# Journal of American Folk-Lore/Volume 11/Issue 41/Record of American Folk-Lore

RECORD OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.
NORTH AMERICA.
Algonkian. In the "American Anthropologist" (vol. xi. pp. 88–91) for March, 1898, Dr. W. J. McGee describes "A Muskwaki Bowl,"—a small wooden bowl kept as an heirloom in a family of the Muskwaki ("Red Fox") or Sac and Fox tribe of Indians in Tama County, Iowa, together with the curved knife with which it was carved from a maple knot. An interesting point noted by the author is that among the Muskwaki, "when the first child is born, the father has the right to name it; but if it dies, the mother takes the right."
Eskimo. By far the most important of recent contributions to Eskimo literature is Dr. W. J. Hoffman's "The Graphic Art of the Eskimos," which forms pp. 739–968 of the "Report of the U. S. National Museum for 1895 (Washington, 1897)." With 80 plates and 154 text-figures, the essay deals with effects of environment, art facility, materials and implements, techique, decoration and ornamentation, pictography, ideography, shamanism, gesture-signs, etc. Very interesting are the author’s remarks on the resemblances and differences between the art of the Eskimo and that of cave man in France. For the folk-lorist who would study "Eskimo Tales and Legends," Dr. Hoffman’s paper is indispensable, as corrective and interpreter.—In German dress appears Sigurd Rink's "Kajakmänner-Erzählungen grönländischer Seehundsfänger" (Berlin, 1897),—tales of Eskimo seal-hunters.—"The Origin and Range of the Eskimo Lamp" is the title of an interesting paper by Walter Hough in the "American Anthropologist" (vol. xi. pp. 116–122) for April, 1898. The lamp seems to be peculiarly the possession of the women, and the Eskimo is wonderfully dependent upon it. The lamp has not only entered into folk-lore and religion, but "seems to have determined the distribution of the Eskimo race,"—the invention of the lamp having been, perhaps, "the initial of the movement to the northern coasts." It may have been originated "on some seacoast, beginning with rude beach-stones having natural concavities."—"Eskimo Boot-strings" is the title of an interesting paper by Mr. John Murdoch in the "American Anthropologist" (vol. xi. pp. 22, 23) for January, 1898. It is a welcome contribution to the study of the details of dress so often neglected by travellers and investigators. The winding, twisting, and tying of strings are important subjects for research,—A further note is published by the author in the April number (p. 122) on the same topic.—In the "American Anthropologist" (vol. xi. pp. 55–58) for February, 1898, Anna Fulcomer describes "An Eskimo 'Kashim,{{' " or dance-house, at old Fort St. Michaels, 700 miles up the west coast of Alaska.
​Iroquoian. To the "American Antiquarian" (vol. xx. pp. 1–16) for January-February, 1897, Rev. W. M. Beauchamp contributes an article on "Wampum used in Council and as Currency." The author notes that "the Mohawk word gaionni, used for a belt, is from the same root as the title of the Iroquois aristocracy, and signifies something highly esteemed." A point worth more study is "the great and sudden impetus" given to the use of wampum in the seventeenth century.
Keresan. To the "Proc. Davenport Acad. Nat. Sci." for 1897, Prof. Frederick Starr contributes "A Study of a Census of the Pueblo of Cochiti."
Kiowan. In "Urquell" (N. F., vol. i. pp. 329–333) Mr. James Mooney treats of "The Kiowa Peyote Rite."
Kwakiutl-Nootka. To the "Report of the U. S. National Museum for 1895" (Washington, 1897), Dr. Franz Boas contributes a valuable detailed and elaborate account of "The Social Organization and the Secret Societies of the Kwakiutl Indians" (pp. 311–737). The essay is accompanied by §1 plates and 215 text-figures, while an appendix gives Indian texts of songs and speech, with translations and music. The subjects discussed are: Social organization; potlach; marriage; clan legends; spirits; winter society; winter ceremonials, songs and dances. Dr. Boas emphasizes the complexity of the Kwakiutl secret societies, and the difficulties of interpreting all their phenomena correctly: "The psychological explanation for the development of the complicated system of the membership in secret societies lies in the combined action of the social system on the one hand and the method of acquiring manitous on the other" (p. 664). The customs observed nowadays are "evidently a modern development of more ancient forms." Dr. Boas also suggests a close relationship between customs having to do with warfare and the development of secret societies.
