# Journal of American Folk-Lore/Volume 13/Issue 48/Bibliographical Notes

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
BOOKS.
The Native Tribes of Central Australia. By Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen. London: Macmillan & Co. 1899. Pp. x, 671.
With this remarkable and epoch-making work comes a flood of long-desired illumination. Both authors are members of the important Arunta tribe, and one has spent the greater part of the last twenty years in the centre of the continent. In 1896–97 they witnessed at Alice Springs a series of ceremonies which occupied more than three months. The desert country is inhabited by tribes distributed into small local groups, each of which takes its name from some one animal or plant, and each of which has its sacred storehouse in a cleft or cave, where are concealed the sacred objects. At intervals of time are performed ceremonies designed to multiply the animal or plant of the group to which the performers belong. It is with regard to the philosophy connected with these groups that the book is especially instructive.
As with North American Indians, traditional history begins with a period at which the land is supposed to be inhabited by mythical ancestors conceived as animal or plant men, more powerful than their living descendants, and who are conceived as inconsistently fluctuating between human and animal characteristics. To this age is given the name of Alcheringa. The ancestors, in course of migrations, carried with them amulets, sacred stones called Churinga; where they went into the ground, at the term of their activity, the spirit part remained in these amulets, while a rock or plant also rose to replace the body; in the shrine so formed, a number of other Churinga were deposited. The spirits present in these holy places are disposed to take second birth, and, the idea of natural conception being unknown, it is conceived that the first perception by a woman of the future birth of a child is due to the entrance into her person of a spirit, whose totem is determined by the spot; for if the Oknanikilla belongs, for instance, to spirits of emu men, then the child will be an emu, without regard to the totem of its mother. The tribe being divided into two exogamous groups, the child, among the Arunta, will follow the class of its father; but the Alcheringa men of the totem will have belonged mainly to one or other of the two groups, and the class chiefly represented will have the first chance in the choice of headman. The child is therefore the reincarnation of an ancestor who was also animal, plant, cloud, water, or fire, the native mind having no difficulty in conceiving that the spirit embodied in any of these may be incarnated in a human body. (On the other hand, as may be observed, the essence of the beast or element is thought of as human, and may and does appear and act in human form, this being the mental root of polytheism, a method of imagination reverting to the most primitive mental conditions.)
When the spirit is born as a babe, he has no further use for the Churinga ​Bibliographical Notes. 73
stone, which accordingly is dropped in the locality ; this is searched for, and becomes the amulet or Churinga of the babe. If not found, then another is made from the Nanja, that is, the tree or stone in which the spirit formerly resided. The Nanja tree is connected with the life of the child ; if it were cut down, some evil would befall him : any creature on the tree is sacred. The Churinga of the child is deposited in the cave or crevice called the Ertnatulanga, which belongs to each totem centre, along with the other Churinga of members of the totem, and is called the Churinga nanja ; no woman may approach the place, or even take a path passing in the neighborhood. The Ertnatulunga become havens for wild animals, which in their locality may not be injured. The spot is also the rudiment of a city of refuge, for a person pursued by others may not be touched while he remains near. A resemblance to modern European usage may be noted, in that the scrapings of the Churinga, mixed with water, are used for medicine (as in Ireland is grave-dirt from the resting-place of a holy man). Robbery of an Ertnatulunga is a rare occurrence ; where such removal has taken place, mourning ensues as if for the dead.
With the totems are associated certain sacred ceremonies called Inti- chiuma, performed at the season associated with the multiplication of the totem animals or plants, and having for their object the promotion of such increase.
In connection with the rites of the kangaroo totem it is made clear that, according to native conception, in the Alcheringa existed animals as well as men : an aged man of the Okira totem is taken to be the reincarnation of a famous kangaroo of the ancient time, who was hunted by wild dogs, killed, and reanimated ; in the rites this event is celebrated. Two blocks of stone supposed to represent kangaroos are rubbed, and a rock-painting made to indicate the fur and bones of the animal. Veins are opened in the arms of young persons, and the blood made to spirt on the ceremonial stone.
