NOTES ON PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
In the next number of this Journal, notice will be taken of the important publications, in the field of American mythology and tradition, which have appeared during the past half year. At present it will be possible only to offer remarks on publications entitled to comment, dealing with other than purely American subjects.
In a treatise entitled “Böhmische Korallen aus der Götterwelt,” Dr. F. S. Krauss discusses, in a humorous vein, apocryphal additions to the material of Slavic and Lithuanian mythology. “Bohemian corals” are imitations; but, as the writer remarks, these imitations had a considerable value, until in latter days they have themselves become the subject of imitation. There is a manufacture of folk-lore, parallel to the production of primitive implements. In some cases these spurious additions have been the products of misunderstanding. An amusing case is the comment of an expert in Celtic tongues on the inscription “Encina,” subscribed in uncial characters on a Gallo-Roman statuette, or rather on the engraving of the statuette. The inquirer, connecting the word with the Old Irish “ec,” death, presumed Encina to have been the designation of a Celtic Fate. In point of fact the name was the signature of the engraver. Among wholesale manufacturers of mythic material, Dr. E. Veckenstedt receives an apparently merited castigation. The latter has treated of eighty-two personages of Lithuanian mythology; of these forty are said to have been taken from the unreliable work of Lasicki, the other forty-two to be “original.” Pretensions of Croatian and Bulgarian enthusiasts, anxious to exalt the antiquity and independence of their national life, are rebuked by Dr. Krauss. Of wider scope is the review of a work of Dr. G. Krek, professor of Slavic philology in the University of Graz, entitled “Einleitung in die slavische Literaturgeschichte.” Dr. Krauss comments on the errors of method, with which the attempt is made to determine the original character of a race by philological discussion, and observes: “He (Dr. Krek) is not aware that the Slavic-speaking peoples are mixed races, which arose at the earliest about the beginning of our era, out of populations in a state of political dissolution, and which began to develop themselves on the ruins of the culture of these populations.” (Page 104.)
A very beautiful and excellently executed collection of popular Sardinian love-songs is furnished by E. Bellorini. The editor has prefixed a bibliography, and a preface containing an account of the forms of the verse. A literal prose Italian version is appended, while explanatory notes treat of difficult words and printed parallels, good indexes completing the work. The songs are divided into two classes, dialectically called “motos” and “battorinas,” each class being arranged in sections according to topics. The “moto” is a peculiar stanza, in lines usually of seven syllables, containing a theme or history (istérria), and a refrain (torrada), the latter relating, not directly to the theme, but to the feelings of the lover. Suppose the theme to consist of three lines, the first of these is repeated to form the first verse of the refrain, with which the fourth line of the refrain rhymes, while the second and third lines rhyme with the two remaining lines of the theme; and the refrain is thrice sung, so that each line of the “history” alternately begins a verse, while the other lines of the refrain are altered in place, and repeated. This, at least, is one of several ways of forming the “moto.” The “batterinas” consist of four lines, generally of eleven syllables, of which the first and fourth rhyme, as also the second and third. The first class of songs are preferred by women, the second, chanted to the guitar, are usual among men. The theme is not very closely connected with the refrain, and is often of an obscure and mystical character. The following are examples of the “moto:” The silver bird—Who flieth and doth not fall—with golden wings.—The silver bird—Thou art in my heart—Though a hundred approach. Another: On a snowy mount—An angel hath descended—To make peace in war.—On a snowy mount.—Heaven and earth took a pledge—When they made thee. A third: On the brink of the well—There is a stone—Inscribed with letters of gold.—On the brink of the well.—To give thee my heart—Because of thy desert—is my desire. The author makes just remarks on the age and character of the songs. The language is that of the dialect, here and there qualified by literary influences. There is nothing to prove any great antiquity of these productions, which continue to be composed. It is to be hoped that Mr. Bellorini may be able to continue his work, and publish the popular Sardinian songs relating to other subjects, a task for which he has shown himself admirably qualified.
“The Cries of London,” sixty-two in number, with wood-cuts, were printed in 1799. Mr. A. Certeux, having come across this rare little work in Switzerland, has reprinted it with the original illustrations, accompanied by a French translation. A few notes give comparisons with cries of Paris. What lends especial value to the book is a bibliography of the principal works on the cries of Paris, containing about fifty titles. This literature begins with the thirteenth century, Guillaume de la Villeneuve having written at that time his “Les crieries de Paris.” In 1887 V. Fournel published a work on the Cris de Paris, which had a considerable success. It would be interesting to learn what information exists concerning the streetcries of England, outside of the book here reissued.
Under the title of “Mélanges de Traditionnisme de la Belgique,” A. Harou offers gleanings of the beliefs and superstitions of Flanders, arranged as referring to astronomy and meteorology, the human body, popular medicine, animals, birds, plants, etc. A certain number of legends, formulas, and nicknames are added. The work is in part from printed sources, and is to be regarded as a suggestion of a more complete and systematic collection, rather than as filling the place of an exhibition of Belgian superstition. It goes without saying that many of the items have parallels in English folk-lore.
