1 Vx IFEFf^l' 1 0 ■ 'v^ 1 ^ 1 >^ 1 -^ ■ t^- 1 ^^ 1 M ^^^^^^^^^^^^^4^2 f ^■i ^^^ ji!rwixU)rM:i'.iiwj»i»e.yfij: iiit i' jti «■ i»i'i*nii>i^ liEEEEldilBjMniE\lE m mm Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/folklore01folkuoft FOLK-LORE A QUARTERLY REVIEW OF MYTH, TRADITION, INSTITUTION, & CUSTOM. [Incorporating The Archaeological Review and The Folk-Lore Journal.] VOL. 1.-1890. iator ct ..ofciB. LONDON : PUBLISHED FOR THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY BY DAVID NUTT, 270, STRAND 1890. [XXVIL] LONDON : WHITING AND CO., SARDINIA STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS. CONTENTS. I.— (March 1890.) Editorial ----.. Annual Presidential Address for the Session 1889-90. Andrew Lang Discussion PAGR I 4 15 Magic Songs of the Finns, I. Hon. J. Abercromby - 17 Legends from Torres Straits, L Prof. A. C. Haddon - 47 Greek Trade Routes to Britain. Prof. W. Ridgeway - 82 Recent Research on Folk-Tales. E. Sidney Hartland - 108 Recent Research on Teutonic Mythology. F. York Powell 118 IL— (June 1890.) Some Popular Superstitions of the Ancients. J. G. Frazer - 145 Legends from Torres Straits, IL Prof. A. C. Haddon - 172 A Highland Folk-Tale and its Foundation in Usage. G. L. GOMME - - - - - - 197 Peeping Tom and Lady Godiva. E. Sidney Hartland - 207 "How They Met Themselves." James Darmesteter et AUGUSTE Barth - - - - - 227 Report : Celtic Myth and Saga. Alfred Nutt - - 234 Report : Italian Folk-Songs. Miss R. H. BuSK - - 261 III.— (September 1890.) English and Scotch Fairy Tales. Collected by Andrew Lang 289 The Collection of English Folk- Lore. Miss C. Burne - 313 Magic Songs of the Finns, II. Hon. J. Abercromby - 33' The Riddles of Solomon in Rabbinic Literature. S. Schechter 348 Notes on Chinese Folk-Lore. J. H. Stewart Lockhart - 359 Report on the Campbell MSS. at Edinburgh. Alfred Nutt 369 Recent Research in Comparative Religion. Joseph Jacobs - 384 Report of the Annual Meeting of the Folk-Lore Society W iv Contents. IV.— (December 1890.) Marriage Customs of the Mordvins. Hon. J. Abercromby - 417 Marriage among the Early Slavs. Prof. P. Kowalewsky - 463 The Marriage Ceremonies of the Manchus. J. H. Stewart LOCKHART - - - - - 481 The Story of "The Frog Prince". W. A. Clouston - 493 Folk-Lore Congress, 1891 - - - - 507 Notes and News - - - 127,268,407, 5^3 Review : Les Contes Moralish de Nicole Boson. Joseph Jacobs ------ 270 Correspondence : What's in a Name? E. Clodd. Fascination and Hypno- tism, A. NuTT ----- 272 " How They Met Themselves," C. G. Leland. " Fascina- tion" and Hypnotism, Havelock Ellis. A Tale of Campbell and its Foundation in Usage, Joseph Jacobs - 403 Zanzibar Parallel to Jacques de Vitry, Isabella Barclay. Tales and Legends of the Highlands, J. MacDonald - 515 Miscellanea - - - - 130,275,409, 518 Folk-Lore Bibliography - - 137, 281, 410, 525 Indexes .-.-__ 531 List of Officers and Members of the Folk-Lore Society - 553 Supplements : Tabulation of Folk-Tales - - - 123-154 Index to Archaeological Journals - - - 81-S8 3folfe»Xore. Vol. I.] MARCH, 1890. [No. I. EDITORIAL. SINCE Mr. Thorns invented the term in 1846, Folk- lore has undergone a continual widening of its mean- ing and its reference. It was confined at first to the un- considered trifles of popular thought and usage that go to make up the bulk of such books as Brand's (or rather Bourn's) Popular Antiquities. But it was soon found that these were only to be explained, if explained at all, by comparison with the larger and more definite products of the popular mind — the folk-tale, the folk-song, and the folk-institution — which in their turn formed the raw mate- rial, the protoplasm as it were, out of which Literature itself and the Institutions of the State were evolved. In short. Folk-lore has now been extended to include the whole vast background of popular thought, feeling, and usage, out of which and in contrast to which have been developed all the individual products of human activity which go to make up what is called History. As the meaning of the term Folk-lore has expanded, so the relations of the science that studies its manifesta- tions have extended, till it has been correlated with all the groups of organised studies that deal with the Past of Man. Folk-lore, in its investigations into popular belief, gives aid to, and receives help from, the cognate studies of Com- parative Mythology and Comparative Religion. Folk-lore, in investigating popular usages, often finds traces of past VOL. I. ^ 2 Editorial. institutions which are being studied by the new and vigorous science of Institutional Archaeology. And in study- ing the literature of the people — the ballad, the fairy-tale, the proverb, the chap-book — Folk-lore has often to resort for elucidation to the products of individual artistic creation which go to form Literature properly so-called, especially in that mediaeval phase of it that is known as Romance. And finally, as it has been found by practice that much of Folk-lore that eludes explanation from the thoughts and customs of civilised peoples finds ready elucidation from savage practice and belief, Folk-lore has here points of contact with Ethnography and Anthro- pology. It has been thought fit that the enlarged scope and out- look that Folk-lore has reached in the present state of the science should find full recognition in the official organ of the Folk-Lore Society, henceforth to be called by the name of the science. FOLK-LORE will accordingly welcome con- tributions dealing with the above-named cognate sciences so far as they throw light on popular usage and belief It will record from time to time, in special reports, recent research in these studies that may tend to throw light on the obscurer problems of Folk-lore. One of these studies is so intimately connected with it that no research in Institu- tional Archaeology can be considered as altogether alien to Folk-lore. FOLK-LORE will, therefore, in this direction take over the functions performed almost exclusively in this country by the ArchcBological Review^ and will welcome any contribution throwing light on the origin or development of institutions other than those brought into existence by the direct action of the State. And in all these studies an attempt will be made to give exact and prompt bibliographical information of noteworthy contributions in books or articles published at home and abroad. Readers of FoLK-LORE are requested to aid it in this attempt by forwarding to its Editor references to any of this kind that they think likely to escape notice. Editorial. 3 The instalment in the present number, with the unavoid- able deficiencies of a first attempt, will at least indicate the ideal at which we aim. While paying attention to these cognate studies, FOLK- LORE will continue the work so efficiently carried on by its predecessors, the Folk- Lore Record and the Folk- Lore Journal, of recording, classifying, and discussing the facts of Folk-lore properly so called. In doing this, the aid of members of the Folk-lore Society and of others interested in the subject is cordially invited. Such aid can consist of forwarding to this Journal any instances of popular " superstition", legend, or practice, that still linger in the British Islands or in the outlying parts of the British Empire. In particular, there is reason to hope that a number of genuine English " fairy tales" akin to, but not identical with, " Grimm's Goblins", still linger among old nurses and elderly peasants. It is eminently desirable that these should be saved from oblivion while there is yet time. Correspondence on points relating to the methods of Folk- lore, the best means of obtaining facts and of dealing with them when obtained, is also cordially invited. Lastly, while addressed primarily to the members of the Folk-lore Society and folk-lorists in general, this Journal also hopes to meet with sympathetic readers among all those who are interested in the lives of the people. For when it is asked, who are the Folk whose Lore we study, the answer must be that they are those who have borne and who bear the burden of the world's work. Indeed, the Humanity in whose name we are called upon to exercise our highest strivings is nothing other than the Folk whose feel- ings and inmost thoughts find their sole expression in the utterance and usages which Folk-lore collects, classifies, and reverently examines. B 2 ADDRESS TO THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY. Session 1889-90. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN— Before making the usual remarks on the position and prospects of Folk- lore, I ought, I think, to read you a letter just received from the Secretary of the French Society akin to our own, M. Paul Sebillot. " Ministere des Travaitx Publics^ Cabinet du Ministre. '■^ Paris, le 19 Nov. 1889. *' Monsieur le President, — Au nom de la Society des Traditions populaires, je viens adresser k Folk-lore Society, a I'occasion de son meeting annuel, tous nos voeux pour la continuation de sa prosperite. "Votre Socidte, dont beaucoup de membres font en meme temps partie de la notre, apprendra sans doute avec plaisir que le nombre de nos Societaires depassetrois cents, et qu'ainsi son existence est assuree. L'hiver prochain, nous allons pouvoir tenir des Assemblees periodiques, dans lesquelles seront discutes les problemes qui interessent le Folk- lore, et k cotd de notre Revue, et sans en diminuer I'importance, nous allons fonder la Bibliotheque de Ma Mere I'Gye. " Dans I'avant-dernier numero de la Revue, vous avez pu voir qu'a notre tour nous abordons la ' tabulation' des Contes et des Ldgendes. La Revue des Traditions populaires est ouverte a ceux des membres de Folk-lore Society qui desireraient discuter cette importante question. A la fin du Congr^s des Traditions populaires tenu a Paris, les deux voeux suivants ont €\.€ adopt^s, sur la proposition de M. Henri Cordier : — " * 1°. Adopter d'une fa9on gendrale la classification de Folk-lore Society, en donnantmoins d'importance au sommaire et en subdivisant Pindex alphabitique des incidents en : personnages, animaux, lieux, incidents des objets, etc.; au point de vue pratique rddiger les tables par fiches en prenant, par exemple, pour modele la Bibliotheca belgica, de Van der Hagen, afin que des ^changes puissent etre faits entre les differentes soci^tes folk-loriques. " ' 2°. Le Congres des Traditions populaires, rduni pour la premiere Address to the Folk- Lore Society, 5 fois ^ Paris, se r^unira comme le Congr^sdes Orientalistes d'une fagon pdriodique ; la prochaine session se tiendra k Londres dans deux ans, et M. Ch. T. Leland, president de Gypsy-lore Society, sera chargd de I'organiser.' " J'auraiaureste Thonneur detransmetter A Folk-lore Society I'analyse sommaire du Congres qui est publie par les soins de 1' Administration et les Memoires in extenso qui seront imprimes k part. " Veuillez agrder, Monsieur le President, I'assurance de mes senti- ments les plus distinguds " Paul S^billot, " Secretaire g^n^ral de la Society des Traditions populaires^ Secretaire general du Congrh.'^ You will authorise me, I trust, to express to Monsieur Sebillot our sense of his courteous communication, and our hope that the French Society may go on " from strength to strength advancing". Though she came rather late into the field of scientific folk-lore, it is to France that we owe our most familiar and dearest fairy-tales, those of Perrault and Madame d'Aulnay. If the French collected their volks- lieder and their mdrchen later than did Germany, Denmark, and England, at least they collected them with assiduity and success, and have criticised them with learning and acuteness. It is not needful to do more than mention M. Sebillot himself, M. Cosquin, my own esteemed adversary in theory, M. Henri Gaidoz, to whose energy and erudition our science is such a debtor, M. Carnoy, M. Loys Brueyre, M. Eugene Rolland, and M. Gaston Paris, whose learning is so vast and so genial, with all the many living French authors who, not only at home but in Africa and Asia, widen the boundaries of our knowledge. M. Sebillot speaks particularly of folk-tales, and their classification. From the Journal of the Society, and its reports, you know how that labour of the Danaids is speeding. For one, I look almost in despair at the vast mass of material, at the myriad tales told in every language known of mortals. " There is a deep, and who shall drain it?" says Sophocles ; and who, indeed, shall drain and dredge what the Hindoos call the Ocean of the Stream of Stories ? 6 Address to the Folk-Lore Society, Who shall classify all its very queer fish, and who shall decide the course of their evolution and differentiation ? I would not be discouraging to labourers in this field, and yet, when I look at the tables and analyses, it is rather despair than hope that animates me. Among these innu- merable forms and shapes of fancy I seem to see that the elements are comparatively few, that the myriads of forms are the result of a few elements in infinite combinations. Is it impossible to exhaust these elements ? I occasionally dream, most of us who dabble in the matter do, of some new analysis, some swift and royal road to truth. It appears that we do not yet know how far to discern between recently borrowed stories, when we meet them among alien peoples, Red, Black, or Yellow, and stones which are older than the recent visits from Europeans. How are we ever to get over this initial difficulty ? Our only certainties we win, when a nation has a literature The nursery tales in Egyptian MSS. are, at all events, not of later date in Egypt than the age of those MSS. themselves. More we cannot say. We cannot maintain that they came from India, of which we know nothing at the time of the second Rameses, nor that they were indigenous to Egyptian soil, nor that they floated, like the golden and fragrant hair of the wife of Bitiou, down the Nile from Central Africa. We merely note that, even fifteen hundred years be- fore our era, the elements of tales current in our nurseries had already been interwoven with the official mythology and the popular religion of Egypt. Now we may affirm that imported tales would not instantly and hastily be blended with the stories of native and local gods. Beyond that, all is conjecture. If we could read the MSS. of the old Aztecs, and if in them we found nursery tales like ours, we could then be sure that they were not derived from the Spanish conquerors nor from later European visitors. But we cannot read the Aztec MSS. The nearest we get to in- dubitably old American mdrchen is the scanty collection of Huarochiri tales, printed by the Hakluyt Society. In Address to the Folk-Lo7^e Society, n these the elements of familiar European stories are inter- woven (as in Egypt) with the legends of native and local gods, heroes, and sacred animals. To some of us this will be proof that they had existed in Southern America before Pizarro came. Others may sceptically allege, either that the Huarochiri borrowed their myths from the conquerors and inserted them in their native divine legends, or that the Spanish collector, like the Ettrick Shepherd's grand- mother, was " aiblins an awfu' leear". My own sympathies are not with the sceptics. Cases like this are very rare : the oldest voyagers seldom thought of collecting marchen ; it is quite by chance that we learn from Herodotus how the Scythians had the tale of the fortunate youngest son. Nor does that help us much ; people will say that the Scythians borrowed it from India, and though they cannot prove, we cannot disprove, the statement. We seem on safer ground with the Zulus. They have only been in contact with Europeans for little over a century, and they have seen more of our bayonets than of our story-tellers. Whence, then, their wealth of marchen analogous to our own, but most closely intertwined with their peculiar national usages ? Could the borrowing and the acclimatising have been accomplished since the first English crew landed in Natal ? For my own part I think not : I think, if the elements of the stories were borrowed, they drifted south from the great lakes, in the course of commerce and national wanderings. There is no certainty, but an experiment might be tried. A missionary might tell his black flock tales out of Grimm, and, by care- ful watching, might learn how rapidly and to what extent they are modified into conformity with native usage. But here would be all the difference between intentional in- struction, and the chance sowing of the seeds of story. There is also hope wherever we reach virgin soil. The natives of New Guinea can have learned, it might seem, but little of European marchen, yet their legends, of which Mr. Romilly has collected a few, are analogous to our own, 8 Address to the Folk-Lore Society. though not very closely analogous. These considerations lead me to a suggestion which is not intended to super- sede, but to accompany, the regular process of tabulation. That process, as we practise it, seems to me to do little but offer us a series of summaries. We have the bones of the tale, the skeleton — and a very dry skeleton it is— that is all. We might as well compare the stories with the life and blood in them. No harm could be done if some stu- dent would take two sets of stories — say, those of Dr. Callaway from the Zulus, and those of Asbiornsen and Moe, from the Norse. He might analyse each book apart, thus : Supernatural Incidents. Traits of Manners. Incidents not supernatural. Characters — Supernatural. „ Animal. „ Human. r Names of Kindred. Of Trades and Occupations. Dividing the latter into \ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ Personal Names. All this is not free from cross divisions ; far from it. But when the typical tales of Scandinavians, Swahilis, Zulus, Hindoos, Samoyeds, Finns, Eskimo, Celts, Samoans, Maoris, had been analysed thus, perhaps we should have a general idea of what is common to humanity in their narratives, and what is peculiar to different peoples and tribes. If I may guess, I think the universal elements would be far greater than the isolated features. And, though many will disagree with me, I think the barbaric would be out of all proportion to the civilised factors in the stories. Each analyser would, to the best of his ability, explain the chances and processes of borrowing, from European or native neighbours of higher or lower civilisation than the tellers of the tales. For example, if we find the story of Rhampsinitus and the Thief among modern Egyptians, we should have to decide, Is it traditional there, or can it Address to the Folk- Lore Society. 9 be shown to be derived from modern travellers acquainted with Herodotus ? Turning from this to a kindred topic, it would be pleasant to discuss Mr. Clodd's theory of Rumpel- stiltzkin. Wherever we find a form of this tale, the result hangs on the discovery of the name of a supernatural being. Mr. Clodd, if I understand his article in our Jourfial, explains this as a survival of the world-wide belief that to know a man's name gives you power over the man — a belief shown in the dislike of savages to reveal their own or their neighbours' names. Rome, as we all know, had a secret name, for similar reasons. To myself, the story of Whuppity Stourie or Rumpelstiltzkin seems not neces- sarily to have so archaic an origin. The elf or fairy simply relies on possessing a name so unusual and odd that nobody is likely to guess it. It answers to the anecdote of Mr. R. L. Stevenson and the curious American, who met him on the plains, found a mystery in him, and did everything to know what his name was. Mr. Stevenson mystified him till he met him in San Francisco, and then disappointed him horribly by saying that Stevenson, plain Stevenson, was his name. There is no more than a jest of that sort, to my mind, in Rumpelstiltzkin. The heroine gets no magical hold over the elf by knowing the name, no hold at all beyond what the elf has himself given by way of a wager on a kind of riddle. Wagering on divinettes or riddles is itself a savage amusement, and we have many examples in the Scotch ballads. Mr. Clodd would have convinced me, if the power secured over the elf was magical, if it was not, in all cases, a wager or bet, the elf being con- fident in the possession of a very odd name. That of Whuppity Stourie, perhaps, is derived from the stoiir, or flying dust, in which Scotch and other fairies are believed to fly about. As to the origin and diffusion of popular tales, it does not seem that we learn much more, with all our labour. Other members of the Society no doubt understand better than I do the theories of a White Archaian Race, which, it lo Address to the Folk- Lore Society, seems, in some very distant past, invented the essentials of civilisation, myths, art, and everything, and handed them on to races who were neither Archaian nor White. How we know the colour of this important people, and wherefore they are called Archaian, where they came from, whither they went, and what, in the words of the son of Father William, " made them so awfully clever", I confess that I do not understand. This, of itself, proves nothing ; we are as ignorant of whence the Egyptians came, and of the beginning, which must have preceded the art of the ancient empire. The spade may yet let air and light into this dark place, or geographers in pathless downs of unexplored Central Africa may find the Archaian whites all at home, or may hit on the ruins of their primeval civilisation. But, so far, the Archaian race seem to me to dwell in Laputa, or Zu Vendis, or El Dorado, rather than in any more sub- stantial city. On this point, too, we may receive infor- mation. Another important example of recent folk-lore study is Mr. Gomme's essay on " Totemism in Britain". I need not explain to the Society what totemism is — the belief that certain kindreds descend from animals, plants, and other natural objects and phenomena, the naming of the kindred after these objects, and a certain sacredness which, in each kin, is ascribed to the animal, plant, or what not. Many years ago, I mentioned the existence in old England of stocks called by the names of plants and animals. That of itself at least raises a presumption, and suggests research. A man may be called Fox or Hare, a stock may be called Wallings, Derings, and so forth, yet their ancestors may never have traced descent to whale or deer, hare or fox. I have since, I think in Myth, Ritual, and Religion, given a few traditions, mainly Celtic, of descent from seals, wolves, and so forth, as, in the case of Conaire, from a bird, coupled, in Conaire's case, with the totemistic prohibition to eat birds. Now, when you get confessed belief in animal descent, a name declaring that Address to the Folk-Lore Society, u descent, and sacredness attached to the animal or other fancied ancestor, you have totemism scarcely to be argued against. Mr. Gomme has found examples in Clan Con- nolly, derived from Coneely, a seal, the clan holding it unlucky to kill seals, and maintaining that some of their ancestors were changed into seals in ancient times. This is good enough for me ; here, I think, we have totemism. It is almost beyond the calculus of chances that such a foolish faith should have arisen accidentally, separately, unconnected with the causes, whatever they may be, which produce totemism among red men, black men, yellow men. But I think we must be extremely cautious in regarding superstitions at large about animals as vestiges of totemism. The whole superstition of metamorphosis may exist apart from totemism. People may believe that witches turn into hares, and souls into spiders or butterflies ; they may decline to kill spiders like the Bruces, or to mention salmon ; they may wear the salmon as a badge, like the Campbells ; they may dress up in the skins of beasts in sacred dances ; they may assume names from animals, and object to killing certain animals, and yet totemism may have nothing to do with any of these customs. They arc all customs or beliefs which totemists do practise, yet the animal name may be a mere nickname ; the wearing of animal skins may have a magical purpose, the badge may be a mere amulet or fancy, the metamorphosis may be not totemistic, but a myth derived from a name, a pun, or from a poetic guess ; there may be special causes, in fact, and to- temism may have nothing to say in the matter. Is it not plain that a white night-moth may be fancifully or superstitiously called a " soul" from its soft, ghost-like flight in the dark- ness, though no tribe ever claimed descent from the moth ? The birds into which the Huron witch and her son were changed, in Lafitau, were not said to be the totems of the family, any more than a lion, or an elephant, or a mouse was the totem of the Ogre in Puss in Boots, In short, I cannot, even provisionally, call cats, hares, magpies, butterflies, 12 Address to the Folk-Lore Society. sparrows, swans, wrens, ravens, otters, " totem objects" in England, with Mr. Gomme. They may, or may not, have been totems, but the superstitions about most of them may have a dozen different and non-totemistic origins. Where salmon are not named by fishers, as usual in Scotland, I fancy the superstitious fear is that the fish may hear his name, and make off. The minister, also, may not be named at salmon fishing ; will Mr. Gomme say that the worthy clergyman has been a totem ? You may object to cut down a tree, not because your ancestors once believed in descent from it, but because it is the home of a bogie or fairy, or what not, which is unconnected with totemism. A grove may be sacred like that of Lyceian Zeus, for the same sacred reason. People have abstained from eating cows, not be- cause they were totems, but because they were so valuable in other ways. Again, totemists are said to keep pet specimens of their totems, like the sacred mice in the temple of Sminthian Apollo, but who would argue that boys keep guinea-pigs, rabbits, toads, ravens, and so forth, as a survival of totemism ? Even where the animals are sacred, totemism may have nothing to do with it. It is a question of proof in each case. The swallow is esteemed, as in the old Greek popular song, because he " brings the spring", not because he is a totem. Ceyx and Halcyone were metamorphosed in a poetical myth, totemism has no part here. Pregnant women, " if frightened by a hare", are said to have children with hare lips. What on earth has this to do with disrespect to the totem ? A woman fright- ened by a black man may have a black baby for all that I know, but the black man is not a totem. Mr. Gomme includes the peacock, because the screams of a peacock are thought to forebode death. Is the peacock a native bird, or was this superstition brought from his native home ? Is a death-watch a totem ? If a trout catch worms, is that because a trout was once a totem, or because trout eat worms and are their natural enemies ? It will be observed that I speak as Advocatus diabolu Address to the Folk- Lore Society. 13 Nobody is more apt to believe in totems than myself, and perhaps I am more inclined than Mr. Gomme to think that the Aryans went through a stage of society and culture so very common as this totemism was. Why should the Aryans have been better than other people ? The myths of Greece and the ritual of Greece are full of what I regard as very probably totemistic survivals. People may say these were borrowed. They cannot prove it ; and, if it is true, so much the worse for the Greeks. But, at the cost of seeming to claim to be the only true believer in totemism, I must protest that I think we cannot be too careful. Mr. Gomme has found some two or three cases of totemism in these countries, mainly in an isle notorious for its verdure and its wrongs, which seem beyond doubt. Others he has found where there is a very strong presumption of totemism. The vast mass of his examples may spring from totemism, but other explanations, and singular causes are admissible. To me it seems premature to " colligate" all those scattered superstitions by the totemistic hypothesis. It may give the enemy,' who believes in the omnipresence of solar myths turning on a Disease of Language, it may give him occasion to shoot out the tongue. This does not prevent Mr. Gomme's essay from being most interesting, and, in a few cases, I think conclusive. But it is a long way from presumption to proof. In short, it is true that totemism if once prevalent in Britain would have left behind it just such relics as Mr. Gomme has carefully collected. But the prevalence of these relics does not demonstrate the pre- vious existence of totemism. Among Mr. Gomme's possible relics is the custom of wearing beasts' skins in certain old merry-makings. These are curious ; but to " hang a calf-skin on thy recreant limbs" may be practised without totemistic intention. I think Catlin mentions dances of men thus draped, for the purpose of securing luck in the chase. As to names from beasts, even critical totemists derive their personal, as we should say, their Christian names from beasts without any 14 Address to the Folk- Lore Society. totemistic meaning. Chingachgook, the Mohican, was not a serpent by family or totemism. We weie all at school with boys called Pussy, Piggy, Monkey, and so forth. Thus, on the whole, we feel driven back to the opinion that, though our folk-lore may, and probably does, hold traces of totemism, the evidence is by no means good enough to convince our opponent, ej^tept in two or three cases, and those Irish. It would be pleasant, were it possible, to review all the fresh contributions to the year's folk-lore. But for that purpose a man would need much leisure, and a knowledge of all European languages, including Finnish. I shall offer a few remarks on ballads. Professor Child of Harvard has put forth the sixth of his eight volumes, and we cannot too kindly congratulate America on his most valuable and really exhaustive work. On one point Mr. Child has not yet convinced me. We all know the ballad of Marie Hamilton, executed for kill- ing her own child, by Darnley, at the Court of Mary Stuart. Now Kirkpatrick Sharpe fancied that this ballad was founded on the death of a Miss Hamilton, a maid-of- honour at the Court of Peter the Great. Mr. Child adopts this opinion, "however surprising it may be, or seem, that, as late as the eighteenth century, the popular genius, helped by nothing but a name, should have been able so to fashion and colour an episode in the history of a distant country as to make it fit very plausibly into the times of Mary Stuart." Now it is true that none of the Queen's Maries died for an intrigue with Darnley, But a French woman of the Queen's chamber did suffer for child-murder, and Knox expressly states that there were ball ads about " the Maries and the rest of the dancers of the court". To me it seems more plausible that, given an actual scandal, and given ballads about the Maries, the ballads finally adapted the scandal, than that, in the eighteenth century, so many ballads were made about Miss Hamilton in Russia, and were fitted into the time of Address to the Folk- Lore Society. 15 Mary Stuart. So late a ballad would have been more his- torical and less poetical. The lady was executed in Russia in 1 7 19. Burns quotes a verse of the ballad in 1790. Could eighteen very diverse variants have been made of a ballad on a contemporary event, in less than a century ? Perhaps no ballad has so many variants ; one of them even enables the lover to save the lady's life. I cannot believe that this mass of myths is the growth of part of the last century, nor sprung from an event in a distant though con- temporary court. But Mr. Child seems to think this the only tenable opinion, and it is certainly curious that the lady seems to be dying across seas far from home. But her parents might have been in France, or might have lived near a Scotch seaport, hence her address to the mariners, which, itself, has a parallel in a Romaic ballad. The problems of Folk-Lore are infinite. We have only guessed at a few of them, and, perhaps, have only demon- strated that we are likely to go on guessing. But that is a very old form of the sport; and, if the Philistines mock us, it may be by an inherited distaste, for Samson, when it came to guessing riddles, had the better of the Philistines. Andrew Lang. Discussion. Mr. NUTT drew the attention of the meeting to Jeanroy's theory of the origins of the ballad literature of modern Western Europe as derived from mediaeval French lyric poetry, which has now dis- appeared, but the existence of which was postulated by the author in order to account for folk-poesy. Mr. GOMME thought it was a good thing once a year, in taking stock of our progress, to hear objections to our methods, instead of being content with compliments. But objections raised, even by the great authority of our President, need not off-hand be considered as objections proved. He (Mr. Gomme) was concerned chiefly with two subjects, one a personal one, the other a general one. The President had done him the honour of specially criticising his paper on " Totemism in Britain." The President objected to some of his 1 6 Address to the Folk- Lore Society, evidence, because certain superstitions and customs might be referred to some other origin than that of totemism. Mr. Gomme's argument throughout the paper was that totemism, having been suggested by the evidence of place-names and some other evidence — if it existed among the tribes of Britain like it existed elsewhere, it must have imprinted itself on folk-lore. Then, with this hypothesis he had classified the superstitions of animals and plants current in Britain under heads derived from savage totemism, and he had found that they fitted the classification so completely, each section over- lapping to such an extent as to justify such a classification being established as a working hypothesis only fo r future labourers. With reference to the more general question of criticism by the President, the Society's method of tabulation, Mr. Gomme wished to enter a strong protest against any plea for change of action. Of course, no one would use for scientific purposes the abstract of tales only, but they would use the abstracts as a guide to the tales themselves. Mr. Gomme thought the President's suggestion to compare whole collections of one savage or barbaric people with whole collections such as Grimm's a most valuable one, but still the tabulations would assist in such work as this. The tabulation of folk-tales was not a process like Mr. Spencer's tabulation of sociological phenomena, because no choice was left to the tabulator of folk-tales ; he had simply to set down all and everything. We might possibly improve the form, and certainly the index of incidents was one branch of the tabulation which needed close attention, great care, and considerable improvement of method by the tabulators. But this could be accom- plished, and still the present method might stand. The present method had been decided upon by a committee of eminent specialists in folk-tales, and he thought, until some considerable progress had been made, it was too early to speak of the scantiness of results. There were many workers, and they were working hard. He hoped that when some of this work was garnered, the President would admit that the Society's plan was valuable. It would be enhanced ten-fold if other countries could be got to adopt the same or a slightly modified plan, and he thought some of M. Ploix's suggestions in a recent issue of Revue des Traditions might be acted upon. Prof. Rhys brought forward some examples of anecdotes about animals from Celtic saga which, he thought, might plausibly be traced to totemism. Rev. A. LOWY remarked that a knowledge of a person's name played a great part in many Oriental legends. MAGIC SONGS OF THE FINNS, FROM the earliest recorded times, spells, charms, in- cantations, and exorcising formulas have been in use. They were employed in the past by peoples enjoying a higher civilisation, like the Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, and are current at this moment among those whose culture has never reached the stage of making pottery, like the Australians. We must, therefore, believe that magic songs and charms were a very early expedient for defence against the dangers of the unseen world. In- deed, they are almost the inevitable result of an animistic view of nature. When once man supposed that every visible object, whether possessed of organic life or no, is inhabited by a spirit in its nature but a double of himself, and capable of injuring or benefiting him, he would natu- rally imagine the invisible personage could be influenced and controlled in the same way as an ordinary individual. A Finnish hunter before starting for the forest could sing : O Kuufarf^ bake a suet cake, A honeyed bannock, Fdivdtdr, ^ With which I'll make the Forest kind, Will make the Backwoods well disposed Upon my hunting days, During the times I seek for game. {Loitsu-runoja^ p. 201.) After he has made an offering he can say : Approve, O Forest, of my salt — my dish of oats, O Tapio.^ (Z. R., p. 226.) 1 Moon's daughter, or Mrs. Moon. 2 Sun's daughter, or Mrs. Sun. ^ xhe forest god. VOL. I. c 1 8 Magic Songs of the Finns, When about to undergo a water-cure the patient may recite : O pure water ! water's Mistress ! Water's Mistress ! water's Master ! Make me now both well and healthy, Beautiful as formerly, Since I pray in chosen language, Since I give thee as an offering Blood in order to appease thee, Salt as well to reconcile thee. (Z. R,, p. 232.) If the presence of a spirit is considered undesirable, it may be appealed to either by threats or promises to remove elsewhere. As spirits, like men, are not of equal strength, and may prove quite as obstinate, it may become necessary to threaten them with the vengeance of a greater and more powerful spirit who happens to be on the other side. For naturally they divide into two classes, good and bad, according as they seem such in their behaviour to- wards man. In this case the man of understanding and magic lore will menace the recalcitrant spirit with the anger of his strong ally, the powerful beneficent spirit, just as a small boy threatens a bully that he will tell his big friend, who will certainly punch the tyrant's head. For instance, rust in corn is thus addressed in a Finnish spell : Depart, O Rust, to tufts of grass, *' Frog " ! get inside a lump of clay, If thou should raise thy head from there, Ukko ^ will split thy head in two With a silver knife, with a golden club. (Z. R., p. 150.) Another incantation, for a somewhat similar purpose, ends much in the same way : If that should be of no avail, Yet there is Ukko in the sky. 1 The thunder god. Magic Songs of the Finns, 19 May Ukko smash thy head, O may he crush it into pulp With his copper waggon — his iron cart. (Z. i?., p. 115.) A sleigh, with posting horses, is all that a spirit requires in order to take his departure, a Finn is quite ready to furnish him with that. One formula begins : If thou should ask to travel post — Should for a driving-horse beseech, 111 give thee, troth, a posting-horse — Procure for thee a dark grey nag. That thou may journey to thy home. To thine own country may return. (Z. i?., p. 20.) In the year 1880 Dr. Lonnrot edited and published a very large collection of magic songs, Loitsu-runoja, abounding in curious ideas, quaint expressions, and, to us moderns, strange ways of regarding nature, which demand the attention of folk-lorists. He has classified their con-' tents under a number of headings to denote their purpose. After a long introduction the collection begins with eighteen general formulas, which he terms : Preliminary, Defensive, Envy, Vengeance, Origination, Reparation, Inflammation, Expulsion, Posting, Pain, Reproaching, Ecstasy, Distress, Boasting, Stilling, Menacing, Exorcising, and Fastening formulas. Then follow forty liberating or healing charms for as many ailments or other evils ; fifty- one classes of magic spells and charms to be recited on such occasions as when divining, going out hunting, fish- ing, at a marriage, etc. ; seventy-three classes of prayers which hardly differ from many of the preceding ; and, finally, fifty-one births or origins of animals and things. Altogether there are 893 magic songs under 233 separate heads. They are, without exception, in the same metre as the Kalevala, the readers of which must be already acquainted c 2 20 Magic Songs of the Finns. with the general nature of Finnish spells, charms, and incantations. The Preliminary formulas were used when the wizard was about to begin operations. Defensive charms were of use when going on a journey to avert the attacks of witches and evil wishers. Envy formulas ward off the baleful effects of envious glances. The Vengeance formula inspires any kind of enemy with fear. In healing the sick the Origination formula was employed to detect the origin of a disease should that be uncertain. In the Reparation formula the originator or cause of any disease or injury was invoked to come and repair the damage he had committed. The Inflammation formulas were useful for snake-bites and inflammatory wounds. The Expulsion charms were employed in many diseases, but especially in such as were thought to originate from "elfshots" and witchcraft. The Posting formula might be recited after an Expulsion or Menacing formula. The Pain formula assuaged pain, aches, and contusions. The Reproaches were used after a bite from a snake or from any animal, also in cases of toothache, hurts from fire, cold, stones, etc. By means of the Ecstasy formula a wizard's nature became hardened and invigorated. The Distress formula was available in sudden attacks of pain and disease. In the Boasting formula a wizard, by dint of brag, hoped to inspire other wizards, witches, and opponents with alarm, and himself with confidence. Great pain was assuaged by reciting the Stilling formula. The Menaces were sung after an Expulsion formula when that had proved in- sufficient. Diseases, curses, and evils wrought by witch- craft were conjured away by means of the Exorcising formula. When this had been effected, these evil spirits were pinned to the spot by the recitation of a Fastening formula. It is undoubtedly a matter of regret that Lonnrot has not given these magic songs in their original form. Several of the same contents, sometimes as many as twenty, have been welded into one to fill up the deficiences which each Magic Songs of the Finns. 2 1 individual one contained. This he did on the score that a collector is never given a charm complete ; either through the forgetfulness of the reciter, or fear lest by doing so it should become inoperative when he again requires it for his own purposes. Though the births or origins come last in the collection, I propose to take them first, on account of their greater variety of contents, and perhaps their greater interest. It does not seem difficult to understand what may have led the Finns to lay stress upon knowing the name, origin, and birthplace of a malevolent Being, such as a disease, a pain, a beast of prey, etc. To do so was highly natural, was only to act in conformity with every day's experience. If a wizard were called in to exorcise the evil spirit, say of Ague, he would feel confident that a charm in which it was conjured to depart under the name of Rheumatism would be of no avail. He would be sure Ague would refuse to budge unless addressed by his proper name, and might even strongly resent being called Rheumatism. In fact it would be like serving a man with a summons in which someone else's name had been substituted, thereby ren- dering it inoperative. It was therefore the business of a wizard to find out the real name of the evil Being, which in the case of disease was tantamount to correctly diagnosing the symptoms. With the ravages of wild beasts it would be just the same. If through them a farmer lost his cows or his horses pasturing in the forest, he would naturally think that reciting charms against wolves would be useless if the damage had been committed by a bear. He would feel bound to ascertain the true cause of the mischief But in the collection of origins about to follow, several will be found that seem to be rather fragments of ordinary songs, with a sly vein of sarcastic humour running through them, than serious incantations or magic songs. In the original the origins are given in alphabetical order, but here I have roughly classified them under the following heads ; 22 Magic Son^s of the Finns, Mankind — man, wizard. Animals— bear, cat, dog, elk, horse, pig, seal, wolf- snake, viper— lizard, snail. Birds — raven, titmouse. Fish — pike. Insects — cabbage-worm, wasp. Vegetable kingdom— birch, flax, oak, trees. Metals — copper, iron. Instruments — arrow, boat, net. Diseases — ague, cancer, colic, rickets (atrophy), scab, skin eruption, stitch (pleurisy), swelling on the neck, toothworm (toothache), whitlow. Miscellaneous — ale,brandy, cow-house-snake, fire, injuries caused by spells, law-courts, particles of chaff in the eye, rust in corn, salt, salves, sharp frost, stone, water. With regard to the translation, I have tried to make it as literal as is compatible with intelligibility, and with- out doing too great violence to English idiom. For I think folk-lorists require a greater adherence to the letter than a translation from a purely literary point of view ought to exhibit. Yet, as the original is in metre, a certain rhythmical measure has been preserved when that could be done without loss in other more important directions. In Finnish, the second line of a couplet is nearly always a repetition in other words of its predecessor, and stands in apposition to it. If there is no subject or no verb in the second line, this must be understood from the line above, though sometimes it is vice versd. As I think intelligi- bility is gained by placing the parallel members of the couplet side by side, instead of one below the other, I have given two Finnish lines in one line in English. The apposition is marked by a dash when any portion of the first member — subject, verb, or preposition — has to be un- derstood in the second member to complete its meaning. When a variant (v,) consists of a single couplet or only half a one, it is given in the body of the text ; when of Magic Songs of the Finns. 