Each totemic group, say the authors, is supposed to have a direct control over the numbers of the animal or plant the name of which it bears, and in theory at least have the first right to the animal or plant. But eating of the totemic animal is done sparingly, and as a rite calculated to confer power rather than with the purpose of giving sensual pleasure. The authors, however, conceive that originally there was no tabu against consumption of the totem, such freedom being indicated by the traditions.
An elaborate account is given of initiation ceremonies, which include circumcision. In these may be noted that the candidate is instructed in the events of his totem in the Alcheringa ; thus, in a kangaroo ceremony, the youth was informed of the manner in which, in a given place, the ancestral kangaroo man died, his spirit at a later time passed into the body of a woman, and was born again as a man of the totem having the ancestral name ; it is for the old men to decide what particular spirit is embodied in any given individual, and has the secret and sacred name corresponding. These Alcheringa histories are represented in the sacred pole or cross- framework, by decoration thoroughly conventional, and changing meaning according to the ideas to be represented, as also by dramatic action and
�� � ​costume. At Alice Springs, the evening star is considered to descend into the earth at a particular spot where went down a woman of the Alcheringa; and a child born near that stone will belong to the evening star totem, and be a reincarnation of the original evening star woman, and accordingly receive the same name.
Accounts of the Alcheringa traditions are furnished, by which it appears that these include, as usual with primitive faiths, narrations respecting the chaotic period, the transformations by which the earth was made habitable, effected by beings who are described as "self-existing," the interference of demonic beings, and the defeat and slaughter of the latter. The marital relations in this period seem not to have been restricted by totem. Long migration legends are related, and no doubt contain intermingled historical elements.
In Arunta burial customs, the habit of feeding the ghost does not appear. Speaking generally, nothing except the Churinga amulets are interred with the dead. The camp in which death occurred is burned and the contents destroyed. During the period of mourning, the name of the dead is not mentioned, or only in a whisper, lest the spirit, which walks abroad, should consider that his relatives fail in respect. The spirit, however, is supposed to pass the greater part of the time in the cave which is the Alcheringa birthplace, and here, underground, is a region closely answering to a paradise. From the Nanja, that is, stone or tree marking the abode of any Alcheringa ancestor, arises a double called Arumburinga, which serves to watch over the spirit tenanting the Churinga, and which becomes the guardian spirit of the human personage who is the reincarnation of the ancestor (we have thus both a counterpart and an explanation of the Roman genius); these doubles, together with the spirits, form collectively a group, Iruntarinia, the nearest approach to an Australian pantheon. With these Iruntarinia medicine-men may communicate; the like privilege is bestowed on certain children, who have the "open eye," and who must be serious and sedate. The Iruntarinia are in appearance youthful and smooth-faced; their bodies are shadowy, and they decorate themselves with a precious down. They have no fires, but kill game and eat it uncooked. They may carry off women, and are in general beneficent, though frequently cruel; they destroy by shooting pointed sticks into the body, which can be removed only by a skilled medicine-man. Sometimes they play pranks on wandering travellers. They make medicine-men by communicating new organs to such persons as sleep in certain caves.
The mythology includes nature-myths; thus it is conceived that the sun issued from the earth in the form of sisters, one carrying a newly-born child. The race of the sun-women is alive, being reincarnated in descendants who dramatically represent the original advent. The account is far from clear; it would seem that the visible sun is formed by the headdress of the younger sister.
The authors do not find in the beliefs or ceremonies invocation of superior beings; yet certain of the acts they describe, such as the cleansing of the Churinga and the use of blood in ritual, appear to be acts of worship; also, with ​reference to the spirits who animate and direct medicine-men, it would seem that there must be performances of expressions which reflect the reverence with which they are regarded. If certain of these ancestral spirits should be found to resemble veritable deities, it would be no more than is indicated by the accounts obtained from other parts of Australia, and would be in no way inconsistent with the theory of origins as set forth by the writers. At any rate, the dramatic presentations of myths constitute a form of worship, and the writer of this notice ventures to regard such relation as corroborating views previously expressed by him in regard to the place in ritual of myth-representation.