Northwest Coast. In the "Inter. Arch. für Ethnogr." (vol. x. pp. 225–245), Mr. O. M. Dalton publishes "Notes on an Ethnographical Collection from the West Coast of North America (more especially California), Hawaii, and Tahiti, formed during the voyage of Captain Vancouver, 1790–95, and now in the British Museum."
Pueblos. "The Cliff Palace and its Surroundings" is the title of a paper by Rev. S. D. Peet, in the "American Antiquarian" (vol. xx. pp. 19–36), in which are given some of the results of later explorations of the so-called "High Houses and Round Towers" and other cliff-dwellings, especially of the "Cliff Palace’" of the Mancos Cañon, said to be the largest ruin of its kind in the United States.—In a subsequent number (pp. 81–101) Dr. Peet discusses "Cliff Fortresses." See Keresan, Tusayan, Zuñi.
​Siouan. In the "Journ. Anthrop. Inst." for February, 1898 (vol. xxvii. pp. 436–450), Miss Alice C. Fletcher publishes a valuable and critical article on "The Significance of the Scalp-Lock: a Study of an Omaha Ritual,"—a description of the ceremony of the first cutting of a child's hair, and its relation to social and religious institutions and beliefs of the tribe. It would seem that, of the two ceremonies combined in the rite, that of "the turning of the child" was older than that of "cutting hair," being, moreover, less specialized and of wider application to the people.—Another excellent contribution to the religio-sociology of primitive peoples is Miss Fletcher's "The Import of the Totem," which appears in "Science" for March 4, 1898 (pp. 296–304). The Personal Totem, Belief Concerning Nature and Life, The Common Life, Anthropomorphism, Will-Power, The Appeal, Basis of the Efficacy of the Totem, The Social Totem and What it Stood for in the Tribe, The Influence of the Religious Societies upon the Gens, The Totem in the Tribal Organization, Linguistic Evidence as to the Totem, are some of the topics discussed. Miss Fletcher notes that the totems of individuals and of gentes represented the same class of phenomena, and as totems could be obtained in but one way, through the rite of vision.
Tarascan. In the "Bulletin Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist." (vol. x. pp. 61–79), Lumholtz and Hrdlicka describe some "Marked Human Bones from a Prehistoric Tarasco Indian Burial Place in the State of Michoacan, Mexico." Some interesting items of folk-lore respecting the bones of the dead among these and other Indian tribes are given. Descriptions of 26 marked bones, together with measurements, are added.
Tsimshian. In the "American Antiquarian" (vol. xix. pp. 276–282) Dr. George A. Dorsey publishes an article on "The Geography of the Tsimshian Indians." The paper deals with village sites and distribution of population, and is accompanied by a map showing the range of the Tsimshian stock.
Tusayan. In the "American Anthropologist" (vol. xi. pp. 1–14), Dr. J. W. Fewkes gives a detailed account of "The Feather Symbol in Hopi Design." More than two thirds of all the pictographs on ancient Tusayan pottery, where animals are intended, represent avian forms, and the "predominance in the number of pictures of feathered gods is a faithful reproduction of denizens of their ancient Pantheon. The majority of the gods were avian in character, even when anthropomorphic." Many triangular figures are simply reduced feather symbols. The ruling motive in ceramic decoration seems to have been religious.—In the same periodical (vol. xi. pp. 65–87, 101–115), Dr. Fewkes describes a length "The Winter Solstice Ceremony at Walpi," as observed by him in 1891–1893, together with the ​Iroquoian.</noinclude>A. M. Stephen. The paper is a valuable addition to the scanty literature embodying detailed accounts of Pueblo sun-worship. The winter solstice ceremony is one of the most complicated in all the calendar of these Indians, and its general features "stamp it as the creation of a people who have been agriculturalists under the influence of an arid environment for a longer time than some of the other Hopi families." Very prominent are two dominant elements in all Hopi ceremonials, "rain-making" and "corn-growth." This excellent paper closes with a "Bibliography of the Tusayan Ritual," and has appeared as a reprint (Washington, 1898) of 38 pp. sm. 4to.
