June 13, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



913 



and Wissler have attempted to characterize 

 the art of several Plains tribes, the failure of 

 the authors to furnish the data necessary for 

 classifying the Omaha with reference to their 

 decorative designs is even more surprising. 



The subjects that have particularly appealed 

 to the authors are sociology and ceremonial 

 life. The chapter on Tribal Government con- 

 stitutes a real contribution, giving a clear out- 

 line of the several grades of chiefs, the count 

 cil of seven chiefs and the modes of election. 

 The discussion of the Sacred Pole is also a 

 creditable performance, though it adds rather 

 details than anything fundamental to our 

 previous knowledge. The analogies pointed 

 out by J. O. Dorsey between the Hedewatci 

 and the Sun Dance stand confirmed by the 

 new evidence (p. 253). Unfortunately, in 

 .these chapters, as elsewhere, there appears the 

 tendency, now definitely abandoned by eth- 

 nologists, of attaching historical value to the 

 origin accounts of a primitive tribe, in spite 

 of their naively rationalistic psychology. 

 Though the authors seem to regard the estab- 

 lishment of the chiefs' council as " a develop- 

 ment of earlier forms rather than an inven- 

 tion or arbitrary arrangement of the ' old 

 men'" (p. 207), other passages clearly reveal 

 the antiquated view just criticized. In the 

 section on Tribal Organization (p. 134 ff.) we 

 are actually asked to believe that the dual di- 

 vision of Omaha society was but the reflection 

 of a mythological conception ! This whole 

 section adds very little to our comprehension 

 of the subject. The specific marriage-regu- 

 lating functions of the subgentes, touched 

 upon but not clearly expounded by Dorsey, re- 

 main unilluminated. What is more important, 

 the authors have not logically correlated their 

 own data. We are told that the gens was exog- 

 amous (pp. 195, 325) ; that the subgens or 

 subdivision of a gens was exogamous (p. 137) ; 

 that there was a tradition as to the exogamous 

 character of the two grand divisions and that 

 " of the marriages in existence among the 

 Omaha twenty-five years ago, a good majority 

 represented the union between members oi 

 gentes belonging to the two rather than to one 

 of these grand divisions" (p. 135). Do not 



the authors recognize the fact that if a gens is 

 exogamous, any smaller group within the gens 

 Tnust be exogamous; that if an association of 

 five gentes is exogamous, any one of the gentes 

 must be exogamous? The problem is to de- 

 termine which social group is primarily, and 

 which derivatively, exogamous. This it may 

 not be possible to do at present, but it is at 

 least desirable that professional ethnologists 

 shoiild see the problem. 



The terms of relationship (pp. 315-17) are 

 not presented in a satisfactory way, though it 

 is true that the subject is an exceedingly diffi- 

 cult one. Here, where the entire psycholog- 

 ical interest lies in the native point of view, 

 the authors take for their starting-point the 

 English classification of kin. The conse- 

 quence is great clumsiness of arrangement 

 and useless repetition of terms. Moreover, 

 some interesting meanings of native terms 

 given by Say are omitted in the present list. 



By far the most valuable addition to our 

 knowledge is to be found in the chapter on 

 Societies (pp. 459-581), of which two classes 

 are distinguished — the social and the secret 

 societies. The former include the Hethushka 

 (Grass Dance) organization, membership in 

 which was dependent on the reception of 

 public war honors. Our attention is called to 

 the fact that, while the dance has spread over 

 a wide area, only the Omaha observe the re- 

 ligious rites of the opening ceremony. Another 

 (chiefs') society is said to have been the only 

 one " in which headgear that approximated 

 the character of a mask was used" (p. 481). 

 It would be interesting to know whether these 

 headgears resembled those worn by two ofEcers 

 of the Mandan Bull society," in which the face 

 was covered and eyeslits were provided. Ac- 

 cording to Dorsey," mere bufFalo-skin caps, 

 with the horns standing up and the buffalo 

 hair hanging down below the wearer's chest, 

 were worn by four members of another Omaha 

 organization, the Buffalo Dancers. It is 

 curious that in mentioning the Tokalo 

 (Tukala) performance neither Miss Fletcher 



" Maximilian Prinz zu Wied, ' ' Keise lq das 

 innere Nord- America," II., p. 142. 

 " Op. dt., p. 348. 



