Part 9

“The Cries of London,” sixty-two in number, with wood-cuts, were printed in 1799. Mr. A. Certeux, having come across this rare little work in Switzerland, has reprinted it with the original illustrations, accompanied by a French translation. A few notes give comparisons with cries of Paris. What lends especial value to the book is a bibliography of the principal works on the cries of Paris, containing about fifty titles. This literature begins with the thirteenth century, Guillaume de la Villeneuve having written at that time his “Les crieries de Paris.” In 1887 V. Fournel published a work on the Cris de Paris, which had a considerable success. It would be interesting to learn what information exists concerning the streetcries of England, outside of the book here reissued.

Under the title of “Mélanges de Traditionnisme de la Belgique,” A. Harou offers gleanings of the beliefs and superstitions of Flanders, arranged as referring to astronomy and meteorology, the human body, popular medicine, animals, birds, plants, etc. A certain number of legends, formulas, and nicknames are added. The work is in part from printed sources, and is to be regarded as a suggestion of a more complete and systematic collection, rather than as filling the place of an exhibition of Belgian superstition. It goes without saying that many of the items have parallels in English folk-lore.

The richness of Finland in the material of folk-lore is well calculated to awaken the envy of collectors in other regions. The Swedish population in Finland has its share in this survival, having kept with great faithfulness its ancient character. According to the opinion set forth by Julius Krohn, the popular Finnish poetry of the Kalevala has adopted essential elements of Scandinavian mythology, while it has also been argued that folk-tales and popular melodies have passed from the Swedes to the Finns. However this may be, there is now a considerable literature devoted to the folk-lore and dialect of the population in question. A Society for the Study of Swedish Dialects in Finland, founded in 1874, is now in possession of large collections of songs, melodies, proverbs, and tales, as well as of a great mass of dialectic words. The literature of Swedish folk-lore in Finland is the subject of a bibliographical notice of E. Lagus, the citation of titles being accompanied with a descriptive notice of the books. The series begins in 1892 with the work of A. I. Arvidsson (Svenska Fornsånger), and includes about forty books or articles.

In a treatise on the subject of hieroglyphic calendars, “Les Calendriers à Emblèmes Hiéroglyphiques,” A. Certeux describes and examines portable calendars of the fourteenth century, a mural calendar in wood of the fifteenth, a Breton carved calendar of the fifteenth, etc. Observations are also made on an Aztec calendar, a Norse Runic calendar, etc. In the course of his remarks, the writer offers observations on the different divisions of time adopted by different races. The references are exclusively to French sources.

In a discussion of “The Thyrsos of Dionysos and the Palm Inflorescence of the Winged Figures of Assyrian Monuments,” read before the American Philosophical Society, Dr. C. S. Dolley of Philadelphia, Pa., considers that the drunken and riotous characteristics of the mysteries were probably an addition to the original cult. The primitive use of the thyrsus was that of a wand to be tossed about in the dance, a use to which the stalks of the giant fennel were adapted, the festoons representing the bindweed naturally attached to the fennel. With this garlanded rod was combined, as he thinks, the date inflorescence found on Eastern monuments, which was altered into the cone-like tip of the thyrsus, and by error identified with the pine-cone.

Dr. K. Weinhold, examining the various forms of the tale of the man who is turned into an ass, as recounted in Apuleius and in various German and Indian märchen, comes to the conclusion that the story was originally a novelette and not an alteration of a myth. He inclines to believe it original in Greece or Asia Minor of antiquity, and thence to have been diffused eastward and westward, and offers some remarks on the theory of transformation, as often mentioned in folk-tales.

