Record of A merican Folk- Lore. 2 S 9
studies, " rain and the necessity of raising corn " figuring so strongly in both. Dr. Lumholtz's paper is creditable both to the author and the publishers of the Museum. — General. " The Obsidian Razor of the Aztecs " is the title of a brief paper by Dr. G. C. MacCurdy in the "American Anthropologist" (N. S. vol. ii. pp. 417-421) for July- September, 1900. In ancient Mexico obsidian razors were used by tailors, bookmakers, etc., as well as by those who shaved. In a land " where the clergy, the nobility and the army alone had the right to wear the hair long . . . the demand for obsidian razors must have been great." The paper deals with specimens in the Museum of Yale University. — In the " American Antiquarian " (vol. xxii. pp. 301-309) for September-October, 1900, Professor Frederick Starr gives a detailed account of " Mexican Paper." It is interesting to learn that bark paper " is still made over a considerable area in the warm mountainous parts of the States of Hidalgo and Puebla." It is the Otomis who do the manufacturing, and the paper " is not used for writing, nor wrapping ; it is employed in pagan ceremonials and in witchcraft." Professor Starr is inclined to see more than an ac- cidental resemblance in the bark-beaters of ancient Mexico, the Tlingits of Alaska, and the Polynesians, — figures of these imple- ments accompany the article. — In the same number Rev. S. D. Peet has (pp. 311-326) an illustrated article on "Ancient Aztec Cities and Civilization." The author thinks these " cities " differed more from pueblos and Indian villages than many modern authorities admit."
Zoque-Mixe. Mixe. Pages 52-63 of Professor Starr's paper treat of the Mixes of the districts of Yautepec, Villa Alta, and Te- huantepec, their house-architecture, dress, pagan survivals (witch- craft, magic, etc.), fiestas. The Mixes are very conservative linguis- tically and religiously, but "surprisingly non-conservative in dress." Witches are so common that some towns (Alotepec, e.g.) are full of them. Some of the pagan practices even find shelter in the native churches, where heathen idols have more than once been discovered. Magic practices are still much in vogue. Cannibalism is said to have prevailed at several places within the present century.
GENERAL.
Animism. Dr. Theodor Koch's elaborate r/sumf of our knowledge concerning "Animism among the Indians of South America" (" Zum Animismus der Sudamerikanischen Indianer"), which forms the sup- plement to vol. xiii. of the "Internationales Archiv fur Ethnographie," is noticed elsewhere in this Journal in detail. It deals with the be- liefs and practices of the Indians concerning the soul (its nature and activities), particularly in relation to disease and death, and the other
VOL. XIII. — NO. 51. 19
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