23 several, it is added at the end. A capital F before an English word, both in round brackets, means that the latter is the literal meaning in Finnish of the word it follows. To save an inordinate number of footnotes, a word is put in single inverted commas to show that it must not or need not be taken quite literally. For instance, in nine cases out of ten the epithet * golden' means * dear, precious' ; ' fiery', ' holy' are occasionally synonymous with ' terrible', * awful', * dangerous'. * Iron' as an attribute may also denote ' iron-coloured^ ' Toad' as a term of abuse might equally be translated 'fiend, wretch, loathsome creature'. Double inverted commas are used to call atten- tion to certain epithets applied to animals or personified objects. In Finnish words the dotted vowels are the narrowed open sounds of the corresponding undotted vowels : tt = a in hand, 6 = French eu, u = French u,/ = y in you. The double consonants must be sounded twice. The main stress is always on the first syllable. The first 'birth' is evidently a late composition, and throws no light upon early Finnish speculation regarding the origin of man. I.— The Origin of Man. The strange phenomenon [called] man, great creature of the tribe, Was made from a clod of earth— fashioned from a cake [of mould]. To him the Lord give breath, the Maker breathed it from his mouth. II.— The Origin of the Wizard (noita). Of course I know the wizard's birth— the fortune-teller's (arfq/a) origin. There the sorcerer (noifa) was born— fortune-tellers took their rise Behind the limits of th^ north, in Lapland's flat and open land ; 24 Magic Songs of the Finns. There the sorcerer was born, there the fortune-teller was bred Upon a bed of pine-boughs, upon a pillow made of stone. The word noita, here translated wizard, sorcerer, is the equivalent of the Lapp noaidde, with the same meaning. It is a native word, and probably of the same origin as the Votyak nodes, nodoy " wise", for nodes murt, " wise man", is the word used in their translation of St. Matthew, just as noaidde is used in the Lapp version as the equivalent of magus, wise man, magician. Among the epithets applied to the noida are "fire-throated", "vehement"," oblique- eyed, and " Laplander". Another common word for "wizard, wise man", but with a less bad connotation, is tietdjd, a derivative from tietcid, to know, to understand, literally ' the knower, he that understands how to do something". The arpoja is the man who makes use of an arpa, " lot, instrument of divination", to divine by. It is a question whether this word is not a loan-word from the Scandina- vian varp, " casting". A third, common word for " witch sorcerer" is velho, from the Russian volkhvo, " a magus, magician". III.— The Origin of the Bear. Where was "broadforehead" born, was "honey-paws" produced? There was *' broadforehead" born, was " honey-paws" produced, Close to the moon, beside the sun, upon the Great Bear's shoulders. From there was he let down to earth — to a honeyed wood's interior, Into a verdant thicket's edge, into a liver-coloured cleft. Sinisirkku^ forest maiden, rocked and swayed him to and fro In a golden cradle, in silver straps, Under a fir with branching crown, under a bushy pine. ^ " Blue siskin or finch." Magic Songs of the Finns, 25 " Broadforehead" then was christened, the "scanty-haired one" was baptised 10 Close to ' fiery' rapids, at the eddy of a ' holy' stream, j Who undertook to christen him ? The King of Himmerkki ^ \ himself, ^ V. Juhannes, priest of gods, I He undertook to christen — to baptise the " scanty-haired". I V. Promised to christen him. The Virgin Mary, mother dear, the holy little serving-maid, Both acted as his godmother and to the christening carried him. What was the name they gave him? "Hulking fellow" " Little Hay-stack", "Lovely shaggy coat of hair", "Honey-paws", "The Corpulent". Variants. 10-12 Beside the river Jordan, at an eddy of the holy stream. E'en Christ was at the christening, the Almighty at the baptism. My dear " broadforehead", my beloved, my lovely little "honey- paws". Of course, I know thy stock — where thou wast born, " broad- forehead", Wast gotten, thou "blue stumpy tail", wast formed, "claw- footed one". There was " broadforehead" born — aloft within the sky. On the Moon's points, upon the Sun, upon the Seven Stars' back, Beside the maidens of the Air, near Nature's daughters. Fire shot in flashes from the sky, air turned upon a whorP While " broadforehead" was produced — "lover of honey" took his shape. 1 Himmerkki = Swedish Hiitimel-rike^ kingdom of heaven. 2 In Karelia ilma^ "air", is sometimes used for maailma^ "world", which may be the meaning here. But in general terms the meaning is clear enough that when the bear was born there was a great com- motion, and Nature's general arrangements were disturbed. "Whorl" might also be taken as short for " the Lord's whorl", ?>., the sun. 26 Magic Songs of the Finns. From there was he let down to earth — into a honeyed thickets' edge, To be well nursed by Hongatar^ — well rocked by Tuometar^ Close to a stunted fir-tree root, under an aspen's branching head, At the edge of "Forest-castle",^ at the 'golden' forest home. Then was "broadforehead" christened, the "dark grey-haired one" was baptised Upon a honeyed knoll, At the mouth of Sara-Joki^ sound, in the arms of Pohja's^ daughter. There he swore his oath on the knee of Pohja^s dame, In the presence of the well-known^ God, under the Blessed's beard, To do the innocent no harm — no injury to harmless folk. To walk in summer properly, to trudge along beseemingly. To live a Hfe of joyousness Upon a swamp, on rising knolls, at the farthest end of rutting \v. playing] heaths, To rove shoeless in summer — in autumn stockingless, In the worst season to abide— pass the winter's cold in laziness Within an oaken room near " Firbranch castle's''^ edge, Beside a handsome fir-tree's root (F. shoe), in a recess of junipers. A maiden walked along the air's edge — a girl along the ' navel' of the sky, Along the outline of a cloud, along the heaven's boundary. In stockings of a bluish hue, in shoes with ornamented heels, A wool-box in her hand, under her arm a hair-filled pouch. She flung the wool on the waters — cast the hair upon the waves. Upon the clear and open sea, on the illimitable waves. ^ Fir's daughter, or Mrs. Fir. 2 Wild bird- cherry's {Prunus padiis) daughter. 3 = Metsoluj the Forest home. " Golden", as an attribute of the forest, means " abounding in game". * Sedge River. ^ Pohja means the north. Pohjola^ the northern home, ^ Or manifest. I Magic Songs of the Finns, 27 These the wind rocked to and fro — the restless breeze swang back and fore, The water's current (F. breath) swayed, As if five tufts of spinning-wool, as if six hanks of flax To a honeyed forest's edge — a honeyed \v. pagan] promontory's point. 1 1 The forest mistress, Mielikki^ the careful wife of Tapids home, Ran waist-deep into the water — up to her garter in the wet, Snatched the tuft from the water, stuffed the wool into her bosom, Speedily she tied it up, neatly folded it up, Placed it in a maple basket — in a pretty little cradle. She walked then to a grove of firs — to a blue wood's interior, To a ' golden' hillock's side under a ' copper'-breasted hill. She saw a fir with branching head, with branching head with golden sprays. Lifted the swaddling bands, raised up the golden chains To the stoutest of the boughs — the widest spreading branch of fir She rocked her friend, swang her darling to and fro Under five woollen coverlits — eight sheepskin coverings. In a blue wood's interior — the centre of a * golden' ring.^ She tended wee " broadforehead" there, reared the " splendid coat of hair" f In a den of spruce — a bush of tender fir. ( V. Under a little shed of oak. "Broadforehead" grew magnificent — shot up to be extremely grand, Short of foot and bent of knee, with flattened nose, and corpulent, Broadheaded, with a stumpy nose and splendid shaggy coat of hair. As yet he had no teeth— no claws whatever had been formed. The forest mistress, Mielikki, expressed herself in words : " I'd put together claws for him— would also procure teeth If he would not begin to harm — not hurry off" to evil deeds." Therefore "broadforehead" swore his oath on the forest mistress' knees In presence of the well-known God, below the Almighty's countenance, 1 " The benevolent, the friendly." 2 /.^., a place surrounded by trees where there was plenty of game. 28 Magic Songs of the Finns. That he would never do a wrong — not perpetrate atrocious deeds. The Maker was himself the judge, the Maker's children — . jurymen. The forest mistress, Mielikki, the careful wife of Tapids home, Started to make a search for teeth, to make inquiries after claws From hard-wooded rowans, from rough and dried-up junipers, From tough and knotty roots, from resinous and hardened stumps. From them she did not get a claw — she did not light upon a tooth. A pine was growing on a heath, a fir stretched upwards on a knoll, A silver bough was on the pine, a golden branch upon the fir. The woman {kapo) seized them with her hands. From them she put together claws. Fastened them in the jaw-bones, planted them in the gums. Then she let go her "little shock" — sent her darling out To tramp the countries of the North — scurry through woody tracts. She sent him forth to tramp a swamp — ramble through bushy copse, To pass the sides of fields run wild — scramble o'er sandy heaths, But no permission did she give to come where cattle range. Within the sound of cattle-bells, on tracts where tinkling bells are heard. ^ Variants. 1-4 The prominent bridegroom, George, son of the supreme man, 1-8 Kuihtana)- was moving upon the waters, Dropt wool on the waters, kept dealing out tufts of wool, Six years they moved about — bobbed up and down for seven summers. Moved [lightly] as a hank of flax, rolled [lightly] as a shock of wool. 1 " The emaciated or complaining creature." The name does not occur elsewhere that I know of The word may be a mistake for Kidppana = "long-necked", king of the forest, and supposed to be an alias of Tapio. Magic Songs of the Finns, 29 1 1 The Virgin Mary, mother dear, the holy little serving-maid. I [ The honeyed Virgin Mary saw the wool-tuft on the water. A considerable portion of this last piece {c) will be found in the Kalevala^ xlvi, 363, etc. w ( " Shaggy," I remember thy birth, thy bringing up, " horror of the land". I V. I remember " shaggy's" birth, the bringing up of ''evil soot". There wast thou born, "cunning one"^ — brought up, O "horror of the land", In furthest limits of ':he North, in Lapland's wide-extending woods — /■ On an alder-mountain's slopes — the shoulders of a pine-branch } hill. I v. Under a birch-tree's triple root, in the recess of two stumps. Thy father is Putkinen^ thy mother Putkitar^ r Thy other kinsfolk Putkinens^ thou art thyself a Putkinen. \ V. Thy kin are in a grove of firs, thy den is in a clump of pines. On moss thou wast begotten — reared in a heather clump, In a dense copse of willows — a grove of wild bird cherry-trees, C On the north side of a brook — the south (F. sun) side of a hill. I V. On the lee-side of a stone — the north side of a hill. Indeed I was there myself as highest juryman, While the ' reindeer-cow' was being made— the ' cow' fashioned. The open-handed Pohja dame knocked out a head from a knoll. Dashed out a back from a pine— teeth from a water-compassed stone, ( Eyes from quartz stone — ears from the stuffing of a shoe, -? V. Eyes from a moonshine stone — feet from a tuft of spinning ( wool. Then rattled off to the christening, carried him off to be bap- tized. 1 Or " tangled ball". 2 From putki, angelica, bearwort, cows-parsnip ; plants on which bears are said to feed. 3 Mrs. Putkinen. 30 Magic Songs of the Finns, IV.— The Origin of the Cat. I know of course cat's origin — the incubation of " greybeard". The cat was gotten on a stove— has a girl's nose, a hare's head, C A tail of HiisVs plait of hair, claws of a viper, \v. K tail of snake's venom, Feet of cloudberries, the rest -of its body is of the wolfs race. v.— The Origin of the Dog. (a.) C Whelp's genesis is from the wind, dog's origin from chilly wind. Xv. a pup's from shining of the sun. ( The old woman Louhiatar^ mistress of Pohjola^ the whore, X V. Untamola's^ [ Ulappala^s^'] blind one, the wholly blind of I Vdindla^ Slept with her back to the wind — her side to the north-west. The wind made her pregnant, chilly wind made her womb heavy. Why is her womb heavy ? She bore a dog in her womb, A puppy dog below her spleen, an earthly creature in her liver Of one month old, of two months old. She at the end of three months' time Began to throw her litter — to lighten her belly, From her womb she threw a dog — a whelp from under her spleen. Who carried the swaddling clothes — the pup's coarse swaddling bandages ? The furious Pineforest Crone carried the swaddling clothes, Rocked [the pup] in her own linen, dandled it in her lap. Caused the whelp to tread [the ground] — the " woolly tail" to mark the way. ^ An alias of Pohjola^ derived from uni^ " sleep". 2 " A remote, distant land ; a wide, open, flat, barren district ; a land behind the open sea", ulappa is another name for Pohjola, 3 " Vdindmoineri) s home." In the old Kalevala, in a variant to ii, 89, 90, Untainoinen is the parallel word to Vdindmoinen^ and at xvi, 271, "the waters of the Viend^ (the Dwina, falling into the White Sea), are parallel "to the open tilappd^ (open sea). Vdindis the Finnish and Esthonian word for the other Dvina, falling into the Gulf of Riga. Magic Songs of the Finns, 31 The best maiden of Pohjola Was standing near a wall, was underneath the window front, Engaged in melting virgin honey, The honey hardened on her finger-points, with it she smeared [its] teeth. A useful dog was the result, a neat, white-collared dog was got That does not eat one up, that does not bite the very least. Variants. 2. The choice [v. little] woman, Penitar^ \v, Pentatar\ I know of course dog's genesis, I guess a puppy's origin. He was made on a dust heap — prepared on a meadow. Begotten of eight fathers,^ born of one mother. Earth's mistress, Manuhutar^ knocked out a head from a knoll, Procured legs from fence stakes — ears from a water-lily's leaves, Struck out gums from the east [wind], formed the muzzle from wind. Parts of {a) will be found in the old Kalevala, vii, 206, etc. In a variant added at the end of that edition it says : " That the blind old man of Uloppala — another name for Pohjola — slept with his own mother, threw himself power- less on her breasts, on the surface of a swamp, on a hillock, where muddy water moves." After this she becomes preg- nant with a dog, as in the versions here given. VI.— The Origin of the Elk. Where was the elk born— the son of Rock* reared ? There was the elk born— the son of Rock reared On the surface of a windy marsh. In a dense clump of wild bird cherries— a thick grove of willows. Its back is from a bent birch-tree. 1 Derived from peni, " a pup, whelp". 2 Compare this with the Zyrian expression for a bastard— a " twelve father child". 3 A derivative of manu^ "the dry land, continent". * Karm poika. 32 Magic Songs of the Finns, Its legs from fence-stakes, its head from a root of ash, The rest of its body from rotten wood — its hair from horsetail grass. This short piece may be compared with the humorous description in the Kalevala, xiii, 105-194, of the elk, made by the Hiisi folk, after which Lemminkainen had such a wild-goose chase. There are several Finnish riddles in which Hiisi' s elk means a pine-tree pure and simple. Hiisi's elk has 100 horns, its skin is eaten, its blood is sold, its flesh is burnt ? Answer. — A pine, its bark (eaten in seasons of scarcity), tar and wood. Father was seeking lynxes, was hunting Hiisi s elks ; he struck down an elk in Hiisi s land, its bones rattled down on the heath, he carried off the blood to Abo ? Answer. — A tar-burner is seeking tarwood in the forest, lops off the branches, and carries the tar to a town. An elk was killed in Hiisi s land, the bones were charred upon the heath, the blood was carried to a town ? Answer. — Tar-burning ; a pine-tree, the branches, the tar. As Hiisi s name is of frequent occurrence, a word of explanation is due to those who are not conversant with Finnish mythology. The Finns have several words for " devil, fiend", such as Hiisi, and its diminutive Hitto, LempOy Perkele, Piru^ Pirulainen, paha henki (evil spirit). Paholainen (the Evil One), Juntas. Of these, Perkele and Piru are derived from the Sclavonic Perkunas, Pertm (the thunder god) ; Juntas is thought to be the New Testament Judas ; the others are native words. To Finnish ears Hiisi sounds less bad than Perkele ; " Go to Hiisi" means " Go to the deuce", while " Go to Perkele" means "Go to the Devil". The reason probably is that the latter is the Biblical word for Devil, and therefore connotes all that the Christian doctrine teaches of him. Hiisi in the genitive, before the adjective " big", corresponds with the English expression "devilish big" or "deuced big". Originally he seems to have been a mountain or a wooded mountain divinity. In the magic songs he and his people are sometimes said to Magic Songs of the Finns. 33 inhabit a mountain ; and in one couplet, given below, Hiisi stands as a parallel word to mountain, just as we have seen above that Tapio can be used as a synonym of forest. Indeed, in the middle of the sixteenth century, Bishop Agricola uses the plural of hiisi in the sense of " heights, wood-grown heights, grove'7 though in his metrical epitome of Finnish mythology occurs the line, " Hiisi procured profit from the forest", that is, he aided a hunter in obtaining game. In course of time we shall find " Hiisi s dog" or cat used as an epithet for disease in general and for toothache in particular; "his seal" (phoca) is rickets, atrophy ; " his fungus" is a tumour or a boil ; " his bird" is the wagtail— Z^;^/^'i- is the raven ; he is the ancestor of the wolf; from his lOO-horned ox with 1,000 nipples on its breast magic salves and ointments are obtained. This wonderful animal must surely be a pine or fir-tree, with its innumerable projecting points like nipples. VII.— The Origin of the Horse. The horse's origin is ft-om Hiisi— th^ choice foal's from a mountain, In a room with a door of fire — a smithy with an iron ridge. Its head is made of stone, its hoofs of rock, Its legs are constructed of iron, its back is made of steel. In several riddles Hiisi' s horse, or simply a horse, means thunder and lightning, or fire and flame, fire and smoke. For instance : A horse neighed from Hiisi' s land ; the knocking of its collar, the shaking of the harness was heard here ? Answer. — Thunder in the clouds, and lightning. A horse neighed in Hiisi s land, the collar shoke, the harness gleamed in this direction ? Thunder and lightning. A horse is in its stall, its tail is above the door ? The fire in a stove and the flame at its mouth ; fire and smoke. ^ Virittdjdy ii, p. 171. VOL, I, p 34 Magic Songs of the Finns. I have given these examples to suggest that a singer in a joking humour might occasionally have in mind some- thing other than a real animal when narrating its origin. VIII.— The Origin of the Pig. The origin of a pig is known— of " downwards-carried snout" is guessed, j Tynymys^ is thy mother, Kynymys^ is thy father. I '0. Kynoner^ \v. St. Kyndneri\ is thy father. With snout and hoofs plough up the ground, with snout rout up the turf, [But] pray don't tear the fences down — don't roll away the gates. A couple of amusing Finnish stories about pigs will be found in the Folk-Lore Journal, v, p. 164. IX.— The Origin of the Seal. A fellow rises from the sea — raises himself from out the waves That counts the ocean isles — keeps watch on water's fish. Six flowers \v. cups] are in his hand, six at the tip of every flower. All are full of train-oil, They congealed into seals. O seal ! " round boy" That roves about the sea, " rough creature" of the ocean fields. Refuse^ was thy father. Refuse was thy mother, Thou art Refuse thyself. Go hence, whither I command. Into the sea's black mud — [its] blue clay, Into a dragon's (F. salmon-snake) throat. ^ A derivative from tyny, tynbs, " a hog". 2 '< Provided with a short stump, snout" {kynii). 3 Hylky (refuse) seems to be a pun on hylke^ a seal. Magic Songs of the Finns, 35 X. — The Origin of the Wolf. {a.) 0 great hungry wolf, excessively fat ' dog' ! 1 know thy stock, I know, sly brute, thine origin. A country girl, a dry-land lass, was travelling on her way. Trod over swamps, trod over lands, trod over sandy heaths. Trod over places trod before, trod over quite untrodden ground. She plucked flowers from withered grass — pellicles from tufts of grass. Wound them about her winding-cloth — into her tattered head- attire. At last she sat upon a stone at a verdant thicket's edge. There she combed her locks — she brushed her hair, She caused her pearls to rattle — her golden ornaments to clink. A pearl dropt down among the grass — a golden trinket with a crash, From this the "crafty one" was born — the "hairy foot" was reared, The " woolly tail" has thriven, the wolfish breed was bred. O everlasting " gad about", an evil son for all thy life, Whence is thy stock, from what, " dread one", thine origin ? Is it from wind or from the sky — from a lake's deep eddy (F. navel)? It's not from wind, not from the sky, not from a lake's deep eddy. " Dread one," I know thine origin — thine upbringing, " horror of the land". Syojdtdr^ spat on the waters — " defective shoulder" ^ on the waves, ^ The Ogress, from sydjd^ " an eater, devourer", with a suffix to denote a woman. 2 Lapa-lieto. Elsewhere she is called Lapa-huUo,^' shoulder Hiisi\ Lapa can also be translated " hip-bone", P 2 36 Magic Songs of the Finns, j Then Kuolata^ appeared, from out the sea rose Kuolaiar, \ ^^ from out the sea rose Nuoratar"- [v. Maaratar] Upon a treeless isle— a stoneless reef. She rubbed her two palms, scrubbed both of them, Obtained a little scurf, [Then] flung it on the waters— on the undulating sea Over her left shoulder. A wind wafted it ashore into a secluded forest. There wast thou born, O " windy throat", there didst arrive, O " hairy nose", Didst appear on the open sea, wast reared in a secluded forest. Wolfs origin is known — where the wolf was born. ( The old woman Loveatar, mistress of Pohjola, the whore, 1 z;. A crone of Virof a rampant quean, an old woman raging mad When bringing forth her sons — giving birth to her children / In the hollow of a frosty pool, in an icy well's recess I V. on the lid of an icy well The fruit of her womb is not born, the foetus is not brought to birth. She removed to another place, was delivered of her sons In a dense grove of wild bird cherries, 'mid branches broken by the wind. The fruit of the womb was born there, the fcetus brought to birth. There she begat a splendid^ boy That eats up bone, bites flesh, draws blood quite fresh. When she had begotten him she said : " Alas for my wretched son, seeing my wretched son is one That eats up bone, bites flesh, draws blood quite fresh, ( Were I to bring him to a room (he would destroy my room), i V. fire would burn my room, C Were I to build for him a bath (he would reduce my bath to bits ) ^ 1}. water would sweep my timberwork away." 1 From kuola^ " slaver, drivel". 2 From nuora, " a cord, rope". 3 psthonia, * Ironical. p Magic Songs of the Finns. 37 Old Vliindindinen said : "Just let him live in happiness Near a wilderness where squirrels live, in a secluded forest." XL— The Origin of the Snake. (a) I know, " crafty one'V thine origin— thine upbringing, " horror of the land", Why thou, O snake, wast born in' grass — wast formed on the earth by spells, O ' worm'. Thou wast born, " crafty one'V wast reared, " horror of the land", r Upon a rugged rock, upon the earth's lowlying depths. I %K Upon a smooth rock in a dark secluded forest. Hiisi ran along the earth, Hiisi ran, the earth perspired. He ran o'er swamps, ran over lands, o'er Lapland's ample wooded tracts, Sweat trickles from his hair, from his beard a lather pours. The "dread one" as he ran succumbed — wearied as he sped along. The " strong one" sank upon a stone — fell to the ground upon a rock. Swooned upon a hilltop, slept on a boulder in a mead. He slept awhile upon the hill — for long upon the point of rock. He snored extremely as he slept, snorted as he lay asleep. From the 'toad's' mouth saliva poured— froth from "ugly's" jaws. Foam from the " strong one's" nose, a clot from Lempds stumpy nose Upon fresh quartz stone (F. thunderstone) upon a rugged rock. Syojdtdr was passing by and ate the slaver on the rock. TheJ slaver burns her in the throat — caused a pricking in her teeth. She spat it from her mouth on the waters, dropt the slaver on the waves. Wind rocked it to and fro, the ocean swell kept swaying it Upon the clear and open sea, upon the lumpy waves. 1 Or " tangled ball". 38 Magic Songs of the Finns, Water stretched it long, and twisted it into a ' distaff '/ A wind then wafted it ashore, water drew it to a cape, A current flung it on a rock into a high cHff's cavity. A wind blew it hard, a chill wind dried it by degrees. The sun baked it into a spiral form in the cliff's cave upon the beach, At the side of a speckled stone — the bosom of an evil flagstone. Hiisi gave life to it, Piru gave it eyes by spells, Lenipo formed the jawbones, the " vile one" assembled the teeth, Hence came " Tuoni's2 grub", " Tuoni's grub", " worm of the earth". Origin was given to the snake, a name was given to the "evil one". Oho ! " evil pagan", thy stock is known, K Juntas started ofl" to run— a weak -legged man to totter off. The wretch became dizzy with anxiety as he had done an evil deed. He ran all day, he ran for two, forthwith he ran a third besides. The villain came from the east — the ' toad' from the place of dawn. When he had come a long distance, at the close of the third day, T\iQjuutaSy^ as he ran, succumbed — wearied as he tottered on, (Fell to the ground upon a rock, flopped upon a heap of stones, \v. Xi^on Jesus' stone of joy,* upon the Creator's rock of sports, J Sank upon a mountain slope, drooped upon a weathered stone, I ^. upon the south (F. sun) side of a hill. He snorted as he slept [v. died], he violently writhed. Jesus pursued his way, was travelling on a journey With three of his disciples— two talkative companions. Juntas sprang from the path—" worn out shoe" from the rock, Firn began to hurry off— made sudden efforts for a bolt. Slaver ran from the * toad's' mouth— slime from the nostrils of the scamp. ^ = snake ; cf. xi,/ line 5. 2 The god of death. 3 ^. Ruotus, Herod. * A stone where festivities and sports are held. Magic Songs of the Finns. 39 The sun baked it hard, Piru stretched it long. 8t. Peter sees the ' toad's' slaver on the rock, The evil one's slime upon the weathered rock. 2 1 He looks at it, he turns it [to see] what the clod on the rock is. He began to talk about it. " What would become of that and into what would it take shape. If thou, Lord, bestowed life, if thou, O God, gave it eyes by spells ? " 25 The great Creator says, the spotless God speaks thus : " Evil would come from evil, a ' toad' from a ' toad's' seed, A hideous one from a fatherless one, a useless one from a motherless." St. Peter says — breaks forth in words a second time : " Kindly accord it life, O Lord, form eyes for it by spells, O God, Let it move through withered grass, go rustling through grassy tufts. Creep among roots of trees, observe the heather stalks." Immediately the Lord gave life — God made it eyes by spells, To the vomit of the evil man — the slaver of the hideous ' toad' From that then the " cunning one" originated — the evil ' pod' increased, A snake began to hiss — a black * worm' to writhe. To move on its belly along the ground, to crawl upon its stomach. Variants. 21. He turns it with his stick, v. He tried it with his finger. 25. Good fesus made reply : " No need to give an evil being life." (..) Whence is 'autumn worm's' origin — * winter worm's' occurrence ? Hence ' autumn worm' originated — ' winter worm' has occurred. f Kihokuola,^ Aijo's'- son, I V. Ikoma^^ V. Kihama^^ v. Kilamo sat upon a stone, 1 " Bubbling slaver." 2 Supposed to be another name for Ukko, the thunder god, and to have the same meaning ; cf Lapp, aija^ " grandfather, thunder", and the Esthonian dijo-le^ " go to the devil" ^ " The sobber, stammerer" (?) * "The hisser" (.?) 40 Magic Songs of the Finns. The " good for nothing" sat on a stone, the " useless fellow" slept on a rock. From it he slipt off suddenly down on the north side of a stone. Slaver dript from the beast's mouth — saliva from the * toad's' jaws. Sybjatar remarked it— ate up the slaver on the stone, Spat it upon the waters — splashed it down upon the waves. The spittle moves upon the sea, the flat lump rolls upon the waves, The * froth'— upon the mighty waters. Wind came and gathered it together, waves drifted it against a rock, Into the inside of an iron [coloured] reed,i into the side of a thick grass. Hence its origin arose, its production was produced. Whence was life obtained for it, whence was its poison flung ? Thence was life obtained for it, thence was the poison flung. From the fire of hell, from the flame of the evil power. 0 underground black ' worm', O ' grub', the hue of death {Tuont), 1 know thy stock with all thy bringing up. Syojdtdr is thy mother, a water-devil^ thy parent. Syojdtdr was rowing on the water, " fire-throat" was bobbing up and down In a copper boat wtth a red sail. 6 Syojdtdr spat on the water — let drop a lump upon the waves, A wind rocked it to and fro, a water current swayed it, Rocked it for six years, for seven summers, Upon the clear and open sea — the illimitable waves. The water stretched it long, the sun baked it soft. The water's surge directed it, the billows drive it ashore. The ocean breakers dash it against the sides of a thick tree. 1 Or "pipe, tube"; " closed-up reed or tube" is an epithet of the watersnake in the Kalevala^ xv, 592. ^ Vetehinen, Magic Songs of the Finns. 41 Three of Nature's daughters {Luonnotar) were walking On the shore of the raging sea, at the edge of the ocean's swell, They saw the [spittle] on the shore and spoke with these words : " What would become of that If the Creator gave it life — put eyes in its head by spells ? " Hiisi happened to overhear, the bad man to observe [it all]. He himself began to create, Hiisi gave life to it, To Syojdtdr's spittle — the hideous ' toad's' slaver. Then it turned into a snake — changed into a black * worm'. Variants. 6 She combs her head, brushes her hair, A hair disappeared from the brush, a hair fell into the water. (..) Pain's daughter, girl of Death, fell asleep upon a field, Threw herself down upon a slope — against the side of a speckled stone. A great blast of wind came — a bitter tempest from the east, And made the girl parturient, quickened her into pregnancy. Then the offspring was born, the evil progeny was yeaned, A snake began to hiss, a * red ant' to move about, A ' worm of the earth' to crawl — to stick a little ' needle' Into a human being's skin or into a creature's [kave\ ' hair '. (/) A tree was growing on holy ground^ — a reed on undefiled land. The reed grew up against the tree— the sedge under shelter of [its] moss. Firu blew into the reed, made the * ring' clatter. From it a ' worm' appeared, rather round and rather long, Then it turned into a ' distaff', twisted into a snake, Into a crawler on the ground — a wriggler on the path. Black 'worm'! O hissing viper, *grub' of the hue of Death {Tuoni), 1 Or, in a churchyard. 42 Magic Songs of the Finns. Of course I know thy stock, I know all thy bringing up, , Of what thou wast formed, "useless wretch", from what thou hast originated, O " cunning one".-^ TuonVs iron-toothed crone, crooked fingered, crumple jawed, Was spinning on a summer's day — at midnight of an autumn night. Blood spashed from the distaff — from the copper spinning- staff. From that wast thou formed, O "useless wretch", from that didst originate, O " cunning one".^ Evil Beings {kehnot) formed a snake, wretches span a viper, A snake was formed, a malignant viper was fashioned In a single summer night — an evening hour in autumn. Of what was the head placed on the evil one ? 5 The head was made of an evil bean. Of what were the malignant creature's brains ? Of the foam of a mighty torrent \v. of ' fiery' rapids]. 8 Whence has the fiend^ its eyes ? From the seeds of Lenipds flax. 9 Whence the ears on the 'toad's' head? From leaves of Lempds birch. C Of what was the snout formed ? Of a scrap of TuonVs pick. ^ ^. Of the evil one's thong. I Of what was the mouth prepared ? Of Syojdtdr's clasp. ^ ^- Of a stump of Lempo's feather. 12 Whence was the tongue obtained? From the tip of Keito's spear. 13 Whence were the teeth procured ? From needles of Manala's^ \v. HiisVs\ girl. 1 4 Whence [came] the wretch's gums? From the gums of Kalma's* girl. 15 Of what was the body made ? Of an evil maiden's hair-plait. 1 Or "tangled ball." 2 Siitoa, a loan word from the Russian zhid^ " a Jew." 3 The place of the dead underground. ^ A god of death, the grave. Ma^ic Songs of the Finns. 43 16 Of what was the back composed? Of Hiisi's pole for raking coal. 1 7 Whence has the evil one a tail ? From the hair-plait of Hiist^s girl- 18 From what were the guts knotted up? From HiisVs belt appendages. 19 Whence has the vagabond life? From HiisVs hearth of coals. Whence has the bane its disposition? From 'fiery' rapids' froth. 2 1 Whence was the heart thrown ? From Syojdtdf^s heart's core. 22 Whence was its poison flung? From an angry torrent's foam. Variants. 5 The head was made of broken pots. v. Of an evil man's (spirit's) thumb. 5 Of the end (F. head) of a shirt-wearer's^ thong. 5 Of a belt-ring of Vdinotdr.'^ 5 Of an evil one's shirt lappet, v. Of the belt clasp of one behind a stream. 5 Of the breast clasp of Syojdtdr \v. Ritikainen\. 8 The eyes were made of mussel pearls (F. seeds). 8 One eye was of a mussel pearl (F. stone), the other of a golden bean. v. the other of an iron \v. Riga] bean. 8 One eye of a golden \v. Tuoni's] mussel shell, the other of a bird cherry's berry. v. the other of a seed of flax. 9 They were composed of willow leaves, v. Of river horsetail were the ears. 12 From the spear of Aijo's [v. Keitds'\ son. v. From Lempo's \v, Keitd's] spear. 12 From a fiery pointed sword, v. From the sword of Kaleva's son. 12 From the hair of HiisVs girl, v. From a female creature's^ hair. 1 2 It's HiisVs hayfork. 1 An epithet of Ruotus (Herod) in the Kalevala^ 1, 237. It means a man in his bare shirt, staying at home and unoccupied with work. 2 Vdindmoineris daughter. Elsewhere she is identified with Pain's daughter, Kiputar, whose character suits her in this instance. ^ Or, ' full grown creature', emdkave. 44 Magic Songs of the Finns. 12 A Hiitolainen's hayfork, a Piitolaineii s iron goad. 1 2 The pricking tool of sudden death. 1 2 [One fork] is the shoe-awl of Keitds son, the other fork of the tongue was brought — was obtained from a comb of Vdinold. 13 From spikes of TuonVs barley-ears, from pannicles of growing corn. The other halves of the teeth are from the teeth of TuonVs pike. 14 From the gums of Tuoni^s girl. v. The gums were from a full- grown fish. 14 From shoots of TuonVs] growing corn \v. barley] — husks of mist's oats, Which are twining \_v. blowing] into stalks, which are becoming bloody. 1 14 From a tender grain of wheat — a husk of tender oats Which is turning into food — rolling in its blood. 15 The body is made of the top oi Lempds skull \v. crack]. 15 Of the end of a hornet's sting (F. rod) — of a devil's thong, 15 Is a Kyroldinen's ploughing whip — a VirolametC s'^ fence-rail. 15 Is 2l\ KyytoldinerU s^ \y. Kyyndldineri s^ ploughing whip — an Ahtolainen' s^ fence-rail. 15 Is an Ahikainen!^ \y. Ahotat^s^ Ajataf's^^ fence-rail — a Mana- lainen's travelling-staff. 15 The lace of a Virolainen' s bark-shoe, a KerolainerHs distaff. 15 A Keitolainen! s boot-lace, a Lempolainen's hair-plait band. 15 A hair-plait of Lempo's girl — of an evil brood. 15 A Hiitolainen' s^ hair, a beard-hair of one that's damned. ^ The line seems to mean, " which are already growing into straw, are becoming fit for food." 2 y^^ Esthonian. ^ An epithet of the viper or adder, from the stripes, kyyt'6^ on its skin. * A derivative from kyy^ a viper or adder. ^ An inhabitant of Ahtola^ the abode of the sea-god Ahto (dimi- nutive of Ahti). ^ = Ahtikainen = Ahtolainen. ^ — Ahdotar — Ahto's wife. « Ajatar, in the plural, is found in the Finnish Bible, Levit. xvii, 7, where the original is literally " the hairy ones", in English versions " devils, he-goats, satyrs". » An inhabitant of Hiitola^ HiisVs home ; here it means Hell. Magic Songs of the Binns, 45 16 The belt from the belt of Tapids wife, the shirt-belt of a shirt-wearer. 16 It's Hiisi's hay \v. coal] fork, the evil spirit's toasting-fork. 16 A woman {kapo) had dropt on a path, Air's girl had fallen asleep, A copper quiver on her back, a copper arrow within it, From that the back was fashioned— the back-bone was com- posed. 1 7 From an evil willow-shoot, v. From the sheath of Kaleva^s son. 1 7 From the shirt-string of a shirt- wearer. 18 From the shirt-belt of a shirt-wearer. 19 The life from Hiisi's glowing coals, v. From the fire of Hell. 19 From Satan's charcoal hill. 19 From evil steam, from the spray of HiisVs rapids. 21 [The heart is] the heart's core of Syojdtdr — a fragment of Mammotar's^ liver. 22 From the surge of Hiisi's stream. XII. — The Origin of the Viper (Adder). Night's girl. Dusk's maiden, who keeps the long evening watch. Was spinning a stony thread — twisting a gravelly one On a stone distaff — a copper spinning staff. The stony thread broke — the gravelly one in her fingers From the stony distaff — the copper spinning staff. What was the end of the broken end ? from that an evil brood was gotten. From that " striped back"^ originated — the " worm of Manala'' was bred. Sturdy old Vdtndnmnen Was splitting mountains, cutting [v. rolling] down rocks 1 Elsewhere she is also identified with Syojdtdr^ and stone originated from a bit of her liver. A common epithet applied to the earth is "liver-coloured". She is probably an earth goddess, and obtains her name from mai7tma^ mammo^ " a breast, a mother'. 2 Kyytoldinen. 46 Magic Songs of the Finns. In iron gloves, protected by copper mitts. He had seized a fiery-pointed sword, Kept swinging his sword in an iron mountain's rift, In the space between two rocks — the recess between five boulders. [His] golden ring fell rattling down into the iron mountain's rift, Into the space between two rocks — the recess between five boulders. From that the "crafty one"i originated — "striped back"- was produced. Some of these lines (i, 4, 5) are introduced in the Kalevala^ xxxix, 93-110, and 1. 6, in the Old KaL, xxi, 72 (var,)y where Vdindmoinen is trying a new sword, forged for him by Ilmarinen, previous to his departure for Pohjola. He is probably making essay of a sword in this fragment also. ^ Or, " tangled ball". ^ Kyytoldinen. J. Abercromby. (To be continued.) LEGENDS FROM TORRES STRAITS. Introduction. IN collecting these myths and legends I could not take down the actual native words, being ignorant of the language, but I have given a faithful rendering of the stories as told to me in broken English. I have nowhere embellished the accounts, and I have given most of the conversations and remarks of people in the very words my informants used ; thus preserving, as far as possible, the freshness and quaintness of the original narrative. I believe that in most cases the native idiom was bodily translated into the " Pigeon English". As to the age of the legends I can form no idea. One point is noteworthy, that not in a single instance did I ever hear of any reference to a white man nor of anything belonging to white men ; for example, a knife was always ' 'iipi\ the old bamboo knife, never 'gi' or ^gi turik' (' knife' ; turik also meant ' iron'). I think I am safe in asserting that thirty years ago there was no intelligent intercourse with white men ; this period may practically be reduced to twenty years, and in some islands to even less. I usually checked the genuineness of the legends by inquiry of other men than the original informants; not un- frequently old men were present, who were often referred to. My narrators were, almost without exception, middle- aged men, and I am always careful to impress on them the importance of giving me the story as they had heard it from the old men. Experience showed me that they were as conservative as children of traditional phrases and modes of expression. Therefore I can confidently claim that this collection of legends really represents the folk- 48 Legends from Torres Straits. lore of the last generation, and the stones may therefore be of any age previous to the influence of Europeans and South Sea men. I have taken very great trouble in satisfying myself as to the sense of the narratives, and in appreciating and con- firming incidental allusions to customs now passed away. There are, however, a certain number of phrases and customs which are obscure to me. On the other hand, one must remember that logical and connected accounts are, so to speak, unsavage, and such narratives from a savage race may justly be regarded with a certain amount of suspicion. The legends are arranged, as far as possible, in geo- graphical order, beginning with those islands nearest to New Guinea and passing southward to Muralug, the island nearest to Cape York, Queensland. Thus the first seven- teen relate to the Western tribe. The legends of the Western tribe, " The Story of Gelam", " The Fightings of Kwoiam", and " The Six Blind Brothers", I hope to publish shortly in a more popular form. Of the Eastern tribe, or that inhabiting the volcanic islands of Uga, Erub, and the Murray Islands, I have collected only a very few legends, having purposely left many others for my friend, the Rev. A. S. Hunt, the resident missionary on Mer, to record. In vol. xix (Feb. 1890) of ih^ Journal of the Anthropo- logical Institute will be found a fairly complete record of the customs of the Western tribe of Torres Straits, and I hope to add an account of the Eastern tribe in about a year's time. The two tribes differ considerably in their customs and language. I have adopted the following vowel pronunciation : — a, as in * father' ; a, as in * at' ; ^, as a in * date' ; e, as in * deft' ; i, as ee in * feet' ; i, as in * it' ; 0, as in ' own' ; ^, as in ' on' ; Uy as 00 in ' soon' ; ??, as in * up'; ai as in * aisle' ; an as ow in *cow'. The numbers in brackets refer to explanatory notes, which will be found at the end of the communication. Legends from Torres Straits. 