
paper on the " Australian Forehead " in the collected essays presented to Professor
E. B. Tylor on the occasion of his jubilee.
In other capacities Professor Cunningham's association with anthropology was
intimate and most helpful. He maintained the high standard of teaching on the subject
initiated by his predecessor, Sir W. Turner, in the University of Edinburgh, where
physical anthropology is recognised as one of the subjects for the B.Sc. degree.
Whilst his services as chairman of the Committee of the British Association charged
with the duty of promoting the establishment of an anthropometric survey of the
British Isles have been widely appreciated.
Of honours he received many. A Fellow of the Royal Society, he also acted as one
of the secretaries of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He was a D.C.L. of Oxford, an
LL.D. of Glasgow and St. Andrews, and a D.M. and D.Sc. of Dublin. A past pre-
sident of the Royal Anthropological Institute, he also served in a similar capacity in the
Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland. He rendered yeoman service to his
country as one of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the care of the sick
and wounded during the South African War, and his services were retained by the War
Office Committee to report on the physical standards for candidates for commissions
and recruits in the army.
[ 98 1
1909.]
MAN.
[Nos. 62-63.
But no account of the man would be complete without a reference to those
personal traits which endeared him to all who knew him. Gifted as he was, he was
the most modest of men. To him no trouble was excessive, no responsibility too
great. Everything he undertook was carried through with a deep sense of duty.
Slip-shod work was foreign to his nature ; thoroughness and efficiency were his ideals.
To those who differed from him on matters of policy he was always generous ; to
his colleagues and friends he was ever loyal and true. He lived a life without
blemish, and his record may well serve as a bright example to those who have to
follow. ARTHUR THOMSON.
Freire-Marreco.
Children of School
63
England: Pigmentation.
Notes on the Hair and Eye Colour of 591
Age in Surrey.41 By Barbara Freire-Marreco.
The observations on which this paper is based were made up as follows : —
Chobham, National Schools, July 19, 1901 ; 54 boys, 30 girls, total 84. Horsell,
National Schools, younger children, July 8, 1901 ; 54 boys, 21 girls, total 75. West-
field, Woking, Council Schools, July 23, 1901 ; 130 boys, 71 girls, total 201.
Pyrford, Council Schools, July 24, 1901 ;
47 boys, 39 girls, total 86. Guildford,
children in South Street, July 3, 1901 ;
36 girls. Bramley, Council Schools,
September, 1901 ; 55 boys, 21 girls, total
76. Shamley Green, National Schools,
September, 1901 ; 11 boys, 22 girls, total
33. Grand total : 351 boys ; 240 girls.
Of the seven parishes in which
observations have been recorded, Chob-
ham, Horsell, Pyrford, and Westfield
(Old Woking) are in the Bagshot-sand
country. Chobham lies in the water-
meadows of the Hale Bourne Brook, and
runs up the slope to the north ; Horsell,
on a dry, sandy ridge, runs down to the
Bourne Brook and westwards towards
Bisley. Pyrford is on the extreme edge
of the high ground overlooking the compli-
cated waterways round Newark Priory ;
Wokingf lies in the water-meadows be-
tween the Hoe and the Wey, but the
area served by Westfield SchoolJ extends
* Submitted in compliance with Regula-
tion 3 for the Diploma in Anthropology in the
University of Oxford, June, 1908.
I take this opportunity of thanking Mr.
Marsh and Mr. and Mrs. Saunders of Westfield,
Mr. Stevens of Pyrford, Mr. and Mrs. Tidy of
Horsell, and Mr. and Miss Wetton of Chobham
Schools for their kind co-operation.
f Not Woking Junction, which is a modern
settlement on the south edge of Horsell Moor.
J Viz., Woking village, Westfield, Kingfield,
Button, Mayford ; small numbers from Worples-
don, Sander's Lane, Kemish Ford, Smart's
Heath, Pray Heath, Poyle Hill, Hook Heath,
Eglay Nurseries, Elm Bridge Green, Cross Lanes.
C 99 ]
FlG, 1.— MAP OF DISTRICT.
No. 63.]
MAN.
[1909.
O W P= P- O « en
d
V
I
s -a- a • *
g __. ^ rg § g. t>,
i 1 i 1 1 1 1
1 . | J R 1 I J
O K P pu O M w
•«»< •* o h- i in — •
m m co •* 1 o I-H
CO
O r-( — < OS CO ^^ CM
CO C^ c— CO CO £•! C^
o
in
g
5
CO CO Oo 1 I *-< OS
2
X GO i>. oo in
^5 1 0} t» I >C 4h
CO
00
04
•*
m
[j
B
H
d
I
X 00 0} 00 CO *»
b- •* c%> 0) CO OS
1
00
s
c» co os <~) >* in
CO OS OS «3 OJ CO
>~l Oj "^
in ex c- ex oo co
*M
>~(
m
CO
M
a
Q
'3
Oi CO ^ *-t C^
1 !
KI
00
^ Co CO Co 00 10
1/3 *i
CO
CO
1
i II!!!
1
i *• i -. i- i
•*
?
1
c-3 *o to '"•i *<t>
os 05 c> os N.
*i | ^i
I
00
o
M
b. OS oo e^,
«O OS G^ X OS
OS
£>
OS
00
OS
Tj*
a
!H
W
•S
Brown.
*1 <M "-I | Oj »-i
S3
c^> eo «3 >o *O 00 Oi
M
23
00
CO
0»
CO
MKDIUI
'3
Oi ^ 5O Oi O5 CO
Gv| CO <M O} Oj Co
— G^l CO i-H ^H
CO
o
t-» SO UJ ^ CO »O
to °o OQ ^ so *o ^
GO co t*- co eo t^ o
3
00
t-
00
00
I
Oi b* ^ oo
A« •» H ] ^ 1
CO
OJ
00
• ^n GO QO
1 1 ^ 1 * •* 1
^
00
M
a
1 1 III
1
111*1 1
00
CN
M
»3
H
Brown.
OS r~
*• * II
rH IN m r-l
1
OS
oo >t< co so «i
§
01
CO
«0
ca
P£
CO X X OS 0»
OS C, W5 -TK 00
O| OJ ^Ji^
CD -H l~ t- O
"3
in
eo GVJ b* WD
I
•-1
1
^ 1 III
CO
<N
l l i l i l
«0
CM
*Q O
•k 1 1 I $J
CQ i « i
»rt O
S a 1 S I ^ i
1 1 1 I 1 1 1
O W ^ P< O C5 co
Total Boys -
i i i
1 ' ' i
* « ' ' o
a 2 ^ "S ^ >,
* zs £ C, £ £ £
% $ 2 a 2 a a
° o S s '"3 $ *
-a ^ "*> s ja
Q K )S PL, cj pq en
Total Girls
Total for both sexes
100 ]
1909.]
MAN.
[No. 63.
above the 100 feet line to the north and west of the Hoe. GuiJJford is on the chalk,
where the Wey cuts through between the Hog's Back and Merrow Downs ; Bramley
and Shamley Green are on the heather hills of the Lower Greensand ; Bramley lies
between the hill and the water ; while Shamley Green is on a hill-promontory.
Only Guildford can be called a town ; Sbamley Green is a very small bamlet.
The order of population in 1901 was, approximately : — Guildford, Westfield, Horsell,
Bramley, Chobham, Pyrford, Shamley Green. This is an attempt to estimate the
working-class population, from which the children in the elementary schools are drawn.
It does not seem as if there was much relation between the geological situation
of these parishes and the statistics of hair and eye colour obtained ; on the other
hand, it will be seen by Table 3 (Curves of Hair and Eye Colour) and the seriations in
Table 6 that the geographical situation is not without a bearing on the statistics : —
the two Bourne Brook parishes, Horsell and Chobham, fall together, and so do the two
Hoe and Wey parishes, Pyrford and Westfield (Woking). It should be noted that until
modern times there was no made road across the heaths from Horsell to Pyrford,
whereas there was fairly easy communication along the meadows between Pyrford and
Westfield.
I have compared the surnames of the children attending the schools in July, 1901 ;
the results are inconclusive. Horsell and Chobham have fourteen surnames in common,
Westfield and Chobham fifteen, Horsell and Westfield seventeen ; Pyrford has nine
surnames in common with Westfield, six with Horsell, five with Chobham. It is
unfortunate that the Horsell subjects are not quite comparable in age with the rest,
falling mostly within the lower standards of the school ; had the whole school been
included it is possible that the excess of fair hair would have been corrected, and
Horsell would have been brought nearer to Westfield. The increase and change of
population since 1901 make it impossible to repair this omission.
The observations were recorded, in the manner recommended by Dr. John Beddoe,*
on a card ruled into three divisions for eye-colour and subdivided into columns for the
five colours of hair ; in these the headings R, F, B stand for red, fair, and brown hair
LIGHT.
MEDIUM.
DAHK.
R.
F.
B-
D.
N.
R.
-ri
B.
D.
N.
R.
F.
B.
D. X.
-
-
—
—
—
—
1 l
1
1
—
—
1 1
1
1 1
-J
Boys.
-
-
-
-
-
-
1 l
-
1
-
-
1
-
-
~j
13
_
—
_
—
—
_
l l
I
_
_
j
1 1
—
~ \
-
-
_
-
-
-
1 1
-
-
-
-
1
-
-
-
Girls.
10
—
—
—
—
—
—
1
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
-'
Westfield Infants, 3-5, 23rd July, 1901
respectively ; D stands for dark brown and nearly black hair ; N (niger) is reserved
for hair which looks absolutely black in all lights. Of this last no example was
recorded. Dr. Beddoe includes under niger also " the very intense brown which occurs
" in people who in childhood have had dark brown (or in some cases deep red) hair,
" but which in the adult cannot be distinguished from coal-black except in a good
" light." The narrower limit assigned to niger in these observations must be taken
into account in considering the Index of Nigrescence, for which Dr. Beddoe's formula
is D +2 N — R — F.
* Beddoe, Races of Britain, 1885.
[ 101 ]
No. 63.]
MAN.
[1909,
To the division of " light eyes " are assigned blue, light blue-grey, and pale grey ;
to the " medium " class dark bluish-grey, dark grey, hazel, hazel-grey, and bright light
brown ; to the " dark " black, dark brown, and very dark grey indeed.
TABLE 2.
LIGHT EYES.
MEDIUM EYES.
DARK EYES.
Red.
Fair.
Brown.
Dark.
Red.
Fair.
Brown.
Dark.
Red.
Fair.
Brown.
Dark.
Chobham
2 2-4
16 79-
7 8-3
—
1 1-2
24 28-6
13 75-2
7 8-3
—
2 2-4
9 70-7
3 3-6
84
Horsell -
—
14 78-7
3 4-
—
2 2-7
26 34-7
11 74-7
—
—
7 9-3
10 73-3
2 2-7
75
Westfield
-
10 6-
1 -5
—
5 2-5
61 30-4
56 27-8
19 9-5
1 -5
11 5-5
24 77-9
13 6-5
201
Pyrford -
-
10 11-6
6 7-
2 2-3
-
22 25-6
23 26-7
10 77-6
-
2 2-3
8 9-3
3 3-5
86
Guildford -
-
5 73-9
2 6-5
-
1 2-8
13 36-7
2 5-5
-
—
5 73-9
8 22-2
-
36
Bramley
-
10 73-2
1 7-3
-
2 2-e
23 30-3
23 30-3
8 70-5
—
5 6-6
2 2-6
2 2-6
76
Shamley Green
-
3 9-7
1 3-
—
-
13 39- 1
4 72-7
5 75-2
-
I ?•
4 72-7
2 6-
33
2
68
21
2
11
1S2
!32 49
j
1
\.
33
65
25
93
374
121
TABLE 3. — COLOUR OP HAIR AND EYES, GROUPED
ACCORDING TO BEDDOE's CLASSIFICATION.
LIGHT EYES MEDIUM EYES DARK EYES
Pyrford o
Westfidd
At Westfield, where the medium eyes were 70 • 1 per cent, of the whole, they were
almost all dark blue-grey ; the few exceptions were bright chestnut brown. There
were four or five Welsh families in the place, stranded there by the failure of the Owen
Stone Works ; with the assistance of the schoolmistress these have been excluded, as
well as a few gypsies and one London child.
At Horsell the characteristic medium eye was bright light brown.
Table 1 gives the observa-
tions for the seven localities
divided according to sex and
Table 2 combines them.
The outstanding feature of
the record is the predominance
of medium eyes, 65 per cent,
for all seven places, rising to
73 • 7 per cent, at Bramley, and
over 50 per cent, everywhere
except at Guildford. Fair hair
also predominates largely, 47 * 9
per cent, for all the localities,
over 50 per cent, except at
Westfield and Pyrford. Brown
hair is a good second, 36 • 9 per
cent., over 27 per cent, every-
where, 40 and 43 per cent, at
Westtield and Pyrford (see
Tables 4 and 5). The percent-
age of red hair, 3 • 6, is rather
high for the South of England.*
Dr. Beddoe's method of expressing the result of such observations is to obtain an
" Index of Nigrescence " for the hair colours by the formula : — Dark -f- 2 Niger — Red —
Fair = Index. This index " is generally positive in England and Scotland, and almost
always in Ireland."* The result of applying this method to the present statistics is
shown in Table 6, column A. For the eye-colour Dr. Beddoe uses the formula : —
* Beddoe, Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst., XXXVIII, p. 215.
[ 102 3
1909.]
MAN.
[No. 63.
Dark — Light = Index ; the result for these statistics is shown in column B. Medium
eyes and brown hair are neglected.
TABLE 4. — PERCENTAGES OF EYE AND HAIR COLOUR.
—
Chobham.
Horsell.
Westfield.
Pyrford.
Quildford.
Bramley.
Shamley
Green.
All
Localities.
Light Eyes
29-8
22-7
5-5
20-9
19-4
14-5
12-1
15-7
Medium Eyes
53-6
52-
70-1
63-9
44-4
73-7
66-7
65-
Dark Eyes
16-7
25-3
24-4
15-1
36-1
11-8
21-2
21-
Bed Hair -
3-C
2-7
3-
—
2-8
2-6
—
2-4
Fair Hair
50-
62-7
40-9
39-5
63'9
50'
61-5
47-9
Brown Hair
34-5
32-
40-3
43-
33-2
34-2
27-3
36-9
Dark Hair
11-9 2-7
15-9
17-4
—
13-2
21-2
12-85
TABLE 5. — PREDOMINANCE OF FAIR HAIR AND MEDIUM EYES.
GUILDFORD
Collignon's method is different ; he reduces all the figures to percentages, and for
any district he adds the light eyes to the light hair, and the dark eyes to the dark hair,
dividing each total by two ; and he constructs maps to show the excess of one total over
the other. Here again medium eyes and brown hair are neglected.
TABLE 6. — LOCALITIES seriated according to (A) Beddoe's Index of Nigrescence
for Hair ; (B) Beddoe's Index for Eye Colour ; (C) Collignon's Index of Excess
of Dark over Light.
—
A.
Index of Nigrescence for Hair
Colour.
B.
Index of Eye Colour.
C.
Excess of Dark over Light.
Dark.
*
Pyrford
Westfield
-22-1
- 27-9
Westfield - 18-9
Guildford- - - 16-7
Westfield
Shamley Green -
- 4-4
- 10-65
Dark.
1
Shamley Green - — 33' 3
Shamley Green - 9-
Pyrford
- ,3-95
Bramley -
- 39-5
Horsell - - - - 2-6
Bramley -
-21-15
Chobham
- 41-7
Bramley - - — 2-7
Gnildford
-25- '
i
Light.
Horsell -
Guildford
- 62-7
- 66-7
Pyrford - - - - 5-8
Chobham - - - 13-
Chobbam -
Horsell
- 27-35
- 30-05
i
Light.
Average — 41'9
Median - 39-5
Average 3-7
Median 2'6
Average — 18-9
Median - 21-15
The results of this method are shown in Table 6, column C. The seriations by
Beddoe's Index of Nigrescence for the hair and by Collignon's method agree pretty
[ 103 ]
No. 63,]
MAN.
[1909.
closely ; in each case Bramley is the median, with Pyrford, Westfield, and Shamley
Green above, and Guildford, Chobham, and Horsell below. The range above the
median is much the same : — 17 ' 4 in A, 16*8 in B. The difference of range below the
median, 27 ' 2 for the Index of Nigrescence in which hair alone is reckoned, and 8 • 8
for the Excess of Dark over Light which combines hair and eye colour, is explained by
the considerable proportion of dark eyes at Guildford (36'1) and Horsell (25' 3).
The figures of Table 6 are somewhat surprising. While Dr. Beddoe's Index of
Nigrescence for hair is generally positive in England and Scotland, and Surrey as a whole
is classed in his maps in the divisions of 0 — 5 for hair and 33 — 39 for eye-colour, the
average for these seven places is — 41 *9 for hair, and +3*7 for eyes. (Beddoe's
Compound Index (2 x index of hair + index of eyes) gives practically the same result,
since the hair factor predominates : — Westfield — 36 • 9, Pyrford — 50, Shamley Green
—57-6, Bramley —81-7, Chobham —96 '4, Guildford -116 '7, Horsell —122-8;
average — 78 '9.) This is to make out that these Surrey parishes are four times as fair
as the fairest parts of Scotland !
The explanation seems to be that neither Beddoe's method nor Collignon's gives
TABLE 7. — STATISTICS OF WESTFIELU AND PYRFORD, grouped according to Age.
LIGHT EYES.
MEDIUM EYES.
DARK EVKS.
R.
F.
B.
D.
R.
F.
B.
D.
R.
F.
B.
D.
WESTFIELD.
Boys.
3-5
_
—
—
—
-
4
1
2
-
3
1
2
13
5-9
—
2
—
—
1
19
7
3
-
3
9
5
49
9-11
—
4
—
—
2
3
Hi
1
—
1
4
1
32
U-14
-
1
-
-
1
8
14
6
-
-
3
3
36
-
7
-
-
4
34
38
12
-
7
17
11
130
Girls.
3-5
—
—
—
-
—
5
1
—
—
2
2
-
10
5-9
—
1
—
—
1
13
8
6
1
2
2
2
36
9-11
-
1
—
—
—
4
1
J
—
—
1
—
8
11-14
—
1
1
-
-
5
8
-
-
-
2
-
17
-
3
1
-
1
27
18
7
1
4
7
2
71
PTRFOBD.
Boys.
3-5
—
—
—
—
—
6
1
—
—
—
—
—
7
5-9
-
5
4
-
-
1
o
2
-
-
1
-
15
8-10
-
2
1
—
-
5
4
1
-
1
5
—
19
11-14
-
-
-
-
-
2
2
2
-
-
-
-
6
--
7
5
-
-
14
9
5
-
1
6
-
47
Girls.
3-5
-
-
-
-
-
4
1
2
-
-
1
1
9
5-9
—
1
—
1
—
3
4
2
—
1
-
-
12
8-10
-
2
1
—
—
—
4
1
—
-
—
2
10
11-14
-
-
-
1
-
1
5
-
-
-
1
- '
8
-
3
1
2
-
8
14
5
l
2
3
39
1909.]
MAN.
[No. 63.
a satisfactory account of a district iu which medium eyes predominate to the extent
of 64 • 97, with 36 • 88 of brown hair. The failure of the method of Excess of Dark
over Light appears from a more detailed investigation of the Westfield and Pyrford
figures. In Table 7 these are given in age classes, 3 — 5, 5 — 9, (9 — 11, 8 — 10), 11 — 14»
following the school classification in " standards."
TABLE 8. — PERCENTAGES OF HAIR AND EYE COLOUR FOR WESTFIELD AND PYR-
FORD, arranged according to Age, giving Collignou's Index of Excess of Dark
over Light, with Medium Eyes and Brown Hair for comparison.
Ages.
Light Eyes +
Light Hair.
Half
Sum of
Light.
Medium Eyes +
Brown Hair.
Half
Sum of
Medium
and
Brown.
Dark Eyes +
Dark Hair.
Half
Sum of
Dark.
Excess per
Cent, of Dark
over Light.
WESTFIELD.
3-5
—
68-7
34-35
56-5
21-7 31-9
43-5
17-4 34-5
- 3-8
5-9
3-5
50-6 27-05
68-2
3J-6
49-4
23-2 18-8 23-5
- 3-55
9-1]
12-5
37-5
25-
70-
55-
62-5
17-5 7-5
12-5
-12-5
11-14
5-7
30-2 17-95
79-2
50-9
65-05
15-1
17-
16-05
- 1-9
PYRFORD.
3-5
—
62-5 31-25
88-9
18-9
53-9
12-5
18-75
15-6
- 15-65
5-9
4)-7
40-7 40'7
51-9
40-7
46-3
7-4
18-5
12-95
-27-
8-10
20-7
44'8 32-75
5V7
51-7
51-7
27-6
13-8
20-7
-If
11-14
7-1
21-4 14-J5
85-7
57-1
71-4
7-1
21-4
14-25
—
In Table 8 the figures are treated after Collignon's method to obtain an Index of
Excess of Dark over Light by comparing half the sum of the dark hair and eyes with half
the sum of the light hair and eyes, neglecting medium eyes and brown hair. The result
is highly inconclusive. The light hair percentage does indeed diminish with age, quite
regularly, considering the overlapping of the second and third age-grades at Pyrford —
but the dark hair- shows no proportionate increase. The excess-index rises, so to
speak, for want of lightness and not from the presence of darkness. But when the
brown hair statistics are added, it is obvious what becomes of the light hair ; it simply
darkens to brown,* in which category it escapes Beddoe's Index of Nigrescence and
Collignon's Index of Excess.
TABLE 9. — SUMMARY OF HAIR AND EYE COLOUR OF 351 BOYS.
BYES.
Percentage
Light.
Medium.
Dark.
Colours.
Red -
2
8
—
10
2-85
Fair -
51
104
18
173
49-28
Brown
9
74
38
121
34-49
Dark -
—
M
17
47
13-39
Niger
-
-
-
-
—
Totals -
62
216 73
351
100-00
Percentage of Eye Colours -
17-66
61-54
20-8
100-00
* At Pyrford this works out very completely ; light hair loses 41-1 between the youngest and oldest
classes, and brown hair gains 38 - 2.
[ 105 ]
No, 63,]
MAN.
[1909,
Beddoe's Index of Nigrescence (D + 2 N — R — F)
Beddoe's Index of Eye Colour (D — L)
Collignon's Excess of Dark over Light
—38-74
3-14
— 17 '8
Dark.
Light.
Half Sum of Eyes and Hair.
Excess of Dark
over Light.
Eyes.
Hair.
Eyes.
Hair.
Light.
Dark.
20-8
13-39
17-66
52-13
34-895
17-095
-17-8
TABLE 10. — SUMMARY OF HAIR AND EYE COLOUR OF 240 GIRLS.
EYES.
Percentage
Light.
Medium.
Dark.
Colours.
Red -
—
3
1
4
7'67
Fair -
17
78
15
110
45-83
Brown
12
58
27
97
40-42
Dark -
2
19
8
29
12-08
Niger
-
-
-
-
-
Totals -
31
158
51
240
100-00
Percentage of Eye Colours -
12-92
65-83
21-25
100-00
-
Beddoe's Index of Nigrescence (D + 2 N — R — F)
Beddoe's Index of Eye Colour (D — L)
Collignon's Excess of Dark over Light ( ~ — ^ — - I
— 35-42
8-23
— 13-54
Dark.
Light.
Half Sum of Eyes and Hair.
Excess of Dark
over Light.
Eyes.
Hair.
Eyes.
Hair.
Light.
Dark.
21-25
12-08
12-92
47-5
30-21
16-67
-13-54
TABLE 11. — SUMMARY OF HAIR AND EYE COLOUR OF 591 CHILDREN, both Sexes.
EYES.
Percentage
Light. Medium.
Dark.
Colours.
Red - - 2
11
1
14
2-37
Fair - - 68
182
33
283
47'88
Brown
21
132
65
218
36-88
Dark -
2
49
25
76
12 -S6
Niger
-
-
-
-
-
Totals -
03
374 124
Ml
100-00
Percentage of Eye Colour* -
15-74 63-28 . 20-98
700-00
-
[ 106 ]
1909.]
MAN.
[No. 63.
Beddoe's Index of Nigrescence (D + 2 N — R — F)
Beddoe's Index of Eye Colour (D — L)
Collignon's Excess of Dark over Light ( ~ — ~ — ~)
— 37-39
5-24
— 16-075
Dark.
Light.
Half Sum of Eyes and Hair.
Excess of Dark
over Light.
Byes.
Hair.
Byes.
Hair.
Light.
Dark.
20-98
12-86
15-74
60-25
32-995
16-92.
- 16-075
Tables 9, 10, and 11 show Beddoe's Indices of Nigrescence and of Eye Colour, and
Collignon's Index of Excess of Dark over Light, for the 351 boys, the 240 girls, and
the 591 children without distinction of sex.
By all three indices the girls have a slight advantage in darkness : — 3 • 32 by
Beddoe's index for the hair only, 5 • 09 by Beddoe's index for the eyes, 4 • 26 by
Collignon's index for the hair and eyes combined. As the difference lies mainly in
the eye colour it is probably a genuine sex character, as it is not affected by questions
of head-covering, hair-cutting, washing, and lubrication.
Lastly, is it possible to find a method of description which will give weight to
all shades of hair and eye colour ? Something may perhaps be done by assigning
numerical values to combinations of hair and eye colour. I propose the following
scale of " marks " : —
- 1 Medium eyes - - 2 Dark eyes - - 3
with
1
Brown hair -
Red hair, with me-
dium eyes -
Light eyes
Fair hair - - 1 Brown hair - - 2 Dark hair -
Red hair,
light eyes
Hence : —
Light eyes and red hair -
Light eyes and fair hair
Light eyes and brown hair
Medium eyes and fair hair
Light eyes and dark hair
Medium eyes and red hair
Medium eyes and brown hair
Dark eyes and fair hair
Medium eyes and dark hair - j
Dark eyes and brown hair - > 5
Dark eyes and red hair -
Dark eyes and dark hair - 6
Red hair is reckoned as " light " by both Beddoe and Collignon ; but is this satis-
factory ? In the present set of statistics it is found in combination with medium eyes
thirteen times out of sixteen, i.e., 64 • 5 per cent, in excess of probability. With light
eyes, on the contrary, it occurs only twice in sixteen times, a defect of 4-2 per cent,
below probability. It looks as if there were some close connection between red hair and
medium eyes.* On the whole, it seems safe to give it the value of "fair "-ness when it
* I am glad to find that this conjecture is confirmed by Mr. Gray. See Gray, A New Instru-
ment for Determining the Colour of the Hair (MAN, 1908, 27). Cf. Journ. Anthr. Inst., XXXVII,
p. 382. Dubois, On the Correlation of t/te Slack and Orange-Coloured Pigments (MAN, 1908, 46).
Mr. Gray concludes from his analysis of the black and orange pigment in hair that red hair is the
equivalent of dark brown.
[ 107 ]
Nos. 63-64.] MAN. [1909.
is combined with light eyes, and of " medium "-ness, equal to brown, when it is found
with medium or dark eyes.
I multiply the number of examples of each combination by the appropriate
value number, and reduce the sum to a percentage. Thus, Chobham, eighty-four
subjects —
— Colour value = (2 x 2) + (16 x 2) + (7 X 3) + (1 x 4) + (24 X 3) + (13 x 4)
+ (7 X 5) + (2 x 4) + (9 x 5) + (3 x 6) = 291 = 346'4 per cent.
A seriation by these statistics is given in Table 12 ; it agrees with the seriation
by Collignon's Excess-of-Dark-over-Light Index in Table 6.
TABLE 12. — LOCALITIES, seriated according to Numerical Colour- Value of
Hair and Eyes in Combination.
Westfield - 394 •
Shamley Green - 378-8
Pyrford - -372-1
Bramley - -360-5
Guildford - 352-8
Chobham - - 346 • 4
Horsell - - - - - 342 • 7
Average - - 363 * 9
Median - -360-5
It seems, then, that this method might be employed as a supplement to those of
Beddoe and Collignon, and that in localities with a strong medium-and-brown element
it might prove more descriptive than Beddoe's indices.
BARBARA FREIRE-MARRECO.
REVIEWS.
Ethics. Westermarck.
The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas. By Edward Westermarck, Q J
Ph.D. Vol. II. London : Macmillan & Co., 1908. Pp. xv + 852. 22 x 14 cm. UT
Price 14s.
Dr. Westermarck is to be heartily congratulated on having brought to its full
realisation a work designed on the most generous lines. The amount of erudition
compressed into these two volumes is simply vast. Nor, if one's first impulse be to
praise the author's immense industry, let this be taken as implying any tacit disparage-
ment of his theoretical powers. Dr. Westermarck stands in the eyes of all
anthropologists for a thoroughly original, that is to say independent, thinker, whose
opinions rest on immense reading, joined to considerable experience of the more or
less " primitive " conditions prevailing in the backward parts of Morocco. As a
matter of fact, however, the main theoretical interest of his treatise is philosophical
rather than anthropological. It is his view of the relation of our moral ideas to
certain emotions, and of these again to A7arious instinctive tendencies due to natural
selection — a subject on which it is the special task of the philosopher to pronounce —
that controls the course of the argument throughout. The anthropology is ancillary
— that is to say, illustrative. To be sure, there is plenty of it ; but, very wisely, the
author for the most part steers clear of controversial matters of detail, and confines
himself to statements which every anthropologist will be ready to endorse.
[ 108 1
1909.] MAN. [No. 64.
Most debatable, perhaps, from the strictly anthropological point of view is the view
taken of the relation of ethics to religion. In regard to such a question, everything
turns, of course, on the definition of religion that is adopted. Dr. Westermarck is
perfectly clear on this head. " Religion," he says, " may be defined as a belief in and
a regardful attitude towards a supernatural being on whom man feels himself dependent
and to whose will he makes an appeal in his worship. Supernatural mechanical power,
on the other hand, is applied in magic." So far his position essentially resembles that
of Dr. Frazer. He differs from him, however, in regarding both religion and magic as
alike concerned with the supernatural, that is, uncanny or mysterious, as distinguished
from the natural or ordinary. Thus the force inherent in a tabooed object is, he argues
supernatural, whilst, on the other hand, it is a mechanical energy or miasma, being
supposed to discharge itself without the aid of any volitional activity. He goes on to
admit that " magical and religious elements are often almost inseparably intermingled
" in one and the same act."
Now so far I find myself in almost complete agreement with him. There can
be no harm in distinguishing somewhat sharply between the attitude implying a quasi-
mechanical object and the attitude implying a more or less personal, though not
necessarily animistic in the restricted Tylorian sense of ghostlike, object. (I pass over
the difficulty involved in holding that the latter attitude, to be religious, must be
" regardful." Threatening a god is not magic. Though it involves constraint, the
constraint is in no sense mechanical. Hence the antithesis between magic and religion,
as interpreted by Dr. Westermarck, is not exhaustive, as it ought to be if the magico-
religious and the supernatural are to be coextensive. But surely these must be made
coextensive for the working purposes of anthropology. A threefold partition of the
field would be impossible to carry out.) On the other hand, it must never be forgotten
that there is really but one magico-religious object, namely, the supernatural, and that,
though it may wear sometimes a mechanical and sometimes a volitional aspect, these
two aspects are " often almost inseparably intermingled."
This being so, then, in Dr. Westermarck's opinion, does he not in practice well-
nigh identify ethical supernaturalism with religion understood as a regardful attitude
towards personal beings ? What I mean to suggest is that an ethical magic, or, as
I should prefer to put it, an ethical type of magico-religious cult in which the
impersonal aspect of its object is relatively predominant, scarcely receives its due
meed of attention at his hands. It might seem at first sight that our moral feelings
were always directed towards personal beings. Yet surely at higher stages of culture
an impersonal thing like " the moral law " may excite a truly ethical regard. But
so likewise, amongst savages, the taboo-feeling may become moralised without appreci-
able aid from the notion of personal beings in the background. Indeed, it is in this
feeling that Dr. Jevons discovers the prototype of the ethical idea par excellence —
namely, the idea of duty.
Of course Dr. Westermarck is far too sound an anthropologist to have ignored
this side of his subject altogether. In his six chapters dealing with the ethics of
man's attitude towards gods there is a certain allowance made for the purely magical
side of such worship, whilst other chapters, such as those on " restrictions in diet "
and " celibacy," touch incidentally on the moralization of taboo. I cannot but think,
however, that a too exclusive interest in the religious, as distinguished from the
magico-religious, has prevented Dr. Westermarck from doing full justice to the question
of the contribution to ethics of cult as a whole. As I am inclined to believe, it is
not the moral character imputed to the gods that' is the real make-weight in the
evolution of an ethical type of cult, but rather the nature of the social conditions
under which the cult is practised. An Australian initiation ceremony, let us say, has
certain moral effects because it imparts a supernatural sanction to education ; but
[ 109
Nos. 64-65.] MAN. [1909.
whether magic or religion predominate in the sacred ceremony, whether the Arunta
or the Yuin fashion prevail, would seem to make uncommonly little difference from
the purely moral point of view.
There are several other questions in dispute between Dr. Westermarck and other
leading anthropologists on which I should have liked to touch, had my space-conditions
allowed it. For instance, there is his explanation of the religious prostitution of the
Babylonian type ; or again, his theory — in my opinion highly plausible — that, when
the man-god is slain, it is not his soul that is transmitted to his royal successor, but
his " holiness," the baraka of the Moors — in other words, his mana. I must conclude
however, with a brief consideration of but one more point, namely, Dr. Westermarck's
belief that a notion corresponding to T 'ar, the conditional curse of Morocco, is a
very widespread religious motif which underlies both sacrifice and blood-brotherhood.
That in the latter case, at any rate, this explanation will carry us some way I am
disposed to allow, on the strength of the " dead blood " of Madagascar and other
close parallels. I think Dr. Westermarck goes too far, however, when he virtually
refuses to recognise any other idea of a blood-tie, and notably the idea that kin-blood
involves sympathetic relations between the members of the kin, as postulated by Mr.
Hartland in The Legend of Perseus. Mr. Hartland, it is true, propounded his theory
years ago, and I daresay would nowadays give a somewhat different account of the
working of the sympathetic principle. But surely it cannot be denied that various
Australian tribes describe the bond of kin as a unity of " blood " or " flesh," and
regard the man or woman who offends against the exogamic rule as having sinned
against that common blood or flesh. The common interest in suppressing such sin
would seem at least to imply a common spiritual peril — a loss of luck or what not.
Or, again, it seems to me that Dr. Westermarck descends to special pleading in order
to rule out the class of instances which show that, say, a piece of a dead man's flesh
in possession of the enemy may be used to work evil magic on his kin. He argues
that such a belief "is a superstition connected with the wonder of death, from which
" no conclusion must be drawn as to relations between the living." I should have,
thought that, if anything in regard to these matters is certain, it is that savages
normally assume an almost complete continuity to subsist between the customs and
institutions of the living and those of the dead, including their kinship organisation.
For the rest, I daresay that I have not fully understood Professor Westermarck. If,
however, he means that kinship merely implies a common name without magico-
religious associations of any force, and that common rights and duties in savage society
are determined by local contiguity and scarcely by the kinship-bond at all, I must
suspect an eminently sane writer of having for once given way to paradox.
So much, then, for one or two side issues in regard to which there may be some
disagreement between Dr. Westermarck and his brother students. Of the book as a
whole anthropologists can have but one opinion, namely, that in respect of reach and
grasp alike it is masterly. R. R. MARETT.
Religions. Van Gennep.
Religions, Mceurs et Legendes. Par Arnold van Gennep. Paris, 1908. OC
Pp. 318. 18 x 12' cm. Price 3fr. 50. 00
In this volume M. van Gennep has reprinted a number of reviews and essays on
ethnographical and linguistic subjects which have appeared from time to time during
the past four years. M. van Gennep deals in a brilliant and lucid manner with many
of the problems which most interest students of anthropology and folklore at the
present day, and even where we cannot follow him in all his conclusions his arguments
are stimulating and give cause for thought. Parthenogenesis, Taboo, Phallic Rites,
[ no ]
1909,] MAN. [Nos. 65-66.
Totemism, Christianity and Buddhism, Migrations of Races as affected by climate,
Legends of Saints, the Formation of the Cult of the Virgin, the Christian Fish-Symbol ;
such are the subjects dealt with : and the compatriots of Frazer, Lang, Hartland, and
Ridgeway will find that our latest authorities on these absorbing topics receive full
consideration and attention ; in fact, it is not, perhaps, too much to claim M. van
Gennep as a disciple of the English School of Anthropology.
One of the most interesting of these essays is that termed " De quelques cas de
Bovarysme collectif," in which M. van Gennep adopts the term Bovarysme, invented
by M. Jules de Gaulticr, to describe the state of those races which, like Madame
Bovary in Flaubert's novel, imagine themselves to be other than they really are. He
takes as his example of this state of mind the repatriated negroes of Liberia, who
imagine themselves to be English or American in civilisation and Christians in religion,
whereas, in fact, they are neither, and are not capable of being either, the result being
decay and degeneration. Their pitiable state is, as M. van Gennep points out, well
shown in Sir Harry Johnston's recent book, Liberia in 1907 : from these undoubted
facts a warning and a lesson is drawn.
Another very interesting paper deals with Woltmann's Die Germanen und die
Renaissance in Italien, and adopts his conclusion that the leading part in the Italian
Renaissance was played by the Germanic element in the population, and that the
revival of civilization was brought about not by the masses of the people but by a
new race from the north. This theory bears a considerable resemblance to that of
Professor Ridgeway as to early Greece, and if it will bear examination it will perhaps
give support to that theory, for it is evident that we have a better chance of getting
at the actual facts in mediaeval Italy than in early Greece. It is not probable,
however, that the facts alleged by Messrs. Woltman and van Gennep will be allowed
to remain undisputed.
Among the linguistic essays may be noted two excellent papers on the origin
of grammatical gender, which also no doubt contain much controversial matter.
In La Situation des Etudes Ethnographiques will be found a full summary of
the state of ethnographical and anthropological studies throughout the civilized world
which is well up to date. The author refers with sympathy to the failure of the
Anthropological Institute and other bodies to obtain any Government assistance
hitherto ; but he considers that France is even in a worse case than England. We
may hope that his good wishes may bear fruit. He says, " There can be no doubt
" that before long the obstinacy of the men of science, the societies, and the universities
" will triumph over the inertia, not to say the lack of intelligence, shown by the
" Government of Great Britain."
May this prophecy be fulfilled ! . M. LONGWORTH DAMES.
Madagascar : Magic. Ferrand.
Textes Magiques Malgaches d'apres les MSS. 5 et 8 de la Bibliotheque fllj
Nationale. Par Gabriel Ferrand. Annales du Musee Guimet. Revue de UU
1'Histoire des Religions. Paris, 1907. Pp. 22. 25 x 17 cm.
In this brochure M. Ferrand continues the transliteration and translation of
portions of the early Arabic-Malagasy manuscripts which have been already noted in
MAN (No. 31, March 1907). The present article gives the Malagasy text (the earlier
folios in Arabic character), with a literal translation and copious notes of various
portions of the manuscripts relating to (1) the Jinns ; (2) magical invocations ;
(3) the guardian angels of the different parts of the body. The first is an account
of the appearance of the Jinns before Solomon, who interrogates them as to their
Nos. 66-67,] MAN. [1909.
names and practices upon mankind. Each afterwards declares the actions and formula
by which men may be preserved from his evil actions. The second section consists
of three invocations to Zanahari for protection and various blessings, the first in
Malagasy, the others almost entirely in Arabic. Part three is abbreviated and gives
the names of the angels to be invoked for the protection of various parts of the body
of which forty-three are named. These documents will be of use to Malagasy students
as specimens of the language. M. Ferrand promises to utilise them for a collective
study of the Islamised Malagasy. S. H. RAY.
Classics. Evans, and Others.
Anthropology and the Classics : Six Lectures delivered before the University
of Oxford. By Arthur J. Evans, Andrew Lang, Gilbert Murray, F. B. Jevons,
J. L. My res, W. Warde Fowler, and edited by R. R. Marett. Oxford : Clarendon
Press, 1908. Pp. 191. 24 x 15 cm. Price 6*.
This volume of lectures comes as a reminder of the secure position now held by
anthropology in societies standing at the furthest possible remove from primitive
culture. There was a time, not very long ago, when the union of anthropology and the
classics in a single title would have shocked a majority of scholars. To-day we find
among the authors of these essays the names of men whose devotion to Greek and
Latin literature is not likely to be called in question, and even the most conservative
opinion will hardly take offence. The general change of attitude is to the advantage
both of classical and anthropological studies. Hellenic civilisation becomes more
intelligible as a gradual growth from primitive conditions ; nor is it any the less
admirable when the path of its ascent has been detected, and it is found to have
reached its Olympian isolation from below instead of from above. Professor Ridgeway
in his last address has brought out this point very clearly, and it is unnecessary to
impress it further upon readers of MAN. It is equally certain that a closer association
with the classics will tend to the advantage of positive science ; it will enlarge the
outlook, and increase the influence of humanism.
An enumeration of the subjects treated in the volume will give a general notion
of its scope. The first lecture by Dr. Arthur Evans deals with the European diffusion
of pictography and its bearings on the origin of script, adducing the evidence for the
gradual development of writing before the Phoenicians. Mr. Andrew Lang in Homer
and Anthropology reaffirms his position against Professor Ridgeway. Professor
Murray's lecture on the early Greek Epic, or Anthropology in the Greek Epic tradition,
is presented with the charm which we expect from all his work, but exception will
perhaps be taken to some of his theories, which may -be thought ta lack grip and not
to err on the side of caution. Dr. Jevons is instructive upon Grreco-Italian magic.
Mr. J. L. Myres treats of Herodotus and anthropology in a learned essay full of
the most various suggestions. Dr. Warde Fowler worthily closes the series with a
discussion of lustratio, or the ritual designed to protect a city from hostile spirits and
strange gods.
The studies thus briefly mentioned are not equally exhaustive, nor will all their
conclusions meet with equal acceptance. They are all illuminating ; they all stimulate
interest, though the fire is produced in various ways. Some of the authors obtain a
glow by steady friction ; others strike brilliant and sometimes erratic sparks. The
anthropologist will be grateful to all alike, but his gratitude will be deepest to those
who produce a steady and serviceable flame. The alliance between anthropologists and
classical scholars, of which this volume is a fresh proof, will effectively serve the cause
of liberal education. O. M. D.
Printed by EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE, LTD., His Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, E.G.
PLATE H.
MAN, 1909
FIG. 7.
DEWLISH " EOLITHS.
1909.] MAN. [No, 68.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
England : Archaeology. With Plate H. Smith.
Dewlish "Eoliths" and Elephas meridional is. By Worthington G. OQ
Smith, F.L.S. 00
Dr. B. C. A. Windle, F.R.S.. in his Remains of the Prehistoric Age in England,
writes, at p. 7 : " Dr. Blackmore has himself found eoliths at Dewlish in Dorset, asso-
" ciated in undisturbed beds with the remains of Elephas meridionalis. Now this
" particular elephant, as was noted above, belongs to the Pliocene period, and had
u disappeared before Pleistocene times. If, therefore, there is no doubt, and it must
" be confessed that little seems to be possible, as to the natural collocation of these
" objects the question of the pliocene date of eoliths must be regarded as settled,"
and at p. 46, in writing of " eoliths," he says, " The collocation at Dewlish with Elephas
"• meridionalis seems to leave little doubt of the age at least of those particular
" examples." The age Dr. Windle refers to is the Pliocene.
In December, 1908, Professor A. Schwartz and Sir H. R. Beever, Bart., in their
paper named, " The Dawn of Human Invention," read before the Literary and Philo-
sophical Society of Manchester, say, at p. 24, that " Dr. H. P. Blackmore has found
" these eoliths in association with Elephas meridionalis at Dewlish."
Of late years statements of this class have been extensively printed in books and
papers published in England and America and on the Continent, the inference intended
to be conveyed being, that there is " little doubt " that stones chipped by mythical
Pliocene men have been found with bones of an elephant usually classed as Pliocene,
and that the subject may be " regarded as settled." Nothing of the kind can be deduced
from the facts, as there is the gravest " doubt " of the human origin — or even existence
— of " eoliths " as such.
The Rev. Osmund Fisher very clearly summarises the finding of the Dewlish
elephant bones in a paper named " On the occurrence of Elephas meridionalis at
Dewlish, Dorset," in the Quar. Journ. • Geol. Soc., for November, 1888, p. 818. In
this he shows that the first bones of this elephant were found in 1813, and that the
specimens in the Blackmore Museum were found by the grandfather of the present
Dr. H. P. Blackmore in 1814. Mr. Fisher himself found a worn-down molar of
elephant in 1884, and he gives the names of several finders of elephants' bones in a
small gravelly deposit at Dewlish. Dr. Blackmore's name is not mentioned as a finder
and there is no reference to " eoliths."
In the same journal for February, 1905, Mr. Fisher returns to this subject, and
although the paper is quite recent no mention is made by the author of "eolithic
implements." Mr. Fisher, however, exhibited five stones from the elephant deposit,
and in the discussion Dr. Henry Woodward — perhaps in a joke — referred to some of
these as eoliths. Professor Sollas joined in the discussion and said he would accept
the term " eolith " if by that term " the exclusion of human agency was implied."
Mr. Fisher himself in a postscript says : " It is said that ' eoliths ' were exhibited by
*' the author — he did not do so wittingly."
The stones exhibited at this meeting have been preserved by Mr. Fisher, and last
year he kindly sent them on to me for examination. One is a distinct sponge —
Cephalitis — and although I have drawn it, a block need not be wasted over it. The
illustrations of the other four are drawn to half scale.
Fig. 1 explains itself, the original label reads, " Nodule of chalk flint bearing on
u its surface some impressions of polyzoa and other small organisms."
Fig, 2. The label says : " Dewlish elephant bed. A rough chalk flint waterworn
u irregularly according to its structural inequalities (as its unequal structure) and
*' subsequently split, probably by natural agency (accidental)."
[ 113 ]
Nos. 68-69.] MAN. [1909.
Fig. 3. The label states : " A piece of broken chalk flint, not artificially broken."
Fig. 4. The label says : " Broken piece of chalk flint bearing traces of structure
44 and impression of a Cidaris spine."
The stones 2, 3, and 4 must be the mythical " eoliths " disowned by the author
himself, and Professor Sollas. To me the originals do not exhibit the faintest suggestion
of human work.
But Dr. H. P. Blackmore's Dewlish " eoliths " have to be dealt with. Dr. Black-
more has obligingly sent me a typical series for examination and I have selected three
for illustration, Figs. 5, 6, and 7. To me — and I wish to say this in the friendliest and
most respectful manner possible — they are nothing but natural stones with no trace
whatever of human work.
The illustrations, drawn with the utmost care, must speak for themselves. Fig. 5 :
the arrows show where there is supposed human work, according to Dr. Blackmore..
Fig. 6 : the arrows show the human work, according to the same authority. Fig. 7 :
this greatly resembles the " eolith " found by me in situ at Caddington, with the
splinters still on the flint, one of which I replaced, illustrated in MAN, Vol. 7, p. 100.
There is an iron stain at D on the Dewlish stone, which suggests the surface of the
ground as its place of finding.
If bulbed flakes of undoubted human origin have been found at Dewlish (none were
sent to me) with Elephas meridionalis, this cannot prove that the elephant and the
stones are Pliocene in age, it only suggests that the elephant had survived into
Palaeolithic times, for the sufficient reason that Dewlish is an old and well-known
locality for Palaeolithic implements. It is mentioned in Evans's Stone Implements,.
Ed. I, 1872, p. 559 ; and Ed. II, 1897, p. 638.
I have not written this and former notes on " eoliths " in an attempt to show that
a Pliocene ape-man probably never existed. It is, to me, possible that such an animal
did live somewhere in pre-glacial and Pliocene times. When the evidence — geological,
osteological and archaeological — is conclusive, I shall be one of the first to accept it.
WORTHINGTON G/ SMITH.
Africa, East : Craniology. Duckworth.
Report on Three Skulls of A-Kamba Natives, British East Africa.*
By IV. L. H. Duckworth, M.D., Sc.D.
Of these three skulls (presented to the Department of Human Anatomy at Cam-
bridge by C. W. Hobley, Esq., H.M. Commissioner of Uganda), one is male, the other
two female. Their principal characters are noted in the following paragraphs : —
No. 1. — Skull (without the mandible) of an adult male ; the dentition has been
completed and the teeth were normal in number and characters. The appearance of
the specimen suggests that it has been bleached through exposure. The general state
of preservation is good.
For a negro cranium this specimen is small. The usual characters are more readily
seen in the bones of the face than in those of the cranium proper. The glabellar
prominence is slight, the temporal ridges are distinct and rise high on the wall of the
brain case. There is no distinct occipital protuberance.
The cranial form is dolichocephalic, resembling many Australian aboriginal crania
in norma vertically but the post-orbital frontal width is greater than in many Australian
crania. The facial profile is flattened, but prognathism is not distinct (alveolar index
of Flower = 100).
The orbital margins are indistinct to the outer side of the cavity, and are
notched superiorly. The frontal bone is furrowed above the orbit, as in so many
African crania.
* Cf. Tate, Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 1904.
[ 114 ]
1909,] MAN. [No. 69.
The nasal skeleton is an admirable example of that type so commonly found in
crania of African negroes. Subnasal prognathism is slight, however. The canine fossae
are deep and hence the facial breadth is apparently very considerable owing to the
zygomatic arches being thrown into strong relief.
The teeth are smaller than in many male African negro crania. The single
remaining incisor tooth is small and peg-like, but does not look as though it had been
filed down deliberately (though the practice of filing the teeth is recorded among the
A-Kamba — cf. Tate, Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 1904, p. 130).
The palate is hypsiloid in form, the spheno-maxillary fissures are wide, and the
alisphenoid and parietal bones join at each pterion.
Viewed from behind the form of this skull is distinctly pentagonal.
Special points. — 1. The occipital bone bears ridges for the superior oblique
muscles, and thus resembles many New Guinea crania, in which these ridges
are frequent and large.
2. The conoid processes (behind the glenoid cavities) are large, while the styloid
and paroccipital processes are small.
3. The endocranial " fossette " for the occipital lobe of the left hemisphere is
distinctly more capacious than that for the right lobe. This asymmetry is
said to be associated with the presence of the sulcus lunatus occipitalis on
the more protuberant lobe (in this case, the left).
On the whole, the cranium reproduces many characters of a Sudanese negroid skull
in the Cambridge Collection.
No. 2. — Part of the metopic cranium of a young female. The mandible and the
occipital bone are absent.
The dentition had only just been completed ; this shows the youth of the individual.
In general this cranium bears a very marked resemblance to No. 1, but the ridges,
processes, and crests are much more feeble here — the face is narrower and the palate
smaller. The specimen is small, and but for the absence of a flattened area in the
region of the sagittal suture it would pass for that of a young Bushwoman. There is a
zone of very faintly-marked annular compression in the nasal situation. The mastoids,
like the other processes, are small and are perforated near their bases.
The specimen reveals no features indicative of inferiority to the average negro
cranium. Like this, it is also dolichocephalic.
No. 3. — Part of the skull of an adult female. The mandible and the facial bones
are absent.
The chief point of interest in this example is its very small size, yet it belonged
undoubtedly to an adult individual. Like the two specimens (Nos. 1 and 2) just
described, this is dolichocephalic. Ridges and prominences are very faintly marked.
There is distinct occipital bulging or " renflement," which provides a means of
distinguishing this from a typical Bushwoman's skull. The vertical height of No. 3
is relatively small.
Summary. — Of the three crania, the male (No. 1) is of most value for comparative
purposes. Even this specimen does not, in my opinion, present characters distinguish]' ug
it sharply from other negro crania of African origin. In some of its facial features it
clearly recalls crania of aboriginal Australians, but, as already mentioned, the broader
and flatter (i.e. not scaphoid) frontal bone easily enables an observer to distinguish it
from an Australian skull, as also from many negroid crania from New Britain, &c. It is
not possible, therefore, to go further than to describe No. 1 as an African negro skull,
but whether from the Sudan, Congo, or even Madagascar, could not be stated on the
evidence of the bones alone.
The very small size of No. 3 is of interest, for its dimensions are less than those
of some skulls of Pygmy race.
Nos, 69-70.]
MAN.
[1909.
The chief dimensions of the three crania are shown in the following table : —
UNIVERSITY MUSEUM OF HUMAN ANATOMY, CAMBRIDGE.
CRANIA OF THREE NATIVES — A-KAMBA TRIBE, BRITISH EAST AFRICA.
Measurements.
No. of Specimen ...
1.
2.
3.
Sex ....
Male.
Female.
Females.
Age (approx.)
Adult.
Young.
Adult.
Maximum length ...
181
177 ?
171
Maximum breadth
137
133
127
Basi-bregmatic height
135
123 ?
120
Horizontal circumference
517
1
473
Antero-posterior curve
397
1
373
Basi-nasal length
104
77 1
?
Basi-alveolar length
104
93 ?
?
Nasi-alveolar length
61
65
1
Bizygomatic breadth
135
113
?
Orbital height -
33
32-5
?
Orbital width - ...
40
38
?
Nasal height - -
44
44
?
Nasal width
29
23-5
?
Indices : — Cephalic
75-7
75-1
74-3
Altitudinal
74-6
69-5
70-2
Alveolar - -
100
1
?
Facial (Kollmann's) -
45-1
57-5
?
Orbital
82-5
85-5
?
Nasal -
65-9
53-4
?
W. L. H. DUCKWORTH.
Africa : East. Roscoe.
Brief Notes on the Bakene. By , the Rev. J. Roscoe, Local Corre- "1ft
spondent of the Royal Anthropological Institute. • U
These notes are the outcome of a journey in May and June, 1908, through Busoga
and Bukedi to Mount Elgon. The Bakene were found on the Mpologoma river in
North Busoga on Lake Palisa, which is another branch of the river or an arm of Lake
Kioga ; again, on the return journey they were found at the ferry of the Mpologoma in
Eastern Busoga.
The Bakene are a Bantu tribe dwelling chiefly on the Mpologoma river, but extend
to Lake Kioga, and are said to be also upon Lake Salisbury. The Mpologoma rises in
Mount Elgon and runs for some miles in a southerly direction ; it then winds to the
west and rapidly widens until it empties itself into Lake Kioga. The water is held
up by the enormous growth of papyrus and spreads over a wide area in some places
fully six miles wide. It is well named by the natives the Lion (mpologomd) river
because of its width ; it has formed a complete barrier dividing the Bantu from the
Nilotic races as far as Lake Kioga, and the Nile has continued the division to
Lake Albert. The Mpologoma is the real home of the Bakene, where the tall papyrus
forms a perfect shelter for their floating homes and the fish provides them with
ample food.
In their customs, language, and appearance these people are closely allied to the
1909.] MAN. [No. 70.
Basoga of the north-east, and they have a tradition that their forefathers came from
that part. Both sexes extract the two front lower teeth and the women pierce the
under lip, but do not disfigure themselves in any other way.
In the lakes their huts are exposed to view, but are always at a safe distance from
the shore to prevent any one from molesting them without the means of canoes. They
build their huts on papyrus roots, some of which are not more than 4 feet in diameter
so that the hut takes up the whole area and the door opens out immediately upon
the water.
In the river their huts are well concealed in the tall papyrus and are reached by
tortuous water tracks. Sitting in a canoe, being paddled along by a man standing to
his work, one was reminded strongly of Venice and its gondolas ; here, however,
instead of stately stone walls there were walls of tall papyrus towering 1-i or 16 feet
above the water. Every few moments side ways were passed leading to the homes
of some of the people.
Not only the men, but also the women and children are experts in handling the
dug-out canoes, even small children of three or four years old have to find their
amusement in canoes and also get their exercise in this way.
I was fortunate to reach Lake Palisa, which is a large open space in the river, in
the early morning soon after sunrise. Standing on the shore I watched the people busy
with, their various duties. Both men and women were at work, some with the fish traps,
others fishing in the deeper water, whilst some women were up to their waists in the
water emptying holes which had been made the previous day and into which small
fish had found their way during the night. Numbers of small children were paddling
about from tuft to tuft of papyrus in tiny canoes enjoying life even as the happiest of
English children. In the distance was a huge crocodile floating lazily away into deep
water, and some children in a large canoe watching him as they fished. On some of
the smaller tufts of papyrus were fetish huts, made for the ghosts of some departed
relatives, into which food and clothing, &c., are placed to prevent the ghosts from
troubling the community.
Clans and Totems. — It was somewhat difficult to obtain much information from
these people ; they were all so taken up with their own affairs, they were unwilling
to come to the shore to tell a stranger about their lives and doings ; still, after a little
coaxing and gentle persuasion, a few came and were fairly intelligent and communicative.
Their clans and totems are : —
The Bakoma clan have for their totem the husk of the small millet (bulo).
The Baholwa clan have for their totem the guinea fowl.
The Bagota have for their totem the kyachuli, a small animal of the cat tribe.
The Babira have for their totem the ng'onge, an otter.
The Bahaugo have for their totem the mondo, a civit cat.
The Bagule.
The Bahobando.
It was impossible to find what these last two hold as totems. There may be
other clans and other totems in other parts, these my informants gave as being the
only clans in their part.
Marriage. — Polygamy is practised by the tribe, and they are also exogamists.
The children all regard their father's relations as their own special clan, and their
mother's sisters are all mothers to them, so that the relationship always debars them
from marrying into their mother's clan.
When a youth comes to puberty and wishes to marry he has first to build a hut
for his future wife ; in this way he may obtain assistance from some of his friends and
also from his father. It may be he has seen some girl who has taken his fancy, or,
on the other hand, he may have no particular girl in view. He may take all the
117 ]
No. 70.] MAN. [1909.
responsibilities upon himself and go boldly to the girl's parents and ask for their
daughter, though, as a rule, he leaves the whole arrangements to his father or some
near relation.
The girl has the right to accept or reject the offer, though she is as a rule
guided by her parents and friends. In some cases the youth, after having asked the
girl's father if he may have his daughter, goes to her house and places a hoe in the
doorway ; if she takes it, it is the token that he is accepted. On the other hand,
if the hoe is left the youth understands his offer is rejected. When a girl has
accepted a man's advances he goes home and brings a present for each of her
parents, for the father a male goat, and for the mother a female goat ; this present
ratifies the engagement. The clan next decide the amount the man is to bring as a
dowry ; it may be ten goats or more, and some barkcloths, or they may ask other
things from him. When he has procured and presented them he can claim his bride.
The bride is taken to her new home by her brother who is the chief person
concerned in the marriage, he has the right to give her away or refuse to allow her
to marry a person he does not like. He takes her in his canoe and is accompanied
by numbers of the bride's friends in their canoes. They start so as to reach the
bridegroom's house by sunset. On the way they sing songs, keeping time with
their paddles. The party stays the night with the bride and are regaled with a
good meal and a plentiful supply of fresh meat, which is the principal item in a
feast, according to the native idea. The next morning the bridegroom gives to each
of the guests a small present, and they depart to their homes, leaving one girl only,
who is either a sister or a near relation of the bride. This girl remains some ten
days with the bride, and is then sent back with a present, a fowl or a goat according
to the bridegroom's circumstances.
The bride is veiled when she is taken to her new home, a large bark-cloth being
thrown over her head coming down to her feet. She retains her veil for four or
five days after she enters her husband's house ; when she removes it, the bridegroom
gives her sister a fowl as a thank offering that matters are progressing favourably.
After a few weeks of married life the bride returns to her parents to see them
and takes them a present of two fowls ; she does not stay the night, but returns in
the evening to her home ; her parents give her a pot of butter and a good supply of
all kinds of food, which she takes and cooks for her husband and his friends. This
meal ends the marriage ceremonies ; the woman now enters upon the full duties of
married life, assisting her husband in fishing and doing the cooking and other
domestic duties.
Birth. — No woman can bear the idea of being childless, it is a disgrace to her ; the
husband will do all in his power, and spare no expense to make his wife a mother ;
should all his efforts prove futile he sends his wife back to her parents, and they send
him another woman to take her place, or failing that they return the dowry. Many
women elect to remain with their husbands after they have been returned to their
parents or clan, they know there is no longer any chance of marriage, and though they
cannot hope to be a favourite wife, still they can have some of the privileges of
married life.
The women are, as a rule, strong and healthy and have children, though few of
them ever have so many as six, three being the average number for each wife.
When the time draws near for an expectant mother to be delivered she calls
someone who has had experience in such matters to come and act as her midwife ;
a friend is also called in to be the assistant. At the time of birth the mother does not
go to bed, she merely stoops down and the friend stands behind her and supports her
by holding her under the arms ; the midwife stands in front and receives the child.
When the placenta has come away the umbilical cord is cut with a bit of sharp papyrus.
1909.] MAN. [No. 70.
The mother remains in the house for five days together with the midwife ; on the fifth
day she is brought out and bathes and her hut is cleansed. The mother and midwife
have a meal together, the midwife is given a present for her work and returns to her
home. The husband's mother and a following of his clan come and name the child ;
it is given the name of one of his ancestors whose ghost is expected to look after it.
The umbilical cord is placed in a bit of mud and hidden away amongst the papyrus
near the hut.
When twins are born the father announces the fact by beating a drum, this is
taken up by his neighbours ; the father takes a couple of fowls to his parents and two
to his wife's parents, and thus announces the fact to them. The father's sister's son
comes and closes the door and makes a way out at the back of the hut. He is the
principal person also throughout the whole of the dancing ceremonies. The parents
each wear two cowry shells on their foreheads, which is the token that they are
observing the twin ceremonies. The father, has to collect food and especially animals,
for the final ceremonial meal when the twins are first brought out of the hut. As he
goes from place to place amongst his friends and relations and is given food to eat or
beer to drink, he has to put some into a vessel which he carries for the purpose, and a
little of the beer into a gourd which he carries, these portions he takes back to his
wife who eats and drinks them. Should either of them disregard this the children
will be sure to fall ill and die. This would be a great calamity to the clan because
the children are supposed to be the gift of the gods, and their removal by death a
mark of divine displeasure. The afterbirth of twins is put into two new cooking pots,
and after it has been dried it is taken to the shore and left in the grass near one of
the gardens used by the Bakene.
When the father has found all the animals he needs for the final sacred meal,
he consults with the medicine man, and with him settles the day when the twins
are to be brought out and named. All the relatives are told and come together for
the ceremony ; the twins are brought out and after the meal is over they are named
and the parents are free to go the round of visits to dance and receive gifts from
the people to whom they go. The children are seldom taken with the parents for
the short journeys, but have to go for the long ones.
Inheritance. — The property of deceased persons is divided amongst the members
of the clan, who also choose the heir. The heir receives the canoe and some of the
household goods as well as the hut. The wives and the cattle, if the man had any
on the shore, are divided up amongst the clan. In some cases the clan vote the heir
one of the wives and some of the cattle, though this is quite exceptional, the hut,
canoe, and fishing tackle being his only right.
Beliefs. — They believe in various deities, of whom the chief is called Gasani ;
he is believed to be more powerful than the others, and especially has power over
the' sky and water. This deity has his temple and his priest on the water. They
go to him in all kinds of illnesses and for other causes also.
Kibumba is the second deity to whom they go, should they not obtain help from
Gasani.
When they go fishing they offer a fowl to the water-spirit to allow the fish to
be caught. The fowl is killed over the side of the canoe so that the blood flows
into the water, the entrails are also thrown into the water. The fowl is cooked and
eaten whilst they are in the canoe.
Fishing. — The chief diet of these people is fish, they fish with the rod and line,
they use traps, and also sharp sticks for a kind of mud fish which they prod for
and spear in the likely places. The fish they use fresh and also dry over wood fires
and in the sun. They also barter the fish for clothing and other foods, and for
cooking pots.
[ 119 ]
No. 70.] MAN. [1909.
When a man is making new lines or nets, his father's wives must keep away
from him lest they should happen to step over his work ; this would spoil it, no net
or line thus stepped over would catch fish, they think.
Government. — Each clan has its head man or chief to whom the members of the
clan go when differences arise between the members. These head men are chosen
by the clan when the vacancy occurs. The office is held until death, unless the man
forfeits it through drink or other vices, or is incapacitated through illness.
They pay no taxes at all to the head of the clan, but when they have any case
to be tried they take some offering of fish, a goat, or some other thing valued by
them. Under ordinary circumstances an occasional present of food, or, when they can
procure it, some beer, is all the people give to their chief from one year to another.
Building. — The huts are, as stated above, built on the papyrus roots which are
floating in the river ; they are as a rule firm and strong. The method of building is
to cut or break down the stems of the papyrus and thus form a foundation for the
hut, other stems of papyrus are next laid across the first layer, and thus layer upon
layer is placed until they have a floor raised well above water line. They next
bring fairly strong tree branches and insert them firmly into the foundation in a circle ;
these branches are bent inwards and bound into position by rows of papyrus stems ;
these form a strong wall for the thatch. When the framework is completed it
looks like a huge conical basket, some 10 feet, or sometimes 20 feet, high, and from
10 to 15 feet in diameter. This is thatched, leaving a small hole at the apex for
the smoke. The floor is rough and uneven, it has only a small place plastered upon
which the fire smoulders. The bedstead is raised upon stout posts fixed into the
floor so that if a sudden flood comes the inmates may be out of reach of the water ;
the papyrus often sends its roots down into the earth and when a sudden flood
rushes down from the highlands the hut cannot vise quickly enough and is there-
fore flooded. These is no need of a door to the hut, the people are safe from the
approaches of wild animals, and from their enemies. As a rule the door opens
immediately upon the water so that the owner steps out of his hut into his canoe ;
some of the chiefs have, however, a small landing-place in front of the hut, and a
path from one hut to another if they have more than one wife. All the paths are
made by cutting the papyrus down and throwing other stems across the first layer.
None of the huts have poles in them, they are simply wicker frames thatched.
The Water Ways. — The water ways are kept open by constant use and by cutting
back the growth of the sudd ; the off-shoots or side ways are private ways ; that is, they
are for the use of the family whose hut is at the end of them. At the entrance of the
side ways there is often an arch, especially over those of important persons ; the arch
has different things strung to it which possess medicinal and magical properties ; these
are meant to remove any evil which may have attached itself to the owner during his
visits abroad, so he is able to enter his own water way and home void of danger or the
ills which evil-disposed persons may have cast upon him.
All their canoes are of the dug-out kind ; they use a long heavy paddle, and as a
rule stand to paddle. For years they have held the ferries on the river, and charge
a small fee to convey people over from side to side. Some of the canoes are large
enough to hold three or four cows and the men to guard them when crossing.
Dress and Ornaments. — In appearance the Bakene are like the Basoga, the nose
is inclined to be flat though they have not the protruding jaw of the negroes. As a race
they have pleasing features. They are from 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 10 inches in
height ; most of the women met were about 5 feet 7 or 8 inches in height. They are of a
wiry build, more developed in the arm than in the leg, as is natural from their mode of
life, most of which is spent in a canoe paddling about.
The men wear a bit of barkcloth threaded under a string belt at the back ; it is
[ 120 ]
1909.] MAN. [Nos. 70-71.
passed between the legs and threaded under the belt in front. When not at work they
throw a barkcloth over the right shoulder, pass it under the left arm, and throw the end
over the right shoulder again, the left arm being left exposed.
The women have the same kind of barkcloth over their loins, and also wear belts
decorated with cowry shells ; those who can afford them have bracelets and anklets of
iron and brass. Both men and women wear their hair short and shave their heads from
time to time. J. ROSCOE.
REVIEWS.
Africa, East. Hollis.
The Nandi ; their Language and Folk-Lore. By A. C. Hollis. Oxford : TM
Clarendon Press, 1909. Pp. xl + 328. 23 X 15 cm. Price 16*. * •
Mr. Hollis's book on the Masai was one of the most noteworthy contributions to
ethnography which have appeared in this country during the last ten years, and its
successor, The Nandi, is in some respects still more remarkable. Very little has
hitherto been known of the non-Bantu peoples in the northern part of the East Africa
Protectorate ; Mr. Hollis's study marks a distinct advance in this direction, and we hope
that he will be enabled to follow it up by similar accounts of the Suk and Turkana,
perhaps also the Gang (Acholi) and Bari. The Nandi are, like the Masai, herdsmen
and warriors, though they have of late years become cultivators after a fashion.
Their language is allied to that of the Dorobo — or rather, the Dorobo speak a dialect
of Nandi, a fact which, as Sir Charles Eliot points out (Introduction, p. xiv), is
somewhat perplexing, in view of the fact that they do not appear to be racially akin.
The Masai and the Nandi agree in supposing the Dorobo to have existed upon earth
from the beginning of things. The theory that the latter borrowed the Nandi language
also has its difficulties, as there are no Nandi in the country principally occupied by
the Dorobo. The most probable solution, according to the same authority, is to
suppose that the Nandi formerly extended further east and south, or the Dorobo
further west, so that the two peoples were in touch, and that a wedge was driven
between them by the Masai invasion from the north.
The Nandi language is sufficiently different from the Masai to deserve a separate
study. We are not aware that anything has been done for it hitherto beyond the
vocabulary published by Sir Harry Johnston in his Uganda Protectorate, and Professor
Meinhof's study of Dorobo in the Transactions of the Berlin Oriental Seminary for
1907. The very full English-Nandi vocabulary collected by Mr. Hollis, the list of
trees, grasses, &c., and the texts with literal interlinear translation, are all most
valuable.
The list of clans and totems on p. 5 is an item of unusual interest, together with
the section on sacred animals and the tabus observed by each clan. The Nandi still
consider it wrong to kill their totem-animals, but the ancient rigour of the prohibition
is somewhat relaxed and in many cases a formal apology is considered sufficient.
Though Mr. Hollis does not mention the belief in the totem as actual ancestor
of the clan, he relates a curious story indicating a strong consciousness of relationship
with it. A Nandi of the bee totem (the Kipkenda clan) happened to pass by when
Mr. Hollis and his followers had been driven from their camping-place by an angry
swarm of bees, and volunteered to quiet them. " He was practically stark naked, but
" he started off at once to the spot where the loads were, whistling loudly in much
" the same way as the Nandi whistle to their cattle. We saw the bees swarm round
" and on him, but beyond brushing them lightly from his arms he took no notice of
" them, and, still whistling loudly, proceeded to the tree in which was their hive.
" In a few minutes he returned, none the worse for his venture, and we were able to
" fetch our loads."
No. 71.] MAN. [1909.
It is not explained why some of the seventeen clans enumerated (the last, Chemur,
perhaps no longer exists) have two totems and others only one. There is no
prohibition against marrying into the same clan, though inter-marriage within the same
family is forbidden. Certain clans may not marry into certain other clans, but there
is no clear division in this respect. Five out of the seventeen appear to have no
restriction laid on them, while the Tungo, which has the hyena totem, is debarred
from marriage into no less than six clans. Others have three forbidden alliances,
while several have only one. In some cases it is quite possible to trace a connection
between the totem and the things which the clan may or may not do, thus the
totems of the Toiyoi are " soldier ant and rain " (which is associated with, if not
treated as synonymous with, thunder), and " if soldier ants enter the house of a Toiyoi
" they are requested to leave, but no steps are taken to drive them away, and the
" house is vacated if necessary until the ants have passed on. During a heavy
" thunderstorm the Toiyoi seize an axe, and having rubbed it in the ashes of the fire,
" threw it outside the hut, exclaiming at the same time : Toiyoi sis kain-nyo (Toiyoi,
*' or thunder, be silent in our town). In the event of a hut being struck by
" lightning, a member of the clan is called to burn the place down, and when an ox
" is struck, it is the duty of a Toiyoi to turn it over on its side." On the other
hand, it is impossible to conceive of any reason why people of the baboon and house-
rat totems should not be allowed to collect honey during the rains or why the cattle
belonging to members of the monkey totem may not pass the night outside their
own kraal.
The Tungo clan, whose totem is the hyena, " are held in high esteem, and one
" of their number is selected as a judge or umpire in all disputes." One wonders
whether this is because of the sacred character attaching to the hyena, who enjoys
a prestige extending beyond the limits of his own clan. He is " the only animal
" which the Nandi, like most East African tribes, hold in respect or fear." Though
they will not scruple to kill a hyena on land owned by no one, "they will not
" touch him if he prowls round their homes. Nobody dares to imitate the cry of
" hyena under pain of being turned out of the tribe or of being refused a husband
" or wife in marriage."
A complete collection of African beliefs connected with the hyena has yet to be
made, and we fancy the subject would well repay investigation. The werwolf-hyena
notion is very common, existing, e.g., in Abyssinia and Nyasaland, and no doubt in
many intermediate places, though sometimes other animals seem to be preferred. We
hear nothing of this particular view among the Nandi, but they think these creatures
" talk like human beings and hold communication with the spirits of the dead." Their
peculiar theory as to the hyena's physical constitution is shared by the Zulus (Colenso's
Dictionary, s.v. Pisintshange(imy), but we have no means of knowing whether it
prevails elsewhere or how it originated. When a hyena is heard at night, " all Nandi
" women, except those of the Tungo clan, flick their ox-hide covers until it stops."
The Tungo clan are also exceptional in their funeral rites, for though, like others,
they expose the corpse to be eaten by hyenas, they do not, if it is still untouched on
the second day, turn it over on the other side.
These funeral ceremonies are described on pp. 70—72. It is remarkable that if the
hyenas leave a corpse alone, it is taken as a sign that the deceased met his or her death
by witchcraft. This seems to show that the werwolf idea is foreign to the Nandi,
since where it prevails, the theory is that wizards take the form of hyenas for the
express purpose of feeding on the bodies of the dead.
Under the heading of " government," the geographical division of the country into
"districts" and " parishes " is worth notice, especially considering the comparatively
short occupation of the Nandi. Another curious feature is the double administration
[ 122 ]
1909.] MAN. [Nos, 71-72.
carried on conjointly by the representatives of the Orkoiyot, or chief medicine-man
(who is of Masai descent), and of the people.
The book is so packed witn information that it has been impossible to do more
than touch on a few among the points of interest which it contains. It is illustrated
with a large number of excellent photographs. A. WERNER.
America, South. Chervin.
Anthropologie Bolivienne. By Dr. Arthur Chervin. Mission Scientifique TfO
G. de Crequi Montfort et E. Senechal de la Grange. Three Vols. Paris, 1908. I fc
Pp. xl + 411 ; 435 ; 151. 28 x 20 cm.
The data with which Dr. Chervin deals in these three volumes were obtained in
connection with the Mission Scientifique G. de Crequi Montfort et E. Senechal de la
Grange. Though he was largely instrumental in organising the Expedition, Dr. Chervin
was himself unable to participate in it. He secured, however, the services of M. Julien
Guillaume, who undertook the branches of anthropometry, metric photography and
phonography, and it is upon the materials thus obtained that Dr. Chervin has worked.
The programme of the Expedition was an ambitious one, including not only the
general study of man in the Bolivian highlands, but also that of the geography, flora,
and fauna. The Expedition left France on April 3rd, 1903, returning at the end of
the following October. M. Courty alone remained till February 1904 to carry out
important excavations at Tiahuanaco. On the conclusion of the exhibition of the
collections made by the Expedition, M. de Crequi presented the whole of the collections
to the State. Dr. Chervin's long-cherished hope of establishing an American Museum
in Paris was unfortunately not realised on this occasion, as the various specimens were
allocated to different museums.
Dr. Cherviu's object has been to obtain from the anthropological evidence collected
by M. Guillaume some knowledge of the native races which, prior to the Discovery,
inhabited the highlands of South America, now included in Bolivia. In his introduction
and elsewhere he pays a high tribute to the work of earlier investigators of the Quechua
(or Quichua) and Aymara peoples — Alcide d'Orbigny, Sir Clements R. Markham, and
David Forbes. With respect to ethnogeny, he advises the greatest caution in dealing
with questions of ethnical migrations in prehistoric times.
As regards demography, the Expedition found it necessary to collect fresh data,
from which two facts of importance transpired : firstly, that the exceedingly sparse
population — 1^ millions in a country 3^ times the size of France — was totally inadequate
for making the most of the agricultural and mineral wealth of the country ; and secondly,
that the half-breeds are rapidly becoming an important and progressive element in the
community, more especially from the commercial and industrial aspect. The increase
of half-breeds is also discussed from the point of view of the physical effects of
altitude.
The chief characteristics distinguishing Aymara and Quechua are very briefly
given on pp. xxxi-ii ; they are, however, very slight. The former have a flatter face
and are more robust ; the Quechua take shorter steps in walking although they have
longer legs, and they dress their hair differently ; there are also minute differences in
costume.
Dr. Chervin obtained, through various scientific men well acquainted with Bolivia,
answers to the list of questions issued by the Societe d'Anthropologie. These results
apply exclusively to certain highland Quechua. As was to be expected, the informa-
tion is fairly full when dealing with concrete matters, for a description of which very
little special ethnological knowledge or training is necessary, but the method is apt to
afford meagre results where the social life is concerned. In this case the meagreness
[ 123 ]
No. 72,] MAN. [1909,
may be partly due to the prolonged influence of the Spaniards and of the Christian
religion. The family is not lost in the tribe and is well defined " with precise terms
" for the uncles, cousins, brothers-in-law, &c." Marriage is monogyuous and
" endogamous." There is no to tern ism or social rank ; wealth alone counts. They
are not warlike and have no warrior caste. They never practised anthropophagy.
Property is individual. All are Catholics with a special reverence for St. James, but
there is a great belief in the power of the ghosts of ancestors, who cause droughts, &c.
Magic virtues are ascribed to certain birds, plants, and stones. Divination to discover
a thief consists in beating an armadillo till it cries out, when it will say the name of
the culprit. No woman or priest may go into a mine as evil spirits put minerals
there.
M. Guillaume asked a large number of persons how many brothers and sisters, and
sons and daughters they had, and by this means some demographic information was
obtained.
Dr. Chervin describes in detail the photographic methods employed by M. A.
Bertillon and applied by M. Guillaume in the field. He condemns the photographs of
all other travellers as having no documentary or scientific character " since they are
not comparable with one another," and he regards " metric photography " as the only
scientific method. By following his system it is claimed that measurements can be
taken on the photographs. The present writer has not had time to test this statement,
and before the method is generally adopted it will have to be severely tested by
different observers by comparing the measurements on the actual subject with those
on the photograph. The reliability of the results depends on so many factors that it is
improbable that investigators of different nationalities, working with apparatus made
in various places, will be able to obtain absolutely comparable results.
The second volume is devoted to measurements made on the living. They consisted
of the stature, span, thoracic circumference, sitting height, length of the leg (deter-
mined by subtracting the last measurement from the stature), length of the head
(measured from the root of the nose), breadth and height of the head, bizygomatic
breadth, length and breadth of the left ear, left cubit, length of the left middle and
little fingers, length and breadth of the left foot. All these measurements and their
relations to one another are carefully analysed and displayed in seriation tables and
in graphic tables showing the distribution of the measurements on squared paper.
All this has entailed a vast amount of labour on the part of the author, who sums
up each conclusion by comparing the Aymara with the Quechua, the main result
being that there seems to be very little difference between them, although Dr. Chervin
regards them as quite distinct peoples. The stature of the latter (1'58 m.)
averages 1 cm. more than that of the former; their span (l'6m.)is the same; the
sitting height of the Quechua is 84 cm., and of the Aymara 87 cm. ; the cubit of
the Quechua (436 mm.) is 1 cm. longer than that of the Aymara, the legs of the
latter are estimated at 3 cm. shorter than those of the Quechua ; all the other body
measurements are identical. The majority of both tribes are brachycephalic, with a
cephalic index of 82 ; about one-third are mesaticephalic.
The third volume deals with craniology. Here again Dr. Chervin insists on the
importance of metric photography. He very carefully describes his apparatus and
methods of orientation and fixing the skull in position. The Expedition brought back
a collection of nearly 500 skulls, four skeletons, and other specimens. As soon as he
had finished the first two volumes Dr. Chervin hoped to begin a study of the crania,
but in the interval they had ceased to be at his disposal. Thus he was unable to
complete his study ; all he had been able to do was to measure their length and breadth
and to photograph them. Owing to prevalence of artificial deformation these measure-
ments and the resultant indices are not of any particular value. The photographs are
L 124 ]
1909.] . MAN. [Nos. 72-73.
on too small a scale to be very serviceable, and it would have been better if they had
been twice the size, even if the number had been considerably reduced.
From the foregoing account it will be seen that Dr. Chervin has taken a great
deal of pains in the preparation for the Expedition, and in the elaboration of the results
obtained. In addition to the record of new data, the book is a serious contribution
to the discussion of anthropological methods, and it should find a place in every
anthropological laboratory. The value of the book is greatly enhanced by the very
large number of excellent photographs. A. C. H.
Culture. Frobenius.
The Childhood of Man : a Popular Account of the Siiperstitions, Manners, TO
Games, Arts, Occupations, and Folklore, Sfc., Sfc., of Primitive Man. By Leo * U
Frobenius. Translated by A. H. Keane, LL.D., F.R.G.S. With 415 illustrations.
London : Seeley & Co., 1909. Pp. xviii + 504. 23 x 14 cm. 16*. net.
Dr. Frobenius's book is already popular in Germany. The author spent his earliest
days in the Berlin Zoological Gardens, where " he came into constant contact with
*' Eskimo, Laplanders, Indians, Bedouins, and Blacks," and the book displays the spoils
of a lifelong collection of ethnographical objects and information. The sub-title is
misleading : this is not a comprehensive account of the life of Primitive Man, but rather
a selection to illustrate certain theories.
Dr. Frobenius's theory of cultural evolution is frankly chronological and unilinear.
The Childhood of Man is the stage of human history which came to an end with
the beginnings of regular agriculture : within it, Frobenius recognises three periods,
characterised by modes of thinking about the universe. Man begins as a hunter ; his
chief interest is in the animals which surround him ; he regards them as more powerful
than himself, but not different in kind. Typical of this period are the Bushmen, who
*' could make no distinction between man and animals, and knew no otherwise than that
" a buffalo could shoot just as well as a man with a bow and arrow if he had any."
This is the period of " Animalism," from which all animal-incidents in mythology are
survivals. In the second period man's thoughts are concentrated on the mystery of
death ; his religion consists in observances towards the dead, his philosophy in specula-
tions about the fate of souls. This is the period of " Manism." Savage notions of
metempsychosis, sacred animals, and totemism form a link between the first and second
periods. The third mythological epoch is characterised by " Solarism, or the
contemplation of the universe." Sun-worship and interest in the heavenly bodies
generally did not begin with agriculture : " on the contrary, the first stimulus . . .
" to the contemplation of the sun was . . . given during the early migrations.
" When the peoples of the earth began to move in large groups over wide areas, when
" they had to find their bearings . . . then they began for the first time to look
'• around upon the world, and thus acquired an interest in the structure of the universe,
" in the sun, the moon, and the stars." A bridge from the Manistic to the Solaristic
period is found in the fact that in many primitive mythologies the Path of the Sun to
the West is also the Path of the Souls.
Each period is illustrated by myths from all parts of the world, dovetailed into each
other and into the scheme with a fascinating ingenuity which does not fail to make its
impression in spite of a certain baffling incompleteness of method. A few of the
incidental theories must be noticed, for the book is not all mythology. Labour begins
with the manufacture of ornaments. Secret societies belong to the Manistic epoch, and
by them men try to assimilate themselves to the powerful spirits of the dead. The
" Iron Age " is no true age of human progress, but a subordinate feature of culture
depending on the presence of iron ore, unaccompanied by any general advance in the
arts of life. War began when peoples had been constituted in stable societies ; until
[ 125 ]
Nos. 73-74.] MAN. [1909.
that time there were only duels, man-hunts, murders, and vendettas ; from these lu>:t
came the legalisation of bloodshed.
If any English anthropologist has influenced Frobenius it is probably Tylor ; the
validity of " survivals " is implied throughout. To English readers his work must be
at least a refreshing change from the stale old cliches of anthropological illustration,
verbal and graphic. Yet it is difficult to see exactly what place the book is to fill. It
is not quite a scientific work (for one thing it gives no references) ; not quite a First
Reader for the student, whose teachers will hesitate to enter him on a book which
ignores the geographical factor in cultural evolution ; and as a travail de vulgarisation
it has (besides being expensive) this grave fault, that, by neglecting the material and
economic side of culture, it gives an impression of savage life as essentially fantastic and
bizarre, rather a Lunacy than a Childhood of Man.
BARBARA FREIRE-MARRECO.
America, South. Spruce : Wallace.
Notes of a Botanist on the Amazon and Andes. By Richard Spruce, Ph.D. ^ 1
Edited by Alfred Russel Wallace. London : Macmillan & Co., 1908. 2 vols. : I'T
Hi + 518 ; xii + 542. 23 x 15 cm. Price 21s.
In arranging for publication the manuscripts of the late Dr. Spruce, Dr. Alfred
Russel Wallace has accomplished a task which, although without doubt undertaken as
a labour of love, must have proved one of considerable difficulty. In order to produce
this connected narrative of some fifteen years spent in arduous travel and scientific
exploration, innumerable notebooks have had to be consulted, the gaps filled in from
letters, and the whole thrown into consecutive form by the addition of just sufficient
editorial comment to facilitate reading.
Much as it is to be regretted that the continuous ill- health which beset the latter
part of the long and useful life of Dr. Spruce rendered it almost impossible for him
to prepare his notes for publication in the form evidently designed by him, it is certain
that the task could not have fallen to more capable hands than those of the present
editor, and Dr. Wallace is to be congratulated, not only on having rendered accessible
a valuable contribution to our knowledge of tropical South America, but also on having
raised a lasting monument to the memory of his departed friend.
The general reader, who has perforce to pass lightly over much of the admirable
botanical descriptive matter, will probably be most of all impressed with the spectacle
here presented of an indomitable will housed in a very frail body. That a man whose
record in England was one of frequent serious illness should have spent so many years
in the Amazon valley and in the elevated region of the Eastern Andes, exposed to all
the vicissitudes of a tropical climate or the freezing blasts of the Cordillera, passing days
and nights in native canoes when frequently reduced to a diet of uncooked farinha
and bad water, and yet should have maintained a high average of bodily efficiency,
can only evoke astonishment and admiration.
The date of Richard Spruce's wanderings, 1849-1864, places his work within the
" heroic period " of scientific travel in South America. One feels constrained to place
the book on the library shelves beside Dr. Wallace's own works, and in such good
company as is afforded by the Voyage of the Beagle, Humboldt's Narrative and the
writings of Belt and Bates, for the same spirit animates them all.
Although the book, as its title implies, is of primary interest to botanists, students
of other branches of science will find much of permanent interest and value in its pages.
It was a matter of regret expressed by Spruce himself that he could bestow so little of
his attention upon other than the botanical and geographical features of the wonderful
country into which he penetrated, but none the less his observations on the native tribes
of the great river region should prove welcome to anthropologists. The account he
[ 126 ]
1909.] MAN. [No. 74.
gives of the wandering peoples of the Amazon and Rio Negro forests, who subsist
almost entirely upon the chase and wild fruits, clearly illustrates the reason of the
comparative sparseness of population in this vast region, where a single family may
wander over wide areas from camp to camp as their foodstuffs become scarce locally.
As already mentioned, the author was often reduced to the direst straits for lack of
food. Occasionally the natives threw obstacles in the way of his obtaining seeds and
other specimens of their common edible plants, evidently suspecting the motives which
led the stranger to seek such information.
On more than one occasion the author was present, much against his will, at
native feasts, one of which he describes in considerable detail. Of special interest in
this connection are his observations on narcotics, with the curious sex-prohibitions
attending their use, a matter more fully discussed under a special heading in the
second volume. He has much to say, moreover, of the " payes " or medicine men
and their customs.
Considerable space is devoted to a description and discussion of the Indian rock-
pictures of the Casiquiari and Uaupes rivers, the paper being illustrated with several
careful drawings of the figures. Spruce objects to the term " picture-writing " being
applied to these works, since after careful study he came to the conclusion that they
were in no sense writings or hieroglyphics. The drawings are for the most part
exceedingly rude in execution, comparatively few of the objects represented being
recognisable even by the natives of the region to-day. Many of the drawings figured
appear to the present writer to bear a striking resemblance to the Carib rock-scrivings
of the West Indies.
The opinion arrived at by Dr. Spruce in regard to the origin and object of these
works of savage art may be given in his own words : —
" Having carefully examined a good deal of the so-called picture writing, I am
bound to come to the conclusion that it was executed by the ancestors of Indians
who at this day inhabit the region where it is found, that their utensils, mode of
life, &c., were similar to those still in use, and that their degree of civilisation was
certainly not greater, probably less, than that of their existing descendants. The
execution of the figures may have ranged through several centuries, a period which
in the existence of a savage people is but a year in that of the highly-civilised
nations of modern Europe. In vain shall we seek any chronological information from
the Indian who never knows his own age, rarely that of his youngest child, and who
refers all that happened before his own birth to a vague antiquity wherein there are
no dates and rarely any epochs to mark the sequence of events."
Whilst agreeing in the main with this decision of the author a certain hesitation is
felt in assenting to his suggestion that the Indians " amused themselves by scratching
•' on the rocks any figure suggested by the caprice of the moment." The savage is
really a very serious person, whose strangest actions are performed in obedience to some
sort of logical impulse, however wild his reasoning may appear from the point of view of
civilised man. Unless I mistake, the ethnologists of North America hesitate to dismiss
the rudest scrivings of the Red man as mere meaningless scrawls, and in the present
instance it would at least be possible that the drawings have some forgotten religious
or tribal significance. Perhaps they mark the sites of former feasts or ceremonial
gatherings.
It may be mentioned that Dr. Spruce offers an interesting explanation of at least
one mysterious forest sound, resembling a gunshot, akin to the famous " midnight axe "
that has given rise to so much controversy. A sound unhesitatingly attributed by the
Indians to the agency of a certain malign forest sprite was traced to the sudden collapse
of a species of palm, which, when dead, gradually rots away, and is ant-eaten until
nothing but a mere shell remains. This eventually goes suddenly to pieces with a loud
[ 127 ]
Nos. 74-75.] MAN. [1909.
report, leaving nothing but a heap of dust and splinters to mark the place where a few
minutes before it towered among its fellows.
Several beautiful photographs worthily accompany Dr. Spruce's delicate pencil
drawings ; one of the magnificent cone of Chimborazo calling for special admiration.
This brief notice would be incomplete without a reference to the misfortunes which
overtook this indefatigable man of science towards the close of his long residence
abroad. Whilst engaged in the difficult task of procuring specimens of the valuable " red
bark " plants for India, Dr. Spruce's sorely tried constitution gave way, and an illness
resulted, which attended him throughout the rest of his life. Shortly afterwards the
limited resources which his unselfish labours in the cause of science had permitted him
to gather were entirely lost in the failure of a bank in Guayaquil, a failure brought
about by the fraudulent dealing of an Englishman. For the remainder of his life he
was dependent upon the all-too-scanty pension allowed him by the British, and latterly
the Indian, Government. It is some consolation to think that, to him, his work brought
its own reward. OSWALD H. EVANS.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES.
THE Royal Anthropological Institute has arranged an exhibit at the Imperial TtL
International Exhibition at Shepherds Bush illustrating certain features in the I U
life of primitive man, with particular reference to the " Stone Age " peoples, prehistoric
and contemporary. One show case is devoted to appliances used in fishing, another
to tools and the products of native industry, and a third to primitive forms of currency ;
another series of objects illustrates the survival of primitive superstitions among people
of higher culture, and a valuable series of model dolmens is also on view, together with
water-colour sketches of Oceanic peoples. The various exhibits have been lent by
various Fellows of the Institute, and were arranged by a sub-committee appointed by
the Council of the Institute. In connection with the exhibit is an Anthropometric
Bureau, and it is hoped that some interesting statistics will be secured through its
agency. But the chief object is to show how the measurement of physical and mental
characteristics is performed, and to illustrate the value of anthropometry as a reliable
test of physical deterioration and progress. In the bureau at the exhibition measure-
ments are made of weight, stature, head dimensions, breadth of shoulders, and other
physical characters, but the most interesting feature is the installation of mental
measurements, which has been arranged under the direction of Dr. Spearman of
University College. In particular may be mentioned the measurement of perseveration
by means of a rotating colour-disc, and measurement of attention by McDougall's
*' spot-pattern " apparatus. The correlation of these characters with occupation and
other data entered on the schedules will be possible when a sufficient number of
persons have been measured.
THE death is announced of Miss E. S. Wolfe, Fellow of the Royal Anthropological
Institute since 1881. Miss Wolfe left a large fortune, the great bulk of which is to be
divided amongst certain scientific and charitable institutions. Under her will the Royal
Anthropological Institute will receive the generous bequest of £1,000.
AN exhibition has been arranged at the British Museum of some of the more important
objects collected among the Bushongo (Bakuba) people of the Congo Free State by the
expedition under the leadership of Mr. E. Torday, which left England in 1907. These
objects comprise chiefly specimens of wood-carving and fibre-cloth, of a quality
surpassing anything yet collected in Africa ; in particular, two portrait statues of chiefs,
who ruled at the end of the eighteenth century, are the most remarkable specimens of
indigenous art yet discovered in that continent. The expedition is expected to arrive
home early in October.
Printed by EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE, LTD., His Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, E.G.
PLATE I— J.
MAN, 1909.
STRING NETS OF THE XVII DYNASTY.
1909.] MAN. [No. 76.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Egypt : Archaeology. With Plate I— J. Petrie.
String Nets of the XVII Dynasty. By W. M. Flinders Petrie,
F.R.S., F.B.A.
The past winter's work of the British School in Egypt has widened our know-
ledge in various ways. At Thebes much search was made in the northern valleys,
hitherto neglected, and one untouched burial of the XVII dynasty was found. This
is perhaps the most varied and rich burial ever brought from Egypt, and it will be
preserved as an entire group in the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh. The body
was in a single coffin painted with wings, in blue and gold. Upon the neck was a
gold collar of four rows of small gold rings, about 400 in a row. It was fastened
by a gold pin slipping through four small eyelets on each end of the collar, which
fitted together alternately. On each arm were two gold armlets just below the elbow.
Around the waist was an electrum girdle, copied from a Nubian type made of seeds
and leather. The whole jewellery weighs half a pound avoirdupois, the largest group
of gold work that has left Egypt.
Outside the coffin lay a row of jars in string nets, just as they had been brought
hanging from a stick. Only two or three examples of these nets were yet known,
in the Cairo Museum. They vary from two to four parallel strings, each knotted
with every string it crosses. The perfect regularity of the work shows how advanced
the makers were in string working (see PI. I — J). Two pouches with loop handles lay
in the coffin, made of bead net-work, which was unknown before. A very rare
object was a blue marble bowl with figures of four apes, their tails curving round to
form the base. The furniture was of usual forms but fine quality. A chair is very
accurately made, and still has the string seat complete. Stools, a head-rest, a decorated
horn for scent, baskets, and vases of alabaster and obsidian complete this fine group.
Other work was done on the cemetery of the XI dynasty, many dozens of dated
skulls were obtained and measured, a long inscription gave further detail of the
conquest of Egypt at that time, and the pottery was fully studied and the dates of
various types settled. Of the same age a small temple was explored on the mountain,
1,200 feet high. It proved to be for the worship of the Osirified King Sankh-ka-ra,
and to have contained his seated figure as Osiris and the cenotaph which represented
his past mortality while he still ruled on earth as a god. This illustrates the Egyptian
conception of the deified ruler, modified from the time when he was actually slain.
Other results at Thebes are historical rather than anthropological.
At Memphis the main work was clearing the palace of King Apries, of about 580 B.C.
It covered two acres, the whole of which we dug out to 10 or 15 feet, the largest
clearance anywhere in Egypt this year. The capitals and drums of columns showed
that it had been 40 feet high in the central court, and 50 feet high in the north court.
The plan is the first yet obtained of an Egyptian palace, showing it to have been on
the same scale as the great Assyrian palaces. Beside much scale armour and bronzes,
a fine piece of silver fitting with gold face of Hathor was found in the palace. As
many of the walls descend far below the floor of Apries, it is probable that the mound,
50 feet high, consists of the earlier palace ruins. The sculptures of an earlier gateway
of the palace were found, thrown aside in the fosse. This gate was 20 feet high and
7 feet wide on either side, sculptured with six great scenes of the investiture of the
crown prince, of the most delicate low-relief work.
Many more terra-cotta heads of foreigners were obtained, Spanish, Greek, Jewish,
Kurd, and others, like those found last year. The office of the school is at University
College, London, where intending students can apply or subscriptions be sent for the
publications. W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE.
[ 1*9 J
No. 77.] MAN. [1909.
Ceylon : Religion. Selig-mann.
Note on the "Bandar" Cult of the Kandyan Sinhalese. By C. G. ~1~1
Seligmann, M.D. I I
In a paper on the ".Vedda Cult of the Dead," published in the Transactions oj
the Third International Congress for the History of Religions, I alluded to the
practice prevalent among the Kandyan Sinhalese, that is of the Sinhalese of the central
portion of the island, of canonising important men soon after their death and making
offerings to their spirits, who are invoked to protect from evil and send good fortune.
Such canonised spirits are known as Bandar, and Mr. H. Parker, late of the
Irrigation Department, who has devoted special attention to this subject, wriles that
he has the names of considerably more than 100. " Some are included in the list as
" important ancestors ; others, the majority, because of their power ; others because
" of their cruelty or their sudden violent death. They are all classed as Yakas by the
" Sinhalese and are generally hurtful ; but some have certain protective functions, and
" protect cattle and cocoanut trees and crops."
The object of this note is to draw attention to certain features of this cult, and
to give the invocation used in seeking success and protection from sickness from
Kosgama Bandar, who appears to have attained distinction on account of his violent
death, inflicted by order of the Sinhalese King. The invocation of Kosgama Bandar
was obtained from one Tissahami the Arachi (headman), of Potuliyadde, a jungle
settlement in Uva Province. Tissahami is one of a line of spirit dancers (Sin.
kapurale\ his great grandfather having been a Vedda shaman. Although this man's
descendants intermarried with the local Sinhalese and adopted the Sinhalese mode of
life, one man at least in each generation continued to act as spirit dancer, and the
father of the Arachi was a spirit dancer and wederale (native doctor) of some note.
The Arachi, now a man of between forty and fifty, exerts a great deal of influence
over the peasants in his neighbourhood, who all recognise that he is more or less in
constant communication with the spirits, to which fact his neighbours attribute much
of his success. In this manner was explained the quickness with which he recently
learnt blacksmith's work. I soon discovered that he was handier, quicker, more
intelligent, and very much less respectful of established authority than the majority of
the peasant Sinhalese with whom we came in contact.
Kosgama Bandar lived in the eighteenth century or earlier at Kosgama. He
refused to pay tribute to the king, and probably headed a rebellion, which was quickly
put down. He was betrayed by an adherent whom he trusted, and was tied to a tree
and shot to death with arrows. He is now said to be especially helpful in litigation
and in recovering lost cattle ; but, in fact, he is of assistance in every way.
In order that some of the references contained in the invocation may be clear
it is necessary to point out that the dead are faced by the initial difficulty of com-
municating with the living. They have no power to appear to them in dreams or
visions, and, indeed, can only make their desires known in the first instance by
causing sickness or by means of certain animals. It seemed that the spirits usually
adopted the latter expedient, the animal being a " sending," and the rank of the
deceased being indicated roughly by the animal sent, in which, however, the spirit
of the deceased is not immanent. The lion is said to be the highest ; then comes the
elephant ; the leopard indicates the spirit of a rather less exalted person.
Before the dead can manifest their power in this manner or in any way
interfere in human affairs they must obtain the permission of one or more high gods
of whom the most important is Skanda, one of the four guardian deities of Ceylon,
*' the Kataragam God " as he is called by the jungle dwelling Sinhalese, on account
of the position of his famous temple. How the spirit obtains this permission is not
clear, but I was told that the early signs of the power of the deceased are always
[ 130 ]
1909.]
MAN.
[No. 77,
in some way connected with the Kataragam God, and when Kosgama became a
Bandar, a leopard sent by him rode round the Kataragam temple on the back of
one of the god's bulls, i.e., one of the tavilam bulls, bringing provisions and salt
to the temple.
Having once obtained permission from the Kataragam God to accept offerings
and to help or injure men, the spirit indicates his desire to be reverenced as a Bandar
at a shamanistic ceremony which is held when the doings of the " sending," or
other mysterious events, suggest that one of the dead is trying to communicate with
the living. A spirit-dancer then invokes the new Bandar and becomes possessed by
him, and the Bandar, speaking through the dancer, explains fully who he is, how
he should be invoked, what offerings should be made to him, and the benefits that
he will confer in return.
I am indebted to Mr. Parker for the following transliteration and translation of
the invocation to Kosgama Bandar. Two words. Kiteyita in the sixteenth verse
and Kitula in the seventeenth and eighteenth are left untranslated ; several mistakes
were made in writing down the song and afterwards corrected and there may be
uncorrected mistakes in these words. Explanatory remarks are enclosed in [ ],
words inserted in order to make sense are in ( ).
1. Vldd gamadln pdjm e knttiyaya
Numudd Inapita tiyeyi kirittlyaya
Sudd nan asu pita saraslcciyaya
Vlddgamardlata sadiwlccya
2. Kosgamardlaga nisi Atapattu
Dura yanawd daeha Ian karagattu
Rakas klyanneta Ian karagattu
RaJias poledl sadl karagattu
3. Ran kandata Id kanda dlya nawdpii
Pas katu sandunem dara ekltarapu
Patkada munata waesun wasapu
Kosgama ran kanda mele sadawapu
4. Ran kanda malakada diya ndwdld
Sandun kapuru pinldlya ekkarald
Ran saluwak gena muna wasdld
Kosgama ran kanda dawati dqddld
5. Aendami sangalak yakun natanneta
Baendami patlya ina sayl wennata
Paenneml Kola(m.)batt saraba uganneta
Waendaml Kosgama raja waslnneti
6. Wele aetun wela muda nawatanne
Male ba(m)baru lesa senaga ddanne
Pele bohoma dura sita pawatinne
Sale himdayi Kosgama deciyanne
7. Nd gaga nd ruka nd sewunaele
Bo gasa bo ruka bo gewunaele
Tunbo-atthana atu sewunaele
Maenik rajdge pufu sewunaele
8. Ma&nikak sorakan karapu lit. bandiya
Sorakan nokalot nowatlyi bandiya
Ridi makd wata bubulu paelaendiya
Maenik raja allan ran bondiya.
9. Maenik rajdge nlnda kaeleyd
Andd bambaru ran ganiti inuleyd
Mata wicarak aeyi anadu kaleyd
Maenik rajoyi naduwak nolabeyd
10. Maenik konata baendl lesata wipulld
Anik yakun desa no bana siyalld
Sonikkiyata karakaewena siyalld
Maenik raja waenda ganinnt siyalld
11. Maeniken ipadunu tedaya asanne
Anikut yakkuta sarune karanne
Hanlkata tun Iowa dlwas balanne
Maenik rajo uda buwane enne
12. Palingu maenik yasane satapenne
Palingu maenik dlwa salu palandinne
Palingu maenik male palandinne
Palingu maenik ran kadu wadaranne
13. Maenik baendapu putuwe waeda inne
Maenik baendapu jaya wewaela aeraganne
Maenik baendapu ran bondl daranne
Maenik rajd uda buwanen enne
14. Kataragamata waenda paenald kala wirlya
ahapanne
Gonuge pitata dm nangd maluwa maedata
wadlminne
Maluwa maedata ivaeda-mowald teda ana-
naka pennanne
Mewan tedati Kosgama Devi ganan gamuwa
waedi inne
15. Awipatayindud depatayl Kosgamardlaga
waliye
Disd fiatayima dill patayi Kosgamardlaga
waliye
Bubulu liaetayl bondl haetayl e allana ran
pall ye
Glnl kukulayl panduru haetayl e Ntlat
tawa baeriye
16. Ahashe taru kelineyl kiteyi td taru yata
liimlnda eteijl
Polowe waell kelineyl kiteyi td waeli yata
kiminda eteyi
131 ]
No. 77.] MAN. [1909.
Mude raela kelineyi kiteyi td raela yata
kiminda eteyi
Kosgama Den wadineyi maduwa^a balanda
Den wadineyi
17. Allana kaduwa mini bandala tiyennd
Dorakoda kitula ran bandala tiyennd
Maeniken pdnage aeti tiyennd
Kosgamardla yasane nidi pennend
18. Allana kaduwa mini baenduwdt boruyi
Dorakoda kitula ran baenduwdt boruyi
Maeniken pdnage aewilenawdt boruyi
Kosgamardla yaxane nidi et boruyi
19. Ran manden bat kdld tiyennd
Ran kendiyen diya bild tiyennd
Maeniken pdnage aewiti tiyennd
Kosgamardla yasane nidi penennena.
1. The crime at Kosgama, that deed
Done to Vidagamarala,
Who had a never-removed kris at his waist-belt,
And was accoutred on a horse called "white."
2. The base Atapattu of Kosgamarala
Having seen him going from afar called him near ;
To confer secretly he called him near ;
In that secret place he behaved treacherously [i.e., seized him and handed him
over to the King].
3. Having placed gold on the body [? in the mouth], the body was washed with
water,
Five parcels of sandal-wood, and firewood, were collected,
A piece of cloth was placed as a covering for the face ;
The golden body of Kosgama in this way was made ready [for cremation].
4. They washed impurities from the golden body ;
They collected sandal, camphor, and perfume ;
They brought a golden cloth and covered the face ;
And having wept they burn the golden body of Kosgama.
5. I dressed (as though) for dancing to a couple of Yakas ;
I tied on my belt in order to contract my waist ;
I bounded to Colombo to learn (to jump like) a grasshopper ;
I (then) paid obeisance for the Kosgama king to dwell here.
6. In the paddy field the tusk elephants, pleased with the field, are stopping ;
Like bambara on the golden flower the multitude are crying.
The family descends [lit. continues] from very distant (times) ;
The power of the Kosgama God is great.
7. (Like being) in the Na shadow of the Na tree, the Na tree ;
(Like being) in the Bo shadow of the Bo tree, the Bo tree ;
(Like being) in the shadow of the branches of the Thorn-apple ;
(Is being) in the shadow of the seat, of the Gem King.
8. The bracelet (bandiya) is a gem which it is said was stolen.
If it were not stolen it would be of no value, the bracelet ;
It is ornamented round with silver bosses,
The golden bracelet which the Gem King carries.
9. Having gone to the jungle owned by the Gem King,
Having hummed [lit. cried] the bambara take pollen from the flowers.
Why should he behave unjustly to me only ?
There is no gain in a law suit against the Gem King.
10. Like a gem fixed at the end [of the spire of a dagoba~] is the Great One
In the direction of the other Yakas not a sound is heard ;
Speedily all turn away [the new God having supplanted them].
Let us all worship the Gem King.
[ 132 ]
1909,] MAN. [No. 77,
11. They hear of the power derived from the gem,
And he makes the other Yakas hasten away.
Quickly he looks at the three worlds with his divine eyes ;
The Gem King comes through the sky.
12. He sleeps on the couch set with crystal gems ;
He wears a divine cloth adorned with crystal gems ;
He wears a necklace of crystal gems ;
He carries a golden sword set with crystal gems ;
13. He is seated on the gem-set chair ;
He takes a cane of victory set with gems ;
He carries a golden bracelet set with gems ;
The Gem King comes (thus) from the sky [lit. upper abode].
14. Hear of his prowess done when he came [lit. jumped] down to worship at
Kataragama,
While the leopard, having mounted on the back of the bull, was going to "the
middle of the enclosure.
By causing it to come to the middle of the enclosure he shows his power.
The Kosgama God who possesses such powers as these visits [lit. is present
at] a number of villages.
15. There is two-fold prosperity at the (festival) day of Kosgamarala ;
There are (people with) brilliant silk clothes from even seven districts (present)
on the (festival) day.
There are sixty bosses and sixty ornamental rings round them [lit. bondi —
fetters] on the golden shield that he carries.
Cannot (you give) more than a red cock [lit. fire (coloured) cock] and fsixty
offerings for the Chief ?
16. The stars gambol in the sky, ... he will dive beneath the stars.
The sand gambols on the earth, ... he will dive beneath the sand.
The waves gambol on the sea, ... he will dive beneath the waves.
The Kosgama God comes to the maduwa, the God comes to look (at the
offerings).
17. Bells are fixed on the sword he holds;
Gold is overlaid on ... his doorway ;
His lamp receives its light from gems ;
Kosgamarala sleeps on his couch.
18. It is untrue that bells have been fixed on the sword he holds ;
It is untrue that gold has been overlaid on ... his doorway ;
It is untrue that there is any shining of his lamp from gems ;
It is also untrue that Kosgamarala sleeps on his couch.
19. (His) rice has been eaten off (his) golden plate ;
(His) water has been drunk out of (his) golden drinking pot ;
There has been shining of his lamp from gems ;
Kosgamarala has slept on his couch.
1, line 3. — Mr. Parker points out that the kris dates from ancient times in Ceylon.
" I found the greater part of a blade of apparently pre-Christian Age at Tissa (Southern
" Province). There is a true Sinhalese weapon of this type, the itiya, a sort of
" assegai, which has similar bends in the blade, and there is a spear in the British
" Museum with a wavy blade." My field interpreter simply translated "hunting-
knife."
2, line 1. — Atapattu, an official title.
[ 133 ]
Nos. 77-78,] MAN. [1909.
5. — This verse describes the preparations made by the spirit dancer in order that
he may do his part worthily.
6, line 1. — Tifesahami explained that the elephants of the deceased became
possessed by his spirit, but Mr. Parker considers this line refers to the people being
too full of grief to drive the wild elephants out of their fields.
6, line 2. — Bambara is the rock bee (Apis indica) ; the sound of weeping is
compared to the humming of many bees.
8, line 1. — Mr. Parker writes : "the meaning of bandiya is doubtful, there were
" sixty among the decorations of the shield described in verse 15 ; these might be
" raised riugs round each of the bosses on it."
8, line 2. — The stealing of the gem refers to a legend of which my informants did
not know the details. It seemed that this line referred to a gem by the aid of which
the future might be predicted ; for some cause the gem lost its lustre and power.
9, line 3. — Mr. Parker writes : " This line means that he will treat all alike,
" but in any case it is useless to quarrel with him."
14. — This verse refers to the deeds by which Kosgama manifested his desire to
be treated as a Bandar.
15, line 4. — The usual meaning of glni kukula at the present day is "guinea-fowl,"
but this is inapplicable in the invocation.
16, line 4. — The maduwa is the bower-like structure to which the yaku are
called when they are invoked.
18. — This verse consists of the remarks of an imaginary doubting listener, and
the words " it is untrue " mean no more than " is it really true ? "
19. — This verse answers the doubter ; further details are given, and the last two
lines reiterate two of the statements on which doubt has been cast.
C. G. SELIGMANN.
Sociology : Exogamy. Lang.
Exogamy. By A. Lang.
The problem of exogamy is always with us, and will be revived by
Mr. Frazer's forthcoming book. I have been obliged to look into the question again,
and especially to examine the papers by Mr. .Crawley and Mr. Thomas in the
Festschrift for Mr. Tylor (Anthropological Essays). I note that Mr. Crawley
(pp. 51, 52) quotes Mr. Atkinson's views (Primal Law) from a summary by
Mr. Thomas. Where Mr. Thomas gave it we are not told, nor do I know. " This rule "
(no marriage for the offspring of the " Cyclopean " sire) " crystallised into an instinct."
" This," says Mr. Crawley, truly, " is a psychological impossibility " (p. 52). But
where did my cousin say that the impossibility occurred ?
Mr. van Gennep attributed the same opinion about an " instinct " to Mr. Atkinson
in Mythes et Legendes d'Australie, p. 116, note 2). I then re-read Mr. Atkinson's
Primal Law, and could find therein no such assertion. Mr. Thomas (in Kinship and
Marriage in Australia, p. 65) summarises Mr. Atkinson's view thus: "This
" law .... came in the process of time to be a traditional rule of conduct,
" almost an instinct." Mr. Atkinson regarded it as " a traditional rule of conduct."
That he said " an instinct " is a statement which I could not verify, and I wish that
instinct made us give exact references to an author's own work.
Mr. Crawley seeks " a sounder psychology " in a book by Mr. Havelock Ellis,
which I never saw. There is " a normal failure of the pairing instinct in the case of
" brothers and sisters, or of boys and girls brought up together from infancy. The
44 sensory stimuli of vision, hearing, and touch have been dulled by use," and " deprived
" of their potency to arouse the erethistic excitement," and so forth. Yes, in civilised
family life, but not in savage life, where the brothers and sisters are kept apart and
[ 134 ]
1909.] MAN. [No. 78.
have rules of avoidance, which romance calls on them to break, making their situation
most stimulative.
Mr. Thomas writes, in the same book (p. 345), " as Mr. Lang has pointed out, if
" there is one thing more than another which should promote incest, on this theory,
" it is the separation of brothers and sisters long before puberty, which is such a
" characteristic feature of some primitive societies .... we are entitled to ask
" why the custom of brother and sister avoidance arose at all if it removed the greatest
" safeguard against incest," namely, constant familiarity from infancy. " If hearth-
" mates develop an instinct " (I do not adopt the phrase) " against sexual relations
" with each other, it would be unnecessary to separate brothers and sisters for reasons
" of sex ; and it would never occur to anyone to propose that they should be separated
u to provide against non-existent dangers."
Mr. Crawley, I think, will reply that they were separated for some mystic reason
of " sexual tabou," but the obvious explanation is that of Mr. Thomas. Mr. Crawley
also explains " the legal prohibition " against adelphic unions as rising from " a naive
" desire to, as it were, assist nature, to affirm what is normal," to bolt a bricked-up
door. But this does not explain separation and avoidance.
But why prohibit marriages of non-consanguineous " brothers and sisters " in the
phratry, people in mere social classificatory relationships ? " It is due to tribal solidarity
" and is engineered by identity of names " (p. 54). I would say " due to the idea
that all persons in the phratry are, by now, legally akin."
Mr. Howitt's theory, or at all events Mr. Frazer's, is that we have every right
to assume that " the founders of exogamy in Australia " (who legislated merely to
prevent consanguineous marriages) " recognised the classificatory system of relationships,
" and the classificatory system only " (Folklore, June 30, 1904, p. 177). But
before the "reform," before the phratriac division produced its effects, where were the
classificatory relationships which alone the reformers of consanguineous relationships
recognised ? Either they did not exist and could not be recognised, or must not all
members of the tribe, of a certain status, have been classificatory or tribal brothers
and sisters ? If so the reformers had to bar the marriages of all of them, within the
tribe, make the tribe exogamous, and find another intermarrying and exogamous tribe,
to be the other phratry. If so no exogamous partition was made within the tribe ; two
tribes made alliance and connubium, which is practically my own theory.
Mr. Crawley does not believe in the reformatory division of the tribe. He appears,
however, not to observe that, on Mr. Atkinson's theory, the members of his original
Cyclopean family were under greater temptations than those of Mr. Havelock Ellis's
family, who are brought up in constant familiarity between boys and girls ; for
Mr. Atkinson postulates hostility between all his groups. Boys and girls, to-day,
meet plenty of others, not of their own family, and the superior attractions of these
act as lightning conductors of the sexual emotions. The Cyclopean brothers and sisters
having no such distractions, would most certainly have gone the way of all flesh had
the sire not expelled the boys.
I am not wholly wedded to Mr. Atkinson's very ingenious theory, for really we
do not know the manners of truly primitive man. But I do think that if, from
scarcity of supplies., he lived in tiny family groups, with hostile neighbours — no
accessible lightning conductors — the seniors would forbid to the juniors love-affairs
within their circle, for these meant the cutting of fraternal throats by fraternal flints ;
blood feuds round the hearth, and the ruin of the party.
Mr. Crawley begins with " two friendly fire circles, consisting each of father,
mother, and one or more children." The children marry out of their own family, for
they are biases to the attractions of their brothers and sisters, and into the other
family, and " the two connected families will keep together." If round the same
L 135 ]
No. 78.] MAN. [1909,
hearth, the children will become blasts, on this theory, I fear, but they seem not to
have the same hearth (p. 56). Moreover, given one family, apparently isolated, and
by nature exogamous, whence came the other two families ? Where did the children
pick up mates ? Are all families in the region on friendly terms all round ? If so,
why are only two families posited as the result of the one family ? There might
be half a dozen. If we only knew who the original two parents were, how they met,
and so on, it would be easier to understand. I do not understand the provenance of the
original family, which itself was an union of members of two families. If they have
only three sons, three families and the original family co-exist, and thus I do not see
why the intermarrying was always on a dual system. The supposed original dual
family took women from other groups, and vice versd, I suppose, so we have, in
fact, many families intermarrying, not eternal intermarriage between descendants of
the original two families only. It may be due to my want of imagination, but I keep
wondering who the parents of the one original family were, and whence they came
together, unless we start with Adam and Eve. Even so, Cain and Abel must have
married their sisters, faute de mieux.