Uto-Aztrecan. In "Globus" (vol. lxxiii. pp. 123–129), Dr. E. Seler writes of the pyramid-temple of Tepoztlan, with its hieroglyphs, not a few of which he seems to have identified.—In the "Arch. per l'Antropol." (vol. xxvii. pp. 395, 396), Dr. E. H. Giglioli describes (after Kollmann) a trumpet terminating in a human skull, said to be derived "from Palenque or Cholula," and resembling similar South American instruments (from the Tupi tribe of the Yuruna on the Xingu).—Under the title "Trephining in Mexico," Carl Lumholtz and Ales Hrdlicka give an account in the "American Anthropologist" (vol. x. pp. 389–396) for December, 1897, of two trephined Tarahumara skulls from Chihuahua.
Zuni. In the "American Anthropologist" (vol. xi. pp. 33–40) for February, 1898, Mrs. M. C. Stevenson writes of "Zuñi Ancestral Gods and Masks." Creation myths, legends of tribal origin, and descriptions of the gods make up this interesting résumé of a part of Zuñi theology. Notes of the initiation of children into the secret society of the Kók-ko are added. The author observes: "The dramas enacted by the personators of the gods are elaborate and full of interest to the people, and, while the actors endure many hardships and privations, they derive great joy from it all."
CENTRAL AMERICA.
Mayan. To the "American Anthropologist" (vol. x. pp. 397–412) for December, 1897, Mr. L. W. Gunckel contributes an article on the "Analysis of the Deities of Maya Inscriptions." Brief accounts, with illustrations, are given of 27 heads of divinities, based upon the author’s card catalogue of glyphs from Maudslay and other writers who have published plates of inscriptions.—"Die Tagegötter der Mayas" are discussed by Dr. E. Förstemann in "Globus" (vol. lxxiii. pp. 137, 162). The paper is a valuable study of the relation between the Maya day-names and deity-names.—The "Century" Magazine (vol. lv. pp. 407–419) contains an article by G. B. Gordon, entitled "The Mysterious City of Honduras: an account of recent discoveries in Copan."—In "Globus" (vol. lxxiii. ​p. 68), Dr. C. Sapper writes of "Ein chirurgisches Instrument der Mittelamerikanischen Indianer."—In the "Internat. Arch. f. Ethnogr." (vol. xi. pp. 1–6), Dr. C. Sapper discusses "Die Ruinen von Mixco (Guatemala)." The author holds that the Pokomames lived in San Salvador before they wandered westward again to Guatemala.—In the "Proceedings of the Royal Society," of London, A. P. Maudslay publishes an article on "A Maya Inscription, interpreted by Goodman's Tables" (vol. lxii. pp. 67–80). The inscription studied is one recently discovered by Mr. Teobert Maler at Piedras Negras, on the Usumacinta River, and is read by the author "downwards in double columns from left to right," who claims to make out very nearly half of the 48 glyphs. It is however, perhaps, asking too much when Mr. Maudslay says: "It can, I think, therefore be fairly claimed for Mr. Goodman that his researches have raised the veil of mystery which has for so long hung over the carved hieroglyphic writing of the Mayas."
SOUTH AMERICA AND WEST INDIES.
