692 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1884. 



savagery where a transition is shown from zootheism into phy si theism, 

 with survivals of hekastotheism. In this stage fetichism is the chief 

 religious means of obtaining success and protection. The fetiches most 

 valued by the Zuiiis are natural concretions or eroded rock-forms, having 

 an obvi'^us or fancied resemblance to certain animals, or objects of that 

 nature in which the evident original resemblance has been heightened 

 by artificial means. It is supposed that these fetiches are actual petri- 

 factions of the animals represented by them, which retain their vital 

 forces for certain magic powers and religious purposes. This belief is 

 explained in a remarkable epic, metrical and sometimes rhythmical, and 

 filled with archaic expressions, which is in part translated by Mr. Cushing, 



"A noticeable point in the paper is the elaborate and systematized 

 relationships shov. u among and between the animals, the animal gods, 

 and other supernatural beings having animal or combined animal and 

 human personalities. This constitutes a theistic society with an elabo- 

 rate hierarchy and regulated domains, powers, and obligations. Such 

 minuteness in multiformity, as well as the precision of the beliefs and 

 ceremonials stated, will be surprising, not only to persons who have 

 been taught the old fiction of the Indian's monotheism, but to those who 

 have regarded his religious philosophy to be vague and chaotic. The 

 facts are presented with the same corroboration of etymologies in lan- 

 guage used so successfully by scholars in the study of Eurasian myths, 

 and with further verification by objects figured in the illustrations." 



Folk-lore is a term applied to the learning or i^hilosophy of unlettered 

 people. Long before the systematic, recorded, multiplied observ^ation 

 of i^henomena, people come to have a body of sayings about them. 

 There is lore about the weather, medicine, every human occupation. 

 Observe, also, that this lore may be concerning the causes and effects 

 of phenomena, commonly expressed in the words, " That will make it do 

 this or that"; or it concerns natural concomitancy, when we say, "That 

 is a sure sign of something happening." This folk-lore among savages 

 runs into uiythology, or lore about spiritual beings, the unseen forces of 

 phenomena. For this reason societies of folk-lore spend much of their 

 labor in gathering what might be called the unwritten bibles of peoples, 

 rather than in the saving of their books of practical wisdom or lore. It 

 will be observed, also, that writers on lore are not careful to discriminate 

 between cause and effect. When they write about flower-lore, for in- 

 stance, we are not sure whether they mean the lore about what flowers 

 will do or are the signs of, or lore about causes and signs relative to the 

 growth of flowers, or, finally, all the lore in which flowers occur in any 

 connection. 



The greatest praise is due to those anthropologists who spare no pains 

 in gathering the lore of the lowly and uncivilized peoples. The English 

 people are far in the lead in this matter, although America, peoi>led by 

 3,11 races from all lands, offers a most inviting field. 



