Boston: Marshall Jones Company, 1918. — 450 pp."This study can hope to give only a sketch of a vast theme which, because of its endless and difficult material, has thus far received but superficial investigation even from the best of scholars; its complete elaboration would require several volumes of space and a lifetime of preparation.
The principal difficulty is to make it clear to the modern mind that a religion can exist without any definite system of doctrine, being composed merely of countless speculations that are widely divergent and often conflicting. This doctrinal uncertainty is increased by the way in which the traditions have been transmitted. Only rarely is a piece of mythology complete. For the most part we have nothing but many scattered allusions which must be united for a hazardous restoration of one of these theories. In other respects, likewise, the enormous epigraphic material presents such difficulties and is so confusing in nature that everything hitherto done on the religion of Egypt is, as we have just implied, merely pioneer work. As yet an exhaustive description of this religion could scarcely be written.""The mythology of Burma, Siam, and Indo-China needs no special discussion. It has been borrowed almost entirely from India and is only slightly modified by aboriginal characteristics. A great deal, however, has been grafted on from the serpent-, tree-, and spirit-worship of the native tribes, or (in the case of the Burmese) from the tribal beliefs held before the Indo-Chinese peoples came to settle in their present abodes. Research has thus far been insufficient to show whence the Burmese came, whether they received their religion first from the north or from the south, or whether they originally had a script of their own. There is hope that, with further investigation, enough data may be found to determine the Pyu character, but the few examples hitherto found have not enabled Mr. Blagden to go very far."
