846 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



It is a noteworthy fact that the work has 

 not been executed under the bias of any 

 preconceived theory. The author says : " I 

 did not start with the intention of proving 

 anything ; and it was only when I was ready 

 to write the last chapter that I found my- 

 self justified in drawing the conclusions set 

 forth." This state of mind is undoubtedly 

 favorable to impartiality of statement, and 

 can hardly fail to inspire the reader with a 

 considerable measure of confidence in the 

 trustworthiness of the author's representa- 

 tions. 



The author indicates the manner of exe- 

 cution of his volume in the remark : " I 

 have tried to collect the important facts, es- 

 pecially such as had not been stated in Eng- 

 lish, to arrange them in their historic rela- 

 tions not yet fully delineated in any lan- 

 guage, and then to let them tell their own 

 story without needless comment." 



Second Annual Eeport of the Bureau of 

 Ethnology to the Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, 1880-81. By 

 J. W. Powell, Director. Washington : 

 Government Printing-Office. Pp. 514. 



The reseai'ches of this bureau are bring- 

 ing to light an abundance of information in 

 regard to the arts, institutions, languages, 

 and opinions of the American Indians. 



Mr. Frank H. Cushing's work especially 

 has attracted wide attention, though the ac- 

 counts as yet published cover only a small 

 part of his observations. He contributes 

 to this volume a paper on " ZuSi Fetiches." 

 The Zuni worships in general the mysterious 

 powers of Nature, and especially the beasts, 

 which he regards as most nearly related to 

 himself, and hence in position to mediate 

 between him and the more remote powers. 

 He believes that the hearts of the beasts 

 of prey have the power to take away the 

 strength of the game-animals, thus making 

 them easy to capture. Without recourse to 

 the proper fetiches, so as to obtain the aid 

 of this influence, the Zuni deems it useless 

 to attempt the chase of game-animals. The 

 favorite fetiches are mineral concretions, or 

 eroded pebbles having some resemblance 

 to the forms of animals, which is usually 

 heightened artificially. The priests assert 

 that these are the actual bodies, petrified 

 and shrunken, of the animals which they 



resemble, and that their hearts still live in 

 the fetiches, although their bodies are turned 

 to stone. A flint arrow-head is usually 

 bound to the back or side of the figure, and 

 strings of beads are sometimes hung around 

 it. The fetiches of the beasts of prey are 

 the most esteemed, and the name of this 

 class, We-ma-we, is used for all fetiches. 



Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith has embodied in 

 a paper a large number of Iroquoian tradi- 

 tions relating to mythical gods and other 

 supernatural beings, the practice of sorcery, 

 and the origins of various phenomena, to- 

 gether with descriptions of religious festi- 

 vals, and miscellaneous tales of adventure. 

 Echo was the Mars of the Iroquois. In 

 their wars with other tribes, by repeating 

 among the hills their cries of '■'■ Go-weh ! " 

 he secured for them almost certain victory. 

 The Thunder-god has been regarded as a 

 special protector of this people. Among 

 the supernatural beings were the Stone 

 Giants, mortal enemies of men; the Pyg- 

 mies, a friendly race ; and the Great Heads, 

 which were borne by their long hair, as by 

 wings, on missions of mercy or of destruc- 

 tion. The aim of the essay on "Animal 

 Carvings from Mounds in the Mississippi 

 Valley," by Henry W. Henshaw, is to show 

 that, of these carvings which can be identi- 

 fied, none represent animals which are not 

 indigenous to the Mississippi Valley, and 

 that the art-culture of the mound-builders 

 has been greatly overestimated. Dr. Wash- 

 ington Matthews, U. S. A., describes briefly 

 the tools and processes with which Navajo 

 silversmiths produce a variety of quite elab- 

 orate articles. "Art in Shell of the An- 

 cient Americans " is treated at considerable 

 length by William H. Holmes. Fifty-seven 

 plates accompany the paper, showing forms 

 and patterns of dishes, implements, beads, 

 wampum-belts, engraved gorgets, etc. Many 

 extracts from early writers are given, de- 

 scribing the use of wampum-belts as orna- 

 ments, currency, and as tokens of treaties. 

 Two catalogues of articles obtained from 

 Zufii and other Pueblos of New Mexico and 

 Arizona, by James Stephenson, occupy the 

 last 150 pages of the volume. These col- 

 lections contain 3,905 specimens, consisting 

 largely of pottery, but including basketry, 

 implements, clothing, images, etc. The dec. 

 oration of much of the pottery, as shown 



