Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 22, 1911.djvu/149

 Reviews. 123

own sake, but also for the purpose of withdrawing the boy or girl from debasing influences.

I have touched on only a few of the interesting matters treated in these pages, but it is not for want of appreciation of other parts of the work. As a general view of the native races, their migrations, customs, and mental activities, it may be commended as forming an excellent introduction to more detailed study. The conclusions to be derived from such a study will not always coincide with those expressed by the author. Anthropology is a science that has made great strides during recent years. The orthodoxy of yesterday is discredited to-day ; and the orthodoxy of to-day may in its turn be the heterodoxy of to-morrow. Dr. Theal's work, however, will never be without a large measure of value.

Many of the plates are from photographs in the South African Public Library, hitherto inaccessible to students at home. Some of them are of great anthropological interest.

E. Sidney Hartland.

Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon. Collected and Translated by H. Parker. Vol. i. Luzac & Co., 1910. 8vo, pp. vii-f- 396- This collection of folk-tales from Ceylon is welcome because, in the first place, little has hitherto been done to explore the folk- lore of its people, and, secondly, because the author is well equipped with a knowledge of the island, its history, dialects, and races, and is also acquainted with the more important collections of Indian folk-tales, the connection of which with Ceylon is naturally close. He is careful to observe the essential rule of stating clearly the provenience of the tales, he supplies a useful commentary, and his graphic introductory sketch of village life and manners enables us to estimate the influence of environ- ment on local traditions.

The tales fall into two groups, which present interesting points of analogy and contrast : first, those of the cultivating caste and