49 L— The Birth of Kusa Kap. {Told by Nagu {now Wairu) of Badu.) One day Maivvasa of Dauan went along the reef looking for the feeding ground of a dugong (i) ; with him walked his wife, Bukari, a fine, well-favoured woman, possessing a notable pair of large ear-pendants {innti) ornamented with seeds {kusa). Now it happened that a Dorgai (2) named Gidzo had perched in a large tree {Dani) near by, and she cast longing glances at Maiwasa, saying to herself, " Why, that woman go along my man — that man belong to me." Maiwasa was successful in his search, and erected a dugong platform or met on that part of the reef where he found the grass eaten by a dugong ; he spent that night on his neet, but speared nothing. The next day Maiwasa went a long way on the reef at low water to look for marks of the dugong, and Bukari took a pat, or short simple spear, to do a little fishing. Gidzo, taking a large drum, wurup (4), and going to a dry place on the rocks, transformed herself into an octopus {sugii), and waited in this form for the coming of Bukari. Meanwhile Maiwasa wandered a long way off, and was so engrossed in his own business that he paid no attention to his wife's movements. Bukari, looking in crevices and under stones in her search for fish, came at length upon the octopus and attempted to spear it, whereupon the Dorgai resumed her usual form, put her big drum completely over Bukari, and, after changing faces with her, set the unlucky woman adrift on the sea in the drum. Gidzo then went to look for Maiwasa, who called out on seeing her, " Come on, we must go home now, the tide is rising", and Gidzo followed; when she moved or bent down she broke the wind. " Hulloa 1" cried Maiwasa, VOL. I. E 50 Legends from Torres Straits, "what kind of woman is that? Bukari was not like that before." Gidzo lived with Maiwasa as his wife for some time, but though like Bukari in features, she differed from her in many details, and the sudden change in his wife greatly perplexed Maiwasa, who at length concluded that she was a Dorgai. The warup containing Bukari drifted away towards Boigu, and was cast up on the sand beach of Baiibai, a small island close to Boigu ; on stranding, Bukari came out of the drum, and looking round, saw Dauan to wind- ward, and exclaimed, " I am a long way off from my man." On this islet there was neither food nor water, and feeling hungry, she pulled two seeds from one of her ear-pendants and ate them. She continued to eat two seeds every morning and evening till she had finished one ear-pendant, and she wondered what she could do next, for there was no water to drink. When commencing on the second ear she dis- covered she was pregnant, and by the time she had eaten nearly all the seeds she laid an ^gg like that of the sea eagle {Nagaldg). Instead of throwing it away she sat on it, and after a short time a bird was hatched, whom his mother named " Kusa Kap", or " fruit of the seeds", " as no man made him". Kusa Kap immediately but unsuccessfully attempted to fly. When all the seeds were finished Bukari had nothing to eat and " was all bone", but soon the bird-son learnt to fly, and the first thing he did was to catch a small fish and give it to his mother, who exclaimed, " Hulloa ! I have a fish now" ; the bird sang out, " Go on, you eat that"; but Bukari, saying, " He no cooked", gave it back to the bird, who ate it up and then slept, as it was evening. Early next morning Kusa Kap hulloa'ed and flew away, caught a fish, and brought it to his mother, who exclaimed, " Hulloa ! got another fish now," but again refused to eat it, as it was not cooked. The bird looked at his mother, and observed that though she was " all bone" she would Legends from Torres Straits, 51 not eat the raw fish, but, as before, returned it to her son, who then ate it. At daybreak the bird hulloa'ed again; by this time he had grown to a large size. When out looking for fish he saw a dugong floating ; he again brought a fish home to his mother, but with the same result as before. The following day Kusa Kap hulloa'ed at sunrise ; he was now grown a gigantic bird. Bukari took a piece of string and tied a small seed to his leg ; he then flew away, caught a dugong, and carrying it by its claws, dropped it at his mother's feet Bukari said, "We haven't an upr (bamboo knife) (5) ; but the bird stood on the back of the dugong, cut it open with his beak, and removed the bones and viscera, and cut the meat up into small pieces. Leaving the dugong, he flew away and caught another, which he also brought to his mother, who delightedly exclaimed, " Hulloa ! got another now — piccaninny along me gets big food now." Kusa Kap then cut up the second dugong with his beak as before. Early next morning Bukari told the bird to go to Daudai (the neighbouring coast of New Guinea), to ask two of her uncles living there for some fire with which to cook, and for some water to drink, instructing him, when he found their house, to sit down close beside them, and to catch hold of a burning stick in the fire, and also of a pair of " kusu'' (i.e., coco-nut water-bottles) (6), and " when they see the seed on your leg they will know who sent you". Away flew Kusa Kap, and all befell as Bukari predicted ; the uncles filled up all their water-bottles and slung them over his wings, and gave him a bamboo knife and a burning stick {rnoit), which he carried in his claws and brought to his mother, remarking to himself, " Now Bukari will have a better class inside." Kusa Kap then caught another dugong which was pregnant, gave it to his mother and cut it up for her, and this time she was able to cook the meat and eat as much as she needed. E 2 52 Legends from Torres Sh^aits. Next day Kusa Kap caught another dugong, which his mother told him to take to his uncles, and at the same time return the coco-nuts for more water. He did so, and his uncles filled up the water-bottles and gave him another tipi to take to his mother. The untiring bird then caught another dugong, which he gave to the uncles ; he had grown so large that he looked " all along same as island in the sky". Next day Bukari asked Kusa Kap to go to Dauan to look after her husband, telling him, " When you see my man you sit down close beside him ; he will savvy that kusa as belonging to my imiti (ear-pendant) ; when he savvy you go, fly to canoe, catch hold of rope and mast and mat-sail ; he will know you come from me and will follow you." So Kusa Kap flew off to Dauan, and all happened as Bukari expected. Maiwasa took some of his country- men in the cause and followed Kusa Kap in his flight. On reaching Banba, Kiisa Kap flew to his mother and sat down beside her ; as they neared the beach Maiwasa and his friends wondered who had killed all these dugong — the bones strewed the beach " thick like (drift) wood on beach". Directly they landed Bukari ran up to Maiwasa, and catching hold of him, asked what woman was that who had stayed along with him. She then told him all her adventures, including the laying of the egg and the hatching of Kusa Kap, being at the same time careful to explain that "no man make him along of me". Next morning they put all the dugong into the canoe, and Bukari told Kusa Kap to go to Daudai and remain with her uncles, but added that she herself would go home to Dauan, and Bukari wept at parting from her bird-son. The canoe then started for Dauan, but first sailed close to Saibai before making that island ; on nearing the shore Bukari went aft and took a lump of wood which was in the canoe, then the sails were lowered, and the canoe was run fast on to the beach. Gidzo meanwhile was stopping in Maiwasa's house, and had no idea that Bukari had been Legends from Torres Straits. 53 discovered and was now returning ; on seeing Maiwasa's canoe nearing shore she went down to welcome him home, but when she reached the canoe, Bukari, who had been crouching down, sprang up and killed Gidzo by a blow with the piece of wood across the bridge of her nose. n.— The Legend of Dorgai Meta Kurabi. A man named Nadai, living on the island of Boigu, went once into the bush to collect eggs of the mound-bird {sitrkd){\)\ he found a large mound, and dug into it till he came to what he took to be an Q:gg ; he tried to pull it up, but it stuck fast ; then he tried to get another, but neither would that come away. Now a Dorgai was sleep- ing under that mound, and she had attached to various parts of her body numerous large white cowry-like shells {bobouin) (2), and these were what Nadai was pulling at, mistaking them for brush-turkey eggs. Nadai at length caught hold of the boboum attached to the Dorgai's chin, and giving a tremendous pull, unearthed the bogey, when he was so terrified by her appearance that he fled back to his village, Suam, and urged the inhabitants to arm themselves and slay the Dorgai, who was sure to follow. By-and-bye a fly came, and behind it arrived the Dorgai (3), but the men no sooner saw her terrible face than they threw down their weapons and fled in dismay. Nadai then ran on to Pali, where he exhorted the warriors to make a stand against the Dorgai ; but when the Dorgai appeared, preceded as before by a fly, they also scattered in terror. Nadai sped on to Kowai, and then to Gunilai, on the eastern side of the island, but all his appeals for help were answered by a stampede of the warriors as soon as the Dorgai showed herself At last, having nearly com- pleted the circuit of the island, he came to Kerpai, on the north side (he started on the lee or western side), where he once more entreated the people to stand firm and attack 54 Legends from Torres Straits, the Dorgai. They valiantly armed themselves, but when the fly was followed by the Dorgai they took to their heels, as the others had done before, with the exception of one man named Bu. This warrior remained in the kwod, or bachelors' quarters, and armed himself with a bow and arrow, the arrow being of a pattern named jMn (4). When the Dorgai arrived Bu shot her in the stomach, which was ripped open by the well-aimed arrow, and thus she was at last killed. The Kerpai people, however, brutally murdered Bu by piercing him through the eyes (5). They are both now in the sky, the Dorgai going first, being continually followed by Bu. III. — The Legend of Dorgai I. A long time ago, in a village on the lee side of Mabuiag, a young girl cried in the night for food, but her mother either would not or could not give her anything to eat. Attracted by the continual crying, a Dorgai came out from the bush, entered the house, stole away the girl, and killed her. When morning came the mother called together all her male friends and told what had happened in the night ; the men armed themselves with every variety of weapon, even taking their dugong harpoons, and hurried into the bush to look for the Dorgai. They found her sitting asleep with the dead girl on her lap ; the men tried to kill the Dorgai, but she was proof against their weapons, and sank into the ground ; they seized an arm and hand and pulled, till at length the arm was severed from the trunk of the Dorgai. The men washed the arm and hung it up to dry, but in the night the Dorgai came and carried it away ; hence the single hand in the constellation into which the Dorgai was transformed. Legends from Torres Straits, 55 IV.— Why the Spirits of the Dead go to Kibuka. {Informant, the Chief of Mabuiag) There was once a Mabuiag woman named Uga, who went along with the mari of a good-looking man named Tabepa (or Tabepa mari). The latter lived at Pulu, a small island off the far side of Mabuiag. The mother of Uga said to her, " Don't you go along with the Mabuiag men, you go with Tabepa." Tabepa cut a quantity of grass for a dance at Kalalug, a hilly promontory on the western side of Mabuiag. Uga knew he was there, and went to him. Tabepa took her over to Pulu. Tabepa told the other mari who lived in Pulu to leave some turtle and dugong meat at Pulu for the father and mother of Uga, or else by-and-bye his wife's parents would kill them all (i). The mari then took a canoe and all went to Kibuka. They did not go straight, but first made Kaiola and then touched at some other islands, till finally a fair wind brought them to Kibuka. After they had been there a month Uga found that she was expecting ("got family inside"), and Tabepa said to her, " I think I will take you home and pay your parents for it" (2). The people of Mabuiag saw the rain-clouds and numerous waterspouts in the north-west, and at once concluded that Tabepa was returning. Now a Mabuiag man named Kwoia was a former admirer of Uga's, and bore a grudge against Tabepa, because he was selected by Uga (3). On Tabepa's arrival Kwoia suddenly killed Tabepa and all the mari who accompanied him with a stone club, and ran a spear into Uga's abdomen, killing her too. One and all of the murdered folk were transformed into porpoises (4), and they swam back to Kibuka. They, however, did not long stay there, but returned to Mabuiag, accompanied by heavy rain-clouds and a large number of waterspouts. The storm swept over Mabuiag, the force of the waterspouts even 56 Legends from Torres Straits, breaking stones. Men who, hiding from the tempest, had secreted themselves in crevices of the rock, were sucked out by the wind and waterspouts. Thus perished Kwoia and all the inhabitants of Mabuiag. The mari of the newly deceased were conducted to Kibuka by the original mari ; they were all porpoises. V. — The Story of Mutuk. {7 old by Malakula of Badu^ who has since changed names with Manageta of Mabtiiag.) Once upon a time a Badu man named Mutuk was fishing in the sea off a rock, when his line fouled and he dived into the water to free it ; a passing shark swallowed him ("swilled him down") without hurting him. The shark swam on northwards, and on passing over the reef of Mangrove I. Mutuk felt warm, and said to himself, " Now we are in shallow water." When the shark plunged into deeper water Mutuk felt cold and knew they had descended again ; later on the shark swam to Boigu and was left stranded on the reef by the receding tide. Mutuk felt the heat of the sun beating upon the body of the fish and knew that he was high and dry, so taking a sharp shell {id or ido) which he carried behind his ear(i), he hacked away at the belly of the shark until he had sufficiently ripped it open ; on emerging from his strange prison he found all his hair had fallen off. Mutuk found his way to a water-hole on the island and climbed a tree which overhung it. By-and-bye a woman came to draw water, and it happened that she was no other than Mutuk's sister, Metalap, who had married Piti, the chief of Boigu. Looking into the well whilst getting water, she saw in it the reflection of two faces; one was her own face, but whose was the other ? She pondered, she moved her head, and the reflection of it simultaneously shifted also, but the other one did not move, so she proved it was Legends from Torres Straits, 57 not hers ; then she looked up and saw her brother in the tree. She asked if it was really he, and assuring her of his identity, he explained how he got there, and implored her to persuade her husband to take him back to Badu, as his wife and piccaninny were crying because they thought he was dead, and the people would perform funeral ceremonies for him (" make him devil") (2). She told him to wait where he was till the evening and she would then take him to her house ; she went home and brought him good dugong meat and yams and a bamboo knife, upi^ to cut the meat with. At night time Metalap brought Mutuk into her house, and sent a boy to her husband, who was away, to tell him to come home ; he sent back word that he would not come unless told for what he was wanted ; she replied through the boy that he must come, and then he returned. On hearing the whole matter Piti decided that Mutuk could not be sent home then, but must wait a month ; to enliven his term of exile three wives were given him, and his hair began to grow again. At the expiration of the month the chief took Mutuk in a canoe full of Boigu men back to Badu. When the canoe was sighted by the Badu men they said, "It is a Badu canoe — no, it is from Mabuiag — no, it is from Badu." On the canoe nearing shore they recognised Mutuk standing up, and were much astonished, as they thought him dead ; at first they could scarcely believe it was he, but, when sure of his identity, they felt much chagrined at having held the funeral ceremony for a live man. They prepared to receive their guests by taking all the bows and arrows out of a house and by hiding a stone club under a mat near at hand, some one sitting upon it. The Boigu chief said that he and Mutuk would go to the village, but that all the rest of the men were to stay in the canoe. When these two were seated Mutuk's wife identified her husband, and then both he and Piti were killed with the stone club, and the men in the canoe murdered (3). 58 Legends from Torres Straits, All the dead men were then immediately transformed into flying foxes (" j^/^/r^" = Pteropus) (4), who wheeled round and round and flew away to the north. As they passed over the island of Murtai a twig of a piner tree tumbled off" one of the flying foxes, and subse- quently took root and grew into a tree which is there now, for the Boigu men had previously ornamented themselves with bunches of leaves and small twigs of the piner (coral tree, Erythrind) and of the uhu tree (5). As they flew over the island of Widul another ///^^r twig fell down and took root ; on the point of Auboit on Mabuiag an ubu twig fell, and a piner branch was dropped at Dabungai, in the same island, as witness the trees now growing. Once more the flying foxes sped northwards and wheeled above their native island of Boigu ; the women, looking up, recognised them and wept, for they then knew their husbands had been murdered at Badu. The flying foxes passed on to Daudai and came to a hollow zunga tree ; all entered it except Mutuk and the chief, who sat on the top of the tree. Shortly afterwards a man named Budzi, who possessed a large family of daughters, came along with a basket look- ing for crabs {gittld) and " iguana" {karu^n = monitor) ; as he was stooping to pick up a crab the flying foxes in the hollow tree looked out and laughed. In great surprise, he looked up, saying, " Who laughs ?" and proceeded to catch another crab ; again the flying foxes laughed, and Budzi once more looked up and said, " Who laughs ?" This time he saw the flying foxes in the hole, and jumped up and caught all of them and put them in his basket. Then he sat down at the end of a log, and taking the flying foxes out of the basket, he bit off the head of Mutuk and threw the body on one side. Mutuk immediately resumed his proper form and, unknown to Budzi, sat down on the log beside him ; all the rest were served in the same way until only two flying foxes remained. Budzi, thinking to him- self, " I've got plenty kaiki now," turned to look at his heap Legends from Torres Straits, 59 of headless flying foxes, and to his great surprise saw, instead of them, a row of men sitting on his log. He then bit off the heads of the two remaining flying foxes and saw them transformed into men. Budzi said to the men, " You are my men now— I've got a lot of daughters at home, you shall have them and stay along with me" ; so they all went off to Budzi's house, which lay to windward {i.e., to the east or south-east). Budzi gave his eldest daughters to Mutuk and the chief, and the rest fell to the lot of the other men (6). That night, as soon as Budzi was asleep, Mutuk said to his wife, " You come along — we no stop here," and all the men departed with their wives and went a long way in the darkness. In the morning, when Budzi woke, he found his hut empty ; he rubbed his eyes and looked again, but saw no traces of his daughters or their husbands ; outside he easily found their tracks, and immediately followed them. On coming up with the fugitives he asked why they had deserted him ; they replied that there were too many mos- quitoes at his place. " There are no mosquitoes here," said Budzi ; " we will stop here." That night, as soon as the father slept, his family again decamped ;*when Budzi dis- covered their second flight he saw it was useless to attempt to retain his daughters, so refrained from following the party. Budzi, thinking to himself that it was no good one man living in a house by himself, went into the bush to find a madtib bushman who would share his house. He called out, and a man replied. Budzi asked his name; it was Madub. "Well," said Budzi, "you come along and live with me, your name is no longer Madub, it is Budzi — same name as my name — what is your name ?" The bushman made no reply, so Budzi caught hold of him and pulled him, and his arms and legs came off. A second time Budzi went into the bush, and the whole adventure was repeated, even to the dismembering of the unfortunate bushman. A third attempt brought better results, for the bushman answered 6o Legends from Torres Straits. " Budzi", on being asked his new name, and then followed the original Budzi. At sunset they came to what they took to be a large mound of the wild-fowl (i-?/r/^<3:=Megapodius) and slept on the top of it. In the morning Budzi found a white-egg- like body, and tasting it, found it sweet — it was the root of a wild yam (7) ; his namesake also awoke and saw and tasted it ; they then discovered that the hillock was not the nest of the mound-bird, but the heap at the roots of a gigantic yam. " By God !" Budzi exclaimed, " he no gammon fine yam ! this yam belongs to me ; if any man take him may he have elephantiasis {koingnar) in his legs" (8). They then wended their way homewards, and the two Budzi lived together. VI.— The Adventure of Gabakwoikai. {Told by Kirer of Badu.) On the southern side of Badu there are two islands, Zurat and Kwoberkelbai, much resorted to by turtle, great numbers of whicji were caught by the inhabitants. On Kwoberkelbai lived a man named Gabakwoikai, and one morning the men at the village told him they had seen turtle-tracks on the beach at Zurat. " All right," he replied, " I will go." So he started off, but, instead of taking a canoe, he simply sat on the steering-board (walungd) of a canoe and paddled himself across to Zurat. He soon found the eggs, dug them up, and rolled them in a bundle of grass, leaving them on the shore while he went to look for some fruit. The Dorgai who lived on the other side of the island had made a basket ready, and then had gone to sleep for a week, so that plenty of fruit might ripen and fall ready for her, and it chanced that she woke the same day and went to gather her harvest. Gabakwoikai having picked up all the fallen fruit, climbed up into the tree to gather more, and did not see the Dorgai's approach, The latter. Legends from Torres Straits, 6 1 not finding fruit lying on the ground as she expected, exclaimed, " Ulloa ! where all fruit go to ?" Gabakwoikai, hearing the Dorgai's voice, looked and saw the dreadful apparition of a hideous, big-bodied woman with long legs but small feet, and ears so enormous that she could sleep on the one, whilst the other covered her like a mat. The Dorgai, hearing him say in great fear, " What I do now ?" looked up and saw him in the tree. "Who tell you come here ? place no belong to you—fruit belong to me — you steal — bring down all the fruit." Gabakwoikai said, " You think I bloody fool take fruit for you. I can't, my belly no got kaikai (food).^' " Give me the unripe ones, so I fill my basket," replied the Dorgai ; so the man dropped one, and it fell close to her ; she stretched out her hand for it. Gabakwoikai threw another, and the Dorgai took two steps to get it ; a third was thrown still further, so that the Dorgai had to take four steps ; having picked it up she returned to the tree. Gabakwoikai then heaved one on to the top of a tree near the Dorgai's house, and whilst she went for it he clambered down the tree and ran to the shore, carrying the fruit. On arriving at the beach he picked up the eggs and embarked on his board. The Dorgai, returning to the tree, found that Gaba- kwoikai had decamped, and followed his footprints ; the latter, seeing he was pursued, said, "He (.yi'r=she) come now." The Dorgai, arriving on the beach, called after him, " You come, come now" ; to which he replied, " Think I bloody fool go along you — I go back." The men at IKwoberkelbai, looking across the strait, exclaimed, " Ulloa ! Gabakwoikai run; Dorgai frighten him." Gabakwoikai returned home, gave the eggs to the old men, then put some red paint in the kwod (men's or bachelors' quarters) ; a brother-in-law took some, saying, " All right, we go and kill Dorgai." All equipped themselves with their dugong and fish-spears, leaving their bows and arrows behind. The Dorgai was in her house asleep when the men arrived. Gabakwoikai said, " Dorgai wants to sleep" ; he 62 Legends from Torres Straits. then took a dugong harpoon, whilst all the rest sat on her house, aimed it at her, but managed only to transfix her arm with the dart to which the rope was attached. The Dorgai jumped up and ran away to windward, the men holding by the rope just as if she were a dugong. The Dorgai sank into the ground and made water — the spot is to this day a water-hole or well — but soon emerged and ran away again. The Dorgai sank a second time, more deeply, in soft ground. " What we do now ?" said the puzzled men ; " Dorgai go a long way." They took a turn of the rope round a tree and pulled ; they tugged so vigorously, in fact, that the arm of the Dorgai was wrenched off. Shouting in triumph, the men returned to the beach, flung the arm into the sea, and the tide being low, it projected above the level of the water, and is still to be seen as a rock on the reef named Dorgai Zug. The men then returned home, but the Dorgai died in the ground. VII. — The Dorgai of Karapar. {As related by Malakula of Badu.) A Dorgai resided on the small island of Karapar, which lies close to the island of Matu, on the south side of Badu. One day some Badu men on a turtling expedition stopped at Matu to look for gapu (sucker-fish) (i), and caught nine. They slept there that night, and next day all the men sailed to where two rocks (" Mugigu " and " Kaigu") stand up from deep water on the far side of Matu. They lowered the sails, rolled up the mats of which they were formed, fastening them by means of wooden skewers, and deposited them in the basket-like receptacles built on each side of the platform of the canoes. All had good fortune in the turtle-fishing, the crew of each canoe catching from lo to 15 turtle. There being a head-wind, they were obliged to paddle back to Matu for the night. On reaching the island they put the best turtle on the beach and cut up the poorer ones for their evening meal Legends from Torres Straits, 63 The captain told the man at the bow to look after the gapu all night, and to put them directly in the water if they began to turn white (2). In the morning the captain asked if the gapu were all right, and, on receiving a satis- factory reply, the canoes put off, leaving some boys to look after the turtle. The men went to the same fishing-ground, and again had good luck. On returning to Matu, they cut up the inferior turtle for supper, leaving the best to take back to Badu. Again the captain enjoined the man in the bow to look after the gapu, and he kept awake all night, mindful of his duty. The following morning they sailed to the same spot and caught a number of turtle, one canoe securing one of the turtle-shell variety. The fishers returned to Matu and put their captures on the sand-beach, all the fine ones being placed on their backs in a row with the turtle-shell turtle at one end ; they then stuck a flag (dadu) (3), which they made, at each extremity of the row. The Dorgai came and looked, and exclaimed, " By golly, no gammon, those men got plenty turtle ! " That night the captain repeated his orders to the man at the bow concerning the gapu. Next day they went to the same rocks, lowered theii sails, and caught many turtle. Meanwhile, the boys left behind at Matu took a swim in the sea ; by-and-bye their eyes were sore, and they returned to the shore and slept all in a row — the small boys in the middle and one big boy at each end. The Dorgai then came with a large basket on her back hanging from her forehead (4) and a small one on the top of it ; on reaching the sleeping boys, she smothered them all with the mat which covered them, with the exception of the two big boys at the ends of the row. The latter watched the operations of the Dorgai, who took the small boys from beneath the mat and threw the bodies behind her, then replacing the basket-strings round her forehead (for during her murderous work she had relieved herself of the baskets), she put the boys in the basket and 64 Legends from Torres Straits. went to look at the turtle ; the two big boys now sprang up and ran away into the bush. The Dorgai took the turtle-shell turtle, but left the edible ones behind. Arrived at Karapar the turtle bit the neck of the Dorgai, and she exclaimed, "What's the matter with you — what do you play with me for? I'm not a girl !" She threw the turtle down and left the boys in the basket whilst she made an earth oven (amai) (5); when this was completed she threw in the turtle without cutting it first ; then she took it out, and the turtle was dead. She cut the turtle and drank its blood, then removed the liver and ate the viscera raw ; lastly, she put the rest of the turtle at the bottom of the oven, and all the boys above it. She sat down till the feast was cooked ; when she opened the oven all the bones of the boys were sticking up through the meat. She said, " I will eat all the boys first and the turtle last.^' So she devoured the boys and the turtle, leaving nothing but the bones. Feeling thirsty, she said, "By golly, I want drink of water now, my skin belong to me heavy." She drank, and feeling queer, exclaimed, "By golly, what name I kaikai now ? " (i.e.y what have I eaten ?) She had eaten the gall-bladder (gerka) of the turtle ! Then she ate two kinds of plants which are used to kill fish in the water. The canoes now returned to Matu, for the men had caught no turtle, and wondering at their bad luck, and fearing some ill had befallen the boys, had determined to go back to the island. On landing, the men noticed the Dorgai's footsteps in the sand, and exclaimed, " Hulloa ! who's been here and taken a turtle ? " Then they shouted to the boys, and the two big ones emerged from the bush. " Where are all the small boys ?" asked the men. " Dorgai has killed them all." " Yes ? " " Yes."^ " Where he stop ? " " He stop at Karapar." The men took some red paint and put it in the middle of the group, all standing round ; the two best men, Manilbau and Salsalkazi, jumped forward and caught hold of the paint, saying, " All you fellow no come with us, we two only go" (6). They each provided themselves with a Legends from Torres Straits. 65 dugong harpoon, but all the men accompanied the two warriors, contrary to the latter's wishes. When close to the Dorgai's house (probably a hollow rock or cave) one man first looked inside, and made a sign to his companions that the Dorgai was asleep. The two champions inserted the dart into the shaft of the harpoon, and whilst all the men formed a ring round the dwelling, they speared the Dorgai, and the men said, " What he sleep, he dead ! look at the bones of our boys !" and all the fathers wept. Manilbau and Salsalkazi then pulled their darts out of the Dorgai, and all returned to Matu, and fed on turtle, intending to go to Badu on the morrow. Early in the morning they returned home, and said to the assembled crowd, " Dorgai take all boys, take one turtle-shell turtle too ; Dorgai eat all, now he dead." All the mothers and relatives mourned in their houses. viiL— The Story of Upi. {Narrated by Takia of Badu.) Once upon a time a baby-boy named Upi lived in Badu. One day his mother, wanting to go into the bush to make her garden and not wishing to take Upi with her, put him in a basket, which she hung up in the house near the open door. A strong south-east wind was blowing, and after some time had elapsed a gust of wind blew down the basket and carried it outside the house on to some grass, and Upi rolled out. As the mother was digging she broke the stick used for that purpose, and at once she thought some- thing amiss. " I leave my boy," she spoke to herself ; " good, I go look, perhaps someone he take him." So she returned home, to find neither basket nor baby in the house. Crying all the while, she searched far and near outside the house, but could not find her boy ; for it had so happened that a man and his wife had passed that way and taken the child. The man, as usual, was walking in front, followed at a VOL. I. F 66 Legends from Torres Straits. short space by the woman, when the former heard Upi cry. " What name (i) that make a noise ?" he exclaimed. Twice he heard the cry, but his wife heard nothing. On looking about he found Upi, and called out, " Hulloa ! boy there in grass," and close by he found the basket, and putting Upi inside, the latter said to his wife, " You come along ; I find boy belong you and me" (2). Thus, having no son of their own, they adopted this one — ' they sorry for boy.' The man and his wife returned home with Upi, but before they entered their house they left the baby in the bush. The man said, " By-and-bye night he come, we go and take that boy." The next morning they told the men of their village that they had found a boy, and the man carried Upi about to show him to them. Two noted warriors, Manalboa and Sasalkadzi, said, " All right, you take him, we look." Later on they said, " We go play." Then they stuck two posts into the ground a foot or so apart. When this was done they said to the father by adoption, " Give we boy first we spear him." " No, I won't give you fellow, I take him back to the house." To which the two men replied, " S'pose you no give to we, we fight you." So the man was forced to give up the boy ; but he and his wife en- joined them, " No good you spear eyes and belly, you spear arms and legs." The men made fast an arm and leg of Upi to each pole, and after spearing him they went into the "bush to get some food. In the afternoon they again practised javelin-throwing at the luckless Upi, who re- mained tied fast to the posts all day and during the night. He, however, thrived well in spite of the treatment he had received, and grew amazingly. Next day the men went to the bush, and on their return in the afternoon took their javelins and throwing-stick and again amused themselves with Upi for a target. The foster- parents prayed the men, " No take large spear, take small one." The boy cried. That night the man and his wife took Upi away and washed and fed him, but tied him up again. Legends from Torres Straits. 67 In the morning the men once more played and speared Upi ; at noon they went into the bush, but in the afternoon they cast their javelins at the boy. Afterwards the foster- father went to have a look at Upi, who by this time had grown up into a big boy ; the latter said, " You take rope off me, when you sleep I will go away." The man did so, and when all the men slept the boy went. Whilst running through the bush Upi came to a small house, and, entering it, found two corpses {inerkai) inside. He took their skulls, washed them, and put ' bushes' on them, and placed them together on one side and spoke to them, saying, " All men spear me, you two give me good road" (3). They told him to go in a certain direction, where he would find a particular kind of bamboo {upi) growing. He was to go up to it and kick the base of the stem with his heel, and the bamboo would split, and he was to go inside the bamboo, and " by-and-bye upi sorry for you". Upi replied, " All right, you two finish telling me ? I go now" — ' him, he go.' All happened as the skulls had foretold, and after entering the bamboo Upi came out again and made a fire close by. The men at the village looked round the next morning, and, finding Upi had vanished, told his adopted parents that they suspected them of taking him away, to which they replied, "We no take him out, he did it himself." The men took their bows and arrows and went into the bush to look for Upi. They tracked him by the blood- spots to the house where the dead bodies were ; on going inside they saw that the skulls had been used for divining, and resuming their search for Upi, they ultimately found him. Manalboa and Sasalkadzi said to Upi, " You see us, we kill you." ''All right," replied Upi, "you two kill me." All the men came close. Upi struck the bamboo, went inside, and it closed up. The cane then jumped about, and its leaves ' fought' all the men and killed them ; no man went home. The boy Upi remained passive inside ; F2 68 Legends from Torres Straits. the bamboo upi did it all. The bamboo stood up, the blood from the slain men ran down its leaves and dripped into a couple of melon-shells (<2/^/ = Cymbium) which were on the ground. The bamboo upi jumped up again, took the skin off all the men and put them in the place, and, cutting off their heads, deposited them close to the base ' head' of the bamboo tipi. The leaves swept away the bodies of the men. To this day bamboos grow in clear spaces, with no bushes beneath them (4). (I have something in my notes here about Upi getting outside the bamboo, and all the Dorgai coming and wanting to kill him, and a round house with a central post was mentioned, but this part is now illegible ; round houses are characteristic of the Eastern tribe.) The remaining men of the village went to look for Upi, and said to him, " You fight men belong to us ?" " Yes," he replied, " I been fight them fellow," and he re-entered the bamboo, which jumped about and fought all the men, and the Dorgai too. ' No one go home, all he dead.' Upi still remained passive within the bamboo while the blood was again collected. When Upi came out he returned to the skulls and told them what had happened, and asked them, " What you say, finish ?" " All right," they replied, " finish. You go and split all the u-pz, by-and-bye the women will come, you take them all, they belong to you." When he had finished cutting up all the bamboos the women came, and he took them all and went home and told his foster-father, " You take all them women and put in your house, then you come on ; we two go and look for my mother." They went to Upi's mother^s house, and found that she was away in the bush making her garden, but they re- mained in the house, closed the entrance, and pretended to be asleep. When the mother returned she put down her basket outside and looked at the doorway and said, " Who shut my house?" She removed the obstruction and entered her house. Upi looked up and said, " You my i Legends from Torres Straits. 69 mother?" She said, "What your name?" "My name Upi." His mother caught hold of him and cried, and told Upi, " I been look round before, no find you ; I could not cry, that my throat he fast." Upi said that they had come to take her to another house. They looked at a house in the other village and decided to live there. Upi gave all the mothers among the women whose husbands had been killed to his foster-father, but kept all the girls and young women for himself. IX.— Sesere, the Dugong Hunter. Once upon a time a man named Sesere lived by himself at a place called Seserenegegat, in the island of Badu. One day Sesere took his bow and arrow, and went on the reef at low tide to look for fish (i) ; walking along, he came to that portion of the reef which was opposite to the village of Tul, and there he found a pool containing numerous fish, all of which he shot. The men of Tul, envious of his success, came up to Sesere and demanded why he did not stop in his own place instead of encroaching on their reef (2). Then they took the fish away from him, broke his bow and arrow, flinging the pieces away, and, catching hold of his head, pushed him along. Sesere returned home. Next morning Sesere again took a bow and arrow and I went to the same pool in the Tul reef, and shot plenty fish. Once more the Tul men attacked, robbed, and drove him home. Later in the day he walked on the reef, talking and grumbling to himself ; looking about him, he noticed that the grass-like plant which grows on the reef had been bitten so cleanly as if cut with some sharp instrument, and he fell to wondering what fish had eaten the grass, and whether that fish was fit to eat. "I don't know what name — fish he kaikai ?" That evening Sesere went into the bush and picked a quantity of scented leaves, with some of which he yo Legends from Torres Straits. thoroughly rubbed the skulls of his father and mother, and on the remainder placed these relics of his departed parents. Then he lay down with the skulls close to his head, but before he went to sleep he told them what had befallen him on that and the previous day, and inquired what fish it was that ate the grass, and how he could catch it. When he slept the skulls made a small noise, and spake to Sesere, informing him it was the dugong which ate the grass, that it was good to eat, and that if he wanted to catch it he must take six pieces of wood and stick them on the reef where he had seen the marks of the dugong, for it would return to its feeding ground until all the grass was eaten. Three poles were to be erected to windward and three to leeward, they were to be well lashed together, and the steering-board of his canoe was to be tied on to the top. When this was finished he was to go into the bush till he came to a tree on which a Topi bird was perched and making its noise. There he would find a harpoon and rope. These he was to use for harpooning the dugong when it returned on the following night. As soon as the skulls had finished talking Sesere pushed them aside, saying, "Go, you two, you give me bad word" ; then he said, "Come on," and putting them back again, "You speak good word." Nothing further transpired (3), but Sesere did not go to sleep again, he waited till "small daylight", and when the wild-fowl called out he started for the bush, where he found the dugong-harpoon and two pieces of rope, to one of which a dart was affixed (4). Further following out his instructions, Sesere constructed the platform (5), and at night sat on the top of it waiting the arrival of the dugong. In due time it came, and Sesere successfully harpooned it. Leaving the harpoon with its rope on the platform, he hauled the dugong to the beach by means of the spare rope, where he cut it up, and the method of carving a dugong which he then originated has been followed ever since. The platform, or neet^ is still erected according to the plan revealed to Sesere by the Legends from Torres Straits. 7 1 skulls of his parents. After he had cut up the dugong with his bamboo knife (upi) he cooked some of it in an earth-oven (arnai) (6), and some he boiled in a large conch- shell (bu, FususJ, using a small clam-skull (akul), as a spoon. Next day Sesere reconstructed the neet in another place, further out from the shore than before. The Tul men saw him and wondered what it was. At sundown Sesere mounted the neet, taking some dugong meat to eat while waiting. At high water a dugong came ; Sesere harpooned it and dragged it on to the beach ; he returned to the neSt, ate some more food, stood up, and soon killed another dugong. Then he thought he had enough food, as a male and pregnant female had succumbed to his harpoon. He cooked some meat on the beach and slept. At daybreak he smoked a large number of pieces of meat over his fire and hung them on a tree to dry. His neighbours, wanting to know what Sesere was doing, came up and said, "Hulloa ! he got plenty food," and Sesere gave them some meat, but only that of inferior quality, saying, " I give you all my food" ; to which they remarked, " Why, he gammon, he got plenty left." The following night Sesere captured three dugong, and was so busy cutting up their carcasses and cooking the meat that he had no time for sleep. In the morning the Tul men made a wooden framework in the form of a dog, large enough for a man to get inside. They covered it over with the cloth-like sheath or spathe (iwai) which covers I the base of the leaves of the coco-palm, and inserted into this natural cloth the brown fibres of the husk of an old coco-nut, so as to imitate hair. As a test of the efficacy of the disguise, the man inside the dog ran on all-fours along a sand-pit, and the sea-birds flew away screaming. The dog was next despatched to pry about Sesere's house, so as to discover where he kept his meat. When Sesere saw the dog running towards him he called out to it and said, " That's my dog now," and he threw it a 72 Legends from Torres Straits. went sniffing all over the house and round about outside, and it was not long before he discovered choice pieces of meat hanging up. When Sesere was not looking, as much of the latter as could be carried was surreptitiously hidden beneath the skin of the false dog, who then decamped, heedless of the whistling of Sesere and deaf to his re- proaches for its deserting him. That day Sesere made the neet in another place, and at night he harpooned four dugong, two males and two females. The Badu men employed the day in making another dog, and the following morning two dogs went to Sesere, who received them kindly and gave them meat. When they had eaten their fill they began to steal the best meat, and Sesere exclaimed, " Why you take it ? It belongs to all of us ; if you stop here it is your meat as well as mine" ; but the dogs ran off with all they could carry. The next day another dog was constructed, and Sesere re-erected his neet That night five dugong were captured, and going ashore with his prey, he cut them up, and so busy was he that daylight surprised him at his task. Then the three dogs came to his house and were well treated by Sesere, who was repaid with the same treachery as before. On the following occasion Sesere harpooned six dugong, and four dogs came to thieve. He now began to turn matters over in his mind, and soliloquised : " What name that [what is it], that a dog ? I think he man. Dog some- time he come he steal, not all time,'* Once more he took some scented leaves, and after washing the parental skulls he anointed them with fragrant herbs, and spoke to them, saying, " Please, father and mother, tell me whether they are dogs or men ? If they are men, and you tell me to, I will kill them." "Yes," they replied, " Badu men inside, outside is coco-nut, the bones are wood. Suppose you like to kill them. Take your bow and five poisoned arrows (taiek kimus), and put them handy in a corner. When the dogs come to-morrow morning you give them a little food, not too much, or they will run away with it." " Go away," Legends froin Torres Straits. 