Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 16, 1905.djvu/60

 SOME NOTES ON THE HUCULS.

COMPILED BY M. L. HODGSON.

(See ante, p. 5.)

The information which follows comes in the first instance from the fascinating account of the Huculs given by Professor Wlodzimierz Szuchiewicz of the University of Lemberg, Austria, in the three volumes of his work entitled Huculs zczyzna. This work is written in Polish, and is therefore to most Englishmen a closed book, although much can be learnt from the beautiful photo- graphs and coloured plates with which it is filled. Through the extreme kindness and courtesy of the author, and the equally valued kind help of Professor Paul Postel of Lemberg University, who has spared no trouble in answering questions on the subject, I am able to give the Folklore Society some glimpses into the life of this most interesting tribe, chiefly gathered from the letters of my friend Professor Postel.

On the northern slopes of the Carpathians, in the Province of Galicia, live four Slavic tribes : the Gorale, the Lemki, the Bojki, and the Huculi. (The pronun- ciation is Hutzuls.) The Gorale, living in the valleys near the Tatra Mountains, belong to the Polish nation, and are Roman Catholics, the other three tribes are Ruthenians, and belong to the Greek Church. The Huculs are without doubt the most interesting of these tribes, and have preserved to this day their ancient customs and original dress. They live near the frontiers