Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/235

 9" 8. V.MARCH 24, 1900.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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it. Its oldest European forms suggest an original nyam, or rather nyami, which exactly corresponds with a widespread negro ex- pression current in both Africa and America, and meaning " to eat " or " food." Thus, in the negro account of the Fall (see ' Narrative of the Life and Labours of the Key. Wm. Jameson,' 1861), "Adam must nyami all de fruit ob de garden but de tree ob knowledge." This negro-English expression originated in Senegal. Nyami means " to eat " in the Fulah language ; and it is precisely in Senegal that the word " yam " is first met with. My idea, therefore, is that a term which really implied no more than " food " was understood by foreigners as referring to the African " staff of life." Similarly, in the name applied to a tribe of African cannibals, Nyam-Nyam, the same root has been narrowed down irom the sense of " to eat " to that of " to eat human flesh." Some authors actually write yam instead of nyami in the sense of "to eat." Burton does, for instance, in his book ' Abeo- kuta,' 1863. JAMES PLATT, Jun.

CURZON CHAPEL, MAYFAIR. (See ante, p. 65.) The writer in the Daily News is mis- taken, and I am sorry that the error has found its way into your columns. The chapel in Curzon Street now about to be demolished is not " Keith's Chapel," which was on the opposite side of the road. If your readers will turn to Wheatley's 'London Past and Present,' arts. ' Curzon Street ' and ' Mayfair,' they will notice the distinction between the " little chapel " and the " great chapel."

K. B. P.

'PUNCH': THE CHANGES AND A SUGGESTION. The alterations made at the beginning of this year have placed the collectors of this periodical in a difficulty. Hitherto it has been worth while to preserve the whole paper on account of the value, historic and artistic, of the pictures, although the reading is either preserved in a more convenient form or is not worth preservation. The new departure has increased the drawbacks (from a collector's point of view) without adding to the value : the paper is thinner, there is more letterpress, and advertisements are inserted in such a way that they cannot be omitted from the bound volume. No doubt the alterations have been well considered on the com- mercial side, but I hope the interests of the collector can be reconciled with those of the publishers. My suggestion is to have a separate issue of pictures (early impressions if possible), and nothing else. There would be a large number of annual subscribers, and at the end of the year the volume would be

incomparable as a gift-book, If the above suggestion is a good one I hope your readers will support it. J. J. F.

HARVEST FESTIVALS. Should not a corner in ' N. & Q.' be found for the following from the Globe oi 13 Jan.?

"The late Rev. John Going, whose death was announced last week, was, according to a corre- spondent of the Church Times, the first clergyman to introduce harvest festivals in London. He is also believed to have been the first, in South Lon- don, at any rate, who separated men and women in church. The harvest festival has become universal ; the separate system of worship has made very little progress, and does not appear likely to grow in popularity."

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

THOMAS WATSON. The writer of the account of the poet Thomas Watson in the ' Diet. Nat. Biog.' says that in ' England's Helicon,' 1600, are five poems by him, of which only one was new ; this was superscribed " The nimphes meeting their May Queene, entertaine her with this dittie." It was not, however, a new poem. Mr. Bullen, in his edition of 'England's Helicon,' says, "I suspect that it formed part of some (lost 1) entertainment," and this was indeed the case. It appears as the "ditty" of the Six Virgins' Song in the Queen's entertain- ment at the Earl of Hertford's at Elvetham in Hampshire in 1591, of which the description is printed in Nichols's * Progresses of Queen Elizabeth,' 1788, vol. ii. The poem was part of the first day's entertainment. Another well-known song appears in the third day's entertainment, the Plowman's Song, " In the merry month of May," which is best known from its setting by Dr. Wilson, 1660, though it had been set by earlier composers. The Virgins' Song was set to music by Francis Pilkington and printed in his ' First Book of Songs or Airs,' 1605, the words being altered so as to make them suitable for King James instead of Elizabeth. G. E. P. A.

GREEN COCOONS FROM INDIA. The follow- ing curious arid common belief held by the hillmen round about Solan in the native state of Solan, Punjab, about twenty miles from Simla may be of interest to some of your readers.

When out shooting I noticed, attached to the stem of a piece of grass, a pale greenish- looking object strongly resembling a silk- worm cocoon. On making inquiries of my shikari, I was informed that it was " the dropping of a star," and that when a bright line rushed across the sky, i.e., a shooting star, it marked the course taken by the dropping in its passage to the earth.