W. W. Newell.
Folk-lore is a serious science, but unfortunately it has become the fad and pastime of society. Callow youths and gentle maidens assume an air of seriousness and dabble in matters that often ought to be left only to the ripe scholar who is devoid of all pruriency, and who can approach his subject in the spirit of an alienist and medical practitioner. The result of this society interest in folk-lore is that, while no case of psychopathy and degeneracy is ever excluded from medical works, the student of popular customs and beliefs has to betake himself to secret publications, that cannot be procured through the ordinary channels of trade, when he wants to study a subject such as the present book contains. The author, F. S. Krauss, justly remarks in the introduction that "the title Κρυπτάδια is incorrect for this collection, for texts are given that are sung in public, generally during the performance of the round dance. The facts that are offered here are no secrets." Above all, it must be noticed that the philologist will find here a valuable vocabulary of words for which he will in vain look in any of the dictionaries of the southern Slavs. The texts themselves with their explanations throw a light on many dark points in the marriage ceremonies of various nations, particularly on the common custom of stealing the bride. For a common understanding of similar matters contained in Krauss's Sitte und Brauch der Südslaven, the present little volume is indispensable; it also clears up some doubtful facts in Krafft-Ebing's "Psychopathia Sexualis." Probably the most interesting part is that which treats on the songs and ballads of the round dance; the sexual nature of these is incontrovertibly proved, and one can understand why anathemas should have been pronounced against them in the Middle Ages, as for example in Iceland. In conclusion, the author says a few sympathetic words for the Croatians, or rather for the country population of Croatia and Slavonia that is being rapidly Serbianized by a coterie of learned men at Agram.
Leo Wiener.
The part of L. Scherman in this report consists in a notice of the contributions made during the year 1890 (pp. 1-21), and is largely occupied with discussions concerning the scope and use of the words "folk-lore" and "volkskunde," which have now terminated in favor of a wide definition of such terms. The remainder of the report has been prepared by F. S. Krauss, who has undertaken not so much to give an account of the important publications of the period as to indicate the ideas which have animated the researches of this time. As the fundamental principle of modern scientific theory, he recommends the doctrine of Bastian, as summed up by Steinmeitz, that humanity is to be considered as a single species unequally developed and living under different environments. He refuses to admit the existence of any distinction between folk and nation, as if, in treating the ethnographic material, modern institutions ought to be left out of view; as to likening folk-lore to a branch of ethnography, he remarks that it ought rather to be called a jungle. He agrees with A. H. Post that, according to a new discovery of the last few years, like morals and ideas arise independently under like conditions, and that the individuality of ethnic groups is annihilated, mankind moving in lines of development little affected by historical occurrences, while all psychic activities fall into the frame of natural laws; the national genius, formerly held regulative for each separate people, disappears together with those formerly supposed to regulate the courses of the stars. Folk-lore, therefore, is a detailed account of the life of one people, as included in the frame supplied by the life of all peoples.
Krauss does not attach much value to question-books as a means of obtaining a record of folk-lore; in his experience, the invention of new customs, as well as explanations of custom, constitutes an amusement for the imaginative narrator. On distinctions once made between races in a state of nature and civilized he lays small stress; the former are no more "primitive," or immediately related to nature, than the latter, and the latter only in a degree less "fetishistic" than the former. Of the accuracy of folk-memory he has a poor opinion, opining that its retentiveness is limited to a few centuries. As to the theory of folk-tales, he assents to the opinion according to which such are viewed as a complex of tale-elements arranged by one narrator and propagated in innumerable variants from one centre; but he holds that a free exchange takes place between cultured and uncultured races.
The last forty pages are devoted to a mention of publications sent for review to the Jahresbericht, under the following heads: Introductions to folk-lore, mythology, funeral customs, theory of numbers, popular medicine, folk-songs, games of children, riddles, proverbs, general and special monographs, societies and journals of folk-lore. In the course of his work, the author makes frequent and kindly mention of the Journal of American Folk-Lore.
