Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/285

 Reviews. 245

of the ethnographical part of the work is devoted to this subject. Among the Yao native law, birth, marriage, burial, and the like are dealt with more or less fully, and the author has some remarks to make on totemism, which unfortunately throw but little light on the subject ; a Hst of names of sub-tribal groups is given, but it is by no means clear that they have anything to do with totemism, and we learn nothing as to native ideas of their origin, nor yet whether they have any usages with regard to food etc. Dr. Weule has assumed that descent from the totem is a characteristic and necessary element in totemism, whereas it is in reality frequently absent and in no sense a criterion. It is somewhat singular that Dr. Weule does not appear to realise that we know a good deal about Yao totemism ; he speaks as if he were the discoverer, whereas a reference to Miss Werner's Natives of British Central Africa would have shown him that this is not so.

A long list of Makua and Makonde groups is also given, and in this case Dr. Weule does not hesitate to regard them as totemistic, though the evidence for this beyond the rule of exogamy, which they have in common with the Yao likosyo, is one of the slightest.

The games of the Makua and Makonde are described, and we learn something of their magical practices and beliefs, but Dr. Weule's interest has largely centred in technology and other subjects of less interest to the Folk-Lore Society. His descriptions, however, may be read with interest and profit even by those who do not take a profound interest in, for example, the mysteries of pottery, for in the admirable series of plates the whole of the process is figured, so that it is the simplest matter in the world to follow the description.

Dr. Weule's descriptions are far from dealing with the whole life of the tribes he visited, and one cannot help feeling some regret that he did not cover the ground and make his survey more minute; but probably the necessity of making collections influenced his plans, and in any case his object was not an ethnographical survey of the peoples. N. W. Thomas.