Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/651

 Bibliographical Notes. 303

comparisons with similar phenomena in other regions of the globe. The value of his compilation is increased by the fact that Dr. Koch was himself a member of the Meyer Expedition to the sources of the Xingii, being thus enabled to add to his material many data obtained by him on the spot. The topics treated of are : The Indians' idea of the soul ; the transition of the soul into the bodies of animals ; the souls of the dead as spirits ; the soul as the cause of disease and death and defences against these ; protec- tive measures against the spirit of the dead ; the other world. Rejecting the earlier view (shared by Bastian) that death gave rise to the primitive theories of soul-phenomena, Koch adopts the Peschel-Tylor view that the belief in a soul was reached by savages through observation of dream- occurrences. In support of this theory he utilizes the rich material re- cently published by von den Steinen, Ehrenreich, and others concerning the " dream-life " of the Brazilian Indians. He points out that the Indians' idea of the nature of the soul during sleep and during the narcosis of the " medicine-man " is the same, and that several tribes denote this narcosis by the same word as that for "death." The Otomacs call the condition induced by tobacco-smoke "day-dreaming," "dreaming with open eyes," etc. Dreams are so real to some of these Indian tribes that their theory of the soul and of the future life seems to rest upon as positive knowledge as lies at the bottom of any of their beliefs.

In the transition of the soul (during sleep, in the narcosis, after death) into the bodies of beasts and birds, the natural predilections of certain tribes for certain creatures often crop out. The great power of the " medicine- man " arises from the belief that he can change himself into animals, birds, etc., during his lifetime, and can traffic with all sorts of souls, bestial or aviform. Another very common belief is that the souls of the dead, which, though human-like in shape, are invisible to those awake, appear in sleep and dreams, most frequently as evil spirits, who can be conjured up also by " medicine-men." Most to be feared of all such spirits are the souls of the " medicine-men," whose graves even are greatly dreaded.

Hardly any native tribe of South America, if we believe the author, attrib- utes disease and death to natural causes. They are ascribed to the power- ful "medicine-men," to the evil-minded souls of the dead, who hover about the living eager to work ill. Needless to say that in South America it is the fundamental idea of innumerable ceremonies to prevent the dead from coming back to earth to plague the living. To that end, special pains are taken with the funeral, etc. ; sometimes companions, wives, relatives, are buried with him; sacrifices of infinite variety are made; a scapegoat is employed; self-mutilation, etc., of the survivors is ordained, likewise tast- ings and similar procedures; fires are kept up on the grave, etc. Other more forcible means, too, are often employed: The hut in which the man died is cleansed, abandoned, or destroyed ; the return of the dead is ! (he is buried a long way from home ; obstacles are put in his path ; loud cries and noises are made to drive him off; the corpse, the grave, etc.. are treated in a fashion likely to hinder or prevent the movements of the spirit ; the name of the dead is left unspoken, etc.) in a hundred diverse ways.

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