73 exclaimed Sesere ; " you two give me bad word," and he pushed the skulls away. Then he drew them back to him saying, " Come on — you are all right." Sesere did not make a neet or go fishing that night, but brought all his gear to the shore. Next morning five dogs came running towards him, and he called out to them and gave them each a piece of meat and observed them closely ; then he went outside his house, put on his arm-guard {kadig) (7), and seizing his bow and arrows, shot four dogs dead. The fifth ran away, but he too received a parting shot which sorely wounded him. The Badu men who were on the look-out exclaimed, " See there's only one dog, where are the rest ?" The fugitive cried, " Sesere shot all the others, he shot me too ;" then he fell down dead. Sesere took the coverings off the four dogs he had killed and discovered the men, and having tied a rope round their necks, he dragged them off to the river. On the following day the brothers of the slain men took some red paint (parma) and placed it in the middle of the kwod or bachelors' quarters, saying, " To-morrow we will kill that man." Two great warriors, Manulbau and Sasalkadz, took some of the red paint, and rubbing it over their bodies, said they would go. Sesere, meanwhile, consulted his domestic oracle, inform- ing the skulls that he had killed four men from the big village, and asked whether he would live or be killed. They replied that there would be a big fight on the morrow, and that ultimately he would be killed ; and they further instructed him, when he saw the men coming, to take a large bu shell {Fusus), put it behind his house, and get into it when he was out of breath with fighting, and he would be transformed into a small black bird with a white breast. On the eventful morning Sesere straightened his arrows over the fire and painted himself black and white. The Tul men marched to Seserenegegat in double file, Manulbau and Sasalkadz heading each row. They called out, " Where are you, Sesere ?" Sesere slung a bundle of 74 Legends from Torres Straits. dirrows(ko7til) over his shoulder and sang out, "I am here." But, seeing the number of his antagonists, he deemed discretion the better part of valour, and, transforming himself into the bird, flew on to the top of Manulbau's head. Sasalkadz tried to kill Sesere, but he flew away, and the blow intended for the bird killed Manulbau. Then he flew on the head of Sasalkadz, who also was brained by a blow from a stone club aimed at Sesere ; the latter con- tinued the same tactics until all the men but one were slain by their comrades. This man fled and informed the inhabitants of the three villages of Zauma, Baiil, and Kaulkai what had happened, and then he died too (8). The men of these villages said that on the following day they would go and fight Sesere. After the sole survivor had run away, Sesere resumed his human form, tied a rope round the necks of the slain, and dragged them ofl* to the river. That night he inquired of the skulls whether all the men had finished fighting, and was informed that the men of three villages would attack him on the morrow. Next morning three rows of men marched upon Sesere, and when the latter saw their numbers he thought his end was near. He stood upon a flat stone and again painted himself. When close to the house, the avengers of blood cried out, " Where's Sesere ?" To which Sesere replied, " I'm here." Once more he turned into a bird, and perched upon the head of the foremost man, who bent down so as to enable his neighbour to strike at the bird ; but the wily Sesere escaped, and the blow killed the man instead. Again and again this occurred, the men struck wildly at the nimble Sesere, but always to the discomfiture of one of their own party. At last but two men survived ; these retreated, and spread the news of the fighting to the four villages of Wakaid, Dorgai, Ngaur, and Upai, and when their tale was told they too fell down dead (8). That night Sesere again consulted the skulls, and said to them, " I think I finished them all this time.'' " No," replied Legends from Torres Straits. 75 the skulls, "plenty men come. When you are tired go inside the bu-shell." After breakfast four rows of men came, one for each village, and Sesere changed himself into a bird and pursued the same course as before. When two rows of men had fallen, Sesere grew tired and flew into the shell, creeping round and round until he reached the apex of the spire. The men began breaking the shell at the large end, and when they came to the extremity of the shell, Sesere in his bird-form was discovered. The latter, emerging from the shell, jumped away into the bush, and, still covered with the remnant of the shell, ran up a small hill as a human being, and said, " I am here," and again became a bird. " All right," shouted the men. " Your name is 'Sesere\ Now you will always remain in the bush, and when you see men, you will always call out your own name." For the moment regaining his own form, Sesere replied, "All your women from henceforth are ^Kobebe\ and will live in the bush, and all your men are Dri^ The men and the women who had accompanied them went to Sesere's house, took his dugong harpoon, stuck it in the ground, and it grew into a large tree, the dart simi- larly developed into another tree, and the rope flourished as a creeper. They said that in future these would not be found ready to hand, as in Sesere's case, but men would have to hew the dugong harpoon out of the tree, cut and fashion their own darts, and plait their ropes from the long creepers. No sooner had they taken Sesere's dugong- meat and burnt his house than the charm began to work. The women found themselves turned into birds, the men flew away screeching as cockatoos, and Sesere took flight as the black and white bird which, flitting from bush to bush, still may be heard chirruping out " Sesere, Sesere, Sesere." 76 Legends from Torres Straits. NOTES ON THE PRECEDING LEGENDS. I.— The Birth of Kusa Kap. This legend records the miraculous conception by a woman, from eating seeds, and the laying of an z%g from which a bird was hatched. The bird speedily grew to a gigantic size. Here we have the original of the rumour which d'Albertis records in his book on New Guinea. " They [the captain and engineer of the Ellangowan — the mission steamer, Dr. James of the Macleay expedition and his companion] told me of the discovery of the river Baxter [Mai Kusa], and of a bird of a huge species, which measures 22 feet between the tips of its wings. The engineer, however, diminished these dimensions, as stated by Mr. Stone, to 16 feet. They compare the flapping of its wings to the noise made by a steam-engine, and assure me that they had heard from the natives that it has often been seen to carry a dugong into the air. Some of my companions were offended because I expressed my doubts of the credibility of this story" (i, p. 387). Later on he writes : " As to the gigantic bird of Baxter, on the Maicussar river, I have ascertained that it was a Buceros ruficollis [hornbill], which makes a peculiar noise in flying. This sound, espe- cially when several birds fly together, resembles the noise of a steam- engine ; and I succeeded in convincing two or three discoverers of the great bird, who are now on board the Ellangowan^ of the fact" (") P- Zl^' Accounts of this marvellous bird also appeared in Aus- tralian papers about the month of October, in 1875. D'Albertis may be credited with having discovered what may be termed the real element in the story, the remainder is doubtless due to the imperfect apprehension by the leaders of the expedition of the local legend which the natives, probably Saibai men, were telling them, as the island of Boigu lies off the mouth of the Mai Kiisa river. (i) The dugong (^Halicore australis) is a large marine mammal, something like a whale in appearance, which feeds on a kind of sea- grass which grows on portions of the reef and in deep water. It is said to always return to its feeding ground until the latter is exhausted. (2) A Dorgai is a kind of bogey, which seems to be con- fined to Torres Straits. The nature of a Dorgai may be readily gleaned by a perusal of many of these legends. (3) The dugong- platform is described in the legend of Sesere. (4) Drums are hollowed out of a tree-trunk, and the tympanum is at one end only. (5) The only knife these people had was that made by splitting a bamboo, the siliceous particles in the rind forming a sharp-cutting edge ; when this Legends from Torres Straits. "j^j was blunted a fresh edge could be made by tearing off a strip from the blade. These knives are still used on the mainland of New Guinea, but in the islands they have been entirely superseded by iron knives of European manufacture. The well-known beheading knife is made of bamboo, and Dr. MacFarlane, the pioneer missionary, has informed me that he has seen dugong cut up with a bamboo knife. (6) An old coco-nut, in which one ' eye' is perforated, is the water- bottle of the district ; these are carried in pairs by means of a string, the knotted ends of which are inserted into the hole in the nut, and this is then plugged by a rolled-up fragment of a pandanus leaf. The water is sucked through the latter. ii.~The Legend of Dorgai Metakurabi. 'This legend and the following are star myths. This one is associated with two constellations, one {Dorgai kukilaig) consisting of three stars in a row ; the central one is called ga^ and the other tyfoget (' hand') ; the other, bu, is the Pleiades. These constellations belong to the north-west monsoon, and " when Dorgai come up (from the east) that time make kap'^ — or the dance. (i) The 'wild-fowl' or mound-bird {Megapodius) heaps up a large mound of earth and decaying leaves, within which it places its ^g^^ to be hatched by the heat engendered by the decaying vegetable matter. These eggs are a favourite article of food with the natives. (2) The egg-cowries {Atnphiperas \Ovuluvi\ ovum) are sometimes worn as personal ornaments by the islanders, and are very frequently used to decorate canoes and drums. (3) I have no explanation of the fly episode. (4) The head of this kind of arrow is made of split bamboo and sharpened to a point. It is used in pig hunting, and I was more than once informed that when used in warfare it was invariably aimed at the abdomen, in order to rip it open. (5) I do not under- stand why Bu was murdered by his friends ; generally those who encompass the death of a Dorgai are themselves destroyed by supernatural means. III.— The Legend of Dorgai I. This star myth is supposed to account for the fact that the Dorgai waralaig constellation has only one lateral star (^^/ = hand). I believe this is the constellation of the south-east season. IV.— Why the Spirits of the Dead go to Kibuka. The natives of Torres Straits believed that the spirit of a man left the body at death and went to dwell in an island to the westward. Among the western tribe the spirit is called 7nari^ in the eastern it is latnarj the same word also signifies shadow or reflection. The island jS Legends from Torres Straits. of the shades is called " Kibuka" by the western tribe, and " Boigu" by the eastern. There is no island known by the former name, but the most western island of the Straits, close to New Guinea, is named Boigu. As the eastern tribe does not appear to have had any business dealings with the westernmost islanders, it is quite possi- ble that they really believed that this particular island was the abode of spirits. From what I gathered at Mer, I have very little doubt on this point. The western islanders projected their mythical island beyond geographical recognition. Strangely enough, however, in the legend of Tiai of Badu, the mari of that infant went to Boigu ; and in the story of Mutuk the murdered men flew as flying foxes to the mainland of New Guinea (Daudai). In speaking of Kibuka, it was always described to me as being to ' leeward' : in these latitudes a steady and strong south-east trade wind blows for seven or eight months in the year, and geographical relations are usually expressed in terms of this wind. Owing to the influence of sun-worship in so many countries, and the analogy of death and sunset, it is not surprising that the land of the dead should be so often placed in the west. I venture to suggest that another reason may be worthy of consideration. A nautical people such as our islanders would naturally conceive of their spirits as sailing with the prevailing wind, and would hardly be likely to locate the spirit- land in a quarter which would necessitate the spirits beating to wind- ward. We have no reason for supposing that the sun was regarded by the Papuans with any feeling of veneration, or that sunset was compared with decease. Possibly the same can be shown for other peoples, and the westerly location of the land of spirits by different races may be a pure coincidence. I have been able to gather very little concerning the condition of the mari in Kibuka. Dr. MacFarlane states in MS. that they are said to sit crying on the tops of the trees, wishing to return to their friends. Possibly this was suggested by the flying foxes {sapura^ Pteropus), and in the legend of Mutuk we find that he and his murdered friends were transformed into flying foxes. The best men among them appear to have been better pff" as spirits in some undefined manner — 'best' in this appHcation has no moral significance, but solely applies to such characteristics as bravery, bloodthirstiness, and other savage virtues. I was told that when a mari arrived at Kibuka, " by-and-bye the * devils' hit the mari with a stone club and killed him." What this means I do not know ; by ' devils' I suppose the resident mari are meant. Unfortunately the word 'devil' has been adopted into the jargon English spoken in the Straits, and has no definite meaning ; thus it may mean a man's spirit, or spirits which haunt a locality, or Legends from Torres Straits. 79 the bogies known as Dorgai, and now the Christian (!) idea of devil and devils is being taught. (i) The meat Tabepa destined for his parents-in-law was evidently- intended as payment for his bride. (2) It was customary for a man to make a present to his parents-in-law on the birth of a first child, and I believe also for subsequent births. (3) In the western tribe it is usual for the girls to propose marriage to the men. After marriage the men entirely or partially live with their wife's people, in this case the wife followed her spirit-husband. (4) The natives of Mabuiag and of many other islands do not eat the flesh of the porpoise ; the only reason I could get was that it was too fat. There may be some superstitious reason which they were ashamed to acknowledge. v.— The Story of Mutuk. (i) Bivalved shells with sharp edges were the common cutting implements of the islanders before iron was introduced. Small objects are very frequently carried behind the ear ; Mutuk carried his shell there, just as we carry knives in our pockets. (2) "Make him devil" is the jargon English for a funeral dance and ceremony ; ' devil' in this case means mart or spirit. (3) The funeral ceremonies and those connected with the initiation of the lads were the most sacred functions in the lives of these savages ; Mutuk had evidently com- mitted the crime of rendering his own funeral ceremonies null and void, he was therefore executed for committing sacrilege. (4) This is the only instance I know of in which dead men were transformed into fruit-eating bats. (5) It is customary for men to decorate them- selves with leaves, flowers, and so forth on special occasions, such as dances, and the return of Mutuk would be a fit occasion for such display. A bunch of leaves is inserted in the belt behind and in the armlets, possibly also in the hair and behind the ears ; flowers are constantly worn in the hair. (6) This appears to be the regular method of distributing marriageable daughters, the eldest is given first and to the most distinguished man, or to the eldest brother of a family of young men, and so on downwards. (7) My informant called the plant ' bua\ which he said was a kind of wild yam. I find that Macgilivray gives bua as thelMuralugname for Calladium esculentum {Voyage of ^' Rattlesnake'\ ii, p. 288). (8) Elephantiasis is not an uncommon disease in these parts. VI.— The Adventure of Gabakwoikai. This story calls for no special remark. 8o Legends f7^om Torres Straits. VII.— The Dorgai of Karapar. This story does not appear to contain any important fact, but in it we have mention made of two legendary heroes of Badu, Manilbau and Sasalkadzi (the pronunciation of these two names varied slightly, hence the discrepancies in the spelling) ; in the two following legends these warriors are killed twice over under different circumstances. (i) The sucker-fish {Echeneis naucrates) is used in catching turtle in a manner I have already described in the notes on the migration of Bia. They are suspended in the water, over the side of the canoe, by two pieces of string, one of which is passed through the tail and then lashed round, and the other is inserted through the mouth and out at the gills. (2) It appears that at night-time the gapu were kept in the canoe, probably in the bilge-water, in order to prevent their being seized by predatory fish, and when they began to show signs of asphyxiation the man in charge was to restore them by hanging them over the side of the canoe. (3) The dadu is a flag-like streamer made from the leaf of a coco-palm. (4) This is a common way of carrying baskets in New Guinea. (5) The earth-oven of the Papuans is very similar to that in use all over the Pacific. (6) This custom, which we shall meet with again, appears to have been a general practice when volunteers were required to avenge a death. VIII.— The Story of Upi. This legend illustrates many old customs, and I fancy that Upi is the * culture hero' who invented the bamboo knife {upi). (i) 'What name' is the local English jargon for an interrogation, meaning, who ? what ? who is it ? what is it .'' etc. (2) This is the ordinary method of appropriating anything "(such and such) he belong me" ; or even sometimes, when asking for anything, they will say, "It belong me?" or in giving anything one will say, "That belong you." Thus the phrase here used does not imply previous possession. (3) Skull divination was very commonly practised ; usually the skulls of relatives were preserved for this purpose, as in the legend of Sesere ; but it appears from this legend that even a stranger's skull could be thus utilised. (4) A mythical explanation of a well-known fact. IX.— Sesere, the Dugong Hunter. This legend relates the manner in which the dugong was first dis- covered to be an article of food, and how men were taught to hunt it. (i) This is the only instance in which I heard of a bow and arrow being used for catching fish. I particularly inquired of my informant, and he assured me that so it was in the legend ; whether it has been Legends from Torres Straits, 8 1 practised in recent times I cannot say. (2) Ownership of land extends also on to the adjoining reef, and all fish caught on that portion of a reef which lies off private property belongs, as a matter of right, to the owner of the soil ; Sesere was therefore poaching. Once, when I was dredging between the Murray Islands, we saw turtle-tracks on the beach of an uninhabited island ; we landed and dug up the turtle-eggs ; when we went to the neighbouring island I had to pay a cripple who lived there for the eggs, or, rather, for those that I and my boatmen had eaten, for the eggs were laid on a sand- beach that belonged to him ; the fact that he did not know they were there, or that he could not have got them personally if he had, did not affect the question. (3) I do not know whether this pushing the oracle away in pretended distrust and then appealing to it again was a common practice, but there is a second example of it in the story of the "Six Blind Brothers" ; both legends, however, were narrated by the clever story-teller, Malakula of Badu. (4) I certainly understood that Sesere found everything ready-made to hand in the bush, but I may have been mistaken. (5) A figure of a dugong-platform or neet^ and an account of the way in which the dugong is caught, will be found in my paper in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute. The earth-oven is a hole in the ground in which hot stones and leaves are placed along with the meat, the whole being covered with earth. (7) This is a cylindrical armlet of woven split rattan, which is worn on the left fore-arm to prevent abrasion of the skin in the recoil of the bow-string when shooting. (8) There is no evidence that these men were even wounded ; a similar instance of the bearer of bad news falling down dead when he had told his tale occurs in the legend of Kwoiam. Alfred C. Haddon. [To be continued.) VOL. I, THE GREEK TRADE-ROUTES TO BRITAIN. NO subject has had more attraction for inquirers into the early history of these islands than the question of the earliest intercourse between Britain and the ancient peoples of the Mediterranean, to whom all the civilisation of Europe is due. Camden, the Father of English Archaeology, identified the Cassiterides of the ancients with the Scilly Isles, and gave currency to the belief, which has prevailed ever since, that the Phoenicians traded to Britain. Mr. Elton {Origins of English History) has given good reasons for doubting this hypothesis, and has shown that the Tin Islands of the ancient writers are rather a group of small islands off the coast of Northern Spain. But we can have no doubt that there was an extensive trade between Gaul and Britain before Julius Caesar ever set foot on this island. The nature of this trade in general we learn from Strabo ; for it is not likely that there had been great variation in the nature of the objects exported and imported between 55 B.C. and the time when the geographer wrote (a>. A.D. 1-19). Strabo (iv, 199) enume- rates corn (wheat, crtTo?), cattle, gold, silver, iron, skins, slaves, and dogs, used by the Kelts for war as well as the chase, and gives us likewise the list of imports into Britain, which comprised "ivory bracelets and necklaces, and red amber beads (^v^r^ovpia) and vessels of glass {yoKa o-AceuTy), and such like trumpery wares {oKKo^ po)7ro<^ tolovto<;)." Strangely enough, Strabo omits tin from his schedule of products and exports, although elsewhere, as we shall see, he quotes a passage from Posidonius referring to that trade, and Caesar mentions it amongst the products of Britain as being found in the interior (in mediterraneis regionibus^B. 6'., The Gf^eek Trade-Routes to Britain. 8 o V, 12). It is quite possible, as we shall see hereafter, that the tin trade with the Continent had died out in the time of Caesar, and that it was not until after the Roman con- quest, in the middle of the following century, that the mines of Cornwall were again developed. To the list of imports given by Strabo we may add copper, on the authority of Caesar {cBve utuntur importato, v, 12), Diodorus Siculus (v, 22) gives an account of the tin mining in Cornwall, which is probably based on the account of the Stoic Posi- donius, who travelled in Britain about B.C. 90 : " The inhabitants of that part of Britain which is called Belerion are very fond of strangers, and, from their intercourse with foreign merchants, are civilised in their manner of life. They prepare the tin, work- ing very carefully the earth in which it is produced. The ground is rocky, but it contains earthy veins, the produce of which is ground down, smelted, and purified. They beat the metal into masses, shaped like astragali,^ and carry it to a certain island lying off Britain called Ictis. During the ebb of the tide the intervening space is left dry, and they carry over into this island the tin in abundance in their waggons. Now there is a peculiar phe- nomenon connected with the neighbouring islands, I mean those that lie between Europe and Britain ; for at the flood- tide the intervening passage is overflowed, and they seem like islands ; but a large space is left dry at the ebb, and then they seem to be like peninsulas. Here, then, the merchants buy the tin from the natives and carry it over to Gaul ; and after travelling overland for about thirty days, they finally bring their loads on horses to the mouth of the Rhone."2 ^ aVo TVTTOf/j/Tes K ei9 aoT pa^^aXicv pvOju^ovS. Var. lect., aaTpaf^a\ov9. As the tin was conveyed on pack-horses, lumps shaped like astragali do not seem very suitable. At Truro and in other Museums there are ancient pigs of tin shaped like saddles, evidently to facili- tate carriage. Is aajpapH-v the true reading 1 ^ It is impossible that irtv eK^aXjv tov Votavov iroiafiov can mean, C 3 84 The Greek Trade-Routes to Britain, Next let us take the following passages, both of which are taken from Posidonius. " Posidonius says (in refer- ence to Spain) that the tin is not found on the surface, as many authors have alleged, but is dug up ; and that it is produced among the barbarians above Lusitania, and also in the islands called Cassiterides. And that from the British Isles tin is carried to Marseilles" {Strabo, iii, 147). Diodorus (v, 38) is beyond doubt quoting from the same authority when he writes : " Tin likewise is found in many parts of Iberia, not being found on the surface, as some have alleged in their accounts, but being dug up and smelted, just like silver and gold. For above the land of the Lusitanians there are many mines of tin along the little islands which lie in front of Iberia in the Ocean, which are called from the circumstance Tin Islands. Much is likewise conveyed across from the British Island to Gaul, which lies right on the opposite side, and is conveyed on horses through the interior of Gaul by the traders to the Massaliotes, and the city called Narbo. The latter is a Roman colony, and, on account of its favourable position and wealth, is the greatest trading centre of all the cities in these parts." These two passages are valuable (as Mr. Elton has pointed out, p. 37) " as showing the distinction which was known to exist between the Cornish tin trade and the commerce with the Cassiterides, which was of a much higher antiquity." Let us now observe that when Strabo, writing as a con- temporary, is describing the exports from Britain, he omits the mention of tin, whilst from the extract from Posidonius, quoted alike by him and Diodorus, it is plain that when the Stoic explorer visited North-Western Europe the British tin trade was still of importance. From the quota- tion from Diodorus we learn also that the tin passed to two different marts on the Mediterranean littoral, Massalia as Mr. Elton takes it, " the junction of the Rhone and Saone, where the wharves for the tin-barges were erected." What is the authority for the last statement 1 The Greek Trade- Routes to Britain. 85 and then to Narbo. This implies that there were either two distinct routes, or that the tin first passed to Narbo and thence to Massalia. For a glance at the map will show the absurdity of the third alternative, that is, to sup- pose that the tin passed round by Massalia and then to Narbo. That our first alternative is probably the true one for the epoch when Posidonius wrote, we shall adduce evidence hereafter. On the other hand, it is probable that in earlier times there was only one route, that from Narbo. The greatest loss which early English history has sus- tained was the destruction of the Travels of Pytheas, that clever Massaliote, whom Polybius and Strabo called the " arch-liar", because he related certain matters connected with the climate and geography of Northern Europe which the modern world knows to be undoubted facts. Pytheas went on a voyage round the west and north of Europe, pro- bably about 330 B.C. What the circumstances were under which the voyage was undertaken we have no means of knowing. The statement that he was sent out by "a com- mittee of merchants" is of course a mere piece of romance, like much more which has been written about his expedi- tion. All that we know about it is contained in a few broken fragments embedded chiefly in the writings of Poly- bius and Strabo, who quoted him usually for the purpose of holding up his mendacity to execration. One of these quotations is given by Strabo (iv, 190) from Polybius : " The Liger (Loire) debouches between the Pictones and Namnitae. Formerly Corbilo was an emporium on this river of which Polybius has spoken, when he made mention of the fables told by Pytheas, that none of the Massaliotes who conversed with Scipio could tell anything worth recording, when questioned by Scipio about Britain, nor yet any of those from Narbo, nor of those from Corbilo." It may be observed that the experience of modern times entirely explains the statement of Pytheas. When we know that it is only within very recent years that we have found out the sources and plants from which some of our 86 The Greek Trade-Routes to Britain. best-known drugs are procured (for instance, it was only in 1867 that that most familiar of drugs, Turkey rhubarb, was discovered by a missionary in Thibet), the jealousy of the Eastern traders having kept the secret so well ; and when we recall the success with which the Arabs until recent years had withheld all information about the interior of Africa, we need not wonder if the shrewd merchants of Marseilles and Narbonne professed an intense ignorance about the land from whence came the tin, the source of which was, no doubt, the object of the Roman inquiries. But to return : these three towns, called by Pytheas " the best cities in this region", indicate the line of trade to Britain. There are two emporia on the southern, but only one on the western shore of Gaul. From this we may infer with some confidence that as yet the route to Britain across the Straits of Dover was undeveloped, and that the flourishing city of Corbilo, on the mouth of the Loire, pro- bably in the territory of the Namnetes {Nantes), and whose name possibly is still found in that of the village of Coitve- ron, was the port of embarkation and debarkation to and from Britain. This passage is of great importance also in other respects, for it puts beyond all doubt that the route between Mas- salia, Narbo, and the mouth of the Loire was already well known, although a writer of repute like Mr. Elton as- sumes (on very mistaken grounds, as we shall see presently) that Pytheas opened up this route for the Massaliotes. Furthermore, it can also be inferred, from Scipio's questions, that there was trade with Britain by this route ; whilst there is the further probability that tin was comprised in this trade, although the common theory at present is that Pytheas first opened this trade. Nor is this opinion with- out further evidence. In none of the Greek fragments of Pytheas have we any reference to tin, but there is a short quotation from Timaeus (flor. 350-326 B.C.), the Sicilian historian, who was a contemporary of Pytheas, and whose quotations from the latter are frequently given by Pliny. The Greek Trade-Routes to Britain. "^n It runs as follows : " Timaeus the historian says that the island of Mictis is distant inwards from Britain six days' voyage, in which the tin is produced {proveniat,o^\v^x?> read veniat), and that the Britons sail to it in vessels made of wicker-work covered with hide."^ We shall have to discuss this passage at greater length later on, but for our imme- diate purpose it is enough to point out that whether Timaeus is quoting from Pytheas or not, already in the time of Pytheas the Greeks were aware of the British tin trade. This is supported by a passage in the pseudo- Aristotelian Book of Wonderful Stories, which, with others, is regarded as a genuine fragment of Aristotle by Bekker {Fragm., 248). In it we have mention of Keltic tin {tov Kaaa-LTepov rov KeXriKou TTjKeoOai (pacrt, ttoXv Td')(^bov tov fioXv^Bov). If this be really Aristotle's, at first sight we might found on it an argument of considerable force to show that there was a trade in tin across Gaul from Britain before the voyage of Pytheas, especially as it is commonly held that the term KeXrt/f^ was confined to that part of Gaul which lay to the north of the Loire. Mr. Elton, for example, builds on this assumption his interpretation 01 the aim of the explorations of Pytheas. " In a short time," he writes (page 25), they (i.e., Pytheas and his companions) arrived " at the mouth of the Loire, then the northern boun- dary of the Iberian population and the limit of the Celtic advance. Here Pytheas declared, and was afterwards fol- lowed by Artemidorus, that it would have been far easier to have come to Celtica by the overland route from Marseilles than to have undertaken the difficult and tedious voyage by sea." Even though Mr. Elton's assumption as to Celtica were right, whatever may be the meaning of the famous sentence which he has paraphrased, it certainly cannot be 1 Timaeus historicus a Britannis introrsum' sexdierum'navigatione abesse dicit insulam Mictim, in qua candidum plumbum proveniat ; ad eam Britannos vitilibus navigiis corio circumsutis navigare (Pliny, I/. N., iv, 16). 88 The Greek Trade- Routes to Britain, made to give his rendering. The words as given by Strabo (iii, 143) are to irpoaapKriKa fiepTj rrj^ l/Srjpla^; evTrapoEcorepa elvai 7rpo<; ttjv KeXriKrjv 7) Kara rov flKeavov irXeovoL. The literal translation of these words is : " The fact that the northerly parts of Iberia are more accessible by a side route in the direction of Keltica than for those sailing by the ocean." Instead of Celtica being the goal aimed at, as Mr. Elton supposes, it is the northern part of Iberia which is the object of the statement. But we may at once dispose of this point by showing from indubitable testimony, drawn from the writings of the age of Pytheas, that the country which the Greeks called Keltik6 included all Gaul down to the Pyrenees, and even some parts of Spain. Aristotle {Meteor, i, 350), speaking of the Pyrenees, describes them as mountains in Keltik^ — iic Se t?)? 'Uvprjvr)^; (toOto 8' eart 6po<i 7rpo9 Svo-/ji7]v larjfjLepLVTjv ev rfj KeXriKfj) ktK. He does not merely regard the Pyrenees as bounding Keltik^, but as being actually in it. Aristotle had no doubt good information respecting this region, as is shown by his various references in the Politics to the habits and institu- tions of the Kelts and Iberians, and his evidently complete knowledge of the polity of Massalia. But his testimony is completely confirmed by the historian Ephorus (363- 300 B.C.), as we know from Strabo (iv, 199). "Ephorus both speaks of Keltike as exceeding great in its extent, so that he assigns to them (the Kelts) the greatest part of what is now called Iberia, as far as Gadeira, and he represents the people as lovers of the Greeks, and he is our sole authority for many statements respecting them which do not resemble their present conditions." Aristotle may well speak of the Pyrenees as being in Keltike, when Ephorus makes that name extend as far south as Cadiz. The only inference, then, which we are warranted in drawing from the " Keltic tin" is that Aristotle was aware that the tin-supply came from the land of the Kelts, but as that might have, in his mind, included all Northern Spain with the tin islands, it is impossible to base any The Greek Trade- Routes to Britain. 89 argument on it. But even without this the evidence already given makes it very probable that the tin trade with Britain already existed. The tin derived from the Cassiterides could only have reached the Greeks through the medium of the merchantmen of Gades. That ancient city, almost alone of all the Tyrian colonies in the West, had managed to keep free from the yoke of Carthage. It is not improbable that friendly trade relations existed between her and Massalia and her colony Emporise. For instance, we find all three employing the same peculiar monetary system ; besides, there was the strong bond of a common hatred and dread of Carthage, who was now almost at the zenith of her power. By the time of Pytheas the trade of Massalia with Southern Spain and Gades must have been most sensibly hindered. For the Phocaic cities which had once fringed the coast of Spain as far as Malaga (the most southern of which was Maenaca) were falling one by one before the Carthaginians, whose " fleet commanded, without a rival, the whole western Mediterranean". " They endeavoured still more thoroughly to monopolise the maritime com- merce of this region at the expense alike of foreigners and of their own subjects, and it was not the wont of the Car- thaginians to recoil from any violence that might help forward their purpose. A contemporary of the Punic wars, Eratosthenes, the father of geography (275-194 B.C.), affirms that every foreign mariner sailing towards Sardinia or towards the Straits of Gades, who fell into the hands of the Carthaginians, was thrown by them into the sea ; and with this statement the fact completely accords that Carthage, by the treaty of 348 B.C., declared the Spanish, Sardinian, and Libyan ports open to Roman trading- vessels, whereas by that of 308 B.C. it totally closed them, with the exception of Carthage itself, to the same." (Mommsen, Roman Hist, ii, p. 15.) Under such circumstances Massaliote trade with Gades must have been indeed fraught with dangers, and it was 90 The Greek Trade-Routes to Britain, natural that the Massallan traders should wish for some safer route by which to obtain the produce from the famous tin islands, the navigation to which the shipmen of Gades kept a close secret, both then and for long after. Strabo (iii, 178), after having described the situation of the Kassiterides (probably borrowing his accounts from Posidonius, under whose name the paragraph which immediately precedes is given), their number, natural products, and inhabitants — " men clad in sable raiments, with flowing garments down to their feet, girt round the bosom, walking about with staves, resembling the Furies in Tragedy" — proceeds as follows : *' They live like pastoral people from the produce of their flocks, and as they possess mines of tin and lead, in exchange for these and the skins of their flocks they obtain by way of barter pottery and salt and articles of bronze, in dealing with the traders. Formerly the Phoenicians alone used to ply this trade from Gadeires, keeping the way thither a secret from all. And on the Romans following a ship- master, in order that they too might find out the marts, the shipmaster through rivalry purposely cast away his ship on a shoal, but having enticed likewise those who followed him into the same destruction, he himself escaped by means of the wreck, and received back at the public expense the price of the freight which he had lost^ The Romans, nevertheless, by making frequent attempts, suc- ceeded in finding out the way. But when, moreover, Publius Crassus crossed over to visit them, and found the mines being worked at a shallow depth, and the people peaceful, he made it known to those who were already exceeding willing to ply on this sea, although it is greater in extent than that which divides off Britain." ^ Mr. Elton (p. 13) says the captain " was rewarded by the Senate of Carthage". Strabo's words are simply ^fioata aireXafiev. The mention of Carthage introduces a total misconception of the rela- tions between that city and Gades. The Greek Trade-Routes to Britain. 9 1 The statement about Publius Crassus^ is of course not from Posidonius, but is added by Strabo himself. There can be little doubt that this Roman is none other but Caesar's famous lieutenant who conquered all Aquitania (Caesar, B. G., iii, 11-20). He is all the more likely to have passed into Northern Spain, inasmuch as the people of that region had given great assistance to the Aquitani in their struggle against him {B. G., iii, 23). Without doubt he was fully aware of the mineral wealth of that country, as is shown by Caesar's remark (iii, 21) on their skill in defending cities, in consequence of their having numerous copper mines and other works in that region. As is plain from Strabo's words, the Romans already knew how to reach the tin islands by sea, coasting round from the Mediterranean and up from Gades on the old Phoe- nician track. Crassus, then, by opening up a far shorter route, that of a short sea voyage from the Cassiterides to the coast of Gaul (possibly to the Garonne), at once 1 Mr. Elton (p. 19) has missed completely both grammar and sense : " Publius Crassus conquered the north-west of Spain about a century before Christ, and found the Cassiterides, the situation of which was not up to that time known to the Romans. ' As soon as he reached them', says Strabo, * he perceived that the mines were very slightly worked^ and the natives were peaceable, and already employing their leisure in learning navigation ; so he taught all that were willing how to make the voyage, z>., the voyage from Vigo to Marseilles.' He adds that this passage was longer than the journey to Britain, by which he appears to mean that it was thought worth while to carry the tin round to Marseilles, even though the merchants of that place had an easier way of getting it by the caravan-route across Gaul." Here is the original : lireihy^ he Kal UottKios Kpaaao^ Bia^a<} eV av70V9 ef^vvo rcc fieToXka eK fiiKpov ^aOovs opvrroaeva, koi tov<s uvhpa<s elprjvaiov^, eK 7repiovoia<s rjSij TrjV OaXarTrfv ipr^a^eoOai jainrju toi9 eOlXovaiv eirehei^e Kaiirep ovaav TrXeiiv r^S hieipf^ovarfS ttjv BpeTavviKrjv. He misses the pomt of ^e/c fiLKpov ^a9ov9, which means that the metal, because it lay near the surface, was worked without difficulty. The benevolence of the kindly Roman in teaching the islanders the art of navigation is delightful. Finally, why should a Roman be so anxious to serve the merchants of Marseilles ? 92 The Greek Trade- Routes to Britain. developed this trade. The ore lay near the surface. The distance by sea was greater than that across the English Channel, but the readiness with which the tin was obtained, combined with the shorter land transit, more than com- pensated this. Strabo is evidently contrasting the rival tin-producing regions when he introduces the allusion to Britain, and it is equally certain that the two distances by sea which he has in mind are measured from the coast of Gaul. In the case of Britain there can be no doubt at all respecting the region from which the sea divides it, and he of course is estimating the extent of the sea which divides the tin island from land by referring to France likewise. To refer this to the extent of sea round by the Pillars of Herakles is impossible, for the Romans already knew that route, and at the same time it would be absurd to compare in any wise so long a voyage with the short extent of sea separating Britain from the Continent. The right inter_ pretation of this passage has some vQ.ry important results. In the first place it explains why, when Strabo was writing, tin is no longer mentioned among the exports from Britain. The new development of the Spanish mines has evidently driven the British tin out of the market, as in recent times the fresh development of the most ancient source of tin, the famous mines of Malacca, the Kastira of the ancients, has once more driven Cornish tin out of the markets of the world. From this achievement of Crassus and its results we can now understand in its proper light the famous expression of Pytheas, that " the northern parts of Iberia are more accessible towards Keltik^ than for those who sail by the ocean". We saw above that at this time the Carthaginians had shut out the Greeks from all trade in the west of the Mediterranean. The Massaliotes had sought, about the beginning of the fourth century B.C., to make up for their losses on the coasts of Southern Spain by planting the strong colony of Emporiae near the foot of the Pyrenees in the hopes of still keeping some share in the mineral The Greek Trade- Routes to Britain. 93 wealth of Spain. Fabulous stones are told of the rich- ness of the silver mines worked in this region. It was natural, then, that they would seek to gain access to the famous tin region which lay beyond Lusitania, the only approach to which by sea ^was beset by their enemies, and the very direction of which was a secret jealously guarded by the traders of Gaddir. The statement of Pytheas now finds its full force. He found, as Publius Crassus found three centuries later, that the rich mineral regions and islands of North- Western Spain were far more accessible for the Massaliotes by a land journey across Gaul and a short sea voyage, than by the long and perilous route round by Gibraltar. His information seems to have led to no prac- tical end. The political power of Massalia was too weak for such an enterprise, and, as we have seen above, it was not until all Gaul fell under the strong hand of Rome that the idea of Pytheas became an accomplished fact. Having thus obtained a clear view of what was meant by Keltike in the days of Pytheas, and having also seen reasons for regarding the tin route from Britain as passing from Corbilo on the mouth of the Loire to Narbo and Massalia, let us examine the channels by which in his- torical times trade passed through Gaul, and between Gaul and Britain at a later time. Transit through Gaul had great natural facilities by means of the great river-systems. Strabo (iii, 177) calls attention to the advantages thus afforded : " The whole of this region is watered by rivers, some coming down from the Alps, others from the Cevennes and Pyrenees, and part flowing into the ocean, and part into our sea. For the most they flow through plains, or through low hills, with channels between that admit of navigation ; and nature has so well appointed the inter- relations of the streams that transit is possible from one sea to the other, as the merchandise has to be conveyed only for a short distance overland, and that through plains which offer no difficulty, but for the greater part of the way 94 The Greek Trade-Routes to Britain. by the rivers, being conveyed up some and down others."^ Diodorus (v, 27) likewise speaks of the river trade in Gaul. Such, then, being the main highways of commerce across Gaul, Strabo (iii, 199) again supplies us with explicit information regarding its connection with Britain : " There are four passages usually followed by travellers from the Continent to the island (Britain), those from the mouths of the rivers, the Rhine, the Seine, the Loire, and the Garonne. Travellers putting out from the Rhine do not sail from the very mouths, but from the Morini, who border on the Menapii ; in their territory is also Ition (Grisnez), which the divine Caesar used as the station for his fleet when crossing over to the island." From these two passages we may infer with safety that in the time of Pytheas, when Corbilo was the chief emporium in that region, that the course of trade from Massalia passed either through Narbo, in the land of the Tectosages, and down the Garonne, and by a coast voyage to the mouth of the Loire, or directly by the Loire itself to the same emporium. The more northerly route up the Rhone and down the Seine had not yet been developed, whilst with the fourth crossing-place, that from the Rhine, we have nothing to do in this investigation, as it is not likely that it ever formed a direct medium between the Mediterranean and Britain. For practical purposes the remaining three passages resolve themselves into two only, as it is hardly likely that any shipmaster ever sailed boldly across from Burdigala (Bordeaux) to Britain. Mariners sailing from thence would therefore follow the same course as those starting from the Loire. It is obvious that those who started from the Seine would land in Kent. But to what point in Britain did those who set out from Armorica direct their course? Unfortunately, Strabo has not given us any account of the points on the British coast at which travellers from the Continental points landed. Caesar {B. G., v, 13) has, however, to some extent supplied this want. Speaking ^ Strabo (iv, 193) gives some further details. The Greek Trade-Routes to Britain. 