476 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—H. 
21, Baron F. Noprsca.—House-building and House Implements in 
Northern Albania. 
22, Miss BE. H. McLaan. 
toft Lordships. 
23. Mr. HE. Torpay.—Hungurian Folk-Music. (With instrumental 
and vocal illustrations.) 
The study of folk-music, and particularly of folk-songs, is a perfect 
treasure-mine for the ethnologist, and yet, as far as civilised people are con- 
cerned, it has not received sufficient attention. Take the case of the Magyars. 
Of their early culture we have none but foreign records, and many of their 
customs, especially those connected with their religious rites, must have escaped 
the observation of these chroniclers. In old songs, the few that have survived, 
we find, however, indications of practices they knew nothing of. None of the 
chroniclers speaks of human sacrifices, yet the various songs connected with 
the festivities of St. Ivan show us that they existed, and were made to the 
fire-god ; other songs show us that the usage of sprinkling on Easter Monday 
is a survival of the drowning of human beings in honour of the water-god. 
From the point of view of antiquity the songs of St. Ivan are the oldest docu- 
ments we possess ; they are characteristic of the pagan period when songs brought — 
from the old home were still in vogue. Then followed the advent of Chris- 
tianity, and with it the influence of the Church. The third stage was reached 
with the arrival of the Gypsies, who soon, in the sixteenth century, became the 
executants of the popular airs. The idea, originated by Liszt, that Gypsies 
were the creators of the modern form of Hungarian music has been duly dis- 
credited; that it is a fallacy can be proved by the various versions of the 
same tune as produced in Magyar, Roumanian, or Ruthenian regions, and by 
giving the form in which the Gypsies play it. But it would be equally un- 
reasonable to say that the Gypsies, who for centuries were its interpreters, have 
not left their mark on Hungarian songs; by comparing music of the three 
periods we find that, though they have brought no new elements into it, they 
have been responsible for the emphasising of those characteristics which distin- 
guish Magyar music from that of other nations. t 
Survey Maps of Humberstone and Scrap- 
24, Prof. J. Srsenmn.—On the Composition of Early Bronzes. i 
25, Sir Artuur J. Evans.—Crete as a Stepping-Stone of Early Cul- 
ture: some new lights. 
The geographical position of Crete, lying almost midway between Europe, 
Asia, and Africa, marked it as the point where the primitive culture of our 
Continent was first affected by that of the older civilisations of Egypt and the 
East. Its original affinities were rather with Anatolia—answering to late geo- 
logical conditions. Neolithic affinities point that way. New light is thrown on 
this by discovery of a Late Neolithic house at Knossos, showing fixed hearths. 
The rise of ‘ Minoan’ Culture in Early Metal Age coincides with cultural impact 
from the Nile Valley and the possibility of actual immigration of members of the _ 
Old Race in Egypt at the time of the dynastic conquest must be considered. 
Evidence of continuous relations exists throughout Early and Middle Kingdom. — 
Knossos is a principal goal. Traces of an important transit route thither across 
the island from havens near Phestos on the Libyan Sea have been found. Middle 
Minoan and Algean influences extend to Malta. Minoans were intermediaries 
in trade in vitreous beads with the Iberic West and Early Bronze Age Britain. 
New discoveries illustrate an intensive influence from the Nile Valley and the — 
opposite Libyan Coast at the opening of the Late Minoan Age (16th century — 
B.C.), as is indicated by wall paintings of Soudan Monkeys and Negro mercenaries _ 
found at Knossos. From the beginning of the Age of Palaces in Crete (MML., 
ec. 2200 B.c.) a growing influence is perceptible from the Syrian and Babylonian 
side. Cylinders found of Hammurabi’s time. Cult customs and costumes were 
affected. Horses and chariots were introduced. Cretan civilisation became — 
cosmopolitan, The diffusion of Minoan elements in Central Augean islands was — 
