BOAS] HANDBOOK OF AMEEICAN INDIAN LANGUAGES 73 



brother. Here, also, it is commonly assumed that the linguistic 

 expression is a secondary reflex of the customs of the people; but 

 the question is quite open in how far the one phenomenon is the 

 primary one and the other the secondary one, and whether the 

 customs of the people have not rather developed from the uncon- 

 sciously developed terminology. 



Cases in which the similarity of sound of words is reflected in the 

 views of the people are not rare, and examples of these have been 

 given before in referring to Max Miiller's theory of the origin of 

 religions. 



Finally, a few examples may be given of cases in which the use 

 of descriptive terms for certain concepts, or the metaphorical use 

 of terms, has led to peculiar views or customs." It seems plausible 

 to my mind, for instance, that the terms of relationship by which 

 some of the eastern Indian tribes designate one another were origi- 

 nally nothing but a metaphorical use of these terms, and that the 

 further elaboration of the social relations of the tribes may have 

 been largely determined by transferring the ideas accompanying these 

 terms into practice. 



More convincing are examples taken from the use of metaphorical 

 terms in poetry, which, in rituals, are taken literally, and are made 

 the basis of certain rites. I am inclined to believe, for instance, that 

 the frequently occurring image of the devouring of wealth has a 

 close relation to the detailed form of the winter ritual among the 

 Indians of the North Pacific coast, and that the poetical simile in 

 which the chief is called the support of the sky has to a certain extent 

 been taken literally in the elaboration of mythological ideas. 



Thus it appears that from practical, as well as from theoretical, 

 points of view, the study of language must be considered as one of 

 the most important branches of ethnological study, because, on the 

 one hand, a thorough insight into ethnology can not be gained with- 

 out practical knowledge of language, and, on the other hand, the 

 fundamental concepts illustrated by human languages are not dis- 

 tinct in kind from ethnological phenomena; and because, further- 

 more, the peculiar characteristics of languages are clearly reflected in 

 the views and customs of the peoples of the world. 