95 of the shape of Britain, he says : " The island is a natural triangle, one side of which lies opposite Gaul ; one angle, which is in the region of Cantium, at which almost all ships from Gaul put to land, faces east {quo fere omnes ex Gallia naves appelluntur^ etc.). By the time when Strabo wrote the tin trade had virtually ceased ; and with it all trade with Western Britain, Devon, and Cornwall, would have fallen into decay. But we may infer from Caesar's expression, " almost all ships from Gaul", that some few ships put in at some other part of Britain. Beside the passage across the Strait, there was also that from Armorica by the Channel Islands to the south coast, and there are various considerations which will make us regard the Isle of Wight as its terminus on the English side. We saw above that Diodorus, following Posidonius, gives Ictis as the name of the island on the coast of Britain to which the tin was brought. We also found that Timaeus, probably from Pytheas, gives the name of the island where the tin was produced as Mictis, or rather Pliny, in his brief fashion, gives a reference to Timaeus ; for how far it represents the exact words of that author we have no means of judging. Now there can be no doubt that the Vectis (Wight) of the Romans, "Ovtjktl^ of Ptolemy, "I«Tt9 of Diodorus, are the same island, and we can hardly doubt that Pliny's Mictis refers to the same spot, (whether the initial M be a genuine form of the word as it sounded to the ear of Pytheas, or, as some have sug- gested, a mere scribe's blunder in the text of Pliny, the final m of the preceding insulam getting attached to the following Ictin.)^ The similarity of form in local names is always of great weight, for the appellations of islands and rivers do not easily change. Thus, the Uxisana of Pytheas, the Uxantis of later writers, appears almost un- changed in the modern Ushant. The only difficulty In identifying IctIs with the Isle of Wight is the statement 1 Such clerical blunders have given us two names of islands off our coasts— Hebrides, from older Ebrides, which was a misreading of Ebudesby Hector Boetbius, and lona, where the fi is a mistake for u. 96 The Greek Trade-Routes to Britain, of Diodorus {vide sup.) that the tin was conveyed across to the island at low water. Geologists maintain that Wight could not have been joined to the mainland in historic times, hence some have identified it with St. Michael's Mount, and Mr. Elton with the Isle of Thanet, against all the evidence of nomenclature. If it was Thanet, it follows that the tin was brought overland all the way from Devon, which was both unlikely and impossible, as the great forest of Anderida stretched right from Hamp- shire into Kent. On the other hand, the tin island men- tioned by Timaeus is plainly not joined to the mainland, as the Britons sailed across in their coracles. Hence the best solution is, that Diodorus has confused the account of Ictis given by Posidonius with that of some other island off the coasts of the Channel. The phenomenon of the ocean tides was a continual source of wonder to the Greeks and Romans, who knew only the almost tideless waters of the Mediterranean. This is certainly the simplest explanation of the diffi- culty. Mr. Elton, who also identifies Mictis with Thanet, is thereby involved in great difficulty^ for he seems to for- get that if the Britons brought the tin a six days' voyage from Cornwall to Thanet, there would be no need to bring it overland by waggons across the estuary at low water.-^ But where the authorities are at variance we can only employ for purpose of argument the matters in which both are agreed. In this case Diodorus and Timaeus are sub- stantially agreed that there was an island where the tin ^ Mr. Elton seems to lay stress on the word zntrorsum, thinking that, as Pythias sails by the North Sea, he would mean by introrsiLin something which lay towards himself. But the reference in Lexis and Short rather points in the opposite direction, away from the point where the spectator is supposed to be. Caesar's statement that the tin was found in the interior {in mediierrancis regionibus) may throw some light on it. It may be worth adding that the state- ment of Diodorus respecting the civilization of the people of Belerion is in favour of a trade route far more direct to the south-west than the mere intercourse v.'ith the traders in the isle of Thanet, The Greek Trade- Routes to Britain. 97 came to market, and that its name was Ictis or Mictis. The Isle of Wight is, after all, the most natural point to find the emporium. The tin could not be carried overland on account of the forests, and they certainly would not convey it all round the south and south-east coasts to the Straits, and then round the coast of Gaul to Corbilo, if it was at all possible to get across at a nearer point. The passage from the Isle of Wight to the Channel Islands, and thus to Armorica and Corbilo, would best attain this object. The Armorican peninsula was the home of various tribes, all most skilful mariners. The Veneti, who were the most powerful, had established a sovereignty over the sea by the time of Caesar, and they and their allies offered to his arms the most stubborn resistance which he had met in Northern Gaul. Caesar (iii, 8) describes them as by far the most powerful people of the coast, giving as the cause that they had a great number of ships in which they were accustomed to voyage to Britain {qtiibtis in Britanniam navigare consuerunt). He describes their ships as built of solid beams of oak, fastened together with iron bolts an inch thick, with high prows and sterns to resist the violence of the seas ; they had their anchors fitted with iron chains instead of ropes, and sails of hide instead of canvas. Strabo (iv, 194) follows Caesar's account, but gives some additional details, one being suitable for our purpose : " They were ready to stop Caesar from sailing to Britain, inasmuch as they enjoyed the trade." We cannot doubt the capacity of these old seamen to sail to the Isle of Wight, and right along to Devon and Cornwall. There were thus two main routes to Britain, and it is probable that it was by the route from Armorica across to the Isle of Wight that Pytheas passed. For he averred that it was a voyage of some days from Keltike to Kantion {koi ToKdvTiov rjfi€p(bv TLVCOVirXovv airex^LV rij^KeXTtKri^ (prjai, Strabo, i, 63). If he sailed across by the Channel Islands, and so to the Isle of Wight, and from thence coasted to VOL I. ^ 9 8 The Greek Trade-Routes to Britain. Kantion, we see a reasonable explanation of his remark on the time it took to sail thither from Keltike.^ Such, then, are all the data which we can draw from the ancient literary sources. Let us now see if we can derive any aid towards substantiating this account, and for helping to determine the priority of either the short sea passage or the long sea passage, from the evidence afforded by the numismatic remains of the Greek cities of Massalia, Em- poriae, Rhoda, and from the Gaulish and British imitations of Greek coins. Now, if we can trace certain well-defined coin-types along these routes from the Greek settlements into Britain, we shall obtain a substantial proof of the lines of early trade : furthermore, if we ,find that the types along one of those routes are prior in date to those found along the other, we must infer that the former is the more ancient. A short survey of the numismatic history of the regions referred to is here necessary. The famous Thocaean colony of Massalia was founded about 600 B.C. at the mouth of the Rhone, and in its turn it planted many colonies along the coasts of Spain, Gaul, and Liguria, the most important of which was Emporiae (Ampurias), planted {cir. 400 B.C.) on the Gulf of Lyons, close to the eastern extremity of the Pyrenees. A little to the north of it lay TRhoda, a town originally (according to certain authorities) a colony from Rhodes, but which had long fallen under Phocaean influ- ence. These were the only Greek cities in Spain which issued a coinage. The earliest cojns of Massalia, little coins of archaic appearance, have invariably the incuse square on the ^ Mr. Elton, having assumed that Keltikd only began on the north side of the Loire, seems to make it only comprise the Armorican peninsula, for he explains this passage to mean that "he sailed up the Channel as far as Cantion, the North Foreland, or a port in its neighbourho od". If Pythias sailed up the Strait he could not have made this statement of the distance between the opposite coasts. The Greek Trade- Routes to Britain. 99 reverse, but in all probability they do not date earlier than 450 B.C. Rhoda began to coin about the beginning of the third century B.C., but soon ceased, her rival, Emporiae, having commenced about the same time, and continued to issue coins down to Roman times. The Phoenicians of the island of Ebusus had learned the art of coining from the Greeks, as had likewise the most ancient Tyrian colony, Gaddir, the Gadeira of the Greeks. The Carthaginians do not appear to have struck money in Spain until the period of the Barcine domination. The earliest Gaulish coins were imitations of the coins of Massalia and Rhoda. As Massalia commanded the Rhone, so we find her coins and their imitations all up the valley of the Rhone, into Helvetia, while they likewise formed the currency of Northern Italy until the Roman conquest of that region. This early coinage was entirely of silver. Sometime about 250 B.C., the powerful people of the Arverni, who had great wealth in gold, commenced a gold coinage imitated from the gold staters of Philip of Macedon, which had a head of Apollo in the obverse and a biga on the reverse. This type gradually spread northwards, becoming more barbarous as it passed from one tribe to another, until at last it crosses into Britain and became the type of the great majority of the British coins. It is obvious that if we find the imitations of the Greek cities of Massalia, Emporiae, and Rhoda lying along in certain geographical area, and those of the Philippus type lying along another, the former must have been the first to come under Greek influence. I shall now enumerate the chief Gaulish types, with the people who struck them, at the same time indicating the Greek original. A glance at the map will show that the earlier lie in the western, the later in the northern region. The coins of Emporiae exhibit a great variety of types (A. Heiss, Les Monnaies antiques de VEspagne, p. 93 ; Head, Historia Numorum, p. i). On some we find a horse H 2 lOO The Greek Trade- Routes to Britain, standing, on others a Pegasus ; on some the head of the Pegasus is fancifully formed like a little winged Eros seated in a stooping posture, with arms stretched forward, downwards (Heiss, op. cit, pi. ii). Again, instead of this fanciful head, we find a genuine human head attached to the equine body, in fact, a regular Centaur. Heiss shows that of the six main types according to which he classifies them, the Gauls imitated five. But they were not satisfied with imitating individual types, but must needs blend two or more together to get new varieties of their own ; thus No. 21 is a Gaulish blending of types i and 2 (Heiss, p. 92). Heiss has no doubt that the Centaur, with the addition of the drawn sword, is a development of the human-headed Pegasus, but he feels somewhat uncertain whether to regard it as struck at Emporise, or as a Gaulish imitation. Now all through the south and west of Gaul we find a remarkable type; it is an anthropocephalous figure, having undoubtedly the body of a horse, but undergoing many variations amongst various tribes. Coins bearing such a type have been found at Toulouse (Tolosa), the capital of the powerful nation of the Volcae Tectosages (Lelewel, Type Gaulois, c. 31), a region where we shall find likewise evidence of the influence of Rhoda ; among the Turones (Hucher, LArt Gaulois, PI. 24), Pictones {ibid., PI. 9), Namnetes (PL 81), Redones (Rennes, ibid., PI. 47), and all the peoples of the Armorican peninsula ; they are likewise found in the Channel Islands, and in the south and west of England, as at Portsmouth, at Mount Batten, near Plymouth, and in Devonshire (Evans, British Coins, p. 129). Follow the peoples enumerated above on the map of Gaul, and we shall find them all lying in the basins of the Garonne and Loire. We find the Namnetes (whose name is preserved in Nantes^ occupying the situation at the mouth of the Loire, where most probably stood the city of Corbilo, the great emporium on the ocean shore in the time of Pytheas, and whose name, perhaps, still appears in the The Greek Trade- Rotites to Britain. loi modern village of Couveron. From this evidence we must infer that a current of Greek influence at one time spread upward from Southern Gaul westwards to Armorica, the Channel Islands, and thence to the southern coast -of Britain. This evidence, then, points unmistakably to a route direct from Armorica to the southern coast of Britain, or, in other words, supports strongly the doctrine that the Isle of Wight was the island called Ictis by Diodorus, and Mictis by Timaeus, where the tin was brought by the natives. To support the view here put forward of the spread of the anthropocephalous figure from Emporias through the land of the Tectosages we can adduce further numismatic evidence of a striking kind. I have already mentioned that the town of Rhoda struck coins for a short time ; these bore on their reverse a conventional representation of a rose, a type parlant (such as is found on the coins of Rhodes, Phocaea, Melitaeus), alluding to the name of the city, but perhaps a development of the incuse square, which became on the antique obols of Massalia a four-spoked wheel. The Celti- berians and Gauls imitated this type of Rhoda, and these copies are especially found in the region of Narbo (Nar- bonne\ which was a chief city of the Tectosages.^ This fact proves the influence exercised in this part of Gaul by the coins of the Greek cities at the foot of the Pyrenees, and adds certainty to our tracing of the spread of the man- headed horse through this region. Be it likewise borne in mind that those traders from Narbo, who were questioned by Scipio as likely to be conversant with the trade to Britain, were in all probability of the tribe of the Tecto- sages. Greek traders did not pass along the ancient caravan routes, but the various articles of commerce were passed on from tribe to tribe of the barbarians. Such was the case with the amber of the Baltic, such as we have 1 The voided cross on the coins of the Iceni (Evans, PI. xiv, 13) seems to come almost directly from the Gaulish imitations of the rose of Rhoda (cf. Heiss, PI. i). I02 The Greek Trade- Routes to Britain. seen above has been the case in modern times in Central Asia, and such, no doubt, was the case as regards the tin trade with Britain. But to return to our numismatic evidence. There are a great variety of symbols on the coins of Emporise, such as an ox-head under the horse, a star, a boar, a bird, a wreath above the horse, or a winged Victory crowning it. We find symbols similar to these on various Gaulish coins, and it is probable that they have been derived from Em- porise. For instance, on a coin assigned to the Segusiavi we find the ox-head beneath the horse (Hucher, pi. 28) ; and the ox-head is likewise found on coins of the Allo- broges (Hucher, pi. 88). A bird, possibly derived from the same source, appears on coins of Cenomanni, Carnuti, or Eburovices (Hucher, PI. 71), and perhaps the star of the same city meets us on the coins of the Carnuti (PI. 71). The boar likewise occurs on several Armorican varieties, and also in other parts of Gaul (Hucher, PI. 81). But there is one type found in Armorica very peculiar and striking, the dancing figure seen on coins of the Namnetes and Baiocassi (Hucher, PI. 81). Patriotic French numis- matists point to this triumphantly as a specimen of independent Gallic art. But I think a comparison of these coins with the Kabeiros figure on the coins of Ebusus (Heiss, p. 44) will show that here likewise we have not a native, but an adventitious type, which travelled by way of Emporiae, Rhoda, or Massalia, and reached Armorica by the same route as the Centaur figure. Again, the seahorse of Emporiae is found on the coins of the Redones {Rennes) and the Caletes {Caux), whilst the cock from the same source (which has been regarded as a type parlant^ the gallus Gallicus) is found also among the Caletes. The bull found on coins attributed to the Corosopiti, an Armorican people, is probably from the coins of Massalia or Emporiae. This evidence points out the powerful influence which the coins of Emporiae had in Western Gaul, and substantiates the progress of the anthropo- The Greek Trade-Routes to Britain, 103 cephalous figure from Emporias through the Tectosages to Armorica, Jersey, and Southern and South- Western Britain. Let us now turn to the course of the type copied from the gold stater of Philip of Macedon. The usual theory is that after the Gauls sacked Delphi in 279 B.C., those of them who returned home struck coins in imitation of the Philippi, great numbers of which are assumed to have been among the temple-treasure. Grave objections have been raised against this theory by Lenormant on various grounds ; e.g., that the Gauls who invaded Greece did not return home, but passed into Asia and settled in the country known afterwards as Galatia. Be the true story what it may, all are pretty well agreed that the striking of gold coins in imitation of this type began among the Arverni (Auvergne) about 250 B.C., for it is here that we find those copies which most closely resemble the archetype both in execution and weight (but from the first the weight is lower than that of the Greek stater). From the Arverni this type spread northwards through Central France, until it finally reaches the coast of the Channel. Here we are met by a noteworthy fact : gold coins identical in every respect are found on both sides of the Straits of Dover. This type is given by Dr. Evans among the prototypes of the British series. This descendant of the Philippus is found largely in Kent, as also sporadically in other parts of England (Evans, Ancient British Coins, p. SO J whilst, on the other hand, the French numismatists place them in the Gaulish series from their occurrence on the French side, as for example at Beauvais {Bellovaci). This numismatic evidence tallies with what we know of the political history of Northern Gaul and Britain. Caesar (B. G., ii, 4) tells us that not long before his own time {nostra etiam memorid) a king of the Suessiones {Soissons\ one of the strongest of the Belgic tribes, by name Divitiacus, had been the most powerful sovereign in all Gaul, and that he held under his sway not only a great part of Northern Gaul, I04 The Greek T^^ade-Rozttes to Britain, but likewise of Britain. If we place the date of this monarch at about 100-90 B.C. we shall probably not be far astray. How much further back extended this king- dom of the Belgae on both sides of the Channel we have no means of judging. Now it would seem that the peculiar position of this kingdom, extending on both sides of the sea, affords us the best explanation of the fact that we find the same coin- type in both regions. The weights of the coin are also of importance. The earliest British coins, designated the prototypes by Dr. Evans (p. 37), usually weigh from 120 to 107 grains, and herein they coincide with the standard of the Gaulish series. But very few coins of this standard are found in Britain. There is very soon a drop to 96-90 grains, and finally to a very well-defined standard (for gold) of 84 grains. The inference to be drawn from this fact seems to be that at the time when there was the same weight as well as the same type on both sides of the Straits, there was one and the same sovereign authority on each side, or at least very close political and commercial relations. When, however, the people on the British side became independent of their Gaulish overlord, the standard dropped until it reached the point at which, under the workings of natural laws, the British gold standard was finally fixed. We saw above that in the time of Pytheas Corbilo was the great emporium on the west coast of Gaul. By the time of Polybius, 150 B.C., its importance had waned, whilst by the time of Csesar's conquests it must have ceased to be of any note, as he never mentions it ; and Strabo, when speaking of it, seems to regard it as no longer existing. How are we to account for the decadence of this once important city ? If the line of trade shifted from Armorica and the Isle of Wight to the short sea passage across the Straits — that is, to either of the two northern crossings mentioned by Strabo, that from the mouth of the Seine or that from the land of the Morini— as a matter of course the The Greek Trade-Routes to Britain. 105 importance of Corbilo as the emporium for trade with Britain would rapidly disappear. As a matter of fact, the history of South-Eastern Britain points directly to such a shifting. It was not very long before the time of Caesar that the Belgic tribes first established themselves in Britain. The tradition of their settlement was still fresh (Caesar, B. G., v, 12). In fact, the Belgic conquest was still in progress, for it is probable that between the time of Caesar and that of Claudius they advanced considerably further westward. We have un- fortunately no evidence to show whether these settlements had already commenced in the days of Pytheas. An obscure passage of Strabo (iv, 201) has often been cited as showing that Pytheas found the natives of Britain cultivating corn and threshing it in covered barns instead of threshing-floors, as in the South. If the passage really referred to Britain it would point almost certainly to the settlement of the Belgae in Britain. For, according to Caesar, it was only the newly settled Belgae who cultivated corn, as the aborigines of the inland districts subsisted on the milk and flesh of their flocks and herds (Caesar, B. G., iv, 12). But a careful study of the passage referred to will show that it is purely gratuitous to assume it as referring to Britain. Posidonius, as we learn from Diodorus, found the Britons cultivating corn when, more than two centuries later, he visited the island. It is obvious that when the Belgic tribes crossed over and made permanent settlements on the south-east coast of Britain, that the course of trade would pass regularly from Kent into Northern France, and that the old route by Armorica, Corbilo, and the Loire would fall into disuse. Hence it is that we find from Diodorus that at the time of Posidonius the tin evidently was brought across the Straits, for he describes it as being conveyed on pack-horses a journey of thirty days across Gaul. It is obvious that the tin so conveyed was not brought by the Loire route, since in that case the distance for overland transit would have been very short. io6 The Greek Trade-Routes to Britain. It now only remains to see if it is possible, from the numismatic evidence, to test the view here put forward in favour of the claim of priority for the Armorican route. Taking first the question of coin-types, it is hardly pro- bable that unless the people of the north-west of France and the Channel Islands had been already accustomed to the coin-types of Emporiae, Rhoda, Massalia, and Ebusus, before the stater of Philip came into Gaul and became the general basis of currency of all Central and Northern Gaul and a part of Britain, and the coinage of gold came into vogue, instead of imitating the Philippus type, they would have impressed upon their coins the type derived from the anthropocephalous Pegasus of Emporiae. On the other hand, if Massalia and Narbo had already de- veloped a well-defined trade route into Britain up Central France and across the Straits before the incoming of the Philippus, it is hardly likely that no trace of the earlier coin-types should exist in the currency of the Belgic tribes on either side of the Straits, especially when we find on coins of the Philippus type in those parts of Gaul which came under the influence of the older Greek coinage, symbols derived therefrom, such as the boar ; and when we re- member the lasting impression made by the types of Massalia on the coinage of all Eastern and South-Eastern Gaul. Next we take the weight standards. The coinage of Gaul as a whole followed the standard of Massalia, which was itself the Phocaic, the drachm at its heaviest weighing about 59 grains. Unfortunately, we cannot use this as a criterion to as full an extent as might have at first sight been expected. Though the original Philippus was of Attic standard (135 grains), from the very first moment of its imitation in Gaul its weight was reduced, the oldest Arvernian copies being about 120 grains, that is, about two Phocaic drachms. The Gauls struck quarters of their gold coins. Now in Armorica we find these small gold coins weigh 32 grains, whence M. Hucher The Greek Trade- Routes to Britain. 107 thought that they represented the full weight of the original stater. But this is the weight of many of the archaic coins found at Auriol, near Marseilles, and which date from 450 B.C. It is therefore more reasonable to suppose that the Armorican peoples followed the standard for their small gold pieces, which represents a far earlier borrowing from the Greeks,^ To sum up our results, we may, with a fair degree of probability, arrive at the following conclusions, amongst others, from the evidence adduced: (i) That before the time of Pytheas {c. 330 B.C.) there was already trade in tin between Britain and the Continent ; (2) that the line along which this trade passed was from the tin region of Britain by way of the Isle of Wight, Armorica, and the city of Corbilo on the Loire, to Narbo and Massalia ; (3) at a later period a second route was developed across the Straits of Dover, or by an overland transport on horses to Massalia ; (4) when the Romans in the time of Caesar discovered the short route to the tin islands off the coast of Galicia, the British tin trade almost ceased, so that when Strabo wrote (1-19 A.D.) tin was no longer exported from Britain ; (5) the trade was carried on not by the Greeks directly, but by Gaulish traders ; (6) that the earliest Greek influences came not directly from Massalia, but from the Greek cities of Northern Spain, whose coinage (and, by implication, their commerce and arts also) penetrated across all South- western Gaul. 1 This gold weight standard was probably native, representing, as did the gold standard of the Greeks and Italians, the value in gold of a cow. The British standard of 84 grains was probably the same in origin, gold being scarcer in Britain. William Ridgeway. REPORT ON FOLK-TALE RESEARCH IN 1889. 1. The Fables of ^sop, as first printed by William Caxton in 1484, with those of Avian, Alfonso, and Poggio, now again edited and induced by Joseph Jacobs. 2 vols. London, D. Nutt. 1889. 2. The Ancient History of the Maoris his Mythology and Traditions^ by John White. Vols. 2, 3, and 4. London, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, Limited. 1889. 3. Teutonic Mythology^ by Viktor Rydberg, Ph.D., authorised trans- lation from the Swedish by Rasmus B. Anderson, LL.D. London, Swan Sonnenschein and Co. 1889. 4. The Folk-Tales of the Magyars. Collected by Kriza, Erdelyi, Pap, and others. Translated and edited, with Comparative Notes, by the Rev. W. Henry Jones and Lewis L. Kropf. 5. Sixty Folk- Tales from exclusively Slavonic Sources. Translated, with brief Introductions and Notes, by A. H. Wratislaw, M.A. London, Elliot Stock. 1889. 6. A Group of Eastern Romances. Edited by W. A. Clouston. Privately printed. 1889. 7. Traditions Populaires de VAsie Mineure^ par E. Henri Carnoy et Jean Nicolaides. Paris, Maisonneuve and Ch. Leclerc. 1889. 8. Le Folk-lore des Hautes Vosges, par L. F. Sauvd. Paris, Maison- neuve and Ch. Leclerc. 1889. 9. Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition. I. — Argyllshire Series. Edited by Lord Archibald Campbell. London, D. Nutt. 1889. 10. From my Verandah in New Guinea. Sketches and Traditions by Hugh Hastings Romilly, C.M.G. ; with an Introduction by Andrew Lang, M.A. London, D. Nutt. 1889. OF the various branches of folk-lore none has made greater progress during the past twenty years than the study of folk-tales. The first serious attempt to elucidate folk-tales in this country was made by Sir G. W. Cox, in his Mythology of the Aryan Report on Folk-Tale Research zW 1889. 109 Nations. In that work, following the lines laid down by Max MUller, the author endeavoured to interpret the stories current among the Indo-European nations as ex- pansions of metaphors which were conceived as part of the original stock of expressions belonging to the race before its separation into the tribes that ultimately peopled India, Persia, and Europe. The metaphors in question were alleged to have been used of the phenomena of day and night, sunrise and sunset, summer and winter, and to have been misunderstood in the course of ages by the decay of language and from other causes, and so to have become crystallised into phrases that formed the foundation of tales of heroic action and suffering. In the Vedas, the earliest written poems of the Aryan race, these metaphors and phrases were found in the process of change, but as yet undisguised to the extent appearing in later times and among kindreds long severed from the original home and parentage. Cox's work was followed at no great interval by that of Professor De Gubernatis on zoological myth- ology. The theory which, in the hands of Max Muller and his disciple Cox was kept within moderate, if not exactly reasonable, limits fairly ran riot in the pages of the Florentine professor ; and it became obvious that, with the exercise of no great amount of ingenuity, every event of history might be resolved, and every phrase of poetry might be developed, into a sun-myth. It was time, even for those who were most dazzled by the learning and ability displayed by these advocates of the philological method of interpre- tation, to pause and ask whether investigation in some other direction, and in a more strictly scientific manner, might not yield results of a more solid character. Dr. Tylor had already shown the way by the publication of his great work on Primitive Culture, in which he had dealt with a few savage myths in connection with the beliefs and practices of the people who told them, and had compared both these stories and these practices with those which have survived from an unknown past among the least cul- I lo Report on Folk-Tale Research in 1889. tured classes in modern Europe. The clue thrown down by Tylor was, after a while, taken up ; and we owe it chiefly to the eloquence, wit, and erudition of Mr. Andrew Lang that the sun-myth has at length fallen, discredited and over- whelmed with sarcasm, and that more rational and surer methods have been generally adopted to discover the origin and meaning of folk-tales. Meanwhile the study of Sanskrit literature'^has produced another theory. Benfey, in his introduction to the German version of the Panchalauten, had, years ago, pointed out the resemblance between the fables contained in that book and many of those passing under the name of ^Esop. He deemed the resemblance too great to be accidental, and in- sisted that it could only be accounted for by transmission. On the whole he was disposed to give the palm of origin- ality to the Greek fables ; but a further acquaintance with Buddhist writings has induced a number of scholars to argue that it is to the popularity given to parable by the teaching of Buddha and his early followers that we must trace the diffusion of stories found, in one form or another, among so many different nations. This theory has obtained advocates of great force in Professor Rhys Davids in England, and M. Cosquin in France. Moreover, the large collections of analogues, chiefly in literary form, by Mr. Clouston, have been made vehicles for conveying to the minds of his readers an impression of the strength of the case. And, indeed, it may be admitted that direct transmission has played a considerable part in the diffusion of folk-tales, and that many stories found in modern Europe in the mouths of the peasantry have analogues astonishingly close in Sanskrit literature, as well as in Indian tradition still living. The question is how far transmission can be traced by written records, or fairly inferred from the closeness of the analogy between the tales in question, and from the historical connection between the people where borrowing is alleged. This is one of the most difficult problems with Report on Folk-Tale Research ^V^ 1889. iii which folk-lore students have to deal ; and it must be grappled with manfully, if the study is ever to be more than an interesting literary pastime. For we must never forget that the term folk-lore embraces a very wide area, and that all traditional learning must be investigated on the same principles. To prove transmission from a centre in the case of stories involves a presumption in its favour in the case of other folk-belief, and ultimately, therefore, in the case of traditional customs. Now it would, of course, be absurd to deny that strong races have often imposed their language, laws, and practices by force or persuasion upon their weaker brethren. In like manner superstitious songs and tales have been wafted from land to land. The advocates, however, of the theory we are considering — that of transmission from a given centre — are bound by the narrow limits of historical time ; and, unfortunately for them, folk-tales have been found older than Buddha, and in other lands than India. To meet this difficulty, Judea has been suggested by one set of theorists, and Egypt by another, as the starting-point. We need not further allude on this occasion to these offshoots from the main theory : the objections applicable to it are, with slight variations, applicable to them also. It is only necessary here to insist that, inasmuch as the theory has its limits within historical time, the burden of proof lies upon its advocates, and that in each individual instance. Now, the course of their argument demands a number of suitable vehicles of trans- mission. Many of these, applicable undoubtedly to limited areas, have been suggested, such as conquest, trade, literary intercourse, and the movements of that singular people known to us as the Gipsies. Of these, as it might have been predicted, literature, from the permanent character of its records, has proved the most manageable by far ; with its aid the revelationists, as they have been called, have been able to bridge more chasms, traverse greater distances, and arrive nearer to probabilities than by any other means. 112 Report on Folk-Tale Research in 1889. I mentioned just now that the comparison of the Greek and Indian fables first drew the attention of scholars to transmission as a possible explanation of the similarity of stories. Accordingly, we should expect to find the most obvious and striking resemblances among variants of fables. This is a subject that has engaged the attention of Mr. Joseph Jacobs, and has led to the most valuable contribu- tion, not merely to the controversy, but to the study of folk-tales, which has been made during the year 1889. The occasion of this contribution is a reprint in a sump- tuous form of Caxton's version of jEsofs FableSy to which Mr. Jacobs has prefixed, in a separate volume, an intro- duction containing an account of the development of the fables down to the end of the Middle Ages. In truly scientific manner the history is traced backwards, showing, step by step, the changes, growth, and accretions in the course of centuries. This, of course, is a purely literary history ; but literary history is important, because it is on this that the advocates of the borrowing theory rely for the bulk of their facts. The result of Mr. Jacobs' inquiries is to establish the literary descent of the fable, on the one hand from Greece, where it received its first great impulse by its application to political uses during the epoch of the tyrants, when free speech was dangerous, and on the other hand from India, where Buddha and his early fol- lowers adapted the beast-tale to teach ethical lessons. I need not refer here to the many ingenious and probable conjectures, and to the patient analyses which have cleared up a number of difficult problems in the course of this brilliant essay. The question that chiefly interests us now is whether the true inference is a generalisation to be ex- tended to all classes of tales. Are we to believe that all classes of tales are derived by literary, or partly by literary and partly by oral, channels from their original home among the Hindoo Aryans in Sanskrit times ? The learned author does not admit that this follows from his investigations. He insists, and rightly insists, that " the fable is a highly Report on Folk-Tale Research in 1889. 113 specialised form of the universally human tendency to tell a tale". And he infers that we are thereby prevented " from applying results obtained from consideration of its history to the more general question of origin". This is probably correct ; but attention should be directed to the negro stories, of which Uncle Remus has given us the best-known scries, and the analogues which have been reported from the southern continent of America. The problems connected with the origin and history of the apologue cannot be deemed to be wholly solved until these tales have been dealt with in a fashion as thorough and scholarly as that of Mr. Jacobs. Turning from fables to the wider domain of sagas, we are met by two works deserving of the most careful study. The relations between themselves of the marchen and the saga, the relation of tradition to historical fact, and the influence of a different series of beliefs, historical and religious, imposed by a higher and conquering upon a lower and vanquished culture, each and all demand the student's attention. In John Whitens Ancient History of the Maoris and Viktor Rydberg's Researches into Teutonic Mythology^ treasures of special value from two opposite ends of the world are poured at his feet. Mr. White's first volume was published so long ago as 1887. The object of his book is to let the New Zealander speak for himself and tell his native stories. These stories are gathered from various sources, many of which have been already published or printed in the annals of local societies ; while others . have been taken down by Mr. White himself from the dictation of Maoris skilled in their tribal traditions : and he is careful to give the Maori text as well as the English translation. The sagas of the first volume are mythological ; the remainder, published in 1889, claim to be historical. The interest of the former will be at once admitted. I venture to think that the interest of the latter is at least as great. For, dry and wearisome as are the details of many of the "historical" VOL. I. ^ 1 14 Report on Folk-Tale Research in 1889. sagas— recalling Milton's famous complaint concerning the history of the Heptarchy — amid much tedious matter, we may watch for ourselves how what is apparently a narra- tive of actual events passes gradually into the realm of imagination, and myth usurps the chair of fact. This is the sort of inquiry undertaken by M. Rydberg with respect to Teutonic traditions. No one can open the recent translation of the first part of his work without being struck by the manner in which he tracks to its burrow and slays the mediaeval tale of the Eastern origin and Trojan descent of Odin and his companions. The width of research and the acuteness here displayed are conspicuous in his treatment of other sagas. We may not accept all his conclusions. It may seem that often he deals with tales and songs but loosely connected with one another, as if they were inspired writings which had to be reconciled at the cost of any amount of special pleading. Yet, un- deniably, the method he adopts has led him to brilliant conjectures, if not to discoveries, and neither the method nor the results can be safely dismissed unconsidered. Among the collections of folk-tales published last year the most important, after the Maori tales, is the version of Magyar tales by Messrs. Jones and Kropf This is the more welcome, because English readers have hitherto had to depend upon German translations, and these only too frequently unsatisfactory ones. It consists of a selection from i:he collections published by Erdelyi, Kriza, and Pap, with a single example from Merdnyi's Popular Tales from the Valley of the SajS — in all, fifty- three out of a total of 240 stories enumerated by Ladislaus Arany in i ^6"] as published up to that date. But although the translators state that the work of collecting has gone steadily on since that date, none of the more recent collections are repre- sented in the book before us. We may assume that the examples given here are the most interesting, from the point of view of the general reader, of those published up to 1867. But we cannot assume that they are the most Report on Folk-Tale Research in 1889. n valuable for scientific purposes ; and if we have to be thankful, as we are and must be, on behalf of English students, to have thus much from works so inaccessible as those in the different Magyar dialects, we cannot help regretting that, instead of extracts from several, the whole of one or two of the collections referred to by the trans- lators should not have been accorded us. Given the principle of selection, however, the translators have gone about their task in a scientific fashion, and the introduction and notes add greatly to the services they have here rendered. This cannot be said of Mr. Wratislaw's Sixty Folk-tales from Slavonic Sources. His notes (happily of no large extent) have been written to all appearance in entire ignor- ance of any other theory of interpretation than that of Max Miiller and Cox. As in the case of the Magyar tales just mentioned, Mr. Wratislaw has chosen only a few out of the vast treasure of Slavonic mdrchen and sagas. It is too much, of course, to expect that any one scholar, or indeed any dozen scholars, will give us the whole ; but would it not be possible by co-operation to obtain trustworthy abstracts of all the published stories of the Slav tribes ? I can hardly think of any work that would be more useful. Mr. Clouston's Group of Eastern Romances has been so recently noticed that in these pages I need not do more than refer to it as affording a considerable amount of interesting material. I pass on therefore to two small French collections in Maisonneuve's well-known series. New ground has been broken by Messrs. Carnoy and Nicolaides in their Traditions Populaires de VAsie Mineure. In so far as the stories are concerned it consists of forty-one examples of mdrchen^ sagas, apologues, and drolls. Many of the variants here found are curious ; and when we con- sider the history of the western shores of Asia Minor and the islands adjacent, it is evident that the partisans of no theory of interpretation can afford to neglect them. The editors give, as a guarantee of good faith, particulars of the I 2 1 1 6 Report on Folk-Tale Research in 1889. time and place where, and the person by whom, every story was told, including his domicile of origin, present residence, occupation, and age. The other collection is that of M. Sauve. It includes the whole range of folk-lore, and the author seems to have undertaken his work in a thoroughly scientific spirit, and comprehending the difficulties of his task. The result is, on the whole, satisfactory, though for the purposes of the " storyologist" the arrangement is hardly to be commended. However, the tales are few, and they occupy a subordinate place in the scheme. Only two mdrchen are related, and a few sagas and beast-tales. Lord Archibald Campbell has published, in the first volume of his Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition^ some sixteen or seventeen sagas. Some of these are clan- traditions ; and the editor notes as an evidence of their antiquity the fact that none of them makes any mention of firearms. These clan-traditions all relate to feuds and vendettas ; and it is in one case expressly recorded that the descendants of one of the foes of the clan, in their account of the incident narrated, "altered this tradition and reversed the main facts." Could we have had both sides of the story, here and in the other instances given, from the mouth of descendants, they would have formed most interesting and valuable studies in folk-tradition, and its ability to preserve the record of events long passed. It is worth while noting that this, or something like this, is what we do actually get in some of the Maori tales in Mr. White's collection above referred to. The value of Lord Archibald Campbell's sagas falls short of those in that they present only one version ; but in saying this I am not pointing out their defect so much as laying stress on the remarkable character of Mr. White's work. Other contents of the Waifs and Strays are variants of well-known fairy tales, stories of the Bruce and of Michael Scott, and the questions put by Finn to the maiden. Mr. Alfred Nutt's wide Report on Folk- Tale Research in 1 889. 