Folklore as an Historical Science Part 22

[379] Skeat and Blagden, _Malay Peninsula_, ii. 218.

[380] Newbold, _Political and State Acc. of Malacca_, ii.; Skeat and Blagden, _op. cit._, ii. 56.

[381] Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, _Central Tribes_, 36, give a useful note on this point.

[382] In this they are exactly paralleled by the Khasi people of a.s.sam, among whom we find a limited sort of male chiefs.h.i.+p by succession through females, and an absolute succession to property by females by succession through females (Gurdon, _The Khasis_, 68, 88). Descent from the female is absolute in both cases, and all we get is male ascendancy.

[383] _Secret of the Totem_, 73.

[384] _Op. cit._, 79.

[385] Lang, _Secret of the Totem_, 148.

[386] _Central Tribes_, 72. Mrs. Langloh Parker's information as to the origin of the Euahlayi two-cla.s.s division having arisen from an amalgamation of two distinct tribes, points to the same facts.--_Euahlayi Tribe_, 12.

[387] Spencer and Gillen, _Tribes of Central Australia_, 96, 99, 106.

[388] Lang's Introd. to Bolland's _Aristotle's Politics_ (1877), p.

104; Grant Allen's _Anglo-Saxon Britain_ (1888), pp. 79-83.

[389] _Topography of Ireland_, lib. ii. cap. 19.

[390] _Hist. of Ireland_, ii. 361.

[391] _Irish Nennius_, p. 205; Lang, _Custom and Myth_, p. 265; _Revue Celtique_, ii. 202.

[392] _View of the State of Ireland_, p. 99.

[393] Moryson, _Hist. of Ireland_, ii. 367.

[394] Aubrey, _Remaines of Gentilisme_, 204.

[395] Camden, _Britannia_, iii. 455; iv. 459.

[396] The significance of the word "gossip" is worth noting. Halliwell says it "signified a _relation_ or sponsor in baptism, all of whom were to each other and to the parents _G.o.d-sibs_, that is, _sib_, or related by means of religion." This meaning does not seem to have died out in the days of Spenser, and his use of the word to describe the relations.h.i.+p of the men of Ossory to wolves is very significant. For the history of this important word see Hearn's _Aryan Household_, 290.

[397] Otway, _Sketches in Erris_, 383-4.

[398] _Folklore Record_, iv. 98.

[399] _Ulster Journ. Arch._, ii. 161, 162. They have also another primitive trait. Their trade emblems are carved on their tombstones.

_Roy. Irish Acad._, vii. 260.

[400] This I gather from _Ulster Journ. Arch._, ii. 164, where it is stated that the hare is unpropitious.

[401] _Folklore Journal_, ii. 259.

[402] _Folklore Journal_, ii. 259; _Folklore Record_, iv. 104. Miss Ffennell kindly informed me at the meeting of the Folklore Society where I read a paper on the subject, that she had frequently heard the islanders of Achill, off the coast of Ireland, state their belief that they were descended from seals.

[403] Published by the _Irish Archaeological Society_, p. 27; there is a Seal Island off the coast of Donegal (Joyce, _Irish Place-Names_, ii.

282); and some Shetland legends of the seal will be found in _Soc.

Antiq. Scot._, i. 86-89. Seals are eaten for food in the island of Harris (see Martin, _Western Islands_, 36), and one called the Virgin Mary's Seal is offered to the minister (Reeves, _Ad.a.m.nan Vita.

Columb._, 78, note _g_). The att.i.tude of the Irish to seals is shown by the two following notes:--"At Erris, in Ireland, seals are considered to be human beings under enchantment, and they consider it unlucky to have anything to do with seals, and to have one live near their dwelling is considered as productive of evil to life and property. A story current, in 1841, describes how a young fisherman came in a fog upon an island whereon lived these enchanted men in their human form, but when they quitted it they turned to seals again" (Otway, _Sketches of Erris_, 398, 403). Off Downpatrick Head they used to take seals, but have given up the practice, because once two young fellows had urged their curraghs into a cave where the seals were known to breed, and they were killing them right and left when, in the farthest end of the cave and sitting up on its bent tail in a corner, there sat an old seal. One of the boys was just making ready to strike him, when the seal cried out, "Och, boys! och, ma bouchals, spare your old grandfather, Darby O'Dowd." He then proceeded to tell the boys his story. "It's true I was dead and dacently buried, but here I am for my sins turned into a sale as other sinners are and will be, and if you put an end to me and skin me maybe it's worser I'll be, and go into a shark or a porpoise. Lave your ould forefather where he is, to live out his time as a sale. Maybe for your own sakes you will ever hereafter leave off following and pa.r.s.ecuting and murthering sales who may be nearer to yourselves nor you think." The story is universally believed, and on the strength of it the people have given up seal hunting (Otway, _Sketches of Erris_, 230).

[404] _Kins.h.i.+p and Marriage in Arabia_, 188. _Cf._ Mr. Jacobs' articles in _Archaeological Review_, "Are there totem clans in the Old Testament?" vol. iii. pp. 145-164.

[405] _Origins of English History_, 297.

[406] _Proc. Roy. Irish Acad._, x. 436; Lang's _Custom and Myth_, 265; Elton's _Origins of English History_, 299-300; _Revue Celtique_, i. 50; iii. 176.

[407] _Rev. Celtique_, vi. 232.

[408] Aubrey's _Remaines of Gentilisme_, 102.

[409] _Folklore Record_, i. 243.

[410] Xiphilinus in _Mon. Hist. Brit._, p. lvii.

[411] _Choice Notes, Folklore_, p. 16.

[412] _Vulgar Errors_, p. 320.

[413] Aubrey, _Gentilisme and Judaisme_, 109; Napier, _Folklore of West of Scotland_, 26. Consult Mr. Billson's valuable paper on "The Easter Hare" in _Folklore_, iii. 441-466.

[414] Gregor, _Folklore of North-East Scotland_, 129, 199.

[415] O'Curry, _Manners of the Anc. Irish_, i. p. ccclxx.

[416] _Notes and Queries_, 3rd ser. iv. 82, 158; Dyer's _Popular Customs_, 384.

[417] Gordon c.u.mming, _Hebrides_, 369.

[418] Gordon c.u.mming, _Hebrides_, 369.

[419] _Gentleman's Magazine Library, Pop. Sup._, 216.

[420] It will be useful to refer to Mr. Thrupp's paper on "British Superst.i.tion as to Hares, Geese, and Poultry" in _Trans. Ethnological Society of London_, new ser. vol. v. pp. 162-167.

[421] _Origins of English History_, 170.

[422] Gordon c.u.mming, _Hebrides_, 365.

[423] Dalyell's _Darker Superst.i.tions of Scotland_, 431. It should be noted that Dalyell wrote before the age of scientific folklore, and therefore his observations are founded more upon conjectures derived from the practices and beliefs themselves than from any theory as to origins.

[424] White horse, p. 208; black cat, p. 211, note 3; two magpies, p.

224; crickets, p. 238; hawthorn, p. 244.

[425] _Fortnightly Review_, xii. 562.