Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 16, 1905.djvu/140

 1 1 8 Reviews.

It is somewhat unfortunate that, in spite of the notes, refer- ences are often conspicuous by their absence. Previous authors have not discriminated between the various bands, and it would have been well to give the reference and the reasons for supposing that the band to which they refer is not Skidi. Dunbar, for example, in the Magazine of American History (1882, p. 743 sq.), gives some additional details of the deluge legend, to which de Smet, Missiofis of Oregon, p. 357, and Grinnell, Pawnee Hero Stories, p. 3545'^., also refer; but none of these versions are cited. Dunbar, too, gives an entirely different account of the journey of the soul after death.

In connection with the bufifalo-skuU medicine lodge (p. 210), reference might well have been made to du Lac, Voyage dans les deux Louisianes, Paris, 1800, p. 270, who describes, without naming the tribe, customs of great interest in themselves, and nearly related to European agricultural customs. He says the Indians call the painted skull of a buffalo-cow by the name of " mother," and think it has the power of attracting the buffaloes. When seed-time arrives the seed-corn is brought to the lodge, and ceremonies are performed to secure a good harvest. Another account is given by Grinnell (p. 372), who mentions that after the buffalo dance, the ground is searched for buffalo hairs, and the finding of them is regarded as a good omen for hunting and har- vest. In this volume before (pp. 85, 344), another magical ceremony, now no more than a game, is described, in which a ring of buffalo-hide is to be traversed by a spear. The fragmentary accounts of customs, given in explanation of the text, will doubt- less be amplified in other publications, but it seems rather a pity that on some of the more interesting points full information could not have been given in the current volume.

One is, perhaps, unduly exacting, with a volume of such interest before one, an interest which, it may be said, is far from being purely anthropological, if one asks for more ; but the excellence of what is given compels regret that so much is left untold.

N. W. Thomas.