The twenty-fifth volume of the “Journal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society” consists of a new instalment of the “Botanicum Sinicum” by E. Bretschneider, the first or general part having appeared nearly ten years before. The present volume deals with Chinese names of plants occurring in the Chinese classics and other ancient Chinese works, and their botanical identification. Plants mentioned in the dictionary “Rh ya” (sixth century B. C.) are divided into herbaceous plants and trees, and those mentioned in other works into cereals, vegetables, cultivated cucurbitaceous plants, textile plants, tinctorial plants, water plants, various herbaceous plants, fruits, and bamboos. The information from literature, thus brought together, contains a great variety of instruction respecting food, customs, costume, ritual, and the like. Mention of rites seems usually provokingly inadequate, as in the allusions to the use of rice as sacrifice for spirits, of the peach-wand feared by demons, of the male elm pierced with an elephant’s tooth and plunged in water as injurious to the spirits of the water, to the “shi” divining plant, the stalks of which were used in divination, etc. In appended general remarks, Dr. Bretschneider observes that the Chinese have never shown any inclination for exploring nature from a love of knowledge, nor any trace of a scientific tendency. Conspicuous is the absence of names of plants having powerful poisonous properties. Medicinal plants appear to have been known only to a few collectors, who kept their information strictly secret, a concealment which led to substitution and confusion. Appended are minutes of meetings in 1890 and 1891. These contain a brief report of a paper by Dr. J. Edkins, entitled “China Thirty-five Centuries Ago,” in which the writer sets forth his opinion that the true foundations of Chinese civilization were laid in the third millennium before Christ. He considered that in the Chow period (800 B. C.?) religious usages of a more polytheistic form were adopted in profusion, and the people in their customs deserted the simplicity of ancient life. This position was criticised by Dr. E. Faber, who remarked on the want of any reliable information respecting early Chinese civilization, and the worthlessness of Chinese chronology and literary criticism.

In a beautifully illustrated article, contained in the publications of the United States National Museum, Romyn Hitchcock treats of the “Ancient Burial Mounds of Japan.” Without touching on the strictly archæological matter, we may notice the account of the ancient practice of burying the retainers of a prince standing upright around his grave, an interment in which the partially buried persons seem to have been left to perish and be devoured by wild beasts. The custom was changed, according to Japanese records, in the first century of our era, and the devotion of the living man succeeded by images, examples of which are figured in the article.

In the same report, Mr. Hitchcock gives an account of Shinto mythology. The sources being especially Basil Hall Chamberlain’s translation of the Ko-ji-ki (A. D. 711?) and the review of E. M. Satow on the writings of Japanese scholars. Casually, Mr. Hitchcock makes observations on the connection of modern Japanese folk-lore with the old mythology; thus the dance of Usume before the cave of the Sun-goddess is represented by the pantomimic “kagura,” danced by young girls at the temple of Ise and elsewhere. The mask of Usume is frequently seen in Japanese homes.

The interesting exhibit of New South Wales in the Columbian Exposition displays a mass of material calculated to illustrate native customs and life, including a set of views showing the different parts of the initiation ceremony called the “bora.” To accompany the exhibit, the New South Wales Commissioners have caused to be printed a handbook called “The Aborigines,” compiled by Dr. John Fraser of Sydney. This excellent treatise gives in conversational style a variety of information respecting the habits, ceremonies, ideas, food, habitations, and costume of the “black fellows,” as the race has ungracefully been called. It is difficult to speak with patience of the absurdities and calumnies of the numerous writers who have represented this people as raised but one degree above the animal. It would appear, on the contrary, that the social and moral status of the Australian does not greatly differ from that of the wilder Africans. In spite of his cannibalism, and his low powers of numeration, on which a very unjustifiable emphasis has been placed, the native is yet a highly intelligent person, admirably adapted for his own method of life. Particularly to be noted is the account given respecting religious beliefs and observances. Dr. Fraser perceives that the “Karabari” or corroborees, the native dances, are, in part at least, religious usages, although Australian students of the native tribes have not as yet fully penetrated their secrets. Without doubt some of them will be found to be religious ceremonials, accompanied by an elaborate mythology, in that respect resembling the dances of other “primitive” races. It is on the practices of the “bora” that most light has been thrown: here we have the construction of moundcircles, the occasional erection of monoliths or carved pillars, the setting up of a sacred pole, the participation of women not admitted to the secret rites, the presence, as it would seem, of ancestral deities, severe trials of constancy, the reception of a sacred name, final emblematic painting with white, probably also a regular system of instruction in tribal religion, mythology, and ethics. Instead of being void of religious feeling and ideas, as many observers, including the late traveller Lumholtz, have described him, there can be no doubt that the Australian is a person continually influenced by religious conceptions. It seems a pity that such names as “Hamites” and “Shemites,” with corresponding ethnological speculations, should appear in this treatise, in which, however, these dubious theoretical elements have no important place.

