92 



♦ KNOWLEDGE * 



[Jan. 30, 1885. 



have a variant of Orpheus, whose lyre charmed trees and 

 streams to tollo'S' him in his wanderings ; of the Finnish 

 hero Waiuamoinen, whose music gave warmth to sun and 

 juoon, and lulled a whole people to rest ; of Sigurd, with 

 his magic harp; of the lyre of Glenkundie, "Who'd harpit 

 a fish out o' saut water, Or water out o' a stane. Or milk 

 out o' a maiden's breast That bairns had never nane." 



Throughout this work, especially in the tales of magic, 

 (the animistic element in barbaric belief receives further 

 confirmation. In the "Merry Tales of Lox " (the mis- 

 chievous and crafty devil of the Red man, who rose from 

 the dead), the stars are living creatures, weasels and other 

 ixnimals become their brides ; the thunder and the light- 

 ning are brothers who shook at " the enemies of their 

 Iriends " with thunder-bullets which the Indians keep for 

 good luck, as our rustics kept flint arrowheads or 

 "elf-darts" as charms; the Wind-Spirit is chained, 

 like Prometheus, to a rock, and his struggles cause 

 the storms to rage and the earth to tremble ; the 

 spirits of the corn, the beans, and the squashes are 

 sisters, and there are spirits in every tree and herb, 

 " in tobacco, and in the grass." As the outcome of this 

 is the belief that every event in life is due to these 

 obscure agents, and that only the priest or doctor — Shaman 

 (jr medicine-man — can control their action, defeating it by 

 counter-charms, or aiding it by sorcery. This power over 

 the invisible, and therefore over their fellow-creatures, 

 which the 7n'-teo>'li)i, or magicians, assume, is acquired by 

 Jong and painful training — some among them, however, 

 being to the manner born. They would find nothing new 

 in Theosopbic circles or among Esoteric Buddhists, for their 

 " astral souls " can annihilate space and time, and confer 

 •.vith their fellows regardless of distance. 



The frequent coincidences between the Algonquin and 

 the Eddaic myths cause Mr. Leland to incline towards a 

 theory which refers them to Scandinavian sources through 

 iOskimo channels. The Eskimo have a history outside their 

 present narrow zone. Some pre-historic aroh;eologists hold 

 diat they are the descendants of the Reindeer men of 

 Western Europe in the latter part of the Ancient Stone 

 Age ; ethnologists see evidence of their former presence in 

 Japan, and, within comp'.ratively recent times, they ranged 

 as far south as Massachusetts. Mr. Leland adduces some 

 striking resemblances between the Norse and the American 

 •Indian cosmogonies and eschatologies (pp. 27, 133 f.f.), and 

 the arguments in support of the indebtedness of one to the 

 other are not t) be refuted. Neither are they to be too 

 hastily adopted, because against such resemblances, which 

 can be paralleled in the myths and customs of the most 

 lemote peoples, as e ;/., the ancient Romans and Peruvians, 

 there is always to be set tiie fact of the like behaviour 

 of the mind in presence of like phenomena, and the rela- 

 tivity of the former in the explanations which it gives of 

 the latter. 



But the question, which is, after all, not of prime 

 'Importance, must remain unsettled. 



Enough has been said to show that Mr. Leland has 

 -fvirnished a rich treat, ungarnished by foreign dressing, in 

 these Algonquin tales, and therefore to bespeak for them a 

 welcome from students Of folklore on both sides of the 

 Atlantic. 



As showing that the Algonquin iEsop has not always 

 omitted the moral, the following preface to a beast fable 

 may conclude this notice : — 



" Don't live with mean people if you can help it. They 

 will turn your greatest sorrow to their own account it 

 they can. Bad habit gets to be devilish second nature. 

 ' 'ne dead herring is not much, liut one by one you 

 make such a heap of them as to stink out a whole village." 



SOME BOOKS ON OUR TABLE. 



What to do ii-ith our Girls. By A. T. A^anderbilt. 

 (London: Houlston & Sons. 1884.) — As long as Mr. 

 Vanderbilt bears the sound old maxim " Ne sutor ultra 

 crepidam " in mind, he has something to say, in connection 

 with female employment, which is worth listening to. His 

 bombastic political exordium, however, with the demo- 

 cratic and isn't-everybodyas-good-as-everybody else tone 

 pervading it, might well suffice to deter readers from pro- 

 ceeding to the perusal of what is really useful and practical 

 in the book. Women in search of work will find a mass 

 Cif detail concerning the various female occupations pursued 

 in England. By the bye, "Caucus-mongering" (p. 115) 

 strikes us as a novel one. 



Odds and Ends of Useful Knowledije. By a Lady. 

 (London: Relfe Brothers.) — The Lady is a schoolmistress, 

 and she has jotted down a variety of fact^ and dates in 

 historj', geography, science (such as it is), and literature. 

 Doubtless use might be made of a book like this in pre- 

 paring for some of the simpler forms of examination ; but 

 what opinion can we form of the amount of information 

 possessed by a teacher who tells us that " the seven 

 sciences ' are " geology, geography, astronomy, astrology (!), 

 mathematics, botany, and zoology " % 



The Woodford French Book. By G. F. H. Sykes, B.A. 

 (London : Relfe Brothers.) — This is, in eflect, a series of 

 reading lessons in French, founded on Larousse's " Methode 

 Le.xicologique de Lecture," and intended to teach English 

 children correct pronunciation. Incidentally, some French 

 grammar is introduced. As far as we have been able to 

 test Mr. Sykes's little book, it seems well adapted to its 

 purpose. 



Brilannui Magna. By the Alderfirst of Adabrelton. 

 (London : Wyman & Sons. 1884.) — We were for some time 

 in doubt whether " the Alderfirst of Ababrelton " (what- 

 ever that title may represent) was not poking some clumsy 

 fun at his readers. Upon reconsideration, however, we 

 have come to the conclusion that this occult dignitary is 

 really serious in supposing that the mighty British nation 

 will consent to " reform " its constitution by — changing the 

 names of its component elements, and creating titles which 

 sound as though they came out of the opening of a Christ- 

 mas Pantomime. To give a single example, the author 

 suggests that a Baronet's eldest son should bear the title 

 of a " Nobling 1 " Whether a cobbler's first-born should be 

 called a " Suobling " he omits to state. It is, however, when 

 he comes to deal with the United Services that he exhibits 

 his terrible unfitness to teach anybody. If he knew any- 

 thing whatever of the army, he would be aware that, in 

 nine cases out of ten, to give a sergeant a commission is to 

 present him with a white elephant. He seems to think, 

 too, that " brigadier " is a military ratjk in the same sense 

 that lieutenant-colonel or major-general is, and that a 

 regiment and a battalion are diflferent things. So, again, 

 in the navy, he obviously believes that captains and com- 

 manders are of inferior rank to stall' captains and staff- 

 commanders, the fact being that these las-t are non-combatant 

 officers promoted from the navigating-lieutenants (the old 

 " masters " of a past generation). It is just as well for an 

 author to acquaint himself with the rudiments of his 

 subject, while he is about it, before presuming to instruct 

 others. 



Maijic Lanterns : llov Made and How Used. By A. A. 

 Wood, F.C.S. (London : E. G. Wood). — Amid the rather 

 numerous magic-lantern manuals which have recently 

 appeared, we have seen none fuller or containing more 

 varied and useful information than the profusely-illustrated 

 brochure of Mr. Wocd. On lines 5 and G of p. 44, though, 



