personage (Kynric the first king of the West Saxons) inserted as the representative of England owing to the lack of an eponym.

(I) The genealogy which opens Saxo's history is in even worse plight: Dan et Angu patre Humblo procreati. Duad; initial-stress; substitution of an epic personage, Humbli, for the eponym; attribution of this name, Humbli, to Dan's son, in defiance of the rules of nomenclature which obtained among the early Teutons; all these are suspicious, untraditional traits.

(K) In the Halfdan genealogy in the tract "How Norway was settled," the "Ancestor" has a human name, is credited with historical exploits, and is the father of 9+9 kings.

(L) The Odin genealogy in Langfeðgatal and Heimskringla. Here the ancestor is a god, father of seven sons, founders of kingdoms, but only some of whom have the character of eponyms. (M) The Rig-genealogy (Rigs-Mal) as Dr. Schütte well remarks "offers no formal criteria on which to base investigation."

We have thus two groups: A-G, conforming more or less strictly to the traditional formula; H-M, disregarding it almost completely. If we use conformity as a test we must pronounce the former genuine, the latter more or less spurious. As a matter of fact this conclusion corroborates results based on the ordinary canons of historical criticism as applied to sources. The artificial nature of the Halfdan genealogy for example is manifest if we compare it with a genuine source (the tenth century Hyndluljod), in which several of the personages and generations appear, but which makes no pretence of embodying an ethnic tradition. The enumeration of the sons of Odin (and the wanderings of Odin connected with them) goes back to an Anglo-Saxon and not to a Norse genealogical list, and on tracing it back it approves itself as a synthesis of diverse kingly genealogies all deduced from Odin. The descent of the royal family from the chief god is a wide-spread conception, but possesses no special ethnic significance.

These late artificial, literary origin accounts ought never to be included among the genuine popular traditions, whose testimony concerning the real conceptions of our Teutonic forefathers they

may represent a distorted reflection of the old formula; Sceldius may be looked upon as the mythical ancestor (cf. the Skild saga in Beowulf), Boerinus as the second member of the triad, the sons as the third. But it is precisely this third element which approves itself, by all tests, late and unreliable.

It follows then that all origin-legends from early Teutonic antiquity are constructed on the lines of a strict triadic system with its pertinent rules. The validity of the formula is evident whether we consider it in itself, or whether we reject by its aid texts, which on other grounds, show their spurious character.

But the insight we have gained concerning the nature of the mould into which the genuine old traditions have been cast, enables us to appreciate more precisely the historic evidential value of the traditions themselves. The first and obvious conclusion is that the rigidity of the triadic formula must impair the accuracy with which it represents the real relationships of the Teutonic tribes. The variety of life cannot be accurately synthesised by a uniformitarian formula. True, Dr. Schütte who does this, shrinks from drawing extreme logical conclusions; he likes to believe that our forefathers had rich and reliable historical and ethnical traditions. We may grant that the heroic poems and genealogical lists at the disposal of each tribe, as well as the information accumulated in the course of actual contact did furnish them with fairly precise notions concerning the existence, habitat, and fortunes of numerous other tribes. But the contention of a community of ethnic feeling and tradition among the various Teutonic peoples must be decisively negatived.

Further consideration of the formula makes it evident that the Mannus genealogy, for instance, cannot be used as heretofore, to prove that Tuisco and Mannus were known to the Teutons generally. This special genealogy with its terminal-stress is only valid for the Istaevonic (i.e. Frankish) peoples, inhabiting the region of the lower Rhine, concerning whom on other grounds it is clear Tacitus was best informed. The order given suits the Istaevones, the most westerly branch of the Teutons; it would necessarily have assumed a different shape among any other group, and would almost certainly have been wider in range.

representatives of the Scandic-Hillevionic and Gothic-Vandalic groups.

It must further remain an open question whether a similar conception to the one embodied in the Mannus genealogy necessarily existed among Teutonic tribes other than the Istaevones, and, if so, what names would figure in it. It seems probable for instance that the Ingaevones believed their ancestor Ing to have come oversea, and did not regard him as member of an autocthonous tripartite family.

But I must not pursue the subject further, and content myself with having drawn attention to the value of Dr. Schütte's analysis of the formal constructive elements in sagas, alike in the narrower field of Teutonic ethnography, and in the world-wide one of popular traditions generally. I can only express my hope that the line of investigation thus opened up will be pursued by the author himself and by other students.1

AXEL OLRIK.