Notice has already been taken in this Journal (vol. xii, p. 230) of the generous contribution of illustrative objects made to the Folk-Lore Society by Professor Starr, whose assiduity in the investigation of Mexican folk-lore is well-known; the catalogue before us carries out a condition of the gift. In a preface Professor Starr enforces the wide field of study and collection offered to the folk-lorist in Mexico: "Here are dialect developments; here are proverbs, witty and wise; here are folk-songs, sweet and touching; here are folk-tales untouched by skepticism; here are charms and formulæ; here are witches and fairies in the full height of their power; here are popular street celebrations and dramas; here are a hundred Oberammergaus, with passion-plays and miracle-plays unspoiled by the crowds of visitors; here are a thousand strange survivals of pagan barbarism in the midst of Christian civilization." The first section, on "Local Industries," illustrates this richness of custom and conservatism of usage. Such diversity exists even in modes of work. At Aguas Calientes, a missionary, building a schoolhouse, had workmen from the locality and others from a neighboring town. The two parties had to be kept at labor on different walls, as they did their work in different manners, and each considered the other's method inferior. Water-carriers in different cities have characteristic water-jars, differing in form, size, and mode of carrying. The evidence of archæology goes to show that analogous local differences marked the pre-Conquest Mexican life. In the collection, such peculiar industries are illustrated by toys of horsehair, drawn-work, silver figures, inlaid iron, lustred pottery, straw pictures, rag and pottery figures. Among toys for children, the most curious are the naguales. These represent a four-legged animal with no tail, a woolly fleece, and a human face. It is usually supplied with some sort of a cap, and bears upon its back the booty which it has stolen from some house. Children are frightened into good behavior by threats of naguales. From examples of common belief, cited by Professor Starr, it results that these figures are often used as masks by actual robbers, who profit by the superstition. (As the word is known to be connected with ancient ideas of sorcery, it may here be suggested that the practice may be the survival of a habit of masking on the part of ancient medicine-men, who were taken for spirits, and who might thus extend their own influence and inspire terror.) In one section, on children's games, the words are given in detail, the sketch occupying thirty pages. In many cases the formulas recorded correspond to those employed elsewhere in similar amusements. It can hardly be said that they are characterized by extraordinary antiquity of phrase or idea; often the vigor of the survival has itself occasioned a more complicated development. Thus, in the game answering to our Hopscotch, the diagrams employed are more various and intricate than usual in the European game; one figure represents a snail-shell, another the body of a giant. Among the games we find, as in English, one representing different kinds of work, ​another the struggle of angels and devils. It is natural that Mexican children perform mimic bull-fights. Popular celebrations furnish a valuable and curious series of illustrations. The clay of the three kings is generally celebrated; these personages are believed to represent three races, Caucasian, Negro, and Mongolian. Cascarones, made of empty eggshells, often filled with square bits of bright-colored paper called "amores," are broken, and masked figures promenade with all sorts of antics. During Holy Week, from Thursday to Saturday, matracas, or rattles, where a cogged wheel is made to strike against a narrow projecting strip by whirling in such manner as to produce a loud rattling sound, are employed; the church bells cease ringing, and great matracas take their place. The figures of Judas sold at this season are illustrated in the catalogue. The Feast of the Dead survives in full vigor; at Tezontepec, for example, offerings are set out, consisting of an abundance of bread, fruit, dulces, wax candles, flowers, and liquors for grown persons, the doors being left open to give admittance to spirits. On the last day of the feast, the family and neighbors meet, and eat and drink the offerings. Popular medicine survives in the fullest force; the stock of the woman who sells remedios may include two hundred remedies, embracing materials from the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. The illustrations show an interesting collection of votive offerings in silver and wax. Under the head of religious pictures is exhibited the manner in which old pagan shrines have been adopted by the new religion; thus Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico, takes the place of the Mother of the Gods, the Aztec Tonantzin. Professor Starr has shown how excellent an idea of the richness of Mexican folk-life may be given by a collection of objects representing, not the pure Indians of the South, but only the Mestizos of northern and central Mexico.
Professor Karl Knortz, an industrious collator of traditional material, has gathered a number of discursive essays in a volume called "Folkloristische Streifzüge" (G. Maske: Oppeln and Leipzig, 1900, pp. 431). The subjects of the several papers exhibit a wide range of literary as well as traditional themes, such as Low-German American literature, American proverbs and expressions, usages of the New Year and of first of April, together with notes on saliva, salt, games, the evil eye, and signs. In a paper on the schoolmaster in literature and folk-lore, the writer shows, from popular rhyme as well as literary allusion, how generally our fathers believed that the principal ability required in a teacher was a talent for wielding the rod. In an account of the White Stag, offered as commentary on a song of Uhland's, Dr. Knortz explains the fabulous creature, supposed to be single in his kind and supernatural, as a survival of a solar myth setting forth the uninterrupted course of the sun. A notice of surnames and nicknames (Bei- und Spitznamen) offers for the amusement of Germans a number of American epithets applied to nationalities or to political parties.