117 acquaintance with Celtic traditions has enabled him to add some useful notes. In From my Verandah in New Guinea^ Mr. Romilly has devoted a chapter to fairy tales, containing some half-dozen specimens, the salient features of which are briefly indicated in Mr. Andrew Lang's preface. I need only say of them that they illustrate the advantage of a wider collection of savage tales. On the whole, the year will be remembered chiefly for the publication of Mr. Jacobs' essay on ^sop, and the distinct advance thereby made towards the solution of some of the questions that perplex us. The new material rendered serviceable is not of first-rate importance except in the case of the Maori traditions. E. Sidney Hartland. RECENT RESEARCH ON TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY, THE new fasciculus of PauVs Grundnss der ger- manischen Philologie (Bd. ii, Abteilung i, Lief, i,^ contains a conspectus of the chief epic cycles of the Teutons by B. Symons, Heldensage ; a short sketch of the history of the Gothic fragments by E. Sievers, Gotische Literatur; and an article on the classic Old Northern literature by E. Mogk, Nordische Literatur^ Norwegisch- Isldndtsche. Neither of these papers, which are good enough sum- maries of accepted knowledge, with fair bibliographies attached, shows any advance ; but they will be useful enough to the student who wishes for a general introduc- tion to the subjects treated. Symons' paper is based chiefly on Miillenhoff and Wiilcker ; it has notices of the legends of Beowulf, the Nibelungs, Wolf-Dietrich and the Hardings, Ermanric Theodric, and Attila, Hilda, Waldhere of Burgundy, Way- land, Orwandil, and Iron. The sketch requires to be supplemented by the later work of Vigfiisson, Rhys, Ryd- berg, and by some knowledge of the sculptured repre- sentations of the Sigfred, Gunnere, Egil, and Wayland legends in Britain and Scandinavia ; for instance, the Leeds Cross contains a different version of the rape of Beadu- hild from that in Volundarqui^a, while the Egil tragedy is shown upon the Franks casket. Some important iden- tifications are passed over, such as the Eriphyle = Cor- delia = Hilda equation pointed out six years ago. Saxo is hardly sufficiently used. Bugge's " classical borrowing" 1 3trassburg : K, Triibner. 1889. Recent Research on Teutonic Mythology. 119 theory is implicitly and properly rejected. The point of view taken is on the whole too narrow, and the whole subject, beyond a few such references, is left where Grimm left it. One is a little disappointed at the sterility of the survey, which, as treated by Dr. Symons, opens out no prospect of future fruitfulness, and neglects the anthro- pological side completely. Sievers' useful little notice, chiefly concerning Wulfila, is beside our purpose here. Mogk's sketch of O. N. literature is again rather flat: it summarises handily enough much that is snfiflciently known, but, like Symons' paper, it lacks what one might call the suggestive quality. The MSS. are not noticed ; the chronology is sometimes at fault ; thus, 872 is too early for Hafursfrith battle, and the Greenland Lay is dated rather too soon, and Alviss-mal too late; the upward date of Angantheow's Lay, fixed by the allusion to Harold Fair-hair — an ec Noregi nae^ag jllom — and other like examples, are not considered. The de- fective plan of the Grundriss in separating the Norwegian and Icelandic from the Swedish and Danish classic litera- ture is responsible for the omission of the Northern sources of Saxo, and of the Hrolf-cycle, where one naturally looks for it. Still, on the whole. Dr. Mogk's work is pains- taking, and, while by no means replacing earlier work, will probably help the German student. The biblio- graphy is useful. Of the succeeding fasciculi of the Grundriss der ger- manischen Philologie received up to present date. Band i, Lieferung 3, is taken up with the history of the Old Northern, German, and Netherland tongues, by A. Noreen, O. Behaghel, and J. F. Winkel, respectively; and does not directly concern us here. Band ii, Ab- teilung 2, Lieferung 3, is occupied by the^ end of K. von Amira's interesting sketch of Teutonic Law, A. Schultz's little article on the Teutonic Weapons of War, and F. Klaund's well-ordered description of the social life and condition of the Scandinavians, from all three of which 1 20 Recent Research on Tetitonic Mythology. much that is of importance with regard to the ideas and pur- suits of the old Teutonic world may be gathered by students of folk-lore. With Band ii, Lieferung i, we are more immediately engaged ; H. Schiick contributes a history of the Swedish and Danish literature which, passing over without due notice the earlier traditions and traditional history, deals briefly but clearly with the mediaeval remains of Sweden and Denmark, and appends a useful selected bibliography. R. Kegel's Old High and Old Low German literature is fuller and more detailed, dealing one by one with the various texts, prose and verse, Latin and Teutonic, giving a good choice of references, and forming the most practical introduction to the subject yet printed. The English student will find it of special service for the comparison with and illustration of the parallel Old and Early English remains. F. Vogt begins his sketch of the Middle High-German literature in the same fasciculus on a similar plan In Acta Germanicdy we have a new series projected by R. Henning and J. Hoffory ; it is intended to place the results of scientific philology (in the widest sense) before a somewhat wider public than has been hitherto catered for — a most praiseworthy design. The need for some such endeavour is almost more necessary on the Continent than it is here, for the differentiation of function, fostered no doubt by endowed special research, has rather brought about a neglect of efforts to improve the general culture of the public that reads ; Hackel's fascinating books belong- ing to a rare class in Germany, while in this country books such as Galton's important contributions to biology are eminently readable. The series opens with M. Hirschfeld's Untersuchungen ziir Loka-Senna, containing a normalised and Sieverian text and a good translation, preceded by an introduction ^ Berlin : Mayer un4 Miiller, Recent Research on Teutonic Mythology, 1 2 1 and commentary of some sixty pages. Containing no new results, it summarises the main Continental authorities in a handy enough way. Misled by the hypothesis that Iceland was the home of the author of this comic poem, Dr. Hirsch- feld indulges in an extraordinary theory that Laufey is Ice- land, that the Giant's glove is the fiord-cut north-west pro- montory of the same land, and that the sun shining through the steam-pillars of the boiling springs is the foundation of a myth in the poem. This fancy, ingenious as it is, may at once be set aside as contrary to everything we know of the origin and development of these Eddie lays. The whole standpoint of the mythologic treatment is somewhat feeble and imperfect. The identification of L6|?urr-Vrtra is noticed. The poem is dated too late, probably owing to the preconception of its Icelandic origin. The corruptions in the text are got round in the old fashion, rather than obelized ; though this is perhaps necessary in a popular work, where the sense is more important than the letter, but verses which are purely immetrical should surely be so marked thus in Stanza 38. I should either obelize the third line, or read according to a conjecture of Vigfiisson's — "Ulfge hefr oc vel es 1 vidjomscal." The translation, again, of the fourth line is also far too loose; whatever Ragna-roc may mean (and I take it to mean nothing else than the Doom of the gods) it cannot be translated " Welten-brand". With the rejection of the lines superfluous in the metre one would cordially agree; they are in one case mere reciters' repetition or substitutions, but as they may be in one or two cases wit- nesses to the early existence of parallel texts they should be noticed. The anthropological aspects of the poem are left untouched. Nor are the ancient representations of Loke, which are of no small interest, made use of. The absence of an index is inexcusable, and a short note on the most helpful books consulted, or to consult, would help the general reader who was attracted to the subject, and cost little trouble to Dr. Hirschfeld. It would be easy to criticise this book more minutely, but the main short- 12 2 Recent Research on Teutonic Mythology, comings, arising from too absolute an acceptance of the opinions of one school, have been pointed out, and we would not wish to do other than encourage efforts directed to the widening of the circle of those who take pleasure in such classic masterpieces as Loka-Senna^ the best work of the unknown Aristophanes of the Scandinavian colonies. The next book to be noticed is one of much greater im- portance. It is the Researches in Teutonic Mythology of Viktor Rydberg, translated by R. B. Anderson. This is on one side the most important addition to our knowledge of early Teutonic myths since Grimm. It is a book with a good deal of humanity about it, and though one is far from agreeing with all its conclusions, it is eminently sug- gestive. The author has studied his Saxo to good purpose, and has been rewarded. The peculiar merit of the author is his sagacity in grasping clues that have escaped others ; his weak side is the over- tendency to identifications ; yet it must be admitted that the existence of parallel myths in the North has been neglected unduly, and that one must suppose that in the spread of governmental area by the leaguing of tribes into nations, various forms of the same myth would appear side by side, and where the differ- entiation of the parallels had been great they would tend to survive with the differentiation accented, while where the differentiation was slight they would merge, leaving perhaps in a word or phrase the traces of a brief separate existence. The first portion of this volume is devoted to a clear and good summary of the mediaeval Trojan hypothesis in its relation to the Scandinavians, and to a review of the earlier native traditions respecting migrations from the North. Next follows an examination into the mythic culture-god or hero, the Teutonic Triptolemus, Sheaf, with an identification of Skelfir-Sheaf and Heimdall, which I should hardly be disposed to admit, and further equa- tions of Skiold-Borgar-Rig-Earl, and of Gram Skloldson- Halfdan, the old-Halfdan, Borgarsson-Halfdan Berg-gram, Recent Research on Teutonic Mythology. 123 which I think, in essentials, must be accepted along with the ingenious identification of Groa, Orwandil's wife, and Groa, Sripdag's mother, with the considerations it involves. On the other hand, the suggested equation Halfdan-Mannus must fall to the ground, and the reasons that support it are wholly illusory, e.g., Gu'Sormr is taken as Gu-S-hormr instead of Gu^-^ormr, and falsely connected with Hermio. The suggestion that Heimdall was the husband of Sol the sun- goddess will require further proof. The identification of Saxo's Halfdan-Gram with the Eddie Helge Hundings- bane is of course correct. The treatment of the Eddie lay itself is poor, with a curious suggestion that in the lines " fa es Borgarr [Borgir R.] braut 1 Bralunde", and " Drott ^otti sa deglingr uesa", the names of Halfdan's father and mother, Borgarr and Drott are preserved ; ch. 35 on Svipdag is not convincing. The following discussion on the first war and its incidents, and the hag Gulveig-Hei-S-Anger- boda, is exceedingly ingenious. The adventures of Hadding are next treated, with much skill. But there is too much forcing of analogies in what follows, and to identify Had- ding-Hartung with Theodoric of Verona is absurd, though there are false traditions connected with the great king which have some relation with those told of Hadding. An investigation into the myths relating to the Lower World follows, but its results are too consistent. The fact is that we have existing traditions respresenting not only divergent sister legends of the same type, but survivals from successive strata of very different age, from the most archaic and " petral" to those which are deeply tinged with Christian ideas. However, one may note the identification Gudmund- Mimer-Modsogner, and the Iranic parallels adduced to ex- plain Mimer's grove by Jima's garden. In his geography of the Teutonic underworld and the equation Hel-Urd which follow, one cannot follow Dr. Rydberg. Chapters Ixix, Ixx, Ixxi, on the thingsteads and dooms of the gods, are over -ingenious, and the writer does not seem to understand 124 Recent Research on Teutonic Mythology, the curious geography of an old Teutonic mootstead, with its law-hill, or rock or slope, and the fenced ring of seats for the court lying to the east thereof, the two connected by a path, along which the judges pass to the dooming. There follows an examination of the World-mill legends, which is suggestive, but cannot be wholly accepted. The mill- traditions are evidently late (because the quern is a late instrument preceded by the pounder, and probably not developed till the regular cultivation of cereals came in), and they are mere outcomes of the desire to explain the salt of the sea and the sand of the shore. An ingenious equation of Heimdall with Agni as the god of the auger-born fire is to be noticed. The Ni^a'S-Mimer equation is by no means acceptable. An excellent note on p. 486 on Saxo's rules for Latinising vernacular names is to be mentioned, but the speculations on the Moon-god, with much that seems reasonable, include a good deal of forced analogy and doubtful theory. Fair-Balder is a good equation, and there is a clever essay on the legend of the Seven Sleepers. The third part of the volume deals with the Ivalde Race, and first with Swipdag-O^rand Freyja-Menglad, and con- nects the former with the historic Eric, the Swede god, and with Hermod, while Orwandil is made a synonym of Egil and Ibor. The weakness of much of this lies in the ignoring of the patent fact that myths are continually being transferred from a half-forgotten hero to the one fresh in fame, and that round persons like Hnef, Hermod, and Eric old myths crystallise afresh. Chapter iii sums up admirably the plot of part of Voluspa, and shows the identity of the Vedic legend of Tvashtar and the Ribhas with the Teutonic Sindre-Ivalde tradition. The next chapter deals with Thjasse-Tishja- Rogner. The authority of Forspiallsliod (in the authen- ticity of which Dr. Rydberg unaccountably believes) is of course more than useless. The analysis of Thorsdrapa is ingenious, even plausible, but it is impossible to buil.d Recent Research on Teutonic Mythology. 125 securely upon what is left of this fine poem, so unsafe is the text. The identifications Wayland-Thjasse, Slagfin-Gjuke, are alluring, but one is hardly prepared to assent to them off-hand, while with the guesses about Hencgest it is impossible to agree. In conclusion, one may commend to every mythologist or student of the old Northern literature this bold and ingenious book. It is not easy reading, nor is it easy to criticise, its strength and weakness alike depend upon detail. The author's experience in belles lettres has given him a quick eye for a plot, a delight in character, and a desire to bring harmony out of confusion. No professional scholar of the modern German type would have attempted or could have achieved this book, which, with all its imperfections, con- tains the most important work done in Northern mythology by a Scandinavian book during the last fifty years. The next work is of a wholly different character, a book showing on every page marks of methodic training, of wide reading, some ingenuity, and slow, persevering labour, a book deserving careful consideration, and with which one is bound in future to reckon, but not to my mind a book that carries conviction with it. Its thesis is that Voluspd is a book-poem composed in Iceland cir. 1125, in "the first quarter of the 12th century". A careful analysis, commen- tary, reconstructed text (but no index), make up a volume of 300 pages. ( Voluspd^ eine Untersuchung, von Elard Hugo Meyer, Berlin, 1889.) While quite willing to admit, as he was himself, that Vigfusson has not said the last word on Voluspa, and entertaining very little of Dr. Meyer's respect for Mullenhoffs work on this poem, it is a large demand that is made upon the reader's faith, and at present I must confess to regarding the thesis advanced as a mere piece of prettily constructed speculation. The striking character of Voluspd as a work of art, and the exaggerated importance as a mythologic authority which its systematic eschatology has given it in the minds of modern readers, have obscured the fact that it has a peculiar and unique position among 126 Recent Research on Teutonic Mythology. the other Eddie Lays, that it is isolated in character and tone. It is a work neither of daylight nor dark, in fact, a creation of the passing twilight. But to my mind there is a power, a simplicity, a spontaneity in it that absolutely forbids one to look upon it as the learned product of a reconstructive book-worm of the 12th century in Iceland. The wide reading and ingenuity of Bugge and the dis- coveries of Bang have led incautious followers into doubtful tracks. Mediaeval Christianity in Teutonic lands is to a great extent Teutonic heathendom with a thin varnish of Christian ideas, but it is not true that Teutonic heathendom is per- meated by Latino-Greek or Judaeo-Christian thought. The fantastic theories of mediaeval book-writers such as Jordanes Dudo, the Editor of what is called the Prose Edda, were not persons who represented the general ideas and feelings of their time, but learned speculators who had no more influence on the thought of the mass of their fellow- creatures than the Bishop of Oxford's researches into the British Constitution have on the ordinary member of a Liberal Three Hundred or a Primrose League Habitation. The good old mythology and ritual went on as old wives' fables and charms many a century after, and survive in the fairy-tales and superstitious observances of to-day. F. York Powell. NOTES AND NEWS. Among the papers in the next number of Folk-Lore will be one by Mr. G. L. Gomme, on a Tale of Campbell ; another by Mr. Frazer on Some Popular Superstitions of the Ancients ; one by Mr. S. Schechter on an unpublished Jewish Legend of Solomon ; one by Mr. Joseph Jacobs on Types and Incidents in European Folk-tales, and Mr. Alfred Nutt's Report on Recent Celtic Research; besides the papers read at the last meeting of the Folk-Lore Society. A SERIES of papers on mediaeval notions of Hell will probably be begun in the next issue, and will include papers on the Celtic, mediaeval Jewish and Christian, and the Arabic phases of the subject. The Islay Association have determined to issue, through Mr. Alexander Gardiner, the first two volumes of the late J. F. Campbell's Popular Tales of the West Highlands^ which have been long out of print. It would be well if they could see their way to adding a translation of Dr. R. Kohler's valuable annotations on the stories which appeared in the second volume of Orient und Occident. Mr. Gomme has written a volume on the Village Com- munity for the Contemporary Science Series now being published by Mr. Walter Scott, under the editorship of Mr. Havelock Ellis. Mr. Gomme's volume will be of interest to fork-lorists, because he uses some of the results of folk- lore to prove that the English village community is not simply an economical institution, but one which contained much of the old tribal religion. 128 Notes and News. Mr. Gomme is engaged upon a re-classification of Eng- lish Custom and Superstition, and hopes to be able to pub- lish the results of his work at the end of the year. His object is to bring together the evidence for the Archaic in Folk-lore, under which title his work will probably be published. Mr. E. Sidney Hartland has in hand, for the Con- temporary Scientific Series, a volume on the Science of Folk- tales, and for the Camelot Series a book of English Folk-tales. Mr. Joseph Jacobs is collecting English fairy tales. A popular selection of these, with illustrations, will pro- bably be issued during the Christmas season of this year, to be followed later on by a more scientific treatment of the subject, which may run to two volumes. Readers of Professor Haddon's Torres Straits legends in this number will also be interested in his very thorough and complete account of the manners and customs of the inhabitants of New Guinea in the February number of the Journal of the Anthropological Institute. Benfey's scattered papers on the Migration of Fables will be included, in a collected form, in the complete edition of his minor writings now being edited by Professor Bezzenberger. The December and January numbers of Le Moyen Age contain admirable summaries of Folk-lore literature in periodicals (chiefly of 1888 and early part of 1889), in- cluding those written in Slavonic dialects. The Council and Officers of the Society supped together after the meeting on February 25th. Much talk has been made about a Folk-lore dinner, and this pleasant little Notes and News, 129 experiment should be the forerunner of the more general plan, such as they accomplish so well in France. M. L. Brueyre, in the last number of the Revue des Traditions Populaires^ in discussing the question of Tabu- lation, advocates strongly the adoption of the system of the Folk-Lore Society in its entirety. While not faultless, he says, it cannot now be altered without spoiling a large amount of valuable work, and for the sake of uniformity, other Societies on the Continent should adopt it and co- operate with the Folk-Lore Society. Mr. MacInnes's "Gaelic Tales", with Mr. Alfred Nutt's annotations, forming the volume for 1889, will be in the hands of members of the Folk-Lore Society, who have paid their 1889 subscription, by the middle of March. Papers and communications for the June number of Folk-Lore should be in the Editor's hands (address, 270, Strand) by May ist. VOL. I. MISCELLANEA. The Giant of New Mills, Sessay. — At Sessay parish, near Thirsk, is a mill. It has recently been rebuilt, but when I was there the old building stood. In front of the house was a long mound, which went by the name of " the Giant's Grave", and in the mill was shown a long blade of iron, something like a scythe-blade, but not curved, which was said to have been the giant's razor, and stone porridge- basin or lather-dish. There lived a giant at this mill, and he ground men's bones to make his bread. One day he captured a lad on Pilmoor, and, instead of grinding him in the mill, he kept him as his servant, and never let him get away. Jack served the giant many years, and never was allowed a holiday. At last he could bear it no longer. Topcliffe Fair was coming on, and the lad entreated that he might be allowed to go there to see the lasses and buy some spice. The giant surlily refused to give him leave ; Jack resolved to take it. The day was hot, and after dinner the giant lay down in the mill with his head on a sack, and dozed. He had been eating in the mill, and had laid down a great loaf of bone-bread by his side, and the knife was in his hand, but his fingers relaxed their hold of it in sleep. Jack seized the moment, drew the knife away, and, holding it with both his hands, drove the blade into the single eye of the giant, who woke with a howl of agony, and, starting up, barred the door. Jack was again in difficulties, but he soon found a way out of them. The giant had a favourite dog, which had also been sleeping when his master was blinded. Jack killed the dog, skinned it, and, throwing the hide over his back, ran on all-fours barking between the legs of the giant, and so escaped. I do not think the miller's story at Dalton is taken bodily from the Polyphemus tale, for there are extraordinary similarities to it to be found all over the world. The preservation of the knife and the mound show that the myth I heard is not of recent origin at Dalton. I am told by one of my servants from Dalton that at the rebuilding of the farm the mound was opened, and a stone coffin found in it ; but whether this be a kistvaen or a mediaeval sarcophagus I cannot tell. I wrote some time ago for another version of the giant story to compare it with mine, and about the stone coffin, but have had no answer. Miscellanea, 131 At Dalton there is also an old barn, haunted by a headless woman. One night a tramp went into it to sleep. At midnight he was awakened by light, and, sitting up, he saw a woman coming towards him from the end of the barn, holding her head in her hands like a lantern, with light streaming out of the eyes, nostrils, and mouth. He sprang out of the barn in a fright, breaking a hole in the wall to escape. This hole I was shown some years ago. Whether the barn still stands I cannot say. S. Baring Gould. A Welsh Conjurer, 1831.— The following cutting from i\iQ Lincoln Herald^ of August 19, 183 1, is worth a place in the columns of Folk- lore : "A Welsh Conjurer.— Denbighshire Assizes. Before Mr. Baron BoUand. — John Evans, a Welsh seer, who officiates as high priest of the far-famed and much-dreaded Ffynnon Elian (or St. Elian's Well), near Abergele, was indicted for obtaining 7s. from one Elizabeth Davies, by falsely pretending that he could cure her husband, Robert Davies, of a certain sickness with which he was afflicted by taking his name out of the well. "This case affords a remarkable instance of the ignorance and sim- plicity of the Welsh peasantry even in these days of the march of in- tellect. Ffynnon Elian is celebrated in Cambrian history and song ; and owing to the popular belief in the virtue and extraordinary pro- perty of its waters, the number and extent of the impositions practised upon the credulity of the people in past ages by a succession of im- postors almost exceeds credibility. A few years ago the magistrates of the county prosecuted one of the high priests of the well, who, in consequence, was found guilty of cunning, cheatery, and fraud, put into prison, and his well of holy waters destroyed. For a time the celebrity of St. Elian and the /r^/^^/ died away; their anathematisa- tion ceased ; and their memories were fast sinking into obscurity, when the prisoner revived them by laying in a stock-in-trade, and com- mencing business near the same spot as the high priest and favoured minister of the Saint. " The following is the method pursued by the prisoner to gull the poor people. Into the Ffynnon Elian (a very shallow well) he put a large quantity of pebbles, slates, and stones, inscribed with number- less initials and names. No sooner did he hear of any poor person's ill-health, or of anyone being afflicted with misfortune or disease, than he contrived to let them know that their names were in the well, and that nothing could cure or benefit them unless they were taken out. Of course this could not be done without money; and many hundreds of ignorant people were known to travel on foot thirty and forty miles to seek relief, and that, too, in the most distracted state of mind. The K 2 132 Miscellanea. frauds of the prisoner were not the only evils which his abominable practices produced, for, like his predecessors, he pretended he had power to put anyone into the well, afflict them withimisfortune or bad luck, and take them out for money, when he pleased. The conse- quence was, that ignorant persons were frequently induced to charge their misfortunes to the malignity of their neighbours, and thereby engendered the most disgraceful quarrels; whilst hundreds of equally ignorant fools would expend their money on the prisoner in order to gratify, as they thought, a bit of spite. " The facts of the case were proved by Elizabeth Davies, who said : My husband has been ill for many years. I had heard of the virtue of the well of St. Elian ; I went twenty-two -miles to consult the de- fendant, who had the charge of it. I asked if my husband's name was in the well ; he said he did not know, but he would send to see ; he sent a little girl, who came back with a dishful of pebbles and small slates, marked with different sets of initials ; he looked at them, and said my husband's name was not among them ; he sent the little girl agam, who returned with a number more, which were strewed upon the table, and I found a stone marked with the letters R. D. and three crosses. I said, Is that my husband's name ? He said it was. I said I was not satisfied, and asked if my husband's name was in a book .? The prisoner said he did not put the name in the well, or else it would be in the book, but the water would tell whether it was his name or not. We went to the well, which was in the garden, near the prisoner's house. He took out some water, and said, * The water changes colour; it is your husband, sure enough.' I asked what it would cost to take my husband's name out of the well. He said \os. was the lowest. I told him I had no money, but could bring him some. I asked him to let me take the stone home, and he said I might, but I must not show it to any one. I asked him what I should do with it. He said I must powder it, and put it, with salt, into the fire. I then went away. In about two months I came again with my brother-in-law, William Davies. The prisoner was cross, because I had mentioned what had passed to Mr. Clough, a magistrate, but he said, for the sake of my brother-in-law, he would do something. He said I must have a bottle of the water of the well, and give 9^. for it. I bargained with him for 7^., which he said must be given to the well. The money was given to the well, but the prisoner took it out and put it into his pocket. He muttered some spells, which I thought were Latin, but all I could make out was the name of St. Elian. The prisoner said the water must be taken by my husband three nights successively, and he must repeat a portion of the 38th Psalm. I asked him who had put my husband into the well, and he did not tell me, but he said if I wished he would put that person Miscellanea, 133 in the well, and bring upon him any disease I liked. I paid him the -js. "William Davies, a tailor at Holly well, brother-in-law of the last witness, corroborated her testimony as to what took place at the latter interview with the prisoner. " The prisoner in his defence said he never sent for anyone to come to the well, nor did he say there was any efficacy in the water ; but if a person believed that there was, and chose to give him some money, he took all that they had a mind to give. " The Jury returned a verdict of Guilty; and the learned Judge— after expressing his regret that any person could be found so lamentably ignorant and credulous as to believe that any man, by such ridicu- lous means, had the power of relieving or controlling the diseases and afflictions of another— sentenced the prisoner to six months' imprison- ment with hard labour. Edward Peacock. Bottesford Manor ^ Brigg^ January lo, 1890. Story of Solomon's Wisdom.— In the last number of the Folk-Lore Journal (vol. vii, pp. 315-16) the origin of the soldier's answer in " Cards Spiritualised" was asked; whether one could trace it back, or refer to a similar one. In answer to that question I will give all the parallels known to me. The story of the Queen of Sheba's test of Solomon's wisdom is of a very ancient date. The Bible says (i Kings, ch. x, v. 3), "And Solomon told her all her questions." The nature of these ques- tions, and the answers given, is left to the fancy of interpreters, who availed themselves fully of that opportunity. Thus we find a series of such riddles and their solutions attributed to the Queen of Sheba and to Solomon in an Aramaic commentary to the Book of Esther, dating from the fifth century. Nothing, how- ever, is therein mentioned of boys dressed as girls, or vice versd. In another Hebrew work of about the same date (fifth century), viz., Midrash to the Book of Proverbs^ we already find a closer parallel to our story. In the Midrash it runs as follows: "And another similar puzzle she (the Queen of Sheba) prepared for him (Solomon). She brought boys and girls, all having the same appearance, the same stature, and all in like attire ; and she said, ' Separate the boys from the girls.' He ordered his attendants to bring some nuts and apples, and when these were brought, Solomon said, ' Distribute them among the boys and girls.' The boys, not being bashful, put them in their skirts ; the girls, being bashful, put them in their kerchief. And Solomon said, ' Those are boys, whilst these arQ 1 34 Miscellanea, girls.' Whereupon the Queen said, *My son, thou art a very wise man.' " The Arabic legends far more approach the Western (English) parallel. Sale has the following note to chap, xxvii of his translation of the Koran, which I give here, as it bears directly on our story : *' Some add that Balkio (the Arabic name for the Biblical Queen of Sheba), to try whether Solomon was a prophet or not, dressed the boys (of whom there were five hundred) like girls, and the girls (same number) like boys ; and sent him in a casket a pearl not drilled, and an onyx drilled with a crooked hole ; and that Solomon distinguished the boys from the girls 'by the different manner of their taking the watery and ordered one worm to bore the pearl and another to pass a thread through the onyx. The source of this note is the Arabic commentary to the Koran by Beidharwi." A detailed account of the dififerent ways of their taking the water is given by Hammer, in his Rosenoel (Stuttgart und Tiibingen, 1813, pp. 160-61). Solomon ordered the table to be laid, and after dinner water to be poured out for washing the hands. The custom in the harems at that time was that the girls caught the water in the hollow of their hands, whilst the boys let it run over the outside. When the servants poured out the water the boys held their hands under, whilst the girls caught it in the hollow of their hands, as they had been ac- customed to do. So far the Eastern parallels. No less numerous are those to be found in Western writers. First, in the Annals of Glycas (iii, 8), reproduced by Fabricius {Cod. vet. Test. Apocryph.^ i, p. 1031-1032). " Among other tests by which she tried the wisdom of Solomon, was also the following. She showed Solomon some beautiful boys and girls, both dressed ahke, and both having the same shape of tonsure, asking him to distinguish between the two sexes. So he ordered them to wash their faces, and by that he recognised their nature, for the boys rubbed their faces in a stronger manner, whilst the girls did so more softly and more delicately. She was filled with wonder, and exclaimed : ' More have I seen than I have heard.' " From the Greek it entered into Slavonian literature. An exact parallel of this version of Glycas, combined with that in the Midrash of Proverbs, is to be found in the old Slavonic Palia from the twelfth or thirteenth century (Al. Wesselofsky, Solomon i Kitovras, St. Peters- burg, 1872, p. 248). A Roumanian parallel, tallying exactly with Glycas, is contained in a hitherto unpublished manuscript Chronicle from the seventeenth century. I have confined myself to tracing the story from the East to Europe, thus showing the literary source of the story. It remains Still to connect directly the English version with the legends of the Miscellanea, i 3 c Queen of Sheba current in the West of Europe, such as the Sibyllen Weissagung of Gottfried of Uslerbo, etc. I have dealt more amply with this series of legends in my Roumanian Popular Literature (Bucharest, 1885, 326); still less do I wish to follow out in the world's literature the theme of testing the sex of the hero. Suffice it to refer to R. Kohler's learned annotations to Wolf, Jahrbuch f. rom. und engl. Litteratur, iii, 57-58, and 63-67. M. Gaster. The Burial of Mr. Rose's Boots.— To the Editor of 'The Times''. Sir,— Your Southern readers would note with surprise the re- markable reticence of the police when examined and cross-examined respecting the non-production of the boots worn by Mr. Rose at the time of his murder. The Highland constable who buried them under water acted in accordance with the ancient tradition that by doing so he would " lay" the ghost of the murdered man, and thus prevent it from disturbing the people living in the neighbourhood of the catastrophe. It is not unlikely that the officers had a lurking suspicion that they would be laughed at by modern sceptics if they r evealed the motive of their apparently strange conduct. — Yours, etc., Rothesay^ N.B., Nov. ii. B. St. J. B. Joule. Police-Sergeant Munro (Lamlash) said he was well acquainted with the hills, having lived therefor thirty-one years. He observed the condition of the body when it was found, but could not say whether the neck was broken. He saw boots on the deceased. They had iron heels and sprigs. He could not say where the boots were now. He believed they were buried on the beach at Corrie, below high-water mark. He said Constable M'Coll must have buried, the boots. He believed he told him to take the boots out of the shed in which they were kept. The Dean of Faculty.— Did you ever know such a thing being done in the investigation of any murder ? — No answer. Did you not think it might have been material to the ends of justice to have those boots ? Witness.— I did not consider that at the time. Have you no explanation why one of your policemen was ordered to take away those boots and bury them on the beach .?— Witness made no reply. By the Lord Justice Clerk.— Who was present when these boots were buried .?— I could not say; I told a constable to take them away, and might have said to him to take them down to the shore, but I don't know what was done with them. Cross-examined by the Dean of Faculty.— Did you merely bury thq 136 Miscellanea, boots because you were ordered to put them out of sight? — Well, there was no reason given to me. I was told to put them out of sight. Did you not think it rather strange that you were ordered to do this when the other things were preserved .? — Well, I do not know ; I was never about such a case before. (Laughter.) Did you not think that these boots should be kept in order to be examined by those who have to form an opinion on the merits of the case ? — Well, there is a description of them. But do you think your description of them is as realistic as the boots themselves ? — There is no doubt the boots would be better than the description. They were buried below high-water mark, so that you were deter- mined they should be properly out of sight ? — I put some stones on the top of them. I have not gone for them, because they were never asked for. Duncan Coll, police-constable, Shiskine, Arran, said, as to the boots of the deceased, he was told by Constable Munro, of Brodick, to *' put them out of sight". He thought he meant to bury them, and he did so. Horsehair turned into Water-Snake.— Had your correspondent, F.'L.J., vii, 317, or the Editor of The Spectator, from which he quotes, been as well read as they ought to be in Notes and Queries, they would have known that this subject has been exhaustively discussed there, and instances of belief in the matter adduced from every part of the world. See Series vii, ii, 24, no, 230, 293 ; iii, 249 ; iv, 33, 253, and I think few unprejudiced persons will doubt that the suggestion I gave for the origin of this most curious piece of folk-observation. Series vii, ii, 24 (July 10, 1886), and iii, 249, is the most likely one. R. H. Busk. FOLK-LORE BIBLIOGRAPHY. BOOKS. September 1889 — February 1890. [English books published in London^ French in Paris, unless otherwise mentioned.'] FOLK-LORE IN GENERAL. Almanack folkloriste du pays Messin, ire annde. Annuaire des Traditions populaires. 8vo. pp. 32 [only list of mem- bers]. Bastian, a. Zur ethnischen Ethik (Berlin), pp. cviii. Kahle, C. Die fahrenden Leute der Gegenwart und ihre Sprache (Gera). 8vo. pp. 38. TiMMiNS, S. History of Warwickshire (E. Stock) [containing chapter on Folk-lore, pp. 210-31]. FOLK-TALES. Allen, H. N. Korean Tales, being a collection of stories translated from the Korean folk-lore (New York, Putnam). Campbell, J. F. Popular Tales of West Highlands (Gardiner). Parts i and ii [reprint of vols, i and ii by Islay Association]. CURTIN, J. Myths and Folk-lore of Ireland (Boston). ElCHLER, M. Harzsagen. i6mo. (Harzburg) [issued in parts, 1-7 out]. Frahm, L. Norddeutsche Sagen (Altona). 8vo. [issued in parts, 1-4 out]. Kalakaua, King. Legends and Myths of Hawaii, the Fables and Folk-lore of a Strange People ; by his Hawaian Majesty Kalakaua. Edited, with an introduction, by Hon. R. M. Daggett (New York). Marx, A. Griechische Marchen v. dankbaren Tieren und Ver- wandtes (Stuttgart). 8vo. pp. 150. OSTRUP, T. Arabiske Sange og Eventyr efterlignede og oversatte (Copenhagen). 8vo. pp. 190. Seifart, K. Sagen, Marchen, Schwanke u. Gebrauche aus Hildes- heim, 2 Aufl. (Hildesheim). 8vo. pp. viii, 191. Valentine, Mrs. The Old, Old Fairy Tales [chiefly from Perrault, etc.; merely popular]. 138 Folk-lore Bibliography FOLK-MEDICINE, etc. Wilde, Lady. Ancient Cures, Charms, and Usages of Ireland (Ward and Downey). 8vo. pp. 250. FOLK-ETYMOLOGY AND PROVERBS. Smith, A. H. The Proverbs and Common Sayings of the Chinese (Shanghai). 8vo. pp. 384. BoLMHORST, J., and H. Reling. Unsere Pflanzen nach ihren deutschen Volksnamen, 2 Aufl. (Gotha). 8vo. pp. xvi, 408. FOLK-SONGS. Baring Gould, S., and H. Fleetwood Sheppard, Songs of the West : Traditional Ballads and Songs of the West of England, with their traditional Melodies (Methuen). Parts i and ii (con- taining 25 songs each). BraunSj D. Traditions japonaises sur la chanson, la musique et la danse [Coll. intern, de "La Tradition", No. 4]. Crombie, J. W. The Poets and Peoples of Foreign Lands. 8vo. pp. X, 170 (Stock) [discursive studies of folk-song]. Jeanroy, J. Les Origines de la podsie lyrique en France au moyen age. 8vo. pp. 523. Schwarzfeld, M. Poesiile populare Colectia Alecsandri (Jassy). 8vo. pp. iv, 104. Tier SOT, J. Histoire de la chanson populaire en France. 8vo. pp. 542. Veckenstedt, E. La Musique et la Danse dans les Traditions [Coll. intern, de " La Tradition", No. 3]. FOLK-LORE AND MYTHOLOGY. Bugge, S. Studien iiber die Entstehung der nord. Gotter- und Hel- densagen, iii (Munich). 8vo. pp. vii, 289-590. Laistner, L. Das Ratsel der Sphinx. Grundziige einer Mythen- geschichte (Berlin). 8vo. pp. xxiv, 343, and vi, 471. Meyer, E. H. Voluspa, eine Untersuchung (Berlin). 8vo. pp. iv, 299. Muller, W. Zur Mythologie d. griech. u. deutsch. Heldensage (Heilbronn). 8vo: pp. v, 177. Paul, H. Grundriss d. germanischen Philologie (Strassburg). Bnd. II, Abt. ii. Lief, i \B. Symons, Heldensage ; E. Sievers, Gotische Literatur ; E. Mogk, Nordische Literatur]. ROSCHER, W. H. Ausfiihrliches Lexikon der griech. und rom. Mythologie (Leipzig). Lfg. 15-17 (conclusion of vol. i) [to *' Hysminos"]. Folk-lore Bibliography. 139 Smith, W. R. Religion of the Semites : i, Fundamental Institu- tions (Black). [Review in next number.] FOLK-LORE AND LITERATURE. ^SOP, The Fables of, together with those of Avian, Alfonso, and Poggio, first printed by William Caxton 1484, now again edited and induced by Jos. Jacobs, 2 vols. 8vo. pp. xx, 284-322. Backer, W. Die Agada der Tanaiten, Bnd. 2 (Strassburg). [Traditional lore of the Talmud, arranged under the Rabbis with whose name it is connected]. B OZON, Nicole. Les contes moralises de Nicole Bozon, par L. Toulmin Smith et P. Meyer (Soc. des anc. textes fran^.). 8vo. \Exempla of an English Franciscan in French of 14th century. Review in next number]. Budge, E. History of Alexander the Great, being the Syriac version of the Pseudo-Callisthenes, edited with an English translation (Cambridge, Pitt Press). BUHRIG, H. Die Sage von Konig Rother. (Dissert., Gottingen.) 8vo. pp. 75. Capua, John of. Directorium humane vite, edite par J. Deren- bourg, 2e fasc. 8vo. pp. xx, 133 [Latin version of Fables of Bidpai, from which most Western forms are derived]. For esti, A. Saggi sulle fonti della epopea greca (Bologna). 8vo, pp. 30. Gelbhaus, S. Mittelhoch-deutsche Dichtung in ihrer Beziehung zur biblisch -rabbinischen Literatur. i : " Freidank's Bescheidenheit'' 8vo. pp. 62. ii : Walter v.d. Vogelweide. (Frankfort). 8vo. pp. 43. Gower, J. Confessio Amantis, e d. H. Morley (Routledge). Grimm, W. Die deutsche Heldensage, 3 Aufl. (Giitersloh). 8vo. pp. xxix, 536, Hellmund, G. Anthari Sage (Leipzig). i2mo. pp. 317. Knust, H. Geschichte der Legenden der heiligen Katharina v. Alexandrien und der heiligen Maria Aegyptiaca (Halle). 8vo. pp. iii, 346. Le Clerc, G. Le Bestiaire d. norman. Dichters G. Le Clerc, herausg. V. R. Reinsch (Leipzig). 8vo. pp. 441. Othmer, K. Das Verhaltniss v. Christian v. Troyes' "Erec et Enide" zu dem Mabinogion. (Dissert., Cologne.) 8vo. pp. iv, 70. FOLK-LORE AND INSTITUTIONS. Gildemeister, H. Das deutsche Volksleben im xiii. Jahrhundert. (Dissert., Jena.) 8vo. pp. 54- Leist, B. W. Alt-Arisches Jus Gentium. (Jena). Svo. pp. xvi, 623. 140 Folk-lore Bibliography. Post, A. H. Studien zur Entwickelungsgeschichte des Familien- rechts (Oldenburg). 8vo. pp. xvi, 568. FOLK-LORE AND ANTHROPOLOGY Abercromby, J. A Trip through the Eastern Caucasus (Murray). 8vo. pp. xii, 376. Bradke, p. v. Ueber Methode und Ergebnisse der arischen Alter- thumswissenschaft (Giessen). 8vo. pp. xxii, 350. [Severe critique of Schrader.] Cartailhac, E. La France prdhistorique (Biblioth. des sciences contemp.) Lubbock, Sir J. Origins of Civilization, 5th edition (Longmans). — ' Prehistoric Times, 3rd edition (Williams & Nor- gate) [scarcely any revision]. LUMHOLTZ, C. Among Cannibals ; with the Aborigines of Queens- land (Murray). Macdonald, D. Oceania, Linguistical and Anthropological (Mel- bourne). Pector, D. Vestiges des populations precolombiennes du Nica- ragua (extrait des Archives americaines). Schrader, O. Sprachvergleichung und Urgeschichte, zweite umge- arbeitete Auflage (Jena). 8vo. pp. xii, 684. Taylor, J. Origin of the Aryans (W. Scott, "Contemp. Scient. Series," No. 3). JOURNALS. September 1889— February 1890. \Arranged alphabetically under each language. Numbers not noticed in the present list will be given in the next.] Academy, 28 Dec. 1889. A. Werner, "Survivals" in Negro Funeral Ceremonies. American Antiquarian Journal (Chicago), Sept. 1889, /. Deans^ Raven Myth of the N.W. Coast. American Journal of Psychology, Jan. 1890. ,C L. Edwards, Folk- lore of the Bahama Negroes. Athenaeum, 11 Jan. 1890. G. W. Rusden, Australian Cannibals. Babylonian and Oriental Record, Jan. 1890. T. W. Rhys Davids, Jataka Baveru. Fenland Notes and Queries, Oct. 1889. Fenland Superstitions ; C. Back, Fenland Proverbs and Quaint Sayings. Jan. 1890, Fenland Superstitions [contd.] ; A Curious Superstition. r Folk-lore Bibliography. 