Mr. Crawley anticipates the question, " Why should they " (the two original
families) "continue to marry?" and he answers, "Why not?" Why not, indeed?
The question is why, if families all around are friendly, and if they are hostile, had
not the founder of the first family, the source of the other two, to fight for his mate ?
Mr. Crawley thinks that he had not, " all the facts tend to show that primitive man
" relied for his wives on friendly arrangements as a rule." Well, if there were several
friendly families within a walking distance, or even two families, there is no reason why
Mr. Crawley's two families should for ever continue to intermarry, and make a solid
system out of the arrangement, the phratry system, all but universal in Australia.*
Either Mr. Crawley or Mr. Frazer seem to differ on a point of fact. Mr. Crawley
says, " The children of two brothers may not marry " (intermarry) " nor the children
" of two sisters. The children of a brother and sister may " (p. 57). Mr. Frazer
says " .... the system was devised .... to prevent the marriage of
" a man's children with his sister's children" {Folklore, ut supra, p. 178). These
must be different systems, and each needs explanation.
I do not dwell on other points in which I think Mr. Crawley has misunderstood
me, as I certainly do not understand his theory. It " excludes from an unwarranted
" pre-eminence the system of totemism," but does it account for one totem to one
totem marriage ? Probably it does by simply supposing both of the two original
families to have, somehow, got a totem. But, as has been said, I do not see why
these two families, now duck and dog, continued to intermarry exclusively, and then
gave up their exclusiveness, as they have done, except among the tribes from the
northern Urabunna to the Barkinji.
Mr. Thomas, contrary to both Mr. Atkinson and Mr. Crawley, supposes " fatber-
" daughter aversion, expulsion of the young females, temporary exit of the young males,
" and then later return with brides from another group " {Anthropological Essays, p. 553).
The expelled young males would easily pick up expelled young females ! " In
" the expulsion of one set of females and the introduction of another we have the
" principle of exogamy ; and if we suppose that only two communities were within
" such distance of each other, we have the simplest possible form of exogamy, the
" intermarriage of two and only two groups." Surely there is but sketchy evidence
for father-daughter aversion in the higher mammals, only that of the Khirgiz and
* Mr. Crawley says " the phratry names are usually unintelligible." Out of fifty-eight known
to Mr. Thomas, " nineteen can be translated with certainty, and one can guess at the meaning of
some half a dozen more " (Thomas, p. 53). It is long odds that the unknown forty, roughly speaking,
are of the same sort as the known score.
[ 136 ]
1909.]
MAN.
[Nos. 78-79.
Aristotle (Anthropological Essays, pp. 349, 350), for semi-tame horses and for tame
camels. Two and only two families within accessible distance is also an improbable
postulate, which (Anthropological Essays, p. 206) makes it hard to understand one
totem to one totem marriages ; these, as Mr. Thomas says, " are verifiable but
unverified" (Howitt, Native Tribes of South-East Australia, pp. 189-194, Spencer
and Gillen, Central Tribes, p. 60, and note L, Northern Tribes, p. 71).
Verily we have not solved the puzzle of exogamy, and now I hear from South
Australia, that some tribes have exogamous phratries, the children taking the name
which is not that of the parent's phratry ! A. LANG.
India : Archaeology. Seton-Karr.
Some recent Indian Palaeolithic Implements. By H. W. Seton-Karr.
Four implements are figured from the valley of the Penaar River running into
the Bay of Bengal to the north of Madras. They were recently picked up by a
native whom I taught to look
for palaeolithic implements and
forwarded by him at the begin-
ning of the year. I found other
examples myself of these types
in the same district, but these
are so symmetrical that the form
and intention are clearly shown.
H. W. SETON-KARR.
[ 137 ]
No. 80.] MAN. [1909.
REVIEWS.
Africa, East. Weule.
JVissenschqftliche Ergebnisse meiner ethnographischen Forschungsreise in
den Siidosten Deutsch-Ostafrikas. Von Dr. Karl Weule, Direktor des Mu-
seums fiir Volkerkunde und Professor an der Universitat zu Leipzig. (Mitteilungen
aus den deutschen Schutzgebieten. Ergaozuugsheft, No 1.) Berlin: Mittler, 1908.
Pp. x + 150. 33 x 25 cm. Price, 3 marks.
The scene of Dr. Weule's researches during the latter half of 1906 was the
region comprised between the Lukuledi and the Rovuma, the greater part of which
is occupied by the Makonde Plateau. Here, owing to the wars and wanderings of
Several generations, the slave trade, and the settlements of freed slaves at the mission
stations, the population is, as so often in Africa, of an extremely mixed character.
It is, however, so far as one can tell, a mixture of indigenous stocks. No extraneous
elements would appear to have been imported beyond the fraction of Arab blood
(whatever that may amount to) contributed by the Swahilis from the coast. The
oldest inhabitants seem to be the Makonde, who are closely allied to, if not identical
except in name with, the Mavia on the otber side of the Rovuma, and also to the
Wamaraba on the coast near Mikindani. The Makua, driven from their homes in the
south by the Walongwe, and afterwards by the Angoni, impinged upon the Makonde
from the south and south-west, and a further westward immigration of Yaos took place
after this, and is still going on. Besides these, we have the Wamwera, inland from
Lindi, of whom Dr. Weule saw comparatively little ; the Wamatambwe on the Rovuma ;
a colony of freed Wanyasa (Anyanja) slaves at Masasi, and a few villages of so-called
Augoni near Nchichira.
The value of Dr. Weule's results is somewhat unequal. For the excellent
illustrations, reproduced from photographs and drawings, there can be nothing but
praise, and in all that relates to externals he may be said to have met with the success
generally obtainable by a patient and painstaking collector. But when we find how
dependent he was on interpreters and on a somewhat elementary knowledge of Swahili ;
when it is further taken into account that his expedition, even when not actually accom-
panied by a Government official, had more or less of an official character, and that
his methods, as incidentally revealed both here and in the more recently published
Negerleben in Ostafrika^' were not always of a conciliatory nature ; it is evident
that his accounts will require careful sifting. It is somewhat surprising that he
should have been allowed to see so much of the unyago festivities ; but here, too*
to a certain extent, official pressure was at work. The account of the Makua
echiputu on pp. 117-119 in particular must be received with caution. Without
pronouncing any opinion as to its inherent probability or otherwise, it is impossible
to overlook the fact that it was obtained more or less under compulsion, from a
woman detained to work out her husband's taxes. (In Negerleben, p. 371, the author
relates a further way in which he took advantage — quite unjustifiably it seems to us — of
this woman's difficulties.) The statement that her assertions were subsequently con-
firmed by another Makua scarcely by itself sufficient evidence in a case of this sort.
Our confidence in Dr. Weule is not increased by occasional indications of an
a priori attitude towards his subject, as when he says, " Schon das Vorkommen der
" Gesichtsmaske in Ostafrika wirkt befremdend." Why ? It is only a further develop-
ment from the animal masks used in the Chinyau (= Yao, unyago) dance of the
Mang'anja and Achewa (see Foa, Traversee de VAfrique, p. 40, and the illustration),
which, again, strongly suggests the nadro of the Bushmen as figured in their rock-
paintings and described in the traditions preserved by Stow and others. From the use of
* Unless, indeed, we are to suppose that the latter contains a certain admixture of "yarns "to
support its character as a light and popular work. We own to suspicions of one or two passages.
[ 138 ]
1909.] MAN. [No. 80.
actual heads to that of wicker or wooden masks imitating them is but a step (cf. Scott,
Matig^anja Dictionary ; " The masks are made of maperi [i.e., maize or sorghum] stalks
peeled and strung together, or of wood, or earth, or skins)." Both human and animal
masks are represented in Dr. Weule's collection, so that the further transition is
illustrated without difficulty. Of special interest is No. 2, Plate 21, described as
" Tanzmaske der Makonde, den Hasen darstelleud." We might here have a clue
which, if followed up, would help us to understand the position of the Hare in Bantu
folk-tales, and perhaps, ultimately, in Bantu mythology. But in the text it seems to
be classed among the Shetani or " devil " masks, of which no very satisfactory account
is given. They are all horned and bearded ; the names (if really current, and not
merely used by Swahili-speaking natives in their explanations to Dr. Weule) must be
imported ; whether the form is likewise primitive or modified in accordance with
imported ideas we cannot know without further inquiry. He remarks that in the mask
in question, which, unlike the others, is entirely white, the horns rather resemble hare's
ears, and therefore it is possible that " diese Maske in der Tat den Reinecke Fuchs
" Afrikas, niimlich den Sungura, darstellt." Dr. Weule assumes that Moslem influence
is out of the question here, because Islam forbids plastic representations. Whether his
conclusion be right or not his argument will hardly hold, for all Moslem countries are
not equally orthodox in this respect — cf. what is said by M. Bel {La Population Musul-
mane de Tlemcen) as to the religious pictures found in Algerian marabouts' shrines.
Another instance of a dangerous inclination to a priori judgments occurs on p. 114.
Speaking of secret societies, Dr. Weule says he had hitherto thought this institution
inconceivable in East Africa (fur Ostafrika einfach undenkbar), and still does not
believe in its existence among the Makonde. It is a somewhat rash conclusion to
arrive at after a stay of a few weeks. The Nyasaland Yaos have an organisation called
seketera, of which my informant discovered the existence after eight years' residence
in the country without the slightest suspicion of such a thing. Moreover, it may be
doubted whether the stilt-dance is quite so isolated a phenomenon as our author thinks.
Mr. Sutherland Rattray (Chinyanja Folklore, p. 179) speaks of it as part of the ordeals
undergone by men initiated into the secret society connected with the Chinyau. It
must be remembered, too, that we know little or nothing concerning the initiation and
allied ceremonies of the Bemba, Lunda, Luba, and other peoples west of Nyasa.
In the section on toys and games (pp. 91-95) we think that the author's generali-
sations as to the absence of organised games (though this is not so clearly stated as in
the Negerleben) and lack of enthusiasm in play are a little too sweeping. It is difficult
to identify the passage quoted from Livingstone in support of his view, especially as
no reference is given. The nearest we can find is Last Journals, II, 227 : " In many
" parts one is struck by the children having so few games. Life is a serious business,
" and amusement is derived from imitating the vocations of the parents — hut building,
" making little gardens, bows and arrows, shields and spears. Elsewhere boys are very
" ingenious little fellows, and have several games ; they also shoot birds with bows
" and teach captured linnets to sing " — going on to enumerate various other toys and
pastimes. It cannot be said that this is fairly represented by " Schon Livingstone klagt
" vor einem Menschenalter iiber die sichtliche Langweile, ja man mochte sagen die
" Blasirtheit mit der die Wanyamwezikinder sich in Strasse und Hof herumdriickten ;
" nichts von Begeisterung, nichts von der alles vergessenden Hingabe wie sie unseren
" Kindern so erbeigentiimlich ist." This may seem a trifle, but such looseness of
quotation scarcely inspires confidence.
We see no necessity for Dr. Weule's assumption that the two forms of top figured
in Plate 28 (Figs. 8, 9, and 10) are necessarily borrowed from Europe. The nanguli
and nagogo, large whipping-tops, described by the Rev. D. C. Scott (see Mang'anja
Dictionary, s.v.) eighteen or twenty years ago can hardly have taken root during the
[ 139 ]
Nos. 80-81.] MAN. [1909.
short interval which had elapsed since the establishment of the mission in 1875,
and the Yao top (No. 10), though similar in principle to our humming-top, has the
peg for winding the string below instead of above, and may well have been evolved
on the spot. With regard to the " diabolo," Dr. Weule seems to have overlooked the
passage in Cameron's Across Africa (II, 91), which is quite sufficient to dispose of his
theory. As to his so-called " telephone," it resembles a small kind of friction-drum, and
we should not be surprised to learn that the use ascribed to it by Dr. Weule was an
after-thought, possibly suggested by some European.
Dr. Weule's linguistic collections are, we understand, being examined and analysed
by Professor Meinhof, and will doubtless see the light later on. But we own that
the specimens given here and in . Negerleben do not encourage us to hope for any
great additions to Bantu linguistics. The Yao ndondosha song on p. 103 is unintelli-
gible without considerable correction of the text. Ya chimwene, for instance, should
probably be achimwene, " chief," and the translation overlooks the fact that ndondosha
(as apparent from the pronouns) is in the plural throughout. We doubt whether
kuilulu wakonawe could mean "the girl from Ilulu" ; wakonowe is certainly a plural.
The ndondosha, by-the-bye, deserves further investigation ; it is a " fetch " similar
to the Zulu umkovu, a corpse resuscitated by wizards for their own ends.
The phonograph records of native melodies brought back by Dr. Weule have been
treated by the Psychological Institute of the Berlin University, under the superinten-
dence of Dr. Von Hornbostel. They have, however, been the subject of a lengthened
controversy carried on in the pages of Globus — see also Dr. Von Hornbostel's article
in the last number of Anthropos — into which, fortunately, we need not enter here.
A. WERNER.
Religions. Marett.
The Threshold of Religion. By R. R. Marett, M.A. London : Methuen, Q4
1909. Pp. xix + 173. 19 x 13 cm. Price 3s. 6d. 01
The avowed object of these collected papers is critical and classificatory. Mr*
Marett is not alone in thinking that animism, as a master key, fails to unlock several
doors of the crypt of religious origins.
In the first of these suggestive papers he inquires whether there may have been
some religious feeling or thought previous to or back of animism. The type of the
latter he finds in the spirits of the dead. To the question : " How came an animistic
" colour to be attached to a number of things not primarily or obviously connected with
" death and the dead ? " he answers, that " in response to ... the emotions of
" Awe, Wonder, and the like, . . . there arises in the region of human thought a
" powerful impulse to objectify and even personify the mysterious or 'supernatural'
" something felt, and in the region of will a corresponding impulse to render it
" innocuous, or better still propitious, by force of constraint, communion, or conciliation.
" Supernaturalism, then, as this universal feeling taken at its widest and barest may
" be called, might, as such, be expected to prove riot only logically but also in some sense
" chronologically prior to animism, constituting, as the latter does, but a particular ideal
" embodiment of the former."
The proof, however, of this priority does not seem to be forthcoming. He quotes
some examples of awe in action where the object is vague ; but the vagueness of the
object is no proof that the attendant emotion in the subject is prior to the belief in
spirits. He speaks of such objects as Powers. " Not all Powers are ghosts and spirits,
" even if they tend to become so." In the case of a thunderstorm there is certainly no
need to presuppose a spirit ; nor is there any process from the abstract to the concrete
if such a phenomenon be prior to the development of a spirit of the storm.
But it is not clear how or why such a Power should be objectified or personified
1909.] MAN. [No. 81.
later, still less why awe should start the process of objectification or personification.
If we say that emotion is the origin of religion, well and good : there is nothing more
to say. But emotion in itself cannot produce the idea of soul or spirit, nor does it
foster their production. It apparently amounts to this : some phenomenon is
" supernatural." Why ? Because it inspires awe. Why does it inspire awe ? Because
it is supernatural.
Such emotional processes are neither prior to nor subsequent to animism. They
are parallel in time and in origin ; there is no real causal connection. The term
pre-animistic, therefore, begs the question.
There are several appeals in the course of the volume to psychology. Now the
science of mind is able to throw a flood of light on the origins of animism, and
therefore of animistic religion, but it supplies no warrant for a pre-animistic religion
of awe. It would ask, What causes the emotion ? The answer, " Anything super-
" normal, anything which defeats reasonable expectation," is no answer, because it
omits the most important part of the psychical process, all that comes between the
object and the final result (the emotion) qf the impact of object and subject. The
complete answer would explain in one formula all cases of awe in the presence of
" Powers " and all cases of recognition of spirits.
Several phrases invite psychological criticism. Such are " the horror of a human
" corpse instilled into man's heart by his instinct of self-preservation," " as regards
" delirium, epilepsy, and kindred forms of seizure, the patient's experience of
" hallucinatory images, combined with the bystanders' impression that the former is,
" as we say, ' no longer himself,' would, I think, well nigh immediately and directly
" stamp it as a case of possession by a spirit." In the latter instance, what are the
hallucinatory images of epilepsy ? and what have they to do with the patient's
possession by a spirit ?
His criticism of the Frazerian doctrine of the relation of magic and religion as
of merely abstract usefulness and reality is well argued. That the prayer is evolved
from the spell is, however, an unnecessary assumption, not to mention its apparent
yielding of the Frazerian position.
In his criticism of the theory that taboo is a negative magic, he again has
recourse to the " mystery " suggestive of awe, which he regards as the chief material
of religion. Taboo is "a mystic affair," and is a result of experience of phenomena
that are "normally abnormal." He describes it as "a negative mawa." This essay
is, perhaps, the most successful in the volume. As having nothing to do with the
genesis of spirits the theory is not handicapped from its start.
The proposal to make mana a category of comparative religion is not new, but
it is judicious. " Taboo is the negative mode of the supernatural, to which mana
" corresponds as the positive mode " ; this is a convenient formula, but the author
puts it forward as " a minimum definition of religion." In so doing he posits the
priority of the impersonal forms of the supernatural. This seems to misunderstand
the essence of animism as the doctrine of souls, not in the narrow sense of human and
humanised souls, and also to involve a process from the abstract to the concrete.
The last essay in the book treats of Comparative Religion as a branch of Sociology
and of Social Psychology. It contains some interesting criticism of various schools
and various points of view. " There seems to be good reason to respect the British
" tradition which ordains that Psychology must preside over the investigations of
" Comparative Religion." If only the presiding science were the science of the
psychologists !
The volume is full of interesting apergus. Mr. Marett's critical instrument is
keen and well manipulated, but, perhaps, does not always operate at the critical spot.
A. E. CRAWLEY.
[ HI ]
No. 82.] MAN. [1909.
Thuringia : Archaeology. Goetze.
Die vor- und fruhgeschichtlichen Altertumer Thiiringens. Herausgegeben QO
von Prof. Dr. A. Goetze, Prof. Dr. P. Hofer, San.-Rat Dr. P. Zschiesche. Mit Ofc
24 Lichtdrncktafeln und einer archaolog. Karte. Wiirzburg : Curt Kabitzsch (A.
Stubers Verlag), 1909. Pp. 466. 25 x 20cm.
Tliis stout volume with its accompanying map is the outcome of a resolution
passed by the Historical and Archreological Society of Erfurt in February 1905, that
a map should be prepared on which all the prehistoric finds in Thuringia should be
carefully marked. The work was far more troublesome than had been anticipated ;
difficulties of various kinds were encountered at every step, so that fourteen years
have passed before effect could be given to the resolution. The map, in two sheets
on a scale of 1 : 100,000, covers an area of about 75 x 68 geographical miles or
5,100 geographical square miles, and is rather less than the province of Thuringia,
although the finds belonging to the whole area are noted in the body of the volume.
Seven colours are used to indicate the different epochs to which the finds are assigned
and fourteen signs are employed to show the nature of the find, such as flat grave,
barrow, settlement, depot-find, fort, &c. To give an idea of the magnitude of the under-
taking it may be mentioned that finds from 1,260 localities, including 2,030 graves,
7,600 single objects, 237 settlements, 46 depot-finds, 198 forts, 19 workshops, and
23 menhirs, altogether about 10,000 entries or numbers are duely recorded. The bulk
of the volume is taken up by a brief description of each find arranged by places and
these according to the Kreis or Verwaltungsbezirk to which it belongs. In the left-
hand margin of each page a letter or abbreviation such as St, B, T, R, F, Slv, in
fat type, catches the eye and shows that the entry concerning the find belongs to
the Stone Age, Bronze Age, La Tene, Roman, Frankish-Merovingian or Slav Period.
The museum or collection where each object is preserved is, of course, given, and also
a reference to the work, if such exists, in which the find is recorded. The biblio-
graphy, a most useful appendix, covers no less than forty pages and is arranged in
sections according to the period of time of which the author treats. The twenty-
four plates give good photographical illustrations of 379 objects mentioned in the
text.
The preface of forty pages by Professor Goetze briefly summarises some of the
historical results that follow from the excavations and finds recorded in the volume.
As far back as the Mousterien epoch of the palaeolithic age Thuringia was inhabited
by man, who had to share the country with Elephas antiquus, the rhinoceros and the
cave-lion. Then, as in many other places, a hiatus ensued, and when man reappeared
he was no longer a savage but something of an agriculturalist, living in large com-
munities and surrounded by domestic animals. He was in touch, too, with the outer
world, for the marble arm rings, the ornaments of spondylus shell, the axes of nephrite
and jadeite, as well as a rude copper dagger from Thuringian graves, must all have
been imported. No less than seven types of neolithic pottery, most of it profusely
ornamented, are found in the province, and these are described in some detail. Dr.
Goetze purposely refrains from expressing an opinion on the relative age of the Cord-
and Band-ceramic, as it is still a moot point and still under discussion. The finds
in Thuringia give no countenance to the hypothesis that the Bronze Age was heralded
by a Copper period. The little copper that found its way into the province altered
in no respect the neolithic character of the civilisation. In fact the general mode of
life was not much changed by the substitution of metal for stone implements and one
type of stone hammer appears for the first time in the later Bronze period. At the
beginning of the Bronze Age large quantities of bronze were introduced by traders,
for as many as 297 bronze axes were found together at Bennewitz, 120 at Schkopau
and 84 sickles at Bedra. There is no proof as yet that the copper ores of the Hartz
[ 142 ]
1909.] MAN. [Nos. 82-83.
and the Thnringian forest were worked at so early a period. In exchange for the
bronze the Thuringians probably gave salt, in which the country bounds.
In the latter Bronze Age, corresponding on the whole with the fourth period of
Montelius, a new people — who brought cremation with them and new form* of ceramic,
the Lausitz type — make their appearance in Thuringia, arriving from the south or
south-east. The difficulty of assigning ethnic names to prehistoric people is illustrated
by the circumstance that Dr. Goetze supposes the new comers were Thracians, while
Kossinna maintains they were Karpo-Dacians, and Dr. Pic considers them to have
been Slavs. In the La Tene period, from the fifth century B.C. to A.D. 1, although
the potter's wheel was known the great majority of vessels were still made by hand.
In the succeeding epoch, from the first to the fifth century, covered by the Roman
Period and the period of migrations, the civilisation of the Thuringians developed
without a break from that of La Tene, and not until the second half of the Roman
Period does the grave furniture show signs of greater wealth and luxury. J. A.
Superstition. Frazer.
Psyche's Task : a Discourse concerning the Influence of Superstition on the QQ
Growth of Institutions. By J. G. Frazer, D.C.L., LL.D., Litt.D. London: 00
Macmillan, 1909. Pp. viii + 84. 23 x 14-5 cm. Price 2s. 6d. net.
" Psyche's task " was to sort out the seeds of good from the seeds of evil. Under
this title Dr. Frazer has published, with additions, the substance of a paper read
at a meeting of the Royal Institution, and afterwards given in the form of lectures
to his class at Liverpool, " in the hope," he says, " that it may call attention to a
" neglected side of superstition and stimulate enquiry into the early history of those
" great institutions which still form the frame-work of modern society." The theory
of the book is summed up in four propositions, to the effect that among certain
races and at certain times superstition has strengthened the respect for government,
property, marriage, and human life, and has thereby contributed to the establishment
and maintenance of civil order, to morality, and to the security of life and property.
" Superstition " is briefly defined as falsehood (p. 3) or a body of false opinions
(p. 83). The four chapters which follow are made up of a selection from Dr. Frazer's
immense store of examples. There is no theorising outside the four corners of the
proposition, and unless the reader can find a clue to Dr. Frazer's present sociological
position in the choice of examples, he must wait for Totendsm and Exogamy.
In the chapter on Government, Dr. Frazer quotes, first, the mana of Melanesian
chiefs ; the worship of dead chiefs in Fiji ; the tapu of Maori chiefs, believed to
be living " gods " ; and like beliefs from the rest of Polynesia, Angola, and the
Malay countries. The next series, nearly all from Africa (there is a new example
from Mr. A. C. Hollis' Nandi), shows the king's power over weather, crops, and
fertility in general ; and from this Dr. Frazer proceeds to the " halo of superstitious
veneration " which surrounded the ancient Kings of Peru, India, Greece, Ireland,
Scotland, Sweden, and Burgundy ; and so on to Dr. Johnson and the King's Evil.
To complain would be ungrateful, for it is thanks to Dr. Frazer that these examples
are familiar. Nothing is said about the origin of kingship ; in fact, the whole book
is written with a sort of ironical detachment from modern theory, and the last
sentences of this chapter might be a quotation from the early eighteenth century. Is
this meant to mark the end of Dr. Frazer's interest in Sacred Kings ?
The chapter on private property deals with those forms of taboo which are
reputed to bring supernatural punishment in the shape of sickness and misfortune, on
thieves and trespassers — an application of taboo so strongly developed in Polynesia that
[ 143 ]
Nos. 83-84.] MAN. [1909.
" some good authorities . . . have held that the system was devised for no other
" purpose." (Psyche's Task, p. 17.) In this way, Dr. Frazer says, " Superstition has
" strengthened the respect for private property and has thereby contributed to the
44 security of its enjoyment" (p. 30).
Dr. Frazer's theory of taboo was announced in 1905 (Lectures on the Early
History of the Kingship, p. 52). Judging by the examples which he has chosen to
use in this chapter, is taboo still negative magic ? understanding by " magic," as in
1905, "a misapplication of the association of ideas by similarity and contiguity." None
of them exactly fit the formula " Do not do this lest the counterpart of this should
" follow." Of the taboos quoted which are indisputably taboos — which are called
tabu, tambu, tapiu by their makers — those of one series (pp. 17-20, 23) are not
<4 sympathetic " in form at all, the other series is " sympathetic " indeed, but the
correspondence is between the taboo-mark and the penalty invoked, not between the
penalty and the offence (pp. 22-25). In a few cases of fady in Madagascar (p. 26) a
special penalty is attached to the offence, " to steal an egg caused the thief to become
44 leprous " and so on, but there is no '* sympathetic " connection. It would have been
interesting if Dr. Frazer had taken this opportunity of replying to Mr. Marett's
criticisms. {Anthropological Essays presented to E. B. Tylor, 1907, p. 219 ff.)
The third chapter illustrates the proposition that " superstition has strengthened
" the respect for marriage," and for sexual morality in general. The Karens, the
Assamese, the Battas, the Dyaks, and other peoples punish (or expiate) immorality,
lest the crops should fail or the land be visited with sickness and dangerous beasts.
44 Where these superstitions prevail it is obvious that public opinion . . . will treat
44 such offences with far greater severity ; and conversely, wherever we find
44 that these offences are treated by the community with extreme rigour, we may
44 reasonably infer that the original motive was superstition " (p. 42). The explanation
of this Dr. Frazer finds 44 in the analogy which many savage men trace between the
44 reproduction of the human species and the reproduction of animals and plants " — an
analogy mistakenly applied in their attempts to assist the propagation of animals and
plants on the principle of magical sympathy or imitation (pp. 44, 45). Rules of sexual
morality are thus survivals from a pre-religious age of magic. The deeper question
how certain relations came to be regarded as irregular, and so disturbing to the course
of nature, is left for discussion " in another place."
The last chapter deals with the service rendered by superstition in strengthening
the respect for human life, by " the wholesome though groundless terror," inspired by
the ghosts of murdered men. This has a two-fold effect : it deters the prospective
murderer, and it prompts the community to get rid of him. Here, as elsewhere,
Dr. Frazer inclines to refer all ideas of blood-pollution and all rites of purification to
44 a fear of the dangerous ghost " ; though this explanation does not easily fit some
of the best-known Hebrew and Greek examples. Surely there is a pre-auimistic
aspect of blood-pollution.
But, as we have said, Psyche's Task is little concerned with anthropological
theory, and the modest propositions which alone it professes to uphold are abundantly
proved. BARBARA FREIRE-MARRECO.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTE.
THE death is announced of Mr. W. F. Stanley, the well-known educationalist
and founder of the Stanley Trade Schools ; he had been a Fellow of the Royal
Anthropological Institute since 1886.
Printed by EYKE AND SPOTTISWOODB, LTD., His Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, E.G.
PLATE K.
MAN, 1909.
FIG. i.
GRAVE OF AX ELDER: KAYA JIJ3AXA.
FlG. 2.
GRAVE OF A MAX AXD HIS \VIFE : KAYA JIBAXA.
Photo: Caff. S. S. Kncx, R.E.
FIG. 3.
GRAVE OF AX ELDER :
KAYA JIBAXA.
FlG. 4.
GRAVE OF AX ELDER : KAYA JIliAXA.
GRAVES OF THE WA-NYIKA.
1909.] MAN. [Nos. 85-86.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Africa, East. With Plate K. Hollis.
A Note on the Graves of the Wa-Nyika. By A. C. Hollis. fljj
The tribes that fringe the British East Africa littoral from the Tana River UU
to the Anglo-German frontier are collectively known as the Wa-Nyika, or desert people.*
They are nine in number, viz., Giryama, Kauma, Chonyi, Jibana, Kambe, Ribe, Rabai,
Dnrnma, and Digo. All these peoples have a more or less common origin, having been
driven south by the Galla about the fifteenth century from behind Shungwaya (Port
Durnford), between the Tana and Juba rivers ; they speak a very similar Bantu dialect,
which is nearly akin to Ngozi. the old language on which the modern Swahili is based ;
they all profess a belief in a god (Mulungu) and in the transmigration of souls ; and they
worship the spirits of deceased ancestors and tribal elders. The shades of the deceased
are called Koma. The koma cannot be seen ; at one time they reside in the graves, at
another above the earth. These spirits are held to be powerful for good and evil ; to be
responsible for good and bad crops, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty ; and
they must at all times and on all occasions be prayed to and propitiated — as, for instance,
when a person falls ill or is about to undertake a journey, at a wedding, or at child-birth.
Individuals worship the koma of their immediate ancestors or elder relatives, and the
koma of the whole tribe are incited on public occasions, such as in times of war, during
a drought or famine, on the outbreak of an epidemic, at the sowing of seed, when the
harvest is reaped, and at the removal of a town or building of a village.
The chief resting place of the koma is in or about the Kaya, the central point or
metropolis of the tribe, where a hut is erected for their habitation. In that hut all
property deposited by the people is safe, for a kirapo or talisman is suspended in it,
which prevents the approach of thieves. The koma are also supposed to haunt the
trees that surround most of the Kayas. For this reason the Kayas are usually situated
in the centre of small forests, which in old days formed natural fastnesses, where in
times of Avar the whole tribe congregated. The felling of trees in or near the Kayas
is forbidden, and the people living in the Kayas often go many miles to fetch their
building poles and firewood. Important men and women of the tribe are buried in the
Kayas : others are interred outside or near their own huts or villages. In order that
the spot where the interment has taken place may be remembered, a memorial post is
erected at the head of the graves. This post is sometimes grotesquely carved to
resemble the deceased or it is shaped in a fantastic form and bedaubed with paint ;
at other times it is plain. The Jibana and Chonyi tribes are more given to carve the
" headstones " than the others. A piece of cloth is generally hung round the men's
posts, whilst the women's are occasionally clothed with the national kilt in miniature.
Sacrifices are made at the graves of such of the deceased as have families. Flour
and water is poured into a coco-nut shell let into the ground, and goats and fowls
are killed so that the blood falls on the grave. A portion of the food eaten on these
occasions is left on the ground for the koma. When the offering is made the dead
are called by name and invited to come and eat and drink. When beer is brewed,
some of the liquid is poured on the graves and the spirits are exhorted to partake
thereof, so that the drink may not excite quarrels among their descendants or relatives
who live upon the earth. A. C. HOLLIS.
Australia. Frazer.
Beliefs and Customs of the Australian Aborigines. By Professor OP
J. G. Frazer. 00
In May of last year (1908) I had the good fortune to meet the Bishop of North
Queensland (Dr. Frodsham) at Liverpool, and he gave me in conversation some valuable
information as to the native Australian beliefs and customs based on his personal
* These people call themselves A-Nika.
[ 145 ]
No. 86,] MAN. [1909.
knowledge of the aborigines. He told me that he had travelled among the Arunta
as well as among various North Queensland tribes, and he asked me whether I was
aware that the Australian aborigines do not believe children to be the fruit of the
intercourse of the sexes. His lordship informed me that this incredulity is not limited
to the Arunta, but is shared by all the North Queensland tribes with which he is
acquainted, and he added that it forms a fact which has to be reckoned with in the
introduction of a higher standard of sexual morality among the aborigines, for they do
not naturally accept the true explanation of conception and childbirth even after their
admission into mission stations. The Bishop also referred to a form of communal or
group marriage, which he believes to be practised among aboriginal tribes he has
visited on the western side of the Gulf of Carpentaria ; but, unfortunately, I had not
time to obtain particulars from him on this subject. I pointed out to his lordship
the high scientific importance of the information which he had volunteered to me, and
I requested that he would publish it in his own name. He assented, but as some
time has passed without his finding leisure to draw up a full account, he has kindly
authorised me to publish this brief statement, which has been submitted to him and
approved by him as correct. I need not indicate to anthropologists the great interest
and value of the Bishop's testimony as independently confirming and extending the
observations of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen on the tribes of Central Australia. In the
interest of science it is much to be desired that the Bishop, or those of his clergy
who know the natives, would publish fuller information on these topics.
In authorising me to publish the foregoing statement the Bishop of North
Queensland (Dr. Frodsham) wrote me a letter (dated Bishop's Lodge, Townsville,
Queensland, July 9th, 1909) in which he gives some interesting additional information
and makes certain valuable observations, the fruit of his personal experience, which
deserve to be laid to heart by anthropologists, especially by such as have no first-hand
knowledge of the Australian aborigines. As he has kindly allowed me to make what
use I please of his letter, I shall avail myself of his permission to quote some
passages from it. He writes : —
" The result of thirteen years' observation has led me to conclude that while
anthropologists may be right in placing the social organisation of the blacks at one end
of the ladder of development and Western democracy at the other, they are absurdly
wrong in thinking that they can carry the analogy into respective intelligence or
even physical development. Speaking from observation I can say deliberately that
• the Australian blacks, when they are rationally treated, are capable of intellectual
development — in one case also to my personal knowledge — of no mean order.
" As example of my use of the word rational, let me instance the fact that the
aborigines find it very difficult to understand any modern conception of individuality.
The tribe is the norm of their social life, and they regard social offences in much
the same way that the Israelites did when the law of the Goel was in force. You can
readily see how the existence of such a misconception affects all the relationships
between the blacks and whites in North Queensland. At Yarrubah we have frankly
accepted the communistic principle, and the blacks find it not only possible but
comparatively easy to pass to our modern conception of individual responsibility.
" With further reference to the subject of my conversation with you at Liverpool
last year, we often have girls, who are sent to the mission, enceinte, and we never dwell
upon any wrongfulness of their condition. We have no trouble afterward, neither have
we found, at any rate for many years, that the girls persist in the belief, practically
universal among the northern tribes, that copulation is not the cause of conception.
" I was speaking this week to the Kev. C. W. Morrison (M.A. of Emmanuel
College, Cambridge), who is acting head of the Yarrubah Mission. He told me that
among the tribes around the Cairns district in North Queensland the acceptance of
[ U6 ]
1909,]
MAN.
[Nos. 86-87.
food from a man by a woman was not merely regarded as a marriage ceremony, but
as the actual cause of conception. Mr. Morrison also added that monogamy was the
custom in these tribes except in the case of sisters. This latter fact is borne out by
my own observation. One aboriginal, whom I know well, married four sisters and
stayed at that, but whether from principle or prudence I am unable to say."
J. G. FRAZER.
England : Archaeology. King : Polkinghorne.
Excavation of a Barrow on Chapel Carn Brea, Cornwall. /;// Q7
H. King and the late B. C. Pol 'ki ng home, B.Sc., F.C.S. Of
The former of us had previously noted a rather curiously shaped mound, and on
August 19th, 1907, we examined it
together.
A short distance from the tumulus
shown on the six-inch Ordnance map,
south of the ruined chapel, projects a
natural earn, and carrying on the ridge
made by this earn and abutting on the
north end of it is the mound in ques-
tion, obscured by growth and suggest-
ing a portion of a drystone hedge.
This, however, we decided it could not
be in such a position. On probing it
we found that it was composed of small
weathered blocks, such as could be
gathered on the surface of the hill.
The approximate dimensions are : —
Length, 18 feet ; breadth, 7 feet ; and
height, 3^ feet.
We opened on the east side at the
middle, and after removing a consider-
able quantity of weather-rounded blocks
came upon the eastern wall of a kist
built of flat-faced stones, irregular in
size, supporting a single slab. Without disturbing this capstone we caused the eastern
wall to be removed, disclosing a mass of compact fine loam. When a considerable
amount of this was withdrawn a large urn was disclosed standing at the south end
of the kist. The loam was carefully cut away around and behind, and the vessel
lifted out without other injury than a small hole made by the pick. The interior
of the kist was about 2 feet 6 inches square, and the height 2 feet 3 inches.
The fine earth removed from the kist contained a few bones which had obviously
fallen over the edge when the remains were placed in the urn, and three small flint
flakes. The bottom of the urn had a large hole which had been plugged by a stone,
and the lower third contained partly calcined human bones held together by loam. The
rest of the urn was full to the mouth with earth and granules of quartz and felspar.
One handle was broken.
The teeth (four in number) were stained and small. All the bones suggested a
small individual.
The dimensions of the urn are : — Height, 20 inches ; diameter, mouth (exterior)
13 inches ; diameter, base, 7^ inches ; maximum diameter, 15^ inches ; projection of
handle, 1^ inches ; opening of handle (vertical) 3 inches ; general thickness, \ inch.
Neither the broken-ofF handle nor the piece of the bottom were in the kist. The
ornamentation is very distinct and interesting. It is in three tiers and appears to have
[ U7 ]
Nos. 87-88,] MAN. [1909.
been formed by impress of twisted reeds ; the upper tier is of nineteen concentric
triangles ; the middle one of scooped-out holes, and the lower of a lozenge-pattern.
The barrow may at one time have been surrounded by standing stones ; one such is
in position at the free end (north) of the mound. Beyond this was a small mound of
circular plan which by the depression on the summit had apparently been opened. We
had this re-opened and found no signs of a kist or bones.
We do not suppose that the urn is of Neolithic Age, although the flint flakes were,
we think, purposely placed in the kist, probably from tradition. We have not found a
single flake beyond these on the hill, but on the surrounding moors and fields flakes
and small scrapers are fairly abundant. H. KING.
B. C. POLKINGHORNE.
Additional Note.
On September 27th, 1907, Mr. H. King re-opened this barrow on the western
side and found another urn considerably broken and entangled in the roots of a furze
bush just below the surface of the mound, resting against the north end of the
capstone and outside the kist. The dimensions would be probably somewhat less
than those of the first one described. One handle and part of the base are entirely
missing (cf. above).
The ornament consists of a band round the mouth 3^ inches in depth of repeated
acute angles bordered by four horizontal circles above and three below, the whole
being the impress of twisted thongs. The fragments contain three holes bored after
firing, two of these make a pair on the same level of the ornament and are obviously
" repair " holes. A few portions of bone were embedded in the mass of roots and
earth. B. C. P.
Archaeology : Eoliths. Lewis Abbott.
The Eolithic Problem. By W. J. Lewis Abbott, F.G.S.
The recent attacks of Mr. W. G-. Smith upon the eoliths, although differing
from those of other critics, are fortunately susceptible of either- absolute proof or disproof
although the attacking of anything coming from one to whom we must all feel deeply
indebted for so much magnificent work is by no means pleasant. His last article is
unfortunately as painful reading as its predecessors. Everyone knows that the question
of man-worked flints occurring at Dewlish does not rest upon the things he here attacks.
What is the use of quoting the negative evidence of a paper written before a thing
was discovered ? And the attempting to alter the geological horizon of E. meridionalis
simply because a paheolith was found on the surface at a different part of the town,
or to deny the bona fides of the Java Mauer, and other finds, is neither geology nor
anthropology, but unfortunately on a par with the manner of attack upon flint working.
If we go back to Mr. Smith's former papers, his statements can, I think, be reduced
to the following : —
(a) That naturally-shaped flints exist of such a form that they sometimes possess
a thinned-out bay, and that during the vicissitudes of gravel making, or gravel life, the
weaker edges get abraided away, resulting in forms so closely resembling some eoliths
as to prove the natural origin, not only of those which they resemble but others from
which they are in every way dissimilar !
(6) That when a pebble is in a certain position and " moved about slightly " in
the direction shown by the arrows, such a hollow-scraper is produced.
(c) That in this process minute chips are detached and (in the specimens under
consideration) have been arrested by the oxide of iron, and now form a " pan " near the
place from which they were removed.
(rf) That, having found a small flake which was obviously removed from a flint
while the latter was in the gravel, he maintains that Nature having removed one flake
can displace the others in similar manner and thus produce the so-called eoliths.
[ 148 ]
1909.] MAN. [No, 88.
Now, as regards (a), no one who has had any experience of beach action ever
questioned for a moment that the bombarding which is incessantly going on among
the stones must sometimes strike in a fortuitous place, and eventually, after producing
perhaps hundreds of what a gunner would call " misses," but what we call incipient
cones of percussion, produces a form similar to that we call a hollow scraper. There
is nothing in all this to invalidate the artificial nature of eoliths. Upon the evolutionary
hypotheses the anthropoidea were not born original discoverers and inventors : they
must naturally have been furnished with their prototypes of implements by mother
Nature. But what we are most concerned in just now is, firstly, are there any
absolute criteria by which we can really distinguish any or all of the multitudinous
operations of Nature from those of man ; and secondly, does Nature work in the way
suggested by Mr. Smith ? because if we cau show it does not, his attacks upon the
eoliths are assuredly Balaam's curses.
From hundreds of similar flints I have, I pick one from the St. Leonard's beach,
and I have no doubt it was such a nature-formed specimen that man's progenitors first
used, and so deeply did the love of this form sink down into his nature that, throughout
the whole of the succeeding stone ages, he still clung to it. Not only is it a bulbed
flake but the concavity or bay is a cup-flaked face, criteria which I think Mr. Smith
and other authorities still regard as proving man's work. My object in pointing this
out is to show that I do not underestimate the work of Nature ; on the contrary, having
studied beach action every morning for the last ten years and the other natural forces
for nearly four tens, I am prepared to give Nature credit for more things than most
people, and, further, to show how she does them. Space precludes me entering fully
upon the features which distinguish the works of Nature from the free-struck work
of man. I may, perhaps, be permitted to refer to the following, which will be
sufficient for our present purpose : —
(a) Upon this specimen can be seen those characteristic little incipient cones of
percussion which do not appear in flints that have not been subject to cannonading.
(6) As the blotvs are administered in various directions and with varying force
the axes of the flakes are at all possible angles, and the flakes of ever-varying sizes,
(c) Around and upon the actual edge of the " scraper," instead of the regular-
formed correctly-directed pits and valleys of percussion we find a contused edge.
(rf) We might further point out that if we examine the flaking face of such
a specimen we often see round the hollow a number of incipient flakes — flakes
not quite removed, but which a little push or necessary change of temperature will
dislodge.
Now as I was particularly desirous not to be found tilting at a windmill I sent
off" to Dr. Blackmore and asked him if he would be so kind as 10 allow me to examine
the specimens he had sent to Mr. Smith ; and I have to thank him for not only doing
this, but for sending two others. So exactly alike are these that I am tempted to
call them the Blackmore triplets — two are dextral, one sinistral. I have examined
these very carefully, and I am prepared to say that they do not bear a single one of
the characters of naturally-shaped flints enumerated, nor others I have not here gone
into. It is true they owe their original outline to thermal fissure, but this had nothing
to do with the formation of the hollow scraper ! Now as these do not possess one
of the characteristics of natural productions, I submit, even at this opening of the
subject, that Mr. Smith's argument against the eoliths falls to the ground. But let us
turn to the positive features, a* negatives very rarely convince. The first thing that
strikes us is the brilliant uniform orange red of the whole surface of the specimens ;
we feel ourselves transported to the highly oxidised iron beds of the Red Crag, and
we immediately realise the fact that since these flints entered the colour-giving matrix
not a single flake has been removed ! Most of the high edges show signs of wear,
but nowhere of rock pinching or pressure, which under certain conditions, if present,
[ 149 ]
No. 88,] MAN. [1909.
might have produced flaking. This, of course, rules out Mr. Smith's argument of the
small flaking having been done at some subsequent period !
Two other things strike us at the same moment as the colour ; firstly, the delicacy
and evenness of flaking and the absolute constancy of the angle. There is no measur-
able difference in the three hollows, which are 31 mm. long, and as there are some
twelve secondary flakes removed in each, and the largest is not more than 4 mm.,
it follows that the secondary working more closely approaches the fine work of
neolithic times than we should expect ; indeed, I looked through ten boxes of
neolithic scrapers in my collection before I found an example of better work.
Secondly, the axes of the flakes or valleys all turn coincidently with the curve, thus
showing that the direction of the blow changed with every flake removed, and that
as this bears a constant relation to the desired curve, assuredly it follows they were
struck by an intelligent being who knew, firstly, what he wanted, and secondly, how
to get it, and above all that they were not the chance work of blind Nature, be her
possibilities never so potent. After many years' practice and careful observation I
am quite confident that these were the work of a fairly skilful flaker who could
(a) obtain and maintain the striking angle, and (6) the intensity of the blow, and
(c) a complete mastery of the changing of the former while maintaining the latter,
or (e?) changing the latter with the varying thickness of the stone with which he had
to deal. As I run my eye up the hollow of one of these triplets and look down upon
its edge and see such a constancy of angle that there is scarcely a mm. difference
in the length of the whole flakes forming the entire row without one single blow
resolving, I am tempted to admire the skill acquired by the one who worked it. On
several occasions my old friend has written down the idea of practising flint working.
This I am certain is a mistake. I have always done the reverse ; the result is I can
to-day reproduce most of the work of the past, even to the fine almost rectangular
rectilinear work of the Hastings kitchen midden men, and I know the conditions
necessary for the production of the various kinds of results desired. I unhesitatingly
maintain that we ought to accept as an axiom that no one can speak with authority
upon a practical subject in which he has had no actual experience. I respectfully
submit that not realising this has led the hero of the paleolithic floors to go so
terribly wrong in the next part of the subject, viz., how " Nature " removes flakes.
One of the most elementary but never-varying laws is that there must be a
constant relation between the striking plane, the striking face, and the flaking face.
Flakes are not chopped off as a bricklayer chops chips off a brick in the same plane
as the motion of his trowel (striking plane). The billiard table is as much to the
student of flint-working as it is to the physicist in the study of light or applied
mechanics. If a ball were in the centre of the billiard table and one wanted to bring
it over to a centre side pocket, would he drive his ball on full ? Certainly not. Yet
this is what Mr. 'Smith tries to do. He says the force was applied in the direction of
ihe arrows. May I beg my old friend to try the experiment ? If this hollow were
struck at a normal to its surface (as at least one of the blows would be in traversing a
semi-circle) hard enough, he might reduce the whole flint to powder, or, as we used to
say in old student days in connection with shooting the candle through the blackboard,
if the cohesion of the molecules were less than the velocity of the striker the latter
might pass through the flint. I have seen this done with a piece of very thick plate
glass, while the common case where the velocity is insufficient to do this where the
cone is cut out with only a tiny apex is too well know*n to need mentioning. Now, if
we look at the relation of the two striking surfaces with the two arrows in his Fig. 1,
we see there is there practically a difference of 90 degrees, and, needless to remark,
two blows acting at right angles to each other could not possibly produce the same
result in relation to the plane of the curve ! Fig. 2 introduces an even worse state of
things, and carries the blow down till it only just skids upon the surface. It is therefore
C 150 ]
1909,] MAN. [No. 88.
evident that it was a physical impossibility for flakes to have been removed with power
thus applied.
We now come to the action of the pebble (Fig. SA). Here it is a little difficult,
because we are only told that the pebble " moved about slightly " to hollow out the
scraper. But I do not know, perhaps, that that matters much, as it is a mechanical
fact that, move the pebble about how we would, we could not make it take a flake off
in the flaking plane (the flaked side of the hollow), no matter what pressure was
exerted. If, however, it did remove a splinter, unfortunately it would be from the left
side ! as anyone can prove for themselves by trying the experiment, following the
angles and directions here given. It is therefore absolutely certain that the specimen
could not possibly have been flaked in the manner suggested.
Anyone ought to know, and Mr. Smith knows it, only somehow he did not call it
to mind, that a striking face and a flaking face can never be coincident. As a matter
of fact, the force would have to come from the other side and act in an almost opposite
direction.
There is another point with which I must deal, and that is that the fragments
of the flint removed in the process of making the hollow scraper now rest in the
" pan." It may seem unnecessary to reply to this, but, coming as it does from an
arch-restorer of conjoined flints, I feel I must. I, too, have had some experience in
fitting together detached fragments ; during the working of the Ightham fissures I
certainly restored over 5,000 small bones, jaws, teeth, &c., of the small animals. Then
again, I have been trained all my life to ocularly weighing gems ; a process justly
regarded as the most delicate in the commercial world ; the weights of rose diamonds
being gauged by the eye to a hundred thousandth of an ounce, which ought to qualify
one for the recognition of dislodged flakes. But let us examine the composition of
this " pan " and thus settle the question. Upon examination we find this to be
composed of hundreds of small pieces of silica of various sorts, 95 per cent, are
coarse quartz grains mostly waterworn, and some fractured, some larger pieces of
altered chert and highly altered flint and a few small fragments of flint, but not one
of the size that would have been produced in the working out of this hollow, and
only one of them that I could see, under microscopic examination, that presented the
features of flaked faces ; almost all of them presented the characteristic features of
thermal fissure ; while the facets of the hollow show free flaking : and instead of
the small flakes being in the same state, and of the same colour as the flint, as a matter
of fact not one of them is !
One more point shall be the last. Mr. Smith finds a small flake, which has been
removed since the flint has been in the gravel, and therefore concludes that " if one
small flake can be detached by natural pressure all the other flakes were." Innumerable
parallels in this extraordinary logic rush into my mind : one alone shall suffice. Some
time ago Mr. Lasham sent me a lot of palaeoliths from Farnham ; so roughly were these
treated in transit that several flakes were removed. Now if a railway journey could
remove several flakes, why could it not remove all the others and produce the
palaeolith ? Everyone knows that implements as well as flints are subject to various
kinds of thermal fissure as they lie in the gravel, and even to " spontaneous
brecciation." Sir John Evans many years ago found a fine implement at St. Acheul
which had split up into a great number of pieces by thermal fissure. Many of us
have found the same sort of thing ; we also know that " in-creep " stones have
been known to flake each other, as instanced by Mr. F. Gr. Spurrell ; but one or two
flakes do not make an implement. Then again, take a hundred hollow scrapers of
one's own make and examine them, most of them will show incipient flakes, which
sufficient contusion, or shake, or change of temperature, will dislodge. These incipient
flakes abound on beach specimens and neoliths, and even on palaeoliths, and the flake
Mr. Smith found dislodged in gravel might just as well have been an incipient
Nos. 88-89.]
MAN.
[1909.
flake originating with man, and his gravel was just as potent an implement maker
as the railway journey and no more.
We may grant the possibilities of Nature to hollow out an embayed flint, or to
flake a rounded end, so as to have taught earlier man their use. We admit she can
split up rounded pebbles, and from these make "hollow scrapers," very much more
difficult of construction than those referred to by Mr. Smith, but she cannot produce
the counterfeits of the combination tools, with the different kinds of work to suit
the different kind of edges ; she cannot alter the striking-plane upon the alteration of
the flaking-face, to retain a constant flaking-plane ; she cannot gradually change her
striking-plane from north to south to make the pits of percussion turn coincidently
with the hollow ; she cannot maintain the constancy of the striking-angle so as to
keep all pits (or flakes removed) of uniform length, especially if she has to perform the
last-named feats coincidently ; and there are numerous other achievements we see on
some other disputed objects which lie altogether outside the possibilities of Nature.
The products of Nature are imitative in their outline, from the profundity of
natural forces and resources ; but it is the very variety of her operations which
does not enable her work to stand the tests of physical constancy. So long as it is
mere outline, not too closely examined, she is safe. It is only when we study and
learn the laws which underlie all flint-working operations of man, and the profound
capabilities and incapabilities of Nature in regard to the shaping of hard stones, that
we can call a verdict for Nature or the anthropoidea in regard to the eoliths. At
any rate if they are ruled out it must be by an appeal to the laws of Nature, and
not by an array of unsupportable assertions in direct opposition to them.
W. J. LEWIS ABBOTT.
Africa, Central : Archaeology. Seton-Karr.
Obsidian Implements in Central Africa. />'// //. W. Seton-Karr.
I have lately returned from a journey on the Mombassa-Uganda Railway.
I found scrapers and rough cutting implements along the course of the Gilgil River,
washed out of the river deposits, the material being
obsidian or volcanic glass from the numerous non-
active volcanoes in the district. During a temporary
delay of a train in one of the
cuttings, at mile 305/400, I took
from the gisement from the side of
the cutting in situ three obsidian
FIG. 1. FIR. 2. FIG. 3.
implements from 7 feet to 10 feet below the present surface. I forwarded them to
Professor Gregory (without knowing that he was in Australia) as he first found
similar ones, excepting circular scrapers, which he describes in his book on The
Great Rift Valley. I found three types : (1) scrapers, (2) cutting flakes, and
(3) lance-heads. H. W. SETON-KARR,
[ 152 ]
1909.]
MAN.
[Nos. 90-S1.
Physical Anthropology : Method. Gray.
A Portable Stature Meter. By J. Gray. flf|
Travellers who propose to make measurements of the races they come in UU
contact with have often felt the want of a stature meter which would be at once
light, compact, and easily made ready for use. A rod graduated throughout its
length and fitted together with two or
three fishing-rod joints does not comply
very well with the ahove conditions. It
occurred to me that the lazy-tongs linkage
might be adapted for this purpose, and the
illustration shows a stature meter which I
have designed on this principle, and which
has been made by Home and Rowland,
Troughton Road, Charlton, Kent. The
instrument weighs about 1 lb., when made
of magnalium, and when folded up may
be carried in an overcoat pocket. The
readings are taken by means of a steel
tape graduated to mm., which is con-
nected to the bottom transverse bar. passes
up through the middle of the linkage, over
a pulley on the top bar, then down to the
reading point, which is fixed at a conve-
nient height for the eye of the observer.
The length of the tape between the
top guide pulley and the reading point
must evidently remain constant when the
linkage expands and contracts. To ensure
this, the tape passes from the top pulley
along the adjacent link, round a second
guide pulley at its lower end, and similarly
in a zig-zag manner along other links till
the reading point is reached. Finally the
tape is wound on to a spring drum.
The instrument may be used for
measuring other heights than stature ; for
example, the height of the acromion, of
the trochanter, or of the tip of the finger.
It is preferably fitted with a level, to en-
sure the vertical position.
J. GRAY.
__ REVIEWS.
America : Mexico. Starr.
In Indian Mexico : A Narrative of Travel and Labor. By Frederick Starr. Q4
Chicago, 1908. Pp. xi + 425. 24 x 16 cm. Ul
Professor Starr begins hia preface by the following remark : " Why another
" travel book on Mexico ? Few countries have been so frequently written up by the
" traveller. Many books, good, bad, and indifferent, but chiefly bad, have been per-
" petrated." Professor Starr has no need to plead as an excuse for publication that
" Indian Mexico is practically unknown," for the book is sufficiently interesting even to
those who are not especially concerned with the study of native races. Indeed, Mexico
[ 153 ]
No. 91.] MAN. [1909.
has been fortunate during the last year in the publication of two volumes — the book
under notice by an expert anthropologist, and a volume on Southern Mexico by
Mr. Hans Gadow, a distinguished naturalist.
The work planned by Professor Starr was threefold : —
(1) The measurement of 100 men and twenty-five women in each population,
fourteen measurements being taken on each subject.
(2) The making of pictures, portraits, dress, occupations, customs, buildings,
and landscapes.
(3) The making of plaster busts of five individuals of each tribe.
To do such work, of course, involved difficulty, as the Indians of Mexico are
ignorant, timid, and suspicious.
The book shows us how, by persistence and a very free use of the recommenda-
tions to the local authorities, given to the author by the Mexican Government, these
difficulties were overcome.
The book does not contain a continuous narrative of travel, but is arranged in
groups of chapters dealing with different parts of the country and covering journeys
during the years 1895 to 1901, and as no map is given it will be difficult for anyone not
acquainted with the localities to follow the author's routes.
The first chapters describe a journey made on horseback in 1896 from Oaxaca to
the frontier of Guatemala through the mountainous country of the Mixes, a country
that is very seldom visited by travellers, which the author describes as very beautiful,
but where he was not well received by the natives. At Ayutla he found most of the
villagers were drunk, by no means an uncommon occurrence in many of the Indian
villages, and he seems to have been glad to get away from the Mixes, although it
necessitated leaving a beautiful mountain region for the hot and arid country in the
neighbourhood of Tehuantepec. However, three years later he re-visited the Mixes,
and, after overcoming many difficulties, obtained all the measurements he needed.
From Tehuantepec, where he was duly impressed, as are all travellers, with the
beauty of the Tehuantepec women, the author journeyed on through the State of
Chiapas to the frontier of Guatemala. At Taxtla Gutierrez he notes the brightly
painted and highly polished gourds and calabashes, which are manufactured in the
town and sent to all parts of the Republic, and tells us that the "aje," which gives
. them their brilliant lustre, " is made chiefly at San Bartolome, and is secured from an
" insect, a sort of plant-louse which lives upon the blackthorn and related trees. The
" insect is found only in the wet season, is small, though growing rapidly, and is of
. " a fiery-red colour, though it coats itself over with a white secretion. It lives in
" swarms, which form conspicuous masses. These are gathered in vessels, washed to
; " remove the white secretion, boiled, crushed, and strained through a cloth ; an oily
" matter, mixed with blood (?) and water, passes out, which is boiled to drive off the
" water and to concentrate the oily mass. This is then washed in trays, to rid it of the
" blood, and made up into balls, which are sold at ten or twelve centavos (five or six
" cents) a pound. It is a putty-like substance with a handsome yellow colour. We
" have already stated that it is ground up with dry paints to be rubbed on the object
. " which is to be adorned, and that the brilliant lustre is developed by gentle and
" rapid friction."
" Pintos," people afflicted with a disease, common in many parts of Mexico,
which discolours and spots the skin, appear to be very numerous in Chiapas, and a
photograph given of a Mestiza woman shows the unpleasant effects of the disease.
Professor Starr began his measurements with the Otomi, a name in ancient times
synonymous with stupidity, as he felt that if he could succeed with this conservative
and reserved people he might surely look for success among the other tribes. The
Otomi women, who were measured first, may be considered true pygmies, as the
L 154 ]
1909.] MAN. [No. 91.
average stature of twenty-eight subjects was 1,437 millimetres. "The men apparently
" of pure blood presented two quite different types. There are many men who are
" as little as the women ; these present almost the type already given as that of the
" women, but are a little lighter in colour. The second type is tall, sometimes over
" 1,700 millimetres. The eyes of these men are usually widely-spaced and the face
" appears rounder than in their smaller brethren. All the Otomis of both types,
" men and women, have astonishingly big heads."
On Lake Patzcuaro Professor Starr found the " Tsupakua," or spear thrower, the
ancieut " atlatl," still in use by the wild duck hunters for propelling light cane shafts
tipped with iron.
The author leads us through many little-known towns and villages, mostly in the
state of Oaxaca, in search of pure-blooded Indians, and even with the most recent map
of the state spread before us it is not easy to follow him in his wanderings. He visited
Mixtecs, Triquis, and the little-known Juaves near Tehuantepec, Cuicatecs, Chinantecs,
and many other tribes.
In some places, as at the large Mazatec town of Huanhtla, where the women wear
particularly interesting costumes, he Avas well received, and the work of measuring both
men and women was quickly finished, but there was always difficulty in persuading
men to allow their heads and shoulders to be moulded with plaster of Paris, and in
many instances there was much trouble with drunken Indian officials and no little risk
was run from the ill-feeling aroused among the Indian population, and it was a wonder
that the work was got through without some serious disturbance.
Among the Totonacs the author noted several curious " costumbres," survivals of
a heathen cult, and he secured some sheets of the bark paper which is manufactured
in secret, and cut into the shape of human figures and used in " magic " by the brujas
or witches.
Tarascan, Tlaxcalan, Tepehua, and Totonac towns and villages were visited and the
inhabitants were measured and photographed. A journey was made through the land
of the Huastecs, an isolated fragment of the great Maya race, and a visit was paid to
Yucatan in order to measure and photograph the Mayas themselves.
The last part of the book contains the description of a long and somewhat
difficult journey from Tehuautepec through Chiapas to a navigable branch of the
Grijalva river, which was descended to Frontera, whence a coasting steamer plies to
Vera Cruz. This journey took the author through the country of the little-known
Zoques, Tzotzils, Tzendals, and Chols. It was in the Tzotzil town of Chamula that
the most serious outbreak of recent times took place, in 1868, " when under the
*' influence of the young woman, Checheb, they attempted to restore the native
" government, the Indian life, and the old-time religion. Temples were erected to
*' the ancient gods, whose inspired priestess the young woman claimed to be ; but
*' 300 years of Christianity had accustomed them to the idea of a Christ crucified ;
" an Indian Christ was necessary, not one from the hated invading race ; accordingly
*' a little Indian lad, the nephew of the priestess, was crucified, to become a saviour
" for their race. Their plans involved the killing of every white and Mestizo in all
*' the country ; in reality, more than 100 men, women, and children in the fincas and
" the little towns were killed. San Cristobal, then the capital city, suffered a veritable
*' panic, and it took the entire force of the whole state to restore order."
We could wish that the author had given us something more of the results of his
investigations, but his ethnographic notes are reserved for separate scientific publi-
cations ; it is probably the only record of the kind that has ever been made in this
country and must be of immense value, and it was secured by untiring persistence and
great energy, entailing much hardship and the utmost discomfort on Professor Starr
and his companions.
Nos. 91-92.] MAX. [1909.
" Reliable figures," the author tells us, " are wanting as to the number of pure
" Mexican Indians. If the population of the Republic be estimated at 15,000,000,
" it should be safe to say that 5,000,000 of this number are Indians of pure blood,
" speaking their old language, keeping alive much of the ancient life and thought."
The book is profusely illustrated by photography ; there is a copious index, and
a glossary of Spanish and Indian words.
The appendices consist of a most amusing account of the professor at work
extracted from the Chicago Record, and a note on the 'purple spot on Maya babies.
A. P. M.
France : Archaeology. Congress.
Congres prehistorique de France, Chambery, Savoy, 1908. QO
The Report of the fourth Congress, held at Chambery, Savoy, in August, Ufc
1908, is a volume of over 900 pages, and includes fifty-eight communications with a
very large number of illustrations, plans, and maps. It is a remarkable testimony to
the interest taken by Frenchmen in le prehistoire of their country, especially as the
previous Congress, held at Autun (for Solutre) in 1907, produced a compte rendu
of 1,000 pages.
Among the many interesting papers are two by M. Rutot, " An Eolithic Industry
contemporaneous with an Industry of the Upper Paleolithic Period " in a cave in the
province of Liege, and " The Extension in France, Belgium, England, and Germany
of the Flenusian Industry." The latter describes sites near Havre, one of them in
the forest of Mongeon, at the spot called Les Sapinieres ; the other on the plateau of
Sandouville, with a rudimentary history, "Neolithic ivitk an eolithic fades.'1'1 M. Rutot
" had given this name provisionally to some finds at Flenu and Jemappes near Mons,
" and at Spiennes, where the rudimentary objects extend under the polished stone
" site. The study of the station of Spiennes showed that what at first appeared a
" true eolithic deposit, exposed on the surface of the ground by the effect of denudation,
" was really resting on the brick earth of Ergeron, and therefore neolithic. The finds
" near Havre are identical with those in Belgium, which he has now named from
" Flenu, and also some from Surrey and the chalk plateau in Kent. The neolithic
" eoliths of England cannot be mistaken for Tertiary eoliths, as these are a dark
" yellowish-brown, owing to their long sojourn under the Pliocene alluvium, and they
" are always more or less rolled, while the former are intact, with sharp edges and with
" white or blueish patina. The explanation of Fleuusians in England (as a barbarous
" people still entirely in the eolithic stage) may be that as they appeared soon after
" the Tardenoisians had installed themselves in open-air stations, their invasion took
" place when the neolithic period had just commenced, soon after the opening of
" the Straits of Dover, and when it might be possible to pass over on foot at
" low tide."
The discussions on these two papers induced M. Rutot to write another, included
in the report, " What is an Eolith ? " " G. de Mortillet gave the name eolith to certain
" rudimentary instruments found in Tertiary beds. I am asked why I apply the same
" name to a quaternary industry and even to neolithic and modern implements, as the
" Tasmanian : (a) The eolithic industry is the mass of stone industries of all ages,
" which include only (in the portion preserved to us) lumps or flakes directly utilised
" for striking, cutting, scraping, and piercing after the necessary retouching for
" accommodation to the hand, and with occasional retouching when worn, to the
" complete exclusion of all instruments shaped intentionally. (6) An eolith is, apart
" from any chronological notion, one of the implements intended for striking, &c.,
" forming part of an industrial class in which no intentionally-shaped instrument exists.
" Any industry which includes intentionally-shaped instruments belongs either to the
C 166 ]
1909.] MAN'. [No. 92.
" palaeolithic or neolithic group?. . . . That portion of the eolithic industry not
" preserved to us cannot include bone instruments, for we see that the most rudimentary
" use of bone appears at the level of La Guina, for me the Lower Aurignacian. If the
" Eolithic folk had used bone it is unlikely that the Palasolithics, a progressive people,
" would not have continued it. The modern eolithic Tasmanians did not use bone, but
" had two wooden weapons, a lance and a bludgeon. We are therefore authorised to
" suppose that some eolithic tribe possessed these weapons, especially as at even the
" most ancient eolithic period there are plenty of knives and scrapers which appear
" to have been used for working wood." " Intentional shaping is more complicated
" than merely retouching or preparing for use by roughly flaking. In Belgium, at
" Spiennes near Mons, we can see precisely where intentional shaping began, for in a
" very clear level between the Mesvinian (the last pre-palaeolithic eolithic industry),
" and the Chellean, we recognise the existence of an industry which I have called
" Strepyien "which offers for the first time the association of implements of eolithic
" facies and instruments of intentional shaping, rudimentary but evident. The
" Strepyien is at the bottom of those quaternary beds which lie on the lower
" quaternary." " Thanks to recent discoveries, we have seen that in France, Belgium,
" and England, the Chellean is found at the same stratigraphic level, but on account
" of different conditions of climates, the Elephas antiquus existed later in France than
" in England and Belgium, where it more rapidly gave place to the mammoth and
" its fauna."
Dr. C. Peabody described the exploration of two limestone caverns in the Ozark
Mountains (states of Missouri and Arkansas), where, under clay and great fallen
rocks, there are archaeological deposits of a considerable depth in an extremely fine
dust. The abundant chipped flint implements and bone piercers and needles are of
Magdalenian type, and there are fragments of coarse pottery. None of the painted
pottery characteristic of south-east Arkansas was found.
M. Marc Didier found in the Vallee du Largue (in the south-west of the depart-
ment of Basses Alpes) that man had frequented it largely in the first periods of the
lower Palaeolithic period. He must have left the region during the Acheulean epoch,
and probably was only there during part of the Mousterian, but increased considerably
during the chief Solutrean period, as shown by its various forms of flint instruments,
especially the laurel and willow leaf shapes. There are no typical Magdalenian
implements, and the people may not have known the industries developed in Dordogne.
The Solutrean merges into neolithic, and it is therefore difficult to separate the
palaeolithic from the neolithic in the open air sites in this region. In one plate of
the illustrations some typical "turtle backs " are given.
The workshop of Bois de la Roche, at Ige (Saone et Loire), described by
E. Hue, is interesting because all types of implements, more or less finished, are
found there ; but the most numerous chips are in a layer of vegetable earth resting
on a layer of flint pebbles, the total thickness with implements being about 50 cms.
Examination of the mass of implements and the different degrees of patina shows
that the site must have been actively utilized since the Mousterian period, and that
the Neolithic people continued to extract their materials for implements from it.
H. Marlot spoke of " Workshops and stations, palaeolithic and neolithic, at Dixmont
" (Nonne). The chain of low green hills bordering the course of the Nonne, known
" as the Foret d'Othe, was much frequented and inhabited by the primitive populations.
" The quantity of objects collected is enormous, and forms the magnificent collections
" of the Museums of Troyes, Sens, Auxerre, and Dijon, and the important private
" collection of Dr. Leriche, of Joigny. On the plateaux of Meilly-sur-Rouvre, Sainte-
" Sabine, Chazilly, and Thoisy-le-Desert, forming the watershed of the Seine and Loire,
" are found, under the untouched quaternary alluvium, an extraordinary quantity of
[ 157 ]
No. 92.] MAN. [1909,
" flints, especially Mousterian and Magdalen ian, with an abundance of Chellean coups
" de poing, and complete absence of Solutrean."
There were five papers on rocks with cup markings, and then came the lake-
dwellings. L. Schandel described the neolithic site in the Lake of Aiguebelette, near
Chambery. The piles, still visible about 200 metres from the shore, are trunks of
trees, 15 to 20 cms. in diameter. The depth of water there is from 1-50 to 2 metres.
Flint implements of small size, and some good pieces finely retouched on both sides,
were found, and also whorls of calcareous stone, and a few fragments of unbaked grey
pottery. This site, with those of the lakes of Clairvaux and Chalain, and that close
to Annecy, make four neolithic lake sites known at present in France.
The lake-dwellings at Annecy (lie des Cygnes) were found when dredging the
harbour in 1884. The finds are in the Museum at Annecy. M. Le Roux said that
below a thick hard bed of sediment was the archaeological layer formed of a mixture
of mud and sediment, in which were the prehistoric objects mixed with remains of
huts. There were polished axe-heads of amphibolite, serpentine, chloro-melanite, and
other rocks, all found locally or near the Lake of Geneva as erratic blocks. Stone
whorls and hand-made pottery of two kinds were also found. This site seems to be
of the end of the neolithic period, when there were extended commercial relations,
as shown by flints from Grand Pressigny. Agriculture was advanced, and there were
domestic animals and many cultivated plants. These were described by Ph. Guinier.
There was a weed, Silene cretica, originally from Asia Minor and Eastern Europe.
It still grows in Southern Europe, but only on cultivated ground.
A study of the " Pottery of Bronze Age Lake-Dwellings of the Lac du Bourget,"
by Morin Jean, showed that a period of perhaps seventeen centuries was represented.
Two series are distinguishable, the first produced under the influence of ideas which
began at the end of the neolithic period, and prevailed during nearly the whole of the
Bronze Age. This had local types with a few others connected with the eastern basin
of the Mediterranean. In the second series are vases of more recent make, indicating
a new departure, and the principles which the potters of the first Iron Age continue and
follow. There are four-footed vases, vaguely zoomorphic, similar to some found in the
second city of Hissarlik, in Cyprus, Sicily, Sardinia, and Northern Italy. The Lac du
Bourget seems to have been the centre of the curious black pottery inlaid with thin
bands of tin in various designs. The museum of Chambery has many specimens.
Professor F. Foret's paper was on " Lake-dwelling Cemeteries," " a question still
" quite obscure and inconclusive." He knows three cemeteries on the north shore
of the Lake of Geneva, which may be attributed to Bronze Age lake-dwellers ; that of
the Moraine de Saint Prex, discovered about 1876, that of Montreux, and that of
Boiron, two kilometres west of Merges. There are several lake sites in the neigh-
bourhood. Since the end of 1905 he has opened seventeen burials at Boison, which
revealed the following facts : — It is a cemetery on a level with no traces of a tumulus,
mound, or stela over the tombs. The tombs are not in a row but dispersed, and 5 or 10
metres apart, and must have had some surface indication such as a wooden post, as they
are never super-imposed. They are of very different types, with juxtaposition of
burials of inhumation and incineration. In the tombs of inhumation there is no orienta-
tion of the skeleton, which is stretched out, lying on its back, with no mortuary
chamber or cist, and no recognisable wooden coffin. The body had ornaments, as
bracelets, rings, and bronze pins, but no arms or implements and not one knife. At the
feet, in some cases, under a horizontal slab, there were vases, urns, and piles of plates.
Two skulls were measured. One is dolichocephalic, index 71. 5, the other mesaticephalic,
index 78.
In the incinerated burials the remains of the body were either placed in a vase
or more frequently spread on the floor of the tomb in a layer of ashes and bones. A
[ 158 ]
1909.] MAN. [Nos. 92-93.
careful analysis of the fragments of calcined bones shows that there is no mixture of
animal bones with the human remains and therefore no sacrifice on the funeral pyre,
and the remains are of only one skeleton. Everything indicates that the cremation
took place elsewhere and that the ashes were gathered up and deposited in the tomb.
From the fragments of jewels it is apparent that the body was burned in its clothing.
The ten or twelve vases, plates, &c., placed in the tomb strikingly resemble the
arrangement of the cemetery of Hallstatt.
Dr. M. Baudouin described the Gallo-Roman necropolis of Troussepoil at Le
Bernard (Vendee), and its remarkable funerary wells. Thirty-two well-burials have
already been found, from 3 to 15 metres deep, and Om. 90 to 1m. 10 in diameter,
excavated in the rock. The illustrations give a clear idea of the arrangement of the
many vases, &c. found in them.
M. Florance gave a long list with plans of the camps, mounds and enclosures of
the department of Loir et Cher. In the south of the department there are hundreds of
tumuli, and chipped flints can be found whenever they are looked for. The museums
of Blois, Vendome and Pontlevoy are full of prehistoric souvenirs. "My researches
" in the department have led me to believe that if no prehistoric enclosures are to
" be found here it is because there has been no interruption, in our favoured land of
" inhabitation, and that ancient works are often thought modern, through having
" been occupied by successive generations." The feudal system did not create new
centres of habitation : it simply applied new methods of defence to those already
existing. Digging under a castle mound has revealed neolithic implements.
Small maps are given at the end of the volume of all the lake-dwelling sites
near Chambery. A. C. BRETON.
Borneo : Languages. Beech.
The Tidong Dialects of Borneo. By Mervyn W. H. Beech, M.A., with preface QQ
and notes by Dr. A. A. Fokker. Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1908. Pp. 120. UU
17 X 12 cm. Price 5s,
This little volume should prove extremely useful both to the students of Malayo-
Polynesian linguistics, and also to travellers or officials in north-east Borneo who
come into contact with the natives.
It consists of (1) a chapter on the origin of the Tidong language ; (2) a brief
but very interesting sketch of Tidong village life ; (3) grammar of the two Tidong
dialects of Tarakan and Bolongan ; (4) a tale in both dialects, The Tailed Man of
Silimbatu ; (5) a vocabulary of Tarakan and Bolongan, with occasional words in other
dialects. There is also a lengthy appendix by Dr. Fokker on the comparative phonetics
and derivation of Tidong.
The Tidongs " occupy the east coast of Borneo between Lahad-Dato and the
" country a little to the south of Bolongan, though they seldom penetrate more than
" thirty miles inland." In his first chapter the author gives a short account of their
history.
He regards them as of Malay extraction, the present Tidongs being descendants of
Malay immigrants to Bolongan, who intermarried with the aboriginal population.
Part of this mixed population emigrated to the island of Tarakan, where the Tidong-
speech was retained, but in Bolongan it assimilated more Malay words. The abori-
ginal people and language, which was thus modified by Malay into Tidoug, is called by-
the author "Kayan." This suggests that words in the vocabulary which are not
Malay should be Kayan, but a comparison of such words with those used by the typical
Kayans on the Tutau and upper Apoh Rivers in Sarawak territory shows many
differences.
[ 159 ]
No. 93.]
MAN.
[1909.
By " Kayan " the author may possibly mean " aboriginal," for the Tidong words
which differ from Malay are almost identical with those in the dialects of the people
who are called in Sarawak " Orang Bukit" (hillmen, Kadayans, and Bekiau on Upper
Balait and Tutong rivers) and Bisaya on the Limbang river.
The following short specimen of the dialects in question collected by me in Sarawak
in 1899 show this very clearly : —
English.
Tarakan.
Bolongan.
Kadayan.
Orang Bukit,
Balait E.
Bekiau.
Orang Bukit,
Tutory R.
Bisaya.
Limbang R.
Uma Belubo.
Kayan,
Tutau R.
Uma Apoh.
Kavan.
Apoh R.
Village -
pagun -
b'nua
pagun
bagun
pagun
uma -
uma
Woman -
dinandu
d'dor
kemo
kakimo
kimo
doh-
ledo
Rain
dasam -
dasam
sisam
rasam
lasam
usan -
usan
Sand
agis
agis -
agis -
agis -
pasin
hit -
act
Smoke
lisun
lisun
lesun
lisun
.
sap -
lisun
Hair
abok
bu» -
abok
abuk
abok
bok-
bok
Meat
ansi
'nchi
u nchi
ansi -
ansi -
sin -
sin
Tooth -
ipan
ipan -
ipan -
ipan
ipan
ipa -
ipa
Wing
alad
alar, sayap-
alad
alad -
sayap
kapet
kapit
Coconut -
piasau -
nior -
pasau
piasau
bua-pasau -
nyo-
klapa
Flower -
busak -
bunga, buse*
usak
usek -
bunga
pidang
pidang
Know
pandai -
pandai
pandai
pandei
kito -
jam -
jam
Pinch
Hfflldut -
wriut
ngadut
menff&dut -
ngugot
nit&n
nyitan
The grammar shows the Tidong, as might be expected of a language with direct
Malay influence, to belong to the western group (Malay, Javanese, Sunda, Bali,
Makassar, &c.) of the languages of the Archipelago. Dr. Fokker considers its nearest
relation to be the Ngadju Dayak of Barito River, but a comparison shows that its forms
are much less complex. The author has done the grammatical part very thoroughly,
each rule being illustrated by examples in both dialects, sometimes with the Malay
added for comparison. There is also a collection of useful and idiomatic phrases.
In the vocabulary a list of English words is given with the equivalents in Tarakan
and Bolongan and sometimes in the Nonoekan and Simbakong dialects. In his intro-
ductory remarks the author states that he has omitted all words which are identically
the same as Malay. This is a defect which creates some difficulty for the student, who
could use the list with more certainty if pure Malay words used in Tidong had been
inserted. As it is, when a word is absent from the English list there will always be
a doubt as to whether its equivalent is Malay or not, e.g., " arrow, bird, spittle," do not
appear in Mr. Beech's list, which thus suggests that the Tidong equivalents to these
words are Malay, but in Aernout's Tidoeng vocabulary (Indische Gids, 1885, pp. 536 ff.)
the Tidong words are given as bunseoi, susui, u'ieq, which are not Malay. The
particular variety of Malay which has influenced the Tidong language is also left in
doubt. Dr. Fokker contributes some interesting footnotes to the vocabulary and an
appendix which will be very useful to the student of Indonesian phonetics.
The book is convenient in size and very neatly printed. The few illustrations
are good.
The publication of this work by Mr. Beech should serve as a stimulus to other
officers in British Borneo to set forth in as able a manner as he has done some of
the wealth of philological material which exists in that little-known country.
S. H. R.
Printed by EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE, LTD., His Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, E.C.
PLATE L.
MAN, 1909.
FIGURE A.
FIGURE B.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS IN KHORASAN.
1909.]
MAN.
[No. 94.
Sykes.
Special fli
:M.G. m
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Persia. With Plate L.
Notes on Musical Instruments in Khorasan, with
Reference to the Gypsies. By Major P. Molesworth Sykes,
This subject falls into two headings : —
A. Musical instruments used mainly by the gypsies for playing at enter-
tainments.
B. The Nakkara Khana.
A. — I have recently been making inquiries as to the musical instruments in use
in Khorasan. To illustrate the subject, I sent for some gypsy musicians, of whom
three photographs were taken, marked respectively A, B and C. Figure A alone
shows all the instruments, as, in the other photographs, the reed instrument does not
appear. Con-
sequently, in my
description, I
shall refer
chiefly to illus-
tration A. The
gypsies in the
group are part-
ly standing and
partly sitting
down. Standing
on the left of
the group is the
player of the
reed instrument
(No. 1), which
I propose to
deal with first.
It is termed \
(Nay) or "reed"
and is made
from a reed with
seven fastenings
of gut at the
joints. It is 18
inches long and
2J inches in circumference. It has five holes in front and one behind, all at the
lower end. Fingers are used in front and the thumb behind. According to Khan
Sahib Ahmad Din Khan, who has materially helped me in collecting these notes,
it is the national instrument of India, where it is called Bansari (bamboo). Its notes
are shrill and rudimentary.
The JG (Tar) or " stringed " is the next instrument (No. 2). It is made of
mulberry wood with a total length of 40 inches and a total width of 10 inches. Its
neck is 19 inches long, and it has five metal strings, three on one side and two on the
other. It is played with a triangular iron plectrum. The volume of sound produced
is small, but not unpleasing. The third man standing up is playing a l^, (Surna)
or oboe (No. 3), made of walnut wood and mounted in brass, studded with turquoises.
Its length is 14^ inches with seven holes in front and one hole behind, played with
FIGURE C.
No. 91] MAN. [1909.
the thumb. The sounding reed is always removed before playing and kept moist
as in the case of reed instruments in Europe. The note is very shrill and powerful,
somewhat resembling that of a bagpipe ; it is always played with the kettle drums
mentioned below. In A Travers la Perse (Hachette et Cie.), which is a French
adaptation of my Ten Thousand Miles in Persia, the first illustration is that of three
Baluch gypsies, the centre man holding a somewhat similar pipe. The other two
men carry drums ; the individual on the right of the group, curiously enough, looks as
if he had stepped out of an Assyrian sculpture.
We now come to the men sitting down, one of whom is playing on the pair of «.L5J
(Nakkara) or kettle drums (4). They are made of pottery and are respectively termed
j>\ (Zlr) or treble and ^ (Bam) or bass. The former, covered with camel hide, is
1\ inches in depth with a diameter of 6 inches on the playing end, but tapering down
to 3^ inches. The bass is covered with cow hide and is 8^ inches in depth, with a
diameter of 7 inches, tapering down to 4 inches. The drum sticks are of gypchin
(a hill bush) wood. As stated above, the kettle drums are played with the pipe.
The ancient name was »j~Z (Tabirah). The sounds emitted are not pleasing to
European ears.
The next gypsy holds in his hand a tambourine (5), known as *?)* (Diayrah) or
" circle," cp. our English word " diary." It is made of the wood of the Chinar or
Oriental plane, with rings and bells fastened inside. Its diameter is 17 inches and its
depth 2J inches. Good instruments are fitted with gold bells and rings. I am informed
that this instrument is used in Turkestan but not in Kashmir.
Next to the tambourine player is a man holding what is perhaps the most
interesting instrument of all (6). The instrument itself is reproduced best in
Figure B. It is known as a ^Ui (Kamanchah), or " little bow," and is made of walnut
wood. The total length is 37 inches, with a finger-board 9 inches in length. The
instrument is handled like a violoncello ; but, in shape, resembles a mandoline with a
long spike of worked iron. The belly is constructed from a pumpkin covered with
parchment and mounted with stripes of bone radiating from a turquoise. The neck is
pierced on each side with three holes, and with a hollow at the back, 3 inches in
length ; there are three wire strings and six pegs, three of which are dummies. The
bow resembles our double-bass bows and is 22 inches in length ; it is made of
gypchin wood and has a strap and a loop with which to tighten the horsehair. To
complete the equipment, a bit of beeswax is tied on to serve as rosin. Instruments
similar in character and name are used in Turkestan and Kashmir. The volume of
sound is small but not unpleasing.
To continue, the next instrument is a ciLij (Dunbak)* or drum (No. 7), which is
made of walnut or mulberry wood, and is covered with parchment. Its total length
is 17 inches, with a diameter of 11 inches. It consists of a belly 9^ inches in length
and a neck 7-J- inches. Somewhat similar drums made of pottery are used in
Kashmir.
The last instrument to describe is a .«k^» (Santur) or zither (No. 8). This
instrument is apparently more modern ; the length on its longest side is 31^ inches
and 14 inches on the shortest side. It is played by tapping with wooden hammers,
which somewhat resemble the parts of a pair of scissors. There are seven wooden
pegs on each side and one of bone. There are three perforated holes on the board.
The strings are wound up by means of seventy-two wrest-pins, each pin con-
* The name is clearly an onomatopoea, as are also nakkdra and bam.
[ 162 ]
1909.]
MAN.
[No. 94,
trolling four wires. The zither is only procurable in Teheran, and is apparently of
foreign make.
B. — The Nakkara Khana. — This music apparently dates back to prehistorical
Iran and looms largely in the Shah Nama, the great epic of Persia. To-day, in
imitation of Europe, there are also brass bands of varying degrees of unmelodiousness ;
but the Nakkara Khana still exists as an appanage of royalty in the chief cities
of Iran. It is played invariably from a gateway to usher in the rising sun and to
play out the setting sun. During the mourning months of Safar and Muharram,
it is silent. It is possible that the custom was originally in honour of the great
luminary ; but of this I have no proof.
At Meshed, the sacred city of Persia, the Imam Riza, who was a contemporary of
Haroun-al-Rashid, is, in theory, still alive,* and the Nakkara Khana belongs to the
shrine erected
in the saint's
honour. The
players are all
locksmiths by
trade and the
posts are here-
ditary. The in-
struments used
(vide illustra-
tion D) are three
in n u m b e r —
(a) Nakkara, or
kettledrums of
metal of a large
.size. Five sets
:are used at
Meshed ; (6)
Surna or oboes,
.three of which
are used ; and
(c) Karrna l/p
or long trumpets.
They are usually
made of brass
•or copper, and
are 5 feet in
length. Ten. are played in the Meshed Nakkara Khana. The ancient name for these
formidable instruments was ^ tf (Gav Dam) or " Bull note." The music when heard
from a certain distance is weird in the extreme and even fascinating. It commences
.and finishes with the drums and is unlike any other music I have heard. Captain
Franklin, whose assistance I would acknowledge, tells me that similar long, metal
trumpets are to be seen in Tibetan monasteries to-day.
Khan Sahib Ahmad Din states that the Nakkara Khana exists in Afghanistan at
Kabul, Kandahar, and Herat. Popular airs are played one hour after sunset, after
which a very big drum is beaten, and this is repeated thrice at intervals ; after the third
* In this connection, when Meshed was connected with Teheran telegraphically, the first message
.sent- along the new line was from the Shah to the Imam. The latter duly replied.
[ 163 ]
FIGURE D.
Nos, 94-95.] MAN. [1909.
beat no one can move abroad without a pass. The Surna and Karrna are only
played in the month of Ramazan. The Amir is also accompanied on the march by
a Nakkdra Khana.
I now propose to make a few general remarks. Mr. Sinclair in the Journal of
American Folk Lore (January-March 1907) has written a most interesting paper on
Gypsy and Oriental Music, which my notes, to a certain extent, supplement. In it
(p. 16) he states that "all the public musicians, singers, and dancers in Persia are
gypsies." This statement, however, goes too far. In Khorasan, all the public musi-
cians are gypsies ; but, at Shiraz, they are all Jews, except in the case of Nakkdra
Khana, which is played by gypsies. Elsewhere they are mainly gypsies, but not
entirely so. Singers are frequently Persians and rarely gypsies, if Persia be taken as
a whole. Dancing girls are recruited from all classes in Persia and are seldom gypsies.
At Meshed, the troupes invariably come from Teheran. They generally dance before
women with castanets, termed utfCj- (Zang), or " bell," and made of bronze. The
music consists of two kamancha or string instruments, one dunbak or drum, and
occasionally a zither. The instruments, in this case, are not played by gypsies, but
by Persians. Dancing boys dance before both sexes, but dancing girls only before
women, except in secret. The gypsy women are not dancers, except in rare cases.
To resume, I have in notes and vocabularies, previously published in the Journ*
Anthr. Inst. (Vols. XXXII and XXXVI), shown that the gypsies of Persia have
only retained a percentage of gypsy words in their own language, which is now
less pure than when Ouseley collected a vocabulary nearly a century ago. This
Professor de Goeje explains* by suggesting that I was not given their own words. I,
however, venture to think that, as the various vocabularies were given to my agents
in different parts of Persia, and yet, more or less, contained the same percentage of
words, it is reasonable to suppose that they represent the gypsy jargon of to-day.
Consequently, it is not surprising to learn that the gypsies of Persia have no special
songs in their own language, but sing those in vogue in Persia.
To conclude this paper, I give the following well-known lines from Hafiz : —
UV
" Alas ! that these Lulis (gypsy girls), bright and sweet beings, disturbers of
the city :
Have reft patience from my heart like the Turks the tablecloth of loot."t
P. MOLESWORTH SYKES.
Tabu. Aston.
The Incest Tabu. By W. G. Aston, C.M.G. QC
In his Psychology of Sex Mr. Ellis says : " The explanation of the UU
" abhorrence to incest is really exceedingly simple. The normal failure of the pairing
" instinct to manifest itself in the case of brothers and sisters or of boys and girls
" brought up together from infancy is a merely negative phenomenon due to the in-
" evitable absence under these circumstances of the conditions which evoke the pairing
" impulse. Courtship is the process by which powerful sensory stimuli proceeding
" from a person of the opposite sex gradually produce the physiological phenomenon
" of tumescence, with its physical concomitant of love and desire. . . . Brothers
" and sisters have at puberty already reached that state to which old married people
* Vide the Journal of tlie Gypsy Lore Society for October, 1907.
f This refers to the then Turkish custom of the retainers looting everything after the master had
partaken of the feast.
[ 164 ]
1909.] MAN. [No. 95.
" by the exhaustion of youthful passion and the slow usage of daily life gradually
" approximates."
Mr. Crawley, in an article on Exogamy contributed to Anthropological Essays
presented to E. B. Tylor, endorses this view, and it is therefore not without diffidence
that I venture to point out some considerations adverse to the opinion held by these
eminent anthropologists. Mr. Ellis's explanation of the abhorrence to incest is no
doubt simple. But is it adequate ? How can such a merely negative phenomenon
as the sexual indifference produced by long familiarity bring about the very positive
result of abhorrence ? There is surely a link missing in this chain of reasoning.
The statement that tumescence is dependent on the stimulus of courtship is only
a part of the truth. Of course, it may be due to this cause, but it oftener comes of
itself without any such stimulus, and in very young people generally does so.
Mr. Ellis's sequence of cause and effect is courtship, tumescence, fruition. But is not
tumescence, courtship (often brief and perfunctory or altogether absent), fruition, far
more common ? Just as hunger may be experienced without the stimulus of the sight
or smell of food, so tumescence will occur even though there should be no person of
the opposite sex within a hundred miles. There is an abundance of tumescence without
either courtship or fruition.
The truth is that familiarity causes only a comparative indifference to the sexual
attraction between brother and sister. It may even produce an opposite effect. Com-
bined as it is with opportunity, it does away with shyness, which is a very potent
obstacle in the case of young people. The sexual appetite, especially in the male, is
much too imperious to be stayed by such a flimsy barrier, and, if no more substantial
check existed, would sooner or later lead to fruition. We should then have a state
of affairs like that described by a missionary to Anam. " There," he says, " no girl
" who is twelve years old and has a brother is a virgin." Sir Harry Johnston, speaking
of a Central African tribe, informs us that " it is rare for children thus growing up
" together to fail to marry or to dislike one another." How can we reconcile these
facts with Mr. Ellis's statement, that in the case of boys and girls brought up together
from infancy there is an inevitable absence of the conditions which evoke the pairing
impulse ? The case of the lower animals is, in my opinion, fatal to Mr. Ellis's theory.
The lord of the poultry yard distributes his favours with much impartiality among
his consorts, whatever their relation to himself, of which, indeed, he knows nothing.
He may show a passing preference for a stranger on her first introduction to him, but
that is all. The pigeon fancier knows that if it is desired to make two birds pair,
all that is necessary is to put them in contiguous cages where they can see one
another through the bars. Whether they are brother and sister or not signifies little.
Mr. Ellis's comparison of the difference caused by the slow usage of daily life
in the case of married couples is rather unfortunate' for his theory. Here we have
not an innocent familiarity as in the case of brother and sister. It is "love's sad satiety,"
a very different thing, which blunts the edge of desire, and even with this powerful
ally long familiarity is notoriously a very imperfect check on conjugal intercourse.
What really brings about its cessation is the far more formidable obstacle of the
incapacity produced by old age.
The insensibility, caused by familiar domestic intercourse, to the sexual attrac-
tions of a brother or a sister, though a real, is a negligible quantity in the problem.
For-its solution we must look elsewhere than in the mutual relations of the parties more
immediately concerned. The abhorrence of this crime is not the spontaneous outcome
of the familiarity between those of the same household, but is imposed from without.
The true obstacle to incest is the fact that it is condemned by the general opinion of
the community. In a word, it is tabu. The powerful influence exercised by the tabu
is notorious. Men have been known to die of remorse for having unwittingly infringed
[ 165 ]
No. 95.] MAN. [1909.
far less important prohibitions than that which is directed against incest. Let me quote
a concrete example of its power from Japanese history. In the fifth century A.D. the
heir apparent, Prince Karu, conceived a violent passion for his sister by the same father
and mother. (Unions between the children of the same father only were not at this
time considered incestuous, at least in the case of princes.) But he " dreaded the
guilt " and was silent. His passion, however, became so violent that he ultimately
yielded to it. The result was that the officials and people " turned against him."
A civil war followed, Prince Karu was banished, and he and his sister eventually
committed suicide together. The guilt, the popular indignation, and the suicide of
the offending parties are unexplained by Mr. Ellis's theory. The Greek legend of
CEdipus, the story of Kullervo in the Kalevala, and many others, illustrate the same
principle.
The origin of this tabu is by no means a simple matter. Young people, and indeed!
the majority of the tribe or nation, know nothing of the real reasons for imposing it.
When the sexual impulse begins to stir in them, as it does some years before puberty,
they become possessed with an intense curiosity regarding sexual matters. Among
other things they discover that everybody about them regards incest as an abominable
thing not to be committed on pain of the most dreadful consequences. Perhaps they
are told that bogey carries off the people who do such things, that they fall down
dead or are struck with some fearful disease, and that they are hated and despised
by everybody. Threats of corporal and even capital punishment are not wanting.
Teaching of this kind acting on impressionable young minds produces a horror of the
crime, which not only creates a motive for self-restraint, but actually kills desire before
it is born. This, and not familiarity, is the real cause of the sexual indifference between
near relations which undoubtedly exists.
It is important to observe that when once the notion that a thing is tabu has
become firmly established, a condition of mind (the conscience of writers on ethics),,
hardly to be distinguished from the congenital predisposition known as instinct, is the
consequence. The results on action are in both cases alike prompt and unreasoning.
The man himself is unconscious of any difference. Observe a hen with her chickens.
Her warning cry (the germ of the tabu) is soon recognised by her offspring, and acted
on as implicitly as if it were an instinctive prompting from within. She tells them
(from her inherited experience) that such and such a thing, a hairy caterpillar for
example, is unfit for food, and they at once repress a natural temptation to make trial
of it. Observation shows that their shrinking from the touch of the human hand is
more owing to parental teaching than to instinctive fear. I once had an abnormally
tame hen who neglected this part of her children's (and foster-children's) education.
They were so devoid of fear that they would snuggle against me, or even creep into my
sleeve for warmth. Yet I have known a blind kitten a few hours old show unequivocal
signs of displeasure when taken up in a hand which had caressed a dog just before.
Here it was no doubt the sense of smell which had aroused a purely instinctive
antipathy.
When Westermarck says in his admirable work, The History of Human Marriage
(p. 319) : — "The home is kept pure from incestuous defilement neither by laws, nor by
" customs, nor by education, but by an instinct which under normal circumstances
" makes sexual love between the nearest kin a psychical impossibility/' he has hardly
allowed sufficiently for the distinction between a genuine congenital instinct and those
quasi-instinctive promptings which are really the result of early education, between the
original stem and the grafts whose union with it has become obliterated by time.
The question remains : — What were the reasons which induced the community or
their leaders to place a tabu on sexual intercourse between near relatives ? Sexual
jealousy has something to do with it. It is too general a cause to account for this.
[ 166 ]
1909.] MAN. [No. 95.
specific effect, but it no doubt helps to lend vigour and emphasis to any restrictive
measures which may be dictated by other considerations.
There is evidence that unions of young people of immature age are condemned.
Indeed the widespread puberty rites may be regarded as the formal removal of such a
tabu. The injurious effect of too early intercourse of the sexes on physical
development is recognised in the case of the lower animals. For example, I find
in a leaflet addressed to poultry-keepers by the Dublin Castle authorities the advice : —
" At an early age separate the sexes. When not allowed to run together both cockerels
" and pullets grow faster and ultimately make better birds." It is also to be noted that
pregnant girls, and babies whose parents are too young to bear their proper share of
their support, are an unwelcome addition to the burdens of the community. Perhaps an
additional motive is the protection of very young girls from male tyranny. But this
prohibition, though it covers to some extent the same ground as the incest tabu and
thereby helps to confirm it, is too general to account for it : we must seek for
something more specific.
Sir H. Maine in his Early Law and Custom (p. 228) points out one vera causa
of the incest tabu, viz., the discovery that " children of unsound constitutions are born
" of nearly related parents." It has been abundantly shown by Darwin and others
that in the case of the lower animals, unions of this kind yield a weakly and stunted
offspring. In the case of human beings we have no longer before us the results of
closer in-breeding. But the marriages of first cousins are notoriously attended with
similar, though attenuated, consequences. The Chuen, a Chinese book written centuries
before the Christian epoch, says : — " When the man and woman are of the same
" surname the race does not continue."
Still greater importance is to be attached to Dr. Tylor's suggestion that " exogamy
" was an early method of political self-preservation." Incest is anti-social. It tends
to confine the domestic affections within the narrow circle of the family instead of
acting as a cement to bind the community together and thereby promote its strength
against attacks from without and also its general welfare. Both public and private
interests would concur in establishing this prohibition. The head of a family or the
petty chief who insists on his children marrying outside the . domestic circle not only
confirms his own power and prestige by so doing, but helps to lay the foundations of
those larger political units with which the welfare of mankind is so intimately associated.
At the present day, for somewhat similar reasons, foreigners are usually selected as the
consorts of royal personages.
Mr. Yate says of " the endogamous Maoris who frequently marry near relations "
that " each one is jealous of the authority and power of his neighbour ; the hand
of each individual is against every man, and every man's hand is against him."
The incest tabu is a necessary preliminary to progress from such a condition of
things.
With Sir Henry Maine, I do not see how it can be assumed that savage or
half-civilised races are necessarily blind to the physical evil consequences of incest.
It should be remembered that with them, as with ourselves, it takes all kinds to
make a world. They have their ignorant multitude who practise more or less
imperfectly and unintelligently what they have learnt from their ancestors and
superiors, but they have also a select few who may, in comparison, be called philosophers
and statesmen. It is with the latter that all impulses to progress originate. Nor
should it be forgotten that the incest tabu is not precisely a primitive institution. It
requires a certain degree of enlightenment for its establishment. In many uncivilised
countries it is at this day ill-understood, too narrow in its scope, weighted with
useless provisions, or very imperfectly realised in practice. Even in civilised Europe
there are countries where a man is allowed to marry his niece. With ourselves the
[ 167 ]
Nos, 95-96.]
MAN.
[1909.
c=,
n
unions of first cousins are not half as much reprobated as they ought to be. Our table
of prohibited degrees would bear revision.
A certain share must be assigned to the principle of the survival of the fittest,
in the wide prevalence, though not in the origination, of the incest tabu. Few
things are more vital to the welfare of a family, a tribe, or a nation, than the right
ordering of the sexual relations, and any gross failure in this respect handicaps it
woefully in the struggle for existence. W. G. ASTON.
Egypt. Blackmail-
The Porridge Stirrer as an Egyptian Hieroglyph. By Aylward QO
M. Btackman, B.A.
Among the number of unclassified signs in his Collection of Hieroglyphs Mr.
Griffith includes j . From an XVIIIth Dynasty example, Plate VI, Fig. 67, in the
above-mentioned work, Mr. Griffith thinks it may perhaps represent a winder for thread
(Fig. 1). He, however, points out that this is
quite possibly a corruption of the early forms
which occur in the Old Kingdom tombs at
Medum, and, as we shall see, this is undoubtedly
the case. In those early paintings the object
is coloured red and there is no binding (Fig. 2).
(See Medum, Plates XI and XXVII.)
An implement in common use among the
modern Egyptians and Nubians is the mifrakeh.
With this they stir a sort of porridge made
from lentils (Fig. 3). The example here
shown is made from part of the rib of a
palm-branch (gerideh). At the end of the
stick a hole is bored and a short stick is
inserted, the middle part of which is shaved
away so as to be thinner
than the two ends. By
constant use in liquids the
wood swells, and the inserted stick becomes tightly fixed in the
hole. The examples given render it fairly evident that the sign
reading nd is the modern mifrakeh. The examples from
Medum have the same shaped ends as the modern implement, indeed
the difference between the centre and ends is more strongly marked
in the ancient than in the modern specimen.
The Arabic word farak, from which mifrakeh is derived, means
to rub a thing with the hand, to husk corn between the fingers.
(See Hava's Arabic-English Dictionary under <^Jt».) The mifrakeh
is used in the following manner : — The long stick is placed between
the palms of the two hands, the lower end with the inserted stick
being in the porridge, and the hands are worked exactly as if one
were rubbing the husks off wheat, hence its name mifrakeh. The
instrument revolves rapidly like a drill and so the porridge is stirred.
It is perhaps worth noting that the fire-drill used among the Dinkas
is called mifrakeh, being worked like the porridge-stirrer.
The meanings of the Arabic verb farak and the Egyptian verb nd are identical,
z.e., to rub. This verb combined with the verb Hiii sncc occurs frequently in receipts
I l°l
[ 168 ]
FIG. 1.
FIG. 2.
%
FIG. 3.
1909,] MAN. [Nos. 96-98.
which direct that some hard material be reduced to powder, i.e., * His] nd sncc " rub
and grind fine." It seems therefore certain that the object used as word-sign for nd,
41 to grind," is identical with the modern Egyptian and Nubian porridge-stirrer. And so
one more sign may now be knocked off the gradually decreasing list of Egyptian
hieroglyphs classed as uncertain.
N.B. — I found the porridge-stirrer used from Shellal up to Gerf Hussein in Nubia.
Two of my boys, one from Qus and the other from Quft, say it is commonly used
in their neighbourhood, and my head guard, from Illahun in the Fayyum, says it is
used there. While acting as assistant to Drs. Grenfell and Hunt at Behnasa in
Middle Egypt I found several Graeco-Roman examples in the rubbish-mounds.
AYLWARD M. BLACKMAN.
REVIEWS.
Africa, East. Weule.
Native Life in East Africa. The Results of an Ethnological Research QTF
Expedition. By Dr. Karl Weule. Translated by Alice Werner. London : Uf
Pitman, 1909. Pp. xxiv + 431. 24 X 17 cm. Price 12*. 6d.
This book is not only translated by Miss Werner, but is also reviewed by her
in a " Translator's Introduction." The author suffers nothing by the translation, and
he has the benefit of authoritative criticism in the review. Judged as an account
of the results of a scientific study of native life the book is open to the charge of
diffuseness, a great deal of irrelevant matter being included. A better title would
have been " An Ethnologist in East Africa," since the personal element is con-
spicuous. Dr. Weule's freshness of outlook, and his sense of the novelty of his
experiences, enlist the reader's sympathies even more than do his frequent references
to the trials of a traveller and investigator, whilst his energy and enthusiasm are
worthy of all praise. The full value of his investigations must be judged by the
detailed accounts of them, published elsewhere, but it is evident that he was able to
get through a large amount of work. Six months is a very short time in which
to travel considerable distances, make large collections, take photographs, cinemato-
graphic and phonographic records, study languages, and explore the " back of the
black man's mind." In the last-named field of research he was less successful than
he expected, but, as Miss Werner incisively indicates, he expected too much.
Most of Dr. Weule's time was spent amongst the Wayao, Wamakua, and Wama-
konde, in the region of the Makonde plateau, and his most important achievement
was in his observations of certain parts of the unyaqo or initiation ceremonies, of
which he shows a number of photographs. The scale on which they are reproduced
is, however, too small, as is also the case with the series representing stages in the
making of pottery and bark cloth respectively. The wearing of the pelele is illustrated
by a number of excellent photographs, and scarification is also liberally treated in this
respect. The numerous reproductions of drawings by natives are of considerable
interest.
In spite of defects in the plan of the book, it is an interesting and useful addition
to general anthropological literature. H. S. H.
Africa, South. Tongue.
Bushman Paintings. Copied by M. Helen Tongue, with a Preface by Henry
Balfour. Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1909. Pp. 48. Plates 56. 34 x 25 cm.
Price £3 3*.
It, is unnecessary to insist on the importance of a work which serves to place on
permanent record a large series of accurate copies of bushman rock paintings.
C 169 J
No. 98.] MAN. [1909.
Apart from the melancholy interest which attaches to the bushmen themselves as an
almost extinct aboriginal race, the high standard of their pictorial art as compared with
that of the surrounding peoples, and its similarity to that of the cave-men of Europe,
appeals strongly to all those interested in ethnological science. The drawings, over
one hundred in number, are the work of Miss M. H. Tongue, and were laboriously
collected over a wide area, including portions of Cape Colony, the Orange River-
Colony, and Basutoland. Miss Tongue was fortunate in having as collaborator Miss
Bleek, daughter of the celebrated philologist, who from her earliest years has been
acquainted with representatives of the bushman race. The text consists of a detailed
description of each site from which paintings were copied, together with suggestions
for the elucidation of the meaning of the figures where possible, and also a short note
by Miss Bleek on a number of individual bushmen with whom she had the good
fortune to come in contact in the early eighties. Mr. Henry Balfour contributes an
interesting and appreciative preface. Valuable as the text is, the illustrations form
the main feature of the book ; these, with the exception of four plates of photographs
and a good map, are all in colour, and by far surpass any reproductions of similar
paintings heretofore attempted. The majority are printed on paper tinted either
silurian grey or dark terra-cotta, which gives the effect of a dark rocky background ;
two are chromo-collotypes, and show a distinct attempt on the part of the artist at
shading. The latter are pictures of eland, and are two of the best in the book, their
technique suggesting something of the Japanese.
The scenes depicted deal in the main with animal life, and the figures of the
various beasts are infinitely more successful than those of the men and women, a
feature which is not uncommon in primitive art. The animals represented are in great
variety — antelope, buck, lion, leopard, hippo, rhino, giraffe, baboon, various domestic
animals, ostrich, vulture, crane, and so forth. Living by the chase, the bushmen were
compelled to make the study of the game animals their chief occupation, and nothing
bears witness to their deep knowledge of animal life as the studies executed by the
favoured few who were the tribal artists. In spite of the simplicity of the drawings
it is impossible not to acknowledge the vigour of such scenes as the springing lion on
Plate III, the hippo turning on the hunters on Plate IV, or the charging wildebeest
on Plate XXXI. One of the most successful paintings is shown on Plate XVI, a
peaceful scene of eland and hartebeest grazing, in which is displayed a remarkable
variety in the attitudes assumed by the various animals ; this picture is further
remarkable as containing almost the only representation of vegetable life contained
in the series, the branch of a tree from which an eland is pulling the leaves. Desire
to depict nature as he found it often led the primitive artist into difficulties, but hi&
courage failed not at the delineation of even the most awkward attitudes, and attempts
to show animals in a foreshortened aspect are fairly numerous ; notably on Plates IIr
XVIII, XXV, and XLI. Of particular interest to the ethnologist are those scenes
which exhibit pictures of native life, such as the hunting scene (Plate XXV) where
two hunters disguised as buck are stealing up to a herd of eland, or the representation
of a dance (Plate XXXVI), where a number of men dressed up to represent animals
perform characteristic evolutions while the women stand round and clap their hands.
Of other races the Bechuana are frequently represented, and are easily recognised
by their shields of characteristic pattern, and one drawing appears to represent a
couple of European soldiers behind a breastwork. A number of signs are, of course,
impossible of explanation, and of these no doubt some have a magical significance ;
but it is pleasing to find illustrations of two, possibly even three, myths which have
been preserved to us. One depicts the well-known story of the children and the
mantis (Plate XL), the second the legend of the man who was changed into a frog
(Plate VIII) ; besides these pictures there exist two (Plates VI and XVIII) showing
[ 170 ]
1909.] MAN. [Nos. 98-99.
spotted buck, of no known species, surrounded by fish. The authors make the very
plausible suggestion that these may represent the mythical " rain-bulls " which
sorcerers were supposed to lead over the country in order to cause rain ; in this
case the spots would typify the raindrops. Space permits no more than a short
description of the leading features of the pictures, each of which deserves a close
study, and those who had the opportunity of seeing Miss Tongue's drawings when
they were on view in the library of the Royal Anthropological Institute will know
that much remains unsaid.
It is not easy to estimate the difficulties which beset the collection of a series of
drawings such as these, and all students of primitive man will feel greatly indebted
to Miss Tongue and Miss Bleek for their labours. It must be no small recompense
to them to see their fine material published, as it deserves, in so sumptuous a form.
The Oxford University Press already possesses a reputation for enterprise and
efficiency which it would be hard to render higher, but, if the thing is possible, it
is accomplished by the valuable book of which a brief description has been given.
T. A. J.
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.
Anthropology. British Association.
Anthropology at the British Association, Winnipeg Meeting, August 25th to QQ
September 1st, 1909. UU
The Anthropological Section of the British Association met at the Carlton School,
Winnipeg, under the presidency of Professor J. L. Myres. The President's address on
the influence of Anthropology on the course of Political Science will be found in
Nature (Sept. 23, 1909). As was to be expected, a great number of the papers pre-
sented dealt with American Ethnology and Archaeology, and an important feature of the
meeting was the day devoted to papers and discussion on the necessity for an Ethno-
graphic Survey of Canada, not only of the aboriginal population, but also of the
white settlers. Partly as a result of this a committee was formed to consider what
steps should be taken to carry out such a survey, and a memorial was drawn up on
the subject, which, it is hoped, will be presented in due course to the Canadian
Government.
It may also be of interest to note that the Section had the opportunity of seeing
a party of Sioux and Cree Indians who happened to be quartered at the barracks
during a part of the meeting.
In the summary which follows the papers are arranged under subjects, and the
future destination of the papers, so far as known at present, is indicated in square
brackets.
PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY.
Archaeological and Ethnographical Researches in Crete. Interim Report of the
Committee. — The Committee has received the following interim report from Mr. C. H.
Hawes, who was able to return to Crete in the spring of 1909 : —
Extracts from Mr. C. H. Hawes* Report.
During October, 1908, four skulls, two portions of other crania, several pelvic and
long bones came to light in the course of deepening a well in the alluvial bank of an
ancient river ten minutes east of Candia. The argillaceous deposit on which they
lay had acted as a natural plaster of Paris, and we are now in possession of human
osseous remains of not later than the Middle Minoau I period, in the most extraordinary
state of preservation. Complete measurements and observations have been made upon
[ 171
No. 99.] MAN. [1909.
these, and I hope to publish them at an early date with a comparison of those discovered
by Dr. Duckworth in 1903.
In attacking the problem of how to discover or uncover the ancient stratum among
the modern people, I have addressed myself to the task of finding out and isolating,
if possible, alien elements of historical times. Representatives of Turkish and old
Venetian families have been approached, and genealogical, traditional, and historical
information garnered, with a view of testing them anthropometrically. For example, one
village at which I am to stay this week claims to contain only descendants of Venetians
who have strictly refused exogamous marriages. A small Armenian colony has existed
in Candia since the Turkish occupation in 1669, and inasmuch as the Armenoid type
of head is met with in the east end of the island, whether of historic or pre-historic
date, this little band of settlers is being measured. Albanian influence has been
suspected in Crete, and rightly so, since for various reasons the Turkish janissaries in
the island included large numbers of these Europeans, and considerable mixture resulted.
In view also of the Dorian occupation of Crete and the belief in certain quarters that
Illyria largely furnished the Dorian hosts, it seemed important to get at the Albanian
type. Records, of these and other peoples to be met in the island were in my posses-
sion, but I was anxious to attempt the method of race analysis by contours of the
living head. During my short stay at Athens I was able, by the aid of Mr. Steele,
of the Lake Copa'is Company, to pay a flying visit to an Albanian village in the
mountains to the north-east of the lake. There, in the village of Martino, reputed to
be the purest of five such, I measured forty individuals and obtained contours of their
heads by means of an instrument which I had just completed. Contours obtained at
random from Albanians of the islands of Hydra and Spezzia coincided exactly with
the type from Martino.
The problem has been attacked from another direction. What modification of the
cephalic index and the shape of the head has been effected by artificial deformation or
formation of the head ? I am indebted to Professor Macalister for calling my attention
to the importance of this factor. It is a custom which is far more prevalent than is
dreamed, and thousands of people in this island, mostly of the male sex, are unaware
of a custom which is universal except among the Mussulmans and the better educated
minority of urban population. The first object was to gauge the effect on the cephalic
index and the contours. At the outset it is necessary to distinguish between the
results of intentional formation and involuntary deformation due to the lying on hard
surfaces. For these purposes I am making comparisons between subjects who have
and have not undergone head shaping, and between those who have and have not
suffered from a pillowless infancy. Striking examples of the latter are to be found
among the small colony of Epirote bakers, who, owing to the extreme poverty of their
parents at home, possess the most extraordinary and incredible head-shapes it has been
my lot to see. Similar observations are being made upon the Armenian settlement
here. Observations on these two extreme forms of head will prove instructive in
•comparison with the results of similar, though modified, treatment of the Cretan native.
Further, whole families of Cretans are under observation, and measurements and contours
have been taken of them, including children who have and have not been bandaged
in their infancy, from the age of fourteen days up.
In addition to these researches which are in progress, I have been able to garner
from a cave, where are carelessly consigned the bones of many a deceased Cretan of
to-day after a short burial in the cemetery, some hundred bones from all parts of the
skeleton, saving, unfortunately, the cranium ; and thus a comparison is possible between
skeleton and skeleton of ancient and modern times. Two collections of hair, representing
a series of shades, have been made for me by Orthodox and Mussulman barbers in
Candia. [Rep. Brit. Assoc., 1909.]
[ 172 ]
1909.] MAN. [No, 99.
Anthropometric Investigation in the British Isles. Report of the Committee. —
Although the last report of the Committee was considered to be final as regards the
method of anthropometric investigation, it was thought advisable to reappoint the Com-
mittee to act as an organising centre to promote the establishment of authropometric
investigation among all classes of the population of the British Isles. In this direction
important work has been done during the past year.
The importance of installing anthropometry in public schools was brought under
the notice of the Headmasters' Conference on February 10th last, and their co-operation
was asked for. In reply, a letter, dated May 21st, was received from the secretary of
the Headmasters' Conference Committee, suggesting the issue of a short circular
explaining the items of information that it was most important to collect. In response
to this suggestion a memorandum was drawn up and sent out by the Anthropometric
Committee to the headmasters of 107 public schools.
Measurements are now being carried out, generally under the direction of the
medical officers of the education authorities, in primary schools, and in a certain number
of provided secondary schools. But there is still a wide field among secondary schools
for both boys and girls in which the Committee could do good work.
The Establishment of a System of Measuring Mental Characters. Report of
the Committee. — The work of the Committee is going forward and promises to yield
interesting results, but is not sufficiently advanced for a full report.
ETHNOGRAPHY.
(a) AMERICAN.
Papers relating to a proposed ethnographical survey of Canada : —
(A) The Aboriginal Peoples.
E. SIDNEY HARTLAND. — Retrospect. — In this paper Mr. Hartland summarised the
work that had been done in Canada from the time of the Jesuit Fathers down to the
present. A great part of this work was done by the committee of the Association
appointed at the Montreal meeting in 1884. The work of this committee ceased with
the death of Dr. George Dawson, and since then, with the exception of Mr. Hill-
Tout's researches on the British Columbian tribes, little systematic work has been done
by Canadians, and it has been left almost entirely to the institutions and museums of
the United States.
DK. F. BOAS. — Ethnological Problems of Canada. — After a brief enumeration of
some of the gaps in our knowledge Dr. Boas pointed out that the general outlines
of Canadian ethnology had become known through reconnaisances carried out largely
under the auspices of the British Association, and that the task of the future would
be a systematic study of the ethnological problems of the country. He discussed
these problems in their relation to the general ethnological problems of the American
continent. While in the whole area from the Argentine northward to the Great Lakes
certain characteristic traits of civilisation are found which differentiate the civilisation
of ancient America from that of other continents, distinct types of culture are found
on the extreme north-west of the continent, including the whole area from California to
the coast of Labrador ; and in the extreme south-east in Brazil and Tierra del Fuego.
