314 proceedings: anthropological society 



the ritual in certain American tribes. Mr. LaFlesche agreed, from 

 his knowledge of the Osage ritual, that all has a meaning and that noth- 

 ing is nonsensical. Every bodily movement even has a symbolic sig- 

 nificance; the prayers which the ritual contains are for safety, for health, 

 and to secure offspring, that is, for the welfare of the tribe. Mr. 

 Hewitt cited, in this connection, the Iroquois ritual for the installa- 

 tion of the chief, which recounted the history of the tribe and the for- 

 mation of the League. Dr. Michelson replied that it is necessary to 

 study the forms of rituals of different tribes in order to determine their 

 origins, because it is evident that the interpretations now placed upon 

 them are in nearly all cases secondary. Dr. Swanton, referring to the 

 old question as to whether myth or ritual were prior, stated as the 

 essential fact that myth and ritual are in association and that these 

 associations as they exist should be the object of our study. 



The second paper, by Mr. William H. Babcock, was entitled Cer- 

 tain pre-Columbian notices of American aborigines. It dealt mainly with 

 records found in early Norse writings. Four regions were taken up 

 in geographical order: The eastern coast of Greenland; the western 

 coast of Greenland; Markland (probably Newfoundland), and Wine- 

 land and the neighboring regions. For the first he quoted from the 

 Floamanna Saga the account of the attack of Thorgisl on the two "giant 

 women" gathering driftwood; for the second, the statement of Islend- 

 ingabok concerning the Skrelling relics found by the first Norse settlers, 

 the mention in Historia Norwegiae of meetings between Norse hunters 

 and Skrellings in the districts north of the settlements, the narrative of 

 the far northward exploration of 1266 contained in a priest's letter (on 

 which voyage no Eskimo were discovered, only the sites of their 

 habitations), and the account of the two trolls who became servants of 

 a shipmaster visiting Greenland. The account of the Markland cap- 

 tives was given from the Hauksbok version of Eric the Red; both of 

 the accounts of the killing of Thorvald, as they present different views 

 of the natives on the southeastern border of the Gulf of St. Lawrence; 

 and both versions of the intercourse of Karlsefni and his people with 

 the more southerly Wineland natives and the hostilities, which ended 

 both it and the Norse scheme of colonization. 



In answer to questions by Dr. Anderson, Mr. Stewart, Miss 

 Breton, Dr. Folkmar, and others, Mr. Babcock said that he con- 

 sidered it probable that Irish monks reached America before the Norse- 

 men. While some of the Celtic theories are fantastical, it is certain 

 that Irish relics were found by the Norse in Iceland; that Disnil tells 

 of a voyage made by them far beyond that island until they were stopped 

 by the ice ; that on such voyages they may have touched America ; and 

 that the western region which the Norsemen called Great Ireland, or 

 White Man's Land, was probably a part of our coast. The evidence for 

 a Chinese discovery of America was not considered sufficient to war- 

 rant quotations in the paper of the evening. "Fusang" may have 

 been Korea, Japan, or at most the Aleutian Islands, although some of 

 the products reported resemble those of Mexico. There is no positive 



