understand the poetic wording, or that perhaps the natives who told the tales adapted them to what seemed to themselves the standard of literature suitable to a missionary. Surely the Basuto proverbs ought to convince anyone of the quaintness and poetic nature of their expressions. Here, for example, is a comparison frequently used by a lover: "Mathlo ea hai a jualeka linaleli," "the eyes of her are like the stars." Again, an old heathen woman once said to me, after I had helped to pull her daughter through a serious illness, "May your feet go softly all your life, and may they carry gladness as they go." Surely that is a beautifully expressed sentiment.
Totemism in New Caledonia.
(Ante, p. 259.)
May I draw Mr. Lang's attention to some sources of information which appear to have escaped his notice, and which throw some light on the point he raises? These are a little work by Rochas; a series of articles in Les Missions Catholiques, 1879, 1880, and 1898; and Mœurs et Superstitions des Néo-Caledoniens, by Pére Lambert, published at Nouméa, 1900.
As regards exogamy, it appears that it does exist, but in some places is regulated by locality[1] as in Australia (Brit. Ass. Rep., 1899, p. 585), Torres Straits (Journ. Anth. Inst., xxx., 78), New Guinea (Folk-Lore, xii., 233), and possibly on the Zambesi (Les Missions Catholiques, 1886, p. 294). Elsewhere, clan-exogamy seems to be the rule; the Belep tribe is stated to be divided into clans named after ancestors and to be exogamous.[2] Possibly, therefore, the custom of local exogamy may have taken the place of the more usual form.
Among the Belep again different families (? clans) are reputed to have different powers; one can make rain fall, others influence the growth of plants; the power of making the sugar-cane grow