This suggests that these marginal areas may possess a culture older than that of the
middle part of the continent and not exposed to the same historic influences. Among
the Canadian tribes only the Iroquois and a few of the western tribes, like the Blackfeet
and Assiniboines, belong to the middle area of the continent. All the rest belong to
the northern marginal area. The tribes east of Great Slave Lake and of the northern
interior of Labrador may represent the civilisation in its present form. The problem
[ 173 ]
No. 99.] MAN. [1909.
becomes still more difficult owing to undoubted influences which extended from Asia into
America, and which reach Hudson's Bay and the Great Plains. The unravelling of
these historical conditions is, perhaps, the most important problem to be solved by a
study of Canadian ethnology.
Ethnologists are not yet in accord in regard to the theory of the gradual develop-
ment of civilisation. While some believe that similarities of culture occurring among
diverse tribes, sometimes wide apart, is due to pyschological similarities, others believe
that gradual dissemination has played an important part. In Canada there are at least
six distinct types of culture, that of the Eskimo, the north-west coast, the Mackenzie
barrier of the western plateaus, that of the plains, that of the eastern woodland, and
that of the Iroquois. The study of the relations of these will help to clear up the
fundamental anthropological problems that are of the greatest interest, and which have
also a distinct practical bearing upon our views relating to the history and future of our
own civilisation.
DR. G. B. GORDON.^ The Anthropological Work of the University of Penn-
sylvania.— Dr. G. B. Gordon, reviewing the researches into the history of man on the
North American continent that have been carried on under the auspices of the Govern-
ment and institutions of the United States, called attention to certain far-reaching
changes that have been witnessed in the attitude of the educated classes, and especially
of the institutions of learning, with reference to those studies that fall directly within
the province of anthropology, changes which, he predicted, are destined to affect very
profoundly those inter-related branches of learning which, like history and sociology,
are most directly affected by the anthropological method. These tendencies are made
manifest by the history of anthropological activities in those quarters which are most
influenced in shaping educational development and methods of research.
The work of the Smithsonian Institution through the Bureau of Ethnology has been
a prominent factor in promoting that interest in the study of the native races which has
been carried on, with successful results, by the great universities and museums of the
country. Nothing in the history of anthropology is more significant than the present
condition of archreological studies in the great universities as contrasted with that which
obtained a few years ago. Until very recently the name of American archaeology was
obnoxious because it was foreign to European civilisation. To-day in the same quarters
the chief archaeological interest lies in the prehistoric period, and, with a realisation of
the unity of all problems of human development, comes a rapidly-increasing interest in
American archaeology as a subject of study. This is the condition of archaeological
science in American institutions of learning to-day, and, as an index of this condition,
the Archaeological Institute of America, which for many years has maintained schools
at Rome, Athens, and Jerusalem, has only last year established a similar school in
New Mexico, and is making an effort to establish another in the city of Mexico, the
object of these schools being the study of American archaeology.
(B.)— The White Settlers.
DR. F. C. SHRUBSALL. — Ethnographic Study of the White Settlers. — Dr. Shrub-
sail described the nature and methods of investigations being pursued in crowded
centres of population, with a view to obtaining statistical information that may be of
value in determining the factors that lead to degeneration or improvement in the
physical life of communities. In the main, Dr. Shrubsall held that the constitution
of a people depended upon immigration, emigration, and the birth and death rates.
The death rate seemed to be the selective factor in Nature's method of evolution,
weeding out the weaklings and the unfit. With the advance of civilisation, however,
humanitarian principles had prevailed and every effort was made to save the unfit
.from perishing in childhood, and the insane from committing suicide, and the mentally
1909.] MAN. [No. 99.
deficient from the consequences of their lack of adaptation to their environment, thus
leaving them to be parents of the next generation, and unfortunately such proved a
fertile stock. Of the relative importance of heredity and environment heredity
predominated and the degree in which it affected the individual was dependent upon
the intensity of inherited constitution. The entire trend of the paper was to urge the
necessity for taking preventative measures while the Dominion was still young, instead
of remedial measures when the country would be confronted with the grim problems
which faced the thickly-populated centres of older lands. Much might be done, it
was urged, to prevent the landing of the physically and mentally unfit, and to encourage
the propagation of the race through the physically and mentally fit members of the
community. Many illustrations were given of the methods of tabulating and com-
paring the statistics obtained in the course of medical inspection of school children.
C. HILL-TOUT. — Report on the Ethnology of the Okanagan of British Columbia.
\Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst.~\
DR. G. B. GORDON. — Ethnological Researches in Alaska. — In 1907 the author
made an expedition, on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, into the
Koskokwim valley in Alaska to investigate the natives of that region, who, owing
to the remoteness of their habitat from white man's influence, preserve in a marked
degree their aboriginal characteristics. The route followed was from Dawson west-
ward by way of the Tanana and Kantishna rivers to lake Minchunima to the
headwaters of the Koskokwim, thence down the entire length of that river to the
coast. In the upper valley of the Koskokwim were found Dene tribes preserving
the characteristics of the widespread Dene stock.
About 700 miles from the mouth of the river Eskimo culture began to be felt,
and about 200 or 300 miles further down Eskimo customs had entirely replaced the
native customs, even in those communities where there was little or no mixture of
Eskimo blood. The tendency of the Dene in this region to adopt Eskimo culture
which has intruded from the Bering Sea coast is strongly marked, and shows that the
Eskimo culture is the more agressive and the more advanced. At the mouth of the
Koskokwim the Eskimo communities have retained in full vigour their peculiar
customs and mode of life because that part of the Alaskan coast has not been visited
by trading vessels or by whalers.
The general health and physical welfare of these communities as well as of those
on the Koskokwim river was noticeably better than in those localities where the
nations have been in continued contact with the white man's influence, as, for instance,
on the Yukon and on Norton Sound. At the same time the mental and moral state
of the former population is decidedly better than that of the latter. All observations
tend to show that the inhabitants of Alaska, both Dene and Eskimo, undergo
deterioration, physical and moral, under the influence of civilisation.
WILLIAM MC!NTOSH. — Note on the present Native Population and Traces of Early
Civilisation in the Province of New Brunswick. — The native and half-breed population
numbers about 1,500 at the present time. These belong to two tribes : the Micmacs,
occupying the eastern coast and part of the Bay of Fundy shores, and the Malecites,
who occupy the St. John River Valley, or about the same country which was occupied
by their ancestors in early times. They are able to speak English but use their own
language among themselves.
Evidence of the prehistoric occupation of this region by a people who were using
stone implements are abundant. In sheltered coves along the coast are numerous
kitchen middens ; along the principal rivers prehistoric camp-sites abound. With a
few exceptions the stone implements are of the type common to the Algonquin areas.
[ 175 ]
Nos. 99-100.] MAN, [1909.
The pottery, in material and shape, closely resembles the ware made by the Algonquin
tribes elsewhere, but it shows some interesting variations in ornamentation, differing
in this respect from the Algonquin pottery of the south.
JOHN MACLEAN. — The Black foot Medical Priesthood. — The author defined
medicine-men, or the medical priesthood, as shamans, conjurers, doctors, prophets, and
priests, and gave the different grades in the priesthood. The subject of initiation
was then dealt with and the course of instruction was outlined. Previous to this the
would-be medicine man undergoes a period of voluntary seclusion during which he
fasts and sees visions. The dress and facial decoration of the fraternity was next
described and the sacred numbers were explained. The subject of disease was next
treated, the Blackfeet being particularly prone to small-pox and consumption. The
causes of the diseases were discussed, especially the influence which the belief in
evil spirits has upon the minds and bodies of the natives.
The author then treated of the medicine-man in connection with religion, such
subjects as animism, sacred stones, sacrifice, spiritualism, hypnotism, prophecy, and
incantation being discussed, as well as medicine songs, charms, and amulets.
Lastly, the author considered native medicines and remedies, and discussed the
value of the work of the medicine men among the natives and the influence exercised
by them on the native religion. [Manitoba Free Press.^
(b~) NON-AMERICAN.
DR. F. C. SHRUBSALL. — The Geographical Factors bearing on the Distribution
of Racial Types in Africa.
E. SIDNEY HARTLAND. — On a Cult of Executed Criminals in Sicily. [See Proc.
Third Int. Congress of Religions. Oxford, 1908.]
[A report of the other papers read will appear in a subsequent number of
MAN.]
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES.
PROFESSOR CESARE LOMBROSO died on October 19th. Born in 1835, he
studied medicine at Padua and Vienna, graduating in 1856. After serving
as a surgeon in the Austro-Italian war he became Professor of Psychiatry at the
University of Pavia and subsequently held the same chair at Turin. He was
chiefly notable for his researches in criminology and his results are published in his
work L1 Uomo Delinquente. He was an honorary fellow of the Royal Anthropological
Institute, having been elected in 1892.
DR. ROBERT CREWDSON BENINGTON died suddenly on August 26th. Of late years
he had devoted his attention to anthropological work and at the time of his death
was engaged on a study of the African skulls preserved in the museum of the Royal
College of Surgeons and at the Natural History Museum. He joined the Royal
Anthropological Institute in 1906.
THE death is announced of Dr. Robert Needham Gust. Dr. Cust. who was born in
1821, was for twenty-four years a member of the Indian Civil Service, and took part
in the settlement of the Punjab after the Mutiny, being present at several actions. He
was subsequently Home Secretary to the Government of India and retired in 1867.
He was the author of a great number of works on linguistic subjects, amongst which
may be mentioned those on the modern languages of the East Indies, of Africa, of
Oceana, of the Caucasian group, and of the Turki branch of the Ural-Altaic family.
Printed by EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE, LTD., His Majestj^'s Printers, East Harding Street, E.C.
PLATE M.
MAN, 1909.
FIG. 2.
FIG. i.
FIG. 3.
SOME DOROBO BELIEFS.
1909.] MAN. [Nos. 101-102.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Africa, East. With Plate M. Hollis.
Some Dorobo Beliefs. By A. C. Hollis. 4|M
I recently went for a trip through the little known country lying between I U I
Naivasha and the Anglo-German frontier, and was fortunate enough to obtain a
snapshot of a Dorobo, who was a member of the caravan, spitting towards the rising
sun before saying his morning prayer (PL M, Fig. 1). Whilst performing this
ceremony he had to lay aside his sword.
The rains were overdue at the time, and I took photographs of the same
Dorobo making medicine to prevent the rain from falling. Fig. 2 shows him whistling
at and defying the rain-god. In Fig. 3 he has laid aside his bow, and whilst holding
his sword upright is rubbing the handle rapidly between his %two hands. This is
done when the rain-god takes no notice of his defiant remarks, and insists on turning
on the celestial water-tap. It is doubtless only a remarkable coincidence, but
although the rain oftened threatened we had very little till we returned to the Uganda
Railway, when it came down in torrents. All the natives of the caravan — Kikuyu,
Kavirondo, and other East African tribes — believed that the Dorobo had kept off the
rain, and I was told more than once that if it had not been for him we should have
been washed away.
It is worthy of note that I met some Masai-Dorobo in the Rift Valley who did
not speak Nandi like most of the Dorobo in both British and German East Africa.
Whether their ancestors had never known this language or had forgotten it owing to long
intercourse with the Masai, or whether they had been simply poor Masai, who, owing
to the loss of their cattle, had become outcasts and taken to hunting, I was unable to
ascertain. A. C. HOLLIS.
Persia. Sykes.
Notes on Tattooing in Persia. By Major P. Molesworth Sykes, 4f|Q
C.M.G. Illl.
Until the last generation, tattooing was almost universal in Persia. Ladies of the
best families had designs pricked on the forehead to connect the eyebrows : also on the
chin, on one cheek, on the lip, on the throat, and on the breasts. Imitations of
anklets and bracelets, too, were frequently tattooed. During pregnancy, tattooing, more
especially on the sole of the foot, was practised, with the idea that the mark would
be transferred to their offspring. Women generally had birds, flowers, or gazelles
tattooed ; but occasionally verses from the Koran. Men, on the other hand, had lions
and Ya All Madad, or " Help, O Ali," on their arms.
Tattooing was apparently practised by women (a) to embellish their charms,
(b) to avert the evil eye, (c) to hide a scar or blemish, and (d) to cure a malady. As
regards this latter practice, Captain Franklin, I.M.S., tells me that he recently saw
a patient who stated that she had tattooed herself above her eyebrows as a cure for
granular lids, the chronic form of conjunctivitis. Compare with this the old English
custom of curing myopia by piercing the ears. In the case of men, wrestlers and
gymnasts especially affected the art, it being customary for the winner in a wrestling
match to have a lion tattooed on his arm. To-day, tattooing is rare among the upper
classes, but is still affected by the lower classes, more especially in Southern Persia.
The nomads of Fars of both sexes tattoo. In Kerman, prostitutes are said to be
tattooed with a tree guarded by two chained lions covering the front part of the body.
The tattooing is generally done by a gypsy woman, and the gypsies also bleed all
classes at certain seasons. The procedure is to rub over the place with two Chinese
herbs known as jadwar* and tanzu, famous for healing properties, to paint the design,
* Zedoary, a root of genus curcuma.
[ 177 ]
Nos. 102-103.] MAN. [1909.
to prick it in with a needle and then to rub in antimony. Ink, indigo, and charcoal
are also employed and, very rarely, a yellow dye, either turmeric or zalil, a local herb.
Probably the devices originally possessed a meaning, the lion being obviously the
symbol of bravery ; but, to-day, nothing of this is known, except that the devices on
the forehead and cheeks are calculated to ward off the evil eye.
The Persian expression is &±~>y JU. " to strike in a mole," and the practice is
considered to be against the teaching of Muhammad who, according to a tradition,
cursed (a) the woman who added false hair or allowed it to be added ; (6) the woman
who tattooed or was tattooed ; (c) the woman who sharpened teeth or whose teeth
were sharpened ; and (rf) the woman who depilated or who allowed depilation. This
tradition is quoted by mullas as an order against both vaccination and dentistry.* It
also shows that tattooing was in vogue in Arabia ; indeed, there are many references to
it in Arabic literature, and, to-day, it is still a flourishing art, whereas in Persia it is
considered to be a relic of barbarism. P. MOLESWORTH SYKES.
Archaeology. Abbott.
The Pygmy Implements. By W. J. Lewis Abbott, F.G.S. IflQ
In speaking of the pygmy implements, frequently referred to in these pages, lOU
it is essential that we should have a set of definite objects in our mind, marking some
particular phase of prehistoric culture. As a matter of fact flints of diminutive, or, in
contrast with those generally found in collections, pygmy size, with minute workings,
are found in deposits of many ages ; and in most of these the outlines are more or less
fantastic. Upon e*vrery flint pebble beach and in river gravels very remarkable small
flints with minute chippings can be found, of which the form and chippings often so
clos-ely resemble those which we claim to be the work of man, that none but those who
have given the necessary amount of study to the question can correctly determine these
interesting little objects. With many people a universal negation of everything of this
class finds an easy solution of the difficulty. But, unfortunately for this attitude, many
of these things occur in settlements, away from all the vicissitudes of gravel making,.
in places where there is no native flint, so that the danger of this wholesale condemnation
ought to become obvious.
In dealing with the "pygmy " flints from the older formations, great care must be
exercised in drawing a line between the work of man and the results of the multiple
forces of Nature ; and the older the formation in which they occur the greater the
difficulty becomes. There can be no doubt, I think, that Nature furnished man, or
his immediate predecessors, with prototypes, and that vast quantities of flints which
have served his purpose consist mainly of natural forms with but little additions
from those who used them. It is as the ages roll on that we see the artificial pre-
ponderating over, and finally supplanting, the natural element. As we watch this,
not only do new types appear, but new methods of working, and both types and
working have a chronological value, and increase in numbers as the ages follow
one another. It is by no means sufficient for worked flints to be of pygmy size,
and quaint outlines, to justify the assumption that they ought to be regarded as
belonging exclusively to one particular age or people ; they were not the product of
one exclusive race, at one particular " age."
The .evolution of the flint industry in very many ways parallels the evolution of
organic life upon the planet. Many types become fixed, some of which persist through
several of our greatest divisions of time ; others had a shorter life, while others soon
became extinct. Diminutive flints with more or less quaint outlines with very delicate
* The Arabic is as follows : —
[ 178 J
1909.] MAN. [No. 103.
chippiugs occur in the Pliocene beds on the chalk plateaux, as at Wrotham Hill, ami
were thrown out with Pliocene shells at the summit level a little north, also in tin-
Pliocene Dewlish gravels and in the Cromer Forest Bed. Diminutive worked flints of
contemporary age are fouud in many places upon the Continent, at various horizons iu
our Pleistocene gravels, and in caves all over Europe ; in rock shelters, kitchen middens,
settlements, stations, and encampments all over the country ; in sand dunes, peat bogs
and fens, dew ponds, and numerous other places throughout the United Kingdom. It is
when we study these things, and the deposits in which they occur, in chronological order,
that we see the evolution of type and method of working, the latter being so highly
important for our present purpose, while we watch the survival of older forms and the
appearance of new as we ascend the series.
When we come to " open air " stations the conditions present grave difficulties
unless we have made a special study of the products of all the ages anteceding that to
which the newest relic belongs. The passage from the older river through the older
caves is easily seen, and from the older to the new cave deposits. It is, however,
during the cave period, or rather during the period represented by the cave deposits,
that we see the evolutions of what I wish to call the pygmy implements, la petite
Industrie of Pierpont, the Tardenoisien of Rutot.
For over twenty years some of us had been collecting these little things without
being able to realise their importance; it was not. till the discovery of the Hastings
kitchen middens that this was done ; here upon the old rock ledges, under the lee of the
overhanging rocks and at the mouths of the fissures, were enacted all the dramas of the
life of a given people at a given period. Hither they brought the trophy of the chase,
gatherings from the foreshore and forest, the fish they could catch, and the birds they
were dextrous enough to shoot. Hither, also, they brought the flints from the beach
and sat and worked them into those delicate characteristic forms by a method essentially
peculiar to them. Here they lit their fires and partook of the evening meal, and here
were sealed down all the relics of the period, not only the flint and bone tools,
amulets, &c., but the bones of the animals, birds, and fish of that period. The content*
of these have been elsewhere described,* so that it is scarcely necessary to go into
fuller details — one picture may suffice, restored from materials as found.
Extending over a great distance through the Midden material was a stratum of clear
barren sand, marking a period of rest from habitation. On carefully removing this,
there were laid bare probably the most fascinating collections of objects of a prehistoric
period that have ever been seen together ; for here in its purity existed a complete
picture of the life of these old hunter-fishermen sealed down from contamination and
admixture with the relics of subsequent times, and thus this remarkable accumulation
has the right to be regarded as absolutely typical, and to justify the claim of the term
Hastings Kitchen Midden Men Period.
In a corner formed by the cliff face and a projecting fissure wall squatted one of
the old fellows chipping away at a flint, a heap of which lay by his side. In his hand
was a hard-worn quartzite hammer-stone, one of the most cherished objects of his
life. Near him crouched his wife, and possibly offspring, collecting the flakes he
struck off, and sorting them into little heaps according to the purposes for which they
were suitable. Near him was another old fellow, working away at one of those
beautiful bi-concavo-convex ridged-back, finely-worked, round-based, spear tips ; he
had finished the prize all but one blow, which would have removed the implement
from the flint block in a finished condition, when he, too, stops of a sudden. Near to
him are several others splitting bones either for their marrow or for material for
implements, &c. One old fellow has broken a leg bone of one of the trophies just
secured in the chase ; beside him are two pointed flint wedges. He has already
* Journ, Anthr. Inst.. Nov. 1895. Plates x to xiii.
[ 179 ]
No. 103.] MAN. [1909.
inserted one into the narrow cavity, and the bone* is splitting in several places, but
the skeletal element is firm and healthy, and grips the wedge tightly, and splitting
requires force applied several times.
A little further there is a fire on the hearth which has baked the underlying loam
into a red brick for several feet in extent. Over this is roasting a boar's head, till
the jawbones are becoming so exposed that before the great episode of the evening
is finished they will all be reduced to charcoal. Near at hand there are also several of
the community engaged in taking off the damaged flint points broken in the chase, and
replacing these truncated butt ends with new flint tops ; consigning these broken
portions to the accumulating midden or refuse heap. The number of these flint butt
•ends that have accumulated tell us that these flint tools, whether on sticks or sinews
as fish hooks, or bound to hafts or reeds, suffered greatly in use, and required periodical
replacing. At this moment an esteemed implement has come into the hands of one
of the old fellows. It is broken asunder across its centre, and out of some respect
for it he is putting a new point to it, working off those delicate minute flakes in the
manner characteristic of the race. He has run his bone flaker up one side, and left
an edge such as no other system of flint working can produce. He has just begun
the other, and apparently in a minute or two bi-symmetry will again be obtained,
with a sharp piercing point as a result, but he stops just as suddenly ! Near him,
upon the hot ashes of a fire, stands the coarse earthen pot, the prototype of our
modern tar kettle — the earliest saucepan we know ; its bottom and sides are incrusted
with a thick layer of soot, telling of the withstanding of the ordeal of fire accompanying
many an evening meal, while close by is a pile of calcined flints beneath burning
wood, cooking a clay-invested rabbit. Near by are several flat-bottomed vessels, the
prototypes of our first saucers or basins, although the soot upon their bottoms tells
the tale of their having been put upon the blazing fire. Everyone is busy ; everyone
appears intent upon what he is doing, when an alarm is raised, and everyone in the
settlement has stopped what he is doing. It is the enemy ! Down goes the core
upon which the first man is engaged ; even bis cherished quartzite hammer is dropped
in the alarm. Down goes the marrowbone, with the flint wedge firmly gripped, and
down is thrown the implement finished all but for one blow. The pot is left upon
the hearth, and the heap of hot stones, and everyone flees for dear life, which, in all
probability, is barely saved ! From the discovery of human bones it is probable that
all did not escape, and those who did were afraid to come back again for a long period ;
and between this time and renewed operations the Zephyrs and good old .^Eolus had
spread a curtain of blown sand over it all, and thus preserved the picture of the times
for thousands of years, to delight the soul of the pre-historic archaeologist at the close
, of the nineteenth century A.D.
During the last twenty years at least 50,000 relics of this period have been
carefully studied by me. Many pygmy implements identical in' outline with some of
those found in the Hastings kitchen middens have been found in caves with the
mammoth fauna, and each particular type has its history, which it is impossible to
trace here. Also in the French caves certain specialised forms, which, for want of
better words, I have named "old edges" and "tanging pieces," and which, although
not found in. this country associated with polished weapons, are exceedingly plentiful
in settlements of the Hastings kitchen midden age. This method of production asso-
ciates these little objects very closely with the survivors of the French troglodytes, and
the fauna — land and marine — point in the same direction. There is one thing,
however, in which these old fellows excelled their predecessors, and that was in the
introduction of a method of right line minute flaking, which I believe to have been
effected with a slot in a bone very like the wards in a key. With an instrument of
* Now in the British Museum.
[ 180 ] •
1909.] MAN. [Nos. 103-104.
this description it is possible to reproduce the minute right-lined flaking which is the
distinguishing feature of the Hastings kitchen midden men. No one can realise the
accuracy and delicacy of this work. I have often counted sixty and eighty of these
minute flakings to one inch, forcibly calling to mind the teeth of the machine-cut wheels
in a chronograph ! It is neither minuteness of size, quaintness of outline, nor small
work alone that entitles a flint to be regarded as of Hastings kitchen midden age, or
belonging to la petite Industrie, but this method of working, which, whenever found,
is accompanied by the other characteristics.
With reference to the age of these interesting little objects there are many points
to connect them with the Continental troglodytes, of whom they might well have been
the work of the descendants who migrated northwards to Britain and southwards to the
Mediterranean, Egypt, India, and nuineroiis other places. The geological evidence in
Lancashire, according to Dr. Colley March's description, would refer these things to a
time far more remote than any deposit in which polished stones have been found. If
we take the specimens from the undisturbed Hastings kitchen middens as our types of
purity, and allow no other forms as typical that do not occur here, or in some other place
equally well preserved (as in, say, barrows), we shall sometimes be able to fix their age
in relation to polished and other neolithic implements. In many open-air stations and
settlements in commanding positions we find vantage sites that have been used by
various peoples in succession. A magnificent example of such occurs on the summit of
Blackdowu. But, unfortunately, the hunting here was done by workmen who turned
over and sifted all the ground that yielded any kind of flint. Cornwall has recently
yielded a rich harvest of the smaller pygmies. Occasionally we get cases where the relics
of the different ages occur in superposition, and it is obvious that such sites ought to
be preserved to be worked only by qualified men. It is in this point that we need
amendments of the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act to which I hope to refer on
another occasion. W. J. LEWIS ABBOTT.
Ceylon : Archaeology. Andrews.
Early Defensive Works, Ceylon. By J. B. Andrews.
I wish to call attention to a fine Cyclopean wall I visited in Ceylon recently,
at the suggestion of Mr. J. Hill, of the Land Settlement Office, and formerly assistant
to Mr. Bell, the Government archaeologist. It surrounds Mapagala Hill close to the
famous rock fortress of Sigiri. It is similar to others found in various countries in
England and on the French Riviera, such as are described and illustrated in the
valuable publications of Dr. A. Guebhard, member of the Societe prehistorique of
France. This wall was evidently constructed for defensive purposes ; the enormous
stones are piled unhewn on top of one another without the use of mortar. It
dates probably from the Neolithic epoch, if not before. Similar fragments exist on
Sigiri Hill itself, but most of the many walls thereon are quite different in style, the
stones being much smaller, more regularly shaped, and put together with some order.
These last are attributed to the parricide King Kasyapa, A.D. 500 circa. Doubtless
other similar walls exist elsewhere in Ceylon and India, but, to my knowledge, they
have not yet been noticed.
I also visited this winter the kadangas, long lines of huge earthworks situated
in the mountains of Coorg, some hours' journey from the town of Mysore. I may
confirm what Dr. Richter in his Manual of Coorg says of their resemblance to the
so-called British earthworks and dykes, such as the Wansdyke, even in the occasional
presence of supporting forts or camps. They are of unknown antiquity, thousands of
years old according to the imaginative native traditions. The Coorg Chronicle narrates
their being repaired three or four hundred years ago, in some small sections with
stone, it is said. Some of the kadatigas are of great length, traversing the province
Nos. 104-106.]
MAX.
[1909.
of Coorg from north to south. Their height is some 30 feet from the bottom of the
fosse to the top of the vallum.
The lofty mud Avails protecting some of the Mysore villages are noteworthy.
They are strengthened by a fosse. In some respects they recall the kadangas.
J. B. ANDREWS.
Melanesia. Edg-e-Parting-ton.
Banks Islands Pudding-Knives. By J. Edge-Partington. 1flK
The varying forms of the handles of pudding-knives from the Banks group lUu
are evidently all derived from the same source. Without doubt the design is anthro-
pomorphic. Absolute proof of
this, however, was wanting until,
through the kindness of Dr. Cod-
rington, I became possessed of
a knife the handle of which was
carved to represent a complete
male human figure (No. 3). In
comparing this specimen with
others from the British Museum
the anthropomorphic design is
at once apparent. Dr. Cod-
rington tells me that the native
name of this implement is
" igot." My specimen (No. 3)
is made of reddish-brown wood
and measures 16^ inches in
length and is much more highly
finished than is usually the case
with this type of implement.
Dr. Codrington says that
the bread-fruit is abundant in
the Banks Islands, where it
Forms an important part of the
food supply when dried over
a fire, wound round with strips
of leaves and preserved in
chests.
The figures in the illustra-
tion are one quarter the size of
the originals.
2 J. EDGE-PARTINGTON.
Africa, East : Archaeology.
Seton-Karr.
Prehistoric Implements from Somaliland. By H. If. Seton-Karr. IflG
The place where I found the palaeolithic implements about twelve years I U U
ago in Somaliland was the locality where they were produced, manufactured, or made.
It was the work-place. The material was there.
That is the reason they were found in such a perfect condition in such large, or
comparatively large, numbers, and aggregated or collected, not scattered. They had not
been used. They were not waterworn. They were probably for barter and exchange.
What were the conditions under which they were found, under which they had
lain for an immense period of time.
182
1909.] MAN. [Nos. 106-107.
I consider that there are three essential conditions necessary to every locality
where ancient stone implements are to be found in situ on or near the surface
and in considerable numbers.
I judge these conditions from my discoveries in India, in Egypt, and in East Africa,
Central Africa, and South Africa, and from investigations in these and other countries
and localities where I have discovered little or nothing. Firstly, the surface must be
from ancient times undisturbed. Secondly, the material for the manufacture of
implements must be present. Thirdly, there must be, or must have been, water.
This wonderful spot in Somaliland lies geographically about ninety miles N.W.
of the port of Berbera. It is a long, low hill rising about 100 metres above the bed
of the Issutugan. There is no higher ground from which material can be washed on
to it, and there is drainage on all sides, so that rain flows off immediately, carrying
little or no material with it. The ground is formed of coarse, red quartzite sand, false-
bedded, loosely cemented together, and not too easily dissolved, and in this the boulders
and pebbles of quartzite and chert are buried. On the lower slopes of the hill they
have been washed out and are lying loose. None of the Somali rivers reach the sea.
There is seldom water flowing in their beds ; only under the surface and obtainable
by digging. The climate ever since neocosmic times has probably been a comparatively
dry one. The geographical and climatic conditions have not varied. The landscape,
the stratigraphical features, the hills, and river valleys have remained the same since
the beginning of the quaternary period, I imagine, and perhaps longer.
The three conditions I hold essential are thus fulfilled in this case, just as they
were in the case of the Indian implements from near Trivandrum and other places,
and in the case of implements from the upper and lower levels of the Egyptian
desert and the western Oases.
A great many museums all over the world have been presented with Somaliland
implements, but they are all from this one spot or its immediate vicinity. That is to
say, that the neolithic lance-heads, arrow-heads, and scrapers are from the low land.
a mile or two to the south, where flint occurs ; and the heavy Chelleen and Strepyien
coups de poings of quartzite and chert from this hill-top where these materials occur.
I have not, during thirteen separate visits to Somaliland, found any other spot like
it, nor one presenting the three conditions I formulate. I have frequently told other
travellers about these things, especially officers traversing the country on duty during
our small wars against rebellious tribes, and officers and civilians making pleasure
trips who have leisure to look about. But I have not heard of any other similar
locality having yet been found in the whole of Eastern Africa.
Similar implements, but of a rougher, more unworkmanlike, unfinished style and
type have since been found at many places in South and West Africa widely separated
from each other, from the Congo to the Zambesi and the Cape. But they were
scattered and mostly washed out of alluvium and river deposits, and not so flawless
and segregated within such a small area as these from Jalelo in Somaliland ; and, as
Sir John Evans first observed in his communication to the Royal Society, they form
the most important link in the evidence for the universality of palaeolithic times
between east and west. H. W. SETON-KARR.
Ireland: Archaeology. Lewis.
Ancient Remains on the Rock of Cashel. />'// A. L. Lewis. 1(17
Near the entrance to the enclosure round the rock is a much-battered cross lUf
or figure of some sort, standing on a stone, which looks like a rather shapeless
boulder from which the two ends have been roughly cut off" to make it somewhat square
and suitable for a pedestal ; and on this stone I saw a group of concentric circular
markings, such as are found at New Grange, at Long Meg in Cumberland, and at
r iss ]
Nos. 107-108.] MAN. [1909.
the little circle near it, and in other places ; I was told that it was upon this stone
that the early kings of Munster were crowned, and it appeared to me that there was
here a link between the prehistoric and the historic which was at least of some
interest from an anthropological point of view. Whether these concentric markings
have been recorded before I do not know ; I myself have seen no mention of them
— not even in the Encyclopedia Britannica — and, as they are very faint, and can
probably only be seen when the sunlight falls upon them brightly at a particular
angle, I think it not unlikely that they may hitherto have escaped the observation
of those who would be most interested in them, and that it may be well to note the
fact of their existence. A. L. LEWIS.
Fiji. Hocart.
Two Fijian Games. By A. M. Hocart. 108
The following two games may have been described. If so it will do no harm IUU
to repeat them in order to show how the manner in which a game is played deserves to
be recorded no less than the bare rules. I give them as played in Lau with the
Lauan terminology : —
Fitshi. — A bundle of reeds (ngasau) is heaped on a log (ilango ni ngasau) ; the
reeds, about one foot long, lie parallel and project at both ends. Players, two or more,
sit on each side. One proceeds to flip (lisena) the end of each reed successively so as
to drive it out at the other end. He may not make more than one fall at a time and it
must fall clear of the ilango. If he succeeds, he goes on ; if he fails, he yields his turn
to the next player ; if one end of the reed rests on the ilango it is replaced ; if two are
knocked down the player keeps one and replaces the other. When all the reeds have
been flipped off, each player counts his reeds ; each reed is a point (kai).
The game recalls spilikins, in which ivory or wooden needles have to be removed
from a heap with a small hook without causing any other pin to move. But it is
instructive to note the different spirit in which they are played. In the European game
strict rules are enforced with a view to increase the difficulties and hence the excite-
ment ; the heap may not be re-arranged, and the more confused the heap the better the
game ; in Jttshi a player can spread out the reeds, as room is made in the progress of the
game. I have seen boys substitute for a short log, on which the reeds had to be piled
up, a long one on which they could be laid side by side and not interfere with each
other, which makes the game rather tame from our point of view. In this as in other
games they seem to enjoy the actual exercise of skill rather than emulation ; boys — I
cannot say how it is with men — keep no account of the score beyond each particular
game.
Veimbuka. — This is the Lauan name ; in Tailevu it is known as veimbithi. A
straight line is drawn on the beach some eighty metres long, it is called isoso. In the
middle is a small mound (mata ni isoso), which divides the line between two teams (to).
The teams line up on each side of the mata. A boy, called mbithi, runs out from one
camp and seeks to reach the opponents' line ; of course it is no use making straight for
it, so he has to run out with as much slant towards the adversaries' line as the latter
allow, for they rush out in a mass to catch him ; the one who touches him first is
chased by party No. 1, while he tries to run round them or dodge through them to
their own line ; the one who catches him is chased in his turn. The player caught
last and bis captor stand to each other as veilumbuna, i.e., grandmother and grandchild ;
the captor is tumbuna, (grandmother), the boy he touches makumbuna (grandchild) ;
the makumbuna may not catch the tumbuna until he has been caught by another.
If the pursued can reach the enemy's line uncaught, he places one foot on it ; he
is said to so, and scores one point (kai) for his side. The so is recorded by digging
a finger into the mata ; the holes are made along two parallel lines, each beginning
[ 184 ]
1909.] MAN. [Nos. 108-109.
Its record on the opposite side and extending to their own. After each so they
begin again.
The game is one in which it is indispensable to note the manner of its playing as
well as its rules, if we wish to use it as evidence of the people's character. Judging
by the rules, there is no reason why the game should not be as highly competitive as
football, and, like football, it involves rivalry between parties. Yet in practice there is
very little emulation, at least among boys of twelve to fourteen, an age at which the
spirit of competition is fully developed among British boys ; each boy plays for himself,
runs when he chooses and will simply look on while his side is being beaten if he is
not inclined to run ; he will desert the game, go and bathe, or take to some other
pastime that appeals to him at the moment. The whole game is merely a pretext to
run and take exercise. Yet emulation and party spirit are not remote from their
character ; in the course of three months I have seen a considerable change among
boys divided into two factions and made to play each other week after week. In that
short time they had become loyal to their sides, while desertion and negligence are
almost suppressed.
Such a change partakes of the nature of a rough psychological experiment ; in
default of any real tests, it raises a presumption, if no more, that lack of emulation and
esprit de corps are not racial among Fijians, but that these qualities lack opportunity in
the casual life of small and primitive societies, and are capable of being developed.
N.B.— Ng as ng in singer. A. M. HOCART.
REVIEWS.
Anthropometry. Ernst.
Das Schulkind in seiner korperlichen und geistigen Entwicklung. Dar- 400
gestellt von Dr. phil. Lucy Hoesch-Ernst und Dr. phil. Ernst Neumann. lUU
1 Teil von Dr. phil. Lucy Hoesch-Ernst. Leipzig : Otto Nemnich Verlag.
This book is a very thorough anthropometric study of Swiss schoolchildren, and
will be of special interest to medical officers and others who have to carry out measure-
ments under the Education Administrative Provisions Act. The number of children
measured by Dr. Hoesch-Ernst was not very large (175 boys and 175 girls), but on
each of the subjects, about twenty anatomical characters and three physiological
characters were measured. The ages of the children were from eight to fifteen years.
Extensive tables of measurements of children by other observers are given for the
purpose of comparison, but in few, if any, cases have so many dimensions been measured
as by Dr. Hoesch-Ernst, so that in the case of some no comparison is possible.
The necessity for an international agreement in the methods of measurement is
illustrated by several cases in which comparisons are impossible, owing to differences
in the methods of different observers. For example, Dr. Hoesch-Ernst's rule for
measuring the girth of the chest is to pass the tape round so that it touches the lower
edge of the shoulder blades at the back, and runs directly above the nipples at the
front. This will give quite a different result from the rule of the Anthropometric
Committee to measure the girth at the height of the fourth rib. Differences also exist
in the methods of measuring the circumference of the thigh and of the head.
The greater part of the book consists of a detailed discussion of the various
dimensions measured, of which complete statistical data are given. In every case tables
are given of the average dimensions at the various years of school life, and Dr. Hoesch-
Ernst has apparently collected all published data relating to children of the same ages in
Russia, Germany, America, and other countries for comparison with the Swiss children.
In many cases the differences are very considerable, and these appear to be due
partly to difference of race, but also, unfortunately, partly to difference in the methods
[ 185 ]
Nos. 109-110.] MAN. [1909.
and precision of the measurements. It is, therefore, very difficult or impossible to tell
in many cases whether a difference is significant or is merely due to inaccuracy or to
variation of samples.
Many interesting comparisons are made between boys and girls at different ages.
As is well known, between the ages of twelve and thirteen girls are superior to boys
in height and weight, but the author shows by measurements of grip that this
superiority is gained at the expense of muscular strength. During school age the
length of the trunk as a percentage of stature decreases in boys and increases in girls.
The author finds feebleness of grip to be a very good test of malnutrition.
The whole work shows how much valuable information is to be obtained from the
anthropometric study of the growth of school children, and represents an enormous
amount of painstaking work and research on the part of the author. J. GRAY.
Africa, South. Theal.
History and Ethnography of Africa South of the Zambesi. By George 4411
McCall Theal, Litt.D., LL.D. Vol. II., Foundation of the Cape Colony by I III
the Dutch. London : Sonnenschein, 1909. Pp. xix + 523. 22 x 14 cm.
The second volume of Dr. Theal's History and Ethnography of South Africa,
of which the first was noticed in MAN, 1908, 32, differs widely in interest from its
predecessor. The first volume, it will be remembered, was devoted to a comprehensive
survey of the Bushmen, Hottentot, and Bantu tribes south of the Zambesi ; the second
gives the history of the first European colony settled at the Cape, and, incidentally, the
effect of the advent of white men upon the natives. The constitution and history of
the Dutch settlement, established in 1652 under the leadership of Jan van Riebeek,
after a voyage of 104 days (a remarkably short passage for the period), is a most
interesting sociological study, and the organisation and government of the colony bear
witness to the businesslike commonsense and energy of the Dutch of that time. The
main object of the colony was to be a depot and relief station for the vessels sailing
between Holland and the East Indies, and when it is remembered that scurvy was a
constant sequel to all long voyages, the value of the new settlement will be realised.
At the same time it was the dream of Van Riebeek to make the settlement self-
supporting, and he neglected no opportunity of developing the natural resources of the
locality. In this connection it is particularly interesting to read how, when on one
occasion he made a short excursion into the interior, " he was fairly enraptured with
*' the beauty and fertility of the land there, and drew a bright mental picture of what
" it might become if an industrious Chinese population were introduced and located
" upon it." The same suggestion was emphasised by his successor, Wagenaar, in an
official report.
The " native question " was approached with great commonsense ; the greatest
care was taken to conciliate the Hottentots and to encourage them to trade. To pre-
vent collisions between the settlers and natives the former were forbidden to engage
in private trade with the latter, and misdeeds of natives were very leniently treated.
It was only when all other methods failed that recourse was had to reprisal. In
the same way, at a later date, the marauding Bushmen were treated with the utmost
forbearance, and not until they proved incorrigible and a standing menace to the
prosperity of the settlers were sterner methods of repression put in practice.
Of great interest is the history of the gradual exploration of the country, which
proceeded mainly with the object of opening up communication with the fabulous and
ever-receding kingdom of Monomatapa ; but the explorers seem to have taken little
care — with the notable exception of Hieronymus Cruse — to gather information con-
cerning the natives. Consequently there is little actual ethnographical information in
[ 186 ]
1909.] MAN. [Nos. 110-112.
the volume ; what exists is entirely subordinated to the main theme, and consists
mainly of sidelights upon the manners of the Hottentots, Bechuana, and Bushmen, and
a few valuable items, such as the reference of the introduction of maize into South
Africa from Guinea to the year 1658. All that need be said of the book, in conclusion,
is that it is fully worthy of the knowledge and industry of Dr. Theal. T. A. J.
United Kingdom : Archaeology. Smith.
The Stone Ages in North Britain and Ireland. By the Rev. Frederick 414
Smith. London: Blackie and Son, 1909. With 500 illustrations. Pp. xxiv III
+ 377. 23 X 16 cm.
This handsome volume is certainly the work of a thorough enthusiast, but opinions
will be very much divided as to the conclusions which he advances. He holds that
•there was no hiatu?, even in these islands, between the Neolithic and the Palaeolithic
Ages, and here many will agree with him. He also holds that he has discovered
numbers of Palaeolithic implements in Scotland and some in Ireland, and that many
of his specimens are inter- or even pre-glacial. It is perfectly obvious from a careful
study of his book that the artificial character of at least some — many would say the
greater number — of the objects figured comes very seriously into question. Dr. Keane,
who appears to have seen them, hails their discoverer as " the Boucher des Perthes of
" Scotland " in the preface which he contributes to the book. This, of course, he may
yet turn out to be, but before the value of his work can be properly estimated the
stones themselves ought to be submitted to the scrutiny of a committee of experts.
Mr. Smith claims to have discovered Palaeolithic implements in the glacial deposits
exposed on the sea-shore at Killiney, co. Dublin, a most revolutionary discovery if
true. The present writer, after reading Mr. Smith's book, took the opportunity of
•examining these deposits, and had no difficulty in finding a stone very closely
resembling many of those described by Mr. Smith (e.g., Fig. 444). It is impossible
for him to say that it was identical with those found by Mr. Smith, or that Mr.
Smith would have accepted it as an artefact. It, however, closely resembled the
figures, and it was, in the present writer's judgment, a purely natural object. Such
many of the other stones figured would appear to be, but it is admittedly difficult
to come to a conclusion in such matters from figures, and until the specimens have
themselves been examined by competent authorities no definite or certain conclusion
is in any way possible. BERTRAM C. A. WINDLE.
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.
Anthropology. British Association.
Anthropology at the British Association, Winnipeg Meeting, August 25th to 44 O
September 1st, 1909. (Continued from MAN, 1909, 99.) llfc
ARCHAEOLOGY.
(a) AMERICAN".
PROFESSOR H. MONTGOMERY. — The Archeology of Ontario and Manitoba. —
The paper gave an account of the author's excavations, illustrated by specimens of
the objects found. The sites investigated consisted of tumuli, mounds, and communal
houses, and it was mentioned that cromlechs had been discovered in Saskatchewan.
Among the finds exhibited were flints, articles of bone and shell, pottery, and
•copper beads.
[ 187 ]
No. 112.] MAN. [1909.
PROFESSOR E. GUTHRIE PERRY. — Exhibit of a Recent Find of Copper Imple-
ments.— The find was made in Western Ontario, at Fort Frances, just below the Alberton
Falls. The exhibit consisted of thirty-six objects, of which twenty-seven were fish-
hooks, three arrow heads, and six spear points. All were made from cold-hammered
copper from the Lake Michigan or Lake Superior district, as the presence of free silver
in the copper made clear. The fish-hooks varied in size from one inch in length and a
quarter of an inch in breadth to five inches in length to one and a half inches in breadth
and some seemed to be copied from bone or shell models. The spear points varied in
length from three to six and a half inches. The largest was very perfect in form,
shaped like the typical European ones, while one with two holes in it for thongs
was somewhat akin to those of the Eskimo. All the spear and arrow heads were
so shaped that shafts of wood could be inserted in them, though in one case only
was the hole a perfect circle.
Miss A. C. BRETON. — Arms and Accoutrements of the Ancient Warriors at
Chicken Itza. — Chichen Itza, in Yucatan, is as yet the principal place in the region of
Mexico and Central America where representatives of armed warriors are found. There
was a remarkable development in the later history of the buildings there of painted
sculptures and wall-paintings, mostly of battle scenes and gatherings of armed chiefs.
The stone walls of the ruined lower hall of the Temple of the Tigers are covered
with sculptured rows of chiefs, who carry a variety of weapons. Of the sixty-four
personages left, half-a-dozen have ground or polished stone implements ; others hold
formidable harpoons (two of them double) or lances adorned with feathers ; whilst the
majority have from three to five spears and an atlatl (i.e., spear-thrower). These
are of different shapes. One figure has armlets with projecting rounded stones. Some
have kilts, sporrans, leggings, and sandals. Eleven personages have tail appendages.
There are protective sleeves in a series of puffs, breastplates, helmets, and feather
headdresses, necklaces of stone beads, masks, ear and nose ornaments in variety. Small
round back-shields, always painted green and fastened on by a broad red belt, may
have been of bronze attached to leather, as a bronze disc has been found. Round
or oblong shields were carried by two thongs, one held in the left hand, the other
slipped over the arm.
The two upper chambers of the same building have reliefs on the door jamba
of sixteen warriors life size. They carry a sort of boomerang in addition to spears and
atlatls. In the outer chamber was a great stone table or altar, supported by fifteen
caryatid figures. Upon its surface was a relief of a standing chief, holding out his
atlatl over a kneeling enemy, who offers a weapon. The walls of both chambers were
covered with painted battle scenes, in which several hundred figures are still visible.
They carry spears, atlatls, round or oblong shields, and a kind of boomerang which
was intended for striking rather than throwing. On one wall the method of
attacking high places by means of long-notched tree-trunks as ladders and scaffold
towers is shown.
The building at the north end of the great Ball Court is evidently very ancient,,
and its sculptured walls have chiefs with spears and atlatls. The temple on the great
pyramid, called the Castillo, also has warriors on its doorposts and pillars, with
boomerangs, spears, and atlatls, and so has a building in the great Square of Columns..
In an upper chamber of the palace of the Monjes are paintings in which are men with
spears and atlatls, and also spears with lighted grass attached thrown against high-roofed
buildings. A survey of all that has so far been discovered at Chichen gives a vivid
idea of primitive battle array.
Miss A. C. BRETON. — Race-types in the Ancient Sculptures arid Paintings of
Mexico and Central America. — The different race-types in the ancient sculptures and
[ 188 ]
1909,] MAN. [No. 112,
paintings found in Mexico and Central America form an important anthropological
study. An enormous mass of material, evidently of many periods, includes sculpture,
archaic stone statuettes, the portrait statues and reliefs at Chichen Itza, the Palenque
reliefs, and the series of magnificent stelaa and lintels at Piedras Negras, Yaxchilan,
Naranjo, Copan, Quirigua, &c.
In terra-cotta or clay there are the hundreds of thousands of small portrait heads
and figurines found at Teotihuacan, Ofumba, the neighbourhood of Toluca, and other
ancient sites. Larger clay figures have been found in quantities in tombs, as in the
States of Jalisco and Oaxaca ; these were made as offerings, instead of the sacrifice at
a chief's burial of his wives and servants. Small jadeite heads and figures, also found
in tombs, show strongly marked types. If there are few specimens in gold, it is because
throughout the country the Spaniards ransacked the tombs for gold. In painting
there are the picture manuscripts, the frescoes at Chichen Itza, Chacmultun, and
Teotihuacan, and a number of vases with figures from Guatemala, and British
Honduras.
Among distinctive types are : — The chiefs in the reliefs at Xochicales, who sit
cross-legged ; the little shaven clay heads at Teotihuacan ; the tall, well-built priests,
with protruding lower lip, of the Palenque reliefs ; the fifteen caryatid statues in
feather mantles, of the Upper Temple of the Tigers, at Chichen Itza ; and the sixteen
stern warriors carved at its doors, these last similar in type to some of the modern
Indians of the villages near Tlaxcala.
There are portraits of the Mexican Kings on the border of a picture-map which
represents the western quarter of Tenochtitlan, and of the householders in that part
of the city. Of female types there are the painted clay figures of Jalises with com-
pressed heads. Some of them have short, broad figures, others are slender. Both
types still survive. The queenly woman in Codex Nuttall-Zouche,. and the women-
chiefs of the Guatamalan stelse belonged to a different caste to the obviously inferior
women on those stelae, fattened in preparation for sacrifice.
Herr T. Maler's most recent explorations on the borders of Gniatamala have
given magnificent results in the finding of thirty-seven stela? at Piedras Negras, and
at Yaxchilan twenty stelae and forty-six sculptured lintels. The superb figures of
warriors and priests indicate a race of men of tall, slender stature and oval face, with
large aquiline nose, whilst the captives appear to be of a different race.
(6) EUROPEAN.
The Age of Stone Circles. — Report of the Committee. — In planning the arrange-
ments for further excavations at Avebury Stone Circle, in continuance of the work
done last year, the Committee were of opinion that the most satisfactory results were
likely to be obtained from renewed examination of the silting in the fosse, particularly
the lowest layers occupying the original bottom of the huge trench. It was also
considered desirable, as a minor operation, to explore the ground at the base of one
or more of the prostrate stones of the circle, with a view to examining the original
sockets in which the stones stood when erect. Instructions were accordingly given to
Mr. H. Gray, whose services were again secured, to concentrate attention upon these
two main objects.
The main result achieved from the deep cuttings in the fosse is a confirmation
of the opinion arrived at last year as to the probable date of the monument. Additional
positive evidence has been obtained from the objects discovered in the lowest layers
of silting, and on the original bottom of the ditch. These in all cases are objects such
as are characteristic of the Neolithic period, and although it would be hazardous to
state definitely that they must be of Neolithic date and cannot belong to the Bronze
[ 189 ]
No. 112,] MAN. [1909,
Age, the negative evidence, afforded by a total absence of copper or bronze, and of
objects which are certainly of Bronze Age, affords powerful confirmation of the
probability of the earlier date being the right one. A transverse section of the fosse
close to the modern road was expected to reveal the sloping sides of the causeway
presumed to exist, connecting Kennet Avenue with the interior of the monument, since
at first sight it seemed likely that the road would have followed the line of the cause-
way. No trace of the latter, however, appeared in this section, and as it was of
considerable interest to ascertain whether or not such a causeway had existed, ex-
ploring trenches were cut on the opposite side of the road, and the causeway was
discovered to the east of the present roadway. This locating of the original line
of approach to the interior of the huge circle is a most interesting result of this
year's excavations.
The Lake Villages in the Neighbourhood of Glastonbury. Report of the
Committee. — The Committee have to report that, owing to the amount of work thrown
on the hands of Messrs. Bulleid and St. George Gray in compiling and arranging the-
details of the monograph on Glastonbury Lake Village, it was found inexpedient to-
resume excavations this summer on the new site at Meare.
T. ASHBY, M.A., D.LiTT., AND T. E. FEET, M.A. — Researches in the Maltese
Islands in Recent Years. — Excavations have been conducted by the Government of
Malta on the Corradino Hill, in which the co-operation of the British School at Rome
has been cordially welcomed, and its investigations assisted in every way. The great
megalithic buildings of Gigantia, Mnaidra, and Hagar-Kim, which Dr. Arthur Evans
considers to have been buildings of a sepulchral character in which a cult of departed
heroes gradually grew up, and other smaller prehistoric monuments of the islands,
have been carefully described by Dr. Albert Mayr, though others have since become
known ; but excavation was needed in order that many essential facts might b&
ascertained. The investigation of the rock-cut hypogeum of Halsaflieni, the archi-
tectural features of which imitate in the most surprising way those of the sanctuaries
above ground, has for the first time produced an adequate series, available for study,.
of the prehistoric pottery of Malta ; for from the excavations of Hagar-Kim but little
has been, unfortunately, preserved. Of the three groups of megalithic buildings on
the Corradino Hill, two had been already in great part excavated in the nineties, and
the complete clearing of the upper one, which apparently was of a domestic character,,
was the first work undertaken in May. Its plan is extremely irregular, and much
of it can hardly have been roofed unless in thatch or woodwork. A considerable
quantity of pottery was found, very similar in character to that of Halsaflieni, and
belonging, like it, to the late Neolithic period. It has some affinities with pottery
recently found at Terranova, the ancient Gela, in Sicily, but in many respects is
unique. Many flints were found, but no traces of metal. A stone pillar was found
in one portion of the building, some 2 feet 8 inches long and about 10 inches in
diameter, which may have been an object of worship. The excavation of a second
and smaller group, nearer the harbour, had been already completed by Dr. Zammit
and Professor Tagliaferro ; but a third further to the south, on the summit of the
ridge, had never been examined, and it, too, was thoroughly investigated. An even
larger quantity of pottery of the same character was found, with flints and fragments
of stone basins, &c. It approximates more iu style to the larger megalithic buildings
of the island, and has a facade with a more pronounced curve than at Hagar-Kim,
constructed of very large blocks, but much ruined. The interior consists of several
distinct groups of rooms (often apsidal) not intercommunicating. The construction is
of rough masonry, with large slabs at the bottom, and smaller blocks higher up ; the
walls begin to converge, even at the height (5 to 6 feet) to which they are preserved,
[ 190 1
1909.] MAN. [No. 112.
as though to form a roof. Into one of the rooms a very curious trough has at a
later period been inserted : it is cut in a block of the local hard stone, 8 feet
9 inches long, 3 feet 8 inches wide, and is divided by six transverse divisions into
seven small compartments, which show much trace of wear. The object of it is
not as yet apparent. Another more carefully constructed room, perhaps contemporary
with the trough, has its walls partly of large slabs, partly of narrow pillar-like stones.
The floors of these rooms are sometimes of cement, sometimes of slabs. Many bones
of animals were found, but only one human skeleton, and that in disorder and at
a comparatively high level. The use of standing slabs at the base of walls, with
coursed masonry above, visible in these buildings, finds its parallel in the Giants'
tombs at Sardinia, the prehistoric huts of Lampedusa, and in many other places.
Archceological and Ethnological Investigations in Sardinia. Report of the
Committee. — Dr. Duncan Mackenzie returned to Sardinia at the end of September
1908, and stayed there till the middle of November. He was accompanied for part
of the time by Dr. Thomas Ashby.
Their new observations have materially increased our knowledge of the two
main groups of Sardinian megalithic monuments, the Nuraghi and the "Tombs of
the Giants." The previous year's work made it clear that the former were fortified
habitations. Dr. Mackenzie has now visited other examples and recorded variations
of type and peculiarities of construction. The most remarkable is the Nuraghe of
Voes in the Bitti district towards the north of Central Sardinia. Triangular in plan,
it contains on the ground floor circular chambers with bee-hive roofs ; the usual
central chamber and one in each of the three angles. The entrance is on the south
and leads into a small open court with a doorway at each side leading to the chamber
at the base of the triangle, and another doorway straight in front by which the
central chamber is entered. There was an upper story, now destroyed, reached by a
stairway of the usual type. Exceptional features are two long curving corridors in
the thickness of the wall on two sides of the triangle, intended probably as places of
concealment. Above them were others of similar plan, but both series are so low
that the roof of the upper one is level with that of the bee-hive chamber on the
ground floor. This skilfully planned stronghold must have been built all at one time ;
other large Nuraghi were originally of simpler design, and have grown by the addition
of bastions and towers.
A new type of Nuraghe was discovered at Nossia near the modern village of
Paulilatino, in Central Sardinia. It is a massive quadrangular citadel of irregular
rhomboidal plan with a round tower at each corner. These towers resemble the stone
huts of the villages attached to some of the Nuraghi ; they are entered from a central
courtyard, which here takes the place of the normal bee-hive chamber. It was partly
filled with circular huts, so that this Nuraghe must be regarded as a fortified village
rather than as the castle of a chieftain.
The dwellers in these Nuraghi buried their dead in family sepulchres, popularly
known as Tombs of the Giants. Several writers had suggested that these tombs with
their elongated chamber and crescent-shaped front were derived from the more ancient
dolmen type, but hitherto there was little evidence to support this conjecture, only one
dolmen being known in Sardinia. Dr. Mackenzie has now made this derivation certain ;
he has studied ten important groups of dolmen tombs, most of them entirely unknown,
which furnish a series of transitional types. In one case the chamber of an original
dolmen tomb had at a later period been elongated so as to resemble that of a Giant's
Tomb. In another example the large covering slab was supported by upright slabs at
the sides and back ; and behind it there are traces of an apse-like enclosing wall, such
as is characteristic both of the Giants' Tombs and also of dolmens in certain localities
where Giants' Tombs do not exist : for example, in Northern Corsica and in Ireland.
Nos. 112-113.] MAN. [1909.
Dr. Mackenzie also discovered a new type of Giant's Tomb in which the mound was
entirely faced with stone, upright slabs being used below and polygonal work above.
Another feature, hitherto unique, is a hidden entrance into the chamber at one side,
in addition to the usual small hole in the centre of the front through which libations
and offerings were probably introduced.
Dr. Mackenzie and Mr. Newton intend to go to Sardinia in September for six
weeks in order to continue the exploration of the island. The importance of anthropo-
metrical work in connection with the problems presented by the early civilisation of
Sardinia was pointed out in a previous report of this Committee. Mr. W. H. L.
Duckworth, a member of the Committee, went to Rome last April and studied the
collection of one hundred Sardinian crania in the Collegio Romano. He made about
1,200 measurements and is preparing a report which will serve as a basis of comparison
with any collection of ancient crania that may be obtained. In addition to these
specimens which had not been described previously, Mr. Duckworth has examined
about thirty Sardinian crania in the museums of Rome and Paris. He has recently
spent ten days in Corsica, where he obtained valuable illustrative material.
R. M. DAWKINS. — The Excavations at Sparta of the British School at Athens.
[Ann. Brit. School.^
Report of the Committee to Excavate Neolithic Sites in Northern Greece. —
Further excavations have been carried out which corroborate the opinion already
formed, that in this isolated part of Greece a people existed in a Stone Age form of
culture,, uninfluenced, until a late period, by the Bronze culture around them. It is of
importance to note that an analogous state of affairs has been discovered in similar
latitudes in southern Italy.
(c) ASIA AND AFRICA.
D. G. HOGARTH. — Recent Hittite Research. — This paper summarised the results
of recent work on the Hittite problem, and pointed out' that, chiefly owing to the dis-
coveries at Boghaz Koi, it was now demonstrated that the Hittite power was
domiciled in north-west Cappadocia long before the Assyrian records mention these
people as being at Carchemish, in Syria. \_Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst.~\
D. RANDALL-MAC!VER. — A Nubian Cemetery at Anibeh. — The cemetery, which
may be dated within the first five centuries A.D., exhibits what appears to be a negro
culture strongly influenced by Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art. An important
discovery was a script, which has not been deciphered up to the present.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTE.
As the year 1910 is the centenary of the independence of the Argentine and 410
Mexican Republics, sessions of the International Congress of Americanists will I IU
be held in Buenos Aires from May 16th to 21st, and in Mexico in September. It is
proposed to organise a trip for members by land from the north-west frontier of
Argentina to Bolivia and Peru, taking ship for Mexico at the Port of Callao. In
Bolivia and Peru various places of archaeological interest will be visited. From Lake
Titicaca the excursion will visit Potosi, La Paz, and Tiahuanaco, and proceed to
Puno and Cuzeo. Going by train to the Port of Mollendo, by steamer thence to
Callao, Lima, and various cemeteries and ruins of importance will be seen, such as
Ancon, Pachacamac, &c. Subscriptions of £1 for each member for the Buenos Ayres
session, should be sent to the Treasurer, Don Alizandro Rosa, Director del Museo
Mitra, Buenos Aires.
Printed by EYEB A.ND SPOTTISWOODE, t/ro., His Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, K.C.
A MONTHLY RECORD OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCE.
PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE
ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE
OF
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND
1910.
Nos. 1—1 O 7.
WITH PLATES A— M.
PUBLISHED BY THfo
ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE,
50, GREAT RUSSELL STREET, LONDON, W.C.
OOISTTEISTTS.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
No.
Africa : Algeria. A Sacred Spring ami Tree at Hammam R'Irha, Algeria. Rev. H. J.
DUKINPIELD ASTLEY, D.Litt 71
Africa and Portugal. Bull-Fighting in Nigeria and Portugal ; a Humane Sport, (lllus-
t rated.') CAPTAIN A. J. N. TREMEARNE, F.R.G.S 87
Africa : Benin. Note ou Certain Ivory Carvings from Benin. ( With Plate, D. and Illustra-
tion*.) C. H. READ, LL.D., P.S.A 29
Africa, Central. Alphabet Boards from Central Africa. (Illustrated.) HUGH S. STANNUS,
M.B 18
Africa : Congo. Note on the Pigment -Blocks of the Bushongo, Kasai District, Belgian Congo.
( With Plate F. and Illustration.) ,T. A. JOYCE, M.A 46
Africa: Congo. Pigment-Blocks of the Bushongo. A correction. T. A. JOYCE, M.A. ... 61
Africa: Congo. The Babinza. G. C. ISHMAEL 68
Africa: Congo State. On a Wooden Portrait-Statue from the BuShongo People of the
Kasai District, Congo State. (With Plate A.) T. A. JOYCE, M.A ,, ... 1
Africa: Nigeria. Dubbo-Dubbo: or Notes on Punch and Judy as seen in Bornu. (With
Plate A'.) D. ALEXANDER 85
Africa : Nigeria. Pottery in Northern Nigeria. (IlluMrated.) CAPTAIN A. J. N. TRE-
MEARNE, F.R.G.S 57
Africa : Nigeria. Pottery-making of the Edo-Speaking Peoples, Southern Nigeria. (With
Plate G.) N. W. THOMAS, M.A 53
Africa: Sudan. Some Hadendoa words hitherto unpublished. Part I. R. CAMPBELL
THOMPSON, M.A. 95
Africa : Sudan. Some Hadendoa words hitherto unpublished. Part II. R. CAMPBELL
THOMPSON, M.A. 100
Africa: Sudan. Some Sudanese Superstitions. E. LLOYD, M.D. 89
Africa: Sudan. Three Bisharin Folk-Tales. R. CAMPBELL THOMPSON, M.A. 55
Africa : Uganda. Circumcision among the Bageshu, a Tribe on the N.W. limits of Mount
Elgon, Uganda Protectorate. (Illustrated.) COLONEL W. H. BROUN 60
Africa : Uganda. Old Customs of the Baganda. Translated from Sir Apolo Kagwa's Book.
G. C. ISHMAEL 19
Africa, West. Decorative Art among the Edo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria. I. Decoration of
Buildings. ( With Plate E. and, Illustrations.) N. W. THOMAS, M.A. 37
Africa, West. Hausa Houses. (With Plate M. and Illustrations.) CAPTAIN A. J. N.
TREMEARNE, F.R.G.S. 99
Africa, West. Notes on Traces of Totemism and some other Customs in Hausaland.
H. R. PALMER, M.A., LL.B 40
Africa, West. Some " Nsibidi " Signs. (With Plate H.) E. DAYRELL 67
Africa, West. The Incest Tabu. N. W. THOMAS, M.A 72
Africa, West. Trade Signs in Christiansborg, Gold Coast. (With Plate C.) MADGE
HART-DAVIS 16
Africa: White Nile. African Rain-making Chiefs, the Gondokoro District. White Nile,
Uganda. W. E. REYMES COLE 49
Africa. See also EGYPT.
America, South. The Bows and Arrows of the Arawak in 1803. (Illustrated.) DAVID I.
BUSHNELL, Jun. 10
America, South. The Indians of the Putumayo, Upper Amazon. W. E. HARDENBURG ... 81
Andamans. Nochmals : Puluga, das hochste Wesen der Andamanesen. P. W. SCHMIDT,
s.V.D 38
Andamans. Xochmals : Puluga, das hochste Wesen der Andamanesen. (Fortsetzung von
MAN, 1910, 38.) P. W. SCHMIDT, S.V.D 47
Andamans. Puluga. A. LANG 30
Andamans. Puluga : A reply to Father Schmidt. A. R. BROWN, M.A. 17
Andamans. Puluga, the Supreme Being of the Andatnanese. FATHER W. SCHMIDT ... 2
Anthropology. See INDIA.
Archaeology. See ASIA MINOR ; ENGLAND ; JERSEY.
Asia Minor : Archaeology. On some Prehistoric Stone Implements from Asia Minor.
' (Illustrated.') R. CAMPBELL THOMPSON, M.A., F.R.G.S. 39
Asia. See also ANDAMANS ; BORNEO ; CEYLON ; CHINA ; INDIA.
Australia. Marriage and Descent in North Australia. A. R. BROWN, M.A 32
Australia. The " Historicity " of Arunta Traditions. A.LANG 69
IV
No.
Australia. The Puzzle of Kaiabara Sub-class Names. A.LANG 80
Borneo. .Some Customs of the Sagai of Borneo. MEEVYN W. H. BEECH 86
Ceylon. Swastika and Udakiya in Ceylon. (Illustrated.) A. WILLEY. D.Sc., F.R.S. ... 101
China. The Incest Tabu. G. DUNCAN WHYTE, M.B 54
Egypt. Some Egyptian and Nubian Notes. (Illustrated.') A. M. BLACKMAN, B.A 11
Egypt. The Earliest Stone Tombs. (With Plate I-J.) I'rof. W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE,
U.C.L.. F.R.S 79
England : Archaeology. A Mediaeval Earthwork in Wiltshire. (Illustrated.') Mrs. M. E.
CUNNINGTON 3
England : Archaeology. Holed Stone at Kerrow, St. Just-in-Penwith, Cornwall. H. KING
and late B. G. POLKINGHORNE, B.Sc 12
England: Archaeology. Lynchets. t W. A. DUTT 59
England : Archaeology. Pits on Morgan's Hill, near Devizes. Mrs. M. E. CUNNINGTON 88
England: Archaeology. Small Kist and Urn at Tregiffian Vean, St. Just-in-Penrith, Corn-
wall. H. KING 21
England : Archaeology. The Existence of an Early Palaeolithic Bed beneath the Glacial
Boulder Clays in S.W. Suffolk. (Illustrated.) J. SlNCLAlR-HOLDEN, M.D. 20
England : Archaeology. The Pit Dwellings at Holderness.. (Illustrated.) CANON
GREENWELL, F.R.S., and REV. R. A. GATTY, LL.B 48
England : Physical Anthropology. On a Skeleton found in a Gravel Pit at Overbury,
Worcestershire, (lllusc rated.) NORMAN DEVEREUX 96
Europe. See AFRICA and PORTUGAL ; ENGLAND ; ICELAND ; JERSEY ; SWITZERLAND.
Fiji. A Point of Fijian Orthography. A. M. HOCART 41
Fiji. Note on a Point of Fijian Orthography. S. H. RAY, M.A 58
Folklore. See AFRICA.
Iceland. A Note on Four Icelandic Cairns. N. P. FENWICK, Jun 9
India. Fictitious Kinship in the Punjab. H. A. ROSE 8
India. India and Anthropology. Extract from a Speech delivered at Winchester College. SIR
H. H. RISLEY, K.C.I.E., C.S.I
India : Assam. Note on the Manipuri " Yek." Lieut.-Col. J. SHAKESPEAR, C.I.E., D.S.O.
India. See also ANDAMANS ; CEYLON.
Jersey : Archaeology. Report on the Exploration of the Palaeolithic Cave Dwellings known
as La Cotte, St. Brelade, Jersey. E. T. NICOLLB and J. SINEL 102
Linguistics. See AFRICA ; FIJI.
Method. On a Slide Rule and Tables to calculate P = '000365 x L x B x H. (Illustrated.)
W. H. BLYTHE, M.A 73
New Zealand. Maori Forgeries. J. EDGE-PARTINGTON ... 31
Obituary. Enrico Hillyer Giglioli. (With Plate It.) C. H. READ, LL.D., P.S.A. ... ... 7
Obituary. See also 15, 52.
Pacific. See FIJI ; NEW ZEALAND ; POLYNESIA ; SOLOMON ISLANDS ; TONGA.
Physical Anthropology. See ENGLAND ; METHOD.
Polynesia. Note on a Stone-headed Mace from Rennell Island. (Illustrated.) C. M.
WOODFORD 70
Polynesia. Polynesian Forgeries. (Illustrated.) W. 0. OLDMAN ... ... ... ... 1Q3
Portugal. See AFRICA and PORTUGAL.
Religion. See AFRICA ; ANDAMANS ; CEYLON.
Solomon Islands. The Solomon Island Basket. (With Plate L) W. H. R. RIVERS, M.D.,
and MRS. H. QUIGGIN, M.A 93
Sociology. See AFRICA, WKST; AUSTRALIA; BORNEO; CHINA; INDIA.
Switzerland: Pygmy Implement. Note on the Occurrence of a so-called Pygmy or
Midget Implement made from a Quartz Crystal in a Neolithic Lake-Dwelling on the
Greifensee, near Zurich. (Illustrated.) C. T. TRECHMANN, B.Sc 4
Tabu. See AFRICA, WEST ; CHINA.
Tonga. A Tongan Cure and Fijian Etiquette. A. M. HOCART 56
Totemism. See AFRICA, WEST.
REVIEWS.
Africa. Johnston. A History and Description of the British Empire in Africa. E. A. P.... 91
Africa, East. Rehse. Kiziba: Land und Leute. N. W. T 66
Africa, East. Routledge. With a Prehistoric People. REV. J. ROSCOE, M.A 63
Africa : Sudan. Tangye. In the Torrid Sudan. C. G. S. 76
Africa. See also EGYPT.
America, North. Speck. Ethnology of the Yuchi Indians. H. S. H ... 65
No.
Anthropology. Dieserud. The Scope and Content of the Science of Anthropology. E. N. F. 36
ArchSBOlOgy. Lockyer. Stuneln'mji' and the British Stoiti' Momum-iitx Astronomically
nuixldered. A.L.LEWIS 34
Asia. See BURMA ; CEYLON ; INDIA.
Australia. Matthew. Two Representative Tribes of Queensland. B. M. .".. ... ... 82
Australia. Strehlow. Die Aranda vnd Loritja Sttimme, III. A. LANG 64
Burma: Languages. Brown. Half 'tlte Battle In Burmese. S. H. RAY, M.A. ... ... 42
Ceylon. Parker. Ancient, Ceylon. M. LONGWORTH DAMES 23
Crete. Hasves. Crete the. Forerunner of Greece. H. R. HALL, M.A 50
Darwinism. Darwin. TJie Fonixltitioiix of the •' Oriyin of Species.'" A. E. C. 77
Darwinism. Seward. Dunrin and Modern Science. A. E. C 83
Egypt. Moller. Hieratische Paldographle. A. H. G 90
Ethnology. Haddon. The Races of Man and their Distribution. E. N. F 74
Ethnology. See also AMERICA.
Eugenics. Whetham. Eugenics and Unemployment. J. G. ... ... ... 28
Europe. See CRETE ; GREECE ; IRELAND ; PREHISTORIC GREECE ; SPAIN.
Folklore. See INDIA and XEW GUINEA.
Greece: Religion. Farnell. 'Hie Cults of the Greek State*. JANE E. HARRISON 13
Greece. See aho PREHISTORIC GREECE.
India. Bompas. Folklore of the Santal Parganas. M. LONGWORTH DAMES 14
India: Assam. Playfair. Th e Garox. T. C. HODSON 43
India: Cochin. Iyer. The Cochin Tribes and Castes. W. CROOKE 105
India: MagiC. Henry. La Magie dans V Inde Antique. B. F.-M. ... ... ... ... 45
India : Mysore, Coorg. Rice. Mysore and Cooryfromthe Inscriptions. W. CEOOKE, B.A. ... 22
India, Southern. Thurston. Castes and Tribes of Southern India. M. LONGWORTH DAMES 104
India : The Bhawalpur State. Din. The Bhawalpur State Gazetteer. W. CROOKE, B.A. 26
Ireland : ArehSBOlOgy. Macalister. The Memorial Slabs of Clonmacnois. E. C. R. ABM-
STBONG, F.S.A. 5
Linguistics. See BURMA.
Magic. See INDIA.
Melanesia. O'Ferrall. Santa, Cruz and the Reef Islands. J. EDGE-PARTINGTON 25
New Britain. Pullen-Burry. In a German Colony. J. E.-P. ... ... ... 27
New Guinea. Ker. Papuan Fairy Tales. E. S. H. ... 35
Oceania. Walker. Wanderings among South Sea Sarages and in Borneo and the Philippines.
J. E.-P ... 6
Pacific. See MELANESIA : XEW BRITAIN ; NEW GUINEA ; OCEANIA.
Prehistoric Greece. LPS drill zations Prchellenlques dam labassin de la mer Eyee : Etudes
de protohistoire orlentale. H. R. HALL ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Pygmies. Schmidt. Die Stellung der Pygmdenrdllter. A. KEITH. M.D.
Religions. Foucart. La Methode Comparative dans VHistoire des Religions. E. S. H. ...
Religion. See also GREECE ; INDIA.
Sociology. Hartland. Primitire Paternity. A. E. C 62
Spain. Meakin. Gfalicia, the Switzerland of Spain. T. H. J. ... ... ... 24
Voyages. Nicoll. Three Voyages of a Naturalist. J. E.-P. ... 44
PROCEEDINGS.
Anthropology at the British Association 92, 97
Seventeenth International Congress of Americanists, Buenos Aires. ADELA
BRETON 84
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES.
See Nos. 15, 52, 78, 98, 107.
ERRATA.
No. 37. P. 6*J, line 12, for hiHobiiiefu\ iimobo.
No. 51. P. 95, line 9, for -'have" read "has."
See also page 112.
VI
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
A. Shamba Bolongongo ... ... ... ... ... With No. 1
B. Enrico Hillyer Giglioli „ 7
c. Trade Signs in Christiansborg, Gold Coast „ 16
D. Ivory Carvings from Benin ... „ 29
E. Decorations of Buildings, Nigeria ,, 37
F. Pigment-Blocks of the Bushongo ... ... ... ... ... ... „ 46
G. The Making of a Pot — Edo-Speaking Peoples, S. Nigeria ... ... ... ... „ 53
H. Some "Nsibidi" Signs „ 67
i-j. Earliest Stone Tomb, Meydum ... ... ... ... „ 79
K. Dubbo-Dubbo „ 85
L. The Solomon Island Basket ... ... ... „ 93
M. Hausa Houses 99
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT.
N.B. — All are Photographs, unless otherwise stated.
Fig. 1. Plan of Enclosures showing approximate position of openings in the outer bank
of a Mediasval Earthwork in Wiltshire. (Drawing.} ... ... ... ... ... With No. 3
Fig. 2. Section across Bank and Ditch on East side of the outer Enclosure of a Mediaeval
Earthwork in Wiltshire. (Drawing?) ... ... ... ... ... „ 3
Fig. 3. Section across Bank and Ditch on South side of outer Enclosure of a Mediasval
Earthwork in Wiltshire. (Drawing.') ... ... ... ... ... ... ... „ 3
Fig. 4. Section across double Banks and Ditch on South side of inner Enclosure of a
Mediaeval Earthwork in Wiltshire. (Drawing.') ... ... ... „ 3
Pygmy or Midget Implement of Quartz Crystal in a Neolithic Lake-Dwelling on the
Greifensee, near Zurich. (Drawing?) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... „ 4
Arawak Arrows. (Drawing.) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... „ 10
Fig. 1. Oven „ H
Fig. 2. Circle of Stones „ H
Fig. 3. Tombs of Sheykhs „ \\
Fig. 4. Pot ., H
Fig. 5. Circle of Stones „ 11
Fig. 6. Sheykh'sTomb „ H
Fig. 7. Plate over House Door ... ... ... ... ... ... ... „ H
Alphabet Boards from Central Africa ... ... ... ... ... ... „ 18
Section of Geological Formations of an early Palaeolithic Bed beneath the Glacial
Boulder Clays in South- West Suffolk. (Drawing.) ... ... ... ... ... ,, 20
Figs. 1, 2. Ivory Carvings from Benin... ... ... ... ... ... ., 29
Figs. 5, 6. Decorations of Buildings, Nigeria ... ... ... ... ... „ 37
Figs. 1, 2. Implements of Andesite from neighbourhood of Angora. (Drawings.') ... ,, 39
Fig. 3. Axehead f rom Soghanli Dere ,. 39
Fig. 4. Axehead from Euyuk. (Drawing.) ... ... ... ... ... „ 39
Fig. 1. Pigment-Blocks of the Bushongo ... ... ... „ 46
Fig. 1. Section of Pit-Dwelling. (Drawing.) ... ... „ 48
Fig. 2. Pottery from Pit-Dwelling „ 48
Circumcision among the Bageshu, Uganda Protectorate ... ... ... ... ... „ 60
Figs. 1-5. Pottery in Northern Nigeria. (Drawings.) ... ... ... „ 57
Slide Rule to calculate? =-000 365xLxBxH. (Drawing.) „ 73
Stone-headed Mace from Rennell Island. (Drawing?) ... ... ... „ 70
Bull Fighting in Nigeria and Portugal ... ... ... ... „ 87
Fig. 1. Site where Skeleton was found in Gravel Pit at Overbury, Worcestershire.
(Drawing.) „ 96
Fig. 2. Skeleton found in Gravel Pit at Overbury, Worcestershire ... „ 96
Figs. 5 & 6. Hausa Houses ... ... ... ... ... ... ... „ 99
Fig. 1. Udakiya in Ceylon. (Drawing.) ... ... ... „ 101
Fig. 2. Thibetan Drums and Skull Cup „ 101
Figs. 1 & 2. Polynesian Forgeries „ 103
VII
LIST OF AUTHORS.
X.B. —The Numbers to which an asterisk in added are those of Reviews of Books.
A., H. G., 90*.
ALEXANDER, D., 85.
ARMSTRONG, E. C. R., 5*.
ASTLEY, H. J. D., 71.
BEECH, M. W. H., 86.
BLYTHE, W. H., 73.
BLACKMAN, A. M., 11.
BRETON, ADELA, 84.
BROUN, W. H., 60.
BROWN, A. R., 17, 32.
BUSHNELL, D. I., 10.
C., A. E.r 62*, 77*, 83*.
COLE, W. E. R., 49.
CROOKE, W., 22*, 26*, 105*.
CUNNINGTON, M. E., 3, 88.
DAMES, M. L., 14*, 23*, 104*.
DAYRELL, E., 67.
DEVEREUX, N., 96.
DUTT, W. A., 59.
EDGE-PARTINGTON, J., 6*, 25*, 27*, 31,
44*.
F., E. N., 36*, 74*.
FEN WICK, N. P., 9.
G., J., 28*.
GATTY, R. A., 48.
GREENWELL, CANON, 48.
H., E. S., 35*, 51*.
H., S. H., 65*.
HALE, H. R., 50*, 106*.
HARDENBURGH, W. E., 81.
HARRISON, J. E., 13*.
HART-DAVIS, M., 16.
HOCART, A. M., 41, 56.
HODSON, T. C., 43*.
ISHMAEL, G. C., 19, 68.
J., T. H., 24*.
JOYCE, T. A., 1, 46, 61.
KEITH, A., 75*.
KING, H., 12, 21.
LANG, A., 30, 64*, 69, 80.
LEWIS, A. L., 34*.
LLOYD, E., 89.
M., B., 82*.
M., B. F., 45*.
XICOLLE, E. T., 102.
OLDMAN, W. O., 103.
P., E. A., 91*.
PALMER, H. R., 40.
PETRIE, W. M. F., 79.
POLKINGHORNE, B. C., 12.
QUIGGIN, H., 93.
RAY, 8. H., 42*, 58.
READ, C. H., 7, 29.
RISLEY, SIR H. H., 94.
RIVERS, W. H. R., 93.
ROSCOE, J., 63*.
ROSE, H. A., 8.
S., C. G., 76*.
SCHMIDT, P. W., 2, 38, 47.
SHAKESPEAR, J., 33.
SlNCLAIR-HOLDEN J., 20.
SlNEL, J., 102.
STANNUS, H. S., 18.
THOMAS, N. W., 37, 53, 66*, 72.
THOMPSON, R. C., 39, 55, 95, 100.
TRECHMANN, C. T., 4.
TREMEARNE, A. J. N., 57, 87, 99.
WHYTE, G. D., 54.
WILLEY, A., 101.
WOODFORD, C. M., 70.
PLATE A.
MAN, igio.
SHAMBA BOLONGONGO.
(ONE-THIRD NATURAL SIZK.)
MAN
A MONTHLY RECORD OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCE,
PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE
ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
N.B. — All communications printed in MAN are signed or initialled by their
authors, and the Council of the Institute desires it to be understood that in giving
publicity to them it accepts no responsibility for the opinions or statements expressed.
N.B. — MAN, 1910, consists of twelve monthly -published sheets, of sixteen pages
each, printed in single column ; containing " Original Articles " and substantial
" Reviews " of recent publications ; all numbered consecutively 1, 2, 3, onwards.
N.B. — Articles published in MAN should be quoted by the year and the
reference-number of the article, not by the page-reference ; e.g., the article which
begins on p. 7 below should be quoted as MAN, 1910, 3.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Africa: Congo State. With Plate A. Joyce.
On a Wooden Portrait-Statue from the BuShongo People of the I
Kasai District, Congo State. By T. A. Joyce, M.A.
The art of portraiture in the round, as far as Africa is concerned, has usually been
supposed to be confined to Ancient Egypt. Among the large material brought back
from the Kasai district by Mr. E. Torday — material which makes it necessary for
ethnographers to reconsider their former opinions on the subject of native African
Art — are four portrait-figures in wood, the likenesses of four former paramount chiefs
of the BuShongo nation. The most interesting and important of these is figured on
Plate A. It is said to have been the first carved, and tradition, supplemented by certain
astronomical evidence, into which it is unnecessary to enter here, relates it to the first
decade of the seventeenth century. The other figures are later, dating from the end of
the eighteenth century, but in workmanship they are little inferior to the specimen
figured. As indicated above, the material is wood, extremely hard, with a short grain
somewhat like that of mahogany, and capable of taking a very high polish. The
chief is represented sitting with his legs crossed a la turque holding in his left hand
the pattern of knife known locally as Ikula, which is a ceremonial weapon carried by
adult men, his right hand resting on his knee. On his head is the flat pattern of cap
which was fashionable at that period (the present fashion prescribes a high crown),
on the shoulders, passing under the armpits, are armlets, a band of cowries encircles
each arm above the elbow, and a number of metal bangles ornament each wrist.
The head is shaved with the exception of a lock on the crown, which is coiled under
the cap, and a small lock at the back of the head. Round the waist is a broad belt
of cowries, and, below this, a second belt, the insigne of a chief, made of plaited
fibre ; the latter serves to suspend a small apron which hangs down behind. In front
of the figure, projecting from the curved plinth, is a model board for playing the game
known generically as mancala, and locally as lela. The height of the statue is 54'5 cm.
The treatment of the figure is extraordinarily lifelike, in spite of the incorrectness of
[ 1 "]
Nos. 1-2.] MAN. [1910.
the proportions, and the face in particular is that of a living man, the effect heing
in no way spoilt by the conventional treatment of the eyebrows. The treatment of
the collar bones, and the swelling curves of the trunk display an attempt at realism
usually entirely foreign to the African artist, and it is only the legs which appear
ostensibly inadequate ; the ears are unusually correct for the work of a primitive
carver. The surface of the wood has been brought to a high polish, the result of
constant rubbing with the crimson tukula-wood. paste ; this paste has enhanced the
reddish tint of the wood, and has picked out the portions carved intaglio in rich
crimson.
The subject of the statue is the chief named Shamba Bolongongo, ninety-third in
the list of kings (starting from the creation ; the present ruler is the 121st), the great
national hero of the nation. Strangely enough his reputation does not rest upon
military prowess, or any of the forceful qualities which seem to appeal most strongly
to primitive peoples ; it is as a man of peace, a patron of the arts and crafts and a
political organiser, that he is revered to-day. Tradition states that before he came to
power he went off on a long journey among the Bapende and Babunda peoples to the
west, and when he returned he introduced tobacco, the art of weaving cloth, and the
game lela, and that he reorganised the hierarchy of officials through whom the empire
was governed, providing for the representation at court of the various trades. Further
he abolished the use in war of bows, arrows, spears, and throwing-knives, in order to
minimise the destruction of human life, and his soldiers had instructions only to wound
and not to kill. Many legends are told of him, and a great many wise sayings attributed
to him have survived ; and Mr. Torday was fortunate enough to be able to collect a
large number, which it is hoped will shortly be published.
Shamba, it is said, caused his portrait to be carved, so that later generations of his
people might remember him after his death, and might receive comfort in hours of
trial when they gazed upon his statue. Other chiefs followed his example, but not
every chief, since it was not in every reign that an artist could be found capable of the
task. Four statues alone had survived the ravages of time and the attacks of white
ants, and of these the specimen figured is the most perfect, owing to the care with
which it has been guarded. Of the others, one chief is represented as seated in front
of an anvil, which bears witness to his reputation as a worker of iron, while the other
two have each a drum. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the discovery
of works of art such as these in a locality where they were quite unexpected, especially
as they are associated with a history and an elaborate form of government far
above the general run of Bantu peoples, at least as far as our present knowledge
goes.
As may be supposed, the task of persuading a highly conservative people to part
with national treasures such as these, required great perseverance and the utmost tact,
and it was a fortunate thing that the task devolved upon Mr. Torday. A still greater
debt of gratitude is owed him for his generosity in presenting the statue, which forms
the subject of this note, perhaps the most important work of art which primitive Africa
has yet produced, to our national collection. T. A. JOYCE.
Andamans. Schmidt.
Puluga, the Supreme Being of the Andamanese. /,'// Father If. A
Schmidt, S.V.D. L
Mr. A. R. Brown, who undertook, under the auspices of the Board of Anthro-
pological Studies of Cambridge, the meritorious task of carrying out, during the
years 1906 to 1908, an expedition to the Andamanese Islands, in order to examine,
..correct, and complete Mr. E. H. Man's well-known researches, read a paper on " The
[ 2 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 2.
" Religion of the Andaman Islanders," at the meeting of March 17th, 1909, of the
Folklore Society, which now appears in Folklore, September 1909 (pp. 257-271).
Mr. Brown begins by praising the high value of Mr. Man's work : " Mr. Man's
" researches were in many ways excellent. I have tested as far as possible every
" statement in his book, and can speak with ungrudging praise of it " (loc. cit., p. 257).
There will be many who will find it not a little strange, that it was just those
statements which this exact observer made about the religion of the Andamanese,
which have been found incorrect by his critic. Mr. Brown ascribes his more correct
results to his " strictness of method " : " Our differences are almost entirely differences
" of interpretation, and as between two different interpretations of one phenomenon
k' there is only one test by which we can choose, and that test is strictness of method "
(p. 271). Everyone might thus have expected that Mr. Brown would have said
something about this " strict " method which produced such important results ; but
we read on p. 258 : "I cannot here enter into the question of these methods." We
must thus rely on Mr. Brown's affirmation that his methods are strict, and Mr. Man's
methods not. For Mr. Man also assures us that he has followed " strict " methods
(vide his book, p. 89).
But to speak more seriously, the situation is quite different. Mr. Brown has
explored also the more northern groups of Great Andaman, and has gathered different
forms of the religions beliefs, which afforded him the means of comparing the results
obtained by Mr. Man — which were essentially from the southern parts — with others,
which differ considerably from those of Mr. Man. But then there arises a very
important question. Mr. Brown suggests that Mr. Man has, " perhaps unwittingly,"
asked " leading questions " of the natives, and that this is the cause of some of his
incorrect statements (pp. 270-271). Now, I wish to ask Mr. Brown : Did he make
his first new discoveries about the nature, and especially the sex, of Puluga-Biliku in
the northern or in the southern parts of Great Andaman ? If the first is the case,
I venture to say that Mr. Brown's questions, put afterwards to natives of the southern
parts, were probably strongly influenced, " perhaps unwittingly," by the tendency to
state also in the south what he had found in the north. Because, even after the
statements of Mr. Brown, it appears evident that the results obtained by Mr. Man
in the southern parts are, in essentials, correct not only with regard to observation
but also to interpretation : — (1) Puluga-Bilik in the southern parts is almost always
masculine ; (2) Teria-Daria is either his wife, or his brother, or his child, in every
case subordinated to Puluga-Bilik (Brown, loc. cit., pp. 259, 260) ; (3) " In the south
;t he [Terz'a] is generally ignored, all storms being attributed to Puluga whether they
" come from the N.E. or the S.W. " (loc. cit., p. 267). The obscurity and fluctuation
which seems to exist with regard to (1) is perhaps nothing else than the result of
Mr. Brown's " leading questions."
But to come to Mr. Brown's new results, the most interesting and important is,
that in the northern parts (Chari, Kora, Bo, Jeru, Kede) Biliku (= Puluga) is a female,
and it was often * said that Tarai was Biliku's husband ; in Juwoi, Kol, Puchikwar,
there seems to have been some difference of opinion as to the sex of Bilik ; in the
most southern parts, Bale and Bea, Bilik is male ; in the Little Andaman, female
(pp. 259, 260). Mr. Brown believes that there is " a good deal of evidence " for his view
that " Biliku was originally everywhere female, and those groups which represent
" Puluga as male have changed their belief." He gives three reasons for this view : —
(1) at the two extremities of the islands, Biliku and Oluga are female ; (2) in the
Puchikwar, Kol, and Juwoi groups we seem to get an intermediate stage. An
argument on the subject was given me by a native : " If Biliku were a man he would
" take up his bow and arrows, and not throw firebrands or pearl shells at people.
* It would be necessary to state exactly how often in the majority or in the minority of cases.
' [ 3 ]
No. 2.] MAN. [1910.
Those are women's things " ; (3) Biliku and Tarai are associated with the two mon-
soons which are the producers of rain, storms, thunder, and lightning ; the latter is
explained as being firebrands or pearl shells thrown by Biliku.
Let us consider these three instances.
It is manifest that the first does not prove anything in favour of Mr. Brown's
theory. The fact here mentioned fits in well even with the theory that the beginning
of the development was in the southern parts of Great Andaman, and that it proceeded
radially to north and to south.
Nor is the second reason of a better quality. We may, indeed, say that the
Puchikwar, Kol, and Juwoi groups present an intermediate stage. But the question
remains whether the development is from the southern parts of Great Andaman, viz.,
Bea and Bale — through Puchikwar, Kol, and Juwoi — to the northern parts, or in the
reverse direction. And with regard to the argument given to Mr. Brown by a native,
Mr. Brown neglects here openly the " strict methods " of comparison. For of the
Puchikwar, Kol, and Juwoi we do not know anything in their fire-legends about
pearl shells but only of firebrands.* The pearl shells appear only in the fire-legends
of northern groups, Kede (p. 263), Jeru (p. 265), Chari (p. 265) ; there is only one
case where in a northern group the firebrand is used (p. 264), but (1) it is not in
the original fire-legend ; (2) it is in the Kede group, the most southern of the northern
groups ; and (3) see its peculiar explanation infra. The difference which manifests
itself here is of the greatest importance, as I now will proceed to show.
Firstly, I take the liberty to answer the argument given to Mr. Brown by a native,,
by suggesting that it is hardly correct to say that torches are ouly " women's things " ;
there can be no doubt that torches are used also by men, and by men in anger. It is
otherwise with the pearl shell. Mr. Brown himself tells us that " the Ba shell which
" Biliku threw ... is the mother-of-pearl shell which the Andamanese women use
" for slicing yams and seeds — their kitchen knife, in a word." Thus we have to state
the fact that in the northern groups, just those islands in which Biliku is female, the
lightning is represented by a " female " symbol, whilst in the southern group it is
represented by a symbol at least " of common gender ", the lighted torch. Now, every-
one will see which symbol of the lightning is the original, the lighted torch or the
pearl shell. Evidently it is the former. Thus it seems to me that already by this one
argument the theory of Mr. Brown is rendered nugatory.
But there are still other arguments. Mr. Brown has not told us why in the
northern — " female " — group Biliku is identified with the spider and in the Little
Andaman with the monitor lizard. What has the spider to do with the lightning ?
It seems evident that the inherent signification of Puluga-Biliku is not that of
" spider " (or " monitor lizard "). Mr. Portman, in his Notes on the Languages of
the South Andaman Group (p. 270), writes : " Pulu-ke means ' to pour with rain,'
" and there may be some connection between this root and Piiluga." A parallel case
is noted by Sir Richard Temple (in his " Grammar of the Andamanese Language",
being Chapter IV of Part I of the Census Report of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands,
1902 (for private circulation only), pp. 26, 44). In explaining the Onge-Jarawa form
of Puluga = Uluga (Mr. Brown has Oluga) that author refers to the Onge-Jarawa
word bluga, thunder. Thus, if the inherent signification of Puluga-Biliku-Oluga is
probably in connection with " thunder," " thunderstorm," the question is still more
urgent, why in the northern parts of Great Andaman Biliku is identified with the
spider.
I venture to propose a theory in solution of this problem. In my researches into
* Vide p. 262. The same is to be found in the fire-legends of the Bea, Bale, Puchikwar, Kol,
and Juwoi, given by Mr. M. V. Portman in his Notes on the Languages of the South Andaman
Groups of Tribes (Calcutta, 1898, p. 97, et seqq.*).
[ 4 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 2.
the mythology and religion of the Austronesian peoples* I have detected an intimate
connection between the spider, the plaiting and spinning women, and the waning
moon. The reason of this connection it would be too long to explain here, but it is
sufficient to state the fact. Now there are here two things in strange connection
with each other ; it is only in the northern groups of Great Andaman that Biliku
is female, and that she is identified with the spider. Moreover, it is only in these
groups that the pearl shell, which Mr. Brown calls the "kitchen-knife," of the
Andamanese woman plays a role. Now I find in Mr. E. H. Man's description of the
Andamaneset tna* in his southern group it is the Cyrena shell which is used in the
same manner, but especially in string-making, which is, in the most cases, the work
of the u'omen.^. Thus we have here also the connection with plaiting and twisting.
But how has the spider and the female plaiter become identified with Puluga-
Biliku ? We must now turn to the third reason adduced above by Mr. Brown for
his view, viz., the association of Puluga-Biliku with the north-east ' monsoon and of
Daria- Tarai with the south-west monsoon. In the naming of the two monsoons we
must note an important difference; the north-east monsoon is1 always named "Wind
" of Puluga (Biliku)" but the south-west monsoon is only in the northern group
called " Wind of Tarai," in the southern group it is styled simply Teria (Z>arza).§
Also in the south Tarai is " generally ignored, all storms being attributed to Puluga
" whether they come from the north-east or the south-west "|| monsoon ; where Tarai
is known in the south, it is subordinated to Puluga. Amongst the Juwoi, Kol, and
Puchikwar, except the one case where Teria is the husband of the female Bilik,
(see above, p. 3), Teria is one of the children of Bilik. Amongst the Bale there
are two versions. According to one, Puluga and Daria were at one time great friends
and they quarrelled as to which was " the bigger man." According to the other, Big
Puluga has two brothers, East Puluga and West Puluga. The name of the two,
Jila Puluga and Kuacho Puluga, are identical with those of two of the children of
Bilik amongst the Puchikwar, &c., viz., Jila Bilik^ and Koicho-Bilik. Who, then,
is this Proteus of Teria- Daria ?
I venture to complete my theory exposed above by identifiyiug Teria-Daria
with the waxing moon, which begins with the new moon. This latter is named in
the different southern dialects : Bea, Ogar (=Moon) dereka-da, Bale, Ogdr-Vi-ddreka ;
Puchikwar, Puki (=Moon) tire-da; Juwoi, Pukui fre lekile ; Kol, Puki ter Cre-che.**
The little sickle of the crescent moon appears first at the west-south-western part
of the horizon, that is the reason why the south-west monsoon is associated with
Teria-Daria. The reason why the opposed monsoon, that of north-east, is associated
with Puluga is quite different ; Mr. Man has already given it : " because it proceeds
" from that part of heaven where the connecting-bridge (=rainbow, as Mr. Portman
" has shown) between this world and the next is supposed to be situated."ft
Now, in the Austronesian mythology, the waxing moon is always male, the
waning sometimes male and sometimes female. In the latter case we would have
the relation of the male waxing moon to the waning female moon ; just that
which we encounter in the northern groups of Great Andaman : the female spider
* Under the title " Grundlinien einer Vergleichung der Religioneu and Mythologien der austro-
nesischen Volker " ; it will appear in the next issue of the Denkschriften der Kais. Altad. der Wissen-
xchaften zu IVien phil.-higt. A7., 53 Btl., III. Abh. An abstract of this greater work has jusc appeared
under the title •' Die Mythologie der austronesischen Volker" in the Mitteilungen der Anthropolog.
Gesellschaft in Wien., Bd. XXXIX, pp. 240-259.
f E. H. Man, On the Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands (London, 1883), pp. 156,
183.
I Loc. tit., pp. 163, 180. § Brown, loc. tit., p. 260. || Loc. tit., p. 267.
^f Mr. Man (loc. tit., p. 118) has " chola-ta, south-east wind."
** Portman, Notes, pp. 104, 105. tt E- H- Man> loc- cif-> P- ]18.
No. 2,] MAN. [1910.
( = waning moon) and the male Tarai ( = waxing moon). And the same reason which
has caused Tarai to be associated Avith the south-west monsoon — viz., the fact that
the waxing moon begins to show himself in the south-west — explains also the association
of the female spider ( = waning moon) with the north-east monsoon : the waning moon
appears first in the north-east. Because thus the female spider is associated with the
north-east monsoon and opposed to Tarai, who is associated with the south-west
monsoon, she usurps to herself the name and the position of Paluga-Biliku, who was
once the counterpart of Teria-Tarai.
I am quite aware that the theory developed here is based on the presupposition
that the Andamanese had a lunar mythology similar to that of the Austronesian peoples,
and I know very well that the Andamanese, ethnologically and anthropologically, have
nothing to do with the Austronesians. But I do not know why a lunar mythology,
like that of the Austronesians, should be limited exclusively to the latter. Whether
or no this is the case is only a matter of fact, and I believe I have shown sufficient
evidence to prove that the Andamanese once possessed (for their actual lunar mythology
is of another kind — vide E. H. Man, loc. ei/., p. 92 seyq.}* a lunar mythology similar in
many important points to that of the Austronesians. I now adduce other arguments.
Not only in Austronesian, but also in other mythologies, the waning moon is
associated with lizards (and alligators) : in Little Andaman the female Oluga is
identified with the Monitor lizard. In many mythologies the male (waxing) and the
female (waning) moon are the first parents : hence the variation, amongst some Anda-
manese groups, as to whether the female Biliku and her husband are the first parents
or not ; but in one of the southern groups, Puchikwar, it is Patia, the Monitor lizard
(=the female Oluga of Little Andaman, the waning moon !), who is the first parent.f
Here we have the male parent associated with the waning moon, who, also in
Austronesian mythology, appears in two forms — male and female.
In Austronesian mythology the Supreme Being, a Sky God, is, in the first stage
of development, quite independent of all lunar mythology ; but in the latter stages
he enters that mythology and always coalesces with the waxing moon. The male form
of the waning moon then becomes his counterpart-brother, the female form his sister
or wife. In the Andamanese lunar mythology the Supreme Being was in the beginning
equally independent of all mythology ; but it appears now that in the subsequent phases
of development there were forms quite similar to the latter Austrouesiau. Thus, when
amongst the Bale it was said that Puluga and Daria (both males) were at one time
great friends, and elsewhere that Big Puluga had two brothers called East Puluga. and
West Puluga. In the latter form we have in the " Big Puluga " still a survival of the
older supremacy of the ancient Supreme Being. But already in the Puchikwar, Kol,
and Juwoi Groups, the predominant importance of the two monsoons begins, quite
naturally in these islands, to exercise its influence and develops on lines different from
those of the Austronesians by associating the ancient Supreme Being with the female
representative of the waning moon, a form of development which never took place
amongst the Austronesians.
That, indeed, Puluga was in the beginning independent of all lunar mythology is
not very difficult to prove. Even now in the southern parts Puluga has the character
of a pronounced Sky-God, just as with the Austronesians and so many of the Supreme
Beings of primitive peoples, and especially with those of pygmy peoples. He causes
* But it appears that even the modern lunar mythology of the Andamanese has already begun to
exert its influence on the Biliku-mjths. According to modern mythological \dews the moon is
male and husband of the sun, which is female. In one myth of the Kede Silika throws a large
fire-brand into the sky, which becomes the sun (Brown, p. 264). Moreover, we must remember that
the sun, like the full moon, begins its course in the (north-)east.
•f Brown, loc. cit., p. 261.
[ 6 ]
1910.] MAN. [Nos. 2-3.
storm and rain, the thunder is his voice, the lightning his torch.* Now it is quite clear
that none of these characteristics can be developed out of a lunar god, and especially
with regard to the lightning torch we have expressly proved that it is anterior to the
pearl shell of the lunar-influenced northern groups.
To conclude, I believe I have made it evident that Mr. Brown's attack on Puluga,
the Supreme Being of the Andamanese, has failed, and that his defeat is the more
manifest as his attack was vehement. No doubt his attack was directed mainly
against the idea of a Supreme Being to be found amongst the Andamanese. All other
things related by Mr. Man about the Andamanese religion — the wife and children
of Puluga, the spirits of the sea, the woods, &c., the myths about sun and moon, the
first parents, &c. — do not seem to provoke the criticism of Mr. Brown. The idea of a
Supreme Being alone has attracted his attention. There will be many who will not
understand that. I regret very much that the debut of such a hopeful scholar as
Mr. Brown was devoted to such partial aims, and that the results of his valuable and
extremely interesting researches were not applied in a more independent and broad-
minded spirit. It is to be hoped that in the book about his expedition Mr. Brown
will free himself from all such aspirations and go straight along the path which his
materials alone shall show him.
In the meantime Mr. Brown, if his principal attack has failed, has succeeded in
showing us that amongst the Andamanese tribes also the mythological corruption of
the Supreme Being has made its appearance, and that is, indeed, a valuable result
for which we are much indebted to him. But even this result has a positive conse-
quence, which, I fear, will not be welcomed by Mr. Brown and many of his friends.
With the data furnished by Mr. Brown it is now possible to show positively that the
wife of the Supreme Being, Puluga, of whom Mr. Man writes, has accrued to him
only out of the lunar mythology. f Then as I have proved that Puluga originally has
nothing to do with the lunar mythology, I have now shown that originally he was
without wife and children, and was thus all the more a true Supreme Being.
Mr. Brown adduces some other points in order to discredit the character of
Puluga as a Supreme Being, which are of less importance. Partly they find their
solution in what we have said above ; the rest will be dealt with in the respective
chapters of my above cited work, Die Stellung der Pygmaenvolker in der Entwicke-
lungsgeschichte des Menschen. The solutions which Mr. Brown puts forward with regard
to the prohibitions against burning wax and eating various roots and fruits at the
end of the rainy season are incorrect. Mr. Brown has by no means succeeded in
grasping the true nature of these prohibitions. W. SCHMIDT.
England : Archaeology. Cunning:ton.
A Mediaeval Earthwork in Wiltshire.! By Mrs. M. E. Cunnington. O
Slight earthworks, more or less rectangular in plan, seem to occur with U
varying frequency in most parts of the country. Some of these have rightfully been
ascribed to the Bronze Age, others more doubtfully so, but it is scarcely likely that
* It is quite unjustifiable to associate, as Mr. Brown does, Puluga (Biiiltu) exclusively with the
north-east monsoon. Mr. Brown himself has felt this, for he writes : " What is particularly puzzling
*' is that the south-west monsoon is the rainy monsoon, and during the north-east monsoon the
" weather is generally fine. I have not been able to find an explanation, and can only record the
li fact " (p. 267). Well, the only possible explanation is that Puluga was originally everywhere,
as still now in the south, the god of all storms, i.e., the Sky-God.
f I shall develop this thesis in a still more detailed way in my work, Die Stellung der Pygmiien-
rolker in der Entwickelungsgeschlchte des Jfenscken, which will appear in the course of the next yea)-.
This will afford an opportunity of stating some very interesting details.
J The earthwork is on Crown property, and permission to undertake certain excavations in il
was granted to Mr. B. H. Cunnington by the proper authorities, with the approval of the tenant,
Mr. A. J. Coombs of Bishop's Cannings. The work was carried oat during the summer of 1909.
[ 7 ]
No. 3.]
MAN.
[1910.
this large and rather indefinite class of earthworks all belong to the same period, or
were made for the same purpose.*
The evidence for each site must be considered independently after excavation,
and a superficial resemblance in situation and plan cannot be relied on as a criterion
of identity of origin.
A rather large example of these simple enclosures, which not inappropriately
have been distinguished under the term of " valley entrenchments " is to be found
/a a
I Iw ±
,-ii
1
9.9
">'
to 8
47
It1,',
-92
r-- :
FlG. 1. — PLAN OF ENCLOSURES SHOWING APPROXIMATE POSITION OF OPENINGS IN THE
OUTER BANK.
The figures indicate the distance in feet between the openings, measured from centre to centre of the gaps. The size
of the gaps is somewhat exaggerated.
"I— LV-l".lZ'.-"-rz~H = ditch of outer enclosure. = ditch of inner enclosure.
in one of the chalk combes under the Wansdyke, north of Old Shepherd's Shore,
and about four miles north-east of Devizes.f The Wansdyke at this point takes a
sharp turn as if to avoid descending into the combe, and is carried along the southern
and steeper side of the combe. The dyke is here seen in its finest proportions, and
* See General Pitt-Rivers' Hafcavatumt, Vol. IV, Martin Down, South Lodge, Angle Ditch, and
Handley Hill Camps ; Mr. H. S. Toms in Antiquary, Nov. 1907, and Feb. 1909, p. 47 ; Earthwork of
England, by Hadrian Allcroft, pp. 143-152.
t See Wilts Arch. Mag., Vol. XI, p. 246 ; An. Wilts, North, p. 97 ; Dr. Stukeley's Abury Described,
pp. 27-48 ; Rev. A. C. Smith's Antiquities of N. Wilts, Section IV, C, VII<f, p. 65 ; and 6-inch
Ordnance Map, Wiltshire Sheet, XXVII, S.E.
[ 8 1
1910.] MAN. [No. 3,
a little to the west towards Morgan's Hill is the spot where General Pitt-Rivers cut
his Section 1 in 1889.*
The earthwork consists of a single bank and ditch ; on the north the bank is
slightly higher than on either of the other sides, and on the south it appears lower
than elsewhere, but excavation showed that this latter is largely due to the slope on
which it is built. As is often the case in more or less rectangular earthworks, the
banks are heightened at the corners.! Its area is said to be seven acres one rood ;
along the crest of the bank it measures 607 feet on the north side, 645 feet on the
south, 628 feet on the east, and 620 feet on the west. The enclosure lies on the
northern slope of the combe and has a southern aspect ; its lower and southern
boundary is in, and parallel with, the bottom of the combe. Its position is therefore a
fairly sheltered one, but could never have been chosen for defensive purposes.
There are an unusually large number of very noticeable gaps or openings through
the rampart. Even Dr. Stukeley noticed them, and they are shown in his woodcut
dated 1720.J It will be seen on the accompanying plan (Fig. 1) that these openings
occur at irregular distances on all four sides, but are scarcer on the south. On the
south and east sides there are well-defined openings only 23 feet and 26 feet apart
respectively. All these openings are well marked and cannot be mistaken for a mere
wearing away of the earthen rampart. In every case the ends of the rampart are
clean cut, and their appearance suggests that the rampart was at first continuous and
that the openings were cut through it subsequently. The gaps are fairly uniform in
width, namely, about nine feet across at the top of the bank, narrowing from two feet
to four feet on the level. The slope of the ends of the rampart appear too regular
to be the result of spreading, and they seem to have been cut intentionally at this
angle to prevent spreading. One of the openings on the eastern side is 16 feet wide
and noticeably larger than any of the rest. It was hoped that excavation would prove
which of these openings were original, for it was natural to suppose that where there
had been an entrance the ditch would be discontinued, and that a solid roadway into
the enclosure would have been left.
For this purpose a section was made on the outside of each of the twenty-two
gaps, with the remarkable result that the ditch was found to have been continued in
front of every one of them, including the big 16-foot opening.
The enclosure is therefore entirely surrounded by a continuous ditch, which must
necessarily have been bridged across in some way wherever there was an entrance. It
will be understood that the rampart, though not high, is generally well preserved, and
that as .the ditch is not quite filled up it is for the most part self-evident. It is
only opposite the openings in the rampart that there can be any doubt, even without
excavation, as to whether the ditch is there or not. So although the entire length
of the ditch was not opened there can be no doubt as to its continuance.
It is noteworthy that before excavation a distinct heightening, or ridge, was
noticeable on the surface of the ditch outside the openings ; at the time this was
looked upon as evidence that no ditch would be found at these points. As, however,
this conclusion was wrong, the fact that the ditch was fuller at these spots suggests
that entrances were made by intentionally filling in the ditch at some at least of the
openings. Unless this was the case, it is difficult to see why the ditch should have
become fuller outside the openings than elsewhere, especially as traffic to and fro would
tend to wear away the soil rather than to increase its depth.
* Excavations, Vol. Ill, p. 246.
f As there is necessarily a greater length of ditch in proportion to that of the bank at the
angles, the extra material thus obtained may account for the increase in the size of the banks at
these spots ; they need not have been increased intentionally for extra strength.
\ Abury Described, p. 48, plate XL
[ 9 ]
No, 3,]
MAN.
[1910.
Putting the length of the various sections together, 176 feet of this ditch was
entirely cleared out ; it was found to be practically of a uniform depth and width
throughout. Sections six feet wide were also cut through the rampart, one on the
eastern and one on the southern side (Figs. 2 and 3). All these cuttings were remark-
FlG. 2. — SECTION ACROSS BANK AND DITCH ON EAST SIDE OF OUTER ENCLOSURE.
a — turf ; b = chalk building of bank ; c — old turf line under banks ; d = undisturbed chalk ; e = silting in ditch.
FlG. 3.— SECTION ACROSS BANK AND DITCH ON SOUTH SIDE OF OUTER ENCLOSURE.
a = turf ; 6 = chalk building of bank ; c = old turf line under banks ; d = undisturbed chalk ; e = silting in ditch.
ably unproductive of relics. One large headed iron nail, one fragment of pottery, two
hammerstones, and a few scattered fragments of bone were actually the only finds.
THE INNER ENCLOSURE. — Within the main enclosure is a smaller work (Stukeley's
Prcetorium),* the position of which may be seen on the sketch plan. It is roughly
oblong in shape, the two longer sides being 164 feet in length by 121 feet on the
western, and 92 feet on the eastern side. This inner earthwork consists of a ditch
with double banks — one on either side of the ditch. The ditch, although rather larger
than that of the outer enclosure, is more silted up, and the banks are much worn down,
especially on the north side ; this, however, may be due to cultivation.
There is an opening through the inner bank on the north-west side, and one
through both the inner and outer banks on the north-east side ; it appears, therefore,
that there must have been an entrance at one or both of these places in spite of the
fact that the ditch was found to be continuous at both of them. To prove this, sections
of the ditch were cleared out in front of these openings ; a section of the ditch 30 feet
in length was also cleared out on the south side, and a section, five feet wide, was cut
across the enclosure from north to south (Fig. 4).
In all 60 feet of this ditch were cleared out, and twenty-two fragments of medieval
pottery, some with green and yellow glaze, were found at varying depths. This, though
a small quantity in proportion to the work done, was a very considerable amount as
compared with the single fragment found in the ditch of the main enclosure.
In this inner ditch several more or less complete skeletons of sheep were found ;
there were also a considerable number of scattered sheep's bones and teeth, a few
ox bones, and those of at least three dogs.
* " There is another very pretty place of this sort — Druid's House for aught I know — between
' the Wansdyke and Via Badonica ; 'tis a charming pleasant concavity. An oblong square, with
" another lesser as a praetorium within. In the vallum are many gaps at equal intervals" (Abury
Described, p. 48). Actual measurements have shown that the gaps are not really equi-distant from
each other.
[ 10 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 3.
About 50 yards to the east of the inner enclosure there is a very slight semi-
circular bank. A section was cut through this bank and a few fragments of mediaeval
pottery were found but the purpose of the bank could not be explained.
Surface sections were also cut in the north-west and south-east corners of the
main enclosure, but no relics or signs of habitation were found.
OuUiie So~t6
JYorlft T~s»ae
a _.
^^s^s.
g^y^ c , (, ,.
V'-VrT < '• [. '
;-^:- .•••:/', '•,'•<•'•,. ' "' ••'
•:•• ••/.>/( <• [•
* ' ,X^-7^ r *
' <• 1 t" ' ' o. 5 *j>ft
FlG. 4. — SECTION ACBOSS DOUBLE BANKS AND DITCH ON SOUTH SIDE OF INNER ENCLOSURE.
a = turf ; 6 = chalk building of banks ; c = old turf line under banks ; d = undisturbed chalk ; e = silting in ditob.
CONCLUSIONS. — As a result of the excavations is it possible to draw any con-
clusions as to whether the two enclosures have a common origin, or are two distinct
works, designed for different purposes and of different dates — and in any case as to
what purpose they were made, and when ?
In the absence of relics from the ditch of the outer enclosure it is not possible
to say definitely that the two works are of the same date, but the evidence, such as
it is, is in favour of their being so.
One distinctive feature the two enclosures certainly have in common, and that is
that they are both completely surrounded by their respective ditches, no entrance
causeways having been left in either case. This feature is so remarkable that it
certainly may be taken as affording good presumptive evidence that both works were
made by the same people. The two ditches although not quite of the same size are
alike in general outline and appearance,* and nothing of a contradictory nature having
been found, it may be said, therefore, that, on the whole, evidence is in favour of the
common origin of the two enclosures.
As to date the pottery found at different depths in the inner ditch to within a
few inches of the bottom is sufficient to show that this ditch at any rate is neither
prehistoric nor Roman, but mediaeval. f In 1720, when Dr. Stukeley wrote, all memory
of the use of the enclosures had faded. Their date, therefore, is probably somewhere
between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries.
Lastly, for what purpose were the enclosures made ? Had they been the site of
regular habitation there must, it would seem, have been more evidence of it than
there is. Not only in the excavations was pottery very scarce, but in repeated and
diligent search among the earth thrown out by the moles not a single scrap of
pottery was found, — and this was certainly not due to a want of activity on the part
of the moles.J The entire absence from the ditch of any pigs' bones, the presence
of dogs' bones, and the fact that some of the sheep's bones Avere found as more or
* The ditches of the enclosures, proved by General Pitt-Rivers to be of the Bronze Age, were much
more formidable than these. They were not so regularly cut, and of a quite different shape in section ;
they sloped to a bottom narrow in proportion to their breadth and depth — they were, indeed, funnel-
shaped — whereas the ditches here had wide and shallow bottoms.
t It is remarkable that all the pottery, with the exception of one piece of Roman manufacture
found in the turf mould, seems to be of the same period, and that there is not a fragment of the
hand-made Bronze Age type. In addition to the finding of mediaeval pottery, this is of importance
as evidence of date, because had there been a Romano-British or earlier settlement on the site
pottery characteristic of these periods must have been found.
J Sir R. Colt Hoare dug into several parts of the enclosure, but " could find none of the usual
marks of residence." (An. Wilt*, p. 97.)
No. 3.] MAN. [1910.
less complete skeletons, is suggestive that the remains were not those of animals that
had been used for food, but rather that they were those of animals that had died in
the ditch, or whose bodies had been thrown there.
It is suggested therefore, that the enclosure was used as a fold or penning for
flocks, chiefly perhaps for sheep, the inner enclosure affording additional protection
for the weak and sickly ones, and perhaps shelters for the shepherds.
The banks and ditches are after all not much larger than the ditches and
hedgerow banks to some of our own fields, but being situated on the open uncultivated
Downs they appear perhaps more remarkable than they really are. Isolated, and now
generally abandoned sheepfolds, quite as large, and, if their use had been forgotten,
quite as mysterious seeming, as this earthwork, are not uncommon on the Welsh hills.
But Wales being a stony land the enclosures there are of dry built stone walling ;
these folds are sometimes angular and sometimes roughly circular, and often have a
part divided off in the manner of the " praetoriiim."
Why in this instance the outer enclosure should have had so many breaches in
its rampart is indeed puzzling. One thing only seems fairly clear, and that is that
if the openings were not made by the original owners for some good reason of their
own, it is still more difficult to understand why anyone at a later date should have
taken the trouble to make them.
