Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/217

 io"s.ii.Au, : .-.>7,i9o4.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

177

bobs, naturalls, half naturalls, Grecian flyes, curley roys, airy levants, qu perukes, and bagg wigs."

In Ainsworth's * Miser's Daughter' I find the following :

"I've wigs of all sorts, all fashions, all prices; the minor bob, the Sunday buckle, the bob-major, the apothecary's bush, the physical and chirurgical tie, the scratch, or Blood's skull covering, the Jehu's jemmy, or white-and-all-white, the cam- paign, and the Ramillies."

The next sentence mentions "the last new periwig, the Villiers, brought in by the great beau of that name."

Holme in his * Heraldry,' written in 1680, says : " The periwicke is a short bob, or head of hair, that hath short locks, and a hairy crown."

Of those named by your correspondent, I am able to describe only the scratches, which were a kind of wig covering but a part of the head. The bob suggested by the Editor in lieu of "obb" is named in 1742 by Laurance Whyte, who says, *' Bobs do supersede campaigns."

The Ramillies wig of Queen Anne's reign has been discussed at 6 th S. xi. 406 ; xii. 35, 60, 115, 316. Bishops' wigs were only dis- continued by the episcopal bench in the House of Lords so lately as the year 1830.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

An obb wig, or more properly obwig, -simply means a wig for the forehead or fore portion of the head.

CHAS. F. FORSHAW, LL.D.

Bradford.

"OUR ELEVEN DAYS" (10 th S. ii. 128). INI any thanks ; a lucid interval has occurred.

ST. SWITHIN.

EDMUND HALLEY, SURGEON R.N. (10 th S. ii. 88). Edmund Halley the astronomer was the son of a soap-boiler in Winchester Street, Broad Street Ward, City (Cunningham's stated in Prince's Street, Bridgewater Square, "a pleasant, though very small square on the east side of Aldersgate Street" (Hatton, 1708, p. 11). See also Weld's was educated at St. Paul's School in the City of London, and died atGreenwich, 14 January, 1741/2 (' Biographia Britannica').
 * London'). He dwelt how long is not
 * History of the Royal Society,' i. 427. He

J. HOLDEN MAcMlCIIAEL.

PHILIP BAKER (10 th S. ii. 109). Is Winwick in Northamptonshire the place referred to?

B. P. SCATTERGOOD.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

The Northern Tribe.* of Central Australia. By

Baldwin Spencer, M.A., F.R.S., and F. J. Gillen.

(Macmillan & Co.)

UPON the appearance, five years ago, of ' The Native Tribes of Central Australia ' of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen of which the present work is a continua- tion and, in some respects, an amplification we accorded it a reception such as few books have won in our columns (see 9 th S. iii. 338). Elsewhere, in speaking of the season's output of books, we assigned the first volume the foremost place therein. It is gratifying to think that the eulogies generally awarded the earlier work were the cause of the appearance of the second. So thoroughly had the task been executed, and so deep were the interest inspired among anthropologists and the desire to know more concerning the customs and beliefs of the black fellows, that, in answer to a formal request, the authorities conceded the writers a further leave of absence for the prosecution of studies of the tribes inhabiting the district which lies between the Macdonnell Ranges and the Gulf of Carpentaria. In addition to acceding to the requests made to them, the Governments of South Australia and Victoria and the Council of the Mel- bourne University took further share in the work. Private generosity supplied the requisite funds, the energy of the scholars did the rest, the result being the addition to our knowledge of huge stores of observation and information.

That the investigations now described have been made before it is too late is a matter for congratu- lation. Had they been much longer deferred these results, so far as can be seen, would have been lost. It is, indeed, a singularly happy chance that the work has been undertaken at a favourable time and under most favourable conditions, the authors one of whom is a special magistrate and the sub- protector of the aborigines, and the other a biologist who has dwelt among them commanding in an equal degree the full confidence of the natives. So much is this the case that the whole of the obser- vations are virtually made from within the tribal circle and not from without. How great gain attends this is evident to all who know how care- fully guarded are tribal secrets, and how much trouble is taken that none but the initiate are present at the performance of the religious rites. It is, indeed, not easily conceived what privileges have been accorded, since in this case, as in previous experiences, the most jealously guarded mysteries have been subjected to the observation of the camera and report of the phonograph. One cannot but think with regret what additions would have been made to scholarship had similar light been thrown on the mysteries of Demeter or Dionysus.

It is true that we benefit but little, in one sense, by the amical disposition of the indigenes, and that although the manner in which the rites of circum- cision, subincision, and the like are accomplished can be read, and to some extent witnessed, we are as far as ever from comprehending their value or significance. Not very decent, according to civilized views, are the rites which are performed when the youth reaches the age of puberty. There is nothing, however, in them orgiastic, and few things are more remarkable than the care that is taken