Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 10, 1899.djvu/266

 228 Reviews.

Now this term is a plural diminutive of moloungo^ which is used for God in many Bantu languages, and is applied by the Zulus and the Thonga (including the Ronga) to white men of all shades, Asiatics as well as Europeans.

In these rites and in this conception of Tilo, which I have abstracted very shortly, I think we have not a god retired from business, but god-stuff, a god or gods in the making. M. Junod, who would naturally be inclined to see in it the disfigured remains of a monotheistic conception, and indeed suggests a reason for so doing, wisely decUnes to commit himself to such a conclusion, preferring to wait the result of further investigations among other Bantu peoples. In any case, his painstaking investigations will serve to throw light upon the question lately raised by Mr. Andrew Lang touching the " Pligh Gods " of savages \ and so great is the interest of that question that I make no apology for selecting M. Junod's exposition of the Ronga Tilo for presentation, however roughly and imperfectly, to the reader.

I should be glad to have space to say something of the deeply interesting chapter on sorcery and possession, and of that on divina- tion, with its sample diagrams of the way in which the lots fall, with their meaning. But I must content myself with referring students to the full discussions which M. Junod devotes to these subjects. His account is so detailed of everything else that I regret the more the imperfect statement he gives of the taboo, ox yila as it is called by the Ba-ronga. He is himself quite aware of the inadequate treatment of it, and recognising that in taboo is contained the beginnings of a real system of morality, he closes by expressing the hope of considering it more adequately on a future occasion : a hope which we may very heartily echo.

The book contains a small but clear map, and a number of plates and figures in the text which are serviceable in explaining it, though some of them would be better on a larger scale. M. Junod has been good enough to place a few copies of this book and of his Chatits et Conies des Ba-ronga in the hands of Mr. Milne for disposal to the members of the Society at a reduced price {Les Ba-ronga, 6^-., and Les Chants et les Contes, y.). Members who avail themselves of the opportunity will, I am sure, not be disappointed.

E. Sidney Hartland.