It may be said that if the original idea had been to have many entrances,
provision would have been made for them by leaving the ditch undug at intervals
wherever an entrance was intended. But as the original idea must have included
at least one entrance, and as even this one was not provided for by a discontinuance
of the ditch, the fact that the ditch is continuous in front of all the openings is not
therefore in itself evidence that they are not all coeval with the original entrance.
It is perhaps possible that the work as a whole was made on the communal system,
and that each member of the community hurdled off a part of the interior according
to his wants, making an entrance by throwing down the bank to fill up the ditch at
the spot most convenient to him. The bank and ditch are so slight that this could
have been done at a very little cost of labour. The irregularity in the length of the
sides of the enclosure shows that it could not have been planned out with much
precision or skill, and if a good many entrances were required it might have proved
practically simpler to make them at the spots that experience showed to be most
suitable than to formally plan them out beforehand.
RELICS. — From Ditch of Outer Enclosure : —
In turf mould on north-west side : — Chalk rubber, cut and shaped, smooth on
one side. 3^ inches by 3 inches.
In turf mould in 16-foot opening : — Rough flint that has been used for hammering ;
and iron spike, square in section, length, five inches ; possibly quite modern.
Fourth opening from the south on the east side, one foot above bottom of the
ditch : — Broken pebble used as a hammer.
Third opening from south, east side ; on floor of ditch : — Fragment of good quality
red pottery ; possibly mediaeval.
South-eastern corner, 18 inches from bottom of ditch : — Small fragment of thin
bronze, and heavy iron nail with large head.
Inner Enclosure : —
Section across inner enclosure : — Sarsen muller or hammer,* fragment of mediaeval
pottery, fragments of sheep's bones and teeth.
Small bank east of inner' enclosure : — Part of base of jug or pitcher, with finger-
pressed base, resembling that of fourteenth-century pitchers, with traces of yellow
* These stone implements need not, of. course, be of the same date as the earthwork itself.
[ 12 ]
1910.] MAN. [Nos, 3-4.
glaze ; four other fragments, one with brown glaze. Pointed iron ferrule, with two
rivet holes, possibly an ox goad ; length, 3| inches.
Ditch of the Inner Enclosure : —
In turf mould : — Base of a small vase of fine grey ware, painted black. Roman.
First foot below turf (turf six to eight inches thick) : — Sixteen pieces of pottery ;
all quite small. Some of these have green, others yellow, glaze, and some are
unglazed, of a rather coarse ware mixed with pounded flint, but have also the same
sand that is mixed in the paste of the glazed ware. Certainly most of this pottery,
and probably all of it, is mediaeval. Three small iron nails. Bones of animals.
Second foot below turf : — Five pieces of pottery of the same description as above.
Third foot below turf : — Rounded handle of jug or pitcher, of red ware with traces
of green glaze ; five inches in length. This was found actually three feet deep from
the top of the turf and within eight inches of the bottom of the ditch, and is so
unmistakably mediaeval that it affords good evidence of the period at which the
ditch must have been open. Fragments of the rim of a cup or basin with greenish-
yellow glaze ; found with the handle.
A small number of flint flakes were found in the various sections, but these can
have no particular significance, for whatever the date of the enclosure, these flints
may have been lying on the surface at the time of its construction.
A chemical analysis has been made of three pieces of pottery : — (a) The fragment
found on the bottom of the ditch of the outer enclosure, (b) A piece not glazed, but
probably mediaeval, from the first foot below turf in ditch of the inner enclosure,
(c) A piece with traces of glaze, undoubtedly mediaeval, found with the handle near
the bottom of ditch of inner enclosure.
The results of (a) and (c) are so nearly identical that the ware must almost
certainly have come from the same source and have been made of the same clay. This
affords additional evidence to show that the two ditches were open at the same period,
and that, therefore, the two enclosures are of the same date.
The analysis is as follows : —
(a) (b) (c)
Silica (Si02) - - 58 '2 55 • 2 57 • 45 per cent.
Alumina (A12O3) - 26 • 25 38 • 2 24-4 „
Ferric oxide (Fe203) - - 11 '2 6- 8 11 '6 „
Traces of calcium and magnesium compounds are also found in (a) and (c).
M. E. CUNNINGTON.
Switzerland : Pygmy Implement. Trechmann.
Note on the Occurrence of a so-called Pygmy or Midget Imple-
ment made from a Quartz Crystal in a Neolithic Lake-Dwell ing on
the Greifensee, near Zurich. By C. T. Trechmann, B.Sc.
While a student at Zurich I paid a visit, at the suggestion of Dr. Heierli, professor
at the Polytechnikum, during November, 1906, to the Greifensee, and, the water being
then very low, I had an opportunity of studying several of the pile-dwellings, of which
eight exist on the edges of this small lake.
While examining a pile-dwelling at the northern end of the lake called Rietspitz,
near Fallanden, I was fortunate in finding in the lake mud surrounding the piles a
characteristic specimen of the implement known in this country as pygmy or midget
implement. It is formed from a chip of a perfectly transparent quartz crystal and
measures 11 millimetres in length by 6^ millimetres in greatest breadth. It has been
delicately chipped to the form of a small spoon-shaped scraper, the under side showing
the smooth surface of the flake, the bulb of which occurs at the upper or scraping
edge of the implement.
[ 13 ]
Nos. 4-5.] MAN. [1910.
I understand from Dr. Heierli that this is the first occurrence of this type of
implement in Switzerland, and as the Griefensee lake-dwellings are amongst the
earliest in Switzerland I desire to put it on record.
The Griefensee is a small lake lying about 7 kilometres east of Zurich, and
occupies a shallow depression in the Miocene Molasse formation. Eight dwellings,
all of the Stone Age, have been recognised, corresponding to the names Uster (one
dwelling), Maur (two dwellings), Greifensee (four dwellings), Fallanden (one dwelling)-
This last site is situated at the extreme northern
end of the lake on the west side of the stream,
which drains the lake and joins the Rhine below
Schaffhausen. In addition to the pygmy im-
plement I found here several flint flakes of the
ordinary Neolithic type and a fragment of a bored
greenstone axe and a large hammer-stone of
Triassic Alpine quartzite.
Perhaps the pygmy implements occur in some
quantity in the lake-dwellings, but have hitherto been overlooked owing to the
difficulty of detecting them in the lake mud, where all the relics are covered with
a deposit of lake lime when found. C. T. TRECHMANK
REVIEWS.
Ireland : Archaeology. Macalister.
The Memorial Slabs of Clonmacnois, King's County : with an Appendix on the C
Materials for a History of the Monastery, being the extra volume of the Royal U
Society of Antiquaries of Ireland for 1907-8. By R. A. Stewart Macalister, M.A.,
F.S.A. Dublin, University Press, 1909. Pp. xxxii +159. 27 x 17 cm. Price 10*.
The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland have published as their extra
volume for 1907-8 The Memorial Slabs of Clonmacnois by Professor R. A. S.
Macalister, M.A., F.S.A. St. Ciaran's great foundation at Clonmacnois dating from
547 A.D. is justly celebrated as containing one of the most interesting collections of
early Christian Celtic inscriptions and ecclesiastical remains in Western Europe.
The Christian inscriptions in the Irish language by Dr. Petrie, edited by Miss
Stokes, dealt fully with Clonmacnois ; but this work, though a fine monument of
learning, was executed many years ago and under various difficulties, and students of
Irish archaeology and philology have long felt that a new work embodying the results
of later researches was necessary. Professor Macalister's knowledge of Irish palaeo-
graphy and philology peculiarly fitted him to write the present volume, and he deserves
the thanks of all students of Celtic Christian archasology for the scholarly and scientific
manner in which he has treated the subject.
Two hundred and eight slabs and fragments of slabs, including some that
formerly existed but have since disappeared, are illustrated in the volume before us,
and the ornamented slabs with their different forms of crosses and intricate key,
spiral and knot patterns are examined and analysed in detail. The inscriptions
themselves, their contents, classification, palaeography, philology and the possibility of
identifying them with persons mentioned in the Irish annals are fully dealt with, and
a complete vocabulary of the words used in the inscriptions is appended. The book
concludes with an appendix containing materials for the history of Clonmacnois giving
the annals of the monastery, illustrations and descriptions of the existing buildings,
and an illustrated list of the antiquities that have been discovered at Clonmacnois.
There is one feature brought out by the present work which, unfortunately, calls
for note. Professor Macalister in his preface says, " When Dr. Petrie visited
[ 14 ]
1910.] MAN. [Nos. 5-6.
" Clonmacnois in 1822, he must have found nearly twice as many slabs as I was able
" to discover." And again, " Dr. Petrie records 166 inscribed slabs ... 59 of
" these are missing." Clonmacnois is now vested in the Irish Board of Works, which
body is fully alive to the importance of preserving the slabs from further destruction,
but the losses that have taken place since 1822 are too serious to be passed over in
silence by any reviewer of the present work. E. C. R. ARMSTRONG.
Oceania. Walker.
Wanderings among South Sea Savages and in Borneo and the Philippines.
By H. Wilfred Walker, F.R.G.S. London : Witherby, 1909. Pp. xvi + 254,
with forty -eight photographic reproductions. 23 X 14 cm. Price 7*. 6d.
The above work is the outcome of the demands by friends to publish in book
form the author's letters written " in as concise a manner as possible, so that they
*' could be easily read, and in consequence I have left out much that might have
" been interesting." Had the author had any idea of publishing, he says, " I might
*' have mentioned more about the customs, ornaments, and weapons of the natives."
It is a pity that he did not reconsider his decision, and rather than include so
much in one volume, divide the South Pacific portion from his travels in Borneo
and the Philippines, and add the more interesting ethnographical data so carefully
excluded from his home letters.
The full title shows the author's varied experiences. The work opens with a
visit paid to Ratu Lala, the son of a very notorious personage in the history of Fiji —
the Roku Tui Cakoudrove — and his description of this half-educated " savage " shows
the fallacy of sending such men to Sydney. I happened to meet him there in 1880,
and saw something of his so-called education.
The dances (jneke-meke) both of men and women are fully described, although
when in Fiji I was never fortunate enough to see the women take part in these ; I
fancy this must be a later introduction from Tonga and Samoa. The Kava drinking
parties are most graphically described, but the material of which the decoction is
made is called in the native tongue yaqona (yangona), not " angona." During his
expedition among the ex-cannibals of the Viti Levu Mountains the author describes
the modes of preparing the cannibal feasts. I am afraid, however, he rather over-
steps the mark when he says, u Sometimes they would boil a man alive in a huge
" cauldron." I wonder how, and what was the size of the cauldron, and of what
was it made ? The old story of the missionary's feet having been served up to the
chief as a dainty morsel — with the boots on ! — reappears.
On page 54 there is a printer's error, in speaking of the curved boar's tusks as
u carved." It is a pity that, while in out-of-the-way places in Fiji and elsewhere, he
did not make greater use of the camera. It would have been interesting to have seen
a photograph of the " horrible looking carved figure with staring eyes — about 5 feet
high." What was this ? Carved figures in Fiji are of very rare occurrence, and those
mostly small ones, used to frighten children into quietness. At Oxford and in Copen-
hagen there are figures made of fern-tree trunks labelled as coming from Fiji, but
these must be of very recent importation, probably from the New Hebrides. " The
" curious fighting ornament worn on the forehead, made of upper bills of the hornbill,"
cannot be Fijian, as the hornbill is not found there. This specimen probably comes
from New Guinea.
It is on reaching the chapters relating to New Guinea that one realises the waul
of a map. In a book of travels this is a very serious omission. It is difficult to follow
the author in his journeyings with a punitive expedition against a cannibal tribe,
occupying a region " in the unknown interior, no white man having hitherto penetrated
" into their country." The number of skulls met with with uniform holes knocked
[ 15 ]
No. 6.] MAN. [1910.
in them shows their predilection for brains, eaten warm, after slowly torturing their
captives to death ; and the advice given by the leader of the expedition to keep their
last shot for themselves, in case of being overwhelmed, so as to escape these horrible
tortures, was rather disquieting to a novice in bush warfare.
On page 157 the author describes a curious peace-offering ceremony. This con-
sisted in the presentation of arms, pottery, nets, ornaments, followed by pigs, sago, &c.,
with cooking vessels ; emblematical of giving their all and becoming the people of
the Government.
While on this expedition the author heard of the existence of a web-footed
people. "I had been inclined to sneer," he says, "at these reports. I had in my
" mind the case of the Doriri tribe, who were reported as having many tails, which on
" investigation were found to protrude from the back of the head, being fashioned
" by rolling layers of bark round long strands of hair." The members of the tribe
of which the author was in search are known as the Agai Ambu. They occupy the
lakes and swamps at the head of the Barigi river : their principal village is on the
side of a lake. The houses are built on long poles a good height above the water.
Their canoes are dug-outs without outriggers, and they use broad-bladed paddles.
After a considerable amount of trouble the party succeeded in persuading one of these
peculiar people to step out of his canoe. " We at once saw there was some truth
" in the reports about the physical formation of these people. There was between
" their toes an epidermal growth more distinct than in the case of other people,
" though not so conspicuous as to permit of the epithet ' half webbed,' much less
" ' webbed ' being applied to them." The most noticeable difference was in the
shortness of their legs below the knee, and that the feet were broader and shorter and
very flat. A fuller account of these people is given in the Acting Governor's report
(unfortunately the reference is not given), who, in addition to what Mr. Walker has
related, gives an account of their mode of burial on platforms among the reeds. It is a
pity that no photograph of these people was obtained. It is evident that the author
had a camera with him, as he gives one of a distant view of their village.
Chapters V and VI are devoted to a description of a visit to the Philippines
where the author visited the Florida Blanca Mountains of North Luzon. The inhabi-
tants of this district live in solitary huts in small clearings in the forest, and are, by far,
the smallest race that the author had ever seen — they might quite properly be termed
pygmies. " I certainly," he says, " never came across a Negrito man over 4 feet 6 inches,
" if as tall, and the women, as a rule, only up to the men's shoulders." Cicatrisation
was common to both sexes, as well as a curious mode of shaving the head. They
use the bow and arrow for warfare and a harpoon arrow for hunting, as well as the blow-
pipe with clay pellets. Owing to hostilities breaking out, the author was prevented
from visiting a tribe of aboriginals known as the Buquils, inhabiting the higher
mountain ranges, where the women were said to be " bearded."
In Chapters XII-XIV the author gives his experience in Borneo and of his seven
months' residence in a Dayak's home on the Sarekei river.
The book ends with an account of a visit paid to the caves where the edible
bird's-nests are obtained. These are made by swallows of two distinct species, the
one making a white, the other a black nest, owing to mixing the saliva, of which
they make them, with feathers.
The book is interesting to read, is well illustrated, and full enough of hairbreadth
escapes, and blood-curdling descriptions of savage home life to please the average reader
of books of travel. I am afraid the title on the back of the book, Wanderings Among
South Sea Savages, is rather misleading, and will cause it to be placed amongst books
relating to the South Pacific, thus condemning to oblivion the Philippine and Borneo
portions of it. J. E.-P.
Printed by EYBE AND SPOTTISWOODE, LTD.. His Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, E.C.
PLATE B.
MAN, 1910.
ENRICO HILLYER GIGLIOLI.
(O
1910.] MAN. [Nos. 7-8.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Obituary. With Plate B. Read.
Enrico Hillyer Gigiioli: Born June 13, 1845; died December 16, "7
1909. By C. H. Read, LL.D., P.S.A. I
By the early and unexpected death of Professor Gigiioli Italy has lost an accom-
plished and versatile man of science, and one of the most genial of her sons. Born in
London in 1845, where his father, a political exile, had married an Englishwoman, he
never saw Italy until 1848, when conditions became favourable for his father's return,
and the young Gigiioli was sent to school at Genoa and Pavia until 1861. He then
went back to England with a Government grant, and was entered at the School of
Mines, where he remained for three years, publishing meanwhile memoirs in English
and Italian, the former in the Lancet and Ibis. In 1865 he received what can only
have been to him a most fascinating commission, viz., to accompany the voyage of the
Magenta on her scientific and political voyage to China and Japan. On his return in
1868 he was attached to the University of Turin to deal with the collections made
during the voyage, and later he had to extend the scientific account of it. From this
time onward his life was one of untiring industry, memoirs on every kind of pelagic
and biological subject being produced, while physical anthropology was by no means
neglected.
In 1874 he found his real work as ordinary professor of zoology and the comparative
anatomy of the Vertebrates at Florence, a subject he had dealt with for three years as
extraordinary professor. Excursions on scientific quests, both in the Mediterranean and
further afield, now became of frequent occurrence, varied by missions as Italian delegate
to scientific conferences or exhibitions in all parts of the Continent. The result of
these frequent journeys, combined with a command of languages, made Professor
Gigiioli a well-known character in scientific circles, and hi? popularity ensured the kind
of recognition that competence begets in the honorary membership of nearly every
learned society of Europe and America. Nor were his merits entirely overlooked at
home, he became commendatore of the orders of SS. Maurice and Lazarus and of the
Crown of Italy, while Austria, France, and Brazil all conferred decorations upon him.
Representatives of all countries had united to do him honour on the completion of
his fortieth year of professional work, when death intervened and took him from among
us a few days before the date. Great intellectual ability, combined with industry as
great, and a kindly genial nature will make his loss deeply felt and widely deplored.
C. H. READ.
India. Rose.
Fictitious Kinship in the Punjab. By H. A. Rose. Q
The ideas underlying the formation of the ties of fictitious kinship, and 0
the effects of those ties when formed, are not only of importance from a practical
point of view, as illustrating such practices as adoption, rules of succession, and the
like, but they are also of considerable interest as illustrating the possibilities of
castes, or even tribes, having been formed by processes of accretion. Among the
most primitive races on the North- West Frontier of India the ties of fosterage are
very strong, more stringent even than those of blood kinship ;* and throughout India,
at least among the non-Muhammadans, adoption plays a very important role in the
law of inheritance.! The following notes on these ideas and customs have been
collected in an attempt to ascertain how far fictitious kinship is now formed in the
Punjab.
* Kg., among the so-called Dards; see Biddulph's Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh, pp. 82-3.
f E.g., among the Nambudri Brahmans of Keraha, on the Malabar coast (see Calcutta Review,
1901, pp. 121 et seqq.\ we find two kinds of religious and one of secular adoption. All three forms
have remarkable effects on the laws of succession.
[ 17 ]
No. 8,] MAN. [1910.
Ganga-bahais. — A fraternal relationship, entailing the consequences of natural
kinship and thus operating as a bar to marriage between the parties, who become
Gangabhais each to the other, is established by making a pilgrimage to the Ganges
together and there drinking the waters of the sacred river from each other's hands.*
This relationship is also established between two women (or even between a man and
a woman), f irrespective of caste, and the parties should drink thrice,! or seven times,
while lasting friendship and sisterhood are vowed. In Gurgaon women who exchange
dopatfas (shawls) at a sacred place, or on a pilgrimage, become Ganga-bahin, Jamna-
bahin (if that river is the place of pilgrimage), or, generally, tirath-bahin. Such women
each treat the other's husband as a jija, i.e., as a sister's husband, and it is said that the
custom of making these alliances is more prevalent among women than among men,
and more binding also. With the extension of facilities for making pilgrimages this
custom ia» becoming rarer, but when a pilgrimage involved journeying and living
together the tie was often contracted, and it is still not rare in cases where some
service or aid was rendered. A Sanskrit adage declares that no wrong should be done
to a person with whom one has walked seven paces, an idea to which the seven steps
at a wedding owe their significance.
The pahul. — Among Sikhs the taking of the pahul together creates a similar tie,
and those bound by it are called gurbhais. Here again caste is disregarded and the
relationship created operates as an absolute bar to marriage.
Adoption. — Adoption, as a religious rite, is not very common in the Punjab, even
among Hindus. It is solemnized with few rites, and is usually called god lena, or
" taking in the lap." An adopted son is termed putrela by Hindus. § But besides the
custom of formal adoption a kind of informal adoption of a man or woman as father
or mother is not unusual. The adoptive parent is thenceforth treated as a natural
parent, but apparently no legal results ensue.
Exchanging ganans. — An analogous tie can be created between two youths by
exchanging ganans\ or wedding wristlets, and eating rice and milk together. The
youth who is to be married puts on a ganan, and his would-be friend unties it, while
a Brahman repeats the following mantra : —
TRANSLITERATION.
Manglang^ B hag wan- Vishnu**
Manglang Garar-dhwijd ! f f
Manglang Punri-kdkhiyoQ
Mangld yatno§§ Hari.\\\\
* It is said that the exchange of pagrfe at Hardwar merely cements a long and intimate friendship
without creating any bond of artificial kinship.
t It is, however, said that this tie is only contracted between women. It is apparently rare
between a man and a woman, but not unknown. In Multan the tie is called bhirappi and does exist
between men and women.
J This is called in Panjabi chulian lena [literally "to take handfuls" (of water)]. Women thus
become dkarm-bahin, if Hindus.
§ The subject of adoption is fully treated in the present writer's Compendium of tlie Punjab
Customary Law.
|| Ganan, M., a string of coloured cords or of goat's hair. -The man or youth who unfastens the
ffdnd of a bridegroom at his wedding is also bound to him by special ties of friendship.
^f Happiness, fortune, bliss, felicity.
** The second deity of the sacred triad, entrusted with the preservation of the world.
ft An epithet of Vishnu. Oarar is represented as the vehicle of Vishnu and as having a white
face, an aquiline nose, red wings and a golden body. Dhwij means a banner, flag. It generally bears
a picture of the deity's vehicle.
JJ An epithet of Vishnu. Lit., having eyes^like a white lotus flower (punrik = white lotus,
JtaJthiyd = eyes).
§§ Lit., house, residence. |||| An epithet of Vishnu.
[ 18 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 8,
TRANSLATION.
Bhagwan Vishnu"}
Garar-dhwij >is the embodiment of bliss.
Punri-kakhiya J
Hari is the abode of happiness.
God is the centre of all bliss, happiness emanates from him.
This is a benediction (ashir wad) which a Brahman gives to other men. The
idea being " May God, the embodiment of all bliss, give you happiness."
Another mantra : —
Yen badhdho Bali-raja ddn-vandro, Mahd-bald !!
Te-natwdng prit-badhndmi rakshe md-chal md-chal ! !
"In the name of Him who killed Raja Bali, the mighty leader of the Daits, I fasten
this rakhri thread round your wrist and protect you, may you persevere, cleave to it,
and never deviate from it."
Generally this mantra is recited when a rakhri (amulet) is tied by a Brahman at
the Rakhri-festival (on the full-moon day in the month of Sawan).
Various other means are adopted to create or cement enduring friendships, hardly
amounting to fictitious relationship. Thus the mundan ceremony affords an opportunity
to swear lasting friendships, batdshas being distributed among those present, or a child
of the same age being made to catch the boy's hair as it falls, and thus form a tie
of kinship with him. Simultaneous circumcision forms a similar bond.
Among the Sansis friendship is sworn by one man's placing a sword between
himself and his friend. The latter removes it, and the tie is complete.
Pagwat. — But far commoner than the solemn religious bond created by the fore-
going fictions is the looser social bond created by the exchange of pagris, or pagwat,
as it is called in Gujrat. As a rule this exchange creates a bond like that of kin-
ship,* though it is said that only among Hindus is its existence a bar to intermarriage,
and that among Muhammadans this is not the case. The pagri or turban f is typical
of a man's honour, so that the exchange means that the honour of the one party
becomes that of the other.
Such " brothers " are ordinarily termed pag-bhai or dharm-bhai, the latter term
being ordinarily used to denote a brother artificially created as opposed to a natural
brother.
Chadar- or orhna-badal. — Women in the same way exchange chadars or orhnas,
and among Muhammadans become dharm-bahin or iman-bahin to each other. But
these customs are more prevalent among Hindus than among Muhammadans.
A custom prevalent among children is noted in Ambala ; friendship is made or
broken off by placing the finger on the chin and moving it backwards and forwards,
saying meri teri yari hodi, " There is friendship twixt thee and me," or meri teri
yari kut, " Our friendship is broken." In Multan children hold their thumbs in their
mouths and lock their little fingers together, one saying, " Is thy friendship like a
" sieve, or a river ? " If the other reply, " Like a river," the friendship is cemented.
Occasionally instead of a sieve and a river, a brass vessel and a ,grinding-stone are
the simile. But the friendship may be broken off by taking a little dust in the palm
and blowing it away, or, in Jhang, by breaking a straw.
* But in Ambala, for instance, it is said that no such tie is created, because pagwat sometimes
takes place between persons of different religions (and between them no such tie could be created).
In Jhang and Multan it creates no such tie.
f Cf. the adage, Wair Bararar^ Bhattian. Kl hvnda imggan-watiari ? When Barafs and Bhattis
are at enmity, of what avail is it to exchange pagrit ? "
'
No. 8.] MAN. [1910.
These modes of creating fictitious relationship, or the ideas which underlie them,
appear to be the basis of certain practices which exist in various parts of the Punjab.
These practices on the one hand find analogies in the custom of seeking asylum,
while on the other they merge in certain forms of oaths.
The pagwat finds a curious application among cattle-lifters and other criminals.
Finding himself suspected, the thief offers to restore the stolen property, on condition
that the owner exchanges pagris with him as a pledge that he will not lodge a
complaint.
An apparent extension of this practice is the custom of talli pana,* talla
pana, tikri pana, or tigra satna, as it is variously called. This custom may be
thus described. The supplicant casts a piece of clothing over the head of his
enemy's daughter or sister, whether he be the person whom he has actually wronged,
or a witness against him, or his would-be captor. If he cannot get access to the
girl herself he employs a Mirasan or a Machhiani to go to her father's house and
throw the cloth over her head in his name. It suffices to give the girl a small
ornament instead of casting a cloth over her. By this means a complainant or a
hostile witness may be compelled to assist a thief or any wrong-doer instead of
pressing the charge against him ; or a loan may be extorted from a money-lender.f
Among Muhammadans in the western Punjab the relatives of a man in trouble
with the police approach the complainant with a Quran, which they place in his hands
and thus constrain him to abandon the prosecution. In former times, it is said, if a
man who had a feud died, and his kinsman could not, or would not, continue the feud
they took his corpse to his enemy and thus compelled him to friendship. This is
called pallo pana,% or niyat khair.§ Refusal involves divine displeasure. In the
Mianwali district it is customary for one side to send Sayyids, Brahmans, or daughters]]
as envoys to the rival faction in order to induce it to give up its claims. If this
request is refused and the rival party meets with misfortune, it is attributed to
its rejection of the terms proposed by the Sayyids, or the other envoys. In the
same district it is customary for a thief to send a widow (called kali siri)^ to beg
for mercy from the complainant. Such an envoy refuses to sit until her request
is granted.
The custom of casting one's garment over an enemy's daughter is found as
far west as Kohat, but in that district another method is also in vogue. The thief, or
one of his relatives, goes to the complainant's house, places his hands on his chulha
(hearth or oven) and says : ta angh-arc ma ivaniwale da, " I ha.ve grasped your
oven ; " thus claiming his hospitality.
* Talli, a small piece of cloth, a patch ; tikri and tigra are not given in Maya Singh's Punjabi
Dictionary, but both are said to have the same meaning as talli. In the Jhang district at a
wedding the bridegroom's friend casts a piece of cloth over the bride's head in precisely the same way.
f In Gujrat the suppliant party assembles all the respectable men of the locality, and they go
in a body to the house of him whose favour is sought. This is called meta (? surely meld) pana.
In Dera Ghazi Khan the deputation is formed in a very similar way, and is called merk (? mekar,
P., a crowd). Both Hindus and Muhammadans have this custom, but only the latter take a Quran
with them.
J Pallo, the border of a shawl ; pawan, to spread out the end of one's shawl, to invoke a
blessing ; so called because Hindus spread out the end of their shawls on the ground before them
when invoking a blessing.
§ If the complainant violate his solemn promise on the Quran to take no action he is said to
be niyat khair khatd, and is cut off from all social intercourse with his fellows, being only received
again into fellowship after he has given them presents and feasted the whole brotherhood. The
surrender of the corpse reminds one of the attachment of the dead for debt. See The Grateful Dead.
|| Among some of the low castes daughters act as priests, rice Brahmans.
1[ Kali siri, lit. "black-head" apparently. A widow would seem to be sent because she is the
most deserving or pitiable of all suppliants.
[ 20 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 8.
Compurgation is also not unknown. Thus in Gujrat if A is suspected of stealing
B's cattle, but denies his guilt, the parties nominate C and agree to abide by his word.
This is called sunk laina, or taking an oath, but it is termed rah dena in Jhang,
Multan, &c.
Nanwati. — Very similar in idea is the Patham custom of nanwati, or nahaura. If
a man seeks mercy, or the protection of a powerful patron, he or his relative goes to
his house with a posse of leading men of the village and there kills a goat or a sheep
by way of peace-offering.
Sayyid Ahmad Dehlari furnishes some curious information on the customs
among women in Delhi. He informs me that the princesses of the old Mughal
dynasty, when resident in the palace, used to effect a tie of sisterhood, called zanakhi.
Zianakh* is the breast-bone of a fowl or pigeon, and two ladies used to break it, as
we break a wishing-bone. They then became zanakhi, each to the other, and the
tie thus created was a very strong one. The custom is said to have been brought
with them from Turkestan. Similar ties were formed by women of the palace who
were known as diljan, " heart's life," jan-i-man,^ dilmila, dushman, (lit. " enemy ")
dugana, chhagana, &c., but these ties were less binding. Dilmila may be taken to
mean " confidante." Dugana is applied to two ladies of equal age whose friendship
is strengthened by eating philippine almonds, " as if they were sisters, born of one
mother." Chhagana would appear to be derived from chhe, 6, and to mean one who
is six times dearer than a sister. Dushman is used, curiously enough, to imply that
the enemy of either is also the enemy of the other.J
Among the women of Delhi generally, the terms applied to such adoptive sisters
are suheli (companion), § bahneli,\\ and sakhi^ or sakheli. but the latter term is seldom
used except in poetry. Another term for adopted sister is munh-holi, or " adopted
" by word of mouth." Other terms remind one of the pagri-badal or fopi-badal
brotherhoods formed among men and include the chhalla-badal-bahin, or sister by
exchange of rings, and dopatja-badal-bahin, or sister by exchange of scarves. The
latter tie is formed ceremoniously, each " sister " sending the other an embroidered
scarf (dopatta) in a tray and putting on the one received from her, after which a
number of invited guests are feasted. Religious sisterhood is formed by following the
same faith and becoming chinibahin ; by affecting the same spiritual teacher (pir) and
becoming pir-bahin ; or by drinking the water from the Jumna or Ganges from
each other's hands while bathing in one of those rivers, and thus becoming Jamna-
or Gaiiga-bahin. The latter is the stronger tie. Foster sisters are styled
dudh-sharik-bahin** H. A. ROSE.
* Zandkh, Pers., means " chin " ; Plaits' Hindustani Dictionary, p. 618, but it does not give
zandkh.
•j- Jan-i-man, " life of mine," or possibly " life of my heart." I can trace none of these Palace
terms in Platts.
J These Palace terms have been somewhat disregarded, or have at least lost much of their original
force, in rekhti, the doggerel verses written in women's language and expressing their sentiments (Platts,
p. 611). Chttagdna, however, occurs in the verse : Mui ne gais s'ashiq ko tirike chunwae, Qurban ki
thi chhagana woh kahmui Laita in the Taskira-i-6fuhistan-i-Sakhun of Mirza Fakhr-ud-Muhk. With
the exception of dugana and chhagana they are also said to occur in three books, the Chata-bhanchi,
Sugliarsiibehi, and Buz-i-akhir, written by a gentleman who had been brought up in the Delhi
Palace, and describing the colloquial language used therein.
§ Platts, pp. 707-8.
|| An adopted visitor, or female friend, Platts, p. 194.
«f A female friend, etc., see Platts, p. 666.
** In Northern India, from Agra as far south as Bihar, the term guiyan is much in use among
women and in poetry. In Marwar and Upper India the corresponding term is sajni, which Platts
(p. 643) gives as a synonym of sahell. See p. 928 for guizan, " a partner," or "female companion."
[ 21 ]
Nos. 9-10.] MAN. [1910.
Iceland. Fenwick.
A Note on Four Icelandic Cairns. By N. P. Fenwick, Junr. Q
Of the many cairns which mark the track in Iceland, there are four which U
are worthy of special note on account of a curious custom attaching to them.
Anyone riding by dismounts and writes a stanza on a scrap of paper. This is
rolled up and placed in a hollow pony's bone, several of which are scattered about,
and the bone is then pushed among the stones of the cairn, to be found by the next
passer-by.
The name for these cairns is " Beinakerling," which signifies "crone of bones."
The stanzas always refer to an old woman of doubtful character, and if the composer
happens to know by name any man travelling behind he endeavours to insert the latter's
name and implicate him in some intrigue with the Beinakerling.
The following is the translation of a quatrain which I found in the Beinakerling
a Kaldadal, a cairn situated in the Kaldidalur (cold valley) on the road between
Kalmanstunga and Arnavatn : —
" I am sitting here late and early ;
Hungry and cold I linger.
Sincere friend will you not
Warm the old one ? "
The majority of the stanzas written is of a much coarser type.
The second of these cairns is situated in the desert about ten miles north-east
of Arnavatn.
The third and fourth are fairly close together, near Krisavik, rather more than
thirty miles from Reykjavik. They are named Kris and Herdis after two witches who
are said to have fought and killed one another there.
I also hear that there are a few places besides these in which people leave stanzas
of a similar nature, but these are not true " crones of bones."
The aforementioned custom is one of some antiquity, and as to its origin I am
totally ignorant.
Perhaps it was in this manner that the outlaws, of whom there was at one time
a large number in the island, were wont to communicate with their friends and that
thus it found its beginning.
Again it may have originated through friends and admirers having placed votive
offerings of this kind in the cairns raised over the bones of the illustrious dead.
N. P. FENWICK, JUNR.
America, South. Busltnell.
The Bows and Arrows of the Arawak in 18O3. />'// David I. ill
Bushnell, Junr. Ill
The writer has recently had access to a large quantity of manuscript material
which formerly belonged to the Hon. J. Henry H. Holmes, who, during the early years
of the last century, was " Barrister and Attorney, otherwise Advocate and Procureur
" of the Honourable Court of Criminal and Civil Justice of Demerara and Essequebo ;
" Proctor of the Court of Vice- Admiralty ; and, provisionally, Waiter and Searcher in
" His Majesty's Customs."
The papers were brought from England some forty years ago, and are now in the
possession of descendants living in Virginia. Among the manuscripts there are several
that were not written by Holmes, but had been given to him by another person, who
evidently had an intimate knowledge of the country and its native inhabitants. Of
these the most interesting bears the date " Demerara, 9 May 1803," and is headed
" Some Miscellany and Desultory Observations on some of the Objects of Nature as
" they are found here." Unfortunately it is not signed.
[ 22 1
1910,]
MAN.
[No, 10.
mr * f
I I 2
S S 6
1
J
*
7*9
f j
ARAWAK ABROWS. FROM A DRAWING MADE IN 1803. LENGTH OP ARROWS FROM 5J TO 6 FEET.
[ 23 ]
No. 10.] MAN. [1910.
The greater part of the paper is devoted to a description of the trees and plants
of Guiana ; but a section on the bows and arrows of the Arawak tribe is of special
interest. At one place our unknown author wrote : " All the names of trees, arrows, &c.
" are Arowaak names, and the letters u and i when they are marked thus u, i, have the
" long and soft sound of oo and ee in the English way of spelling, or oe and ie in the
" Battavians' way of spelling. This way of writing Arowaak names I have always
" used as being the easiest and shortest, and where a or o is marked a, 5, it has a long
" sound as the omega of the Greek."
One page of the manuscript shows drawings of twelve arrows and two bows. The
former are reproduced on the preceding page ; their length being given as from 5^ to
6 feet. The specimens are described as follows : —
" NAMES OF THE ARROWS.
1. Mania - for small birds.
2. Katimeru - - for wild hogs.
3. Siparari - for all quadrupeds.
4. Serappa - for fish.
5. Asirta - to walk with.
6. Katuruter - - for large birds.
7. Sudi - - for war.
8. Wurari - for war.
9. Kabuhiteru - - for war.
" The shapes of the points of the arrows do vary according to fancy more or less,
but still the distinctions are most accurately attended to.
" Some of these have no feathers, because they are used against a near object ;
but the Karabiess-Bocks give the Serappa, or fish arrow, a feather, which the Arawaaks
never do. Some of the arrows are pointed with soft wood, some with hard wood,
some with iron, according to the intended uses. The war-arrows are pointed with
hard, sharp fish bones, or with sharp splinters of human thigh bones, or splinters of
the kukuriet palm tree, or iron, and sometimes are poisoned. It may appear strange
that all the Bock nations are so very particular in distinguishing the shapes and uses
of their arrows ; but let it be observed that a bow and arrows to these nations is
essential to their life, they being in that state of society which is supported by hunting,
both of fish, of birds, and of beasts ; their forefathers in past ages have lived
principally by their bow and arrows, and they are from infancy accustomed to see, to
love, to use, and to delight in the use of the arrow and of the bow, therefore all
their art and skill and ingenuity is displayed on and in these valuable instruments —
in fact they constitute their principal Lares and Lemures, their sacred and beloved
household gods : companions and friends, in fine. What a horse and plough is to a
farmer, what a loom is to a weaver, what an axe and adze is to a carpenter, what
negroes are to West India planters, and what a day-book and ledger is to a merchant,
that is a bow and arrows to all the aborigine nations of America, especially those
who live within the warm latitudes, and can, of course, use them every day of the
year."
Elsewhere the bows and arrows are said to be " from 5^ to 6 feet long."
In Among the Indians of Guiana (London : 1883) im Thurn describes many
arrows used by the various tribes, and on p. 245 presents a list of the different forms
together with their names as given by the scattered tribes. However, only five
Arawak names are tabulated, and of these four are queried. Consequently the present
list, prepared more than a century ago, is of more than ordinary interest.
D. I. BUSHNELL, JUNR.
[ 24 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 11.
Egypt. Blackmail.
Some Egyptian and Nubian Notes. By Aylward M. Blackman, B.A. 44
On the day of the great 'id in January 1907 I witnessed the appearance of II
the Sheykh Dakruri in his tomb at Behnasa. The cemetery at Behnasa is famous all
over Egypt, and is notable for containing the tombs of several of the so-called Sahaba
such as Fattah-el-Bab. On entering this well-known tomb of Dakruri with several
of our workmen, I found it crowded with enthusiastic men and women, the latter
uttering their shrill cries of joy (zagharit) and all clapping their hands. Among them
there were also one or two dervishes, with long tangled hair and beards, clothed in rags
and waving green flags. In the midst of all this clamour one of my companions nudged
my arm and said, " Look up there," and upon the whitewashed dome where he pointed
I saw the shadow of a man standing by a horse. On this being observed the cries and
clapping grew louder and the crowd became almost frenzied with excitement. Presently
the man mounted the horse and disappeared. It is supposed to be very lucky to see
this miracle. I inquired if this was the Sheykh himself who appeared, and the reply
was, " Not the Sheykh himself but his good spirit " (mush esh-Sheykh nafsuh lakin
barakatuh).
On mentioning this to the Omda's son, a youth who had been educated in a
European school in Cairo, he told me that he and a friend had made an experiment in
connection with this supposed miracle. Not far from the tomb is a mound, and if a
man and horse stand on this when the sun is in a certain position they are reflected
as in a camera obscura through a small window on to the dome.
During the 'id there are many Bedawy horsemen about, in the neighbourhood
of this and other tombs. So the miracle is explained, and is probably produced by
unconscious agents.
Another famous tomb at Behnasa is that of the seven maidens (es-saba'a banat).
Visitors to this shrine of both sexes roll over and over in the sand close by. This
preserves one's good health and is a cure for sickness of any kind. Strings hung
from the walls and from these were fastened hundreds of rags, buttons, or ornaments,
which were left by pilgrims who had been cured. It was customary for a pilgrim
to erect a small pile of stones or bricks outside the tomb as a memento of his
visit. Similar small piles I found in Nubia around the rough circles of stones, said
by the local inhabitants to mark the graves of Sahaba.
Another well-known Sheykh at Behnasa is Abu Samraq. So famous is he
that people come to him from Alexandria. Sick folk pass the night in his tomb,
often several nights, and if recovered offer him a victim.
Another Sheykh whose name I cannot recall had a somewhat sinister reputation.
No one could ever pass the night in his tomb ; whoever attempted to do so was
ejected by some invisible agency.
Passing through a cemetery late one night at Marwaw in Nubia I asked if the
people of the village were afraid of being in a cemetery in the dark. The answer
was, " Why should one fear the dead who are resting in the security of God " (elli
yekunu hi aman Allah)." My Nubian guard who was with me said one need only
fear a place where there had been a murder. The spilled blood produced an afrit
who disappeared if one said, " Bismillah er-rahman er-rahim." This afrit was not the
spirit of the murdered man, which was in the " bir el-arwah " but only an emanation
from the blood, •' nafs min ed-dam." I am indebted to Dr. Seligmann for the following
information in connection with this same idea. An Egyptian told him that if a man
were attacked and did not die on the spot, but after he had been removed, there
was no ghost, even if blood were shed. Also if he died there and then, blood must
be spilled and soaked up by the earth. Murder by a bloodless blow on the head
did not produce an afrit.
[ 25 ]
No, 11,]
MAN.
[1910.
FlG. 1. — OVEN.
An idea about twins, common to Lower Nubia and Egypt, is that they have the
power of becoming cats at night. They can enter houses, steal milk and food, and eat
chickens. A man from Quft in Egypt told me that he was in a friend's house one
evening, and while they were conversing a cat entered and tried to drink from a bowl of
milk. The owner of the house picked up a knife to throw at the cat, while the other
tried to prevent him, saying, " That is the son of so
and so, the butcher." But in spite of this the knife
was thrown, and the cat wounded in one of its
hind legs. In the morning the boy was found to
be wounded in the same leg as the cat. Grown
men who are twins will tell one that they can
remember as children becoming cats, though as
they grow up they lose this power. To break
the spell, and prevent the children from becoming
cats, immediately after birth the father must place
the twins in an oven (cold, of course), and then
after a short time remove them (Fig. 1). Appa-
rently they are just put in and quickly removed.
This latter idea is Nubian ; the Egyptians that
I have questioned do not know it.
In Nubia hair from the back of the neck of
a hyena is worn for an amulet as a cure for barrenness in women. For the same
reason the head of the horned cerastes is worn. A childless Nubian woman on hearing
that a woman in the neighbourhood is in labour will put on a gold nose ring and gash
her ankle with a razor. She then enters the room where the child is being born.
The evil magic in her system passes out through the spilled blood and the gold nose
ring into the fertile woman. This makes the woman and her child ill, the latter is said
nearly always to die. The barren woman next year will bear a child. This was told
me by my boatman from Shellal.
The people of Tafeh, a village near Bab-el-Kalabsheh, in Lower Nubia, eat the
fox, and I was informed by my boatman that the people of the village hold the fox in
high esteem. They say that he who eats of him imbibes his cunning. For other ideas
about the fox in that village see my article in MAN, January 1909, on the fox as a
birth amulet. Perhaps it is the last
lingering trace of a fox divinity in that
region (??).
A man from Qus in the Muderiyeh
of Qena, Upper Egypt, told me that a
man who desires to be a clever scribe
should catch a hoopoe bird, and tear the
heart from it while yet alive and eat it
raw. This he said was commonly believed
in his part of the country, and his own
uncle had done so with success.
A man from Quft in Upper Egypt
told me that while the bridegroom is on
his way to and from the mosque in his
wedding procession, a man, holding a bar
with lighted lamps suspended from it, walks before him and behind. A near
relation or close friend walks on either side of him ; this is done to prevent anyone
touching him, for should he be touched ill-luck results and the marriage produces
no children.
[ 26 ]
FIG. 2. — CIRCLE OF STONES.
1910.]
MAN.
[No, 11.
FlG. 3. — TOMBS OF SHEYKHS.
A Coptic wedding custom is to slaughter a sheep on the threshold of the house
door before the bride enters. The threshold is smeared with blood, and the bride must
cross it without getting any blood on her
feet or clothing. Should she do so, the
marriage is unlucky.
On the high desert above Dabod
Temple in Nubia is a circle composed
of rough stones (Fig. 2). In the midst
of this is set up a large stone with a
hole in it, from which is suspended a
large ring made of iron wire. To the
ring are fastened rags, buttons, and
small personal ornaments. Close to the
upright stone are placed offerings of
pots. Sick people sleep inside this
circle, and if the Sheykh, who is sup-
posed to be buried there, heals them
they fasten to the iron ring a rag torn from their clothes or something similar.
Dr. Seligmann found that at Qurna, near Luxor, circumcision rags are hung up in
a Sheykh's tomb there. They were evidently early dressings, as they were considerably
stained with blood. Perhaps they were
hung there to ensure a speedy healing ?
Dr. Seligmann also found, at the same
place, that hard by the Sheykh's tomb
grows a tree. A sick man plucks leaves
from it and sleeps with them under his
head. In a dream the Sheykh appears and
prescribes a treatment. With respect to
circumcision rags, I find a somewhat
similar custom prevailed among the
Fijians. " The blood was caught on a
" strip of bark cloth called kulo (red),
" which in some cases was suspended
" from the roof of the temple or the
" house of the chief."*
At Gerf Hussein in Nubia is the domed tomb of the Sheykh Abd er-Rahim,
among a group of Sheykhs (Fig. 3), he, however, being the most popular. People
who desire some temporal blessing, such as recovery from illness, a child, or success
in a dispute, make a vow that if their
wish is gratified they will offer the
Sheykh a victim (dabiha). Outside the
tomb is a block of stone, coated thick
with dried blood of countless sacrifices,
on which the victim is offered. To enter
the domed tomb one must pass through
a rectangular ante-chamber roofed with
" bus " (dura-straw) laid on rafters of
palm trees. In this ante-chamber is a
small hearth, the usual kiud consisting of
two or three stones to stand the cooking FIG. 5. — CIRCLE OF STONES.
* See Tlte Fijiaw, by Basil Thomson. In a Sheykh's tomb on the opposite side of the river to
Qurna Dr. Seligmann also saw pieces of the dress of a bridegroom, worn on his wedding-day, hung up.
[ 27 ]
FIG. 4.— POT.
No. 11.]
MAN.
[1910.
FIG. 6. — SHEYKH'S TOMB.
pot on. Near this primitive hearth stood two large pots (Fig. 4) for cooking the
flesh of the sacrificed animal. The victim after being slain and duly prepared is,
I understood, and as 1 have seen in Sheykhs' tombs in Egypt, hung up just inside the
tomb for a while. It is then taken down and cooked, and half belongs to the servant
of the Sheykh and halt forms a feast for the poor. The feast, which is shared together
hy the offerer and the poor, is an
essential part of the sacrifice.
At Gerf Hussein also was a circle of
stones (Fig. 5) supposed to mark the
burial place of a Sheykh. To this an
old woman would often bring an offering
of dough in a red pottery dish. First she
would smooth the sand within the circle,
speaking all the while in Nubian in-
terspersed with Arabic interjections such
as "ya sheykh, ya rabbi." Then she
scattered part of tbe dough on the grave,
and the rest she offered to those who
stood by, myself included. She told me
it was good to eat because it belonged
to the Sheykh.
On the island of Bigeh, close to
Shellal, there is a domed Sheykh's tomb
(Fig. 6), with a small offertory chamber
attached, containing pots. Around it are the graves of the community. Noticeable
is the flag on the door. Such flags are the regular emblems of Sheykhs and tokens
of sanctity. Wherever they are put they denote some sort of religious prohibition.
Such a flag stuck in a heap of vegetables lying by the roadside will prevent any
being taken. The thief would be invariably stricken with sickness. Date palms
are also thus protected from robbery. A newly-built house often has a similar flag
at each corner. I was informed that afrits were jealous of a new house and desired
possession, but that the flapping of these
flags frightened them off. Practically
every Sheykh's tomb has one or more of
these flags inside or outside it. Is it
possible that the flag is the same as the
Egyptian hieroglyph |, the sign of a
god ? Griffith (A Collection of Hiero-
glyphs, p. 46) suggests that the sign
represents a roll of cloth, the lower part
bound or laced over the upper end
appearing as a flap at the top, probably
for unwinding. From the early examples
of the sign depicted in Petrie's Medum
the sign j might well represent a flag. ' •••^^^^••^^W'":
FIG. 7. — PLATES OVEE HOUSE DOOR.
The example shown m Hieroglyphs,
Plate III, is possibly a flag whose stick is covered with different coloured bands of
cloth. Similar are the sticks of the flag-shaped fly-flaps made at Esneh in Upper
Egypt. The central pole, from which radiate to smaller poles strings of flags and
lamps, set up in every Muslim village to celebrate the prophet's birthday, is also
decorated with alternating bands of coloured cloth, usually blue and red.
[ 28 ]
1910.] MAN. [Nos. 11-12.
Charms and amulets are in common use among both Egyptians and Nubians. In a
village not far from Fant, in Middle Egypt, the leading people were four wealthy
brothers. One of them was widely known for his writing of potent amulets ; he gave
one to a servant of mine, a piece of written paper folded. On my wanting to open
the paper and see what was written on it, my servant, greatly alarmed, prevented me.
He told me that should I open the paper I should die, for so he had been told by the
Sheykh. At Gerf Hussim, Lower Nubia, there is a Sheykh who can make amulets
for a religions war. If a Muslim wearing one of these is struck by a bullet, it will
either glance aside or pass through him without doing harm.
In 1906, at Behnasa, our head reis fell ill with some sort of fever. He was
dissatisfied with European medicine, and went to the Sheykh (a living man in this
case). The Sheykh wrote " excellent writing " on paper, and threw it into the fire.
As the paper was consumed the fever left the sick man's body. The rite was several
times repeated, apparently at one sitting.
An interesting case of how a new custom springing up is, after a time, given some
magical signification comes from Lower Nubia. Over nearly every house door china
plates are fastened up (Fig. 7). In some places the people said they were merely an
ornament, in others — a village called Meris and at Dehmit — the people said they were
put over the door to ensure there always being plenty of bread in the house. The
Omda of Dehmit said that it was only in the last ten to fifteen years that Nubian
servants in hotels and European houses had brought such plates home with them.
Till then plates had never been used for bread, if anything had been used for bread
it was, and indeed still is, the flat basket (tabaqa). I never saw a single instance
of a tabaqa fastened over a door.
The people of Quft believe that brothers never meet after death in Paradise.
This makes the grief of surviving brothers all the more poignant, and the outward
display of mourning at such a funeral is even more noteworthy than at other funerals.
While one brother is holding intercourse with his other relations in Paradise, should
another brother come up, the first (they say) immediately disappears. This is not
only believed of twins, but of all brothers, and the Quftis say it is taught them by
the 'Ulema.
The people of the same place and neighbourhood never speak to or of their wife
by her name. A husband addresses her always as ya bint, or ya marati, O girl,
O my wife, respectively. Their reason for this is that such an appellation would be
too familiar, and would make the wife conceited. A man said to me, " Iza kunt
ukallim-ha keda nafs-ha yetla' kebir." (If I speak to her so, her mind will become
big.) A man will call his sister-in-law by her name, and she him by his name.
AYLWARD M. BLACKMAN.
England : Archaeology. King: : Polkinghorne.
Holed Stone at Kerrow, St. Just-in-Penwith, Cornwall. By H. 4O
King and the late B. C. Polkinghorne, B.Sc., F.C.S. l£
While making enquiries at Kerrow Farm on other matters, we were informed by
Mr. Humphrey Hoskins, the farmer, of a large stone with a .hole in the centre which
his son had laid bare some months previously in cutting furze in a croft at the western
foot of Chapel Cam Brea.
On August 14, 1907, we had the ground cleared around it and found it to be a
circular slab of granite 48 inches in diameter and 12 to 14 inches in thickness. In the
centre was a cylindrical hole, of diameter 8 inches, and depth 8 inches ; very truly
worked, not ground, but apparently formed by use of iron tools. The interior surface
was,«however, quite smooth and no tool marks could be detected. Our helpers raised
[ 29 ]
Nos, 12-13.] MAN. [1910.
the stone — the weight would be about 1 ton — and we found that it had been maintained
in a horizontal position by pieces of granite inserted below. Underneath we found
much wood charcoal but no bone. The hole contained plant debris.
It occurred to us that the hollow was a receptacle for cremated bones, if not for a
small urn, and since the excavation the former of us has seen in the house of the
landowner a small circular slab which had been found some years ago in the same
croft, and we suggest that this stone was the cover.
We are not aware of any similar relic and would invite contributory evidence.
The stone had parted along a natural plane just clear of the central cavity.
H. KING.
B. C. POLKINGHORNE.
REVIEWS.
Greece : Religion. Farnell.
The Cults of the Greek States. Vol. V. By Lewis Richard Farnell, D.Litt.,
M.A. With illustrations. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1909. Pp. xii + 495.
23 X 15 cm. Price 16*.
Dr. Farnell here brings to conclusion the work of some twenty years. In his fifth
and last volume he discusses the cults of Hermes, Dionysos, Hestia, Hephaistos, and
Ares, and in a final chapter some minor cults, such as of Pan and Helios, Nymphs and
Charites. The principle that governs the selection of the minor cults is not easy to
grasp. Everyone will regret that he has not seen his way to fulfil the promise of the
fourth volume by giving us a chapter on hero-worship and the cults of the dead.
Without such an account a work dealing with state-cults is singularly incomplete.
We are, however, promised a discussion of these and kindred matters in a separate
publication.
This fifth volume, like its predecessors, is singularly difficult to review in the pages
of MAN. The anthropologist will find in it a tolerably complete Corpus of facts, of
the sources literary and monumental. He will find also a full — perhaps too full —
discussion of modern theories, English and foreign ; but when it comes to what he
chiefly seeks, the question of origines, he will find this question tabued. In his first
volume Dr. Farnell writes, " The question of origins may be set aside." Those
words were written in 1896, and may then have been felt by some to constitute a
wise limitation. Now, with full flood of the comparative method upon us, they
can only be felt as a perilous entrenchment. Happily in 1910 Dr. Farnell finds him-
self able again and again to break through his self-imposed limitations. His chapter
on Dionysos in Vol. V, compared, e.g., with his chapter in Vol. I on Zeus, marks
the advance.
This chapter contains at least one original contribution to the vexed question of
the origin and gist of the cult of Dionysos, and deserves careful study. This theory
may briefly be noted. The fact that the Thracian festivals of Dionysos were celebrated
in alternated years, were as the Greeks called " trieteric," is well known. The most
usual, and we still believe in the main the true, explanation is that these trieteric
festivals depend on the adjustment of the moon-year and the sun-year. Dr. Farnell
makes a different and an interesting suggestion. They are due, he thinks, to the
shifting, year by year, of land cultivation, a shifting often found necessary in early
societies owing to the backwardness of agricultural processes. The tribes of Assam,
he notes (p. 180), shift their cultivation year by year, and hold a ceremony intended
to determine by magical rites the proper site for the new cultivation. It is very
probable that this may have been at least one factor in the practice of the
trieterica.
We should like in this connection to make a further suggestion. Dr. Farnell
[ 30 ]
1910,] MAN. [Nos. 13-14.
and other writers make frequent mention of the orgies. We think of orgies as
licentious rites. Is it not at least possible that primitive orgies are of blameless,
and even virtuous origin ? They are magical rites of tvorking, of the promotion of
fertility. The savage promotes the fertility of flocks, and specially of fields, by rites
of dancing ; for him to dance is to work. Later, man prays to his gods to do his
work for him, but at first he tries by' rites impulsive and mimetic to do the work
himself. Such rites are opyia. Strenuous at the outset, they later, when their
meaning is lost, lapse into mere orgies. For Hesiod, Ergo, are the tilled fields, the
tilth, Orgia (Fepy work) are the magical rites that make tillage effectual. With
this interpretation philology can have no quarrel.
We congratulate Dr. Farnell on the conclusion of a heavy piece of work, and
we are glad to learn from his preface that he regards his five volumes as only a
foundation laid, and very securely laid. Released from his self-imposed bondage to
the twelve Olympians and their State-Cults, he will pursue the work for which he
is so well fitted in wider and more fruitful fields of comparative religion.
JANE E. HARRISON.
India. Bompas.
Folklore of the Santal Parganas. Translated by Cecil Henry Bompas, of the 41
Indian Civil Service. London : Nutt, 1909. Pp. 483. 23 x 14 cm. Price I*T
10*. 6d.
This collection of the folklore of the Santals is due to the collaboration of
Mr. C. H. Bompas, of the Indian Civil Service, with the Rev. Dr. Bodding, of the
Scandinavian Mission to the Santals, Dr. Bodding being responsible for the collection
of the tales, and Mr. Bompas for the translation. Sagram Murmu, a Christian Santal,
who transcribed the stories in Santali, is also entitled to a share in the credit due to
this collection. Mr. Bompas points ont that many of the stories are identical with
some of those collected by the Rev. Dr. Campbell in Maubhum, published in 1891.
Mr. Bompas has added in an appendix a translation of twenty-two stories which he has
himself collected among the Hos of Singhbhum, a race kindred to the Santals. There
are 185 tales and legends in the strictly Santali collection, so that we have altogether
207 stories belonging to these nearly-related Kolarian tribes.
It will be found on examination that a considerable proportion of the stories
belongs to what may be called the common Indian element, but these are none the less
interesting on that account, for they have been transformed to suit local conditions and
have assumed a Santali dress. Most of these will be found in Part I, which contains
stories of a general character.
The animal stories contained in Part II are thoroughly racy and original ; never-
theless, some correspondences with similar lore among similarly circumstanced races are
certain to be found. Mr. Bompas points out that No. 119, "The Hyaena Outwitted,"
is identical with a South African Kafir story, and there are other resemblances to
African folklore. No. 112, for instance, " The Jackal and the Chickens," contains an
incident almost identical with the amusing adventure of " Brer Rabbit and the Tar-
baby," as found in Mr. Cable's collection of Negro stories known to us by the name of
Uncle Remus.
Part III contains a number of anecdotes and apologues, some amusing, some
without much point, but all illustrating Santal manners and folklore in a very interest-
ing way. A comic version of the widely-spread theme of " The Three Fools " will
be found in No. 131.
No. 134 illustrates the mutual " taboo " of the use of the true names of husband
and wife. In this and in some of the other anecdotes the joke turns on a pun or
play on words.
[ 31 ]
Nos. 14-15.] MAN. [1910.
Part IV contains several tales dealing with the relations between human beings
and " Bongas," or Nature-spirits, which seem generally to relapse into their original
snake-form in unguarded moments, but can assume the human shape at will. Marriages
with " Bonga " women seem to be common.
Part V, perhaps the most interesting of the collection, contains a number of
genuine Santal legends illustrating their religious beliefs regarding creation and the
origins of things. These are not free from Hindu influence, but would appear to be in
the main Santali, and this remark applies even more fully to the stories regarding
witchcraft contained in Part VI.
The whole collection is an extremely valuable addition to the existing stock of
Indian Folk-tales available to European readers. The translations are good and
idiomatic. M. LONGWORTH DAMES.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES.
BY the assassination, on December 22nd, 1909, of Mr. Arthur Mason Tippets 1C
Jackson, Collector of Nasik, the Indian Civil Service has lost one of its most lU
learned members. Educated at Winchester and Brasenose College, Oxford, where he
gained the Boden Scholarship in Sanskrit, Mr. Jackson entered the Indian Civil Service
in 1885, and commenced his work in the Bombay Presidency in 1888. Besides his
extensive knowledge of Sanskrit and Mahratti, Mr. Jackson made valuable contri-
butions to the history and ethnology of Western India ; in papers contributed to the
Indian Antiquary and the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. He collaborated with
the late Sir James Campbell in the valuable series -of volumes constituting the Bombay
Gazetteer. It was largely owing to his researches that the origin of the Rajputs has
been traced to the invading Scythian and Hun tribes from Central Asia. He supplied
the best type of the cultured Indian civilian. An indefatigable student of native
religion, sociology, and literature, he displayed an ardent sympathy with, and wide
knowledge of, the people to whose service his life was devoted. His untimely
death closes the career of a scholar from whom much valuable work might have
been expected, and to whose labours the study of Indian history and ethnology is
deeply indebted.
THE second session of the Congress of Americanists will be held at Mexico City
from September 8th to 14th, 1910. The secretary of the Congress is Lie. D. Genario
Garcia, Museo Nacional, and the treasurer Lie. D. Joaquin D. Casasus, Banco Central,
Mexico.
THE death is announced of Dr. Sebastian Evans, a brother of the late Sir John Evans.
Dr. Evans was well known as a journalist, poet, and politician. He was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute in 1887.
MR. J. B. ANDREWS died in December. By his will he left 5,000/. to the Cambridge
Anthropological Museum.
COLONEL GEORGE EARL CHURCH, who died at the beginning of January at the age
of seventy-four, was well known as an authority on the history and geography of
South America. He was a prominent member of the Royal Geographical Society,
for which he had served as a vice-president, and also been a member of the Council.
He was President of the Geographical Section of the British Association in 1898.
He became a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute in 1906.
Printed by EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE, LTD.. His Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, E.C.
PLATE C.
MAN, 1910.
I 1
7
i i
8
10
n.
TRADE SIGNS IN CHRISTIANSBORG, GOLD COAST.
1910.] MAN. [Nos, 16-17.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Africa, West. With Plate G. Hart-Davis.
Trade Signs in Christiansborg, Gold Coast. By Madge Hart-Davis. JO
A marked feature of Christiansborg is the trade signs with which many 10
of the houses are ornamented. The village is a suburb of Accra, the capital of the
Gold Coast, but boasts its own king, its own fetish hut, and a fetish grove of somewhat
sinister fame. Its irregular streets straggle from the old Danish castle, now used as
Government House, for some distance along the road to Aburi, the houses varying
from the meanest huts to fairly substantial buildings.
The trade signs are cut out of thin sheet tin, and appear as a rule at both ends
of the roof. They appear to be of recent origin and represent the trade of the owner,
the saw of the carpenter, the hammer and anvil of the smith, &c., but the hand which,
either as in 9 or in 12, occurs oftener than any other, has probably a talismanic
significance, and occurs also with great frequency on staves of office, state umbrellas,
and the like. MADGE HART-DAVIS.
Andamans. Brown.
Puluga: a Reply to Father Schmidt. By A. R. Brown, M.A. IT
In the January number of MAN (1910, 2) Father Schmidt has criticised a I*
paper of mine on certain features of Andamanese religion. I would have preferred not
to reply, if Father Schmidt had not raised the question of method, and complained that
I did not explain in my paper what I meant by strict methods in ethnology. I will
therefore take this opportunity of explaining very briefly what I mean by strict methods,
an opportunity that is the more suitable because Father Schmidt's note is itself an
example of the worst methods.
The subject of the controversy may be explained in a few words. After a careful
study of the Andamanese mythology, conducted during a residence of several months
among the Andamanese themselves, I was forced to certain conclusions concerning a
being named by them Pnluga (Biliku, Oluga), conclusions which differed from those
drawn by an earlier student of the same people, Mr. Man. Briefly these were that
Puluga is a personification of the N.N.E. monsoon, and is one of a pair, the other
being Daria, the S.S.W. monsoon. I showed reason to believe that the JS".E. monsoon
was originally regarded as female, as it is in the majority of the tribes at the present
day. I urged that it was a misrepresentation of the Andamanese beliefs to speak of
Puluga as resembling an All-Father or Supreme Being. Father Schmidt controverts
these statements of mine.
Father Schmidt appears to disbelieve, not only my arguments, but also my obser-
vations. He implies that the earlier observations of Mr. Man and Mr. Portman are
more reliable than mine. This question, for obvious reasons, is one which it is very
disagreeable for me to discuss. In my book I shall describe fully the methods of obser-
vation that I adopted, and I shall compare the results of my own observations with
those obtained by the earlier writers. For the present, however, I leave aside the
question of methods of observation. I will only reply to Father Schmidt's suggestion
that some of my information was obtained by leading questions, by saying that there
is not a single statement in my paper for which I relied on answers to questions.
The real issue between myself and Father Schmidt does not, however, turn on the
question of the facts, but on that of their interpretation. I will therefore explain, as
briefly as possible, the methods I followed in my attempt to interpret the Audamanese
beliefs, and will then pass on to consider the methods that Father Schmidt follows
in his note.
(1) The first rule of scientific method is to approach every new problem with a
mind free from preconceived opinions. I have always endeavoured to follow this rule
[ 33 ]
No. 17,] MAN. [1910.
as faithfully as possible. On the contrary, it must be evident to all readers of
Father Schmidt's writings that he is always seeking, not the truth, but evidence for
a pre-formed theory.*
(2) In interpreting the Andamanese beliefs I relied on the intimate knowledge
of their ways of life and thought acquired during my stay with them. I should
hesitate to attempt to interpret in the same way the beliefs of any people of whom
I had no personal knowledge. I shall point out that Father Schmidt's criticism not
only shows complete ignorance of the ways of Andamanese thought, but contains
several important false statements about matters of their daily life.
(3) In my interpretation I relied entirely on the comparison one with another of
the different beliefs and customs to be found in the Andamans, explaining one belief
by the light thrown upon it by others. That is to say, I tried to understand the
Andamanese mentality as a whole. My paper in Folk- Lore is part of a much
larger whole, which can properly only be judged as a whole. It is on this feature
of my method that I most wish to insist.
(4) I carefully abstained from comparing the beliefs of the Andamanese with
those of any other people, whether related or unrelated, because I am convinced that
such comparisons are more dangerous than they are helpful. If we had full and
adequate knowledge of any people known to be related to the Andamanese — for
example, the Semang — and particularly if I myself had a personal knowledge of such
a people, then a comparison of the two sets of beliefs would be justifiable. What
is quite unjustifiable is the comparison which Father Schmidt makes between the
Andamanese and the unrelated group of peoples that he calls Austronesian.
(5) 1 have carefully avoided attributing to the Andamanese, even in the past,
any belief for which there is not direct evidence, that is, evidence of observation that
the belief does actually exist in some part of the Andamans. Father Schmidt's
argument is based on the gratuitous assumption that the Andamanese once had a
lunar mythology similar to that found in some parts of Austronesia.
(6) Taking into consideration that the Andamauese have for centuries lived in
little groups almost entirely isolated from one another, I have presumed that whatever
beliefs are to be found in all the groups are essential and original portions of the myth,
while beliefs which are different in different groups are not so essential. Father
Schmidt seems to be of exactly the opposite opinion, and holds that the essential
feature of the myth in question is a set of beliefs which do not actually exist in the
Andamans, while all the beliefs which do there exist are secondary and relatively
unimportant.
(7) In comparing the beliefs of the different groups I have made allowance for
the fact that the mythology of the southern group of the Great Andaman is, like their
language, more highly developed than that of the northern group, and has, therefore,
probably undergone more change.
I will now briefly examine some points of Father Schmidt's arguments. I quoted
a native as saying that throwing a firebrand at someone in anger was the sort of
thing he would expect a woman and not a man to do. Father Schmidt replaces the
word firebrand by the word torch, and says that a torch is as much an object of man's
* I take the following from a review by Father Schmidt of the Report of the Cambridge
Expedition to Torres Strait in An/tbropot, Vol. V, page 272 :— ij Mr. Haddon concludes his researches
on the religion of the Eastern Islanders with the brief remark : ' We did not discover in Torres
Strait anything like an All-Father or Supreme Being.' Mr. Haddon has taken care to formulate
exactly what he was able to state, and I shall endeavour not to be less exact by holding the thesis :
' There must have been an All-Father or Supreme Being in the religion of the Eastern Islanders.' "
It is clear that Father Schmidt will not let the most careful observations of the most thorough
investigators carry the least weight against the theories that he has formed about a people whom
he has never seen.
[ 34 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 17.
use as of woman's. Father Schmidt's use of the word torch is simply a suggestio falsi.
In the stories I give in my paper I used the word firebrand because that was the
word used by the natives who told me the tales. There was never any question of
a torch, for which the Andamanese have a quite different word. Father Schmidt has
no reason for substituting one word for the other except that it suits his argument
to do so.
Father Schmidt complains that I did not give any explanation of the connection of
Biliku with the spider. I did not do so for the simple reason that I could find no
sufficient evidence for any of the explanations that suggested themselves to me.
Father Schmidt is, of course, ready with a theory, and that theory rests on two
grounds. First, there is a connection in Austronesian mythology between the spider,
the plaiting and spinning women, and the waning moon. Such may be the Austro-
nesian belief, or the belief of any other people, but it is not the belief of the
Andamanese, and until there is direct evidence that they have such a belief the
argument is entirely worthless. Secondly, Father Schmidt's argument rests on a
purely gratuitous confusion of the pearl shell with the Cyrena shell. The former
is used in all parts of the Andamans for cleaning and slicing vegetables. It is used
for no other purpose whatever, and is practically never used by men. The Cyrena
shell is used equally by men and women, and for the most various purposes, including
the preparation of fibre for rope and string. There is no connection between Biliku
and the Cyrena shell such as Father Schmidt supposes for the sake of his argument.
Moreover, it is quite wrong to say that string-making in the Andamans is " in most
" cases the work of women." It is not.
Father Schmidt completes his theory by identifying the south-west monsoon
( Tarai, Teria, or Daria) with the waxing moon. Apparently his reason for this is
the similarity of the name to that of the new moon as given by Portman. The
word for new moon in the Bea language is Ogar-dereka-da, and apparently Father
Schmidt wishes to suggest that there is a philological connection between dereka
and Daria. He does not state that there is such a connection, but he carefully
omits to give Mr. Portman's analysis of the word. Ogar means " moon," and dereka
means " baby." In all the languages of the Great Andaman, the name of the new
moon is compounded in the same way, and can be translated literally " baby-moon."
It can be confidently stated that there is no philological connection between the
names of the south-west monsoon and the various words for " baby " in the different
languages.
Father Schmidt supposes that the reason why the Andamanese associated the
south-west monsoon with the waxing moon (which there is no evidence that they ever
did) is because the new moon rises in the west-south-west portion of the horizon. The
Andamanese have not, perhaps, a very acute sense of direction, but I doubt if even they
would confuse the west-south-west with the south-south-west, whence blows the
monsoon.
I have, I think, sufficiently demonstrated the nature of Father Schmidt's arguments.
There are two more of the numerous errors of his paper that I wish to correct. Teria,
or Daria, is never regarded as the " wife " of Puluga or Bilik, and Father Schmidt
cannot find in my paper, or in Mr. Man's book, any warrant for his assertion on page 3
that Daria is sometimes the wife of Puluga. It is one of the essential features of the
myth that the south-west monsoon (Term, Daria, Tarai) is always male, and this is
one of my reasons for thinking that the north-east monsoon (Puluga, Biliku) was
originally everywhere female.
Sir Richard Temple, as quoted by Father Schmidt, gives Oluga as the Onge-Jarawa
(Little Andaman) word for thunder. The real word for thunder in that language is
gi dododu, literally, " it thunders." What evidently happened is that Sir Richard
[ 35 ]
No. 17.] MAN. [1910.
Temple enquired the name of thunder, and the native replied " Olvgm" meaning that
it is Oluga (Puluga) who makes the thunder.
The whole of Father Schmidt's argument rests on the supposition that the
Andamanese have at one time had a set of beliefs about the waxing and waning
moons such as are actually found amongst people having no racial or cultural affinities
with them. His note would afford no evidence that they had had these beliefs,
even if it were not full of errors such as those pointed out above. Moreover, even
if it were true that the present beliefs of the Audamanese concerning Puluga are
derived from lunar mythology, it is impossible to see how this affords any evidence
that the Andamanese formerly believed in a Supreme Being. Yet this is the thesis
which Father Schmidt is anxious to defend. The present Andamanese certainly do
not believe in a Supreme Being.*
The more important faults of Father Schmidt's methods may be resumed as
follows : —
(1) His arguments are rendered suspect from the beginning by the fact that he
is not seeking truth with an open mind, but is looking only for support for a
preformed theory.
(2) He has no intimate knowledge of the people whose beliefs he would interpret,
and even such knowledge as he might obtain from the writings of others he is
unable to use because he continually misreads and misquotes his authorities. This
I have shown above in connection with the torch, the Cyrena shell, the name of the
new moon, and the sex of Daria. In making use of the writings of others the first
rule is never to go beyond what is actually said, never to suppose that the writer
means something that his words do not warrant. This rule Father Schmidt habitually
breaks. Thus when I write " firebrand " Father Schmidt substitutes " torch " ;
because Mr. Man says that the Cyrena shell is used in making string, Father Schmidt
supposes that the pearl shell is also used for that purpose ; in quoting a word from
Mr. Portman he omits to give Mr. Portman's analysis of that word into its components,
and thereby creates a false impression in the minds of his readers, and without any
warrant at all he states in his note that Daria is sometimes female.
(3) His argument rests on suppositions concerning the former beliefs of the
Andamanese, for which there is not, and never can be, any evidence. The argument
is an extreme example of a kind unfortunately still very common in ethnological
literature. As long as such arguments are tolerated and listened to, so long must
ethnology remain in its unscientific stage. The only way in which it is possible to
prove that a given belief or institution is a survival of another belief or institution, is
to show that, historically, the one belief has followed the other in some particular
society, and that the change from one to the other is due to a particular cause. Then,
if we find the later belief existing in another society, and also find direct evidence
that the same cause or causes have been at work, there is a probability for the
existence, in that society, of the earlier belief. This probability can be strengthened
in many ways, but it can never become certainty till we have proved that the
later belief could not arise in any other way, and this is a task which is in nearly
* In my work in the Andamans I had the help for several months of a native of the. Bale group,
Luke, who had been educated as a Christian. He never once in my many talks with him (and with
others when he was present) on the subject of Puluga suggested that there was any resemblance
between Puluga and the God of whom he had learnt as a child. Once, however, when I was trying to
understand certain points in what a Puchikwar man was telling me about a mythical person named
Tomo, Luke, of his own accord, came forward with the suggestion that Tomo was God. Tomo is
identified by Mr. Man with the Adam of the myths of Genesis. Luke's knowledge of the legends of
his people was more extensive than his knowledge of the dogmas of the Christian Church. I do not
attach any importance to the incident, but it shows what was the idea of the God of the Christians
that had formed itself in the mind of an intelligent Andamanese.
[ 36 ]
1910.]
MAN.
[Nos. 17-18.
all cases quite impossible. Father Schmidt needs a few lessons in the logic of
induction.
I have replied at length upon Father Schmidt's attack upon me, because it brings
forward the fundamental disagreement that exists between those of us who are
endeavouring, by an insistence on strict methods, both of observation and interpreta-
tion, to make ethnology a science fit to rank with other sciences, and those writers
who, by following such unjustifiable methods as those to be found in Father Schmidt's
note, hinder the progress of our science. It is probably too late to hope that Father
Schmidt will change his methods, but I have availed myself of this opportunity of
showing what those methods are. We shall probably be justified in concluding that
they are habitual with him, and thereby the whole of his work is rendered suspect.
Theories elaborated on such a basis must be treated with the utmost scepticism, if
indeed they are worthy of any attention at all. A. R. BROWN.
Africa, Central.
Alphabet Boards from Central Africa.
Stannus.
By Hugh S. Stannus, M.B. 4Q
In the number of MAX for December 1908 [102] Mr. H. W. Garbutt, 10
writing from South Africa, gives some excellent photographs of what he calls alphabet
•
U*-^>
\
boards, seen by him in the possession of some natives from Nyasaland. As his notes
upon them are scanty I write to supplement them, and illustrate two such boards
herewith.
[ 37 ]
Nos. 18-19.] MAN. [1910.
The boards, for which the Yao word is ubau, are commonly two feet in height,
one foot broad, and half an inch thick, though smaller and larger are to be met ;
they are made from the wood of the Mlombwa tree.
The surface is often whitened by painting with a paste made from white wood-
ashes, Pulusa, and the writing is then done with a reed pen, and ink made from either
soot taken from cooking pots or burnt maize rubbed up with water.
The characters and language are Arabic. • The making of these boards was
introduced from the coast along with Mohammedanism among the Yao, and practically
they are only found among the Machinga Yao in this country, with a centre at
Fort Johnston.
One of the aims of the Mohammedan native is to read the Koran, and to this end
he learns, firstly, the Aliph, Be, Ta, or Arabic A, B, C ; then short words of one
syllable, and later other written matter.
But though he reads, and always aloud, his Koran and the extracts from it
written on these boards, he does not, except in rare cases, understand a word of it.
Having learned, however, to write in Arabic characters, he uses his knowledge to
write, letters, &c., using the Swahili language.
One of the two boards illustrated belonged to a corporal of police named Nkwanda,
at Fort Johnston. He had copied out a portion of the Koran, and, though able to
read it again, did not understand what he read.
A man going to another part of the country takes his board with him, hence
the reason of one finding its way to South Africa, whither natives from this country
go to work.
Mr. Garbutt would rather lead one to imagine that these boards were common
among the natives all over this country ; this is erroneous, and the idea that they
serve as " slates " is hardly correct.
They are only found among Mohammedanised Yao, and serve rather as prayer-
boards, so that not having a Koran the native may still read some part of it.
HUGH S. STANNUS.
Africa, Uganda. Kagwa: Ishmael.
Old Customs of the Baganda. Translated by G. C. Ishmael. 4 Q
The following is a translation of two chapters in Sir Apolo Kagwa's lU
book of Old Customs.
" These are our old customs about law : —
"In a case where a man has 'been defrauded, or his property kept from him,
the aggrieved party takes 22 shells and goes to the chief to lodge a complaint.
When the complaint is lodged, the defendant is summoned, and on his arrival the
case begins. After both sides have been heard, the chief repeats to each party the
statement he has made, and asks if it is correct, and the person questioned answers
in the affirmative. After this the chief orders each party to give him a he-goat and
a bark cloth. Two or three days are allowed for the payment of this fee. When
the fee has been paid, the case is heard again, the evidence being repeated and
questions asked as before. The chief then decides who has lost the case, and gives
the grounds for his decision. If the loser is satisfied he returns the other side's
property and pays his costs. If he is not satisfied, he neither returns the property nor
pays the costs, but lays his complaint before a higher tribunal. If he loses his case
here, he takes it before the Katikiro's (prime minister's) court. If he again loses, he
takes it before the King in Parliament. If the king does not decide in his favour and
the petitioner is still unsatisfied, he asks that he and the other party may be allowed
to drink a cupful of datura seed juice. Both parties are then sent by the King, with
one of his men, to Magunda, the chief who administers the drug. Magunda extracts
[ 38 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 19.
the juice from the datura seed and a cupful is drunk by each party. After they
have drunk. Maguuda makes a speech to the effect that the party who is not guilty
will go to Magunda and thank him, while the guilty party will not move from the
spot where he drank the datura juice. Dried banana leaves are placed in front of the
two men, and they have to jump over these on their way to thank Magunda. After
a time, when Magunda perceives that the drug has taken effect, and the people who
are present shout out and make a noise, he strikes the earth with a stick, in order
that the two persons who drunk the datura juice should become very intoxicated and
roll about on the ground. He then calls the two men to come to him. The one who
is the less m intoxicated and can jump over the leaves, goes and thanks the chief.
The one who is too intoxicated to jump over the leaves and thank the chief loses his
case. This decides the case finally.
" If a man go before a chief and accuse another of bewitching him or his
relatives, and, the chief having ordered them to drink datura juice, the drug takes
no effect on either, each party has to give the chief one bead of cattle, one goat,
and one bark cloth as compensation for bringing a false case before him.
" If a man digs a pit (game ?) and covers it with grass on uncultivated land,
and a cow or bull from a new grazing falls into it. the man who dug the pit gets
a hind leg which he takes to his chief. The pit is then considered the property of
the chief. The owner of the animal is entitled to the rest of the meat. The chief
receives the leg of any animal which falls into the pit. The person who dug the pit
is considered blameless, as all people who dig pits inform everybody in the neighbour-
hood of the position of the pit, and warn them against taking cattle to graze anywhere
near it.
" If a person has any of his property stolen and suspects that it is in a certain
house he informs his chief, who goes with him and searches the house in question.
If none of the stolen property is found in the suspected house the complainant has
to give the owner of the suspected house one head of cattle and one goat as
compensation, and to prove that he had no grounds for his case.
" If a man commits adultery with another man's wife he is arrested, and all his
property, his wives, children, cattle, goats, and all articles found in his house go to the
husband of the woman with whom he committed adultery. The chief of the village
receives a portion of the property. The prisoner is also handed over to the offended
husband, but if the prisoner's chief is rich he buys him and pays for him in cattle.
" If a man has intercourse with the king's or chief's wife he is killed, as also
is the woman. If, however, he should be a blood brother he is not killed, but is
mutilated, his ears being cut and his eyes put out, or his teeth are extracted, his
hand amputated, or his nose and lips cut off. The same punishment is meted out
to the woman.
" Should a man to whom any sum is due meet his debtor on the road, he calls
to anyone who happens to be passing to arrest both himself and the debtor. Having
arrested them the passer-by instructs them to fetch their masters, chief, or sub-chief, as
the case may be, to whom he hands them over after the debtor and creditor have each
given him a goat. The passer-by receives these goats as remuneration for being
instrumental in preventing a fight and bloodshed.
"If two men happen to be drinking together and one of them breaks or pulls up
the doorpost of the other, the owner of the house receives one white goat, one white
fowl, and a bead called Ensinda emu.* The act was considered unlawful, as the door-
posts protected the house. When a person pulled down a house he could not use the
doorposts for building or any other purpose ; they had to be thrown away. When
* The natives originally paid the hut tax with these beads.
[ 39 ]
No, 19.] MAN. [1910.
the owner of a house dies his successor sits on the doorpost when he succeeds ;
all the children are given names, and the owner or occupier washes his face seated
on the doorpost every morning.
" Should travellers find any cooked food in a cooking-pot and take it forcibly, the
woman who cooked it raises an alarm, and the people in the surrounding houses come
out and fight the travellers. Should any of those who came to the woman's assistance
wound one of the travellers, the woman is held responsible. If the case goes against
her, when she is taken before the chief, she is handed over to the travellers, who take
her away with them ; the law being that cooked food does not kill a man. Should
a man find food in the entrance of a house he is entitled to eat it. Should he,
however, kill one of the inmates of the house over the food he is treated as a murderer,
and is handed over to the relations of the deceased to be put to death.
"No one is allowed to sell or purchase anything of value, such as a woman,
cattle, or goat, unless some one is present who will act as a witness and receive
payment for his services. The percentage on the sale of a woman is a goat which
has had a kid ; on a slave, a he-goat ; on a full-grown nanny goat, 5 shells (this was
raised to 50 shells in the reign of Sama II) ; on an old shield, on which percentage
had already been paid, 20 shells, and on an old spear, 10 shells. All articles had to
pay a percentage. The custom prevented theft. Anyone found with an article, on
which he had not paid a percentage, was considered a thief, but anyone who could
prove that he had paid a percentage, when he purchased an article, was not considered
to have stolen it. The person who received the percentage has to find the person
who sold the article in question. When he finds him he gives the percentage
received and points out the person who actually sold the article. If that person
agreed to its sale he says to the man who received the percentage, ' Take your shells
' and go away. Let the proper man take your place. I did sell the article and am
* prepared to defend an action.' The person who was accused of theft is then blame-
less. The man who is looking for his property goes to the chief in whose jurisdiction
the person who sold the property in question is living, and complains. The chief
then instructs the complainant to bring his own chief to listen to the case, and,
when the chief arrives, the defendant's chief hears it. Should the complainant lose
he is termed a thief, and has to compensate the defendant as directed by the chief.
The complainant's chief can pay the compensation and redeem the complainant should
he care to do so. If the complainant is unknown to the chief, he will tell him to
bring his father before him so that he may know him in case the complainant runs
away. The complainant then becomes the chief's slave, and not a mere tenant on his
land as before. The party who has won the case receives a part of the fine, say
30 per cent. If the man on whom the property is found fails to produce his witness,
he is considered a thief, even if he be a chief, and has to pay heavy compensation to
the owner. In the reign of Kakaka Suna, a man found with stolen property had all
his possessions confiscated and was even put to death ; hence the saying, ' If you can't
' find your witness, your middle finger is cut off.'
" If a man sets fire to grass and the fire destroys a house, that man has to pay
the owner of the house the value of the house and of all property destroyed in it.
" If two men quarrel and one of them strikes the other with a stick, and the one
so struck loses his temper and spears the other, the one with the spear wound wins
the case, as the law holds that the spearer should have used a stick too. If A chases
B and B strikes A gently with a stick, and B retaliates, and A then strikes him so
hard as to cut his head open or do him grievous hurt, B would be considered guilty,
as he was the first to use a stick.
" If a man goes into a village to trade, he must first give the chief some present
before he sells anything, as otherwise the chief has the right to send him away.
[ 40 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 19.
Should he sell anything and refuse to give the chief a present when asked, he is
driven away, and the man in whose house he sold anything has to give the chief a
goat for entertaining the trader.
" If a bachelor guest commits an offence, the host is not responsible for him ; the
responsibility lies on the offender. If the host is unable or unwilling to redeem his
guest, he gives the persons offended a kahazi (send off) of one head of cattle and one
goat. (For such purposes the value of a cow is 2,500 shells and of a goat 1,000 shells.)
The guest is then handed over to the offended parties, who can either put him or her
to death or enslave him until such time as he is redeemed.
" Should a herd of cattle or goats eat or destroy crops, the owner of the crops
keeps one goat until it has been redeemed by a hoe. Should the goat be eaten by
wild beasts or stolen while held as a surety, the impounder is not considered responsible
and the owner of the animal has no claim against him.
" Should a herdsman take his cattle through a graveyard, the owners of the
graves detain one of the herd until it has been redeemed by the owner. It is con-
sidered a great disgrace to have graves trampled on by cattle. Should the animal
be not redeemed within a short time, the owners of the graves can do what they
like with it.
" Should one of A's cattle or goats gore one of B's cattle or goats and the
animal die of the wound, A has to replace the dead animal, and the carcase of the
dead animal is given him by B.
" Should a herdsman strike an animal not belonging to his herd, and that
animal die of the effects, the employer of the herdsman has to replace the dead
animal.
"If a man borrow a he-goat for the purpose of covering his nanny-goats, and
the he-goat gets eaten by wild animals, the borrower has to give the owner of the
lost animal a she-goat which has already had a kid. Hence, the saying, ' He who
' lends a male gets back a female.'
" If two boys who are herding together fight, and one of them loses an eye, the
one who knocked out the eye has to give him a young woman, one cow, and two
goats, because a one-eyed person is not loved by women and cannot obtain a wife.
Should a boy knock out a girl's eye she receives two cows and a goat.
" If a woman wanders about and a man discovers her, or she goes to him, the
man has to take her before the chief and explain the circumstances under which he
found her. The woman then goes to the man's house, by the chief's order. Should
she not be claimed within a year she becomes the man's wife, and is called a Mom-
boze, or one who has come of her own free will. Should her relatives or husband
discover her at any time they can take her away. If she has had children by the
man with whom she is living, the children are the property of that man, and not of
the person who claims the woman. If a man finds a woman, or she goes to his
house and he does not report it to the chief, he is liable to be put to death or to
become the slave of the person entitled to the woman.
" When the whereabouts of cattle- or goat-thieves is reported, the chief sends his
men to arrest them. If the accused do not resist, they are brought before the chief and
tried. If guilty they are punished with death, but they can be redeemed for girls or
other articles. If the accused resist apprehension and some are killed, those sent out
to arrest them are not liable to punishment.
" Persons found stripping the bark off bark cloth trees, or stealing bananas or
potatoes at night, are speared. If the person so speared dies, he is thrown into the
road with the article he was stealing tied round his neck, so that passers-by may know
he was a thief. Should a thief be arrested, he has to pay very heavy fines and to be
redeemed. The chief gets a goat or a cow out of the fine.
[ 41 ]
No. 19,] MAN. [1910.
" Should a woman steal from another household a konew (a wooden bowl in which
banana fibres are pounded), and it is proved against her, she becomes the most degraded
slave of the man of the household for ever. Should she be married, the husband gives
the man whose konew was stolen a white goat, and the konew is taken back to the
owner and the woman is released.
" Twins. — A midwife who delivers twins does not return home until the father
has gone through one of the ceremonies connected with the birth of twins. On her
departure she is given a goat. On the birth of twins, the word twins is not mentioned ;
should it be mentioned, the twins will die shortly afterwards. The word is not
mentioned in order that the children may live. It was considered an ill omen to
mention the word soon after the birth. The day after the birth the father consults
a Lubale (god). The Lubale instructs him to consult the priest of the god Muwanga.
Two days after his return he goes to his father or his father's successor to ask him to
clothe the children. This is called Okuluka abalonga (to dress the twins). His father
gives him a Salongo muto (small father of twins), and a Lubuga (an unmarried sister).
The father of the twins (Salongo) is not allowed to look at these two persons in
after life.
" On his return from his father's house he goes to his father-in-law's house where he
is given another Lubuga. He then returns to his house with his relations and his wife's
relations. On his arrival he sends for the god whom he consulted, who blocks up the
door of the house and makes two holes in the back walls. The house is then divided
into two rooms. The Nalongo (mother of twins) remains at the back of the house with
her relations, who have come to dance the twin dance. The Salongo lives in the front
part of the house. This ceremony is called Kibululu. The Salongo then steals a bunch
of Nakitembe bananas, from the shamba of the person who is shut in the Kibululu, and
wraps it in a grass called Bombo. He leaves this bunch of bananas in the entrance.
The Salongo shaves a thin line, about the thickness of a finger, from his brow to the
nape of his neck and from one ear to the other (resembling a St. George's cross). This
ceremony is called Amagoba. The Salongo also wears bells round his legs, so that he
should be known as a Salongo, and consequently not assaulted but allowed to take
bananas from other people's shambas without hindrance. The parents are only allowed
to eat bananas which have been cooked in their skins until the ceremony of Mugerengejo
has been performed. A drum has to be beaten, one stroke at a time, continuously for
a month after the birth of twins. The Salongo then instructs his relations to collect
fibre and make dancing skirts. The skirt for the Nalongo is made of banana leaves that
have been used for wrapping food in to be steamed. The Salongo muto wears at the
dance a headdress made out of parrots' feathers.
" After these ceremonies have been performed the Salongo goes very early in the
morning to the houses of his friends, and throws in the doorways bits of dried banana
leaves, tied up neatly into little bundles. He then returns to his house for the twin
dance. On the night appointed by the Lubale, that is on the appearance of the new
moon, the Salongo kills a goat and a feast takes place. Any person who has committed
adultery does not partake of this feast. This ceremony is called Mugerengejo. After
the feast they go into the grass to perform the ceremony of Kugalama (to lie down).
On arrival the Nalongo spreads a bark cloth on the ground and sleeps on her back. She
is surrounded by people holding reed torches. These people turn their backs to her.
She then places a banana flower on her abdomen. The Salongo strips, approaches
her, and knocks the banana flower off with his penis. After this the people gather
together, shout and dance and drums are beaten. On their return to the house the
priest (who is known as a Mutaba) takes the bags in which the twins were born and
places them inside the lumps of ant hill, used for placing under the cooking pots before
the birth of the twins, and takes them into the grass.
[ 42 ]
1910.]
MAN.
[Nos. 19-20,
" Should twins die after birth they are not buried until some time after death.
The bodies are packed very firmly in Bombo grass and handed over to the Nalongo,
who places them near the cooking place and the heat of the fire dries the grass and
the bodies." G. C. ISHMAEL.
20
55'
- 31*1.317
UU/f/llli. ..Ml.. .>.n.> .•nun..
"A -Ffo.\7i.-u.-m
OT*
England : Archseology. Holden.
The Existence of an Early Palaeolithic Bed beneath the Glacial
Boulder Clays in South-West Suffolk. />'// •/. Sinclair Holden, M.I).
The finding of even a few rude implements, in situ, beneath the blue boulder
clay is of considerable interest and importance, as they afford evidence that man must
have existed on this old land surface long before
the commencement of the Glacial period. The
following are particulars : —
During 1909 three deep private wells were
sunk in this portion of south-west Suffolk. They
were about five miles apart, and ranged east and
west. As they were all in parishes in the district
for which I am medical officer of health, I kept
them under observation.
The accompanying section shows the geological
formations which occur here, and the average thick-
ness of the boulder clays, at the O.D. height of 270
to 280 feet, on which level all the wells were
situated.
After sinking through the chalky boulder clay,
and the blue boulder clay, to a depth of over
100 feet, a seam of unrolled flint gravels was
struck in each well averaging about 2 feet thick.
I carefully examined what was bucket raised of
this gravel, and found a few rude flint implements
among it. These I sent to Mr. Reginald Smith, at
the British Museum, who had them also examined
by other authorities, and some were passed as being
of human workmanship. Allowing for the very
limited area from which these were obtained, if
only two or three are genuine, it is still sufficient
evidence of man's existence prior to the Glacial
period.
The site of the wells was in the following
parishes : — First, Great Waldingfield ; yielded three
genuine and several doubtful implements. The
Rev. E. Hill, F.G.S., was with me at the time
I first observed these indications, and also took
section of the well. Second, Stanstead ; yielded
one genuine and several doubtful implements. Third,
Hawkedon ; specimens all doubtful.
An interesting connection with these wells
occurs in a large gravel pit in the parish of Acton.
This pit lies about four miles south of the line of
the three wells and at the lower level of 130 feet on the slope of the Stour Valley.
Here there lies, beneath 20 to 30 feet of chalky boulder clay, an accumulation of
gravel, probably derived from the melting and retreating of the blue boulder clay
[ 43 ]
T^lue
(\e.cl O ^r>cL :
Silt
C^ < ol Q 16 J
t>oji-t i-o
Nos. 20-22.] MAN. [1910.
during an interglacial period. Boulders and gravels are much chipped and battered,
showing torrent action ; still among them are found some genuine flint implements
of similar type to those I found in the deep wells, washed down, I would say, from
a more southern portion of the same preglacial laud surface.
The first find of palaeoliths in Acton pit, about four years ago, was made by the
Rev. J. D. Gray, late vicar of Nayland, and afterwards, with Mr. F. J. Bennett, F.G.S.
and myself, various types were found. I think there can be little doubt that there is
a connection with the implements in this pit and my wells.
There are some perplexing problems yet to be solved with regard to the glacial
boulder clays in East Anglia ; in north Suffolk the chalky and the blue are to be found
lying side by side, while in south-west Suffolk the chalky boulder clays overlie the
blue, with evidences of a long interglacial period. J. SINCLAIR HOLDEN.
England : Archaeology. King.
Small Kist and Urn at Tregiffian Vean, St. Just-in-Penwith» fll
Cornwall. By H. King. fcl
During ploughing operations in a field on the farm of Tregiffian Vean in 1903
the ploughshare grated on a flat stone hidden by the soil. The farmer testing this
with a crowbar, broke it, and the bar slipped into a cavity below. He raised the
stone and found a broken urn, portions of which he brought to me some time afterwards.
The field was sown and lay under grass till the spring of 1907, when it was brought
again under the plough and I had an opportunity of examining the place. I found a
small kist with sides of small flat slabs standing on edge resting on undisturbed " rab "
(i.e., the stiff, stony loam produced by the decomposition of the local granite) and
covered by a slab broken in two. This I removed to my lawn at Cam Eve for its
preservation.
The inside measurements of the kist are — base, 24 ins. by 15 ins. ; height, 12 ins.
The broken urn has been pronounced by the authorities at the British Museum
as of date 400 B.C. No bones or ashes were found, but the original discoverer said
the pot was lying on its side. H. KING.
REVIEWS.
India : Mysore, Coorg. Rice.
Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions. By B. L. Rice. Published for the A A
Government of Mysore by A. Constable & Co. London, 1909. Pp. 238. LL
25 x 16 cm.
Since 1865 Mr. Rice has been engaged in the task of deciphering and translating
the ancient inscriptions which are found in more abundance in southern India than in
any other part of the country. Of these, twelve volumes, under the title of Epigraphia
Carnatica, have already appeared. In the present book Mr. Rice has abstracted the
historical information supplied by the inscriptions, some of which are found on copper
plates, others engraved on religious and secular buildings. Thus for the first time
the history of Southern India has been placed on a safe chronological basis, and the
fortunes of many obscure local dynasties have been elucidated. The most interesting
discovery in the course of the survey was that of a copy of the edicts of the great
Buddhist Emperor, Asoka, thus proving that his dominions extended to the very south
of the peninsula.
This book provides much material to the student of religion and social life. The
original faith of the people was snake worship. A legend, which seems to have little
historical foundation, ascribes the introduction of Jainism, which supplanted the
primitive animism, to the famous Chandragupta, the contemporary of Alexander the
[ 44 ]
1910.] MAN. [Nos. 22-23,
Great and the founder of the Mauryau dynasty. He is said to have become a Jain
recluse at the end of his life. Jainism for many centuries remained the state religion,
and one of its most remarkable monuments, the colossal image of Gomata, 57^ feet
.high and carved out of the solid rock at Sravaua Belgola, dates from about A.D. 983,
and is illustrated by Mr. Rice. Jainism gave way to Brahmanism, first the cult of Siva
being popularised in the eighth century of our era, and that of Vishnu in the twelfth.
Brahmanism was thus introduced at a comparatively late period, and the characteristic
form of South Indian Hinduism was allowed to develop free from Aryan influence.
The chapter dealing with manners and customs contains much of interest. The
habit of self-immolation, not only in the form of suttee, of wives on the funeral pyres of
their deceased husbands, but also of men who sacrificed their lives on the death of their
raja or in fulfilment of a vow, was common. The earliest reference to the healing art is
contained in a quaint story which tells how some soldiers on a campaign in the
eleventh century were compelled by famine to eat human flesh, and were cured of the
resultant indigestion by doses of elephant meat. The chapter on administration
supplies many instances of the remarkable methods of government in this primitive
community.
Mr. Rice and the Government of Mysore, by whose liberality this important work
has been completed, deserve the congratulations of all interested in the history and
ethnology of Southern India. W. CROOKE.
Ceylon. Parker.
Ancient Ceylon. By H. Parker. London : Luzac, 1909. Pp. xiv + 695. OO
26 x 16 cm. Price 25s. £U
This important and valuable work deals with ancient Ceylon in various aspects.
Mr. Parker has spent more than thirty years in irrigation work in the island, and
during that period has devoted his attention not only to strictly professional subjects,
but to others of archaeological and anthropological importance. In this book he gives
the result of his researches in these subjects, and this result is, and will long remain,
of the greatest value to students. There has, in fact, hitherto been no compendious
treatise comprising information on all these subjects, and Mr. Parker's work fills a
real gap in the literature dealing with eastern races. A mere resume of the points
raised is sufficient to show the comprehensive nature of the book.
In the first part he deals with the first inhabitants of Ceylon, and especially with
the Vaeddas or Veddas, both ancient and modern. He considers that the name Vedda
should be identified with the Pali Vyadha or hunter, and hence that the name was
once bestowed on the aboriginal inhabitants by the northern invaders. The modern
Veddas, both the settled village Veddas and the forest Veddas, are remnants of this
ancient race which have not yet been assimilated by the Sinhalese, although they
have lost their ancient language, and their present tongue is a dialect of Sinhalese.
Further, Mr. Parker holds that a large part of the Sinhalese population is of Vedda
or aboriginal blood, and that the Kandian Sinhalese, especially, may be identified with
them. The Wanniyas stand in very close relation to the Veddas, but have lost the
peculiar dialect and speak ordinary Sinhalese. The coast tribes have in a similar
manner been influenced by the Tamil population and have adopted the Tamil language.
The Nagas of the north coast Mr. Parker compares with the Nayars of the Malabar
coast of South India. These conclusions appear to be borne out by the mass of information
Mr. Parker has brought together as to the history, physical anthropology and customs
of these primitive tribes, and will probably be found in accordance with the recent
researches of Dr. Seligmann, with whom Mr. Parker has been in communication. The
result seems to amount to an establishment of the theory that the Veddas are a
remnant of a pre-Dravidian race formerly in possession of the greater part of Ceylon,
[ 45 ]
Nos. 23-24.] MAN. [1910.
and the general admission of the fact that they are of high caste, in spite of their
present debased condition, points to the fact of their having been originally a ruling
race enjoying a higher degree of civilisation than at present. This is opposed to the
opinion of Virchow, who however, had not access to many now well-established facts.
The chapters on archaeology, on coins, weapons, tools and games are all full and
instructive but cannot here be dealt with in detail. The games, both indoor, outdoor
and religious, Mr. Parker compares with those of India, Arabia and Africa, with which
he is personally acquainted. Attention may also be drawn to a most interesting
disquisition on the meaning and origin of the cross and Swastika (Chapter XV).
Mr. Parker considers that the cross is in origin a charm against evil spirits, one bar
representing a river or obstacle to be overcome, and a transverse bar representing
its successful crossing or conquest. The developed cross is often enveloped in a
protective square from which the Swastika is evolved. This theory is fully worked
out with abundance of illustration and will evidently furnish a fruitful subject for
discussion. M. LONGWORTH DAMES.
Spain. Meakin.
Galicia, the Switzerland of Spain. By Annette M. B. Meakin. London : Al
Methuen, 1909. Pp. xi + 376. 224 X 14 c.m. fcT
Miss Meakin has done good service in calling attention to a little-known corner
of Europe, which possesses much interest for travellers of all classes — for the student
of archaeology and ethnology — as well as for the lover of the picturesque ; though the
ordinary armchair tourist must not expect the luxurious hotels and travelling facilities
that he enjoys in Switzerland proper. Galicia, situated in the extreme north-west
angle of Spain, just north of the Portuguese frontier, occupies an almost unique position
in the Iberian Peninsula, having never been completely subjugated by either Roman or
Moor, and consequently retains many features of the old Iberian and Celtic times. The
author writes ably and concisely on the racial question, and notes the influence of the
old Phoenicians and of the invasion in the fifth century by the Sueves, who form the
subject of so many Spanish historical legends. With archaeology and architecture
Miss Meakin deals at length. She gives a comprehensive description of the cathedral
at Santiago, while the legend of the bringing of the body to St. James the Apostle to
Spain is vividly told, as, indeed, are many other historical and legendary episodes.
There is an interesting account of a visit to the prehistoric rock-drawings and so-called
" cup and ball " marks, which have been recently discovered by Senor E. Campo near
Pontevedra. " Cup marks," writes the author, " are to be found in many varieties in
" almost every part of the world, the most frequent being concentric circles with a
" central cup or dot, and this is the kind that I found upon some flat granite boulders
" on a rocky slope near a pine wood about half-an-hour's walk from Pontevedra."
Miss Meakin illustrates these, does not agree with the theory of their Phoenician origin,
and compares the marks with those found in India, Scandinavia, Cornwall, and the east
coast of Scotland. Referring to some illustrations in the Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries for 1899, she writes, " Many of the drawings are almost exactly like those
" I brought with me from Pontevedra. They look as though they must have been the
" work of one and the same race. As they are nearly always found close to the sea,
" it looks as if they must have been done by a seafaring people." Space prohibits
any extended review of this work, which is brightly written, well illustrated, and, besides
being a pleasant record of the author's travels, forms quite an antiquarian, archaeo-
logical, and historical encyclopaedia of the places visited. The social life, manners,
and superstitions of the peasantry are duly noted, the flora and fauna are not neglected,
while it may gladden the heart of some readers to learn that trout " abound in all
" the rivers, and would furnish plenty of sport to British anglers." T. H. J.
[ 46 ]
1910.] MAN. [Nos. 25-27.
Melanesia. O'Ferrall.
Santa Cruz and the Reef Islands. By the Rev. W. C. O'Ferrall, a
Missionary in Santa Cruz, 1897-1904. Published by the Melanesian Mission,
Illustrated by fourteen photographic reproductions by I. W. Beattie, of Hobart,
Tasmania. 15 x 20 cm. Price 1*.
This little account of one of the most interesting of the Western Pacific groups
opens with an historical sketch. The group includes, besides the three large islands
of Ndeni (Santa Cruz), Utupua, and Vanikolo, the Duff group (Taumako) and the
Swallow or Reef Islands. It was on Santa Cruz that Mendana first landed, and where
he afterwards died. Quiros, his successor, on a later voyage (1605) discovered
Taumako, and Captain Carteret in 1766 visited the Reef Islands, which bear the name
of his ship. In 1797 Captain Wilson, of the missionary ship Duff, touched at the
group, and it was at Vanikolo that the ill-fated Perouse perished ; such, Mr. O'Ferrall
says, is briefly the romantic story of the discovery of these islands.
After a sojourn of seven years in the group, the author has been able to gather
much information about the habits and customs of the natives, which he has put into
a concise and pleasing description. Some day he may be induced to write a more
substantial work ; in any case, he has set an example which might well be copied by
all missionaries stationed among savage races. Missionaries owe a large debt to
ethnologists for their neglect in the past in this respect, and before it is too late we
hope they will do their best to collect and publish what material is still left.
The photographs are full of interest and well illustrate the subject, such as canoes,
round huts, club houses, mat making, ghost houses, and dancing grounds. It is a pity,
however, that the little book is not paginated. J. EDGE-PARTINGTON.
India : The Bahawalpur State. Malik Muhammad Din.
The Bahawalpur State Gazetteer. By Malik Muhammad Dm, M.R.A.S. OIJ
Lahore, 1908. Pp. 392. 27 X 17 cm. Price 6*. £U
The Bahawalpur Native State, situated in the south-west of the Panjab, supplies
a link, geographical and ethnological, between that province, Sindh and Rajputaua.
The most interesting geographical feature is the progressive deterioration of the
fertility of the soil, which apparently resulted from a diversion of the courses of the
Sutlej and Jumna rivers. This seems to have been one of the causes which produced
the desert tract, known as the Thar, or Great Western Desert, which extends from the
south-west Panjab into Sindh and the Rajput States of Bikaner and Jaisalmer. This
part of India has hitherto been little known, and this monograph supplies much
interesting information. The writer deals little with pure ethnology, except that he
furnishes valuable information on the identity of the Jats with the Rajputs. He
supplies a complete account of the domestic rites, which illustrates the survival of
animistic practices among a people who have now been converted to Islam. His
account of the many holy places, especially Uch Sharif, where every inch of ground1
is said to cover the remains of a saint, is full of interest, and is a valuable supplement
to other records of Muhammadan hagiology. Material clearly exists, among these
primitive races, for a more detailed ethnographical survey conducted on the lines of that
now being carried out by Mr. H. A. Rose in the neighbouring province of the Panjab.
W. CROOKE.
New Britain Archipelago. Pullen-Burry.
In a German Colony. By B. Pullen-Burry. London : Methuen & Co., AT
1909. Pp. ix + 234. Illustrations and two maps. 19 x 12cm. Li
In a German Colony is an account of a lady's visit to Herbertshohe, the capital
of the German Protectorate on the island of New Britain, the stopping place of the
German mail-boat sailing monthly between Sydney and Hong Kong. The Protectorate
[ 47 ]
Nos. 27-28.] MAN. [1910.
includes the New Britain Archipelago, German New Guinea, the Marshall, Caroline and
Ladrone Islands with Buka and Bougainville, the westernmost islands of the Solomon
Group. From the outset the difficulty of the nomenclature of this part of the world is
realised by the authoress, as on the same page she speaks of New Britain and New
Ireland as well as the Bismarck Archipelago. " I prefer," she says, " to employ the
" names with which our atlas has familiarised us, for the nomenclature of these regions
" is maddening. In addition to the names which the islands had received from their
" discoverers, who were mostly British navigators, there are those with which the
" Germans re-baptised them on the acquisition of the colony. Then there are the native
" appellations in constant use between the planters and the Kanakas." Herr von
Luschan some time ago strongly urged the retention of native names, and it seems a pity
that this has not generally been adopted. In her notes on native customs the authoress
has evidently derived much of her information from Parkinson's Dreisig Jahre in der
Sudsee (reviewed MAN, 1908, 49), and from a visit she paid to the author of that work,
as well as from Bishop Coppee of the R.C. mission.
The probable aboriginal inhabitants of New Britain are the Baining, inhabiting the
mountain regions to the west of the peninsula, and having both language and customs
dissimilar to those of the other inhabitants of the archipelago. Gustav Fritsch, a
German traveller, has examined fifty skulls of these people, and considers they resemble
the Australian type. With regard to these people the authoress refers to Dr. Snee's
work on the South Seas, but gives no title or reference. Amongst the inhabitants of
the Gazelle Peninsula magic is the dominating influence of all actions ; everything they
wear, all the face ornamentation, have their special significance. Shedding of tears is
denoted by three lines from the eyes downwards on to the cheek, lines from the root
of the nose semicircling Ihe eyes represent a butterfly ; circles round the eyes, an owl.
Certain patterns belong to particular families.
Consequent on the number of channels from which the authoress derived her
information there is a certain amount of repetition, but, considering the shortness of her
stay in the group, and that mostly at Herbertshohe, she has collected sufficient matter
to make her work both interesting and instructive ; in addition there are seven (not
eight) photographic reproductions of natives and two maps. J. E.-P.
Eugenics. Whetham.
Eugenics and Unemployment. By W. C. D. Whetham, M.A., F.R.S. Cam-
bridge : Bowes and Bowes, 1910. Price 1*.
The author of this book gives some significant statistics tending to show that the
changes introduced into our national life by the deleterious teaching of Malthus and
modern industrial conditions are slowly but surely lowering the average efficiency of the
people. He points out that the crude annual birth-rate of England and Wales has
fallen from 36 per 1,000 in 1876 to 26 per 1,000 in 1909, owing, no doubt, to the wide
dissemination of the Malthusian heresy at about the earlier date. To show that this
fall in the birthrate has taken place almost exclusively among the more efficient
classes of the population, he points out that, in the case of the families of persons
whose biographies appear in Who's Who, the average number of children before 1870
was 5 ' 2, while after 1870 it was only 3 '08. In contrast with this select class is
that of those persons whose children use the special schools for the mentally defective,
&c., where the average number in the family is now 7 ' 3.
The application of the principles of Eugenics to the problem of unemployment
suggests measures widely different from those advocated by popular politicians, and
though the author wisely admits that the science of Eugenics is still in its infancy, he
clearly shows that enough has already been achieved to make a knowledge of its
principles essential to all true social reformers. J. G.
Printed by EYEE AND SPOTTISWOODE. LTD., His Majesty's Printers, Bast Harding Street, E.G.
PLATE D.
MAN, 1910.
O
1910.] MAN. [No. 29.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Africa : Benin. With Plate D. Read.
Note on Certain Ivory Carvings from Benin. /•'// C. H. Read, AQ
LL.D., P.S.A. tU
It is not to be expected that the city of Benin itself will for the present continue
to supply any great number of works of art. Such specimens as come into the
market will doubtless form part of collections made at the time of the punitive
expedition. Most of these, however, are well known, and it is improbable that any
great surprises are in store. The late Sir Ralph Moor, who was directly instrumental
in securing the bulk of the Government share of the loot, was fortunate enough to
obtain for himself some pieces of exceptional merit, and the whole of these were
dispersed after his death. The carvings shown in the plate have been added to the
already fine collection at the British Museum, where they fill a gap, and serve to show
that Sir Ralph Moor was a good judge of the quality of native work.
The three objects shown in the plate are all of exceptional merit and interest.
They consist of two elaborate armlets and a mask, carved in ivory. The armlets are
practically identical, and the description of one will serve for both. Each consists
of two cylinders working one within the other, carved from the solid tusk, but so
contrived in the carving that the two are interlocked by the projecting ornament
on the inner cylinder passing through openings in the outer one, and so making the
two inseparable without violence. This arrangement recalls certain Chinese carv-
ings, in which,
however, such
extravagant
ingenuity is
held to be
natural and
characteristic.
Complicated as
the design in
these armlets
may appear at
first sight, a
,. , . 3 ' FIG. 1.
slight analysis
shows it to be quite simple. In reality there are but two factors applied to the
making of it. First of these is a standing figure of a king, with legs in the form of
catfish, and hands upraised, each holding a leopard ; his legs form a kind of arch, and
in the middle is a crocodile head grasping a human hand in its mouth ; he wears a
cap, surcoat, gorget, and necklet all of coral beads.* The details of the catfish,
crocodile's head, and the spots of the leopards are all overlaid with copper plates.
This figure is repeated four times around the armlet, and is carved as part of the
outer cylinder, the whole of the background being cut away. Between the figures of
kings are repetitions of a curious design. This on examination proves to be composed
of two elephants' heads, one pointing upwards, the other down ; the shape of the
head is emphasised by three bold ribs, from the outer of which proceed the two tusks,
meeting in front ; the trunk is a twisted bar terminating in a human hand, grasping
two branches with leaves ; the outlines of these proceeding from above and below
form an oval. The spaces between the ribs on the heads and the middles of the
leaves are filled with copper inlay. This design is on the inner cylinder, and is
carved in even higher relief than the figures of the kings on the outer ; the whole of
* 67. Read and Dalton, Antiquities from the City of Benin, Plate XVII.
[ 49 ]
No. 29.]
MAN.
[1910.
the background that can be reached by a tool has been pierced with rows of small
holes close together.*
The mask stands oh a much higher plane, artistically, than the armlet, and is
clearly the work of one of the best artists that the Bini court possessed. It is carved
from the middle of a large tusk, and both in design and finish is the finest thing that
has come from Benin. The sculptor had a knowledge and observation, and a capacity
for using both, that are but rarely found in savage Africa,
and this much can be seen from the figure in the plate.
The eyes are outlined with iron, recalling the ancient
Egyptian method, and the tribal marks on the forehead
were of the same metal ; beside these are groups of four
faint ribs proceeding vertically from the inner side of the
orbit. The hair, which is squarely cut over the forehead and
ears, is indicated by a series of closely set knobs, each
having a hole in the middle ; and a kind of triple tiara is
produced by twisting up the hair in small tails, each having
a bead on the end ; the front row is symbolically treated,
and carved to represent a row of heads of Portuguese with
long straight hair and beards, the eyes and hats being
shown in copper. The ears of the mask are well carved,
and above and below each is a pierced lug which has clearly
served for a cord to pass through for suspending the mask,
probably from a man's neck. A collar of coral beads is
conventionally represented beneath the chin, and from this
proceeds a pierced flange on which is carved a plaited
design inlaid Avith copper. The hollow back of the mask
is as highly finished as the front, though unornamented.
A mask of this kind is in the Pitt-Rivers Museum at
Farnham, Dorset, but, though an interesting and good
specimen, is not comparable with the exam'ple now in
question.f
The other two ivory carvings shown in Figs. 1 and 2
are not of such exceptional character as those just referred
to, but they are at the same time unusual. The first of
these is the figure of a leopard, a favourite animal in
Bini art, carved from the tusk near the butt, so that the
section of the carving is C shaped. The style is some-
what conventional, the spots of the beast being left as
plain circles on a roughly hatched surface, and in the
middle of each spot is a stud of copper. Such an object
from its form would be well suited to ornament a horizontal
pole in a house, and around the edge are seven large holes
which might well have served to attach it in some such
position. The other object is a baton surmounted by a
mounted warrior dressed in all the richness of Bini fashion.
He is riding astraddle, holding a spear in his right hand,
and the single rein in his left ; he wears the usual high
collar of coral beads, a necklace of large teeth, and an elaborate surcoat reaching to
his knees. Such batons are not uncommon in Benin collections. General Pitt Rivers
(op. cit., PI. V., Figs. 19-24) gives figures of several in his collection ; and in the
* For a similar armlet of simpler make see Read and Dalton, 1899, PI. VI, 5.
t Figured in A. Pitt-Rivers' Aiitlque Works of Art from Benin, 1900, PI. 6, Figs. 25, 26.
[ 50 ]
FIG. 2.
1910.] MAN. [Nos. 29-30.
British Museum the bronze panels frequently show the natives holding such staves,
sometimes surmounted by a bird (Read and Dalton, PI. XXX).
In the large volume on the Benin antiquities by Mr. O. M. Dalton and myself,
just referred to, we reproduced a number of ivory carvings, cups, hunting horns,
and spoons, that bore in many cases representations of European design, such as, for
instance, the coat of arms of Portugal. This class of objects is found in a good
many continental museums, and not infrequently described as being of mediaeval Euro-
pean work. That they are of negro manufacture, however, there can be no question,
though it might fairly be argued that there is no evidence to prove them to be of
Bini make. The interest of the specimens now in question, apart from their obvious
artistic qualities, is that they show conclusively that the Bini craftsmen were fully
capable of producing work of quite as high a type, without the aid of European
motives, and, as far as we can tell, without European suggestion. A comparison of the
mask in the plate, for example, with any of the pieces showing European ideas is, of
the two alternatives, rather in favour of the former. A great deal of time has been
spent by various writers in attempting to trace different origins for this very remark-
able native art. Some enthusiasts have even gone as far as to attribute it to the
influence of the art of ancient Egypt. A recent writer in Globus* has been at great
pains to reproduce a number of Indian panels of superficially the same kind as those
characteristic of Benin, and is convinced that he has shown the style and make of
these latter to be derived from Indian models. It is hardly worth while to repeat
the evidence in favour of the Portuguese influence that is given at length in the
British Museum volume just referred to. But it is just as conclusive now as when
it was written eleven years ago, and a cas.t bronze panel with reliefs from Italy or
France necessarily presents the same features as one from India or Benin, and would
te of equal weight as showing French or Italian influence.
