Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 10, 1899.djvu/381

 Reviews. 341

Semitic myths, and, as Dr. Tylor has pointed out, the same idea prevailed in Greenland and in other parts of the North American continent.

But whether we accept or reject Mr. Brown's speculations, all must agree that he has done good service by his translation of and commentary on the works of Aratus, and he has brought a vast amount of learning and ingenious suggestion to bear on this exposition of his views. Like every pioneer in a new branch of exploration, he must be prepared for much adverse criticism, and we trust that the diatribe against his opponents will not be repeated. The more calmly and judicially his views are presented for the judgment of students, the greater is the chance of their acceptance by any one whose opinion is of value in this branch of inquiry.

William Crooke.

Creation Myths of Primitive America in Relation to THE Religious History and Mental Development of Mankind. By Jeremiah Curtin. 1899. Williams & Norgate.

This volume is the first fruits of a myth-discovery expedition made by the author in 1895 and 1896 throughout Western North and Central America, from California to Yucatan. It con tains mythic tales derived from two Californian tribes inhabiting the Sacramento Valley — the Wintus, now numbering some 500 souls, and the few surviving members of the Yana people, of whom close upon 5,000 were massacred by the white settlers in 1864, under circumstances, narrated with admirable impartiality and discretion by Mr. Curtin, which make this chapter in the history of the relations between higher and lower races one of the most abominable even in that hideous record of cruelty, oppres- sion, and denial of all that constitutes the only true reason we have for asserting our superiority. Mr. Curtin deserves the utmost measure of gratitude from all who care for humanity, as well as from all who care for science, for his efforts on behalf of the scanty remnants of these interesting peoples. Nothing is said