Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 16, 1905.djvu/544

 486 Reviews.

can be shown that the ideas, customs and institutions under- lying a folk-tale are part of the culture of the people and that the external objects are familiar. In such a case, even if the story be not native in origin, it has been thoroughly assimilated, and may for all purposes be regarded as part of the mental furniture of the people among which it is told. And I need hardly point out that where, as in the case of the Coniraya myth just cited, it has become part of the sacred history, no matter whether through "priestly speculation" or otherwise, that fact is one of the best proofs of its complete assimilation. On the author's general position that the myths of North and South America are organically connected; on his view that it is needful to study the part played by various peoples, such as the Arawaks and the Tupi, in carrying material culture, in order to arrive at sound conclusions as to the transmission of stories in South America ; and on his plea for further enquiry without loss of time, I am entirely at one with him. His outline of the con- tent of the South American story-store and his valuation of authorities are excellent. His theories are stated with modera- tion and are to a large extent sound, although I think he attaches far too much importance to the influence of India in spreading stories over the world, and especially over Europe. The volume, originally pubhshed as a supplement to the Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic, is one that students of folk-tales will do well to study; and the price (three marks) puts it within the reach of everyone.

E. Sidney Hartland.

The Faroes and Iceland : Studies in Island Life. By Nelson Annandale. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.

Mr. Annandale, when Research Student in Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, became favourably known as part author of Fasciculi Malayenses, in which he records the anthropological work done by him when he accompanied the