In the case of the panels from Benin the style of the art is unquestionably native,
while the metal of which they are made has been shown by Professor Gowland's
analysis to be certainly Portuguese. To argue for an Indian origin in face of these
two facts is only to waste time and serves no useful purpose. C. H. READ.
Andamans. Lang.
Puluga. By A. Lang. Qfl
Though I am greatly guilty of a " theory of a primitive All-Father," U U
which to Mr. A. R. Brown seems " nothing but a system of elaborate misinter-
pretation " (Folk-Lore^ XX, 3, p. 258), yet his article, and his controversy with Pere
Schmidt, are full of interest to me, and I think I discern the point where Mr. Brown
and I diverge. It is a point of great importance. He writes (MAN, 1910, 17,
p. 34). : " I carefully abstained from comparing the beliefs of the Andamanese with
**• those of any other peoples, whether related or unrelated, because I am convinced
•" that such comparisons are more dangerous than they are helpful." Thus it appears
that there is to be no study of comparative mythology. But Mr. Brown may mean
that an observer on the spot should merely give his facts ; what I doubt is, whether
or not he allows the stay-at-home reader to try to strike light out of comparisons.
Assuming that liberty, under all reserves, I will try to show how the case of Puluga
strikes an inquirer bred in the old-fashioned comparative method. I should say that
I have no preconceived opinions to the effect that the male Puluga of the isles Bale
and Bea is part of an older belief, though it is of a far more usual type of belief
than that in the female Biliku or Bilika of the more northern group.
Mr. Brown's conclusions are that " Puluga is a personification of the N.N.E.
" monsoon, and is one of a pair, the other being Daria " (elsewhere Tarai, Teria,
* W. Crahmer, Qlobux, Bel. 94 (1908), p. 301 ; Bd. 95 (1909), pp. 345, 360 ; Bd. 97 (1910), p. 78.
[ 51 ]
No, 30.] MAN. [1910.
Deria), " the S.S.W. monsoon" (MAN, p. 33). The words Biliku, Bilika, denote
spider, as well as the being Biliku, in the northern isles ; in the southern Bilik and
Puluga are only applied to the mythic being, and, I presume, in these isles the
common spider is otherwise named (Folk-Lore, p. 259). It seems to me conceivable
that the southern islanders have tabued puluga for spider, and reserved it for the
mythic being. Mr. Brown " could find no sufficient evidence for any of the
" explanations that suggested themselves to him " " of the connection of Biliku with
the spider" (MAN, p. 35).
Why a monsoon should be called a spider is indeed a puzzling question ! In
my old-fashioned comparative way I am anxious to know whether any parallel exists
in the mythology of other peoples dwelling in the region of monsoons ? We must
remember that the N.E. wind is not called Biliku, but is styled Biliku Boto, Bilik
Tau, Puluga Toa, Puluga Ta ; while in the four northern isles the S.W. wind is not
styled Tarai, but Tarai Boto. I do not observe that Mr. Brown translates Boto,
Tau, Toa, and Ta, but we may, under correction, and corroborated by Mr. Man
(Journ. Anthr. Inst., XII, 38, for Ta), guess that these words mean wind : wind of
Biliku and of Puluga, wind of Tarai. If so, at present the winds are distinguished
from the beings who send them.
Mr. Brown " has carefully avoided attributing to the Andamanese, even in the
" past, any belief for which there is not direct evidence . . ." (MAN, p. 34 (5)).
But he is human, and has reached the conclusion, for which there can be no " direct
evidence," that " Puluga is a personification of the N.N.E. monsoon." We cannot
travel into the past, and observe the ancestors of the Andamanese while destitute of
Puluga, but beginning to personify the S.E. wind under a name meaning spider,
certainly a strange name for a wind. This spider (or his brothers or sons) is not the
wind, but he, or his kinsfolk, sends the winds. The N.N.E. wind accompanies fine
weather, and it is not Tarai, of the rainy wind, but Puluga, who sends all storms.
This " particularly puzzles " Mr. Brown (Folk-Lore, p. 267), and I do not wonder at
it. But why Spider ?
On my obsolete method of comparison, though I cannot explain why a spider,,
of all things, was chosen as the name of a potent being (not of a wind, Puluga and
Biliku do not mean wind), I can at least offer parallels. The spider, as a potent
being, is Ananzi, the spider of negro mythology. Stories about him and his feats are
called " Nancy stories " in our West Indian colonies. I have no books at hand on
Ananzi the spider in African beliefs, but it is plain that a spider may be a leading
character in mythology, in places wholly remote from the Andaman Isles.
Again, we all know the potent being of Bushman belief, named (in Bleek's theory)
after the Mantis insect, Cagn. On Cagn I have read Orpen (Cape Monthly Magazine,
IX, 1877, July) and Bleek, who identifies Cagn with the Mantis insect (Brief Account
of Bushman Folk-Lore, London, 1875, cf. Myth, Ritual, and Religion, II, pp. 34, 35,
1901). Father Schmidt quotes, as to Cagn, Arbousset and Daumas (1872), A.
Merensky (1875), Wangemann (1872), Orpen, and Bleek, but doubts certain points
in Bleek's version. He does not like the entomological etymology (Schmidt, Die
Stellung der Pygmden Volker, pp. 236-241). It is superfluous to name other
theriomorphic potent primal beings of savage belief usually opposed to each other
like Tarai and Biliku. We all know the North American Wolf and Raven, and the
South-East Australian Eagle Hawk (Punjel) and Crow, the American Great Hare, and
so forth. There is the usual confusion ; Puluga, the spider, is anthropomorphic (like
Ba'iame and Daramulun) (Folk-Lore, p. 270).
Now, guess for guess, I think, from the parallels adduced, that Biliku (female)
and Puluga (male) are creations of imagination in search for a first cause : Biliku
" created " earth, sea, and sky in many myths, and they (or he and she) are " definitely
C 52 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 30.
" separated from the ancestors, and are not regarded as one of them " {Folk-Lore,
pp. 262, 264-267). Thus, as far as I may conjecture, Biliku-Puluga — spiders — are not
the personifications of the N.N.E. monsoon, which is their Boto, Tau, Toa, Ta — their
« Wind of God," as in Kingsley's " Ode to the East Wind."
The question is of no great moment. Puluga is there now, however he came there,
about which neither Mr. Brown or I can do more than guess.
The great peculiarity about Andamanese mythology is that, in the dualism so very
common in savage and other beliefs, Biliku " has come to occupy so large a place in
*' Andaman mythology compared with the other " — Tarai. This has caused Mr. Brown
to " wonder many times " (Folk-Lore, p. 267). If he did not think that " comparisons
" are odious " he would wonder less, for in savage mythology the better of the two
opposed beings, though often thwarted by his opposite, is much the more prominent
and victorious figure. In the isles " there seem to be no legends at all concerning
" Tarai " (Folk-Lore, p. 267), so that Tarai, if there be no legends at all about him,
can scarcely be regarded as a potent being, and as " the counterpart of Biliku " (Folk-
Lore, p. 259). Yet, as in the north he is the husband of Biliku, he is so far personified,
and it is curious that there are no legends about him ; some may, perhaps, be discovered.
A person of whom no legends are known, at all events, is no "counterpart" of a
person about whom there are so many legends, and who is so puissant as Biliku-
Puluga.
As to his or her ethical aspect Mr. Brown found no corroboration of Mr. Man's
statements. He therefore "ventures to think that, perhaps unwittingly, Mr. Man
" suggested to his informant that Puluga was angry if one man wronged another, and
" the native of course agreed. . . " (p. 271). That is cutting the knot with an axe !
Can anyone believe that Mr. Man inquired of only one informant, made suggestions to
him, and accepted his evidence ?
Mr. Man, confessedly a careful observer, who lived rather longer (namely, eleven
years) in this region than Mr. Brown did, writes thus : " I have taken special care, not
" only to obtain my information on each point from those who are regarded by their
" fellow tribesmen as authorities, but who, from having had little or no intercourse with
u other races, were in entire ignorance regarding any save their own legends. I have
" besides, in every case, by subsequent inquiry, endeavoured to test their statements,
" with the trustworthiness of which I am thoroughly satisfied " (Journ. Anthr.
List., XII, p. 157).
Mr. Brown can " speak with ungrudging praise " of Mr. Man's book (Folk-Lore,
p. 257). I think we may suspend our opinion where the two authorities differ, without
deciding that Mr. Man was, on this point, so strangely careless in collecting and testing
evidence.
I have but one other remark to make. Mr. Brown speaks of a suggestio falsi
in Pere Schmidt's use (in English) of the word " torch " where Mr. Brown uses " fire-
brand." But as, in German, Pere Schmidt employs the term Feuerbrand where
Mr. Brown uses " fire-brand," perhaps we need not blame the learned writer for a
suggestio falsi ; some accident of translation seems more probable than suggestio falsi ;
and this view is not the less courteous. I refer to Pere Schmidt's Die Stellung der
Pygmaen-Volker, p. 206 (Stuttgart: Strecker und Schroder, 1910). Both Puluga
and mortal men " brandish burning logs," says Mr. Man, against evil spirits (Journ.
Anthr. Inst., XII, pp. 97, 152). We are likely to understand the subject better when
we have Mr. Brown's book in our hands and can compare it with that of Mr. Man.
In the meantime, between monsoons and moons in mythology, and arguments drawn
from conchology and conjectural etymology, a wise passiveness seems an appropriate
mental attitude. A. LANG.
[ 53 ]
No. 31.] MAN. [1910.
New Zealand. Edgre-Partingrton.
Maori Forgeries. By J. Edge-Partington. Of
Since my note on Maori forgeries appeared in MAN (1909, 31) I have Ul
received two very important communications on this subject, one from Professor
Andree, of Munich, confirming my statement with regard to the manufacture of green-
stone objects in Germany, and drawing my attention to a visit he made to the factory,
described by him in Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic, Heft 6, 1907, p. 943. I append a
translation of part of this article, but would refer those who take an interest in this
question to the original, since the whole is extremely interesting and important : —
" I had heard that the lapidaries of Oberstein and Idar manufactured objects of
New Zealand jade, and, moreover, produced extraordinarily accurate copies of the old
Maori weapons and ornaments.
"In order to investigate the matter, in the summer of 1907 I visited the pretty
little localities in the Nahe valley (on the Bingerbriick-Metz line), in Birkenfeld, an
outlying province of Oldenburg, where a large number of lapidaries are engaged in the
cutting of hard stones. . . . The hardest material which is worked there is New
Zealand jade, the cutting, grinding, and polishing of which is, however, relatively easy
of accomplishment.
" Articles which a Maori never could have manufactured, at the expense of any
labour, such as goblets, cigar cases, bowls, coffee cups, of jade, as well as ornaments
of the most varied description, are to be seen in the Gewerbehalle ; but such things
were of less importance to me than the imitations of Maori weapons, Tiki, Mere, and
ornaments, which had also been made in Idar. The principal firm is that of Jakob
Wild, who most courteously showed me his method of manufacture, into the techni-
calities of which I will not enter. I must make it clear that there is no question here
of forgeries ; the manufacturer quite openly advertises them as his own work, copies
of genuine originals, and sells them as such.
" It must be noted that these objects are mostly made in response to commissions
received from England, and are also sent direct to New Zealand. Here they are sold
to globe-trotters at a high price ; or even are put on the market as genuine Tiki, &c.,
and so, as I know from actual experience, find their way into Ethnographical Museums.
These Idar facsimiles are absolutely exact copies of the originals ; at least
I could perceive no difference, though such might be apparent to an expert after a
closer comparison. The material is genuine, the forms are exact reproductions of the
original antiques, and the polish is equally good."
The other communication was from Mr. Hamilton, the Director of the Dominion
Museum, Wellington, N.Z., in which he says : —
" I have reason to believe that some things recently purchased in London, made of
bone and brought out here, are not genuine, and it is also quite true that a considerable
number of bone relics of various kinds are manufactured in Auckland. So long as they
are simply bought as curios by the ordinary tourist it does not matter so much, but,
if they proceed to give them to museums and they take their place in the show-cases
as specimens of Maori work, the matter is more serious. I lately had a visitor from
Auckland who brought down a considerable number of most interesting specimens to
sell to me. They were so well made that I must honestly confess I should have been
deceived in at least two instances. The value of the collection was, at current prices,
somewhere between £40 and £50. Fortunately the vendor left them with me for
examination at my request, and I discovered ample proof that, although no exception
could be taken to the method of the work or design or pattern from their general
appearance, yet they were undoubtedly forgeries. I think it would be well if you were
to insert the tenor of this letter in MAN, and more especially to point out that, so far
as these bone and wooden curios are concerned, there is an infallible test. A very old
[ 54 ]
1910.] MAN. [Nos. 31-32.
and genuine-looking feeding funnel, which I wanted extremely and which had a splendid
story attached to it as to how it was found in the draining of the Piako swamp, was
put to this test and proved to be a forgery."
Mr. Hamilton, of course, refers only to the finer class of forgeries, which are
capable of deceiving those conversant with Maori handiwork. But at a recent sale in
London, out of the fifty or so lots there was only one genuine specimen ; the others
would not have deceived any ordinary collector interested in Maori work. Unfortu-
nately there are many buyers who have no knowledge, and it is through them that
these " fakes " get distributed about the country, finding their way into our local
museums. It was only lately that I visited one of our most important museums in the
west of England and was shown two such which had recently been purchased, and I
am sorry to say at a very high figure. I hope that Mr. Hamilton's confession that he
is capable of being deceived will make those who purchase New Zealand " curios " in
this country all the more careful.
The foregoing communications refer to articles in wood, bone, and greenstone,
but in the Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. VII, p. 244, there appeared an
article by Mr. W. W. Smith on " spurious stone implements " mostly of a dark-coloured
limestone in which the " polishing had undoubtedly been done with very fine emery
u paper, which did not efface the coarser circular markings, on their flat faces and
" sides, of the grindstone." The author points out that an examination by a strong
lens revealed their mode of manufacture and apart from this their faces and sides
were too flat, too level, and too broad at the part where they begin to bevel to
the cutting edges. Instead of the neatly bevelled and polished cutting edge, as in
old Maori implements of this class, the bevelling was flat.
From the evidence that we have now received on this subject it would appear
that no class of New Zealand " curios " is exempt from the imitator's art. It resolves
itself into a case of supply and demand. J. EDGE-PART1NGTON.
Australia. Brown.
Marriage and Descent in North Australia. By A. R. Brown, '/../. QA
In connection with certain work I recently found it necessary to go thoroughly U4L
into the question of the rules of descent in those Australian tribes which have eight
matrimonial classes. Mr. R. H. Mathews, in a number of publications (e.g., MAN,
1908, 83), has criticised the statement of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen that in the tribes
having eight matrimonial classes, descent, so far as class is concerned, is in the male
line. As I do not think that Mr. Mathews has stated the position quite clearly, I
venture to raise the subject once more.
To illustrate the discussion it is necessary to use a simple diagram, such as the
following, which represents the rules of descent in a
.., , . ,, p DIAGRAM I.
tribe having the tour-class system.
A, B, C, D represent the four classes. The sign =
means " marries," and may be read either way, that is,
from left to right or from right to left. The arrows
show the relation between the class of the mother and the
class of her child, and may be read either up or down.
Thus, the rules of marriage and descent may be expressed as follows : —
A male marries B female and the children are D.
** W 99 •**• 99 9' 9' *''•
^99 » *' 99 99 99 "'
-L* 99 99 ^ 99 99 9> •"••
If we substitute for A Ipai, for B Kubbi, for C Kumbo, and for D Murri, the
diagram illustrates the Kamilaroi system as given by Howitt.
[ 55 ]
No. 32.]
MAN.
[1910.
If we apply this diagram to the eight-class system of the Aruuta we find that —
A represents Panunga + Uknaria.
B „ Purula + Ungalla.
C „ Kumara + Umbitjana.
D „ Bulthara + Appungerta.
We can read the diagram as before, but in order to represent the eight-class system
exactly we must have eight divisions.
DIAGRAM II.
This diagram is to be read in much the same way as the other save that each of
the lines at the side is to be read in only one direction, — indicated by the arrow.
The following table will help the reader to understand the diagram : —
A' marries B' and the children are D"
A'
C'
C"
B'
B"
D'
D'
B"
D'
D"
A'
A"
C'
C"
D'
B'
B"
C"
C"
A"
A'
As I propose to deal with the Arunta and Chingalee (Tjingilli) tribes 1 give
below the equivalent classes for the letters of the diagram. The Chingalee classes are
given according to the spelling of Mr. R. H. Mathews : —
ARUNTA. CHIXGALEE.
A'
A"
B'
B"
C'
C"
D'
D"
Panunga -
Uknaria
Purula
Ungalla
Kumara
Umbitchana
Bulthara -
Appuugerta
Chuna.
Chimitcha.
Chnla.
Chungalee.
Chemara.
Champina.
Taralee.
Tungaree.
Thus in the diagram we see that the child of a B'' man and an A" woman is C".
In Arunta terms, if an Ungalla man marries an Uknaria woman, the offspring are
Umbitchana, and similarly for all the classes.
In dealing with questions of descent in Australia we must remember that there
are three distinct questions, concerned with descent of (1) phratry ; (2) class ; and
(3) totem.
[ 56 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 32.
If the classes are arranged in phratries consisting of the couples A + C and B + D,
then, as long as only regular marriages occur (i.e., marriages in accordance with the
diagram) the phratry is exogamous, and descent as regards phratry is matrilineal, the
child belonging to the phratry of its mother. If, on the other hand, the classes are
arranged into phratries in the couples A + D and B + C, then, as long as only regular
marriages occur, descent as regards phratry is patrilineal, the children belonging to the
phratry of the father. Spencer and Gillen tell us that among the tribes with eight
classes, the classes are arranged into phratries consisting of A + D and B + C. There-
fore, in these tribes, as long as only regular marriages occur, descent as regards phratry
is patrilineal.
Before discussing the question of descent of phratry in cases of irregular marriages,
let us turn to the question of descent of class. As long as marriages are all of the
type represented in the diagram, that is, as long as only regular marriages occur, we
cannot say that descent as regards class is either matrilineal or patrilineal. The child
of an A' man and a B' woman is D", but we cannot decide whether it is so because
its father is A', or because its mother is B'. As long as only regular marriages
are found there can be no question as to whether descent of class is in the male or
the female line. However, in all the tribes with which we are dealing, irregular
marriages sometimes take place.
What is meant by an irregular marriage is as follows : — A man of the Class A'
is required by the law of the tribe to .take a wife from the Class B'. This is his
regular wife, or, following the nomenclature of Mr. Mathews, the marriage is of
Type I. It may happen, however, that there is no Avife to be found for him in
Class B', and he therefore takes a wife from Class B". This is a marriage of
Type II, an irregular marriage of the first order of irregularity. Occasionally it hap-
pens that a man of Class A' marries neither into B' nor into B", but takes a wife
from A' . This we shall call a marriage of Type III. Finally, there are said to
be cases when a man of Class A' marries a woman of his own class. This last mar-
riage we shall speak of as Type IV. On no account, apparently, does A intermarry
with C or D.
Now, though it is impossible to tell from a marriage of Type I (that is, a regular
marriage) whether descent is traced in the maternal or the paternal line, it is possible
to do so in cases of irregular marriages of Types II, III, or IV. Thus, if A' marries
B' the children are D", and if A" marries B" the children are D'. Now take a case
of marriage of Type II, where a man of A' marries a woman of B" If descent is
reckoned through the father the child will be D", while, if through the mother, it will
be D'. Similarly, in case of a marriage of Type III, when a man of A' marries a
woman of A" the child will be C" in case of maternal descent, and D" if the descent
is paternal. Finally, in marriages of Type IV, where A' marries into his own class,
the child will be C' if its descent is traced from its mother, and D" if from its
father.
All we need, therefore, to decide whether a tribe in which irregular marriages occur
is patrilineal or matrilineal is a certain number of genealogies. Mr. Mathews has realised
this, and has published at different times genealogies of the Arunta and Chingalee tribes.
In the American Anthropologist, Vol. 10, page 90, he gives the record of twelve
marriages of Arunta men and women, eight of which are regular, while the other four
are all of Type II. These four are as follows : —
Purula marries Knuraia, children Kamara.
Paltara „ Mbitjana, „ Knuraia.
Bangata „ Kamara, „ Pananka.
Pananka „ Ngala, „ Bangata.
In the following table I have substituted the letters of the diagram for the names
[ 57 ]
No. 32.]
MAN.
[1910.
of the classes, and in the fourth column I have given the class to Avhich the child
would belong if the mother had married into her regular class : —
B' marries A", children C' (C").
D' „ C", „ A" (A').
D" „ C', „ A' (A").
A' „ B", „ D" (D').
In the Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of N.S. Wales, Vol. XLI,
p. 151, Mr. Mathews giA7es a further list of eight Arunta marriages. In one case
there are no children : the other seven as follows : —
Paltara (D') marries Mbitjana (C"), children Knuraia (A"). [Three cases.]
Pananka (A') „ Ngala (B") „ Bangata (D").
Bangata (D") „ Kamara (C') „ Pananka (A').
Purula (B') „ Knuraia (A") „ Kamara (C'). [Two cases.]
From a consideration of these cases (eleven in all) I think we are justified in
stating the following law : — Among the Arunta, when a man, instead of marrying into
his regular class, enters into a marriage of Type II, the children belong to the class
to which they would have belonged if they had been his children by a regular marriage,
and they do not belong to the class to which they 'would have belonged if they had
been the offspring of their actual mother by a regular marriage. We are therefore
justified in asserting that what evidence there is shows that the Aruuta count descent,
as regards class, in the paternal line.
We turn now to the Chingalee (or Tjingilli) tribe. In the Journal and Pro-
ceedings of the Royal Society of N.S. Wales, Vol. XLI, p. 72, Mr. Mathews gives
some genealogies, from which we extract the following marriages : —
1. Champina marries Tungaree, children Chungalee.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Tungaree
Chungalee
Tungaree
Chimitcha
6.
Chula
7.
Chimitcha
8.
Tar alee
9.
10.
Tungaree
Taralee
11.
Chuna
Taralee,
Chula,
Chemara,
Chungalee,
Chuna,
Chuua,
Chemara,
Champina,
Champina,
Chuna
„ Chula.
„ Tungaree.
„ Chimitcha.
„ Taralee.
„ Chemara.
„ Chemara.
„ Chimitcha.
„ Chuna.
„ Chuna.
(JSo family).
Substituting the letters of the diagram we get the following table : — Column I
is the man, column II his wife, and column III their children. Column IV gives
the class to which the children would belong if they were the children of their actual
father by a regular marriage, and column V gives the type of the marriage which
has actually taken place.
—
I.
11.
III.
IV.
V.
1.
C"
D"
B"
B"
I.
2.
D"
D'
B'
A'
III.
3.
B"
B'
D"
C"
III.
4.
D"
C'
A"
A'
II.
5.
A"
B"
D'
D'
I.
6.
B'
A'
C'
C'
I.
7.
A"
A'
C'
D'
III.
8.
D'
C'
A"
A"
I.
9.
D"
C"
A'
' A'
I.
10.
D'
C"
A'
A"
II.
11.
A'
A'
No children.
IV.
[ 58
1910.] MAN. [NOB. 32-33.
If the reader will study this table by the help of the diagram he will see that
its results may be summarised in the following law : — Amongst the Chingalee, when a
man, instead of marrying into his regular class, enters into a marriage of Type II
or Type III, the children belong to the class to which they would belong if they had
been the offspring of their actual mother by a marriage of Type I, and they do not
belong to the class to which they would belong if they had been the children of their
actual father by a regular marriage. That is, the Chingalee reckon descent, in so far
as concerns the class, through the mother.
It is obvious that irregular marriages may make a difference as regards descent
of phratry. Dealing first with the Arunta, we lind that marriages of Types III and
IV apparently never take place. If we regard the phratries, on Spencer and Gillen's
evidence, as consisting of A + D and B -f- C, we can say that among the Arunta the
phratry is always strictly exogamous, and descent as regards phratry is patrilineal.
Amongst the tribes of the Chingalee type, on the other hand, the phratries
(A + D and B + C) are not strictly exogamous, since marriages of Types III and
IV are marriages within the phratry. Further, when marriages of these two types
occur, the children belong to the phratry which is not that of their parents. Thus
if an A' man marries an A" woman the child is C" and does not belong to the
phratry of its father and mother.
The facts concerning descent in tribes having eight matrimonial classes may be
summarised as follows : —
(1) Phratry. — In tribes of the Arunta type the phratries are strictly exogamous
and descent is patrilineal. In tribes of the Chingalee type the phratry is not strictly
exogamous, and descent, while generally patrilineal, is sometimes irregular.
(2) Class. — In tribes of the Chingalee type the class of the child is determined
by that of its mother. In tribes of the Arunta type the class of the child is determined
by that of its father.
(3) Totem. — In tribes of the Arunta type the totem is not acquired by inheritance.
In tribes of the Chingalee type it would seem that the totem of a child is generally
inherited from its father, but there are numbers of exceptions. About these exceptions
further information is urgently needed.
The tribes of the Arunta type are the Arunta, llpirra, Iliaura, Unmatjera, and
Kaitish. To the Chingalee type belong all the other eight-class tribes of which we
have any information.
I have been concerned only in this note to elucidate the facts, not to theorise about
them. The facts I have pointed out do not, however, seem to have been understood by
the writers who have dealt with the problems of the social organisation of the eight-
class tribes, and much of what has been written on that subject is on this account
unsatisfactory. Any theory of the origin of the eight-class system, and the relation of
the Arunta to tribes of the Chingalee type, must take account of the facts I have
presented if it is to be of any value. A. R. BROWN.
India : Assam. Shakespear.
Note on the Manipuri "Yek." By Lieut. -Colonel J. Shakespear, C.I.E., QQ
D.S.O. 00
With reference to my remarks regarding the possibility of the Manipuri " Yek "
being a totemistic division (MAN, 1908, 106), I have made inquiry, and the following
is the result : —
There are in the Meithei population seven main divisions called Salai or Yek,
each is named after a mythical ancestor. There were originally nine such divisions,
[ 59 1
No. 33.] MAN. [1910.
but in the Raja Gharib Nawaz's reign the Nangang division was made to amalga-
mate with the Ningthouja and the Khaba with the Nalba division, forming the division
now known as Khabanalba ;. in both these cases the smallness of the division
absorbed was given as the reason for the action taken. Each of these Salais or Yeks
is subdivided into a large number of Sageis or Yumnaks, each named after its
founder.
Each Salai or Yek has a certain flower, animal, &c., which is preferred by the god
of the Salai and used in his worship. The following is a translation of a portion of
a paper given me by Mr. Hodson for purposes of inquiry : —
" Angom was born from the brain (of Guru, the most excellent spirit) : his day
it is Sunday, his month it is Wakening, his star it is Chingjaroibi, his letter (ma,
his Yek letter) it is Ko, his flower it is Leisang, his fruit it is heibong, his fish it is
ngawa, his animal it is the crow-pheasant, his direction it is north-west towards
Kaobaru, his Lai (god) it is Soraren-namungba, his leaf it is leihou, his firewood it is
chinghao, his navel, cord, and after-birth all three are in the Kongba river. His dao
is the Dao Pukap. The woman who received him on his birth was Khakpa Ning-
thauchanu, his colour is white, his fire is sixfold."
The explanation given me is that the direction is that in which Angom was
born, and his descendants face that way in domestic worship ; the various flowers,
fruits, &c. are offered in this worship, and they are eaten by the worshippers ; the
bird, on account of the people having become Hindus, is no longer killed or eaten, but
my informants say that probably it used to be eaten. The fire of the god must be lit in
this way : first one piece of wood is lit, then from that another, and so on six times,
and with the sixth the fire is lit. There are similar rules for all the seven Salais.
None of these articles are in any way tabued to the clan.
The Salais are exogamous. Further, marriages of persons connected on the
maternal side within three generations are prohibited, though they belong to different
Salais, for children take the Salai of their father. Formerly this restriction extended
to five generations, but Maharajah Chandra Kriti changed it. The letter Ko is
chosen, as it represents Kok, i.e., head whence Angom was born. It seems that Yek,
used as an equivalent for Salai, is taken from the fact that each Salai has a special
letter. Ziak in Lushai means " to write." Angom is now considered a Lai or god, but
the domestic worship is paid to Soraren-namungba.
There is no common tabu for the whole Angom clan, but each of the Sageis, or
Yumnaks, into which the Salai is divided, has particular tabus of its own. Thus, the
Sarangthem Yumnak of the Chenglei Salai, may not eat, cut or plant a tree called
Heinang, touching or seeing it is not prohibited. Nor must a member of that Yumnak
kill a bamboo rat, and, though seeing it is not unlucky, my informant said he would fear
to touch one. The penalty for breaking one of these tabus is a serious illness in the
family of the offender. To avoid this the god of the Salai is worshipped by the head
of the household, who makes offerings of the appropriate flowers, fruits, &e., which are
subsequently eaten by the family. If the householder likes he may call a Maiba (priest)
to perform the ceremony. The reason of these tabus in this Yumnak is said to have
been an order from the god to the founder of the family, but I think this is a guess ;
probably there is some more definite reason as in the case of the Hijam, Yumnak,
of the Luang Salai, whose members are prohibited from eating gourds, because their
ancestor was accidentally killed trying to pluck a gourd. The Thaurem Yumnak of
the Khumul Salai may not put the wood of the Semel cotton tree into their mouths
nor use its charcoal in the hukahs because the clan Lai, Pakhangba, once turned
himself into a semel tree and fell into the river, and Khumul drank of the water and
went mad. Cutting and touching and looking at it are not prohibited. The same
Yumnak may not kill nor eat the uthum bird. When I asked the reason I was told
[ 60 ]
1910.] MAN. [Nos, 33-34.
glibly that the reason was that the uthnm was the bird of the Salai, but on my asking
if, then, the tabu extended to the whole Salai I was told no ; only to the Thaurem
Yuranak, and my informant could not account for this, but further enquiries elicited the
fact that once when the ancestor of the Thaurem was offering the uthum bird to the
lai of the Salai, the bird flew away, and so the Thaurem no longer kill it.
It appears, therefore, that I was wrong in saying that there were some reasons
for thinking the Manipuri Yek a totemistic division. J. SHAKESPEAR.
REVIEWS.
Archaeology. Lockyer.
Stonehenge and other British Sto?ie Monuments Astronomically considered. OJ
By Sir Norman Lockyer, K.C.B., F.R.S., &c. London : Macmillan & Co. UTT
1909. Second edition. Pp. xvi x 499. With 106 illustrations. 23 x 15 cm.
Price 14*. net.
Sir Norman Lockyer's work amongst our rude stone monuments is so well known
to all students of the subject, that the adjustment of their own views towards it is
probably settled beyond the possibility of being materially changed by anything that
may be said in the small space available for a notice in MAN : it -will, therefore, be
better to devote that space to a consideration of the new matter brought into this
edition rather than to a review of the whole book. Chapters 1 to 30 are apparently
a verbatim reprint of the first edition ; the new matter begins at page 325 and extends
to page 479, after which there are various appendices and the index, also in part new.
Beginning at the end — not always a bad thing to do — we find from " A General
" Summary " (Chapter 44) that the inquiry has been carried on at intervals since March,
1890. when Sir Norman Lockyer observed the magnetic bearing of the temple axis of
the Parthenon, and that until 1894 the research was almost entirely limited to Egypt,
where the author " found that the Egyptians carefully built their temples so that the
" rising and the setting of certain stars, and of the sun at certain times of the year,.
" could be watched along the temple axis by the priest in the sanctuary," for the
purposes of : — (1) determining the time at night ; (2) observing a star rising or setting
about an hour before sunrise on the chief festivals (so as to have sacrifices, &c., ready);
and (3) to determine when the sun had reached a certain part of its yearly path at
which the festivals occurred. A further conclusion was that the Egyptians " commenced
" with a year beginning in May — the ' May-year ' the first used in Britain, and still
" determining the quarter-days in Scotland ; later they passed to the ' solstitial year,'
" June 21, the beginning of the Nile rise, and the longest day, being the new new
" year's day. This is the origin of our present English year."
A consideration of our rude stone monuments on the basis of their having served
similar purposes causes Sir Norman Lockyer to think that the " stone-rows " and other
avenues, whether of stone or earth, were the simplest and the oldest, the cromlechs or
dolmens, simple and compound, and allees couvertes following, and being connected
with the avenues until in them " we are absolutely face to face with the ground-plan of
" Egyptian temples, so much so that there can be no question that those who built
" those magnificent monuments in Egypt some 2,000, 3,000, or 4,000 years B.C. got their
" ideas of the buildings they wished to erect from the traditions of people who built
" cromlechs, and who had lived in and used them." This statement will doubtless
delight Sir Norman Lockyer's Druidic friends, but we would rather not be between them
and the Egyptologists when they discuss that phase of the matter. The circles, though
connected with the avenues and dolmens, represent in the author's eyes " a later
" development, and this view is strengthened by the fact that there are no circles in
[ 61 ]
No, 34.] MAN. [1910.
" Egypt, where the avenue-cromlech system is most developed." The circle with its
outstanding stones was quite as useful astronomically as any Egyptian temple, and far
easier and cheaper to construct.
Returning to the beginning of the new matter, which deals mostly with
monuments visited by Sir Norman Lockyer, after the publication of his first edition,
we find, in the first place, an argument in favour of the dolmens having been made,
not for tombs, but for dwelling places and observatories for the priests, who carried
on the ceremonies in the circles, or, rather, perhaps in the dolmens themselves, before
the circles began to be erected, for, generally speaking, where circles abound dolmens
do not, and where dolmens are numerous circles are scarce. Even in West Cornwall
where they are more mixed than in most places, they are not in very close association
with each other. Most of the dolmens mentioned by the author point towards the
sun-rising at various times of the year ; the exception is the chamber inside the
circle at Callernish, which is suggested to have been directed to the rising of the
Pleiades in 1330 B.C. When Sir Norman Lockyer has time to visit Callernish himself
he will probably come to the conclusion that that chamber is a parasitic addition,
made, perhaps, a thousand years after the date mentioned. Dolmens generally were
certainly oriented, most frequently towards a winter sunrise, but it no more follows
from this that they were used to watch for it, than it follows from the orientation
of our churches that they were intended for that purpose. At Carrowmore in
Ireland there were a hundred dolmens or more in one square mile, and these could
hardly have been anything but tombs. In some cases, however, dolmens, differently
constructed, were probably used as shrines, and, perhaps, at some times and places
even as habitations. Maeshowe, in Orkney, resembles much more the ancient houses
in Lewis than the ordinary dolmens, and was probably, as Sir Norman Lockyer says,
a " Priest's house " ; but New Grange, with which it is often compared, is quite a
•different thing, and, as a habitation, would combine the greatest amount of labour in
•construction with the smallest convenience in use ; now the ancient men did not give
themselves much unnecessary trouble in their works.
After dealing with various lines and avenues, Sir Norman Lockyer takes up the
Aberdeenshire circles. Most of these are distinguished from all others by the long
stone set on edge between two uprights, and now commonly called the recumbent
stone. Mr. Coles, who has measured all that remains of these circles, has found
sixty-one of these recumbent stones, sixty of which are in the southern half of their
respective circles (the sixty-first may not have been a recumbent stone at all) ; he
strongly objects to the idea that the builders of these circles took any account of sun
•or stars, but has not yet explained how the southern half of the circles could have
been differentiated from the north without some recourse to one or the other ; and it
*can hardly be contended that all the recumbent stones got into the southern half,
if not indeed into the southern quarter, by accident, or that the builders had magnetic
compasses. Sir Norman Lockyer has himself examined twenty-nine of these circles,
and says fifteen of them were for "clock stars" (to determine the time at night),
rtwo u May-year," three solstitial, four facing north and one west, the latter is the
sixty-first mentioned above. He associates the northward facing with a watching
of the nightly voyage of the Great Bear round Polaris, and this view might find
support from Northern Asia. Dolmens are, as he says, scarce in Scotland, but with
regard to what he calls " chambered cairns," Sir Norman Lockyer will be interested
to hear that, while there are none round Aberdeen, there are several, surrounded by
•circles, round Inverness, where the circles with recumbent stones are not found. A
model of one at Clava — a small edition of New Grange — was shown in the Science
.Department of the Franco-British Exhibition under his own presidency.
There are chapters on the Inter-relation of Monuments, Cromlechs in North Wales,
[ 62 ]
1910.] MAN. [Nos. 34-35.
the Welsh Gorsedd, and " Multiple Circles," concerning all of which something might
be said if space permitted.
The observation of the snn and stars by the builders of the rude stone monuments,
and their nse of some of the stones for the purpose, may be regarded as certainly
established ; and the " May-year " is also an indisputable fact, since it still exists in
Scotland ; but the dating of the monuments is admitted to be subject in all cases
to more precise observations of them and their horizons, and it must also be subject, to
other considerations. Although some stones certainly were set up on an astronomical
basis it does not follow that all were, and the particular monument under discussion
at any moment may have served some other object, and may even not have been in
existence at the date suggested by the stars. What is wanted is some corroborative
evidence of a different description as to the age of the particular stones in question,
but that is difficult to obtain. Excavation may help in some cases, but it is expensive
and not always possible ; at Arborlow and Avebury it has tended to show a neolithic
origin for those circles, and so far helps to support Sir Norman Lockver's views as
to their age ; and much might be done in this way on the sites of the Aberdeenshire
circles, which very likely belong to a later period.
Whatever result may be obtained from further investigations — and there is room
for many of various kinds — Sir Norman Lockyer's essays must always be considered
as characteristically courageous and original attempts to solve a difficult and complex
problem, and not to be neglected by any who come after him, even if they should not
ultimately be found correct in every particular. The photographs of many little-known
monuments in very different parts of the country, most of which have been taken by
Lady Lockyer, add greatly to the interest and value of the book, and are alone worth
the additional price of the new edition. A. L. LEWIS.
New Guinea. Ker.
Papuan Fairy Tales. By Annie Ker. London : Macmillan, 1910. Pp. xi+149. QC
21 X 14 cm. Price 5.9. UU
During the last thirty or forty years the output of traditional tales has been
enormous, alike in collections and in scattered contributions to periodicals. They are
the vogue. This is the result partly of their newly-discovered anthropological value,
but partly also of their naivete, their artistic value and their capacity, wherever they
may have been gathered, to interest the children of civilised communities. For the
latter purpose, however, it is necessary at times to modify such as may be of savage
provenience, to soften some of their ruggedness, and to omit or disguise their more repul-
sive features. Whether they can be depended on for scientific ends is therefore a
question to be determined not only by reference to the qualifications and opportunities of
the collector, but also by the class of readers for whom they are intended.
Mrs. Ker's little book is addressed mainly to children and non-scientific readers.
It is written in simple and charming English. The tales are obviously genuine, and
they seem to be told with little alteration of their original incidents. The authoress
has not, indeed, avoided all difficulties, as witness her slurring of the Joseph-and-
Potiphar's-wife incident in the story of The Unlucky Man. She does, however, preserve
items of native belief and traits of manners that must, one would think, be a stumbling-
block to children, even with their almost unlimited power of granting implicit postulates,
and of investing themselves with the strange atmosphere of a foreign tale.
Fairy Tales, it need hardly be said, is a misnomer. Fairies are only once mentioned,
and they are not fairies but jungle spirits more or less hostile to mankind. The stories
are for the most part, like the Australian and other savage traditions, aetiological.
They account for the legs and wings of the crane, the customs in war of various
[ 63 ]
Nos, 35-36.] MAN. [1910.
tribes, remarkable rocks, and so forth. While many of the incidents are strange to
us, they include plenty common to the traditional stories of mankind, such as those of
Supernatural Forgetfulness, the Magical Flight, the Life Token, the Theft of Fire, the
Supernatural Birth. It is interesting to find that of the child born of a woman left
alone in a deserted village, who grows up a hero and slays the monster that ravages
the neighbourhood — a story common in North America, but, perhaps, not so well known
elsewhere.
It is to be regretted that the authoress has not stated definitely where and from
what tribe she collected the tales, and that she has not told us something about the
people. These things do not concern children, but she evidently seeks to interest
others also ; and, seeing that so few Papuan tales have yet reached this country, the
collection will not be without its uses for anthropologists. A vocabulary of the native
terms should have been added. The plates, reproduced from photographs, are of
varying value ; some of them give a good idea of native types and surroundings.
E. S. H.
Anthropology. Dieserud.
The Scope and Content of the Science of Anthropology. By Juul Dieserud,
A.M. Chicago (Open Court), 1908. Pp. 200. 20 x H cm.
Mr. Dieserud's essay is divided into three sections. The first, dealing with the
scope and content of anthropology, is mainly critical ; the second consists of a
classification for the use of librarians and bibliographers ; the third contains a
bibliography with a summary of the main conclusions, and the trend of each work
noted. The second section, in addition to its primary object, is, of course, valuable
in assisting the reader to grasp Mr. Dieserud's point of view in his discussion of the
definitions of the scope of anthropology, and the classifications of the subject-matter
of the science which have been proposed from time to time by other writers. A brief
historical introduction precedes Part I.
Adopting Topinard's definition of anthropology as " the branch of natural history
" which treats of man and the races of man," a definition which, he points out,
practically all anthropologists accept without any general agreement as to its meaning,
he divides the science both on terminological grounds, and for reasons of convenience,
into two main divisions, physical or somatological and " ethnical " anthropology, the
latter — not a very satisfactory term — covering the function of anthropology as a
" psycho-socio-cultural science."
Mr. Dieserud accepts as the main constituent elements of somatological anthro-
pology : — human anatomy, physiology, pathology, comparative or zoological anthropology,
and psychology. It is in discussing how far anatomy, physiology, pathology, zoology,
and psychology come within the confines of anthropology that the author makes what is
perhaps his most useful contribution to the discussion by the emphasis he lays upon
the fact that it is not so much the actual subject-matter of investigation, as the point
of view from which it is approached, that brings an enquiry within the scope of the
science. To English anthropologists the section dealing with the use of the terms
ethnology and ethnography will probably prove the least satisfactory, and with the
conclusions of which they will find themselves least in agreement, the author's view
being that ethnology should be regarded as synonymous with Professor Holmes's
" culture anthropology." E. N. F.
ERRATUM.
The price of Santa Cruz and the Reef Islands (reviewed in MAX, 1910, 25)
was incorrectly stated to be one shilling : it should have been sixpence.
Printed by EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE. LTD., His Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street. E.G.
MAN, igio.
O
<
DC
O
O
LU
Q
1910.]
MAN.
[No. 37.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Africa, West. With Plate E. Thomas.
Decorative Art among the Edo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria :
I. Decoration of Buildings. By N. W. Thomas, M.A.
In this linguistic family, of which the Bini are the best known and most populous
tribe, there is, on the whole, a marked absence of incised, plastic, or laid-on ornament.
In Benin City individual houses are found with colours laid on the outer walls in
geometrical or other simple design ; in one case I have noticed the niche of an ebo
(commonly translated " juju ") with a circle of radiating coloured bands around it ;
and one house has plastic figures of Europeans and others upon it ; but all these cases
are sporadic and due to individual taste or eccentricity.
In Uzebu, a western suburb of Benin City, where Ojumo resides, I found on the
wall of a house a rosette, the name of which was given as ukegbe (tortoise-shell)
and a scroll pattern termed pbanuli, or " 200 mark " ; this was, with one exception,
the only occasion on which I got a definite name and interpretation for a pattern ;
the other instance was that of the single hatching /////////// which is called ebewana,
'' palm leaf " ; in all other cases I could not get more than the name oba (mark) ;
other scroll patterns are found in Uzebu. Very fine examples of them are preserved
in the mess-room of the Resi-
dency in the shape of two large
chests, the surfaces of which
are covered with this design and
with rosettes.
Next to the scroll work,
of which examples are figured
from Ugo, one day's march
east of Benin City, close to the
Agbor district ; Jeduma, two
days north-east of Benin City ;
Eviakoi and Iguichimi, both ten
or twelve miles north of Benin
City ; and Ugboviato, in the Ora ^^^l
country, the most frequent form
of ornament was a series of con- BMVfl
centric circles, shown on the left
of Fig. 1 in the plate. I noted FJG- 5-
this also at Ewu, near Agbede, in the Ishan district. Almost equally frequent is a
small incised triangle, not shown in the illustration, but analogous to the rectangular
depressions in the lower part of Fig. 2. Non-incised coloured triangles are in the main
the groundwork of the decoration of the shrine of Ovato at Jeduma, shown in Fig. 1.
As a rule these decorations are found in the house dedicated to the ebo, as at
Jeduma and Eviakoi, in the king's house, as at Ugo, or in ruined houses, as in the
case of Ugboviato and Iguichimi.
In the extreme north-east of the Ifon district, on the boundary of Northern
Nigeria, but not, so far as I was able to observe, extending over the boundary, is found
the singular type of decorative art shown in Fig. 4. The example is from the interior
of the king's house ; it is the work of women, and is renewed or replaced by new
designs annually. I found similar designs at Otna, some five miles away, and they
occur sporadically near Afuge, a day's march south-east, but in this case inter-marriage
affords a probable explanation. Another example is faintly seen on the left of Fig. 2,
above the scroll work.
[ 65 ]
Nos. 37-38.]
MAN.
[1910.
FIG. 6.
Human figures, of which one is seen in the centre of Fig. 2, are rare in plastie
art except where they represent an e.bo, usually Esu, the mischievous ebo whose figure
is never found save outside the house, usually on the left of the door. I could get na
explanation of the figure at Ugboviato.
On the aluebo at Iguichimi (Fig. 3) are seen, on the right of the scroll, an ada,
or chief's knife, carried by the omada on state occasions ; below are two cocks, and
on the left the ebe, or ceremonial sword.
The objects depicted on the wall at Okpe are — (1) a tortoise, (2) a big bird
(owobo), (3) a small bird, (4) a butterfly (alotomi), (5) a court messenger accom-
panying (6) the District Commissioner,
(0 (9) purificatory medicine (aba),
and (8) a pepper pounder (innobo).
Fig. 5 is from the house sacred
to Ochwaie, at Eviakoi, near Benin,
City. Above the scroll work is seen
a snake, the emblem of this ebo.
Fig. 6 is from a small oguedion in.
front of the king's house at Ugo ;
lying beneath the number are the-
uchure which represent his ancestors,
and over which the sacrificial blood
is poured.
With the exception of the Okpe-
examples there is little stylicisation,
though the human figure on the left of the convertical chevrons in Fig. 1, which is
formed of triangles, coloured, or left blank, shows a tendency in this direction. As
a rule, however, the objects depicted are easily recognisable. At Ifon I found a duck
and a hoe on the wall of a house, and a figure more like a platypus than anything
else, proclaimed by its spots to be a leopard.
A lizard drawn before a shrine in a village close to Enyai Market showed a
resemblance to the animal ; in the representations of chameleons and other animals
on the osun, of which an example is to be found in the British Museum, we also find* a
considerable amount of stylicisation ; but in this case we are hardly justified in speaking
of the representations as decorative art, for the purpose was almost certainly magical.
The present note deals exclusively with the design on walls ; I propose to discuss the
patterns of rings, bracelets, and other objects of wood or metal on some future occasion.
N. W. THOMAS.
Andamans. Schmidt.
Nochmals: Puluga, das hbchste Wesen der Andamanesen. ' "" QO
P. W. Schmidt, S.V.D* 00
In der Marz-Nummer des MAN (1910, 33fF) hat Mr. Brown eine Erwiderung auf
meine Kritik (MAN, 1910, 2ff) seines Artikels in Folklore (Sept. 1909, S. 257ff)
erscheinen lassen, die sich durch eine fiir wissenschafthche Erorterungeu ganz un-
gewohnliche Heftigkeit des Tones bemerkbar macht. Ich werde mich durch dieselbe
nicht abhalten lassen, auf seine Ausserungeu in aller Ruhe zu antworten.
Mi\ Brown hat mir auf meine Interpellation hin den Gefallen getan, sich iiber
die " strict methods " zu aussern, die er befolgt hat. D. h. fiir jetzt nur iiber seine
Methoden in der Erklarung der Tatsachen ; die Darlegung seiner Beobachtungs-
* Ich muss die Redaktion und die Leser des MAN bitten, mir zu gestatten, bei diesem Artikel
mich meiner Muttcrsprache zu bedienen, da es mir hier darauf ankommt, mehr noch als sonst, Sinn
und Tragweite meiner Worte und Satze genau abmessen zu konnen, was, wie ich fiirchte, ich beim
Gebrauch des Englischen nicht immer mit voller Sicherheit konnte. — P. W. SCHMIDT.
[ 66 ]
1910.] MAN. [No, 38.
methoden verschiebt er auf sein deranlichst erscheinendes Buch. Er meiut inbezujr
c^
auf letztere : " Fatber Scbmidt appears to disbelieve, not only my arguments, but also
" my observations." Ich wiisste nicbt, wo ich ein " disbelieve " gegeniiber den
Beobacbtungen Mr. Brown's in dieser Allgenirinln-it zum Ausdruck gebracht hatte.
Thatsache ist vielmehr (1), dass icb beziiglicb einiger Punkte, die ich namhaft, gemacht,
keine Ursache sehe, Mr. Man und Mr. Portman weniger zu glauben als Mr. Brown ;
(2) dass ich die Wahrhaftigkeit Mr. Brown's bei alien seinen Beobachtungen gerade
so wenig in Zweifel gezogen, als er, wie ich denke, die Wahrhaftigkeit Mr. Man's und
Mr. Portman's. Dagegen ging Mr. Brown so weit, mir alle und jede Wahrhaftigkeit
abzusprechen ("he is always seeking, not the truth, but evidence for a pre-formed
u theory ") ; indes dariiber werde ich zum Schluss noch ein Wort zu sagen habeu.
Seine Methode der Interpretation der Tatsachen gibt Mr. Brown dann in sieben
Punkten kund, jedesmal eine Beurteilung dessen, was er fur meine Methode halt,
daranschliessend. Insofern diese letztere nur eine allgemeine Abschatzung bedeutet,
habe ich keine Veranlassung darauf niiher eiuzugehen ; es liegt bis jetzt nichts vor, was
derartigen Urteilen Mr. Brown's eine besondere Bedeutung verleihen konnte. Wo er
dagegen konkrete Punkte bespricht, werde ich nicht verfehlen, ihm Antwort zu geben.
Fast alle methodischen Grundsatze nun, die Mr. Brown aufstellt, mit Ausnahme
des ganz selbstverstandlichen " mind free from preconceived opinions," bediirfen starker
Korrekturen oder wenigsteus Ergiinzungen. Wenn er in (2) die Forderung aufzustellen
scheint, dass nur der in irgend einer Weise iiber ein Volk urteilen diirfe, der selbst bei
ihm geweilt habe, so ist das nur die Erneuerung der torichten Ansicht von Howitt,
die aber dann u. a. von N. W. Thomas in sehr nachdriicklicher Weise zuriickgewiesen
wurde, was nachzulesen Mr. Brown sehr niitzlich ware, s. Folklore, XVII. (1906),
SS. 306-307. Nach diesem Grundsatze konnten sich, um nur englische Namen zu
nennen, Manner wie Tylor, Hartland, Lang, Frazer, Haddon, Marett, u. s. w. in der
Ethnologic entweder gar nicht oder nur iiber sehr beschrankte Gebiete ein Urteil
erlauben.
Dass man (3) (4) ein Volk. so weit es geht aus seiner eigenen Mentalitat erklaren
soil, ist bis zu einem gewissen Grade richtig ; in der Unbeschranktheit angewendet,
wie Brown diese Forderung ausspricht, wurde sie zu den grossten Ungeheuerlich-
keiten fiihren. Sie ist dann nichts anders als die nun schon veralternde Theorie
des absoluten Elementargedankens von Bastian. Auch die Andamanesen sind mit
ihrer Mentalitat nicht vom Himmel gefallen und haben sie danu ohne jede Eiuwirkung
von aussen weiter entwickelt. Sondern Einwirkungen von aussen und Zusammen-
hlinge dahin sind von vornherein wahrscheinlich, und jeder exakte Forscher hat
nicht nur das Recht, sondern auch die Pflicht, sich nach ihnen umzusehen. Und
dass hier auch positiv schon bedeutend mehr gesagt werden kanu. als Mr. Brown zu
glauben scheint, davon kann er sich in meinen Pygmaen-Werke (s. MAN, 1910, S. 7,
Anm. 2), S. 273 ff., iiberzengeu.
Es ist mir nicht recht gewiss, was Mr. Brown uuter " direct evidence " (5)
versteht. Wenn sie bloss die Beobachtungen umfassen, die man mit Augen sieht und
mit Ohren hort, und ausschliessen soil alles, was mau aus diesen Wahrnehmungen
durch legitime Schlussfolgerungen ableiten kann, so ist die Forderung Brown's, dass
man auch fur die Konstatierung der vergangenen Entwickelungsformen uur derlei
" direct evidence " verwenden diirfe, geradezu ein Nonsens, da die Vergangenheit ja
doch mit unmittelbarer Beobachtung niemals erfasst wird, sondern immer und ohne
Ausnahme nur durch Schlussfolgerungen zu erreichen ist. Vielleicht muss ich hier
hinzunehmen, was Mr. Brown, S. 36, unter (3) sagt. Hier begeben sich aber recht
seltsame Dinge. Mr. Brown meint dort, meine Methode sei " an extreme example
" of a kind unfortunately still very common in ethnological literature. As long as
'; such arguments are tolerated and listened to, so long must ethnology remain in its
[ 67 ]
No. 38.] MAN. [1910.
u unscientific way." Diese pretentiose Altklugheit bei einem jungen Forscher, der
uns sein erstes wissenschaftliches Buch noch erst zu schenken hat, macht sich ganz
kostlich. Ja, und sind wir jetzt wirklich so gliicklich, den Messias gefunden zu haben,
der uns den einzig moglicben Weg aus all diesen Wirrsalen herauszukommen, eroflfnet ?
Horen wir, wie Mr. Brown fortfahrt : — " The only way in which it is possible to prove
*' that a given belief or institution is a survival of another belief or institution, is
*' (1) to show that, historically, the one belief has followed the other in some
u particular society, and (2) that the change from one to the other is due to a
*' particular cause. Then (3) if we find the latter belief existing in another society,
*' and also (4) find direct evidence that the same cause or causes have been at work,
" there is (5) a probability for the existence, in that society, of the earlier belief."
Nun sind wir aber doch einigermassen enttauscht ; denn was uns da als neue Weisheit
so stolz verkiindet wird, wurde in solider Forschung doch schon so lange gettbt, dass
jemand, der mit diesen Dingen bekannt ist, das nicht hatte als neuen eigenen Fund
ausgeben diirfen. Und gar keine andere als diese Methode habe auch ich selbst
hier angewendet. Die Bedingungen (1) und (2)* habe iche in meinem soeben
erschienenen Werk iiber die Religionen und Mythologien der austronesischen Volker
(s. MAN, 1910, S. 5, Anm. 1) erfiillt. Die Erfiillung der Bedingung (3) liegt in den
Hinweisen auf die ahnlichen Formen der andamanesischen Mythologie : BUikiCs Identi-
fikation mit der Spinne und mit dem abnehmeiiden Mond, Teria-Darid's Zusaminen-
hang mit dem zunehmenden Mond, die Identifikation von Oluga und Patia mit der
Eidechse, das zeitweilige Bruder- oder Freundesverhaltnis von Daria zu Puluga (MAN,
1910, SS. o, 6). Die Forderung (4) ist erfiillt durch den Nachweis, dass eine
Anzahl von Punkten rein zufalliger Natur hier gerade so zueinander gehoren, wie
auch in der austronesischen Mythologie, was auf die Wirksamkeit gleicher Ursachen
schliessen lasst. Das alles gibt dann (5) die Probabilitat, das auch die friih eren Zu-
stande der beiden Mythologien gleiche oder ahnliche gewesen sind. Denn dass ich
fiir diese letztere Schlussfolgerung nicht mehr als Probabilitat in Anspruch genommen,
habe ich doch geniigend zum Ausdruck gebracht dadurch, dass ich die ganze Schluss-
kette nur als eine Theorie bezeichnete. Was will also Mr. Brown denn eigentlich
noch ? Was er dann jetzt noch weiter folgen lasst, ist beinahe unglaublich ; denn es
bedeutet nichts anderes als die glatte Leugnung einer Mb'glichkeit, iiberhaupt
irgendwie vergleichende ethnologische Forschung zu treibeu: "This probability can be
•" strengthened in many ways, but it can never become certainty till we have proved that
u the latter belief could not arise in any other way, and this is a task which is in
" nearly all cases quite impossible." Was Mr. Brown zu diesen Seltsarakeiten gebracht
hat, ist wohl einerseits sein jugendliches Sichfiihlen als " Spezialforscher ", zweitens
aber auch der Umstand, dass ihm die scholastischen Eierschalen noch zu sehr anhaften.
Das letztere schliesse ich daraus, dass er so besorgt ist mir einige Lektiouen in der
Logik der Induktion zu empfehlen ; er weiss also nicht, dass in den Geschichtswissen-
schaften — und zu diesen gehort ja die Ethnologic — eine metaphysische Gewissheit weder
raoglich noch notig ist, dass eine moralische vollstandig geniigt. Was fiir Lektionen
ich Mr. Brown empfehlen wiirde, werde ich am Schluss noch sagen.
Ich kehre zu Punkt (6) (S. 34) der Methode Brown's zuriick. Mr. Brown hat
" presumed that whatever beliefs are to be found in all the groups are essential and
original portions of the myth." Hier ist das Wort- " original " zweideutig ; soil es
heissen, dass die Meiuungen ganz in der Form, wie sie jetzt in alien Stammen vorliegen,
auch friiher^ ursprunglich in alien Stammen so gewesen seien, so ist die Regel falsch.
Es ist durchaus moglich, dass auch diese, in alien Gruppen verbreiteten Teile sdmtlich
schon verandert sind; was nun in Wirklichkeit der Fall ist, das zu bestimmen, niitzt
* Die Ziffern oben in dem Zitat aus Mr. Brown habe ich selbst der grosseren Ubersichtlichkeit
halber eingesetzt.
[ 63 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 38.
die Brown'sche Regel garnichts, das muss in jedem einzelnen Fall untersucht werden.
Noch schlimmer steht es mit der folgenden Regel : u. . beliefs which are
different in different groups are not so essential." 1st dieser vage Ausdruck " not so
essential " aus der Verlegenheit oder aus der Fliichtigkeit des Schreibers hervor-
gegangen ? Oder meiut Mr. Brown wirklich, dass es in der u Essentialitat " noch
verschiedene Grade- gebe ? Zur Sache ist zu betonen, dass auch Mythenteile, die nur in
einzelnen Gruppen vorkommen, ganz gut wesentliche Teile der urspriinglichsten Form
der Mythe sein konnen. Auch hier niitzt die Brown'sche Regel garnichts ; es ist wieder
die besondere Untersuchung, die entscheiden muss, was im einzelnen Fall vorliegt.
Es scheint fast, dass Mr. Brown als kluger Feldherr seine Truppen so aufgestellt
hat, dass die schwacheren weiter zuriick ihren Platz bekommen. War schon (6) nicht
viel mehr wert, so ist (7) vollends ohne jeden Halt. Denn abgesehen davon, dass jeder
Beweis fehlt fiir die Behauptung, dass die Mythologie der siidlichen Gruppe von
Gross Andaman — wie ihre Sprache (? ? ?) — hoher entwickelt gewesen sei (vgl. z. B.
Mr. Brown's eigene Angabe : " in the south Teria is generally ignored "), so haben wir
in der abgeleiteten Schlussfolgerung, dass sie deshalb die spateren Formen aufweise,
nur ein — um mit Mr. Brown zu reden — " extreme example of a kind unfortunately still
very common in ethnological literature ", ein Beispiel namlich jener unentwegten
Evolutionstheorie, die so gar nicht an das Vorkommen von Verkiinimerungen glauben
kann, sondern, einzig und allein, nur Entwickelungen von unten nach oben kennt.
Der Schlussfolgerung Mr. Brown's fehlt denn auch der bescheidenste Grad von
Probabilitat. Denn Mr. Brown weiss nichts zu erwidern auf das, was ich ihin
vorgehalten, dass die Entwicklung gerade so gut von Siidandaman (Bea, Bale) durch
Puchikwar, Kol, Juwoi, nach Nordandaman gehen konne, als umgekehrt ; ferner, dass
nicht Perlmutterschale und Feuerbrand ganz indiscriminatim in den Mythen aller
Gruppen erscheinen, sondern Perlmutterschale nur in der nordlichen, Feuerbrand nur
in der mitlleren und siidlichen Gruppe, und dass Feuerbrand zweifellos gegeniiber
Perlmutterschale das Friihere darstelle. Diese Argumente bleiben in ihrer Kraft
gegen Brown's Auffassung bestehen, auch wenn meine Theorie iiber die fruhere
Mondmythologie der Andamanesen vollstiindig fallen wiirde. Nach der gleichen
Richtung sprechen auch die beiden Tatsachen, die Mr. Brown in seinem Artikel in
Folklore (a.a.O., S. 267) selbst berichtet und aufrichtig gesteht nicht erklareuzu konnen,
und die in der Tat zu seiner Auffassung in scharfem Widerspruch stehen : dass Daria
im Siiden nahezu unbekannt ist, und dort Puluga alle Stiirme zugeschrieben werden,
dass aber auch im Norden Blitz und Gewitter nicht mit Tarai, sondern nur mit Biliku
in Verbindung gebracht werden, obwohl letztere den Nordostmonsun repriisentirt, der
fiir gewohnlich schones Wetter bringt.
So ist der jetzige Artikel Mr. Brown's interessant nicht nur durch das, was er
bringt, sondern noch mehr durch das, was er iibergeht. Das sticht um so mehr hervor
gegeniiber der Vehemenz und der sittlichen Enstriistung, mit der er jetzt einige
Inkorrektheiten hervorhebt, die er bei mir gefunden haben will. Zumal die sittliche
Entriistung ist hier etwas sehr seltsames. In wissenschaftlichen Diskussionen reifer
Manner entschliesst man sich nui auf die schwerwiegendsten Griinde bin, seinem Gegner
den guten Glauben abzusprechen ; ich erinnere mich keines Falles, wo dieses Gesetz
mit solchem Leichtsinn iibertreten worden ware, als es von Mr. Brown geschieht.
der mir hier " suggestio falsi " und " careful omissions " vorwirf t. Wenn ich in die
Fussstapfen Mr. Brown's treten wollte, so miisste ich jetzt sagen, dass die entriistete
Vehemenz Mr. Brown's sich aus dem Bestreben erklare, die Aufmerksamkeit der
Leser abzulenken von den entscheidendeu Punkten, die er unwiderlegt lassen musste.
Ich hiite mich, eine solche Beschuldigung auszusprechen.
Mr. Brown wirft mir zuerst vor, dass ich das Wort " firebrand " durch " torch "
ersetzt und gesagt babe, dass u torches " gerade so gut von Miinnern wie von Frauen
[ 69 ]
No. 38.] MAN. [1910.
gebraucht wiirden. Diese " substitution " meinerseits hat tatsiichlich stattgefunden,
aber nur in dem ganz allgemeinen Sinne, als ein vom Feuer genomnienes brennendes
Scheit Holz eine Fackel, im Deutschen wenigstens, genannt werden kann. Das geschah
ganz ohne weitere Absicht. Fiir diese hatte auch jede Veranlassung gefehlt, da ich
mit einer " substitution " in dem anderem Sinne gar nichts gewonnen hatte ; im
Gegenteil, da gerade die " torches " von Frauen gernacht werden.* Ferner ist es
zweifellos, dass nicht nur " torches " im eigentlichem Sinne, sondern auch " firebrands "
nicht nur von Frauen, sondern auch von Mannern gebraucht werden, wenn sie, die
sich doch auch ans Feuer lagern, dort zufallig in Zorn geraten. Das wird ja zu allem
Uberfluss auch noch positiv bezeugt von dem ganz bestimmt nur mdnnlichen Puluga
der Bea, der dem Feuerrauber einen Feuerbrand nachwirft.f Dazu komnt die schon
oben hervorgehobene Tatsache, dass gerade in der nordlichen Gruppe, wo Biliku
weiblich ist, der Feuerbrand in der Mythe nicht vorkommt. Es zeugt iiberhaupt von
einem sehr anfangshaften Stand des Forschens Mr. Brown's, dass er uns zumutet,
auf ein hingeworfenes Wort eiues einzigen Eingeborenen eine ganze wissenschaftliche
Theorie aufzubauen. Das ist hier um so weniger zuliissig, da die Ursache noch ganz
gut angegeben werden kann, aus welcher der Eingeborene zu seiner Meinung kam : er
gehorte zu der Mischgruppe Juwoi, Kol, Puchikwar, in der das Geschlecht Bulk's ja
schwankend ist.J
Nun kommt der einzige Punkt, in welchem, sachlich genommen, eine Beanstandung
Mr. Brown's zu einem Teil zurecht bestehen konnte. Sie bezieht sich darauf, dass
ich, um die Verbindung der Biliku der nordlichen Gruppe mit der Spinne zu erklaren,
statt der Perlmuttermuschel, welche Biliku wirft, die Cyrena-Muschel heranzog, welche
auch zum Verfertigen von Schniiren und Faden gebraucht wird. Mr. Brown stellt dem
die doppelte Versicheruug gegeniiber : (1) die Perlmuttermuschel wird in alien Teilen
der Andamanen, praktisch genommen nur von Frauen, zum Spalten (Offnen) und Reinigen
von Pflanzennahrung [vegetables] und — so fiigt er jetzt hiuzu — zu gar nichts anderem
gebraucht ; (2) die Cyrena-Muschel wird in gleicher Weise von Mannern und Frauen
und fur die verschiedensten Zwecke, einschliesslich Bereitung von Faseru fur Faden
und Schniire, gebraucht. Die Hinzufiigung, die Mr. Brown jetzt macht, dass die Perl-
muttermuschel zu garnichts anderen verwendet werde als zum Offhen und Reinigen der
Pflanzennahrung, schliesst allerdings ihre Verwendung zur Bereitung von Schnur-Fasern
aus. Indes darf wohl hinzugefiigt werden, dass diese jetzt gemachte Hinzufiigung,
deren subjektive Zuverlassigkeit keinem Zweifel zu begegnen braucht, doch nicht von
solcher objektiven Zuverlassigkeit ist, wie eine Konstatierung, die unabhangig von einer
kontrovertierten Hypothese an Ort und Stelle selbst vorgenommen worden ware ; Mr.
Brown macht ja selbst ganz zutreffend diesen Unterschied beziiglich einer anderen
Angabe geltfind, die er auch erst nachtraglich gemacht hatte. § Ferner was insbeson-
dere die Angabe Mr. Brown's augeht, dass die Perlmuttermuschel in so hervorragender
Weise in alien Teilen der Andamaneu gebraucht werde, kann ich doch uicht umhiu,
es sehr auffallend zu finden, dass weder E. H. Man in der doch ziernlich eingehenden
List of Objects made and used by the Andamanese,\\ noch in der List of Shells and
Shell Fish commonly known to the Andamanese*\ derselben irgend eine Erwahnung
tut ; dasselbe ist der Fall in dem grossen, 2,286 Worter enthaltenden vergleichenden
Worterbuch von Portman,** in welchem wohi die Perlmuttermuschel, nicht aber "cyrena
* E. K. MAN, On tlie Aboriginal ' Inliabitants of the Andaman Islands, S. 185.
t Portman, Notes of the Languages of the South Andaman Group of Language*, S. 97. Portman gibt
dasselbe fiir die Puchikwar an, bei denen er Bilik ebenfalls nur als mannlich gefunden hat, S. 100
I Brown, Folklore, a.a.O., SS. 266, 260. § Folklore, a.a.O., SS. 268, 269.
|| E. H. Man, a.a.O., SS. 175-187. f A.a.O., SS. 214-215.
** V. Portman, Notes on the Languages of the South Andaman Group of Tribes. Vocabulary,
SS. 1-191.
[ 70 ]
1910.]
MAN.
[Nos, 38-39,
shell,"* fehlt ; in einem anderen Werke Portman'sf findet sich zwar " mother of pearl ",
aber ohne weitere Angabe, also, wie es scheint, als blosses Naturobjekt. Dagegen
weist die sehr eingehende List of Articles made and used by the Andamanese^ die
Perlmuttermuschel nicht, wohl aber wieder " Cyrena-shell, used as a knife," auf.§
Gerade diese Tatsache nun, dass bei Man und Portman von der Perlmuttermuschel
und ihrem Gebrauch als " kitchen knife "|| ganz und gar nichts zu finden war, wahrend
dagegen die Cyrena-Muschel bei dieseu Autoren immer wieder, und zwar gerade auch
" used as a knife " angefiihrt wird, diese Tatsache war es, die mich dazu veranlasste
und, wie ich glaube, jedenfalls vor der neuen Erklarung Mr. Brown's, auch dazu
berechtigte, anstatt der Perlmuttermuschel die Cyrenamuschel einzusetzen. Das
zunachst aber nur in der Weise und bis zu dem Grade, dass ich annahm, wie ich es
auch schon in meinem vorigen Artikel deutlich zum Ausdruck brachte,1f die Cyreua-
muschel sei aus irgend einem Grunde im Norden, ganz oder zum Teil, durch die
Perlmuttermuschel ersetzt worden, da ja nur in der Nordgruppe die mit der Perlmutter-
schale verbundene Biliku zu finden ist. Aus all dem geht hervor, dass Mr. Brown
zu seinem heftigen und verletzenden Vorwurf keine Berechtigung hat. Ferner bleibt
bestehen, was ich iiber die objektive Zuverliissigkeit seiner neuen Hinzufiigung gesagt
habe, und es liegt Mr. Brown insbesondere ob, wenn er seine Angabe iiber den Gebrauch
der Perlmuttermuschel in alien Teilen der Andamanen aufrecht halt, die auffallende
Tatsache zu erklaren, dass Man und Portman von derselben fur ihre Gebiete keine
Erwahnung tun. (Fortsetzung folgt.} P. W. SCHMIDT.
Asia Minor : Archaeology. Thompson.
On some Prehistoric Stone Implements from Asia Minor. By QQ
R. Campbell Thompson, M.A., F.R.G.S. UU
While travelling between Angora and Eregli in Asia Minor last year Mr. Joseph
Weissberger and I obtained the stone
implements which are portrayed in this
article. Nos. 1 and 2 we found on
the surface on the rolling ground half
a day south-east of Angora, at our
bivouac at Uzal. The neighbouring
soil was covered with pieces of broken
pottery, but we obtained nothing ex-
cept these two implements and half
a ring of stone, which may have been
a hammerhead. No. 3 is an axehead,
which was found near the entrance of
the Soghanli Dere, about twenty-five
miles west of the great mountain
Argaeus. I am indebted to Dr. G. T.
Prior, of the Natural History Museum,
for his courtesy in identifying them
geologically as andesite.
No. 4 is a beautifully polished
axehead of serpentine, which my friend
bought at the Hittite ruins of Euyuk
and gave to me. Dr. Dodd, of the
No.l
IMPLEMENT OP ANDESITB FEOM NEIGH-
BOURHOOD OF ANGOBA. (f)
* Mit der Angabe, "This is the primitive knife of the Andamanese," S. 228.
t Portman, A Manual of Hie Andamanese Language* (London, 1887). J A.a.O., SS. 204-215-
§ A.a.O., S. 208. || So Brown's Benennung, Folklore, a.a.O., S. 263. ^ MAN, 1910, S. 5.
[ 71 ]
Nos. 39-40.]
MAN.
[1910.
American Hospital at Talas, showed me several small polished axeheads which had
come from other Hittite sites, but none were as large as this.
There are many prehistoric remains in the country between Angora and Eregli.
Near Angora itself are sixteen tumuli, and there are scores of them in the district
between Yuzgat and Ismail Dagh. At a place, Ajemi, between Erkekli and the Aje Su,
X0.2.
IMPLEMENT OP ANDESITE FROM NEIGH-
BOURHOOD OF ANGORA. ($)
No. 3.
AXEHEAD FROM SOGHANLI DERK.
No. 4.
254-
AXEHEAD FROM EUYUK.
INCHES
south of Yuzgat (a route not marked as explored on Kiepert's map), lies a prehistdric
village of stone hut circles, extending for more than a mile down a small valley.
I am indebted to the Society of Biblical Archaeology for their courtesy in
publishing an account of these and other antiquities of the district in their Proceedings.
R. CAMPBELL THOMPSON.
Africa, West. Palmer.
Note on Traces of Totemism and some other Customs in Jfl
Hausaland. By H. R. Palmer, M.A., LL.B. "HI
At the present day almost all the peoples called " Hausa " are Muhammadans.
There exist, however, small isolated communities which have not been converted, and
retain in a greater or less degree the customs of their forefathers. These communities
are known as Maguzawa, a word which is probably a Sudani form of Majusuu a
Magian ; hence " any idolater."
[ 72 J
1910,] MAN. [No. 40.
Though not professing Islam, these Maguzawa have been influenced by their
Muslim rulers and conquerors, and have in some cases dropped so much of their
original custom that the remnant is in all but name a crude monotheism with some
local spirit in place of Allah. On the other hand, sufficient survivals exist to indicate
the nature of the beliefs which Islam has displaced.
Besides these Maguzawa there are a certain number of pagan Fulani, and other
non-Moslem peoples of Berber affinity, who have migrated into Hausaland at different
times in the past.
Hausa is the lingua franca of the country. There is only one Hausa equivalent
for the words "tabu" and "totem." It is kan-gidda ("head of the house" or "that
which is upon the house ").
It would appear that from the earliest times there have been two kinds of people
in the northern portion of Hausalaud — nomadic atid settled. The nomads were Berbers,
the settled peoples negro or negroid.
For the last few hundred years the country has been inhabited by Hausa (negroid)
and Fulani (Berber).
We naturally expect to find an antithesis in manners and customs between these
two elements in the population.
The Hausa was polygamous and exogamous, while the Fulani was monogamous and
endogamous. The Hausa acquires a wife practically by purchase, and takes her to
his own house ; while the Fulani, in his nomad state, does not expect his wife to come
and live with him till two years after marriage. In fact, the sexual relations among
the Bush Fulani are very closely similar to those existing among the Tuareg, where
the husband goes to live with the wife, not the wife with her husband. There is the
same pre-nuptial looseness of morals, though after marriage rules are strict.
The totems of such pagan Fulani as are found in the northern portion of Hausa-
land seem to be mostly birds, though some of them have a beast or reptile totem in
addition to the bird. Examples are : —
Bojabi Fulani. — Totem fakarra (partridge).
Rahazawa „ „ makorua .,
Kununkwo „ ,, (i) fakarra „
(ii) dammo (iguana).
Sulibawa „ „ kurchia (dove).
They all believe that if they kill these birds — their totems — they will die.
In addition to these acknowledged totems there is a tabu on sheep and cattle, and
the killing of them except on certain occasions. With regard to sheep, it is a common
practice among the Yerimawa Fulani to keep a sheep with black rings round the eyes
(tumkia maitozali), which is supposed to bring them luck. A ram with similar marking
is sent by a bridegroom to his wife's father after marriage. It may be noted that
painting rings round the eyes is a very common custom among the " women " to avert
" Nemesis," and the ill-luck that would follow anyone praising their beauty. With
regard to cattle, most non-Moslem Fulani will not kill their own beasts except at a
festival, which is called " Biwali."
This festival takes place when the first son is born to a newly-married couple — on
the day that his name is given him. The friends and relatives of the couple assemble
under a big tree. An ox is killed and flayed ; the various joints are divided in a
manner which is laid down between the paternal and maternal relatives ; the heart
and flesh which covers the stomach is kept apart and is called " Biioali^ The bride-
groom, or rather ex-bridegroom's ' best man at the time of the wedding, then comes
forward, seizes the Biwali in one hand and a blazing brand in the other, and runs
away. His friends pursue him, but only two are allowed eventually to catch him.
The three then go to a tree and light a fire ; they roast the Biwali and eat it. No
[ 73 ]
No. 40.] MAN. [1910.
one else is allowed to eat, but if there is any over they may take it home and give
it to the bridegroom.*
Among some of these pagan Fulani, e.g., the Rahazawa, marriage between children
of the same father is permitted, the only bar to marriage being in the case of persons
having the same mother. At the end of the year a feast called Girewali is held.
The youths and maidens gather in the forest ; the youths form a line. Each maiden
then comes np and selects her youth ; food is cooked and the couples spend the night
together. The observance of this feast is supposed to be of great importance to the
prosperity of the clan. Any father who prevents his children going is expelled from
the community.
On marriage, a girl of the Rahazawa is given a white cock by the bridegroom.
She releases the cock, which remains in her house and is sacred.
The Hausa pagans or Maguzawa have a custom known as "Fita furra" Several
girls and an equal number of boys are in the autumn shut up together in an enclosure
and left there for a month. Food is taken by an attendant to them. The whole
expense is borne by some rich man, who thinks that thereby he confers a benefit on the
community. At the end of the time any of the girls who are found to be enceinte
are considered to be the wives of the youths they have lived with.
A " jigo " or " gausami " (a long upright pole) is erected inside the enclosure.
Sacrifices of goats, sheep, fowls, &c., are made to the spirits Kuri and Uwargari or
Uwargona.
Doubtless this custom is in origin much the same as the Fulani Girewali. The
differences between the two are illustrative of the settled as opposed to the nomadic
life, while their similarity leaves no doubt that the rite was practised to ensure
fecundity in the clan.
At the present day, descent traced through females hardly exists south of the
country occupied by the Kelgeres.
All Maguzawa own to at least one " totem " or " tabu." They sacrifice to certain
spirits, but do not make images or fetishes. The chief spirits worshipped are Kuri
and a female divinity called sometimes Uwardawa and sometimes Uwargona. Kuri is
a woodland deity, Avho wears a goat's skin and "barks" like a dog in the woods.
He is the Hausa Pan. Uwardawa is the goddess of hunting — their Diana — and
Uwargona is Cybele or Demeter in her attributes. With these is usually associated
rather loosely the god of storms and rain, Gajimari, who lives in the rainbow. Sacri-
fices are made to these deities in the farm, at some well or tree, or at the house,
according to circumstances. Each has his or her appropriate offering. Kuri likes
a young red he-goat, Uwardawa a red she-goat or a red cock, while Uwargona's
emblems are white, e.g., a white ewe. The psychological beliefs vary from rather
intricate rules of the transmigration of souls in the same family to an apparent
absence of any definite idea about what happens after death.
It must be noted that these clans of Maguzawa bear no fixed relation to the
political divisions of the country as they exist at present and have existed for some
five or six hundred years. The political grouping of the various Hausa peoples is
denoted by facial marks — which are tattooed on to the children quite irrespective of
their spiritual and other beliefs.
While there is no doubt that the Maguzawa in general represent the most
primitive historical Hausa, especially those of them who originated in Gobir, Katsina
and Daura, there are a fair number of Maguzawa who admit that they have migrated
from Bornu and elsewhere. In considering the beliefs of the latter there is apt to
be a doubt whether they brought them with them or adopted them after arrival.
* The first-born sou always lives with his mother's relations till his father dies. He is called
his father's kunya (shame).
[ 74 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 40.
As will be gathered, therefore, from what has been said above, Hausa totemism
exists only in patches. It is impossible to go to any one man or even community
and find out what their primitive beliefs were.
We may take as examples, putting as nearly as may be in the words of the native
informants replies to questions asked on the' subject during the last few years : —
1. A Katsina Hausa hunter community. — (Mahalbawa.) Totem is the kwakia (a
short black snake.) If the kivakia kills an animal, that animal cannot be eaten ;
when a boy is born the kwakia — which, if friendly lives in the rafters — comes down
to the floor of the hut. The Mahalbawa think they are descended from the kwakia,
and that anyone who killed a kicakia would die. The totem descends in the male
line. They never marry a woman having a kwakia as totem.
2. Yan Dorina. — Hausa (children of a hippopotamus). Totem — the hippo-
potamus sacrifice to the hippo on the banks of a stream a hen of the same colouring
as an ostrich.
3. Biritchi Hausa. — Maguzawa, called "" kai na fara" Totem — a fowl with no
feathers (? diseased). Informant says this fowl (kuduku kaza) is sacrificed on very
special occasions once a year.
Tabus : (i) They may not eat food if iron has touched it.
(ii) If fire has burnt the town they do not eat what is left of the corn.
(iii) They do not carry fire in a kworia (calabash) or part of one, but only
in an akwashi (earthenware dish).
These Hausa do not work on Sunday, but sacrifice on that day.
4. Garubawa of Keffindukuduku. — (Katsina) say that they are of Berber origin,
and that their customs are from the East. Totem — a frog (kwado). Will not touch
the totem. Distinguish souls as good and bad. The bad soul wanders after death.
The good soul returns into the womb of a woman of the family, and generally reappears
in a grandson of deceased. Rub the head of a child with milk when it is shaved for
the first time. Village pole (a " kanya " tree), where wrestling contests are held.
As long as the pole (gansami) stands so long will the prowess of the village youth
remain. If the pole is blown down it is not erected till the next generation.
NOTE. — Gansami is a Kanuri word, and means "son of the Queen."
5. Kutumbatva. — (Hausa) of Kazauri and Kano say that their totems are two
trees, the " dashi " (black thorn) and " tsamia " (tamarind). They may not burn or
cut these trees. Tabu on boys — No unmarried boy may put on sandals. Further say
that their totem is dan magurji (a large green snake), which they do not kill or touch ;
and that they are originally Domawa of Bornu and hunters. Sacrifice, on the. top of
a crag near by, to " Dodo ba farin kasshi " = " the spirit that turns bones white."
Their prosperity was bound up with a black rock poised on the top of the crag. When
the rock fell they were conquered. This rock used to warn them of coming war
by shrieking thrice. (Cf. Palmer, "Kano Chronicle," Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst.,
Vol. XXXVIII, p. 65.)
6. Fulani pagans — Baawa. — Herdsmen and nomads. Do not kill their cattle
except on the occasion of a feast. Cattle must be killed at the foot of a tree which is
not a tree with much sap as the dunya, kanya, or marki trees. On the contrary,
trees with sap (? from its resemblance to milk) are given the cattle to eat as medi-
cine. In contradistinction to (3) may only take up fire in a kworia (calabash). If a
woman is enceinte and takes up fire in an earthen vessel she has a miscarriage. Totem
is a yanyawa (fox).
7. Baban Dammo. — Hausa of earliest Katsina stock. Totem — an iguana (datnmo).
Their ancestor was, according to themselves, an iguana. Tabu — will not eat any hot
food in a calabash, and will not carry fire in one. Originally from Durbi Takushayi
in Katsina. Their spirits are Kuri and Uwargona. A ewe with black rings round the
[ 75 ]
No. 40.] MAN. [1910.
eyes is sacrificed to the latter. Belief in the separate existence of souls after death.
Think they come to kill the living unless placated. Put thorns on a corpse so that the
soul cannot get away from the body, and will remain quiet.
8. Romaica. — Hausa of Kano. Totem — dan bida (a snake). Do not carry fire in
a calabash. Do not marry within the totem. The totem of the father descends to his
children, but a wife keeps her own totem after marriage.
9. Yan Maisa. — Hausa of Metazu in Katsina. Totem is dan bida (a snake).
10. Tannaiva. — Hausa of Kano. Totem is a crocodile. The " dashi " tree is
sacred.
11. Yan Zuga. — Hausa of Kano. Totem — a lion.
12. Ba-Daffaiva. — Hausa of Katsina. Totem — kivakia (snake).
13. Dasawa. — Hausa of Katsina. Totem — kivakia (snake). Sacrifice on a Friday
to Kuri and Uwardawa at intervals of three years.
14. Kiaioa. — Hausa of Kano. Totem — an elephant. Sacrifices made at the foot
of a tsamia (tamarind) to Kuri and Uwaclawa.
.15. Dogarawa. — Hausa of Rimin Gado in Kano. Totems — kadda (crocodile)
and kwakia (snake).
State that they were formerly slaves of the Berri-Berri, which probably means that
they were a servile Berber clan. Their divinities are : —
Gagimari, husband of Uwadawa.
Kuri, son.
Uwardawa, mother.
16. Kimbawa. — Fulani probably mixed with Hausa. Totems — Hankaka (crow),
kwakia (snake).
17. Yam-Baru. — Durbawa Hausa of Baurenia in Katsina. Totem is an iguana
(dammo). Marry within the totem now, though they say formerly they did not.
Observe Sunday as a day of rest ; sacrifice on Sunday. The soul of a dead man
returns into some woman, and is re-born in a grandson.
18. Yan Tugamma. — Hausa of Maradi. Totem is kamuchi. Tabu — will not
wear any clothes of a light blue colour ; wearing such clothes causes poverty.
19. A man called Maisheka — a Hausa of Giwa — says his totem is kwakia (black
snake).
20. Berawa. — Hausa of the district of Yandaka (Katsina). Totem is a lion,
which they dare not touch. They kill all snakes. Will not burn a silk cotton tree.
Will not carry fire in a calabash.
21. A man called Mai-kai of Kurukuju Katsina says his totems are kivakia
(snake) and the tsamia (tamarind) tree.
22. Geauaskawa of Dan Gani (Katsina Hausa). Totem is kivakia (black snake).
The soul of the kwakia is supposed to be indwelling in their king.
23. Dubawa of Wawalkaza. — Katsina Hausa. Totems — a lion ; kirni (a tree) ;
and shirua (a hawk). Will not take up fire in an earthen pot (kasko) but carry it
with two sticks. The reason of this is that carrying fire in a kasko causes headache
(? the head may crack like a burnt pot).
24. Tosaiva of Jikamshi. — Katsina Hausa. Totem — a kwakia (black snake).
25. Damfawa. — Fulani of Zamfara. Totem — gamraka (crested crane), and
hankaka (crow).
26. Sulibawa. — Fulani of Katsina. Totem — kurchia (a dove).
27. Rungumawa. — Katsina Hausa. Totems — (i) kwakia (black snake) ; (ii)
the tamarind tree.
28. Arawa. — Daura Hausa. Totem — dan maaurji (snake).
H. R. PALMER.
[ 76 ]
1910.] MAN. [No, 41.
Fiji. Hocart.
A Point of Fijian Orthography. By A. M. Hocart. 14
In the official orthography of Fiji, which is that of the Methodist Mission, ^1
it is the rule that an i should he affixed to the word preceding a noun with
instrumental and kindred senses, thus : —
Vakarau : to measure. Ai vakarau : the measure.
Puli : to knead. Ei pull : it is a loaf (Lauan).
Though universally adopted by whites and natives (much to their inconvenience),
it is only an instance how men dislike the simple and prefer to complicate grammar
with " cycle on epicycle, orb in orb."
The reader of Hazlewood's grammar is told that the article before nouns of
instrument and the like take the article ai or nai instead of a or na. So far so
good : —
Verb : sele (to cut). Noun : nai sele (knife).
When he wants to say " his knife," he naturally says " nai nona sele," only to
be corrected and find that the right form is " na nonai sele" If he imagines that
this is due to the na at the end of nona he is set right by " nomui sele " (thy
knife). He cannot limit the i to possessives, because he is given the lie by such
forms as —
Ei sele vinaka : it is a good knife.
E ndere isele tiko : he is cleaning knives.
Au kaya mai sele : I intended it for a knife.
After going through this painful process of discovery, he remembers that
Hazlewood actually states that these words must be preceded by i, whatever the class
of word that goes before (p. 8). Justly may he wonder why he was ever told about
two articles na and nai, and an i that is always suffixed to the preceding word, why
was he not told straightway that a prefix i makes instruments of verbs ? thus : —
na isele, not nai sele ;
na ivakatangi, not nai vakatangi (the phonograph), the thing made to cry ;
a irairai, not ai rairai : the appearance (rai, to see).
What should we think of an English grammar that were to lay down that, when
nouns implying inness are used, the suffix " in " is always tacked on the preceding word
whatever it be, thus : an in come, a bigin come, to raisein come ?
The accent alone condemns the received doctrine. The law in Fijian is that the
accent shall fall on the penultimate ; cases in which the ultimate is affected are obvious
or possible cases of contraction (kild for kilaa) ; but never can the accent take up
another station. Therefore, if the i were a suffix it would influence the accent, and
we should have na nonai sulu and not the actual na nonai sulu (his kilt), for t is
never a consonant in Fijian but a distinct voAvel, and counted as a separate syllable
(e.g., kila, to know ; kildi, not kilai, known).
The contention that the na and the i sound like one, is invalid ; the article in
speech is always run into one word with its noun ; phonetically " the captain " is one
undivided word ; it is only logically that we can distinguish in it two words. There
is no more pause between the and cap- than there is between cap- and tain ; so in
Fijian, the breath does not halt in naisele from n to e. If we want to write it accord-
ing to sound it must be naisele ; if we want to divide it logically we must follow
common sense.
Take na ika the fish, and na ika (officially nai ka) the prefix of ordinals ; they
sound exactly alike ; na ika e rua (the two fishes) differ from na ika rua (the second)
in nothing but the e.
Comparison also aids us ; a similar, if not the very same, prefix exists in Eddystone
island (Simbo), and Ruviana in the Solomons ; and there no mistake is possible as to
[ 77 ]
Nos. 41-43.] MAN. [1910.
what master it owns, since it is stuck right into words beginning with a consonant
This prefix or infix is in-, e.g. : —
Apo : to catch bonito for the first time. Inapo : the first bonito caught.
Ambu : to fish. Inambu : any edible fish or shell-fish.
Salanga : to cure. Sinalanga : medicine. (Ruv.)
Gani: to eat. Ganani : food. (Ruv.)
Vagolomo : to hide. Vinagolomo (hidden treasure, Eddystone).
Enough has been said to show that the orthodox orthography is a remarkable
piece of blindness, which can only be explained by a mechanical adherence to first
impressions, instead of a constant revision of grammatical rules with increasing
experience. ____^_^ A. M. HOCART.
REVIEWS.
Burma: Languages. Brown.
Half the Battle in Burmese : A Manual of the Spoken Language. By R. Grant Jj A
Brown, Indian Civil Service, Burma. London : Henry Frowde, 1910. Pp. xii + 149. Tfc
In this admirable little book modern methods of teaching languages are applied
to the Burmese. It deals in a most lucid way with the phonetics of the language,
and is primarily intended for pupils studying Burmese with a native teacher. But
the book may be read with pleasure and profit by those who desire merely a literary
acquaintance with the language.
Throughout the book the Burmese is written phonetically in an alphabet adapted
from that of the International Phonetic Association. For the learner this is in itself
an immense advantage, for it avoids all the difficulties due to variant spellings and
irregularities of pronunciation, which have arisen through the fitting of an utterly
unsuitable alphabet to the Burmese speech. All Burmese words are printed in black
type, the signs, " and . being used as in the Burmese alphabet to mark the falling
and abrupt tones.
In dealing with the phonetics the author describes, first the simple vowel
sounds, and then these sounds in combination with a final consonant, and modified by
the tones. These give all the endings of Burmese words, and are illustrated by ex-
amples in Burmese, with approximate representations in English, and where necessary
by a description of the Burmese sound. The consonantal sounds are dealt with in
a similar way, difficulties and changes due to assimilation, being discussed in detail.
The author gives no formal grammar of the language, but discusses the syntax
and the use of particles, which take its place. Pages 52 to 101 are occupied by
dialogues in Burmese, with copious footnotes and instructions repeated on every
page. This is followed by notes on various points of colloquial usage, numerals,
relationships, &c., an English translation of the dialogues, with a Burmese index of all
the words occurring in them.
This book should form a model for similar works on the phonetics of Chinese,
Siamese, and other languages of the Far East. In it the author has justified the title,
for, with a thorough knowledge of Burmese phonetics, of the structure of phrases, and
use of particles, the beginner will, indeed, have gained Half the Battle in Burmese.
S. H. RAY.
India : Assam. Playfair.
The Garos. By Major A. Playfair, with an Introduction by Sir Bampfylde JO
Fuller. London : Nutt, 1909. Pp. xvi + 172. 22 X 14 cm. Price 7*. 6d. TU
Honour to whom honour is due. In 1903, Sir Bampfylde Fuller, the first
Lieutenaut-Governor of what I have heard described as the Disunited Provinces,
advocated with the Government of India the scheme for an ethnographical survey of
Assam, under the general supervision of the Superintendent of Ethnography, by officers
[ 78 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 43.
and others possessing, like Major Playfair, special knowledge of the peoples of whom
they were invited to treat. The plan of the monographs was thought out by him,
and it is a real pleasure to me to take advantage of the opportunity which his preface
to The Garos offers me, and to place on record the gratitude which anthropology
owes to his practical recognition of the ethnic variety which makes Assam, indeed
a " museum of nationalities."
I could wish that the plan had not included the sections of Affinities and Origins.
The place for a discussion of these topics is surely in a general volume synthesising
the knowledge won for us by all these observers. The ground has been covered in
part already by the labours of the Linguistic Survey of India, directed by Dr. Grierson
and Sten Konow. It is true that in The Mikirs Sir Charles Lyall (pages 151, et seq.)
has advanced arguments against their views on the position of the Mikir language in
regard to other members of the Tibeto-Burman group of languages in Assam. Scholars
of his calibre are unhappily few and far between. Major Playfair very wisely follows
Dr. Grierson, but there are many interesting parallels between the structure and
vocabulary of Garo and those of Meithei, Thado, and Lushei, enough to eslablish their
common kinship, but not, on the materials in the book before me, enough to estimate
the degree of their divergence from the archetypal forms of Tibeto-Burman speech.
In the section on Origin, Major Playfair records a legend of the origin of the Garo
which brings them from Tibet, and refers in support to their traditionary knowledge of
the yak and their use in ceremonials of yaks' tails. Fitch in his description, merely a
hearsay description of Butan, says : " They cut the tailes of their kine and sell them
" very dear for they bee in great request, and much esteemed in those partes. The
" hair of them is a yard long, the rumpe is aboue a spanne long ; they use to hang them
" for brauerie vpon the heades of their Elephants ; they bee much used in Pegu and
" China" (Ralph Fitch, by Horton Ryley, page 117). I suspect the legend is largely
a3tiological, for I have come across similar but less detailed legends among Naga, which
connect them with Meithei, Kuki, and with Gurkha. I think these hill people
recognise their kinship and account for it in this way. If the Garo legend does actually
refer to events so far distant as 1,000 years ago, it is, indeed, a notable fact and to be
reckoned with in computing, as Van Gennep has recently done, the maximum, " pour
" des populations denuees d'ecriture, de six generations ou une moyenne de 150 ans
" pour la memoire d'un evenement soit naturel (tremblement de terre, inondation, etc.),
" soit politique " (Religions, Mceurs et Legendes, II., page 185).
I have had occasion recently to make rather a close and detailed study of eschato-
logicai belief in relation to funerary ritual in Assam, and it is interesting to find many
close and suggestive parallels between Garo beliefs and practices and those of the
Naga and Kuki, with whom I am personally acquainted. The monster Nawang (see
page 103), who harasses the ghost of the dead on its journey to Heaven, and who runs
in terror from the man who has married 1,000 wives, is surely akin to our Lushei friend,
Pupawla, who may not shoot at men who have known three virgins or seven women.
(Shakespeare, Kuki-Lushei Tribes \Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst., Vol. XXXIX, p. 371]).
It is no question of a hypersensitive deity who avoids contact with all desperate
characters. Savage deities are not very modest or moral beings. All the advantage
is on the side of depravity, for the soul of the uxorious Garo, like the soul of the
amorist Lushei, escapes safely to the delights of Heaven, thence, in the fulness of time,
to return to earth as a new-born babe. Far be it from me to hint at such mysteries
as nescience of the art of procreation, but I think it may be worth the while of
someone on the spot to make an effort to ascertain the ideas of Garo, Naga, and
Lushei on this difficult and delicate subject.
The quotation from Sir Alexander Mackenzie's North-East Frontier of Bengal
(p. 76), is enough to whet one's appetite for further information. We want to know
[ 79 ]
Nos. 43-45.] MAN. [1910.
more, if more is to be known, about " dai." There are customs among the Naga of
Manipur, and among the Lushei tribes which offer curious parallels. Thus the erec-
tion of a stone monument, the assumption of the khullakpa's distinctive cloths,
the simple luxury of a coat of whitewash on one's house, or, simpler still, the
possession of a window in one's house involves a fine to the community in the shape
of a feast, which looks very like a counterpart of the Garo " dai " customs. I had
always looked on these acts as infractions of tabus, so that the feasts to the village
which they necessitated was a means of social reintegration. Major Playfair notes
(p. 67) that the rules of exogamous marriage are in jeopardy of serious disregard, a sure
proof of the extent to which their contamination has proceeded. Yet it is ill respect of
their social organisation that the Garo differ most markedly from the mass of Tibeto-
Burman tribes in Assam. They are matrilinear. Have they, as Sir Bampfylde Fuller
suggests, borrowed this from their neighbours, the Khasi ? If not, is it a " sport " ?
Is it a survival from an earlier state of things ? If so, is it, in any way, causally
related to polyandry as practised in Tibet ? It cannot be easy to effect a change in
the line of descent, and the theory of borrowing has, at least, this in its favour, that the
Lynngam (see The Khasis, p. 191, et seq.), who form a link between the Khasis and
the Garo, have gone over to the former in the matter of language and social structure
(see Linguistic Survey of India, Vol. II., p. 17), though regarded as of Garo origin.
I think I have said enough to show that this book is a valuable addition to our
knowledge of Assam. It is a sound, careful, and modest piece of work on which the
author is to be cordially congratulated. If I have seemed to criticise some of his
views, it is in a spirit of hearty sympathy with the difficulties of his interesting subject,
and my criticism is only evidence of a desire for more from his pen.
T. C. HODSON.
Voyages. Nicoll.
Three Voyages of a Naturalist (Second Edition). By M. J. Nicoll. London : 1 1
Wetherby, 1909. Pp. xxx + 240. 23 x 14 cm. Price 7*. 6d. net. "fT1
The original edition of the above work was published in March, 1908, and
reviewed in MAN, 1909, 8. Within the year it lias been found necessary to issue a
second edition. The author has acknowledged and embodied " the criticisms in the
*' many kind reviews," thus correcting the few mistakes which had crept into the
earlier edition. The principal of these errors was the statement that Easter Island was
uninhabited when first discovered. J. E.-P.
India : Magic. Henry.
La Magie dans Vlnde Antique. Par Victor Henry, Professeur de Sanscrit 1C
et Grammaire comparee des Langues indo-europeennes a 1'Universite de Paris. • U
Paris : Emile Nourry, 1909. Second edition. Pp. xxxi + 286. 19 X 12 cm.
The detailed study of an actual system of magic is an excellent corrective for
rash generalisations : M. Henry's book is valuable in this respect, though not 4n this
respect alone. The literature of ancient India affords unrivalled material for such a
study in the Atharva-Veda, a book of magical ritual at least as old as the eighth
century B.C., and the Kancika- Sutra, a magical manual of later date. The magic of
the Vedas is not " primitive," but it abounds in " primitive " survivals. M. Henry's
treatment of the functions of the Brahman, his chapter on " Rites de Magie noire,"
and the section on " Exorpismes par Represailles " (p. 169) are particularly interesting.
It seems that the " voult " in Vedic sorcery is often regarded as an embodiment of the
sorcerer's evil wish rather than as a " sympathetic " representation of the victim.
The irony of M. Henry's preface, with its strictures on the totemic theories of
1902 and 1903, is by no means out of date. B. F.-M.
Printed by EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE. LTD., His Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street. E.C.
PLATE F.
MAN, 1910.
1910.] MAN. [No, 46.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Africa : Congo. With Plate F. Joyce.
Note on the Pigment-Blocks of the Bushongo, Kasai District, Jfi
Belgian Congo. By T. A. Joyce, M.A. ^10
The Bushongo, like many other tribes of the south and south-western Belgian
Congo, have a great predilection for the rich crimson pigment obtained from the wood
known to them as tukula. This pigment is applied by them to their bodies, especially
on festive occasions, and is also used to colour palm-cloth arid embroidery fibre.
Wooden carvings are also rubbed with it, and the intaglio designs on some of the older
wooden boxes, which are used to contain the pigment, are entirely filled up with the
tukula which has been applied from time to time through many years.
The preparation of the pigment is quite simple, and is performed by the women ;
two blocks of the wood are moistened with water and rubbed together, and the crimson
paste which results from the friction is formed into cakes and allowed to harden.
Before the hardening process is complete these cakes are often moulded and
carved in ornamental shapes, but this custom seems on the decline, and the more
modern specimens are not so carefully prepared and ornamented as those of former
days.
For use, the requisite amount of crimson powder is scraped from the block, and
mixed with water or palm oil to form a paste, which is then rubbed on the surface
which it is desired to decorate.
The accompanying plate shows a number of specimens of these tukula blocks,
obtained by Mr. E. Torday from the Bambala sub-tribe of Bushongo ; they are all of
considerable age, and the surface of each is well patinated and nearly black. Nos. 1
and 3 represent female heads with elaborate coiffures ; No. 4 is an axe ; No. 5 a
paddle ; Nos. 2, 6, 7, and 8 are merely ornamental blocks. The shape of No. 6 is
most peculiar, but no information is forthcoming as to what it is meant to represent.
Of the five specimens shown in Fig. 1, a represents a basket ; b a tortoise ; c a
wooden or pottery bottle ; d a lizard ; and e a figure which may be an insect, but on
which human features have been scratched by a later hand.
All the specimens are ornamented with designs thoroughly typical of Bushongo
art, all of which can be named. I do not, however, propose to enter into the ques-
tion of pattern names here, that question will be fully discussed in a book dealing
with the Bushongo, which is now in preparation ; what I wish to mention is the
secondary use of these tukula blocks — a use which is invested with a peculiarly
modern atmosphere.
Most primitive peoples reverence the memory of their dead to some extent ; some
indeed provide themselves with relics of the departed, but the majority seem to concern
themselves only with such observances as will prevent the spirit of the deceased from
troubling the survivors. Among the Bambala, however, a custom exists which seems
to indicate a point of view less purely utilitarian. When a man dies, his heir, who
[ 81 ]
Nos. 46-47.] MAN. [1910.
acts as chief mourner, distributes during the funeral ceremonies a number of these old
tukula blocks among the principal friends of the departed. Blocks so given seem to
be invested with no magical character whatever, but are purely and simply mementos
of the deceased. In fact they correspond exactly with the mourning rings of this
continent. T. A. JOYCE.
Andamans. • Schmidt.
Nochmals: Puluga, das hochste Wesen der Andamanesen. Von /j ^
P. W. Schmidt, S.V.D. (Fortsetzung von MAN, 1910, 38.) llf
Wenn zum Schluss Mr. Brown meine Angabe, dass " string-making ... is, in
" the most cases, the work of the women," bestreitet so stehen sich hier einfach wieder
die Angaben von E. H. Man and Brown gegeniiber, und ich habe nicht nur keine
Veranlassung dem ersteren weniger zu glauben als dem letzteren, sondern vielmehr,
in diesem Falle, besonderen Grund E. H. Man mehr zu glauben, weil er diese seine
Angaben volkommeu unbefangen, ohne Rucksicht auf irgend eine Theorie oder Polemik
und an Ort und Stelle gemacht hat. Die Angaben Man's sind folgende : (1) " Die
" Bastfaser von Anadendrum paniculatum (yolba) wird hauptsachlich gebraucht zur
" Verfertigung von Bogensehnen, kleinen Ketzen (chapanga), Halsbandern und Schnur
" fur die Pfeile ; ihre Herstellung ist aber nicht auf eines der beiden Geschlechter
" beschrankt,"* — d.h. doch wohl, beide Geschlechter sind ohne Unterschied, in
annahernd gleichem Masse daran beteiligt. (2) " Um Handnetze zum Fischen (kud}
" und Schlafmatten (parepa) zu machen, wird Gnetum edule (pilita) verwendet ;
" fiir die Vorbereitung und Verfertigung derselben kommen ausschliesslich Frauen in
" Betracht."f
Nach alien Regeln der gewohnlichen Rechenkunst, wenn die Frauen bei
(1) schon genade so stark beteiligt sind, als die Manner, wenn dann ihnen allein
auch noch die Gesammtheit von (2) zukommt, ist es doch augenscheinlich, dass die
" most cases " in diesem Gewerbe ihnen zufallen.J Nimmt man hinzu, dass auch die
Korbflechterei gewohnlich von den Frauen betrieben wird,§ so darf ich getrost den
Satz aufstellen, dass auch auf den Andamanen " plaiting and twisting " vorziiglich
Sache der Frauen ist. Selbst wenn also auch die Perlmutterschale als ausseres
Werkzeug fiir diese Beschaftigungen in Wegfall zu kommen hatte, so bliebe doch noch
immer bestehen, dass die Biliku der Nordgruppe, eben weil sie weiblich ist, in naheren
Beziehungen zu " plaiting and twisting " steht, und damit ware eine Erklarung ihrer
Beziehung zur Spinne zum wenigsten angebahnt. Gerade um diese Erklarung aber
handelt es sich hier, und sie wird also auch durch Mr. Brown's Rekriminatiouen
in ihrem Wesen nicht beriihrt, selbst weun wir von den mancherlei Bedenken ganz
absehen wollen, die, wie ich gezeigt, durch diese Rekriminationen noch wieder
erregt werden.
Vollstandig ohne Bedeutung sind wieder Mr. Brown's Rekriminationen gegen meine
Beziehung Darias des Siidwest-Monsuns auf den zunehmenden Mond, der zuerst im
West-Slid- West aufgeht. Mr. Brown gibt selbst zu, dass der Sinn fiir scharfere
Bestimmung der Himmelsrichtungen bei den Andamauesen nicht sehr ausgebildet sei,
und wagt meine Zusammenlegung nur zu bezweifeln. Dagegen wirft er mir vor,
dass ich bei meiner Zusammenstellung des Namens fiir Neumond — in Bea : Ogar
dereka-da u.s.w. — mit dem Wort Daria Portmans Ubersetzung von Ogar dereka-da
mitzuteilen unterlassen habe, wodurch die Leser verhindert worden seien, die
Unhaltbarkeit der Verbindung von Daria mit Ogar dereka-da zu erkennen. Ich
* E. H. Man, a.a.O., S. 164. t A.a.O. SS. 163, 180.
J Dazu kommt noch, dass E. H. Man von den " netted reticules (chapanga)" die er, S. 164, als von
beiden Geschlechtern gemacht bezeichnet, S. 180 sagt : " made and used by women."
§ E. H. Man, S. 180.
[ 82 ]
1910.] . MAN. [No. 47.
wiisste wirklich nicht, was fiir einen Schaden es fiir meine Theorie haben sollte, dass
Oqar dereka-da " juuger (oder kleiner)* Mond " heisst ; gerade im Gegenteil, es stiitzt
sie nur noch mehr. Dass ich diese Ubersetzung nicht mitgeteilt, lag daran, dass ich
meiuen ohnedies schon langen Artikel nicht iiber Gebiihr ausdehnen wollte ; in der
Behandlung des Gegenstandes in meiuem Werk " Die Stellung der Pygmaenvolker in
der Entwickelungsgeschichte des Menschen " habe ich die Ubersetzung auch ohne
weiteres gegeben (S. 211). Wenn Mr. Brown nun " confidently " feststellt, dass keine
philologische Verbindung bestehe zwischen Daria u.s.w. und Dereka u.s.w., so ist mir
diese Konfidenz eiuigermassen gleichgiltig ; interessieren wiirden mich nur die Griinde,
die Mr. Brown dafiir haben konnte, und deren Vorhandensein ich bezweifle. Dagegen
hat er, ohne zu wissen, selbst schon eine Bestiitigung meiner Auffassung gebracht.
Wenn, wie Portman darlegt, die Crrw/jrfbedeutung von dereka nicht " Kind ", sondern
" klein," " Jung " ist, so passt ganz vortrefflich dazu, dass in dem siidlichen Stamm der
Bale die Rede ist von dem " big Puluga ", der zwei Briider hat, die die Stelle des sonst
vorkommenden Daria einnehmen, die zwar Jila Puluga (Qst-Puluga) und Kuacho
Puluga (West Puluga) heissen, aber zweifellos gegeniiber dem "big Puluga"1"1
wenigstens in der Empfindung der Eingeborenen als " little Puluga " gelten. Es ware
von sehr grossem Werte, wenn Mr. Brown uns den andamanesischen Wortlaut von
" big Puluga " mitteilen wiirdef ; je uachdem dieser ist, wiirde die Bestarkung noch
grosser sein.
Mr. Brown greift endlich noch meine Angabe an, dass Daria zuweilen das Weib
Puluga^s sei. Ich weiss jetzt nicht mehr mit voller Bestimmtheit, worauf ich mich
stiitzte, als ich diese Angabe machte ; ich vermute, auf Mr. Brown's Mitteiluug, dass,
nach einer Angabe der Mischgruppe Juwoi-Kol-Puchikwar, als Weib des miinnlichen
Bilik die In Chria erscheint.J In Charia steht hier zweifellos an Stelle des Teria
neben Bilik ; auch ist das Wort Charia dem Wort Teria nicht allzufern stehend ; aber
ich vermochte uicht den Beweis dafiir zu erbringen, dass anlauteudes t in dieser
Sprachengruppe unter dem Einfluss des auslautenden n von In (= Frau, Mutter) zu
ch wiirde. Ich habe deshalb gar keine Schwierigkeit, auf dieser Angabe nicht zu
bestehen. Es war ja gar nicht der weibliche Charakter Teria's, worauf es mir
ankam, sonderu seine iiberall gegeniiber der von Puluga- Biliku zuriicktretende, geringere
Bedeutung, und diese wird auch Mr. Brown nicht wagen in Abrede zu stellen. Noch
mehr, ein weiblicher Charakter Teria's wiirde meiner Lunartheorie nur zur Verlegenheit
gereichen, da ich doch Teria mit dem zunehmenden Mond identifiziere, dieser aber in
der vorausgesetzten Mythologie gerade niemals weiblich ist. Andererseits bietet der
stets manuliche Charakter Teria's durchaus keine Stiitze fiir die Annahme Mr. Brown's,
dass deshalb Biliku urspriinglich stets weiblichen Charakters gewesen sei. Browu
wagt denn auch selbst keine Sicherheit dafiir in Ausspruch zu nehmen ; aber es kommt
ihr auch nicht einmal der kleinste Grad von Probabilitat zu, da neben dem Gattenver-
haltnis das Bruder- und Freundesverhaltnis gerade so gut moglich und bei den Bale ja
direkt bezeugt ist.§
So fallen nahezu alle direkten Beanstanduugen, die Brown mit soldier Vehemenz
vorbriugt, sowohl in sich als auch in Bezug auf ihre Bedeutung fiir meine Theorie
von der friiheren Mondmythologie der Andamanesen vollstiindig zusammen. Nur der
eine Puukt ist richtig zustellen, dass, nach der jetzigen Erklarung Brown's iiber die
* Dereka heisst in seiner Grundbedeutung nicht " Kind," wie Brown angibt, sondern " klein,"
" Jung," s. Portman, Notes, S. 204 ; erst Dab-dereka-da heisst " junges menschliches Wesen " = " Kind."
f Es ist ija wohl zu erwarten, das von den Mythen, die Mr. Brown in seinem demnachst
erscheinenden Buche veroffentlichen wird, stets auch der andamanesische Urtext mitgeteilt werde ;
ware das nicht der Fall, so wiirden sie fiir eigentlich wissenschaftliche Untersuchungeu einen guten
Teil ihres Wertes verlieren.
J Folklore, a.a.O., S. 260. § Brown, Folklore, a.a.O., S. 260.
[ 83 ]
No. 47.] MAN. [1910,
Verweuduug der Perlmutterschale, mein Versuch einer positiven Erkliirung der Tdenti-
fikation der Spinne mit Biliku im Norden nicht mehr aufrecht erhalten werden zu
konnen scheint. Diese Identifikation selbst bleibt natiirlich bestehen und behalt ihr
voiles Gewicht fur die Annahme einer friiheren Mondmythologie. Nicht diese letztere
ist durch die jetzige Erklarung Brown's getroffen, sondern hb'chstens der Versnch, die
Entstehung eines ihrer Indizien auch positiv zu erklaren, ist zu einem Teil in Frage
gestellt ; zum anderen Teil bleibt auch er aufrecht, da jedenfalls durch die Beziehungen
Biliku^s als Weib zu " plaiting and twisting " ihre Identifikation mit der Spinne
mindestens plausibel gemacht wird.
Dagegen habe ich jetzt den Vorwurf des unrichtigen Zitierens mit Nachdruck
gegen Mr. Brown zu wenden. Er schreibt, S. 36 : " . . . even if it were true that
" the present beliefs of the Andamanese concerning Puluga are derived from lunar
" mythology, it is impossible to see how this affords any evidence that the Andamanese
" formerly believed in a Supreme Being." Es ist in Wirklichkeit nicht leicht zu sehen^
wie Mr. Brown die ausdrucklichen Ausfiihrungen auf SS. 6 u. 7 meines Artikels
iibersehen konnte, in welchen ich darlegte, class das hb'chste Wesen Puluga gerade
nicht aus der Lunarmythologie hervorgegangen, sondern urspriinglich ein Himmelsgott
gewesen sei ; solche Ubersehen gehoren zur " strictness of method " jedenfalls nicht.
Wenn dann Mr. Brown meint : " The present Andamanese certainly do not believe
" in a Supreme Being ", so habe ich keine Ursache ihm nicht zu glauben, soweit die
Nordgruppe in Betracht kommt, deren sekundaren Entwickelungscharakter ich aber
auch dargelegt habe. Was dagegen den Teil des Gebietes betrifft, der mit dem von
E. H. Man und Portman zusammenfallt, so habe ich ebenfalls keinen Grund Mr. Brown
mehr zu glauben, als den ausdrucklichen Versicherungen der beiden andern Forscher^
Mr. Brown verwendete nur zwei Trockenzeiten von je sechs Monaten zu seinen
Forschungen bei den verschiedenen Stammen, von denen er 3^ Monate allein auf
Klein Andaman zubrachte ; wenn er nun wirklich glaubt, in dieser Zeit schon eine
" intimate knowledge of their ways of life and thought " erworben zu haben, so miissen
die Anspriiche, die er an eine solche " intimate knowledge " stellt, doch wohl etwas
bescheidene sein. E. H. Man war vier Jahre auf dem enger umgrenzten, siidlichen
Gebiet tatig, und V. Portman weilte, soviel ich weiss, mindestens sieben Jahre auf den
Andamanen. Wenn nun auch die Vorbildung Brown's fur diese Untersuchungen eine
speziellere war und er die kiirzere Zeit durch eine ausschliessliche Verwendung zu
wissenschaftlichen Zwecken bis zu einem gewissen Grade kompensierte, so ist doch zu
einer wirklich erschopfenden Kenntnis eines Volkes unter alien Umstanden ein grosserer
Zeitraum erforderlich. Dazu kommt, dass innerhalb des gegebenen Zeitraums es
zweifellos fiir Mr. Brown nicht moglich war, sich eine solche griindliche Kenntnis der
Sprache anzueignen, dass er sich den Eingeborenen nicht nur verstandlich machen,
sondern auch deren Gesprachen unter sich ohne Hilfe eines Dolmetschers miihelos
hatte folgen konnen ; erst bei einem solchem Masse von Sprachkenntnis aber beginnt man
in den Geist eines Volkes wirklich einzudringen. Durch diese Ausfiihrungen habe ich
nicht die Absicht, die wirklichen Verdienste Mr. Brown's herabzusetzen ; ich erkenne
im Gegenteil an, dass er durch seine, zweifellos entbehrungsreichen Forschungen
sich grosse Verdienste erworben hat. Aber er selbst sollte die Anerkennung, die
er zu fordern berechtigt ist, nicht dadurch in Frage stellen, dass er verlangt, man
solle ohne Kritik im einzelnen immer und iiberall ausschliesslich seiuem Urteile
gegeniiber dem Urteil anderer wahrlich nicht minder verdienter und zuverlassiger
Forscher folgen.
Zum Schluss habe ich noch ein besonderes Wort mit Mr. Brown zu sprechen.
Wenn Mr. Brown mich auch fiir einen alten Sunder zu halten scheint, bei dem kaum
noch zu hoffen sei, dass er sich bessere (S. 37), so gibt mir seine Jugendlichkeit ja
desto mehr Recht, zu hoffen, dass er bald einsehen wird, dass einige weniger gute
[ 84 ]
1910.] MAN. [No, 47.