The richness of Finland in the material of folk-lore is well calculated to awaken the envy of collectors in other regions. The Swedish population in Finland has its share in this survival, having kept with great faithfulness its ancient character. According to the opinion set forth by Julius Krohn, the popular Finnish poetry of the Kalevala has adopted essential elements of Scandinavian mythology, while it has also been argued that folk-tales and popular melodies have passed from the Swedes to the Finns. However this may be, there is now a considerable literature devoted to the folk-lore and dialect of the population in question. A Society for the Study of Swedish Dialects in Finland, founded in 1874, is now in possession of large collections of songs, melodies, proverbs, and tales, as well as of a great mass of dialectic words. The literature of Swedish folk-lore in Finland is the subject of a bibliographical notice of E. Lagus, the citation of titles being accompanied with a descriptive notice of the books. The series begins in 1892 with the work of A. I. Arvidsson (Svenska Fornsånger), and includes about forty books or articles.
In a treatise on the subject of hieroglyphic calendars, “Les Calendriers à Emblèmes Hiéroglyphiques,” A. Certeux describes and examines portable calendars of the fourteenth century, a mural calendar in wood of the fifteenth, a Breton carved calendar of the fifteenth, etc. Observations are also made on an Aztec calendar, a Norse Runic calendar, etc. In the course of his remarks, the writer offers observations on the different divisions of time adopted by different races. The references are exclusively to French sources.
In a discussion of “The Thyrsos of Dionysos and the Palm Inflorescence of the Winged Figures of Assyrian Monuments,” read before the American Philosophical Society, Dr. C. S. Dolley of Philadelphia, Pa., considers that the drunken and riotous characteristics of the mysteries were probably an addition to the original cult. The primitive use of the thyrsus was that of a wand to be tossed about in the dance, a use to which the stalks of the giant fennel were adapted, the festoons representing the bindweed naturally attached to the fennel. With this garlanded rod was combined, as he thinks, the date inflorescence found on Eastern monuments, which was altered into the cone-like tip of the thyrsus, and by error identified with the pine-cone.
Dr. K. Weinhold, examining the various forms of the tale of the man who is turned into an ass, as recounted in Apuleius and in various German and Indian märchen, comes to the conclusion that the story was originally a novelette and not an alteration of a myth. He inclines to believe it original in Greece or Asia Minor of antiquity, and thence to have been diffused eastward and westward, and offers some remarks on the theory of transformation, as often mentioned in folk-tales.
The twenty-fifth volume of the “Journal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society” consists of a new instalment of the “Botanicum Sinicum” by E. Bretschneider, the first or general part having appeared nearly ten years before. The present volume deals with Chinese names of plants occurring in the Chinese classics and other ancient Chinese works, and their botanical identification. Plants mentioned in the dictionary “Rh ya” (sixth century B. C.) are divided into herbaceous plants and trees, and those mentioned in other works into cereals, vegetables, cultivated cucurbitaceous plants, textile plants, tinctorial plants, water plants, various herbaceous plants, fruits, and bamboos. The information from literature, thus brought together, contains a great variety of instruction respecting food, customs, costume, ritual, and the like. Mention of rites seems usually provokingly inadequate, as in the allusions to the use of rice as sacrifice for spirits, of the peach-wand feared by demons, of the male elm pierced with an elephant’s tooth and plunged in water as injurious to the spirits of the water, to the “shi” divining plant, the stalks of which were used in divination, etc. In appended general remarks, Dr. Bretschneider observes that the Chinese have never shown any inclination for exploring nature from a love of knowledge, nor any trace of a scientific tendency. Conspicuous is the absence of names of plants having powerful poisonous properties. Medicinal plants appear to have been known only to a few collectors, who kept their information strictly secret, a concealment which led to substitution and confusion. Appended are minutes of meetings in 1890 and 1891. These contain a brief report of a paper by Dr. J. Edkins, entitled “China Thirty-five Centuries Ago,” in which the writer sets forth his opinion that the true foundations of Chinese civilization were laid in the third millennium before Christ. He considered that in the Chow period (800 B. C.?) religious usages of a more polytheistic form were adopted in profusion, and the people in their customs deserted the simplicity of ancient life. This position was criticised by Dr. E. Faber, who remarked on the want of any reliable information respecting early Chinese civilization, and the worthlessness of Chinese chronology and literary criticism.
