60
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
- Book of Enoch,' the couvade (spelt " cou-
varde "), and flood myths, too slight to be of any importance.
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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