September 24, 1891] 



NA TURE 



511 



with marriage ; and the evidences of pastoral as well as of 

 agricultural habits among the people. The paper concluded 

 with references to the coinage of the country as described in the 

 ideograms employed to represent its various forms. 



The following papers were also read : on recent progress in 

 the analysis of vowel-sounds, by Dr. R. J. Lloyd ; family 

 life of the Haidas (Queen Charlotte Islands), by the Rev. 

 Charles Harrison ; and the Report of the North- Western Tribes 

 of Canada Committee. This last is again the work of Dr. 

 Franz Boas in the interesting ethnological field of British 

 Columbia. It consists of two parts, the first being devoted to 

 the Bilqula, a people inhabiting a limited tract in the vicinity of 

 Dean Inlet and Bentinck Arms, the second dealing with the 

 physical characteristics of the tribes of the North-west coast 

 region. 



Prof. Max Miiller then made some remarks on the work of 

 Major J. W. Powell, Director of the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology. 

 He said that he had just received the proof-sheets of a most 

 important publication on the classification of the Indian languages 

 spoken in America. It is a splendid piece of workmanship 

 from Major Powell, the indefatigable Director of the American 

 Bureau of Ethnology. The publications of that Bureau count 

 amongst the most valuable contributions to anthropological 

 science, and they reflect the highest credit, not only on Major 

 Powell and his fellow-workers, but also on the American 

 Government, which has sanctioned a very large outlay for the 

 prosecution of these studies. There is no stint in the way these 

 volumes are brought out, and most of the papers contained in 

 I them inspire the student with that confidence which can only be 



I produced by honest, conscientious, and truly scholarlike work. 

 Our American friends have perceived that it is a national duty 

 to preserve as much as can still be preserved of the languages 



I and thoughts of the indigenous races who were the earliest 

 dwellers on American soil. They know that the study of what 

 Prof. Max Miiller ventured to call intellectual geology is quite 

 as important as that of terrestrial geology, and that the study of 

 the lower strata contains the key to a right understanding of the 

 higher strata in the growth of the human mind. Coming genera- 

 tions will call us to account for having allowed the old world to 

 vanish without trying to preserve its records. People who 



i ask what can be the use of preserving the language of the 



■ Mohawks forget what we would give if some scholar at the 

 time of Cato or Caesar had written down, what many could 

 then easily have done, a grammar of the Etruscan language. 

 Some years ago the author had succeeded in persuading a 

 Secretary of State for the Colonies that it was the duty of the 

 English Government to publish a series of colonial records, 

 containing trustworthy information on the languages, customs, 

 laws, religions, and monuments of the races inhabiting the 

 English colonies. Cord Granville saw that such an undertaking 

 was a national duty, and that the necessary funds should be con- 

 tributed by the various colonies. What a magnificent work this 

 would have been ! But while the American Government has 

 pushed forward its work. Lord Granville's scheme expired in the 

 pigeon-holes of the Colonial Office. America may well be 

 proud of Major Powell, who would not allow the treasures col- 

 lected by various scholars and Government officials to moulder 

 and perish. He is a true enthusiast, not a man of mere impulse 

 and good intentions, but a man of sustained effort in his work. 

 He deserves the hearty thanks of the Association, and more 

 especially of the Anthropological Section. 



The whole of Friday morning was occupied by a paper 



I by the Marquess of Bute, on the language of Teneriffe. The 

 difficulties in the study of the language^ are due to the fact 

 that the aboriginal words have been collected from all the 

 islands without indicating their several oiigins, so that the 

 Teneriffe words were not at first easily distinguished. Students 

 hitherto have held three opinions as to this language. The first 

 is that of Dr. Glas, who considered the language American (and 

 the people African) ; the second, advanced by Sir Edmund 

 Scory, classed the language and people as Berber ; while the 

 third holds that the Teneriffians were of Aryan origin. 



Dr. Edward B. Tylor read a paper on the limits of savage 

 religion. It has lately become clear by the inquiries of anthro- 

 pologists that the world-famous Great Spirit of the North 

 American Indians arose from the teachings of the Jesuit mission- 

 aries in Canada early in the seventeenth century. This and 

 analogous names for a Supreme Deity, unknown previously to 

 native belief, have since spread over North America, amalga- 

 mating with native doctrines and ceremonial rites into highly 



NO. II 43, VOL. 44] 



interesting but perplexing combinations. The mistaken attribu- 

 tion to barbaric races of theological beliefs really belonging to 

 the cultured world, as well as the development among these 

 races of new religious formations under cultured influence, are 

 due to several causes, which it is the object of this paper to 

 examine: (i) direct adoption from foreign teachers; (2) the 

 exaggeration of genuine native deities of a lower order into a 

 god or devil ; (3) the conversion of native words, denoting a 

 whole class of minor spiritual beings, such as ghosts or demons, 

 into individual names, alleged to be those of a Supreme Good 

 Deity or a rival Evil Deity. 



