104 General Notes. [January, 
Turner’s SAMOA.—Readers of books often wish that authors 
would so concentrate their writing as to tell just what we want 
to know and not one word more. This is unreasonable; but, on 
the other hand, most authors write a great deal that is never 
quoted by anybody. Twenty-three years ago George Turner 
published his celebrated work, Nineteen Years in Polynesia, 
in which he mingled his experiences as a missionary with ac- ` 
counts of the natives that our greatest anthropologists were never 
tired of quoting. In the volume now before us the ethnographic 
matter has been extracted, much new matter has been added, and 
the whole has been so arranged and indexed as to constitute a 
text book on Polynesia of the highest order. Dr. E. B. Tylor 
endorses the work in an appreciative preface. The first two chap- 
ters relate to the Samoan group and the traditions of their ori- 
gin and names; the third, fourth and fifth to the religion and the 
gods of the natives. . The rest of the chapters take up the gen- 
eral subject in the following order. The people: infancy, child- 
hood and adult years; food, cooking, liquors ; clothing ; amuse- 
ments; mortality, longevity, diseases; death and burial; houses; 
canoes ; articles of manufacture; government and laws; wars; 
the heavens and heavenly bodies ; origin of fire and other stories; 
names of the islands illustrating migration ; political divisions ; 
ethnological notes on Bowditch, Humphreys, Mitchell, Ellice, 
Tracey, De Peyster, Spieden, Hudson, St. Augustine, Rotch, 
Hurd, Gilbert, Francis, Netherland, Savage, New Hebrides, Loy- 
alty, New Caledonia and New Guinea islands. One hundred and 
thirty words are given in the following fifty-nine languages: 
Marquesas, Tahiti, Hawaii, Raratonga, Manahiki, Samoa, Niué, 
Fakafo, Tonga, Bau, Rotuma, New Zealand, Aneiteum, Niua 
Tanna, Eromanga, Vaté, Nengone, Lifu, New Caledonia, Ebon, 
Moreton bay, Malayan, Javanese, Bouton, Salayer, Menado, 
Bolanghitano, Sanguir, Salibabo, Sulu islands, Cajeli, Mayapo, 
Massaratty, Amblaw, Tidore, Gani, Galela, Liang, Morella, Batu- 
merah, Lariko, Saparua, Awaiya, Caimarian, Teluti, Ahtiago and 
Tobo, Ahtiago, Gah, Wahai, Matabello, Teor, Mysot, Baju, 
Dorey, Pt. Moresby, Madagascar. 
Whatever other book the ethnographer may have to do with- 
out, he cannot afford to deprive himself of this concentrated 
treatise. 
SNAKE DANCE OF THE Moguis.—Three years ago, that prince 
of collectors, Col. James Stevenson, sent to the National Mu- 
seum a large collection of rudely-carved and painted dolls, 
wands, head-gear, blankets, rattles and other paraphernalia relat- 
ing to the Moki sacred dances. Following him, Mr. Cushing, 
who understands very well the purport of these objects, mounts 
them for the great exposition at New Orleans; and to cap the 
climax, Captain John G. Bourke, U.S.A., writes a charming book 
describing the manners and customs of the Moki, their seven 
