20 OCTOBER 1923, Page 24

Twenty-five years ago, when the Indians in the Rockies still

retained at least a semblance of their former ways of life, Mr. McClintock was adopted into the Blackfeet. This is a most interesting account of his life with them. Unfortunately he has no idea of vivid writing, but the interest of his subject easily survives the handicap. Anthropologists will not find much new material here : but the numerous accounts of rites and ceremonies might make it worth their attention. Mr. McClintock writes from notes taken at the time. To the general reader probably the most interesting ceremony will be the " Women's Dance," at which each woman, married or single, appears got up as her lover : and the husbands stand round and with perfect good-humour endeavour to guess who their wives are meant to represent : and sometimes it results in a quite amicable transference ! There is also much about the Sacred Beaver-Bundle. A flippant friend of the present writer was so charmed with this phrase that he christened his shaving apparatus his Sacred Beaver-Bundle on the spot. The book is well got up and illustrated with numerous photo- graphs, some of them coloured.