A brief paper by Hon. Richard Hill, “Notes on the Aborigines of New South Wales,” is somewhat superficial in character. The writer does not understand that a belief in “evil spirits” must necessarily include a religious faith and worship, but bears testimony to the natural chivalry of the natives. The writer mentions that in case of a duel, or “fighting to the death,” as it is called, each of the combatants invites the other to strike, the orthodox challenge being “hit me first,” each at the same time offering his head to be struck.

Rev. W. W. Gill’s observations on “The South Pacific and New Guinea,” also printed for the Exposition, contains notes on the Hervey Islands, South Pacific, annexed by Great Britain in 1888. The observations on ideas and customs, although conceived in the unsympathetic spirit of the missionary, is of great interest as indicating the rich mass of material, and the profit to science which must ensue from a proper record of native traditions. Baptism, marriage, death, the spirit world, etc., are themes of comment. We hope hereafter in this Journal to find room for extracts. The ethnographic interest of the writer may be measured by his naïve remark that the prayers used in incantation are “happily lost”! Of ceremonial religion the notes give no account, although the existence of a ritual is clearly implied; but the presence of a faith full of mysticism, and parallel to the beliefs of European antiquity, is everywhere indicated.

The Hungarian journal, “Ethnologische Mitteilungen aus Ungarn,” directed by A. Herrmann, after a most honorable record, was obliged to suspend publication in its second volume. This periodical has now resumed issue, the Archduke Joseph assuming responsibility for its continued appearance. Dr. Herrmann will be assisted by Dr. H. von Wlislocki, Dr. A. Katona, and others. This publication will deal with the ethnography and folk-lore of the Magyars and connected races, and will also become the organ of the Gypsy Folk-Lore Society, which has ceased to publish an independent journal. An address prefixed to the new volume of the journal, signed by C. G. Leland and D. MacRitchie, recommends the “Ethnologische Mitteilungen” to the reception of all persons interested in Gypsy research. Price seven francs; subscriptions may be addressed to A. Herrmann (Budapest, 1, Szent-György utcza, 2).

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

BELLORINI, EGIDIO. Canti Popolari Amorosi raccolti a nuovo. Bergamo: Stab. Frat. Cattaneo succ. a Gaffuri e Gatti, 1893. Pp. 336.

BELLORINI, EGIDIO. Folk-lore Sardo. (Note bibliografiche.) Cagliari: Tipografia G. Dessi, 1893. Pp. 14.

BOURKE, JOHN GREGORY, Captain U. S. A. The Medicine-men of the Apache. (Extract from the Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1892. Pp. 451–617.

CERTEUX, A. Les Calendriers à Emblèmes Hiéroglyphiques. Paris: E. Leroux, 28, rue Bonaparte, 1891. Pp. 61.

CERTEUX, A. Les Cris de Londres au xviii^e siècle. Illustrés de 62 gravures avec épigrammes en vers. Traduites par Mlle. X. Preface, notes, et bibliographie des principaux ouvrages sur les cris de Paris par A. Certeux, membre fondateur de la Société des Traditions Populaires. 2d ed. Paris: Chamuel, 29, rue de Trevise, 1893. 12mo. Pp. ii, 183.

DOLLEY, CHARLES S., M. D. The Thyrsos of Dionysos and the Palm Inflorescence of the winged figures of Assyrian Monuments. (Extracted from the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1893. Pp. 8.) (From American Anthropologist, vi. 3, pp. 285–306, 1893.) Washington: Judd & Detweiler, 1893.

FRASER, JOHN. The Aborigines of New South Wales. Published by authority of the New South Wales Commissioners for the World’s Columbian Exposition. Sydney: C. Potter, 1892. Pp. 102.

