CRUISE OF THE COR WIN IN B EH RING SEA AND ARCTIC OCEAN. 203 



(the heavenly watchman), Hoder (the Norse Cain), Vidar (slayer of the Fenris 

 wolf), Vale (brother of Balder), Uller, Forsete (the peacemaker), and Loke (the 

 evil giant-god). The goddesses are twenty-six in number. Odin's hall is the 

 great Valhal. The tree Ygdrasil, striking its roots through all worlds, spreading its 

 life-giving arms through the heavens, and furnishing bodies for mankind from its 

 branches is beautifully described (i88, and 205). The second part of the volume, 

 215 — 409, constitutes a perfect classical dictionary of Norse mythology, adding 

 to its richness of detail the enthusiasm of intense sympathy. 



The final destruction of the world, and regeneration of gods and men, is 

 called Ragnarak. This theoktonic myth is wanting in Greek mythology. Rag- 

 narak is an outbreak of all the chaotic powers, a conflict between them and the 

 established order of creation. 



The student of comparative mythology, upon taking a work of this class in 

 his hand, almost instinctively asks what the author will do with his body of myths. 

 It is possibly to run any theory to extremes and to say some very silly things, as 

 Tylor and Baring Gould have shown us. Here is the point where the sympathetic 

 reader trembles for his author. Professor Anderson, while taking the nature 

 of Norse mythology, handles the subject with extreme caution. The myth re- 

 flects nature and society, the one inextricably in communion with the other. 

 The harsh climate of the North modified not only the Norse Mythology, but also 

 molded indefinitely the national character, and then the two acted and reacted 

 upon each other. — American Naturalist. 



CRUISE OF THE CORWIN IN BEHRING SEA AND THE ARCTIC 



OCEAN. 



Document No. 118 of the Treasury Department, Nov. i, 1880, is a report 

 of the cruise of the U. S. Revenue Steamer Corwin, commanded by Captain C. 

 L. Hooper, U. S. R. M., in the Behring Sea and the Arctic Ocean. In addition 

 to the customary duties of the Revenue Service and the search for missing 

 whalers, Capt. Hooper gave a great deal of attention to ethnological research. 

 The sad story is told of the starvation of several whole villages on St. Lawrence 

 Island, indeed over four hundred natives had died in this manner upon this one 

 island in two years. The author attributes the great mortality to the improvidence 

 caused by whisky. It seems rather heartless, but really, four hundred skeletons, 

 or even crania, of this homogeneous group of people, would be a precious acqui- 

 sition to any museum. 



