296 



NA TURE 



[January 7, 1909 



'on rising lest the spirit which was absent from his body 

 in sleep should be unable to return. On the same prin- 

 ciple, on return from an expedition into the hills he must 

 defer eating so as to permit the wandering spirit to rejoin 

 its mortal body. 



This initiation rite is accompanied by an elaborate 

 symbolism, of which Wanuwat, or the sacred net, and a 

 form of painting or modelling in sand are the most 

 prominent features. The net . is said to symbolise the 

 Milky Way, a prominent feature in .the night sky of that 

 region, which is regarded as the home of the dead; and 

 the main idea seems to be based upon an attempt to free 

 the departed spirits from this earth, and to prevent their 

 return by binding them in the net of the Milky Way. 

 The sand painting may perhaps best be described as a 

 cosmological model in which the tribal conception of the 

 relation of this world to the heavens is portrayed. 



The annual commemorative rite for tlie dead is per- 

 formed over images representing the departed, a custom 

 common to the Hindus and other savage or semi-savage 

 races. .Singing and dancing, with whirling of the buTl- 

 roarer, precede the burning of the images, in some cases 

 the clothing and ornaments being consumed, in others 

 removed by the friends. Like the rite of the sacred net, 

 the intention seems to be to expel the spirits of the dead 

 from the neighbourhood of the living. 



The Creation legends of the tribe, now for the first 

 time fully recorded by Miss DuBois, are of consider.ible 

 importance, and must be taken into account by all studcnis 

 of comparative mythology. In the beginning existed only 

 Kivish .\takvish, the Void, who was followed by Whaikut 

 Piwkut, " the whitish gray," who created two great round 

 balls, which were male and female. The union of Sky 

 and Earth then produced the First People, now repre- 

 sented by the magic mortar, wampum strings, the mart 

 used in the death rites, and other sacred objects, anim.-l 

 and vegetable. Then appears a deified hero, Oniot, who 

 is done to death by Wahawut, the witch, and, as in the 

 Hindu Yama saga, death thus entered the world. Besides 

 these is a group of interesting sky myths. The remark- 

 able element in these legends is that they imply a suc- 

 cession of births or existences, some of them psychic, up 

 to the present hardly known in native American thought, 

 and Mr. Krocber, the editor of the report, goes so far a.-, 

 to suggest that they represent Oceanic or ."Xsiatic influence. 

 I!ut it must be remembered that these rites and legend'- 

 liave been for the first time recorded at a very late period 

 In the history of the tribe, when it had been for a lon.T 

 period exposed to foreign influences. Possiblv much of 

 litis elaborate symbolism is of native origin, but the inte-- 

 pretation of them now- explained by the few survivors of 

 Ihe tribe who were initiated into the mysteries is some- 

 what obscure, and may not be really primitive. 



A strong case can undoubtedly be m.ade out for the in- 

 dependent origin of native .American culture, and Ih- 

 theory of early historical relations between its races and 

 !hose of Asia is beset by enormous diflTiculties. On the 

 whole, it seems probable that the interpretation of these 

 I-uiseno myths will not lead to a modification of the view 

 generally accepted by anthropologists, that they are of 

 indigenous growth. The question is, however, not free 

 from difficulty. They are in themselves of great interest, 

 deserve attentive study, and their collection is another debt 

 wliich ethnologists owe to the enterprise of the anthropo- 

 logical department of the University of California. 



F/ELD NATURAL HISTORY. 



'pO the Transactions of the Edinburgh Field Naturalists' 

 and Microscopical .Society, vol. vi., part i., Mr. J. C. 

 -Adam has contributed a charmingly written and exqui- 

 sitely illustrated account of the bird-life of an outlying, 

 and consequently little frequented, island in the Outer 

 Hebrides group. After remarking how little of interest 

 m the way of bird-life is noticeable from the single village, 

 the author proceeds to give his experiences of the purple 

 sandpiper, of which several specimens, in what appeared 

 to be the breeding-plumage, were observed on the high 

 ground of the interior, where it was hoped they would be 



NO. 2045, VOL. 70] 



found nesting. Careful search failed, however, to bring 

 eggs to light, while the actions of the birds themselves 

 did not suggest that they. were breeding. On the sea-cliffs 

 the birds absolutely swarmed. The lower levels, at, a 

 height of 100 feet, or occasionally 200 feet, form the re- 

 sort of the oyster-catcher. " Beyond the oyster-catchers' 

 territory was the domain of the big-gulls — the herring and 

 the lesser black-backs ; in fact, their . respective spheres 

 of influence encroached upon one another, and the 

 clamorous cloud of swirjing gulls, which even encanopied 

 the intruder, were invariably .' threaded ' by the high- 

 pitched, piercing notes of a ' sea-pie.' The herring gull 

 was by far the most abundant species. . . . When you 

 had passed within the dominion. of the gulls, you were on 

 the brink of the cliff-wall, and from some coign of vantage 

 might look down on. the. perpetual wonder and prodigality, 

 of a rock-fowl city. _ For. sheer impressiveness you were 

 perhaps wise to choose a stance as far down, as you could 

 reach in one of the great chasms which the ceaseless grind 

 of the tide and the stress of .Atlantic weather had gnawed 



Island.' 



into the very vitals of the island." One of the illustra- 

 tions from this paper is here reproduced. 



To the same Transactions Mr. R. Service contributes ■ 

 some interesting observations on variation in the mole. 

 The largest male obtained • measured 7I inches in length, 

 but an inch less than this still indicates a large individual; 

 5J inches is about the average for the ■ female, the maxi- 

 mum observed being 6\ inches. Great variation in the. tint 

 of black individuals is noticeable. As regards more striking 

 colour-variation, the commonest abnormality is cream- 

 colour, ranging from pale cream to deep rusty yellow, but 

 a comparatively common phase shows a patch of yellow 

 or rufous on the breast or abdomen, or on both. In some 

 instances the light area extends over the whole of • the 

 undcr-parts, while in other cases it takes the form of a 

 narrow or broad line down the middle of the same region, 

 but in all individuals the light area has a longitudinal 

 extension, and it is always sharply defined from the dark 

 parts. A really white mole is very rare. There seems 

 little doubt that the tendency to colour-variation runs in 

 particular families of moles. 