Araucanian. With Nos. x.–xii., Dr. Rodolfo Lenz's "Araucanian Studies" make a volume of 485 pages under the title, "Estudios araucanos. Materiales para el estudio de la Lengua, la Literatura i las Costumbres de los Indios Mapuche o Araucanos." This collection of popular and historical tales and descriptive pieces, songs, etc., is a boon to the comparative folk-lorist and student of primitive languages. It is with pleasure that we note Dr. Lenz's intention of publishing in the near future "a résumé of the general philology and psychology of Araucanian speech." No. x. ("Cantos Araucanos en Moluche i Pehuenche Chileno," pp. 381–418) is furnished with an introduction (pp. 381–392) on "Araucanian Poetry," based upon the material (530 verses) already in the possession of the author. No fixed norm of syllables exists, though there seems to be a sort of trochaic rhythm in the majority of the verses. The Indian tells tales in prose when sober, but when drunk (at public feasts, etc.) he sings. The Araucanian songs have a melancholy character (which has been noted by the old chroniclers). Musical accompaniments (with any sort of instrument) are not at all common, except in ceremonials, etc., where a sort of drum is employed, and in the dances. As to style, the songs differ little in vocabulary from prose-tales, except intercalations like piam, and verbal forms with the particle -rke. Vocatives are also very common. Most of the songs seem to be of individual origin, and many even retain the author's name. Twenty-two songs in all are given with Araucanian text, Spanish translation, and explanatory notes. Of these, many are love songs and chants of like import; war songs also figure to a considerable ​extent. "The Woman's Complaint," which Dr. Lenz styles one of the most poetic of these songs, is worth reproducing here in English (the story is of a native woman who had been stolen from her husband by an Indian of Huinfali, at the foot of the Cordillera, near Curacautin):—
The woman was married, And was carried off by a man To a very distant country; Was carried off to Huinfali. As she arrived she sang, Thus said she her song: "I come from a land far off, Blue, blue was the land, I come here ever weeping, Ever with tears. I come (said the woman) From a very distant country, Leaving my good friend—woe is me!"
No. xi. (pp. 419–445) contains seven descriptive pieces in prose in the Pehuenche dialect,—description of a threshing; the sacred stone of Retricura; trip to Retricura and the oracle stone; trip to Huinfali; the alligator's enchantment (a personal incident in the life of Huenchulao, an old cacique near Santa Rosa); the dispute of Truren, and a trip to the mountain. No, xii. (pp. 447–485) is made up of the text (with interlinear translation and notes) of dialogues dictated by Juan Calvun of Cholchol in the central Araucanian district. In the epilogue, which closes the volume, Dr. Lenz makes graceful acknowledgment of the encouragement given him by American and European men of science, and by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.—Under the title, "Langue Auca" (Paris, 1898, 372 pp.), Rauol de la Grassèrie publishes (making the twenty-first volume of the "Bibliotheque de Linguistique Américaine") a grammar and dictionary of the Aucan (Araucanian) tongue.
Cainguá. In the "Pop. Sci. Mo." (vol. lii. pp. 400–405) for January, 1898, Dr. Machon's brief account of the "Cainguá Indians of Paraguay" is reprinted from the Bulletin of the Neuchâtel Geographical Society. This tribe is thought to be one of those "reduced" by Jesuits, but "since gradually fallen back, after the decline and ruin of the missions into their primitive savagery." The test of eligibility to marry is killing a tapir, and young men are very jealous of the slightest attentions of strangers to the girls with whom they are in love.
Carib. To the "Journ. Anthr. Inst." (vol. xxvii. pp. 293-315) Mr. Joseph Numa Rat, of St. Kits, contributes a valuable article on "The Carib Language, as now spoken in Dominica, West Indies," ​treating chiefly of the grammar, and giving several paragraphs in the aboriginal tongue with translation. The native word for a Carib is Karífuna, while Karînaku means the whole Carib race. The author suggests the derivation of the word Carib from Kaïrabu, the name of the leeward coast of Dominica, given in answer to some inquiry. A few specimens of the "language of the women" are also given, with the corresponding terms used by the men. The author thinks the Arawak (to judge from certain resemblances) may be the tongue from which these peculiar words, "used by all the Carib women," have been derived—the women-Carib Kąti—"moon," e. g. being the same with the Arawak term. A brief but interesting list of words adopted from the French and Spanish is added, among which, since the Caribs are a sea-folk, it is strange to find sálu, "salt."
Chaná. As a reprint from the eighteenth volume of the "Boletin del Instituto Geografico" (Buenos Aires), S. A. Lafone-Quevedo publishes his study, "Los Indios Chanases y su Lengua, con apuntes sobre los Quevandies, Yaros, Boanes, Guenoas ó Minuanes, y un mapa etnico." The Chanases or Chaná Indians dwell southwest of the mouth of the Paraná. Brinton affiliates them with the Tupi stock, and Gatschet separates it from the Guarani.
