TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 789 



student of Indian religious thought may accept it as one of the most significant and 

 instructive legends possessed by these tribes. 



A very beautiful young Indian woman refused all her suitors, but promised a 

 young man, who was disfigured by a scar, that she would marry him when the 

 scar disappeared from his face. After a long journey to the East he came to 

 where the Sun lived with his wife, the Moon. Their son, the Morning Star, took 

 pity on Scar-face, and they ultimately became great friends. The Sun cured 

 Scar-face and kept him for a year in order to teach him religious ceremonies. 

 Eventually Scar-face returned home and married the girl. The great religious 

 ceremonies of the Blackfeet, having first been performed under the direction of 

 Scar-face, were practised every year after that, and the Sun, as he had promised, 

 was kind to the people and heard their prayers. 



5. Blackfoot Sun-offerings. By R. N, Wilson. 



In the neighbourhood of Indian camps and reservations a familiar sight is an 

 article of clothing, such as a coat, shirt, or blanket attached to a stick and placed 

 in a conspicuous position, or tied to the trunk of a prominent tree. These are 

 sacrificial off'erings to the Sun, which in former times consisted of the rarest and 

 most highly valued articles possessed by the Indians. Of the numerous objects of 

 worship the Sun is the one which receives the greatest amount of adoration. 

 More prayers are addressed to this principal deity than to all of the others com- 

 bined, and the most important of the religious rites and ceremonies are devoted to 

 him in particular. When a Blackfoot is asked why such rites are practised in 

 worship of the Sun, he replies, ' Because Scar-face taught us so.' Although the 

 Sun is now, and has doubtless for centuries been, pre-eminently the Blackfoot 

 divinity, it may be that they have or had more ancient deities. The Sun is then 

 the principal deity. Every middle-aged Indian in the three tribes knows that the 

 'Creator' was never heard of by them until the advent of the missionaries. 

 Equally erroneous is the view that they addressed prayers to, or in any manner 

 worshi'pped, ' Napi,' the Old Man of the legends, the blunderer, the immoral mis- 

 chief-maker. The details of the rites of sacrificing to the Sun cannot, do not, 

 readily admit of condensation. It is to be hoped that these two papers of 

 Mr. Wilson's will be published in full by the Anthropological Institute. 



6. Star -lore of the Micmacs of Nova Scotia. By Stansbury Hagar. 



7. The Lake Village of Glastonbury and its Place among the Lake- 

 dwellings of Eurojie. By Dr. R. Munro. — See Reports for 1893-96. 



8. Report on the Silchester Excavations. — See Reports, p. 511. 



9. Some Old-world Harvest Customs. By F. T. Elworthy. 



The author described and illustrated examples of corn charms, harvest 

 trophies from Egypt and Tbessaly, of the oaten Clyach, or corn-baby, and the 

 Kirnmaiden from Aberdeen, Elgin, East Lothian, and Forfarshire ; the Casez Ved 

 from Cardiganshire ; and of the Neck from Devonshire, and discussed their 

 significance as survivals of an animistic corn-cult. 



10. Report on the North Dravidian and Kolarian Races of Central India. 



See Reports, p. 427. 



