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NOTES AND QUERIES. [iis.vi. JULY 20, 1912.

countless problems involved, though he personally leans to the Asiatic solution. The difficulties in the way are, however, enormous. The stone- built remains extend over 70 degrees of latitude sav, 5,000 miles and the distance between the centres of Aztec and Inca civilization is 3,000 miles. The cliff-dwellings of Colorado and Ari- zona are readily accessible, but the forests of Yucatan and the slopes of the Andes are almost as difficult to reach to-day as in the times of Cortes and Pizarro. A good deal of what has been written about American antiquities is of so little value that it seems a pity to fill space by condemnations of the morals of the Eskimo or Apaches. The chapters on the Incas and Peru are among the most interesting in the book, and with them we would place those in which the constructional aspect of the various buildings is emphasized, and the remarks on the character of the ornament employed. The account of Easter Island is especially interesting at the moment, when an archaeological expedition is about to make a complete survey of its remains ; and the notes on the prehistoric remains in other Pacific islands Pitcairn, Tahiti, the Marquesas, and the Carolines complete the topographical part of the book. A few chapters of speculation follow on the Pacific " Atlantis," Dr. Kenealy's varde "), and flood myths, too slight to be of any importance.
 * Book of Enoch,' the couvade (spelt " cou-

Though the original features of the book are those derived from the author's personal ex- perience, it has also great value considered as a compilation. We are all too likely to let facts scattered over a great number of volumes escape us altogether, and any one who brings them into a convenient form renders a service which is easily under-estimated. Such a service Mr. Enock has rendered.

Byways in British Archceology. By Walter Johnson, F.G.S. (Cambridge University Press.) MR. JOHNSON has already given proof of his competence to deal with our popular antiquities in his interesting book entitled ' Folk-Memory ' <1908). In this new volume, which belongs more to the province of folk-lore, he exhibits the same wide acquaintance with the literature of the subject and an amazing amount of industrious research. Even when we do not agree with his .conclusions we always admire the abundance of .detail and the fairness with which he sets forth his premises. Indeed, to do him justice, Mr. John- son himself is diffident about his conclusions, and almost always presents them as tentative and provisional, as " doubtful " and " by no means clear." Tnis cautious and judicious attitude dis- .arms criticism, but is sometimes rather irritating. He devotes, for instance, a chapter of 48 pp. to a discussion of the raison d'etre of the churchyard yew, and abstains from giving any decision. There is small reason, surely, to doubt that the tree of perpetual verdure was planted among the graves as an emblem of everlasting life, .exactly as the aloe is similarly planted sometimes in Eastern graveyards. He gives us very full .(we had nearly said prolix) chapters on Burial Customs, Orientation, the Cardinal Points, and so on ; and while he supplies a superabundance .of references to well-known books for comparatively familiar superstitions, he fails to give us any authorities for certain startling statements when

we most desire them ; e.g., that the Samoyads, though nominally Christians, offered up human sacrifices as recently as 1895 (p. 29). Too often, moreover, Mr. Johnson puts us off with second- hand quotations, when we should like Ur-quellen ; and frequently he digresses and goes off at a tangent into matters quite foreign to his subject. We have marked many passages where, we think, Mr. Johnson's judgment is at fault ; such as, that no place-names are compounded with Lat. ecclesia (p. 147) ; that murderers and suicides were buried at cross-roads because such spots were sacred (p. 357), whereas it was rather to puzzle the revenant if he should attempt to make his way home, as Dr. Frazer has shown ; that taxus, the yew, may have something to do with Greek taxis, order (p. 363) ; that Latin caruca (whence carucate) may be etyniologically connected with quatuor, as if a four-wheeled vehicle (p. 456). We query why it is " note- worthy " that in " bow " and " arrow " we inherit the Anglo-Saxon words boga and arwe (p. 387) ; and remark that on p. 394 copiosus amara to make sense should be copiosius amaro. Mr. Johnson adopts the customary theory that the round towers attached to churches were intended to be places of refuge in times of danger. Has he ever calculated how many persons could be sheltered in these narrow edifices ? Probably hardly forty, if they stood shoulder to shoulder. These, however, are but minor blots in a most instructive book full of facts and curious information.

Jiotias 10 <E0msp0n0*nts.

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