Manieren in wissenschaftlichen Erorterungen einen schlechten Eindruck macben und
je eher desto besser abgelegt werden. Was mich am meisten erstaunt hat, das ist,
dass Mr. Brown nicbt nur die Richtigkeit der Ansichten seines wissenschaftlichen
Gegners bekiimpft, was sein gutes Recht ist, soweit er Griinde dafiir vorbringt, sondern
auch die ethische Zuverlassigkeit desselben in einer Weise angreift, wie es bisher in
wissenschaftlichen Erorterungen doch nicht iiblich war. Ich habe bereits oben (S. 1715)
a-uf einige Pnnkte dieser Art hingewiesen. Uber alles Mass geht aber der folgende
Satz. durch welcheu Mr. Brown mir nicht nur fiir die jetzige Diskussion, sondern fur
alle Ausfuhrungen auch meiner sonstigen Arbeiten das aufrichtige Wahrheitsstreben
abspricht : " On the contrary, it must be evident to all readers of Father Schmidt's
*' writings that he is always seeking, not the truth, but evidence for a pre-formed
theory " (S. 34).
Als einzigen positiven Beleg fiir seine Anklage fiihrt Mr. Brown eine Stelle aus
meiner Besprechung des VI. Bandes der Reports der Cambridge Torres Strait's Ex-
pedition in Anthropos, B. V. S. 272, an, wo ich zu Mr. Haddon's Konstatierung : " We
*' did not discover in Torres Strait anything like an All-Father or Supreme Being "
bemerkte : " Mr. Haddon has taken care to formulate exactly what he was able to state,
*' and I shall endeavour not to be less exact by holding the thesis : ' There must have
*' been an All-Father or Supreme Being in the religion of the Eastern Islanders ' . . ."
Mr. Brown ist nun der Meinung, ich hatte, trotz der Konstatierung Mr. Haddon's,
meinerseits doch noch immer daran festhalten wollen, es miisse unter alien Umstanden
ein hochstes Wesen vorhanden gewesen sein. Aus einem Briefe von Mr. Haddon, in
dein er mir fiir die Besprechung des VI. Bandes und seiner " Races of Man " dankte,
erfubr ich, dass auch er, der das freilich loyaler verwendete, dieser Auffassung war.
Ich habe in einem Brief an ihn vom 21. Februar das richtig gestellt. Ich zweifle nicht,
dass diese Richtigstellung nicht zur Kenntnis Mr. Brown's gelangt ist ; denn sonst
hatte er diesen Fall nicht so verwerten konnen, wie er es in seinem Artikel getau. Die
Richtigstellung besteht in folgendem : Ich gebe zu, dass der Wortlaut des englischen
Textes die AufFassuug Mr. Haddon's und Mr. Brown's ermoglichte. Ich meine aber,
dass auch das, was ich wirklich sagen wollte, herausgelesen werden konnte ; und
andererseits ist die darin mir imputierte Stellungnahme eine derartig unsinnige, ja
fast wahnsinnige, dass Mr. Brown verpflichtet gewesen ware, sich erst privatim zu
vergewissern — wie Mr. Haddon es loyaler Weise tat — ehe er damit beschuldigend an die
Offentlichkeit trat. Der Gedanke, den ich ausdriicken wollte, ist dieser : " Mr. Haddon
" hat sich ganz exakt ausgedriickt als er sagte — nicht : es gibt und gab in der Torres
" Strasse kein hochstes Wesen, sondern — : wir baben kein solches dort entdeckt.
" Ich werde mich nun bemiihen, nicht etwa weniger exakt zu sein dadurch, dass ich
" festhalten wurde : Es muss unter alien Umstanden ein hochstes Wesen da gewesen
" sein." Man sieht also, dass durch die Gerundivkonstruktion " by holding " der
irreale Konjunktiv "dass ich festhalten wurde"1"1 nicht zum Ausdrucke gelangt ist,
und ferner dass das, was ich sagen wollte, so ziemlich das gerade Gegenteil ist von
dem, was Mr. Haddon und Mr. Brown aus den Worten entnahmen.
Ich freue mich nun, dass Mr. Brown, nachdem ich ihm in einem Brief diese
Mitteilung gemacht, sein Urteil in einer Erkliirung an " Man " zuriickzieht, und
ich dauke ihm fiir diesen loyalen Schritt. Es ist wahr, er war der angegriffene
Teil ; aber es ist ein Irrtum von ihm zu glauben, ich hatte an der subjektiven
Zuverlassigkeit irgend einer seiner Angaben gezweifelt. Wenn ich von ihm mehr
*' broad-mindedness " gewUnscht habe, so hatte ich dabei nicht die Absicht, seinen
guten Glauben in Frage zu stellen. An einer Stelle freilich habe ich gesagt, dass
er, " perhaps unwittingly ", " leading questions " gestellt habe. Aber in dem
" perhaps unwittingly " habe ich wortlich gebraucht, was er von E. H. Man sagte,
und ich hatte dabei die Absicht, Mr. Brown Uber das Bedeukliche eines Uber andere
[ 85 ]
Nos. 47-48.] MAN. [1910.
gefallten derartigen TJrteils dadurch zu belehren, dass ich es einmal beispielsweise
auch bei ihm selbst zu Anwendung brachte.
Damit 1st, zu meiner Freude, ein personlicber Gegensatz, der sich zu bilden
drohte, beseitigt. Die Austragung unserer sacblichen Differenzen darf dadurch in
keiner Weise behindert werden ; ihr vor allem sollte dieser Artikel dienen.
P. W. SCHMIDT.
England : Archaeology. Greenwell : Gatty.
The Pit Dwellings at Holderness. By Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., and JO
the Rev. R. A. Gatty, LL.B. *fO
The implements of stone and vessels of pottery now brought under the notice of
the Institute, though of a very humble, even rude, description, and showing very little
evidence of skill in the hands of the makers, are nevertheless of importance for the
light they throw upon the cultivation of early man in Britain, or at all events in that
part of it in which they have occurred. They all belong to the appliances of domestic
life, nothing which can be regarded as a weapon, except scrapers, having up to the
present time been discovered. They have been found on the floors of pits sunk into
the boulder clay, and on account of the circumstances connected with them they must
be regarded as the dwelling-places of people living under very primitive conditions.
They are placed within an area, the extent of which has not yet been ascertained, in a
position at the present day not far situated from the coast, in the district of Holderness,
in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
At the time they were inhabited they were no doubt placed much further inland,
the sea having encroached very largely during a long period on that part of the eastern
shore of England. That these people lived at some distance from the sea appears to
be shown by the absence of the bones of sea fish and marine shells. It is possible they
may not have been able to catch fish ; still there must have been an abundance of shell-
fish on the coast, and the contents of rubbish heaps in the dwelling-places of other
early people living near the sea show how large an element in their dietary were
cockles, oysters, mussels, limpets, and such like food.
The greater number of the pits hitherto explored are situated near the village of
Atwick, two miles from Hornsea, but they have been observed as far as three miles
north and the same distance south of that place. At Rolston, three miles south from
Atwick, two have been discovered on the cliff face, owing to the washing away
of the land by the action of the sea. They occur apparently in groups, and are
so numerous that it is evident the district was then occupied by a large population.
This seems to have consisted of people who, if we are to judge from their domestic
belongings and their place of abode, must have been in a condition of life little
above that of savages.
Nor, does it appear, were they living in the neighbourhood of people who had
attained to a higher stage of progress, for if this had been the case it might have
been expected that some article of a superior kind, or one of their own rude tools
made out of an implement of better manufacture, might have been found. This
has sometimes occurred on sites occupied by people in much the same social condition
as these pit-dwellers of Holderness. This evidence is, of course, only negative, and
not in any way conclusive, but it has a certain value and is worth being noticed.
The pits were first discovered by Mr. William Morfitt, of Atwick, when digging
the foundations of a house, who from that occurrence was led further afield in
search of other pits of a similar kind. In this he was successful, and it is due to his
acuteness, persevering energy and patient care, that so much has been recovered in
connection with a community of very early dwellers in that part of Britain.
That these very humble places of abode were the dwellings of a people living
1910.] MAN. [No. 48.
there at an early part of the period which is called neolithic does not admit of much
doubt. The inhabitants of Britain, during the Neolithic period throughout the greater
part of that time, and over the whole country, except, perhaps, in some remote places,
were acquainted with the art of grinding and polishing stone. It is quite possible,
however, that in the early stages of their cultivation, like the still older men of
palaeolithic days, they may have been ignorant of that important process in the
manufacture of stone implements. To such a time it may be the pit-dwellers of
Holderness belonged. Anyhow, no stone has been found in the pits which shows the
least trace of such a process of polishing.
That these people were living at a very early period, during the time when stone
and bone were the only materials out of which weapons and implements were made
(though not in that time, the palaeolithic, when the mammoth and other extinct animals
occupied the country), is shown not only by the articles found in the pits, but even
more conclusively by the position which the pits assume in relation to the surface
soil and its contents, by which they are overlaid.
In that part of Holderness where these dwelling-places have been discovered
the underlying strata are covered by a deposit of boulder clay of varying thickness.
This clay, which contains, together with the usual rolled and scratched pebbles and
larger blocks of various kinds of stone, the remains of the mammoth, and other
animals belonging to the same fauna, has been excavated in places to form the pits
which constituted the living-places in question.
The pits, which are generally about 5 feet deep, vary considerably in shape and
size. They are mostly of an elongated form, in some cases as long as 40 feet by
9 or 10 feet in width. They are now filled in with a dark-coloured deposit, evidently
the result of mud washed into them by an overflow of water, apparently the result of
local rainfall rather than of a general flood of water. This mud deposit has not been
found to contain anything except the hardened mud- itself, all the animal bones,
implements, and pottery having been found on the floor of the pits.
After this flooding had taken place, which either drove out the occupants, or
found the pits already deserted, they became covered by a deposit of surface soil from
15 to 18 inches in thickness. This soil, which equally covers the boulder clay and the
pits, has never been in any way broken through, or otherwise disturbed in the spaces
occupied by the pits, and, therefore, they must have been dug out and inhabited before
the mud was carried into them, and the surface soil had later on accumulated over
them. In this surface soil the ordinary implements of flint, and other stones charac-
teristic of the Neolithic Age, and in some measure those of bronze, have been found in
fair abundance. On the other hand, neither on the floors of the pits nor in the filling
in has any example of the highly-finished implements of the Stone Age, or any portion
of one of them, come to light.
This is a very important fact in connection with the time when the pits were
occupied. That time can only, however, be considered as it has a relation to other
periods of occupation in the Stone Age of this district, and it must not be attempted to
give it a place in chronological time. If the occupation of the pits is considered with
reference to other and later periods, when the country was inhabited by early man,
it is evident that the people, who had their abode in them, must have been living
there a long time before the neolithic men of the polished Stone Age were settled
in the district.
We cannot say how long the pit people had lived in these dwellings. First the
pits became filled in with a deposit, the nature of which would require very many
years for its accumulation. After that, a surface soil had grown over them, of a depth
such as could only have taken place by the gradual growth of a long period. Upon
this surface the ordinary neolithic man lived, and within its soil are found the imple-
[ 87 ]
No. 48,]
MAN.
[1910.
ments he had used, and lost. Who can say how long before his days were those during
which his possible ancestor lived his life, endowed with the poorest means of existence ?
That time must have been very remote, and the interval between the occupation of the
pit-dwellers and the people who used polished stone implements very great.
W. GREEN WELL.
The above are Canon Greenwell's views on this subject, and as I was present
with Professor Boyd Dawkins at the opening of the Rolston pit I am able to
supplement them with details from my own observation.
The first pit discovered by Mr. Morfitt came to light in the process of digging
the foundations for a new house, and four more were found as the work proceeded.
In all these cases the surface soil was disturbed, and got worked in with that of the
pits, so that it was impossible afterwards to see the exact position of the layers. A
later discovery on the cliff face, where the ground is perpetually falling into the sea,
brought to light a pit in section, a drawing of which is given in Fig. 1.
This pit is on the property of Colonel Haworth-Booth, at Rolston, who kindly
gave permission to have it examined, and I visited it with Professor Boyd Dawkins,
while Mr. Morfitt was engaged in digging it out. It was at once seen that a surface
soil of about 18 inches completely unbroken lay over the pit. It was of a colour
and texture different from the black mud which filled in the pit and the boulder clay
in which the pit had been excavated.
:< Sooth j,^ M , ... ... **-o' ... vt. .,', ..f. , tlllll -JNort>,
IS'
SU1VFAC.E.
FlG. 1.— SECTION OF PIT-DWELLING.
Mr. Morfitt has opened about thirty pits, and in all these cases there was no
indication, by mound or depression, of the existence of a pit below. Sometimes the
vegetation appears more rank, and a group of thistles or a darker patch in a cornfield
may serve to show that there is a pit on the spot, but these are the only guides.
It was fortunate that Professor Boyd Dawkins was present to confirm the
unbroken position of the surface soil, as on this point the principal evidence of the
antiquity of the pits depends.
In every case the pits are found to be filled with a black mud, which bakes
like clay in summer, and can only be dug out during the winter-time. Whether this
mud is due to some great overflow of waters or is simply the working in of rains
has not been decided.
In the present case of the Rolston pit we found the depth of the pit to be about
5 feet 9 inches in the centre. The breadth could not be definitely ascertained, as
some of the side had fallen down upon the shore, but Mr. Morfitt thought it must
have been about 9 feet. The length was 40 feet, and it had an entrance from the
south sloping down gradually to the centre, where the fireplace was in situ, composed
of rough stones. Near by was a broken cooking pot, which Mr. Morfitt has restored,
while broken bones, heavy stone pounders, and rude knives, and flint flakes lay
scattered around. On the floor were the remains of a peaty substance, which might
have been composed of grass and rushes, suggestive of a couch, while near the fire
lay the bones of a dog curled round as if it had gone to sleep in that position.
[ 88 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 48.
Professor Boyd Dawkins examined the bones taken from this pit, and they proved
to be those of Bos longifrons, and comprised horn cores, teeth, and broken bones of
young and old animals, some of which were partially burnt. There were also bones
of horse, sheep or goat, domestic hog, and red deer.
In one of the pits the atlas vertebra of a whale was discovered, and this is the
only marine relic that has come to light. This seems to show that when these pits
were inhabited they were a long way from the sea. The cliff erosion which is taking
place in this part of Holderness is too well known for me to dilate upon it. Colonel
Haworth-Booth, whose property is bounded by the coast line, told me he calculated
that he lost two acres or more every year by the spoliation of the sea.
Professor Boyd Dawkins describes this whale vertebra as " partially burnt while
*' fresh, with square holes cut in the posterior articulation. Its use is uncertain, but
<k it may have been a stool, like the vertebra of the Megatherium found in the Pampas
" of the River Plate, and used by the Guachos for a seat in their tents."
Among other things found in the pits is a red pigment, made apparently from
burnt clay. The cooking-pots are of various sizes and shapes, but one very small
cup, holding exactly a teaspoonful, is suggestive of the nursery (Fig. 2).
The exceedingly primitive condition of the people who inhabited these pits is
shown more especi-
ally by their flint
implements, which,
with the exception
of some of the
scrapers, are hardly
recognisable as tools.
When compared
with the tools found
upon the surface soil
above the pits the
contrast is very
great, and it is
impossible to sup-
pose the inhabitants
of the pits existed
at the same time as the race who dwelt upon the surface of the land. We may
therefore reasonably conclude that after the inhabitants of the pits had vanished,
and after the filling in of the pits with mud, and on the top of this a deposition of
surface soil from 15 to 18 inches, a later people settled on the soil, and made the
tools now scattered on the surface. This must throw back the date of the pit-dwellers
to a very remote period of time.
Canon Greenwell remarks upon this absence of any superior class of imple-
ments, " that if the people had been living at the same time with others of superior
" knowledge in flint manufacture, some of the latter implements, or portions of
u them, would have been found in the pits, as in the case of the kitchen middens
*' in other localities."
Canon Greenwell also testifies to the excellent work done by Mr. Morfitt, who for
more than twenty years has steadily pursued the investigation of these pits, and carefully
collected the objects which are now exhibited for the first time. Only those who, like,
myself, have been present at the excavations know what laborious work it is, often in
the teeth of furious gales in winter on the north-east coast, to dig through very hard
mud, every bit of which has to be examined with the fingers numbed with cold. No
work can be done in the summer time as the mud and boulder clay are baked as hard
I 89 J
Nos. 48-49.] MAN. [1910.
as brick. It is true the objects which are found are not valuable in themselves, but
their extreme rudeness and primitive character give them a claim to be ranked among
the earliest records of neolithic man in his domestic life which have yet been discovered.
R. A. GATTY.
In the discussion which followed the reading of the paper, Professor Boyd Dawkins
thanked Mr. Gatty for bringing this interesting discovery of Mr. Morfitt's before the
Institute, and said that he could testify to the accuracy of the details and to the energy
and enthusiasm of the discoverer. The find is clearly proved to be of early Neolithic
age from the geological section. The inhabited site — now on the edge of the cliffs at
Rolston — was a camping ground in a hollow in the boulder clay, that had been filled up
by a subaerial wash up to the base of another subaerial accumulation that covers the
whole district like a mantle. In this are neolithic implements of the usual higher types
of the Yorkshire Wolds. The boulder clay was being formed in this area while the
south of England was inhabited by the palaeolithic hunters. The date of the find is
therefore clearly shown by the section, without reference to the further evidence of
the remains of the short-horned ox (Bos longifrons\ introduced into Europe by the
neolithic peoples.
Africa : White Nile. Cole.
African Rain making Chiefs, the Gondokoro District, White Nile, JQ
Uganda. By W. E. R. Cole, Assistant District Commissioner. "fru
The district administered from Gondokoro is the most northern of the three which
comprise the Nile Province of Uganda. This district was formerly part of the
Equatorial Province of Egypt, and is separated on the north from the Sudan by the
5th parallel of latitude, on the west from the Lado enclave of the Congo by the White
Nile, while on the south it reaches to the Assua river, and to the east to the distant
and unadministered tracts around the northern shores of Lake Rudolph.
The chief tribes who look to the District Commissioner at Gondokoro for protection
are the Bari, Luluba, Lokoiya, and the Latuka.
The Bari were particularly troublesome to Sir Samuel Baker in 1870, but are now
a peaceable and tax-paying community. Most of the chiefs of these tribes are rain-
makers, and enjoy a popularity in proportion to their powers to give rain to their people
at the proper season. In one instance I came across a rain-maker who was not a chief
but just a " drawer of water " for his people. This arrangement did not answer very
happily, for there was always friction, and the chief, who himself had proved a failure
as a rain-maker, was very jealous of the power exercised by his man.
Rain-making chiefs always build their villages on the slopes of a fairly high hill, as
they no doubt know that the hills attract the clouds, and that they are, therefore, fairly
safe in their weather forecasts. The huts are conical in shape, and each is usually
surrounded by a bamboo fence, though in many cases the whole village is enclosed
by one stockade.
Bornbo, the paramount chief of the Bari, is perhaps the best known of the rain-
makers, and this man produces water from the clouds not only for his own people but
frequently for people in the Sudan, 30 or 40 miles away, and receives altogether quite
a handsome return in kind.
Rualla, chief of the Luluba, is a warm supporter of the Government, and a most
friendly old man who lives on a beautiful table-land at the top of a range of hills. He
.has a great reputation as a rain-maker.
Lummelun, the Lokoiya chief, who gives much trouble, and is a great raider and
the fear of the countryside, is another of these magicians, though a more insignificant
and stupid man it would be hard to find.
Lukuwyero, the Latuka chief, whose warriors wear the celebrated helmets and
[ 90 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 49.
nothing else, is another rain-maker. His fighting men wear helmets made of plates of
beaten brass fastened on to the hair of the head, which is afterwards shaved off and
forms the lining of the helmet, which is then worn only on special occasions, and being
burnished, looks very imposing in the African sun.
The methods employed by the rain-makers are much as follows : —
The chief having been besought to make rain for the village, and having duly
received various presents of cattle, sheep, goats, and sometimes even a wife, very wisely
selects a day, on which to fulfil his promise, when clouds are to be seen in the sky, and
on which the wind is favourable. He generally smears himself over with wood ashes,
and wears many curious charms of wood and stone around his neck and wrists, and
sometimes his waist and ankles are similarly adorned. He next produces a pot, roughly
made of clay, in which he keeps his rain-stones. These are stones which have been
found upon the hills, and are curious either for their shape or colour. I brought
several of them to England, and some were found on examination to be pieces of rock
crystal, aventurine and amethyst. The stones are then covered with water and the
chief takes in his hand a peeled cane, which is split at the top, and with this he
beckons the clouds towards him or waves them to a " promised land," the while
muttering some strange incantation. He is most persistent in his endeavours and I
have known these frantic efforts Avith his wand to last for hours. If the rain clouds
come and the rain falls on the desired spot,* all is well, but if, as sometimes happens,
the clouds are carried to the distant hill and shed their moisture on the cultivation
of an unfriendly chief, he Avill tell his people that the chief over there is a bad man
and has stolen the rain. This sometimes leads to a raid on the lucky village and to
many broken heads. In such a case rain is promised for another day and is generally
forthcoming, which is as well for the reputation of the chief, who in consequence of
his rain-making abilities is held in great respect and veneration.
On one occasion I had been out for a day's shoot in the Luluba country and
old Rualla, the chief, had accompanied me. We had had a successful day and I had
killed an elephant, the cutting up of which had kept us out rather later than usual ;
on our way back to the camp we were overshadowed by heavy thunder clouds
which threatened a deluge at any moment. Old Rualla said it would be all right as
he would keep the rain off until we were in camp, and, proceeding in advance of
the party, he continued for the rest of the journey frantically to wave the clouds
away with his wand. I must say his efforts on this occasion were most successful,,
for we no sooner arrived than a perfect torrent came down which would have been
most unpleasant on the march, though had we walked less quickly I think we should
not have escaped a good ducking in spite of the rain-maker's magic. However, the
old chief was immensely pleased with himself and delighted to have such an
opportunity of showing u the Government " that he could really do something in his
own particular line. I myself gained the reputation, not as a rain-maker but as a
" lucky person," because so often, much to my personal inconvenience, I took rain
to a parched district while on my visits of inspection.
On another occasion I was on the point of moving my camp when rain threatened.
A Bari took a bunch of green leaves in one hand, and a bunch of dry grass in the
other. He cast the green leaves into one of the camp fires, and lighted the bunch
of dry grass, with which smouldering torch he proceeded to wave away the rain. At
the same time another man, also a Bari, endeavoured to beat back the clouds with a
split cane. In this instance the rain came down heavily, though the two men continued
their exercises for quite an hour, and all the time their unemployed hands rested on
a branch of the tree under which they sheltered, regardless of the vivid lightning which
played incessantly around. These men were just two ordinary Bari, and not rain-makers
of any repute.
[ 91 ]
Nos. 49-50.] MAN. [1910.
Rain is the one thing which matters to the people in those districts, as if it does
not come down at the right time it means untold hardships for the community. It is
therefore small wonder that men more cunning than their fellows should arrogate
to themselves the power of producing it, or that having gained such a reputation,
they should trade on the credulity of their simpler neighbours.
When a rain-making chief ceases to convince his people of his special ability to
work magic he generally dies, or is more probably made away with, and another and
more successful man reigns in his place. Sometimes such a man sees the signs of
discontent, and flies betimes to a neighbouring tribe to whom he offers his services.
The post of a rain-maker appears to me, unless it also carries the chieftainship
-with it, a most precarious one. W. E. REYMES COLE.
REVIEWS.
Crete. Hawes.
Crete the Forerunner of Greece. By C. H. and H. Hawes. (" Library of Cfl
Living Thought.") London: Harper Bros. Pp. xiv + 158. 18 x 11 cm. UU
Price 2s. 6d.
This little book is an useful contribution to the literature of prehistoric Greek
archaeology. Like Professor Ronald Burrows's admirable Discoveries in Crete, it is
primarily an " ceuvre de vulgarisation," but while Professor Burrows designed his
book for the use of a moderately learned public, that of Mr. and Mrs. Hawes is
written for the use of the " man in the street," who knows nothing of archaeology,
but would like to know something (and that easily comprehensible) of the new
•discoveries in Crete and what they mean. At the same time, since the book is written
by authors both of whom have worked in Crete, while one is the actual excavator and
discoverer of remains by no means the least important of these which have come to
light during the last few years, it is one to be read attentively by archaeologists.
It will be especially useful to those who have found Mrs. Hawes's monumental, but
prohibitively expensive, work on the excavations of Gournia unattainable, as in it
they will find a handy resume of her conclusions. Mrs. Hawes is, of course, the
excavator of Gournia, known to us a few years ago as Miss Harriet Boyd, and her
husband has distinguished himself by a special study of the craniology of the ancient
and modern Cretans.
Mrs. Hawes naturally illustrates her conclusions largely from the results of her
own excavations at Gournia (on which there is a special chapter), and this gives
her book a special cachet which distinguishes it from those, such as the works
of Pere Lagrauge (La Crete ancienne) and Dr. Mosso (The Palaces of Crete), in
which the attention of the reader is too exclusively concentrated on Knossos and
Phaistos.
But it is to Knossos and Phaistos and their discoverers, Dr. Arthur Evans and
Professor Halbherr, that Mrs. Hawes turns for the elucidation of Gournia, and the
fellow-feeling and good comradeship that happily distinguishes the company of Cretan
explorers is marked by the preface that Dr. Evans has written for this book, in which
he rightly says that, under the guidance of such authors, " the reader may safely trust
" himself to obtain an illuminating glimpse of this old Minoan world in its various
" aspects."
The intention of the book precludes any learned archaeological discussions,
footnotes, or references, and the absence of these makes a happy distinction between it
and Professor Burrows' work, which while primarily popular was, as Dr. Evans says,
intended " for more advanced archaeological students." Professor Burrows entered into
[ 92 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 50.
technical discussion, and argued for and against various points of view ; also, his book
is a mine of useful references. All this is eschewed by our present authors, who merely
give a resume of what has been discovered and what it all means in a pleasant style
that commends itself readily to the general reader. Naturally, the archaeological
student who is well posted in the subject will detect here and there dogmatisms and
unqualified adhesions to views that are disputable, but this was inevitable in a short
popular work on a subject which has only lately been discovered, and is still not yet
entirely threshed out. Statements must be made which there is no room to discuss ;
and for Mrs. Hawes' reasons we must turn to Gournia.
One new idea is stated pretty dogmatically on p. 41, that tin came to the .^Egeans
from Khorassan ; and on p. 144 we read, " The Black Sea gave them another highway,
" for by sailing to its eastern end they made connections with land routes from the
" region south-east of the Caspian, which Avas especially rich in tin." We imagine
that Mrs. Hawes has no better authority for this than the legendary voyage of the
Argonauts ; we have no Minoan antiquities from the shores of the Euxine to show us
that the ^Egeans ever penetrated into that sea.
Like all those who have worked and studied in Crete (all, without exception,.
English, Americans, Italians, and Greeks), Mr. and Mrs. Hawes accept Dr. Evans's
general chronology of the finds and his system of successive " Minoan " periods.
Mrs. Hawes merely differs on a minor point as to the precise dates of some of
the periods, which does not affect her entire acceptance of the scheme, apart from
mere dates. One may be inclined to think that in making the '* Great Palace
Period" (late Minoan II) last only half a century (1500-1450 B.C., as regards
Dr. Evans's 1500-1350) she curtails it unduly, bringing it to an end too soon ; one
would prefer 1400 as the most satisfactory date. By 1350 the third late Minoan
period was in full swing, as we know from, the discoveries at Tel el-Amarna.
On the subject of Egyptian dates Mrs. Hawes says quite truly that " there is
a growing conviction " that Cretan evidence favours the " minimum " system of
Egyptian chronology, which places the Xllth Dynasty somewhere about 2000 B.C.,.
and makes the XVIIIth begin , about 1580. Professor Petrie's system (as stated
in Discoveries in Sinai), which would put the Xllth Dynasty a thousand years
earlier, cannot be squared with the results of Cretan excavation. The question is
not yet settled, and for the Xllth and earlier dynasties we can only say that we do
not know the dates, and for the mere purpose of time-measurement, can, if we think the
" minimum " (Meyer's) system too low for the Xllth Dynasty, use the more or less
arbitrary system of Brugsch, which happens to split the difference between Petrie and
Meyer. But while the Egyptian evidence (apart from astronomical calculations) fights
both for and against Meyer, that from Crete is in his favour in so far that it tends to
bring the Xllth Dynasty down considerably later than the date assigned to it by
Brugsch (2400 B.C.).
During the XVIIIth Dynasty we are, of course, now certain of our dates
with a few years' margin of error. But Mr. and Mrs. Hawes are right in saying
that still " Egyptologists differ widely in their dates for Pharaohs prior to the
" XVIIIth Dynasty (1580 B.C.), hence our difficulty in ascertaining the absolute
" age of Cretan antiquities which are known to be contemporaneous with the eaTlier
" Pharaohs."
The authors hardly lay sufficient stress upon the early cultural connections of
Egypt and Crete (the possible common origin of the two civilisations in the Nile
Delta is now beginning to be debated), and are, perhaps, inclined to minimise the
mutual influence of Egyptian and Cretan art under the XHtb and XVIIIth Dynasties
(though they mention the fact that Crete " received many ideas from Egypt "). The
Cretan naturalistic artist was indebted for much of his naturalism to Egypt. Thi&
[ 93 ]
Nos. 50-51,] MAN. [1910.
may seem a hard saving, but it is true. The pheasant-hunting cat of Aghia Triadha
(a fresco), which Mrs. Hawes justifiably admires so much, came straight from Xllth
Dynasty Egypt ; where, however, he did not hunt pheasants, but wildfowl, we may be
sure. When Mrs. Hawes says (on p. 127) that the work of the inlaid sword blades
from Mycenae, with their very Egyptian representation of the cats hunting wildfowl
(besides the more truly Minoan scene of the lion hunt), is not of Egyptian origin,
she is, of course, referring to the workmanship of the inlay, not to the style of the
particular subject of the cat, which is perfectly Egyptian in spirit.
The statement that the theory of the style of this inlay being of Egyptian origin
" has long been abandoned " is one of the dogmatisms we have mentioned ; the matter
is debateable. Mrs. Hawes does not mention the fact that the Minoan glazed faience
must have originated in Egypt, where glazed faience had been in use as early as the
beginning of the 1st Dynasty. la revenge, the -ZEgeans gave to Egypt the beautiful
decoration of the spiral volute.
Despite a tendency to idealize Minoan art the chapter on this subject is a very
good one ; and the conclusion of the boo"k, on the connection between the Cretan culture
and that of classical Greece, is admirable. Mr. and Mrs. Hawes subscribe to the theory,
now, I believe, generally accepted, that the Hellenic people were a mixture of the
old Mediterranean non- Aryan " ^Egeans," who had developed the " Minoan " culture,
and Aryans from the north, who brought with them the patriarchal system and the
" Greek language. " In classical Greece we see the results of the mingling of two
" unusually gifted races^-one autochthonous, the other immigrant, the former; con-
*' tributing the tradition and technical skill of a highly advanced native civilisation,
" especially rich in art, the latter its heritage of Aryan institutions, power of co-
" ordination, and an all-conquering language."
This has been the parable of most of us for some years past, and Mr. and
Mrs. Hawes have put it in a nutshell. H. R. HALL.
Religions. Foucart.
La Methode Comparative dans VHistoire des Religions. By George Foucart. C4
Paris : Librairie Alphonse Picard et Fils, 1909. Pp. 239. 19 x 12 cm. 01
Price 3 f r. 50.
If criticism be a form of co-operation in scientific enquiries, anthropologists may
cordially welcome this contribution to their labours. It is a plea for historical method
in the strict sense of the word " historical " — that is to say, an enquiry based wholly
on written records. M. Foucart rejects the sociological view of religion, or at least the
sociological method of enquiry, as based on a priori reasoning rather than the positive
data of history, and as isolating particular practices and studying them apart from their
environment. He rejects the anthropological method, on the ground that uncivilised
peoples are not primitive (which nobody asserts they are, though primitifs may be used
in France as meaning savages) but degenerate, and that the evidence of travellers,
explorers, officials, and missionaries is superficial, uncertain, contradictory, and, in short,
valueless. He postulates for the effective study of the history of religions, the choice
of a type whose evolution from age to age can be studied by means of records incon-
testable and explicit ; and only when he has followed and mastered those records will
he apply comparison. Naturally he finds the best type in the religion recorded during
long millenniums on Egyptian monuments. Fixing on this he presents an outline
of the evolution of some of its chief characteristics, such as the cult of animals,
sacrifice, magic, the condition of the dead, morality, and priestcraft, as deduced from
the monuments.
By way of illustration he appeals from time to time to other religions. Nor,
when it suits him, does he exclude from such appeals the religions of even uncivilised
C 94 ;
1910,] MAN. [No. 51.
peoples. Collections of ethnographical facts, he tells us, have cited hundreds of charac-
teristic examples of belief in the existence of a soul or double more subtle than the
body, but yet material, which outlives its corporeal envelope. The idea of soul or
spirit, moreover, is extended to everything. In Africa (he condescends to no more
definite location) an offering is placed before a divine tree ; the next day it is untouched ;
but the black man believes that the spirit of the tree has absorbed the spirit of the food.
But surely M. Foucart ! if the uncivilised populations are degenerate, if they represent
the decrepitude of the race, these beliefs are but triturated fragments of civilisation,
relics of a vigorous manhood of religion that have passed away. If they are universal
mankind must everywhere have started from civilisation, not from savagery or something
below it, and religion must have sprung into existence like Athene with a mighty
war whoop from the head of Zeus. But that is not M. Foucart's opinion. The Egyptian
monuments are against it. They show beyond doubt. that the Egyptian religion and the
Egyptian state started from barbarism. They exhibit a continual progress in refine-
ment, in complexity, in order, in morality, and so forth through all the ages of empire
and paganism. He repudiates, indeed, the idea that the original inhabitants were
savage, accepting like big children without reflection and without examination fantastic
practices and uncouth inventions. But yet they were not civilised. Then what were
they ? A little real study of anthropology would have disclosed to M. Foucart the
fact that no anthropologist holds that savages are destitute of reason or act without
reasoning. He caricatures the savage in order to emphasise his contention, yet when
it is convenient he appeals to savage beliefs and practices, and that upon evidence
which he elsewhere denounces. It is an old trick of polemics.
The fact is that M. Foucart is an anthropologist in spite of himself. He is always
seeking origins. His method, as far as it goes, is anthropological. His results on the
whole concur with those obtained by anthropologists. Of course there are differences
of detail ; so there are between professed anthropologists. But no anthropologists
would object to an investigation of historical records where such exist. On the con-
trary, they gladly avail themselves of it. They quite agree that to understand the
camel you must do more than gaze at a specimen for an hour in the Jardin des Plantes.
They quite appreciate the necessity of tracking and observing him in his native haunts.
They do not need M. Foucart's reminder of the weakness of some anthropological
evidence. The weaknesses no less than the strength of anthropological evidence are
a commonplace among anthropologists themselves. M. Foucart's contempt for it
would perhaps be less if he knew a little more of it.
He is a sociologist, too, though an unconscious one. Sociologists do not pretend
to evolve the camel out of their inner consciousness. Every sociologist would insist
not less strongly than M. Foucart on the necessity of studying a religion in its
environment, in its modifications and developments. Every sociologist, like every
anthropologist, recognises that religion is only one side of a people's life, inseparable
from its social, its political, its military, its industrial, its intellectual sides. This is,
in fact, the very substance of his contention. If he abstracts for the purpose pf
special study some rite, practice, or belief he only does what M. Foucart himself does,
and he is equally conscious with him that the subject of his special study must be
correlated with the whole. He is conscious, too, that for the purposes of science
this and everything else must be traced back as far as possible to its origins.
Here, perhaps, is the point where the sociologist and the anthropologist part
company with M. Foucart. The latter will go no further than the written record. For
him where that begins is the origin of all things. He refuses to admit (in practice if
not in theory) that there is a long history behind it. Pre-history, he says in effect,
there may be — not history ; but what has this to do with the history of religions ?
What do we know about pre-history ? We only know that savages are degenerates.
[ 95 ]
Nos. 51-52.] MAN. [1910.
Hence for him the tortoise rests on nothing. I can find nowhere an explicit admission
that the state of barbaric thought and custom, presented by Egyptian religion at its
earliest appearance on the monuments, is but a step above, and must have developed
out of, pre-historic savagery. Claiming that savagery is the degeneracy and decrepitude
of the race, he commits himself to a wide proposition that he may be safely defied
to prove — a proposition, moreover, that debars him from reaching the origins he
talks about.
M. Foucart has taken alarm at some theories more or less disputable advanced by
anthropologists and sociologists on certain obscure questions. One or all of the
theories of sacrifice to which he refers may, for instance, be mistaken. It may be that
no one theory will cover all the facts. Whether true or false, the distinguished students
who have advanced these theories have assuredly rendered service to the cause of
science by focussing attention upon the questions to be solved and suggesting solutions.
Further investigation aided by criticism is gradually arriving at the facts, and their true
synthesis will in time emerge. Rome was not built in a day. M. Foucart is too im-
patient. He denounces theory and method together, and then applies the same method
to different facts. Naturally he obtains a divergent result, for which he proceeds to
claim the same universal (primitif, fondamentaV) and exclusive character as the theories
he is controverting.
Anthropologists and sociologists will, therefore, discount much of M. Foucart's
criticisms on their methods ; they will read with some amusement his account of their
theories ; and they will be interested to find that his sketch of various aspects of
Egyptian religion on the whole abundantly confirms their own researches in other
directions. E. S. H.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES.
THE Sixth Congres prehistorique de France will be held at Tours (Indre et CA
Loire) from the 21st to the 27th of August next. An important feature of the Ufc
Congress will be a discussion on the geographical distribution of the flint industry of
Grand-Pressigny. In this connection it is proposed to hold an exhibition of flint
implements from this district, and any persons having such in their collections, and
being willing to lend them, are requested to communicate with M. Edmond Hue,
60 rue de la Pompe, Paris (XVIe). Subscriptions (12 francs) to the Congress
should be sent, before July 20th, to Monsieur Griraux, 11 rue Eugenie, Saint-Mande
(Seine).
THE death is announced of Mr. Alfred Nutt, who was drowned in the Seine on
May 22nd, in endeavouring to save the life of his son. Mr. Nutt, who was born on.
November 22nd, 1856, was the head of the well-known firm of publishers, and was
one of the original members of the Folklore Society, of which he became president
in 1897, and he always took an active part in the work of the Society. He was also
a member of the Honourable Society of the Cymmrodorion. Mr. Nutt was well known
for his writings on Folklore and Celtic subjects, especially noteworthy being his editions
of the Legend of the Holy Grail, and of the Irish saga, The Voyage of Bran.
A READERSHIP in Social Anthropology, of the annual value of £300, has been
established at Oxford University by the Delegates of the Common University Fund.
CAPTAIN A. J. N. TREMEARNE has received the Diploma in Anthropology at
Cambridge University.
Printed by EYBE AND SPOTTISWOODE. LTD., His Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, B.C.
PLATE G.
MAN, 1910.
:
FIG. i.
FIG. 3.
FIG. 5.
FIG. 2.
FIG.
FIG. 6.
FIG. 7. FIG. 8.
THE MAKING OF A POT— EDO-SPEAKING PEOPLES, S. NIGERIA.
1910.] MAN. [No, 53.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Africa : Nigeria. With Plate G. Thomas.
Pottery-making of the Edo-speaking Peoples, Southern Nigeria. CQ
By N, W. Thomas, M.A. UU
I saw two methods of making pots in Southern Nigeria — the commonest method
at Utekon in the Bini country and at Sabongida in the Ora country ; the other, used
for large pots only, I saw nowhere but at Sabongida.
At Utekon pottery clay was obtained from Ekiadolo (market), and when it was
required for use it was cut in pieces with a matchet, put in a wooden plate, and
soaked in water for one night. It was then kneaded and rolled out with the hands
into sausage-shaped masses about one foot long and two or three inches thick (Fig. 1).
A number of these rolls were put in a dish by the side of the potter, who is always
a woman.
The first process was to take the neck and shoulders of a broken pot, which was
placed on the ground neck downwards. A roll was then taken in the right hand,
made into a ball, and flattened in the palm. This was then put on the top of the
broken pot and thinned out (Fig. 1). The next operation was to take a roll and fit it
on the top of this base (cf. Fig. 2) ; • the clay on the inside was straightened out with
the thumb. The clay base rests on the broken pot, but is revolved independently ;
the pot is revolved clockwise, and the roll put on, beginning at the left-hand side.
This goes on till the side is six inches high ; after this the pot base is revolved with
the pot, and the back of the pot is supported with the flat hand, when the thumb is
applied to the inside. As the pot grows the potter stands up, and when the body
begins to contract again after attaining its full width she uses both first finger and
thumb for smoothing.
To make the neck, both inside and outside are smoothed ; the clay is a little
thicker here. A wet leaf is taken from the bowl of water that stands by the potter,
and as she squeezes the neck upwards she wets it with the leaf and smooths it.
Thin places are mended when necessary. In elongating the neck the direction in
which the hand is placed is reversed each time.
Some six hours after the pot was made the outside was smoothed with Ifemi :
the pot was then put aside to dry, a process which might last five days.
The implements used were as follows : —
(a) The long leaf to apply water was from the Egueue tree.
(6) The straight piece of bamboo, Ifeme, was used for smoothing the pot after
drying a little.
(c) Three pieces of Ifeme and two pieces of cord were used as pattern makers
(Agme).
(d) The smoother for the inside of the pot was called Itui, but this is really the
name of the wood.
After the pot was dried the pattern was put on ; the potter wetted her hand and
rolled the cord round the top, and after that went backwards and forwards (Fig. 7).
At Sabongida the process was much the same. A lump as big as two hands was
taken and thinned by placing the hands inside till the sides were raised 6 inches ;
then a roll of clay was taken and put on from right to left (Fig. 2). The outside
was smoothed with bamboo as the pot grew. When it was time to begin the neck a
roll was put on from the outside (Fig. 3) ; it was raised by a roll on the inside and
water applied outside (Fig. 4).
A wet cloth was then taken with a small stone in it, and the outside smoothed
with it, ornamental circles being formed by means of the stone (Fig. 5). The lip of
the pot was formed with the cloth and fingers, and flattened outwards in the same way
[ 97 ]
Nos. 53-54.] MAN. [1910.
(Fig. 6). In smoothing the pot inside, the thumb was moved in the reverse direction
to that by which the rolls were put on.
To make the turning process easier, the sherd was placed on a large piece of
wood as big as a door.
Large pots were begun at Sabongida by another process. A ring of clay was
put on a broken calabash or pot, and thinned with the hands. A flat circular piece
was then applied inside to form the bottom.
At Sabongida the pots were allowed to dry for about three days : then dry
wood and bark were collected, the pots were put on a large sheet of bark, and fuel
piled carefully round them ; the whole operation of firing did not take much longer
than half-an-hour, and when the fire slackened the potter fanned the flames ; the fuel
was renewed at intervals. Finally the pots were picked out with a long pole (Fig. 8)
and laid down to cool. The cost price in the market was 3d. for the smaller ones,
6d. for the larger ones, and about 3s. worth was made at a baking.
Potmaking is somewhat local in the Central Province. Finely-decorated pots
are made at Yaju on the borders of Northern Nigeria, and at Ulola, near Benin City,
I saw some highly decorative pots ; but as a rule they are more useful than
ornamental.
In Benin City are made pots with human figures on them (Ulo-Oloku), large
round pots (ukodo\ yam pots (axe), soup pots (uuaua), small pots to represent an
ebo (juju), which are called oviaxe or uluebo, toy pots of the same shape offered
(with a hole in the bottom) to Osun or Obiame, and native basins. Uhumilau, or
heads of ancestors, which are frequently made in bronze, are also made in pottery.
The uhumilau often have a projection on the left-hand side to represent the white
feather worn by chiefs, and one in the centre of the head to support the ivory
tusks formerly found in the shrines of ancestors. The chiefs who talked to me
about these matters were unanimous in declaring that the ivory actually rested on
the heads.
The photographs in the plate form parts of two series which supplement
one another. The process was precisely the same in all essentials and in each
case the photograph is selected which best illustrates the process.
Occasionally pots are found fixed in the walls of a house as reservoirs for grain
or beans, but this is rare, and I saw it only at Apasiu, in the Uzaitui country.
N. W. THOMAS.
China. Whyte.
The Incest Tabu. By G. Duncan Whyte, M.B. (cj. MAN, 1909, 95). JJ 1
Residence in China has brought to my notice facts that have an important UT
bearing upon the opinion which is quoted by Mr. Aston (MAN, 1909, 95) from
Mr. Ellis's Psychology of Sex : " The failure of the pairing instinct ... in the
" case ... of boys and girls brought up together from infancy is ... due to
" the inevitable absence under these circumstances of the conditions which evoke the
" pairing impulse." With this opinion I am compelled (like Mr. Aston) to disagree,
for reasons which have been brought almost daily before my notice for some few years.
No one can deny the remarkable fertility of the Chinese. The Hoklo inhabitants
of south-east China (a purely Chinese family) emigrate from Amoy and Swatow in tens
of thousands yearly, but still the streets of every town and village in South China are
like those of Jerusalem, " filled with boys and girls playing " — surely sufficient evidence
that " the pairing impulse " operates quite fruitfully amongst them.
To a varying extent amongst these Hoklo peoples there is a custom of " carrying
" in (the word means literally " to take in the arms ") baby daughters-in-law."
Occasionally, of course, the daughter-in-law does not enter her new home to share
[ 98 ]
1910.] MAN. [Nos. 54-55.
"bed and board" till she is of mature years, but in many places the almost universal
custom is for parents to buy (for their present or prospective sons) girl " infants-in-arms."
Sometimes before children are born two neighbours, who are expecting offspring at about
the same date, will arrange to exchange their children, from birth, if they are both girls,
or will agree that if one is a boy and the other a girl, the girl will be sent at an early
date into the home of her future " lord and master." Such " baby daughters-in-law "
are treated by the children of the house as ordinary sisters ; they play, eat, and sleep
together till puberty approaches, when the girl is (theoretically) kept " within the
house." It is customary in many places for the " bride " to indicate, by a difference in
the way she does her hair, when she has been promoted to the full status of wife, but
occasionally the " pairing instinct " (which according to Mr. Ellis should under these
circumstances be non-existent) is so strongly developed that the girl may be some
months pregnant before her parents have arranged to have the girl's hair done up in the
" bridal " way and before the bedrooms have been re-arranged ; before, in fact, the girl is
married. While such strong expression of the pairing instinct is doubtless rare (for it
causes considerable scandal), yet a marriage consummated after years of the closest
intimacy is generally most fruitful, as is evidenced by the large number of yearly
emigrants in spite of a heavy infant mortality.
One of my patients is a hearty old gentleman of over sixty, whose greatest -pride it
is to walk out carrying one or other of his ^rea^-grand-children in his arms, infants for
whom future wives are being selected according to the custom of his family.
I trust that the facts here adduced, together with the arguments contained in
Mr. Aston's article, will be regarded as sufficient proof of the error of the supposition
that " the pairing impulse is not evoked in boys and girls brought up together from
" infancy." G. DUNCAN WHYTE.
Africa : Sudan. Thompson.
Three Bisharln Folk-Tales. By R. Campbell Thompson, M.A.,F.R.G.8. CC
The following three short stories were told me by a Bisharin boy named UU
Ahmed ibn Isa in the district between the mountains Herano and Odeano of the
Eastern Sudan. As might be expected, the vocabulary, diction, and humour are
primitive, but they are interesting as showing the relations between men and ghouls
according to the Bisharin ideas (presuming, of course, that these stories are not of Arab
origin). The ghoul lives in a house, and, like the Arab jinn, can amass treasure and
can eat human beings.
STORY No. 1.
Takat or tebare1 u-baba aiab2 ; durab ebare3 : Yaka4 to-guera5 lamsetok6. Hireria7 ;
tak mek idum8 argin ibrib9 (argin ar'o10 salolib11). Durai w'argin guhartit12 ha'ad'e13.
Guharat14 hama15. Are16 herwat o-mek hama. Y'harut17 o-lul18 ikta19, u-dura issabik20.
Argiuo ennawhob21 o-meko y'hakuer argino obia22. U-6r da eait23 o-mek iha24.
Ye-ang"il kateait u-b'harib etir25. Eait w'are o-mekna euo26. Darbia27 o-b'harib
id'gi28 anguil imerri29 ; id'gi anguil iftik30 ; id'gi anguil kinai31 imerrihob darbia. Id'gi
u-6r oniwa darbia. Id'gi w'taki ye'os32 w'or dabit w'hia33 yabik. Yakiait On aneb
nan tehai heb ! On aneb jan can heb ! U-6r yeusimhi34. Indi33 Dura w'argin
hardet36 han hindib ha'atta ? Indi Ane hindib ha'ad'eni u-argin y'harid on o-serrit fufia.
To-kole yakesyait37 irtaba. Aneb kika duro, aneb kika duro ! Dura emaso dab'yaiyiha
ifre : o-argin-wa o-mek-wa o-6r iha. Malome yehait to-ndi issat.
A woman had a son, and the father was dead ; he had an uncle (who said)
" Up, I will teach you (the art of) thievery." He went ; (there was) a man riding
a donkey (who) had a sheep ; he led the sheep behind him. (The boy said) "Uncle,
" I will steal the sheep and bring it." (He answered) " Steal and bring (it) ; go on,
r 99 ]
No. 55.] MAN. [1910.
" bring the donkey." He went and cut the rope and caused (his) uncle to take (it).
When (the man) missed his sheep he tied up his donkey (and) looked for his sheep.
Then the boy came after and took the donkey ; he cut off the ears and set them up
(on end) in the sea. (The man) came and then did not find his donkey. He ran to the
sea, he found the ears ; he pulled up the ears. When he found the ears only he ran
away : the boy ran after (him.) Then the man eased himself and the boy ran and
removed the . . . under him. He leapt up and (said), " What ails me ? Demons
" have come to me ! " The boy came away from him. He said, " Uncle, wilt thou
" slaughter the sheep or bring wood ? " He said, " I will fetch wood : " (the boy)
killed the sheep and inflated it like a waterskin. He took up the stick and beat
(the skin, crying), " (It was) not I, (but) my uncle ! (It was) not I, (but) my uncle ! "
The uncle heard the beating (and) fled ; the boy took the sheep and the donkey, he
brought them both and gave them to his mother.
1 3 f. s. pres. of bdri, "to have." A. § 314. 2 A. "Aja, (von ja), tot, ^s~?*. SEETZ.aya[J], Leiche.'
* 3 m. s. pres. ; see '. 4 Imperative of yak. 3 A. gives guhar as both verb and noun ; Munz. gives
'to'gwaher as the iiouii. * Causative aor. from lam, "to learn," with suffix of second person. A. p. 283,
No. 23. The Arabic equivalent given to me was n'allimuk. 7 3 m. s. perf . of hirer, " to go." 8 3 m. s.
pres. from 'am, " to ride." A. gives ka'im, § 273. 9 3. m. s. perf. from ban, " to have." A. § 314.
10 Ari, ".behind," with 3 m. s. suffix. A. p. 271, Vocab., p. 5. " From salol. A. p. 285, No. 45.
12 Aor. of guitar with copulative -t ; A. § 336, c. 13 1 s. aor. of ha', "to bring" (A. gives the form
ha' at, § 301) with 3 m. s. suffix. " Imper. with copulative -t. ls Imper. from ha', "to bring." l8 I
was told that the Arabic for Are herwa was kaman ruh. Herwat is the imper. of hern, " to go," with
the copulative -t. and are may be referred to ari, "behind," i.e., "after." 17 3 m. s. perf. of heru (A.
gives the form jelieru) with copulative -t. '" 0-lul was explained to me as " longer " than to-yai.
19 3 m. s. perf. of kef (adopted from Arabic ; A. § 238, 1, a). *• Causative of 'abik, " to take" ; Munz.
gives esabek. 21 From nau or enau, A. III., p. 50, postpos. -hdb, " when." K Obia was explained to
me as the Arabic (j~». In story No. 3, note &, ane rizug Sbani was translated vy--_v<» <!-•«'• The root
appears to be 6b. a Perf. from I, " to come," with copulative -t. 24 3 m. s. perf. of aha, " to bring."
A. § 311. 2S Munz. has a root eder, "to build" (a house) ; cf. also A., p. 296, No. 167, de'ur bauen
(pf. ad'ur). Perhaps etir may be referred to the same word. w Eno, from nau or enau mentioned in *'.
27 3 m. s. perf. of dab, " to run." Like many a's in Bedawi the a assumes this pronunciation, dr.
28 Idegi ; the fern, occurs in story No. 2. The root appears to be the same as A.'s degi,
" to give back." As a rule the equivalent given for idegl was ba'aden, " afterwards." This use
would approximate in some measure (though not exactly) to the Hebrew } 3^1. a Imerri, from
meri, "to find." A. § 318. M Iftik. Rein, gives this word under the form fetiJt wegziehen. S1 I was
told that this word meant " only." I cannot identify it in A. or Rein. * Y'os ; A. gives 5s harnen,
pissen ; it was translated to me by the phrase ga'ad kida 'ala safya/i, and explained as :e en-nas, the
usual phrase. w Something appears to be wanting in the Bisharin version ; the Arabic given me was
masak el-ma'un tahtu. 3I YeuslmM was translated by r'ja minnuh, " went back from him." K Indi,
3 m. s. pres. from di ; A. § 304. M Hardet, 2 m. s. aor. of hdrid, A. No. 138 ; cf. also y'harld below.
31 YakSsyatt, causative from yak.
STORY No. 2.
Takat-wa tak-wa niferit1 ibrin.2 Takat t'harut is ha'ata. Ti-gul-ti gawi t'harut
isa ha'ata somat is atapt3 : dabalo is hoi yakista : sumat iso niferitiokda hama. Arik
iiidi takah : u-is namen4 timerri ? To-tyo-ti5 gawib amerri. Baruk herwat nat hoi
hama. Arik gigia to-soma sumia. Tu-tya da etait : to-somatib ta'abik. Idegi inferidak
ua-mhin ehe ? Indi neferida beb o-mhin ehe : Yakaua aneb rumnhebna.6 To-tya dai
ta'am7 : o-gaw maloma sumia : o-gaw iktimn : o-gaw sumista8 : y'areb9 angal amtaitit.10
Tidegi engal amtaitit. Tidegi to-takat babir darbtait andowaid11 eta guad tisa. To-tya
to-takat oniwa eta : to-takat hadidta, Aneb harriw12 heb, dirn.13 Idegi irtaba14 idirii.
A woman and a man had children. The woman went to fetch bread. She went
to the ghoul's house to fetch bread ; (she found) a box full of bread ; she took up a little
bread therefrom. (She said to her husband) " Come in and bring its bread to thy
" children." Then said her husband, " Where didst thou find the bread ? " (She said)
[ 100 ]
1910.] MAN. [tfo. 55.
" I found it in the ghoul's house, go them and bring some of it." Then he went, he
went into the box. The ghoul came in and caught him in the box. Then (the ghoul
said), "Where are thy children?" He said, "My children are in that place; rise,
" follow me." The ghoul rode on him, the twain entered the house. They arrived at
the house ; (the woman) took them into the house, the ghoul ate one of the children ;
and then (the next day) ate another, and then the woman went out of the door and
came to some Arabs and dwelt with them. The ghoul followed the woman ; the
woman cried out, •' She wants (to get) me, kill her ! " Then they smote and slew her.
1 Niferit "children," from firi, " to bear." 2 Ibrin, from bdri, "to have." A. § 314. * Atap-t ;
A. gives dtab, dfdb voll. The phrase sSmat is atap-t was translated to me sanduk malydn 'ex. * Namen
for na-mhin. 5 To-tyo : this word was repeatedly given me as the equivalent for ghoul by one of the
boys who came from a distant tribe, but I was unable to obtain the same meaning for it from other
(and less primitive) inhabitants; tijo, te'tijo is given by Munz. as "wild beast," and Rein, gives
•• Tii/o . . . die grossen gefarlichen ungetiime der waste," and in that case the connection between
ghouls and wild beasts would appear to be the same among the Bisharin as it is among the Arabs. It
was frequently pronounced ch6. * Rumn-fteb, 2 pi. imper. from ram, "to follow," with 1st pers. suffix.
A. § 273. 7 Ta'am, 3 f. s. perf. from 'am, " to ride." A. § 73. " Sumitta, 3 f. s. perf., from the
causative of sum, " to enter." • Y'areb, pi. of or, "a child," with -eb termination. 10 Amtaitit, from
dm, " to eat." The root occurs again in story No. 3, note 9, ametinedai, translated by nakuluhum, a
variant being tamnai. On -it it = copula, see A. 336, d. n Ndowa was translated to me by "Arab" ; A.
gives Araber, Beduinen ; Munz. Ansiedlung, Familie, Stamm ; Seetz. Stadt. According to Rein, it =
end-dawa, "mannerstamm." 12 Harriw, from hern, "to go" or "to wish." 13 Di'n, 2 pi. imper., from
dir, " to kill." '* Irtaba, perf. of (ab (A. No. 197) = " he smote." The Arabic given me was dirabu.
STORY No. 3.
Mala sana gal o-takat dobab1 ; is kibari2. Gal indi, Ane ibabet is ha'adeni
u-babiyait3 is haiyia. Ibabia ; hamaseyi tak imerri u-darabib ; hos soyia4 hamaseyi tak,
Baruk nho tebia ? Hos soyia, Ane rizug obani5. Arik hos soyia, Un o-gawa ib'andi6
to-tya-ti gaw nat hoi fika7 to-gul-ti gaw harwat nat hoi hama. O-gul itfarhob nat hoi
hama, ma' ! Arik takatok o-gaw hlsa to-esti takatok hisa. Gigia, to-esti takatoh-wa
sanahowa haia. Arik indi sanaho baruk aneb senaheb, ti-tyo-ti gaw harutit estet
ha'ad'eni. Y'hariit o-gaw sumia ; idegi tu-tye da etait amtaitit, gurmaia yakesait
u-sen ibis seui 6-gurma kata aki r'hia w'aw daidi8 wa-to-tya w-gurmat euaw : ti-tyo-te
hada indi, Yaka niba, to-waw niba tamnai9 nemorta10 o-gadami esa'ana.11 ....
Two brothers (there were who) had married each a wife ; (they) had no bread.
One spake, " I Avill set out and bring bread." He set out and brought bread. He set
out ; he found a blind man on the way ; the blind man said to him, " Where
" goest thou ? " He said to him, " I am seeking sustenance." Then he said to him,
" Go to that house — the house of the ghoul — the property therein take. To the house
u of the ghoul go and take the property therein. When the ghoul has gone out, take
" the property therein ; come ! Then show thy wife the house, show thy wife the
'' money." He went, he took the money to his wife and brother. Then his brother
said, " Wait thou for me. I will go to the ghoul's house and bring money." He
went and entered the house ; then the ghoul came and ate him, and he (the brother)
took up his head and buried his brother ; when he saw the cut-off head of his brother
and made a lamentation, and the ghoul missed the head, the chief of the ghouls said,
" Come, let us go, we will go to the lamentation, we will eat them ; we will kill them."
They sat down beside them
1 D.ibdb, from dob, "to marry." - Kibari, 3 m. s. (negative) pres., from bdri, "to have." s From
ibdb. I have preferred to keep the pronunciation as I heard it. 4 Soyia, 3 m. s. perf. of no. A. § 241.
On IUM see A. § 134, where a form ho* as dative is quoted from Munzinger. s Obani, see story No. 1,
note22. * Ib'andi is the first person singular, 1st future, of bai, ''to go" (A. § 325). There must
be some mistake, for the Arabic equivalent given me shows that an imperative was meant. 7 Fika,
see Rein, under feydk. 8 It was explained to me that it was customary to slaughter a sheep at the
funeral. 9 Tamnai, a variant was given as ametinedai. 10 Xemorta, doubtless from the same root
[ 101 ]
Nos. 55-57.] MAN. [1910.
given by Munz. oniotta, sich streiten ; probably mot or mut. Cf. the Eg. YS\ e^ &S± »ie>. " Exa'ana,,
3 m. pi. perf. of *a', " to sit." A. § 273. The tale finishes with the death of the ghouls at the hands
of the man, who afterwards takes their treasure.
R. CAMPBELL THOMPSON.
Tonga. Hocart.
A Tongan Cure and Fijian Etiquette. By A. M. Hocart. CD
The following cure is interesting for its very simplicity. I saw it performed UU
by Lolohe, a Tongan woman living in Lakemba, eastern group of Fiji. This cure
(Tongan, faito ; Fijian, isui) is known as fuafua ; it was performed on a little girl,
the daughter of a high Mbanan chief and a high Lauan chieftainess, who had pain
in the ear. Lolohe simply wetted the cork of the bottle with ordinary perfumed coco-
nut oil (Mbauan, waiwai ; Lauan, waliwali). There was no formula of any kind, and
I have not yet found in Fiji a cure during which a formula is used.
The cure is mnna, that is, knowledge of the procedure is of no use unless it has
been properly transmitted ; if 1 wish to apply this treatment I must ask Lolohe to
rub (yamo-d/ia) my hand with the palmar aspect of her fingers. No words are used
in the transmission.
Tonga, be it said, has a reputation in Lakemba for "faito" I have no doubt the
Tongans return the compliment.
Soon after this the littlef girl's neck swelled ; she had fula, they said. This
means that it was the kind of swelling usually produced by certain breaches of
etiquette ; she had, in effect, once got hold of her elder brother's kerchief and put it
round her neck ; now being the cadet, she is plebeian (kaisi) to her brother, and
conversely her brother is noble (turangd) to her. She had therefore failed in reverence
for her brother in putting on her neck what had been round his. Fula does not
know such a thing as moral responsibility ; it has been known to affect dogs and cats.
The young chief himself had to be called in to cure his sister's disorder ; this he
did by rubbing (yamd) the girl with his hands ; some do it with the feet. In this case
the treatment was effective and the swelling sank (uru).
These details were given me by the maternal uncle of the parties concerned, an
old man reputed for his knowledge of antiquities, and the only Lakemban chief who
has seen the heathen days. Their maternal uncle adds that the swelling may also be
bitten gently (laumbari) ; it is a matter of indifference which procedure is used. I asked
him whether it depended on rank, but if it is the case, it is not known to him. He
believes the disease is specially a family one (vakayavusa) ; that is, it is particularly
rapid if a cadet fails in respect to his elder brother ; if there is no relationship it
will be slow in appearing ; it may take a whole year and it may first appear as an
entanglement (vere) in the bowels ; this is because a stranger (tamata tani) is con-
cerned. In the case of brothers and sisters and cousins (veitadhini) it goes easily
(rawarawa), because the younger is truly or properly (vakandondonu) plebeian
(kaisi) to the elder. A. M. HOCART.
Africa : Nigeria. Tremearne.
Pottery in Northern Nigeria. By Captain A. J. N. Tremearne, C^
F.R.G.S. Uf
There are several methods of pot-making amongst the Hausas, but in none of
them, 1 believe, is a wheel employed. The following is a description of what I saw
last year at Jemaan Daroro (Nassarawa Province), together with a translation of the
information supplied by the potter, Salifu, Sa(r)rikin Giuni : —
" Clay (of a light-yellow colour) is obtained near a stream close to Arusua (a
" neighbouring village). It is cut out with a hoe and put into a bu(r)rima (straw
" waterproof covering) and brought to the house. Then a certain kind of mud is
[ 102 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 57.
" taken from another stream (Rafin Gwalliki), dried in the sun, kneaded and mixed
" with the clay (yimbu). Water is poured on this mixture, which is left thus for
" a day.
" Next day, early in the morning, dust is sprinkled on the floor and the clay is
" kneaded up in a lump and pressed together. It is then picked up and dust is
" sprinkled on it so that it will not stick to anything." It was then again kneaded
into the shape of a large pancake or pat of butter some 12 inches in diameter and
one inch or more in thickness.
The next stage was to spread it over an inverted pot (" the donkey-of-building ")
and to mould it with the hand and a piece of wood (matittiki or matadi) shaped
like a "Scotch hand" into a dome (Fig. 1). After having been wetted and smoothed,
it was placed aside (not necessarily in the sun) while the potter repeated the process
on other pots.
After four hours the dome was removed and turned upside down. The potter
then placed the fingers of his left hand inside the rim, and steadied it while he beat
it in from the outside with the matadi until it had assumed the shape shown in
Fig. 2. The edge was then trimmed with a sharpened stick (or knife).
After that, a roll of clay was prepared about 1 foot in length and some 1^ inches
in diameter, and this was placed around the opening, thus thickening the neck and
making the hole smaller (Fig. 3).
CLAY
1 2 3 A
The operator then took a small piece of soft leather, and having wetted it,
placed it astride the roll. He seized this with his left hand, and went round and
round the pot backwards, steadying it with his right, until the roll of clay had been
squeezed up into a bell-shaped neck (Fig. 4).
A small piece of string — about 2 inches long — was then rolled slantwise around
the shoulder of the pot, and a corresponding pattern was made.
Sometimes extra rolls of clay (guraye) may be placed around the body of the pot
for strength, as shown in Fig. 5, and one I saw had three pairs of small cones.
The pot was left for some sixteen hours (until next morning), and was then baked
for two days in a fire. The pot was then black. Salifu told me that the cones repre-
sented breasts, and were to show that the pot was a female. They and the guraye are
not made on the body of the ordinary pot or tukunia, which is left as in Fig. 4, but
only on those pots which are to be used for oil (telle, &c.). The reason he gave was
that the telle, being stronger, and probably remaining in the house, lasts a long time,
and so if one becomes tired of it he can change it for another as he can his wife.
But the tukunia, being always taken to the stream, is not changed, for it will not last
long enough to make its owner tire of it. It, like the male, " will remain in the house
" until it dies." This may or may not be the true explanation. Certainly the cone-like
ornaments were not put on for my benefit.
Salifu said that another way of making the tukunia and the tefle is by moulding
the clay into a hole in the ground and then shaping the upper part as he did (Pigs. 2
and 3), but that the high-water jars (tulu) are made in ribbons.
A. J. N. TREMEARNE.
[ 103 ]
Nos. 58-59,] MAN. [1910.
Fiji. Ray.
Note on a Point of Fijian Orthography. By S. H. Ray, M.A. (See CO
MAN, 1910, 41.) 30
The absurdity of using the instrumental prefix i in Fiji as a suffix to the preceding
word was pointed out twenty-five years ago by Rev. Dr. Codrington (Melanesian
Languages, 1885, p. 146). This seems to have escaped Mr. Hocart's notice. The
prefix occurs not only in Fiji, but is common in New Guinea Melanesian (Cf. Reports
of Cambridge Expedition to Torres Straits, Vol. Ill, p. 444). It is found also in
languages of the New Hebrides, e.g.. Santo, i-duli, husking stick, duli, to husk, and
in the Solomon Islands, e.g., Florida, i-gaho, digging stick, gaho, dig. The Simbo and
Ruviana in, to which Mr. Hocart refers, is probably not the same as z. It is not
exclusively instrumental, and is allied to the Indonesian in, prefixed or infixed, to form
the preterite of a verbal noun, as, e.g., Iloko ; p-in-asrekna, his letting enter, from
pasrek, to let enter, serrek, " enter," na, suffix pronoun " his." That this is distinct
from i is shown by i being used in Indonesian for the instrument just as in Fiji, e.g.,
Iloko : i-kalap-mo, your apparatus for fishing, from kalap, " to fish," mo, " your." The
infix in is found in Chamorro and New Britain, as well as in Ruviana and Simbo.
Read in the light of other uses of in, Mr. Hocart's examples would be translated :
inapo, the caught bonito, inambu, the (result of the) fishing, .sinalanga, the being
doctored, ginani, the eating, vinagolomo, the hiding, what was hidden. Only one of the
words, sinalanga, apparently indicates an instrument, and salanga, means " doctor,
sorcerer," rather than " cure " or " heal," which is ele embu.
I quite agree with Mr. Hocart that the orthodox orthography of Fijian words
like nai sele, na nonai sele, .are remarkable examples of blind adherence to mechanical
rules. S. H. RAY.
England : Archaeology. Dutt.
Lynchets. By W. A. Dutt. CQ
The age and origin of those narrow terraces generally known as lynchets — UW
although they have other local names — have often been discussed, and the various
conclusions arrived at have been summarised by Mr. W. Johnson in his Folk Memory.
That these terraces came into existence in consequence of a particular system of
hillside cultivation seems to be generally agreed, but whether any of our British
lynchets date from prehistoric times is still uncertain, although the contiguity of some
of them to camps of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages lends some support to the argu-
ments of those who urge that they are remains of a primitive and probably prehistoric
method of agriculture. In this connection, a passage in Captain C. H. Stigand's
recently published To Abyssinia through an Unknown Land seems worthy of con-
sideration, especially by adherents to the theory that many British lynchets are relics
of Neolithic times. In describing the settlements of the Kucha people, Captain
Stigand writes : — " The valley beneath is uninhabited, whereas the Kucha ridge is
" dotted with the villages of the Kucha, a people resembling the Wallamu. As the
" ground which can be cultivated only consists of small patches on shoulders and
" shelves on the steep face of the mountain, there are no big villages. As a rule,
" only a few beehive-shaped huts are clustered together on such places, and sometimes
" the level ground available only suffices for a single hut. Round the huts are clustered
" plantations of the wild banana and bamboo ; the latter they grow, as they utilise
" the stems for building purposes. On the mountain side are little terraces, on which
" are planted a few crops, and the large yam known to the Kikuyu as kikwa. The
" terraces are built up with a stone wall at the lower end to prevent the soil being
" washed off the surface. From the number of these stone walls overgrown with grass
" seen on the Kucha and Uba Mountains, it would appear that in former times a much
[ 104 ]
1910.]
MAN.
[Nos, 59-60.
" larger population must have inhabited these places." The fact that these Kucha
terraces are supported by stone walls at their lower end has some bearing on the
origin of our British lynchets ; for when it was argued, by Dr. Mackintosh and others,
that the latter were merely natural raised beaches, it was pointed out that in Peebles-
shire, Islay, Wiltshire, and elsewhere, there are lynchets supported by dwarf walls or
rough blocks of stone, while others are faced with sarsens or flints. " Generally,"
writes Mr. Johnson, " vegetation and the wash of the soil obscure the facings, and
" the true nature of the supports can be seen only by cutting into the bank."
W. A. DUTT.
Africa : Uganda.
Broun.
Circumcision among the Bageshu, a Tribe on the North Western Oft
Broun (from notes taken at Mbale, July, 1909).
Limits of Mount Elgon, Uganda Protectorate.
By Colonel W. H.
The people are
A savage ceremony of great interest, so it seemed to me.
primitive ; wear little or no
clothing, a skin slung from a
shoulder perhaps ; reputed to dis-
inter human bodies to eat them ;
and their religion, whatever it
may be. is not Mahomedan, pro-
bably Pagan. The women look
on and take part in the dances. I
The young men for cir-
cumcision, about eighteen years
old, were decked with beads,
and round the thighs some had
tied small metal receptacles con-
taining a metal pea, which jingled
to every step. Their bodies
were smeared with the excre-
ment of cattle taken from the
bowel. A few had strips of the
skin of freshly-killed cattle,
the fur inside, round their
shoulders ; this was removed
before the operation. Several
parties of men, carrying sticks
(spears were not allowed), and
women, each party with men for
circumcision, went from place to
place in the vicinity, dancing
and chanting, going away from,
and returning to, the place of circumcision many times. Some of the candidates
looked dazed, they are said to drink for some days beforehand. The dance was
an energetic stamp with the right or left foot leading, the thigh well flexed up,
the body bent forward, and the arms and shoulders moved strongly like a muscular
exercise. The visiting parties, dancing and chanting, circled about from place to
place for at least two hours. Meanwhile, where the operation was to be performed,
freshly-plucked banana leaves (two) were laid on the ground ; faeces from the bowel
of a bull or cow, I do not know which, two branches of a shrub, and a hen's egg
were laid on the banana leaves ; this was arranged by elders. Everything was done
with tedious deliberation though it was raining hard all the time. At last three young
[ 105 ]
Nos. 60-62.] MAN. [1910.
men were brought up for operation ; they were naked, and one, the best looking and
finest in physique of the three, wore a helmet of cowrie shells. Each in turn stamped
vehemently in the mess on the banana leaves breaking the egg. Just before they had
bitten off a small piece from a twist of some material, said to be " medicine," whether a
narcotic or for some other effect, I know not. Then the operation was performed on one
individual, the other two waiting close by, side by side. It must have caused acute pain,
the knife blunt, filthy, smeared with excrement and dirt. The foreskin was strongly
pulled forward, and by main force, the man putting his weight on the knife, shorn off :
then a paring was done deliberately by the critical operator, who clearly held views
upon the rigid performance custom required to ensure the exact result ; wiping his blood-
dripping hands and knife the while on the person and limbs of his victim. Nothing
was attempted to stop the bleeding, which was free. A live fowl was held above the
votary's head by a man standing behind him, which I was told was finally thrown into
the air and liberated, but I did not see that. The first man broke down exhibiting
contortions of suffering, whereupon he was buffeted about the head, face, and shoulders
and shouted at, but the operation went on and was completed. He was evidently
considered to have disgraced himself, was roughly dealt with and thrust aside after-
wards, no further notice being taken of him. The second man with the helmet bore
everything with fortitude, without flinching, chanting the while and appearing perfectly
indifferent. The crowd of men, women, and children were interested spectators, some
eating raw meat, pieces being cut off at the lips while held between the teeth.
The above is merely a recital of what I closely watched, in sequence. I could not
ascertain the meaning of any of the details of the ceremony, or of the operation ; it
was the first occasion any official then at Mbale had seen the rite of circumcision of
the Bageshu. It might be difficult to elicit a dependable explanation from the natives
of the various observances and acts ; but unless it has been lost, forgotten, and the
forms have become traditional, an inquiry might be worth attempting, and to have one
made now would be simple enough, though the presence of an expert to superintend
it would be both a check and a safeguard. W. H. BROUN.
Africa: Congo. Joyce.
Pigment- Blocks of the Bushongo. A Correction. (Sec MAN, Ol
1910, 46). By T. A. Joyce, M.A. 01
In a short description of the pigment-blocks of the Bushongo which appeared in
the last issue of MAN (1910, 46) under my name, a mistake occurs which I hasten
to correct. It is stated in line 9 that to prepare the crimson paste " two blocks of
" wood are . . . rubbed together." This is incorrect, and for these words should
be substituted, " a block of wood is moistened with water and rubbed on a flat stone."
The mistake was due to an oversight, and, though not serious, I much regret
that it should have been made. T. A. JOYCE.
REVIEWS.
Sociology. Hartland.
Primitive Paternity: The Myth of Supernatural Birth in Relation to the
History of the Family. By Edwin Sidney Hartland, F.S.A. London : David
Nutt, 1909-10. Two volumes. Pp. viii + 32o ; 328. Index and List of Authors.
23 X 14 cm. Price 18*. net.
The title which Mr. Hartland has chosen for his book indicates the chief bearing
of an inquiry which touches at many points the whole subject of the evolution of the
family. It also serves to link the latest research with the earliest, with the problems
raised by Bachofen, Morgan, and McLennan, and with Aristotle's a priori statement.
1910.] MAN. [No. 62.
Primitive Paternity is of more importance than its precursor, The Legend of
Perseus, inasmuch as it deals with sociological facts rather than with folk-lore, and
can make use of the really remarkable accumulation of new and more scientific
material that has been made since the earlier study. This new material has been
well employed. It naturally coincides with the bearing of the author's inquiry, for the
essence of the problem of the family is the sexual nature of man, and, directly or
indirectly, this aspect of human nature is bound to reveal itself when analysis is
applied.
The author commences with a summary of the stories of The Supernatural Birth,
which formed the chief feature of The Legend of Perseus. " The myth of super-
" natural birth ... is world-wide . . . The myth is too far spread — what is
" more important, it is much too deeply rooted in the savage belief and practices of
" both hemispheres — to be accounted for by the plain and easy theory of borrowing."
There follows a very interesting account, reaching 125 pages, of magical practices to
obtain children in which it is implied " that the origin of the child afterwards born
" is not the semen received in the act of coition, but the drug or magical potency
" of the ceremony or the incantation." " From their consideration," the author con-
cludes " that it was a widespread belief in early times that pregnancy was caused
" otherwise than by sexual intercourse." He adds that " the difference of the
*' intellectual atmosphere is not alone sufficient to account for it ; a difference of
" social environment is also required." A noteworthy concomitant of this primitive
ignorance of physiology is the no less widespread belief that children are not new
individuals but ancestors reborn. A valuable section is devoted to this subject. On
the whole phenomenon the Central Australian evidence is, of course, extremely
important and conclusive.
To many the discussion, which naturally follows, of the problem of mother-right
will be not the least interesting part of the book. Mother-right involves the pre-
sumption that during many ages " concentration of thought on the problem of paternity "
was not called for. After investigation of this state of society and of the transition
period it becomes clear that " the father is a wholly subordinate personage, whose
" identity is of comparatively small importance." There can be little doubt that it
is the primitive ignorance, still maintained in Central Australia and elsewhere, of the
dependence of fecundation on sexual intercourse which is the ultimate reason for the
reckoning of descent through the mother alone.
" Uncertainty of paternity " is no longer a vera causa ; " mother-right is found
" not merely where paternity is uncertain, but also where it is practically certain.
" Father-right, on the other hand, is found not merely where paternity is certain, but
44 also where it is uncertain, and even where the legal father is known not to have
" begotten the children. . . . The uncertainty of paternity cannot be historically
4i the reason for the reckoning of descent exclusively through the mother." " Uncer-
" tainty of paternity " is " in fact, a crude attempt by persons accustomed to a
" very different social condition to solve the unexpected and, in their view, wholly
" exceptional problem of mother-right."
The author illustrates the rise of father-right by well-chosen modern -examples.
" Kindred with the father is first and foremost juridical — a social convention." It is
not due to " any change in savage or barbarous theories of blood-relationship, but to
*' social and economical causes." " It is an artificial system, . . . and has in its
" origin, at all events, nothing whatever to do with the consciousness of blood-
*' relationship." This conclusion is the main point of the book. There may be
difference of opinion as to details, but the general proposition will, no doubt, be
accepted as adequately proven.
The author connects the rise of " paternity " with the growth of the sense of
[ 107 ]
Nos, 62-63.] MAN. [1910.
ownership. This is illustrated by a useful sketch of primitive chastity. " On the
"highest planes of culture this sense of ownership has been refined into the conception
" of the virtue of chastity." In early society small importance is "attached to the
" gratification of the sexual instincts apart from the limitations imposed by the sense
" of ownership, and the consequent growth of the ideal of chastity. Tfae sense of
" ownership has been the seed-plot of jealousy. To it we are indebted for the
" first germ of sexual regulations. To it in the last resort, re-inforced by growing
" physiological knowledge and sanctioned by religion, is due the social order enjoyed
" by the foremost nations of Europe and America."
A curious result is the " general indifference in the lower culture to the actual
" paternity of a child." Father-right, " far from being founded on certainty of
" paternity, positively fosters indifference, and if it does not promote fraud, at least
" becomes a hotbed of legal fictions. It is a purely artificial system."
The psychological theory of sexual jealousy is as yet far from complete. In his
study of its connection with the sense of property, from anthropological data
Mr. Hartland has made a distinct contribution to the subject. Opinion is also
divided among anthropologists as to the reality of the primitive ignorance of the
paternal part of the process of fecuudation. In his last chapter the author gives a
forcible a priori argument in favour of this reality, and clinches it with the Australian
and other evidence. Much of the magical and generally superstitious notions on the
subject may have to be discounted. Such notions are often an accretion upon already
existing knowledge ; but there is an excellent case here made out both for this primi-
tive ignorance in particular and for the general sociological results which fall so readily
into line with it.
The simplification of anthropological theory is a desirable end. The author, by
emphasising the influence of a negative phenomenon, has helped the study in this
direction. Such a simplification is of far more value than the too common reading
into primitive motive of abstract but complicated " magical " intentions or " religious
or " legal " mystery and fiction. From such exaltation of the mystic element in human
motive The Legend of Perseus was not free ; the present work is, if we qualify, as
we are meant to do, the application of later legal theorising to the earliest mentality.
Mr. Hartland is to be congratulated on a notable and luminous study, which
ignores a mass of irrelevant theory and establishes a new aspect of the evolution of
the family and society. It may, lastly, serve as a line along which a via media may
be found between the hypotheses of primitive " promiscuity " and of permanent
"monogamy." The character of the social impulse in early society is certainly not
quite analogous either to that of modern civilisation or to those of the two opposed
types of animal communities. A. E. C.
Africa, East. Routledgre.
With a Prehistoric People. The Akikuyu of British East Africa. Being OQ
Some Account of the Method of Life and Mode of Thought found existent Oil
amongst a Nation on its First Contact with European Civilisation. By W. Scoresby
Routledge, M.A. (Oxon.), and Katherine Routledge (born Pease), Som. Coll. (Oxon.) ;
M.A. (Trin. Coll., Dublin). London : Edward Arnold, 1910. Pp. 392 + xxxji.
24 X 16 cm. Price 21*.
Everyone interested in Africa will feel grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Routledge for
their excellent account of the people of Kikuyu. It is of the utmost importance that
the special features and customs of primitive peoples should be noted before the
advance of civilisation with its attendant influences destroys and sweeps them away.
This is especially the case in East Africa, where settlers are flocking and Western ideas
arc driving native thought and life from the field. Mr. and Mrs. Routledge have
[ 108 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 63.
gathered an immense amount of useful information, which will render further research
easier ; it is to be hoped the same pens will, in the near future, be able to add to the
valuable information gathered in the aid of science. The work is characterised by
clear accounts of careful observations ; the writers spared no pains in their endeavours
to obtain information, and undertook many wearisome journeys in order to be present
at ceremonies or to explore for themselves places of interest. The photographs are
exceedingly good, and the selection of subjects embraces a wide range. These, apart
from the letter press, give an excellent idea of the place, the people, their dress,
ornaments, and general life. The book will be welcomed by the popular reader, and
furnishes the tourist and hunter with ample information for his travels. It is divided
into three parts, as is noted in the Preface, p. xx. In Part I Mr. Routledge deals
generally " with dress, ornaments, and the arts and crafts of life " ; in Part II Mrs.
Routledge deals with " women, social and political life " ; and in Part III they
combine to deal with religion. The main object of the work is popular rather than
scientific ; still there is much that will interest the ethnologist and the anthropologist
and make them long for further details. The ethnologist will read the book with a
feeling of disappointment, because he appears to be brought within reach of the solution
of many ceremonies and customs, to which no solution is given. To-day students are
on the alert for reference to totemism and exogamy, here they are left to gather from
stray remarks that the clans are totemic. A list is given of the clans, p. 21, and a
second list taken from Mr. Hobley's account in MAN, 1906. In the account of marriage
given by Mrs. Routledge, we are left to infer that the people are exogamists.
Mr. Routledge says, p. 20, " He may not marry a member of the clan of either his
" father or of his mother," which statement makes it clear they are exogamists.
Perhaps the difficulty of the language prevented Mr. Routledge from obtaining an
account of the totems and the customs followed ; he says, p. 21, " Some may theoretically
" eat wild game, others not even out of a pot where such has been cooked," and "Men
" are even met with to whom meat is forbidden." Such references leave no doubt in
the mind as to the tribe being totemic.
Much is needed to clear up the relationship of the clans, still we may hope to
learn more when a European has mastered the language or in some way overcome
the difficulty of being merely an onlooker, and has ingratiated himself sufficiently
with the native to be taken into his confidence and given to understand why certain
things are done, or why they are avoided. We are told that the tribe belongs to
the Bantu family, that it is an offshoot of the Akamba (pp. 2, 12), though little more
than a few linguistic similarities are produced as evidence of the statement. We miss,
however, the usual prefix Wa, of the Swahili, or the Ba of many other Bantu tribes
when speaking of the people in the plural ; we should have expected to find the people
called Wakikuyu, or Bakikuyu, rather than A-kikuyu, a prefix more frequently used
among Nilotic tribes ; one wonders whether the tribe has in some way been influenced
by its Nilotic neighbours, or whether this is common in Bantu tribes whose languages
are still either unknown or only partially known.
Th'e detailed accounts of art, especially of iron work, together with the illustrations,
indicate the careful observation of an eye witness, and one regrets the smith has
not been induced to give an account of his work, and his reasons for doing many
things left unexplained. The markings on the shields, Plate Ixxxv, are most
elaborate, showing there still remains much to be learned as to their significance
and object.
In Part II one has the same feeling of being a sightseer, gazing at a performance
without understanding why it is being enacted or what it betokens. In the account of
the initiation ceremony there are many references made to unexplained rites, marking,
painting, dress, bathing, &c.
Nos. 63-64.] MAN. [1910.
The law of inheritance is not very clear as the following quotations illustrate ;
p. 143 : — " The whole estate — women, shambas, and goats — passes by custom to the
" custody of the heir-at-law. If the eldest son is an adult he takes possession of the
" property. He inherits all his father's widows, but only takes as his wives any in
" excess of three, and these only if they have not borne more than one child." Lower
down we read, " There is no odium attached to a widow preferring to live with another
" man, but any children born are reckoned as of the family to which she legitimately
" belongs, and the father could not claim marli for any daughter by such a connection."
Again, on p. 144 we read, " As a general rule each widow retains possession of her
" former shamba and cultivates it on behalf of her family." It is uncertain who is
the real owner of land, widows, and children. Each child as it grows up appears to
have an equal right of ownership of land with the heir, who is only custodian during
the minority of the children. The clan appears to have no voice in the disposal of
property, and no authority over the widows and children.
One is doubtful how much the medicine-man revealed of the true method of
medicine-making when he made medicine for the European (p. 259) ; the African is a
child of nature, but he is an uncommonly shrewd one and will adapt himself to what
he thinks the enquirer wants. It may be he was perfectly honest in all he did ; at the
same time the more reliable method of obtaining information would be from ceremonies
gone through on their own behalf, rather than from those asked for by a person not
of the tribe. J. ROSCOE.
Australia. Strehlow.
Die Aranda und Loritja-Stdmme. By C. Strehlow. Thiel III. Frankfurt fl J
am Main : Baer, 1910. Pp. xx + 140. 28 X 22. 04
In MAN (1909, 14, 23) I noticed the first and second parts of Mr. Shrehlow's work
on the Aranda (Arunta) and Loritja tribes. The third part with details of the "cultus"
of many totems has now appeared, and it is of value to the student of language no less
than of rites. The hymns are given with an interlined word for word translation, and a
more free and readable version.
The preface of Baron von Leouhardi contains remarks on my review just cited. It
was my impression when I wrote that Mr. Strehlow and Messrs. Spencer and Gillen
were equally correct in their descriptions of rites and usages, even when they differed
in details. They had met with variants, I said, in beliefs of portions of the tribe,
locally apart, and it was and is my impression that the English students had not worked
in Mr. Strehlow's neighbourhood. Indeed, if they did encounter stories of Altjira, the
goose-footed, red-haired, and perfectly otiose sky-dweller of Mr. Strehlow ; or if they
found the term altjira applied to the maternal totem of each individual, they certainly
would not have omitted facts so interesting which Mr. Strehlow records. But Baron
von Leonhardi (Preface, pp. vii, viii) does not, on some points, admit my explanation.
To me it appeared that the linguistic differences in the two districts, as reported, were
considerable. The Baron points out that the "Aranda roara" (Mr. Spencer's) say, for
example, amera, amanga, the " Aranda ulbma " (Mr. Strehlow's) say mera manga. He
takes the Roara erathipa to be the Ulbma ratapa. Looking at the vocabulary of
Spencer and Gillen we read, " erathipa" a stone representing the spot at which a
sacred pole was implanted, and at which a child went into the earth together with
a number of churinga. Ratapa thinks Baron von Leonhardi, like erathipa, are not
" spirit children " (p. viii). Compare Mr. Strehlow (III, p. 7), where we learn that
— heaven knows what, for Mr. Strehlow's citation of Native Tribes, p. 260, does
not contain the passage he quotes with reference to u spirit parts of kangaroo."
In neither Northern nor Central Tribes does the page given contain the passage.
In a note Mr. Strehlow says that the churinga left at various spots by the Alcheringa
[ 110 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 64-
folk " later changed into ratapa, and can enter into women who pass the spot." The
ratapa, it seems, is not a spirit. In the case of kangaroos, for instance, " they are
" actual kangaroos — living, bestial bodies." Mr. Strehlow thinks that he cannot
have expressed himself clearly enough to be understood. The ceaseless life of the
Altjiringa person emanates ratapa, which are born from women, but are not spirits.
That seems to be the humour of it.
That Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, on the Todd river, met natives from Mr. Streh-
low's district Baron Leonhardi infers from their statement that people came " from all
" parts of the tribe," some travelling 200 miles (Central Tribes, p. 276), and natives
pass freely between Alice Springs and Mr. Strehlow's station at Hermannsburg, eighty
miles away. The two sets hold feasts and ceremonies together. This must be grievous
to Mr. Strehlow, for Mr. Frazer, explaining why he does not cite Mr. Strehlow's work,
quotes from a letter of Mr. Spencer's (March 30th, 1908) : — The missionaries teach that
even ordinary corroborees are " wicked things," " and have endeavoured in every way
"to . . . prevent the natives from attending them " (Totemism, Vol. I, page 186,
Note 2). Still, says Mr. Strehlow, the natives — wandering sheep — do attend them
(p. viii, Note 3). In that case one must suppose that they did not lay their beliefs
before the English inquirers. They ought to have done so.
There was a very old medicine-man known to Mr. Strehlow, and photographed by
Messrs. Spencer and Gillen in the act of thrusting out his tongue for scientific inspec-
tion (Central Tribes, p. 524, Fig. 104). But he was a Roara. I regret to announce
his decease.
What can we say, except that if the English explorers did meet men from
Mr. Strehlow's district these men did not impart information other than our authors
give ? Our authors would not conceal information.
I remarked that Mr. Spencer's men were naked ; Mr. Strehlow's are clothed, and so,
it is to be inferred, are less natural and primitive. This is unimportant. Mr. Strehlow
did not teach them the belief in a red-haired, goose-footed, otiose Altjira ! But, says
Baron von Leonhardi, the Alice Springs Arunta are also clothed — " don't now go about
" naked." Is it sportsmanlike to infer that our authors made them strip — " zum Zweck
" des Photographierens nackt ausziehen miissen " ? We need documentary evidence —
the tailor's bills of Alice Springs natives before 1898.
I am sorry if my modest eirenicon is a failure. Baron von Leonhardi, at all
events, thinks Messrs. Spencer and Gilleu in the right about the Arunta nescience of
the obvious facts of procreation (p. xi). He does not understand, nor do I, Mr.
Strehlow's meaning as to food partaken by the mother as a cause of pregnancy. He
gave his view in his preface to Strehlow, I (see Mr. Frazer's citation, Totemism, IV,
p. 59, Note 1). When once the ratapa belief was accepted, it does not much matter how
the ratapa gets into the woman, by the hip or by the mouth. But how coition makes
entrance of the ratapa by hip or mouth practicable, and " so prepares the mother for
" the reception and birth of an already formed spirit child " (Central Tribes, p. 265)
might have puzzled Mr. Shandy. If any one supposes that all totemistic mankind once
believed in ratapa, I am unable to agree with nim.
That Mr. Strehlow, though unable as a missionary to sanction heathen rites by
his presence, is thoroughly well informed, can be denied by nobody who reads his new
volume. He gives the details, gives the churinga songs with translations, and gives
photographs of scenes of action and of decorations. He denies the statement (Central
Tribes, p. 168) that the wild cat is forbidden food to all the tribes except the old men.
All Arunta not of the cat totem eat this uninviting animal (p. 25). Fifty-nine sets of
rites and hymns are given, and I do think that the book can be ignored by the judicious
inquirer. A. LANG.
Nos. 65-66,] MAN. [1910.
America, North. Speck.
Ethnology of the Yuchi Indians. By Frank G. Speck. Anthropological DC
Papers of the University Museum, Philadelphia, Vol. I., No. 1. Philadelphia, UU
1909. Pp. 154, with sixteen Plates. 26 X 19 cm.
This is an interesting account of a small tribe of Indians, constituting an
independent linguistic stock, now living in Oklahama, and forming part of the Creek
confederacy. The author's researches embrace practically the whole field of the life
and activities of these Indians, and although the treatment of some sections appears to
be inadequate, the paper forms a valuable addition to the magnificent series of records
which we owe to American anthropologists, and to the private and governmental
generosity of a practical people.
The most interesting portions of the paper are those relating to the totemic
system, the division of the tribe into two societies, the " town " government, and
the ceremonies of personal purification (by means of emetics) and propitiation which
takes place at the ripening of the crops. Even the games played by the Yuchi are
in the main ceremonial in their intention, and the ball game in particular might
almost be regarded as sacrificial, since the maiming or killing of players is frequent.
*' Strict care must be taken by the players not to allow the ball to be touched by
" their hands. This is about the only rule of the game, every sort of strategy and
" violence being allowed." The approved method of stopping an opponent's run for
goal is to hit him with a heavy stick or racquet, two of which are carried by each
player. The aboriginal candour of this proceeding is not unworthy of admiration.
The excellent plates are of great value, especially those which illustrate the
Yuchi decorative art and its symbolism. Those showing stages of the annual corn-
ripening ceremonies are also of interest, though the European dress of the performers
gives a commonplace effect to the pictures. H. S. H.
Africa, East. Rehse.
Kiziba : Land und Leute. Eine Monographie von Hermann Rehse. Stuttgart: IJO
Strecker und Schroder, 1910. Pp. xi + 394. 29 x 21 cm. Price 24 marks. 00
This is one of the excellent series of monographs on the native races of the
German colonies which are being published with the aid of a subvention from the
German Colonial Office. The author is not a trained anthropologist, and it naturally
follows that his attention has been mainly directed to technology and other matters
more on the surface than social organisation and religion. His list of kinship terms,
too, is far too short, and he translates- some of them by such useless expressions as
nephew, grandson, &c. : it would be well if officials were in possession of a list of
terms that are required, with the proper European designations, such as father's
daughter's son.
An excellent feature of the book is a series of texts with interlinear translation.
These are partly myths, partly sagas. It is, perhaps, worth while to suggest that the
texts are, from a linguistic point of view, equally valuable if they deal with custom
rather than tradition, and it is frequently far easier for the untrained observer to get
a detailed account of a custom, if he is able to take it down in the vernacular and
translate subsequently, than if the interpreter has to intervene at once.
Herr Rehse is to be congratulated on an excellent piece of work, and Germany
may well be proud to have so many capable writers on anthropological subjects among
her colonial officials. N. W. T.
ERRATA.
In MAN, 1910, 37, p. 66, line 12, for innobo read umobo.
In MAN, 1910, 51, p. 95, line 9, for have read has.
Printed by EYEE AND SPOTTISWOODE. LTD., His Majesty's Printers, Bast Harding Street. E.G.
PLATE H.
MAN, 1910.
a 3 4
, 12 -13 -14
I
49
£
26
o A oY
^ T jfc
r"T T
^ i ^
I ^V 3?
=^O^ 36
c )
\
(1)
\
C±)
I
T
23
2!f
•fPt
1
(H)
SOME "NSIBIDI" SIGNS.
1910.] MAN. [No. 67.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Africa, West. With Plate H. Dayrell.
Some " Nsibidi " Signs. By E. Dayrell, District Commissioner, Q"?
Southern Nigeria* Of
On Plate H are shown some Nsibidi signs (1-41), and a story (a-ri) written in
Nsibidi, collected by me recently in Southern Nigeria. The following is au explanation
of the signs : —
1, Fighting stick. 2, Woman. 3, Pillow. 4, Man. 5, Man and woman, pillow
in middle ; the man has had a quarrel with his wife because she has fallen in love
with another man. 6, The young men's club, to which the lover belongs, sitting on
the ekfrat stick. 7, The sword which the man will take to fight the boy, or man.
with whom his wife fell in love. 8, Poor man's money, always four rods, given to
the wife going to market. 9, Young rich man's money, always eight rods. 10, Rich
chief's money, always sixteen rods. 11, The peacock, " Egbo palaver"; when a
man is wronged he sends this sign, .which means that he is going to take action in
the Egbo society. 12, Mbudualkpe, sent to notify people that the " Egbo "f is out.
13, Ekara 'Nkanda ; a man always runs before the* " Egbo " with this in his hand ;
it is made of cane. 14, Akpahata — constant fighters ; one will not let the other go.
This sign is sent by a strong fighter to another man whom he wishes to fight, and
means that he will fight to a finish and not run away. 15, The "Egbo" fighting
club. Wheu the " Egbo " is out, if a man is caught who does not belong to the
society, he is tied up to this cross, which is fixed in the ground, and then flogged by
the " Egbos " with whips made of manatee hide. 16, A comb; or give me a comb.
17, Looking glass. 18. A native umbrella, made of grass, nkanya iboto. 19, Big
and small stars, the sign of night. 20, Firebrand or torch. 21, Woman, on left,
sleeping with man, on right ; pillows at head and foot. 22, Woman, on left, sleeping
with man, on right ; she is a walking woman, akparu ; pillows at head and foot. 23, A
man with a whip in his hand. When a boy does wrong this sign is sent to his father
to show that he has been caught and will be flogged, so that the father can pay
compensation to the man wronged. 24, A slave messenger, who always watches his
master's wife. 25, A stick and a man, who was caught by the watcher and was tied
to the post and flogged by the husband. When the signs 23, 24, and 25 are sent to
a man it means that the husband's " watcher " has caught the son doing wrong,
that the boy is tied up and is going to be flogged. If the wrong done is stealing
yams, the sign of a farm and yams is included ; if the boy was caught with
the husband's wife, the sign of a man and wife is inserted. 26, A man dressed
ready for a wrestling bout. This sign was sent by one young men's company to
another, when they wished to challenge them to wrestle. 27, Pots (native),
washing pots. The round black pot holds ashes to take away the oil from the
hands, &c. 28, Cap (native) made of grass. 29, Asan Inan, four-square bottle,
the sign for rum or request for rum. 30, Glass-stand and glass (native). 31, Palaver
house — Efe Ekpe. 32, A dead body tied up in a mat ; sign for the death of a
relative of father, mother, sister, &c. 33, Sign for the death of a friend or of a
member of the house. 34, Gun (cross-bow). 35. Matchet or sword. 36, A man
and a murderer who murdered someone with the above weapons (34, 3o) and escaped
and was ordered to be caught. The murderer stands on the right, and the man who
caught him on the left. 37, Ebuka — old-time fetters. 38, Esit Ima Obutong —
Obutong's love. It means that the husband will be inconstant and will go about
* For Ngibidl, see MacGregor, Some Notes on J\rxibidi, Journ. Roy. Antkr. Inst., XXXIX, n. 209.
t For Egbo, see Parkinson, A Note on the Ejilt and Ekoi Tribes, Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst.,
XXXVII, pp. 262 ff.
[ 113 ]
Nos, 67-68.] MAN. [1910.
getting different wives in many towns. 39, Eti Esit Ima — good steady heart of love.
This means a constant lover. 40, Etak Ntana Nsibidi — Nsibidi's bunch of plan-
tains. When the head of the house wants plantains he sends this sign to the head
boy on the farm. 41, EJfe Nsibidi — the Hall of Nsibidi ; the round house where
the young boys meet to learn the Nsibidi writing.
(a) The young boys were sitting in the Nsibidi house, (b) There were two
young women who sold their favours for money, (c) They had two boys whom they
used to send out to get the men to come to them or to get money from them,
(rf) One of the two boys took (e) a chewing stick, (f) a bottle of tombo, and (<?) a
native glass (h) to the young men sitting on the ekfrat stick, (i) These young men
sent their boy to bring (j) a bag containing rods. (k~) The boy got the bag of rods
and took it to the two boys, who took the rods to the women. (Z) The young men
sent their boy with the sign of the comet to meet them that night, (m) One of the
young men met one of the women in an open place, et cum inclinata colvit. (») The
next day the young man found the woman with a different man and knew she was
unfaithful. E. DAYRELL.
Africa: Congo State. Ishmael.
The Babinza. By George C. Ishmael, F.R.G.S.
The Babinza, or Babinja, is a large tribe which inhabits that part of the
Belgian Congo which stretches from the station of Likati on the Likati river to the State
post of Mandungu on the Itimbiri (or Rubi) river. The tribe is made up of some twenty
clans, of which the principal are Amokoki, Bachimba, Libotnbo, Bayeyi, Alibonje,
Bomenge, Bongongo, Bukata, Yalikombe, &c., similar to each other in all but unimportant
details. With few exceptions the Babinza are neither tall nor well-proportioned, and do
not appear to be very strong ; in this they differ from the majority of the Congo tribes,
such as the Azande, who inhabit more open country to the north. Their women,
especially, are small of stature and ill-shaped, but men and women alike are ugly in
features and dirty in habits. Their voices are thick and raucous, and the most friendly
conversation in the privacy of their huts has the semblance of a noisy quarrel.
Their villages are built sometimes close to the water's edge, and sometimes in
small clearings in the heart of the forest. A village consists of rows of huts thatched
with what would seem to a casual observer to be one roof. On close inspection,
however, one finds that each hut is thatched separately. A Mubinza would no doubt
make the same mistake on first seeing some of our suburban streets. No care whatever
is taken in selecting the site of a village, and when a village is formed no care is taken
to keep the huts or surroundings in a sanitary condition. To about a foot from the
ground the huts are covered with moss, and days after a heavy shower of rain the
oozy and evil-smelling passages between the rows of huts (one can hardly call them
" streets ") are full of pools of stagnant water. The interior of the hut is usually in as
unhealthy a state as the exterior, being as a rule musty and covered with mildew.
Within these happy hunting grounds for microbes the Babinza prepare their meals,
and these, combined with the state of squalor I have described, account beyond doubt
for the spread of some of the diseases which are to be described later on. The first
meal, consisting of pounded plantains and some added delicacy like boiled snails, takes
place between nine and ten in the morning. The snails are boiled in their shells,
and served up on a wooden platter. They are pulled out of their shells with the
finger nails or any piece of wood that happens to be handy. The morning and after-
noon dish of pounded plantains is sometimes also diversified with caterpillars or slugs.
After their meals the Babinza, unlike most Africans, do not wash their hands, but
wipe them on their bodies or scant clothing of rags and leaves. No wonder, then, that
nearly every man, woman, and child among them suffers from some form of skin
[ H4 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 68.
disease, and it was terrible to notice several advanced cases of, what seemed to me to
be, leprosy and tertiary syphilis.
The women do all the cooking, fetch wood and water, and till the fields. They
also fashion and bake their own cooking and water pots. (In some parts of Uganda —
perhaps owing to the want of proper clay — earthenware utensils are made in certain
districts only and carried long distances to various markets). I watched some of these
pots being baked and examined the finished articles. They were symmetrical and evenly
baked. The men — except those employed by the State — when not hunting or fighting,
spend most of their time lying in their easy chairs and occasionally tend the children.
They are good wicker workers, and their chairs appeared to be fairly comfortable.
The Babinza are dexterous sailors and huntsmen, and scores of canoes of all sizes,
paddled by men, women and children, perpetually cross the rivers, the banks of which
their villages "adorn." They are continually employed by the State to conduct canoes
or light, flat-bottomed barges over the Go rapids. It is to their credit to say that this
very dangerous task is, as a rule, satisfactorily accomplished by them. One of the head-
men, who took me to the rapids, informed me that there had been one or two accidents
due to the fact that they had been compelled to shoot the rapids at the wrong time of
the year. Each of these villages has its baraza, or " club-house," and the gossip between
them is the one similarity between the Babinza and the inhabitants of Europe. But the
Babinza's favourite pastime is the hunting of the dog-faced monkey, a great delicacy
with them, as with all the Congo tribes. The trees whereon the dog-faced monkeys
propose to pass the night are first marked and reported to the chief by scouts sent out
for that purpose. The marksmen of the village are then provided with four charges of
powder and bullets each, and a sufficient number of percussion caps. The marksmen
and others, armed with spears and clubs, then set out at midnight for the spot pointed
out by the scouts, and camp about half a mile away. Just before dawn the trees on
which the monkeys are sleeping are surrounded. Great care is taken to cover the arm-
pits, as I was informed that should this precaution be neglected the monkeys would
scent the hunters and escape. At break of day the oldest and most powerful of the
monkeys, whom my informant described as " the father of the family," descends from
his tree and examines his surroundings. Satisfied that all is safe he re-ascends, and
in a few minutes descends again, followed by the whole troop. As they descend the
marksmen pick off the largest, whilst the spearmen and clubmen make an end of the
wounded. The bag is collected and the hunters then return to the village.
Another simian much hunted by the Babinza is one that was described to me as
" a very large monkey with long beard, thick and bushy tail." These presumably are
colobi, and sleep in caves or large holes. They are tracked in much the same way as
their dog-faced relatives. Sufficient time is allowed them in which to fall asleep, and
then the hunters, armed with long, pointed stakes, creep out of their hiding places and
so block the entrance to the caves with the stakes that only one monkey at a time
can emerge. A great noise is then made by the natives, and as one frightened monkey
after another forces his way out he is speared or clubbed to death. Not one is
spared, all going to supply the feast which takes place on the hunters' return.
The Babinza have no paramount chief, but each clan is ruled by its own chief, who
is succeeded on his death not by a son but by a brother.
It is a curious fact that all the members of the different clans I have mentioned
styled themselves Bibinza when interrogated by a stranger; they were continually
at war with each other before the advent of the European. Each village had its living,
cultivating and hunting boundaries clearly defined, and trespass on a neighbouring
clan's property was a casus belli. I was informed that all the clans have the same
tribal marks raised on their faces and bodies, but speak slightly different dialects.
I had considerable difficulty in obtaining information on the intricate subject of
No. 68.] MAN. [1910.
succession, and perhaps my best mode of explaining their customs on this point will
be to give a concrete instance. In this case there were four brothers in the family,
the father of whom was still alive ; my informant being the second son. On the death
of the eldest brother his slaves and other property, with the exception of his wives,
who were equally divided amongst the surviving brothers, devolved on the eldest
surviving brother, subject to the right of the father to inherit a granddaughter whom
he could sell in marriage. A certain amount of the deceased's personal property was
buried with him and a certain amount, damaged to prevent temptation to pilfer,
placed on his grave. On some of these graves, which are kept respectfully in a very
orderly condition, I noticed several articles, including mosquito nets, saucepans, cups,
saucers, boats, &c. Had the second instead of the eldest son died his property would
have passed to his eldest brother, who would, however, not inherit the wives, who
become the chattels of the younger brothers, for it seems to be contra bonos mores
for an elder brother to take a younger one's wives. A ghastly custom prevails on a
chief's death. A number of men, women and children — the number depending on the
importance of the deceased — are brought in from neighbouring villages, bought by the
adherents of the late chief, slain, and thrown, some into the chief's grave, some into
the river. I could ascertain neither the origin nor the reason for this practice. After
this ceremony there is a continuous merry-making for a month or more.
It will be seen from this that the Babinza are reckless of human life. They pick
quarrels with their neighbours on any pretence in order to satisfy their craving for human
flesh. Unlike many of the cannibal tribes of the Congo, the Babinza eat the whole of
the body ; the heart, liver, kidneys, and parts of the chest being reserved for the chief.
Not only do the Babinza sub-clans war one with the other, but there often is a
great deal of internecine conflict within the same sub-clan, for on the death of any but
the oldest man there is a search instituted for the enemy of his family who slew him.
This search is a very complicated one, and begins with the retaining of a medicine man,
and with the washing and opening up of the corpse by the relatives to find the
diemba (i.e., the bewitched article) which has been introduced into the body. But
before the post mortem, which the whole village attends, the medicine man has begun
his dance. During his dance he smells at the medicine in his hand, and by its agency
is eventually able to point out the murderer. On this, a relative of the dead man goes
into the forest for the bark of the mbondo tree. He returns with this, pounds it into
a powder and mixes it with water in a deep hole dug for the purpose. The accused,
with a banana leaf in his hand, has to drink frequent and copious draughts of the
mixture, the while tearing strips from the banana leaf and protesting his innocence.
Should he twice fall to the ground, he is held to be guilty, and he is attacked and killed
by the assembled villagers, and eaten. But should he not be overpowered by the
mbondo his relatives demand compensation. If this is not paid, a combat takes place
between the accused and his relatives and the relatives of the dead man. As
mbondo is a powerful poison, the need for compensation seldom arises. The alleged
bewitched man is then buried in a semi-sitting posture ; his entrails, lungs, and liver are
interred in a hole by themselves. This is the usual form of burial. A fight often takes
place, too, between the relatives of an adulterer and an injured husband, for the
compensation of thirty knives or spear heads and two boys is sometimes not paid within
the stated time.
It may be unnecessary to mention the fact that the Babinza are polygamisjs,
the number of wives depending on a man's wealth. The value of a wife, who is,
of course, a mere chattel, though now, I understand, allowed to buy and hold a few
articles, is about fifty knives and one boy. This boy is really not a slave, but
becomes the adopted son of the father-in-law, who has to buy him a wife when he is
old enough to marry. He is treated as one of the family, and cannot be sold as an
[ H6 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 68.
ordinary slave. Cruelty to one's wife is not considered a very serious matter, and is
easily condoned by the father-in-law on the payment of ten knives or so. However,
should a husband not agree with one of his wives he often takes her back to her
father, and asks for the return of the purchase property. This is returned on the re-
marriage or re-selling of the woman. Should a wife not bear a child within a reason-
able time she is sent back to her father, who exchanges her with his son-in-law for
another daughter, or failing that a niece. A small present is usually given to the
father-in-law on such an occasion.
A woman gives birth in a sitting posture, held by the back by another woman,
and by the thighs by two more, whilst a third sits in front to receive the child.
The umbilical cord is cut immediately after birth, and the child washed in cold water
and anointed with red colouring matter obtained from a tree called mbolo. The
mother's vagina is washed thoroughly with warm water, and both the mother and the
child are put in one bed. Men are not allowed to be present at a delivery. The
birth of twins is looked upon as an ill-omen, and a dance is always held on the
happening of such an event, and much beer drunk to avert any evil from the father
and relatives. Should both children live the mother is suspected of witchcraft. The
birth of triplets is an unheard of thing. Within two months of confinement the woman
resumes her ordinary avocations, and the child is nursed by the father. As a rule
the Babinza are extremely fond of their children, and it is not an uncommon sight to
see a father playing with a child. Males are circumcised before they are twenty ;
females never. An uncircumcised male is looked down upon by his fellows.
The Babinza do not believe in a God, gods, or a future state. A spirit known
as mumbo is, however, revered by them. On the death of anybody one of his eyes
is said to leave the body and go to " mumbo." Mumbo is also said to capture
labourers in the fields and wanderers in the forests. He is supposed to converse with
them in Egenja — the language of the Babinza. Whenever a villager is missed he
is suspected of having been captured by mumbo, and a general search is instituted.
The lost one is usually found in a famished and speechless condition near his own
village, where he is supposed to have been left by mumbo. Mumbo feeds his prisoners
on what the Baganda call matungulu. The ex-captive receives nocturnal visits from
the spirit who bids him to remain silent and instructs • him in the art of witchcraft.
For hours after such a visit the favoured one is incoherent, but he gets his reward
in becoming a powerful medicine man in his community. Like all Africans, the
Babinza are very superstitious, and wear numerous charms round their necks and arms.
Snakes are said to bring ill-luck, and a Mubinza bound on a journey will always turn
back and make a fresh start should one of these reptiles cross his path. These folk
do not fear being visited by the spirits of their dead relatives, consequently they do not
put out any sacrifices for them, as the Azande and Mangbetu.
The Mubinza, like the primitive man when he suffered injury, took his revenge
as well as he could. He first demanded compensation from the family of the person
who had injured him, and if this was not forthcoming, or the right sum to be paid
could not be agreed upon by the contending parties, a fight took place between the
parties in which their respective clans took part eventually. Having no paramount
chief or king who could compel the payment or acceptance of compensation, the two
tribes carried on this blood feud, with its attendant wasteful expenditure of human
life, until one side or the other was finally vanquished. The victors then held dances,
at which a great deal of beer was drunk, and gorged themselves with the flesh of
those killed or captured. It is now usual to take all disputes before a Belgian official,
whose decision is practically final. GEORGE C. ISHMAEL.
No, 69.] MAN. [1910.
Australia. Lang-.
The "Historicity" of Arunta Traditions. By A. Lang. PQ
A most difficult point in Arunta social organisation, a point which probably "U
colours the mythic traditions of the people, has received little attention. How do the
Arunta come to possess, as they do, " local totemic groups ? "* With a system of
male descent of the totem name, local totem groups, like Highland clans, necessarily
tend to be mainly of one name, totem name, or patronymic. But the essence of Arunta
totemism is the accidental acquisition of the totem name. Father, mother, and each
child may be all of different totem names. Yet " there will be one area which belongs
" to a group of men who call themselves Kangaroo men, another belonging to Emu
" men," and so on. " The largest, represented by exactly forty individuals, men,
" women, and children," is the Wichetty Grub group at Alice Springs, who possess
" about 100 square miles."! Of these Wichetty Grubs, thirty-five are of the Bulthara-
Panunga phratry, only five are Purula-Kumara.J How in the world do they all come
to be Wichetty Grubs ? It is impossible that each and all of them should have been
conceived in a Wichetty Grub oknanakilla, or centre of Wichetty Grub ratapa,
" spirit children," or " spirits " (or other beings — as in Mr. Strehlow's accounts, not
regarded as " spiritual "). Yet " the local groups .... consist to a large extent,
" but by no means exclusively of men and women of what is commonly spoken of as a
" particular totem. "§
It is not easy to understand how this happens when mere accident determines
the totem of each individual. For example, we are offered the case of a family ;
the father is Wichetty Grub, wife is Lizard, one son is Grub, the other is Lizard.
In another case, father, mother, and one son are Grub, the other son is Kangaroo. |
In a third case, with Eagle Hawk father, and Hakea flower mother we have Grub,
Emu, Eagle Hawk, and Elonka sons and two Grub daughters, and the totems vary
as much in another instance ; Hawk, Grub, Kangaroo, Lizard, Emu, Water.
In such circumstances, how can there be in each local group a large majority of one
totem name ? " The totems are strictly local,"1[ but how are they local when they
come by chance ? Is it possible that while each local group is really made up of
persons of many totems (as where female descent prevails) the entire group is styled
" Wichetty Grub " in compliment to the members who inherit or possess, and perform
the most notable totemic ceremonies ? This is the only solution of the problem at
which I can conjecture. Meanwhile the local groups are certainly spoken of as if, in
each case, they were mainly of one totem, which they can only be where male descent
of the totem name prevails, and among the Arunta it does not exist. While " the
totem names are apparently mixed up in the greatest confusion possible "* * how
are a hundred square miles the property of one group of Wichetty Grubs ? We
hear of " a certain number of local groups of individuals belonging to particular
totems "ff but it is not apparent how such groups can exist, when the individuals
may be and are, of any number of totems.
Now Arunta myth speaks of the earliest human groups as consisting in each
case of individuals all of one particular totem. If we hold that such traditions are
historically worthless, we can explain them, in a way, by saying that they reflect upon the
past the condition of affairs in the present. In the past, as in the present, there would
be one area which belonged to one group of men " who called themselves kangaroo
men, or emu men, or Hakea men," as is now the case.Q But how it can be the
case, when each person's totem name is derived by pure chance, is what one fails
to understand. Still, granting that it is the case, as Messrs. Spencer and Gillen
* Ifative Tribes, p. 9. t ^d-> P- 9- t -Mid., P- 12°- § Ibid-> P- 34-
|| Ibid., p. 116. ^ Ibid., p. 119. ** Ibid., p. 115. ft -Dative Racet, p. 389.
" It Native Tribes, p. 9.
[ H8 ]
1910.] MAN. [No, 69.
frequently state that it is, Arunta mythic fancy merely transfers the conditions of
the present to the past, with a slight exaggeration.
But Dr. Frazer, with Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, finds us " driven to conclude
that these traditions . . ." (he is speaking of traditions of free and habitual
totem-eating) " do faithfully preserve a recollection " of the manners which they
describe.* This must apply, I think, to one part of the tradition of usages, as much as
to another. If so, the ancestors of the Arunta lived in endogamous totem groups,
while, according to the legends, they made free with any women of other totems
whom they came across. They had totems because they were in many, not all, cases,
developed out of the animals which were their totems. As these animals were in
groups, so were they, and they must wed their own women, till they came across
others of other groups,
To me these traditions appear to be, not historical, but dictated by the logic
of fancy. The Arunta meet the question, " How did men become totemic ? " by
saying that the "eternal" or " self -existing " Ungambikula made them so, out of
creatures " which were in reality stages in the transformation of various plants and
animals into human beings."| They were thus made '' in local groups of individuals
belonging to particular totems." Here the present is reflected into the unknown
past ; in the past as in the present totem groups were local.