TE TOHUNGA. The Ancient Legends and Traditions of the Maoris, Orally Collected and Pictured by W. DITTMER. Routledge, 1907. 4to. 25s. net.

THIS book is not primarily for the Folk-lore man; its aim is aesthetic, not scientific. The traditions are put into the mouths of old women and old men, but we are to understand that this is mainly a literary device, and their real source is in the standard printed collections. With these the author has given himself a free hand, abridging and expanding at his pleasure.

With the aesthetic side of Mr. Dittmer's work our Society is not concerned, except in so far as it affects the Folk-lore side; but I feel constrained, while recommending the book to the attention of those who like that sort of thing (among whom I cannot honestly include myself), to warn "the serious student of Folk-lore," if he has not hitherto turned his attention to New Zealand, from endeavouring to make acquaintance with it through the pages of Te Tohunga. For Mr. Dittmer's aesthetic,

both literary and pictorial, is something of a modern kind which he brings from Europe and applies, almost forcibly, to his subject matter; it is not a development of the essential Maori notions for their own sake. It is New Zealand "à travers un tempérament." The serious student would know more about Mr. Dittmer in the end than about the Maoris.

Mr. Dittmer's style of diction is turgid and verbose, filled out with endless Ah's and Ha's and Oh my listener's; and not chastened by any sense of humour. Maori diction, on the other hand, is severely economical. "So also these sayings of old," one of them told Sir George Grey: "The multitude, the length,' signified the multitude of the thoughts of the children of Heaven and Earth and the length of time they considered whether they should slay their parents, that human beings might be called into existence, for it was in this manner that they talked and consulted among themselves." This is an extreme case; we should be nowhere without the commentary; but it is better in many ways than Mr. Dittmer's cosmogony. The dry metaphysics of the Maori creation consort ill with our author's poetical enthusiasm. "Ha, my listener, then was it that the Atua commenced his great song of creation, and out of the Darkness sprang forth Life! And out of the Darkness sprang forth Hinenui-te-po! etc." This represents the beginning of things in a bustling concern, quite unlike the slow processes of evolution laid down by Maori philosophy; the "springing forth" smacks of transformation scenes; and the Atua's 66 great song of creation" seems to be a misunderstanding of John White's: "The Atua began his chant of creation at Te Po and sang: Po begat Te-ao," etc., where the Atua is the inspirer, not the maker, and the singing is of a purely unproductive kind. Mr. Dittmer's account of the affair is further complicated by his transformation of Io, the creative energy into Jo, which gives it a political aspect, out of place in a mythological work.

G. CALDERON.

THE POWER OF GEMS AND CHARMS.

London: Gay & Bird, 1907.

By GEO. H. BRATLEY.

Pp. xi 198. 16 x 13 cm.

IN this little book a claim to our favour is made in behalf of amulets, the writer basing this partly upon the romance often connected with their use, but mainly, as is said in the preface, on "the reason and logic of the power claimed for these things." As the book appears to have been written from the point of view of a believer in most of the mystic virtues claimed for every object used as an amulet at any period, it is, of course, lacking entirely in whatever of critical value it might naturally have been presumed to hold. It seems to have been written for the casual, and not too intelligent, reader interested superficially in mysticism, but it may prove to be of some assistance to the folk-lorist as a reminder of matter connected with amulets, and it should be of service to the investigator of the psychology underlying the employment of amulets, especially the employment of the amulets in use and coming into use at the present day.

About half the book is taken up by Section I., "Historical Charms," wherein, as illustrating the employment of amulets, a considerable number of examples are given, particularly of sup posedly luck-bringing objects connected with well-known persons, most of which have been taken, apparently, from sources neither usually consulted by the student of amulets, nor noted for their accuracy. The usefulness of the illustrations taken from the older writers is seriously impaired by the superficial manner of their setting forth, and, in almost all cases, by the lack of any references through which missing details might be found. It is unpleasant for the student of folk-lore to find the material presented throughout the book chiefly in the "snippet" form of anecdote affected so largely by some of the cheaper weeklies, since some of the chapter headings, particularly in the first section, might have been applied to extremely interesting and useful collections of material, such as those, for example, on the use of jewellery, of gems and coins, of stones, of charmed wells and holy water, of the horseshoe, of curative charms, and of written charms.