Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 23, 1912.djvu/164

142 the more primitive of the two. It is asexual, i.e. there is no reference to any marriage or sexual acts of its leading personages,—at least not in its original form,—and it is associated with a belief in a Supreme Being, which, however, is not blended with the lunar myths where purest (Nias, Bataks). The creation of man and of the world are also both explained. Amongst the Dyaks and in Melanesia, where the solar type is encroaching upon the lunar, the Supreme Being is partly identified with the Increasing Moon. In the solar myths, which were originally alien to the Austronesian peoples, there is always a sex motive, and phallic rites are found in some cases.

Here, as in his other works, Father Schmidt displays much learning and the most painstaking industry. A large amount of material is brought together and analysed, the data being carefully classified and localised. The author is specially qualified by his linguistic knowledge to deal with the native tales, and his work must be of great help in subsequent research. It is worth emphasising that the results of this pioneer study and extensive comparison are only loosely linked with the theoretical views of the author, which are often open to dispute. For example, the opinion that in some of the myths man primitively represented his fate in a lunar cycle by a "purely artistic, theoretically speculative symbolism" may for many reasons be doubted. The terminology of Naturmythus used in the summary invites criticism, but it should be observed that the tales are usually reproduced in their original form and the naturmythologische Deutung given separately.

Father Schmidt has devoted an exhaustive treatise to the controversy concerning the origin of the idea of God, in which he discusses the subject chiefly from the Australian material. In the present work he contends that the idea of a Supreme Being was the most primitive religious conception of the Austronesians, anterior to all forms of animistic belief as well as to the solar and lunar myths; the chief characteristic of this Being is an imposing loftiness, nearly onmipotence; he is 'Unus et Supremus.' This position is derived partly from his almighty creative power and partly from other high qualities, such as