426 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



ever. The present generation has to lay the 

 foundation of the study and leave the task 

 of building it up to posterity. We enjoy 

 many advantages from intercourse with prim- 

 itive people which those who will come after 

 us may not possess ; and we have much to 

 do in gathering and preserving facts which 

 are passing away with every year, day, hour 

 even, lest through carelessness or neglect 

 they sh^ll disappear utterly. Every gap 

 thus permitted will be painfully regretted in 

 the future, when a detailed review shall be 

 undertaken of the diversity of variations 

 in which the human race has exhibited it- 

 self on the earth. The speaker insisted 

 upon the necessity of ethnologists travel- 

 ing among these primitive peoples, and 

 spoke particularly of his observations in 

 Polynesian mythology. The Polynesian cir- 

 cle of thought, he said, is, after the Buddh- 

 ist, the most extensive on the earth. A sur- 

 prising homogeneity prevails throughout 

 the length and breadth of the Pacific Ocean, 

 and still more widely if we consider Oceania 

 in its full sense, with the inclusion of Poly- 

 nesia and Melanesia. It may be said that 

 this unity prevails over about one hundred 

 and forty degrees of longitude and seventy 

 degrees of latitude, or over one fourth of 

 the globe. We can not ignore so interest- 

 ing a phenomenon. A direct relation exists 

 between the mythologies of all peoples and 

 their religious notions, and the same is the 

 case in Polynesia. Accounts of the mythol- 

 ogies of the primitive tribes generally afford 

 senseless caricatures so long as we are not 

 acquainted with the religious notions around 

 which they play. The knowledge of these 

 beliefs is not easily gained, for the priests 

 hide their doctrines under symbols which 

 only the initiated can understand. It re- 

 quires a long residence in the country and a 

 winning of the confidence of the priests to 

 such a degree as to induce them to commu- 

 nicate the traditions that have been handed 

 down to them in secrecy. In all the Poly- 

 nesian literature that we possess there is 

 nothing that goes to the heart of their re- 

 ligion beyond a few disconnected fragments 

 which have been taken down by a half dozen 

 writers ; and the cry is already going up 

 that it is too late ; that the holders of the 

 uncontaminated traditions are passing away 

 and carrying with them to the grave the 



knowledge they might impart. Professor 

 Bastian stated that he had been able by a 

 combination of favorable circumstances to 

 gather a few of these documents, out of 

 which he hoped to be able to effect a partial 

 reconstruction of the Polynesian religious 

 system. 



Studies of Yonng Apes. H. Schneider 

 gives, in " Kosmos," an account of his ob- 

 servations of the habits and the develop- 

 ment of the faculties of a young Javanese 

 ape, which he had bought for purposes of 

 study. The animal, when taken home, won 

 at once the affection of Herr Schneider's 

 wife, to whom he had anticipated it would 

 be unwelcome. When awakened from its 

 sleep in the woman's lap, it acted almost 

 precisely as children do in similar circum- 

 stances stretched its limbs, yawned with a 

 very perceptible sound while its eyes were 

 closed, rubbed its eyes, and scratched itself ; 

 then suddenly bounded up and went into its 

 cage. It was not long before Chega so it 

 was named began to show her dexterity. 

 While playing in the room one day, she 

 sprang upon the table, and before her mas- 

 ter could prevent it, took up a half-filled 

 cup of coffee from before him, ran to the 

 sofa, and, standing upon its back, quietly 

 drank the coffee, having finished which, she 

 jumped down without having spilled a drop 

 of the liquid. Her behavior was generally 

 that of a spoiled child. When pleasantly 

 spoken to, she was agreeable and playful ; 

 but if anything was denied her, or taken 

 away from her, she would cry out, strike 

 with her hands and feet, and go straight to 

 the object and get it if she could. She 

 would sit on her master's arm as he was 

 playing at cards, and turn over the cards ; 

 or she would search in his pockets, looking 

 most often for his watch, which she was very 

 fond of getting. When she saw an effort 

 made to catch her, she would mind no call, 

 but would hide in the farthest corner. If 

 capture was imminent, she would make a 

 rueful face, with clinched teeth and parted 

 lips, and utter a smacking sound. The dan- 

 ger over, a friendly word would restore her 

 amiability at once. She would clasp her 

 master's neck, put on a comical expression, 

 and throw kisses at him. When spoken of 

 by her master to a third person, even if she 