GILL, WILLIAM WYATT. The South Pacific and New Guinea Past and Present. With notes on the Hervey Group, an illustrative song, and various myths. Published by authority of the New South Wales Commissioners for the World’s Columbian Exposition. Sydney: C. Potter, 1892. Pp. 38.

HAURIGOT, GEORGE. Literature orale de la Guyane française. Contes, devinettes, proverbes. (From Revue des Traditions Populaires, viii. 1, 2, 3–4, 6.) Paris: E. Lechevalier. 1893. Pp. 37.

HAROU, A. Mélanges de Traditionnisme de la Belgique. (Collection Internationale de la Tradition, vol. x.) Paris: E. Lechevalier, 1892. Pp. vi, 150.

Hemenway Expedition. Catálogo de los objetos etnológicos y arqueológicos. Madrid: Jaramillo, 1892. Pp. 115.

HILL, RICHARD, and THORNTON, GEORGE. Notes on the Aborigines of New South Wales. With personal reminiscences. Published by authority of the New South Wales Commissioners for the World’s Columbian Exposition. Sydney: C. Potter, 1892. Pp. 8.

HITCHCOCK, ROMYN. Shinto, or the Mythology of the Japanese. (Report of the United States National Museum, 1891. Pp. 489–507.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1893.

HITCHCOCK, ROMYN. Some Ancient Relics in Japan. (Report of the United States National Museum, 1891, pp. 525, 526, plates liv.-vii.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1893.

HITCHCOCK, ROMYN. The Ancient Burial Mounds of Japan. (Report of the United States National Museum, 1891, pp. 511–523, plates xxxiii.-lxiii.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1893.

HOUGH, WALTER. The Bernadou, Allen, and Jouy Corean Collections in the United States National Museum. (Report of the United States National Museum, 1891, pp. 429–488, plates i.-xxxiii.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1893.

KRAUSS, FRIEDRICH S. Böhmische Korallen aus der Götterwelt. Folkloristische Börseberichte von Götter- und Mythenmarkte. Wien: Gebr. Rubinstein, 1893. Pp. 147.

LAGUS, ERNEST. Du Folklore suédois en Finlande: Helsingfors, 1891. Pp. 16.

Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde. In Auftrage des Vereins herausg. v. K. Weinhold. Erster Jahrgang. Berlin: A. Ascher & Co., 1891. Pp. 485.

WEINHOLD, K. Über das Märchen von Eselmenschen. (Sitzungsberichte der Königlich Preussisschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, session of 15th June, 1893.) Pp. 14.

JOURNALS.

1. =The American Anthropologist.= (Washington.) Vol. VI. No. 3, July, 1893. Some Mythic Stories of the Yuchi Indians. A. S. GATSCHET.—Further Notes on Indian Child Language. A. F. CHAMBERLAIN.—Notes and News. Folk-Lore Publication. Folk-Lore Congress. Absence of Crime in Bechuana Land. Blood Cement used by the Ancient Hurons. Liberian Customs.

2. =The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal.= (Good Hope, Ill.) Vol. XV. No. 3, May, 1893. Man and Language. III. Australians, Dravidians, and Aryans. H. HALE.—Okla Hannoli; or, the six towns district of the Choctaws. H. L. HALBERT.—Blackfoot Star Myths. I. The Pleiades.—M. N. WILSON.—Folk-Lore of Hawaii.—No. 4, July. Blackfoot Star Myths. II. The Seven Stars. M. N. WILSON.—Legend of Cumberland Mountain. J. A. WATKINS.—Man and Language. IV. Language the Scientific Basis of Anthropology. H. HALE.—Ethnographic Religions and Ancestor Worship. S. D. PEET.

3. =The Atlantic Monthly.= September, 1893. Nibblings and Browsings. FANNY D. BERGEN.

