354 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 792 



The Myth of Seven Heads: Professor Alexandeb 



r. Chamberlain. 



Among the " miscellaneous tales " recorded by 

 Dr. Clark Wissler and Mr. D. C. Duvall, in their 

 recent monograph on the " Mythology of the 

 Blackfoot Indians '" is " a myth of a seven- 

 headed person who made a business of devouring 

 yoxmg women." He is killed by a man who re- 

 ceives " power " from some animals for whom he 

 settles a quarrel. The conclusion of the tale is 

 as follows : " After this he married a princess. 

 Then the thunder stole her, but he secured her 

 by killing a lion, then an eagle, which flew out of 

 the lion, then a rabbit, which came out of the 

 eagle, then a dove, which came out of the rabbit, 

 etc." 



The authors cited comment upon this tale: 

 " This story is believed by the Indians to have 

 been brought in by the French." The conclusion 

 certainly suggests such an origin, with its men- 

 tion of a " princess," and the succession of ani- 

 mals killed. 



. But a " tale of Seven-heads " is known from the 

 Kutenai,= the Arapaho and Sarcee — and probably 

 also the Gros Ventre. So far as the present 

 writer is aware, the only native text of the 

 " tale of Seven-heads " hitherto obtained is the 

 unpublished Kutenai version recorded in 1891 by 

 him from the dictation of a Lower Kutenai In- 

 dian. In .the Kutenai version Wistatlatlam 

 (Seven-heads), is defeated and killed by a youth 

 named Sanuktlaent (Bad Shirt), after he has 

 been given " medicine," to make him strong, by a 

 young woman, his wife. Here the tale is thor- 

 oughly Indian in aspect ; the " princess " is ab- 

 sent; and the story ends by the hero cutting out 

 or pulling out the tongue of his defeated ad- 

 versary, and carrying it home as evidence of his 

 triumph. 



The Kutenai version seems to prove that we 

 have here an original Indian legend, which in the 

 case of the Blackfoot version noted above has been 

 contaminated from European sources, the Kutenai 

 retaining the simpler aboriginal form. 



Professor W. H. Holmes, president of the joint 

 meeting of Section H and the American Anthro- 

 pological Association, read an important paper 

 on " Some Problems of the American Race," which 

 was illustrated by original and instructive dia- 

 grams. The paper, being still unfinished, will not 



^Anthrop. Pap. Anier. Mus. Nat. Hist., 1908, 

 IL, 163. 



' Chamberlain, Rep. Brit. Assoc, 1892 ; Kroeber, 

 Anthrop. Pap. Amer. Mns. Nat. Hist., 1907, I., 57. 



be published at present. Dr. S. A. Barrett's two 

 communications on " The Characteristics and 

 Material Culture of the Cayapa-Indians " and 

 " The Cayapa Spirit World " are extracts from a 

 larger work which will appear shortly as part of 

 a series printed privately and entitled, " Contri- 

 butions to South American Archeology." The 

 paper by Dr. George Grant MacCurdy, on " The 

 Alligator Motive and Figures with Mixed Attri- 

 butes in the Ancient Art of Chiriqui," is to ap- 

 pear as a monograph in the Anthropological 

 Publications of the University of Pennsylvania. 



Two other papers were read, of which the secre- 

 tary has no abstracts : " Native American Bal- 

 lads," by Mr. Phillips Barry; and "A Possible 

 Explanation of Conventionalized Art," by Dr. H. 

 J. Spinden. 



The following papers were read by title : 

 (a.) Rock Inscriptions ; (6) Stages of Progress in 



Parallels of Latitude: Dr. Stephen D. Peet. 

 (a) The Incensario; ( &) The Distribution of 



Gray Pottery in the Pueblo Region: Dr. Walter 



Hough. 

 Symbolism in a Japanese Marriage: Mrs. Sarah 



S. James. 

 Distribution of South American Linguistic Stocks 



(map) : Professor A. F. Chamberlain. 

 An Introductory Paper on the Tewa Language 



(printed in this journal) : Mr. John P. Har- 

 rington. 

 Literary Form, in Oral Tradition: Professor Franz 



Boas. 

 Folk Songs and Music of Cataluna: Mr. A. T. 



Sinclair. 

 A Grammatical Sketch of the Coos Language of 



Northwestern Oregon: Mr. Leo J. Frachten- 



berg. 



One of the particularly attractive features of 

 the week was " Cambridge Day," all members of 

 the joint meeting being guests of the Division of 

 Anthropology of Harvard University. The morn- 

 ing was spent at Peabody Museum, after which 

 luncheon was served at the Colonial Club. 

 Special cars were provided both to and from 

 Cambridge. Many members also took advantage 

 of the special facilities offered by their respective 

 officers to visit the museums of anthropology at 

 Salem and Andover. The social functions in- 

 cluded a number of special luncheons and dinners 

 given by local anthropologists and their friends. 

 George Grant MacCurdy 



Yale University, 

 New Haven, Conn. 



