Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 18, 1907.djvu/138

 1 06 Reviews.

another of the many races under British sway, without being involved in scientific discussions or details of merely or mainly scientific interest. It is on the whole well planned and interest- ingly written, and controversial topics are avoided. Many of the illustrations are exceedingly good, some quite charming, though a few, such as Plate 6, are too small and indistinct. (In reference to Plate 6 in particular, it may be observed that there is nothing to show to what tribe it relates, or what useful purpose in any case it serves.) If it be considered part of the business of a reviewer to find fault, let me lift up a protest against the absence of references. Many a time a student in search for a fact of which he has a dim recollection might be assisted in Mr. Thomas' pages if references were supplied ; and on the other hand, the means of verification of statements ought always to be provided. Many of the plates are old friends. The value of all would have been enhanced if the source and the tribe referred to had been specifically indicated on the face of the plate. Diagrams would have greatly aided the comprehension by ordinary readers of the account of the class and phratry organiza- tions, an intricate subject which will hardly be plain to those who have not previous knowledge. On p. 182 there is some want of clearness in the statements. In chap. xiii. the author should have avoided using the word " God " where Baiame or some similar being is meant. These observations are not intended in any carping spirit, but to suggest amendments in case the volume prove popular enough, as I hope it may, for a future edition.

The second of Mr. Thomas' two works named above is an investigation of the Australian social organizations with a con- troversial object. It is directed primarily against the theory of group-marriage first advocated by Morgan in his Ancient Society and other pioneer works on the evolution of social organization, and more recently by Dr. Howitt and Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, in reference to the Australian tribes. By all of these group-marriage has been regarded as a limitation of the pro- miscuity postulated as the primitive condition of humanity. Mr. Thomas' criticisms are acute and closely reasoned. They suffer from excessive compression, leading to obscurity at times ; and to be understood, they require the reader to have the works