4. =The Folk-Lorist.= (Chicago.) Vol. I. Nos. 2–3. July, 1893. Description of a Hopi Doll. A. M. STEPHEN.—The Story of Hepi and Winona. E. L. HUGGINS.—Cheyenne Funeral Rites. H. R. VOTH.—Cante Sica, or Badheart. W. CARTWRIGHT.—Tree and Animal Stories. MARY A. OWEN.—How the Dog’s Mouth came to be ragged. A. R. WATSON.—Korean Folk-lore. H. R. HULBERT.—Japanese Folk-lore. E. W. CLEMENTS.—The Original of Uncle Remus Tar Baby in Japan. W. E. GRIFFIS.—Modern Mexican Witchcraft. A. T. GRAYBILL.—Some Egyptian Legends and Superstitions. I. BEN YACAR.—Illinois Folk-Lore. W. W. BASSETT.—Washington Superstitions. MISS M. TEN EYCK.—A Witch-Trap. L. C. VANCE.—A Few East African Superstitions. MRS. FRENCH-SHELDON.—Miscellany.

5. =Popular Science Monthly.= (New York.) Vol. XLIII. No. 3, July, 1893. Moral Life of the Japanese, W. D. EASTLAKE.—Evil Spirits. H. H. LONG.—No. 4, August. The Revival of Witchcraft. E. HART.—No. 5, September. Folk-lore Study in America. L. J. VANCE.—Grandfather Thunder. A. L. ALGER.

6. =Folk-Lore.= (London.) Vol. IV. No. 2, June, 1893. Cinderella and Britain. A. NUTT.—The False Bride. MISS G. M. GODDEN.—English Folk-Drama. T. FAIRMAN ORDISH.—Folk-lore Gleanings from County Leitrim. L. L. DUNCAN.—Balochi Tales. M. LONGWORTH DAMES.—Obeah Worship in East and West Indies. M. ROBINSON and M. J. WALHOUSE. (Illustrated.) The Oldest Icelandic Folk-lore. W. A. CRAIGIE.—The Folk. J. JACOBS.—Review.—Correspondence.—Chained Images. R. C. TEMPLE.—Red-haired Men. W. H. D. ROUSE.—Notes and News.—Folk-lore Society. Proceedings at Evening Meetings.—Miscellanea. Melting Wax Images of Intended Victims. Smelling the Head in Token of Affection. Naxian Superstitions. Tokens of Death. How to locate a Drowned Body. The Overflowing of Magic Wells. Immuring Alive.—Folk-lore Bibliography.

7. =The Illustrated Archæologist.= (London. Edited by J. ROMILLY ALLEN.) Vol. I. No. 1, June, 1893. The Cup of Ballafletcher. E. SIDNEY HARTLAND.

8. =The Westminster Review.= (London.) Vol. CXL. No. 2, August, 1893. Burial Customs. E. HOWLETT.

9. =L’Anthropologie.= (Paris.) Vol. IV. No. III, May-June, 1893. La famille patriarcale au Caucase. M. KOVALEFSKI.

10. =Bulletin de la Société Neuchateloise de Geographie.= (Neuchatel.) Vol. VII. 1892–1893. Une visite au pays des Hakka, dans la province de Canton. C. PITOU.—Les ensevelissements de personnes vivantes et le “lœss” dans le nord de la Chine. C. PITOU.—Racontars mythologiques des Sauvages australiens. E. RECLUS.

11. =Journal des Savants.= (Paris.) May-June, 1893. La légende de Saladin. G. PARIS.—August. La légende de Saladin. G. EBERS.

12. =Mélusine.= (Paris.) Vol. VI. No. 9, May-June, 1893. Le Grand Diable d’Argent, patron de la Finance. H. GAIDOZ.—Un livre sur Cendrillon. H. GAIDOZ.—Bibliographie.—No. 10, July-August. La Fille qui fait la morte pour son honneur garder. NIGRA, LOQUIN, and DONCIEUX.—La Mensuration du Cou. PERDRIZET and GAIDOZ.—La Fascination. (Continued.) J. TUCHMANN.—Le Petit Chaperon Rouge. E. ROLLAND.—Bibliographie.

13. =Revue de l’Histoire des Religions.= (Paris.) Vol. XXVII. No. 3, May-June, 1893. Bulletin des Religions de l’Inde. I. Véda et Brahminisme. (Continued.) A. BARTH.