Then the next question is, " Whom did the men marry ? " and the answer takes
for granted that they had wives of their own local totemic groups. J What other women
could they procure before their wanderings began ?
The legend cannot prove, or suggest, that the Arunta were never, in the past,
forbidden to marry within the totem. They may do so now, and their myth reflects that
license on the mist-screen of the unknown past, at a supposed time when only women
of their own totem were accessible to the men of each group.
How can we take as historical evidence fables which transplant, into the first dawn
of humanity, the terminology of the present classificatory system ? No sooner was a
lizard man made out of an Inapertica or animate bulk, than he possessed an " Okilia or
" elder brother,"§ being himself the Itia or younger brother, I suppose. He could not
be that till after the phratry arrangement and its rules were made !
I confess myself unable to understand how scholars should take such stories as
these for historical evidence on any point of prehistoric manners. As in Dieri myths of
the origin of exogamy, the rules are ascribed to the wisdom of some sages — because
now sages suggest emendations in rules, so the Arunta myths throw back the classi-
ficatory system into the period of the indeterminate Inapertwa which could have no
human relationships. The tales speak of totemic endogamy as habitual. What else
can we expect from people who for long have practised intra-totemic marriage, and
whose myth of the origin of totemism assumes that men originally lived in separate
local groups, each of one totem only ?
The traditions of the Middle Alcheringa period cheerfully and naturally assume the
existence of the Four Class names, among a local Hawk totem group.| Every one of
the set already belongs to one or other of these exogamous intermarrying divisions,
just as the classificatory system of relationships already exists. All this was at a time
when Inapertwa or undifferentiated animated bulks were still thick on the ground.^
The Arunta in general adopted the Four Class names from the Little Hawk group.**
and if their presence does not mean the presence of the Four Class system, what can
it mean ?
Nothing is said in the legends about phratry names. These are invariably, I
* Totemism, Vol. I. p. 238. f Satire Tribes, pp. 388-389. J Ibid., p. 390.
§ Ibid., p. 390. || Ibid., p. 394. ^ Ibid., p. 395 et seq.
** Ibid., p. 396.
No. 69,] MAN. [1910.
think, found in Australia, where the phratriac system without the " classes " exists.
Among the Arunta, phratry names are obsolete, and so the myth says nothing of
them. They are never absent in Australia, I think, where the four class names
have not been adopted. Dr. Frazer* argues thus : It appears to be commonly
supposed that names for the two moieties (classes), or " phratries," must formerly
have existed and afterwards been forgotten, from which again it has been inferred
that the marriage system of the Arunta is late and decadent. The analogy of the
sub-classes points to the opposite conclusion, namely, that the marriage system of the
Arunta is developing, not decaying, for if four of the eight sub-classes among them
are only receiving (not losing) names at the present time, and in some places are still
nameless, we seem bound in consistency to suppose that similarly the two classes or
moieties have not lost their names, but, on the contrary, have not yet received them.
My reply is that people, if they get the chance, may borrow what they need,
but not (save to be in the fashion), what they do not need. Arunta, who had no
names for certain *' degrees " already among them " forbidden," appear to be borrowing,
even now, the names by which part of their tribe denominate these degrees. But the
Arunta need no names for the two main exogamous divisions of their tribe. These
are indicated, in each case, by a pair of the class names. If I am not wrong, long
before the phratry names of the Kamilaroi were discovered, the class names, Hipai,
Muri, and the others served the turn. When the phratry system, according to
Dr. Frazer, was instituted, a man " had only to ascertain from any particular woman
" whether she belonged to his group " (phratry) " or the other group, and his course
" was clear."f
In this case the naming of the phratries was a great and obvious convenience,
and I am unaware of any Australian tribe with the phratry system, and without the
classes, which does not retain the phratry names. But when the classes have long
done all the work, the phratry names, being useless, tend to disappear. In what
conceivable circumstances could the Arunta now find it convenient to borrow or
invent phratry names ? .
It is universally acknowledged that the Four Classes are a development later than
the two phratries. On them is thrown all the work, and it is natural that the phratry
names where eight classes exist should become obsolete. It is not natural that, where
they are perfectly useless, they should ever be needed and come into existence, that is,
where the Four Class names exist. The Arunta legends are silent about phratry names,
voluble about class names, because these exist and are important ; while the phratry
names, being useless, are forgotten, as among the Kurnai.
In the traditions, Ertnatulunga, or sacred storehouses of churinga, existed among
certain Inapertwa, who were operated on and made into men of the Emu totem.J
The Arunta myth-maker is unspeakably unhistorically minded ! Inapertwa perform
the great Engwura ceremony ! §
The class names, so far, are not spoken of in connection with restrictions on
marriage. || They are merely introduced, I presume, because the myth-makers can
scarcely think of men without them, yet they see that they must have had a beginning ;
how they know not, so attribute them to Little Hawks. Why the myth makes the
groups live so freely, or solely, on their own totems, though the wild cats lived on the
hakea flower,^ and quails on grass-seeds,** I do not pretend to know. At no time
can a group have lived mainly on its own totem, of which the season is often brief.
As to marriage rules, Purula men and Kumara women, in the Middle period, actually
cohabited, a thing now wholly forbidden. In other cases the present is reflected on the
* Totemitm, Vol. I, pp. 264, 265. f Ibid., Vol. IV, pp. 113, 114.
t Ibid,, Vol. IV, pp. 391, 397. § Native Tribes, p. 401. || Ibid., p. 402.
If Ibid., p. 403. ** Ibid., p. 403.
r 120 j
1910.] MAN. [Nos. 69-70.
past, not so in this. Apparently the myth could not keep the class names out of the
story. But it had also to account for the institution of the class restrictions, and, in its
usual confused way of thinking, represented the class restrictions as later than the class
distinctions of name. Messrs. Spencer and Gillen can only explain the tradition " on
*' the supposition that the class names which were given by the Ullakupera " (Little
Hawk) " men entailed restrictions upon marriages, but restrictions which were of a
" different kind from those introduced at a later period."* But no restrictions of any
kind have yet been mentioned, nor can we imagine what manner of restrictions by four
class could exist except such as do exist.
We have shown that the legends are absolutely subject to no logic but that of
fancy. The myth introduces class names because the mind is so familiar with them,
and, by an afterthought, accounts for the class restrictions which the presence of the
names already implies. A wise man of the Emu group simply invented the class
restrictions ; the tribe voted in favour of his measure, and that is all the explana-
tion.! " The legislator in his wisdom " decreed exogamy, and we are still asking,
why ? Ghosts of theories rise at call, but each in turn vanishes, " following dark-
" ness like a dream."
I am debarred from quoting the traditions as containing history. But in one
instance they chance, I hold, to deviate into truth. " The traditions of the tribe
*' point back to a time when, for the most part, the members of any particular
*• totem were confined to one moiety of the tribe."J Thus, " in the Alcheringa, all the
" Wichetty Grub men were Bulthara and Panunga."§
If so, the Arunta have passed out of normal totemism, in which each totem is
strictly confined to one phratry only. I have no doubt that this is true, but not
because tradition says that it is true. Tradition merely exaggerates the present
state of things, in which " the great majority of " Wichetty Grub men do belong
to the nameless phratry of the Bulthara and Panunga classes. How this comes to
be so, why only a small minority of the people of the totem name are " born into
*' the wrong class "|| Messrs. Spencer and Gillen tell us. It is owing to the
*' system according to which totem names are acquired "T now. If totem names from
the first were acquired, as now, by chance, each totem would be almost equally
distributed between both "moieties." But quite the reverse is the case. How this
occurred the believers that the Arunta never passed through normal totemism are
repeatedly but vainly invited to explain. Till they do produce a viable theory their
system is not to be accepted. I do not observe that Dr. Frazer ever alludes to this
crucial problem.
The phratries of the northern tribes, to-day, are locally separate. So, according to
a myth given by Mr. Strehlow (Theil /, pp. 6, 7), were the phratries of the Arunta
originally. A. LANG.
Polynesia. Woodford.
Note on a Stone-headed Mace -from Rennell Island. />'// C. M. "7fl
PToodford, F.R.G.S., Local Correspondent of the Royal Anthropological I U
Institute.
After several years' search, one of the stone-headed maces from Rennell Island
has come into my possession, through the munificence of Dr. Northcote Deck, of the
South Sea Evangelical Mission, who recently visited the island.
Mr. Basil Thomson, in The Discovery of the Solomon Islands, page xl,** appears
to connect these maces with the maces headed with a nodule of iron pyrites and
* Notice Tribes, p. 418. f Ibid; PP- *20. 421. J Ibid., pp. 120, 121.
§ Ibid., p. 125. || Ibid., p. 125. ^ Ibid., p. 126.
** Ttie Discovery of the Solomon Islands, Hakluyt Society, London, MDCCCCI.
[ 121 ]
Nos, 70-71.]
MAN.
[1910.
handles inlaid with nautilus or pearl shell which occur on the south coast of the
island of Malaita, but the accompanying illustration will show that they are utterly
dissimilar. For notes on the Malaita maces see MAN.*
The specimen from Rennell Islands in my possession measures 18^ inches in length
from the apex of the stone head to the end of the knob on the handle. The stone
head is just 5 inches in its largest diameter, and 2^ inches from apex to base where
it joins the handle.
The stone, which appears to be of a basaltic nature, is star-shaped with eight
projections.
The handle is 15| inches in length with a diameter of l^th inches where it
joins the stone head, and TVth inch at the butt, where it expands into a knob with
a diameter of If inches.
The handle is made of some
hard dark wood, probably Af-
zelia bijuga.
Two holes, a quarter of
an inch in diameter, are bored
through the handle at right
angles to one another : the
upper one 1 inch from the stone
head, and the lower one three-
quarters of an inch below.
Through these holes the
rattan lashings which fix the
stone head firmly to the handle
are rove, passing between the
rays of the star-shaped head,
two lashings between each ray.
I should have expected to
find the lashings made of
sinnett, as the Rennell Islanders
make use of it, and I fancy
1 have seen Rennell Island
maces so lashed.
The weight of the mace is V ^
2 Ibs. 10 ozs.
I am informed that the native name for these stone-headed maces is " ngakulu."
Care has been taken in the illustration to show how the rattan lashings pass
over and under one another. C. M. WOODFORD.
Africa : Algeria. Astley.
A Sacred Spring and Tree at Hammam R'lrha, Algeria. /,'// the "M
Rev. H. J. Dukinfield Astley, D.Litt. I I
The cult of sacred springs and trees is a well-known characteristic of the neolithic
stage of culture and one of the most valuable proofs of the solidarity of the human
race, and the continuity of ideas derived from the most primitive couches sociales is to
be found in its survival to our own day among votaries of the higher faiths. This is,
however, naturally found among those classes in which " education " has not made much
progress, and in which, therefore, " superstition," which is only " survival " with the
added connotation that it has a living religious significance, has sway.
* MAN, 1908, 16, Baron von Hugel ; 1908, 28, Professor K. W. Reid, M.D. ; 1908, 90, J. Edge-
Partington ; 1908. 91, C. M. Woodford.
[ 122 ]
1910.] MAN. [Nos. 71-72.
la Christian countries such survival is found to be more prevalent where the
Roman Catholic faith is still strong ; for example, in Ireland and Poland, or at such
places as Holywell in Wales, whither, however, it is pilgrims of the Roman communion
who resort. I myself remember meeting a devout Irish peasant near Tenby some years
ago, who was afflicted Avith sore eyes. This man was bathing his eyes in a spring
sacred to St. David, and carrying away some of the muddy water in a bottle as a
remedy for his trouble.
At Walsingham in Norfolk, too, Romanist pilgrims still dedicate pieces of cloth at
the wells sacred to the Virgin, or drop pieces of money into the water. And the
reason is not far to seek. In the early ages of the faith the Church substituted the
cult of the saints for that of the local jinns or spirits, and so won the popular mind.
This cult survives among the less educated members of the Roman communion.
In Mohammedan countries, with their rigid monotheistic faith, one would not expect
at first sight to find similar survivals ; nevertheless there are such, and by no means
rare. Dr. Arthur Evans in his Mycenean Tree and Pillar Cult gives an interesting
example of such a survival at a place called Tekekeoi in Turkey, to which I referred
in a lecture given before the Royal Society of Literature on " Tree and Pillar Worship."
Here, in Algeria, at my very door, I have found another ; if I could explore I should
doubtless find others.
Hammam R'Irha, in the heart of the Algerian mountains, about seventy-five miles
from Algiers, 1,500 feet above the sea, has been noted for its hot springs since the
days of the Romans. As Aquce Calidce it was a fashionable watering-place in the
days of the Emperor Tiberius, and the ruins of the baths and of a flourishing town
are scattered in all directions on the hillside above the modern Etablissement thermal.
Besides the hot springs to which it owes its reputation there are other mineral springs,
which are used for drinking purposes.
One of these, known as the Source Vichy, flows into a basin on the hillside just
below the hotel, which is made lively of an evening by the croaking of innumerable
frogs. A few paces from this, hidden by overhanging trees and bushes, is the sacred
pool. Hither come the natives to perform ritual acts and ablutions, and one of the
trees, a thorn bush, is hung on every branch with strips of cloth torn from their clothing.
Around the pool are earthenware pots and sherds, representing, no doubt, originally,
offerings for the spirits of the tree and spring. One of these I noticed, curiously
enough, to be ornamented with the double chevron characteristic of Bronze Age pottery
— a survival in art-motif harmonising well with the survival of cult.
The presiding genius, whose blessing is procured by the offerings, and the bestowal
of portions of clothing from the body of the worshipper, is now said to be a
Mohammedan marabout, or saint, who lived some generations ago ; but who can doubt
that here again we have a living survival of neolithic animism preserved in all its
simplicity to the present day ? H. J. DUKINFIELD ASTLEY.
Africa, West. Thomas.
The Incest Tabu. By N. W. Thomas, M.A.
The facts cited from China by Mr. Duncan Whyte (MAN, 1910, 54) are
borne out by statements made to me in more than one place in Southern Nigeria,
specially at Agbede, by natives who seemed to me to be extremely reliable. So far
from the pairing instinct failing in the case of brothers and sisters, who are, of course,
brought up together, I was told that sexual intercourse was exceedingly common,
although marriage, of course, was prohibited. In connection with avoidance it is
somewhat curious that the only kind of avoidance practised, so far as I know, among
the Edo-speaking peoples is that between bride and bridegroom. A man who is paying
bride-price is frequently, if not invariably, much older than the girl, and if she meets
I 123 ]
Nos. 72-73.]
MAN.
[1910.
him in the street, or if he visits her father's house, she will " go for bush." This
does not, however, appear to me to be due to any fear that frequent meetings between
bride and bridegroom over a series of years would result in failure of the pairing
instinct.
As a proof that the statements made to me at Agbede are worthy of credence, I
may mention that cases occasionally came up in the courts of brother and sister incest,
and in Sabongida alone four or five cases of sexual relations between members of the
same family, though not between brothers and sisters, were quoted to me, and some of
the parties admitted the facts.
I may, perhaps, add one rather interesting case related to me in the form of a
story, but possibly not without a basis of fact. There was once a man who was
irresistible to all women, but one day he committed incest with his mother owing to
the fact that no other women were available. When she saw that it was her son, she
cried out and all the people came. The old people decided that the man's head should
be shaved like that of a recently born child, that his mother should take him
and make a pretence of suckling him, and then treat him as a small child for three
months. He was the eldest of a family of seven, and so far was this pretence of
re-birth carried that the second son took his place as the eldest child.
N. W. THOMAS.
Method. Blythe.
On a Slide Rule and Tables to calculate P - -000365 x L x B x H. "IQ
By W. H. Ely the, M.A. fU
Where the product of three factors multiplied by a constant has to be performed
frequently, it seems more convenient to have tables constructed, or perhaps a slide
rule, by means of which the necessary calculations may be quickly and accurately
performed.
The following figure illustrates a convenient slide rule : —
10
45
10
50
10
55
10
60
10 65
P
1 1 1
|
H
1
18
1
19
1 20
L
1
81
1
80
1
79
B
1
34
1
35
1
36
On the upper fixed rule the scale of logarithms of the product (P) is indicated.
On the lower fixed scale are the logarithms of the breadths (B), and on the
moveable slide those of the length (L) and the height (H) measured in opposite
directions. The scales should be so arranged that one value of the product must
agree with the proper positions of the respective logarithms of L, B and H ; the rest
will follow.
Thus let it be so arranged that when L == 180, B = 135, H = 119, P = 1055-5 ;
then above H = 118, H = 120, we read respectively P = 1047 and P = 1064. Now
move the slide so that L = 180 coincides with B = 134, then above H = 118,
P = 1039 ; H = 119, P = 1048 ; H = 120, P = 1056. Next move the slide so that
L=181 coincides with B = 134, then above H = 118, P = 1045 ; H = 119,
P = 1054 ; H = 120, P = 1062. If the divisions showing units of P were reduced
to rather less than one-tenth of an inch, a slide rule of convenient length could be
constructed for each 200 values of P.
r 124 ]
1910,]
MAN.
[No. 73.
Tables for the same purpose may be constructed. Take some values of L and H
near the average values, say, 180 and 120.
We find each increase by unity in the value of B, adds 7*884 to that of P.
Hence construct Table I. We may add 8 eight times, and then a 7. Where
many values are required, results should be checked about every twenty places by
actual calculations. Tables II and III are constructed by the rule that in Table I
each addition of 12 to P increases H by •!, and of 18 to P increases L by •!.
Now to use these tables, find P if L = 188, H = 116, B = 141.
Take that when L = 180, H = 120, B = 141, P = 1112. Table II tells us that
when P= 1112 we subtract 37 for four units of H, i.e., 120-116. .• . P = 1075.
From Table III, if P = 1075, we add 47 for an increase of 8 units in L
. '. P = 1122.
Next take L = 180, H = 121, B = 136.
To P = 1072, Table I, add 9 from Table II, and 48 from Table III. . • . P
= 1129.
The calculations are shown shortly, thus : —
L = 188, H = 116, B = 141, P = 1112
Subtract for H - — 4 units — 37
Add for L
1075
+ 8 units + 47
1122
L = 188, H = 121, B = 136, P = 1072
Add for H - 1 unit + 9
Add for L - 8 units
1081
+ 48
1129
TABLE I.— L = 180, H = 120.
B.
P.
B.
P.
135
1064
139
1096
136
1072
140
1104
137
1080
141-
1112
138
1088
142
1120
TABLE II. — VARIATIONS IN P FOK DIFFERENCES IN H.
P.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
1056
8-8
18
26
35
44
53
62
70
79
1068
8-9
18
27
36
45
53
62
71
80
1080
9
18
27
36
45
54
63
72
81
1092
9-1
18
27
36
46
55
64
73
82
1104
9-2
18
28
37
46
55
65
74
83
1116
9-3
19
28
37
47
56
65
74
84
[ 125 ]
Nos. 73-75.] MAN. [1910.
TABLE III. — VARIATIONS IN P FOB DIFFERENCES IN L.
P.
1.
2.
8.
4.
&
6.
7.
8.
9.
1062
5-9
12
18
24
30
35
41
47
53
1082
6
12
18
24
30
36
42
48
54
1098
6-1
12
18
24
31
37
43
49
55
1116
6-2
12
19
25
31
37
43
50
56
1124
6-3
13
19
25
32
38
44
50
57
W. H. BLYTHE.
Haddon.
By A. C. Haddon, Se.D., F.R.S.
London : Milne, 1909.
74
REVIEWS.
Ethnology.
The Races of Man and their Distribution.
Illustrated. Twentieth Century Science Series.
Pp. x + 126. 19 x 13 cm. Price Is.
Dr. Haddon disarms criticism by pointing out in his preface the difficulty of
giving in a short space " a well-balanced account of the races and peoples of mankind "
when, "furthermore, our information is far from complete." As our knowledge,
especially our knowledge of variation in physical character, increases, and the method
of collecting and dealing with anthropological data gains in precision, it becomes less
and less possible to be dogmatic in the statement of results. But Dr. Haddon's book
is for the beginner ; and to anyone just entering upon the subject, a definite statement
is a psychological necessity as a basis for further study.
The book falls into two main divisions. In the first, after a brief account of the
chief methods of classifying mankind according to somatic characters, he gives a
classification of peoples grouped according to the character of the hair under
Ulotrichi, Cymotrichi, and Leiotrichi ; the physical characteristics of the peoples
coming under each group being briefly summarised. Dr. Haddon's method of classifi-
cation has this merit, that it is purely descriptive ; it depends upon no racial hypothesis.
But in exhibiting sub-divisions he has not been quite consistent : the Ulotrichi are
classified according to stature — pygmies and tall — while the two remaining divisions
are sub-divided into dolicho-, mesati-, and brachy-cephalic.
The second, and larger, section of the book contains an account of the distribution
of races and peoples according to areas. The account of European peoples ia entirely
physical ; in the other continents, and particularly in the case of the more primitive
peoples, a brief account of culture, language, and religion is given. This section is
a marvel of compression. A useful bibliography and a glossary of technical terms
are appended. E. N. F.
Pygmies. Schmidt.
«/ Die Slellung der Pygmaenvolker in der Entwicklungsgeschichte des Menschen.
75
Von P. W. Schmidt, S.V.D. Pp. 326. Stuttgart : Strecker und Schroeder,
1910. (Parts VI and VII of Studien und Forschungen zur Menschen- und Vb'lker-
kunde. Edited by Georg Buschan.) Pp. ix + 315. 24 x 17 cm. Price M. 9.60.
Some five years ago Professor Kollmann, of Basel, formulated the theory that
the various human races were descended from pygmy races ; in brief, he regarded
the pygmy type as a stage in the evolution of modern man. Professor Schwalbe
took Kollmann's theory seriously ; in the opinion of those best qualified to judge he
was able to show that Kollmann's theory rests on a misinterpretation of facts, and
[ 126 1
1910,] MAN. [Nos, 75-76.
that on our present knowledge of physiology the pygmies must be regarded, not as
a primitive type, but as an aberrant form of modern man.
Perhaps it is unnecessary to enter into details relating to the theory of pygmy
races, now formulated by Father Schmidt ; he lays no claim — indeed, the manner in
which he deals with the physical characters of the human body shows that he can
lay no claim — to an expert knowledge of physical anthropology. In his opinion the
pygmies represent a very ancient, if not the most ancient, human race of which we
have any knowledge, and that the forms found in Africa and Asia are survivals of a
race, which at a very ancient period was widely distributed in the world. In brief,
the pygmies in body, mind, and culture present the most primitive stage in the
evolution of man now to be seen anywhere on earth.
It would require a review equal in bulk to Father Schmidt's book to do justice
to his statements and arguments. From a personal and prolonged inquiry into the
physical characters of the pygmy races, the reviewer is able to state that there is no
human race known that has so little claim to be regarded as a primitive human
type as these same pygmies of Father Schmidt. They are the last race in the world
to answer to the criteria required in an ancestral type for modern man. The pygmies
are small negroes, and represent a tendency — but to a marked degree — seen in all forms
of negro to assume in manhood characters which mark the adolescence of other races.
Dwarfism is still an obscure condition ; but there are clear signs that an experimental
demonstration of the manner in which it is produced and perpetuated is within the
bounds of legitimate expectation.
Father Schmidt's theory of the antiquity of the pygmy race is based really on
the inference he draws from a review and study of their culture. In their modes of
body decoration and mutilation, in clothing, or rather absence of clothing, in their
nomadic habits, in their huts, bows, arrows, in their bone and wood implements, and in
their burial customs, they show, in Father Schmidt's opinion, the most primitive stage
known in the evolution of human culture. Their culture represents a stage earlier than
that of the Tasmanians and Australians, usually regarded as the most primitive of
human races. On the other hand, the pygmies, following Father Schmidt's state-
ment, have reached quite a European standard in their religion ; they clearly " recognise
" and worship a higher being, the Creator and Lord of the Earth " (see p. 242).
The pygmy is the most ancient of men, and his religion the most ancient of
religions. Q. E. D. A. KEITH.
Africa: Sudan. Tangye.
In the Torrid Sudan. By H. Lincoln Tangye, F.R.G.S. London : John Tfl
Murray, 1910. Pp. xii + 300. 22x14 cm. 10
A good deal of information useful to the traveller, sportsman, and naturalist will be
found in this book. Its chief value to the anthropologist lies in its illustrations. The
author was able to make friends with the little known Nuers, excellent photographs of
whom are given. These people have the same remarkable laws of inheritance as the
Dinkas, which, collected by Captain H. O'Sullivan, formed the subject of a paper by
Mr. Sidney Hartland at the Dublin meeting of the British Association. This seems to
support a view forced on the writer of this notice, while studying the Dinkas, that the
Nuers are no more than a tribe of the Dinka nation, varying no more from admittedly
Dinka tribes than the latter do among themselves. The book contains many views
which impress the reader with the monotonous character of the scenery of a great part
of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Many of these photographs should be of great interest
to geographers and to all concerned with the study of scenery. C. G. S.
[ 127 ]
Nos. 77-78.] MAN. [1910.
Darwinism. Darwin.
The Foundations of " The Origin of Species" Two essays written in 1842 "f"l
and 1844. By Charles Darwin. Edited by his son, Francis Darwin. Cambridge : * •
The University Press, 1909. Pp. xxix -f 263, including index.
It is interesting to observe the growth of the theory which has made modern
thought. These preliminary drafts have also the value that they show by comparison
with the Origin the relative importance in the author's mind of certain principles
and classes of evidence. For example, a good . deal of weight is attached in these
essays to "mutations," and more reference is made to the influence of the environ-
tf
ment. In view of modern tendencies these first thoughts are therefore significant.
The 1842 essay is more or less in the form of notes. That of 1844 is a finished
sketch. As the editor says, " It has not all the force and conciseness of the Origin,
" but it has a certain freshness which gives it a character of its own. It must be
" remembered that the Origin was an abstract or condensation of a much bigger book,
" whereas the essay of 1884 was an expansion of the sketch of 1842. It is not,
" therefore, surprising that in the Origin there is occasionally evident a chafing against
" the author's self-imposed limitation. Whereas in the 1844 essay there is an air of
" freedom as if the author were letting himself go, rather than applying the curb."
The editor contributes in the form of footnotes an excellent and precise collation
of these essays and the various editions of the Origin. He also discusses in au
interesting introduction the gradual formation of the author's views. Here he makes
several good points. For instance, " It is surprising that Malthus should have been
" needed to give him the clue, when in the notebook of 1837 there should occur,
" however obscurely expressed, the following forecast of the importance of the
" survival of the fittest." The fact is one proof among many of Darwin's extra-
ordinary selflessness. Again, " The fact that in 1842, seventeen years before the pub-
" lication of the Origin, my father should have been able to write out so full an outline
" of his future work is very remarkable." The writing of this essay " during the
" summer of 1844," as stated in the autobiography, and "from memory," as Darwin
says elsewhere, " was a remarkable achievement, and possibly renders more conceivable
" the still greater feat of the writing of the Origin between July 1858 and September
" 1859." For long, it seems, he had the idea that the sketch of 1844 might remain
as the only record of his life-work.
This record of the development and variation of a great theory is itself an
example of the Darwinian method. All men of science will be grateful to the editor
for this new instance of not the least valuable part of his work, the study of his father's
mind. A. E. C.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES.
A SOCIETY has been formed recently, under the title of the Morant Club, to TO
carry on excavations in the county of Essex. Any objects discovered will be * U
deposited in one of the public museums in the county, and the results will be handed
over for publication to one of the Essex societies. The object of the club is to excavate
barrows, camps, Roman stations, &c., and it is expected that a start will be made this
season. The club is limited to forty members, but it is hoped that outside subscriptions
will be forthcoming.
IT is gratifying to learn that the building of Block I of the new Cambridge Museum
of Archaeology and Ethnology has begun. The needs of the department cannot,
however, be satisfied until Block II has been erected, for which a sum of over £19,000
will be required. Of this £5.100 is already in hand, leaving a balance of £13,900
still to be collected by public subscription.
Printed by EYBE AND SPOTTISWOODE, LTD., His Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, E.C,
PLATE I— J.
MAN, 1910.
SECTION OF MOUND.
CONTEMPORARY VASES.
EARLIEST STONE TOMB, MEYDUM.
1910.] MAN. [No. 79.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Egypt. With Plate I— J. Petrie.
The Earliest Stone Tombs. By W. M. Flinders Petrie, D.C.L.. F.R.S., 'IQ
Professor of Egyptology, University of London. I U
Although in recent years the burials of the prehistoric and early dynasties in
Egypt have been well explored, no instance of a stone-built tomb is known before the
end of the Second Dynasty, when King Khasekhemui built a stone chamber at Abydos.
The succeeding kings were buried in rock-cut chambers, and not till the latter part of
the Third Dynasty did stone-built chambers become the custom, even for kings. The
oldest stone tombs of subjects are those at Meydum, which were opened by the British
School this last winter.
The outsides of the great mastabas of Nefer-maat and another noble, close to the
pyramid of Sneferu, had been visible in all ages, but the interiors had defied modern
search. They were attacked in a thorough manner this year. The mound over the
tomb, No. 17, was mined through to a depth of 45 feet, the clearance needing to be
about as wide, in order to descend safely through the mass of stone chips of which it
is formed. At the bottom was found a closed stone building, which had been com-
pletely buried beneath the mound, without leaving any external opening. The burial
had therefore taken place before the mound was thrown up, and as the material of the
mound was clearly from the mason's waste left in building the pyramid adjacent, the
burial must have been made before the date of the pyramid of Sneferu, 4600 B.C.
This is the earliest private stone tomb that can be dated.
The construction is magnificent ; the passages are lofty, and the great chamber
is roofed with beams of stone which weigh up to 40 tons each, where the dimensions
can be seen. In a recess at the end of the hall stands the sarcophagus of red granite,
the oldest stone sarcophagus known. The tomb had unfortunately been entered by
plunderers, while its construction was well known, as they had tunnelled through to
its weakest point ; they had broken the body, but not destroyed it.
The burial is of the greatest interest, as it shows that the body was completely
unfleshed before it was wrapped in linen. We have long known of the prehistoric
burials being unfleshed, and even the bones being broken to extract the marrow ; and
in the Fifth Dynasty over a third of the bodies were more or less cut up before burial.
In the present case the bones had been completely stripped and severed, excepting
that the spine was not dissevered. Each bone was then wrapped separately in fine
linen, even the small bones of the ankles and wrists ; the spine was packed closely
with linen, between and under all the processes, and linen was pressed into the empty
eye sockets. A cloth model of the penis was very carefully formed and placed in
the wrappings.
The neighbouring tomb of the noble Nefer-maat is the largest of all, the size being
380 feet by 206 feet. The body of it is of Nile mud, which is as tedious to work in as
soft stone, owing to its toughness and the hard flints which it contains. A large pit,
which we sank behind the offering chamber, showed nothing. Tunnels in various
directions were then cut until the chamber was found. A pit 34 feet square had been
sunk in the rock, 5 feet of mud had been poured into it and left to harden, then the
stone chamber had been built upon that, and heaped over and around with large blocks
of stone. This arrangement is unique, as also is the inlaid colour decoration of
the tomb-chapel. The sculptured offering chamber of Nefer-maat was removed to
Cairo, and that of Atet has been distributed to different museums by the British
School.
The burial of Nefer-maat again proved to have been an unfleshed skeleton. It was
in bad condition, as the last workmen before closing the chamber had rifled the body
[ 129 ]
Nos, 79-80.] MAN. [1910.
and broken up the wooden coffin. Mud had been poured into the passage to close it,
and this had run into the chamber to about a foot deep, thus wetting and rotting away
any linen. But it had preserved a curious piece of evidence, for the mud had flowed
into the hip joint, filling the acetabulum around the ball of the thigh which was
still in place. This proves that the bones must have been separated and cleaned,
and that there was no tissue or skin over them when the pit was closed.
Thus the two greatest nobles of the end of the III Dynasty are seen to have
been entirely unfleshed, and their bones to have been buried recomposed in order.
Both the bodies were extended at full length, as were the dissevered burials of the
V Dynasty at Deshasheh. The present examples show that dissevering of the
bodies was the custom for the highest classes in the beginning of the Pyramid Period.
The full account by Mr. Wainwright, who excavated these tombs, will appear in
Meydum and Memphis, the annual volume of the British School in Egypt.
A very important result has been the finding a series of quarry marks of Sneferu,
which cover the whole range of the working season. This, we know, by the conditions
of the country, was from April to October, and thus we find the interval from the
XII to the III Dynasty to be 1,113 years, with about 40 years of uncertainty.
This accords nearly with Manetho's statement of 1,198 years : if we credit the Egyptians
with knowing their own history, and do not make any arbitrary reductions, this gives
the date of 4600 B.C. for Sneferu, the first of the Pyramid builders.
The other main results of the season were the removal of the whole of the
sculptures of Meydum, the earliest known, to Cairo and other museums for safety ;
the successful opening of the low levels of the great temple of Ptah at Memphis by
working 10 feet under water level, and beginning thus to find the sculptures, a work
that will occupy twenty years at least, and the finding of many sealings of Persian and
early Greek work which illustrate the fifth and sixth centuries, B.C. Work will be
continued at Memphis and its neighbourhood in the coming winter.
W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE.
The skull was found with the rest of the bones in the granite sarcophagus. Its
measurements are : length, 187 mm. ; ophryon, 186 ; breadth, max. 141 ; biauricular,
118; bi-zygomatic, 123; height to bregma, 140; basi-nasal, 99; basi-alveolar, 87;
nasi-alveolar, 79 ; nasal height, 59 ; width, 24 ; nasion to chin, 127 ; jaw length, max.
119 ; breadth at joint, 121 ; breadth at base, 101. As compared with usual Egyptian
heads this is large with narrow face, extremely orthognathous, and very narrow nose.
In every respect it is of high type.
The section of the mound shows the strata of pyramid masons' chips which were
piled over the stone burial chamber. The clearance was much wider within the mound
in order to reach the chamber safely. At the left of the cutting is seen the brick
wall of the tomb facade.
The granite sarcophagus in the stone chamber had been opened by plunderers.
The block in front of it is one of two on which the lid had rested before the burial.
The stone vases, limestone and granite, were found in a contemporary tomb of
the age Sneferu, 4600 B.C.
Australia. Lang.
The Puzzle of Kaiabara Sub-class Names. /;// A. Lang.
If we study the sub-class names of the Kaiabara tribe, of the mountains
Bunya Bunya, so called from the fruit of that name (the hills are within sixty miles
of Maryborough in South Queensland), we are puzzled. The passages are in Journ.
[ 130 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 80.
Anthr. Inst., 1884, p. 336, in Native Tribes of South-East Australia, pp. 116,228,
230, and in Mr. Frazer's Totemism, Vol. I, pp. 443, 444, 446.
Mr. Howitt (N. T. S. E. A., p. 231) saw that there is probably "an inaccuracy."
There are about seven inaccuracies ! Mr. Frazer rightly suspects confusion oft the
names of classes and sub-classes with those of totems, in Mr. Howitt's paper in Journ.
Anthr. Inst. (XIII, p. 336), but himself makes a curious oversight.
If I may conjecturally emend a document certainly erroneous, Mr. Howitt's table
of Kaiabara " totemic marriages " (N. T. S. E. A., p. 229) the results will be lucid,
and, I think, convincing. The puzzle is intricate.
In writing on the social organisation of the Australian tribes {N. T. S. E. A.,
p. 104), Mr. Howitt, when he comes to the Kamilaroi (female descent and four sub-
classes), arranges matters thus : —
CLASSES (PHRATRIES). SUB-CLASSES. TOTEMS.
Kupathin. Ipai. Ten.
Kumbo.
Dilbi. Mnrri. Eight.
Kubbi.
Dealing with the Kaiabara tribe (N. T. S. E. A., p. 116) he gives : —
CLASSES (PHRATRIES). SUB-CLASSES. TOTEMS.
Kubatine. Bulkoin. Four.
Bunda.
Dilebi. Baring. Five.
Turowain.
Treating of the marriage rules of the Kamilaroi, Mr. Howitt mentions only the
four sub-class names, he here gives none of the totem names, and all is plain sailing.
Only the four class names occur (N. T. S. E. A., p. 200).
But, on reaching the marriage rules of the Kaiabara, Mr. Howitt " comes to the
" totemic marriages," as he says (^V. T. S. E. A., pp. 229, 230), and at once all is
confusion. His informants mix up with the four sub-class names certain totem names
within the sub-classes, one name having been reported to him clearly by mistake.
" The table was carefully taken down from the statements of some of Mr. Brooke's
" native police, as to themselves, they being Kaiabara" (N. T. S. E. A., p. 229).
There was certainly some misunderstanding between Mr. Brooke and the
blacks.
Thus, looking at the classes, sub-classes, and totems of the Kaiabara, as previously
given (N. T. S. E. A., p. 116), we find :—
CLASSES. SUB-CLASSES. TOTEMS.
Kubatine. Bulkoin. Carpet snake, flood-water.
Bunda. Native cat ; white eagle
hawk.
Dilebi. Baring. Turtle, lightning ; rock
Turowain. carpet snake.
Bat, black eagle hawk.
The native names for the totems are not given, nor are the four sub-class names
translated.
But, looking again (N. T. S. E. A., p. 229) at the police report on Kaiabara
marriages, we find that in giving the sub-class names of the males who marry, the
informants have mixed in one of the four totem names in Bulkoin and Bunda, and two
of the five totem names in Baring and Turowain.
[ 131 ]
No. 80.] MAN. [1910,
This is precisely as if in the marriage rules of the Kamilaroi one totem name out
of the ten totem names in the sub-classes, Ipai and Kumbo, were mixed with the
sub-class names of the males ; while, in Murri and Kubbi, two of the eight totems in
these two sub-classes were substituted for the sub-class names of the males.
The result, in the case of the Kaiabara, is the following strange confusion : —
MALE. MARRIES CHILDREN ARE
Bulkoin, carpet snake. Turowain, black eagle. Bunda, white eagle hawk.
Bunda, native cat. Baring, rock carpet snake. Bulkoin, scrub carpet snake.
Baring, turtle. Bunda, white eagle hawk. Turowain, black eagle haAvk.
Turowain, bat. Bulkoin, female carpet snake. Baring, scrub carpet snake.
Here "carpet snake" (1) clearly means scrub carpet snake, as does "female
carpet snake " (8) mean scrub carpet snake ; while (12) scrub carpet snake loccurs
twice in the children's sub-class names, once as of Bulkoin, once as of Baring sub-class,
so that it occurs in both phratries ! and (2, 3, 4) three totem names are substituted
for class names.
It will be observed that the confusion is only in the sub-class translated names
of the males, not in those of the females (bar female carpet snake) or (emending the
double appearance of scrub carpet snake in their sub-class names, and the accompanying
absence of rock carpet snake) in the sub-class names of the children. Here this is
manifestly incorrect ; the double appearance of scrub carpet snake in both phratries
" suggests an inaccuracy which I was unable to check," says Mr. Howitt
(N. T. S. E. A., p. 230). It is easy to correct this inaccuracy by reading for
" Bulkoin, female carpet snake," " Bulkoin, scrub carpet snake " (as given as to
children's sub-class names), and for " Baring, scrub carpet snake," " Baring, rock
" carpet snake." For " Bulkoin, carpet snake," in the male sub-class names, we must
read " Bulkoin, scrub carpet snake" (as in the children's sub-class names). In the
male names the habitat " scrub " has been carefully omitted.
Mr. Frazer has, I think, hit on the true cause of the confusion. In his Totemism
(Vol. I, p. 443, note 3, continued on p. 444) he speaks of Mr. Howitt's paper in Journ.
Anthr. Inst., Vol. XIII (1884), p. 336. Here "Baring is interpreted as 'turtle,'
" Bulkoin as ' carpet snake,' and Bunda as ' native cat.' But these interpretations
" are not repeated by Dr. Howitt in his book."
Yet two pages later (Totemism, Vol. I, p. 446) Mr. Frazer quotes these very
interpretations from Mr. Howitt's book (A7. T. S. E. A., p. 229). Here, as in 1884,
Bulkoin is given as " carpet snake," Baring as " turtle," Bunda as " native cat," and
Turowain as " bat " (in the male names), just as in Journ. Anthr. Inst., Vol. XIII,
p. 336. Therefore what Mr. Frazer says in Totemism, Vol. I, p. 443, note 3, about
Mr. Howitt's interpretations of the sub-class names given in Journ. Anthr. Inst., 1884,
equally applies to the same interpretations repeated by Mr. Howitt in his book (1904).
" Perhaps in Dr. Howitt's earlier statement " (and therefore in his identical latest) " the
" names of the classes and sub-classes were confused with those of the totems, of
" which none were given " (in 1884). This is just what has happened.
In 1884 Mr. Howitt interpreted the Kaiabara phratry names (spelled Dilebi and
Cubatine) as flood-water and lightning. He now (N. T. S. E. A., p. 116) gives
flood-water as a totem, not in Dilebi but in Kubatine phratry, and lightning as a
totem, not in Kubatine but in Dilebi phratry. Of course, Kubatine may mean flood
water, and be a totem in Kubatine phratry, and Dilebi may mean lightning, and be
a totem in Dilebi phratry, as we very frequently find the phratry animals to be also
totems in the phratries. But the names of the sub-classes appear also to have been
confused with the names of some of the totems by Mr. Brooke and the police. Totems
in the sub-classes of the males have been given in place of the sub-class names of
[ 132 ]
1910.] MAN. [No, 80.
the males, which themselves are names of animals, as in the Annan River tribe,
where we have —
SUB-CLASSES.
Wandi, eagle hawk. Jorro, a(nother) bee.
Walar, a bee, Kutchal, salt-water eagle hawk.
(N. T. S.E. A., p. 118).
Assuming this, we have : —
SUB-CLASSES. MARRIES CHILDREN ARE
Bulkoin, scrub .carpet Turowain, black eagle Bunda, white eagle hawk.
snake. hawk.
Bunda, white eagle hawk. Baring, rock carpet snake. Bulkoin, scrub carpet snake.
Baring, rock carpet snake. Bunda, white eagle hawk. Turowain, black eagle hawk.
Turowain, black eagle Bulkoin, scrub carpet Baring, rock carpet snake,
hawk. snake.
All this is in the regular normal order. The children, with male descent and
four sub-classes, take the linked sub-class of the father, the sub-class which is not
his own. The totem names of some males, except " Bulkoin, carpet snake " (when
we must read scrub carpet snake), the totem names native cat, turtle, bat, have been
erroneously given as names of the sub-classes ; really they are totem names within their
sub-classes. " Bulkoin, female carpet snake," has been given in the female sub-class
names by misinterpretation, in place of scrub carpet snake. Finally, " scrub carpet
snake," in the children's sub-class names, has been impossibly given to Baring, which
is rock carpet snake.
Thus, as in Mr. Frazer's suggestion, the names of the sub-classes were confused
with those of the totems, and when two other careless blunders are corrected, we solve
the puzzle of the Kaiabara. Mr. Howitt, on the other hand, says that " while there is
" male descent in the classes and sub-classes, it is in the female line with the totems,
" with the peculiarity that while the child takes the same beast or bird as its mother,
" it is of a different colour or gender " (N. T. S. E. A., p. 230).
In fact, the child's totem is not mentioned at all, it takes the sub-class name
(an animal name) that is linked with its father's sub-class, as is normal. The totem
names, native cat, turtle, bat, erroneously given as male sub-class names, do not again
appear in the tables, nor do any names except sub-class names reappear.
Mr. Frazer says, " It is curious that with male descent of the class and sub-class,
" the totem of the child should be akin to that of its mother instead of to that of its
" father" (Totemism, Vol. I, p. 447). But, unless I am strangely mistaken, the totem
names of the children are not given, only their sub-class names are given, and these
happen, as on the Annan River, and among the Kuinmurbura (N. T. S. E. A., p. Ill),
and I believe, among the Kamilaroi, to be names of animals. It is, of course, possible
that the animals which give these names to the sub-classes are also totems within the
sub-classes. In the Kaiabara sub-class names, as in the phratry names of so many
tribes (eagle hawk — crow, black cockatoo — white cockatoo ; crow — white cockatoo, &c.),
we observe the marked contrast, in colour or in habitat (black eagle hawk — white
eagle hawk, rock carpet snake — scrub carpet snake), of the opposite exogamous sets.
When Mr. Howitt, followed by others, says that the Kuinmurbura's is " one of the
" rare instances of class " (phratry) " or sub-class names being totems " (A7. T. *S'. E. A.,
p. Ill), he probably means "one of the cases in which the names of phratries or
sub-classes are known to be names of animals." As a matter of fact, only some
sixty phratry names are known to us, of these only a third can be translated, while all
that can be translated, save one (the Euahlayi), are animal names. Because we can
translate but a few sub-class names — almost all being animal names — we cannot decide
[ 133 ]
Nos. 80-81.] MAN. [1910.
that the untranslated names are not names of animals. Animal names and phratries
are so far from being rare that all the translated names, with one exception, are animal
names. I may add that in Mr. Howitt's tables of the Kuinmurbura sub-classes and
totems (AT. T. 8. E. A., pp. Ill, 218 ; Tote mis m, pp. 418, 419) the same confusion of
totem names and sub-class animal names appears to have been made by informants as
in the case of the Kaiabara. A. LANG.
America, South. Hardenburg.
The Indians of the Putumayo, Upper Amazon. By W. E. 04
Hardenburg. U I
The extensive area traversed by the River Putumayo — one of the principal
northern tributaries of the Upper Amazon — and, at present in dispute between the
three rival republics of Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador, is inhabited by many distinct
tribes of Indians, such as the Huitotos, the Boras, the Cionis, the Andoques, and several
others. Of these the largest and most important tribe is the Huitoto.
The Huitoto tribe is divided up inio numerous sub-tribes or naciones, each having
a distinct name, as, for example, the Maynanes, the Recigaros, the Yabuyanos, &c.
Each of these sub-tribes has its own chief, called a capitan or tuchaua, and appears to
be quite independent of the rest. A sub-tribe may vary in size from twenty-five to
five hundred individuals, and often more.
All these sub-tribes speak more or less the same language — Huitoto, a simple
dialect with but little grammar, employing neither conjunctions nor articles. The
words in a sentence are pronounced slowly, with a prolonged and harmonious intonation,
producing a melodious effect which is pleasing to the ear.
The Huitotos are a well-formed race, and, although small, are stout and strong,
with broad chests and prominent busts ; but their limbs, especially the lower, are but
little developed. Their hair, long and abundant, is black and coarse, and is worn long
by both sexes. A peculiar custom is that of pulling out the eye-brows, eye-lashes, and
the fine hairs of the other parts of the body. That repugnant sight, a protruding
abdomen, is very rare among these aborigines.
Among the women, the habit of carrying their young on their backs makes them
adopt an inclined position, which they generally preserve all their life. Their feet are
turned inwards, and when they walk their thighs often strike against each other.
Notwithstanding these defects, I have frequently observed among these women many
really beautiful, for their magnificent figures, their free and graceful movements, and
a charming simplicity, peculiar to them, give them a pretty attractiveness of a type
rarely met among civilized women.
The men, on the contrary, walk with their feet turned outwards, as a rule ; but
when crossing a log or a tree, which in this region often serves as a bridge over a
stream, they turn them inwards, in this way obtaining greater stability, and avoiding
slipping. The big toes of their feet are endowed with great flexibility, and they
use them to pick up things from the ground.
The custom of mutilation is very common among all the male Huitotos. Those
of the Upper Igaraparana and the Caraparana — the two principal tributaries of the
Central Putumayo — perforate the dividing wall of the nose, and stick through the
orifice a tube of junco, often as thick as a lead-pencil, while the inhabitants of
the central portion of the Igaraparana pierce the whole lower extremity of this
organ with variously coloured sticks and feathers, sometimes traversing vertically
the lower lip with others. All have a long, thick rod, often adorned with curious
carvings, stuck through the lobe of the ear.
These Indians are humble and hospitable to a marked degree, except a few of the
more remote sub-tribes, who are still — happy beings ! — free and independent, and not
[ 134 ]
1910.] MAN. [No, 81.
yet in contact with the " civilisation " of the Upper Amazon. I remember more than
once reaching some Indian hut, completely exhausted after a long day's tramp over
the hardly recognisable trails that traverse these solitudes, and being warmly welcomed
by the Huitotos, who plied my party with plantains and fruits from the forest, in
fact, with everything they possessed in the way of food. In return, we presented
them with such trifles as a box of matches, a small mirror, and similar articles, with
which they were perfectly content.
Few matrimonial formalities are observed among the Huitotos. The prospective
bridegroom clears a small piece of land, builds a house — or secures quarters in one
already built — gives a small bag of coca or tobacco to the chief to obtain his
approval, and cuts a supply of wood for his future mother-in-law ; a couple of weeks
later the girl is given to him. and they are man and wife.
These unions are considered binding among the Huitotos, and it is very rarely
that serious disagreements arise between husband and wife. The women are naturally
chaste, and it was not until the advent of the rubber-collectors that they began to
lose this primitive virtue, so generally met with among people not yet in contact
with white men. It is worthy of notice that, among these aborigines, polygamy
does not exist, and only in very rare cases does the capitdn or tuchaua have more
than one wife.
Although I cannot vouch for it, I have been told that when a child is born, the
mother takes it to the river, and, after washing it, covers the baby with rubber milk
in order to keep it warm. Infant mortality is fairly great among the Huitotos, owing
to the prevailing ignorance of the women and the hardships the babies have to
undergo.
A peculiar custom, very common among these Indians, is that of giving the name
of a person who has just died to another member of the family, generally to the one
who has been the especial favourite of the deceased. The individual so honoured
then drops his former name.
When any one of their capitanes dies he is buried under his own house wrapped
up in a new palm-fibre hammock, together with all his weapons, utensils, &c. The
hut is then abandoned and a new one is built by the survivors and their friends
Ordinary members of the tribe, including women and children, are merely interred
under the floor without more ceremony.
One day, while at La Reserva, I witnessed a most interesting ceremony — nothing
less than the celebrated chupe del tabaco, or tobacco drinking. A large group of
Indians was congregated about a small pot placed upon the ground, which contained a
strong extract of tobacco. The capitdn first introduced his forefinger into the liquid
and commenced a long oration, which was from time to time interrupted by the rest
with an ear-splitting " how " of approval ; then they became more and more excited,
until finally the pot was solemnly passed round, and each in turn dipped his finger
into the liquid and applied it to the tip of his tongue. This ceremony, which is used
only to celebrate important agreements, constitutes the Huitotos' most solemn oath,
which is said never to have been broken.
The houses of these aborigines are generally large and circular in form, averaging
about 60 or 70 feet in diameter, and covered with a well-woven thatch roof capable of
lasting for years, made from the leaves of the yarina or vegetable-ivory tree (Phite-
lephus macrocarpa). This roof often reaches almost to the ground. The framework,
generally chonta (Bactris ciliatd) or some other hard, durable wood, is held together by
means of strong bejucos and ropes made of the tough inner bark of a tree called the
sacha-huasca. As there are no windows and only a small opening that serves as a
door, no light nor air can enter, and the smoke and heat are generally suffocating.
As a rule, several families live in one house, each, however, having its own
[ 135 ]
No, 81.] MAN. [1910.
particular corner and fire-place, as well as its own domestic utensils, generally limited
to a few earthen pots, some baskets, various kinds of paint, a few primitive musical
instruments, such as rude drums, bamboo flutes and whistles made from the leg-bone
of a large bird known as the nandu, several knives made of chonta, some torches of
the heart of the 'maguey or a piece of chonta impregnated with resin, and a few similar
articles. Over the fire-place there always boils a small pot of the celebrated
casaramatiu, a peculiar sort of sauce composed of the brains, liver, and blood of the
animals they kill, well seasoned with the fiery aji. This sauce or gravy never gives
out, for as it diminishes day by day new doses of the ingredients are added. A basket
of dry fish or meat to be smoked may sometimes be seen hanging in the smoke just
above the fire.
The Huitotos formerly slept in light durable hammocks which they manufactured
from the strong fibres of the leaves of the chambira palm, but to-day they are worked
so hard by the rubber collectors that the greater part of them are obliged to sleep on
the ground on account of not having time to make their hammocks. These hammocks,
as well as most of the other interesting objects manufactured by the Huitotos, are
now becoming extremely rare.
The principal hunting weapon used by these Indians is the bodoqueda, cerbatana,
or blow-gun called obidiaque by them. This is a hollow pole about two or three metres
long, provided with a mouth-piece, and wound around with strips of tough bark, over
which is applied a smooth black coating of gum resin from the arbol del lacre, or
sealing-wax tree. In the mouth-piece is inserted a small arrow, some eight or
ten inches long and pointed at one end, the other being provided with a wisp of cotton
from the huimba (Bombax). The mouth is then applied and, with the breath, the little
arrow is shot out to a distance of from thirty to forty metres.
These arrows, apparently so insignificant, are in reality fearful in their effects,
for their points are tipped with the celebrated curare made from the Strychnos
castelmoeana, called by them ramu, and from the Cocculus toxicoferus, known to the
aborigines as pani. The points are often cut, so that they break off after penetrating
the skin and stay in the wound. A puncture of the skin by one of these arrows
causes death within a minute, for I have seen a large dog, struck by one of these
little missiles, drop dead before he could run five yards.
The construction of the obidiaque is a long and laborious process. From the
chonta palm two sticks, from two or three metres in length, are split and gradually
elaborated, so as to have the section of a semi-circle throughout their whole tapering
length. Then, on the flat surface of each stick, a small semi-circular groove is cut,
and the two pieces are cleverly joined together. The hole is then Arery skilfully
finished and polished internally by means of a gummy cord, previously rolled in sand
and dried. This operation concluded, the whole length of the weapon is carefully
wound around with strings made from the inner bark of the huimbaquiro, gummed
together and covered with a thick coating of the resinous gum of the sealing-wax
tree. The mouth-piece is then attached, and this novel arm is ready for use.
Another important weapon is the moruco, a light spear with a poisoned tip, about
two metres long. The Indians generally carry eight or ten of them together in a
bamboo case, and they handle them with the greatest skill, throwing them from the
hand to a distance of twenty metres. These spears are equipped with various points,
according to the purpose for which they are to be used. Thus, a spear, the sides of
which are provided with barbs, is for hunting large animals like the tapir ; a round
one with a sharp point is for war ; a spear with a sort of blade, formed from bamboo,
with two sharp edges, is for fishing, while an arrow with a blunt point is used to
kill birds, without injuring their feathers. The points of most spears and arrows are
of chonta. Bows are not used by the Huitotos.
[ 136 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 81.
The macana is a stout, heavy piece of hard wood, shaped like a double-edged
sword, and is generally used only in combats between individuals. A well-delivered
blow with this terrible weapon will split a man's head from crown to chin.
For fishing they use nets made of chambira palm fibre, spears and hooks manu-
factured from hard wood or thorns, which they bait with larvae or with the fruits of
the setico tree. Besides these, they very frequently employ the celebrated barbasco,
(Yacquinia armillaris.) Selecting some pool or quiet corner of the river, they drop
a quantity of the crushed leaves and root of this plant into the water, which shortly
assumes a milky hue and soon poisons the fish, both large and small. Immediately
the whole surface of the pool becomes covered with the dead bodies of the fish, of
which the largest are selected, the rest, including the millions of tiny fish, thus being
left to rot without the slightest compunction. On other occasions, the Huitotos often
take advantage of the pools left when the river goes down in the dry season, the
fish imprisoned in them being either speared or caught in a net.
A peculiar apparatus, used by these Indians as a sort of wireless telegraph, is the
manguare, formed by two logs of hard wood, about two metres long and about forty and
seventy centimetres in diameter respectively, pierced longitudinally by a narrow hole of
a rectangular section, burnt in by heated stones. Thus each log has two distinct
sonorous surfaces, separated by this narrow rectangular hollow, each surface giving
a different sound, as the longitudinal hole "is generally a little to one side of the centre
of the log. One of these logs is always thicker than the other, and this one produces
two grave tones, while the smaller trunk gives out two acute ones ; in all, four notes.
This instrument is generally suspended by a string from the roof timbers or from a high
tree near the house, and, in order to prevent swinging, it is tied by another string to
a stick buried in the ground.
To communicate by this novel instrument the Indian steps between the two logs,
and with a stout club tipped with rubber knocks alternately upon the sonorous surfaces
of the two logs. A code is arranged, based upon the difference of tones and the length
and number of the blows struck, so that all kinds of messages can be exchanged. I
have frequently distinctly heard messages sent from a distance of from twelve to fifteen
kilometres ; that is, on a calm day, when there was no wind.
The dress of the men is very simple, being composed only of a broad belt of a
tough inner bark called llanchama, from which another piece of the same material
reaches down in front, and, passing between the legs, is attached to the belt again
behind. This garment is called moggen by the Huitotos. The tribes of the Upper
Igaraparana have simplified this already simple costume, and suspended from the front
of the belt only a small sheet of llanchama. They sometimes wear, in addition to this,
several bracelets of chambira fibre on their wrists and ankles.
The garb of the women is still more primitive, for they are clothed only in four
bracelets, two of which they wear on their wrists and the other two just above their
ankles. This poverty of dress is not on account of any dislike for clothes, but because
their employers will not supply them with any.
As the Huitotos are so constantly employed in the extraction of rubber, the only
food they get is the little yuca, and plantains that their women have time to cultivate,
and a few products of the forest, such as certain large worms they extract from the
bark of different trees, the tender tops of the chonta palm, a few wild fruits, &c. The
result is that many die of starvation.
Their only beverage is the cahuana, a preparation of yuca and the pulp of a forest
fruit, called the aguaje. It is of a dirty, brownish colour, and tastes as bad as it
looks.
A custom very general, not only among the Huitotos, but also among many of the
" whites," is the use of the coca (Erythroxylon coca). The leaves are picked from
[ 137 1
No. 81.] MAN. [1910.
the tree, and, after being well toasted, are pulverised and mixed with the ashes of the
burnt leaves of another plant — I could not ascertain its name — in order to take away
the bitter taste observed when the coca is used alone. The drug is then ready for use,
and, inserted into the mouth, is rolled up under the cheek, where it is sometimes kept for
half a day at a time. The juice is swallowed.
It is a well-known fact that coca acts as a powerful stimulant, and these Indians
claim that it is especially useful when on a march or without food. Indeed, it
does seem to enable them to perform really wonderful feats of endurance. While
in this region I took several doses of the coca, which at first affected me with
a slight nausea, but I soon became accustomed to it, and found it very useful on
many occasions.
Sometimes the Indians hold one of their rare dances, which is an occasion of much
festivity ; but it should be observed that to-day they have lost many of their former
interesting ceremonies, and those that th'ey still have are held only for a short period in
the dry season, when the extraction of rubber must be temporarily abandoned.
In order to carry out these dances properly, the Huitotos paint themselves all over
with various colours, some of the designs representing branches of trees, animals, and
geometrical figures, while both men and women adorn themselves with their beautiful
feather ornaments of many different colours, and various necklaces of monkey and
danta -teeth. Around their bodies and on their legs they attach long strings of rattling
shells, called cascabeles.
Then they begin dancing, keeping accurate time, marking time with their right
feet, at the same time singing in chorus their ancient songs, the peculiar and ear-
splitting intonation of which is accompanied by blows upon the manguare, the
beating of drums and the shrill whistle of their flutes. They generally imbibe during
these dances a goodly quantity of cahuana, and the chupe del tabaco is always an
important feature. The few who possess clothes generally wear them on these
occasions, painting those parts of the body not covered by them. These dances
formerly went on from one house to another for several days in succession, and the
manguare was hardly ever silent during this time.
On other special occasions the Huitotos also paint themselves. During my stay in
this region I remember on one journey I stopped at an Indian hut near La Reserva,
where I saw an Indian woman painted in a most extraordinary manner. Her arms
were painted red and her legs yellow, while her face, bosom, and hips were covered with
different designs, strange and bizarre-looking in the extreme. The women of the
Quinenes sub-tribe have the custom of sometimes covering the whole body with a sort
of resin obtained from the arbol del lacre, over which they daub ashes. I was unable
to ascertain the reason for this extraordinary proceeding.
The religion of the Huitotos is a confused mixture of several beliefs. Thus, after
over ten years contact with the " whites," who have taught them nothing of Christianity,
they still worship the sun (Itoma) and the moon (Fuel), and at the same time believe in
the existence of a Superior Being called Usinamu, and an inferior potentate named
Taifeno, who is also supposed to be the spirit of evil. They, also appear to believe in
a future life to be spent in happy hunting grounds, &c., but these ideas are vague and
confused, and mingled with the most astounding superstitions.
In conclusion, I must call attention to the fact that, owing to the oppressions of
the rubber collectors, the numbers of these Indians are diminishing to an alarming
degree, and unless something is done to protect them this noble race of aborigines will,
in my opinion, soon disappear completely, as have so many others in the region of the
Upper Amazon. W. E. HARDENBURG.
I 138 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 82.
REVIEWS.
Australia. Matthew.
Two Representative Tribes of Queensland, with an Inquiry concerning the Qfl
Origin of the Australian Race. By John Matthew, M.A., B.D., with an Ofc
introduction by Professor A. H. Keane, LL.D., F. R.A.I., F.R.Gr.S. London : Unwin,
1910. Pp. xxiii + 25-256. 19 x 12 cm. Price 5*. net.
This new book by the Rev. J. Matthew contains, besides a short discussion of
his theory on the origin of the Australians,* a very full and interesting description
of the Kabi and Wakka tribes ; it being the only extensive first-hand information
on this part of Australia that we have. His " Eaglehawk and Crow " theory is
shortly but clearly set forth (pp. xi, xii) in the introduction by Professor Keane,
who also gives a brief account of Mr. Matthew's studies and scientific achievements
(pp. xi-xix). According to the theory of Mr. Matthew " the Australians are a
" hybrid race whose basal element is the Papuasian, but represented in recent times
" by the now extinct Tasmanians." Afterwards " Australia was invaded by a people
" of unknown stock, possibly akin to the Dravidians of India." " Lastly, there was
" a very much later and slighter Malayan graft " (pp. xi, xii ; 28-31). With these
events the author connects the problem of origin of phratries ; " the inter-marrying
" classes originally represented two different races" (p. 138). Hence the phratric
names Eaglehawk and Crow, White Cockatoo and Black Cockatoo (p. 138), light-
blooded and dark-blooded phratry (p. 141). "The multiplication of classes from two
" to four and from four to eight was due to an amalgamation of tribes " (p. 140).
This is a rough outline of the ingenious theory of Mr. Matthew, which is supported
by many arguments, chiefly of a linguistic character (p. 26). In this book, besides a
short repetition of the theory and many additional instances in its favour (pp. 25-36,
138-143, 149-152, 160), we find a short polemic with ir,s opponents (pp. 36-66).
What is especially valuable in a book of first-hand information is a description
as objective and full as possible of the facts. Every side and feature of native life
should be described in as concrete terms as possible. Even details, insignificant and
superfluous as they appear, may in light of a new method of investigation prove of
the greatest importance. On the other hand, it is always good if the observer refrains
from mixing his own theories with the related facts as much as possible. The book
on the Todas, by Dr. Rivers, stands as a model in both these methodological respects ;
as he also is the first who puts these two points as a basis of his methods of investi-
gation. From such collection of facts future students will always be able to draw
their conclusions and build their theories, even if they have by far surpassed the
original author in general views and methods of reasoning.
The book of the Rev. J. Matthew possesses these two qualities to a consider-
able degree, and will be undoubtedly in the future a valuable source for Australian
reference.
The two tribes in question, Kabi and Wakka, live in the south-eastern part of
Queensland round Maryborough, about eighty-five miles inland. The country is in
general hilly, well- watered, and fertile ; it is the country of the bunya tree (pp. 67-71).
The tribes present the usual type, both mentally and bodily ; now they are
nearly extinct and the remnant live in aboriginal reserves (pp. 72-82).
Mr. Matthew gives plenty of useful information on native family life, which is
the more valuable as many authors, even of our best, prefer to prove the previous
existence of group marriage, or even promiscuity, than to give clear accounts of the
actually existing individual family. The present book brings much light to bear on
this point, and although the author did not consider it advisable to abstain from
expressing side by side with the facts his views on them, there is, however, in most
* Exposed in Eaglehaivk and Crow.
[ 139 ]
No. 82,] MAN. [1910.
cases, a very clear line of demarcation between what actually exists and what the
author would like to prove — a quality that we do not often find in Australian infor-
mation on family or even class systems.
We have a very clear statement on the individual family : " The family, con-
" sisting of husband and wife, or wives, with their children, constituted a distinct
" social unit." The mother always reared her own children. Children were over-
indulged (p. 153). The author gives two kinship tables (pp. 155, 156). There were
no individual terms for father, mother, son, daughter. Mr. Mathew is opposed to the
theory of group marriage and its origins as it was set forth by Howitt and Spencer
and Gillen (pp. 157, 159). There are, further, some interesting new facts in connection
with marriage. Marriage by capture and marriage by arrangement have different
designations (p. 160). There seems to have been sexual jealousy and exclusive
individual rights to a woman, with rare exceptions, perhaps (pp. 161, 162) ; mono-
polisation of women by old men (p. 162) ; the well-known mother-in-law taboo seems
to have existed in these tribes, too (p. 163) ; not so much scarcity of food as the
troubles of nursing are alleged as the cause of infanticide (pp. 165, 166). The author
also gives a short sketch of the family in its daily life.' Each family lived under a mere
shelter of bark (p. 89). The man had to hunt and cook (pp. 86, 87). The women
did the other work (p. 87) : the building of shelters (p. 89) and carrying of babies,
household implements, and fire sticks on the march (pp. 83, 84). Amongst other food
we have mentioned are honey and the mode of obtaining it (p. 86) ; opossum, and the
way it is cut out of a tree (p. 88) ; grubs, turtles (p. 89) ; bunya nuts (93) ; and other
kinds of food, which are very fully enumerated (pp. 86-94). There were some age
and sex taboos (p. 91). Cannibalism was known (p. 94). Of the other social units
we get a very clear definition of local group, which consists " of a few families claiming
territory " (p. 128). Speech was the chief bond of a tribe which consisted of several
groups (p. 128). Old men wielded all authority (p. 129).
The tribes in question had four classes forming two strictly exogamous phratries
(pp. 131-133). Each class has in the opposite phratry a preferential class in which it
should marry, but if it were impossible to obtain a wife from this preferential class a
man could have a spouse from the other class of the right phratry (p. 136). Descent
was matrilineal (pp. 133-136). Mr. Matthew proves that we can only divide the classes
of these tribes into two groups, in such a way as to maintain matriliny (p. 135).
He quotes also a couple of concrete examples illustrating this assertion (p. 137).
Interesting is the distribution of many (but not all) objects, animals, and plants between
the two phratries (pp. 143-145). There were no class taboos (p. 145). There is a full
account of the initiation ceremony (pp. 97-109). There was neither circumcision nor
subincision (p. 9), some fire ceremonies of the Eugwura type (pp. 100, 102), and a sort
of marriage ceremony which was as yet an unknown feature of these ceremonies
(p. 106).
The methods of medical treatment are of the usual type (pp. 110-114), but they
are very amply described as also burial and mourning (pp. 113-116). The natives had
some propitiatory religious rites (p. 168), and also some vague conceptions of super-
natural beings (pp. 169—173). Black magic was practised by everybody, curative by
specialists (p. 174). Magical power was attached to some material objects (pp. 174-
176). There is a collection of myths, some of them given in aboriginal language and
translated literally, which gives them the more value (pp. 179-197).
An account of language (pp. 198-224) and a vocabulary (pp. 225-256) are given at
the end. As may be seen from these instances, there is a great deal of most useful
information in this little book, which will prove an indispensable source for all who
have any interest in Australian ethnology. B. M.
[ 140 J
1910.] MAN. [Nos, 83-84.
Darwinism. Seward.
Darwin and Modern Science. Essays edited by A. C. Seward. Cambridge : QQ
The University Press, 1909. Pp. xvii + 595. Index. Price 18s. net. 00
This tribute to Darwin is a collection both comprehensive and distinguished. The
essays have been distributed impartially among the old schools and the new, and extend
to subjects as remotely connected with Darwinian science as Religious Thought and
the Genesis of Double Stars. To them is prefixed an epitome of Darwin's life. The
volume is a notable record of fifty years of Darwinism. One cannot expect specialists
in the space allotted to do more than supply a precis of what has been done, and whet
our appetites for more. The precis is bound to be unsatisfactory, and the promise — so
cautious is the modern scientist — is verbal rather than material. Still the general reader
will find much to interest and instruct him. Prominent is the essay by Sir George
Darwin in which he applies Poincare's principles to the development of double stars,
and applies the analogy to human institutions. It is a pretty case of the extent to
which scientific analogies may be carried. Suggestive also is Professor Bury's essay
on history, largely indebted as it is to French theory. Most outspoken is Professo
Bateson when dealing with variation. He blows with no uncertain sound the trumpet
of De Vries — in our opinion most justifiably — for the principle, if not the results, of
De Vries' work is a new addition to science of enormous significance. Mr. Francis
Darwin has a cautious essay on the movements of plants, Professors Loeb and Klebs
give an insight into the results of the Entwicklungsmechanik school, the most
important offspring of the Darwinian movement, though apparently so opposed to some
of Darwin's own conceptions. Another essay of general and philosophic interest is
Professor Sedgwick's on Embryology.
Somewhat foisted in are the essays of Messrs. Waggett and Giles, and Miss
Harrison, on Religious Thought, the Science of Language, and the Study of Religions.
The important topics in language are untouched in the second of these essays ; in the
first and third there is more verbiage than science. A. E. C.
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.
Anthropology. Americanists' Congress.
Seventeenth International Congress of Americanists, Buenos
Aires, May 16th to 24th, 191O. By Miss Adela Breton.
The first session of the Seventeenth International Congress of Americanists
was held in Buenos Aires from May 16th to 24th, in the Faculty of Philosophy
and Letters of the University of Buenos Aires, under the presidency of Dr. J. N.
Matienzo, and with the active assistance of Professor J. B. Ambrosetti and Dr. R.
Lehmann-Nitsche.
A second session will be held in Mexico City on September 8th, in consequence
of the centenary of independence in both countries taking place this year.
Nearly 400 members and associates attended, and all the principal countries of
Europe were represented by official delegates, with the exception of Great Britain.
Many learned societies and institutions also sent delegates, and for all these the Argen-
tine Government generously provided board and lodging at a comfortable hotel.
About fifty papers were presented, which, with discussions, occupied five days,
and one day was pleasantly spent in the city of La Plata, as guests of the University
of La Plata. This university, like that of Buenos Aires, has taken great interest in
the ancient history of the country, and its large and well-arranged museum (created by
Dr. F. P. Moreno) contains a magnificent collection of the fossil animals found in the
Pampoon formations, and of the skulls and skeletons of the different races of men who
No. 84,] MAN. [1910.
have occupied the land, with their productions in stone, pottery, and bronze. The
museum of the University of Buenos Aires, at 430 Calle Viamonte, also has an
interesting collection, archaeological and ethnological, and the contents of both are
absolutely new to the European visitor.
The papers read included several on craniology. Aldobrandino Mochi gave one
on Eleven Skulls from the Chaco (eight with entire skeletons), in the Museo Nazionale
de Antropologia at Florence. He said that osteological material from the Chaco is
extraordinarily rare in European museums, and that European craniological literature
contains no notice of any, with the exception of three skulls mentioned in the
Thesaurus of Davis. After giving details of the methods used in determining the
measures and descriptions, he stated that eight of the eleven skulls were much alike
and belonged to the group of mesati-brachy-hypsicephali, which appears to have been
the predominating type amongst the Peruvians, Calchaqui, &c., as far as can be judged
from their deformed skulls. The hypsi-brachycephali are centred in Europe, chiefly
in the Balkan peninsula, and are found in Asia Minor (Armenians), amongst the
Arabs, the Turcomans, and in eastern Asia, where in Corea it is the predominant
type. He hoped to study the Argentine collections and to arrive at definite
conclusions.
Dr. Ales Hrdlicka said in his paper on Artificial Deformations of the Human
Skull with especial reference to America, that they are of two main classes : fronto-
occipital (flat head) and circumferential (macrocephalous or Aymara). Intentional
deformations are found in three areas in North America, in two main areas in South
America, and in the Antilles. They seem to have had no bad effect on the health
or mental qualities of the individual, and he had known men with the most deformed
skulls who were heads of villages.
Carlos Marelli had studied Tico Hundred Skulls of Ancient Patagonians buried in
the Valley of Rio Negro, by means of the statistics of biological variation, using the
methods of Pearson, Davenport, and others. He found that the primitive Patagonians
were variable in some characters, approximating sometimes to the superior, sometimes
to the inferior races.
Dr. F. Ameghino presented specimens of the stone industry of Homo pamp<zus
from a marine deposit on the coast, south of the watering place Mar del Plata. The
pebbles used were split vertically by resting one end in a cup hollow, formed in a
lump of quartzite, and striking perpendicularly with another stone used as a hammer.
The peculiarity of this method is that a flake is detached from both sides of the
pebble with one blow. He possesses several of the pieces of quartzite with a number
of the cup-hollows on all sides, and great quantities of the split and trimmed pebbles,
and other flaked implements.
On petroglyphs there were papers by J. Toscano, Petroglyphs of North and West
Argentine; F. Kiihn, those of The Penon, Antofagasta de la Sierre, in which the
principal figures are a man leading a huanaco, some dogs, the sun, and the serpent ;
A. Onarzun, Petroglyphs of Llaima, Chili, on two rocks at the hacienda of Quinchol.
T. Guevara gave a list of rocks with cup cavities in the north, centre, and south of
Chili, and established the fact that they were related to an ancient cult of the deities
of the air, which still survives in the Araucanian ceremony of praying for rain. He
described this ceremony.
P. Canales gave an account of the Ancient Cemeteries near Tacna, where he
opened about fifty tombs, and of those of Arica, Pisagua, and Punta Pichalo. Exca-
vations of the Prehistoric Cemeteries at La Isla, Quebrada de Humahuaca, north of
Jujuy, in 1908, by Dr. S. Debenedetti, showed that it was the limit of the Calchaquis,
Quichuas, and the people of the Chaco and Atacama, whilst Professor J. B.
Ambrosetti's Exploration in El Pukara of Tilcara brought out the fact that the
[ 142 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 84.
culture there was different from the Isla, although only a few miles further south,
and that the ornamentation on the pottery was identical with that of La Poma in the
north of the valley of Calchaqui. The wooden objects, such as great knives,
scarifiers, and tables of offerings, are identical in type with those of the valley of
Calchaqui. The bronze objects seem to have been made on the spot, judging by a
mould found. El Pukara de Tilcara appears to represent the northern limit in the
valley of Humahuaca of the culture types of the south.
L. M. Torres had studied the Archceology and Anthropology of the Primitive
Inhabitants of the Delta of the Parana since 1894, and collected instruments and
arms of stone and bone, and fragments of pottery, also noting the existence of hearths,
stations, and cemeteries in 1898 ; but the most important expeditions were those of
1904 to 1906, when collections were made from tumuli of about one hundred skulls,
an entire skeleton, stone arms, and instruments of different classes, types and technique,
bone instruments, bronze objects, and fragments of ornamental pottery.
Ethnological contributions included the presentation of a collection by A. Fri9,
from the Chamacoceo Indians. Some headdresses, lengthened into cloaks of different
coloured feathers mounted on a brown or white homespun web, were very handsome
and artistic. They resemble the feather mantles (which have not headdresses attached)
of the caryatid statues at Chichen Itza, Yucatan.
F. C. Mayntzhusen gave two interesting papers : the first on the ancient Stations
and Urn Cemeteries of the Guarani in Alto Parana, where he found human bones
which left no doubt that anthropophagy had been practised. The pottery was painted,
or incised in dotted designs, and there were stone implements of Neolithic character.
He brought a small collection of Guarani objects, and also a variety of things from
the Guayaki, a tribe hitherto almost unknown, as the people are very shy and fly
from their camps at the approach of strangers. In this way he was able to carry off
what he wanted, leaving tobacco and sardines in exchange. His collection is going
to the Berlin Museum. It included some arrows with a hole in the middle of the shaft,
which produces a whistling noise when the arrow falls.
D. H. von Jhering, Director of the S. Paulo Museum, spoke on the Ethnography
of Southern Brazil. The Indians of the four southern states belong to three linguistic
groups — the Tupi-Guarani family, the Caingango or Corvados, and the Chavantes of
S. Paulo or Eochavantes. The Guarani and Cainguas immigrated from Paraguay in
the last century. Among recent publications worthy of study are those of F. Vogt,
on the Indians of the Alto Parana, of T. Borba, on those of the State of Parana, and
of Dr. Gensch, on the Botocudos, or Bagres, of St. Catherine.
Dr. A. Simoens da Silva described the method of preparing dried human heads
by the Mundurucus (Rio Tapajoz) and by the Jibaros, and also the preparation of
curare by the Ticunas of the Amazon, and showed photographs of stone implements
of Neolithic types from Brazil.
The curious little wooden pipes with carved figures, from tombs in the Calchaqui
Valley, suggested to Dr. S. Lafone-Quevedo that they might have been used as blow-
pipes for poisoned arrows. In an account by Diego Fernandez of the death of Diego
de Roxas, from a poisoned arrow, in the Province of Tucuman, it is stated that " the
" points of these arrows were like needles." With the small pipes were found packets
of cactus, or other thorns, which may have been the arrows described.
T. Guevara and A. Oyarzun's paper on Tobacco and Pre-hispanic Pipes in Chili
gave an account of the present customs of the Araucanians in regard to smoking,
and the native plants of Nicotiana, with sketches of the pipes collected in the
country.
Dr. E. Seler illustrated with lantern slides the extraordinary varieties of painted
pottery from the coast of Peru, which include representations of plants, animals, persons,
[ 143 ]
No. 84.] MAN. [1910.
scenes of human life, and mythical figures. Max Schmidt gave illustrations of the
woven stuffs from Pachacamac, now in the Berlin Museum, especially with reference to
the scenic representations in which rules of perspective are evident, a type very unlike
those previously known.
Dr. Max Uhle described the Social Organisations of the Incas at Cuzco, and the
Prehistoric Relations between Peru and Argentina.
A. Posnansky gave a long account of his excavations at Tiahuanaco, where he
made observations on the position of the sun with reference to the buildings. He found
a difference of 27 minutes between that period and the present. He also noticed the
difference of Orientation between the smaller and apparently earlier building on the east
side of the great square of monoliths and the latter.
Miss A. Breton showed lantern slides to illustrate Painting and Sculpture in
Ancient Mexico and Central America, and Seiiora Morales gave a learned paper on
the Faculties which have contributed to develop the Exercise of the Chase among
Primitive Folk.
There were also several linguistic papers, and Dr. Lehmann-Nitsche called
attention to the good Tehuelche grammar and vocabulary prepared by the Rev. T.
Schmidt of the South American Missionary Society about 1860, which has now been
published by the International American Scientific Congress.
The delegates were given a banquet at the Jockey Club, attended the opera, and
witnessed the Centenary festivities. The following week a small party started for
La Paz, which was reached on June 15th. The journey, not so long ago formidable
to the ordinary civilized person, is now comparatively easy, as the railway extends
about 1,115 miles from Buenos Aires by Tucuman to La Quiaca, whence a coach
drive in 3^ days to Uyuni in Bolivia brings one again to a railway, to continue in
two days to La Paz. At Tucuman Dr. Heger bought a small collection of the fine
painted Calchaqui jars (from ancient tombs) for the Vienna Museum.
The ethnological interest of this route is considerable, as there is time at the
frequent stations to study the varied types of the native passengers, and it also shows
with what facility man could walk up and down this continent, for there are no
obstacles. The open valley of Humahuaca leads straight from Jujuy, at 4,500 feet,
to La Quiaca on the central plateau, at 12,000 feet. Then after some hours' drive
on that high plateau, the road descends to river beds, which it follows almost all the
way to Uyuni. The llamas, which provide the Indian with wool and fuel, and carry
light loads, appear able to live on almost nothing, and although at this season the
country is dry, the rains from November to April enable agriculture to be carried on,
even at nearly 13,000 feet.
Bolivia is entirely peopled by Indians, ruled by a handful of whites. In the
south they are Quichuas, but at La Paz Aymara is spoken, and although there are
many cholos, or mestizos, the majority are pure Indians, who cling to their own
customs and costumes.
The Congress delegates were given free transport from Buenos Aires to La Paz,
and then on to Cuzco and Mollendo, the respective governments doing their best to
make the journeys pleasant. Senor Don M. V. Ballivian, President of the Geogra-
phical Society of La Paz, organised an evening of lectures by Dr. Seler, and others
of the party, in the handsome hall of the legislature, when the president and diplo-
matic corps were present. The museum contains interesting painted pottery from
Tiahuanaco, which is only three hours distant by train. The ancient buildings on the
Islands of the Sun and Moon in Lake Titicaca are most interesting, and are accessible
by steamer. The other islands, and many places round the lake, also have ancient
remains. An excellent little guide to Bolivia is published by the Ministry of
Colonisation and Agriculture. ADELA BRETON.
Printed by ETBE AND SPOTTISWOODE. LTD., His Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, E.C,
PLATE K
MAN, 1910.
1910.] MAN. [No. 85.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Africa : Nigeria. With Plate K. Alexander.
Dubbo Dubbo ; or Notes on Punch and Judy as seen in QC
Bornu. By D. Alexander. UU
HISTORY. — The performer states that he learned the play from his master, who in
turn learned it from the people of the Pagan town of Buni near to Gujiba on the River
Gongola, where he believes it originated.
(2) Auta, a Government interpreter, says that while Dubbo-Dubbo is played in
Kano, those who play it learned it from the people of Kazauri, who were originally
Kanuri.
(3) Adamu Kano, on the other hand, says that the Kano Dubbo-Dubbo comes
from Dan Batta, a town in the country of the Margazawa, where it is supposed to
have originated.
(4) Suleiman, a Shuwa. from Wadai, says Dubbo-Dubbo is not played at Wadai
or in any Shuwa country or in Tripoli.
THE PERFORMANCE. — The performer is usually attended with three or four men
with drums who play all the time the performance is going on. A stick with a fork
about 4 feet long is stuck into the ground, the performer kneels, takes off his black
gown, throws it over the stick, covering himself at the same time, the top of the gown
being stretched taut between his head and the stick, the opening for the head, lying
midway between the performer's head and the stick, serving for the display and
withdrawal of the figures. The conversation is carried on in a squeaky voice very
similar to that of the home Punch and Judy.
The following is a list of the characters as they appear and their conversation :- —
(1) Aisa Goje, a girl, (Plate K, Figs. 1 and 4), is discovered dancing. Then
Kachella Dambulla, a rogue, appears and compliments her on her dancing and cries
aloud with delight. He then appeals to the audience, " Don't you see this fine girl,
*' don't you see her dance much, will you not give her kolas ? " Kachella Dambulla
now tells the girl to go home. Both figures then disappear.
(2) Kachella Dambulla appears and calls on Momado Ngumati to come out,
Momadu Ngumati appears and the two " make barga," i.e., dance with sticks, in
which the dancers clash their sticks together (Plate K, Fig. 2).
(3) Pana Zermara, a woman, appears and dances. Kachella compliments her
also and appeals again to the audience for a dash for the great artiste. He then
proposes to see her home, and the figures disappear.
(4) Another girl, nameless, appears and dances. Kachella Dambulla as before.
(5) Kachella Amsa, another woman, appears and dances. Kachella Dambulla
as before.
(6) Kolo Koloram, another woman, appears and dances. Kachella Dambulla
proceeds as before.
(7) A Shuwa girl appears and dances. Kachella Dambulla as before.
(8) Pero Ngudibe, a girl, appears (Ngudi, poor ; be, gen). Kachella Dambulla
appears and says to her : " I want you for a friend." The girl replies : " I don't
" want you, you are a poor man." Kachella : " Well, I get money, I get one rattal
*' (i.e., thirty-two cowries)." Girl : " Go and bring it." Exit Kachella. Re-enter
Kachella saying, " I am sorry I no meet my proper money, I only meet it half."
Girl : " Well go and bring the half." Exit and re-enter Kachella saying, " I am
" very sorry, the man whose house I am lodging in is not good. He go to the
*• waterside with my money. But if you like me we will sleep." Girl : " No, I no
" like you, I no believe you, go and bring someone who will give me the money."
Kachella then calls to the drum man and says to him, " Will you be responsible to
*' pay her ? " Drum man : " No, I fear you, you be bad man, you no fit to pay
[ 145 ]
Nos, 85-86.] MAN. [1910.
" me the money, so sometime the girl fit to hold me." Kachella swears ten times
" I will pay you." Drum man agrees, and girl and Kachella go off together.
(9) A Mallam is discovered praying and shouting, " I come from Mecca ! I come
" from Mecca ! " Enter Kachella Dambulla : " You're a liar. You never go to
" Mecca. You come from Kussuri, where the French live. You and I will dance
" together or I will break your head." Mallam (after some hesitation and argument) :
" Well, I can dance, don't break my head." (They dance.) Mallam then goes off
to complain to the Leman that he, a Mallam, has been made to dance. (From inside.)
Leman is heard calling Momadu Ngumati to call Kachella Dambulla. Momadu Ngumati
refuses to go because he fears. The Leman then calls Korri-Korri to go, but he also
refuses as he fears plenty. (Outside.) Kachella, delighted, shouts out: "All man
" fear me, no man fit to come call me." Enter Momadu Ngumati : " They are calling
" you, Kachella Dambulla." Kachella : " Why are they calling me ? Are they com-
" plaining against me ? " Momadu Ngumati : " Yes." Kachella : " Well, go and
" make my word good for the Alkali, and I will give you $4." Momadu Ngumati r
" I no agree for $4." Kachella: "I make it $6." Momadu Ngumati: "Well, I
" agree." (Exit.) Inside Momadu Ngumati says to the Leman : " This man no do
" wrong thing, only they lie for him." Leman says, " All right, palaver finish, go and
" call him and let him sit down, nothing happen to him." Momadu Ngumati, re-
appearing, says : " I finish your talk, where my $6." Kachella : " What $6 ? "
Momadu Ngumati : " The $6 you promised me, you thief." Kachella : " 1 think you
" are the thief. I shall take you for guard-room." Momadu Ngumati : " Oh, all right>
" never mind, come we go back."
(10) Enter Kachella and Momadu Ngumati. They agree to settle their money
palaver by fighting — the winner to have the $6. They fight. Momadu catches
Kachella by the neck. Kachella ; " Let go my neck, let go my neck." Momadur
however, knocks him down. Kachella says : " I no agree for that, it no be fair you
" hold my neck. However, never mind, to-morrow we will do it right."
D. ALEXANDER.
Borneo. Beech..
Some Customs of the Sagai of Borneo. By Mervyn • W. H.
Beech, M.A.
Whilst on a visit to Dutch Borneo in 1906, T had an opportunity of seeing
some of the Sagai who inhabit the upper waters of the Bolongan river. These people
are of medium height, and of a light brown, almost yellow colour. Their only clothing
is a loin cloth or chawat, 1^ feet in length and 1 foot in breadth.
When a child has reached the age of four years, the lobes of its ears are pierced,
and earrings of lead are put into them to weigh them down. Periodically more rings
are added until the lobe has reached the breast. One man I saw whose ear lobes
were elongated almost to his waist. He carried about two-thirds of a pound of lead
in each ear. The more the ear is elongated the more respect is due to its owner.
When a Sagai wishes to become married he must first go on a head hunting
expedition, m'ngaiau. Having obtained a head he starts off home, and when he is
still some distance from his village he sends a messenger to announce his coming
with a head. The women of the village thereupon assemble together, and go forth
to meet him, and accompany him back to his village in triumph. The head is dried
in a certain manner for a week, until it no longer smells.
A large feast is made at which the successful head hunter makes a speech, in
which he informs everyone about his bravery — how he got the head, whose it was,
and to what tribe the victim belonged, &c. Whereupon all the unmarried women
rise up and present him with a cup (earthenware) of native wine. As they offer
it to him he scans them all with his eye, accepting the wine only from the one
1910.] MAN. [Nos, 86-87.
whom he selects as his future bride. From the moment of his accepting the wine the
girl is considered his betrothed.
A few days before the marriage the bridegroom spends in collecting at his house
all the rice that he can obtain — at least three or four times as much as can possibly
be consumed. There appears to be no ceremony beyond the feast, whereat all eat as
much as possible. The rice that remains is thrown on the ground for the pigs and
fowls. Should there remain anything after these latter have been satisfied, the
bridegroom is considered noble indeed. His reputation varies directly as the waste.
As seasoning to the rice, the flesh of all manner of beasts, which has been kept
in jars and hollow bamboos until liquidly putrid, is eaten.
Their chiefs at the time were named respectively Lipai, Layap, and Angilohong.
Formerly Titan, a female who had four husbands, appears to have been the
recognised chief.
The chief proclaims his edicts from a seat composed of three gongs. By him
stands the chief adviser with drawn sword. Very few things are done without con-
sulting the chief ; e.g., an assembly is always called for the purpose of discussing at
.what time the rice shall be planted.
When a chief dies, his body is embalmed to a certain extent, then placed in a
coffin and suspended in the roof of his house for the space of six months or even a
year, according to his dying instructions.
Once every year he calls a meeting and gives his orders as to what is to be done
at his death. If by the end of a year he is not yet dead, fresh orders are issued.
Possibly he will demand ten heads ; his people mnst obtain these before he can be
buried. Much the same custom is observed at the death of rich men, but with the
poor there is no ceremony.
Perhaps as many as 500 people will live in one house, which is, therefore, of vast
proportions, and always very high.
When the subjects have fulfilled the dead chief's orders they take his coffin to the
dungun (grave), bury him, and place round the spot offerings of money, beads, fowls,
&c., &c. A rude picture of a man with a drawn sword is depicted on wood and
set up beside the grave to keep away thieves. None dare visit the burial place
for the space of twelve months.
I conclude with the translated extract from the letter of a Malay trader to
myself. He visited the Sagai in 1872. "... And I was very astonished, indeed, to
" behold their ways and customs. If their chief, or chief's son, or their chief's wife
" even, has died, they must obtain four men's heads for the funeral feast, and for
" three months it is proscribed for any trader to come into their kingdom — neither
" may they buy nor sell anything therein.
" If their provisions run short, they must themselves go in person to the coast
" and buy. It is at least two days' journey down stream, but ten days up, for the
" current is strong and the boulders are many.
" And whoever transgresses this custom is fined one pig, seven '•jankal ' long, and
" one jar valued at 500 dollars, also one gong value 50 dollars. And it is necessary
" to find a very large pig. This is measured from the neck to the tip of the tail,
" and if it does not come up to seven '•jankal ' that man must pay 50 dollars for
" every ' jankal ' wanting. If he cannot pay this he is slain ; no one can save him."
MERVYN W. H. BEECH.
Africa and Portugal. Tremearne.
Bull-fighting: in Nigeria and Portugal; a Humane Sport. />'// 07
Captain A. J. N. Tremearne, F.R.G.S. Of
" Bull-fighting is a survival of barbarism, the existence of which is fervently
" deplored by all but its devotees . . . The bull is doomed from the moment of
[ 147 ]
No. 87.] MAN. [1910.
•" its entrance into the arena." Thus writes the contributor in the Encyclopedia
Britannica* and then goes on pompously, " That a brief description of bull-fighting
" should be here given must not be accepted in any way as a token of approval or
" admiration." The description given is that of a Spanish bull-fight, and although
the writer says that in Portugal and South America the picadores (or caballeros) are
not cruel so far as the horses are concerned — for they are " expert riders provided
" with good horses .... and it is considered a disgrace if they do not save their
" horses from injury " — he omits to mention that the bull is not killed, and that the only
animal in danger or injury or death is the man. In fact, in Portugal horses are not used
at all in more than one half of the fights, for — being highly trained — they are very
expensive and the caballeros must be rich men to afford them.
Mr. Calvert (Impressions of Spairi),^ trying to account for the different views
prevailing in Spain and England, says : — " The Spaniard grows up to the sport as our
" Elizabethan ancestors grew to bull-baiting — even as the present generation of Eng-
" lishmen grows to pugilism . . . long habit has familiarised him [the Spaniard]
" with the bloody details, and his experienced eyes follow each trick and turn of the
" contest with the enthusiasm of an athlete watching an athletic display ....
" Danger gives to the contest a dignity which is absent from pheasant-shooting, and
u which formed no excuse for the vogue to which bear-baiting and cock-fighting once
" attained in this country .... The banderillero inflicts no more pain on the
" bull than the humane angler deals out to the wily trout, and the agility and
" daring with which he addresses himself to his task is superb .... These
" feats appear to be fraught with infinite danger, and the agility with which the
" performers acquit themselves cannot be witnessed without a tremor of amaze-
" ment and admiration .... One may lecture, write, and preach against the
" barbarity of bull-fighting ; but so long as Spain can breed men of such amazing
" nerve, and skill, and dexterity that they can successfully defy death and mutila-
" tion to provide their countrymen with such lurid sport, so long will bull-fighting
•" continue to flourish in Spain." Mr. HuttonJ is even more emphatic in his
denunciation of the hypocrisy with which Englishmen — and even more Americans —
decry the dangerous sport while delighting in the coursing of helpless rabbits with
dogs, and in the shooting of tame birds which are bred up as pets only to be killed
for the owner's amusement later.
One would think from the article in the Encyclopaedia that there had never been
any cruel sport in England even in the past, much less in the present. The following
is a description of " The Bull-running at Tutbury."§ The bull was formerly pro-
vided " by the Prior of Tutbury, now by the earl of Devonshire ; which bull, as soon as
" his horns are cut off, his ears cropt, his tail cut by the stumple,| all his body smeared
" over with soap, and his nose blown full of beaten pepper ; in short, being made as
u mad as it is possible for him to be," was turned forth to be caught, if possible, by the
minstrels. I think I am right in saying that not even in Spain — let alone in Portugal
or Nigeria — has a bull been so cruelly mutilated. Nor did the cruelty end here, for if
the wretched animal was caught before sunset he was " brought to the bayliffs house in
" Tutbury, and there collared and roapt, and so brought to the bull-ring in the High-
" street, and there bated with dogs, and afterwards killed and eaten." Truly a gentle
sport ! There was probably not much danger to the minstrels in this, but there were
sometimes even milder risks to run, for " on occasions of rendezvous and public meetings
" of merriment in a village, the landlord of the alehouse will give a tup (so they call a
* Vol. XXVI. f Pages 220 et seqq. J Cities of Spain.
§ Archceologia (published by the Society of Antiquarians of London), Vol. II, 1773, Article
No. XIII.
|| To make him more difficult to hold ?
[ 148 ]
1910.]
MAN.
[No. 87.
" ram) or a pig, well soaped, with tjie tail and the horns and the ears respectively
" cut off." The writer goes on to say that, though some authorities traced the intro-
duction of the bull-running to John of Gaunt (who was Lord of Castile), he himself
thought it much older and of purely local origin, being connected with the tenure of the
lands by the earl. Since our own bull-baiting was much more cruel and less dangerous
than that in vogue even in Spain, we naturally have a right to deplore the depraved
tastes of its devotees, and to deny it any " token of approval or admiration ! "
As the writers quoted have described in detail the various aspects of the bull-
fighting— the play on horseback and on foot, pole-jumping, sitting on a chair, &c. — I
need give no account of them, but, strange to say, none have mentioned the bull-catching,
which seems to me the most dangerous of all, and as I have seen it in both Portugal and
Northern Nigeria, an account may have some anthropological value.
In Portugal the bull is loose and the horns are cased in leather and bandaged. A
number of u catchers " * enter the arena and one of them will stand in front, legs close
together, arms extended, and call and insult the bull until it charges him. As the
man is tossed he catches the bull by the neck (see illustration), and he must maintain
himself on the bull's head until the other " catchers " can hold the animal and enable
the man to extricate himself.
I should imagine — though I
have no authority for saying
so — that only bulls with very
long and wide horns can be
thus caught, for if the horns
were short and pointing to-
wards the front the danger of
impalement would be very
much greater, and also there
would hardly be room for the man's body to hang down between them. I saw this
done twice at Lisbon, and the second time one of the men was rather badly hurt.
In Northern Nigeria the horns are not protected in any way, but the bull is not
loose. The performers are usually Filani, a cattle-keeping people of partly Berber
descent.f Two men hold a rope tied to a hind foot, and one — the " catcher " — holds
another rope fastened to the neck or to the horns. The animal is maddened by tugging
at the rope, drumming and shouting, and is allowed to dash about, being brought up by
one rope or the other. The catcher then begins shortening his rope, and in consequence
advancing towards the bull, care being taken that the hind rope is quite taut so that no
sudden rush can be made. When close up, the bull tries to gore, the man is tossed
exactly as in Portugal, and holds on until extricated. Sometimes the man will get
astride the animal's neck, using the horns like parallel bars. As the horns are not
protected there is always a great risk. Five times I have seen this game, and twice
the principal performer came to grief.
In Northern Nigeria this is the only form of the sport ; horses are never used,
the performers are not armed in any way, and the bull is not injured. In Portugal
exactly similar conditions prevail so far as the catching is concerned. As for the
regular bull-fighting, horses are not always used, and when they are, they are very
seldom injured owing to their speed and their riders' dexterity. The performers on
foot are armed with short darts which do not pierce the flesh more than an inch or
two, and the local " S.P.C.A." insists that only a certain number of darts may be used.
* I do not know if there is a special name in Portuguese or Filani for these people, I have
used the word '; catchers " as best describing their functions.
f See The Niger and the West Sudan, p. 51. I wonder if bull-fighting! originated in North
Africa !
[ 149 ]
Nos. 87-88.] MAN. [1910.
Each bull is played only from 15 to 20 minutes* and is then driven out of the ring
{by tame bulls), so that his hurts can be attended to ; he is not killed.
Most of the bull fighting in Spain is, I understand, very cruel, though as I have
seen it only in cinematograph pictures I cannot pretend to know for certain. The
cruelty is, at any rate, not universal, for a strange game takes place at Noya (Galicia)
four times a year, according to Miss Annette Meakin,f who says : " On these occasions
" a street serves the purpose of a ring ; the two ends are blocked by tribunes filled
" with spectators, and the balconies of the houses on both sides overflow with ladies
" and gentlemen. . . . The men rush at the bull — which is practically a tame
" one from the neighbouring hills — and try to aggravate it ; at length they succeed,
" and it plunges at them, whereupon they turn their backs and flee before it in a crowd,
" falling at last in a heap, one on top of another, those who come last and fall on
" top getting their clothes rent by the horns of the bull, to the immense gratification of
" the spectators ; it ends in the bull becoming the matador and the men playing the
" part usually assigned to the bull." According to the Illustrated London News
(23rd July), a somewhat similar entertainment (ISarrivee de Taureaux) is provided
on festival days by the people of Beaucaire, a town situated opposite Tarascon in
the south of France. But in this case no less than five bulls are let loose at. the
same time, and — if the illustration is a faithful one — the people in the "ring" seem
to have a very poor chance as the animals' horns are not protected in any way.
There is certainly no cruelty to the bull in either of these cases, for again we see
that no horses are employed, and the only danger is that to the men.
As the danger, therefore, is wholly on the men's side (particularly in N. Nigeria),
and the animal is not " doomed from the moment of its entrance into the arena " ;
bull-fighting in Portugal and Nigeria, at any rate, may justly be considered a humane
sport. Certainly those who shoot tame birds and set dogs on to helpless animals
cannot condemn it. A. J. N. TREMEARNE.
England : Archaeology. Cunning-ton.
Pits on Morgan's Hill, near Devizes. By (Mrs.) M. E. Cunnington.
In August 1909 some pits on Morgan's Hill, near Devizes, Wilts, were
examined by Mr. B. H. Cunnington, F. S.A.Scot., with a view to ascertaining their
nature. Some years ago the Rev. A. C. Smith called attention to these numerous
pit-like depressions on Morgan's Hill, and suggested that they were the sites of
pit-dwellings.;};
On the slope of the hill east of Furze Knoll, about the 800 contour line, and
all within an area of a few hundred yards, some thirty-five pits may be counted.
As, however, it is not always easy to distinguish between the pits and the irregu-
larities of the surface left by old chalk diggings, this number can only be taken as
approximately correct.
The pits vary in size, ranging from shallow, saucer-like depressions, 4 or 5 feet in
diameter, up to large pond-like basins of from 18 to 20 feet in diameter. The depths
vary also, irrespective of the diameters, some of the larger ones being shallow, while
others of medium size are from 4 to 5 feet deep. Some of the pits are solitary, others
are grouped in twos and threes, sometimes actually merging one into another. Round
about some of them are heaps of rubbish showing that at some time they have been dug
into, and it was thought that the pits might all prove to be only the sites of old chalk
* There were ten bulls fought in a period of two hours' actual play ; but this, I was told, gave
less time to each bull than is usually the case.
•)• ffalicia, the Switzerland of Spain, p. 252.
t Antiquities of North Wiltshire, Section IV, B VII. d, p. 63. Ordnance Map, Wiltshire Sheet,
XXXIV, N.E., 6 inches.
[ 150 J
1910.] MAN. [No, 88.
diggings ; it was therefore with no very sanguine expectations of their proving to be
indeed pit-dwellings that it was decided to test some of them.
For this purpose two pits were chosen close to the right-hand side of the track
from Bishops Cannings to Calstone. The smaller of the two before excavation was
5 feet in diameter and 6 inches deep in the centre, the larger one, only 2 feet from the
smaller, was 12 feet in diameter and 1 foot deep.
The smaller pit was cleared out, and was found to be 5 feet 3 inches deep, the
sides were very smooth and even, and the bottom rounded like a basin. It contained
a gravelly rubble mixed with some clay and occasional streaks of sand, and a few
unworn flints ; some of the gravel was black coated. Lining the bottom of the pit was
a layer of red clay, 3 to 4 inches thick, that had almost the appearance of having been
puddled.
Of the larger pit a half-section only was taken out, for had it proved to be a pit-
dwelling, it was thought that a better idea of its construction could be gained by taking
out first one half and then the other, than by working over the whole area at once.
As in the smaller adjoining pit the chalk sides were smooth and even, but the
filling-in differed somewhat. The gravel was not rubbly, but was mixed with an
extremely stiff tenacious clay, and there were a great number of large unworn flints.
The digging was hard and laborious, and when it had been carried down to a depth of
6 feet, it was given up, as it was then quite clear that the deposit was a natural one,
and that the pit might be of very considerable depth. Neither of these two pits
showed any signs of having been previously dug into.
A large pit some 50 yards to the east of the first two was then tried.
It was 19 feet in diameter and 4 feet deep before excavation. There were heaps
of rubbish about its sides, and it appeared to have been dug into before, and chiefly
for this reason it was chosen as a test. It proved to be a pit filled with clay and flints
practically identical with the larger of the two first opened. The digging was carried
down for 4 feet and then given up for the same reason that the other had been. Two
other medium-sized pits, 11 feet and 13 feet in diameter respectively, were also tested
with the same results, and as the work was tedious, and, from the point of view of
pit-dwellings, apparently hopeless, no more were attempted.
The five pits thus tested were undoubtedly " swallow " or " pot " holes in the
chalk, and although it would be rash to say that all the similar pits thereabouts
are also pot holes there is nothing superficially to differentiate them from those
chosen for examination.
One of the workmen said that at one time he had dug clay for puddling a pond
from a pit on the other side of Morgan's Hill where the clay was mixed with flints and
of a similar nature ; another local labourer called the pits " clay holes," and apparently
thought that we ought to have known that only clay and flints would be found in them.
A little further down the hill to the south-east, following the crop of the strata,
there are a series of diggings for hard chalk, some of them being quite recent. In the
section there exposed the chalk is in places capped with red clay, and small basin and
funnel-like cavities are filled with similar clay reproducing in miniature the larger
pot-holes.
As it was rather unexpected to find pot-holes in this situation on Morgan's Hill,
the circumstances were made known to A. J. Jukes Browne, Esq., F.G.S., who very
kindly replied that pot-holes of the kind described and filled with the material which
is generally known as " clay with flints " may be found in any part of the chalk,
although not always marked by depressions. " Your experience," Mr. Jukes Browne
adds, " is worth putting on record as a warning to archreologists against the pit-falls
that lurk in supposed pit dwellings." M. E. CUNN1NGTON.
Nos. 89-90.] MAN. [1910.
Africa : Sudan. Lloyd.
Some Sudanese Superstitions. By E. Lloyd, M.D.
My boy, Mohammed, has just been favouring me with his views of the
supernatural. He told me of a race of beings who by day walk the streets as men
but by night retire into the depths of the river in the form of crocodiles, from whence
they watch for people to come down and bathe, who become their prey. Such an one
some time ago took a man here. The mamour (a sort of mayor) tried to shoot the
creature, but failing he went over to the Sheikh in Halfaiya, to whom he gave
presents to shut the creature's mouth. Since then it has been restrained by the
power of the Sheikh. When you see someone who you fear is one of these creatures
in human shape, you try it by saying, " Peace be on you." A man, of course, will
reply, " On you be peace." But if it is the creature it will walk straight on without
taking any notice. There are other charming creatures that inhabit dark rooms and
leap out and scream at you. Certain places are inhabited by creatures that play about
at night like men laughing and shouting to each other and who kill with stones anyone
who comes near to them. The great thing is always to sit tight and say, " In the
"name of God, the merciful, the compassionate," a charm which in theory causes
all such things to vanish. Practically on at least one occasion when he met some of
these queer folks by night, Mohammed ran for an hour without stopping. He also
told me a story of a woman who married a blind man and soon after died. In
compassion for him the neighbours combined to pay the funeral expenses and get the
woman buried, rather previously as it transpired, for two days later she arose from the
grave and returned. Now she always goes about with eyes cast down unable to
raise them to look anyone in the face, and further, always has a queer noise going
on in her chest. E. LLOYD.
REVIEWS.
Egypt. Holler.
Hieratische Paldographie ; die dgyptische Buchschrift in ihrer Entwicklung A A
von der fiinften Dynastic bis zur romischen Kaiserzeit. Dargestellt von Georg WV
Moller. Band 1. : Bis zum Beginn der achtzehnten Dynastic. Band II. : Von der
Zeit Thutmosis III bis zum Ende der einundzwanzigsten Dynastic. Leipzig, 1909.
The first two instalments of Dr. Moller's work on hieratic palaeography exhibit
in a high degree those qualities of accuracy and thoroughness which one is accustomed
to expect in a German handbook. The practical value of the treatise will be con-
siderable : to the student still unfamiliar with the forms of the hieratic signs it will
prove a sure guide ; to the scholar seeking to determine the age of an undated manu-
script it will supply the requisite evidence. Dr. Moller's own interest in the subject
is, however, obviously no mere practical one ; his chief concern has been to trace the
development of the hieroglyphs into cursive and relatively unpictorial symbols, and
to discover the reasons, the method, and the actual cause of that development.
And, indeed, the theme, broadly viewed, has an interest considerably wider than
the narrow limits of Egyptian philological research. Recent authorities no longer
favour the view that derives the Phoenician alphabet from the hieratic, as was main-
tained by de Rouge. But whatever the origin of that alphabet — some now look
towards Crete for its source — it undoubtedly sprang ultimately from a pictographic
script ; and the development of the Egyptian hieratic and demotic characters remains
by far the most illuminating analogy by which the early history of Semitic and Euro-
pean scripts can be reconstructed in the imagination.
In Egypt the need for a rapid writing in addition to the laborious lapidary kind
was felt from the very beginning, and the adoption of the reed pen and the papyrus
in place of chisel and stone at once created a cursive style. Still, this did not oust
[ 152 ]
1910.] MAN. [fros. 90-91.
the earlier mode of writing, the ornamental value of which caused it to be preserved
for public and semi-public monuments. For little less than 3,000 years the hieroglyphic
and hieratic styles co-existed, often mutually influencing and modifying one another.
Throughout the earlier ages hieratic gradually gains in individuality, and at last,
towards the Persian period, sub-divides into two varieties, of which the more cursive,
known as demotic, no longer bears any visible resemblance to its hieroglyphic ancestor.
Hieratic is henceforth reserved for sacred texts written on papyrus, and thus at
length acquires its title to the name by which it is known to scholars — we have the
name from Clement of Alexandria. Demotic is employed for business and literary
texts, written on papyrus and on potsherds. The hieroglyphs are still retained to
adorn the vast walls of the Ptolemaic temples. In detail the evolution is extremely
complex, and this is not the place to summarise its leading principles. Those whom it
may interest can safely be referred to Dr. Moller's work, and especially when the fourth
part, wherein the development of the individual signs will be discussed, has been issued.
The principal portion of the volumes already in our hands consists of admirable
tabular plates, in which is displayed the gradual modification of the signs from their
hieroglyphic prototypes downwards. The examples for each period are traced from
well-dated papyri, which are discussed and described in a preliminary section. Had
the author been able to consult the collections of Turin, Leiden, and London as well
as those of Berlin, Paris and Cairo, he would doubtless have been able to supplement
his second volume with a certain number of rare forms and uncommon signs ; but this
is no very serious defect where so much that is good is offered, and the first volume
is singularly complete.
A special word of commendation is due to the reproductions of hieroglyphs in
the first column of the tables ; Dr. Moller has rightly not contented himself with
giving the late and often grossly misapprehended forms employed in printed works
on hieroglyphs. Excellent photographic samples of hieratic writing terminate each
volume. A. H. Gr.
Africa. Johnston.
A History and Description of the British Empire in Africa. By Sir Harry Q4
Johnston, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., D.Sc. London : National Society, N.D. Pp. 01
xix + 429. Price 10*. 6d.
In this book Sir Harry Johnston gives a brief but succinct history of each of
our African colonies. Written in an easy, unaffected style, it affords the ordinary
reader the opportunity of learning, with the expenditure of little time or effort, the
present condition of those colonies and how they came to reach it. South Africa,
not unnaturally, claims the lion's share, half the book, in fact, being devoted to the
South African colonies, including a chapter on the natives inhabiting them. The
ethnology is also dealt with in a series of lengthy notes at the end of several of the
chapters. With his very long and wide experience of Africa the author's views on
this aspect of his subject will be read with interest and respect, though some ethno-
logists will probably be unable always to come to conclusions so certain and definite
as he does. Some of his remarks are certainly striking ; for instance, he describes
the Cape Boys as a strongly-built, yellow-skinned people of Hottentot, Boer, British,
Negro, and Malay intermixture on their way to make a new race, which resembles
somewhat in outward appearance the Tartar type of Central Asia.
An interesting feature of the work is found in the references to the fauna, on
which the author is so high an authority.
There is a good deal of criticism of the Home Government in its dealings with
our African colonies. He points out how the weakness, vacillation, and ignorance of
the governing powers at home have intensified the difficulties of governing South
Africa, and the injustice done to some of the best and most enlightened governors ;
[ 153 ]
Nos. 91-92.] MAN. [1910.
and their mistakes are attributed to ignorance of geography, anthropology, and history.
Cabinet ministers might spend their time less usefully than in reading this book.
There are a number of good maps and a profusion of illustrations, mostly from
photographs, and a good index. It is a matter for regret, however, that the book
is printed on heavily loaded paper, which adds greatly to its weight, and makes it
heavy and unwieldy to hold. E. A. P.
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.
Anthropology. British Association.
Anthropology at the British Association, Sheffield Meeting, August 3lst to QA
September 7M, 1910. Ufc
The Anthropological Section met at the Central Secondary School, Sheffield,
under the presidency of Mr. W. Crooke. The President's address, which dealt chiefly
with anthropological problems in relation to India, will be found in Nature. Particular
attention should be drawn to the joint discussion of the Anthropological and Educational
Sections on intelligence testa for school children. Some of the papers read at this
discussion will be found below.
In the summary which follows the papers are classified under subjects, and the
final destination of papers, so far as is known at present, is indicated in square
brackets.
PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY.
PROFESSOR C. J. PATTEN, M.A., M.D., Sc.D. — A Hare Form of Divided Parietal
in the Cranium of a Chimpanzee. — Apart from the presence of groups of small wormian
bones, division of the parietals in the anthropoids is a very rare condition. The case
which I now describe appears also to be one of complete division of both parietals, each
by a horizontal suture running the entire length of the bones and joining the coronal
with the lambdoid sutures. This case, however, is of further interest owing to the
extraordinary way in which the upper segment of each bone is again subdivided, giving
that part of the vault of the cranium the appearance of the counties of a map, when
viewed from above. Correlated with the condition there is a thinning out of the bones
of the cranial vault and reduction of the size and strength of the zygomatic arch and
of many processes of the base of the skull. In weight this cranium is decidedly
lighter than that of an average chimpanzee of its size. — \_Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst.~\
W. L. H. DUCKWORTH, M.A., M.D., Sc.D. — Note on some Anatomical Specimens
of Anthropological Interest, prepared by means of the New Microtome of the
Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company. — The new microtome of the Cambridge
Scientific Instrument Company provides a means of preparation of anthropological
material possessing great interest. The instrument has been carefully tested at the
Anatomy School at Cambridge, and some of the preparations yielded by it have been
mounted as lantern-slides. The instrument is fully described in the Instrument
Company's list, and it will therefore suffice in this place to state that it combines some
of the valuable mechanism of the well-known "rocking " microtome with great rigidity
and uniform action. The experiments above-mentioned show that the instrument will
cut good sections, of an area of 10 square inches at least and of material of very
varying density, which always presents special difficulties. The chief point emphasised
is the importance of such preparations in elucidating the details of structure, when
the human tissues are compared with corresponding parts of the larger mammalia,
particularly anthropoid monkeys.
Anthropometric Investigation in the British Isles. Report of the Committee. —
During the past year anthropometric investigation has been making steady, though as
yet somewhat slow, progress in the British Isles.
[ 154 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 92.
Under recent Acts of Parliament measurements of height and weight are being
extensively carried out in primary schools in England and Scotland, and numerous
inquiries have been received from medical officers and others as to the best methods
of making these measurements.
The Committee is making arrangements, in co-operation with other agencies, to
have measurements made of the adult rural population of the British Isles.
Applications have been received for information about methods of measurement
from many parts of Greater Britain, as, for example, Cyprus, Australia, and New
Zealand.
ARCHEOLOGY.
GREAT BRITAIN.
T. ASHBY, M.A., D.LiTT. — The Excavations at Caerwent, Monmouthshire, on
the Site of the Romano- British City of Venta Silurum in 1909—10. — The excavations
of 1909 were at first carried on in the north-east corner of the city. Important
additions were made to the plan, which was found to preserve the regular arrangement
noticed elsewhere. Remains of several houses were discovered, and also those of a
building, more than once altered, which, it is possible, are those of a Christian church.
Later in the season attention was devoted to the completion of the excavation of the
central insula in the north half of the city, which contains the Forum and Basilica.
The greater part of it had been excavated in 1907, but it was found possible in 1909
to make arrangements for the exploration of the western portion of the Basilica and
the western side of the Forum. The block was found to be perfectly rectangular,
being thus more carefully laid out than most of the other buildings at Caerwent.
The Basilica had no apse at either end, but at each end of the north aisle and nave
was a chamber of the same width as theirs, while at each end of the south aisle there
was an entrance from the streets which ran outside the Forum on the east and west.
The south aisle had an open arcade towards the Forum, which was surrounded on the
other sides (with the possible exception of the west side) by an ambulatory and shops ;
and the open area was drained by a large box drain.
The excavations of 1910 were conducted on the south side of the high road,
which coincides with the ancient road through the centre of the town. They resulted
in the discovery of a few houses, one of them much altered, so that its original plan
is difficult to make out. In the centre of it is a well-constructed cellar. Numerous
skeletons have been discovered here, over a hundred in all. The burials are obviously
of post-Roman date, the walls of the house having been partially destroyed when the
graves were dug.
H. D. ACLAND. — Some Prehistoric Monuments in the Stilly Isles. — Two groups
of menhirs were described, each of which appears to have an unusual arrangement.
Several of the menhirs of one group have a constant orientation differing 4 degrees
from the normal bearing.
A group of intersecting banks was also described. The bearings of the different
members have the same variation from a normal bearing as the menhirs in one of the
groups first described.
The Lake Villages in the Neighbourhood of Glastonbury. Report of the
Committee. — The results of the tentative explorations in 1908 of the Lake Village at
Meare were of so important and encouraging a nature, that the matter was at once
taken up by the Somersetshire Archa3ological and Natural History Society, but owing
to the large amount of work to be accomplished for the publication of the monograph
on the Glastonbury Lake Village, it was deemed advisable to postpone the further
examination of the Meare site until 1910. The first season's systematic digging
opened on May 23rd and continued for three weeks, excluding the week devoted to
filling in the area dug.