141 Fortnightly Review, Oct. 1889. O. Crawford^ Folk-lore of Portugal. Dec. 1889, Grant Allen, Stone-lore. Jewish Quarterly Review, Oct. 1889. S. Schechter^ The Child in Jewish Literature. Jan. 1890, /. Abrahams^ " Marriages are made in Heaven." Journal of American Folk-Lore, Oct.-Dec. 1889. H. Hale^ Huron Folk-lore, ii ; J. Deans-, Story of Bear and his Indian Wife ; W. M. Beauchamp^ (i) Onondaga Tales, ii, (2) Notes on Onon- daga Witchcraft, (3) The Great Mosquito ; Mrs. O. Morison^ Taimshian Proverbs ; G. W. Weippert^ Legends of Iowa ; W. C. Wilde, Thief Talk ; /. O. Dorsey, Ponka and Omaha Songs. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 1889. A. V. W. Jackson., Some Avestan Superstitions and their Parallels ; J. R. Jewett, Some Arabic Proverbs ; S. D. Pect, Animal Worship and Sun Worship in the East and West. Journal of the Anthropological Institute, Nov. 1889. ■^- Tregear, Maories of New Zealand [answers to Mr. Frazer's queries] ; H. Ling-Roth, On Salutations ; Hyde Clark., The Right of Property in Trees on the land of another as an ancient institution. Journal of the Gipsy-Lore Society, Oct. 1889. C. J. Leland, Paris Congress of Popular Tradition ; B. Constantinescu, The Red King and the Witch, a Roumanian Gipsy Folk-tale ; D. Mac- Ritchie., Irish Tinkers and their Language. National Review, Feb. 1890. E. C. Boswell, Irish Fairy Mythology. Scottish Review, Jan. 1890. The Prehistoric Levant ; Edith Marget^ More Popular Songs of Italy. Triibner's Record, No. 246. Ordeal by Burning in Ceylon. L'Armdnie, 15 Dec. 1889. Adam etEve, L^gendes arm^niennes. M^lusine, iv, 24, Dec. 1889. A.Barth, La Littdrature des Contes dans ITnde ; [E. Rolland, L' Arc-en- Ciel ; H. Gaiaoz^ Le Folk-lore k Li^ge ; /. Tuchmann, La fascination (suite), v, i, Jan. 1890, Barth (contd.) ; H. Gaidoz, L'Etymologie populaire et le Folk- lore ; Tuchmann (contd). Revue Celtique, x, i. H. de la Villemdrque, Anciens Noels Bretons, i ; Wh. Stokes, The Voyage of Mael Duin (text and translation), ii. X, 2, K. Meyer, The Adventures of Nera (text and transla- tion) ; Le Dieu Irlandais Lug et le th^me Gaulois Lugu. x, 3, Cerquand, Taranous et Thor, ii ; H. de la Villemarqud, Anciens Noels Bretons, ii ; A. Nutt, Notes sur le Voyage de Mael Duin. X, 4, Cerquand, Taranous et Thor (iii, conclusion) ; E. Bernard, La Creation du Monde, Breton mystery-play (text and transla- tion) ; H. Gaido2,T>€bdi\. du .Corps et de I'Ame en Irlande; /. Loth, Review of Rhys's Hibbert Lectures. 142 Folk-lore Bibliography, Revue des Traditions Populaires, 15 Jan. 1890. E. Faligan^ Des formes iconographiques de la Idgende de Thdophile. C. Perraud, Les noces du coucou et de I'alouette, version des Dombes ; A. Bernard^ Les noces du papillon, pays de Caux ; L. Desaivre, Les noces de I'alouette et du pinson, version du Poitou ; Mme. P. Sebillot^ Les noces de la bdcasse et de la perdrix , version de la Haute Bretagne. P. Sebillot^ Le diable et I'enfer dans I'iconographie, iii. La fete des Rois : xi, Morel-Retz {Stop)^ La quete des Rois en Bourgogne ; xii, H. Cdard, En Champagne ; xiii, A. Tausserat, La ceremonie de la f^ve kla Cour de France en 1706 ; Desaugiers, Rien qu'une, conte du jour des Rois. R. Bayojt, Proverbes et dictons de Marins ; L. Brueyre^ L'inventaire des contes : iii, Analyse, classification et tabulation des contes popu- laires. L'influenza : i, /?. Rosieres^ Au xv^ si^cle ; ii, P. Sibillot^ Au xvie siecle. R, Blanchard^ Coutumes scolaires ; iv, En Alle- magne. G. Pitri^ Le pays des Chiens, conte populaire sicilien. N. Ney, Miettes de folk-lore parisien. A. Desrotisseaux, Le folk- lore du pays de Liege. J. Tiersot, Extraits et lectures : i, Audition de Noels frangais au cercle Saint-Simon. A. Certeux^ ii, Les asiles de'nuit en Chine. Romania, Oct. 1889. P. Meyer and C.Joret^ Recettes mddicales en ancien Frangais. La Tradition, Sept. 1889. De' Zmtrgrodzki, Le Folk-lore en Pologne ; H. Carnoy and J. Depucheux^ Le Mois'de Mai ; P. Rzstelhuber, Contes alsaciens. Varites Bibliographiques, Nov. 1889- Jan. 1890. E. Rolland, Flore populaire [with folk-lore of each plant]. Ous Volksleven, 1889. /. B. Verhliet^ Kinderliede int Antwerp en ; /. Cornelissen, Raadsels. Am Urquell, Jan. 1890. F. S.^Krauss and 77/. Dragtcevte\ Gustaren- lieder aus Bosnien ; H. Carstens, Totengebrauche aus Dithmar- chen ; H. Frischbter, Ostpreussischer Volksglaube und Branch [53 items] ; K. E. Haase^ Erzahlungen aus der Grafschaft Ruppin ; R. F. Kaindl, Zwei netherische Mythen aus der Bukowina— No. 5, (?Feb.) 1890. Krauss^ (contd.) ; G. Kupczanko, Die Aisoren im Kaukasus ; G. /*//r<^, .Volksmedizin [in Italian]. Ethnologische Mittheilungen aus Ungam, i, 3, 1889. F.S.Krauss^ Das Burgfraulein v. Pressburg ; L. Kat07te, Allg. Charakteristik de magyar. Folk-lore, iii ; Finnische Marchen (contd.) ; W. v. Schulenburg^ Die Frau bei;den Sudslaven; R. K'ohler^ " Und wenn der Himmel war Papier" \ H.^j. Wleslocki^ Ueber den Zauber mit menschl. Korperteilen ; E. Sztodola^ Wie reiten die Toten so Folk-lore Bibliography. \^x schnell ? ; G. G. Kimn^ Einiges liber die der Tierwelt entnom- menen Volks- und Stammesnamen. Internationales Archiv fur Ethnographic, No. 4, 1889. Das tiirkische Schattenspiel. Jahrbucher fiir judische Literatur, 1889. N. \Brull, Beitrage zur judischen Sagen- und Sprachkunde im Mittelalter. Mittheilungen der anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien, End. xix, Hft, iii. M, Haberlandt^ Ueber tulapurusha [Wagopfer] der Inder ; P. Paulitschke, Die Wanderungen der Galla Ost-Afrikas [through- out historic times, from Egyptian, classic, Arabic, and modern sources]. Hft. iv, R. Virchow^ Die Anthropologic in der letztcn 20 Jahre; E. Hermann^ Die Culturbedeutung des Stchcns, Sitzens und Liegens. Volkskunde, ii, 11-12. Aug. Gittee, Volksgeneeskunde : De Zwarte Hen ; Vertelsels : Van den Haan, den Vlegel en de Pik ; De Gelukkige Molenaarsknecht ; Atcg. Gittee^ Duizendponderken ; Liederen : Wat vreugde, wat blij geraas, P. d. M. ; Aug. Gittee^ Plagerijen : Grepenuit het Kinder-en Volksleven ; P. S^illof, Volksliederen : Van de vier Weverskens. Zeitschrift fiir Volkskunde, ii, 3-4. Edm. Veckenstedt, Die Kosmo- gonien der Arier. Ueber eine sagenhafte Kriegslist bei Bela- gerungen, von Giuseppe Pitre (Uebersetzt von D. Brauns). M. Tsakyroglous^ Die Smyrna : eine Tradition Kleinasiens. A. Treichel^ Sagen aus Westpreussen. W. Tille^ Zwei bohmische Marchen aus dem mahrisch-walachischen wie dem sudwest- bohmischen Dialekt der bohmischen Sprache iibersetzt. Alex. Kauftnann^ Christinchen sass im Garten, Volkslied. O. Knoop^ Schwere Wahl : Ein Volkslied aus H interpommern. — ii, 5. Edm. Veckenstedt^ Die Cosmogonien der Arier. A. Tretchel, Sagen aus Westpreussen. F. Pranks, Ein papiernes Wiegenband als Brautgeschenk (Ein kleiner Beitrag zu den Hochzeitsgebrauchen im Sudetenlande). M. v. Davainis-Silvestraitis, Sitten und Brauche der Lithauer. E. Pfeifer, Aberglaube aus dem Alten- burgischen. R. Prexl-Milhldach, Besprechungs-formeln der Rumanen in Siebenbiirgen. Zeitschrift fiir vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft, viii, 3, 1889. Fried- richs, Ueber Matriarchat [against MaclennanJ ; Wesnitsch^ Vendetta unter die Sud-Slaven. Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradizioni Populari, viii, i. G. Pitre, La Leggenda di Cola Pesce (contd.) ; G. Piire and G. Gigli, 144 Folk-lore Bibliography. Ballo e Canto dai morsicati dalle tarantole in Terra d'Otranto ; G. Amalfi^ Insalatella : Canti popolari di Tegiano ; E. H. Giglioli^ Usi e Credenze Giavanesi (i, Le Nozze ; ii, Superstizioni ; iii, Vita domestica : iv, La nascita ; v, Funerali ; vi, I cibi e la tavola) ; G. Finamore, Proverbi turchi ; Botanica popolare abruzzese ; G. Carbone, I ceci del di dei morti ; B. Vigojt, El Folk-lore des Asturias ; El Folk-lore de mar ; G. Di Giovanni^ Diciotto Proverbi canavesani ; M. Barbi, Saggio di canti popo- lari pistoiesi ; G.Criini-Lo Giudice^ Cicireddu, Novellina popolare siciliana ; A. Ramm^ Jeux enfantins en Suede ; G. Schiro^ Saggi di Letteratura popolare della Colonia Albanese di Plana dei Greci ; G. Rua, Le Lett ere di Andrea Calmo e la loro importanza per le tradizioni popolari -, A. T. Pires^ Adivinas portuguezas recolhidas na provincia do Douro ; G. Ragusa-Moleti, Usi funebri di popoli non civili ; S. Ferrari^ Canti popolari in San Pietro Capofiume; M. La Vm-BonelU, Usi festivi a religiosa del popolo nicosiano di Sicilia ; Canti religiosi. Bulleti de la Associacio d'Excursion Catalana, Oct.-Dec. D. Ildefo?ts Igual, Les Xiulets del cassador invisible ; D. Joseph Cortils y Vieta^ Miscelanea folk-lorica (adicio k la Etnologia de Blanes) ; D. Vincens Plantaday Fonolleda^ Costums populars del Vall^s. 3folk«Xore. Vol. I.] JUNE, 1890. [No. II. SOME POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ANCIENTS} A SUPERFICIAL acquaintance with classical litera- ture is apt, I believe, to leave on the mind an ex- aggerated impression of the general level of intelligence in antiquity. The authors commonly read are so eminently reasonable, and so little tinctured with vulgar superstition, that we are prone to suppose that the mass of men in the classical ages were equally free from those gross and palpable delusions which we designate as superstitions. The supposition is natural, but erroneous. It is natural, because our knowledge of the ancients is derived chiefly from literature, and literature reflects the thoughts and beliefs of the educated few, not of the uneducated many. Since the invention of letters the breach between these two classes has gone on widening, till the mental condition of the one class comes to differ nearly as much from that of the other as if they were beings of different species. But down to the present century both sides remained in almost total ignorance of the gulf which divided them. Educated people, as a rule, had no inkling that the mental state of the great majority of their fellow-countrymen differed in scarcely any material respect from that of savages. They did not dream that their humble neighbours had preserved 1 This paper was read before the Cambridge Branch of the Hellenic Society. VOL. I, It 146 Some Popular Sttperstitions amongst themselves by oral tradition alone a set of customs and ideas so ancient that the oldest literature of Greece and Rome is modern by comparison. To have at last opened the eyes of educated people to the priceless value of popular tradition as evidence of a remote antiquity is the glory of the illustrious Grimm. When, chiefly through the influence of that great scholar, the oral tradition of the people came to be examined, the feature in it which most struck observers was the one I have just indicated, the stamp, namely, which it bears of a dateless antiquity. The reasons for assigning to it an age incomparably greater than that of the literary tradition are mainly two. In the first place, the popular tradition — and under tradition I mean to include popular customs as well as popular beliefs — the popular tradition could not have originated in his- torical times, because there is nothing in history to account for it. . The two great historical influences that have moulded our modern civilisation — the Roman empire and Christianity — have left hardly a trace in the genuine beliefs and customs of the folk. Christianity has slightly changed the nomenclature, and that is all. But, on the other hand — and this is the second reason — if there is nothing in Roman civilisation or the Christian religion to account for the origin of the popular tradition, there is in the customs and ideas of existing savages almost everything that is needed fully to explain and account for it. The resemblance, in fact, between the ideas and custom.s of our European peasantry and the ideas and customs of savages is so great as almost to amount to identity, and a comparison of the one set of customs with the other goes far towards explain- ing both. To put it metaphorically, the two sets of customs, the European and the savage, are independent copies of the same original picture ; but both copies are somewhat faded through time, and each has preserved some features which the other has lost. Thus they mutually supplement each other, and, taken together, enable us to restore the original with some completeness. of the Ancients. 147 The application of all this for the subject in hand is obvious. If what I have said is true of the uneducated people, and especially of the peasantry at the present time in Europe, must it not have been equally true of unedu- cated people, and especially" of the peasantry in antiquity ? If our peasants are, intellectually regarded, simply savages, could the peasantry of ancient Greece and Rome have been any better? And if we moderns have lived so long in ignorance of the mass of savagery lying at our doors, may not the literary classes of antiquity have been equally blind to the mental savagery of the peasants whom they saw at work in the fields or jostled in the streets? There are strong grounds for answering both of these questions in the affirmative. In regard to the former question, the exist- ence of a layer oi savagery beneath the surface of ancient society is abundantly attested by the notices of popular beliefs and customs which are scattered up and down classical literature, especially, as might have been antici- pated, in the inferior authors, men less elevated above vulgar prejudices than most of the great classical writers. In regard to the second question, the general ignorance of classical writers as to the popular superstitions of their day is not only to be presumed from the fact that they rarely mention them, it is positively demonstrated by their mani- fest inability to understand even those instances of popular superstition which they are occasionally led to mention. Indeed, from the way in which they refer to these super- stitions, it is often plain that they not only did not under- stand them, but that they did not even recognise them as superstitions at all, that is, as beliefs actually current among the vulgar. Conclusive proof of this is furnished by the treatment which the so-called " symbols of Pytha- goras" received at the hands of the polite writers of antiquity. A member of a modern folk-lore society has only to glance at these " symbols" to see that they are common specimens of folk-lore, many of which are perfectly familiar to our European peasantry at the present day. Yet they L 2 148 So7ne Popular Stiperstitions completely posed the philosophers of antiquity, whose interpretations of them were certainly not nearer the mark than Mr. Pickwick's reading of the famous inscription. It is almost amusing to see the violence they did to these primitive superstitions in order to wring some drop of moral wisdom out of them, to wrench them into some semblance of philosophical profundity. In a paper on the popular superstitions of the ancients I can hardly do better than begin by giving a few specimens of these precious maxims, which have found so much favour in the eyes of ancient philosophers and old women. Some of the ancients themselves remarked the striking resemblance which the precepts of Pythagoras bore to the rules of life observed by Indian fakirs, Jewish Essenes, Egyptians, Etruscans, and Druids."^ Thus, for example, Plutarch mentions the view that Pythagoras must have been an Etruscan born and bred, since the Etruscans were the only people known to observe literally the rules in- culcated by the philosopher, such as not to step over a broOm, not to leave the impress of a pot on the ashes, and other precepts of the same sort.^ This view of the Etrus- can origin of Pythagoras was countenanced by the respect- able authorities of Aristotle and Theopompus.^ Again, Plutarch expressly says that the maxims of Pythagoras were of the same sort as the rules contained in the sacred writings of the Egyptians, and he quotes as instances the Pythagorean precepts, "Do not eat in a chariot," "Do not sit upon a bushel," " Do not poke the fire with a sword."* 1 Indian Fakirs, Strabo, xv, i, 65 ; Egyptians, Eusebius, Prccp. Evang. X, c. 4, §§ 9, 10, c. 8, § 8 ; Essenes, Josephus, Antiquit.^ xv, 10, 4 ; Druids, Hippolytus, Ref. omit, haeres., i, cc. 2, 25. On the Essenes, see also Josephus, Bell. Jud.^ ii, 8, §§ 2-13, xviii, i, 5 ; Pliny, N. H., V, 72>- 2 Plutarch, QucEst. Conviv.^ viii, 7. 3 Clemens Alexand., Strom.^ i, 14, p. 352 Pott ; Aristotle, Fragm.^ 185, Berlin ed.; cf. Suidas, s. v. "Pythagoras", UvOa^Spas ^ij^uos, ^vaei ^6 Tvpprji/oS. * Plutarch, Isis et Os.^ 10. of the Ancients. 149 Some of the theories of physical causation traditionally ascribed to Pythagoras are entirely of a piece with the prac- tical rules which passed under his name. Thus, according to him, the air was full of spirits, which he called demons and heroes ; the airy sounds from which men drew omens were the voices of the spirits^; and he said that when people heard the wind whistle, they should worship the sound of it.2 Compare with this the view of the Es- quimaux who live at Point Barrow, almost the northern extremity of the continent of America. " To them," says an American officer who wintered among them a few years ago, " to them earth and air are full of spirits. The one drags men into the earth by the feet, from which they never emerge ; the other strikes men dead, leaving no mark ; and the air is full of voices ; often while travelling they would stop and ask me to listen, and say that Tuna of the wind was passing by."^ Again, according to Pythagoras, the tinkling of a brass pot is the voice of a demon imprisoned in the brass."* A traveller in the Sahara was once in- formed by one of his savage escort that he had just killed a devil. It appeared that the devil was the traveller's watch, which the savage had found, and hearing it tick, had concluded that there was a devil inside. Accordingly he smashed it by hurling it against a tree. This was in the desert, where it would have been unsafe to quarrel with his escort. So the traveller concealed his anguish under a smiling face till he reached the next town, where he took steps which rather damped the joy of that savage.^ Yet the savage did no more than Pythagoras, if he had been true to his principles, might have done in the same cir- cumstances. ^ Diogenes Laertius, viii, i, 32. 2 Jamblichus, Adhort. adphilos.^ 21. ^ Report of the International Expedition to Point Barrow^ Alaska (Washington, 1885), p. 42. * Porphyry, Vit. Pythag., 41. ^ Mohammed Ibn-Omar El Tounsy, Voyage au Ouaday (Paris, 1851), p. ^2>'^seq. 150 Some Populm^ Superstitions Again, Pythagoras believed that an earthquake was caused by the dead men fighting with each other under- ground, and so shaking the earth.^ I have collected many savage explanations Cx^ earthquakes, but none, perhaps, quite so savage as this of Pythagoras. The nearest ap- proaches to it are the following. The Tlinkeet Indians on the north-west coast of America suppose that the earth rests upon a pillar which is guarded by a woman ; so, when the gods fight with the woman for the possession of the pillar, in order that they may destroy the earth and its inhabitants, the pillar shakes, and this produces an earth- quake,'^ The Andaman islanders, who long ranked, though unjustly, amongst the lowest of savages, think that earth- quakes are caused by the spirits of the dead, who, impatient at the delay of the resurrection, shake the palm-tree on which they believe the earth to rest.^ When the people of Timor, an East Indian island, feel the shock of an earth- quake, they knock on the ground and call out, " We are still here," to let the souls of the dead who are struggling to get up, know that there is no room for them on the surface of the earth.* Even this, however, is a shade less savage than the view of Pythagoras that the dead could not even keep the peace amongst themselves. In Lucian's " Dialogues of the Dead" the soldier ghost who draws near the ferry, his bright armour flashing through the gloom, is bidden by Hermes to leave his arms behind him on the hither side of the river, " because there is peace in the grave".^ Clearly Hermes was not a Pythagorean. But passing from Pythagoras' views of physical causa- ^ yElian, Var. Hist., iv, 17. 2 Holmberg, " Ethnographische Skizzen iiber die Volker des Rus- sischen Amenks.^'''' Acta societatis scientiarMn FenniccE, iv (Helsingfors, 1856), p. ZA^seq. 2 E. H. Man, Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, p. 86. "^ A. Bastian, Indonesie7i, ii, p. 3. Cp. id., in Verhandl. d. Berlin. Gesell. f. AnthropoL, 1881, p. 157 ; J. G. F. Riedel, De sluik- en kroesharige rassen iusschen Selebes en Papua, 330, 428 seq, ^ Lucian, Dial. Mort., x, 7. of the Ancients. 151 tion, let us look more closely at some of the practical precepts or symbols which he laid down for the guidance of life. One of his precepts, as we have seen, was this : " Do not poke the fire with a sword.''^ The precept commends itself to us, but hardly on the grounds on which it did so to Pythagoras. To understand his reasons we must go to the Tartars, who abstain from thrusting a knife into the fire on the ground that it would cut off the fire's head.^ The Kamchatkans also think it a sin to stick a knife into a burning log, and so do some of the North American Indians.^ Again, Pythagoras told his disciples never to point the finger at the stars.^ This is a very common superstition in Germany, where one reason given is that by pointing a finger at the moon or stars one would put out the eyes of the angels.^ Another reason given is that one's finger would drop off.^ If one has pointed at the stars, the only way to save one's finger from dropping off is to bite it.^ The reason for so doing is explained by the statement of ^ Hippolytus, Refut. omn. haeres., vi, 27 ; Jamblichus, Adhort. ad philos.^ 21 ; Diogenes Laertius, viii, i, 17; Porphyry, Vit. Pythag., 42 ; Plutarch, Isis et Osiris^ 10 ; id.^ De educ.puer.^ 17; Suidas, s. v. "Pythagoras"; Athenasus, p. 452 DE. 2 De Piano Carpini, Historia Mongalorum, ed. D'Avezac (Paris, 1838), c. iii, § ii. 3 S teller, Beschreibung von dem Lande Kamtschaika, 274 ; School- craft, Indian Tribes^ iii, 230. All three passages have been already cited in illustration of Pythagoras' maxim by Dr. E. B. Tylor, Researches into the Early History of Mankind^, 277. * Fragmenta philosoph. GrcEc, ed. Mullach, i, p. 510. ^ Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, iii, p. 445 ; E. Meier, Deutsche Sagen^ Sitten und Gebrduche aus Schwaben, p. 499 ; Haltrich, Ztir Volkskunde der Siebenbiirger Sachsen (Wien, 1885), p. 300. 6 Grohmann, Aberglauben U7id Gebrduche aus Bohmefiund Mdhren^ p. 32, No. 175 ; Kuhn und Sch.\f2crtz, N'orddeutsche Sagen, Mdrchen und Gebrduche^ p. 458, No. 426. '■ J. W. Wolf, Beitrdge zur detctschen Mythologies i, p. 235, No. 417. 152 Some Poptdar Superstitions an Ojebway Indian. " I well remember," says he, " when I was a little boy, being told by our aged people that I must never point my finger at the moon, for if I did she would consider it a great insult, and instantly bite it off.'^^ The reason, therefore, why a German bites his finger after pointing at a star is to make the star believe that he is himself biting off the offending finger, and that thus the star is saved the trouble of doing so. Thus the Ojebway Indian is here the best commentator on Pytha- goras. Again, Pythagoras said : " Do not look at your face in a river."^ So, too, said the old Hindu lawgiver. " Let him not," says Manu, " let him not look at his own image in water ; that is a settled rule."^ Neither the Greek philo- sopher nor the Hindu lawgiver assigns any reason for the rule. To ascertain it we must inquire of the Zulus and the black race of the Pacific, both of whom observe the same rule, and can give a reason for doing so. Here is the rea- son given by the Zulus in their own words : " It is said there is a beast in the water which can seize the shadow of a man ; when he looks into the water it takes his shadow ; the man no longer wishes to turn back, but has a great wish to enter the pool ; it seems to him that there is not death in the water ; it is as if he was going to real happi- ness where there is no harm ; and he dies through going into the pool, being eaten by the beast And men are forbidden to lean over and look into a dark pool, it being feared lest their shadow should be taken away."^ So much for the Zulus. Now for the Melanesians of the Pacific. " There is a stream in Saddle Island, or, rather, a pool in a stream, into which if anyone looks he dies ; the malignant spirit takes hold upon his life by means of his 1 Peter Jones, History of the Ojebway Indians^ p. 84 seq. 2 Fragm. philos. GrcBC.^ ed. Mullach, i, p. 510. ^ Laws of Manu, iv, 2>^, trans, by G. Biihler. "* Callaway, Nursery Tales, Traditions, and Histories of the Zulus, i, 342. of the Ancients. 153 reflection on the water."^ • Here, doubtless, we have the origin of the classical story of Narcissus, who languished away in consequence of seeing his own fair image in the water.2 During a thunderstorm it was a Greek custom to put out the fire, and hiss and cheep with the lips. The reason for the custom was explained by the Pythagoreans to be, that by acting thus you frightened the spirits in Tartarus,^ who were doubtless supposed to make the thunder and lightning. Similarly, some of the Australian blacks, who attribute thunder to the agency of demons, and are much afraid of it, believe that they can dispel it " by chanting some par- ticular words and breathing hard";* and it is a German superstition that the danger from a thunderstorm can be averted by putting out the fire.^ During a thunderstorm, the Sakai of the Malay Peninsula run out of their houses and brandish their weapons to drive away the demons^; and the Esthonians in Russia fasten scythes, edge upward, over the door, that the demons, fleeing from the thundering god, may cut their feet if they try to seek shelter in the house. Sometimes the Esthonians, for a similar purpose, take all the edged tools in the house and throw them out into the yard. It is said that, when the storm is over, spots of blood are often found on the scythes and knives, showing that the demons have been wounded by them.^ So, when ^ R. H. Codrington, "Religious Beliefs and Practices in lA^Xdint- s\2i,'' Journal Antkrop. Instit., x, 313. This explanation of the Nar- cissus legend was communicated by me in a note to \hQ Journal of the Anthropological Institute^ xvi, 334. 2 Ovid, Metam.^ iii, 341 seq. 3 Aristotle, Ajtalyt. Poster., ii, p. 94^, 33 ^-y Berlin ed.; Scholiast on Aristophanes, Wasps, 626; Pliny, Nat. Hist., xxviii, 25. * Collins, Accou7tt of the English Colony in New South Wales, p. 485 ; Angas, Savage Scenes in Australia and New Zealand, ii, 232. s Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube\ § 449. 6 Journal of the Indian Archipelago, iii, 430. ^ Boeder- Kreutzwald, Der Ehsten abergldubische Gebrduche, p. no. 154 Some PoptUar S^iperstitions the Indians of Canada were asked by the Jesuit mission- aries why they planted their swords in the ground point upwards, they replied that the spirit of the thunder was sensible, and that if he saw the naked blades he would turn away and take good care not to approach their huts.^ This is a fair sample of the close similarity of European super- stitions to the superstitions of savages. In the present case the difference happens to be slightly in favour of the Indians, since they did not, like our European savages, delude themselves into seeing the blood of demons on the swords. The reason for the Greek and German custom of putting out the fire during a thunderstorm is, probably, a wish to avoid attracting the attention of the thunder demons. From a like motive some of the Australian blacks hide themselves during a thunderstorm, and keep absolutely silent, lest the thunder should find them out.^ Once during a storm a white man called out in a loud voice to the black fellow with whom he was working, to put the saw under a log and seek shelter. He found that the saw had already been put away, and the black fellow was very indignant at his master for speaking so loud. " What for," said he, in great wrath, " what for speak so loud ? Now um thunder hear, and know where um saw is." And he went out and changed its hiding-place.^ One or two more classical superstitions about thunder and lightning may here find a place, though they are not specially Pythagorean. The skins of seals and hyaenas were believed by the Greeks to be effective protections against lightning. Hence Greek sailors used to nail a sealskin to the mast-head ; and the Emperor Augustus, who was nervously afraid of thunder, never went anywhere without a sealskin.* The skin of a hippopotamus buried in * 1 Relations des Jesuites^ 1637, p. 53 (Canadian reprint). 2 Oldfield, " The Aborigines of Australia," Transactions of the Eth- nological Society, iii, 229 seq. 2 Journ. and Proceed. R. Soc. N. S. Wales, xvi (1882), p. 171. ^ Plutarch, Qucest. Conviv.^ iv, 2, i, cf. id., v, 9 ; Suetonius, Atig- iistus, 90. of the Ancients. 155 the middle of a field was supposed to prevent a thunder- bolt from falling on it.^ Another maxim of Pythagoras was this: "On setting out from your house upon a journey, do not turn back ; for if you do, the Furies will catch you."^ This is a rule observed by superstitious people everywhere, in the heart of Africa and of India, as well as all over Europe. I will mention only the last instance which came under my notice. A Highland servant in our family told my mother lately that in Sutherlandshire, if anyone is going on some important errand and has left anything behind him, he would stand and call for it for a week rather than go back to fetch it^ Once more, Pythagoras observed : " If you meet an ugly old woman at the door, do not go out."-* Amongst the Wends, if a man going out to hunt meets an old woman, it is unlucky, and he should turn back.^ Amongst the Esthonians, if a fisherman or anyone else going out on important business happens to meet an old woman, he will turn back.^ A Tyrolese hunter believes that if he meets an old woman in the morning, he will have no luck.'^ In Pomerania, if a. person going out of the house meets a ^ Geoponica^ i, 16. 2 Hippolytus, Refut. omn. haeres,, vi, 26 ; Jamblichus, Adhort. ad philos.^ 21 ; Diogenes Laertius, viii, i, 17 ; Porphyry, Vit. Pythag., 42 ; Plutarch, De ediic. puer., 17. 2 Folk-Lore Journal^ vii, 53. For India, see Indian Antiquary^ i, 170 ; Indian Notes and Queries^ iv, 270 ; for Africa, see Felkin in Proceed. R. Soc. Edinbttrs^h, xiii, pp. 230, 734 seq., 759 ; for Europe, see Burne and Jackson, Shropshire Folk-lore, 274 ; Grimm, Deutsche Mythologies, iii, p. 435 ; Kohler, Volksbrauch irn Voigtlande, 426 ; Hal- trich, Zur Volkskunde der Siebenbiirger Sachsen, 316 ; Krauss, Sitte und Branch der Sildslaven, 426. * Fragm. Philos. Grcsc, ed. Mullach, i, 510. 5 Schulenberg, Wendische Volkssagen und Gebrduche, 241 ; cp. Bezzenberger, Litauische Forschungen, 85. 6 Boeder- Kreutzwald, Der Ehsten abergldubische Gebrduche, 71. 7 Zingerle, Sitten, Brduchc und Meinungen des Tirder Volkes^, p. 43, No. 371. 156 Some Popzilar Superstitions woman, he will often turn back.^ They say in Thliringen that if you are about any weighty affair, and are interrupted by an old woman, you should not go on with it, for it could not prosper.'^ In Norway, if a man goes out to make a bargain, and an old woman is the first person he meets, he will have no luck.^ Another saying of Pythagoras was this : " If you stumble at the threshold in going out, you should turn back."'^ In the Highlands of Scotland and among the Saxons of Transylvania it is deemed unlucky to stumble on the thres- hold in going out on a journey.^ Amongst the Malays, if a person stumbles on leaving the steps of a house on par- ticular business, it is unlucky, and the business is aban- doned for the time.^ In Sumatra, if a Batta stumbles in leaving the house, it bodes ill-luck, and he thinks it better to abandon the journey and stay at homeJ Again, Pythagoras said : " If a weasel cross your path, turn back."^ This was a common rule in Greece. In the " Characters" of Theophrastus the Superstitious Man wo uld not go on if a weasel crossed his path ; he waited till some one else had traversed the road, or until he had thrown three stones across it. The Zulus think that if a weasel crosses their path they will get no food at the place 1 Otto Knoop, Volkssa^en, etc., aus dein ostlichen Hinterpommern, 163. 2 Witzschel, Sagen^ Sitten und Gebrduche aus Thiiringen, 284. 3 Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine y viii, 30. * Fragin. Phil. Gr., I. c. 5 Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century, from the MSS. of John Ramsay of Ochtertyre, edited by Alex. Allardyce (Edinburgh, 1888), ii, 456 ; Haltrich, Zur Volkskunde der Siebenbiir- ger Sachsen, 316, 6 Straits Branch R. Asiatic Soc, Notes and Queries, i, p. 18. "^ J, B. Neumann, " Het Pane en Bila-Stroomgebied op het eiland Sumatra," Tijdschrift van het Nederlandsch Aardrijks. Genootschap, 2de Ser., dl. iii, Afdeeling : Meer uitgebreide artikelen, No. 3, p. SIS seq. 8 Fragm. Phil. Gr., I. c. y of the Ancients. 1^7 whither they are going.^ In Ireland, to meet a weasel under certain circumstances is unlucky.^ A weasel cross- ing the path was regarded as an omen by the Aztecs. Further, Pythagoras warned his followers against step- ping over a broom.* In some parts of Bavaria, housemaids, in sweeping out the house, are careful not to step over the broom for fear of the witches.^ Again, it is a Bavarian rule not to step over a broom while a confinement is taking place in a house ; otherwise the birth will be tedious, and the child will always remain small with a large head. But if anyone has stepped over a broom " inadvertently, he can undo the spell by stepping backwards over it again.^ So in Bombay they say you should never step across a broom, or you will cause a woman to suffer severely in childbed.'' Again, it was a precept of Pythagoras not to run a nail or a knife into a man's footprints.^ This, from the primi- tive point of view, was really a moral, not merely a prudential precept. For it is a world-wide superstition that by injuring footprints you injure the feet that made them. Thus, in Mecklenburg it is thought that if you thrust a nail into a man's footprints the man will go lame.^ ,^^The Australian blacks held exactly the same view. " See- fj> ing a Tatungolung very lame," says Mr. Howitt, " I asked him what was the matter ? He said, * Some fellow has f- put bottle in my foot' I asked him to let me see it. I found he was probably suffering from acute rheumatism. He explained that some enemy must have found his foot- 1 Callaway, Nursery Tales ^ etc., of the Zulus ^ p. 5. ^ M'Mahon, Karens of the Golden Chersonese^ 273. 3 Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States, iii, 128. * Hippolytus, Refut. omn. haeres.^ vi, 27. 5 Lammert, Volks77iedizin und mediziitischer Aberglaube in Bayern, 38. ^ Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube*-^ § 574. 7 Indian Notes and Qtieries^ iv, 104. 8 Fragm. Phil. Gr., I. c. '-> Bartsch, Sagen^ Mdrchen und Gebrduche aus Mecklenburg., ii, Nos. 1597, 1598 ; cp. z^., No, \(^\ia seq. 1 ^S So77te Popular Superstitions track, and have burled in it a piece of broken bottle. The magic influence, he believed, caused it to enter his foot. When following down Cooper's Creek in search of Burke's party, we were followed one day by a large number of blackfellows, who were much interested in looking at and measuring the footprints of the horses and camels. My blackboy, from the Darling River, rode up to me, with the utmost alarm exhibited in his face, and exclaimed, ' Look at these wild blackfellows !' I said, * Well, they are all right' He replied, ' I am sure those fellows are putting poison in my footsteps !' "^ Amongst the Karens of Burma, evil-disposed persons "keep poisoned fangs in their pos- session for the purpose of killing people. These they thrust into the footmarks of the person they wish to kill, who soon finds himself with a sore foot, and the marks on it as bitten by a dog. The sore becomes rapidly worse and worse till death ensues."^ The Damaras of South Africa take earth from the footprints of a lion and throw it on the track of an enemy, with the wish, " May the lion kill you."^ This superstition is turned to account by hunters in many parts of the world for the purpose of run- ning down the game. Thus, a German huntsman will stick a nail taken from a coffin into the fresh spoor of the animal he is hunting, believing that this will prevent the quarry from leaving the hunting-ground.* Australian blacks put hot embers in the tracks of the anirnals they are pursuing^ ; Hottentot hunters throw into the air a handful of sand taken from the footprints of the game, believing that this will bring the animal down^ ; and Ojebway Indians place " medicine" on the first deer's or ^ Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kurnai^ 250. Cp. Brough Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria^ i, 476 seq. 2 Mason, " The Kdixensj'' Joiirnal R. Asiatic Soc, 1868, pt. ii, p. 149. 3 Josaphat Hahn, " Die Ovaherero," Zeitschrift d. Gesell. f. Erd- kunde Z2i Berlin^ iv, 503. * Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube^, § 186. ^ Dawson, Australian Aborigines, 54. ^ Theophilus Hahn, Tsuni-\ Goam^ p. 84 seq. of the Ancients. 1^9 bear's track that they meet with, supposing that even if the animal be two or three days' journey off, they will now soon sight it, the charm possessing the power of shortening the journey from two or three days to a few hours.^ The Zulus resort to a similar device to recover strayed cattle. Earth taken from the footprints of the missing beasts is placed in the chiefs vessel, a magic circle is made, and the chiefs vessel is placed within it. Then the chief says, " I have now conquered them. These cattle are now here ; I am now sitting upon them. I do not know in what way they will escape."^ We can now understand why Pythagoras said that when you rise from bed you should efface the impression left by your body on the bedclothes.^ For obviously the same magical process might be applied by an enemy to the impress of the body which we have just seen to be applied to the impress of the foot. The aborigines of Australia cause magical substances to enter the body of an enemy by burying them either in his footprints or in the mark made on the ground by his reclining body,* or they beat the place where the man sat — the place must be still warm — with a pointed stick, which is then believed to enter the victim's body and kill him.^ To secure the good behaviour of an ally with whom they have just had a conference, the Basutos will cut and preserve the grass upon which the ally sat during the interview.^ The grass is apparently regarded as a sort of hostage for his good behaviour, since through it they believe they could punish him if he proved false. Moors who write on the sand are superstitiously careful to 1 Peter Jones, History oj the Ojebway Indians^ 154. 2 Callaway, Religious System of the Amazulu, 3/\6seq. 3 Jamblichus, Adhort. ad philos.^ 21 ; Plutarch, Qucest. Conviv.^ viii, 7 ; Clemens Alexand., Strom., v, 5, p. 661, Pott. Cp. Diogenes Laert., viii, i, 17 ; Suidas, s. v. " Pythagoras". * A. W. Howitt, '•' On Australian Medicine yi^n^' Jotcrnal of the Anthropological Institute, xvi, 26 seq. ^ Brough Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, i, 475. 0 Casalis, The Basutos. 273. Jf t6o Some Popular Superstitions smooth away all the impressions they have made, never leaving a stroke or a dot of the finger on the sand after they have finished writing.^ Pythagoras also enjoined his disciples when they lifted a pot from the ashes always to efface the mark left by the pot on the ashes.^ He pro- bably feared that the persons who ate out of the pot might be magically Injured by any enemy who should tamper with the impression left on the ashes by the pot. The obligation of this Pythagorean precept is acknowledged at the other end of the world by the natives of Cambodia. They say that when you lift a pot from the fire you should be careful not to set it down on the ashes, if you can help it ; but if it is necessary to do so, you should at least be careful, in lifting it from the ashes, to obliterate the im- pression which it has made. The reason they give Is, that to act otherwise would lead to poverty and want.^ But this Is clearly an afterthought, devised to explain a rule of which the original meaning was forgotten. Such, then, are specimens, and only specimens, of the savage superstitions which, under the name of the symbols of Pythagoras, passed muster In antiquity as the emanations of a profound philosophy and an elevated morality.* The 1 Richardson, Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara^ ii, 65. 2 Plutarch, Qucest. Conviv.^ viii, 7 ; Jamblichus, Adhort. ad philos., 21 ; Clemens Alexand.,5/r<7;?2., vi, 5, p. 661, Pott ; Diogenes Laertius, viii, I, 17 ; Suidas, s. v. "Pythagoras". 3 E. Aymonier, "Notes sur les coutumes et croyances superstitieuses des Cambodgiens," Cochinchine Frangaise^ Excursions et Reconnais- sances, No. 16, p. 163. * Collections, more or less complete, of the " symbols" of Py- thagoras will be found in the lives of Pythagoras by Diogenes Laertius (viii, i), Jamblichus, and Porphyry, the Adhortatio ad phi- losophiam of Jamblichus ; Suidas, s. v. "Pythagoras"; Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 10; id.,De edticat.piceroruin, 17; id., Qucest. Conviv., wm, 7 ; Clemens Alexand., Strom., v, 5 ; Athenseus, p. 452 de ; Hippolytus, Refut. omti. haeres., vi, 26 seq. They are given in a collected form by Mullach in his Fragmenta philosophovum Gra;coruin, i, p. 504 seq., though his references to the authorities are not always complete. of the Ancients, i6i fact that they did so pass muster with the wisest of the ancients conclusively establishes the point I am concerned to prove, namely, that beneath the polished surface of classical civilisation there lay a deep and solid stratum of savagery, not differing in kind from the savagery of Aus- tralian blackfellows, Zulus, and Ojebways. It lay beneath the surface, but not far beneath it. There, as everywhere, you had only to scratch civilisation to find savagery. And the helpless bewilderment of classical writers in face of the few specimens of native savagery which cropped up on the surface, shows how little conception they had of the depths of superstition which lay beneath their feet. I have dwelt at some length on the symbols of Py- thagoras, and their resemblance to, or rather identity with, the superstitions of savages at home and abroad, because they furnish a strong proof of the truth of the propositions from which I set out. But it would be unfair to Pythagoras to leave the whole burden of proof upon his shoulders. So, if I have not already taxed the reader's patience too far, I will now give a i^v^ specimens of classical super- stitions drawn from other sources. Wherever people are directly and visibly dependent for their daily bread, not on their fellow men, but on the forces of nature, there superstition strikes root and flourishes. It is a weed that finds a more congenial soil in the woods and fields than among city streets. The ancient Greek farmer was certainly not less superstitious than our own Hodge. Amongst the foes whom the husbandman has always to fear are the storms and hail which beat down his corn, the weeds which choke it, and the vermin which devour it. For each and all of these the ancient farmer had remedies of his own. Take hail, for example. At the town of Cleonae, in Argolis, there were watchmen main- tained at the public expense to look out for hail-storms. On p. 510 Mullach gives, from MSS., a valuable collection of " symbols", many of which are not found in the printed texts of classical writers. VOL. I. M 1 62 Some Popular Superstitions When they saw a hail-cloud approaching they made a sig- nal, whereupon the farmers turned out and sacrificed lambs or fowls. They believed that when the clouds had tasted the blood they would turn aside and go somewhere else. Hoc rides ? accipe quod rideas magis. If any man was too poor to afford a lamb or a fowl, he pricked his finger with a sharp instrument, and offered his own blood to the clouds ; and the hail, we are told, turned aside from his fields quite as readily as from those where it had been pro- pitiated with the blood of victims. If the vines and crops suffered from a hail-storm, the watchmen were brought before the magistrates and punished for neglect of duty.^ Apparently, it formed part of their duty not only to signal the approach of a storm, but actively to assist in averting it, for Plutarch speaks of the mole's blood and bloody rags by which they sought to turn the storm away.^ This custom of civilised Greece has its analogue among the wild tribes that lurk in the dense jungles of the Malay Peninsula. Thunder is greatly dreaded by these savages. Accordingly, " when it thunders the women cut their legs with knives till the blood flows, and then, catching the drops in a piece of bamboo, they cast them aloft towards the sky, to propi- tiate the angry deities."^ The Aztecs, also, had sorcerers, whose special business it was to turn aside the hail-storms from the maize crops and direct them to waste lands.* A Roman way of averting hail was to hold up a looking-glass to the dark cloud ; seeing itself in the glass, the cloud, it was believed, would pass by. A tortoise laid on its back on the field, or the skin of a crocodile, hyaena, or seal car- ^ Seneca, QucBst. Natur.^ iv, 6 seq. ; Clemens Alexand., Strom.