​The "Maliseet Vocabulary" of Mr. Montague Chamberlain (Harvard Cooperative Society: Cambridge, Mass., 1900, pp. 94), being entirely linguistic, lies outside of the province of this journal, and can here be mentioned only as a contribution to knowledge made by a student who is deeply interested in the preservation of legendary lore. An introduction is contributed by Professor W. F. Ganong.
JOURNALS.
1. American Oriental Society. Section for the historical study of religions. II. 1899. Economics of primitive religion. W. Hopkins.—Psychology of the Vedanta and Sankhya philosophies. C. C. Everett.—Historical study of religions in universities and colleges. M. Jastrow.—Relation between magic and religion. C. H. Toy.
2. The International Monthly. (Burlington, Vt.; by the Macmillan Co., New York and London.) Vol. I. No. 2, February, 1900. Recent work in the science of religion. C. H. Toy.
3. The Land of Sunshine. (Los Angeles.) No. 2, July, 1899. Among the Yaqui Indians in Sonora. V Granville.—Vol. XII. No. 2, January, 1900. A mission saints' day in 1868.—A fiesta at Mesa Grande. C. G. DuBois.
4. Folk-Lore. (London.) Vol. X. No. 4, December, 1899. The place of totemism in the evolution of religion. F. B. Jevons.—The folk-lore in the legends of the Panjab. R. C. Temple.—Reviews: works of M. H. Kingsley, West African studies; S. Bugge, The home of the Eddic poems; R. M. Lawrence, The magic of the horseshoe; P. Sébillot, Légendes locales de la Haute Bretagne, and La Veilleé de Noël; W. A. Craigie, Scandinavian folk-lore; N. Marr, Fables of Wardan; T. F. Thiselcon-Dyer, Old English social life; M. Höfler, Deutsches krankheitsnamenbuch.—Correspondence. The Niebelung treasure in English. Burial customs.—Miscellanea. Dorset folk-lore collected in 1897. A crown of thorns. Australian religion. Folk-tales from the Greek islands.—Bibliography.
5. Mélusine. (Paris.) Vol. IX. No. 2, September-October, 1899. Les superstitions popuJaires et la sorcelicrie en Alsace au XVIIe siècle. R. Reuss.—La fascination. (Continued in No 3.) J. Tuchmann.—Dictons et proverbes bretons. E. Ernault.—No. 3, November-December. Renaud le (illegible text) de femmes, chanson populaire. G. Donxieux.—Dictons et proverbes bretons, VII. E. Ernault.
6. Revue des Traditions Populaires. (Paris.) Vol. XIV. No. 10, October, 1899. Notes sur le culte de la terre. P. Sébillot.—Contes et légendes de l'Extrème-Orlent. R. Basset.—Folk-lore des romains de la Hongrie. Enchantements ou incantations. O. Mailand.—No. 11, November. Le culte des fontaines. P. Sébillot.—Contes et légendes arabes. R. Basset.—Les mois en Franche-Comté. Novembre. C. Beauquier.—No. 12, December. Les mois en Franche-Comté. Décembre. C. Beauqcuier.—Le comte et la fée, le roi Renaud. E. Ernault.—Devinettes du Poitou. R. M. Lacuve.—Contes et légendes arabes. CCLXVII.-CCLXXVL R. Basset.
7. Mittheilungen der Schlesischen Gesellschaft für Volkskunde. (Bres- lau.) Vol. VI. No. 2, 1899 Pint: auffuhruriEj schJesischer weihnachtsspiele. F. Vogt. — Schlesische legerden. O. WARUATSCH.---Anekdotenhafte sagen. A. Eichxer. — Besprechungsformelm. O. Senor.z. — No. 3. Dritter bericht fiber oberscMesische erzahlungen. W. Nehrixg. — Buntes aus der s iclost< ■.'-.. Ober- schlesiens. E. Olerich. — Schlesische redensar ten. W. Patschovsky. ​8. Wallonia. (Liège.) Vol. VII. No. 11, November, 1899. Le pèlerirage de St.-Marcoul. C. J. Schepers.—Le folk-lore de Spa. IX. Les fètes populaires. A. Body.—No. 12, December. Hameaux et lieux-dits wallons. L. Delattiœ.—Les trairies de Noël. R. Dusépulchre.