Guyana. In the "Intern. Archiv f. Ethnogr." (vol. xi. pp. 51–72), L. C. van Panhuys publishes an article—"Proeve eener Verklaring van de Ornamentik van de Indianen in Guyana"—in which he discusses the ornamental art of the Indians of Guyana, Surinam especially. The study is the outcome of two years' residence at Albina, on the Marowijne, which forms the boundary between Surinam and French Guyana. A most interesting portion of this paper is the notes on the toad in art and in folk-lore.
Guayaqui. Charles de la Hitte and H. Ten Kate publish at La Plata (under date of 1897) a folio entitled "Notes ethnographiques sur les Indiens Guayaquis.’"—Another brief paper on these Indians is that of Dr. Paul Ehrenreich in "Globus" (vol. lxxiii. pp. 73–78), with the title "Neue Mittheilungen über die Guayaki (Steinzeitmenschen) in Paraguay," who makes uses of the first. The Guayaqui seem to be one of the few tribes now surviving in the so-called "stone age," and are very primitive indeed in thought and life.
Guaycurú. What is known (from the time of Dobritzhoffer down to the present) concerning the Abipones, a prominent member of the Guaycurú stock, is presented by S. A. Lafone-Quevedo, in his "Idioma Abipona" (Buenos Aires, 1897, 368 pp. 8vo), a study, which originally appeared in the publications of the National Academy of Sciences of Cordova. The ethnographic introduction and the analysis of the grammar are excellent. The author has made good use of Dobritzhoffer and Brigniel. See Mataco.
​Lengua. Jean Habel's book of travels in the La Plata country, Paraguay and Chili, "Ansichten aus Südamerika" (Berlin, 1897, 176 S.), contains a few notes on the Lenguas of Paraguay.
Mataco. Juan Pelleschi's "Los Indios Matácos y su Lengua" (Buenos Aires, 1897, 248 pp.), which originally appeared in the "Boletin del Instituto Geografico" (Buenos Aires), contains valuable ethnographic data, vocabulary, dialogues, tales, etc. The Matácos, said to be affiliated with the Guaycurú stock, are one of the Chaco tribes, west of the river Paraguay, in the Argentine. Pelleschi's book on the Grand Chaco ("Otto Mesi nel Gran Chaco") was published at Florence in 1881.
Peru. In the "American Anthroplogist" (vol. x. pp. 413, 414), Dr. G. A. Dorsey describes "A Copper Mask from Chimbote, Peru,"—a find noted as unique.
West Indies. "The Aborigines of the West Indies" is the title of a paper by Lady Edith Blake in the "Pop. Sci. Mo." (vol. lii. pp. 373–387) for January, 1898.
GENERAL.
Art. In the "Amer. Antiquar." (vol. xx. pp. 37–44), Mr. S. E. Laidlaw writes of "Miniatures, or Diminutive Relics,"—axes, arrowheads, pots, pipes, beads and rings, etc., many of which, doubtless, served as objects of education or playthings for the children of the aborigines, rude efforts at manufacture, or toys.
Dress and Ornament. To the "Proc. Amer. Antiquar. Soc." (vol. xi. pp. 381–454), Mr. Lucien Carr contributes a detailed account of the "Dress and Ornaments of Certain American Indians."
Inventions. In the "Arch. ital. de Biol." (vol. xxvii. pp. 289–295), A. Benedicenti writes, "Sur l'action physiologique du poison de quelques flèches de l'Amérique du Sud."
Religion. A second edition of Dr. A. Réville's "Origin and Growth of Religion, as illustrated by the Religions of Mexico and Peru," was published in London in 1897.
Symbolism. In the "American Antiquarian" (vol. xix. pp. 260–271) Mr. L. W. Gunckel writes of "The Symbol of the Hand," noting especially its occurrence in the pictographs of the Arizona-New Mexico region and in the Mayan hieroglyphs.
A. F. C. and I. C. C.