[474] J. L. van der Toorn, “Het animisme bij den Minangkabauer der Padangsche Bovenlanden,” Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, xxxix. (1890) p. 67.
[475] Dudley Kidd, Savage Childhood (London, 1906), p. 291.
[476] Eijūb Abēla, “Beiträge zur Kenntniss abergläubischer Gebräuche in Syrien,” Zeitschrift des deutschen Palaestina-Vereins, vii. (1884) p. 112, § 202. Compare L’Abbé B. Chémali, “Naissance et premier âge au Liban,” Anthropos, v. (1910) pp. 734, 735.
[477] Quoted by D. Chwolsohn, Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus (St. Petersburg, 1856), ii. 469.
[478] W. Mannhardt (Baumkultus, p. 419) promised in a later investigation to prove that it was an ancient custom at harvest or in spring to load or pelt trees and plants, as well as the representatives of the spirit of vegetation, with stones, in order thereby to express the weight of fruit which was expected. This promise, so far as I know, he did not live to fulfil. Compare, however, his Mythologische Forschungen, p. 324.
[479] E. Meier, Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Schwaben, pp. 249 sq. The placing of the stone on the tree is described as a punishment, but this is probably a misunderstanding.
[480] G. Pitrè, Usi e costumi, credenze et pregiudizi del popolo siciliano, iii. (Palermo, 1889) pp. 113 sq.
[481] Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern, ii. 299; T. Vernaleken, Mythen und Bräuche des Volkes in Österreich, p. 315. On the other hand, in some parts of north-west New Guinea a woman with child may not plant, or the crop would be eaten up by pigs; and she may not climb a tree in the rice-field, or the crop would fail. See J. L. van Hasselt, “Enige aanteekeningen aangaande de Bewoners der N. Westkust van Nieuw Guinea,” Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde, xxxii. (1889) p. 264; id., “Die Papuastämme an der Geelvinkbai,” Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena, ix. (1891) p. 102. Similarly the Galelareese say that a pregnant woman must not sweep under a shaddock tree, or knock the fruit from the bough, else it will taste sour instead of sweet. See M. J. van Baarda, “Fabelen, Verhalen en Overleveringen der Galelareezen,” Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, xlv. (1895) p. 457.
[482] J. V. Grohman, Aberglauben und Gebräuche aus Böhmen und Mähren, p. 143, § 1053.
[483] E. Hoffmann-Krayer, “Fruchtbarkeitsriten im schweizerischen Volksbrauch,” Schweizerisches Archiv für Volkskunde, xi. (1907) p. 263.