Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/574

 532 Reviews,

tells a tale of human sacrifice in recent times (early nineteenth century) from Santorini, we cannot but conclude that the vener- able narrator was " having " him.

However, with all its defects, — and they are wide-reaching, — the book, as we have said, fills a gap and has its value. Some day we hope the author will give his undoubted abilities a fair chance by extending his reading and cultivating the art of disbeUef. Then he may give us something of less impeachable worth.

H. J. Rose.

The Melanesians of British New Guinea. By C. G. Seligmann. With a Chapter by F. R. Barton, and an Appendix by E. L. Giblin. Cambridge : University Press, 1 910. 8vo, pp. xxiii + 766. 111.

In this massive volume Dr. Seligmann has given us the most complete account yet published of the sociology, sorcery, and religion of any tribe on the mainland of New Guinea, and he has done this for such diverse tribes as the Koita of the central district, the Roro and Mekeo tribes of the lower reaches of the St. Joseph river, and the Southern and Northern Massim of the south-eastern archipelagos. Considering the relatively short time Dr. Seligmann spent at some of the places he visited, it is surprising what a mass of systematic material he has collected, but the help which he enlisted from Government officials and from missionaries enabled him to correct and extend his observa- tions. All the peoples studied are at the same stage of material culture, but there are considerable differences in social customs which are of great interest, and when more data are available from other areas we shall be in a better position to judge how far these are due to an evolution from within or to influences from without. The following notes will give some slight idea of the scope of the work.

The most characteristic cultural feature of the Massim is the existence of a peculiar form of totemism with matrilineal descent. The members of each clan have a series of totems, of which a