^ vi, § 31, p. 754^^^., Pott. 2 Plutarch, QucEst. Conviv.^ vii, 2. 2 Journal of the Straits Branch of the R. Asiatic Society^ No. 4, p. 48. * Sahagun, Histoire gdnerale des choses de la Nouvelle Espagne (Paris, 1880), p. 486. Cp. id.^ p. 314, with Ellis, History of Madagascar^ i, 412, (ashes thrown to the clouds to melt the clouds into rain). of the Ancients, 163 ried about the farm, and hung up at the door, was also esteemed effective for the same purpose.^ The little town of Methana, in Argolis, stood on a penin- sula jutting out into the Saronic Gulf. It felt the full force of the south-west wind, which, sweeping over the bay, wrought havoc among the surrounding vineyards. To prevent its ravages the following plan was adopted. When dark clouds were seen rising in the south-west, and the approach of the storm was marked by a black line crawling across the smooth surface of the bay, two men took a cock with white wings (every feather of the wings had to be white) and rent it in two. Then they each took one-half of the bird and ran with it round the vineyards in opposite directions till they met at the point from which they started. There they buried the cock. This ceremony was believed to keep off the south-west wind.^ The meaning of the ceremony is perhaps explained by the fol- lowing East Indian custom. When the sky is overcast the skipper of a Malay prao takes the white or yellow feathers of a cock, fastens them to a leaf of a particular sort, and sets then in the forecastle, with a prayer to the spirits that they will cause the black clouds to pass by. Then the cock is killed. The skipper whitens his dusky hand with chalk, points thrice with his whitened finger to the black clouds, and throws the bird into the sea.^ Clearly the idea of the Greek husbandman and the Malay skipper is, that the white-winged bird will flutter against and beat away the black-winged spirit of the storm. To rid a field of mice the Greek farmer was recom- mended to proceed as follows:— "Take a sheet of paper, and write on it these words: 'Ye mice here present, I adjure you that ye injure me not, neither suffer another 1 Palladius, De re rust., i, 35 ; Geoponica, i, 14. For other reme- dies, see Geoponica, I. c, ; Philostratus, Heroica, p. 281, Didot. 2 Pausanias, ii, 34, i- 3 Riedel, De sluik- enkroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, 412 seq, M 2 164 Some Popular Sutferstitions mouse to injure me. I give you yonder field' (specifying the field) ; * but if ever I catch you here again, by the help of the Mother of the gods I vi^ill rend you in seven pieces.' Write this, and stick the paper on an unhewn stone in the field where the mice are, taking care to keep the written side uppermost"^ It is fair to add that the writer in the Geoponica who records this receipt adds, in a saving clause, that " he does not himself believe it all, God forbid !" To keep wolves from his beasts, a Roman farmer used to catch a wolf, break its legs, sprinkle its blood all round the farm, and bury the carcase in the middle of it ; or he took the ploughshare with which the first furrow had been traced that year and put it in the fire on the family hearth. So long as the ploughshare remained red- hot, so long no ravening wolf would harry his fold.^ Greek farmers were much pestered by a rank weed called the lion-weed, which infested their fields. The Geoponica^ as usual, comes to the rescue. Here are some of its receipts : — " Take five potsherds ; draw on each of them in chalk or other white substance a picture of Her- cules strangling the lion. Deposit four of these potsherds at the corners of the field, and the fifth in the middle. The lion-weed will never show face in that field." Here is another receipt taken from the same golden treasury : " A lion is very much afraid of a cock, and sneaks away with his tail between his legs when he sees one. So, if a man will boldly take a cock in his arms and march with it round the field, the lion-weed will immediately dis- appear."^ It was a common superstition in ancient Italy that if a woman were found spinning on a highroad, the crops would be spoiled for that year. So general and firmly rooted was this belief, that in most parts of Italy it was forbidden by law for a woman to spin on a highway, or even to carry her spindle uncovered along it.* As a last ^ Geoponica^ xiii, 5. ^ Pliny, Nat. Hist.^ xxviii, 266 seq, ^ Geoponica^ ii, 42. * Pliny, Nat. Hist., xxviii, 28. of the A ncients, \ 6 5 instance of these agricultural superstitions, I will mention that when a Greek sower sowed cummin he had to curse and swear all the while he did so, otherwise the crop would not turn out well.^ Similarly, Esthonian fishermen think that they never have such good luck as when somebody is angry with them and curses them. So, before a fisherman goes out to fish, he commonly plays a rough practical joke on some of his house-mates, such as hiding the key of the cupboard, up- setting a kettle of soup, and so on. The more they curse and swear at him, the more fish he will catch ; every curse brings at least three fish into the net.^ Under the head of what may be called domestic folk- lore, I must content myself with a Greek cure for the sting of a scorpion and a couple of Roman superstitions relative to child-birth. If a man has been stung by a scorpion, the Geoponica recommends that he should sit on an ass with his face to the tail, or whisper in the ass's ear, " A scorpion has stung me." In either case, we are assured, the pain will pass from the man into the ass.^ The wood- spirit Silvanus was believed to be very inimical to women in child-bed. So, to keep him out of a house where a woman was expecting her confinement, three men used to go through the house by night armed respectively with an axe, a pestle, and a broom. At every door they stopped, and the first man struck the threshold with his axe, the second with his pestle, and the third swept it with his broom. This kept Silvanus from entering the house.* When his wife was in hard labour, a Roman husband used to take a stone or any missile that had killed three animals — a boar, a bear, and a man. This he threw over the roof of the house, and immediately the child was born. A 1 Theophrastus, Histor. Plant, viii, 3 ; Plutarch, Quast. Conviv., vii, 2, 2. 2 Boeder- Kreutzwald, Der Ehsten ahergldubische Gebrduche^ 90 seq. 3 Geoponica, xiii, 9, xv, i ; Pliny, Nat. Hist., xxviii, 155. * Augustine, De civit. dei, vi, 9. 1 66 Some Popular Sniper stitions javelin which had been plucked from the body of a man, and had not since touched the ground, was the best instru- ment for the purpose.^ Now for war. There is a common belief in modern times that great battles bring on clouds and rain through the atmospheric disturbances set up by the rolling re- verberation of the artillery. During the American Civil War it was a matter of common observation that rain followed the great battles. I have been told, by one who took part in the battle of Solferino, that the day was dull and rainy ; indeed, the Austrian commander attributed the loss of the battle to a terrific thunderstorm which burst over the field and obscured the movements of power- ful masses of the enemy. The belief that heavy firing brings down rain is indeed so rooted, that a civil engineer wrote a book not many years ago to prove it, and a gentle- man of scientific tastes read a paper to the same effect before the British Association in 1874.^ Perhaps they would have spared themselves the trouble if they had been aware, first, that as late as the beginning of this century the belief was just the reverse, and batteries were regularly kept by many French Communes for the sole purpose of dispersing the clouds^ ; and second, that the theory which connects great battles with heavy rain is very much older than the invention of gunpowder. After describing the defeat of the Teutons by the Romans under Marius, Plutaxch mentions a popular saying, that great ^ Pliny, Nat. Hist.^ xxviii, 33 seq. 2 " On Disturbance of the Weather by Artificial Influences, especially Battles, Military Movements, Great Explosions, and Conflagrations," by R. B. Belcher. See Report of the meeting of the British Asso- ciation for 1874, Transactions of the Sections^ p. 36. 2 Journal and Proceedings of the R. Society of N. S. Wales, xvi (1882), p. 12. The address of the President (p. 11 seq.) contains a judicious discussion of the whole question. The earlier view must have been shared by Southey, for, in describing a naval action in the Mediterranean, he says " the firing made a perfect calm" {Life of Nelson, ch. iii). I of the Ancients. 167 battles are accompanied by heavy rain, and he suggests as possible explanations of the supposed fact, either that the atmospheric moisture is condensed by the exhalations from the slain, or that some pitying god cleanses the bloody earth with the gentle rain of heaven. When a Roman army sat down before a city to besiege it, the priests used to invite the guardian gods of the city to leave it and come over to the Roman side, assuring them that they would be treated by the Romans as well as, or better than, they had ever been treated by their former worshippers. This invitation was couched in a set form of prayer or incantation, which was not expunged from the Pontifical liturgy even in Pliny's time. The name of the guardian god of Rome was always kept a profound secret, lest the enemies of Rome should entice him by similar means to desert the city.^ So, when the natives of Tahiti were besieging a fortress, they used to take the finest mats, cloth, and so on, as near to the ramparts as they could with safety, and there, holding them up, offered them to the gods of the besieged, while the priests cried out, " Tane in the fortress, Oro in the fortress, etc., come to the sea ; here are your offerings." The priests of the besieged, on the other hand, endeavoured to detain the gods by ex- hibiting whatever property they possessed, if they feared that the god was likely to leave them.^ Like modern peasants, the ancients believed that the ghosts of slaughtered warriors appear by night on the battle-field, and fight their battles over again. At Mara- thon the neighing of horses and the noise of battle could be heard every night.^ The sound of the sea breaking on the shore in the stillness of night may have originated 1 Pliny, iV«/. Hist, xxviii, i8 ; Macrobius, Saturn., iii, 9, 2 seq.\ Servius on Virgil, ^n., ii, 351 \ Livy, v, 21. On the secret name of Rome itself, see Macrobius, /. c; Pliny, Nat. Hist., iii, 65 ; Joannes Lydus, De Mensibus, iv, 50. 2 Ellis, Polynesian Researches, i, 316, cp. 280 (ed. 1832). 3 Pausanias, i, 32, 4. i68 Some Popular Superstitions or confirmed the belief. In Boeotia there was a place called " The Horses of Pyrsechmes", and the local legend ran that Pyraechmes was a King of Euboea who had fought against Boeotia long ago, and, being defeated, had been bound to horses and torn in two. A river ran by the spot, and in the rush of the river people fancied that they heard the snorting of the phantom steeds.^ Again, the whole plain of Troy was haunted ground. The shep- herds and herdsmen who pastured their flocks and herds on it used to see tall and stately phantoms, from the manner of whose appearance they presaged what was about to happen. If the phantoms were white with dust, it meant a parching summer. If beads of sweat stood on their brows, it foretold heavy rains and spates on the rivers. If they came dabbled in blood, it boded pesti- lence. But if there was neither dust nor sweat nor blood on them, the shepherds augured a fine season, and offered sacrifice from their flocks. The spectre of Achilles was always known from the rest by his height, his beauty, and his gleaming arms, and he rode on a whirlwind.^ In the late Roman empire legend told how, after a great battle fought against Attila and the Huns under the walls of Rome, the ghosts of the slain appeared and fought for three days and nights. The phantom warriors could be seen charging each other, and the clang of their weapons was distinctly heard.^ Stories of the same sort, which it would be needless to cite at length, are told about battle- fields to this day. Terrified peasants have seen the spec- tral armies locked in desperate conflict, have felt the ground shake beneath their tread, and have heard the music of the fifes and drums.* 1 Plutarch, Parallela, 7. ^ Philostratus, Heroica, iii, § 18, 26. 3 Damascius, Vita Isidorz, 63. * K. Lynker, Deutsche Sagen und Sitten in hessischen Gauen, pp. 11-13 ; P. S^billot, Traditions et Superstitions de la Haute-Bretagne^ i, 222 ; E. Veckenstedt, Die Mythen^ Sagen, und Legenden der Zamaiten (Litauer), ii, p. 140 ; Indian Antiquary, ix (1880), p. 80. Cf. Y. Liebrecht, Gervasius von Tilbury, 195 seq. ¥ of the Ancients. 169 A word about were-wolves, and I have done. Few superstitions are more familiar in modern times than this one. Certain men, it is believed, possess the power of turning themselves into wolves and back again at pleasure. Or they are forced to become wolves for a time, but may, under certain conditions, recover their human shape. All this was believed as firmly by superstitious people in anti- quity as it has been believed by the same class of persons in modern times. There is a certain mountain in Arcadia which towers over its sister peaks, and commands from its top a prospect over a great part of the Morea. The mountain was known to the ancients as the Wolf Moun- tain (Mt. Lycaeus), and on its summit stood the earthen altar of the Wolf God (Zeus Lycaeus). East of the altar stood two columns, surmounted by gilt eagles. Once a year a mysterious sacrifice was offered at the altar, in the course of which a man was believed to be changed into a wolf Accounts differ as to the way in which the were- wolf was chosen. According to one account, a human victim was sacrificed, one of his bowels was mixed with the bowels of animal victims, the whole was consumed by the worshippers, and the man who unwittingly ate the human bowel was changed into a wolf^ According to another account, lots were cast among the members of a particular family, ^nd he upon whom the lot fell was the were-wolf Being led to the brink of a tarn, he stripped himself, hung his clothes on an oak-tree, plunged into the tarn, and, swimming across it, went away into desert places. There he was changed into a wolf and herded with wolves for nine years. If he tasted human blood before the nine years were out he had to remain a wolf for ever. But if during the nine years he abstained from preying on men, then, when the tenth year came round, he recovered his human shape.^ Similarly, there is a negro 1 Plato, Repub., 565 de. 2 Pliny, Nat. Hist.,m\\, 81 ; Pausanias, vi, 8, viii, 2. On the altar at the top of Mt. Lycaeus, see Pausanias, viii, 38, 7. 170 Some Popular Superstitions family at the mouth of the Congo who are supposed to possess the power of turning themselves into leopards in the gloomy depths of the forest. As leopards, they knock people down, but do no further harm, for they think that if, as leopards, they once lapped blood, they would be leopards for ever.^ In the " Banquet of Trimalchio" there is a typical were- wolf story ,2 with which I will conclude this paper. Some points in it are explained by the belief of the Breton peasants, that if a were-wolf be wounded to the effusion of blood, he is thereby obliged to resume his human form, and that the man will then be found to have on his body the very same wound which was inflicted on the wolf ^ The story is put in the mouth of one Niceros. Late at night he left the town to visit a friend of his, a widow, who lived at a farm five miles down the road. He was accompanied by a soldier, who lodged in the same house, a man of Herculean build. When they set out it was near dawn, but the moon shone as bright as day. Passing through the outskirts of the town they came amongst the tombs, which lined the highroad for some distance. There the soldier made an excuse for retiring among the monuments, and Niceros sat down to wait for him, humming a tune and counting the tombstones. In a little he looked round at his companion, and what he saw froze him with horror. The soldier had stripped off his clothes to the last rag and laid them at the side of the highway. Then he performed a certain ceremony over them, and immediately was changed into a wolf, and ran howling into the forest. When Niceros had recovered himself a little he went to pick up the clothes, but found that they were turned to stone. Almost dead with fear, he drew his sword, and, striking at every 1 A. Bastian, Die deutsche Expedition an der Loango-Kiiste^ ii, 248. 2 Petronius, 61 seq. 3 S^billot, Traditions et Superstitions de la Haute-Bretagne^ i, 291 seq. of the Ancients. 171 shadow cast by the tombstones on the moonlit road tottered to his friend's house. He entered it like a ghost, to the surprise of the widow, who wondered to see him abroad so late. " If you had only been here a little ago," said she, " you might have been of some use. For a wolf came tearing into the yard, scaring the cattle and bleeding them like a butcher. But he did not get off so easily, for the servant speared him in the neck." After hearing these words, Niceros felt that he could not close an eye, so he hurried away home again. It was now broad daylight, but when he came to the place where the clothes had been turned to stone, he found only a pool of blood. He reached home, and there lay the soldier in bed like an ox in the shambles, and the doctor was bandaging his neck. J. G. Frazer. LEGENDS FROM TORRES STRAITS. II. X.— The Story of Greedy Goba. {As narrated by Kanai {now Gizu), the Chief of Badu.) IN former days, on the leeward side of Badu, lay the village of Ergan, and Wakaid was situated to wind- ward, that is to say, on the south-eastern side of the island. The men of Wakaid told their women to go to Ergan to sell biiu (i) for turtle meat, but Goba volunteered, sayirig, "Give me. I go to Ergan and sell for you," and they permitted him. Halfway across the island are two hills ; arriving between them, he sat down and ate all the biiu ; when he had finished he proceeded on his way to Ergan. The inhabitants of this village had just caught a con- siderable number of turtle, and they gave him a large supply to sell to the Wakaid folk. Having slept that night at Ergan, Goba set off in the early morning, and when he came to the spot between the two hills he again rested and ate up all the turtle. When he arrived at the camp the Wakaid men asked him where the turtle was, and he replied that they had none at the other village. He slept. The first thing in the morning the Wakaid men said, " Who will go to Ergan ? " Goba said, " I will go again," and they filled up a basket with biiu. Again he rested half- way and ate as much of the biiu as he could. On arriving at Ergan the men there asked him where the biiu was, and Goba told a lie, and said none was sent. As they had been fortunate in their turtle-fishing they gave him a load I Legends from Torres Straits. 173 of the meat to carry back to Wakaid. He made a good supper off turtle and slept there. At " small daylight" he marched off to windward with his turtle-meat, but once more he ate it all up, and then concluded his repast with a mixture of turtle-oil and the mangrove he had left over on the previous occasion. The old lie of the bad luck of the Ergan people was told on his return home. Next morning he again started with biiu for Ergan. When he had satisfied his hunger at his usual halting- place he hid what remained over. The Ergan men once more inquired after the biiu which Goba should have brought in payment of the turtle they had previously •given to him, but they were put off with the ordinary excuse. On this occasion they gave him a segment of bamboo filled with turtle-oil (2), but this was utilised by Goba on his way home as a relish to the biiu he had hidden in the bush. He arrived home empty-handed as usual. The first thing next morning the men in the men's quarters (or kwod) said, " Which man want to go to Ergan ? " Goba said, " Me, I go"; and the old story was repeated. In the meantime the Ergan men yarned, " We send some turtle, he no sell biiu, we think he eat it all." Turtle-meat was again given to Goba, and on the following morning two men were sent after him to play the spy. When Goba sat down in his accustomed halting-place the two men hid themselves in the bush and watched. When Goba left the two men examined the remains of the feast, and made their report on their return to Ergan. Goba returned to Wakaid and slept, all unknowing that his trick had been found out. Once more Goba was commissioned to trade, but toll was again taken, and he went down empty-handed to Ergan. Although the men knew all about his goings-on they gave him some turtle-meat. Next morning, "when wild fowl he sing out" (3), a 1 74 Legends from Torres Straits, number of Ergan men went to Goba's resting-place and hid themselves. When he was ready to start the women gave Goba his turtle, and he set out for home with his burden. Arriving halfway he sat down and feasted on the turtle and on the biiu which he had previously put on one side. The Ergan men stealthily came close to him, and having no weapons, they armed themselves with sticks and stones. Goba kept on eating, and, when gorged, fell asleep. Seizing this favourable opportunity, they attacked him. Goba called out, " You, no good you kill me," and he did not know how to fight. After explaining the reason for their conduct they killed him. Then they erected a cairn of sticks and stones over his corpse (4). The Ergan men commissioned two young men to go to Wakaid to tell the people there all about it. The Wakaid men said, " Very good job you kill him." XL — The Migration of Bia. Bia, a native of Badu, one day walked to leeward of his village to the mangrove swamp ; there he made an earth oven, amai^ and cooked himself two portions of mangrove biiu, which he put into a basket, and walked on till he came to a creek — " zeza'' Finding a nice stretch of sand, he cut himself a small javelin of the hard dukun wood ; when finished, he threw it vigorously with his kobai (throwing-stick), and it penetrated some distance into the ground. On pulling it up water gushed forth, and there is still a permanent water-hole at the spot (i). For sport Bia kept on throwing the spear, till at length he accidentally transfixed a man through the chest who was lying on the sand, and whom he had not observed. The wounded man, Itar of Gradz, a small island south of Badu, im- mediately ran into the bush, the blood streaming from him. Bia followed and caught him, and threw him into the sea, saying, " A hole in the rock is your house," and straightway Itar swam away as a small dogfish (" Itar'' — Legends from Torres Straits. 175 Chiloscyllium\ which to this day bears the mark of Bia's spear-thrust. Bia then walked on the water southward, on and on • he looked behind him at his old home Badu ; he also caught a gapu (sucker fish), which he put in his basket. Then on and on again till he came to Waiben (Thursday Island) where he fished with the natives. They only caught an Itar,' but Bia secured a gapu, and thus was able to catch a turtle' The same good fortune attended him at Muralug, which he next visited. At length he came to the mainland, and went up a river (? Jardine River) ; seeing a female turtle he seized and had connection with her, and in due time she bore him a child. Bia became permanently affixed to the turtle, and still lives in a deep hole in the river. XII.— The Sad End of Yawar. {As told by Kirer of Badu.) Yawar of Badu was a famous gardener, and the yams and bananas grew rapidly in his garden, which was situated on the hill Gizo, on the windward side of the island. The yams of the Madub men who lived at Samun grew only during the north-west season, whereas Yawar always had a good supply. So, one day, the Madub men sent a deputation of two of their number to discover the secret of Yawar's success. The two men said to Yawar, " How you make a garden? When you make him, he grow quick ; when we make him, he take long time — not till Kuki (the nor-west or rainy season) comes ; best thing you learn us." " Very well," replied Yawar, " see you no forget ; you Madub men put yam in ground, you see me, I make heap first, then I put yam in, now you savvy." And he showed them how he did it, until they understood it. The men returned home, but soon forgot what Yawar had told them ; so that year their yams did not do well. Next year a deputation of four men was sent to Yawar, and Yawar cut a flat stick and shovelled up the earth 176 Legends from Tor^'es Straits, into a hillock, and explained fully his method of setting yams ; but the men forgot everything on their way home. On their return they wereasked, "You fellow got him?" {Le., " Know how to do it"). " No," they replied, " we forget again." In the following year a third party was sent, consisting this time of six men. Yawar said to them, " How many times am I to teach you ?" and again he carefully instructed them. The men forgot all the information as they were travelling homewards. Lastly, all the Madub men set out for Gizo, each carry- ing his throwing-stick suspended from the collar-bone by its hook. Yawar did not notice them ; they came like spirits. On their arrival they hooked Yawar, and dragged him along the ground, he crying out, " Very good, you leave me now, I got woman and children, no kill me." First they took him to Moa, where they informed him they would transport him to Mer, and Yawar said, " No good you kill me, I got woman and children. I learn you good to make garden, and you forget ; no fault along me." But the men paid no heed to him, and dragged him along the ground, and took him in a canoe to Mer. On their arrival at Mer they dragged him, raw and bleeding, up the steep, smo'oth side of the hill Gelam. XIII. — How TiAi Inaugurated Funeral Ceremonies. {As told by Kirer of Badu.) On a small sand - beach named Boigu, amongst the mangrove swamps on the western side of Moa, lived a married woman named Aukwiim, and Wauwa, her un- married sister. One day Aukwiim put her baby boy, Tiai, into a basket and hung him up on a tree outside her house whilst she went to spear fish, it then being low tide. She found a pool on the reef full of big fish, so she soon filled up her basket and returned home. After cooking and eating some fish Legends fro7n Torres Straits. 177 she erected a light framework {not) over the fire on which to dry and smoke the remainder. This done, she slept. During the night " Wauwa's inside tell herself, ' Why she no give me fish — I sister ?' " At daybreak, after Tiai was suspended from the tree, Aukwiim again went on the reef, and speared plenty of fish, and brought them home in a basket. On her return she cleaned the fish, and put most of them on the noi to dry ; the remainder she boiled in the shell she used as a saucepan, and ate them ; but did not give any to Wauwa. Next day Aukwum once more started for the reef, and Wauwa, being " wild inside", took an arrow, and thrusting it through one of the eyes of Tiai, killed him. Meanwhile Aukwum was vainly looking for fish. At last she said, " It's a bad day for me, there's something wrong somewhere." When the tide turned she ran home, anxious to get back to Tiai, as she had left him for so long. " Ulloa," she exclaimed, on reaching home, " my boy is dead ; I think Wauwa has killed him." The 7nari^ or spirit, of Tiai went to the island of Boigu, and having the appearance of a man, he stopped along with the grown-up men. When Tiai mari arrived, the Boigu men were playing with small spears, which they heaved with both hands, and they received him kindly. Aukwum having prepared the bones of Tiai, hung them in front and behind her, and rubbed her body all over with mud (i). Leaving Boigu, she went to Dabu, a place where the channel between the islands of Moa and Badu was at its narrowest. On the opposite shore of Badu resided a man named Baigoa, who was possessed of more than human powers. Aukwum called out to him to ask him to help her to cross the strait between the two islands. At this spot it is a little over a mile wide, and she had no canoe. By his assistance she crossed the channel (2). Baigoa is still to be seen on the shore of Badu, but now he appears as a long rock close to deep water. In reply to Aukwiim's inquiries, Baigoa said Tiai was VOL. I N 1 78 Legends from Torres Straits. not there, but had probably stopped at Kulkwoi. Aukwiim at once proceeded to Kulkwoi, and found the men playing at throwing the spear. On seeing Aukwum they were much alarmed, thinking she was a dorgai ; she assured them as to her identity, and showed them Tiai's bones. They informed her that Tiai was not there, but they thought he might be at Zauma. She travelled northward to Zauma, where the men were also practising spear-throwing, but with the same result as before. Following her directions, she went on to Bokiin, and thence to Tulo, the most northerly point of Badu. In both places the spear- throwers could give her no information. From Tulo Aukwum walked over the sea (3) to Sipunga on Mabuiag, thence she walked along the beach to Bau (the present village), and lastly went to Dabonai, where the water-hole is on the northern side of the island. Her search was as bootless in Mabuiag as in Badu. She then walked across the sea to Dauan, but with no result ; finally she arrived at Boigu. The men at Boigu were playing at spear-throwing, and Aukwum stood watching them. When the old men looked round and saw her they called out and said she was a dorgai, but Aukwum maintained her humanity and made her usual inquiry. It so happened that Tiai was standing close by, and he looked at the bones slung round his mother's neck, and spoke to himself, " I think I am a spirit, and not a man, though I took myself to be one," but he said nothing, and kept on thinking. When all the men had retired to the men's quarters {kwod)^ Tiai, having fully considered the problem, said to them, "Well, old men, you must cut four wooden posts for a sara and carry them to a clear space, and not one of you must speak. When the wood is ready you must dig four holes and raise all four posts into them at the same time, then put sand round the base of the posts, and press in tightly, and mind all four are done at the same time. The sara posts are to be painted red round the middle and black above Legends from Torres Straits. 1 79 and below ; a roof is to be built over the platform which is to be erected on the four posts." When all this was done Tiai placed a dugong harpoon on the top and crept inside the erection, he being watched by a crowd of men. Some of the men then softly beat their drums and Tiai made the sara shake. When he stopped, the men beat their drums more loudly, and Tiai stood up on the roof, having a dugong harpoon on one side of him and a bow on the other. As the drums were again beaten Tiai seized hold of the dugong harpoon and bow. Once more the drums were beaten and Tiai leaped on to the ground. More loudly still sounded the drums, and Tiai danced his own funeral dance. As Tiai advanced Aukwum followed ; soon Tiai reached a hole in the ground made by some sorcery-men {maidUaig\ which he entered. Aukwum said, " Well, Tiai, do you leave me now ? " Tiai replied, "You come too"; and his mother followed Tiai into the bowels of the earth. XIV.— Naga, the Master of Ceremonies in Nagir. {Informant^ Kuduma of Nagir,) Now Naga of Nagir was learned in the cult of his tribe, he knew how to manufacture the large dance-masks (i), he instructed the people in singing and dancing, and, moreover, he possessed the knowledge of everything relating to the kwod, or place set apart for various cere- monies. Hearing of his fame, a Mabuiag native, Waiat by name, came to Nagir in order to be instructed how to beat the drum. Naga taught Waiat what he required, but the latter was mean enough to steal a large mask. Then Naga gave a mask to the inhabitants of Tud, another to those of Waraben, a third to the natives of Moa, and reserved one for his own island. To all the islands Muralug, Waraber, Tud, Yam, Moa, Badu, Mabuiag, Masig, Purma, Aurid, he gave a valve of the " akul". Naga was " wild" because Waiat stole his mask. ■ N 2 1 80 Legends from Torres Straits. Naga taught the men how to " make taiai'\ He was unmarried, and did not live at the Taiai kwod, but in his own kwod. XV.— What Tabu did in Muralug. Tabu swam from Nagir to Muralug, and arrived at the kwod at Waiiza (near Port Lihon, on the south side of Muralug). Tabu, who was a man with a snake's head, went inside the kwod. He made a buk (or small mask), and started a dance on an open space. He stayed there for a month and three days (i), and when tired he stopped the dance. He got dipadoiu and mUri (2) ; in the afternoon he ran ; all the women were afraid. After that " he made warup (a large drum), all the same dance, night and day, get food." XVI.— The Two Dorgai of Muralug. {Told by Tuigana^ Chief of Muralug.) Gilukerni, a native of Muralug, walked like a fish — Mor- haigordbini (i). One day he was going along the sand- beach to leeward of the island, and opposite to Gialug (Friday Island). Two Dorgai, who lived closely by, per- ceived him, and one said, " That man belong to you and me — come, we take him." The Dorgai decked themselves up " flash", caught Gilukerni, and carried him into the bush, where they put him in a rock (probably a cave or crevice), which served as their home. They then left him, walked about, worked in their yam garden, caught some fish, and made a road. On returning home they found that Gilukerni had taken their absence as his opportunity, and fled. He escaped, and swam to Gialiig, where certain. of his people lived, and persuaded some friends to return with him to Muralug, and, taking a couple of stone clubs with them, they killed both the Dorgai. They pulled an arm off one of the Dorgai, but Legends from Torres Straits, 1 8 1 not from the other ; both then appeared in the sky as stars. Hence the constellation Mugi Dorgai ("small dorgai") is only composed of two stars (body and arm), while the Kai Dorgai (" large dorgai") constellation has three stars. xviL— The Drowning of Adi and his Wives. The only tradition which Macgillivray collected was from Muralug, and is as follows : — " The first man created was a great giant named Adi, who, while fishing off Hammond Island, was caught by the rising tide and drowned — Hammond Rock springing up immediately after to mark the spot. His wives, who were watching him at the time, resolved to drown themselves, and were changed into some dry rocks upon an adjacent reef, named after them Ipile, or the Wives." ( Voyage of the ^^Rattle- snake'\ ii, p. 30.) XVIII.— The Legend of Malu. Four brothers, Malu, Seo, Sigar, and Kulka, left their native island, Muralug, each in his own canoe, and came to a coral reef near Waraber. The wind rose, and soon it blew so hard that the anchor-rope of Sigar's canoe broke, and he called out to his brothers, " I drift away." Ulti- mately he was stranded on Yam. The three other canoes went on to Aurid, where Kulka said he would remain. Malu and Seo proceeded to Masig. Now Malu, the eldest of the four brothers, was a bad man, and misbehaved himself with the women of that island. Seo expostulated with him. This so enraged Malu that he took a long spear {bager) and thrust it through Seo from behind, with such vigour that the spear came out in front ; he then threw the body into the sea. The inhabitants of Masig, however, took it up and put it in the bush. Malu set sail for Mer, but, encountering bad weather, the 1 82 Legends from Torres Straits. canoe broke all to pieces on Saper reef, which lies south- west of Mer. With the assistance of the gunwale boards he swam to Begegiz, a village at the south-west of Mer. The men of the Dauerle clan, who inhabit that part of the island, seized him and said, " You stop here, we look for food." They made a stone fence round Begegiz, but, as Malu did not get much food, he swam off to Dauar, and landed at the sand-spit, Giar. All the Dauar men who were there caught Malu and put him in a house. They informed him they were going to look for food, and put a rope fence (beribei kar) round him. Malu looked about him, but could find no food, so he swam round to the south side of the island of Dauar, and landed in the bay of Orme. Here also the men seized him, and made a stone fence round him. The old story was repeated, but this time he recrossed the channel between Dauar and Mer, and landed at Aund, on the south side of the latter island. There was only a single house, inhabited by a man named Dorg, and his wife, Kabur, in this little cove. Kabur was line-fishing on the reef at Terker, when Malu swam across the channel. As Malu was pushing the gun- wale-board of his wrecked canoe before him, and being all but submerged, he escaped the sight of Kabur, who thought it was merely a drifting canoe. Then Malu changed into an octopus (att)^ and swam to Kabur, and crawled up her, entwining his arms round her body and neck. He left her with a retreating wave, and then returned ; but this time Kabur killed him with the small fish-spear she had, and putting him in her basket, secured the mouth of it with the spear, and deposited the basket in a rock-pool. Kabur went home and called her husband, and together they went to look at the octopus. She said to him, " This is your zogo" (i). Dorg took the octopus to his house, and hung the basket up which contained it. At sundown they went to bed, and the wife told her husband all about the catching of it. During the night they Legends from Torres Straits. 183 watched the basket, and saw the octopus crawl out of the basket, its eyes shining brightly, while it made a clicking noise. The octopus fell to the ground, and immediately was transformed into the man Malu, who picked up all the shells lying in the house and hit them together. When Malu heard the frogs and cicadas making their respective noises outside [? in response to the rattle Malu made with the shells] (2), he left the house and went all round the island ; when he returned he went into the basket as an octopus. "Dorg think to himself, 'What I do now ? I am glad I've got him.' " In the morning he painted himself red all over, put on his gauntlet {kadig) and belt, and decorated his head with feathers of the cassowary and of the Torres Straits pigeon. Kabur also painted herself, and remained in the house. Dorg went out and followed the track of Malu all round the island. All the men of the island agreed that Dorg had got a good zogo, and they had a long yarn over it. They instigated Dam and Samekep, Kabur's younger brothers, to inquire into the matter. The two brothers agreed between themselves to take some food to Kabur, and to have a look at the octopus, and to steal it if they could. So they went to see Kabur, and brought her a present of food without asking for anything ; they yarned and yarned. At sundown Kabur asked, " You two go ?" " No," they replied, " it's too dark, we sleep here ; to-morrow we go." " That best," their sister replied, and they retired to rest, the two brothers occupying a separate bed. They did not sleep, but kept watch. In due time they saw the light shining from the eyes of the octopus. " Ulloa !" they said, '' we find him out now." They painted themselves. Dam said, "No talk." Malu came out, walked round the island, and returned into his basket. Then the brothers went into the bush and yarned. " Now we catch him," Dam said ; '' I take him." The other said " No !" " Yes," he replied, " I take him now." In the morning Kabur said, " When you two go ?" " We 184 Legends from Torres Straits, go now," they replied. Kabur gave them some food, and they went into the bush and hid the food. Dorg once more painted himself with red, put on a large gauntlet, and carried five sticks, while he again followed Malu's track. Kabur painted herself, put on plenty of petticoats and ornaments, and stayed behind. The two brothers returned to the house. Dam entered, and cut the string which suspended the basket, and gave the latter to Samekep to hold. When Dam got outside he wanted Samekep to give up the basket as he had taken it ; but Samekep said to Dam, " You go and get a drum and we will dance." Samekep put on the ati (3). Dam took a drum, and Samekep danced. Dam again asked for the ati or octopus. Samekep said, " No, the drum is good enough for you." The brothers left the bomai at the village of Las (4). As they were returning thither the men called out to the brothers, " You got him now ?" To which they received this satisfactory answer, " Yes." * Dorg went round the island as far as Gizo, and having run quickly, was very tired. " Heart along him think, these two fellows steal my thing." Then he walked home, and took his bow and arrows, and further armed himself with sharks' teeth fastened on to a stick (5). Kabur took a kubager, or sharp piece of wood, and together they went to Las, and talked to the people of that village. The Las men gave Dorg a pipe of tobacco to smoke, " and they friends." They said, " This belong man, send woman away." Dorg said, " All right, you keep him." Canoes came from all islands to see Malu, so great did the fame of the zogo become. XIX. — The Myth of the Tagai Constellation. " One star, Tagai, he got a canoe. Tagai he captain, stop in forehead [bow] of canoe and look out and spear fish. Kareg he mate, stop in stern, plenty men crew. They go over reef, Kargg he pole canoe (i). Tagai spear fish. Sun hot on reef, all men thirsty, and steal water in canoe Legends from Torres Straits. 185 belong to captain. Tagai say, * Why you no pole canoe good ? I no spear fish.' By-and-bye he say, * Where water-bamboo ? ' (2). He take bamboo and shake it ; it empty. * Who drink water ? ' Men no talk. Tagai get wild. He get one rope ' gogob^ (3), and make fast round neck of six men and chuck into sea ; he put name to them, 'all you fellow "Usiam".' Tagai take two kef {jO and call other men in canoe, and kill plenty, and stick the kef through their necks and chuck them in the sea, and call them ' Seg'. Kareg he live, Tagai tell Kareg, * You stop, you no steal my water, you push canoe all time.' Man stop in sky all the time. Tagai, Kareg, and canoe stop in one place, Usiam stop in another place, and Seg stop another place." XX.— The Origin of Fire and Totems. The following legend is from Mr. E. Beard more's paper on " The Natives of Mowat, Daudai, New Guinea" : — "Eguon, described as a large bat, is fabled to have in- troduced fire to Mowat. A legend goes that a tribe once inhabited Double Island, one of whose members showed fire to come from the left hand, between the thumb and forefinger, whereupon dissension arose and the people were all transformed into animals, birds, reptiles, fish (including dugong and turtle). Eguon found his way to Mowat, the others to different places in the Straits and New Guinea. There appears to have been some friendly arrangement amongst the snakes whereby some took to the land and others to the water." {Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. xix, 1890.) The Rev. Dr. S. MacFarlane has the following MS. note from Erub :— " A man named Sarkak took it from between his forefinger and thumb." XXL— The Moon. Dr. MacFarlane also gave me the following note :— "The moon belongs to two men at Erub, and is the 1 86 Legends from Torres Straits. shadow of two stones in their possession, one for the new moon and the other for the full moon. One stone on one side of the island is round like the full moon, the other on the opposite side of Erub is crescentic, like the new xxil—Nam Zogo ; or, The Myth of the Turtle- Spirits. Once upon a time, a number of Murray Islanders, be- longing to the clans known as Meurum-le and Komet-le, went in several canoes to the sandbank known as Kerget, to get shell-turtle and wauri (i). Though they stayed several days, no turtle were obtained. One man, " Mairuer", said to the coral zogo on the sandbank, " What, you zogo, you ! You no help me get turtle". The spirit was " wild", and numerous spirits of the place combined together and sent a pair of turtle in deep water. A canoe went to catch the turtle. Two men tied some rope on their arm and went to the bow, Mairuer steering. The turtle looked up, and, seeing that Mairuer was not prepared to swim, they dived down. Two other men came forward, with the same result, until Mairuer was alone left The men said to him, " Mairuer, you only are left. We all try ; we think turtle no want us to catch them. Good thing you try ; we all got bad luck." So Mairuer tied the rope on his arm (2), and went into the .boat, and the other men pulled. The turtle saw that Mairuer was ready, and they did not move, but hung down their heads as if they were dead. Mairuer dived into the water and swam to the turtle, and jumped on to the back of the male turtle and caught him. The turtle, however, dived to the bottom, and the other turtle went on the top of Mairuer and took the rope off his arm. The men, to their surprise, hauled up a burdenless rope. The two turtles, with Mairuer between them, came up near the bow of the canoe, and Mairuer called out, " You Legends from Torres Straits. 187 help me ! " They sank, but soon came up again, Mairuer being in the state of « no skin, all meat". Two more turtle took him and dived deep. When Mairuer re-emerged he could just move his arms, being nearly dead. Plenty turtle came up again and exhibited Mairuer dead and red all over; then they carried him to another sandbank, " Garboi." The turtle buried him in the middle of the sandbank (3). The men returned to Kerget sandbank and cried. Then they went home to make a funeral feast. That night they all anchored on a reef The west wind, Giai, came ; "it meet all canoe on reef" There were two brothers, each the headman of a canoe ; " the rope of them two fellows strong." Some canoes broke their rope, and the brothers sang out, " You make fast to stern of our canoes." They