Mr. H. Ling Roth read a paper on couvade, in which he gave 

 an account of the distribution of this curious custom, and showed 

 that the savage believes that there is some hidden link which 

 binds the new-born child to its father, and he argued that the 

 practice of cotivade is to prevent the father bewitching his child. 



In a paper by Mr. S. E. Peal, on the morong arid other 

 customs of the natives of Asam, the author shows that this insti- 

 tution of the morong, or club-house for the unmarried, is very 

 widely distributed over t he whole of the Indo-Pacific region, and 

 he argues that it is, in fact, a relic of pre-marriage communism. 

 Moreover, this custom being so often found associated with 

 others of a distinctly non- Aryan character, such as juming, tat- 

 tooing, blackening the teeth, building on piles, head-hunting, 

 &c., has led him to suspect former racial affinity, even among 

 such widely different types as Papuan and Mongol, Dravidiari 

 and Sawaiori. 



A paper by the Rev. B. Danks, on the burial customs of New- 

 Britain, was read. 



In a paper on the worship of meteorites. Prof. H. A. Newton, 

 on Monday, gave a series of accounts of divine honours having 

 been paid to meteoric stones in early times, and of myths and 

 traditions p minting to such worship. Particular attention was 

 directed to the indications of such worship that are found in 

 Greek and Roman history and literature. 



Dr. Garson read a paper on some human remains found in 

 Yorkshire. He dealt principally with a round barrow in which 

 skeletons with very long skulls had been found. These skulls 

 were much longer and narrower than the heads of the existing 

 inhabitants of this country, and corresponded with those of the 

 Iberians. The average height of the persons whose skeletons 

 were found in this barrow was a little over 5 feet 3 inches. 

 The discovery of flint and the absence of iron implements 

 showed that the burial took place before the use of metals. 

 The Iberian people were short, had dark hair, straight noses, flat 

 foreheads, and no ear-lobes. It was a race quite distinct from 

 the Celtic type, which afterwards came in and drove them 

 further westwards into forests and swamps. 



Apaperby MissBucklandwasread, on points of contact between 

 Old World mythsand customs and the Navajo myth entitled "The 

 Mountain Chant." The author drew attention to the numerous 

 points in which this myth reproduces customs and beliefs of the 

 Old World. Among these were mentioned the singular prohibi- 

 tion of food in the abode of spirits, such as appears in the 

 classical story of Persephone, but which is found slightly modi- 

 fied in the fairy folk-lore of Europe, in Aino and Japanese tales, 

 and in New Zealand. Miss Buckland points out the great con- 

 trast between the bloodless Navajo rites and the sanguinary 

 ceremonies of the ancient Mexicans, and the great dissimilarity 

 in the forms of the Navajo and Mexican gods, as denoting an 

 entirely different origin for the two religions, incompatible with 

 the belief commonly entertained of the wholly indigenous cha- 

 racter of American culture ; and she urges that the Navajo rites 

 point unmistakably to an Eastern origin. 



A paper by the Rev. James Macdonald, on East Central 

 African custom-;, was read. The customs dealt with ranged 

 over the whole domestic and social life of the people. 



The following papers were also read : — Prof. G. Hartwell 

 Jones, barbaric Greece and Italy ; J. E. Budgett Meakin, the 

 Berbers of Morocco ; Dr. J. S. Phene, a comparison of ancient 

 Welsh customs, devices, and commerce with those of contemporary 

 nations ; W. M. Adams, the first sea-wanderings of the English 

 race. The Report of the Prehistoric Inhabitants Committee, and 

 the Report of the Elbolton Cava Committee, were also read. 



On Tuesday, Dr. Garson read a paper on M. Bertillon's 

 method of criminal anthropometry, in which he described the 

 plan now adopted by the French police for the identification of 

 criminals. 



Dr. S. A. K. Strahan read a paper on instinctive criminality, 

 its true character and rational treatment. The instinctive 