[ 155 ]
No. 92.] MAN. [1910.
The Lake Village at Meare lies three miles west of the now fully-explored
Glastonbury Lake Village, in the peat moor adjoining the north margin of a low ridge
of ground, formerly an island, on which the modern village of Meare now stands, and
from 400 to 600 feet south of the River Brue. Before the Brue was embanked, and the
draining of the swamps had been attempted in monastic times, Meare Pool was of far
greater extent, and included the Lake Village within the limits of its south-west
border. The Lake Village now stands in fertile pasture, the level of the surrounding
fields being from 12 to 14 feet above the mean tide level, and is situated eleven miles
south-east from the present coast-line at Burnham. The ancient site consists of two
distinct groups of low circular mounds separated by a level piece of ground from 200
to 300 feet in width. So far as a superficial survey permits the two settlements appear
to consist of about 100 dwellings covering parts of seven fields (not five as formerly
stated) and occupying a track of land that measures roughly from 1,500 to 1,600 feet
east and west, by from 200 to 250 feet north and south. The highest mound
measures 4 • 4 feet a.bove the surface of the surrounding field-level. The alluvium
covering the adjoining fields varies from 12 to 30 inches in depth. From borings
made this year it was ascertained that the depth of peat underlying the dwellings
varies from 7 to 11 feet in thickness. Below the peat is a layer of soft grey-coloured
clay, lying on beds of lias stone. The recent excavations included the examination
of three dwellings, i.e., Mounds I, II, VI, the partial exploration of Mound VII, and
the west quarter of Mound V, together with the intervening spaces of level ground
situated in Field IV ; also the digging of several trenches on the north and south
sides of the marginal mounds in Field IV, with the object of finding the palisading.
Although the ground was examined for some 100 feet or more from the dwellings,
no border - protection was discovered comparable with that which surrounded the
Glastonbury Lake Village. — [Rep. Brit. Assoc., Sheffield, 1910.]
REV. A. IRVING, D.Sc., B.A. — The Bishop's Stortford Prehistoric Horse. — The
bones have been compared with others of neolithic age at South Kensington and
Jermyn Street ; also with those from Newstead, near Melrose, of the Roman period.
Close anatomical relations were given between the Stortford skeleton and the bones
discovered (a) in the neolithic deposits of Pomerania, (6) the bronze deposits of
Spandau, (c) the pile-dwelling site of the Starnberger See, (d) the river drift at
Ilford, and (e) the pleistocene deposits of Granchester. The vertebral formula is
that of the zebra (Flower), and differs both from horses of the Equus Prjwalskii type
and the Plateau type of Ewart. It is a lighter-limbed animal than Nehring's Remagen
horse, though in its teeth it resembles that most closely. Upon the whole it seems
to be a blend of the " Forest " and the " Plateau " types of Ewart. The general
conclusion seems warranted that the horse represents a race of late pleistocene times,
as a survival into the neolithic or bronze age, certainly not later than the La Tene
age.
PROF. R. C. BOSANQUET. — The Work of the Liverpool Committee for Excavation
and Research in Wales and the Marches. — The author described the excavations which
have been carried on at Caersws. — \_Report of the Liverpool Committee.^
ALEX SUTHERLAND. — Excavation of Brock of Cogle, JVatten, Caithness. — It is
due to Dr. Anstruther Davidson, Los Angeles, that the existence of the broch was
proved.
The plan was carefully drawn by exact measurements on the spot by Mr. Nicolson.
The only entrance, about 2 feet wide, to the Cogle Broch is on the west. At the
Scottack and other excavated Caithness brochs the entrance is on the east.
The thickness of the walls is 15 feet, and the circle enclosed has a diameter
of 30 feet. There were two upright flagstones 2 feet high and 2 feet apart. The
[ 156 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 92.
average height of the walls remaining in situ would be about 3 feet. Probably
60 feet or 70 feet had fallen and helped to form the mound. Vegetation had grown
and decayed and buried the stupendous structure for ages. Dr. Davidson identified
five successive layers of ashes and pavement, and the charred remains of wood
indicated the fuel. Trunks and branches of pine, birch, and hazel-nuts are frequently
got in peat cutting at considerable depth in Cogle moss.
Dr. Davidson made sections of some of these pines, and found that their aunual
rate of growth coincided with that of the charred fragments found so abundantly in
the broch.
The most important of the neolithic remains were the stone pestles found in
the lowest stratum of ashes. These, over twenty, were in only a few instances
pestle shaped. They were made of hard-grained, basaltic-like stone, and were
originally of oval or oblong shape. By constant use in pounding, the edges were
bevelled, and a few of them were worn quite circular and bevelled all round. Two
stones with shallow mortars were found, as also some saddle querns with the usual
hand-grinding stone, and numerous stone pebbles, probably used for sling stones.
Almost all the bones were broken to extract the marrow. None showed evidence
of fire, and the condition of the bones would show that they were very imperfectly
cooked. Parts of tusks of boar, goat, horse, and ox could be identified, and also
bat, with probably great auk. These have been sent to Professor Bryce, Glasgow
University, for further investigation.
GEORGE CLINCH. — Some Unexplored Fields in British Archceology. — The
purpose of this paper was threefold, viz. : —
(1) To indicate some hitherto unexplored fields of research where antiquities
await the spade of the field archaeologist ;
(2) To draw attention to the wholesale destruction of antiquities now going on
in different parts of the kingdom ; and
(3) To suggest the establishment of regular and systematic oversight of great
engineering works which involve excavation and removal of the soil.
The writer advocated the immediate establishment, as far as possible, of a regular
system of archaeological oversight wherever and whenever excavations are being
made in the soil ; and he suggested that the matter be brought to the notice of
the Government in order to enlist its sympathy and support. — [Antiquary.]
AFRICA.
PROFESSOR W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE, D.C.L., F.R.S. — Excavations at Memphis. —
[See MAN, 79, 1910.]
C. G. SELIGMANN, M.D. — A Neolithic Site in the Southern Soudan. — [Journ.
Roy. Anthr. Inst., Vol. XL.]
MEDITERRANEAN.
Archaeological and Ethnological Investigations in Sardinia. Report of the
Committee. — SJx more dolmen tombs were added to the list of four last year,
making ten monuments altogether of this kind which have been discovered. The
significance of this discovery may be realised from the fact that, previous to the
researches of last year and this, only one monument of this class was known in Sardinia
— that near Bironi, referred to by Montelius, and since published by Taramelli. The
general scientific result accordingly is : That we can now say definitely, not only that
the great Tombs of the Giants were developed from an earlier type of dolmen tomb
as has been conjectured by Montelius and others, but that this development took place
on the soil of Sardinia itself. The mysterious civilisation of the dolmen people has
[ 157 ]
No. 92,] MAN. [1910.
long been a puzzle to archaeologists. We can now, however, confidently say that in
Sardinia at least this dolmen culture represents an early episode in the great Bronze
Age civilisation of the Nuraghi.
A curious circumstance came out in the course of these researches. The dolmens
in no case showed that juxtaposition to the Nuraghi which we had previously found
to be so constant a concomitant phenomenon in the case of the Tombs of the Giants.
One might as well have been in Corsica ! And it is well known that in the sister
island there are no Nuraghi, and that there the dolmen type of tomb survived
throughout the Bronze Age.
The last part of the campaign was devoted to a partial exploration of the country
to westward of Macomer, called Planargia, as far as Cuglieri and the sea.
The Nuraghi in this whole region are of the very greatest importance, especially
from the point of view of their strategic significance. They form a regular network
as far as the sea, and one can see by studying their positions of vantage that they are
all directly or indirectly in signalling communication with each other. They are, as
Mr. Newton has well remarked, regular block-houses which might very well be
compared with those which have performed so prominent a part in modern warfare,
for example, in the final stages of the Transvaal War.
T. ASHBY, M.A., D.LiTT. — Excavations' at Hagiar Kim and Mnaidra, Malta. —
The excavations which were carried out by the Government of Malta, under my
direction, during the month of June, at the well-known megalithic buildings (in
all probability sanctuaries) of Hagiar Kim and Mnaidra, had a twofold object ; it
was desired to ascertain whether, in the original excavations of both buildings in
1839 and 1840, and in the supplementary excavations of the former in 1885, the
ground plan had been completely discovered, or whether there were any additions to
be made to it ; and also, inasmuch as previous explorers had unfortunately almost
entirely neglected to preserve the small objects, and especially the pottery, which it
was obvious that they must have found, to see whether it were not possible to remedy
the deficiency to some extent by the recovery of sufficient pottery, at any rate, for the
determination of the date of the structure. In the course of ten days' work at each
building satisfactory results were arrived at in both these respects. It was found that
in front of the facade, both of Hagiar Kim and of the lower building at Mnaidra, there
was a large area roughly paved with slabs of stone. This was also the case at a
building of a similar nature, excavated in 1909 on the hill of Corradino, and seems to
have been a regular feature. No further additions (except in small details) were made
to the plan of Hagiar Kim, but at Mnaidra it was found that besides the two main
parts of the structure there were some subsidiary buildings, which, though less massive,
were of considerable importance ; they were perhaps devoted to domestic uses, inasmuch
as a very large quantity of pottery was found in them. It was also ascertained that
the site for the upper part of the main building, which is undoubtedly later in date
than the lower, was obtained by heaping up against the external north-east wall of the
latter a mass of small stones so as to form a level platform, instead of by cutting away
the side of the rocky hill upon the slope of which Mnaidra is situated.
In both buildings there were places in which the soil had not yet been completely
cleared away, and chambers in which the ancient floors of pounded limestone chips
(locally called " torba ") still maintained their hardness after, perhaps, 4,000 years.
It was here that small objects were found in considerable quantities — numerous frag-
ments of pottery and of flint, but no trace of metal. The former corresponded absolutely
with that found in the hypogeum of Halsaflieni, and in the other megalithic buildings
of the island ; so that it seems clear that Hagiar Kim and Mnaidra, like the rest, belong
to the neolithic period.
[ 158 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 92.
Under one of the earlier floors in Mnaidra a curious group of small votive
terra-cottas was found.
A few examples were also found of the small stone pillars, often narrowed in the
centre, which are common in the megalithic buildings of Malta, both in isolation and
as supports to the cover-slabs of the dolmen-like niches which are so important a feature
in these buildings. In either case Dr. Arthur Evans thinks that they must be treated
as baetyli, or personifications of the deity. Dr. Albert Mayr is of opinion that the
round towers, of which some half-dozen exist in Malta, also belong to the prehistoric
period ; but in a final excavation at Torre Tal Wilgia, near Mkabba, we were not able
to find any evidence in favour of this supposition, all the pottery which came to light
belonging at the earliest to the Punic period.
REV. H. J. DOKINFIELD AsTLET, M.A. — Cup- and Ring -mar kings and Spirals ;
some Notes on the Hypogeum at Halsaflieni, Malta. — This hypogeum, or series of
subterranean chambers, is one of the most interesting of the many prehistoric remains
in the island of Malta. It has been thoroughly excavated, and has recently been
described by Professor Zammit. The hypogeum is a monument of the late Neolithic
Age of Mediterranean culture.
Two of the chambers have decorated roofs. These decorations, in red paint, quite
clear and distinct, though somewhat worn by time, consist of a number of cup- and
ring-markings and spirals, finely executed and in great variety. The combination is not
common in prehistoric Europe, though it is in Australia. It would seem to point to
an infiltration of Bronze Age, or Mycenean, culture, superimposed upon the Neolithic
culture of the earlier population towards the close of that age. It is native work, but
the influence of Crete is seen.
A. J. B. WAGE, M.A., and M. S. THOMPSON, M.A. — Excavations in Thessaly,
1910. — The sites chosen for this year's work were Tsangli in Central Thessaly, about
midway between Pharsala and Velestino, and Rachmani, half-way between Larissa
and Tempe.
At Tsangli we sank several shafts from the top of the mound to virgin soil to
test the stratification, and also on^the east side cleared two small areas, where we
found the remains of neolithic houses. The mound is about 200 metres long and
210 wide, and the deposit in the highest part is about 10 metres thick. The
results of the stratification of the pottery will be mentioned in connection with that
at Rachmani. The houses are very interesting; one consists of three houses built
one over another. They are square in plan and have as a rule two internal
buttresses in each angle, and all three belong to the latter part of the first neolithic
period, but the earliest house is slightly more primitive in plan, and has only five
internal buttresses instead of eight. The first two houses were abandoned, but the
third had been destroyed by fire, and in it several good vases were found and twelve
celts. In the second a store of over sixty terra-cotta sling bullets was found. The
other house had been destroyed by fire towards the end of the first neolithic period
and was never afterwards rebuilt. This house is very large and divided across the
middle by a row of wooden posts. It had eight internal buttresses and a door in the
middle of the south wall. A large number of vases were found in this house, many
celts, and some interesting terra-cotta statuettes. In general the excavation was very
rich in stone implements. We found about seventy celts, including some fine examples ;
also between twenty and thirty good terra-cotta statuettes were discovered. Of these
the male figures, which are rare in Thessaly, are remarkable for their phallic character
and the female figures for their marked steatopygy.
At Rachmani the mound is about 112 metres long and 95 wide, and the deposit is
8 metres thick. A careful observation of the stratification of the shafts sunk in this
r 159 i
No. 92.] MAN. [1910.
mound and a comparison of it with the results from Tsangli and other sites enables
us to divide the prehistoric remains of Thessaly into four periods : (1) Neolithic —
marked by the presence of red on white painted pottery ; (2) Neolithic — marked by
the presence of Dhimiui and kindred wares ; (3) Sub-neolithic — in this period falls the
remarkable encrusted ware, but while stone tools are common no trace of bronze has
yet been found in deposits of this period ; (4) chalcolithic — in this period the pottery
is unpainted, and the latter part of it is apparently contemporaneous with late
Minoan II and III, for to it belong the tombs of Sesklo, Dhimini, and Zerelia, and
the L.M. Ill and Minoan ware found at these and other sites. It is also noticeable
that at Rachmani in the top of the deposit of the fourth period we found many sherds
of L.M. Ill ware mixed with fragments of primitive geometric pottery like that found
in early Iron- Age tombs at Marmariani and Theotokou. In the deposit of the third
period we found an oblong one-roomed house with the southern short side rounded.
In it we found three good specimens of encrusted ware, a series of four figurines with
rough terra-cotta bodies and painted stone heads, and a large store of carbonised wheat,
pease, lentils, figs, &c. Another house of the same type, with a slightly more developed
plan, was found in the deposit of the fourth period, but apart from a few stone imple-
ments nothing was found in it. The only other finds worth separate mention are three
fragments of bronze found in the deposits of the fourth period and a tomb that contained
one L.M. Ill vase and two inferior gems.
A. M. WOODWARD, M.A., and H. A. ORMEROD, M.A. — A Group of Prehistoric
Sites in South- West Asia Minor. — In all nineteen prehistoric mounds were examined,
extending from the plain of Elmeli (in North-East Lycia) to Lake Kestel in Pisidia,
and by way of Lake Karalitis and the plain round Tegenni to Kara-Eyuk-bazar at the
foot of Kazak-Bal in Southern Phrygia. The sherds found on the mounds consisted
mainly of a red hand-polished ware, assignable to the Bronze Age, with rarer frag-
ments of a black polished ware. Some of these sherds may possibly be of neolithic
origin. With these was found on certain sites a large quantity of painted fragments,
showing analogies on the one hand with Cappadocian pot fabrics, and again with those
of the early Cypriote Iron Age. This pottery would seem, however, for the most part
independent of -ZEgean influence or importation, and fragments of obsidian obtained
are apparently not of Melian origin. One of the larger mounds at Tchai Kenar, partly
excavated for brick earth, provided a rough sectional view of stratification to a depth
of 8 metres with three superimposed floor levels. On another mound a few miles to
the west were the remains of a megalithic house of rectangular plan with an outer-
walled courtyard. This building is probably to be dated not earlier than the beginning
of the Iron Age.
The full extent of this civilisation is riot yet determined, and generalisation would
be premature ; it would appear, however, that it is not merely a south-westerly extension
of the prehistoric Cappadocian culture, but largely independent of it.
AMERICA.
ALICE C. FLETCHER. — Archaeological Activities in the United States of America,
— The paper opened with a brief account of the foundation of the Peabody Museum
of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, the first institution in
America founded for anthropological study, and recited its activities during the current
year.
A short account followed of the Government's movements which finally led to
the establishment of the Bureau of American Ethnology, its scope, and its work in
the past and at the present time, and the paper concluded with an account of the
work undertaken by other public bodies.
[A report of the other papers read will appear in a subsequent number of MAN.]
Printed by EYBE AND SPOTTISWOODE. LTD., His Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, E.C,
PLATE L
MAN, 1910.
LU
*
CO
<
CQ
Q
Z
<
CO
Z
o
2
o
O
co
1910.] MAN.
<<o.93'
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Solomon Islands. With. Plate L. Rivers : v
The Solomon Island Basket. By W. H. R. Rivers, M.D., F.R.S., an ^
Mrs. Hingston Quiff gin, M.A.
The Solomon Island basket, with its peculiar patchlike base, shown in Plate
Figs. 4 and 6, has been somewhat of a mystery to anthropologists. It has even beei.
supposed that the basket is first made and then for some unknown reason patched.
The materials for the following account were obtained in the island variously called
Eddystone, Simbo, or Narovo in the western part of the Solomon Islands. Here, and
probably throughout the group, the manufacture is carried out exclusively by women.
The baskets are made from leaves of the coco-nut palm called ngandi, which are
about 120 to 130 cm. in length, and about 6 cm. in width at their broadest part. Only
new leaves from near the top of the tree are used. The leaves are stripped off
with a piece of bark attached ; the leaves and attached part together are called talonjo,
and the piece of bark simalona. These are dried over a special kind of fire, called
vinato, made by heaping a square mass of stones, spreading firewood over them, and
stones again over all. When the fire has been lighted and the stones are well heated,
the talonjo are held over the stones at such a distance as to give a very decided heat to
the hand. The leaves sweat when thus held over the fire, and are kept there till they
are quite dry, probably for about ten minutes as a rule, and the long leaf is then
readily split down the middle and the midrib (pipiruku) taken out. The halves of
the leaves are then split into narrow strips ; those near the edge of the leaf called the
talinga (ears) are of no use, so they are torn off" and thrown into the sea. The tips of
the half leaves are then snipped off with the nail and the leaves split, also with the nail,
into narrow strips called njira. In the case of every alternate njira the splitting is
carried right up to the simalona, but the intervening strips are only split up to about
16-18 cm. from the top ; the broader strips at the top being called ruanjira, i.e., two
njira. Each ruanjira is thus about 3 mm. in width, divided about 16-18 cm. from its
attachment into two strips, each about 1 • 5 mm. above, gradually tapering off" to a
breadth of about a millimetre. The strips next to the midrib, called epata, are coarser
than the rest, and are separated to be used for the manufacture of the ruder kinds of
basket. The finer split strips are separated from the simalona ready for use and are
then called kotungandi. The basket is called mani, and,; the process of its manufacture
or plaiting is called viri.
For the purpose of description it will be convenient to divide the process of
manufacture into three stages : — (1) Making the upper rim ; (2) Making the body of
the basket, including the lower rim ; (3) Filling in the base.
(1) The first step is to prepare a piece of leaf called pinggu vapcrangai, which
is used as a framework on which to start the upper rim of the basket. This does
not enter into the completed structure, but is removed when the rim is joined into
a circle. The pinggu should be properly prepared ; but, as it does not actually form
part of the basket, the Eddystone women are now content to use it green, though
it was said that in Ruviana it is still properly dried. The process of beginning a new
basket is called pinggupinggu mani.
In the specimen figured (Fig. 1), the pinggu (A) consists of a double strip of leaf,
split about 15-16 cm. from its base into six strips which form the wefts.* At
the point where the splitting begins the pinggu is folded obliquely, and the wefts
are interlaced as shown in the illustration. Then other wefts (kotungandi} are-
introduced and interwoven with the pinggu to form the upper rim of the basket.
of leaf.
* The term weft is applied to each weaving element, whether consisting of one or more strips
No. 93.] MAN. [1910.
These kotungandi are all in pairs. Two long kotungandi are taken, and their ends
laid one above the other, overlapping for a space of about 17-18 cm., with the
shiny surfaces outside. They thus form one long strip, single at the ends with a
double piece in the centre. It is this double piece which is plaited in with the
pinggu (see Fig. 1). The upper rim, therefore, is woven with double wefts, while
only single wefts are left to form the body of the basket, the ends of both series
forming a fringe on the inside of the completed structure.
At the stage shown in Fig. 1, when six or seven kotungandi have been plaited
in with the pinggu, the latter could be removed without disturbing the plaited
rim, but, as a matter of fact, it is not removed till the plait has been continued
as far as is necessary and the maker is ready to join the ends to make the circle
complete. Taking out the pinggu is called unisi pania, and joining the top of the
basket is varikarovona. Fig. 2 shows the completed rim pulled apart at the place
of junction to illustrate the method of joining, the short ends being on the inside.
(2) The plaiting is then continued all down the body of the basket in various
simple patterns until it becomes necessary to begin the contraction for the curved
base. At this point two or three kotungandi are taken together to form each weft
and the plaiting continued until the base is sufficiently narrowed.
So far there is nothing peculiar about the construction, but at this stage a
characteristic feature is introduced which has led observers to assume that the work
is here finished off and a patch added to form the bottom. The process is somewhat
intricate, but may be elucidated by reference to the illustrations.
First, all the kotungandi are doubled obliquely back towards the inside of the
basket, and all the sinistral wefts* caught down under the next sinistral weft but
.two, working from left to right (see diagram, Fig. 3).f
Next, the basket is turned inside out by being put on to the head and drawn
down over it. The work is then continued and the basket completed inside out.
The wefts which had been caught down on the inside (now the outer side) of
the basket are not used to fill in the bottom, but are cut off later, and the cut
ends can be seen inside the base of the finished structure (Fig. 4). Before they are
cut off they are pulled tight, so as to diminish the size of the hole at the bottom.
The specimen photographed (Fig. 5), shows the basket at the stage at which the
kotungandi have been pulled tight but have not yet been cut off.
(3) The last stage is the. filling in of the hole at the bottom. The rest of the
kotungandi are pulled out (i.e., the dextral wefts in the diagram), and are plaited on
together, four kotungandi being taken together to form each weft, until the greater
part of the hole is filled in. Then the wefts first plaited are lifted up, and those
from the other side interlaced until the opposite side is reached. When the filling
in is complete the whole is quite loose. The wefts are then pulled tight. All the
kotungandi thus meet round the edge of the " patch " which forms the base. The
final process is to finish them off and keep them from slipping by plaiting in the ends.
This plait can be seen encircling the rim on the interior of the basket in Fig. 4.
The filling in of the hole is called popoana^ and the hole itself popopo. The
rim seen round the base of the completed basket on the outside is vegolai, and the
plaiting on the inside piriuta. The " patch " at the bottom of the basket is the
mboto, or navel.
The essential feature of the filling in of the bottom of the basket producing its
* Dextral wefts are those leaning towards the right, sinistral those leaning towards the left.
(0. T. Mason, Report, U.S. Nat. Mug., 1902 [1904], p. 18).
•j- In the diagram the dextral wefts are shaded and the sinistral left plain. The dextral wefts
are shown pulled oat ready for the final stage.
J The name popoana is also applied to the first few rows at the top of the basket.
[ 162 ]
1910.] MAN. [Xos. 93-94.
patch-like appearance is that its level is different from that of the rest of the bottom.
It is clear that this difference in level is produced by the fact that the strands, by means
of which the base is filled in, have to pass over those turned back. The proximate
cause of the special feature of the Solomon basket is the technical fact that half the
strands are not used, but are doubled back out of the way.
When we turn to inquire why half of the strands are turned back, the most
probable catise would seem to be the fineness of the mesh. If a basket is begun from
the top, the filling in of the base will present no special difficulty so long as the strands
are broad, and therefore few in number ; but when they are fine, they form so great a
mass as to become unmanageable, and the makers of the Solomon basket adopted the
device of using only half of them.
There can be little doubt that the presence of the " patch " within the basket is
due to the turning inside out during the process of manufacture. If this did not take
place, and the strands were turned back, the " patch " would be on the outer side of the
basket, and it seems most probable that the turning inside out was designed to transfer
it to the inside.
We have here a good example of the principle that in technology the obvious
explanation from the civilised point of view is not necessarily correct. The basket of
the Solomon islander plays a great part in his life, and the obvious explanation of its
special feature is that it was devised to strengthen what was otherwise the weakest
part. So far from this feature having been due to the need for strength, we have seen
that it is more probably the consequence of the fineness of the materials used in making
the basket. It has followed as the natural result of a technical difficulty arising from
this fineness. It is true that the mode of filling in the basket has actually strengthened
it ; but, according to the above interpretation, this was not the primary aim of the
procedure, though the strength so produced has doubtless promoted survival. The
Solomon basket would not have survived if it had not been strong.
This affords a good illustration of a principle which in its application is not
confined to technology. Because a social or religious institution has a certain effect
it does not follow that it was brought into being to produce that effect, though it
may have been that effect which has allowed it to survive.
W. H. R. RIVERS.
A. HINGSTON QUIGGIN.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE L.
Fig. 1. — Showing the pinggu (A) with a few kotungandi added.
Fig. 2. — Showing the completed rim pulled apart at the place of junction to
illustrate the method of joining when the pinggu has been removed.
Fig. 3. — Exterior diagram to illustrate method of forming lower rim (vegolai).
Fig. 4. — Showing interior of basket.
Fig. 5. — Showing basket immediately before filling in the base.
Fig. 6. — Showing the completed base.
India. Risley.
India and Anthropology: Extract -from a Speech delivered QJ
at Winchester College. By Sir Herbert H. Risley, K.C.I.E., C.S.L, UT
President of the Royal Anthropological Institute.
It is not only official work that I would ask you to consider when you make
up your minds as to your career. Just off the beaten track of your regular duties as a
civilian, but only just off it, and overlapping it at many points, there lies a wide
field of research which offers endless attractions to a classical scholar trained on
modern lines. I mean ethnography, the study of custom, myth, ritual, religion,
social structure, and so on. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that you 'have in
[ 163 ]
Nos. 94-95,] MAN. [1910.
India at the present day spread out before you veluti descrlpta tabella, a version, in
some respects a grotesque version, of the daily life of the Greeks and Romans.
Ancestor worship determining the law of inheritance ; Di majores worshipped at rare
intervals ; minor gods without number, gods of boundaries, villages, rocks, trees, rivers,
and departmental deities who run diseases like cholera and small-pox and have to be
kept in good temper — these are some of the incidents. Some of the classical parallels
are remarkable. Take, for example, the slaying of the suitors in the Odyssey, the
details of which are rather puzzling. When you have seen the courtyard of an Indian
house the whole affair becomes perfectly plain. One understands how the dais was at
the entrance of the hall, so that the suitors were trapped, and why they could not rush
Odysseus, as many a fanatic running amuck with a magazine rifle has been rushed
in India. Then there is the passage in the beginning of the Coloneus where CEdipus
and his daughter violate a sacred grove and pay forfeit. Thai has happened to me
several times in the pursuit of bears. It usually costs a rupee.
There is room for a most interesting study of classical analogies in India. If
one could reincarnate my friend Dr. Jackson, scholar and anthropologist, as an Indian
civilian, one would get the ideal combination of philosophic insight and administrative
capacity. Dr. Jackson as a district officer would have been a great power in the land.
For anthropology, which, after all, is merely a long and rather alarming word for
knowledge of the people (the German word volker-kunde is much better) has a high
political value. Sir Bampfylde Fuller put the point well when he said in the Spectator,
" Nothing wins the regard of an Indian so easily as a knowledge of facts connected
" with his religion, his prejudices, or his habits. We do biit little to secure that
" our officers are equipped with these passports to popular regard." I endorse every
word of that, and I cherish a faint hope that some day the Government of India
will follow the wise example of the Colonial Office and insist on selected candidates
for the Indian services being taught the manners and customs of the people they
have to govern. If it is right to teach the anthropology of West Africa to the
men who go there, much more, as our old enemy Euclid says, is it right to teach
the anthropology of India to the men of the Indian services. H. H. RISLEY.
Africa: Sudan. Thompson.
Some Hadendoa Words hitherto unpublished. Part i. By R. QC
Campbell Thompson, M.A., F.R.G.S. UU
During six months travelling in 1906 in the Eastern Sudan in the district north
and north-west of Port Sudan among the Bisharin and Hadendoa, who live among
these mountains, I made some small collection of words and folk-tales in these dialects.
As many of them are not given in Almkvist's vocabulary and grammar or Reinisch's
Worterbuch der Bedauye Sprache, I have given them, however imperfectly, in the
following list. Arabic is gradually ousting the native tongue of these wild and
interesting tribes, just as Gaelic has been replaced by English in the Highlands.
LIST OF HADENDOA WORDS.
ABBREVIATIONS.
A. = Almkvist, Die Bischari-Sprache. O. = Okela.
Am. = Amarar. R. = Rotana.
B. = Bishari. Rein. = Reinisch.
Burckh. = Burckhardt. S. = Sawakin.
H. = Hadendoa. Schw. = Schweinfurth.
Lin. = Linant de Bellefonds. Seetz. = Seetzen.
Munz. = Munzinger.
I have retained Almkvist's forms in quoting from him ; note that his j is a
y or i; to him also are due the quotations from writers other than Reiuisch.
[ 164 1
1910,] MAN. [No. 95.
ABSCESS : A. gives dnne and asul : I heard girhai (B.), and in camels to-bab (B.).
ABSENT : kuidave, pronounced kuerdab by B.
ABUSE : A. gives a root gehar : I heard agreadi for "he abuses" (B.).
ACACIA: (I**—) : tawwa (B.). A. gives " tawei (?), die Agba, Mimosenart, Mi'\z.
(to?/*?*)." Rein, gives Tawdy, acacia spirocarpa.
ACACIA : tortiles ('/*—) : sagane (S.) : Schw. gives sdngane, acacia spirocarpa.
ACCOUNT (s-»^~»-) : Arabic word adopted, ica-hasab. A. gives ddguej, which I also
heard (i.e., daguai (B.)).
ACCOUNT (;**•) : A. gives sdkana : I heard both ^- and sdkan (B.). Rein, gives
habir.
ACCUSTOMED : Arabic word adopted : " thou art accustomed " awwadamtenia (B.).
AFTER: postpositive oro, e.g., haivil oro, "after this year"; hawil arawe semne
(B.). Cf. A. dri.
AFTERNOON : ed-dhuri tufunda (B.).
AFTERWARDS : arik (B.).
AGAIN: malotma (i.e., composed of malo "two") (B.).
AGE : " how old are you ? " baruk naka haiclaia (B.). (A. gives hdula as pi. of
hdwil, " year "), or 'umruk naka hawlai (B.).
ALL : A. gives kdris, Munz. kess\_a], Krockow cass[_o~] : I heard kasso : " are all of
you living ? " is kassak d'haniban. Rein, says " kars im norden, kass im siiden."
ALMOND : Arabic word loza 8; J adopted (Am.).
ALMS : Arabic word S^ adopted (Am., B.).
ALONE : " I alone," aneb ganaw (Am.) : aneb gonaya (B.).
ALOUD : wnnnet hadida (i.e., " high voice ") (B.).
AMBER : Arabic word adopted under the forms kehraban (Am.), gehraban (B.).
AMULET : Arabic word for "writing" adopted, to-Ktab : malut.
AMUSE : Arabic word adopted, <J^^ (B.).
ANCIENT : A. gives hdda, siano, and seja for " old " : I heard sia(b} and sinai.
ANOTHER : arikaina (B.).
ANT : A. gives hdnkana, hengana, Munz. hanganob [in.], hanganot [f.], Seetz.
\t~\anganu : I heard w'hongana (B., with article), hongtirnu (Am.), pi. y'hungana
(B.).
ANTIQUITIES : Arabic word antikat adopted.
APE : A. gives lalunko, Rein, lalunkue : I heard lalnnkuo(b) (H.).
APPLE : Arabic word adopted, o-tiffah.
ARMY : e-kager (B.).
ASH : nPed-dol (cf. Rein, ne te has) (B.).
AUNT : A. gives dera, dura for both d£c and d5U- : according to my notes I was told
hota for the former (B.), but this is given as " grandmother " by A., Munz.,
Krem., and Seetz., so there is probably a mistake about my information.
AXE : A. gives mdlau, Munz. lo'melau, Krock. \the~\mallo : I heard te-malo from a
Hadendoa soldier, but one Ahmed, a Bishari, had forgotten its name.
BAKE : Seetz gives [e~\barda : I heard for "baked " hardi(b), imperative hartika,2 m. s.
perf. hardibtawa. I was also told for " the bread is baked " o-hardi basukw (S.),
a word given under the form besdkua for " cooked " or " ripe " by A. Another
imperative given me was dumboa (B.) : baruk sur dumbotia, " thou didst cook "
(B.) : cf. Rein, ddmbo, " bread."
BALL : dabbesani (H.). A. gives a word debalu, " round."
BAREFOOT : aminsa'ab (H.), tugiab (H.).
BARK: "the dog barks," hawini o-yas (H. of the town), hclini o-yas (H. of the
hills). A. gives both words, but does not distinguish between them in his
vocabulary.
[ 165 ]
No. 95.] MAN. [1910.
BARREN : A. gives gedudi, "unfruchtbar " /^ec, which I beard for women and animals
(H.) : I was told for " the ground is barren" o-has dimmah (H.).
BASKET : small, ebil (H.) ; the Arabic <*J&&» gafds (H., perhaps from Arabic (jflAi,
which Seetz. gives under the form hafas, " nest ").
BAT : Seetz. gives " fledennaus," obitt : I heard e-bllag (H.).
BEAD : A. gives ala, f. pl.=, Glasperle, ^. — MUNZ. to'ale, PI. te'ale, die Glasperle :
I heard to-alla, pi. te-alla (B.) ; tis'ba (S.) ; (black) sindid (H.) ; (red) berjan
(H.) ; (with a small projection) dabe (H.) ; (Mecca type) o-babanus (B.).
BEANS : Arabic word adopted, ful (H.), so also Seetz. : (haricot, 4**^) o-skam (H.).
BEE : Munz. gives o'ujut (i.e. o'uyut), pi. te'au ; Seetz. [ti~\wau, which latter I
heard (H., S.).
BEETLE : hadaksia(b) (H.) : a large species, not unlike a spider, but does not eat
flies, enkerewil (S.).
BELLOWS : o-kur (H.).
BELT : A. gives hakur : I heard haguer (Beidawi) and e-berim (H., S.)
BEND : A. gives hdlig : I heard baruk fhamga, " thou didst bend " (H.) : Rein, gives
" halig or hanig"
BLANKET : Arabic word adopted, to-Vtania (Am.).
BLEED, TO : imp. /add, pres. fadini, perf. fadia (H.) : Cf. Seetz. teffadeh " Narbe."
BLIND, HALF- : talo-hamase(b) (S.).
BLUE : as an instance of the confusion of colours among the Hadendoas, nay notes
give sotai as equivalent for v3^j\ " blue," while according to A. it = " green,"
Lin. "yellow." Rein, dunkelfdrbig . See also TWO-COLOURED.
BOAT (SMALL, FOR FISHING) : to-embai (H.), to-umbai (H.).
BODY : o-besdrog (H.).
BOIL, TO : imp. hima, pres. himaini, perf. himaia (H.) : " the water boils," aiam
yimaian (S.).
BONE : A. gives wlta for the singular : I heard also miakua with pi. te-mitdt.
BONE AT THE BACK OF THE EARS : tO-akdld (S.).
BOSS OF CAMEL UNDER CHEST BETWEEN FORELEGS : O-JOTT (pi. the Same) (H.) (the
Arabic jt\ ? )•
BOTTLE (gulla) : Arabic word adopted.
Bow, TO : imp. rika, pres. rikini, perf. rikia ; the noun is te-rlka (H.) ; probably
from "Arabic g^j.
BOWL : the Sawakin equivalent for the Arab mu^raf is o-karnsa.
BRAIN : A. gives hum, which I heard with the article w'hum (H.) and o-hom (S.).
BRAND, TO : imp. (baruk)alima, past suri almawa (H.). Cf. the noun to-dldmat,
" a camel-mark " (S.).
BRASS : Arabic word adopted, o-n'has (Okela), as well as o-bdlu.
BREAD : the ordinary word is 6-herdi, o-hardi, A. giving the form Jidda ; bread made
of dough wrapped round stones and toasted on the fire is o-berkuitan.
BREAST : A gives "ataba*[?], Brust, KREM. (adtabay : I heard o-ddbd (B.). Rein.
has a word daba, " vorderseite."
BRIDLE, CAMEL- : o-hdsal.
BROTHER-IN-LAW: A. gives malljo [?] : Munz, o'malljo, der Schwager, te'malito
die Schwagerin : I heard o-malyo. Rein, gives two forms : me'dli, ma'eli.
BRUISE : pres. fadamtenia : pass, baruk fadamab : the noun is fldid (H.).
BUCKET : o-druk, pi. te-drukua (H.) : I heard also the bastard form te-duguera. See
CISTERN. The word shaduf has been adopted under the form e-sarduf (H.),
but it is not known in the hills.
BUCKLE : o-ma'ade (H.).
BUD : " it puts forth buds," buk taiab (H.).
[ 166 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 95.
BUSTARD : I was told that the equivalent of the Arabic ^W was to-ndirhe, the great
bustard being to-malalit ndirot (H.) : Rein, gives malal-i-t endirho as wiistenhun :
tandirhu is given by Seetz. as Kiiker, Henne ; and Krockow gives teantie-reh as
Haushuhn. I certainly was told "chicken," "fowl," for wu-ndirho (S.) and
tu-ndirhe (S.).
BUTCHER : " he is a butcher," baru tagaribv (H.).
CABBAGE : I was told that no word was known.
CAKE : to-legemat (H.), to-sambusa (S.).
CAMEL-BAG : Arabic word adopted, o-hurig.
CAMEL-DRIVER : Arabic word adopted, o-gemalib.
CAMEL-MARK, or BRAND : to-alamat (H.) (Arabic).
CAMEL PACK-SADDLE : o-basur (B. and Odeano district), to-hawiya (S.).
CAMEL, UNWEANED : o-hiwa (H.).
CAMEL, YOUNG : o-s"ior (H.).
CANAL : (&f) : to-mada (madat) (H.).
CANE : (s~*\j£«) : ow-unkole (H.) ; Rein, gives enkulub.
CAP : Arabic word adopted, ti-borneta (H.) : skull-cap ; Arabic word adopted,
ti-tagea (H.).
CAPTAIN : Arabic word adopted, on-rais (H.).
CARAVAN : Arabic word adopted, gillaba (H.).
CARELESS : " he pays no heed " (Arabic ma iftikar) nat kihalil : Cf. Rein, under halal.
CARPENTER : o-hasana (H.).
CARPET : Arabic word adopted, ti-seggada (S.), but I was also told o-angare (H.).
(= angareb " bed "). A. gives embad, which I noted as o-mbard, for the
burs-mat ; it was explained to me as the burs el-kebir (H.).
CASTOR-TREE : ti-mbelas (H.) ; castor-oil, ti-mbelasti-zet (H.).
CAT : ti-bisesa (B.) ; ti-bissa (0.). (A. gives besa ; Rein, bissa, besa) • o-lolis
(Kassala). A. gives a word nolis : Rein, gives both nolis and lolis.
CATARACT IN THE EYE : Cf. te-lelit fis efe.
CAULDRON : to-wa to-win, i.e., " the great pot."
CENTIPEDE : given as lolis by Munz. : I heard te-bilholls for the worm-like black
centipede found on the tops of the mountains.
CERTAIN, A CERTAIN PERSON : Arabic word adopted, filan (S.).
CHICKEN : nearly full grown, i-siwe : see also BUSTARD.
CINNAMON : Arabic word adopted, te-girfa.
CIRCUMCISION : Seetz. gives koaschab for the noun, which approximates to the root
which I heard : the imperative of the verb given to me was kusiba.
CISTERN : this word is given as deruk, pi. derk"a by A. ; Munz. has cfderuk : I
heard o-druk, pi. te-drukua, the word also being used for " bucket."
CIVET : Seetz. gives tisbateh, i.e., the Arabic »>^j : I heard o-Cbad (S.).
CLAP THE HANDS : Cf. te-dumbe tikta (/v/keta).
CLUB : o-son, pi. sona.
COARSE (OP FLOUR, ETC.) : glribd (S.).
COCK : A. gives dlk, the Arabic «^»J : I heard o-jik (S.). This is also given by
Rein.
COFFIN : Arabic word adopted, ti-tdbot (S.).
COLD : adj. makuir ; A. gives the noun mdkuara, which I heard as o-makudra (S.).
COLIC : " I have a bad stomach-ache," to-inai winnet etuin heb.
CUP : o-kos (Arabic ?) (B.).
[The remainder of this article will appear in the December number of MAX.}
[ 167 ]
No. 96.]
MAN.
[1910.
England : Physical Anthropology. Devereux.
On a Skeleton found in a Gravel Pit at Overbury. Worcester- flfi
shire. By Norman Devereux, M.A. UU
It is well known that Bredon Hill, an eminence of strategic importance, was
once a stronghold of the ancient Briton. On the north side is a British camp
overlooking the Severn and Avon valleys. On the south a camp of Danish repute,
commanding a view of the vale as far as the Cotswold hills. It also boasts of pre-
historic stones. The conclusion may therefore be drawn that many a Celt lies buried
in its vicinity.
A short while ago, at Overbury, a village on the south side of the hill, a skele-
ton was found in a quarry of oolitic brash. It was lying at a depth of 5 feet below
the surface, the depth of the surface soil being 3^ feet, and had evidently been
roughly built around with rough stones, as there were remains of an arch over
the head on the one side and over the feet on the other, the centre of the arch —
__ ^ __ _ _ . _ ._ ^ T._ j , I..»LT._ which was wanting
— having probably
subsided. The floor
was roughly paved
with flat quarry
stones. The length
of the enclosure
was 3| feet and
its probable height
1^ feet.
The body was
sitting, or rather
reclining, with the
spine bent forward
facing west, with
legs fully extended
and lying parallel,
the right leg being
higher than the
left in the same
horizontal plane, so
that the pelvis was
tilted to the left.
The skull
rolled out before
the workmen knew
what they were upon, and with it an iron plate which was broken by the fall.
The iron plate had been nailed originally to a wooden backing, one side of it being
covered by a thin layer of decayed wood and having iron nails projecting through
it. The skull also had one or two spots of decayed wood attached to the occiput.
It was sent to Professor MacAlister, to whom we are indebted for the following
interesting description : —
" The skull is probably late British. , It resembles some of the pre-Roman skulls
" we have here " (i.e., in the Cambridge University Anatomical Museum), " but it is
" of a kind which is usually associated with iron weapons, and so cannot be much
" before the Roman invasion.
"It is dolichocephalic (index 70 "5), a male, but of effeminate type, of fairly
k' large capacity, had a long, narrow face, narrow nose (leptorrhine), and was that of
[ 168 ]
FlG. 1. — SITE WHEEE SKELETON WAS FOUND IN GRAVEL PIT AT
OVERBURY, WORCESTERSHIRE.
1910.]
MAN.
[No. 96.
4* a man not more than 35 or 40 years of age. The sutures have prematurely united,
" but the teeth are singularly unworn for one of that age."
Most of the vertebrae, the ribs, clavicles, and scapulas fell to pieces soon after
the discovery was made, but the long bones, sacrum and right os innominatum were
removed fairly whole.
The length of the femur was 15 inches, of the fibula 12| inches. The humerus
10| inches, and the ulna 9j. The left humerus had an anatomical peculiarity. It was
perforate, that is to say, its olecranon and coronoid fossas communicated, which would
allow a greater range of motion at the elbow joint. The right was imperforate.
The left foot lay in its natural position, with toes pointing upwards. The right
was displaced inwards at the first tarsal joint.
On the sole of each foot were about thirty-five iron nails, extending from the
toes to about the middle of the metatarsal bones. The material into which they
were fixed was very much decayed, and of a deep chocolate colour. There were
traces of the same on the dorsa of the feet, and some was firmly adherent to the
under surfaces of the phalanges after their removal.
The nails were about three-quarters of an inch in length, with large corroded
heads, and comparatively
well - preserved spikes,
with a bulge near the
head and bent towards
the point.
A number of iron
nails were found on the
floor round the skeleton,
all much corroded. They
fractured so easily that
removal was difficult
without breakage, even
when the soil around had
been removed with a
pocket knife. Each was
surrounded by a film of
decayed wood.
Their arrangement
was as follows : —
One, 4 inches long, bent in the shape of a hook a few inches behind the sacrum,
with close to its side another, which was twisted.
A row parallel with and to the right of the right thigh. Another parallel with
the leg, and several inches to the right of the above. And a third row parallel with,
and below the sole of the left foot.
All these nails had their points projecting vertically from the ground.
Probably there were some originally on the left side, which had been removed
before the discovery.
This distribution seems to point to some form of wooden casing having existed
inside the stonework, but there was no vestige of decayed wood under the skeleton
or on the under surfaces of the bones. A piece of iron, 2 inches in length, with
an eye at one end, lay flat on the ground to the right of the line of nails opposite
the thigh.
Numerous fragments of charcoal were found amongst the soil, also many small
flakes of the same colour as the substance round the feet into which the nails were
fixed. These pulverised when picked up between the fingers.
( 169 ]
FlO. 2. — SKELETON FOUND IN GBAVEL PIT AT OVEBBUBY,
WORCESTERSHIBE.
Nos. 96-97.] MAN. [1910.
A few feet from the interment, in the uppermost layers of the brash were some
layers of cement, formed in the process of iron smelting, containing a large proportion
of iron. NORMAN DEVEREUX.
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.
Anthropology. British Association.
Anthropology at the British Association, Sheffield Meeting, August 31s/ to
September 7/A, 1910. (Continued from MAN, October, 1910.)
ETHNOGRAPHY AND ETHNOLOGY.
PROFESSOR H. J. FLEURE, M.A., D.Sc., AND T. C. JAMES, M.A. — The People oj
Cardiganshire. — An anthropometrical survey of the Welsh population has been in
progress for some years, and detailed observations of about 1,500 adults have been
taken. The present paper is a first report and deals with the characteristics of
520 adult males whose family history, so far as it is known, shows that they belong
exclusively to Cardiganshire, though that name is not used in the exact sense, but is
held to denote the region bounded by the River Dyfi, the Plynlimmon anticline,
Mynydd Prescely, and the sea.
The foundation of the population is of Mediterranean type, characterised by great
length and size of head, dark brown to black hair, slight prognathism, stature slightly
below the average (1,671 mm.), largely through the absence of very tall individuals,
and a somewhat high ratio of length of leg to stature. All the characteristics are
shown most markedly among the men with black hair, dark fresh skin, and brown eyes,
whose head indices are about 74-6. The length of head seems due mainly to a marked
occipital projection. As one goes from these individuals to others with hair dark
brown instead of black, one finds that the prognathism and the occipital projection
decrease and disappear, the latter change involving a shortening of the head and a
consequent rise of head index. The best types are undoubtedly those from the remoter
valleys in the mountain sides and those from the deep valley of the Teify and its
tributaries around Llandyssul.
There are scattered individuals with dark pigmentation and a head index 80-5.
These usually have the head short, and they are more numerous along the open coast
from Llanrhystyd to New Quay than elsewhere.
The distribution of the fair-haired people is most interesting. There is a sprinkling
of them throughout the county with a cluster of the narrower-headed men (76-8) at
Newcastle Emlyn, some distance up the Teifi. They occur in large numbers along the
open coast from Llanrhystyd to New Quay and extend eastward up the valley of the
Wyre and, further south, across the low hills of Mynydd Bach into the centre of
the county, around Pontrhydfendigaid, Tregaron, and Llanddewi Brefi, and here it is
the individuals with an index of 79-80 who predominate, while their features are more
strongly developed than in the case of the Newcastle Emlyn men. They are
opisthognathous and slightly taller (1,699 mm.) than the Mediterranean people, but
include several individuals about 1,800 mm. in height, the average being brought down
by occasional very short individuals (below 1,600 mm.). The fair type becomes
decidedly rarer inland north of the Wyre, and this is interesting as that valley forms one
of the most marked dialect boundaries in Wales, and the hills above it have a remarkable
series of early earthworks which need further study.
Among the fair people, as among the dark, increase of head index in correlated
with a decrease of head length, which is continuous except for a break due to a
number of exceptionally big men (average stature, 1,724 mm.) with index 78-9. Here
and there, and notably around Tregaron, there are men with index about 78-81, red
hair, florid features, large foreheads, prominent zygomatic arches, and often an insinking
[ 170 j
1910.] MAN. [No. 97.
of the cheek. Our observations point to their being the result of crossing between fair
and dark types, but this opinion is stated with reserve for the present.
A similar account of Merionethshire will be ready, we hope, before long, and
similar work is in progress for Carnarvonshire and Carmarthenshire, while numerous
observations have been collected for other counties and a definite campaign in
Glamorganshire is being organised.
Archceological and Ethnological Researches in Crete. Report of the Committee, —
The Committee reported that Mr. C. H. Hawes had made some progress in analysing
the observations which he made during his visit to Crete in 1909, and that Dr.
Duckworth had reported further on the observations he made in 1903. Both these
reports are reprinted in full in the Report of the British Association, 1910 (Sheffield).
PROFESSOR G. ELLIOT SMITH, M.A., M.D.. F.R.S. — The People of Egypt. — In
the present state of our knowledge it would be idle to discuss the origin of the Pre-
dynastic Egyptian population beyond stating that the people show undoubted affinities
with the so-called " Mediterranean Race " as well as with the Arabs, and that they must
have been settled in the Nile valley for many ages before they constructed the earliest
prehistoric graves known to us, for their peculiarly distinctive culture, their arts, their
mode of writing, and their religion were certainly evolved in Egypt.
But even before the end of the Predynastic period a slight change in the physical
traits of the population can be detected, although it is not until more than four centuries
later, i.e., until the time of the 3rd Dynasty, that the modification of the physical type
becomes sufficiently pronounced to afford unmistakable evidence of its significance. For
then the three Nile territories under consideration had each its own distinctive people :
Lower Nubia, a population essentially identical with the Predynastic Egyptian, but
slightly tinctured with negro ; Lower Egypt, the descendants of the Predynastic
Egyptians, profoundly modified by admixture with alien white immigrants, who entered
the Nile valley via the Delta ; and Upper Egypt, protected by its geographical position
from the direct effect of either of these foreign influences, was being subjected to the
indirect influence of both by the intermingling of its people with those of Nubia and
Northern Egypt.
In the time of the Middle Kingdom this double racial influence became much more
pronounced in the Thebaid, and the effect of the white immigration became almost as
pronounced there as it had been in Lower Egypt in the times of the Pyramid builders of
the Old Kingdom. The Nubian element also became more significant, the influx con-
sisting at various times of slaves, mercenaries, and perhaps also invaders, not to mention
the slow but steady percolation into Egypt of a negroid element resulting from the
secular intermingling of neighbouring peoples. Thus began that graduation of racial
characters in the Nile valley, ranging from the Levantine white population of Alexandria
to the -negro of the Soudan, which has persisted until the present day, and is displayed
even in the measurements of 30,000 modern Egyptian men which are now being
examined by Mr. J. I. Craig.
It is not yet possible to express a positive opinion as to the source of the white
immigration into the Delta, which first reached significant proportions in the times of
the 3rd and 4th Dynasties, but from evidence which I have recently collected it seems
probable that the bulk of it came from the Levant. It is most likely, however, that
there was a steady influx into the Delta of people coming both from east and west, and
that their percolation into Egypt was so gradual as not to disturb violently the even
flow of the evolution of the distinctive Egyptian civilisation. Nevertheless, it is
perhaps not without significance, especially when we take into account the simple-
minded, unprogressive, and extremely conservative character of the real Egyptian, to
note that none of the greatest monuments were constructed nor the most noteworthy
No. 97.] MAN. [1910.
advances made in the arts of the Egyptian civilisation except on the initiative of an
aristocracy in the composition of which there was a considerable infusion of non-
Egyptian blood. From the times of the Pyramid builders until the present day Egypt's
rulers have probably never been of undiluted Egyptian origin.
E. TORDAY. — The BuShongo of the Congo Free State.
MERVYN W. H. BEECH, M.A.— The Suk of East Africa.— The Suk, or Pokwut,
who live north of Lake Baringo, are of mixed origin, as proved by language, appearance,
and anthropometry. They are akin to the Nandi, but there is a large aboriginal
element. They were originally agriculturists, and their tribes are subdivided into
totemic and exogamous clans. Their social system resembles that of the Nandi.
They have no chiefs, only advisers — i.e., influential men with no real power. Cattle
are their chief interest and food. There are many beliefs and customs connected with
cattle. Great precaution is taken lest women touch men's food. Dress, weapons and
ornaments, and dances differ entirely from those of the Nandi, but resemble those of the
Turkana. The agriculturists have an elaborate system of land tenure and interesting
customs connected with cultivation, industries, and hunting. Religion is vague. Com-
parison of customs connected with crime shows the hill tribes to be the hardier people.
The Suk language shows a large percentage of Nandi, a little Turkana, and a con-
siderable amount of what is probably aboriginal. The absence of an article is the
most noteworthy feature.
G. W. GRABHAM, M.A. — Native Pottery Methods in the Anglo- Egyptian Sudan. —
With the exception of a stretch of country along the Nile between Khandak and Kerna,
in Dongola Province, the use of the wheel is unknown in the Sudan. Three distinct
methods of shaping wares by hand are in use, and may be detailed as follows : —
1. The manufacture of bormas, godus, &c., by men, often of the Shaigia tribe of
Dongola. The mud is mixed with a large proportion of dung to prevent cracking
on drying. The mouth and upper part of the jar are first formed and placed to dry
in a special way. When the mouth is sufficiently hard to stand the weight of the
vessel, the lower part is finished by drawing out the surplus mud left for the purpose.
The wares are baked in a flask-shaped kiln, often hollowed out of the ground.
2. The manufacture of bormas and basins by women. The clay used is fairly pure,
but a small amount of chopped grass is mixed in during the formation of the wares.
These are shaped by pressing the clay into a hollow in the ground, and by this means
an almost spherical vessel is produced, with a hole only large enough to admit the
arm of the worker. The neck is finished off by hand, and the wares are built up
into a low pile with dung, and baked by setting fire to the heap.
3. The manufacture of gobanas. This is carried on in Omdurman, but the home
of the industry is probably farther east. Two cup-shaped basins are formed, and,
with the aid of a hole cut in one, the two are joined together. A spout and handle
are added before the vessel is scraped, polished and ornamented. The baking is done
by building the wares into a heap with dung.
These gobanas, or coffee-pots, are beautifully symmetrical and remarkable for the
thinness of the ware. [./. Cairo Scientific Society.~\
W. H. R. RIVERS, M.A., M.D. — Kava-drinking in Melanesia. — It is usually
supposed that the practice of drinking the infusion of the root of Piper methysticum
in Melanesia has been introduced from Polynesia, but there are many facts in favour
of its being an indigenous Melanesian custom, or, if introduced, of far greater antiquity
than other features of Melanesian culture which can be ascribed to Polynesian influence.
In the Southern New Hebrides the infusion is called Kava, and, so far as can be
judged from published accounts, the method of preparing it resembles that practised
in Polynesia. Here the practice may have been modified by Polynesian influence. In
[ 172 ]
1910.] MAN. [No, 97.
the Northern New Hebrides, the Banks and Torres Islands, .on the other hand, there
are indigenous names ; the whole ceremonial of making and drinking the infusion
differs fundamentally from that of Polynesia, and the use of the substance is closely
connected with other social institutions. In many cases the use of kova has a clearly
religious character.
The occurrence of kava-drink'mg in the Fly River region of New Guinea suggests
that the distribution of the custom may at one time have been very wide, and that
in the greater part of New Guinea and in Northern Melanesia it has been replaced
by betel. So far as it is used as a stimulant and narcotic, it is easy to understand
how substances always ready to hand for immediate use, such as the ingredients of the
betel mixture, should have displaced one requiring the special and prolonged preparation
which is necessary in the case of kava. A good example of such displacement is to
be found in the Polynesian island of Tikopia, where betel, almost certainly a com-
paratively recent introduction, has in everyday life entirely displaced kava, which is
only used in the form of libations poured out at the graves of the dead, and during
various religious ceremonies.
In the Northern New Hebrides and in the Torres Islands the root is scraped, and
it seems probable that the ancient practice of the inland tribes of Fiji was to pound it.
It is likely that the original Melanesian practice was scraping or pounding, and that
the custom of chewing the root arose in Polynesia.
A. K. NEW MAX. — A Search for the Fatherland of the Polynesians.
Ethnographic Survey of Canada. Report of the Committee. — As the result of
representations made by the Committee, it was decided by the Dominion Government
to establish a Department of Ethnology under the Geological Survey.
Two sums for the year were added to the Supplementary Estimates of the House
of Commons — viz., one of 420/. sterling, and the other of 400/. sterling, the former to
pay the salary of an Ethnologist, the latter for the working of the Department. The
Geological Department has had already packed away 3,000/. sterling worth of most
valuable ethnological material chiefly from British Columbia.
ALICE C. FLETCHER. — A Sidelight on Exogamy. — Some of the theories as to
the origin of this widespread custom were reviewed and objections stated. No one
explanation of exogamy is possible at the present stage of our knowledge of the
many and various peoples who practise it. Evidences as to the reason for the
practice of this custom among the Omaha tribe and of five cognate tribes have been
gathered during more than twenty years of study among them. The organisation of
these tribes is based upon cosmic ideas, religious in character, and their influence can
be traced in the arrangement of the kinship groups and in the custom pertaining to
marriage, which explain why these people practice exogamy.
E. S. HARTLAND. — On Mourning Dress. — The question of mourning dress was
discussed by Professor Frazer in the fifteenth volume of the Journal of the Anthropo-
logical Institute, in which he raised several questions that have not yet been definitely
settled. It is clear, as he says, that mourning garb was intended to be something
quite distinctive from, if not the reverse of, ordinary costume, but its exact purpose
seems still to be under discussion. It has been suggested that it was meant as a
disguise, in order to deceive the ghost of the dead. All kinds of spirits are easily
deceived, and while protection is required from the spirits of the dead, from various
examples it is by no means so clear that that protection took the form of disguise.
Weapons and amulets are certainly employed. Other suggestions are that mourning
garb and customs were intended as a return to more primitive conditions, as a means
of expressing union with the dead. The mourner was supposed to partake, to some
extent, of the condition of the dead, especially during the arduous journey of the
[ 173 ]
No. 97.] MAN. [1910.
ghost to its ultimate home. On the whole, some weight must be given to these
suggestions, but the real intention seems more likely to have been an expression of
sorrow and abasement so as to deprecate the malice of a spirit which was naturally
annoyed at finding itself disembodied.
PSYCHOLOGY.
JOINT MEETING WITH SECTION L (EDUCATION) ON INTELLIGENCE TESTS IN
CHILDREN.
OTTO LIPMANN, D.PHIL. — On Testing Intelligence in Children. — In dealing with
the method, not the results, of investigations of intelligence in children reference was
made principally to that followed by Binet and Simon and by Bobertag in investigations,
of which the results are not yet published. Starting with a definition of intelligence
based on the concepts of u leading idea " and of " inhibition '' it was shown that an
intelligence test should be not merely a memory test. In employing intelligence tests
certain limitations should be observed. Only children subject to like conditions should
be compared, while the chief result of the investigation will be to draw a boundary
line between normal and subnormal pathological cases.
Binet and Simon give a number of tests by which all the mental functions
belonging to the intelligence may be investigated. They show for each age the tests
which a " normal " child might be expected to accomplish. The preliminary question,
what percentage of the children of the same age are normal, is answered by nearly
the same number, whether the method of Galton, McDougall (Mental Measurements
Committee), or that followed in several other investigations, is employed.
If the supernormal individuals who accomplish the test are added, the result is
nearly always the same — a percentage of 77.
WILLIAM BROWN, M. A. — The Measurement of Intelligence in School Children. —
Since the mind, like the body, is variable, the method most applicable to the
problem will be the statistical method of correlation. Taking a sufficient number of
cases we may proceed to determine the magnitude of the tendency to concomitant
variation displayed by the various subsidiary mental capacities distinguished by
ordinary thought and measured by ordinary standards. To carry out this plan
with any attempt at systematic completeness would involve the evaluation of the
" correlation ratio " (p) as well as the " correlation coefficient " (r) for each pair of
capacities under consideration, in order to determine the form as well as the degree
of the correlation. A further indispensable part of the mathematical technique would
be to apply the method of " multiple correlation," whereby, on a certain assumption
(the assumption of linear regression), the magnitude of the tendency to concomitant
variation possessed by any two of the capacities under consideration, independently
of the tendencies of each to vary concomitantly with the other capacities, may be
determined.
The writer has applied this method to the investigation of the interrelations of
part-capacities in elementary mathematical reasoning in eighty-three boys. The
results show a certain general tendency to agreement among themselves, though
indicating a much more complicated scheme of interrelation than that inferred — on
somewhat inadequate data — by the champions of a " central factor." The correlations
are also low.
Much of the correlation hitherto appealed to as evidence of the existence of
one single " central 'factor " is undoubtedly " spurious " in nature, i.e., arising from
irrelevant factors, such as the influence of strange apparatus on the children, per-
sonality suggestion, differences in the degree of discipline to which the various
members of the groups examined had been accustomed, &c. The mathematical
[ 174 ]
1910.] MAN. [No, 97.
formulas, again, which have been employed to demonstrate this central factor from
the crude correlation results, are much too abstract, involve too many improbable
presuppositions, to be of any practical applicability. The method of "multiple
correlation" is the only sound and rational one for the investigation of the law of
relation of the various correlation coefficients one to another.
CYRIL BURT, M.A. — Experimental Tests of General Intelligence. — A series of
experiments was carried out at Oxford two years ago, mainly upon thirty elementary
school children, 12^ to 13^ years of age. The chief object was to determine the relative
value, as tests of general intelligence, of a dozen brief tasks, involving mental processes
at various levels, in various aspects, and of various degrees of complexity.
By general intelligence was understood innate, unspecialised mental efficiency, as
distinguished both from acquired knowledge, interests, and dexterities, and from specific
endowment, aptitude, or talent. To form tests of general intelligence, the tasks were
required, not necessarily to prove a means of measuring its amount in any individual
child, but merely, with sample groups of children, readily and rapidly to yield results
which should be reliable in themselves, and correspond to a constant and definite degree
with the results of prolonged and careful observations of the teacher. The degree of
correspondence was calculated by the method of correlation, and the coefficients obtained
were taken as indicating the relative value of the tests.
Views attributing to sensory discrimination, whether general or specific, an intimate
functional correspondence with general intelligence were not confirmed. Auditory and
visual tests, indeed, showed positive, though not considerable, correlations with intelli-
gence ; but these seem rather to be referred to the dependence in the course of evolution
of the progress of intelligence upon the perception of space and upon the perception
of spoken words, and of these respectively upon delicacy of eye and ear. Tests of
discrimination of touches and of weights showed approximately no correlations with
intelligence whatever. Simple motor tests, such as tapping and dealing, showed
somewhat higher correlations than the sensory tests.
The remaining six dealt either with processes of a higher mental level — such as
memory, habituation, scope, and maintenance of attention — or with more complex
mental processes, involving co-ordination of both sensory and motor activities, such
as the " alphabet " and " dotting " tests devised by Mr. McDougall. Each of these six
yielded correlations of over 0 • 50, the coefficients in the case of the last two being
particularly high. An amalgamation of the results of the six gave correlations with
intelligence of 0 * 85 to 0' 91 ; and these figures are distinctly higher than those for the
estimates of one teacher with another's, or with the results of examinations.
Further experiments have since been made in Liverpool at a mixed secondary
school and at a secondary school for girls. The main object of these was to investigate
three problems suggested by the limitations of the foregoing investigation, viz., how far
such tests are affected by difference in sex, how far they can be undertaken with success
by teachers untrained in a psychological laboratory, and how far they can be carried out
as mass-experiments with numbers of children simultaneously instead of singly upon
individuals. Tests have also been added to represent processes of the highest mental
level — abstraction, judgment, inference, perception of relations — a level untouched by
the previous research. The results indicate that, as compared with simple sensory or
motor tests, tasks involving higher and more complex processes are vitiated to a
far less extent by difference of sex in the subjects, absence of special training in
the experimenter, and the peculiar conditions of experiments upon children in class.
They also appear to possess the most intimate relations to intelligence. Tests,
therefore, of this type seem the more practicable for educational investigations and
sociological surveys upon a scale sufficiently extensive for statistical treatment of
the results.
l75
Nos. 97-98.] MAN. [1910.
J. GRAY, B.Sc. — Perseveration as a Test of the Quality of Intelligence and
Apparatus for its Measurement. — Perseveration depends on an elemental property of
the brain which determines the persistence of mental impressions or the rapidity with
which one impression can follow another. It may be measured in various ways, one of
the best being by Wiersma's colour disc. On this disc are two colours, which can
be seen separately when the disc is rotating slowly, but as the speed of the disc is
gradually increased, a point is reached when the two colours fuse into one uniform
tint. This critical speed is a measure of the perseveration of the subject being tested:
Perseveration indicates the quality of the intelligence rather than its amount ;
persons with high perseveration may be described as slow-intelligent, and those with
low perseveration as quick-intelligent. There is a considerable range of perseveration
among normal persons, but when it passes above or below certain limits it is usually
associated with insanity of different kinds. Acute maniacs have abnormally low and
melancholies abnormally high perseveration.
CHARLES S. MYERS, M.A., M.D. — The Pitfalls of " Mental Tests." — A protest
is here entered against the collection of vast quantities of psychological data, especially
by an army of untrained observers.
Within any given community the individual variation, in physical, and no doubt
also in mental, characters are so wide that the average of any measurement must differ
very widely from the average of that measurement in another community, for the
difference between the averages to be with certainty significant. Thus the statis-
tical treatment of racial mental characters does not discover, so much as measure,
racial differences. Accuracy is therefore essential.
The statistician who aims at collecting psychological data in large numbers is
apt to neglect the various influences, which, in different degrees, affect different subjects
in the tests, and to pour all data from whatever source into the statistical mill, which,
in consequence, expresses a psychologically meaningless result. This is especially apt
to occur in the case of correlations, in the calculation of which different observers so
frequently disagree.
The main cause lies in the neglect of the introspective element. The only way
to ascertain what is being tested by psychological experiment is to have recourse
to the subject's experience. To avoid spurious measurements and correlations too
much care cannot be taken to find out exactly what factors the experiment involves ;
and this can only be done by individual introspection, which is impossible in the blind
wholesale collection of data by untrained observers.
Mass experiments, however, have their use. In everyday life we do not care how
an individual works, how he knows ; we want to know how much he can work, how
much he knows. For this purpose we require standards of productiveness, standards
of knowledge, which will differentiate, for example, the feeble from the normal, and
will mark the progress of the former. But let us clearly recognise that these are
not psychological tests. For from the psychological aspect the results are a mere blur.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTE.
THE first Universal Races Congress, which will meet in London in June 1911,
will be of considerable interest to anthropologists. It is expected that most
of the leading races in the world will be represented. The papers to be discussed
at the Congress will be published before the meeting in a separate volume.
All information about the Congress may be obtained from the secretary,
G. Spiller, 63, South Hill Park, Hampstead.
Printed by EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE. LTD., His Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, E.C.
1
r
PLATE M.
MAX, 1910.
Fir, 3.
FIG. 4.
HAUSA HOUSES.
1910.] MAN. [No. 99.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Africa, West. With Plate M. Tremearne.
Hausa Houses. By Captain A. J. N. Tremearne, B.A., D.Anth., AQ
F.R.G.S. UU
In some parts of the Hausa country the mosques and the houses of the chiefs
are very fine buildings, the materials available considered. The larger dwellings are
made of mud, the roofs being either flat (soron bent*) of the same material, or square
and sloping, or conical (da(i)ki\ in which cases they are of grass. The whole house
is called the gidda, the separate huts da(f)ki or zaure, and the wall, fence or stockade
bango, damfammi or kaffi, the last word giving its name to many towns.
The first step is to clear the ground (shema}, the next to mark it out. This may
be done with sticks, or in the case of a round house with string, and then the plan
is drawn on the ground by the chief builder (Sa(r)rikin Ginni), who drags one foot
along the marks so that they become wider and more distinct, hoes or shovels being
afterwards used to deepen the depressions thus made.
The next step in the building of a mud house is the preparation of the material.
The earth (ka(s)sa') is mixed with water (rua) trodden and kneaded, and left for a
day or two. It may then be made into sun-dried bricks (tuboH), or be simply moulded
into rough balls about the size
of a bowl, and is brought from
the pit to the builders by men
on pieces of wood, or anything.
These " bowls " are then laid in
a line in the excavation ; another
line or two is placed on top, and
loose mud is then pressed into
the crevices between the lumps
and squared off, leaving the sides
quite straight. Some walls will
require several rows of these
bowls or bricks, but one row is
enough for those of the ordiuary
house, the process being repeated _,
as often as is necessary to bring
the walls to the required height. The building must be done in the dry season to be
any good, else the mud will be too damp to bind properly, nnd for a similar reason the
walls are usually raised but a foot or two each day. Should the work have to take
place during the " rains," however, plaited-grass protections are laid along the top of
the walls to keep off the water. I have never seen any scaffolding erected (note ladder
in Fig. 6), as the walls grow the builders climb up and squat on them if too high to be
reached by men standing on the ground or on boxes or tree-stumps ; the higher the
walls the thicker they are usually, so this is easy. Fig. 5| (the ruins of the Basle
Mission at Kumasi, 1900) shows how straight the walls can be built ; Fig. 2 shows
two completed ordinary mud huts — in this case built for my servants at Jemaan Daroro ;
while in Fig. 4J can be seen flat-roofed houses built wholly of mud, with tin or bark
spouting to carry off the rain water from the roofs. Only the mosques (masaJachi)
* The singular is given in all cases.
f The buildings in Fig. 5 were not put up by Hausus, but the work is very similar, so they do
to illustrate this article.
J Figs. 3 and 4 are reproduced with the kind permission of Colonel Elliot and the Secretary of
the Royal Geographical Society (see Journal for November, 1904).
[ 177 ]
No. 99.] MAN. [1910.
and the largest houses (tafafara) are square amongst the Hausa (in all probability
clue to Filani influence), but tlie Yoruba nearly always use this form.
With a grass house, after the forked poles (maigoffci), bamboos (gora), or
palm-ribs (gongold), and grass (chiawa) have been collected, the rate of erection is
simply a question of how quickly the builders can work. A small hut, with walls
from four to five feet high (taffe), can be put up in a couple of hours, or even less,
and the season makes no difference — though it is, of course, preferable to have the
floor quite dry. After the ground has been cleared and marked out as before, holes,
some one to two feet deep, are dug at intervals of a yard or so around the circum-
ference, and forked posts (dirka) of the required height are placed in them, arranged
so that the forks will be on about the same level all the way round. A number of
long supple withes (especially if the house be circular) and stouter poles are then
laid in the forks horizontally, in order to connect the uprights, and are bound to
them with tie-tie (ramma), or bark or native string (igid), so as to make the whole as
rigid as possible (see foreground of Fig. 1). Other cross-pieces are then tied in parallel
rows below these right down to the ground, and long grass (see left-hand side of Fig. 2)
may now be placed upright against, and outside of, these cross-pieces, being secured
by other cross-pieces outside of it again. Lastly, a trench is made around and a
foot or so away from the house, the earth being thrown on to the lowest part of
the grass so as to make the house proof against rain streams, in much the same way
as we protect our tents. Sometimes large grass mats (zana) are used instead of
the loose grass, and in this case the lower cross-pieces may be dispensed with.
Fences (damfammi) are made in the same way. The roofs are usually put on
before the grass is arranged on the walls, but it is easier to finish the description of
this part of the subject before going on, so the proper order has not been strictly
adhered to.
When building a large grass house, or a mud house with a verandah, the frame-
work of the roof would have to be erected at about the same time as the forked posts
are set up, for all would be connected. With a square house two or more (with a
round house one) stout forked posts (maiffoffa), high enough to give the proper
pitch to the roof, are erected in the centre line and connected by a long cross-piece
(mafiadt) lying on, and bound to, the forks, as before. These and the cross-piece
are then connected with the shorter uprights (dirka) by other slanting poles (tsayko)
— generally bamboos (gora), or palm-ribs (gongola) in the large houses, smaller
palm-stalks (tukurua), or perhaps even guinea corn stalks (kara) in the very small
ones — which are again connected with each other by more cross-pieces (tanka), the
whole, which now has the appearance of lattice-work, being securely bound. In the
case of a high house these tanka. are first tied on near the bottom, the builders
gradually working upwards and using each line like a rung in a ladder until they
reach the top, when the projecting pieces are cut off or bent over (see Fig. 6).
The longer the grass the easier is the thatching, and the better it will be ; it is
usually about three to four feet long when ready for use. While the builders have
been at work other men have joined the grass stalks together with igia, making a
kind of fringe (yanta), which is rolled up like stair carpets and stacked ready to
hand. On the completion of the framework, the rolls are passed up to the men
above, who unroll the grass (bebeyd) over the tanka, and either tie it (now known
as bunu) or pin it with short sticks (kinni). This also is commenced at the bottom —
as with our slate or tin roofs — and over the ridge is placed a wide plaited layer
like that described as being used on the walls when building in wet weather. The
framework of the roofs of small houses is usually put together on the ground (perhaps
even thatched here) and is then lifted bodily on to the mud walls or uprights by
half-a-dozen men. One can be seen in the course of construction in the right-hand
[ 178 ]
1910.]
MAN.
[No. 99.
side of Fig. 2. It does not seem to be anything like so large as the two completed
ones in position to the left, but — as will be seen by the mud walls on each side —
the huts are all of much the same size. The complete conical roof is known as
the jinka.
In the case of a grass house the doorway (kofa") is simply the space left uncovered
between two of the uprights, but in a mud building a proper lintel (almanani) is
made by placing a stick or two across the top of the opening, long enough to rest
securely upon the wall on each side, mud being placed on top of this, and building
going on as before ; windows are made in the same way.
The doorway is closed with a roughly made wooden or grass door (keanri, but
generally called kofa) kept in place by hinges or a cross pole (madogara), or with
a mat (tufania, askunin^), a cloth (zenne), or a string blind (tsetod). The floor will
be stamped and beaten hard, when it is known as debbi, and may be blackened
with dorowa solution (makubba). The walls may be whitewashed with alii, or
fa(r)rin ka(s)sa, reddened with jan ka(s)sa, or blackened like the floor.
To the house proper many additions may be made. Outside hut-like structures
(rumbu\ raised on stones to keep out white ants and perhaps two-storied, are built
for grain, while smaller ones (rafonia) are placed inside the house. There is also
a lodge (zaure) opening on to the street, where attendants generally live and are
at hand to announce a visitor ;
the zaure may also act as a -BRfMttiujL^/// / *
stable. Beehives are usually
at a distance, and may be
made of long strips of bark
cut in the form of a cylinder
(ainya), or of gourds or pots
(butumi). A small porch or
verandah (shiria) may be built
out over the door of the
zaure, or of any of the huts.
Each wife has her separate
hut, the husband having a
larger one nearer the zaure,
and the whole will be sur-
rounded by a wall or fence, FlG' 6*
as is seen in Fig. 3. In markets (kasua) or at halting places (zungo) little grass
shelters (bukd) are run up. Natives are particularly reckless folk, they will pull
out the grass at night to make a fire, though knowing full well that they may
want the shelter badly a week hence.
Europeans have, of course, tried to improve the local conditions and methods,
and it is usual to have an extra outside roof joining two or three complete huts.
Fig. 1 shows the three huts of my house at Jemasin Daroro with a small verandah
(connecting each hut), the latter is being removed as it had fallen in. In this house
there was at first only a single roof, but in Fig. 6 can be seen the same three
huts, each with its own roof, and a large roof being erected over all ; the verandah,
therefore, will have one roof, the rooms two. Fig. 1 shows the dirka for this new roof.
The Hausas are very fond of riddles and proverbs, and it is only natural that
many should refer to their domestic conditions. The best-known riddles are : " My
" mare is in foal, but I do not ride her; I ride the foetus" — Answer, a hut with
a bed. " The owner is in his house, but his beard is outside " — Fire and smoke. Of
proverbs the following are examples : " Does the rack (of string fastened to the roof)
*' remain if the roof is blown away ? " — This comes to mean, will a good woman
[ 179 ]
Nos. 99-100.] MAN. [1910.
refuse to accompany her husband should he go to another town to live ? " The one
" who lives in the house knows where the roof leaks," z'.e., everyone knows his own
business best, or the wearer knows where the shoe pinches. " Though a naked man
" may be ignored on the feast day, he will be sought after when building is going on.'1
Compare Kipling's " Thin red line of heroes when the drums begin to roll."
" The only prevention against fire is to have two houses." Grass is, of course, easily
inflammable, but the cooking is usually done inside. " The small pot (the wife)
*' goes to and fro, but the big pot (the husband) remains at home," i.e., does no work.
Yet we think that we can teach them the dignity of labour !
A. J. N. TREMEARNE.
Africa : Sudan. Thompson.
Some Hadendoa Words hitherto unpublished. Part ii. By R. I fill
Campbell Thompson, M.A., F.R.G.S. IIIU
DANCE : I was given the phrase " rise, dance " (in fantasia) tama yakanat legend.
DEEP : " the well is deep," tu-re ni'haton't (B.).
DEVIL : Arabic word adopted, e-gann (B.), (see also story No. 2, note 5) : DUST-
DEVIL, e-logdni.
DROP OF WATER, ETC. : debbe/iuna (B.).
EAST : e-mimha (S.) ; o-mhon (B.), which A. gives as mahdn, im Osten.
EAT, TO : see story No. 2, note 10.
ELBOW : A. gives gulhe for Unterarm : I heard o-gulhin for " elbow," which, I see,
Rein, gives as pi. form.
EYE-LASHES, EYE-BROWS : I heard o samVhan for both (S.) : A. gives simbehane
Augenwimper, Munz. shimbehdne Angenbrauen, Lin. ochombanni, sourcils, Rein.
simbehdni for both.
FEATHER, BIRD'S : ti-tumba ti-kelai (Okela).
FINE (OF FLOUR) : A. gives naku : I heard the causative participial form s'ndk^a (S.).
FINISH : Arabic word adopted, imperative kamdla (B.).
FLEE : imper. lebaba, 2 in. s. perf. tilbdba (B.).
FLUTE : t-ambilhoi (O.). Given by Rein, as trompete.
FOOT FROM ANKLE TO BASE OF TOES ; o-sawa (pi. the same) (S.).
FOREARM : o-sulai (S.).
Fox: A. has " baso* [?], m. SALT, ba-sho, fox; LIN. (Text s. 131 : ' un petit renard
nomine backs ') ; Seetz. baaschob, Fuchs, Schakal " : I heard i-bas6(b) (H.) and
o-timbil (B.).
Go : I was told that saka was used to dogs, and giga to men (B.).
GREETING : The greeting is dabahva, with answer ddban (B.). N'harak said and
leltak saida are not used.
GROUSE, PALLAS SAND- : wa-anno1 (Okela).
GUN : The ordinary word bundukiyya I heard under the form minduk (H.), but Seetz.
gives bundukijje.
HAIL : A. gives mi, Seetz \_e~\meh ; Munz. <?m&«[?] : I heard ebi (B.).
HAND : I heard te-dumbe for both the palm of the hand and the sole of the foot : see
A. sub voce ddmba. Rein, gives fuss-, schuhsole.
HANDLE OF A KNIFE : ddir (Am.).
HAPPY (•***-) : erkab (B.)5
HARLOT : te-rautune, pi. amakta (S.). I will not vouch for the accuracy of either of
these words ; the former appears to be connected with rau, a friend, and the
latter appears to be connected with the word amag, " bad."
HEEL : te-gisat (S.).
[ 180 ]
1910,] MAN. [No. 100.
HILT OF A SWORD : o-gaim (O.) : the sword-hilt guard is e»ibardi bersim (0.), and the
protecting brass at the end of the hilt (?) is cstabanai (O.).
INK : Arabic word adopted, daicaya (Am.).
IKON : A. gives endi, ende, Munz. to'endi, Seetz. \_to~\nda : I heard to-unde ; " it is
made of iron " is unditi jamub (B.).
KETTLE : Arabic word adopted, barrat (Am.).
KIDXEY : A. gives tunkula, Seetz. tetunkold, Hiifte [?], Munz. te'onkola : I heard
tonguiUa and tunkuila (S.).
KILL, TO : see story No. 3, note 9.
KNEE-CAP : o-kafal (H.).
KXIFE : te-manen (pi. manna) (S.) : te-manun (H.).
LARL> (.«v«rte-FAT.) : A. gives the forms la\ o'/«, [o]/«, \_oli\-lah old, ola, from various
authorities : I heard o-old.
LEAVES : the white leaves of the thorn in summer (?), o-tobuk (H.).
LEATHER, or STRAP (?) : iva'ade (0.).
LEFT-HAND, NORTH : tarhaguad (B.).
LIE, TO : if a man lies, the hearer says Alai iinifirhok= Allah isawwud wujhak =
"May God blacken thy face."
LIGHT, TO : se^'han, 1 s. pret. ane esd'han.
LIVER : A. gives sa, Munz. to*se, Seetz. toszeh : I heard to-si.
MATTER : " it does not matter," bawwaica (negative form), (B.).
MONKEY : small monkey with long arms, o-habalai (S.) : Rein, abalay.
MOSQUITO : o-taweg (pi. the same) (H.) ; Rein, has taicigay, pi. tawig : in the mountain-
speech o-fclus (pi. the same).
MOTH : te-fdlan (S.).
MUSCLE AT SIDE OF NECK : e-'sambukia (S.).
NAVEL : A. has tefa : I heard o-haf (S.).
NECESSARY : gudye (B.).
NEWS: A. gives sdkana, which I also heard: sakanab tibariya, "have you news?"
If the answer is negative, the man says el-hamdu lillah.
" No, NO " (negation repeated rapidly) : bak kik (S.).
NOON : o-««6o(6)(?) (S.). The root neba1 means " to be hot."
NORTH : Arabic word adopted, o-safil (S.) : A. gives sqfit, which may perhaps be
a misprint for this word(?) : "the left hand," tarhdguad is also used (B.).
Now : hadeld (Am.) : 6nta (B.).
ONLY : see story !No. 1, note 31.
ORION : the three stars of the " belt " of this constellation are known as e-mhai, " the
three" (S.).
OTHER : A. has wdri, iceri, iver " anders, auf andere Weise " : I heard, wer kiha (B.)
and wena kitta, "there is none else," and wet kabar, "I have none other" (H.).
PENIS : A., Munz., Burckh., Seetz., heard mid: I was told o-mit (S.).
PEPPER : Arabic word adopted, filfil.
PLASTER : I was told for the Arabic u~-«- (the exact equivalent in English is doubtful
here) the words denger (B.) and gir.
PLEIADES : te-tetita (R. and S.).
POOL : o-hdgir (S.).
POTATOES : Arabic word adopted, batata.
RADISH : Arabic word adopted, o-figil (H.).
RAVEN : A. gives k"ik"ei, which Munz. gives as "eagle" and Seetz. as "raven": I
heard o-kika* (S.) for raven.
RAW : Seetz. gives aszu as " unreif," Munz. assu " nngegerbt " : I heard asl as the
equivalent of the Arabic ^ "raw" (S.).
[ 181 ]
No. 100.] MAN. [1910.
READY: I heard the Arabic word used in the phrase "is the bread ready?" v-is
hadcrra (B.). Cf. Rein, hadira.
RIB : A. gives bije (i.e., biyc) : I heard e-bai (S.) for the plural, agreeing more nearly
with MUM/. oV>ci(i) and Seetz. (e)beij.
RICH : heknalu (B.) : guderewib (B.).
RING (on swordhilt) : te-limmi (O.) : Lin. gives tolemne for "ear-ring."
SACK : o-telis (B.).
SEND : A. gives minjal as "Bote": I heard minjala, as 3 m. s. pres., "he sends" (B.).
SHADE : te-nandat (O.).
SHAKE HANDS : sop (Am.).
SEEK, TO : 6b : see story No. 1, note 22.
SHAWL : Arabic word adopted, sal (Am.).
SHIN : pi. te-mikuol (S.) : Rein, gives mikffdl, mark, knochenmark, but Seetz. tmik-ol
Schiene.
SHOULDER : the collar-bone is o-argigan (S.) : the shoulder-blade is to-mfsa (S.).
SMOKE : A. gives ega for " smoke," and de for Rauchbad (so also Munz.) : I heard
o-de given for " smoke " (S.).
SOUTH : (ungua (S.) : "the right hand," o-mayeguad is also used (B.).
SPIDER : Seetz. gives taszim : I heard fhasim, with plural fhasima (S.).
SPINE : ta-gia (S.) (Cf. (?) A. enga, Riicken).
STONES IN A FINGER-RING, THE : te-hatim ti-aiit (S.).
STRAIGHT : " go straight," igeglsok hirera (B.).
SUMMER : o-non (B.).
SUN : 0. dialect to-i, R. to-yin : both forms given by A., but unspecified.
SUPPORT : see story No. 1, note 33.
SWIM : A. gives um and Munz. bedef: I heard nidaba, with 2 m. s. perf., tinddba :
"do you know how to swirn " is tenideb tiktena (S.).
SWORD : A. gives mdded : I heard embardad (0.), which is nearer Seetz. mbadet and
Munz. o'embadet.
SYPHILIS : given by A. as hdleg (Tigr. halag\ Muuz. o'haleg. Amery, English-
Arabic. Vocabulary for Sudan Government Officials, gives halag as one of the
words in use in the Sudan. I heard halgiiva (S.).
TABLE : Arabic word adopted, to-tarabeza (B.).
TEMPLES OF TJHE FOREHEAD : tu-k"6mai.
THIGHS : the two thighs, malo serimai (S.).
THROAT : o-nseba (S.) : " Adam's apple," o-kertum (S.). Rein, gives enseba as
Halsknorpel, der Adamsapfel.
TIE, TO : imp. lidid, pres. landida, perf. aldid (H.). I cannot vouch for the certainty
of this word.
TOMATO : babinjel (S.) (= bedinjan ?).
TOOTH : I heard to-kuirre : A. gives several variants.
TWO-COLOURED : gualal (H.), but this word was also given me as the colour of the
sky (blue) (B.).
WAR : e-morfatan (B.) : A. gives " motta* [?], MUNZ. omotta sich streiten " : see
To KILL.
WEST : A. gives indeb : I heard e-endiVh (S.) and o-bade (B.).
WORK (J**-) : sagama (H.).
WRIST : to-sipka (pi. the same (S.).
NOTE. — The name of two small black beasts which I saw only indistinctly by
night was g»ilawr. R. CAMPBELL THOMPSON.
r 1.82 1
1910.] MAN. [No, 101,
Ceylon. Willey.
Swastika and Udakiya in Ceylon. By A. Willey, D.Sc., F.R.S. JIM
Amongst the more or less forced interpretations which have been brought to III I
bear upon the swastika, one of the simplest is that which defines it as the ancient
Indian symbol of the Wheel of the Law. I do not know whether this is meant to
imply that it is a derivative of the spoked wheel which is recognised as one of the
greatest inventions in primitive transport, but the idea of rotation, inseparable from a
wheel, certainly would seem to be conveyed in the swastika, whatever the actual
origin of its peculiar form may have been.
The term swastika is merely the Sanskrit name of a widely-distributed symbol,
by no means the exclusive property of Hindu and Buddhist mysticism. It was pro-
bably old even in ancient days although its concentrated spirituality, like that of all
hieroglyphs, denotes an advanced state of culture. Into its metaphysical qualities
I am very far from wishing or being able to enter, nor would this be the place to do
so, but I have recently had occasion, in connection with the compilation of a descriptive
list of ancient bronzes in the Colombo Museum (vide Spolia Zeylanica, Vol. VI,
Part XXII, September 1909), to consider the possibility of an anthropomorphic
explanation which seems to accord with its probable antiquity and with what is known
of other derived designs.
The sign of the swastika is not very frequently found in an original state in
Ceylon, though it does occur incised upon stone, as on an image of the sacred footprints
{Sri pada) and on ancient pottery. Finely-executed rosettes in the form of scrolled
or floreated swastikas are carved on the wooden pillars of the principal dewale at
Badulla. I believe these latter have never yet been figured or even mentioned in
any published work.
It seems safe to say that the swastika is a symbol of pre-Buddhist origin and
of world-wide distribution, but it is rare to find it in an ancient state as a separate
portable charm. A small solid bronze swastika, about 2\ inches in diameter, found
at Anuradhapura has been exhibited for many years in the Colombo Museum. A
somewhat larger metal swastika with more slender arms and of cruder construction
was recently unearthed by the archaBological survey at Polonnaruwa (Ceylon
Administration Reports, 1909, Colombo Museum).
As a miniature, the swastika appears to represent the limitless immensity of
space reduced to the dimensions of a pocket amulet. Its typical shape is that of a
Greek cross [it occurs on Greek coins] with the ends of the beams bent at a right
angle in one direction either to right or to left. In the preface to the second reprint
of the Report on the Old Records of the India Office (London, 1891), Sir George
Birdwood gives an explanation of the ritualistic significance of the swastika as
manifested in Hindu symbolism. He says that the " right-hand swastika is, among
*' modern Hindus, a symbol of Ganeesa, and is commonly placed by them, instead of the
" image of Ganeesa at the head of invoices and other papers." It is also the symbol
of the sun in his diurnal course from east to west, and it is coloured red, the proper
colour of the East. The left-hand swastika is the symbol of Kali, the mother of
Ganeesa, and of the sun in his nocturnal course from west to east, and is coloured blue.
The right and left hand forms are spoken of as " reversely revolving swastikas."
The deities who preside over the four quarters of the universe, or what comes to
the same thing in Oriental cosmogony, the four cardinal points of the compass, are
called in the Sinhalese vernacular the Hataravaran-deviyo or Sataravaran-deviyo. In
a coloured wood-carving some 18 inches in diameter, now exhibited in the Colombo
Museum, they are represented in a realistic manner revolving round the sun in the
direction of the hands of a watch. The right hand of each figure is raised over the
head to grasp the extended right foot of the next one, each right forearm is bent
[ 183 J
No. 101.]
MAN.
[1910.
approximately at a right angle upon the upper arm, and the whole device suggests
the idea of the swastika.
The Chaturmaharajika-chakra (symbol of the four guardian deities) occasionally
appears as a decorative design upon Sinhalese brass tobacco or betel boxes. An
example of this kind is figured on p. 91 in Dr. A. K. Coomaraswamy's monograph on
Medicsval Sinhalese Art, and on p. 106 of the same work the design is described as
"four women arranged swastika-wise."
The second object mentioned in the title of this note, namely, the Sinhalese
udakiya, is a small hand drum, shaped like an hour glass, with a skin stretched across
each end (Fig. 1). It is carried by dancers in procession on ceremonial and festive
occasions, as at Perahera, and is commonly made of wood lacquered
with circular bands of red, yellow, and black. Its sociological
importance is indicated by the fact that it has been executed
in precious ivory. An example in brass is shown at the British
Museum. In old bronze statuettes of the dancing Siva, called
Nata-raja, one of the hands is represented holding an udakiya.
This particular form of Eastern drum has therefore clearly
an ancient meaning, and what this meaning is may possibly be
revealed by a comparison with somewhat similar objects from Tibet.
The direct comparability of these things is vouched for by the
well-known historical connection between Northern and Southern
Buddhism.
The illustration (Fig. 2), from a photograph kindly sent to me
at my request by Dr. H. S. Harrison, shows three drums and a
skull-cup from Tibet, which are exhibited side by side in the
Horniman Museum at Forest Hill. The first example is described as a drum, or
rattle, with a string knotted at the end, on either side of the drum, for striking.
It is made from the upper part (calotte or calvariuj/h) of two human skulls, inverted
and superposed, the ends covered with skin. The long diameter is given as 6J inches.
Next to this is a circular wooden drum, covered with skin at the two ends, with
string and leaden striker and ornamental sash. It is a conventionalised form of
the skull-drum, round instead of ovate, with a diameter of 6^ inches. The third
FIG. l.
FIG. 2.
specimen is one shaped like the original skull-drum, though smaller, with a long
diameter of 4£ inches ; it is executed in brass and bears an inscription.
The fourth and last member of this interesting series is a drinking cup made from
the skull of a Tibetan Lama. This use of the human calvaridm is paralleled by a
[ 184 ] / ^
1910.] MAN. [Nos. 101-102.
Ac-
custom in Africa. In the Reading Museum there is exhibited the calvarium of a
Basuto skull, " used by the Zulus as a dipping vessel or basin."
It seems certain that the Sinhalese udakiya and the Tibetan skull-drum belong
to one and the same category, and that, the former is a derivative of the latter.
The employment of the skull of a holy man or of an enemy as a drinking or
dipping vessel belongs to another category, and there may be other examples or it
with which I am not at present acquainted. ARTHUR WILLEY.
Jersey : Archaeology. Nicolle : Sinel.
Report on the Exploration of the Palaeolithic Cave-Dwelling IflO
known as La Cotte, St. Brelade, Jersey. By E. T. Nicolle and J. Sinel. I Ufc
The cave known as La Cotte is situated in a cliff near Le Ousine, which is the
name given to the eastern horn of St. Brelade's Bay.
At this part of the island the cliffs, which are of coarse-grained syenitic granite,
rise vertically to about 200 feet above mean tide level, and the shore, at the base
of the cliffs, consists of large, more or less rounded, boulders, which have from time
to time fallen from the cliffs as the waves have sapped their base.
In one part of these cliffs there is a little ravine or gorge, about 40 feet in width,
which penetrates inland about 150 feet, the side walls of which are vertical.
This ravine was evidently formed in past geological times by the sea removing
a dike of granite of looser texture than the surrounding rock, and in it the lines of
cleavage were horizontal. The cave itself was formed by the same agency at a period
when the land stood at a lower level than it does at present, very probably at the period
when the 70 foot raised beach, traceable on various parts of the coast, was deposited.
It is iu one of the vertical walls of this ravine, near its inner extension, that the
cave is situated.
The opening of the cave is in the form of a rough and irregular arch, 25 feet in
height and about 20 feet in width, and its floor is some 60 feet above mean tide
level.
There is evidence that the ravine was, in recent times, completely filled by rubble
drift, consisting of clay and boulders washed by floods from land which must have
existed at a level higher than that of the now existing table-land. The cave itself
was filled to some extent by the lateral spread of this rubble drift of clay and boulders
as it was washed down, and to a certain extent by blocks fallen from the roof.
In more recent times the sea has re excavated the ravine, leaving a portion of the
rubble drift in the form of a steeply sloping talus at its inner end. The removal of
this drift, though leaving the cave filled up, revealed the outline of its opening, and
laid bare a small portion of its floor.
The first indication we have that the cave had once been a dwelling dates from
1881, when Mr. S. Daucaster and the late Mr. T. Saunders, whilst geologising on
that part of the coast, found a flint implement at the foot of the talus, and, tracing its
source, came upon a slightly exposed section of the cave floor. There they found
flint chipping*, and one or two bones, apparently of a large bird, but the importance
of the discovery did not occur to them. So the matter rested until about 1894, when
Mr. R. Colson and Dr. Chappuis excavated a portion of the exposed floor section, and
found a considerable number of flint implements and bone breccia, of which the floor
is largely composed. This bone breccia was later found to contain one tooth, and one
metatarsal of horse. All these "finds" are in the museum of the Societe Jersiaise.
Subsequent to this date various examinations of the floor section by the gentlemen
just mentioned, by Captain Rybot, and one or two others, resulted in the discovery
of further implements and innumerable flint chippiugs, most, if not all, of which are
in the Society's museum.
[ 185 ]
No, 102,] MAN. [1910.
In September 1905 the Society decided to explore the cave more systematically,
and Dr. Chappuis, the secretary (Mr. Nicolle), and Mr. Colson commenced work in
that part of the exposed floor already mentioned. More flint implements were
discovered, but at the commencement of October the work had to be abandoned
owing to the rainy season and to the fact that the explorers were excavating uuder
dangerous conditions. It then became clear that a considerable portion of the talus
had to be removed before the work could proceed.
Thus matters remained until July of the present year (1910), when the Society
resolved, with the permission of the proprietor, Mr. G. F. B. De Grucby, Seigneur
of Noirmont, to make another attempt, and Mr. Harris, the Society's contractor,
put experienced quarrymen on the work, a work not only difficult by reason of the
position of the cave, but, owing to the loose and toppling condition of the whole of
the surrounding cliff, fraught with considerable danger.
Excavation was commenced on August 1st, and after a little over three weeks'
work, sufficient of the rubble had been removed to reveal the form of the interior
and to lay bare a portion of the floor about 11 feet square on the left of the
entrance. The signatories to this report and Mr. P. N. Richardson were in frequent
attendance while the work progressed.
The dimensions of the cave, as revealed at this stage, are as follows : — The
entrance, as already stated, is 25 feet in height and about 20 feet in width. Just
within the entrance the roof slopes upwards into a rough dome 30 to 32 feet from
the floor. How far the cave enters the rock cannot as yet be ascertained, but
judging from the slope of the roof downwards towards the back, this is probably
some 40 to 50 feet ; the portion of roof already cleared measuring about 35 feet in
that direction.
As soon as the portion of floor just mentioned had been reached, viz., on
August 25th, the cave was visited by the following members of the society : Dr. P.
Chappuis, Dr. A. Dunlop, Colonel R. G. Warton, and Mr. A. H. Barreau, as well
as by Mr. Emile F. Guiton. Careful search and examination was then commenced,
with the following results : —
The floor proper was not clearly marked, for layers of black soil, which proved
to be a combination of ashes, carbonised wood, and clay, were mixed up with whitish
masses of bone detritus and clay compacted into a breccia. Flint implements and
chippiugs were interspersed plentifully throughout these deposits.
On the left of the entrance, and at a distance from it of about 8 feet, was a
hearth containing a quantity — probably a quarter of a ton or so — of wood ashes and
carbonised wood.
Close together, among the ashes of the hearth, were a few pebbles of granite
and felsite bearing indication of having been heated. These were probably used for
boiling water, by dropping them red-hot into gourds of water, a method of cookery
among primitive races which has been suggested by archaeologists owing to the
discovery of pebbles under similar conditions in other caves.
Unfortunately the nature of the clay in this cave, as in the previously explored
" Cotte a la Chevre " at St. Ouen, on the north coast of the island, is such that the
preservation of bone in fair integrity is not possible, most of the clay of the island
having strong decalcifying properties, whilst the water from the roof running
down the talus has also contributed to render the conditions of the floor still more
unfavourable. The presence of bone was manifest all through the layers con-
stituting the floor, but only here and there could fragments retaining any form be
obtained.
In one corner, however, at a slightly higher elevaliou than the hearth, there
was found a mass of bone from which some determinable portions were obtained.
[ 186 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 102.
Teeth, on the other hand, were better preserved, although even some of these had
fallen into a porridge-like state.
Whenever possible the portions of bone were lifted, together with a portion of
the surrounding clay, and carefully packed in boxes with soft material. These were
then transferred to an attendant carriage and taken to the museum, where they were
infiltrated with gelatine and hardened.
In one part of the most coherent bone mass had been the right half of a human
lower jaw, nine teeth being ranged side by side in original position, but unfortunately
no trace of the once supporting bone was apparent.
The results were reported by us to the executive committee, and the bones,
teeth, &c., were ihen taken to the British Museum by Mr. Percy Adrian Aubin for
determination. Drs. Woodward and Andrews identified the specimens as follows : —
Teeth, — Part of left lower premolar of the Avoolly rhinoceros, Rhinoceros tichorhinus.
Last premolar and first molar of reindeer, Rangifer tarandus (a large species
apparently as large as the caribou).
Upper cheek teeth of a small species of horse.
Parts of lower molars and upper cheek tooth of a large species of horse.
Lower teeth in portion of jaw of one of small bovidae.
Left incisor of bos. Species (?)
Nine human teeth.
Bones and Horns. — Part of horn-core of one of small bovidaa.
Portion of antler of reindeer.
Bone (probably articulation of foreleg of a deer).
Pelvic bones (probably small bovid).
Portion of a bone not less than 6 inches in diameter and about 9 inches in
length, which fell to pieces on removal from the clay (probably rhinoceros).
In addition to the above there were also found portions of large and small bones
in too broken a condition to be identified. Among these is one, apparently portion
of a human tibia.
Of flint instruments about one hundred have been obtained. They are, without
exception, of the well-known tongue-shaped Mousterien type, the " pointe a main "
of Mortillet.
After receiving the report from the British Museum authorities on the finds, the
committee of the society decided to continue the work of exploration. The work
was recommenced on September 19th. It was decided to proceed with the examina-
tion of the cave inwards, starting from the point where the teeth and bones had been
discovered. In order to effect this a considerable quantity of rubble had to be cleared
and many stones of large dimensions dislodged. In the, course of these operations it
was thought that the work was becoming dangerous. Mr. Charles Messervy, engineer,
member of the committee, visited the cave, and, after a careful examination, advised
that the work should be discontinued for the present. The work was consequently
stopped on September 23rd.
It may be mentioned that this second disturbance of the rubble and stones has, by
covering and filling up the floor, made an effective barrier against any interference
with the cave until such time as the Society may see fit to again proceed with its
examination.
The cave bears no evidence of other than one occupation, and is thus free from
the confusion which results when implements and remains of the fauna of different
periods occur together and become mixed by the work of burrowing animals, and by
disturbance through the access of water during floods, as- is often the case with
cave dwellings in other districts.
[ 187 ]
Nos. 102-103.]
MAN.
[1910.
The cave is thus clearly shown by its fauna ami the uniform type of implement to
be of the Mousterien period, and thus forms an interesting addition, not only to the
archaeology of Jersey, but to that of Europe at large. ED. TOULMIN NICOLLE.
J. SINEL.
Polynesia.
Polynesian Forgeries. By W. 0. Oldman.
Having read the valuable articles by Mr. J.
so-called chief's staff
Oldman.
in?
Edge-Partington in MAX IUU
(31, 1910), on Maori forgeries,
I venture to think the follow-
ing may be a welcome addition
to same.
I have lately had offered
to me several splendidly made
copies of Maori flutes, the
workmanship on which was
so excellent that it would de-
ceive anyone familiar with old
Maori work ; the wood, method
of manufacture (rending of
wood), carving, bindings, &c.,
were all quite correct, even
to a deposit of dust inside ;
however, all were wanting in
one small detail, which was
overlooked by the maker.
I have also seen a carved
of remarkable form, and several
bone comb, feeding funnel,
" Hawaiian " bone fish-
hooks. The latest pro-
duction of this " artist,"
as far as I know, is a
pair of " Marquesan " stilt
steps. I have fortunately
been able to secure two
photographs of these,
showing the original from
which they were undoubt-
edly copied, which I send
herewith. The work and
finish on these is so good
that they would be very
likely to deceive even an
expert, at any rate at first
sight.
I trust this short note
will be of some use as a
warning to collectors of
ethnogrnphica to look very carefully at any rare objects offered for sale ; I hope also
that it Avill lead ultimately to a stop being put to these dangerous reproductions.
W. O. OLDMAX.
[ 188 ]
1919.] MAN. [No. 104.
REVIEWS.
India, Southern. Thurston.
Castes and Tribes of Southern India. By E. Thurston. Madras, 1909. 4flj|
7 vols. IU1!
It is not easy within the compass of a short notice to deal adequately with this
fine work, in which Mr. Thurston records the results of many years' careful observa-
tion of the castes and tribes of Southern India. It has been brought out by the
Madras Government in an attractive form and is well illustrated. Every anthropologist
will be pleased to recognise here a worthy companion to the works of Risley and
Crooke in Bengal and Northern India. Between them these works, viz., that of
Sir H. Risley on The Tribes and Castes of Bengal, that of Mr. Crooke on The
Tribes and Castes of the North- Western Provinces and Oudh, and that now under
consideration, occupy the greater portion of the central block of northern and peninsula
India. It remains for the Governments of Bombay, the Punjab, and the Central
Provinces to complete their part of the work, and continental India will be well
provided with a series of authoritative and exhaustive treatises on its races. Assam
has already done good work in its series of monographs on some of the more
interesting tribes found there.
The main feature of Mr. Thurston's Avork, as in the case of its predecessors
mentioned above, consists of an alphabetically-arranged account of the castes and
tribes. This fills the greater part of the seven volumes, and represents an enormous
amount of original investigation by Mr. Thurston and his collaborators. Perhaps,
however, the introduction, which occupies the first seventy-three pages of Vol. I,
will be of even greater interest for the anthropologist who is not a specialist in
Indian matters. In this Mr. Thurston discusses several obscure and interesting
problems in the light of the physical and anthropometrical data he has been able to
bring together here. Such are the origin of the Dravidian race and of the other
scattered primitive tribes which Mr. Thurstou, with good reason probably, holds to
be the remnants of a pre-Dravidian race, and perhaps connected with the Sakais
and similar races of the Malay peninsula.
The Dravidians are, Mr. Thurston shows, a dolichocephalic race, and are not,
as has been assumed by some writers, divided from the more primitive races by
any marked difference in this respect. The brachycephalic type of certain west
coast races described by Sir H. Risley as of Scytho-Dravidian type is duly noted
by Mr. Thurston, especially among the Tulu, Canarese, and Telugu, and he also
points out that tbe more distinctly dolichocephalic races, such as the Tamil and
Malayalam, show a greater constancy in their head types than the brachycephalic.
Mr. Thnrston does not bring forward any new theory as to the causes of this
difference, and we have not the advantage of his opinion as to whether the brachy-
cephalic element is to be traced to a Scythian migration, or whether it is of earlier
pre-historic origin.
Among the separate articles on tribes attention may be drawn especially to the
very full and interesting accounts of the Badaga, the principal agricultural tribe of
the Nilgiris, the Balija, the trading caste among the Telugus, the Brahmans in all
their varieties, the Cheruman, an agricultural Malayalam caste of low social
standing, the Idaiyan or shepherds of the Tamil country, the nomadic Koravas, the
Todas, Kotas, Irulas, and other races of the Nilgiris, the Is'ayars of the West
Coast, the Paraiyan, better known to the outer world as Pariahs, and the Tiyans,
the Malayalam toddy-drawing caste, besides others too numerous to mention. The
photographs are often of the greatest value at the present time as representing the
primitive races before they have altogether been absorbed into the common herd.
[ 189 ]
Nos. 104-105.] MAN. [1910.
Our congratulations are due to Mr. Thurstou and Mr. Rangachari on the
completion of this most important work, and onr thanks to the Madras Government
for bringing it out in such an excellent form. M. LONGWORTH DAMES.
India : Cochin. Anantha Krishna Iyer.
The Cochin Tribes and Castes. By L. K. Anantha Krishna Iyer, B.A., L.T. 4 flC
Vol. I. Madras, 1909. Pp. xxx + 366. 23 x 15 cm. lUo
This is the first volume of an important work on the ethnography of the Native
State of Cochin, which is situated on the west coast of Southern India, and includes
an area nearly as large as Cornwall with the population of Middlesex. The present
instalment is devoted to a description of the animistic castes and tribes, including the
jungle races and the menial population of the more settled region. The author promises
two additional volumes, the second dealing with the higher castes and the foreign
elements of the population, the third with physical anthropology. Much labour has
been devoted to the collection of the materials from which this volume has been
compiled ; the facts are conveniently arranged, and it is illustrated by an excellent
series of photographs. A vernacular index is supplied, to which with advantage one
of the subjects treated in the volume might have been added. The author possesses
little knowledge of comparative anthropology, shows hardly any acquaintance with the
races beyond the limits of his own state, and is not always so precise in giving
references to authorities as is desirable ; but he is a competent, careful observer.
His accounts of the beliefs, customs, and domestic ceremonies of the people are
clear and accurate, and will supply much material to ethnologists.
Speculation on the facts thus collected is supplied by Dr. A. H. Keane, whose
introduction is largely devoted to a criticism of the views advanced by Sir H. Risley.
His conclusions may be summarised as follows : — First, " In India there is no f unda-
" mental racial unity, the superficial uniformity of physical characters being far less
" than is commonly supposed, and due not to a primordial unity, but to secular
" interminglings of several originally distinct ethnical groups superinducing surface
u resemblances " ; secondly, the authority of the Hindu scriptures which claim racial
unity is worthless ; thirdly, the present amalgam represents five primary stocks —
Negrito, Kolarian, Dravidian. Aryan, Mongol — which entered the peninsula in this
order, while designations of compound groups, such as Indo-Aryan, Dravido-Munda,,
Scytho-Dravidian, and the like, are " for the most part meaningless, if not actually
" misleading." Some of these propositions, such as the secular intermingling of races
and the distrust of the ethnological speculations of the early Hindu writers, will
probably be largely accepted ; but the re-assertion of the distinction between
Dravidian and Kolarian, mainly based upon linguistics, will be disputed.
Again, the account of the form of Black Magic, known as the Oti of the Parayan,
and other degraded tribes, suggests to Dr. Keane that it disposes of the controversy
whether, as some assert, religion and magic belong to two distinct lines of thought,,
or whether, as Mr. E. S. Hartland believes, religion is saturated with magic, and that
it is only in their later developments the one becomes separated from the other. It is
true that among these tribes we find the sorcerer performing the functions of priest
or intercessor. But this condition of things is found elsewhere, and some authorities
will continue to argue that this union of function, even at " a very early phase of
" religious thought," does not settle the question at issue.
Without attempting to discuss in detail the questions raised by Dr. Keane, enough
has been said to indicate the importance of the present work. Anthropologists will
congratulate the authorities of the Cochin State on the patronage and encouragement
which they have bestowed on this ethnographical survey, and on the liberality which
they have exhibited in publishing the results in such admirable form. W. CROOKE..
[ 190 ]
1910.] MAN. [No. 106.
Prehistoric Greece. Dussaud.
Les Civilizations Prehelleniques dans le bassin de la Mer Egee : Etudes 4AQ
de protohistoire orientale. By Rene Dussaud. Paris: Geutlmer, 1910. Pp.314. IUU
207 figs., 2 plates. 26 X 18 cm. Price £12.
M. Dussaud has written a general description of the prehistoric civilisation of
Greece in a small compass and with a large number of well-selected illustrations,
which will be of use to all who are interested in the subject. To French readers
it will be especially useful, as it is the first general account in French of the whole
circle of ^Egean culture. Pere Lagrange's book which appeared two years ago dealt
only with Crete. Here in England we have lately had a very good general account of
the subject (though unillustrated) from Professor Burrows, while Mrs. Hawes's little
book (reviewed in MAN, June, 1910) is written with the authority of an actual
excavator in Crete. So for British readers, M. Dussaud's book is, though useful,
somewhat superfluous, and most of its illustrations are well known to us from the
publications of Dr. Evans and the other British and American workers in Crete. The
French " learned public " is, however, by no means so well instructed on the subject
as ours, and we congratulate them on being provided with so good a general account
of the recent discoveries.
The book is, on the whole, good, especially on the subjects of Crete, the
Cyclades, and Cyprus. The chapter on Troy, Mycenae, and Tiryns is, however,
rather jejune ; perhaps the author felt that he was merely telling an oft-told story
over again, with regard to which he had little new to say. In the final chapter
on the .^Egean peoples generally, the sections on the navigation of the early Cretans
and the origin of the Greek alphabet are interesting, but that on the all-important
question of race and language is disappointing ; it, again, tells us nothing new.
M. Dussaud is, generally speaking, extremely cautious, and not very original in
his treatment of the pre-history (or, as he would call it, " proto-history") of Greece,
a subject which calls for some imagination if it is to be envisaged adequately,
while at the same time one has to be cautious lest one is led away by fantastic
imaginings.
Wanderings of this kind have especially to be guarded against when one is
dealing with the vague subject of prehistoric Greek religion. And here M. Dussaud's
native caution doubtless stands him in good stead. His chapter on " Cultes et
Mythes " contains much matter of interest, especially notable being, besides a dis-
cussion of the Agia Triada sarcophagus, a description of the funerary terra-cottas from
Cyprus (Figs. 188, 189), which show that the ^Egean had the same idea as the old
Egyptian of burying with his dead models of servants at work, which would by art-
magic turn in the next world into actual slaves, ready to do the bidding of the
dead master in their several spheres when called iipon. The Egyptian ushabti, or
"Answerer," of the later Middle Kingdom onwards is a development of the wooden
figures of boatmen, butchers, and other workpeople which were buried with the dead
from the time of the Sixth till the end of the Twelfth Dynasty, and they no
doubt replaced the human sacrifices of the First Dynasty. The -3£gean clay figures
of the Bronze Age represent the same idea, and are a further proof of the close
relation of Egyptian and vEgean religious ideas, which go to prove an ultimate common
origin for the two civilisations. This comparison of M. Pottier's, made ten years ago,
is rightly brought forward again by M. Dussaud.
It is a great pity that M. Dussaud just stops short of being up to date by omitting
all notice, not only of the important finds of Professor Doerpfeld and Dr. Kurt
Miiller at Kakovatos in the Peloponnese, but also of the recent discoveries of Messrs.
Wace and Thompson in Thessaly, which have thrown such remarkable light on
the previous discoveries of Tsountas at Dimini and Sesklo, and of Sotiriadis at
[ 191 ]
Nos. 106-107.] MAN. [1910.
Chaironeia and Drachmani in Bceotia and Phokis, also not mentioned by M. Dussaud.
These are regrettable omissions. The Kakovatos discoveries have shown us that the
'• Mycenaean " culture of the Western Peloponnese was, if not of Cretan origin, entirely
under the denomination of Cretan art, and have also lent considerable weight to the
supposition thut the great t/wlos-tombs of the mainland are to be dated to the First,
rather than the Third, Late Minoan period. The Thessalian and Boeotian finds
have totally altered our conceptions of the early history of Northern Greece, and have
shown that a Neolithic culture persisted there till quite late in the Cretan Bronze
Age. The questions raised by this discovery cannot be omitted with impunity from
a book dealing with the general antiquities of prehistoric Greece. They must be faced
and discussed, and some way found of explaining them satisfactorily. If M. Dussaud
preferred to leave them for a time undiscussed, as being too perplexing, he should at
least have said so. In the second edition of his work, which all will cordially welcome,
wo may hope to see a full discussion of the important points which are raised when
these North - Greek discoveries are brought into connection with the views of
Dr. Mackenzie on the origin of the Cretan Baukunst, and its relation to the building
styles of Mycenaean Greece.
However, M. Dussand is very up-to-date with regard to Crete. He reproduces
the curious " Phaistos Disk," on which Mr. Evans has commented in Scripta Minoa,
and is well acquainted with Mr. Seager's discoveries at Mochlos. Indeed, he figures
(Fig. 201) the fine gold ring with the figure of a goddess seated in a boat, which
has not yet been published by the discoverer himself. It was extremely good of
Mr. Seager to have permitted M. Dussaud to anticipate him thus (as we presume
he has done, though we find no acknowledgment of the permission in M. Dussaud's
text). Unhappily the ring in question, one of the most interesting specimens of
the Minoan goldsmith's art, has lately been stolen from the Candia Museum. One
notes that M. Dussaud still accepts the theory (now generally abandoned) that the
JEgean spiral decoration owed its origin to Egypt. There is, however, little doubt
that Egypt received the spirals from the JEgean. H. R. HALL.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES.
H.I.M. THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA has conferred the Imperial gold medal for 4 (1*7
Science and Art on Mr. E. Torday, Fellow, and Local Correspondent in the "Uf
Congo, of the Royal Anthropological Institute, for his ethnographical researches
in the Belgian Congo.
THE following are some of the papers promised to be discussed at the meeting of
the first Universal Races Congress in London in June 1911 : —
Anthropological View of Race. Prof. Felix v. Luschan, of the University of
Berlin.
Sociological View of Race. Prof. Alfred Fouille, Paris, Membre de 1'Institut.
Differences in Customs and Morals and their Resistance to Rapid Change. —
Dr. Guiseppe Sergi, of the University of Rome.
Inter-racial Marriage. M. Joseph Deniker, D.Sc. (Paris), LL.D. (Aberdeen).
The African Problem. Sir Harry Johnston, G.C.M.G., K.C.B.
The respect due by the White Race to other Races. Baron d'Estournelles de
Constant.
An International Tribunal. Sir John Macdonell, C.B.
All information about the Congress may be obtained from the secretary, G. Spiller,
63, South Hill Park, Hampstead.
Printed by EYGK AND SPOTTISWOODE. LTD., His Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, B.C.
• \ ; 4s , J-
*•-,. :x ;•'»' ,
.
GN
1
M25
v.9-10
Man
PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY
nwttt
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11