/!l8 



NA TURE 



[March 2, 1905 



wero concerned with the cultivation of their fields. 

 All the details of the grass-lodges were symbolic. The 

 social organisation was by villages, at the head of 

 each of which was a chief and a subchief. Election 

 to the chieftainship was never through heredity alone ; 

 it was possible for the youngest and meanest-born boy 

 of the village to rise to this position through bravery, 

 generosity, and kindness. In general, the gods of the 

 Wichita are spoken of as " dreams." The sixty tales 

 refer to the first period or Creation, the second period 

 or transformation, and the third period or the present. 

 A few tunes are given by F. R. Burton. Three long 

 Wichita tales by the same indefatigable observer will 

 be found in the Journal of American Folk-lore (vol. 

 XV. p. 215, -xvi. p. 160, -xvii. p. 153). Legends of 

 ancient time were related that the listeners might 

 realise that evil creatures and monsters and evil spirits 

 no longer exist ; they were removed from the earth 

 and their destructive powers taken from them by 

 Wonderful Man, who knew that the world was 

 changing, so that human beings might be human 

 beinp-s, and animals exist as animals to serve as food 

 for man. But, above all, the value of many stories 

 for the young lay in the lesson taught by example 



Fig. I. -Hup; 



is placed i 



by dropping hi 





. heited in the basket to the rig 

 , and the hot water is ladled out by mes 

 er the meal until it loses its bitter taste 



lliat bravery and greatness depended solely upon 

 individual effort, and that there might befall him the 

 same longevity and good fortune as was possessed by 

 the hero of the tale. 



In the handsome volume which contains the ninety 

 traditions of the Skidi Pawnee collected by Dr. 

 Dorsey, there are fifteen plates and some interesting 

 ethnological and explanatory notes. The village was 

 the basis of the organisation of the Skidi, no trace of 

 the clan having been found. Each village possessed 

 a sacred bundle, and marriage was endogamous in 

 each village. The religion of the Pawnee reached a 

 higher development than that of any other of the 

 plains tribes, and its ceremonial side was especially 

 developed among the Skidi. Each bundle ceremony 

 and each dance was accompanied, not only by its 

 ritual, but by its tale of origin, and all of these are 

 regarded as personal property. Dr. Dorsey makes 

 some interesting remarks upon the ownership and 

 telling of the tales. Of these some are cosmogonic ; 

 .1 number tell of boy heroes in which the path to re- 

 iiown is due to fixity of purpose and a humble spirit. 

 Xunif-rous tales relate to the tricky coyote; these are 



NO. 1844, VOL. 71] 



told whenever the men assemble during the winter 

 months, but never during the summer, or rather 

 during those months when snakes are visible, for at 

 such times the Coyote-Star directs the Snake-Star to 

 tell the snakes to bite those who talk about the coyote. 

 In one group of tales there is a marriage between 

 humans and animals, or the transformation of a man 

 into an animal. 



The first volume of the University of California 

 Publications, .American archaeology and ethnology, 

 contains a study of the Hupa by Mr. P. E. Goddard. 

 The Hupa Indians occupy the beautiful lower valley 

 of the Trinity River; so secluded was it that sixty 

 years ago the news of the coming of the white man 

 had not reached the inhabitants. The people seem 

 to have lived a simple, peaceable life ; their social 

 organisation was very simple, but more information 

 is required. A familv consisted of a man, his wife 

 or wives, his sons and their wives, the unmarried 

 and half-married daughters and unmarried or 

 widowed brothers and sisters of the man and of his 

 wife. There appears to have been a classificatory 

 system of relationship. The next social unit was the 

 village ; a man lived and died where he was born ; 

 the women married into other villages. Each village 

 was ruled bv the richest man. There seem to have 

 been no formalities in the government of a village 

 or tribe. There was a deep undercurrent of religious 

 feeling, and a great reverence for the spoken word. 



The texts are word for word translations and 

 anglicised versions of fourteen myths and tales, and 

 thirty-seven texts relating to the dances and feasts, 

 the majority of which are formulae. The latter are 

 of especial value, as it is usually so difficult to get 

 the exact words of a magical formula. Thirty excel- 

 lent heliotype plates embellish the volume. 



Mr. Goddard and the university authorities are 

 alike to be congratulated on this excellent piece of 

 work, which augurs well for the success of the new 

 department of the L^niversitv of California. 



A. C. H. 



.4 NATURALIST'S JOURNAL.' 



'PHIS daily journal of an observant field-naturalist 

 ' may be heartily welcomed by every lover of 

 country life and country scenes. It is true the style 

 is somewhat scrappy and staccato, but this is to a 

 great e.xtent unavoidable in a work of this nature, 

 and is, after all, no great drawback, although we 

 think it might have been somewhat modified during 

 the revision for press. Mr. Robinson, who is 

 already no stranger to the reading public, has the 

 good fortune to be a resident in Norfolk, the county 

 par excellence of redundant bird-life and of 

 enthusiastic bird-lovers; and he is therefore practically 

 assured of a number of sympathetic readers, for every 

 dweller in Norfolk likes to be acquainted with all that 

 is written about his own district. 



To the general reader the most attractive feature 

 of the book will almost certainly be the large series 

 of exquisite reproductions from photographs of animal 

 and plant life, taken, we infer, by the author him- 

 self. Where all are of such high excellence, it is 

 difficult to make a selection ; and the illustration 

 we present to our readers as a sample must not be 

 regarded as either better or worse than its fellows. 

 It has been chosen on account of its depicting an 

 interesting phase of bird-life. 

 .As a rule, the author has nothing specially new to 



1 "The Ci 



intry Day by Day." By E. K. Robinson. Pp. 

 (London: W. Heinem.ann, 1905.) Price 61. 



