Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 27, 1916.djvu/350

 322 Reviews.

— undoubtedly a vera causa. In dealing with the Gonds he records that marriage is not prohibited between grandparents and grandchildren, and that a grandson would not hesitate to marry the youthful widow of a grandfather. It would be interest- ing to know whether there is any trace of the relationships thus formed in the kinship terms, as according to Dr. Rivers' theory there should be. He discovers traces of female descent in a number of tribes, though nearly if not quite all the tribes in this part of India follow male descent ; and for this purpose he prays in aid the practice of cross-cousin marriage, on the meaning of which Dr, Rivers has thrown some doubt.

It will be seen from these itv; examples what a wealth of interest there is in the volumes, and how many more or less controversial points arise upon them. The number of tribes and castes repre- sented in the Central Provinces, where north and south seem to meet, is very large, and the diversity of custom correspondingly great. The problems raised are consequently very complicated, and a wide field not yet fully explored is offered for anthro- pological research. Transmission of culture has been proceeding for ages from the Aryan to the non-Aryan populations ; and on the other hand the Aryan population has received not a little — and not always to its advantage — from the indigenous tribes. There is evidently still much to be done in elucidating the history and details of these interchanges.

The work is illustrated throughout from useful photographs of scenes, costume, and customs, some of them very good, also two coloured plates, and three maps. Like its fellows in the series it will long remain an authority ; and it will remain a monument of the learning, industry and scientific enthusiasm of a hard-worked Indian official, too early lost to his country and to the world at

^^'^Se. ^ Sidney Hartland.

Irish Witchcraft and Demonology. By St. John D. Seymour, B.D. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis & Co., 104 Grafton Street. London : Humphrey Milford, Amen Corner, E.C. 5s. net. That witchcraft in Ireland has been altogether ignored " is, in general, the attitude adopted by writers on the subject," states the author in his introductory chapter (p. 2) to what he claims is "an