130 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



[Feb. 13, 1885. 



Castrea remarks, " Ic could hardly be otherwise, for is 

 Eoon as the soul of the savage began to suspect that the 

 godlike is supersensual, he reverences and values matter 

 the more highly tho less compact and the more ethereal it 

 i?. He sees, on the one hand, how easy it is to lose his life 

 on the roaring waves, and, on the other hand, he remembers 

 that from these same waves he derives the gifts that form 

 a means to prolonging life." 



The customs and legends which were the outcome of 

 •water-worship among the Finns and Esthonians are nume- 

 rous and interesting, and, as illustrating Castreu's remarks, 

 we have the following beautiful legend of the Esthonians 

 concerning Lake Eim* : — 



" Savage evil men dwelt by its borders. They neither 

 mowed the meadows which it watered, nor sowed the fields 

 it made fruitful ; but robbed and murdertd, insomuch that 

 its clear waves grew dark with the blood of the slaughtered 

 men. Then did the lake mourn, and one evening it 

 called together all its fishes, and rose aloft iriih them 

 into the air. When the robbers heard the sound, they 

 exclaimed, 'Eim hath arisen; let us gather its fishes 

 and treasures.' But the fishes had departed with the 

 lake, and nothing was found on the bottom but snakes 

 and lizards and toads. And Eim ruse higher and 

 higher, and hastened through the air, like a white 

 cloud. And tie hunters in the forest taid : 'What bad 

 weather is coming on!' — the herdsman: 'What a white 

 swan is flying above there !' Fur tltc ir/wle uiylit the lake 

 hovered among the stars, and in the morning the reapers 

 beheld it sinking. And from the swan grew a white ship, 

 and from the ship a dark train of clouds ; and a voice came 

 from the waters : ' Get thee hence with thy harvest, for I 

 will dwell beside thee.' Then they bade the lake welcome, 

 for it would only bedew their fields and meadows ; and it 

 sank down and spread itself out in its home to the full 

 limits. And they set the bed in order, and built dams, and 

 planted young trees on the bank to cool the waters. Then 

 the lake made all the neighbourhood fruitful, and the fields 

 became green, and the people danced around it, so that the 

 old mau became joyous as a youth." 



Ahto, the Finnish Neptune, is, like the other chief 

 deities, an aged man, wearing a robe of foam, and dwelling 

 with his wife, Yellamo, in Ahtola, a palace at the bottom of 

 the sea, filled with treasure acquired through fragments of 

 the sunken, wonder-working Sampo, of which more here- 

 after. Lake and rivtr gods, children of Vellamo, abound, 

 rendering for the most part kindly service to men, as in 

 the episode in the Kalevala when Pikku rose from the 

 waters to cut down the oak whose branches shut out the 

 light of day. The earth was regarded in a two-fold aspect, 

 as living and as life-giver, Maao'ma, mother eartb, and 

 Maanemo, mother of the earth. Following in her wake 

 ia a crowd of minor deities of trees, and plants, and 

 cereals, of forest demons and sprites led by Hiisi ; and 

 turning to another class presiding in another sphere we have 

 the gods of love, of sleep, of dreams, of death, and of the 

 invisible world ; of disease, of the healing arts, spinners of 

 nerves and veins ; then the domestic deities, the goddess of 

 weaving, the house-spirits, bringers of ill or good luck, to be 

 attracted or repelled by charms and observances. Traces 

 of animal-worship, especially in that noithern zone, of the 

 bear ; of tree-worship, notably of the oak as God'stree, and 

 the ash ; of holy springs and hills, occur in the archaic 

 poetry and in the song^ of the Kalevala, while, as aflfecting 

 every event iu life, the belief in magic, which marks the 

 lower culture everywhere, is persistent. Among the Finns 

 belief in the power of magic words, e.specially when set in 



* Grimm, D. M., 590. 



song, is noticeable, and of this the folk-songs supply many 

 illustrations ; but the most striking are associated with the 

 exploits of W.ain;imoinen, the principal figure in the 

 Kalevala. 



The )ieculiarly interesting manner of the recovery and 

 arrangement of the several parts of that epic claims some 

 reference before an account of it is given. 



FIRST STAR LESSONS. 



By Eichard A. Proctor. 



INVEPiTING the map, and so bringing the northern 

 horizon downwards, we see that Ursa Minor, the 

 Little 7)ear (1), extends so that the (luardians of the Poh 

 (/3 and -/) bear from the pole star a, in the direction of the 

 minute-hand of a clock about eighteen minutes past an 

 hour. Draco, The Dragon (2), curves round the Guardian 

 stars on the right, and thence below the Little Bear, the 

 head of the Dragon being marked by the stars I, y, and /iJ. 

 It has always seemed to me that the ancients recognised in 

 y and /5 the eyes of the Dragon, and that the fourth 

 magnitude star shown below, belonging now to Hercules, 

 originally belonged {also) to the Dragon and marked his 

 snout. Towards the west of north (that is the left as we 

 face northwards) we observe the stars of Cepheas (3), not 

 very conspicuous, nor in the kast like a king. Below we 

 see close to the horizon the bright star Arided, a of Cygmii 

 the Swan (15). Midway between the zenith and the 

 horizon, towards the north-west, lies Cassiopeia (4), the 

 Seated Lady. The stars a and /3 mark the top rail of her 

 chair's back, so that she is now in an inverted position. 

 Below her and towards the west or left, lies the constella- 

 tion Andromeda or the Chained Lady (17). The head 

 star it, for she also is inverted and her head lowest, 

 originally belonged also to Pegasus, the Winged Uorss 

 (IG), and was o of that constellation ; y and /; of Pegasus 

 can be seen close by the horizon. 



Nearly due west and high up we see J'erseus, the Rescuer 

 (5). He is represented holding the bleeding head of 

 Medusa, marked by the strange variable Al Gol, the Demon 

 Star, which was doubtless known to the ancients as a 

 variable star. Below we see IViangula the Triangles (18) 

 and Aries the Earn (18), while the irregular and not very 

 conspicuous constellation Pisces the Fishes (30) occupies 

 the western horizon. 



Again looking high up, close to the point overhead, we 

 see Auriga, the Charioteer (6). Below this towards the 

 south-west is the fine constellation Taurus, the Bull (20), 

 Orion, the Giant Hunter, (33) faces the Bull, whose head 

 is marked by the stars a, y, and e. Below him is Lepus, 

 the Hare (42) and Columba the Dove (43), on whose left 

 prances on his hind feet the Greater Dog, Cayiis J/c//or(44), 

 easily recognised at all times by the splendid Sirius (a). 



Due south and high up we see Gemini, the Twins (21), 

 below which is Canis Minor, the Lesser Doe; (34), while 

 towards the left of Gemini, we see the group Prasepe or 

 the Jlcchive, between the little stars y and t of Cancer the 

 Crab (22). Above the fouth-eastern horizon is a great 

 vacant space — where but two stars are shown in the map, 

 one belonging to Argo the Ship (45), the other Alphard or 

 the Solitary One, to llgdra the Sea Serpent (35). 



Extendmg from Cancer towards the eastern horizon are 

 the stars of Leo, the Lion (23). The star a, or Pvegulus, 

 marks the Lion's heart. A group of stars in this constel- 

 lation has been compared to a sickle, a and i; maik the 

 handle, ri, y, ^, /i.and i the blade. This group is called the 

 Siclde in Leo. Due east on the horizon is a part of Vireio 