In a beautifully illustrated article, contained in the publications of the United States National Museum, Romyn Hitchcock treats of the “Ancient Burial Mounds of Japan.” Without touching on the strictly archæological matter, we may notice the account of the ancient practice of burying the retainers of a prince standing upright around his grave, an interment in which the partially buried persons seem to have been left to perish and be devoured by wild beasts. The custom was changed, according to Japanese records, in the first century of our era, and the devotion of the living man succeeded by images, examples of which are figured in the article.
In the same report, Mr. Hitchcock gives an account of Shinto mythology. The sources being especially Basil Hall Chamberlain’s translation of the Ko-ji-ki (A. D. 711?) and the review of E. M. Satow on the writings of Japanese scholars. Casually, Mr. Hitchcock makes observations on the connection of modern Japanese folk-lore with the old mythology; thus the dance of Usume before the cave of the Sun-goddess is represented by the pantomimic “kagura,” danced by young girls at the temple of Ise and elsewhere. The mask of Usume is frequently seen in Japanese homes.
The interesting exhibit of New South Wales in the Columbian Exposition displays a mass of material calculated to illustrate native customs and life, including a set of views showing the different parts of the initiation ceremony called the “bora.” To accompany the exhibit, the New South Wales Commissioners have caused to be printed a handbook called “The Aborigines,” compiled by Dr. John Fraser of Sydney. This excellent treatise gives in conversational style a variety of information respecting the habits, ceremonies, ideas, food, habitations, and costume of the “black fellows,” as the race has ungracefully been called. It is difficult to speak with patience of the absurdities and calumnies of the numerous writers who have represented this people as raised but one degree above the animal. It would appear, on the contrary, that the social and moral status of the Australian does not greatly differ from that of the wilder Africans. In spite of his cannibalism, and his low powers of numeration, on which a very unjustifiable emphasis has been placed, the native is yet a highly intelligent person, admirably adapted for his own method of life. Particularly to be noted is the account given respecting religious beliefs and observances. Dr. Fraser perceives that the “Karabari” or corroborees, the native dances, are, in part at least, religious usages, although Australian students of the native tribes have not as yet fully penetrated their secrets. Without doubt some of them will be found to be religious ceremonials, accompanied by an elaborate mythology, in that respect resembling the dances of other “primitive” races. It is on the practices of the “bora” that most light has been thrown: here we have the construction of moundcircles, the occasional erection of monoliths or carved pillars, the setting up of a sacred pole, the participation of women not admitted to the secret rites, the presence, as it would seem, of ancestral deities, severe trials of constancy, the reception of a sacred name, final emblematic painting with white, probably also a regular system of instruction in tribal religion, mythology, and ethics. Instead of being void of religious feeling and ideas, as many observers, including the late traveller Lumholtz, have described him, there can be no doubt that the Australian is a person continually influenced by religious conceptions. It seems a pity that such names as “Hamites” and “Shemites,” with corresponding ethnological speculations, should appear in this treatise, in which, however, these dubious theoretical elements have no important place.
A brief paper by Hon. Richard Hill, “Notes on the Aborigines of New South Wales,” is somewhat superficial in character. The writer does not understand that a belief in “evil spirits” must necessarily include a religious faith and worship, but bears testimony to the natural chivalry of the natives. The writer mentions that in case of a duel, or “fighting to the death,” as it is called, each of the combatants invites the other to strike, the orthodox challenge being “hit me first,” each at the same time offering his head to be struck.
Rev. W. W. Gill’s observations on “The South Pacific and New Guinea,” also printed for the Exposition, contains notes on the Hervey Islands, South Pacific, annexed by Great Britain in 1888. The observations on ideas and customs, although conceived in the unsympathetic spirit of the missionary, is of great interest as indicating the rich mass of material, and the profit to science which must ensue from a proper record of native traditions. Baptism, marriage, death, the spirit world, etc., are themes of comment. We hope hereafter in this Journal to find room for extracts. The ethnographic interest of the writer may be measured by his naïve remark that the prayers used in incantation are “happily lost”! Of ceremonial religion the notes give no account, although the existence of a ritual is clearly implied; but the presence of a faith full of mysticism, and parallel to the beliefs of European antiquity, is everywhere indicated.
The Hungarian journal, “Ethnologische Mitteilungen aus Ungarn,” directed by A. Herrmann, after a most honorable record, was obliged to suspend publication in its second volume. This periodical has now resumed issue, the Archduke Joseph assuming responsibility for its continued appearance. Dr. Herrmann will be assisted by Dr. H. von Wlislocki, Dr. A. Katona, and others. This publication will deal with the ethnography and folk-lore of the Magyars and connected races, and will also become the organ of the Gypsy Folk-Lore Society, which has ceased to publish an independent journal. An address prefixed to the new volume of the journal, signed by C. G. Leland and D. MacRitchie, recommends the “Ethnologische Mitteilungen” to the reception of all persons interested in Gypsy research. Price seven francs; subscriptions may be addressed to A. Herrmann (Budapest, 1, Szent-György utcza, 2).