Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/148

 1 3 6 Journal of A merican Folk-L ore.

RECORD OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.

NORTH AMERICA.

Algonktan. Mr. W. W. Tooker, with his accustomed skill, writes of "The adopted Algonquian term 'poquosin'" in the "American Anthropologist " (N. S. vol. i. pp. 162-170) for January, 1899. This word, with various spellings, is in our standard diction- aries, being used in Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas, in the sense of "swamp, low land, marsh." Mr. Tooker explains the word, originally poquo-es-in(g), as signifying localities "where water 'backed up,' as in spring freshets, or in rainy seasons, which, by reason of such happenings, became more or less marshy or boggy." Related names are Pocasset, Conn., and Poughkecpsic, N. Y. — The " Original Significance of ' Merrimac ' " is the title of a brief paper by Mr. W. W. Tooker in the "American Antiquarian " for January- February, 1899 (vol. xxi. pp. 14-16), in which the author takes issue with some of the etymologies of Dr. Gatschet in the October num- ber of the same journal. According to Mr. Tooker, Merrimack or Mornumack denotes "where there is a noise," or "a place of noises," and does not come from the Algonkian term for the " catfish " or "spotted mackerel." This etymology, which is undoubtedly correct, rehabilitates the Rev. John Eliot once more. — In the "Forum" (1898, pp. 618-629), S. Pokagon, an Algonkian Indian of Michigan, writes about " Indian Superstitions and Legends."

Athapascan. In the "American Anthropologist" (vol. xi. pp. 367-372), Mr. Frank Russell writes of "An Apache Medicine Dance," — a ceremonial of the Jicarillas, observed in August and September, 1898. In this case the chief "medicine-man" was a woman, named Sotli", and the patient, another woman, is said to have recovered from the malady from which she was suffering. It is worthy of note that the "doctor" made "a journey of nearly 100 miles, from the Pueblo of San Ildefonso to the Jicarillas, on a burro."

Caddoan. In the "American Anthropologist" (N. S. vol. i. pp. 82-97), Miss Alice C. Fletcher writes of " A Pawnee Ritual used when changing a Man's Name." Pawnee text, verbal translation, and a close translation of this "dramatic poem" are given. The text was graphophoned from Ta-hi-roos-sa-wi-chi, a priest of the Chau-i division of the Pawnee, of whom the author remarks : " His unquestioning faith in the religion of his forefathers soared far above the turbulent conditions of to-day, and gave to him a calm akin to the serenity of childhood, which was reflected in his kindly, smiling, and peaceful face." Naming with these Indians was epoch-marking and sacred,

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