Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 23, 1912.djvu/282

 2 6o Reviews.

be found here. Miss Lloyd printed two myths of the wind in the South Afrtca?i Folklore Journal many years ago. They are here reprinted with minor corrections, and the full text of an additional statement by the narrator. The wind is of course anthropo- morphised. Its name must not be mentioned, or it will blow violently. This it can only do by lying down and kicking; and the accompanying noise is the sound of its knee. The Milky Way was made by a girl throwing wood-ashes into the sky. The Bushmen were great observers of the stars, and myths concerning them are numerous. The student will be grateful for all that is here told us relating to the girls' puberty customs, though both Dr. Bleek's Report and Miss Lloyd's own suggest that there is more to be known. Had the boys none likewise ? We get various hints on the Bushman religion ; but on this subject the texts (as translated) do not carry us very far. The rites at the rising of Canopus and Sirius and those paid to the moon are very important. Dr. Bleek tells us that no rites seem to be paid to the mantis ; were none paid to any other animal ? The story of the Origin of Death as here given differs widely (as Dr. Bleek notes) from the Hottentot version, though with curious resemblances which suggest that the two are not wholly indepen- dent. Other interesting texts are those on hunting observances, the treatment of the bones of game, presentiments, the making of pottery, — (was there any secrecy about it as among the Suk of British East Africa? and what is the meaning of the use of spring- bok's blood?), — rain and thunderstorms, and many other matters that the student will discover for himself. The plates with which the book abounds are excellent. The photographs and the chromoliths of the narrators preserve traits that we would not willingly lose. The native drawings add very much to the value of the volume.

It is earnestly to be hoped that this volume will be followed at an early date by the remainder of the material. Its speedy publication will be a pious work, due to the memory of Dr. Bleek, and not less due to that of a luckless race unable to adapt itself to civilisation, and therefore shattered by the contact. The value to science will be enormous. If the commercial value of the work proves to be inadequate, owing to the small demand in