14. =Revue des Traditions Populaires.= (Paris.) Vol. VIII. Nos. 3–4, March, 1893. L’os qui chante. C. PLOIX.—Ustensiles et Bibelots populaires. IV. P. SÉBILLOT. Les Rites de la Construction. XVI. R. BASSET.—Contes arabes et orientaux. X. R. BASSET.—No. 5. May. Djemschid et Quetzalcoatl. DE CHARENCEY.—Le tabac dans les traditions, les superstitions, et les coutumes. P. SÉBILLOT.—Traditions et superstitions de l’Anjou. G. DE LAUNAY.—No. 6, June. Les oiseaux de Psaphon. R. BASSET.—Le folk-lore de Lesbos. G. GEORGEAKIS and L. PINEAU.—Les Ordalies. (Continued.) R. BASSET.—Notes sur la mythologie des Latavins. IV. W. DE WISSIKIOK.

15. =La Tradition.= (Paris.) Vol. VII. Nos. 3–4, March-April, 1893. La Magie. T. DAVIDSON.—Folk-lore polonais. VII. M. DE ZMIGRODZKI.—Superstitions Hindoues. II. B. DE BAIZIEUX.—Le folklore de Constantinople II. Contes et légendes. J. NICOLAIDES.—Religion des Indiens du Brésil. M. GUIGNET.—Devinettes picarde—Folklore des Arabes. I. Légendes. XIII. H. CARNOY.

16. =Wallonia.= (Littérature orale, croyances, et usages traditionnels. Liège. Ed. by O. Colson, J. Defrecheux, and G. Willame. Subscription, 3 francs, and postage.) Vol. I. No. 5, May, 1893. L’amour et les amoureux. I. Lier le jonc. II. Les facéties de mai. J. DEFRECHEUX.—Chansons d’amour. I. La ronde du “mai.” II. Voici le mois de mai. O. COLSON.—Fêtes populaires. III. La Vierge, reine de mai. I. Les danses de la mariée, au pays gaumet. II. Les quêtes pour la Vierge, en Ardenne. III. Les trônes de mai, en Hesbaye. O. COLSON.—Dictons rimés sur le mois de Mai. O. C.—Béotiana. O. C.—Notes et enquêtes. No. 6, June. Sorcellerie. II. Dans l’Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse. L. LOISEAU.—Contes facétieux. E. M.—Béotiana. O. C.—Chañsons religieuses. II. III. J. DEFRECHEUX.—Fêtes populaires. V. L’Alion. (Borinage.)—J. MARLIN.—Humour populaire. III. Le pesage des filles (pays gaumet). O. C.

17. =Anchivio per lo Studio delle Tradizione Popolari.= (Palermo.) Vol. XII. No. 2, April-June, 1893. Le befanate del Contado Lucchese. G. GIANNINI.—Canti popolari emiliani. M. CARMI.—Sfruottuli, anecdoti popolari siciliani. M. DE MARTINO.—Il culto degli alberi nell’ Alto Monferrato. G. FERRARO.—Il Palio, o le Corsi di Siena nel 1893. M. RAZZI.—Il Mastro di Campo mascherata carnevolesca di Sicilia. Noto. G. PITRÈ.—Canti popolari in dialetto sassarese. P. NARRAX.—Alcuni sopranomi popolari negli eserciti del primo Impero napoleonico. A. LUMBROSO.—Aneddoti e spigolature folk-loriche. G. DE GIOVANNI.—“Un uomo bruciato e poi rigenerato,” legende serbo-croate. M. DRAGOMAVOV.—La poesia popolare nella storia letteraria. V. CIAN.—San Paolino III e la secolare festa dei gigli in Nola, provincia di Caserta. G. DE MATTIA.—Miscellanea.—Rivista bibliografica.—Bulletino.—Recenti publicazioni.—Sommario dei giornali.

18. =La Calabria.= (Monteleone; ed. L. Bruzzano.) Vol. No. 10, June, 1893. Canti sacri e leggende religiosi. Canti popolari di Candà.—Una Lauda di S. Nterina.—No. 11, July. Le Parole della Verità.—Leggenda di Brognaturo. No. 12, August. La Festa di San Antonio, protettore di Nicastro.—Novellini Albanesi di Falconara.