Matthews] A /V THROPOL 0G1C LITER A TURE 377
organisms of the systematic zoologist as they were, lived demotic lives just as do human savages and subjects and citizens. To the anthro- pologist the eight biographies of the book are of deep interest as show- ing the beginnings of demotic characters below the plane of humanity ; they are of still profounder interest as indices of the way in which the human activities must have begun. Groos deals seriously with the lighter class of activities almost alone ; Thompson treats not only of play but of work, in all its protean aspects, in luminously instructive fashion, albeit in lighter vein. The book is elegant in tech-
nique, excellent in paper and print, and exquisitely illustrated by plates and abundant marginal cuts. There is no index. W J McGee.
Creation Myths of Primitive America in Relation to the Religious History and Mental Development of Mankind, by Jeremiah Curtin. Boston: Little, Brown, & Co., 1898. 8°, xxxix, 532 pp., pi.
These tales, with which we were already familiar in the columns of the New York Sun, are now presented to us in the form of a hand- some octavo. There are twenty-two altogether; thirteen of these were collected from the nearly extinct Yana, and nine from the Wintu, tribes of northern California. They are all interesting and instructive, and bear evidence of having been received from good aboriginal authorities. The only trace of European influence is found in the occasional use of English terms of measure, such as miles, hours, and bushels. But it is difficult for an Indian who knows the significance of these terms to avoid using them, since the native modes of conveying the same ideas involve much circumlocution. The author does not tell us the names or character of his informants, but we conjecture that the stories were told by Indians who spoke English.
It is feared that the title may prove misleading to many. We per- sonally do not object to the expression "Creation Myths" in this con- nection ; but it will not meet with the approval of those who define "create" as "to form out of nothing," or of those who see in the first chapter of Genesis a standard tale of creation. Creation is a long process, not yet completed. Many American myths attempt to ac- count for the beginning, or at least the early stages, of this process; but these tales of the Wintu and Yana describe only the last stages. They are tales of metamorphosis; they speak of things already in existence, which are merely changed in form. It might be more proper to say they treat of completed evolution, for many of the crea- tures, before their final transformation, approximated the forms and characters which they now exhibit. The American myth-makers an-.
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