802 REPORT— 1901, 



Lack of concentration has been generally considered a characteristic of uncivil- 

 ised races. Probably no conditions are more absorbinj^ than the deeply rooted 

 emotions of love, hatred, anger, and fear. Fear of his neighbour was very 

 common among the Murray Islanders. No human life, no crop of food, was 

 ever lost save through the sorcery practised by some enemy thereon. Extra- 

 ordinary mental depression, even death, is reported to have followed an islander's 

 belief that some one had used magic against him. 



The feeling of shame was awai^ened umler conditions which are astonishing to 

 us. The birth of twins was a matter of great reproach both to the father and to 

 the mother. Shame was liicewise excited if a man meationed the name of any of 

 his wife's relatives. 



Just as social custom in Murray Island encouraged the play of shame, so it 

 appears to have lessened the force of parental affection. Infanticide used formerly 

 to prevail. To this day the practice is retained of frequently giving away infants 

 for adoption a few days after birth, so that they grow up ignorant of their true 

 father and mother. 



So far as was noticed, the expression of the emotions in no way differed from 

 what has been observed among Europeans, 



Certain psychological experiments demonstrated great differences in tempera, 

 ment among the various islanders. 



4. Notes on Some Customs of the Fellahin of West Palestine. 

 By E,. A. S. Macalister. 



The paper consists of brief notes on tatu, native feasts, marriage ceremonies, 

 and other details in the daily life and customs of the Fellahin. 



5. Report on the Ethnological Survey of Canada. — See Eeports, p. 409. 



C. Dekanawideh, the Laio-givei- of the Caniengahakas.^ 

 By John Ojijatekha Brant Sero. 



The author, himself a Canadian Mohawk, discusses the significance of the name 

 Iroquois, which he derives from I-i7i : ronywe : ' self (i.e., ' genuine,' ' real ') ' man,' 

 in allusion to the boasted superiority of the Iroquois over their neighbours. He 

 recounts the traditional origm of the ancient system of government still in use 

 among the Six Nations of Canada, and the symbolic form in which it was handed 

 down by its originator, Dekanawideh. The purpose of the gens system and of 

 the matriarchal element in the constitution is explained, and their practical 

 workings are described. The paper concludes with an account of the symbolic 

 forms of debate which are observed in the great tribal and grand Council, and 

 with an estimate of the influence of these institutions upon the Alohawk ideals and 

 character. 



7. The Tehuelche Indians of Patagonia. 7>2/ Hesketh Prichabd. 



The author describes the anthropological results of the ' Express ' Expedition 

 to Patagonia among the Tehuelche Indians, a nomad people living in toldos. 

 Their physical characteristics, past history, and curious customs are de- 

 scribed, with details of their marriage customs and of the position of women 

 among them. The outlines of their religion are given, and their fear of the 

 Cordillera is discussed. A description of the Galichu follows. The native methods 

 of hunting, guanaco, and of training horses are detailed. The author examines 

 the Tehuelches' ideas of distance, and their attitude towards the white man, and 



' Published in full in Man, 1901, p. 134. 



