Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/433

 Reviews. 379

animals in human form, etc. The most remarkable being in these tales is perhaps a man who is " the noise of ice break- ing which has received hfe."

Amongst other items of great importance are the magician Otaq's own account how he obtained his helping spirits, speci- mens of serratit or magic spells, and an account of the spirit language used in incantations. The beliefs in hostile spirits, the use of amulets, and the practice of magic are all said to be declining. Mr. Rasmussen considers that this is due to the prosperity of the people, which makes appeals for supernatural aid unnecessary.

The last sections of the book, — on the West and East Green- landers, — are chiefly notable for the dreadful narratives of the murderous mania and brutality which led to the present deser- tion of the east coast and give historical probability to the ferocity described in many tales.

Mr. Rasmussen is again in Greenland pursuing his studies of the people, and it will be a pity if these are postponed in order that he may be a witness as to the facts of a geographical feat likely to be infinitely less fruitful to science than the work amongst the northern Eskimo for which he is so admirably qualified. The volume he has now given us is of the very highest value, and one with which no folklore library, public or private, can dispense, — but why is there no index?

A. R. Wright.

Semitic Magic. Its Origins and Development. By R. Camp- bell Thompson, M.A. Luzac & Co., 1908. 8vo, pp. Ixviii + 286.

An ambitious book, raising by its title high but legitimate expecta- tions. The field which the author intends to cover is immense. Semitic magic stretches back to some thousands of years before the common era, and embraces a multitude of races and diverse nations, now all called by the erroneous collective name of Semites. The difficulty is increased by the fact that the literary records are anything but profuse even of a single one of the numerous nations belonging to this group. Some of them are