9. Archives Suisses des Traditions Populaires. (Zurich.; Vol. III. No. 4, 1899. Chants patois jurassiens. A. Rossay.—Luzerner akten zura hexen- und zauberwesen. IV. E. Hoffmann-Krayer.—Gebräuche im Birseck. H. G. Sütterlin.—Sagen aus dem Sassthal im Wallis. B. Reber.
10. Arcluvio per lo Studio Delia Tradizioni Popolari. (Palermo.) Vol. VIII. No. 3, July-September, 1899. Esopo, ovvero della rappresenianza allegcr- ica deila favola. G. LiGNANA. — Anticke leggeride sul diavolo. M. Dl Mae- tixo. — Le antiche feste di Sa. Rosalia in Palermo. M. Pttre. — Usi e ccstumi di Aveliino. G. Amai.fi. — Leggende popolari senesi. G. B. CORSr. — -Novel- line tcscane raccolte a Lucca. R. Nerucci. — Indovhielli-aneddoti ve-onesi. A. Balladoro. — Feste. canfi sacri, preghiere in Sardegna. G. Ferraro. — Leg- gende chiusine. M. Ostermann. — Impronte maravigliose in Italia. A. Rac- CUGLIA. — Usi e costumi afr.cani in Massaua, C. Rossi.
11. A Tradioa'.;. (Serpa, Portugal.) Nos. i-ii, January-November, 1S99. This journal is devoted to the collection of ethnographical materials from Portu- gal, including language, folk-lore of all kinds, songs, tales, jests, customs, and superstitions: also costume, methods ci labor, furniture, habitations, in short everything that belongs to the ethnography of a race. The first year of the pub- lication, which is issued monthly and will form a volume of about 200 pages, thows the unlimited supply of material open to a collector in Portugal. The num- bers contain noted music, and are illustrated. The editors are Ladislau Picarra and M. Dias Nunes. Price 60 reis a number; 600 reis the volume. The collec- tion particularly concerns the province of Alemtejo. Following is the table of contents of No. it: Ertatinga Estantiga? CM.deVasconcei.los. — Modas- tstribilhos alemtejauas. I). NlJNES. -- Danca- populares do Baixc- Alemtejo. D. Nu::r.r>. — Therapeutica mystica : Benzedi-ras. A. d'Oliveira.. — Jogos popu- lates: Esconderelos. L. Picarra. — Festas do sacrameuto em Beia. A. Tavares.
12. Zeitschrift d.<n Vureins far Volk&kunde. (Berlin.) Vol. IX. No. 4, 1899. Volksk'indlicbes aus J. W. Wots kolner jugenderinnerungen. L. Frakttl Tirolci Teufclsglaubo. A. F. Dorler. — Kriegs und Sclachten- sage aus dem Marchreide. If. Scnais >vmy.. — Uc'kmnarkisch< kin derreime. M. Gef-Hardt and R. Petsch. — Mahrische martern und rumanische erriuer- ungskreuz* 1 . R. F. Kainxl — Alter deutsche weihnachtslieder aus dem Lungau. A. Petak. — Kleine mitteilungen. — Biicheranzeigen. (Among die notices, re- views of Schermaa und cvir.uss, Berichte 'iber erscheiuungen, Robertson Smith; Religion der Senuten (translation), Max-Mtiller; Nouvelles etudes dt-r mythologte, Sophus Bugge (translated by W. H. Schofield), Home of the Eddie poems.)
13. i\yara Clara? till karnidosi orn do Svenuka Lansmolsn ock SvenskS Fciklif. (Stockholm.) Vol. XV. No. !, 1899. Novska Stev samlade- ock utgivna av Rickasd Steffen, pp. 3-204. Melodies, pp. 203, 204.